"Justice Department Preparing Legal Action Against Live Nation for Ticketing Practices-Live Nation allegedly sought to strong-arm concert venues into using its dominant Ticketmaster subsidiary": https://on.wsj.com/2sqwGuA
The only money is in the ticketing.
Actually, this is not the most important music business story this week. Also from the WSJ: "Liberty Media Seeks to Increase Stake in iHeart Media-Deal would put nation's largest radio broadcaster under same umbrella as concert promoter and satellite-radio giant SiriusXM": https://on.wsj.com/2EkC4St
Now using the logic of the SiriusXM merger, Liberty's control of iHeart should be approved by the government. In other words, satellite radio and terrestrial radio are two different entities, they serve different audiences.
Hmm...
Now if you go deep into the inner-workings, antitrust law is a game of the usual suspects on both sides of the fence, both attorneys and government. And the law is not a practical enterprise, a judge doesn't look at what feels right, but what the law says, how it should be interpreted, and if you've got good enough attorneys, which are always better than those employed by the government, chances are you can get what you want, especially if you donate to the ruling party.
So what is end game here?
Liberty Media has a long history of spinning off and exchanging assets. Liberty is in the money business. And it tries not to pay taxes. Ergo, the spinning off and exchange. In other words, the present-day status is not going to go on forever, there's going to be an event. History tells us, unlike a hedge fund, Liberty is willing to wait. But a transaction transpires.
Now as for Live Nation...
The problem with Ticketmaster is its basic principles and ethos. Credit Fred Rosen with the original problem. He paid buildings to be the exclusive ticketing company. This is a huge incentive to building managers/owners. In essence, it's free money. But to pay for that deal, Ticketmaster charges the end client, the everyday customer, fees, which consumers abhor, never mind don't understand. Now the truth is these fees are not only a way to pay building owners, but for the promoter to make money, because the face value of the ticket...almost all of it goes to the talent. The fees are really the talent's fault. Under the deals, the fees are not commissionable. And, Ticketmaster is paid to take the heat, the fans refuse to blame the acts anyway. And this has worked well until...
Concert ticket prices went through the roof, becoming the main source of income for acts, in a world where experiences are gaining value in comparison to assets. Furthermore, the ticket sellers are trying to squeeze the brokers, and the brokers don't want to be put out of business. So, it's an ugly situation, drawing government scrutiny. And the last thing you want is government scrutiny, which always comes too late and is effected by those unsophisticated with the industry.
So if all the money is in the ticketing... Ticketmaster is more valuable than Live Nation. Furthermore, in its war against scalpers, Ticketmaster is now selling secondary market tickets. And those are even more profitable than primary tickets. Ticketmaster is double-dipping, competitors cringe, but this is what is happening.
So...something's gotta move.
Now a radio conglomerate already bought a concert promotion company, i.e. Clear Channel's acquisition of SFX. It didn't pan out financially, but it was approved. So, allowing Liberty to control both iHeart and Live Nation...that should garner approval too.
Now what you've got to understand is concert promotion and radio are mature businesses. And with mature businesses there is consolidation, and usually price wars before prices ultimately are stabilized at a higher point. This is the Amazon paradigm. Amazon puts competitors out of business by undercutting their prices, or it buys the competitor, and then prices stabilize at a higher level.
But concerts are not fungible items. And the truth is many shows are actually underpriced, ergo the secondary market.
So...
Do we let Live Nation continue to use its Ticketmaster muscle?
"Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino said the decree allows the company to make decisions that are 'right for our business,' and that booking a Live Nation tour date at a venue that uses a ticketing provider other than Ticketmaster may not make economic sense for the company."
BINGO! If the only profit is in ticketing, if you don't control it, you don't make any money. Not that the government understands this.
So...
Amazon is going to buy Ticketmaster. It's just a matter of when Liberty can strike a stratospheric price. Once again, the value in Live Nation is not in the concert promotion, but the ticketing. Amazon doesn't want to own a concert company, but it sure wants to own ticketing, it's a gold mine. Furthermore, Amazon would do a better job of selling tickets than Ticketmaster could ever do. Amazon knows its customers, it's one stop shopping. It's the Google of commerce, i.e. you search for what you want on Amazon, not Google. So...
If Liberty can strike a high enough price, done deal. Then it sells the Live Nation concert company to some mark, just like Sillerman sold SFX to Clear Channel. Or it is broken up, the company being worth more when sold piecemeal.
As for SiriusXM/Pandora/iHeart.... If Verizon and AT&T continue to overpay for content companies that don't pan out, why not buy this entity! There is a deep pocket who would want control of all these distribution pipelines and content. They could be put to better use by someone with a broader game. Or could they?
But when you're the only game in town, the price goes up.
So...
Distribution is king, but content counts. Liberty has both, and will sell/exchange/merge what it's got with something bigger.
In other words, this is a money play.
This is what those on the street, not Wall Street, but Main Street, don't understand.
Even the government thinks it's about ticketing.
And when businesses are mature, those with money, those involved in maximizing value, enter the picture. Same in tech right now. The crazy days of individual entrepreneurs are done. Now it's about the investors more than those who actually work at the company.
Now fees have invaded so many spheres. Have you stayed at a hotel recently? And the public hates fees, but pays them anyway, until it gains an option. Napster was that option in recorded music. Does the public have an option regarding ticketing/concerts? No, so that's why it's getting the government involved.
Now let's never forget that they got Al Capone for tax evasion.
So... The public is pissed about ticketing. It is too opaque. It's just the way the industry wants it, although its goal is to eliminate the secondary market completely, in a world where the public relies on this secondary market for availability. Sound complicated? IT IS!
Ticketmaster is headed for a brick wall. You remove any element and it doesn't work. You've got to have exclusive deals with the venues, you've got to have the fees. As for third party entrants...even if they could pay the venues, the venues would be locked out of shows, since the only profit is in the ticketing!
Live Nation's stock price has gone up and up, that's what Michael Rapino is paid for. Buyers and sellers, i.e. money, cares not a whit about the underlying business, just the perceived value, and right now the perceived value of Live Nation is stratospheric.
It's not about ticketing, it's not about fees, it's not even about the government investigation. It's about raising the value and taking advantage of discrepancies in the market, and companies eager for an infusion/rescue. Soon, Liberty will control it all. And Liberty has a history of exchanging assets.
So...
A change is gonna come.
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Saturday, 14 December 2019
Friday, 13 December 2019
Boris Johnson's Landslide Victory
"Lyin', cheatin', hurtin', that's all you seem to do
Your time is gonna come
Your time is gonna come"
"Your Time Is Gonna Come"
Led Zeppelin
Or maybe it's not.
Turns out the people want strongmen. Officials who promise order. They want to give up power to those who know better, because they no longer know themselves. They're afraid of self-determination while professing a desire for the same thing. Globalization has stymied them. They want a return to an era of yore, when life was understandable. Can you say MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?
For a moment there, it looked like there was a leftward turn, like in Poland, a reaction to the far right inroads. So is Johnson's win a harbinger of things to come, or a one-off anomaly?
I'm not sure.
Then again, the Brexit vote back in 2016 was indicative of rightward leaning in left wing countries. That's how we got Trump. But one thing's for sure...NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING! Isn't that what William Goldman said about the movie business? Now it's politics. Nobody predicted Trump would win in 2016, and then he did.
And no one predicted that Boris would have such a smashing victory.
But he did.
So maybe we need insurance, maybe we need to nominate our billionaire against their billionaire. Maybe Bloomberg needs to be the candidate. Sure, he's a bad speaker, but it appears now that Trump will not debate the Democratic candidate anyway. The left wing in America wants the semblance of order, it wants to be able to sleep at night, it is willing to sacrifice progress for order...or is it?
One thing's for sure, Scotland is not going to go quietly. Expect not only a secession movement, but there is a very good chance of exit.
Same deal with Northern Ireland. An unforgettable fire that may soon turn into a conflagration.
We live in incomprehensible times. An era where even the proprietors are clueless and achievements do not spread. Mark Zuckerberg has no idea of the power of his platforms, nor how to control them. And no one seems to know that Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention is a raging success, neutering targeted ads on Safari: https://bit.ly/2RVpQaS
So is California Scotland, just with a lot more money and power? Yup, D.C. cannot diverge from the Golden State's agenda too far without an eventual rupture.
And is New York Northern Ireland?
One thing is for sure, the south is equivalent to Labour's "red wall," burgs where industry has faded and the people are out of work and frustrated. And it's not only the south, but it's the north...Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio... One thing's for sure, denizens of these states have lost trust that the left, i.e. the Democrats, care about them, while they're trumpeting technological victories and flying around in private planes. Trump promised them a recovery. Forget that it hasn't happened, he's given them something to believe in, while the left has not.
And you can lie and live an unvirtuous life with no consequences anymore. Then again, the poor are drug-addicted and divorced and they don't care, they just want hope and a return of what they once had. And the Democrats fail to understand that that HOPE Obama promised them was not delivered.
One thing's for sure, the U.S. is economically screwed, especially at a moment when China is burgeoning and the European Union, sans the U.K., is a true challenge. Doubt me? Look at Airbus versus Boeing. Europe doesn't accede to the U.S. in lockstep anymore. As a matter of fact, they laugh at Trump and no longer see the U.S. as a threat, or a protector. It'd be as if Facebook asked people to pay to use the platform as it sells their information to advertisers. Trump is trying to get everybody to pitch in, on NATO, on... Not realizing it's all about dominance.
So now Trump has dominance over his own domain, i.e. the United States, at the same time minimizing the power of the country while telling citizens he's winning all the while. Talk about duplicity...
Then again, what is truth anymore?
You've got to give the Republicans credit. They've been on a multi-decade denigration campaign.
They marginalized Hillary Clinton.
They marginalized the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" and say to believe in Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
This is like a campaign to undermine Google results. Yup, you just cannot trust the algorithm, what comes up is biased, ignore it. And if you're smart, you'll give up the internet and just listen to the Big Boss, he knows better.
That's the situation we're in. Number one is not number one. The film business says streaming isn't movies but the public is addicted to streaming. The music business says we live in a hip-hop word, but the truth is other genres are flourishing.
It's hard to know what is going on if you're paying attention. But if you're working a minimum wage job to try and support your family, who has time to try and parse the truth, you just want someone to promise to make it better, the same people who trumpet full employment, even though they don't want your hourly wage raised so you can pay your bills.
The same people who want to decrease your health options so theoretically others can't rip the system off while the medical companies triumph all the while.
And we believe in corporations more than artists. What's the first thing an act does when it gains traction? DO ENDORSEMENTS, SPONSORSHIPS, PRIVATES! You can't believe in today's artists, if nothing else they are not rich enough. And believe me, the mighty buck triumphs in America today.
Which is why we need to match their money with our money.
Yup, we need a real billionaire to go up against Trump, the faux billionaire.
Bloomberg for now, although he is too old and lacks dynamism.
But what we need is someone the people know, who they trust.
Yup, maybe that idea of Oprah wasn't so bad.
You see Trump was built by Mark Burnett, without Mr. Survivor, Trump is a joke.
So we need Spielberg, all those Hollywood-types, to build the image of someone on the left, hopefully someone who already has traction.
And not Tom Steyer. Being a billionaire is not enough, you need someone the public likes. Even Tim Cook!
Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn proved that you can't be wishy-washy and you can't turn on pillars of your own constituency. Yup, Corbyn couldn't even come out for another Brexit election, he couldn't help himself from making anti-Semitic comments. That's one thing that's wrong with Biden, we don't want a return to normalcy so much as pie in the sky. Promise us a rosy future! Yes, to those who can't understand economics. Kind of like Alabama promising to rid the state of the undocumented. The public loved it, because the public was ignorant, not knowing factories and other businesses relied on this immigrant labor.
Once again, that's America. Promise a solution, don't worry about truth.
The public can't handle the truth. And people can't parse it either. They're too uneducated and ignorant to understand what's going on, as the fat cats keep saying taxes should be lowered so no one takes unfair advantage, so no one takes money out of your pocketbook. The spoils always trickle down...can you say KANSAS?
That's right, the left is educated, winners who understand but refuse to sacrifice for "those people," in this case mostly the whites hooked on drugs.
As for the right... They want you to believe you too can become a billionaire, and you want to keep the spoils, right?
This is what the internet has wrought.
This is what the peace dividend has wrought.
Putin invades a country, right after his private, pocket-lining Olympics, and...the rest of the world does nothing.
Trump breaks the law and his team cries foul, talk about living in a topsy-turvy world.
So what does the public want?
To stop thinking about it all. To complete Brexit so everybody can move on.
The public wants to stop thinking about politics.
But that does not mean people will vote in their own interests.
People believe in the fantasy, otherwise life is just too tough.
Turns out you've got to promise control and execution of that fantasy to win.
This is just the beginning.
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Your time is gonna come
Your time is gonna come"
"Your Time Is Gonna Come"
Led Zeppelin
Or maybe it's not.
Turns out the people want strongmen. Officials who promise order. They want to give up power to those who know better, because they no longer know themselves. They're afraid of self-determination while professing a desire for the same thing. Globalization has stymied them. They want a return to an era of yore, when life was understandable. Can you say MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?
For a moment there, it looked like there was a leftward turn, like in Poland, a reaction to the far right inroads. So is Johnson's win a harbinger of things to come, or a one-off anomaly?
I'm not sure.
Then again, the Brexit vote back in 2016 was indicative of rightward leaning in left wing countries. That's how we got Trump. But one thing's for sure...NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING! Isn't that what William Goldman said about the movie business? Now it's politics. Nobody predicted Trump would win in 2016, and then he did.
And no one predicted that Boris would have such a smashing victory.
But he did.
So maybe we need insurance, maybe we need to nominate our billionaire against their billionaire. Maybe Bloomberg needs to be the candidate. Sure, he's a bad speaker, but it appears now that Trump will not debate the Democratic candidate anyway. The left wing in America wants the semblance of order, it wants to be able to sleep at night, it is willing to sacrifice progress for order...or is it?
One thing's for sure, Scotland is not going to go quietly. Expect not only a secession movement, but there is a very good chance of exit.
Same deal with Northern Ireland. An unforgettable fire that may soon turn into a conflagration.
We live in incomprehensible times. An era where even the proprietors are clueless and achievements do not spread. Mark Zuckerberg has no idea of the power of his platforms, nor how to control them. And no one seems to know that Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention is a raging success, neutering targeted ads on Safari: https://bit.ly/2RVpQaS
So is California Scotland, just with a lot more money and power? Yup, D.C. cannot diverge from the Golden State's agenda too far without an eventual rupture.
And is New York Northern Ireland?
One thing is for sure, the south is equivalent to Labour's "red wall," burgs where industry has faded and the people are out of work and frustrated. And it's not only the south, but it's the north...Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio... One thing's for sure, denizens of these states have lost trust that the left, i.e. the Democrats, care about them, while they're trumpeting technological victories and flying around in private planes. Trump promised them a recovery. Forget that it hasn't happened, he's given them something to believe in, while the left has not.
