That is the lesson of the Grateful Dead.
Forget all this hogwash about the penumbra, the tape trading, the community, the free music, it really came down to the show. You just couldn't get that experience anywhere else. The records were imperfect, not a reasonable representation of the band. And although the gigs were spotty, you could see the band was on a journey of exploration, trying to achieve different heights every night. This was not a tour by an act with the show on the laminate, choreographed to a click track, this was a living, breathing thing and although it took decades to build to its pinnacle, it gained acolytes along the way and only became bigger and bigger, to the point where remnants of the old act can still tour today following the same paradigm, can you say Dead & Company?
There's too much focus on Spotify and recordings and revenue. That's a game, some people are playing it very well. But if you can't win there, and believe me, the Dead could not win at pop, they were barely played on FM radio, you must run the other way, and in that case today it's live performance.
Everything you've heard is wrong. The opportunities are rampant.
Assuming you see the landscape differently.
Kinda like a Silicon Valley startup. You're not playing for today, but tomorrow. You're investing now for revenue later. If you want it to work immediately, focus on recordings. But when everyone else is zigging, you're better off zagging. Furthermore, all the money is in performance now anyway.
So what is it you're doing?
Well, the EDM acts have it right. It's about the experience, the rave, the audience is not only part of the culture, but part of the show.
As for other styles of music...
There are many ways to crack this nut. You can be theatrical, you can improvise, but one thing's for sure, you can't do it the way everybody else does.
The good thing is the internet allows the word to be spread.
The bad thing is there are so many marketing messages that it's hard to gain traction/spread the word/go viral.
But if you've got something different, and you keep experimenting, you can win.
This is the opposite of the recording paradigm, where you hire the usual suspects and make a record by committee. Sure, you'll release recordings, maybe artifacts on YouTube, but that won't be your focus.
Everything we've heard is passe will come back. The ability to play first and foremost. If you haven't got the building blocks, you can't construct the edifice.
So focus on chops.
And focus on honesty and integrity, which are rare in this world. You're the anti-committee. You're not playing for everybody, but somebody. You're singular. That's your message. This is where you can get what I'm doing, you can't get it anywhere else.
Assuming somebody wants it.
They don't want your sour grapes. If you get no reaction, the problem is you. Either you're ahead of the game or wrong or bad, or all three. So either believe in yourself and pursue, or pivot or give up.
And you can't be following in footsteps. It's about your vision, which is new.
And you can't sell out at the first option. You can't be a judge on a TV show, you'll sacrifice all your credibility.
This is the alternative future. This is what's coming.
We need like-minded believers to lead the way.
ARE YOU UP TO IT?
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Saturday, 17 March 2018
Friday, 16 March 2018
Babylon Berlin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV202fHfAnQ
I know, I know, this is the fourth missive today. You think I'm not worried about overloading you? But this has been one of those hellish weeks of obligations and today I'm free because I was planning to sit in a chair all day for an IVIG infusion, tomorrow and Sunday too, but it took too long for insurance to approve it, assuming they ultimately approve it at all. So I'm planning on next weekend, we'll see.
As for my skin...
It's much better than it was. But I'm starting to get some new skin rips so the dermatologist said on Monday to get said IVIG and another Rituxan infusion in May. It's going in the right direction, but I'm still taking the prednisone. Got down to 12.5 mg and...
I've just about had it. These damn pills not only make you whacked, they give you the munchies, at least that's what the cardiologist said. So the dermatologist said to go down to 10 and if that works, after a week go to 7.5, but beware of crashing.
HUH? BOB LEFSETZ DON'T CRASH!
Oh yes I did.
She was listing the potential symptoms. Balance issues, dizziness. I'd felt some of those, but didn't want to admit it, I wanted to get off the damn pills. But Tuesday night watching "Babylon Berlin" on my iPad, I started to feel weird. Off. In bed too. You know, like if you weren't really tired you'd like to commit suicide.
And then Wednesday...
I was driving to the cardiologist, not because I'm dying, but because she's an expert and money will buy you the ability to live, and I'm beginning to peak and freak, am I really going to be able to hold on all day? Worried about this I packed a 2.5 mg prednisone pill in my pocket and took it in the bathroom when I arrived at the doctor and that took the edge off, but I'm wondering if I can ever get off. The dermatologist said I might have to see an endocrinologist, it's endless I tell you, ENDLESS!
So "Babylon Berlin" is the most expensive non-English TV series ever. Sixteen episodes for $40 million. And it looks it. All that money is up on the screen. Almost makes you want to see it on the big screen, i.e. the theatre. As for all the e-mail I'll get for watching it on my iPad, and I will, society is filled with people telling you you're doing it wrong, oh, at first I watched it on the flat panel, but long after dark Felice is asleep and the noise...
So watching this I wanted to jet back to that era, 1929 Germany. Oh, I know, it wasn't good for the Jews, and to tell you the truth I'd be dead, with my CML and pemphigus, but it was so intriguing, in the days before not only mobile phones but TV and so much more. As in, you were on your own and could get away with things. Now you don't want to commit any offense, there's a camera everywhere. Just watch these crime dramas on television, they always go to the tape.
And the whole family, multiple generations, is living in one apartment. And there's squalor and lack of work but despite being so depressed and downtrodden everybody's fully alive. Living by their wits. Imagine a world where no one's looking at a screen, and fighting for survival.
So Charlotte is a prostitute at night and a wannabe sleuth during the day. She needs the money, that's why she sacrifices her body, after dancing in a way that makes sixties movements look tame, and the investigatory life inspires her, we all need something to live for.
Not that you can figure this out right away. "Babylon Berlin" is one of those shows where you cannot tell what's going on. Turns out it's intentional. You don't know why they're stealing the train at the beginning until almost the very end. But by then you're hooked. The more you watch, the more you like it.
And there are too many loose ends, and too many questions.
But...
You enter an alternative universe and you can't wait to sink back into it every night.
Liv Lisa Fries is the breakout star here. She treads the line between cute and beautiful and with her voluminous hair and pluck you cannot take your eyes off her. She far eclipses Jennifer Lawrence. Watch out for her. And her name is "Charlotte," and oftentimes they call her "Lotte," and now I know where that name comes from, I always wondered, like "Lotte Lenya," you pronounce the "e" at the end, unlike in English.
And you keep wondering why the vice detective is slurping drugs.
And the hated policeman is a Jew, but then how did he get this gig?
It's 1929, before Hitler, and there's a fight between...
You almost believe these people are living in that era, that's how well done this series is. You'd be stunned to see them in regular life.
I'd love to go into the plot but I don't want to ruin it for you.
I'd love to watch it again, but I don't do that, like Pauline Kael I only see something once, especially in a world where there's so much else to see. I focus on plot, story, I want to know what happens, and once I do...
But there's this death scene... You think you know what happened, and then you don't, spectacularly done, one of the best in visual media.
So...
I can't exactly recommend "Babylon Berlin." Some of you will turn it off immediately, some will wonder where it's going.
But others will be entranced.
By a whole world where it's not about a happy ending so much as telling you how it really went down.
If you can handle the truth.
P.S. Watch the show with subtitles, the dubbing is just too disorienting. Go into your Netflix settings, it's easy.
P.P.S. When Bryan Ferry sings in the club your jaw will drop. It's like all his solo records come alive. He was always a man from another era, THIS ONE!
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I know, I know, this is the fourth missive today. You think I'm not worried about overloading you? But this has been one of those hellish weeks of obligations and today I'm free because I was planning to sit in a chair all day for an IVIG infusion, tomorrow and Sunday too, but it took too long for insurance to approve it, assuming they ultimately approve it at all. So I'm planning on next weekend, we'll see.
As for my skin...
It's much better than it was. But I'm starting to get some new skin rips so the dermatologist said on Monday to get said IVIG and another Rituxan infusion in May. It's going in the right direction, but I'm still taking the prednisone. Got down to 12.5 mg and...
I've just about had it. These damn pills not only make you whacked, they give you the munchies, at least that's what the cardiologist said. So the dermatologist said to go down to 10 and if that works, after a week go to 7.5, but beware of crashing.
HUH? BOB LEFSETZ DON'T CRASH!
Oh yes I did.
She was listing the potential symptoms. Balance issues, dizziness. I'd felt some of those, but didn't want to admit it, I wanted to get off the damn pills. But Tuesday night watching "Babylon Berlin" on my iPad, I started to feel weird. Off. In bed too. You know, like if you weren't really tired you'd like to commit suicide.
And then Wednesday...
I was driving to the cardiologist, not because I'm dying, but because she's an expert and money will buy you the ability to live, and I'm beginning to peak and freak, am I really going to be able to hold on all day? Worried about this I packed a 2.5 mg prednisone pill in my pocket and took it in the bathroom when I arrived at the doctor and that took the edge off, but I'm wondering if I can ever get off. The dermatologist said I might have to see an endocrinologist, it's endless I tell you, ENDLESS!
So "Babylon Berlin" is the most expensive non-English TV series ever. Sixteen episodes for $40 million. And it looks it. All that money is up on the screen. Almost makes you want to see it on the big screen, i.e. the theatre. As for all the e-mail I'll get for watching it on my iPad, and I will, society is filled with people telling you you're doing it wrong, oh, at first I watched it on the flat panel, but long after dark Felice is asleep and the noise...
So watching this I wanted to jet back to that era, 1929 Germany. Oh, I know, it wasn't good for the Jews, and to tell you the truth I'd be dead, with my CML and pemphigus, but it was so intriguing, in the days before not only mobile phones but TV and so much more. As in, you were on your own and could get away with things. Now you don't want to commit any offense, there's a camera everywhere. Just watch these crime dramas on television, they always go to the tape.
And the whole family, multiple generations, is living in one apartment. And there's squalor and lack of work but despite being so depressed and downtrodden everybody's fully alive. Living by their wits. Imagine a world where no one's looking at a screen, and fighting for survival.
So Charlotte is a prostitute at night and a wannabe sleuth during the day. She needs the money, that's why she sacrifices her body, after dancing in a way that makes sixties movements look tame, and the investigatory life inspires her, we all need something to live for.
Not that you can figure this out right away. "Babylon Berlin" is one of those shows where you cannot tell what's going on. Turns out it's intentional. You don't know why they're stealing the train at the beginning until almost the very end. But by then you're hooked. The more you watch, the more you like it.
And there are too many loose ends, and too many questions.
But...
You enter an alternative universe and you can't wait to sink back into it every night.
Liv Lisa Fries is the breakout star here. She treads the line between cute and beautiful and with her voluminous hair and pluck you cannot take your eyes off her. She far eclipses Jennifer Lawrence. Watch out for her. And her name is "Charlotte," and oftentimes they call her "Lotte," and now I know where that name comes from, I always wondered, like "Lotte Lenya," you pronounce the "e" at the end, unlike in English.
And you keep wondering why the vice detective is slurping drugs.
And the hated policeman is a Jew, but then how did he get this gig?
It's 1929, before Hitler, and there's a fight between...
You almost believe these people are living in that era, that's how well done this series is. You'd be stunned to see them in regular life.
I'd love to go into the plot but I don't want to ruin it for you.
I'd love to watch it again, but I don't do that, like Pauline Kael I only see something once, especially in a world where there's so much else to see. I focus on plot, story, I want to know what happens, and once I do...
But there's this death scene... You think you know what happened, and then you don't, spectacularly done, one of the best in visual media.
So...
I can't exactly recommend "Babylon Berlin." Some of you will turn it off immediately, some will wonder where it's going.
But others will be entranced.
