2019

Will be a year of transition. Expect the chaos to continue to rule. But by the end of 2019 the future will start coming into focus.

2018 was the year of streaming. Yes, Spotify launched in the U.S. nearly a decade ago, and YouTube before that, but it took that long for the public to catch up with the new paradigm, never mind the business. Remember how long it took CDs to become the standard? At first they were overpriced and rare, then AOL was giving them away and there was only one good track on a disc and Napster happened. But do not expect disruption of streaming. Streaming represents on demand, once you've reached it there is nothing after. Furthermore, in the future, we will own less and less, millennials live in smaller places, if you're all about ownership you're a Luddite left behind, did you read Dan Neil's piece Saturday in the WSJ? He said not to buy an internal combustion engine automobile now because it will be worth nothing in five years. Argue with me, that's fine, but Neil is the automotive guru and he's behind a paywall, otherwise I'd give you the link. That's another thing 2019 will continue to bring, haves and have-nots online. If you're not willing to pay, you're going to be left behind.

Terrestrial music radio will continue to fade in importance. It won't be terminal this coming year, but in five it will be. Major labels are preparing by cozying up to streaming services, relationships and a continuous stream of product are everything. Then again, it's easier than ever to find out whether a track is sticking or not. But expect continued consolidation on the major label front, as in they will control an ever-smaller piece of the pie. They're signing little, because of the opportunity cost and lack of demand for genres other than hip-hop, they're like movie studios making superhero movies who were disrupted by...Netflix. There's a giant opportunity here, the barrier to entry is so low, expect the vacuum to be filled by new players. Then again, there isn't that much money in music, relatively speaking, and the odds of success are low, which is why big spenders are staying out. But expect millennials to make inroads in music production. The label gives you a bad deal and owns the product and provides less than ever before and chances are they don't want to sign you anyway. Now is when majors should be investing, altering their model for the future, but they are not. They should have 50/50 deals, ownership should revert to creators, especially after recoupment. By avoiding change labels set themselves up for disruption. If you're not inventing, you're losing.

But the demise of the power of the majors will not be evident in 2019. Because radio still means something and too many acts want a check, but watch this space.

Also, 2019 will see the end of hip-hop dominance. It will take at least another six months for those in alternative formats to stop bitching about streaming numbers and get their act together. There are many ways to make money in music other than with recordings. Be thankful recording is cheap and distribution is nearly free, at least you can play! But the story of hip-hop embracing the internet and dominating is long in the tooth. Now we're at streaming and everyone knows the internet is where music lives. So, other genres will get a push. First and foremost from the audience, which is going to see these acts live, and ultimately the streaming services themselves, which will be embarrassed by the focus on hip-hop and see money in emphasizing other genres.

Once again, if you're an anti-streaming, physical product person, not only will the revolution pass you by, you're hindering its furtherance. CDs are not the only thing you can sell at a gig, and no one's got a player anyway. Think souvenir, not music.

But young acts that embrace streaming but not beats will make inroads in 2019, and word will spread about them. This is a good thing. As for old acts, embrace the present or die.

As for touring, the story of 2019 will be the financial recession. Expect some soft numbers in touring as a result of people not having enough money. The stars will have no problem selling tickets, all others..? And those who put tickets on sale early will dominate. It's anti-fan, but get your show up soon or be left out later, people will only have so much cash.

Also, MTV died nearly two decades ago, why acts see it necessary to perform their shows just like the video is a head-scratcher. If your career is based on touring, spice up the show, change set lists, have nothing on hard drive. Don't say the audience expects it, that's tripe. The audience wants a unique experience that no one else is privy to. Live is about tangible, real. Hard drives and autotune and other sweeteners are about fake. Sure, phenoms can get away with it, but the tide will be turning, more people will see music as the core, the penumbra will be irrelevant, the audience will start to turn on TMZ shenanigans. Sure, you want a steady pipeline between act and fan, a flow of information, but if you're creating non-musical news on a regular basis the joke will be on you.

Music is far ahead of other entertainment genres. Distribution has been figured out. But the last couple of years have been about a steady flow of new acts the press and the industry cannot keep up with. This is the true internet disruption, the plethora of acts, more than Napster/Spotify. Now that everybody can play, who deserves attention, how is the word spread, what are the metrics that determine success?

Certainly the "Billboard" chart does not, it's an anachronism. Like Nielsen publishing TV ratings without Netflix. But a new chart would not be about the singular number one, but the group of acts deserving attention. The new playlist will be the best of all genres. We get it, we get it, hip-hop is streamed most, but by just focusing on the most in that genre, not only are we leaving other music out, but their fans too, as I stated above.

Not that hip-hop will die and rock will revive.

Hip-hop is innovative, rock is too derivative.

Rock can only have a renaissance when it features great vocalists with something to say. We're waiting for someone to fill the mass rock hole, and it ain't Wilco and Greta Van Fleet is only a harbinger of things to come. We let rock slide for so long, that vocal fans trumpet second-rate material and non-fans ignore it.

Mass will continue to be important.

But mass is relative.

If you can make a living on the action provided by a few thousand streams, more power to you.

But really we're interested in those with millions of streams, tens of millions of streams, that demonstrates demand. And right now, a good number of non-hip-hop acts have those numbers, but most people are unaware of these tracks, while the media too often focuses on those who few want to listen to.

It is a business. It's not a museum. Traction, response and momentum are important.

But the great thing about music is although those are difficult to achieve, anybody can do it. You don't need a degree from Yale, or Berklee, you don't have to know how to play that well, you just need inspiration.

We've got a whole world waiting for your inspiration. But we've got so many other options, your inspiration will be ignored if it's not truly great. But 2019 will be the year other genres get recognition and traction.

But there will not be a new chart, there will not be clarity until 2020.

The music industry has future shock. As do old fans. But youngsters are figuring it out, and they will lead us out of the darkness. Right now it's like looking through steel wool, but in time the view will get clearer, the next paradigm will come into focus.

And not a moment too soon.

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The Beach Boys At The Vilar

"Catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the world"

That's one thing that's been lost in the rewriting of sixties history, the optimism. We had hope, we believed we could conquer, we believed life was not limited, and the goal was to go to California, ride the waves and hook up with a surfer girl or surfer boy.

Hard to believe, I know. But this was back before the internet, when the west coast was a dream which you could not experience unless you went there, a magical place where TV and movies were made, our entire nation was inspired by the Golden State.

I know, I know, the rest of the country likes to rag on California these days. About rents, pollution, taxes... But the truth is living there is still pretty damn good, but unlike the Okies most residents of our nation cannot afford to leave their domicile to reinvent themselves on the coast, so they denigrate it.

But it still rules.

And the magic was made by the Beach Boys. They were the soundtrack, along with the east coast Four Seasons until the Beatles broke, until the British Invasion. But unlike Frankie Valli and the rest of the early sixties groups, the heyday of the Beach Boys was not behind them. The apotheosis came in '66, with not only "Pet Sounds" but Brian Wilson's pocket symphony, "Good Vibrations." The Beatles were inspired by this work, and for a long while there, the Beach Boys were at the pinnacle of popular music, and Mike Love has never forgotten it.

Everybody hates Mike Love. The self-assuredness, the right wing views... But when you see him live you get it. HE BELIEVES HIS LEGEND! Why do we give Ringo and Paul a pass but not Mike? Because he's not gracious about it? John Lennon was rarely gracious.

And unlike his cousin Brian, Mike Love still sounds like himself, he can hit the notes, albeit with less power.

So you'd attend this show and expect a battle of the bands, between Brian and Mike and their respective camps, but that's not what it was like at all. Mike continuously showed pictures and made reference to the Wilson brothers.

And there you've got it. Brian Wilson's show is a tribute to Brian Wilson and Mike Love's show is a tribute to the music.

Now Brian is a genius. But everyone knows, especially insiders, he has issues. He's not an everyday guy, even though he still seems able to channel his skill into magical music, listen to the 2012 Beach Boys reunion LP "That's Why God Made The Radio," there's some masterful work there.