And you can lie and live an unvirtuous life with no consequences anymore. Then again, the poor are drug-addicted and divorced and they don't care, they just want hope and a return of what they once had. And the Democrats fail to understand that that HOPE Obama promised them was not delivered.
One thing's for sure, the U.S. is economically screwed, especially at a moment when China is burgeoning and the European Union, sans the U.K., is a true challenge. Doubt me? Look at Airbus versus Boeing. Europe doesn't accede to the U.S. in lockstep anymore. As a matter of fact, they laugh at Trump and no longer see the U.S. as a threat, or a protector. It'd be as if Facebook asked people to pay to use the platform as it sells their information to advertisers. Trump is trying to get everybody to pitch in, on NATO, on... Not realizing it's all about dominance.
So now Trump has dominance over his own domain, i.e. the United States, at the same time minimizing the power of the country while telling citizens he's winning all the while. Talk about duplicity...
Then again, what is truth anymore?
You've got to give the Republicans credit. They've been on a multi-decade denigration campaign.
They marginalized Hillary Clinton.
They marginalized the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" and say to believe in Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
This is like a campaign to undermine Google results. Yup, you just cannot trust the algorithm, what comes up is biased, ignore it. And if you're smart, you'll give up the internet and just listen to the Big Boss, he knows better.
That's the situation we're in. Number one is not number one. The film business says streaming isn't movies but the public is addicted to streaming. The music business says we live in a hip-hop word, but the truth is other genres are flourishing.
It's hard to know what is going on if you're paying attention. But if you're working a minimum wage job to try and support your family, who has time to try and parse the truth, you just want someone to promise to make it better, the same people who trumpet full employment, even though they don't want your hourly wage raised so you can pay your bills.
The same people who want to decrease your health options so theoretically others can't rip the system off while the medical companies triumph all the while.
And we believe in corporations more than artists. What's the first thing an act does when it gains traction? DO ENDORSEMENTS, SPONSORSHIPS, PRIVATES! You can't believe in today's artists, if nothing else they are not rich enough. And believe me, the mighty buck triumphs in America today.
Which is why we need to match their money with our money.
Yup, we need a real billionaire to go up against Trump, the faux billionaire.
Bloomberg for now, although he is too old and lacks dynamism.
But what we need is someone the people know, who they trust.
Yup, maybe that idea of Oprah wasn't so bad.
You see Trump was built by Mark Burnett, without Mr. Survivor, Trump is a joke.
So we need Spielberg, all those Hollywood-types, to build the image of someone on the left, hopefully someone who already has traction.
And not Tom Steyer. Being a billionaire is not enough, you need someone the public likes. Even Tim Cook!
Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn proved that you can't be wishy-washy and you can't turn on pillars of your own constituency. Yup, Corbyn couldn't even come out for another Brexit election, he couldn't help himself from making anti-Semitic comments. That's one thing that's wrong with Biden, we don't want a return to normalcy so much as pie in the sky. Promise us a rosy future! Yes, to those who can't understand economics. Kind of like Alabama promising to rid the state of the undocumented. The public loved it, because the public was ignorant, not knowing factories and other businesses relied on this immigrant labor.
Once again, that's America. Promise a solution, don't worry about truth.
The public can't handle the truth. And people can't parse it either. They're too uneducated and ignorant to understand what's going on, as the fat cats keep saying taxes should be lowered so no one takes unfair advantage, so no one takes money out of your pocketbook. The spoils always trickle down...can you say KANSAS?
That's right, the left is educated, winners who understand but refuse to sacrifice for "those people," in this case mostly the whites hooked on drugs.
As for the right... They want you to believe you too can become a billionaire, and you want to keep the spoils, right?
This is what the internet has wrought.
This is what the peace dividend has wrought.
Putin invades a country, right after his private, pocket-lining Olympics, and...the rest of the world does nothing.
Trump breaks the law and his team cries foul, talk about living in a topsy-turvy world.
So what does the public want?
To stop thinking about it all. To complete Brexit so everybody can move on.
The public wants to stop thinking about politics.
But that does not mean people will vote in their own interests.
People believe in the fantasy, otherwise life is just too tough.
Turns out you've got to promise control and execution of that fantasy to win.
This is just the beginning.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Thursday, 12 December 2019
Re-Marie Fredriksson
So nice to read such a loving memoriam on Marie and the band (duo) Roxette. I thought nobody remembered "Joyride" until I read your letter yesterday. I had the pleasure of mixing that gem, and the engineer with whom I worked alongside for many days of my mixing career wrote me note of sadness at her passing yesterday too, lending to my melancholy of the day.
Her voice was easy to make cut through and filled with emotion, and it was astounding to uncover the secrets of Per Gessle's incredible guitar tones.
You're providing us all with a tremendous and personal written music history with your newsletter, and you should know it's much appreciated.
Brian Malouf
Producer | Mixer
____________________________________
Thanks for writing this, Bob. I became very familiar with Roxette thanks to the Nordic Rox show that runs on SiriusXM's the Spectrum channel. Per Gessle is an occasional co-host & of course, the band's music is featured prominently. Per spoke often of Marie & her illness. A unique vocalist & great band, much bigger, as you said, internationally than here. She'll be greatly missed. Jeff Hayward/Maine
____________________________________
You got this right, Bob. Hugely underrated songs and performances from both Per and Marie. And theirs was not formulaic writing; they gave each other space, the production was radio-perfect and they could deliver all of this live. Those shows always put their songs first. They were serious about their craft and just great to be with.
And yes, this has affected me more than I imagined.
Very best...
Rich Allinson
____________________________________
Bob,
Thank you for your memory about Roxette and Marie Fredriksson. Sure, Marie's voice was astonishing, but the genius is Per Gessle, one of the most talented songwriter of his generation and a perfect hit-maker not only as Roxette co-leader but also as Gyllene Tider leader and soloist.
Best
Gianluigi Maino
____________________________________
That was beautiful. Thank you!
Kåre Garnes
____________________________________
Goodmornin Bob , thank you for these words , you are so right !
I had the opportunity to work with Roxette - doing their live side for all their dates ,
Marie was such a great artiste to work with and the loss is so sad and difficult to adept
Keep well
Thomas Johansson
____________________________________
I kinda disagree, Marie was pop, new wave, 80s, 90s, power pop, alternative, Britpop, Hair Metal, Power ballad, mainstream, everything!!!
She never reached a Madonna status yet she would give Annie Lennox and Michael Hutchence a run for their money!!
She was magical and powerful!!
Sadly for Roxette they found their niche right at a time when New Wave was dying and Grunge was King.
Marie will always be remembered as a power house, she was a queen and a humble one at it, she rose from the ashes after finding out she was dealing with brain cancer and she conquered the most challenging markets at the time!
Uncomplicated and beautifully crafted, Roxette music's will be (from now on) the most flawlessly pop ever made!
Long live to the Scandinavian queen!!
She will NOT fade like a flower!!!
JL
____________________________________
Thanks for writing this. I had the sincere pleasure of working with these guys when I was a sales regional at EMI Records. They were on top of the world, but in my experience they treated everyone around them with such kindness. It's not always that way. I was just talking to someone about them about a month ago. I hadn't seen them or heard new music from them in years. But the memory of their utter graciousness was what remained with me all these years later. Thanks for paying homage to Marie, and Per, if you're out there reading this, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, and know that you and Marie made a lasting impact by the way that you treated a mid-level sales guy out in the field.
Best-
David Macias
Thirty Tigers
Nashville, TN
____________________________________
I love Def Leppard, AC/DC & Billy Squier. And I love Roxette. I love them all because I'm addicted to big, beautiful hooks. RIP, Marie.
Ken Misch
Grumpy Dingo Radio
____________________________________
"They don't make this music anymore.
But if you lived through the era, you remember it. When the mellifluous sound penetrated your ears and you followed it like the Pied Piper."
Hallelujah, holy shit! You nailed it, Bob! - Amen.
Greg Malecki
____________________________________
I really loved this! It's always a shame that it takes something like this to realize how fortunate we all are to have been touched by music. In this case, the music of Roxette. Thank you for reminding me.
Bob Hathaway
FM Music Management
____________________________________
Hi Bob,
I believe KDWB here in the Twincities were responsible for breaking The Look.
Thank goodness for the Midwest huh?
Bill Scherer live from MN.
____________________________________
I was in junior high when I heard "Dressed for Success". I immediately went out and bought the cassette single, backed by "The Look" (or maybe it was the other way around). Anyway, what a two sided single! I was mostly a hard rock kid, so didn't want anyone to know how much I loved it, but I played that cassette single over and over on my Sony Sports Walkman.
Those Roxette songs have occupied space on several of my playlists for nearly 20 years now. Saw them on the 2012 tour, supported by Glass Tiger. Fantastic show in a nearly sold out arena, without a hit for nearly 20 years. It's a shame it's over.
Tim Weisbeck
in Calgary
____________________________________
Among the many new realities brought by the new world order of streaming, one that usually gets overlooked, is the fact that all records are now released worldwide.
The turf and ego wars in labels, that you so well described, and I witnessed on so many occasions , were responsible for innumerable artists not reaching new markets that could change their lives and careers.
Let me just remember two instances of artists that you know, where foreign markets were crucial for the survival of their recording careers. Leonard Cohen many times acknowledged in interviews that without the support of his Scandinavian fanbase in the late 70's early 80's, he would have been dropped by Columbia and probably given up on music. A similar thing happened with James Taylor, who found a new purpose for his music by playing live in front of hundreds of thousands adoring fans in the first Rock in Rio in 1985.
K-POP is the most obvious example of the new world of possibilities in this new global music order, but that is just the tip of the iceberg , under the radar of labels and big-time promoters the real revolution of globalization in music has already started. Labels and streaming services are still trying to manage listeners by territory, ignoring the fact that for some music fans in India a a new record by a metal band in Iceland is way more relevant than the latest Bollywood hit.
Cheers,
Beni Borja
____________________________________
Thank you for your excellent tribute to Marie and Roxette. As an avid audiophile and concert goer, I have yet to run into anyone who loved the band anywhere near as much as I did. Most people dismissed them as bubble gum pop but they really had so much substance not to mention versatility. The ballads were as strong as the up tempo numbers and there were also so many in between that cut so deep. Marie's voice was the ultimate compliment to Per's incredible number of quality compositions and his gravelly voice was an under rated contribution to their success.
They also seemed to be extremely humble and fan friendly. While you noted Joyride as a breakthrough for them, for me their best work was some of the songs that were not hits like Shadow of A Doubt, Chances, View From A Hill and Here Comes The Weekend. Listen to Your Heart was such a masterpiece that it charted twice as a cover. I was on such a high coming off the Rainforest Benefit Show when I read about Marie and it hit me like a ton of bricks. As you said there really wasn't anything like them, though I would submit that Eurythmics is probably the closest.
Rob Fisher
____________________________________
Thank you for your kind words about Marie & Roxette. I had just been discussing what it is to break up with someone when your post showed up. I can relate to that & all of the things you said about the band at the same time. I had seen them before "The Look" on what I think was the MTV International Hour, which aired after hours on Sundays way back when....and the song they debuted with was "Neverending Love", if you've never checked that out, I highly recommend it....showed what they were capable of....not to mention Per Gessle being one of the artists ABBA's Frida asked for on her first solo album.
Thank you again, this one hurts....and your words help.
Kevin Andrusia
Orlando, FL
____________________________________
During those years I was an american teen and a religious fan of Roxette; racing around in my mother's Camero Z28, playing the CD LOUD on Blaupunkt deck - ensuring ALL of my friends felt and knew TRUE pop rock.
You wrote a brilliant send off, I could hear her voice in my head for every lyric you typed out.
She would've absolutely been touched.
Thank you.
Matt Hays
____________________________________
Roxette is still one of my favorite bands of all time. I have all of their CDs. Look Sharp and Joyride are the best and still get playing time in my car. I saw them on their 2012 tour and they were good live. Marie will be missed.
Larry Green
____________________________________
Marie and Per were very successful for us (Capitol-EMI) in Canada... the U.S. company never gave it the attention it deserved, because quite simply there was no U.S. A&R rep championing them. Unfortunate. I think if Rod Smallwood or Roger Davies would have had them on their roster, there situation would have been very different.
Olie Kornelsen
____________________________________
Bob, I'm sure 100 people have told you by now, but Shocking Blue were Dutch. You're probably thinking of Blue Swede.
Paul Grein
____________________________________
Here in South America Roxette sound defined a whole generation. Its mix of pop and melodic rock was the flip side of grunge. And Joyride was as you described it, full of great hooks and that perfect blend between female and male voices. Thanks for the memories. By the way, I think Shocking Blue were dutch. And there's one short lived duo that sounded like Roxette to me: Savage Garden.
Best,
Aldo Blardone
____________________________________
Look Sharp, Joyride and Tourism made me a follower too Bob. Thank you for remembering Marie so articulately. You're right, no one sounds like Roxette and now without Marie, Per Gessle and the Roxette faithful 'will never be the same.'
Jeff Sacks
____________________________________
My sophisticated music friends all laugh when I confess my love for all things Roxette.
They sneer and say that band with that Joyride song?
Then I play them the version of
It Must've Been Love that's a mix of an unplugged intro (reportedly) recorded in a hotel room with great country sounding pedal steel guitar that transitions into a Brazil(?) soccer stadium rock version with 80,000 fans singing the chorus in total joy.
If they really know anything about making music they get it.
Marie and Per got it.
They captured lightening in a bottle and gave it back with everything they had.
Long live Rock
Long live Roxette
Jack Haynes
____________________________________
It's devastating but was inevitable. She was OK, but she wasn't alright. She sang her heart out and smiled wide. I met them multiple times — LA, Argentina, Mexico, and Sweden. I marveled at the LA show, as you did, and for the same reasons. I had already witnessed their cult like following in the Argentina shows where 20 year olds sang along knowing every lyric, both in English and Spanish, as Roxette understood being global and smartly recorded in both languages. Thanks for loving their songs, and her voice that made being forlorn sound graceful.
The U.S. label heads were obviously clueless, but there's nothing revelatory or new about that.
Hal Bringman
____________________________________
Thank you for this one. Roxette are CRIMINALLY underrated and that first breakout record is a timeless pop masterpiece. They were massively influential on me as a child, and one of the big reasons that I pursued music as a career. Marie will be greatly missed by many, here and abroad. RIP
Joseph Bielski
____________________________________
Wow, "Watercolours in the Rain" is a BEAUTIFUL song! (I'd never heard it before.)
Mark B. Spiegel
____________________________________
Thank you for your piece on Marie. She deserves to be remembered that way I recall hearing "The Look" for the first time and hearing that rare gem... a pop song that rock fans could like, and a rock song the pop fans could like. All in one.
But "Joyride" cemented that Roxette had the musical chops to defy boundaries. It had just enough bite, combined with perfect hooks, harmonies, and lyrics. A great song from a great band that never got the respect they deserved.
Steve Jones
____________________________________
Great 80's Pop ! Thank for writing about Marie - you do have great taste!