By a whole world where it's not about a happy ending so much as telling you how it really went down.
If you can handle the truth.
P.S. Watch the show with subtitles, the dubbing is just too disorienting. Go into your Netflix settings, it's easy.
P.P.S. When Bryan Ferry sings in the club your jaw will drop. It's like all his solo records come alive. He was always a man from another era, THIS ONE!
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My Tires
My father was an early adopter. He was the first person in our community to have air conditioning in his car, an aftermarket installation in our '64 VistaCruiser, and the first person to buy Michelins, my father swore by Michelin tires, before Sears rebranded them and drove them over railroad tracks to prove the superiority of the radial tire.
And I've always driven Michelins since.
They came on my BMW 2002. The XAS. Which over the eleven year lifespan of that car morphed into the XVS, but it was essentially the same tire, and each set lasted 60,000 miles when they were warranted for 40,000, when that was seen as stratospheric, before the low-rolling resistance wonders of today which can be warranted for 60,000.
My BMW 325e came with Pirellis. Always an also-ran, with a famous calendar. But despite that car going 190,000+ miles I never switched to Michelins, because every time I'd be about to, Pirelli would have a sale, and it just didn't seem economically prudent to switch to the French brand with an American factory, even though the P6s never lasted that long.
And the car I'm driving now came with Bridgestones. What crap they were. Only lasted 12,000 miles. And noisy! God, my car is noisy to begin with!
So...
I couldn't buy Michelins because they didn't come in my size.
So I went with the Pirellis.
Now you have to understand, my high performance car came with high performance summer tires, which you truly can't drive in the cold, because they firm up and slide all over the place, not an issue in SoCal, but just about everywhere else...they're a no-go or you need two sets of tires (and maybe two sets of rims!) Furthermore, summer tires wear more heavily. In addition, if I want to take my car to the snow (that's how they say it down here, where the snow never falls in the city, you GO to the snow)... But I never have, even though my machine is four wheel drive. But I switched to the all season iteration, of the aforementioned Pirellis, and they were much quieter than the Bridgestones and drove much better but around 20,000 miles, they were worse for wear. But damned if I was gonna buy a new set, they were so damn expensive. So I kept driving them and driving them...
Until I made it to 30,000 and became too scared. You see my car has a quirk. It wears out tires on the outside of the front wheels. Save me the alignment comments, I get my car aligned twice a year, I bought the lifetime contract, more of which later. And I keep looking at other four wheel drive cars to see if they have the same issue, but they don't. Then again, they are not WRXs with STi steering racks. Yes, my unique Saab which is really a Subaru has that, a mixture of standard and extreme. And I got an insane deal on it, $9500 off, but I'm sacrificing on resale, because Saab went out of business, even though my 92x is superior to the equivalent WRX, which could fetch 10k, but I keep driving it, because it's paid for and I don't have to worry about it, and I'm a serious worrier.
And you need a Japanese car, you always want to buy a Japanese car, don't let anybody tell you otherwise unless money is no object. Sure, buy a Tesla or German automobile, better yet, LEASE ONE, if you're not worried about costs, because the repair bills will kill you. The window regulator on my physical therapist's BMW just went and it was $600 to fix it, at the INDEPENDENT! You don't want to pay that.
And having OCD and being an inveterate i-dotter and t-crosser, I took my car to Pep Boys three weeks back to have the tires rotated and aligned, which I do every 5,000 miles, to ensure the warranty will be honored, and they wouldn't do it, wouldn't rotate, wouldn't touch it, because the damn tires were worn out in the same way! On the outside!
Did I tell you I switched to Michelin? Once they made them in my size, after the Pirellis.
The first set went 20,000 and fell apart, the warranty was honored.
This is the second set. They only had 24k on them. But they said I needed new ones.
No way.
These tires cost the better part of a grand. ENOUGH ALREADY!
So I'm continuing to drive. But I'm scared. There's that OCD for you. I'm catastrophizing in my mind. And when the car squirms over the Botts Dots, I fantasize accidents. And I'm thinking how far I want to go in this car, and then I think I should get the tires replaced, but after the major service, the dealer will rotate the tires for me, I know they will, the rears have a bit more life in them than the fronts, even though at Pep Boys they said the rears were done too.
So last Friday afternoon I'm driving to Brentwood and I hear a thump. Driving over a gutter that I cross all the time. And the radio was off, I'd just been talking to my mother on the phone, I felt I was being super-sensitive.
And after my appointment it wasn't in my mind.
But I heard that sound on the freeway. And descending the hill to Felice's house. And when I got out of the car, figuring I'd check to see if there was a problem, even though I knew there wouldn't be one, the tire was nearly flat.
Oh boy.
The physical therapist was coming in a little over an hour.
But if I left the car until the next day, the tire would certainly be flat, and then I'd have to call AAA, and they'd have to install the donut, so I Googled, there was a Pep Boys on Sepulveda, the PT said she could do Sunday if necessary, I decided to drive.
And now I'm really anxious. Am I gonna make it?
And when I get to the Mobil station I see the air hose and decide to pull in.
And the tire is essentially flat, but it won't fill up all the way. I can hear the air hissing out. I can see the nail in the tread. I only have two more miles to go, will I make it? I'm so worried about ruining the rim.
And I do. And tell this new Pep Boys shop to rotate after fixing.
And they said yes and then said no. BECAUSE OF THE WORN OUT EDGE OF THE TIRE! They wouldn't touch it. Could I make it to the 76 station, they'd fix it, right?
Oh, I forgot to mention. I couldn't buy new tires BECAUSE THEY DID NOT HAVE THEM IN STOCK! Not until Tuesday, and what was I gonna drive until then?
Maybe Pirellis. But they were not only not in stock, they were more expensive!
And the clerk is searching and finally he says...
He can have the Michelins tomorrow.
Now there's the matter of the price.
The guy in Santa Monica said he'd charge me $1200. Including the lifetime alignment. You see I bought that at the predecessor shop, Discount Tire, but now Pep Boys was no longer honoring it. So I'd have to buy it again. But that was way too much money. But then he said if I paid for them then, he'd give me an all-in deal for $900. Which is still insane. Especially since he said he had to order them and they'd come with no warranty.
Then I decided I'd join Costco, where they're friendlier and the price is better and they fill the tires with nitrogen so you don't have to check them, but then I found out...
They don't do alignments, so that's a no-go.
So now I'm waiting for this Pep Boys guy Sal to figure out a price. And he keeps on hitting the same screen on the computer again and again. My eyes are rolling, this guy is illiterate. And then he can see me looking and he explains it's not his fault, you have to do it this way.
And when he's all done, he comes up with a price, including the lifetime alignment, of $560!!! Even cheaper than Costco, I'm in! You see all that computer work was about honoring the 45,000 mile warranty, it had to be done tire by tire, I was getting $69 off per tire!
He says the tires will be there the next day between 11 and 2 and he'll call me but the phone doesn't ring so I dial him and he says they just came in and my car will be ready in an hour and a half. And I ask him if he's gonna be there, and he says until they close up shop.
But he wasn't.
And the new guy, Henry, he's looking at the bill and says Sal made a mistake, and now the price is gonna be deep into the 700s. And they've got me over a barrel, and I'm gonna pay, and it's still less than I had budgeted, but why is it always something. And I've been through so much I'm just standing there mute, and Henry says it's actually the computer's fault, this happens, it only writes up installation for one tire instead of four.
So Henry says he won't charge me full price for installation.
And I just stand there.
And then he lowers the price on the lifetime alignment, and it's down to $625, and WTF, I'll just pay.
Meanwhile, it's pouring cats and dogs. That's right, all pedigrees, no half-breeds. And I can't even check whether they put the right tires on, since there's too much water on the wheels. And I had this problem once before, of them ordering the wrong tires, so I'm anxious. That's a bad thing about getting older, you've seen too many mistakes, you always expect the worst.
But when the sun came out and I got back in my car...
The ride was softer. And they're Michelins, so they're dead quiet. And i was no longer scared. But the PERFORMANCE! This is the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+. The best they sell. For my car anyway. And suddenly...
The transition from the 405 to the 10. I'm glued to the curve.
And I'm hitting 80 on the freeway and it's like walking. And my car has the power, the turbo fires up and the four wheel drive with the twitchy handling allows you to meander all over the road and a smile crosses my face. This is FANTASTIC!
I know, I know, they're only tires. People are dying every day. Maybe not starving in Europe anymore, like my parents used to tell us at the dinner table growing up, but life is challenging.
But it's the little things that put a smile on your face, that make you feel everything is all right.
That's why I buy the best, that's why good isn't good enough.
Like I said, this is not a BMW or a Mercedes-Benz, but it's the best of the pedestrian performance automobiles. I could save money and buy noisy Goodyears, or some off-brand junk, but why cripple the car? Why not let it fly free, do everything it's supposed to?
That's what my father believed. You pays your money and you gets your results. Sure, you want a deal, but if you buy the best you get the performance and these companies honor the warranties. Well, in this case they did!
https://www.michelinman.com/tire/michelin/pilot-sport-a-s-3-plus/215-45-zr17-91-w--bsw?fromResultList=&zipCode=90405
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And I've always driven Michelins since.
They came on my BMW 2002. The XAS. Which over the eleven year lifespan of that car morphed into the XVS, but it was essentially the same tire, and each set lasted 60,000 miles when they were warranted for 40,000, when that was seen as stratospheric, before the low-rolling resistance wonders of today which can be warranted for 60,000.
My BMW 325e came with Pirellis. Always an also-ran, with a famous calendar. But despite that car going 190,000+ miles I never switched to Michelins, because every time I'd be about to, Pirelli would have a sale, and it just didn't seem economically prudent to switch to the French brand with an American factory, even though the P6s never lasted that long.
And the car I'm driving now came with Bridgestones. What crap they were. Only lasted 12,000 miles. And noisy! God, my car is noisy to begin with!
So...
I couldn't buy Michelins because they didn't come in my size.
So I went with the Pirellis.
Now you have to understand, my high performance car came with high performance summer tires, which you truly can't drive in the cold, because they firm up and slide all over the place, not an issue in SoCal, but just about everywhere else...they're a no-go or you need two sets of tires (and maybe two sets of rims!) Furthermore, summer tires wear more heavily. In addition, if I want to take my car to the snow (that's how they say it down here, where the snow never falls in the city, you GO to the snow)... But I never have, even though my machine is four wheel drive. But I switched to the all season iteration, of the aforementioned Pirellis, and they were much quieter than the Bridgestones and drove much better but around 20,000 miles, they were worse for wear. But damned if I was gonna buy a new set, they were so damn expensive. So I kept driving them and driving them...
Until I made it to 30,000 and became too scared. You see my car has a quirk. It wears out tires on the outside of the front wheels. Save me the alignment comments, I get my car aligned twice a year, I bought the lifetime contract, more of which later. And I keep looking at other four wheel drive cars to see if they have the same issue, but they don't. Then again, they are not WRXs with STi steering racks. Yes, my unique Saab which is really a Subaru has that, a mixture of standard and extreme. And I got an insane deal on it, $9500 off, but I'm sacrificing on resale, because Saab went out of business, even though my 92x is superior to the equivalent WRX, which could fetch 10k, but I keep driving it, because it's paid for and I don't have to worry about it, and I'm a serious worrier.
And you need a Japanese car, you always want to buy a Japanese car, don't let anybody tell you otherwise unless money is no object. Sure, buy a Tesla or German automobile, better yet, LEASE ONE, if you're not worried about costs, because the repair bills will kill you. The window regulator on my physical therapist's BMW just went and it was $600 to fix it, at the INDEPENDENT! You don't want to pay that.