But after the 50th anniversary tour, Mike said he was going on without Brian, doing Beach Boys hits. And Brian's camp was not happy. But when you reach your seventies, it's about money and attention, and everybody wants it, especially Mike, who's angry he never got enough credit for writing so many of the Beach Boys' lyrics. Performers are complicated people, you cannot see them through the eyes of the hoi polloi, the hoi polloi didn't write and record these songs.

And the show opened with "Do It Again," the band's last real hit until the Brian-less "Kokomo" two decades later.

But the irony of opening with this 1969 hit was lost on the assembled multitude, the ancient wealthy at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, Colorado. You've got to pay to see the Beach Boys up close, triple digits in this case, and therefore hard core fans are excluded. But the set list was for those in the know.

Jeff Foskett told me Mike writes a new one every night, the show changes, and usually it goes two and a half hours, as opposed to last night's limited two hour show.

Ergo, "Catch A Wave," which Jan & Dean rewrote as "Sidewalk Surfin'." To hear this magical album track made my night, a flood of memories came back, from the era where I knew every cut on the LP, which I purchased, and sat in front of the record player in my room with the album cover in hand fantasizing how great my life would be if we could only move to California.

And "Little Honda." The hit version was done by the Hondells, but Brian and Mike wrote it.

"First gear, it's all right
Second gear, lean right"

Not only were we singing along, Felice and I were leaning in direction. This show was a jet back to what once was. Not exactly nostalgia, just recognition that we're on the losing end of the hourglass and some of those times in the past were truly special.

And unlike Brian's set list, Mike and his troupe played all of the surf and car hits. Come on, "409"?

Does any millennial even know what that is? Will anybody in the future? Back when the goal of high school students was to save up enough money to buy a car.

And "Shut Down." And then "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" from "Shut Down Volume 2"! Come on, you've got to applaud these deep album cuts.

How about "Be True To Your School" from "Little Deuce Coupe"? We're long gone from high school, but we remember it like yesterday.

Of course they played the hits. Everything from "Wouldn't It Be Nice" to "I Get Around" to "Help Me Rhonda" to the aforementioned "Good Vibrations." You could not complain there was something you did not hear. And so many hits... No wonder Mike Love feels so good about himself.

Not that Mike sang all the songs. He gave tribute to Dennis and then his son Christian sang "Do You Wanna Dance." Brian's songs were sung by Foskett or lead guitarist extraordinaire Scott Totten.

As for Bruce Johnston...

He did not sing "Disney Girls (1957)," never mind "Tears In The Morning," but he told Felice he composed "I Write The Songs" as a reaction to radio stations banning "God Only Knows" because of the use of the deity's name. Foskett and I implored Bruce to come on Sirius XM or do a podcast and tell his stories, but Bruce said everybody knew everything already, and he needed to get paid. But that's a musician, everyone thinks music should be free, they're always asked to play for nothing, it takes balls to say you want to get paid. Then again, I wanted to hear more about growing up on La Mesa in Santa Monica with a father who was a bigwig at Rexall. Where we come from...it's everything.

And Mike even played some of his solo stuff and got away with it!

Because of the video screen. He wrote a song for George Harrison and accompanying its performance was video of the Beach Boys' and Beatles' visit to India. Whew! I'd never seen this before, I don't think anyone has, what a trip back to the past.

And the secret sauce was said video screen. With images from the era. The girls and the boys, the hot rods and the good times. That was then...

And this is now.

The youth are not united, never mind the country at large. But fifty-odd years ago, especially before the Vietnam War ramped up...

We wished they all could be California Girls.


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The Bird Box Phenomenon

In case you missed the memo, and unless you're addicted to entertainment industry news you probably did, Netflix just announced its movie "Bird Box" was viewed by 45 million accounts and pundits can't stop questioning the figure, the methodology, the meaning...

But it's very clear, distribution is king.

I posit most people were unaware of "Bird Box" until they saw it on their Netflix account, or heard about it from friends. There was not the scorched earth publicity campaign employed by movie studios to make you aware of a film you most likely do not want to see. But you're paying for Netflix, and since you log in on a regular basis, you saw "Bird Box" was available.

So...

Not only is advertising not a factor, reviews aren't either.

This is a sea change in the entertainment promotional complex. You must spend widely to make people aware, for a weekend, to overpay for your production. But what if people have already paid and you just need to induce them to view, or not. Actually, Netflix doesn't care whether you watch "Bird Box" or not, just that you don't cancel your subscription!

Once again, we see the paradigm shift from one time events to subscriptions. Oldsters still can't get over this in music, they want to own, but once the industry shifted to streaming, revenue went up!

Counterintuitive only to those stuck in the past. Not only is Spotify good for creators, so is Netflix, with its deep pool of cash and its free spending ways. Sure, the streaming company is overspending now, just like every Silicon Valley, tech enterprise. You invest, you lose, and then you own the market and you're profitable, can you say Amazon?

And actors just want to work. Used to be declasse to work on television, no longer.

And others above the line like the freedom. There are not the endless studio suits questioning every move.

And the audience likes the availability of new material on a regular basis, scarcity is history, just as it is in the music business. That may be overwhelming, that may be confusing, but it's the path to the future, even if the NYT tech reporter gave them crap for it.

So welcome to the new world. Where it's not only superhero movies at the theatre you don't want to see, but a cornucopia of streaming product, even though "Bird Box" is a genre pic.

And who wants to go to the theatre anyway? With chomping, texting patrons who feel entitled to their behavior because they paid so much.

And you can have a fifty plus inch screen with surround sound for bupkes at home, with no interruptions.

But the oldsters cannot fathom this. Entrenched players cannot fathom this.

But online you compete for dominance. You do this by spending. Good luck Disney and HBO now controlled by AT&T, there's a first-mover advantage. And the truth is content may be important, but distribution rules. The low monthly Netflix fee is a better offer than the theatre.

Movies killed vaudeville. TV killed movies, just check attendance figures. And now Netflix is killing not only network television, but putting a stake in the heart of theatrical distribution.

Money talks. Sandra Bullock likes the check and subscribers like the value proposition.

What's not to like oldsters and scribes?


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Wyatt

Who ARE those guys?

We were deep into Blue Sky Basin, his mother and Felice had skied down to Tea Cup, Wyatt said he was tired, but Don convinced him to take a ride on Pete's Express to ski Grand Review.

Actually, that's flat in Wyatt's world. Although only nine, he was begging to ski Highline, Vail's signature bump run, he raved about skiing Dragon's Teeth, with its EX warning, the only slopes he said he had not been down were the Frontside Chutes, because they're rarely open.

Not that Wyatt was always this good. His parents invested in lessons to bring him up to speed with his peers. Learning on your own is so tough, I learned to ski via classes, I'm still using the skills I learned in summer ski camp.

But I didn't start until I was ten.

So we're riding Pete's and it's cold. The safety bar is down, that's something they teach youngsters that oldsters ignore. And when we got off the lift, Don told Wyatt to lead the way, to show me his turns, but Wyatt protested that Don wasn't ready.

Don's a snowboarder. I made Wyatt promise he would never become one. They're famous for sitting in the snow and strapping into their gear. And rolling their eyes when they come to flats. And my biggest complaint is that they can't see behind them, and get agitated when you tell them you're on their blind side. Furthermore, snowboarders are mostly Gen-X'ers, as in old, and attitude is a bit long in the tooth for these guys.

But I was afraid Wyatt wouldn't know which way to go. So I said I'd lead until we hit the fork.

And when we did, Wyatt complained he didn't know which way to go. You see Grand Review is laden with trees, the path is not obvious.

Now I don't have any kids, never had the inkling until back in 1990, when I was riding the lift with my nephew Andrew at Snow Summit. We were only about six feet off the ground, but he was excited. The same way when he got mini-air over mini-bumps. Seeing the sport through his eyes inspired me.

But I was not inspired to get out early today, because it was in the single digits. Believe me, I'll get out there, in any temperature, but the colder it is, the longer I linger, waiting for it to warm up.

But Don texted and said it was tolerable. So I suited up and rode the gondola to find not only Don and Jenny, but Wyatt in his orange Spyder suit. With his Salomon skis and his Rossi boots. I'd asked him the night before the brand of the skis he had, but he didn't know. Oldsters are into equipment, it appears youngsters are not.