Vince Bannon
____________________________________
Totally with you about Roxette. Have loved them since the first time I heard them. I have all the CD's, from Sweden; friends there take care of me.
I also have nearly all of Per's solo releases, and some of his other group stuff. All great. Even the Swedish language stuff from his legendary band Gyllene Tider. There's a gem almost nobody knows about, a collaboration with other Swedish rock musicians, called The Lonely Ones. It's kinda as if the 64-65 Stones and Beatles did one album together, including the authentic-looking artwork.
Marie had a special gift, a distinctive voice and a feel for phrasing. Her solo stuff is less pop, more jazzy/soulful. She was a real singer, not a pop singer. And she gave Per the gift of her voice to bring his songs to life. And he gave Marie the gift of his uncanny knack for writing great pop/rock songs, both uptempo and ballads. Theirs was a wonderful pairing, a gift to the rest of us.
I was fortunate enough to see them live at the big arena in Stockholm - sold out triumphant tour-ending hometown show. Herbie was there, as were the heads of EMI labels from all around the world.
When she got sick, it was horrible. And she fought her way back so that they could record again, and tour the world again. And that was amazing. But then, inevitably, she weakened, and retreated from public.
I woke up to the news Tuesday morning and, in a season of loss for me over the past three months, this one hit hard. Though it was not unexpected, it still came as a chock.
RIP Marie, you had not only "the look" but "the voice."
Toby Mamis
____________________________________
Oh, Bob… you just hit me over the head with these news, so sad. Somehow I missed this, thank you for your thoughtful sharing.
As a fan since the first record and everything else until the early 2000's (they lost me in the later years), I can only sum it up in one word what made Roxette stand out: JOY. They not only seemed to have a grand ol' time performing, but that's the first sentiment that connects me with the memory of their music, as they contributed to the soundtrack of my life in the 90's. And it's not like they were all happy-clappy silly pop songs, but even the ballads had more gravitas than cheese and satisfied in a way these bubble-head poptart dum-dums that rule the "charts" now can only dream of, that's why you can still rock out in a supermarket aisle to The Look or Listen To Your Heart with no shame. Because those who were there will understand when they see you.
As you pointed out, the craft of brilliant and meaningful songwriting structure in pop, such as was/is Per Gessle's, seems to have largely given way to shallow nonsense filled with buzzwords and meme-worthy catchphrases. You pointed out the Joyride record, but even Look Sharp! has so many brilliant tracks aside from the three hit singles; Chances, View From A Hill, (I Could Never) Give You Up, are all musical gems. Roxette was a beautiful addition to their pop-rock contemporaries, INXS, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Kim Wilde, Seal, Phil Collins, Neneh Cherry, Lenny Kravitz, Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, George Michael, even one/two-hit wonders like Fine Young Cannibals, Terence Trent D'Arby or EMF… at least those are the names that dominated our European airwaves at the time.
Anyway, may Marie rest in peace, her voice lives on.
Fredrick Weiss
____________________________________
Yep. I never respond to your email feeds, but "Joyride" is simple pleasure, and you get it. Thanks for living and putting yourself out there. You strive to be authentic and goofy shit would expose you as uncool. Thanks for being uncool for all of us.
David Twomey
--
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Her voice was easy to make cut through and filled with emotion, and it was astounding to uncover the secrets of Per Gessle's incredible guitar tones.
You're providing us all with a tremendous and personal written music history with your newsletter, and you should know it's much appreciated.
Brian Malouf
Producer | Mixer
____________________________________
Thanks for writing this, Bob. I became very familiar with Roxette thanks to the Nordic Rox show that runs on SiriusXM's the Spectrum channel. Per Gessle is an occasional co-host & of course, the band's music is featured prominently. Per spoke often of Marie & her illness. A unique vocalist & great band, much bigger, as you said, internationally than here. She'll be greatly missed. Jeff Hayward/Maine
____________________________________
You got this right, Bob. Hugely underrated songs and performances from both Per and Marie. And theirs was not formulaic writing; they gave each other space, the production was radio-perfect and they could deliver all of this live. Those shows always put their songs first. They were serious about their craft and just great to be with.
And yes, this has affected me more than I imagined.
Very best...
Rich Allinson
____________________________________
Bob,
Thank you for your memory about Roxette and Marie Fredriksson. Sure, Marie's voice was astonishing, but the genius is Per Gessle, one of the most talented songwriter of his generation and a perfect hit-maker not only as Roxette co-leader but also as Gyllene Tider leader and soloist.
Best
Gianluigi Maino
____________________________________
That was beautiful. Thank you!
Kåre Garnes
____________________________________
Goodmornin Bob , thank you for these words , you are so right !
I had the opportunity to work with Roxette - doing their live side for all their dates ,
Marie was such a great artiste to work with and the loss is so sad and difficult to adept
Keep well
Thomas Johansson
____________________________________
I kinda disagree, Marie was pop, new wave, 80s, 90s, power pop, alternative, Britpop, Hair Metal, Power ballad, mainstream, everything!!!
She never reached a Madonna status yet she would give Annie Lennox and Michael Hutchence a run for their money!!
She was magical and powerful!!
Sadly for Roxette they found their niche right at a time when New Wave was dying and Grunge was King.
Marie will always be remembered as a power house, she was a queen and a humble one at it, she rose from the ashes after finding out she was dealing with brain cancer and she conquered the most challenging markets at the time!
Uncomplicated and beautifully crafted, Roxette music's will be (from now on) the most flawlessly pop ever made!
Long live to the Scandinavian queen!!
She will NOT fade like a flower!!!
JL
____________________________________
Thanks for writing this. I had the sincere pleasure of working with these guys when I was a sales regional at EMI Records. They were on top of the world, but in my experience they treated everyone around them with such kindness. It's not always that way. I was just talking to someone about them about a month ago. I hadn't seen them or heard new music from them in years. But the memory of their utter graciousness was what remained with me all these years later. Thanks for paying homage to Marie, and Per, if you're out there reading this, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, and know that you and Marie made a lasting impact by the way that you treated a mid-level sales guy out in the field.
Best-
David Macias
Thirty Tigers
Nashville, TN
____________________________________
I love Def Leppard, AC/DC & Billy Squier. And I love Roxette. I love them all because I'm addicted to big, beautiful hooks. RIP, Marie.
Ken Misch
Grumpy Dingo Radio
____________________________________
"They don't make this music anymore.
But if you lived through the era, you remember it. When the mellifluous sound penetrated your ears and you followed it like the Pied Piper."
Hallelujah, holy shit! You nailed it, Bob! - Amen.
Greg Malecki
____________________________________
I really loved this! It's always a shame that it takes something like this to realize how fortunate we all are to have been touched by music. In this case, the music of Roxette. Thank you for reminding me.
Bob Hathaway
FM Music Management
____________________________________
Hi Bob,
I believe KDWB here in the Twincities were responsible for breaking The Look.
Thank goodness for the Midwest huh?
Bill Scherer live from MN.
____________________________________
I was in junior high when I heard "Dressed for Success". I immediately went out and bought the cassette single, backed by "The Look" (or maybe it was the other way around). Anyway, what a two sided single! I was mostly a hard rock kid, so didn't want anyone to know how much I loved it, but I played that cassette single over and over on my Sony Sports Walkman.
Those Roxette songs have occupied space on several of my playlists for nearly 20 years now. Saw them on the 2012 tour, supported by Glass Tiger. Fantastic show in a nearly sold out arena, without a hit for nearly 20 years. It's a shame it's over.
Tim Weisbeck
in Calgary
____________________________________
Among the many new realities brought by the new world order of streaming, one that usually gets overlooked, is the fact that all records are now released worldwide.
The turf and ego wars in labels, that you so well described, and I witnessed on so many occasions , were responsible for innumerable artists not reaching new markets that could change their lives and careers.
Let me just remember two instances of artists that you know, where foreign markets were crucial for the survival of their recording careers. Leonard Cohen many times acknowledged in interviews that without the support of his Scandinavian fanbase in the late 70's early 80's, he would have been dropped by Columbia and probably given up on music. A similar thing happened with James Taylor, who found a new purpose for his music by playing live in front of hundreds of thousands adoring fans in the first Rock in Rio in 1985.
K-POP is the most obvious example of the new world of possibilities in this new global music order, but that is just the tip of the iceberg , under the radar of labels and big-time promoters the real revolution of globalization in music has already started. Labels and streaming services are still trying to manage listeners by territory, ignoring the fact that for some music fans in India a a new record by a metal band in Iceland is way more relevant than the latest Bollywood hit.
Cheers,
Beni Borja
____________________________________
Thank you for your excellent tribute to Marie and Roxette. As an avid audiophile and concert goer, I have yet to run into anyone who loved the band anywhere near as much as I did. Most people dismissed them as bubble gum pop but they really had so much substance not to mention versatility. The ballads were as strong as the up tempo numbers and there were also so many in between that cut so deep. Marie's voice was the ultimate compliment to Per's incredible number of quality compositions and his gravelly voice was an under rated contribution to their success.
They also seemed to be extremely humble and fan friendly. While you noted Joyride as a breakthrough for them, for me their best work was some of the songs that were not hits like Shadow of A Doubt, Chances, View From A Hill and Here Comes The Weekend. Listen to Your Heart was such a masterpiece that it charted twice as a cover. I was on such a high coming off the Rainforest Benefit Show when I read about Marie and it hit me like a ton of bricks. As you said there really wasn't anything like them, though I would submit that Eurythmics is probably the closest.
Rob Fisher
____________________________________
Thank you for your kind words about Marie & Roxette. I had just been discussing what it is to break up with someone when your post showed up. I can relate to that & all of the things you said about the band at the same time. I had seen them before "The Look" on what I think was the MTV International Hour, which aired after hours on Sundays way back when....and the song they debuted with was "Neverending Love", if you've never checked that out, I highly recommend it....showed what they were capable of....not to mention Per Gessle being one of the artists ABBA's Frida asked for on her first solo album.
Thank you again, this one hurts....and your words help.
Kevin Andrusia
Orlando, FL
____________________________________
During those years I was an american teen and a religious fan of Roxette; racing around in my mother's Camero Z28, playing the CD LOUD on Blaupunkt deck - ensuring ALL of my friends felt and knew TRUE pop rock.
You wrote a brilliant send off, I could hear her voice in my head for every lyric you typed out.
She would've absolutely been touched.
Thank you.
Matt Hays
____________________________________
Roxette is still one of my favorite bands of all time. I have all of their CDs. Look Sharp and Joyride are the best and still get playing time in my car. I saw them on their 2012 tour and they were good live. Marie will be missed.
Larry Green
____________________________________
Marie and Per were very successful for us (Capitol-EMI) in Canada... the U.S. company never gave it the attention it deserved, because quite simply there was no U.S. A&R rep championing them. Unfortunate. I think if Rod Smallwood or Roger Davies would have had them on their roster, there situation would have been very different.
Olie Kornelsen
____________________________________
Bob, I'm sure 100 people have told you by now, but Shocking Blue were Dutch. You're probably thinking of Blue Swede.
Paul Grein
____________________________________
Here in South America Roxette sound defined a whole generation. Its mix of pop and melodic rock was the flip side of grunge. And Joyride was as you described it, full of great hooks and that perfect blend between female and male voices. Thanks for the memories. By the way, I think Shocking Blue were dutch. And there's one short lived duo that sounded like Roxette to me: Savage Garden.
Best,
Aldo Blardone
____________________________________
Look Sharp, Joyride and Tourism made me a follower too Bob. Thank you for remembering Marie so articulately. You're right, no one sounds like Roxette and now without Marie, Per Gessle and the Roxette faithful 'will never be the same.'
Jeff Sacks
____________________________________
My sophisticated music friends all laugh when I confess my love for all things Roxette.
They sneer and say that band with that Joyride song?
Then I play them the version of
It Must've Been Love that's a mix of an unplugged intro (reportedly) recorded in a hotel room with great country sounding pedal steel guitar that transitions into a Brazil(?) soccer stadium rock version with 80,000 fans singing the chorus in total joy.
If they really know anything about making music they get it.
Marie and Per got it.
They captured lightening in a bottle and gave it back with everything they had.
Long live Rock
Long live Roxette
Jack Haynes
____________________________________
It's devastating but was inevitable. She was OK, but she wasn't alright. She sang her heart out and smiled wide. I met them multiple times — LA, Argentina, Mexico, and Sweden. I marveled at the LA show, as you did, and for the same reasons. I had already witnessed their cult like following in the Argentina shows where 20 year olds sang along knowing every lyric, both in English and Spanish, as Roxette understood being global and smartly recorded in both languages. Thanks for loving their songs, and her voice that made being forlorn sound graceful.
The U.S. label heads were obviously clueless, but there's nothing revelatory or new about that.
Hal Bringman
____________________________________
Thank you for this one. Roxette are CRIMINALLY underrated and that first breakout record is a timeless pop masterpiece. They were massively influential on me as a child, and one of the big reasons that I pursued music as a career. Marie will be greatly missed by many, here and abroad. RIP
Joseph Bielski
____________________________________
Wow, "Watercolours in the Rain" is a BEAUTIFUL song! (I'd never heard it before.)
Mark B. Spiegel
____________________________________
Thank you for your piece on Marie. She deserves to be remembered that way I recall hearing "The Look" for the first time and hearing that rare gem... a pop song that rock fans could like, and a rock song the pop fans could like. All in one.
But "Joyride" cemented that Roxette had the musical chops to defy boundaries. It had just enough bite, combined with perfect hooks, harmonies, and lyrics. A great song from a great band that never got the respect they deserved.
Steve Jones
____________________________________
Great 80's Pop ! Thank for writing about Marie - you do have great taste!
Vince Bannon
____________________________________
Totally with you about Roxette. Have loved them since the first time I heard them. I have all the CD's, from Sweden; friends there take care of me.
I also have nearly all of Per's solo releases, and some of his other group stuff. All great. Even the Swedish language stuff from his legendary band Gyllene Tider. There's a gem almost nobody knows about, a collaboration with other Swedish rock musicians, called The Lonely Ones. It's kinda as if the 64-65 Stones and Beatles did one album together, including the authentic-looking artwork.
Marie had a special gift, a distinctive voice and a feel for phrasing. Her solo stuff is less pop, more jazzy/soulful. She was a real singer, not a pop singer. And she gave Per the gift of her voice to bring his songs to life. And he gave Marie the gift of his uncanny knack for writing great pop/rock songs, both uptempo and ballads. Theirs was a wonderful pairing, a gift to the rest of us.
I was fortunate enough to see them live at the big arena in Stockholm - sold out triumphant tour-ending hometown show. Herbie was there, as were the heads of EMI labels from all around the world.
When she got sick, it was horrible. And she fought her way back so that they could record again, and tour the world again. And that was amazing. But then, inevitably, she weakened, and retreated from public.
I woke up to the news Tuesday morning and, in a season of loss for me over the past three months, this one hit hard. Though it was not unexpected, it still came as a chock.