And having OCD and being an inveterate i-dotter and t-crosser, I took my car to Pep Boys three weeks back to have the tires rotated and aligned, which I do every 5,000 miles, to ensure the warranty will be honored, and they wouldn't do it, wouldn't rotate, wouldn't touch it, because the damn tires were worn out in the same way! On the outside!
Did I tell you I switched to Michelin? Once they made them in my size, after the Pirellis.
The first set went 20,000 and fell apart, the warranty was honored.
This is the second set. They only had 24k on them. But they said I needed new ones.
No way.
These tires cost the better part of a grand. ENOUGH ALREADY!
So I'm continuing to drive. But I'm scared. There's that OCD for you. I'm catastrophizing in my mind. And when the car squirms over the Botts Dots, I fantasize accidents. And I'm thinking how far I want to go in this car, and then I think I should get the tires replaced, but after the major service, the dealer will rotate the tires for me, I know they will, the rears have a bit more life in them than the fronts, even though at Pep Boys they said the rears were done too.
So last Friday afternoon I'm driving to Brentwood and I hear a thump. Driving over a gutter that I cross all the time. And the radio was off, I'd just been talking to my mother on the phone, I felt I was being super-sensitive.
And after my appointment it wasn't in my mind.
But I heard that sound on the freeway. And descending the hill to Felice's house. And when I got out of the car, figuring I'd check to see if there was a problem, even though I knew there wouldn't be one, the tire was nearly flat.
Oh boy.
The physical therapist was coming in a little over an hour.
But if I left the car until the next day, the tire would certainly be flat, and then I'd have to call AAA, and they'd have to install the donut, so I Googled, there was a Pep Boys on Sepulveda, the PT said she could do Sunday if necessary, I decided to drive.
And now I'm really anxious. Am I gonna make it?
And when I get to the Mobil station I see the air hose and decide to pull in.
And the tire is essentially flat, but it won't fill up all the way. I can hear the air hissing out. I can see the nail in the tread. I only have two more miles to go, will I make it? I'm so worried about ruining the rim.
And I do. And tell this new Pep Boys shop to rotate after fixing.
And they said yes and then said no. BECAUSE OF THE WORN OUT EDGE OF THE TIRE! They wouldn't touch it. Could I make it to the 76 station, they'd fix it, right?
Oh, I forgot to mention. I couldn't buy new tires BECAUSE THEY DID NOT HAVE THEM IN STOCK! Not until Tuesday, and what was I gonna drive until then?
Maybe Pirellis. But they were not only not in stock, they were more expensive!
And the clerk is searching and finally he says...
He can have the Michelins tomorrow.
Now there's the matter of the price.
The guy in Santa Monica said he'd charge me $1200. Including the lifetime alignment. You see I bought that at the predecessor shop, Discount Tire, but now Pep Boys was no longer honoring it. So I'd have to buy it again. But that was way too much money. But then he said if I paid for them then, he'd give me an all-in deal for $900. Which is still insane. Especially since he said he had to order them and they'd come with no warranty.
Then I decided I'd join Costco, where they're friendlier and the price is better and they fill the tires with nitrogen so you don't have to check them, but then I found out...
They don't do alignments, so that's a no-go.
So now I'm waiting for this Pep Boys guy Sal to figure out a price. And he keeps on hitting the same screen on the computer again and again. My eyes are rolling, this guy is illiterate. And then he can see me looking and he explains it's not his fault, you have to do it this way.
And when he's all done, he comes up with a price, including the lifetime alignment, of $560!!! Even cheaper than Costco, I'm in! You see all that computer work was about honoring the 45,000 mile warranty, it had to be done tire by tire, I was getting $69 off per tire!
He says the tires will be there the next day between 11 and 2 and he'll call me but the phone doesn't ring so I dial him and he says they just came in and my car will be ready in an hour and a half. And I ask him if he's gonna be there, and he says until they close up shop.
But he wasn't.
And the new guy, Henry, he's looking at the bill and says Sal made a mistake, and now the price is gonna be deep into the 700s. And they've got me over a barrel, and I'm gonna pay, and it's still less than I had budgeted, but why is it always something. And I've been through so much I'm just standing there mute, and Henry says it's actually the computer's fault, this happens, it only writes up installation for one tire instead of four.
So Henry says he won't charge me full price for installation.
And I just stand there.
And then he lowers the price on the lifetime alignment, and it's down to $625, and WTF, I'll just pay.
Meanwhile, it's pouring cats and dogs. That's right, all pedigrees, no half-breeds. And I can't even check whether they put the right tires on, since there's too much water on the wheels. And I had this problem once before, of them ordering the wrong tires, so I'm anxious. That's a bad thing about getting older, you've seen too many mistakes, you always expect the worst.
But when the sun came out and I got back in my car...
The ride was softer. And they're Michelins, so they're dead quiet. And i was no longer scared. But the PERFORMANCE! This is the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+. The best they sell. For my car anyway. And suddenly...
The transition from the 405 to the 10. I'm glued to the curve.
And I'm hitting 80 on the freeway and it's like walking. And my car has the power, the turbo fires up and the four wheel drive with the twitchy handling allows you to meander all over the road and a smile crosses my face. This is FANTASTIC!
I know, I know, they're only tires. People are dying every day. Maybe not starving in Europe anymore, like my parents used to tell us at the dinner table growing up, but life is challenging.
But it's the little things that put a smile on your face, that make you feel everything is all right.
That's why I buy the best, that's why good isn't good enough.
Like I said, this is not a BMW or a Mercedes-Benz, but it's the best of the pedestrian performance automobiles. I could save money and buy noisy Goodyears, or some off-brand junk, but why cripple the car? Why not let it fly free, do everything it's supposed to?
That's what my father believed. You pays your money and you gets your results. Sure, you want a deal, but if you buy the best you get the performance and these companies honor the warranties. Well, in this case they did!
https://www.michelinman.com/tire/michelin/pilot-sport-a-s-3-plus/215-45-zr17-91-w--bsw?fromResultList=&zipCode=90405
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Right Here, Right Now
http://spoti.fi/2HEUEoa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwpjsToHzAE
"I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this"
This song has been going through my brain all week. Maybe it was when I read about the Kentucky teachers following in the footsteps of those in West Virginia.
It was not supposed to be this way. The Wall fell and democracy was gonna reign, that's what Jesus Jones's "Right Here, Right Now" is all about.
The song was promoted by SBK, back when record companies were burgeoning, when new ones were being formed on a regular basis. With a crack promotion staff run by Daniel Glass, SBK made hits of one-offs no one else wanted to touch, like tracks by Technotronic and Vanilla Ice.
And Jesus Jones.
The fruit of a relationship with the U.K.'s Food Records.
And the irony is that "Right Here, Right Now" was not a big hit in the U.K.
But over here?
I remember going to see the band in Ackerman Hall at UCLA. The band lit into this number and heads exploded, the assembled multitude was freaking out like jumping beans, they just had to release that energy.
And SBK was folded into EMI which ultimately disappeared entirely.
As did Jesus Jones.
But it was not smooth sailing.
The internet came along and disrupted the music business.
And then movies and news, even though each of those industries refuses to read the memo.
There's something happening here and it sure ain't exactly clear.
Forget that the studios won't go to day and date, the media missed Trump and now they're missing what's coming next. Gun control was supposedly impossible, and it's not politics as usual.
A centrist Democrat wins in Pennsylvania and the analysis by the usual suspects is the party must run to the center, not understanding that this is how they got into this mess to begin with. Even I winced when Hillary Clinton said her favorite book was the Bible, who can believe in a liar like that? Whereas Bernie Sanders resonated with the heart and soul of the party, those who were not triangulating, those running on emotion, who felt the game was rigged and it's better to turn over the table than try and fix it.
That's what Trump ran on and won. He tapped into dissatisfaction.
And the dissatisfaction is rampant. As are the stories. The AP just detailed the failure of the tax cuts in Oklahoma. We've been sold a bill of goods, that those who are rich know better, are the job creators. Meanwhile, everybody in entertainment just wants to be rich too, not realizing that their power is in their voice, and that's much more powerful than money.
So it was Ferguson. Then it was #MeToo. Now Parkland. The entire nation has been turned upside down.
"A woman on the radio talked about revolution
When it's already passed her by"
The baby boomer establishment believes it's still in charge. Feels that the story is fake news, the perils of technology, whereas those truly spearheading the revolt are using the tools of the future to get their message heard.
"Bob Dylan didn't have this to sing about"
Dylan was complaining. We need complaints again. In our feel good nation all entertainment must be positive, characters must be likable, but the truth is we need interior resonance, which is how rap succeeded in the first place, by detailing the plight of the streets.
"I saw the decade in, when it seemed
The world could change at the blink of an eye"
It happens that fast, faster than ever before, that's the power of the internet, this morning's news is already passe by tonight.
"Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be"
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The Supreme Court was packed with righties, the Congress was controlled by Republicans, businessmen, the Kochs and Mercers were too influential.
AND THEN THE PEOPLE ROSE UP!
"Right here, right now
Watching the world wake up from history"
I don't think we're gonna get a protest song, one that dominates the culture, that we all can sing. First and foremost, today's hit music is unsingable. Secondly, the music business is seen as whored-out. Hell, what else are "The Voice" and "Idol," forget the contestants, what about the judges, the biggest stars in the industry couldn't say no to more money and more exposure?
Meanwhile, the rank and file, the supposedly powerless, the generation that was all about selfies and self-promotion, united, rose up and got its voice heard. More eloquently than anybody in entertainment. As "stars" trumpet endorsement deals, promote everything from alcohol to luggage, the great unwashed took a page from their playbook and focused on the essence, the voice, the message and the performance.
It ain't good. They pushed it almost to the wall.
But now we're pushing back.
It's better than any movie, any book, any song. You surf the sites, crack the newspaper, and there's inspiration on every page.
"I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
WATCHING THE WORLD WAKE UP FROM HISTORY"
"Teacher Discontent Swells Over Proposed Cuts to Benefits": http://nyti.ms/2FZnMsT
"GOP confronts another failed tax experiment in Oklahoma": http://bit.ly/2GAI7CL
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwpjsToHzAE
"I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this"
This song has been going through my brain all week. Maybe it was when I read about the Kentucky teachers following in the footsteps of those in West Virginia.
It was not supposed to be this way. The Wall fell and democracy was gonna reign, that's what Jesus Jones's "Right Here, Right Now" is all about.
The song was promoted by SBK, back when record companies were burgeoning, when new ones were being formed on a regular basis. With a crack promotion staff run by Daniel Glass, SBK made hits of one-offs no one else wanted to touch, like tracks by Technotronic and Vanilla Ice.
And Jesus Jones.
The fruit of a relationship with the U.K.'s Food Records.
And the irony is that "Right Here, Right Now" was not a big hit in the U.K.
But over here?
I remember going to see the band in Ackerman Hall at UCLA. The band lit into this number and heads exploded, the assembled multitude was freaking out like jumping beans, they just had to release that energy.
And SBK was folded into EMI which ultimately disappeared entirely.
As did Jesus Jones.
But it was not smooth sailing.
The internet came along and disrupted the music business.
And then movies and news, even though each of those industries refuses to read the memo.
There's something happening here and it sure ain't exactly clear.
Forget that the studios won't go to day and date, the media missed Trump and now they're missing what's coming next. Gun control was supposedly impossible, and it's not politics as usual.