And just as we were getting to the Back Bowls, Don informed me Wyatt had to eat.

This didn't make sense to me, we'd only been out there for an hour, I'd given him most of my Balance Bar... But it appears young kids don't suck it up, they need to be fed on time.

This is after Wyatt and I rode up Chair 14 with a young girl and her father. The father, a banker from San Diego, was voluble and thrilled we were both there with youngsters. But Wyatt couldn't get over the fact that Claire was meek and short and was in the fifth grade when he was only in third! He kept mentioning it during the day. Kids have their own social hierarchy, actually, thinking back, it's worse than that of adults.

So after we stopped at Two Elk to pee and feed Wyatt pizza and chips, we ventured to China Bowl, and then Siberia. And then we convinced Felice to go to Blue Sky, which is not easy.

Ultimately, the group broke up, Felice and Jenny back to Two Elk and us guys up Pete's to Grand Review. But it turned out the women didn't stop in Two Elk, when we got there at 2:45 they were nowhere to be found. Still, Wyatt needed the break, to warm his feet. I told him my dogs felt the same way too. This is when he also informed me, as we were drinking hot chocolate, that those slices of pizza earlier were just a snack, on a normal day he'd eat TWO pizzas! But this was not a normal day, we were skiing 20,000 vertical feet.

So with Wyatt flummoxed at the top of Grand Review, I decided to lead.

Now like I said, it's inundated with trees, you make your own route. And it's just long enough to be too long for most people, everybody stops. But not me. Then again, should I? To give "tired" Wyatt a break?

And what route should I take? Should I be worried about skiing between tight trees? Would I be responsible if he hit one, they're very unforgiving, usually you die, would his parents ever forgive me, would I ever get over it?

Then again, I didn't tell Wyatt to follow me.

And I threw in more turns than usual. And I crossed the slope a bit. Figuring if Wyatt was following me, I'd give him a fighting chance.

But when I didn't stop and I was cruising quickly, I figured there was no way he'd be behind me. I didn't look, because that's a route to disaster, skiing demands total focus, or you fall.

But I'm zipping by everybody else on the slope. The snow is good, but there are some firm spots. And my feet are frozen but I'm digging it, I don't want to sacrifice, that's one of the reasons I didn't have kids to begin with. I didn't want to stop and wait, I was enjoying testing the limits.

And when I got to the catwalk, which Wyatt refers to as "Flat Jacks," I stopped, exhaled and...

Wyatt was right there behind me.


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Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution

We went with the Strasburgs to the Swiss Chalet. Remember that SNL skit with Garrett Morris, SEND US YOUR FONDUE FORKS!? Well, at the Swiss Chalet they're still using them, and to be honest I haven't eaten that much in a year, I mean can you say no to chocolate fondue?

And at first we covered Wyatt's story. How Greta is torturing him, how he's involved in this Odyssey Project, where he and his buddies are competing to build a mobile vehicle in eight minutes that will fit in two suitcases. Wyatt is nine. Don said he looked bored, so we asked him questions. Funny with little kids, you alternately tease them and ask them sincere questions. Does he have a girlfriend? What books is he reading?

And Don and I talked the obligatory music business, it's so different talking to a promoter as opposed to a label person, it's all about whether you can sell tickets or not.

And then we talked about revolution.

Last night Don was with a seventy year old who spoke of music's leading role in the youthquake of the sixties. The question is, can it happen again?

First is the threshold question, do you want a revolution?

I do. I'm willing to sacrifice, I want change, the end of income inequality, opportunity for all. But I know many don't agree with me. On both the left and the right. Unlike in my formative years, wealth is no longer inherited, it's made. And people worked really damn hard to make it, and they have contempt for those who did not. This is a gigantic problem. Along with the fact that no one involved in the 2008 Wall Street crash went to jail. They jailed the bankers in Iceland and the country rebounded. Here, the aftermath of the crash lingers on.

And then there are the people who like things the way they are. I'm confounded. I remember when skiing was a middle class sport. But a lift ticket at Vail this week is $209, and I got on the lift with a class of youngsters all decked out in Bogner and Moncler, and as Jenny said about Wyatt, they outgrow this stuff in a year. But most people have never flown private, they've got no idea how the rich really live.

So I ask you once again, do you want a revolution?

You could lose out. What comes first, your job or what's right?

But assuming you want a revolution, what is the trigger?

Don said it would be like Kent State, some trigger-happy person shooting David Hogg and some other anti-gun protesters.

I'm not sure that would do it, horrible, of course, but would there be a national uproar?

I thought it would be when they got rid of abortion, but it's nearly impossible to get an abortion in certain states today and there's been no conflagration, so I don't think that will be it. Which begs the question, can anything trigger a revolution in America?

Don talked about the environment. But we've had hurricanes and fires, and still there's been no revolution.

And in the sixties, everybody under twenty five was a Democrat, and that's no longer true.

And all males were afraid of getting their ass shot off in Vietnam, there is no draft today.

Then again we had leaders.

We've got no leaders today.

We've got brands, that's the goal of seemingly all youngsters, to capitalize on their "talent" and fame to make money. As for saying no, I never hear that word, no one leaves money on the table.

Then I thought of the Arab Spring, how an overeducated fruit vendor reached his limit, was willing to sacrifice. Is that how it's gonna happen here?

And then we get back to leaders. You literally put a target on your back, Abraham, Martin and John were shot. Are you willing to risk death?

And if you raise your head above, believe me you get feedback, hate mail, you become an instant pariah. I know, I experience it every day, I'm gonna get it in response to this diatribe. People don't want you to speak your truth, especially if it's not theirs. Everybody wants you to stay in your own lane, but this is not how history works.

Martin Luther King was a preacher, but he became a civil rights leader. And fifty years later despite his lionization, there's still hatred, states that won't make his birthday a holiday.

Everybody's trying to pull you down into the hole they're in.

That's a paraphrase of a line in Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." Dylan got so frustrated, watch "Don't Look Back," that he removed himself from the dialogue.

Then again, the leaders of the sixties revolution were middle class, educated. Whereas today the middle class is shrinking, and everybody's worried about economics, whether they can eat and have a roof over their head. You could have a minimum wage job and make it back then, now you can't.

And there are a lot of issues. Shouldn't health care be a right? The newspapers are debating whether outsiders should get into Harvard. Those in the upper class who've sent their kids to private schools don't want this. So is it class warfare or ideological warfare or...

And Don said the revolution won't come from pop music.

And I agree. And I also don't know if the revolution can come from music at all, it's not the sixties with the advent of the Beatles and the addiction to radio. But even more it's values, doing what is right is less important than doing what will fatten your wallet.

And I can't say that we came to any conclusions. Turns out we all want change, we're all up for revolution, but we could not figure out what the hot button issue would be and who would trigger it.

And maybe we're too far gone. Have you been reading about that book "How Democracies Die"? We're on the road to destruction, first and foremost the leader minimizes the media, labels it untrustworthy and demands faith in himself, only he knows what's right. And no matter what Trump does my inbox fills up with people who says he's right and I just don't get it. They employ expletives, they use racial and scatological epithets. They want to shut me down.

But the issue is bigger than Trump.

It's bigger than immigration.

Or as Rodney King once said, "Can't we just get along?"

It appears not.

Is change a-comin'?

You tell me.


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Bad Bunny

What kind of crazy fucked-up world do we live in where Trump ignores Puerto Rico after the hurricane and the biggest act in the world today is Bad Bunny, from the destroyed island?

Fox News is spinning in its grave. Because Bad Bunny owns Christmas, he's everything the whites are against, people of color supposedly taking their jobs, their culture and if you deny this...

You're part of the problem. Just like all the people who are afraid to call themselves Republicans so they keep protesting they're independents when they've never voted for a Democrat in their life.

In case you missed the memo, and you probably did, because paying attention to the news is a 24/7 job and you're more worried about what's happening in D.C. than on Spotify, Bad Bunny released an album on Christmas Eve and it's exploding.

Used to be no one put out music in January, Van Halen made a big statement releasing "1984" at the beginning of the month of that year, but now...