RIP Marie, you had not only "the look" but "the voice."
Toby Mamis
____________________________________
Oh, Bob… you just hit me over the head with these news, so sad. Somehow I missed this, thank you for your thoughtful sharing.
As a fan since the first record and everything else until the early 2000's (they lost me in the later years), I can only sum it up in one word what made Roxette stand out: JOY. They not only seemed to have a grand ol' time performing, but that's the first sentiment that connects me with the memory of their music, as they contributed to the soundtrack of my life in the 90's. And it's not like they were all happy-clappy silly pop songs, but even the ballads had more gravitas than cheese and satisfied in a way these bubble-head poptart dum-dums that rule the "charts" now can only dream of, that's why you can still rock out in a supermarket aisle to The Look or Listen To Your Heart with no shame. Because those who were there will understand when they see you.
As you pointed out, the craft of brilliant and meaningful songwriting structure in pop, such as was/is Per Gessle's, seems to have largely given way to shallow nonsense filled with buzzwords and meme-worthy catchphrases. You pointed out the Joyride record, but even Look Sharp! has so many brilliant tracks aside from the three hit singles; Chances, View From A Hill, (I Could Never) Give You Up, are all musical gems. Roxette was a beautiful addition to their pop-rock contemporaries, INXS, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Kim Wilde, Seal, Phil Collins, Neneh Cherry, Lenny Kravitz, Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, George Michael, even one/two-hit wonders like Fine Young Cannibals, Terence Trent D'Arby or EMF… at least those are the names that dominated our European airwaves at the time.
Anyway, may Marie rest in peace, her voice lives on.
Fredrick Weiss
____________________________________
Yep. I never respond to your email feeds, but "Joyride" is simple pleasure, and you get it. Thanks for living and putting yourself out there. You strive to be authentic and goofy shit would expose you as uncool. Thanks for being uncool for all of us.
David Twomey
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Mick Jones-This Week's Podcast
That's right, Mr. Foreigner, who also co-produced Van Halen's "5150," Billy Joel's "Storm Front," and more. Hear how Mick struck gold with French superstar Johnny Hallyday and then conspired to create the chart-topping rock band whose songs are indelibly imprinted upon our brains.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4E0RKUdCs5AatYagzZD7Fb
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-jones/id1316200737?i=1000459392832
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=65953565
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4E0RKUdCs5AatYagzZD7Fb
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-jones/id1316200737?i=1000459392832
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=65953565
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Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Marie Fredriksson
"Hello, you fool, I love you
C'mon join the joyride"
I thought "The Look" was a novelty song. Swedish band crosses over for their one hit wonder and then disappears. You know, like Shocking Blue and "Venus." Actually both tracks are similar, with indelible guitar hooks and simple concepts. Was "The Look" accidental genius, or insight into the human condition from authentic rockers, nailing the essence?
But then came the ballads, "Listen To Your Heart" and "It Must Have Been Love." Well, there was more to this act than I previously believed, but obviously they were hollow at the core, lightweight, the stinging guitar of "The Look" was an anomaly.
And then came "Joyride."
This was the era of music videos, the original MTV VJs were gone, but the channel powered on, if you were on you were a success, if you weren't, good luck, there was a clear delineation between failure and success, and we all knew the successes. And "Joyride" was a success.
I waited for it to come on, and then I taped it, it made me feel good in a time where that was not my mood, my ex had left me, called me, putting a stake in the heart of my new relationship, and now I was alone and broke, with only my music to inspire me.
"I hit the road out of nowhere
I had to jump in my car
And be a rider in a love game
Following the stars"
That's all I had left, my car, which I filled three dollars a throw at the Arco, getting such a deal because I paid in cash, even though this cheap gas ultimately burned out my fuel pump.
But that was later.
And in your car, you can forget your troubles, at least you used to be able to, before the advent of mobile phones.
So I'd play "Joyride" over and over. But what were the odds anything else the band did was any good?
I pored through thousands of CDs, this was before the earthquake, when I moved about five or six thousand to the garage, after the towers they were stacked in fell and prevented me from going from the living room to the bedroom.
So this was a project. Long before Napster. When you either had the CD or never heard the music, other than the hits that were played on MTV.
I found "Joyride."
And the nature of a CD is if you forget to hit the button for single repeat it ends up playing and you become enamored of what follows.
Maybe it was the solo piano intro of "Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)", or the scrappy intro of "Knockin' On Every Door," I got hooked by this CD, I let it play through.
And this was back in the era of cool, when guys in pegged pants, long hair, all in black, thought they controlled the music business and told us what was good and pooh-poohed everything else, maybe this is why Roxette's music was not released in the States, even though it was huge on the Continent.
This also demonstrates how labels can be clueless. But the truth is every record company has an agenda, and if someone else signed it, especially overseas, the person running the company frequently wants nothing to do with it, they want to promote what they are personally responsible for, to look good, to burnish their image, demonstrate their chops.
And labels are populated by believers, so if it's commercial, obvious, perfect, they want nothing to do with it. Rather, you constantly read about acts with bad vocals and indecipherable lyrics clouded in a miasma of sound and acts like Roxette never got a chance.
Until an exchange student brought their music back from Sweden and the rest is history.
Now my favorite cut on "Joyride" is not the title track, but 'Watercolours In The Rain."
"Going through the motions
Ending up nowhere at all"
Like I said, I was newly single, and I hated it, having it and losing it is much worse than never having it at all. And I'd play records to get through. Records that would take me away, to a private place where I could marinate in the music and feel understood.
But what hooked me on "Watercolours In The Rain" was not the lyrics, but the sound, Per Gessle knew the Led Zeppelin trick, going from acoustic to electric and back again. Boston rode this paradigm to success, but everybody else ignored it, just like today, when traditional building blocks like hooky choruses and bridges elude acts.
Come on, you know "Led Zeppelin III," "Ten Years Gone," the way Jimmy Page strummed those strings..."Watercolours In The Rain" has that same sound, but Marie Fredriksson is not screaming, but singing, somehow pop and rock sensibilities were merged and what came out was unique. Come on, I dare you to mention another act that sounds like Roxette.
You see they knew the basics. And then flowered therefrom. This is the Swedish paradigm, educated musicians, oftentimes in school, who try harder because they're in a backwater, trying to make it to the main event, which is the United States (although the game is now more worldwide than ever, credit the internet and streaming services).
And then there was "Spending My Time."
"Spending my time
Watching the days go by
Feeling so small, I stare at the wall
Hoping that you think of me too
I'm spending my time"
You can't get them out of your mind, you wonder...do they feel this way too?
But it doesn't matter, because they're gone, and despite your hope, they're never coming back, ruptures are hard to repair.
"My friends telling me 'hey, life will go on'
Time will make sure I'll get over you
This silly game of love you play, you win only to lose"
That's the truth. Your friends can only be so supportive, they burn out on your story, and the truth is time puts you back together, but you never forget, you can never forget.
And "Joyride" is full of gems. "(Do You Get) Excited?" "Church Of Your Heart." "Soul Deep." "The Big L." The aforementioned "Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)" and "Knockin' On Every Door."
And "Perfect Day" closes the album on a bittersweet note, the raucousness, the excesses of what came before, are stripped away, down to the pure essence, it sounds like Marie is singing from within your brain, you cannot stay in this space, it's too uncomfortable being confronted with the naked truth, all you can do is start the whole process over again, drop the needle on the opening track, the title cut, "Joyride."
And after loving "Joyride," what came before gained context. "The Look," "Listen To Your Heart" and "It Must Have Been Love" could be seen as genius, which almost did not get a chance in the U.S.
And "It Must Have Been Love" was part of the "Pretty Woman" juggernaut and then...
It was all over, at least in the United States.
I saw the band at the Universal Amphitheatre, hung with Per Gessle and his manager at the time, Journey's Herbie Herbert, told Per my feelings about "Watercolours In The Rain," but then there was a consolidation, the execs at EMI in the U.S. were blown out, a new team came in, eventually the next Roxette album was released, but got zero promotion and then it was all over.
But success continued overseas. Kind of like Queen. We think it ended with the Elektra albums, but the band continued to have huge success elsewhere. Teams matter. Priorities matter. The music doesn't always matter.
So Roxette soldiered on. I continued to play the "Joyride" album. And then Marie Fredriksson had a seizure, she had a brain tumor. It seemed like it was all over.
But in 2012 the band went on a world tour. Marie didn't move so well, but the music, the sound, was still there.
It's always about the sound.
So "Joyride" is almost thirty years ago, it seems like yesterday, but it isn't. MTV doesn't even call itself "Music Television" anymore, rock is a niche genre, hip-hop dominates, but the truth is the scene is splintered into a zillion different elements. Read the Top Ten lists being released, chances are you're unfamiliar with most of the material.
But this is not the way it used to be. We used to all know, we were involved, we argued over this music. Music was not a sideshow, but still the main show, in an era where America was flourishing, greed dominating, we still believed...in the American Dream, in the power of music to save our lives and change culture, before the billionaires, when we felt if we were at the show enjoying the music of our favorite acts nothing could be better.
And now it's getting worse. But Marie Fredriksson will no longer be able to chart the course of history.
We think we're gonna live forever.
And some people take chances that don't play out so well, whether they be physical challenges or drug risks. But you can eat right, sleep right, live a clean life and the Big C, health problems, can still come out of the blue and bite your ass.
That's how it happens. You're minding your own business and either your M.D. tells you there's a problem, or you have so much pain you finally go to the doctor after avoiding visiting for eons and get a fatal diagnosis.
It's not fair. It takes a long time to own this. To realize life is not really a game, there aren't winners and losers, no one is toting up your money and achievements...we're just all here for a short time, and then we're gone.
Now if you're an artist, your work might be remembered, you see people don't forget being touched.
And that used to be the goal of the musician, to capture lightning in a bottle, lay down the essence of life and touch people.
Now all players can do is bitch about the money they're not making and embrace the lifestyle. Yes, we've gotten far from the garden.
But the garden is still embedded in these tracks. Roxette was not a one hit wonder, anything but.
They don't make this music anymore.
But if you lived through the era, you remember it. When the mellifluous sound penetrated your ears and you followed it like the Pied Piper.
Per and Marie were leaders
I was a follower
And now Marie is gone.
Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2RI5LVy
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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C'mon join the joyride"
I thought "The Look" was a novelty song. Swedish band crosses over for their one hit wonder and then disappears. You know, like Shocking Blue and "Venus." Actually both tracks are similar, with indelible guitar hooks and simple concepts. Was "The Look" accidental genius, or insight into the human condition from authentic rockers, nailing the essence?
But then came the ballads, "Listen To Your Heart" and "It Must Have Been Love." Well, there was more to this act than I previously believed, but obviously they were hollow at the core, lightweight, the stinging guitar of "The Look" was an anomaly.
And then came "Joyride."
This was the era of music videos, the original MTV VJs were gone, but the channel powered on, if you were on you were a success, if you weren't, good luck, there was a clear delineation between failure and success, and we all knew the successes. And "Joyride" was a success.
I waited for it to come on, and then I taped it, it made me feel good in a time where that was not my mood, my ex had left me, called me, putting a stake in the heart of my new relationship, and now I was alone and broke, with only my music to inspire me.
"I hit the road out of nowhere
I had to jump in my car
And be a rider in a love game
Following the stars"
That's all I had left, my car, which I filled three dollars a throw at the Arco, getting such a deal because I paid in cash, even though this cheap gas ultimately burned out my fuel pump.
But that was later.
And in your car, you can forget your troubles, at least you used to be able to, before the advent of mobile phones.
So I'd play "Joyride" over and over. But what were the odds anything else the band did was any good?
I pored through thousands of CDs, this was before the earthquake, when I moved about five or six thousand to the garage, after the towers they were stacked in fell and prevented me from going from the living room to the bedroom.
So this was a project. Long before Napster. When you either had the CD or never heard the music, other than the hits that were played on MTV.
I found "Joyride."
And the nature of a CD is if you forget to hit the button for single repeat it ends up playing and you become enamored of what follows.
Maybe it was the solo piano intro of "Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)", or the scrappy intro of "Knockin' On Every Door," I got hooked by this CD, I let it play through.
And this was back in the era of cool, when guys in pegged pants, long hair, all in black, thought they controlled the music business and told us what was good and pooh-poohed everything else, maybe this is why Roxette's music was not released in the States, even though it was huge on the Continent.
This also demonstrates how labels can be clueless. But the truth is every record company has an agenda, and if someone else signed it, especially overseas, the person running the company frequently wants nothing to do with it, they want to promote what they are personally responsible for, to look good, to burnish their image, demonstrate their chops.
And labels are populated by believers, so if it's commercial, obvious, perfect, they want nothing to do with it. Rather, you constantly read about acts with bad vocals and indecipherable lyrics clouded in a miasma of sound and acts like Roxette never got a chance.
Until an exchange student brought their music back from Sweden and the rest is history.
Now my favorite cut on "Joyride" is not the title track, but 'Watercolours In The Rain."
"Going through the motions
Ending up nowhere at all"
Like I said, I was newly single, and I hated it, having it and losing it is much worse than never having it at all. And I'd play records to get through. Records that would take me away, to a private place where I could marinate in the music and feel understood.
But what hooked me on "Watercolours In The Rain" was not the lyrics, but the sound, Per Gessle knew the Led Zeppelin trick, going from acoustic to electric and back again. Boston rode this paradigm to success, but everybody else ignored it, just like today, when traditional building blocks like hooky choruses and bridges elude acts.
Come on, you know "Led Zeppelin III," "Ten Years Gone," the way Jimmy Page strummed those strings..."Watercolours In The Rain" has that same sound, but Marie Fredriksson is not screaming, but singing, somehow pop and rock sensibilities were merged and what came out was unique. Come on, I dare you to mention another act that sounds like Roxette.
You see they knew the basics. And then flowered therefrom. This is the Swedish paradigm, educated musicians, oftentimes in school, who try harder because they're in a backwater, trying to make it to the main event, which is the United States (although the game is now more worldwide than ever, credit the internet and streaming services).
And then there was "Spending My Time."
"Spending my time
Watching the days go by
Feeling so small, I stare at the wall
Hoping that you think of me too
I'm spending my time"
You can't get them out of your mind, you wonder...do they feel this way too?
But it doesn't matter, because they're gone, and despite your hope, they're never coming back, ruptures are hard to repair.
"My friends telling me 'hey, life will go on'
Time will make sure I'll get over you
This silly game of love you play, you win only to lose"
That's the truth. Your friends can only be so supportive, they burn out on your story, and the truth is time puts you back together, but you never forget, you can never forget.
And "Joyride" is full of gems. "(Do You Get) Excited?" "Church Of Your Heart." "Soul Deep." "The Big L." The aforementioned "Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)" and "Knockin' On Every Door."
And "Perfect Day" closes the album on a bittersweet note, the raucousness, the excesses of what came before, are stripped away, down to the pure essence, it sounds like Marie is singing from within your brain, you cannot stay in this space, it's too uncomfortable being confronted with the naked truth, all you can do is start the whole process over again, drop the needle on the opening track, the title cut, "Joyride."