A centrist Democrat wins in Pennsylvania and the analysis by the usual suspects is the party must run to the center, not understanding that this is how they got into this mess to begin with. Even I winced when Hillary Clinton said her favorite book was the Bible, who can believe in a liar like that? Whereas Bernie Sanders resonated with the heart and soul of the party, those who were not triangulating, those running on emotion, who felt the game was rigged and it's better to turn over the table than try and fix it.
That's what Trump ran on and won. He tapped into dissatisfaction.
And the dissatisfaction is rampant. As are the stories. The AP just detailed the failure of the tax cuts in Oklahoma. We've been sold a bill of goods, that those who are rich know better, are the job creators. Meanwhile, everybody in entertainment just wants to be rich too, not realizing that their power is in their voice, and that's much more powerful than money.
So it was Ferguson. Then it was #MeToo. Now Parkland. The entire nation has been turned upside down.
"A woman on the radio talked about revolution
When it's already passed her by"
The baby boomer establishment believes it's still in charge. Feels that the story is fake news, the perils of technology, whereas those truly spearheading the revolt are using the tools of the future to get their message heard.
"Bob Dylan didn't have this to sing about"
Dylan was complaining. We need complaints again. In our feel good nation all entertainment must be positive, characters must be likable, but the truth is we need interior resonance, which is how rap succeeded in the first place, by detailing the plight of the streets.
"I saw the decade in, when it seemed
The world could change at the blink of an eye"
It happens that fast, faster than ever before, that's the power of the internet, this morning's news is already passe by tonight.
"Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be"
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The Supreme Court was packed with righties, the Congress was controlled by Republicans, businessmen, the Kochs and Mercers were too influential.
AND THEN THE PEOPLE ROSE UP!
"Right here, right now
Watching the world wake up from history"
I don't think we're gonna get a protest song, one that dominates the culture, that we all can sing. First and foremost, today's hit music is unsingable. Secondly, the music business is seen as whored-out. Hell, what else are "The Voice" and "Idol," forget the contestants, what about the judges, the biggest stars in the industry couldn't say no to more money and more exposure?
Meanwhile, the rank and file, the supposedly powerless, the generation that was all about selfies and self-promotion, united, rose up and got its voice heard. More eloquently than anybody in entertainment. As "stars" trumpet endorsement deals, promote everything from alcohol to luggage, the great unwashed took a page from their playbook and focused on the essence, the voice, the message and the performance.
It ain't good. They pushed it almost to the wall.
But now we're pushing back.
It's better than any movie, any book, any song. You surf the sites, crack the newspaper, and there's inspiration on every page.
"I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
WATCHING THE WORLD WAKE UP FROM HISTORY"
"Teacher Discontent Swells Over Proposed Cuts to Benefits": http://nyti.ms/2FZnMsT
"GOP confronts another failed tax experiment in Oklahoma": http://bit.ly/2GAI7CL
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The End Of Virality
There's no buzz.
Last night I watched "Logan Lucky" on Amazon. That's where the movies are now, since Netflix has gone into production. I ain't gonna say it was great, it was paint-by-numbers, something Soderbergh has done before, and I expect more from him, but no one is talking about the film's appearance on the service, I've gotten no e-mail, seen no tweets.
And then I caught some of Letterman's Clooney interview on Netflix. Which was surprisingly good. After I crawled through the offerings to find it. And that's when it hit me...
Virality is dead.
What I mean is the goal, especially since "Gangnam Style," was to do something so out there, so extraordinary, that it would spread on the internet like wildfire and become a huge success.
But that paradigm is dead. We've all got too many marketing messages, too much product.
Look at music. You can get a review in the newspaper and there's no effect. You can go on late night TV and there's no effect. You can go on SNL and there's no effect. UNLESS, you screw up. Kinda like that dog dying on United this week. We're all ears and eyes for something unrelated to politics and entertainment, something that's about humanity, and dogs are man's best friend. But if it's a usual suspect project, you hit a brick wall.
Now back in the last century film distributors advertised their wares heavily on television on Thursday nights. We thought it was superfluous, we already knew about the new releases. But now, if you don't do this, you get no traction. That's what happened with "Logan Lucky," Soderbergh didn't think he needed to spend, and he didn't, the film's ad budget was much smaller than its competition, and therefore the flick failed. Of course, there was the fact it wasn't a superhero flick, but the word didn't get out, you've got to get the word out.
Only you can't. There's no way to reach everybody!
Used to be printing the top ten in the newspaper got people interested.
But then these looky-loos realized they didn't like the music featured and gave up. As for films, only one, at most two, films are successful each week, why go to see a loser, when there are new films next week?
So you can't light a fire that ignites everybody.
But marketers still believe you can.
In music, what appears like virality, is oftentimes an after the fact clean-up victory lap. Like Cardi B and Post Malone. Yes, they ended up with a ton of media attention, but that was AFTER they were ALREADY a huge success online.
What this means is your ascension will be slower than ever before. Instant success is nearly impossible. And if it happens too fast, for whatever reason, you'll fall back to earth almost quite as fast.
So there was a monoculture. That was what MTV in the last part of this century was all about. You get on the service and everybody knows your name.
Then the internet killed that and the key was to get everybody on the internet talking about something.
And that worked for a while.
But now, just like we no longer send jokes to each other in e-mail, we don't forward cute videos or any of that crap, and if we do post them on our Facebook page most people ignore them, because they're being dunned to pay attention all day long and they just ain't got that much time.
So world domination is passe. You can't even dominate the United States. They keep telling us what is big yet we haven't heard about it, and the irony is we don't care.
You've got to do the hard work and appeal to a core which sustains you. The rest is nearly unachievable and is gravy at best.
They came for the popsters, that's the story of the last year, they all failed in the marketplace. Because there's no there there, no built-in audience to spread the word.
And this was after they came for the rockers and every other genre other than hip-hop and country.
And hip-hop and country are their own backwaters, the BIGGEST genres, but they don't spread outside their borders. Come on, remember when Shania Twain crossed over, from country to pop? Even Taylor Swift? Now both their new projects are dead in the water. As for live business, that's about hard core fans, look at Gaga, she hasn't had a hit in eons, and many fewer people are required to sell out venues than to dominate in the cultural discourse.
We've all hit a wall.
The question is whether we're looking to be directed, does the public want to be told what to watch and listen, or is it happy in the niches?
We're in a transition period.
But if you expect your project to spread like wildfire, nearly instantly, to all people.
You're dreaming.
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Last night I watched "Logan Lucky" on Amazon. That's where the movies are now, since Netflix has gone into production. I ain't gonna say it was great, it was paint-by-numbers, something Soderbergh has done before, and I expect more from him, but no one is talking about the film's appearance on the service, I've gotten no e-mail, seen no tweets.
And then I caught some of Letterman's Clooney interview on Netflix. Which was surprisingly good. After I crawled through the offerings to find it. And that's when it hit me...
Virality is dead.
What I mean is the goal, especially since "Gangnam Style," was to do something so out there, so extraordinary, that it would spread on the internet like wildfire and become a huge success.
But that paradigm is dead. We've all got too many marketing messages, too much product.
Look at music. You can get a review in the newspaper and there's no effect. You can go on late night TV and there's no effect. You can go on SNL and there's no effect. UNLESS, you screw up. Kinda like that dog dying on United this week. We're all ears and eyes for something unrelated to politics and entertainment, something that's about humanity, and dogs are man's best friend. But if it's a usual suspect project, you hit a brick wall.
Now back in the last century film distributors advertised their wares heavily on television on Thursday nights. We thought it was superfluous, we already knew about the new releases. But now, if you don't do this, you get no traction. That's what happened with "Logan Lucky," Soderbergh didn't think he needed to spend, and he didn't, the film's ad budget was much smaller than its competition, and therefore the flick failed. Of course, there was the fact it wasn't a superhero flick, but the word didn't get out, you've got to get the word out.
Only you can't. There's no way to reach everybody!
Used to be printing the top ten in the newspaper got people interested.
But then these looky-loos realized they didn't like the music featured and gave up. As for films, only one, at most two, films are successful each week, why go to see a loser, when there are new films next week?
So you can't light a fire that ignites everybody.
But marketers still believe you can.
In music, what appears like virality, is oftentimes an after the fact clean-up victory lap. Like Cardi B and Post Malone. Yes, they ended up with a ton of media attention, but that was AFTER they were ALREADY a huge success online.
What this means is your ascension will be slower than ever before. Instant success is nearly impossible. And if it happens too fast, for whatever reason, you'll fall back to earth almost quite as fast.
So there was a monoculture. That was what MTV in the last part of this century was all about. You get on the service and everybody knows your name.
Then the internet killed that and the key was to get everybody on the internet talking about something.
And that worked for a while.
But now, just like we no longer send jokes to each other in e-mail, we don't forward cute videos or any of that crap, and if we do post them on our Facebook page most people ignore them, because they're being dunned to pay attention all day long and they just ain't got that much time.
So world domination is passe. You can't even dominate the United States. They keep telling us what is big yet we haven't heard about it, and the irony is we don't care.
You've got to do the hard work and appeal to a core which sustains you. The rest is nearly unachievable and is gravy at best.
They came for the popsters, that's the story of the last year, they all failed in the marketplace. Because there's no there there, no built-in audience to spread the word.
And this was after they came for the rockers and every other genre other than hip-hop and country.
And hip-hop and country are their own backwaters, the BIGGEST genres, but they don't spread outside their borders. Come on, remember when Shania Twain crossed over, from country to pop? Even Taylor Swift? Now both their new projects are dead in the water. As for live business, that's about hard core fans, look at Gaga, she hasn't had a hit in eons, and many fewer people are required to sell out venues than to dominate in the cultural discourse.
We've all hit a wall.
The question is whether we're looking to be directed, does the public want to be told what to watch and listen, or is it happy in the niches?
We're in a transition period.
But if you expect your project to spread like wildfire, nearly instantly, to all people.
You're dreaming.
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Tuesday, 13 March 2018
Nancy Wilson-This Week's Podcast
"Come on home girl, he said with a smile
You don't have to love me yet, let's get high for a while
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, he's a magic man"
It was 1976 and FM ruled. Everybody had a dual-band radio in their car, with maybe an 8-track under the dash. Lee Abrams had codified FM and the entire nation was listening, radio was truly the heartbeat of America. There were English bands, like Led Zeppelin, and American bands, like the Eagles, and acts that straddled both, like Gary Wright. But female-fronted rock bands?
That was a shallow pool.
Fanny had gotten a big push five years before, but had never broken through.
But when you heard the above lyrics blast out of the speaker...
You were immediately closed. It was truly a magic sound.
Heart went from zero to hero overnight, at least that's what it seemed like to us, the listeners. On an unknown label, Mushroom, with an unknown producer, Mike Flicker, they were an instant hit.
Although Nancy Wilson had been making music nearly from birth.
That's the one thing that struck me so much in our conversation, that she's a MUSICIAN! Not only can she play, but she has that sensibility, a like-mindedness with other players.
Also Nancy is fully conscious of Heart's career. The Capitol days with outside songwriters, the videos wherein she played the femme fatale as Ann was shuffled into the background. It was a long hard slog...
And she loved every minute of it.
What's it like to be a woman on the road?
Well, at first she was involved with the brother of the Magic Man.
And then...
What's it like to be a woman in a rock band?
Well, in many ways it's no different from being a man, except you have to send that negative signal to keep the guys at bay.
We go deep here. Through not only the early days in Washington, going to college and dropping out to join Heart, but also to the Lovemongers, having her twins, taking two years off and then going back on the road, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SHE DOES, THAT'S HER JOB!