Music never sleeps. Acts are always putting out new music. Fourth quarter, fourth schmauter. Holiday releases are physical product and Christmas music. Otherwise, the goal is just to get people to stream. Hell, Bad Bunny's "X100PRE" doesn't even have a physical release. The music business has moved beyond that, unlike the book business. You don't have to print in advance, you're ready when the music is ready. This is what digital/the internet allows, and it's good for art. After all, isn't the best art about capturing lightning in a bottle?

And Bad Bunny started on Soundcloud. Once again, white people keep bitching about the net eviscerating their business, they want to get paid, just today I got another one of those inane e-mails about low Spotify payments...you're missing the memo, jump in, the water is fine!

Seemingly everybody ruling the charts today started by giving it away for free. They didn't wait for a gatekeeper to say yes, for a label to give them money, they just started, they just played. And sure, most of them failed, but not all of them.

And while Trump shuts down the government saying it's important to keep the brown people out, veiled racism at best, a brown person rules in music. And the great thing about music is it doesn't matter what it looks like, just what it sounds like, so it's open to everybody!

And sure, Puerto Rico is part of America, but ask Trump and his supporters whether they truly believe that.

And Bad Bunny's music certainly doesn't sound like classic rock, so the fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd and modern country avoid it, pooh-pooh it, yet it's infiltrating the culture. It's just like Kodak and digital cameras. We keep hearing that whites will become a minority in the U.S. but it doesn't happen, and then it does, overnight. So many musicians are people of color. And Latin music has finally hit the mainstream, it was just not about "Despacito."

It's happening in music. The distribution wars are over, streaming won, you can get everything for one low price per month. Now the focus is on software, i.e. the music itself. And those taking chances are young with nothing to lose. They're experimenting, collaborating, building it from the ground up. And it's incomprehensible to those who lived under the old umbrella.

There's a burgeoning scene in music. It's finally going somewhere, the endless dominance of hip-hop in this century is fracturing. There are new sounds, oftentimes growing out of hip-hop, and it's exciting.

But none of the media outlets and gatekeepers can adjust to this new world. They want one chart with defined hits and defined stars. They want to be in control of who makes it and who doesn't. But those days are through. The creators are in charge of music. They can just post it to streaming services and triumph. They don't need radio or TV, those are afterthoughts. They're just infecting the hard core, their fan base, until they become so big others get clued in.

There is something happening here, and it certainly isn't exactly clear, but it's exciting.

Music may change the world once again, just you watch!


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The Kennedy Center Honors

If I could turn back time, I wouldn't watch this show.

Welcome to the twenty first century, where old media has not caught up with new.

First and foremost, special events must be televised live, or we don't care. You see we read all about these events after they're recorded and before they air, there is no surprise. But the producers and acts are afraid of live. Well, welcome to the now, where mistakes are badges of honor, where they evidence your humanity, where if we want it perfect we can listen to the recording.

That's why people go to the gig, to experience something different, when you know the answer to the question, why play the game?

This is the difference between now and then. We want to live in the moment. We want the edges. We want to feel part of the show. Or no go.

And these people honored who've risen above, don't expect many of them in the future, no one can get that much mindshare. Except for maybe Lin-Manuel, and isn't it interesting that he did it by creating a live experience that you couldn't, experience that is. Never underestimate the power of sold out, the inability to go, exclude someone and they're dying to go. In other words, "Hamilton" is unlike a movie, it doesn't play for a weekend, it plays forever. And it features real people instead of comic book characters.

This is important. You've got to downgrade your estimate of stardom. If you're shooting for the top, you'll be lucky if you make it to the middle. People now have options and most don't want to spend time with you, they like something different. Without MTV, Cyndi Lauper does not appear on this show. That channel and its limited offerings, which weren't available on most cable systems at first, made Lauper a star. Not that she was not deserving, but today if you're on MTV...when was the last time MTV created a star, since the 16 and pregnant people?

As for Cher...

It's the power of a great song. When Lauper sang "Turn Back Time," it fell flat. The hit was the video, not the song, with Cher and the ass tattoo and the strutting and the sexuality... Lauper evidences no sexuality, that's not her game. As for the song... Sure, automatons in the audience stood up and danced, but that's probably because they were bored on their asses for the hours it takes to film one of these shows.

But "I Got You Babe"...

That's the funny thing, the personalities die and the work remains. What did you create, what did you leave? If it's good enough, you'll be remembered, if not, SAYONARA!

So the concept of a smorgasbord awards show is done, history, toast. From the Oscars to the Grammys, not enough people care, no one wants to be that bored, that's why they turn to their phones. I certainly did during this trip back to the last century. To keep our attention you must be great, you must have edge, you must be pushing the envelope. Is there anybody in creation who loves those Grammy duets? They satisfy no one but the producer, they aren't Grammy Moments but Shammy Shenanigans that are instantly forgotten unless they're train-wrecks.

First they came for the classical, then they excised the jazz and the country, all to get you to watch the Grammys, but you stopped. You never cared about who won, but you do want to see your favorite acts live. Which is why we watched "Ed Sullivan," we had no other options! Do you really think we wanted to watch Topo Gigio?

I'm not saying you can't acknowledge a person's life work. I'm just saying that in the future, most people won't care, maybe won't even know who that person is and certainly won't tune in for the ceremony.

As for the production...

Prince owned the Super Bowl and Aretha owned the Kennedy Center Honors.

Give an NBA player the ball with seconds to go and they'll deliver.

Give a has-been performer the mic and they'll see it as just another exposure, when the truth is we remember when you hit a grand slam, these are the moments worth living for, and if you can't deliver them, maybe you shouldn't show up on stage.

But that's modern America, where no one can say no, believing exposure is everything and if people just saw you, they'd like you.

No.

Furthermore, anything worth watching is available online instantly.

And if it's great we watch it over and over.

Hell, why would you watch SNL in real time?

Hell, I watched this show to placate the family, to be a member of the group, but there were no hosannas, because the production fell flat.

That's another thing about art, especially music. It's oftentimes singular, a bolt from the heavens into the brain/body of the performer. But TV shows are made by committee, trying to please everybody and ending up appealing to nobody. And no one can say no.

Isn't it interesting that most truly great artists are mercurial, they haven't got time to listen to your opinion, they're too busy doing it their way, and if you don't let them...

So we've got the schism between the old and the new, between the networks and the streaming services, between the oldsters and the youngsters.

But the truth is for decades we were hung up on our devices, that's what we thought the tech revolution was all about.

But truly, it's about software, we're only seeing the after-effects now.

Why go to the theatre when you can watch it on Netflix?

You can build it yourself on social networks and Spotify.

The world is changing, but too many don't want it too, won't acknowledge it.

Isn't that what's happening in governments around the world? People agitating on the right to bring the old days back, Carol Burnett and the Sonny & Cher show?

But that ain't ever gonna happen. We've been blasted into the future, where everything's up for grabs. New people will be winners, color won't matter, it's those who use the new tools best, who understand the culture best, who will emerge victorious.

And once again, music is the on the bleeding edge, the canary in the coal mine.

We've got creators using the new tools to make, distribute and promote their wares.

We own live performance.

As usual music gets no respect, but everything's going our way.

Into the land of cacophony, where it's all about building an audience and serving it. Mass is dead, that's why pop expired.

The king is dead.

Long live the king.


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Old People Don't Stream

I was riding the lift today with a mother who told me her 12 and 14 year olds would never be seen on Facebook, a hundred times no. They wouldn't even use public Instagram.

Meanwhile, the media is in an uproar over the influence of Facebook on politics. Could it be that the target has shifted?

Last week, a rapper I'll posit most boomers have never heard the music of, never mind his name, was #1 on the "Billboard" album chart. Kodak Black only sold 5,000 copies of his album "Dying To Live," but he had 114 million streams for the equivalent of 89,000 album sales. Not that that means what it used to. You can buy an album and never listen to it, we've got no idea how many times you play it. But a stream means you actually listened, even if it's in the background. But you didn't necessarily stream the album, you probably only streamed the "hit." Actually, on "Dying To Live," there's one cut with triple digit million streams, and four with double digit millions. The rest are in single digits, it appears that people are cherry-picking their favorites. And then there's the canard that rappers put out long albums to reap rewards when fans play them endlessly, but why do a number of cuts on "Dying To Live" only have one or two million streams?