And after loving "Joyride," what came before gained context. "The Look," "Listen To Your Heart" and "It Must Have Been Love" could be seen as genius, which almost did not get a chance in the U.S.
And "It Must Have Been Love" was part of the "Pretty Woman" juggernaut and then...
It was all over, at least in the United States.
I saw the band at the Universal Amphitheatre, hung with Per Gessle and his manager at the time, Journey's Herbie Herbert, told Per my feelings about "Watercolours In The Rain," but then there was a consolidation, the execs at EMI in the U.S. were blown out, a new team came in, eventually the next Roxette album was released, but got zero promotion and then it was all over.
But success continued overseas. Kind of like Queen. We think it ended with the Elektra albums, but the band continued to have huge success elsewhere. Teams matter. Priorities matter. The music doesn't always matter.
So Roxette soldiered on. I continued to play the "Joyride" album. And then Marie Fredriksson had a seizure, she had a brain tumor. It seemed like it was all over.
But in 2012 the band went on a world tour. Marie didn't move so well, but the music, the sound, was still there.
It's always about the sound.
So "Joyride" is almost thirty years ago, it seems like yesterday, but it isn't. MTV doesn't even call itself "Music Television" anymore, rock is a niche genre, hip-hop dominates, but the truth is the scene is splintered into a zillion different elements. Read the Top Ten lists being released, chances are you're unfamiliar with most of the material.
But this is not the way it used to be. We used to all know, we were involved, we argued over this music. Music was not a sideshow, but still the main show, in an era where America was flourishing, greed dominating, we still believed...in the American Dream, in the power of music to save our lives and change culture, before the billionaires, when we felt if we were at the show enjoying the music of our favorite acts nothing could be better.
And now it's getting worse. But Marie Fredriksson will no longer be able to chart the course of history.
We think we're gonna live forever.
And some people take chances that don't play out so well, whether they be physical challenges or drug risks. But you can eat right, sleep right, live a clean life and the Big C, health problems, can still come out of the blue and bite your ass.
That's how it happens. You're minding your own business and either your M.D. tells you there's a problem, or you have so much pain you finally go to the doctor after avoiding visiting for eons and get a fatal diagnosis.
It's not fair. It takes a long time to own this. To realize life is not really a game, there aren't winners and losers, no one is toting up your money and achievements...we're just all here for a short time, and then we're gone.
Now if you're an artist, your work might be remembered, you see people don't forget being touched.
And that used to be the goal of the musician, to capture lightning in a bottle, lay down the essence of life and touch people.
Now all players can do is bitch about the money they're not making and embrace the lifestyle. Yes, we've gotten far from the garden.
But the garden is still embedded in these tracks. Roxette was not a one hit wonder, anything but.
They don't make this music anymore.
But if you lived through the era, you remember it. When the mellifluous sound penetrated your ears and you followed it like the Pied Piper.
Per and Marie were leaders
I was a follower
And now Marie is gone.
Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2RI5LVy
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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Tuesday, 10 December 2019
Marriage Story
I never want to get divorced again.
This would be better tomorrow, when my mood stabilizes. But that's not how life works, it comes at you unexpectedly, the twists and turns...the older you get the more you realize you can't plan for anything. Oh, you can plan, but it never turns out that way, something always derails your desire. Life is full of potholes. And one of the deepest is relationships.
Which also come with their highs. You know the moment, when you're falling in love. Some people can't resist that, they go from person to person, never wanting to get deep. Some can't get deep. Some are just afraid to. But it's when you plow down through the layers, that you feel most alive.
Now this movie was made by Netflix, although it played in theatres first, for a brief while anyway. You see instead of allowing streaming to take its own course, the film industry, mostly the Academy, i.e. the Oscars, wants to stay in the past, kind of like a marriage that is dying, you're going down the track and nothing can stop the train.
They keep tweaking the rules, trying to get youngsters involved. They expanded the number of Best Picture nominees, trying to rope in the superhero faction, but the ratings keep dropping, and the best pictures go unseen.
But not anymore.
The studios want to protect their windows. Kind of like how the record companies wanted to protect their retailers. Look how that worked out, all the retailers died. You see it's hard to impose an old model on a new paradigm, i.e. the internet. We live in an on demand culture, we want everything at our fingertips, and if it's not...
We ignore it.
That's the dirty little secret the entertainment industry doesn't want acknowledged, how much of their product goes straight into the dumper. Only a few things truly succeed, and now with the tsunami of offerings, you can't look back to what played in theatres months ago, years ago, you want to stay current, even though today's human condition is to always feel behind and out of it, unless you're fooling yourself.
So, after a very brief window, "Marriage Story" has appeared on Netflix. If you've got an account, you know, it's featured up front and personal on the home screen. This is the most valuable real estate in visual entertainment. They used to talk about endcaps in record retail, talk about the marketing dollars spent to advertise a movie, now all that is superseded, we can all know about something right away, left and right, Democrat and Republican, we can all be united by art.
And there's more truth in this movie than anything in D.C.
Maybe you've never been married. Maybe you've never been divorced. But when you stand in front of family and friends and say "I Do," when it's over you get a feeling, a pit in your stomach, as if you failed the final and didn't graduate from college.
Oh, you cannot see this coming. Word on the street is divorce is painless...
But it's not.
So Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are married. Happily. With a child. It starts this way, and then over the years...one partner becomes unhappy, even though the other usually doesn't know about it. What did Esther Perel say? In every marriage there's one person looking to leave and another who thinks everything is okay.
Adam Driver thinks everything's okay.
He's self-made, a known figure in the avant-garde theatre world of New York City.
But Scarlet Johansson feels suffocated, unacknowledged. She thinks she sent this message, but if she did it was subtly, and Adam Driver didn't get it.
So Scarlett moves to L.A.
Yup, that's a constant theme in the movie, west coast versus east coast. And the truth is in today's less than mobile society, where people cannot afford to pack up and move, the only people who've experienced this are entertainers and fat cat business people.
In L.A. you've got space.
In New York you've got feelings, it's about the interior as opposed to the exterior.
In New York, theatre is paramount.
In L.A., it's movies.
New Yorkers think they're superior.
Angelenos don't care.
Now the promotion may have made you aware of Laura Dern's spectacular performance as a high-paid divorce lawyer, but print cannot do justice. Dern encapsulates the jive, rich, friendly but cutthroat women in this role. And Ray Liotta's performance as her counterpart is great too.
Yup, the attorneys are friendly, it's all just grist for the mill. Meanwhile, their clients are ground down to nothing.
How do you break up a marriage? Their family was your family, it was all kumbaya, and now it's not.
And you hate each other but still love each other. You want to see the other person dead but there's no one you feel closer to.
Yes, the acting is great, Julie Hagerty reclaims her intellect from too many doofus roles. Merritt Wever always shines. And Alan Alda...encapsulates the discarded but wise in this case attorney. Yup, they squeeze you out, you're too old, you're not producing, but your talent and experience are undeniable.
But too often unacknowledged.
Now we used to go to the theatre for experiences like this. You know, the movie theatre, with its darkness and sticky floors and no interruptions, other than the talkers, and this is a film where the talkers will bug you.
But just like the symphony, and the opera, independent film has been kept alive by the oldsters, who've all decided it's just too much effort to go to the theatre when there's a cornucopia of entertainment at your fingertips and you don't have to hassle to get it.
Of course there are those who still swear by the experience, but the truth is independent grosses have tanked. And they're not going back up.
Meanwhile, the world is topsy-turvy. Mainstream movies are cartoons, and the essence of life is on television.
Now I don't think I've conveyed the elements of this movie fully. On one hand, I don't want to. On the other, I want to implore you to watch it.
Sure, it's two hours and sixteen minutes long, but you won't be able to turn it off, because even if you can't reveal your inner feelings, they're in this movie, it reflects real life, which as I said is not in mainstream movies and not in music either. We're beholden to the surface. Express your feelings and you're branded a loser. You're supposed to be a winner. But you just can't stop talking about the breakup, even though they're never coming back and your friends are sick of hearing you talk about it.
You see what you shared was just between the two of you.
And when Adam Driver sings Stephen Sondheim's "Being Alive," the lyrics resonate, that's what we're all looking for in relationships, someone who gets us, someone who supports us, someone to experience life with, someone to heighten our senses and watch the movie of life with.
And the truth is everybody's unhappy. At best people complete each other. She's sloppy, he's neat. But no matter how much he bugs her, she'll never be neat.
And you'll never truly be a member of her family. They circle the wagons after the defeat, you're left alone, an outsider. All your hopes and dreams come to a halt. You thought you were cruising on all cylinders, then you were blindsided. Suddenly, all that you thought was important is not.
Now the seeker...frequently does not find what he or she is looking for.
And the one pining for stability...is oftentimes in the same spot.
I'm not talking about drugs and physical abuse, I'm talking about those who get along and then someone pulls the ripcord.
We all want to get what we're looking for. We all want to be understood, we all want to win. But the truth is even if we gain career victories, they often leave us hollow. Turns out everyday life is the reward, the most invigorating and satisfying victory, but if you don't have that totem of success, you somehow feel less than.
Insecurity, it sidelines the best of us. We think we're putting up a good face, but the truth is most people can tell it's fake. You want to just be yourself, but deep down you believe yourself is just not good enough.
Society will mess with you. Might even ruin your life. And in the end, most people find they have not found what they are looking for.
So what to do?
Experience art, that contains truth. I'm not talking about escape, but resonance. When you see yourself in a movie or book or record, you no longer feel so alone.
So I can't tell you about awards, but in truth they're bogus.
But great art affects you, leaves you off-kilter when it ends.
I'm messed up now that "Marriage Story" is over.
This is not "The Irishman," this is not gloss, this is not another world, this is you, your essence, your life, can you handle it?
You know you want to.
So fire up Netflix and watch "Marriage Story," if for no other reason than when it's finished you too can weigh in on its merits, or lack thereof. Yup, now that it's on Netflix, essentially available to everyone, during the holiday season, you can go places and discuss it.
And that's what makes you feel alive, the human interaction, the weaving of opinions and stories.
That's what you'll find in "Marriage Story," but just like in real life, it doesn't always work out.
But you do your best to soldier on. Keep looking. Lick your wounds, but if you hang in there long enough, things will start to turn.
Assuming you've got a support network, maybe a therapist.
But too many are alone and too many have little cash.
Well, at least you can watch "Marriage Story" and know you're not the only one.
We're all alike under the skin, it's just that the winners don't want to be seen as ordinary and the hoi polloi are told they're inadequate.
Then again, I wish I could make art as great as Noah Baumbach's.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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This would be better tomorrow, when my mood stabilizes. But that's not how life works, it comes at you unexpectedly, the twists and turns...the older you get the more you realize you can't plan for anything. Oh, you can plan, but it never turns out that way, something always derails your desire. Life is full of potholes. And one of the deepest is relationships.
Which also come with their highs. You know the moment, when you're falling in love. Some people can't resist that, they go from person to person, never wanting to get deep. Some can't get deep. Some are just afraid to. But it's when you plow down through the layers, that you feel most alive.
Now this movie was made by Netflix, although it played in theatres first, for a brief while anyway. You see instead of allowing streaming to take its own course, the film industry, mostly the Academy, i.e. the Oscars, wants to stay in the past, kind of like a marriage that is dying, you're going down the track and nothing can stop the train.
They keep tweaking the rules, trying to get youngsters involved. They expanded the number of Best Picture nominees, trying to rope in the superhero faction, but the ratings keep dropping, and the best pictures go unseen.
But not anymore.
The studios want to protect their windows. Kind of like how the record companies wanted to protect their retailers. Look how that worked out, all the retailers died. You see it's hard to impose an old model on a new paradigm, i.e. the internet. We live in an on demand culture, we want everything at our fingertips, and if it's not...
We ignore it.
That's the dirty little secret the entertainment industry doesn't want acknowledged, how much of their product goes straight into the dumper. Only a few things truly succeed, and now with the tsunami of offerings, you can't look back to what played in theatres months ago, years ago, you want to stay current, even though today's human condition is to always feel behind and out of it, unless you're fooling yourself.
So, after a very brief window, "Marriage Story" has appeared on Netflix. If you've got an account, you know, it's featured up front and personal on the home screen. This is the most valuable real estate in visual entertainment. They used to talk about endcaps in record retail, talk about the marketing dollars spent to advertise a movie, now all that is superseded, we can all know about something right away, left and right, Democrat and Republican, we can all be united by art.
And there's more truth in this movie than anything in D.C.
Maybe you've never been married. Maybe you've never been divorced. But when you stand in front of family and friends and say "I Do," when it's over you get a feeling, a pit in your stomach, as if you failed the final and didn't graduate from college.
Oh, you cannot see this coming. Word on the street is divorce is painless...
But it's not.
So Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are married. Happily. With a child. It starts this way, and then over the years...one partner becomes unhappy, even though the other usually doesn't know about it. What did Esther Perel say? In every marriage there's one person looking to leave and another who thinks everything is okay.
Adam Driver thinks everything's okay.
He's self-made, a known figure in the avant-garde theatre world of New York City.
But Scarlet Johansson feels suffocated, unacknowledged. She thinks she sent this message, but if she did it was subtly, and Adam Driver didn't get it.
So Scarlett moves to L.A.
Yup, that's a constant theme in the movie, west coast versus east coast. And the truth is in today's less than mobile society, where people cannot afford to pack up and move, the only people who've experienced this are entertainers and fat cat business people.
In L.A. you've got space.
In New York you've got feelings, it's about the interior as opposed to the exterior.
In New York, theatre is paramount.
In L.A., it's movies.
New Yorkers think they're superior.
Angelenos don't care.
Now the promotion may have made you aware of Laura Dern's spectacular performance as a high-paid divorce lawyer, but print cannot do justice. Dern encapsulates the jive, rich, friendly but cutthroat women in this role. And Ray Liotta's performance as her counterpart is great too.
Yup, the attorneys are friendly, it's all just grist for the mill. Meanwhile, their clients are ground down to nothing.
How do you break up a marriage? Their family was your family, it was all kumbaya, and now it's not.
And you hate each other but still love each other. You want to see the other person dead but there's no one you feel closer to.
Yes, the acting is great, Julie Hagerty reclaims her intellect from too many doofus roles. Merritt Wever always shines. And Alan Alda...encapsulates the discarded but wise in this case attorney. Yup, they squeeze you out, you're too old, you're not producing, but your talent and experience are undeniable.
But too often unacknowledged.
Now we used to go to the theatre for experiences like this. You know, the movie theatre, with its darkness and sticky floors and no interruptions, other than the talkers, and this is a film where the talkers will bug you.
But just like the symphony, and the opera, independent film has been kept alive by the oldsters, who've all decided it's just too much effort to go to the theatre when there's a cornucopia of entertainment at your fingertips and you don't have to hassle to get it.
Of course there are those who still swear by the experience, but the truth is independent grosses have tanked. And they're not going back up.