And speaking of jobs, her latest gig is with Roadcase Royale, opening for Bob Seger.
But if you want to know what one of the progenitors felt, someone who was infected by the Beatles and took it all the way to the limit...
TUNE IN!
TuneIn http://tun.in/tinozV
Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Dz63bnu5aacf3x5gozglmtgtpbq?t=Nancy_Wilson-The_Bob_Lefsetz_Podcast
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bob-lefsetz/nancy-wilson-14
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/+LBr-YBayA
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You don't have to love me yet, let's get high for a while
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, he's a magic man"
It was 1976 and FM ruled. Everybody had a dual-band radio in their car, with maybe an 8-track under the dash. Lee Abrams had codified FM and the entire nation was listening, radio was truly the heartbeat of America. There were English bands, like Led Zeppelin, and American bands, like the Eagles, and acts that straddled both, like Gary Wright. But female-fronted rock bands?
That was a shallow pool.
Fanny had gotten a big push five years before, but had never broken through.
But when you heard the above lyrics blast out of the speaker...
You were immediately closed. It was truly a magic sound.
Heart went from zero to hero overnight, at least that's what it seemed like to us, the listeners. On an unknown label, Mushroom, with an unknown producer, Mike Flicker, they were an instant hit.
Although Nancy Wilson had been making music nearly from birth.
That's the one thing that struck me so much in our conversation, that she's a MUSICIAN! Not only can she play, but she has that sensibility, a like-mindedness with other players.
Also Nancy is fully conscious of Heart's career. The Capitol days with outside songwriters, the videos wherein she played the femme fatale as Ann was shuffled into the background. It was a long hard slog...
And she loved every minute of it.
What's it like to be a woman on the road?
Well, at first she was involved with the brother of the Magic Man.
And then...
What's it like to be a woman in a rock band?
Well, in many ways it's no different from being a man, except you have to send that negative signal to keep the guys at bay.
We go deep here. Through not only the early days in Washington, going to college and dropping out to join Heart, but also to the Lovemongers, having her twins, taking two years off and then going back on the road, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT SHE DOES, THAT'S HER JOB!
And speaking of jobs, her latest gig is with Roadcase Royale, opening for Bob Seger.
But if you want to know what one of the progenitors felt, someone who was infected by the Beatles and took it all the way to the limit...
TUNE IN!
TuneIn http://tun.in/tinozV
Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Dz63bnu5aacf3x5gozglmtgtpbq?t=Nancy_Wilson-The_Bob_Lefsetz_Podcast
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bob-lefsetz/nancy-wilson-14
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/+LBr-YBayA
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Monday, 12 March 2018
Turning The Clock Back
You don't do that anymore. Nor do you turn it forward.
Back in the seventies, when going to the movies was still a thing, and L.A. shows were at eight sharp and after ten, I went with my girlfriend for a pizza at La Barbera's. It was torn down and been replaced by an apartment building, but in the days of yore it was considered the best pie in Los Angeles, not that it was that good, this was before L.A. captured the culinary zeitgeist, before Nancy Silverton put her spin on pizza at Mozza, when you could get something round but it was mostly bread, a far cry from what I grew up with in Connecticut, where the crust is thick and crisp, the underpinning thin and there's an oil slick on top of the tomato sauce. For the best iteration, with even a thinner skin, go to Pepe's.
And we're munching along, having a good time, and when we get up to leave the place is empty and dark, how could this be at five of nine?
Turns out we missed Daylight Saving Time. It was actually five of ten, and there was no way we could make that movie.
Now back in the dark ages, half the year was Daylight Savings and half the year was not. One yearned for that weekend in April when we turned the clocks forward, for that extra hour of sunlight. As for the fall... No one ever went to school in the dark, although that did happen during the oil crisis, when going to Daylight Saving Time in the winter was supposed to save energy. That's one thing they can never get straight, whether Daylight Saving Time saves energy, they're still debating its merits. As for me, I LOVE IT! I'm scared by sunrise, it's so creepy, because usually I see it from the other side, having stayed up all night. I love a good sunset, but unless I'm in a foreign land and the sunrise is a thing, I avoid it.
Then again, it takes a few days to adjust, I was stunned today when I looked at the clock on my Mac and saw it was 6:30 and it was still light out, but that brings me to my point... MY MAC CHANGES TIME AUTOMATICALLY!
Changing the clocks...is that still a thing?
My computers change automatically. My Echos change automatically. The cable box changes automatically. My iPhone changes automatically. Hell, I was reading my Kindle late Saturday night and wireless was turned off and IT changed automatically, HOW DID IT KNOW?
But the big clock in the hall is stuck at five after seven, you know, the one that speaks to that signal in Colorado, this has happened before, it'll probably start working in a day or two, but now I can't rely on it when I normally do, imagine if all the clocks that synch to signals didn't!
I had to change the hour in my car. Do you still have to do that in a Tesla, which famously downloads updates overnight? I drive a 2005, and I'm not trading it in just so I can get the new tech, it's got satellite radio and a turbocharged engine and that's enough for me, unless I win the lottery I'm still gonna drive it, especially in the land of valet parking. No one wants to break into my car, if it gets damaged I'll live, well, not really, but the concept of a car evidencing your status... As for drivability, I've got that covered, mine's a four wheel drive sports car, I don't need any more, although it is damn noisy.
But the clock in the kitchen, I had to update that. But it's from the eighties.
And my answering machine... I had to reset that too. AN ANSWERING MACHINE? EVER HEAR OF VOICE MAIL? Of course I've heard of voice mail, but I don't use it, you see I screen all my calls via said answering machine, and the truth is almost all the calls are robotic, most of the time they hang up upon receiving the message.
As for the junk calls on my iPhone, for some reason they're always from Gardena and I block the number each time. Hell, I haven't gotten one in weeks... Which means, of course, I'll get one imminently.
But I'm thinking about it and I'm thinking if you're a young 'un, who probably doesn't even own a wristwatch, you don't even have to think about Daylight Saving Time, other than the loss of an hour, all your gadgets adjust for you, your computer, your mobile, your Apple Watch... It won't be long before turning the clock back will be a phrase that generations just don't understand. Kinda like a skip in a record, then again vinyl is coming back, or a phone booth. You take these concepts for granted, and then there's a technological breakthrough and they evaporate. Of course there's a transition period, but how long will those clocks of yore continue to function?
https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-barberas-on-wilshire-los-angeles-2
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Back in the seventies, when going to the movies was still a thing, and L.A. shows were at eight sharp and after ten, I went with my girlfriend for a pizza at La Barbera's. It was torn down and been replaced by an apartment building, but in the days of yore it was considered the best pie in Los Angeles, not that it was that good, this was before L.A. captured the culinary zeitgeist, before Nancy Silverton put her spin on pizza at Mozza, when you could get something round but it was mostly bread, a far cry from what I grew up with in Connecticut, where the crust is thick and crisp, the underpinning thin and there's an oil slick on top of the tomato sauce. For the best iteration, with even a thinner skin, go to Pepe's.
And we're munching along, having a good time, and when we get up to leave the place is empty and dark, how could this be at five of nine?
Turns out we missed Daylight Saving Time. It was actually five of ten, and there was no way we could make that movie.
Now back in the dark ages, half the year was Daylight Savings and half the year was not. One yearned for that weekend in April when we turned the clocks forward, for that extra hour of sunlight. As for the fall... No one ever went to school in the dark, although that did happen during the oil crisis, when going to Daylight Saving Time in the winter was supposed to save energy. That's one thing they can never get straight, whether Daylight Saving Time saves energy, they're still debating its merits. As for me, I LOVE IT! I'm scared by sunrise, it's so creepy, because usually I see it from the other side, having stayed up all night. I love a good sunset, but unless I'm in a foreign land and the sunrise is a thing, I avoid it.
Then again, it takes a few days to adjust, I was stunned today when I looked at the clock on my Mac and saw it was 6:30 and it was still light out, but that brings me to my point... MY MAC CHANGES TIME AUTOMATICALLY!
Changing the clocks...is that still a thing?
My computers change automatically. My Echos change automatically. The cable box changes automatically. My iPhone changes automatically. Hell, I was reading my Kindle late Saturday night and wireless was turned off and IT changed automatically, HOW DID IT KNOW?
But the big clock in the hall is stuck at five after seven, you know, the one that speaks to that signal in Colorado, this has happened before, it'll probably start working in a day or two, but now I can't rely on it when I normally do, imagine if all the clocks that synch to signals didn't!
I had to change the hour in my car. Do you still have to do that in a Tesla, which famously downloads updates overnight? I drive a 2005, and I'm not trading it in just so I can get the new tech, it's got satellite radio and a turbocharged engine and that's enough for me, unless I win the lottery I'm still gonna drive it, especially in the land of valet parking. No one wants to break into my car, if it gets damaged I'll live, well, not really, but the concept of a car evidencing your status... As for drivability, I've got that covered, mine's a four wheel drive sports car, I don't need any more, although it is damn noisy.
But the clock in the kitchen, I had to update that. But it's from the eighties.
And my answering machine... I had to reset that too. AN ANSWERING MACHINE? EVER HEAR OF VOICE MAIL? Of course I've heard of voice mail, but I don't use it, you see I screen all my calls via said answering machine, and the truth is almost all the calls are robotic, most of the time they hang up upon receiving the message.
As for the junk calls on my iPhone, for some reason they're always from Gardena and I block the number each time. Hell, I haven't gotten one in weeks... Which means, of course, I'll get one imminently.
But I'm thinking about it and I'm thinking if you're a young 'un, who probably doesn't even own a wristwatch, you don't even have to think about Daylight Saving Time, other than the loss of an hour, all your gadgets adjust for you, your computer, your mobile, your Apple Watch... It won't be long before turning the clock back will be a phrase that generations just don't understand. Kinda like a skip in a record, then again vinyl is coming back, or a phone booth. You take these concepts for granted, and then there's a technological breakthrough and they evaporate. Of course there's a transition period, but how long will those clocks of yore continue to function?
https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-barberas-on-wilshire-los-angeles-2
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Take The Highway
http://spoti.fi/2p9VnWP
"And the time has finally come
For me to pack my bags and walk away"
Southern rock started as R&B. Duane Allman was playing sessions in Muscle Shoals and Phil Walden was managing Otis Redding. But then...
It didn't happen overnight, it was years in gestation, a group of players inspired by the blues decided to add a layer of improvisation and with Walden steering them they...
Didn't break through.
The first Allman Brothers LP was produced by Adrian Barber, famous for his work on Cream's "Goodbye," the progenitor of the southern rock sound, the extended English jams, but the end result was too antiseptic. The songs were there, the playing was too, but the magic was absent, it's all about capturing lightning in a bottle. That's the thing with art, it's that indescribable element you can't put your finger on that puts it over the top, and although some perfectionists who write and record for eons get it right, most successes, most breakthroughs, are inspirational moments laid down nearly instantly which are undeniable, whether it be the opuses of the British Invasion or the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock.
The Allmans' follow-up was produced by Atlantic's A-Team, Tom Dowd and Joel Dorn. The rough edges were sanded off, the end result was more palatable for the masses, more radio-friendly, but if you think you heard "Midnight Rider" on the radio back in 1970, you'd be wrong.
But then...
Came "Fillmore East."
You see the band had been gigging. Getting it right, spreading the word. That's the way you broke back then, not only the Allman Brothers but thereafter Bruce Springsteen, going to see the Boss it wasn't so much about the songs but the performance, the stories, the passion. But with the Allman Brothers it was all about...