We're still trying to figure out this streaming/on demand paradigm. It's been here for nearly a decade, but we're still arguing about what the album means, frequency of releases, the impact of hype, the genre of music...

And speaking of hype, "Dying To Live" got a tiny fraction of that of "Springsteen on Broadway," seemingly every boomer was aware of the play, and now the Netflix production. "Springsteen on Broadway" is #11 on the chart, with 38,000 sales...

But only 1.8 million streams.

That's right, there's only one track on "Dying To Live" with fewer streams than the total streams of all the cuts on "Springsteen on Broadway," and that cut is #15, the second to last.

In other words, boomers don't stream.

How could this BE? Especially with Spotify's free tier, never mind YouTube.

As for buying albums, where and how do you play them? If you get a CD... My two computers don't have a CD drive, and neither do new cars. As for files, you probably are still inured to iTunes, an overstuffed cornucopia of offerings that works poorly on the desktop, and only marginally better on the hand-held.

And 38,000 sales is anemic to boot!

Now if you read Jon Pareles's Sunday "Times" article "Pop in the Era of Distraction": https://nyti.ms/2VcEBFu you'll get a good picture of what's going on in today's music business, at least on the recording side. Traditional pop is almost dead, and there's a plethora of genres and formats triumphing, some of which you might not know. But the article only got 11 comments. In other words, the "New York Times" has almost no impact on the music scene, nada. Not a single person e-mailed me about the article. It appears Pareles is speaking to oldsters, who just don't care. Because believe me, the music world is an active one, fans weigh in on everything.

But that's modern America, where the cheese keeps moving but everyone wants to neglect it. If you're playing to the "Times," you've lost it, unless you're trying to influence gatekeepers, who mean less than ever before.

So why aren't boomers streaming?

They could be afraid of coughing up their credit cards. I kid you not, boomers are paranoid.

Or maybe they just cannot adjust to an on demand economy where you don't need to own almost anything other than clothing. You call up Uber/Lyft, you rent your apartment, you spend on digital goods and evanescent experiences. The boomer mantra was "He or she who dies with the most toys wins." Millennials don't cotton to that, although you might substitute the word "followers" for "toys."

But it gets worse, without big streaming numbers, acts get no traction.

Old acts selling new music, marginal acts selling new music, should be getting their fans to stream. Instead, they're against Spotify, et al, and keep on going on about how an album used to cost $10+ and streaming pays poorly. But the truth is streaming is about fandom, if anybody is streaming your music prodigiously, they're a fan, and they'll pay to see you live and buy merch and...

Boomer and marginal acts are nonstarters, because they're adhering to an old paradigm. They're appealing to people who still use iPods, who base their phone purchases on storage.

That's another thing you no longer need, a lot of memory. Remember when you used to wait for the release of a bigger iPod? Now, with everything on demand, you don't need that much.

So the chart is not reflective of reality.

And the only chart that really matters is one of consumption. But if you go to that, all the old acts would never break the Top Ten. But do they deserve to? Is selling an album with tickets and/or merch really reflective of the new music's impact and staying power? Almost never.

It's kind of like winning a Grammy. Just check the streams and sales of so much nominated work in minor categories. The creators are playing to the Grammy nominating committee, no one else cares, truly!

But the Grammys were always a circle jerk anyway.

But the people who keep saying they know most, who rail against inequities, are the ones most disconnected from modern paradigms. Like that Congressman who asked the head of Google about his iPhone. Or that woman trying to fill up her Tesla at the gas station: https://bit.ly/2AfCAji

Maybe Congress should be run by youngsters. Maybe tech policy should not be made by old farts.

But one thing's for sure, music is now an on demand item. Hell, that's one reason Alexa is so successful, you just call out what you want.

But if you read the "Billboard" chart, you'd have no idea of this. The standard of an industry that had to be led kicking and screaming into the twenty first century. But the industry loves the ancient chart, because of the bragging rights of #1s.

Who cares?

Only them.


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Pretty Ballerina

"And when I see the sign that points one way"

I didn't know there was a real Renee.

I've been trying to finish this book, it's a real chore. It's called "Bel Canto" and don't e-mail me your review, because I know it will contain the ending and spoil it for me. Then again, you know these people who always have to blurt out the ending, as if it's a badge of honor, that they read the damn book or saw the movie... Everybody's insecure, everybody's trying to climb the ladder, everybody's trying to show you they're better than you are until they aren't. Then again, some of the most successful people on the planet have no airs and never reveal their accomplishments. Happens all the time, you're in the room with a famous rock star, and they introduce themselves with their complete name, both first and last, what are you supposed to say, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE?!! And when you reach a certain age, you stop boasting. There's nothing worse than a baby boomer telling you how much he has, where he's been, what he's done, didn't he get the memo, didn't he ever grow up, everybody's on their own trip, and none of us are better than any other and it all doesn't matter. I know, I know, you don't want to believe this, but hopefully you'll realize this someday, if you ever grow up.

And "Bel Canto" is what broke Ann Patchett, made her career. I read one of the follow-up books, "Commonwealth," and it didn't really go anywhere, it didn't have an arc, now I'm wondering if it's just not that book, but the writer herself, who is venerated because she opened a bookshop.

I don't know if you saw that article in the NYT the other day how they're running out of printing inventory, how they can't print enough books for the holidays. I have contempt for the book business, because those who run it are holier-than-thou, think they're better than us. But they haven't been disrupted because there's just not enough money in it. But it's gonna happen, because disruption never sleeps. Through the luck of the court system the publishing industry got pricing power over e-books, that's what killed 'em, when they were the same price as the hardcover. It's like saying Uber costs as much as driving a car, that's why most people haven't switched, haven't given up their automobiles, but when it becomes cheaper... But these are the same people saying on demand, self-driving vehicles will never arrive. These are the same people who can't see the humor in Teslas farting. That's right, Elon Musk sent the software overnight and announced it on Twitter, your car can now fart. Funny for a car that makes no noise.

But older people abhor the future. America hates change. Businesses must last forever. But they don't.

So my eyes are glazing over as I'm reading "Bel Canto." And that's when I pick up my phone.

That's what every entertainment option is competing against, the mobile handset, right there on a slab is info tailored just for me, and today there was a link to:

"These People Are The Inspirations Behind Some of the Most Beautiful Songs Ever Written": https://bit.ly/2QSz8W6

DON'T CLICK, IT'S A COOKIE MAGNET!

That's when you know a site is low rent, when at the bottom of the page it includes garbage links hosted by other sites. A real publication will have links to its own site, a page that is only in it for the money will carry this dreck that they just hope you click on, so they can get paid.

And it's always some story with a picture and...

Frequently, that picture never shows up as you click through fifteen slides or so.

But it's worse, you've got to figure out where to click, so you don't end up at some other site whose ad was embedded in this garbage site to begin with.

And a tsunami of cookies descends as you click through the slides. You're giving away your identity, your privacy, as you click through. So, if you've got to hit the link above, copy and paste it into a private web page. Then again, does anybody know how to do this? Kids do, parents don't. The internet is a self-learning curve, your entry fee is your device and your access fee, after that, the potholes are everywhere, it is not safe, it's like walking alone in the Tenderloin...

Well, the Tenderloin is improving, but you get the point.

But the reason I clicked through is because the lead picture was of Axl Rose and...it didn't look like Erin Everly to me, who did he write "Sweet Child O' Mine" for?

And for some reason I'm less worried about the cookie influx on my iPhone, figuring I can wipe out all the cookies at once, or maybe I've just given up, throwing my privacy to the wind.

So I'm clicking through, and stunningly it is Erin Everly and I already knew that, it's like a test, you know this stuff but it's deep in your memory banks and then, on slide 19, I was avoiding "Bel Canto," I tell you, appeared the headline:

"Walk Away Renee" by the Left Banke

Some songs are bigger in the afterlife than they were as hits. When "Walk Away Renee" climbed the chart, never to the top, it was just a piece of what once was, just another hit song when we were all addicted and so many cuts were great.