Meanwhile, the world is topsy-turvy. Mainstream movies are cartoons, and the essence of life is on television.
Now I don't think I've conveyed the elements of this movie fully. On one hand, I don't want to. On the other, I want to implore you to watch it.
Sure, it's two hours and sixteen minutes long, but you won't be able to turn it off, because even if you can't reveal your inner feelings, they're in this movie, it reflects real life, which as I said is not in mainstream movies and not in music either. We're beholden to the surface. Express your feelings and you're branded a loser. You're supposed to be a winner. But you just can't stop talking about the breakup, even though they're never coming back and your friends are sick of hearing you talk about it.
You see what you shared was just between the two of you.
And when Adam Driver sings Stephen Sondheim's "Being Alive," the lyrics resonate, that's what we're all looking for in relationships, someone who gets us, someone who supports us, someone to experience life with, someone to heighten our senses and watch the movie of life with.
And the truth is everybody's unhappy. At best people complete each other. She's sloppy, he's neat. But no matter how much he bugs her, she'll never be neat.
And you'll never truly be a member of her family. They circle the wagons after the defeat, you're left alone, an outsider. All your hopes and dreams come to a halt. You thought you were cruising on all cylinders, then you were blindsided. Suddenly, all that you thought was important is not.
Now the seeker...frequently does not find what he or she is looking for.
And the one pining for stability...is oftentimes in the same spot.
I'm not talking about drugs and physical abuse, I'm talking about those who get along and then someone pulls the ripcord.
We all want to get what we're looking for. We all want to be understood, we all want to win. But the truth is even if we gain career victories, they often leave us hollow. Turns out everyday life is the reward, the most invigorating and satisfying victory, but if you don't have that totem of success, you somehow feel less than.
Insecurity, it sidelines the best of us. We think we're putting up a good face, but the truth is most people can tell it's fake. You want to just be yourself, but deep down you believe yourself is just not good enough.
Society will mess with you. Might even ruin your life. And in the end, most people find they have not found what they are looking for.
So what to do?
Experience art, that contains truth. I'm not talking about escape, but resonance. When you see yourself in a movie or book or record, you no longer feel so alone.
So I can't tell you about awards, but in truth they're bogus.
But great art affects you, leaves you off-kilter when it ends.
I'm messed up now that "Marriage Story" is over.
This is not "The Irishman," this is not gloss, this is not another world, this is you, your essence, your life, can you handle it?
You know you want to.
So fire up Netflix and watch "Marriage Story," if for no other reason than when it's finished you too can weigh in on its merits, or lack thereof. Yup, now that it's on Netflix, essentially available to everyone, during the holiday season, you can go places and discuss it.
And that's what makes you feel alive, the human interaction, the weaving of opinions and stories.
That's what you'll find in "Marriage Story," but just like in real life, it doesn't always work out.
But you do your best to soldier on. Keep looking. Lick your wounds, but if you hang in there long enough, things will start to turn.
Assuming you've got a support network, maybe a therapist.
But too many are alone and too many have little cash.
Well, at least you can watch "Marriage Story" and know you're not the only one.
We're all alike under the skin, it's just that the winners don't want to be seen as ordinary and the hoi polloi are told they're inadequate.
Then again, I wish I could make art as great as Noah Baumbach's.
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AWS
"Amazon Accuses Trump of 'Improper Pressure' on JEDI Contract": https://nyti.ms/2Pq8EYc
Will you speak up if you're going to lose your job?
Amazon Web Services dominates cloud computing, it is the leader in all categories, it was destined to win a ten billion dollar Defense Department contract and then...
Trump said: "other 'great companies' should have a chance at the contract."
Speak your mind, tell the truth, and you're out of a job.
And most people need that job.
Peloton? Are you telling me no one involved saw a problem with that ad? Sure, the CEOs are out of touch, having been brought up with a silver spoon. But no one else involved wanted to blow the whistle, messing with all that money, all that hard work and spending for the company?
Just ask the whistleblower. He spoke his truth, Trump and his cronies want his name revealed.
They call this a "chilling" effect. Yup, it's part of the bedrock of Constitutional law. Just ask all those with a paper Constitution in their pocket, they never reference this as they say that the Second Amendment allows the hoi polloi to own guns. Law is based on stare decisis, i.e. you make new decisions based on prior decisions, just not out of thin air, and if what the government does has a chilling effect...
Just ask Comey. Just ask all those dismissed from the government under Trump. You do what he says, or you're gone. Isn't that the essence of impeachment? Ukraine had do to what Trump wanted, or it wouldn't get the money. You don't need it in writing, you understand. Raise your hand in the meeting and go against the CEO and you get a black mark. We hear all about entrepreneurship in America, but the truth is most people work for someone else, furthermore, in the vaunted tech sphere, don't dare compete in any way with the FANG companies, i.e. Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google, and Microsoft too, they'll either buy you or put you out of business. Tech is a game of musical chairs, and now everybody but the Big Five is out!
But you hate Amazon.
While you use it.
Kinda like the "Delete Facebook" movement.
It turns out that people like convenience, they like to connect with their brethren. And to tell them not to is like taking away oxygen, it won't work.
This is what the music industry failed to understand. That people would pay for convenience. They'd pay to stream everything as opposed to stealing. As for stream-rippers...if you're turning YouTube videos into files, you probably were never going to pay, you're just like those people who recorded their friends' albums on to quarter-inch tape. As for the cassette...it was much easier to use, but fascinatingly when they sold prerecorded ones most people bought instead of making their own, the sales of cassettes eclipsed those of vinyl, the standard at the time.
As for CDs...you've got to put them in the drawer, who has time for that?
As for vinyl...they re-enact the Civil War too, it's a de minimis enterprise that can be ignored economically, despite the inaccurate reports in the press.
So Jeff Bezos buys the "Washington Post," reinvigorating it, and his company loses a contract in the process. This was shocking to everybody who knows tech. But not shocking if you follow today's political shenanigans.
So the message here?
Stay in your own lane. Tell Trump you'll bring manufacturing to America, even if you really won't. Kinda like Foxconn, building in Wisconsin, only the truth is they'll employ almost no one, assuming the enterprise gets up and running. Meanwhile, it gets Trump off its back.
But chances are you don't know Foxconn, and you want to see Amazon humbled.
Well, Amazon should be fought in the open, under the rule of law.
As far as knowing Foxconn...now, more than ever, the big, multinational corporations rule the world, and they're beholden to no one, but they pay the politicians, they even write the laws and op-eds, and you think you're in control.
The U.S. was based on free speech. And, under today's law, corporations are people, entitled to free speech...how that happened, I'll never know, then again, those lobbyists were involved, and never forget those lunches and plane rides and golf games...
Meanwhile, you think if you can rap about your problems, you're in the clear.
No!
Try getting an abortion. Did you see the Supreme Court refused to hear the Kentucky case, wherein the doctors performing the operation have to essentially scare patients into backing away from the procedure?
Oh, maybe you're anti-abortion, I don't care, I'm just saying that forces larger than you are tilting the playing field to their advantage and you think your voice counts but it does not. Just try taking the unpopular stand. Isn't that what America has turned into, a land of one vision or you're out?
Not only in government, but organizations, companies. In the sixties you were supposed to let your freak flag fly, be an individual, now the greatest goal is to be a member of the group. Say something out of line, and the judges will come down on you. Men can't even discuss Me Too, if they don't take women's party line, they are excoriated. This is what women don't understand, men are fed up, they all think things have gone too far, I hear it all the time, but they won't tell you.
Shoot the messenger. That's what Trump does. That's what everybody does today.
So you're supposed to stay silent in your hovel, in your 10,000 square foot mansion, just to save what you've already got.
Is this the country we want to live in?
NO!
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Will you speak up if you're going to lose your job?
Amazon Web Services dominates cloud computing, it is the leader in all categories, it was destined to win a ten billion dollar Defense Department contract and then...
Trump said: "other 'great companies' should have a chance at the contract."
Speak your mind, tell the truth, and you're out of a job.
And most people need that job.
Peloton? Are you telling me no one involved saw a problem with that ad? Sure, the CEOs are out of touch, having been brought up with a silver spoon. But no one else involved wanted to blow the whistle, messing with all that money, all that hard work and spending for the company?
Just ask the whistleblower. He spoke his truth, Trump and his cronies want his name revealed.
They call this a "chilling" effect. Yup, it's part of the bedrock of Constitutional law. Just ask all those with a paper Constitution in their pocket, they never reference this as they say that the Second Amendment allows the hoi polloi to own guns. Law is based on stare decisis, i.e. you make new decisions based on prior decisions, just not out of thin air, and if what the government does has a chilling effect...
Just ask Comey. Just ask all those dismissed from the government under Trump. You do what he says, or you're gone. Isn't that the essence of impeachment? Ukraine had do to what Trump wanted, or it wouldn't get the money. You don't need it in writing, you understand. Raise your hand in the meeting and go against the CEO and you get a black mark. We hear all about entrepreneurship in America, but the truth is most people work for someone else, furthermore, in the vaunted tech sphere, don't dare compete in any way with the FANG companies, i.e. Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google, and Microsoft too, they'll either buy you or put you out of business. Tech is a game of musical chairs, and now everybody but the Big Five is out!
But you hate Amazon.
While you use it.
Kinda like the "Delete Facebook" movement.
It turns out that people like convenience, they like to connect with their brethren. And to tell them not to is like taking away oxygen, it won't work.
This is what the music industry failed to understand. That people would pay for convenience. They'd pay to stream everything as opposed to stealing. As for stream-rippers...if you're turning YouTube videos into files, you probably were never going to pay, you're just like those people who recorded their friends' albums on to quarter-inch tape. As for the cassette...it was much easier to use, but fascinatingly when they sold prerecorded ones most people bought instead of making their own, the sales of cassettes eclipsed those of vinyl, the standard at the time.
As for CDs...you've got to put them in the drawer, who has time for that?
As for vinyl...they re-enact the Civil War too, it's a de minimis enterprise that can be ignored economically, despite the inaccurate reports in the press.
So Jeff Bezos buys the "Washington Post," reinvigorating it, and his company loses a contract in the process. This was shocking to everybody who knows tech. But not shocking if you follow today's political shenanigans.
So the message here?
Stay in your own lane. Tell Trump you'll bring manufacturing to America, even if you really won't. Kinda like Foxconn, building in Wisconsin, only the truth is they'll employ almost no one, assuming the enterprise gets up and running. Meanwhile, it gets Trump off its back.
But chances are you don't know Foxconn, and you want to see Amazon humbled.
Well, Amazon should be fought in the open, under the rule of law.
As far as knowing Foxconn...now, more than ever, the big, multinational corporations rule the world, and they're beholden to no one, but they pay the politicians, they even write the laws and op-eds, and you think you're in control.
The U.S. was based on free speech. And, under today's law, corporations are people, entitled to free speech...how that happened, I'll never know, then again, those lobbyists were involved, and never forget those lunches and plane rides and golf games...
Meanwhile, you think if you can rap about your problems, you're in the clear.
No!
Try getting an abortion. Did you see the Supreme Court refused to hear the Kentucky case, wherein the doctors performing the operation have to essentially scare patients into backing away from the procedure?
Oh, maybe you're anti-abortion, I don't care, I'm just saying that forces larger than you are tilting the playing field to their advantage and you think your voice counts but it does not. Just try taking the unpopular stand. Isn't that what America has turned into, a land of one vision or you're out?
Not only in government, but organizations, companies. In the sixties you were supposed to let your freak flag fly, be an individual, now the greatest goal is to be a member of the group. Say something out of line, and the judges will come down on you. Men can't even discuss Me Too, if they don't take women's party line, they are excoriated. This is what women don't understand, men are fed up, they all think things have gone too far, I hear it all the time, but they won't tell you.
Shoot the messenger. That's what Trump does. That's what everybody does today.
So you're supposed to stay silent in your hovel, in your 10,000 square foot mansion, just to save what you've already got.
Is this the country we want to live in?
NO!
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Monday, 9 December 2019
My History Of The Beatles-Part Two-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday December 10th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive
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Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive
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Sunday, 8 December 2019
Aspen Live 2019
Actually, for twenty attendees, the conference is still going on, they couldn't get out of town because the airport closed.
That's Aspen.
And speaking of Aspen, yesterday Rich Burkley, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development for the Aspen Skiing Company, sat down for an interview.
He said Aspen was a destination. And eighty percent of visitors are returnees. So it was about treating them right, saying yes if they complained, even if they were wrong, the key is to maintain the bond.
But the real issue is the IKON Pass.
You see there's been consolidation in the ski business. There are now two rival companies selling cheap passes, IKON and EPIC. And as a result, more people are skiing and they're going to dream destinations and the locals are PISSED! They want the mountains for themselves.
But Aspen is limited by its twelve thousand beds.
And the difficulty in getting there.
So why go to a conference that's a glorified ski vacation?
Because it's not about the panels so much as who you meet that makes conferences worthwhile. And when you ski with them...my whole social life revolves around people I've met in Aspen at Jim Lewi's conference. Which used to be called the "Aspen Artist Development Conference," but that was back in the nineties, when labels still had money to spare. So, over time it's shifted to the live side, where all the action truly is.
That's what I learned. There are two businesses. The label one that gets all the ink, and the live one.
Bob Roux, President of Live Nation, said his company does seven thousand shows in the U.S. a year. Sounds like a lot, and it is a lot, but there are thirty thousand shows in the country a year. Do you think they're all from the Spotify Top 50?
No, as a matter of fact, these chartbusters are a disproportionately smaller part of the live business.
So who can sell a ticket? And who controls the ticket? Those are the two big music business questions today.
The promoters pay the artists, far more than the labels, it's the promoters who build acts, especially those not Spotify Top 50/radio-friendly. Anybody can look at the chart and tell you what's hot. But what is developing, what has buzz under the radar, that's a completely different discussion.
So let's get to the ticketing. Dave Marcus of Ticketmaster warned us about the BOSS act. Never forget that the government can't understand ticketing, hell, even the fans can't understand ticketing! So the brokers got in Congress's ear and want to protect their advantage. They're like the anti-abortion crew, they never sleep and are always pushing their cause, and if you're not battling them each and every day, you're gonna lose. So Marcus is trying to round up people to protect the industry's interests, contact him, this is important.
But the dirty little secret is while the industry kicks and screams, hates the brokers, they also love them. Yup, sell them some inventory and you'll protect yourself against loss. Cut a deal for some free inventory and offload the tickets on the brokers. It's kinda like paperless, it turned out when the whole venue went paperless, the show didn't sell out. So there's a mania surrounding ticket prices, and despite all the data, a lot of guesswork is still involved.
So Ant Taylor, CEO of Lyte, is trying to beat the scalpers at their own game.
But I'm wary of outsiders gaining traction in the business. The industry does not want them to. The dirty little secret is the only profit for the promoter is in the ticketing. So...
The acts want a huge guarantee and ninety eight/two. In other words, the promoter gives the act almost all of the face value and makes it up on the ticket fees, and the ancillaries. And the fees are a way to keep money out of the artist fee, you see the artists are greedy, they want a piece of everything, which is why I'm skeptical of Lyte.