The playing.
There was no doubt the twin lead guitarists were skilled. These were not the amateurs of yore, great on wax and lame live. They delivered and word started to spread.
Insiders knew. Bill Graham had the Allmans close the Fillmore East. But it wasn't until the live album was released that it exploded, YEARS after the Allmans had begun to try.
Still, it was another two years after that before casual listeners got infected, when "Ramblin' Man" was all over AM radio.
Proving...
It starts with a culture. Pushed forward not only by the music, but a businessman, Phil Walden WAS southern rock. And then, eventually the public catches up.
So, if you're off the mainstream radar and gaining traction and part of a scene maybe, just maybe...
But there used to be a new sound every three to four years. Southern rock was superseded by corporate rock and then disco and then the new wave on MTV and then hair bands, the Seattle sound and popsters and rappers. But now, even though every sound is available at our fingertips it takes even longer to get traction. WHY IS THIS SO?
In a world of infinite choice the customer is alienated. Furthermore, it takes longer for a sound to rise above. And with all the wealth concentrated in a certain sound, everybody goes there. When a few acts are making millions and others thousands, not everybody chases the big cash. But when the top acts make fifty or sixty times more than the lesser ones, all the best business talent goes to the top, it's no different from society at large, where you have the educated class going into banking and tech because that's where the money is.
So the Allmans hit and other southern rock bands begin to propagate.
You read about them, but very few broke through. Dixie Dregs, Sea Level, Grinderswitch...they were rarely on the radio. Wet Willie was an exception, they had a song that got airplay, "Keep On Smilin'," but no live reputation outside of their home base.
And then came the Marshall Tucker Band.
Every successful act depends upon a genius, a songwriter, sometimes a player, even a singer, who puts it over the top. In the case of Marshall Tucker, it was Toy Caldwell. He wrote all the songs on the band's 1973 debut, and when you dropped the needle...
You were immediately taken away. That's where you got your best shot, the opening track. "Take The Highway" was akin to "Revival," but with more energy and more explosiveness.
Even better, the follow-up was superior, "Can't You See" was the opposite of "Take The Highway," it was subtle, it didn't hit you over the head, rather it penetrated your soul, it was the kind of song you played on a Saturday afternoon as you contemplated your life.
Now the irony is the Marshall Tucker Band could never capitalize on this sound, could never deliver on it again, and then it turned more southern, more country and had further success, until Toy Caldwell died and the band became an oldies act.
Meanwhile, Al Kooper moved to Atlanta and signed the overlooked Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Free Bird" was not an overnight success, but within months it became the second most legendary cut on FM radio.
And one other thing about the southern rock cuts, and "Free Bird" and "Stairway to Heaven" too, is they were not made for the gatekeepers, they were not short and compact for radio. "Whipping Post" on "Fillmore East" was twenty three minutes long! And both "Take The Highway" and "Can't You See" exceeded six minutes.
And Al was not the only man in.
Where there's success, there are followers.
Epic had Molly Hatchet. Clive even had the Outlaws. Both followed the formula faithfully, extended numbers, but it started to appear like paint-by-numbers, and the whole scene cratered, even the Allmans broke up, and that had to do with more than the music, but their reputation as legends didn't get burnished and solidified with strength until the nineties.
And that's the story of southern rock.
But it's the story of all cultural musical movements.
They don't come from nowhere.
The Eagles wouldn't exist without Bob Seger and the Flying Burrito Brothers, never mind "Sweetheart of the Rodeo." That mixture of rock and country took years to percolate.
It's much harder if you're not part of a scene.
But the story is always the same. Prog rock was for aficionados only, but it wasn't until '72 that "Roundabout" was on the radio. Where it dominated, people could not get enough of this new sound.
People want new sounds, but they don't pass from early adopters to looky-loos immediately, they need midwives.
Furthermore, there's cross-pollination. It was Duane Allman who played the lick on "Layla," even though most people didn't know that for decades, if they know it at all. But Eric knew of Duane's genius.
So what sound is gonna percolate and dominate in the future?
First and foremost you must adopt the tools of the game.
Southern rock was about stretching out on an LP in an era where albums superseded singles. It was about being ready for FM radio, not AM.
But today only hip-hop has embraced the internet fully. Competing genres are still dependent upon terrestrial radio, which doesn't move the needle, only amplifies and cleans up what's already there, and has little impact other than in Top Forty and Country.
So you need a melding of culture and technology while you test the limits and admit the past is never coming back.
TAKE THE HIGHWAY!
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"And the time has finally come
For me to pack my bags and walk away"
Southern rock started as R&B. Duane Allman was playing sessions in Muscle Shoals and Phil Walden was managing Otis Redding. But then...
It didn't happen overnight, it was years in gestation, a group of players inspired by the blues decided to add a layer of improvisation and with Walden steering them they...
Didn't break through.
The first Allman Brothers LP was produced by Adrian Barber, famous for his work on Cream's "Goodbye," the progenitor of the southern rock sound, the extended English jams, but the end result was too antiseptic. The songs were there, the playing was too, but the magic was absent, it's all about capturing lightning in a bottle. That's the thing with art, it's that indescribable element you can't put your finger on that puts it over the top, and although some perfectionists who write and record for eons get it right, most successes, most breakthroughs, are inspirational moments laid down nearly instantly which are undeniable, whether it be the opuses of the British Invasion or the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock.
The Allmans' follow-up was produced by Atlantic's A-Team, Tom Dowd and Joel Dorn. The rough edges were sanded off, the end result was more palatable for the masses, more radio-friendly, but if you think you heard "Midnight Rider" on the radio back in 1970, you'd be wrong.
But then...
Came "Fillmore East."
You see the band had been gigging. Getting it right, spreading the word. That's the way you broke back then, not only the Allman Brothers but thereafter Bruce Springsteen, going to see the Boss it wasn't so much about the songs but the performance, the stories, the passion. But with the Allman Brothers it was all about...
The playing.
There was no doubt the twin lead guitarists were skilled. These were not the amateurs of yore, great on wax and lame live. They delivered and word started to spread.
Insiders knew. Bill Graham had the Allmans close the Fillmore East. But it wasn't until the live album was released that it exploded, YEARS after the Allmans had begun to try.
Still, it was another two years after that before casual listeners got infected, when "Ramblin' Man" was all over AM radio.
Proving...
It starts with a culture. Pushed forward not only by the music, but a businessman, Phil Walden WAS southern rock. And then, eventually the public catches up.
So, if you're off the mainstream radar and gaining traction and part of a scene maybe, just maybe...
But there used to be a new sound every three to four years. Southern rock was superseded by corporate rock and then disco and then the new wave on MTV and then hair bands, the Seattle sound and popsters and rappers. But now, even though every sound is available at our fingertips it takes even longer to get traction. WHY IS THIS SO?
In a world of infinite choice the customer is alienated. Furthermore, it takes longer for a sound to rise above. And with all the wealth concentrated in a certain sound, everybody goes there. When a few acts are making millions and others thousands, not everybody chases the big cash. But when the top acts make fifty or sixty times more than the lesser ones, all the best business talent goes to the top, it's no different from society at large, where you have the educated class going into banking and tech because that's where the money is.
So the Allmans hit and other southern rock bands begin to propagate.
You read about them, but very few broke through. Dixie Dregs, Sea Level, Grinderswitch...they were rarely on the radio. Wet Willie was an exception, they had a song that got airplay, "Keep On Smilin'," but no live reputation outside of their home base.
And then came the Marshall Tucker Band.
Every successful act depends upon a genius, a songwriter, sometimes a player, even a singer, who puts it over the top. In the case of Marshall Tucker, it was Toy Caldwell. He wrote all the songs on the band's 1973 debut, and when you dropped the needle...
You were immediately taken away. That's where you got your best shot, the opening track. "Take The Highway" was akin to "Revival," but with more energy and more explosiveness.
Even better, the follow-up was superior, "Can't You See" was the opposite of "Take The Highway," it was subtle, it didn't hit you over the head, rather it penetrated your soul, it was the kind of song you played on a Saturday afternoon as you contemplated your life.
Now the irony is the Marshall Tucker Band could never capitalize on this sound, could never deliver on it again, and then it turned more southern, more country and had further success, until Toy Caldwell died and the band became an oldies act.
Meanwhile, Al Kooper moved to Atlanta and signed the overlooked Lynyrd Skynyrd and "Free Bird" was not an overnight success, but within months it became the second most legendary cut on FM radio.
And one other thing about the southern rock cuts, and "Free Bird" and "Stairway to Heaven" too, is they were not made for the gatekeepers, they were not short and compact for radio. "Whipping Post" on "Fillmore East" was twenty three minutes long! And both "Take The Highway" and "Can't You See" exceeded six minutes.
And Al was not the only man in.
Where there's success, there are followers.
Epic had Molly Hatchet. Clive even had the Outlaws. Both followed the formula faithfully, extended numbers, but it started to appear like paint-by-numbers, and the whole scene cratered, even the Allmans broke up, and that had to do with more than the music, but their reputation as legends didn't get burnished and solidified with strength until the nineties.
And that's the story of southern rock.
But it's the story of all cultural musical movements.
They don't come from nowhere.
The Eagles wouldn't exist without Bob Seger and the Flying Burrito Brothers, never mind "Sweetheart of the Rodeo." That mixture of rock and country took years to percolate.
It's much harder if you're not part of a scene.
But the story is always the same. Prog rock was for aficionados only, but it wasn't until '72 that "Roundabout" was on the radio. Where it dominated, people could not get enough of this new sound.
People want new sounds, but they don't pass from early adopters to looky-loos immediately, they need midwives.
Furthermore, there's cross-pollination. It was Duane Allman who played the lick on "Layla," even though most people didn't know that for decades, if they know it at all. But Eric knew of Duane's genius.
So what sound is gonna percolate and dominate in the future?
First and foremost you must adopt the tools of the game.
Southern rock was about stretching out on an LP in an era where albums superseded singles. It was about being ready for FM radio, not AM.
But today only hip-hop has embraced the internet fully. Competing genres are still dependent upon terrestrial radio, which doesn't move the needle, only amplifies and cleans up what's already there, and has little impact other than in Top Forty and Country.
So you need a melding of culture and technology while you test the limits and admit the past is never coming back.
TAKE THE HIGHWAY!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
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Sunday, 11 March 2018
The Killing
I read that the first two seasons were leaving Netflix, gone on March 13th, and that was just the impetus I needed to check it out. I hadn't watched it earlier because everyone said the Danish series it was based upon was better than the American iteration, and I've got no problem with subtitles and I believe in going to the source. Speaking of subtitles, the default on "Babylon Berlin" is dubbed, but you can go into the settings and get subtitles, it's much less jarring.
But you had to pay for the original Danish series and that's something I'm just not gonna do. First and foremost because I don't believe in owning content, secondly because I'm sick and tired of paying, Charter/Spectrum just upped my bill to $197 and change and I barely watch television, but if I cancel the tube it's almost as much for the internet, I can't wait for 5G when these cable operators finally have some competition.
So we dug in.
Now the funniest thing about watching TV these days is figuring out where you've seen the actors before. It took me two episodes to realize that Joel Kinnaman was the Presidential candidate on "House of Cards," and much more than that to connect Brent Sexton with "Bosch," the next season of which is imminent, the worst thing about getting hooked on these series is the one year plus wait between binges, which is why it's best to watch shows that are already completed, like "Breaking Bad." Felice keeps asking me if there's a new "Ozark" yet, I tell her it's far from imminent!