And then came the covers. By everyone from the Four Tops to Rickie Lee Jones.

It turns out "Walk Away Renee" is part of the national fabric, embedded in boomers' minds, Gen-X'ers too, but I don't think those of millennials. So many songs are gonna be lost.

Proven by the point that the drone creating this page doesn't even know that the pic is not of Renee, but Rickie Lee Jones. And, if you're on a desktop computer, you can scroll down to #19, you don't have to click through, and you will find that "Walk Away Renee" was written about Renne Fladen-Kamm.

Hmm... I immediately went to Google. Renne has a Wikipedia page, but I had to click on Images to see a picture.

Turns out she was a band member's girlfriend, and Michael Brown, nee Michael Lookofsky, had a crush on her.

Are all great songs based on real people?

I guess that's why we rockers avoided Nashville. We wanted songs channeled straight from the hearts of the writers/performers. We wanted honesty, we wanted truth. Back before the days of artifice, with corporate rock and blockbuster films like "Jaws," when music was personal and intimate and if it resonated, it lit up your whole life.

But "Walk Away Renee" was not the Left Banke's only hit.

There were two more, but one sounded very similar, "Pretty Ballerina."

It was released just about now back in '66. And it turns out Brown wrote this too about Renne Fladen-Kamm, talk about a fixation!

Then again, this is typical of guys. Girls talk about romance, guys keep it inside, but if you can open them up, they always talk about the one who got away, oftentimes one who they never had a thing with, like Renne.

"I had a date with a pretty ballerina"

They tell me kids don't date anymore, that they go out in groups, hook up, but it used to be you had to get up your gumption, keep that inner mounting flame of hope lit, and while praying that you wouldn't get rejected, ask.

And it was always days before, you went out on Saturday night, so if she said yes you had days to ponder your luck, your good feeling.

And sometimes the date wasn't as good as expected, once you two were alone, you found out you didn't like her, you didn't click, then other times...

You were in love. Even if she wasn't.

"I called her yesterday, it should have been tomorrow
I could not keep this joy that was inside"

She's all you can think about, you're thinking she feels the same way as you. But that's not always true.

"I beg for her to tell me if she really loved me
Somewhere a mountain is moving
Afraid it's moving without me"

You lie on your bed, too devastated to play a record, infused with the hurt, you want to die.

"And when I wake on that dreary Sunday morning
I open up my eyes to find there's rain
And something strange within says go ahead and find her
Just close your eyes, yeah, just close your eyes
And she'll be there
She'll be there
She'll be there"

Even though you were rejected, you cannot get over her.

Sometimes you never even talked to her and you cannot get over her.

So it's after dark on Christmas, a meaningless day for Jews, and I go to Spotify and play "Pretty Ballerina" on Spotify.

I didn't even bother with headphones. The music came out of the tiny iPhone speakers and I suddenly felt warm, alone but happy, knowing this is the essence, why music is the hottest medium, why it means so much to me, when it clicks, it makes me feel like I belong when I don't.

https://spoti.fi/2GEGRCh

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Trump Breaks The Stock Market

You don't mess with people's money. Social issues are one thing, cash is another. That's how we got into this mess, people left behind by globalization and the crash of 2008. Or did we? Did Trump supporters want their piece of the pie, or were they just racist whites railing against change?

We may never know.

But one thing we do know is Trump is single-handedly putting the market in the dumper. And the market affects everyone. Not only their job, but their savings. How many people are so ignorant as to think otherwise? Maybe these same people who survive on government safety net programs and vote Republican.

Trump is a man for the internet/social media era. The only problem is he's President. Trump understands that in an attention based economy, you've got to make news every day. Only he's no longer just the host of "The Apprentice," but running the country. How long until the outrage spreads?

Maybe never. Maybe his acolytes are like those of Taylor Swift, dug in deep, supporting everything she does. Ever criticize a social media/entertainment star? Be ready for your inbox to explode, everywhere online you'll be excoriated, to the point where most people retreat. That's their game, getting you to shut up. Opponents are working the refs every day, to cause a chilling effect. That's what the Supreme Court decides, whether a law inhibits free speech, not only literally but whether it inhibits people from speaking. Then again, the Supreme Court is now stacked, because people with little power don't see that courts are their last resort, and the more they're in the hands of corporations, they're screwed.

But corporations and banks used to be the enemy. Wall Street broke the economy. GM and Chrysler were not prepared for change. Now it's the government. The government used to fix the problem, now it causes it? Lincoln spoke of a "government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish." Then again, the Gettysburg Address was uttered when the country was tearing itself apart, south versus north, and that division is happening again today. There's a faction of America that wants to keep the status quo, that refuses to move forward, and if you don't think suppression of the ACA is such, then you don't understand how health is the bedrock of humanity. In Canada, you can change your job and keep your health insurance, in America, you're tied to your gig, which may be expiring due to no effort of your own.

So they say that Trump got elected because of a backlash against 2008, that no one went to jail. So what happens now?

When the Oscars take place, there's no doubt that the best movie of the year was Trump and his shenanigans. If it wasn't true, we wouldn't believe it. Untold twists and turns. Riveting. It dominated, everything else was a sideshow. It was the only thing we could watch.

Because our lives and livelihoods hang in the balance.


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They Got A Wall In China

"They got a wall in China
It's a thousand miles long
To keep out the foreigners
They made it strong"

Paul Simon's solo debut, not counting the "Songbook" album that was rushed to the American market after the success of "Sound of Silence," was a commercial disappointment. Sure, "Mother and Child Reunion" was a hit, and "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard" had impact, but the audience was expecting Simon & Garfunkel and got something darker and more introspective.

But those who purchased the LP were rewarded with some of Paul Simon's best work. Like "Armistice Day" and "Duncan."

And seemingly pissed at the lack of acceptance, little more than a year later, Simon released an album with a hit that dominated the airwaves and sold prodigiously.

That LP is entitled "There Goes Rhymin' Simon."

At this point, Paul Simon is seen as an appropriator of foreign sounds, known primarily for "Graceland," and one must applaud Simon's continuation of exploration, his decision not to rest on his laurels, but if you go back and play "Rhymin' Simon" you'll be stunned, it's one of the best albums ever made.

They say rock is dead. The call Elton pop. But back in the early seventies, it was a big tent, it was all rock. Guitars were king, piano accepted, real strings too, and we appreciated it all.

Now when "Rhymin' Simon" came out, FM radio was in full swing. But every car did not have that band installed, so AM still counted, and "Kodachrome" was ubiquitous, so somehow in rock history "Rhymin' Simon" has been forgotten, seen as not hip enough, neither fish nor fowl, then again the best stuff always is.

And the above lines from "Something So Right" have been going through my head the past week or so, as the government approached a shutdown and then closed. You see it's about the wall.

Nixon visited China in 1972, knowing that you could not ignore a nation this large. But now, as our country is entwined with the foreign power, we've got a White House that's trying to separate us from it, teach China a lesson.

But those days have passed. Why do Republicans want to jet back to the past? We live in a global village, globalization happened, it's to our country's advantage, you've got to adjust to it.

But our nation abhors change, no one can lose their job, no one can sacrifice, meanwhile the Silicon Valley titans sewed up the globe.

Think about that, a prodigious wall built a century ago. Has China maintained it? No, other than as a tourist attraction. It's kind of like guns, if you think they're going to keep you safe from government overreach, you know nothing about technology, a world in which a drone can kill you in your own home. Building a wall to keep foreigners out in the twenty first century is not only ignoring technology, but practicality, what's preventing immigrants from utilizing a really big ladder? There cannot be guards on its entire length... We've got invisible dog fences, but somehow nitwits see a giant edifice as a solution. Then again, what is the problem? Net immigration from Mexico is zero, once again, it's about preserving a past that no longer exists, our nation is no longer white, it's more homogeneous, did you ever watch MTV decades ago, have you ever looked at the ethnicity of the hit parade?