So here's the story with Lyte... You sell your ticket to them at face value, and they have a waiting list of guaranteed buyers. The buyers cough up their credit cards for a guaranteed price, and if tickets are available, they get them.
So, Lyte monitors the brokers. For the first two weeks, prices are inflated, these are the ones you read about in the media. So Lyte waits two weeks and says it then undercuts the brokers. Yup, Lyte says its tech is better than the brokers', but no one's beaten the brokers' tech yet. Try selling a ticket on StubHub, the brokers' software will immediately underprice it. If you're buying tickets to resell...DON'T!
But what is the incentive for the fan to cough up their ticket for face value, especially when the show is hot. Maybe a small percentage will go to charity, but...in a world of greed, where everybody's trying to get rich, there's no money for nothing, there are no chicks for free.
But let's say it all works out. The uplift goes to...THE PROMOTERS! Do you think those representing A-level acts are gonna go for this? The promoters say to trust them, that the revenue will show up in the settlement, you'll get your share... HUH? When did an act ever trust the promoter?
So Lyte had a deal with Goldenvoice for Coachella. I applaud where Lyte's coming from, but we don't live in a kumbaya world, and really, since the only money is in the tickets, the promoters, and Ticketmaster, do not want to give up control.
So Michael Belkin interviewed Greg Harris, CEO of the Rock Hall, and he was very impressive, he made you want to get on a plane to Cleveland.
However, we all know the nomination/election process is screwed up. I think they should have closed the doors years ago. We all know the limited number of acts that truly belong in there, just not crowd favorites. As for allowing in hip-hop, I hate the rationalization. Sure, R&B was a huge part of rock, that should not be denied, but now, as rock has essentially died, we have a new starting line and... Shouldn't there just be a Hip-Hop Hall of Fame? Look at it this way, classical art, pre-nineteenth century, does not go into the Museum of Modern Art, it's in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's the ROCK Hall of Fame, not the MUSIC Hall of Fame...not only keep out hip-hop, and the undeserving rockers, but the popsters too!
Then again, being an inductee has lost all credibility. Kinda like music in general, as opposed to those classic acts I referenced above.
Now this woman Becky Gardenhire, one of the heads of WME Nashville, was extremely impressive. She was interviewed by Jamie Loeb and suddenly, males felt like they were looking in as opposed to the reverse. Women talk to each other differently than they speak to men. A lot of issues were covered, Becky is making a difference.
As for Marc Ruxin, of Mixhalo...a slam dunk. You get clear sound no matter where you sit. This is happening now, at Staples, at the Park in Vegas with Aerosmith. Come on, unless you're up close the sound in most venues is...awful. To be able to have a stream sent to your phone, the one the musicians hear? GENIUS!
As for the skiing...
It was a weak year, up until two weeks ago. But Aspen is almost completely open. On Thursday, despite the fog, we banged the powder bumps on the Back of Bell, up by Bonnie's on Red's.
So...
Stop railing about exclusion from radio, from streaming services, if you've truly got the goods, if you can build an audience, promoters are hungry for you. Not everybody can play, but those left out make all the noise, just like those who believe they should be able to pay ten bucks to sit in the front row for Post Malone.
We're trying to make sense in this world. Especially in an era where those invested are proffering untruths in order to protect their territory.
But they do call it the music BUSINESS!
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That's Aspen.
And speaking of Aspen, yesterday Rich Burkley, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development for the Aspen Skiing Company, sat down for an interview.
He said Aspen was a destination. And eighty percent of visitors are returnees. So it was about treating them right, saying yes if they complained, even if they were wrong, the key is to maintain the bond.
But the real issue is the IKON Pass.
You see there's been consolidation in the ski business. There are now two rival companies selling cheap passes, IKON and EPIC. And as a result, more people are skiing and they're going to dream destinations and the locals are PISSED! They want the mountains for themselves.
But Aspen is limited by its twelve thousand beds.
And the difficulty in getting there.
So why go to a conference that's a glorified ski vacation?
Because it's not about the panels so much as who you meet that makes conferences worthwhile. And when you ski with them...my whole social life revolves around people I've met in Aspen at Jim Lewi's conference. Which used to be called the "Aspen Artist Development Conference," but that was back in the nineties, when labels still had money to spare. So, over time it's shifted to the live side, where all the action truly is.
That's what I learned. There are two businesses. The label one that gets all the ink, and the live one.
Bob Roux, President of Live Nation, said his company does seven thousand shows in the U.S. a year. Sounds like a lot, and it is a lot, but there are thirty thousand shows in the country a year. Do you think they're all from the Spotify Top 50?
No, as a matter of fact, these chartbusters are a disproportionately smaller part of the live business.
So who can sell a ticket? And who controls the ticket? Those are the two big music business questions today.
The promoters pay the artists, far more than the labels, it's the promoters who build acts, especially those not Spotify Top 50/radio-friendly. Anybody can look at the chart and tell you what's hot. But what is developing, what has buzz under the radar, that's a completely different discussion.
So let's get to the ticketing. Dave Marcus of Ticketmaster warned us about the BOSS act. Never forget that the government can't understand ticketing, hell, even the fans can't understand ticketing! So the brokers got in Congress's ear and want to protect their advantage. They're like the anti-abortion crew, they never sleep and are always pushing their cause, and if you're not battling them each and every day, you're gonna lose. So Marcus is trying to round up people to protect the industry's interests, contact him, this is important.
But the dirty little secret is while the industry kicks and screams, hates the brokers, they also love them. Yup, sell them some inventory and you'll protect yourself against loss. Cut a deal for some free inventory and offload the tickets on the brokers. It's kinda like paperless, it turned out when the whole venue went paperless, the show didn't sell out. So there's a mania surrounding ticket prices, and despite all the data, a lot of guesswork is still involved.
So Ant Taylor, CEO of Lyte, is trying to beat the scalpers at their own game.
But I'm wary of outsiders gaining traction in the business. The industry does not want them to. The dirty little secret is the only profit for the promoter is in the ticketing. So...
The acts want a huge guarantee and ninety eight/two. In other words, the promoter gives the act almost all of the face value and makes it up on the ticket fees, and the ancillaries. And the fees are a way to keep money out of the artist fee, you see the artists are greedy, they want a piece of everything, which is why I'm skeptical of Lyte.
So here's the story with Lyte... You sell your ticket to them at face value, and they have a waiting list of guaranteed buyers. The buyers cough up their credit cards for a guaranteed price, and if tickets are available, they get them.
So, Lyte monitors the brokers. For the first two weeks, prices are inflated, these are the ones you read about in the media. So Lyte waits two weeks and says it then undercuts the brokers. Yup, Lyte says its tech is better than the brokers', but no one's beaten the brokers' tech yet. Try selling a ticket on StubHub, the brokers' software will immediately underprice it. If you're buying tickets to resell...DON'T!
But what is the incentive for the fan to cough up their ticket for face value, especially when the show is hot. Maybe a small percentage will go to charity, but...in a world of greed, where everybody's trying to get rich, there's no money for nothing, there are no chicks for free.
But let's say it all works out. The uplift goes to...THE PROMOTERS! Do you think those representing A-level acts are gonna go for this? The promoters say to trust them, that the revenue will show up in the settlement, you'll get your share... HUH? When did an act ever trust the promoter?
So Lyte had a deal with Goldenvoice for Coachella. I applaud where Lyte's coming from, but we don't live in a kumbaya world, and really, since the only money is in the tickets, the promoters, and Ticketmaster, do not want to give up control.
So Michael Belkin interviewed Greg Harris, CEO of the Rock Hall, and he was very impressive, he made you want to get on a plane to Cleveland.
However, we all know the nomination/election process is screwed up. I think they should have closed the doors years ago. We all know the limited number of acts that truly belong in there, just not crowd favorites. As for allowing in hip-hop, I hate the rationalization. Sure, R&B was a huge part of rock, that should not be denied, but now, as rock has essentially died, we have a new starting line and... Shouldn't there just be a Hip-Hop Hall of Fame? Look at it this way, classical art, pre-nineteenth century, does not go into the Museum of Modern Art, it's in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's the ROCK Hall of Fame, not the MUSIC Hall of Fame...not only keep out hip-hop, and the undeserving rockers, but the popsters too!
Then again, being an inductee has lost all credibility. Kinda like music in general, as opposed to those classic acts I referenced above.
Now this woman Becky Gardenhire, one of the heads of WME Nashville, was extremely impressive. She was interviewed by Jamie Loeb and suddenly, males felt like they were looking in as opposed to the reverse. Women talk to each other differently than they speak to men. A lot of issues were covered, Becky is making a difference.
As for Marc Ruxin, of Mixhalo...a slam dunk. You get clear sound no matter where you sit. This is happening now, at Staples, at the Park in Vegas with Aerosmith. Come on, unless you're up close the sound in most venues is...awful. To be able to have a stream sent to your phone, the one the musicians hear? GENIUS!
As for the skiing...
It was a weak year, up until two weeks ago. But Aspen is almost completely open. On Thursday, despite the fog, we banged the powder bumps on the Back of Bell, up by Bonnie's on Red's.
So...
Stop railing about exclusion from radio, from streaming services, if you've truly got the goods, if you can build an audience, promoters are hungry for you. Not everybody can play, but those left out make all the noise, just like those who believe they should be able to pay ten bucks to sit in the front row for Post Malone.
We're trying to make sense in this world. Especially in an era where those invested are proffering untruths in order to protect their territory.
But they do call it the music BUSINESS!
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Re-Buttigieg
Bob, many years ago while I was at CBS, "top management" hired McKinsey to see if we could do better. It was awful. In came these people, who I labled brown shirters, who knew nothing about the broadcast business. and I ushered one of them out of St.Louis where I was the V.P./G.M. of the CBS owned station, because he was "counseling" with the news department to "improve the news", which was on it's way to becoming #1 and did. His "brown shirt" was full of air.
Tom Battista
____________________________________
Famous words by Rob Tyner of the MC5 brother, either your part of the problem or part of the solution. Ramalamafafa!!!!
John Green
____________________________________
Having a Millennial run the show IS change. Not to mention that it would be nice to have a president who is not on the front page every day... Take over congress and let them push the change agenda.
Mike Beuselinck
____________________________________
Amidst all the corporate & top end shuffling at WB records in the '90's McKinsey came in...they did a bunch of inside focus groups. Bean counter invasion, the beginning of the end.
Steve Tipp
____________________________________
and pick your ace all over again and Mayor Pete can move mountains....even with his sordid white privilege background of Maroon and McKinsey. Remember there are two sides here - good and bad and Mayor will trample the bad. In so so many ways.
Coffee is hot. Take a big inhale and get on board. Maybe there is a hip hop
Option in there for you somewhere as well. Gotta keep learning and expanding....probably your words.
Scott Tavis
Management Consultant
____________________________________
"...most people are pissed the bankers did not pay for breaking the economy back in 2008." The mere mention of this apparently radioactive topic is anathema to the US media.
"Look at the Arab Spring, started by a fruit vendor!" Thanks for your efforts to educate Americans. Also, the conflagration in Syria was started by a few teenagers painting graffiti on a few walls. Your right about tipping points when systems can go critical.
Robert Bond
____________________________________
Let's be honest - opening acts last for 10-15 minutes why are we spending a trillion dollar year on openers? We should have accepted the inevitable: Biden / Harris and shut up
Jeremiah Younossi
____________________________________
Thanks, Bob. I've come to similar conclusions. My days as a centrist-moderate are done. Full on Bernie or Elizabeth. The DNC had better shit or get off the pot. Centrism is done for the foreseeable future.
Kevin Ritchie
____________________________________
Make your fucking mind up about Warren, will you?
ONCE she didn't have an answer ...and that's it?!
FFS
Hugo Burnham
____________________________________
Why do you have a bug up your ass about Buttigieg? I just don't understand that. Warren and Bernie are to far left for most Democrats and independents. Biden seems to have lost a step or two. McKinsey like Blackwater? Really. Having been hired by McKinsey should be a plus on one's resume. It just goes to show that democrats can be into the deep shit state conspiracies as republicans.
John Milo
____________________________________
Bob,
With the whole point being a candidate that will bring real change, take on the corporate elite, and pushing past all this centrist bs, why have you basically ignored Bernie here?
Are you one of those boomers who claims "he's too radical, he'll never win, what's the point?" Meanwhile all of the DNC talking points were parroted from his 2016 and current campaigns.
If it's down to Mayor Pete and Bloomberg, were not too far off from another four years of Trump.
With your millions of readers, why sideline Bernie when you're basically outlining his agenda? You have influence too.
Dylan Muhlberg
____________________________________
I love Buttigieg. I listened to him on the podcast The Daily and he closed me. Very level headed and brilliant. I'm a fan. He's my guy. He's going to go all the way. Mark my words. I'm calling it.
Love you pal,
Steve Poltz
____________________________________
Mr.Bloomberg is strong on gun control, reducing prescription prices and improving public health. He stopped people smoking in NYC restaurants which resulted in other cities doing the same.A lot of people breath easier because of him. He is also not politically corrupt. Not only did he not take a salary as mayor but he also paid for his own travel and accommodations.
Cordially;'
Bob Epstein
____________________________________
Nice take. But I challenge you to find one policy issue where Pete "ran to the center." Unlike most politicians, he's been remarkably consistent from the moment he announced his candidacy. Yes, he's not the lefty God the Netroots folks are looking for, but his proposals are much more in line with the majority of Americans.
Dave Curtis
____________________________________
Bernie Sanders is being suppressed from almost all the mainstream media even though he's arguably the most electable of all. That's your "free press" for you, owned by billionaire oligarchs. Comparing the U.S. to countries most of us would consider authoritarian: here the censorship and control system is more subtle.
Even you barely mentioned Bernie Sanders until the very end of your latest post.
Depending on what poll you look at, Bernie is closing in on Biden, comfortably ahead of Warren.
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/democratic-presidential-candidates/polls/
Meanwhile, Andrew Yang is still in it and only growing in support every day.
It's time for Americans to wake up and realize We The People can take our government back RIGHT NOW, if only we want it. Defeatism serves the establishment, which wants you to believe a trustworthy candidate can never be viable.
Jonathan Steigman
____________________________________
Pete is authentic...
Tim Pringle
____________________________________
Bernie stands for all the things that you say the Democrats need to stand for in order to win and currently ranks 2nd in the national polls.
Get behind him Bob!! He's the real deal!!
Benjamin Friedlander
____________________________________
Yup - all true Bob
This election is absolute survival of the Republic. The ultimate test of a democracy created out of the blue 243 years ago. A system of government established before social media and partisan wholly focused news networks feeding a singular point of view. I hope democracy can prevail - can find its way in this new tech world. I think it can - and I think the Trump monarchy is painfully exactly what we need to point to and say "never again" and be awake and fix the process.