And speaking of actors, the best performance in "The Killing"'s first season is by one Michelle Forbes, who caught my eye in "Kalifornia" but I've rarely seen since. You see I'm not a flipper, I cannot sit in front of the TV every week as they dribble out episodes of series that are long on plot but short on substance. And honestly, "The Killing" falls into this trap until the final wrap-up season, paid for by Netflix, wherein they go much deeper psychologically, I like to dig my teeth in.
Still, I got hooked.
You see with all the focus on rich business titans, it's the work of the everyday people that's most interesting. Almost makes you want to be a cop. I could not look at dead bodies all day, not even once a year, and to be honest I'm not that good with puzzles, but you can see how rewarding this work is, which makes you contemplate how you're spending your life.
As for the political side story... Took me a few episodes to recall I'd seen Billy Campbell in "Once and Again," remember when Herskovitz and Zwick were the hopes for TV? I loved all their shows, especially the progenitor, "thirtysomething," but that was thirty years ago and now the torch has been passed. That's what's weird about aging, you don't expect to be replaced, you expect your heroes to continue to dominate, especially when they're not in sports, but they're birthing new people every day and they want a chance and they're hungrier and what they don't know doesn't burden them.
But watching the politics in Seattle one wonders... If you start at the bottom can you ever make it to the top? I think it's a rare event. You read the feel-good stories in the media, but navigating the personas is even more important than your work ethic and product and chances are you'll get stuck and want to quit, you should quit, that's America today, no one is looking out for you.
And the plot twists and turns, and it takes two seasons to resolve, and the problem with these mysteries is that unlike real life, there's always a twist that solves it, you cannot figure it out, not the long game anyway, and this is so frustrating. But the performances are so good... Forbes is distraught as the mother, whereas Sexton plays a modern male, alternately strong and sensitive, a guy who tried to escape his past but is having a hard time doing so. That's another problem, you can't find your way in, and when you do you have to do stuff you don't want to and the question is whether it's gonna hurt you in the long run.
And I made the mistake of Googling and finding out who the real killer was, so I'm never gonna do that again, the urge is so great, to learn more about these characters you're spending time with.
And in the third season when the plot turns to a different crime you yearn for the earlier characters, they're played so well you believe it's them. That's what's different about the Rock and these people, the latter are chameleons, and when you see them in a subsequent role you're caught off guard.
And then the final Netflix season, which ties it all up...
Funny how the criteria are different. The traditional outlets check ratings, whereas Netflix is all about driving subscriber numbers. It's these continuations that get people to sign up and then be hooked.
Although Netflix has an evolving paradigm.
First it was movies, via mail.
Then it was old TV shows and fewer movies via streaming.
And then came these extensions of canceled shows.
Then came foreign productions like "Narcos" and new shows like "Bloodline."
And then there were documentaries and comedy specials and now, now they're doubling-down on talk shows. Not only with Joel McHale, but now Norm Macdonald, which I believe is a huge mistake, I tried watching his podcast, his delivery is not dynamic and it's so inside and so amateurish...Norm's a niche, I could do better than him!
But they're not gonna give me a show, I'm too old. Then again, Letterman has one, and when Howard Stern appears it will be a moment that captures the cultural zeitgeist, hell, that's today's world, either you're clued in or you're not, either you can't stop listening to Howard or you never will. But the thing about Stern is he's just that much better than everybody else, you get hooked. And it's the same deal with these Netflix shows, you don't want to go back to cable, or in my case, you never watched to begin with. You just want to pull up another Netflix show.
But they screwed up the ratings, now everything has four stars and you have to research online to know what's worth viewing. Which portends the liberties Netflix is gonna take in the future, kinda like Google, which was our friend and now is our enemy, now that we're hooked.
But Netflix is full-service, you don't need anything else. Hell, you haven't got time for anything else.
Just think about it...
You can cancel ALL your TV, you don't even need a skinny bundle! While the NYT fawns over the decrepit SNL, you can just pull up the skits worth watching the next day online, or you can skip them entirely, I do, they never seem to have an ending, ever hear of a punch line?
But traditional TV is doomed, no one wants to watch by appointment and no one wants to wait for all ten or twelve episodes to appear. First, they came for the fall season, now series are introduced all year long, next they're coming for the schedule.
And yes, "The Killing" is years old, I'm out of it, I missed it.
But the truth is we're all missing something these days, anybody who says otherwise is lying. And speaking of lying, the great stuff is lying in wait, for when you're ready, for when you hear about it. Never forget "Breaking Bad" was a stiff until Netflix made years of episodes available on demand and it blew up. Proving, once again, just because you don't have an audience, that does not mean you're bad.
So I watched 42 episodes of "The Killing." I can't believe it! Where did the time go!
But that's modern television, it's still somewhat comprehensible, you can find the nuggets and go deep, whereas music is nearly incomprehensible and most of what is released is dreck, even the filler on hit albums.
Then again, these series are based on people, on humanity, something that's in short supply in music. In music you get fantasy and boasting, or faux reality, but we can tell the real thing.
And "The Killing" is pretty damn close.
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But you had to pay for the original Danish series and that's something I'm just not gonna do. First and foremost because I don't believe in owning content, secondly because I'm sick and tired of paying, Charter/Spectrum just upped my bill to $197 and change and I barely watch television, but if I cancel the tube it's almost as much for the internet, I can't wait for 5G when these cable operators finally have some competition.
So we dug in.
Now the funniest thing about watching TV these days is figuring out where you've seen the actors before. It took me two episodes to realize that Joel Kinnaman was the Presidential candidate on "House of Cards," and much more than that to connect Brent Sexton with "Bosch," the next season of which is imminent, the worst thing about getting hooked on these series is the one year plus wait between binges, which is why it's best to watch shows that are already completed, like "Breaking Bad." Felice keeps asking me if there's a new "Ozark" yet, I tell her it's far from imminent!
And speaking of actors, the best performance in "The Killing"'s first season is by one Michelle Forbes, who caught my eye in "Kalifornia" but I've rarely seen since. You see I'm not a flipper, I cannot sit in front of the TV every week as they dribble out episodes of series that are long on plot but short on substance. And honestly, "The Killing" falls into this trap until the final wrap-up season, paid for by Netflix, wherein they go much deeper psychologically, I like to dig my teeth in.
Still, I got hooked.
You see with all the focus on rich business titans, it's the work of the everyday people that's most interesting. Almost makes you want to be a cop. I could not look at dead bodies all day, not even once a year, and to be honest I'm not that good with puzzles, but you can see how rewarding this work is, which makes you contemplate how you're spending your life.
As for the political side story... Took me a few episodes to recall I'd seen Billy Campbell in "Once and Again," remember when Herskovitz and Zwick were the hopes for TV? I loved all their shows, especially the progenitor, "thirtysomething," but that was thirty years ago and now the torch has been passed. That's what's weird about aging, you don't expect to be replaced, you expect your heroes to continue to dominate, especially when they're not in sports, but they're birthing new people every day and they want a chance and they're hungrier and what they don't know doesn't burden them.
But watching the politics in Seattle one wonders... If you start at the bottom can you ever make it to the top? I think it's a rare event. You read the feel-good stories in the media, but navigating the personas is even more important than your work ethic and product and chances are you'll get stuck and want to quit, you should quit, that's America today, no one is looking out for you.
And the plot twists and turns, and it takes two seasons to resolve, and the problem with these mysteries is that unlike real life, there's always a twist that solves it, you cannot figure it out, not the long game anyway, and this is so frustrating. But the performances are so good... Forbes is distraught as the mother, whereas Sexton plays a modern male, alternately strong and sensitive, a guy who tried to escape his past but is having a hard time doing so. That's another problem, you can't find your way in, and when you do you have to do stuff you don't want to and the question is whether it's gonna hurt you in the long run.
And I made the mistake of Googling and finding out who the real killer was, so I'm never gonna do that again, the urge is so great, to learn more about these characters you're spending time with.
And in the third season when the plot turns to a different crime you yearn for the earlier characters, they're played so well you believe it's them. That's what's different about the Rock and these people, the latter are chameleons, and when you see them in a subsequent role you're caught off guard.
And then the final Netflix season, which ties it all up...
Funny how the criteria are different. The traditional outlets check ratings, whereas Netflix is all about driving subscriber numbers. It's these continuations that get people to sign up and then be hooked.
Although Netflix has an evolving paradigm.
First it was movies, via mail.
Then it was old TV shows and fewer movies via streaming.
And then came these extensions of canceled shows.
Then came foreign productions like "Narcos" and new shows like "Bloodline."
And then there were documentaries and comedy specials and now, now they're doubling-down on talk shows. Not only with Joel McHale, but now Norm Macdonald, which I believe is a huge mistake, I tried watching his podcast, his delivery is not dynamic and it's so inside and so amateurish...Norm's a niche, I could do better than him!
But they're not gonna give me a show, I'm too old. Then again, Letterman has one, and when Howard Stern appears it will be a moment that captures the cultural zeitgeist, hell, that's today's world, either you're clued in or you're not, either you can't stop listening to Howard or you never will. But the thing about Stern is he's just that much better than everybody else, you get hooked. And it's the same deal with these Netflix shows, you don't want to go back to cable, or in my case, you never watched to begin with. You just want to pull up another Netflix show.
But they screwed up the ratings, now everything has four stars and you have to research online to know what's worth viewing. Which portends the liberties Netflix is gonna take in the future, kinda like Google, which was our friend and now is our enemy, now that we're hooked.
But Netflix is full-service, you don't need anything else. Hell, you haven't got time for anything else.
Just think about it...
You can cancel ALL your TV, you don't even need a skinny bundle! While the NYT fawns over the decrepit SNL, you can just pull up the skits worth watching the next day online, or you can skip them entirely, I do, they never seem to have an ending, ever hear of a punch line?
But traditional TV is doomed, no one wants to watch by appointment and no one wants to wait for all ten or twelve episodes to appear. First, they came for the fall season, now series are introduced all year long, next they're coming for the schedule.
And yes, "The Killing" is years old, I'm out of it, I missed it.
But the truth is we're all missing something these days, anybody who says otherwise is lying. And speaking of lying, the great stuff is lying in wait, for when you're ready, for when you hear about it. Never forget "Breaking Bad" was a stiff until Netflix made years of episodes available on demand and it blew up. Proving, once again, just because you don't have an audience, that does not mean you're bad.
So I watched 42 episodes of "The Killing." I can't believe it! Where did the time go!
But that's modern television, it's still somewhat comprehensible, you can find the nuggets and go deep, whereas music is nearly incomprehensible and most of what is released is dreck, even the filler on hit albums.
Then again, these series are based on people, on humanity, something that's in short supply in music. In music you get fantasy and boasting, or faux reality, but we can tell the real thing.
And "The Killing" is pretty damn close.
--
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The Changing Of The Guard
While oldsters were focused on piracy and streaming payments, youngsters swooped in and stole the music business, and it's definitely not business as usual.
First and foremost you must be part of a culture, otherwise you don't succeed. Acts are built online, radio is at most a cherry on top, and you gain interest and gravitas by aligning yourself with other successful purveyors. Starting from scratch alone is anathema, it's almost impossible to climb to the top, because you can't gain attention. Which is why the one stop promotion that used to work no longer does. You go on late night TV, you get a review in the newspaper, that used to mean you were on your way, now those are just isolated events. SNL is seen as a victory lap, not a way to break. Because the truth is you have to have broken before. Sure, if you're an oldster act you can benefit from "CBS Sunday Morning" or a feature in the "New York Times," but oldsters are waning as an influence and as part of the marketplace.