Now as I've been playing "Rhymin' Simon" today, another track jumped out. That's what's intriguing about great art, it's set in stone, but it reveals itself over time, you grow with it, as you age and gain experience.

"You got to learn how to fall
Before you learn to fly"

This is why I'm against outsiders in government, people with no experience coming in to "fix" things. Politics is a profession, experience counts, as does failure, isn't that the mantra of Silicon Valley?

"Oh, and it's the same old story
Ever since the world began
Everybody got the runs for glory"

Men driven by testosterone, looking for attention and accolades, whipping out their members to show how powerful they are, what a joke. This is why women run the world, they're more balanced, they're big on a sense of community, men are oftentimes solo vessels, believing they need no one else when that could not be further from the truth.

And every day there's news from the White House. As Trump whipsaws the country.

As "Learn How To Fall" continues, it says:

"Nobody stop and scrutinize the plan
Nobody stop and scrutinize the plan
Nobody stop and scrutinize the plan"

It's all over Twitter today, there is no adult supervision, there is no plan.

Now if you're rich and you support Trump, I get it, after all, he lowered your taxes.

If you're anti-safety net, I get it too. But just admit it, you want no takers, you want everybody in America to fight on their own. Then again, be sure you yourself are not a beneficiary of government money, just read about Harlan County, Kentucky in yesterday's "Times": "Where Government Is a Dirty Word, but its Checks Pay the Bills": https://nyti.ms/2AaPhf7

Then again, you probably don't read the "Times" if you're a Trumpster.

And I don't expect to convince you, and don't expect to convince me, I'm just lying on the floor listening to a forty five year old record with more wisdom than anybody in the executive branch.

https://spoti.fi/2Tau4cn


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Twitter-It's A News Network

There are two kinds of people, those who check their Twitter feed incessantly and those who don't. And those who do are newshounds.

Lumped in with Facebook and Snapchat, Twitter evolved into something completely different, and it's running our country.

Forget all the people seeing Trump's tweets, the news media is addicted, it disseminates anything of interest.

And that brings us back to followers. The numbers are inflated, not only by bots, but by dropouts. People are intrigued by Twitter and then abandon the service, they say it's too hard to figure out, but the truth is it's not providing what they're looking for, amplification of their identity, attention. You can tweet and it's like a tree falling in the forest, does anybody hear it? Usually not. Whereas if you post a pic on Instagram, people can ooh and ahh, theoretically you can sell advertising, theoretically get rich, but there's no getting rich on Twitter, it's all about information, have you got any?

Sure, famous people have huge followings. But you rarely hear about what they post because it's only interesting to their acolytes.

But really, Twitter is where you link to stories, post facts, where news breaks.

The major media outlets are afraid of breaking news, unless it's confirmed, they're worried about their credibility. So their writers play on Twitter first. The "New York Times," "The Washington Post," "The Wall Street Journal." As for Fox, the TV station is mostly opinion, and it's rarely off the cuff, it's set in stone long before, then again, what is said can make it on to Twitter. As for Fox's website, it's full of minor stories, it's more Facebook than news outlet, more "People" magazine than the "Economist."

As for Facebook... That's about family, it's about sharing. As for advertising, the rules are such that unless you're a hefty player, you can't, because the service makes you pay too much to reach people. It's easy to reach people on Twitter, assuming they're following you and are reading, and those are two big assumptions. Meaning, if you've got a minor story, chances are it will not be heard, sorry.

As for news for the rest of us, never underestimate Apple's News app, which has now made it to the desktop. It's curated and better-looking and more easily used than Google News. But Apple has a tiny market share.

But Apple News is not interactive, like Twitter. You can play if you'd like.

But mostly, Twitter is where you graze and pick up stories, where you get the temperature of the country, where you find out what's going on.

The 280 character limit increase made no difference. Because it turns out those complaining about restrictions were not regular tweeters. Twitter is not a game, it's the heartbeat of America.


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2018-What We Learned-Part One

THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET POORER

This is what the internet has wrought, people flock to the popular. In a sea of chaos, you migrate to what is anointed. Therefore, Drake rules and your rock band is unknown.

For those not rich it's important to do an attitudinal reset. Try not to get rich, try not to be a household name, focus on your fanbase, extract cash from it and depend upon these fans to spread the word and grow your audience and career. Don't e-mail unsolicited songs to "tastemakers" and "gatekeepers," it's a complete waste of time. Don't hire a publicity person. Don't do anything but make music and post it online. And if you want to throw in some social media efforts to fan the flame of fandom, that's good too. Bond with your audience, know who your fans are, not only with an e-mail list, but saying hi at shows. Fans will be there and do anything for you, don't be afraid to ask. But don't be tempted into thinking you're just a step away from stardom, you're not. But there's plenty of money to be made. Instead of bitching about streaming payments, be thrilled that everybody can hear your music for free if they choose to. Chances are in the old, pre-internet era, you wouldn't have a career at all. Play live. This is where the money is made and the fan relationship is cemented. You can make a ton of money being a semi-known. And if trends turn, there's a chance it could be your turn for stardom, but don't count on it.

THE MONEY IS ON THE ROAD

You can make and distribute a record without Universal, but you can't tour without a promoter, most notably Live Nation and AEG. Michael Rapino and Jay Marciano are much more important than Lucian Grainge it's just that the media has not caught up with this fact. The story has been about the loss of recording revenue and the recent rebound as a result of streaming, meanwhile live has been burgeoning for decades. Furthermore, live is a one of a kind experience in a digitally replicated world, it's the difference between having sex with a significant other and masturbating to porn online. And, once you've made it, the promoter gives you all of the gate, whereas the label owns your recording, pays a low royalty and screws you on the payment thereof. Expect continued disruption in the recorded music space. The majors' power is in radio and TV and newspapers, all of which mean less than ever before and will continue to shrink in power. You do need a bank, you do need a team, but not necessarily the Big Three.

STREAMING IS HERE TO STAY

If you hear anybody bitching about Spotify, stop listening to them.

THE CHARTS ARE BROKEN

The only meaningful chart is the streaming one. The Nielsen chart in "Billboard" is a complete joke, factoring in sales, streams and album equivalents and... Future players will look at it like the incomprehensible Rosetta Stone. Then again, this ridiculous chart that counts ticket bundles serves the players, anybody can be number one for a week. But it's like winning a Grammy, people instantly forget, if they even know. We will go to a pure streaming chart, but not soon enough.

ALBUMS

What is it? A collection of songs? Up until the internet, the length of an album was determined by technology, it was limited. Now albums can be forever! Don't tell me about needing an LP for reviews, reviews are meaningless, across the board, in music, television and movies, even politics! It's about word of mouth. You want to satisfy two masters, yourself and your audience. You want to create enough to satisfy yourself and put out enough material to satisfy your audience. Fans want more material. Don't think about satiating potential fans, satiate the ones you've got. Keep in constant contact so they know when you've got a new release. Do live stuff on YouTube, Matt Nathanson put out an EP of Def Leppard covers. You may not know, you may not care, but his fans do. Take risks. But don't get locked into the old syndrome of ten tracks every other year.

HIP-HOP

It dominates, but it won't forever, it's just a matter of when. Hip-hop embraced streaming when rock rejected it. Hip-hop gave it away for free when rock was bitching it could not get paid. Hip-hop is today, rock is yesterday, but what is tomorrow? Know that melody and changes and a good voice never go out of style, NEVER! That's your easiest route to success if you're not a rapper. Do what you want to, what you feel inside, don't follow trends, that's for amateurs.

THIS BEAT IS KILLING COUNTRY MUSIC

Watch this video, all ten plus minutes of it. This evidences how lowest common denominator sounds are killing popular music. Grady Smith calls it "snaps." I call it an electronic sound that debuted in the eighties and was quickly superseded, kinda like synth solos, which Elton John and Keith Emerson employed and then abandoned, or maybe synth drums! This is what makes experienced listeners lament the quality of today's music.

https://bit.ly/2EHrxmR

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The Gingerbread House

I hate arts and craps.

That's what my sister Wendy called them, back when we all went to Camp JCC, in Stepney, CT.

When you're a six year old, riding the bus is a big thing. It picked us up in front of our house and escorted us upstate where at first our counselors were women, but when we got older men. Teenagers, in fact, but they seemed so old to us! And that's where I learned to swim, in the pee-infested kiddie pool, I remember the first step being the Dead Man's Float. I remember hovering in the water inside my mind, astounding I still do that today and I'm the same guy. And right after lunch...

We had arts and crafts.

I think I went once. But I didn't only avoid arts and crafts at camp, but in school too, I remember my third grade teacher, Mrs. Trainor, commenting on it. I just have no skill, no talent, I can't draw, I'm always amazed at those who can.

Like Ella. She was sitting next to us at the table. It was astounding to see her build her gingerbread house, you could see she had a future in the arts. But now, more than ever, it's a low-paying dead end, so she'll probably be a lawyer or a banker.

So I came in from skiing, and looking for hot chocolate, I stumbled upon a gingerbread house making activity. I entered the Cucina and watched the kids build and I said to myself "Felice has to see this."

I thought she'd resist, but I got her to come on down and...

She refused to build a house. She said I could. But I don't like to get my hands dirty.

Maybe that's one reason I resisted arts and crafts. And also it seemed pointless, creating something amateurish that even my mother wouldn't compliment.

But today, I decided to dive in.

Turns out the houses are pre-built. You've just got to decorate 'em. But how do you do this?

Well, there's pastry you squeeze out of a foil tube and various candies you can embed in the pastry and...

I was completely flummoxed, I didn't know how to start.

So I looked to the kids for inspiration.

Lexi had icicles hanging from under the eaves. I could never figure out how to do that.

Ella had built a snowman in the front yard.

Max's roof was embedded with candies symmetrically.

As for Seely... She was enjoying playing with the pastry, she was only six years old.

But they all had pastry on the edges, so I imitated that. Then I didn't know what to do next.

So Felice picked up the reins and created a treble clef.

That begat a conversation.

Seely's brother Max, two or three years older, told her she didn't know what it meant. But Seely did, she said MUSIC!

Ella turned out to play the guitar. And now keyboard. Funny how they no longer call it piano. She said she was in a band. The school teacher had exited the institution and started his own business and every Saturday they got together to play music. She picked up her phone, she's a ninth grader, and played me a song one of her friends wrote, and damn if it wasn't good. I mean one step away from commerciality.

Then Felice asked Ella what she listened to.

She said "The Killers."

And Lexi chimed in that she'd seen them live.

Did they like hip-hop?

NO!

Lexi's favorite band was Led Zeppelin.

Stifling my chuckle, I asked her her favorite track.

At first she couldn't come up with it, but then she took to Spotify, both Ella and Lexi have Spotify accounts, Ella testified about Discover Weekly, and then Lexi scrolled through her library and she found it...

D'YER MAKER!

I almost asked her if she knew what it meant, but then I thought better of it, especially since she wasn't old enough to understand anyway.

And Ella's house had a chunk taken out of the roof. She said it came that way, but she liked it, because it had CHARACTER! She knew more about art than the people spending millions to buy it. If you hang it symmetrically, I know you're ignorant. You've got to hang it so there's a tension between the art piece and the wall it's hanging upon. I learned this in college, Ella already knew it.

Meanwhile, the kids had used all the good candy, all that was left were stars and sparkles, and lord only knows how you got the sparkles to stick.

But Ella scrounged and gave us some of her rejects, and I installed some broken candy canes, and we were having a grand old time until...

The mothers came. That stifled the conversation. Suddenly, the kids weren't so talkative, they weren't revealing their inner thoughts, they were playing to their parents.

And I was worried if I kept up the conversation it wouldn't look good, so we all resorted to finishing our buildings.

Ella posted hers to Snapchat.

You can see ours here: https://bit.ly/2T2F6jC


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Misreading The Room

We're watching "Mrs. Maisel."

I know, I know, it won all those awards, but it's on Amazon, not Netflix or HBO, so there's just not the buzz, and the tone of the show goes from reality to farce and just when you're about to give up there's a moment of truth and your heart sighs.

Actually, I wanted to write about the first episode last night. The Lodge didn't have enough bandwidth for the big screen, so we ended up watching it side by side on the iPad, like Robin and John, that's Hickenlooper and I don't like to drop names but it's when we reveal our humanity that we bond to people, our insecurities, our peculiarities, our habits, we see ourselves in others' behavior, or we're just happy to know they're weird too.

Like Midge.

Actually, she's not that weird, she's just not doing what's expected of her. You grow up in a Jewish family and there are steps. You get good grades to get into a good college so you can become a professional so your parents don't have to worry about you. I know, I know, the gentiles read about the entertainers, the tech titans, but the rank and file Jew is looking for safety, then again, they're not boring in real life.

Like when the Weissmans checked into the Steiner Mountain Resort. They were bitching and talking over one another and that's exactly how it's always been in my life. Especially when my dad was alive, when we went on regular family vacations. Back before he passed in '92 and the estrogen trumped my testosterone. I can still whomp it up, but there's not room in the family, there are too many people talking, I just retreat into my own cocoon. That's where the books and records come in. "In My Room" is not one of my favorite Beach Boys songs, but I resonate with the sentiment. That's what I love about the internet, the stimulation at my fingertips. Those with enough action in their real lives abhor the internet, but for those of us a bit more introverted...

So in last night's episode, Midge spoke about the inspiration. Her husband leaving her. That's when she tried comedy. She spoke her truth, she was honest. And all the great work emanates from a similar place, someone with no place to go decides to press forward, because they just can't stay where they are. They don't worry about the consequences, they don't worry about the risk, they just act, in an unfiltered way. Which is why most people can't do it on a sustained basis. Once the rewards come in, they're inhibited, they're uncomfortable, except for legendarily irascible people like Van Morrison. That's the conundrum, you've got to be on the outside to make it on the inside, or to quote Bob Dylan, to live outside the law you must be honest, and Zimmy is coping by staying on the road, in his own personal fog, so he doesn't have to think too hard about his fame and his life, he just keeps playing, he's stripped it down to the essence.

And what draws people to "Mrs. Maisel" is story. It's king in America. We want to be taken on a journey, we want to forget about our troubles, we want to know how it all plays out.

And we want that honesty and truth, that's what we resonate with.

Like when Midge does her act at the wedding. At first there are laughs, then it's "Springtime For Hitler."

Jews know about this.

It's changing now, with intermarriage, but back when boomers were all told they had to marry within the faith, they went to shul, they went to summer camp, they spent most of their time with the tribe, and when they intersected with the goyim...

I remember working construction, however briefly, lifting I-beams did not mix well with my back and I put out my thumb and left home, but that's another story.

I took some rye bread and Hebrew National salami from the fridge and my co-worker criticized my meal, as he ate luncheon meat on Wonder Bread.

Sure, everybody's now into bagels, then again, bagels are not what they used to be, they've been homogenized, they're just circular bread as opposed to donuts that could break a tooth.

And you stick out on a regular basis growing up. You're with gentiles and you talk too much. Jews are not silent, they speak, they ask questions, they live for conversation, arguments, and when they do their act with outsiders...

It is not pretty.

Some learn as they get older.

Some never do. They never tone it down. They believe irreverence and being the life of the party is de rigueur, until it isn't.

So Midge is cracking jokes, putting people down, not understanding that she's misfiring. She's so caught up in who she is, what her experience has been, that she cannot see another perspective.

And it's uncomfortable.

Then again, being a Jew is oftentimes this way. Especially when people don't know you're Jewish, and they crack anti-Semitic comments. Happens all the time, and all the ignorant are not poor, seemingly the more pure-bred they are, the more racist they are, they believe their tribe is better.

But Jews were always outcasts, we're just trying to survive. The jokes are to keep us happy in sad situations. Seeing the humor in life allows you to keep on going.

But when you watch a show like "Mrs. Maisel," you both resonate and wince, you think about your family members, how they're smiling while watching too, but you're also thinking about outsiders... Sure, they recognize Yiddish, but does it all seem foreign to them, are they judging us, you see Jews don't want too high a profile, because they're afraid of the consequences.

But when you get them alone, with their tribe...

It's just like the show.


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