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
Is done by yourself, not the label. Everyone can record at home, post video to YouTube and finished tracks to Spotify, et al, never mind Soundcoud. When you hear someone complain, always an oldster, that labels no longer do artist development, ignore them, they're operating on a past paradigm.
MAJOR LABELS
Their only function is to make you bigger. They used to be repositories of acts with no traction, now they only want to make a deal if you've already proven yourself. They'll promise cash and promotion, both of which are waning in importance. Cash... You can get paid by Spotify by yourself, on a regular basis. Promotion... Majors have a stranglehold on terrestrial radio, but that will mean less and less in an on demand culture where everything is available at a click online. The acts the majors can help most they don't want. If you can't make big bucks, the major is not interested. So all you middle class acts can forget about it. Because even though the recording costs might be less, the marketing and promotion efforts are just as big for a small project as well as a niche one, so the major doesn't want to waste the effort.
STREAMING PAYMENTS
You're complaining if you've got no traction or you've got a bad deal. But the youth aren't complaining, oftentimes they're giving away mixtapes to further their brand, gain new followers. If you want to get paid by streaming companies, go direct, through Tunecore or CD Baby. Also you must garner tens of millions of streams. This is where the rubber meets the road, if no one is listening, you're not getting paid. Yes, this is a change from the physical paradigm, even the file paradigm, but those are never coming back, so forget about them.
RECORDINGS ARE AN ADVERTISEMENT
Yes, you can get paid from recordings, but the big money is what the fanbase they generate delivers. Live appearances, sponsorship, privates. Focus on audience, not immediate payment. In a business where it's always been about the now, this is a reversal most antiques can't fathom, especially in a business of historical untrustworthiness. But the internet companies are not record companies, streaming doesn't interpret a contract to your detriment, it just pays. And now touring is run by giant operations that will never stiff you.
TOURING
After putting up so much cash for so little return, promoters are focusing on festivals, where they can make so much more. And they pay well and you get exposure. Don't think of a festival appearance as breaking your act, but just another brick in the wall. The festival appearance is the opening touring slot of yore.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
The public is confused by the plethora of product. There's so much music and promotion thereof that all but the most intrepid fans are overwhelmed by it. Therefore, people gravitate to the hits, and it's only gonna get worse. So you think you're getting ahead via publicity, but unless you're part of a culture, which really exists only in hip-hop and country and to a smaller extent EDM, you're screwed, you can never make it. Sure, you can garner a small audience, maybe play clubs, but graduating to arenas, even theatres? Nigh near impossible. So either accept your fate, pivot, or get out.
HITS
We are in a non-progressive era where it's so hard to make it that people don't want to take risk. You can understand why the track's a hit, but it doesn't move you. Whether it be "Uptown Funk," literally based on a hit of yore, or the latest Foster The People track. It's akin to ear candy. Very few want to take a chance where your new project you slaved over can stiff in a day.
POP
Ran its course. There's no culture. Everyone moved to hip-hop. This is why Katy Perry and Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson failed in the marketplace, they're starting at square one with their records. So, their fans might buy in, but everybody else ignores them.
COMING TO BAT
There's no disgrace in failure, especially if you've got no traction, the key is to get right back up and play. This is how Justin Bieber went from mid-career wilderness back to the pinnacle. If you're slaving over an album for years, you're doing it wrong. Chances are it won't hit. Focus on singles, put them out and see what happens, it's about your body of work, not the album itself. People are always ready to pay attention if you deliver once again.
RECORDINGS ARE THE FUEL
You're nothing without your music. So keep putting it out. When you're on tour, making bucks, playing to a small fraction of your audience, your casual fans are moving on to something else, such that when you release a new album years down the line you're starting all over again.
A HIT IS NO GUARANTEE
You must have a relationship with streaming services that playlist it. You must do your best to climb the ladder. If you just release it, they will not come, except in maybe hip-hop, certainly not in country, never mind pop. Rag'n'Bone Man's "Human" was a hit everywhere but the U.S. It's the same song, but it wasn't worked right and it didn't fit into an obvious culture. Furthermore, Sony was operating with an old playbook, start it on AAA and cross it over, whereas Top Forty looks at streaming numbers and is not in the business of making hits, but capitalizing on them. You build your story online, not on radio.
ALTA KACHERS
Check the headliners at all the festivals. Used to be they were baby boomer acts, but that's no longer the case. Because baby boomers don't go to these festivals and it's been a long time since the heyday of classic rock.
VIDEO
Promotes your own brand, but gets no traction with others unless it goes viral, which is very hard to do and is usually based on a combo of infectiousness and a je nais se quois in the clip itself, like "Despacito." Just being on YouTube with millions of views does not mean anybody other than your fans is aware. Hell, there are tracks with 50 million streams on Spotify you've never ever heard.
So what we've learned is the oldsters, who grew up in a major label dominated world, have been left behind, and they don't even know it. When you hear septuagenarian David Crosby complain about streaming payouts know that most kids have no idea who that is, and their heroes are not complaining and are selling more tickets. This is akin to how the media missed Trump. The landscape changed, and everybody who'd been in the game forever thought they knew better and didn't.
Going forward it will be about being elevated by your culture. The noise will start in the community, will burgeon online and will be evident on streaming services. Hell, compare Spotify with Mediabase, radio is months behind and it will only get worse as terrestrial tightens up its playlists. Radio is selling advertising, the goal is to get you engaged and keep you there. Whereas streaming services don't care whether you listen or not, hell, it's better for them if you just pay and don't listen at all!
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First and foremost you must be part of a culture, otherwise you don't succeed. Acts are built online, radio is at most a cherry on top, and you gain interest and gravitas by aligning yourself with other successful purveyors. Starting from scratch alone is anathema, it's almost impossible to climb to the top, because you can't gain attention. Which is why the one stop promotion that used to work no longer does. You go on late night TV, you get a review in the newspaper, that used to mean you were on your way, now those are just isolated events. SNL is seen as a victory lap, not a way to break. Because the truth is you have to have broken before. Sure, if you're an oldster act you can benefit from "CBS Sunday Morning" or a feature in the "New York Times," but oldsters are waning as an influence and as part of the marketplace.
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
Is done by yourself, not the label. Everyone can record at home, post video to YouTube and finished tracks to Spotify, et al, never mind Soundcoud. When you hear someone complain, always an oldster, that labels no longer do artist development, ignore them, they're operating on a past paradigm.
MAJOR LABELS
Their only function is to make you bigger. They used to be repositories of acts with no traction, now they only want to make a deal if you've already proven yourself. They'll promise cash and promotion, both of which are waning in importance. Cash... You can get paid by Spotify by yourself, on a regular basis. Promotion... Majors have a stranglehold on terrestrial radio, but that will mean less and less in an on demand culture where everything is available at a click online. The acts the majors can help most they don't want. If you can't make big bucks, the major is not interested. So all you middle class acts can forget about it. Because even though the recording costs might be less, the marketing and promotion efforts are just as big for a small project as well as a niche one, so the major doesn't want to waste the effort.
STREAMING PAYMENTS
You're complaining if you've got no traction or you've got a bad deal. But the youth aren't complaining, oftentimes they're giving away mixtapes to further their brand, gain new followers. If you want to get paid by streaming companies, go direct, through Tunecore or CD Baby. Also you must garner tens of millions of streams. This is where the rubber meets the road, if no one is listening, you're not getting paid. Yes, this is a change from the physical paradigm, even the file paradigm, but those are never coming back, so forget about them.
RECORDINGS ARE AN ADVERTISEMENT
Yes, you can get paid from recordings, but the big money is what the fanbase they generate delivers. Live appearances, sponsorship, privates. Focus on audience, not immediate payment. In a business where it's always been about the now, this is a reversal most antiques can't fathom, especially in a business of historical untrustworthiness. But the internet companies are not record companies, streaming doesn't interpret a contract to your detriment, it just pays. And now touring is run by giant operations that will never stiff you.
TOURING
After putting up so much cash for so little return, promoters are focusing on festivals, where they can make so much more. And they pay well and you get exposure. Don't think of a festival appearance as breaking your act, but just another brick in the wall. The festival appearance is the opening touring slot of yore.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
The public is confused by the plethora of product. There's so much music and promotion thereof that all but the most intrepid fans are overwhelmed by it. Therefore, people gravitate to the hits, and it's only gonna get worse. So you think you're getting ahead via publicity, but unless you're part of a culture, which really exists only in hip-hop and country and to a smaller extent EDM, you're screwed, you can never make it. Sure, you can garner a small audience, maybe play clubs, but graduating to arenas, even theatres? Nigh near impossible. So either accept your fate, pivot, or get out.
HITS
We are in a non-progressive era where it's so hard to make it that people don't want to take risk. You can understand why the track's a hit, but it doesn't move you. Whether it be "Uptown Funk," literally based on a hit of yore, or the latest Foster The People track. It's akin to ear candy. Very few want to take a chance where your new project you slaved over can stiff in a day.
POP
Ran its course. There's no culture. Everyone moved to hip-hop. This is why Katy Perry and Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson failed in the marketplace, they're starting at square one with their records. So, their fans might buy in, but everybody else ignores them.
COMING TO BAT
There's no disgrace in failure, especially if you've got no traction, the key is to get right back up and play. This is how Justin Bieber went from mid-career wilderness back to the pinnacle. If you're slaving over an album for years, you're doing it wrong. Chances are it won't hit. Focus on singles, put them out and see what happens, it's about your body of work, not the album itself. People are always ready to pay attention if you deliver once again.
RECORDINGS ARE THE FUEL
You're nothing without your music. So keep putting it out. When you're on tour, making bucks, playing to a small fraction of your audience, your casual fans are moving on to something else, such that when you release a new album years down the line you're starting all over again.
A HIT IS NO GUARANTEE
You must have a relationship with streaming services that playlist it. You must do your best to climb the ladder. If you just release it, they will not come, except in maybe hip-hop, certainly not in country, never mind pop. Rag'n'Bone Man's "Human" was a hit everywhere but the U.S. It's the same song, but it wasn't worked right and it didn't fit into an obvious culture. Furthermore, Sony was operating with an old playbook, start it on AAA and cross it over, whereas Top Forty looks at streaming numbers and is not in the business of making hits, but capitalizing on them. You build your story online, not on radio.
ALTA KACHERS
Check the headliners at all the festivals. Used to be they were baby boomer acts, but that's no longer the case. Because baby boomers don't go to these festivals and it's been a long time since the heyday of classic rock.
VIDEO
Promotes your own brand, but gets no traction with others unless it goes viral, which is very hard to do and is usually based on a combo of infectiousness and a je nais se quois in the clip itself, like "Despacito." Just being on YouTube with millions of views does not mean anybody other than your fans is aware. Hell, there are tracks with 50 million streams on Spotify you've never ever heard.
So what we've learned is the oldsters, who grew up in a major label dominated world, have been left behind, and they don't even know it. When you hear septuagenarian David Crosby complain about streaming payouts know that most kids have no idea who that is, and their heroes are not complaining and are selling more tickets. This is akin to how the media missed Trump. The landscape changed, and everybody who'd been in the game forever thought they knew better and didn't.
Going forward it will be about being elevated by your culture. The noise will start in the community, will burgeon online and will be evident on streaming services. Hell, compare Spotify with Mediabase, radio is months behind and it will only get worse as terrestrial tightens up its playlists. Radio is selling advertising, the goal is to get you engaged and keep you there. Whereas streaming services don't care whether you listen or not, hell, it's better for them if you just pay and don't listen at all!
--
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