So...whoever can beat Trump - and motivate taking back the Senate - and get us back to compassion - to caring about all of us - and a global unified view - and a aligned world view on saving our planet and our less fortunate.... that's my candidate. Whoever can win.
We are in SURVIVAL
Keep up the great work - love your voice
Peter van Roden
____________________________________
Dude, it was his first fucking job out of college, where he was a junior analyst doing grunt work. He then dedicated the rest of his life to public service. Do you prefer politicians who NEVER were successful in the private sector, and thus don't understand where the money they love to spend comes from???
Mark B. Siegel
____________________________________
Bernie is still going to win 2 of the first 4 state primaries and then win California to bring momentum into the spring.
It's going to be close between Bernie and Biden, if Biden can stay afloat.
Thanks, Bob.
Mike Vancha
____________________________________
A more than insightful assessment not enough voters will read, but maybe, just maybe, 2020 will be like the early 1930's, what my Polish immigrant grandparents all called "Hoover Times" that resulted in FDR and 16 years of the New Deal, that I heard about and benefitted from when I was growing up in the 60s.
And some kid in 2050 will hear his grandparents talking about Trump Times... and the changing tides of 2021...
Thanks as always for making me think..
Zannman Minneapolis
____________________________________
Well said. I got into a conversation the other night with two neighbors at a popular local restaurant. They were at the next table and overheard me making a point to the person I was having dinner with. I said nothing ever changes until it changes and then the change is sudden. But we keep thinking it will be slow and gradual change that we can see coming and get ready for. But it never is. And I said I had given up on mainstream media to do anything except report on the status quo and I looked to other sources for insights into what was really happening. I said I had given up on the New York Times even though in my house it was regarded as revealed truth by my parents and by me up until their incessant fawning over Hilary four years ago.
At that point a neighbor at the next table leaned over and asked what did I mean I had given up on the NYT. Elizabeth Warren just held a big rally at a theater in our neighborhood and it was mobbed with people lined up for blocks and waiting for hours to get in. I asked him if he read much about that in the NYT or WaPo etc. I pointed out that all they do is urge a return to "reasonableness" whatever that is. Or they dither over silly PC issues to distract and divide us.
He admitted he was sliding into the "anybody but Trump" mindset and I asked what that exactly means. No clear answer to that. I said it is basically asking us to simply vote for the lesser of two evils and admitted that we were older and more rational and could make that kind of choice. Then I asked him if that kind of choice would have motivated him to get out and vote when he was 25 years old. He said no. Exactly, I said. We need ideas that will motivate the millenials to turn out.
If the millenials show up and vote we win. If they don't then we loose. Simple as that.
Michael Hugos
____________________________________
If Bernie Sanders is the new Beatles, resulting in Warren becoming the new Monkees, then Buttigieg is the new Milli Vanilli. As fake as they make them. (And I guess that makes Biden the Pat Boone.)
Only the team of Bernie-Tulsi can beat Trump. Everyone else loses BIG, impeachment or not. Americans have been sick of politics as usual since Bush-Cheney pulled the wool over the nation's eyes. Just look at who we've considered since.
Why is Bernie the only one who can win? Nearly all dems will vote for Bernie, even the ones that have to hold their nose this time. (Except for maybe Hillary, who would rather vote for Trump.) Plus nearly all independents will come out to vote for Bernie. That's 42% of the electorate! Also, a big plus, Tulsi has tremendous appeal both to the blue collar Trump voter and the 18-20% antiwar protest vote that went to Trump in 2016 to vote against the war pig Clinton. No other Democrat can aggregate these numbers with this kind of broad based appeal.
Mark my words. This isn't about top down marketing of a candidate; it's about grass roots demand; the American people have been ready for someone like Bernie since the day FDR died; they couldn't even beat the notion out of us with the McCarthy era.
So stop watching the paid news and following the curated polls and start listening to the heartbeat of the nation. The folks you circulate amongst don't have a clue, so stop echoing their moneyed sensibilities. Get down here in the trenches with me and learn for yourself!
Your high school classmate and co-founder of The Glass Onion,
Ken Shain
____________________________________
I love you but I think you're wrong about what will win in 2020.
Really, Medicare for All is a Big Idea? Please. It's an easy pitch but hard to hit, especially when it's mandatory. If it's so great, let people choose.
As for Mayor Pete, he's the one Dem candidate who I think could take on Trump in a televised debate. That said, Pete is all about reason and reason is not going to win in 2020. What is the FIRE the Dems could tame to win? Bernie? Nah, he's not saying anything that hasn't been said since Stalin (a cheap shot, yes, but socialism sucks, history has proven that). Warren? Never. A detailed plan is not emotional. Worse, it makes everyday people feel stupid. Biden? He's got a god complex but no fire and brimstone to spread The Word. Plus, let's be honest, he's incoherent on today's big issues. Is he suffering a bit of dementia? Maybe, but that's not the problem. He's supposed to be the center, but what's his center? The past? The way we were?
Back to Mayor Pete. So what if he worked for McKinsey? Or Bain (in the ass)? Or BCG? I consider that quality an asset. He knows how the rich think, what big corporations want. Know your enemy, right? If Mayor Pete can stoke some real emotion -- and I think he can -- he could win. No other Dem that I know of has a chance. Except...
Maybe Bloomberg. He's a battle hardened New Yorker and could go toe to toe with Trump and STOMP The Donald, no sweat. And he's a LOT richer than Trump, which will unhinge the Orange Menace.
So that's where I stand, Mayor Pete or Bloomberg. I'll vote for either over Trump (admittedly, I would vote for a Pet Rock over DT).
Jeff Shattuck
PS: Sorry for all the Caps. It's Trumpian!
____________________________________
Agree with so much of this, Bob.
The Presidency is a beast of a job to have as your first real capital-R responsibility. That's a hard weight for anyone to carry. Without the inner strength of having done it before, it's too easy to fall back on what advisors tell you to do, and to give up on your convictions.
You're exactly right that Buttiegieg is the candidate of the status quo of three years ago. Considering what's around us now, this seems deceptively attractive. But the world before was already rotting from greed, from the abuse of power, by the tyranny of a financial value system that's come to rule all else.
But the Democratic Party remains invested in protecting that system. The whole reason Bloomberg is in the race is to stop Bernie or Warren, even to throw the election to Trump by staying in with a third party bid. Like Ross Perot, only shorter and with weirdly the same ears. We need major changes to break this pattern.
I'm Team Bernie as I think he knows what those changes are, he has the stomach to push on them as much as is possible, and I think he can win. It's the last of those Bernie factors that might be scariest of all to the rest of the field, and people like Bloomberg.
To some these ideas may seem radical. But to me -- and I think to history -- it's the last four decades that have been radical as money has overtaken us (as I write about in my book, This Could Be Our Future), and this is the kind of change we need to get back to normal.
Anyway, great email!
Yancey Strickler
____________________________________
Thank you, Bob. Great piece. We needed a revolution in 2016; we need one now. Well, you know.
Liz Warren was my prof at Penn and she's brilliant. Maybe I'm biased, but I loved office hours with her: she was kind, engaging, super smart, good-natured and funny. Honest to Universe, her presentation was so conservative I was convinced she was a conservative. When her actual political beliefs filtered out in Massachusetts, I was thrilled. Sad. Flub one answer – and yes, she did indeed flub during the second debate – and you're dead in the water? The man in the White House is a walking flub, which I suppose isn't so much of an accomplishment with a vocabulary of twenty words.
Also unfortunate that Harris and Booker and Castro got no traction. So what are we left with? A fumbling old-school Biden and Buttegieg, a boy scout with a questionable past and present that cleaves to the politics of the middle and mediocrity. I'm gay and even in the gay community the honeymoon is over, at least among those who don't have a knee-jerk reaction to love Mayor Petey just because he shares our sexual identity. Identity politics could have me supporting Sanders or Bloomberg, I suppose. Honestly, I know nothing about the billionaire except that my friends in NYC seemed to think he was a good mayor. Is Bloomberg responsible for the Highline? Maybe that explains it. Maybe folks won't admit that they were actually in favor of "stop and frisk."
The party is a mess and the impeachment process isn't rousing the populace… at least not enough … and doesn't seem to be converting hearts and minds in the numbers it needs to.
And now I'll go listen to "Ball of Confusion" for the rest of the day ponder my medical insurance that costs over $1000/month and weep.
Myles Silton
____________________________________
Agree,
Marshall Crenshaw
____________________________________
Lefsetz, you hit the nail on the head today. i've followed your work since 2001 when i did a short interview with you while I was at the Bay Guardian, and i've been fascinated by the evolution of your ideas. We're a long way from the Napster-or-not days, and I look forward to reading your columns more today than I did then. Your work is honest - and i know you know how rare that is. Thanks, man.
Tommy Amano-Tompkins
LA
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Tom Battista
____________________________________
Famous words by Rob Tyner of the MC5 brother, either your part of the problem or part of the solution. Ramalamafafa!!!!
John Green
____________________________________
Having a Millennial run the show IS change. Not to mention that it would be nice to have a president who is not on the front page every day... Take over congress and let them push the change agenda.
Mike Beuselinck
____________________________________
Amidst all the corporate & top end shuffling at WB records in the '90's McKinsey came in...they did a bunch of inside focus groups. Bean counter invasion, the beginning of the end.
Steve Tipp
____________________________________
and pick your ace all over again and Mayor Pete can move mountains....even with his sordid white privilege background of Maroon and McKinsey. Remember there are two sides here - good and bad and Mayor will trample the bad. In so so many ways.
Coffee is hot. Take a big inhale and get on board. Maybe there is a hip hop
Option in there for you somewhere as well. Gotta keep learning and expanding....probably your words.
Scott Tavis
Management Consultant
____________________________________
"...most people are pissed the bankers did not pay for breaking the economy back in 2008." The mere mention of this apparently radioactive topic is anathema to the US media.
"Look at the Arab Spring, started by a fruit vendor!" Thanks for your efforts to educate Americans. Also, the conflagration in Syria was started by a few teenagers painting graffiti on a few walls. Your right about tipping points when systems can go critical.
Robert Bond
____________________________________
Let's be honest - opening acts last for 10-15 minutes why are we spending a trillion dollar year on openers? We should have accepted the inevitable: Biden / Harris and shut up
Jeremiah Younossi
____________________________________
Thanks, Bob. I've come to similar conclusions. My days as a centrist-moderate are done. Full on Bernie or Elizabeth. The DNC had better shit or get off the pot. Centrism is done for the foreseeable future.
Kevin Ritchie
____________________________________
Make your fucking mind up about Warren, will you?
ONCE she didn't have an answer ...and that's it?!
FFS
Hugo Burnham
____________________________________
Why do you have a bug up your ass about Buttigieg? I just don't understand that. Warren and Bernie are to far left for most Democrats and independents. Biden seems to have lost a step or two. McKinsey like Blackwater? Really. Having been hired by McKinsey should be a plus on one's resume. It just goes to show that democrats can be into the deep shit state conspiracies as republicans.
John Milo
____________________________________
Bob,
With the whole point being a candidate that will bring real change, take on the corporate elite, and pushing past all this centrist bs, why have you basically ignored Bernie here?
Are you one of those boomers who claims "he's too radical, he'll never win, what's the point?" Meanwhile all of the DNC talking points were parroted from his 2016 and current campaigns.
If it's down to Mayor Pete and Bloomberg, were not too far off from another four years of Trump.
With your millions of readers, why sideline Bernie when you're basically outlining his agenda? You have influence too.
Dylan Muhlberg
____________________________________
I love Buttigieg. I listened to him on the podcast The Daily and he closed me. Very level headed and brilliant. I'm a fan. He's my guy. He's going to go all the way. Mark my words. I'm calling it.
Love you pal,
Steve Poltz
____________________________________
Mr.Bloomberg is strong on gun control, reducing prescription prices and improving public health. He stopped people smoking in NYC restaurants which resulted in other cities doing the same.A lot of people breath easier because of him. He is also not politically corrupt. Not only did he not take a salary as mayor but he also paid for his own travel and accommodations.
Cordially;'
Bob Epstein
____________________________________
Nice take. But I challenge you to find one policy issue where Pete "ran to the center." Unlike most politicians, he's been remarkably consistent from the moment he announced his candidacy. Yes, he's not the lefty God the Netroots folks are looking for, but his proposals are much more in line with the majority of Americans.
Dave Curtis
____________________________________
Bernie Sanders is being suppressed from almost all the mainstream media even though he's arguably the most electable of all. That's your "free press" for you, owned by billionaire oligarchs. Comparing the U.S. to countries most of us would consider authoritarian: here the censorship and control system is more subtle.
Even you barely mentioned Bernie Sanders until the very end of your latest post.
Depending on what poll you look at, Bernie is closing in on Biden, comfortably ahead of Warren.
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/democratic-presidential-candidates/polls/
Meanwhile, Andrew Yang is still in it and only growing in support every day.
It's time for Americans to wake up and realize We The People can take our government back RIGHT NOW, if only we want it. Defeatism serves the establishment, which wants you to believe a trustworthy candidate can never be viable.
Jonathan Steigman
____________________________________
Pete is authentic...
Tim Pringle
____________________________________
Bernie stands for all the things that you say the Democrats need to stand for in order to win and currently ranks 2nd in the national polls.
Get behind him Bob!! He's the real deal!!
Benjamin Friedlander
____________________________________
Yup - all true Bob
This election is absolute survival of the Republic. The ultimate test of a democracy created out of the blue 243 years ago. A system of government established before social media and partisan wholly focused news networks feeding a singular point of view. I hope democracy can prevail - can find its way in this new tech world. I think it can - and I think the Trump monarchy is painfully exactly what we need to point to and say "never again" and be awake and fix the process.
So...whoever can beat Trump - and motivate taking back the Senate - and get us back to compassion - to caring about all of us - and a global unified view - and a aligned world view on saving our planet and our less fortunate.... that's my candidate. Whoever can win.
We are in SURVIVAL
Keep up the great work - love your voice
Peter van Roden
____________________________________
Dude, it was his first fucking job out of college, where he was a junior analyst doing grunt work. He then dedicated the rest of his life to public service. Do you prefer politicians who NEVER were successful in the private sector, and thus don't understand where the money they love to spend comes from???
Mark B. Siegel
____________________________________
Bernie is still going to win 2 of the first 4 state primaries and then win California to bring momentum into the spring.
It's going to be close between Bernie and Biden, if Biden can stay afloat.
Thanks, Bob.
Mike Vancha
____________________________________
A more than insightful assessment not enough voters will read, but maybe, just maybe, 2020 will be like the early 1930's, what my Polish immigrant grandparents all called "Hoover Times" that resulted in FDR and 16 years of the New Deal, that I heard about and benefitted from when I was growing up in the 60s.
And some kid in 2050 will hear his grandparents talking about Trump Times... and the changing tides of 2021...
Thanks as always for making me think..
Zannman Minneapolis
____________________________________
Well said. I got into a conversation the other night with two neighbors at a popular local restaurant. They were at the next table and overheard me making a point to the person I was having dinner with. I said nothing ever changes until it changes and then the change is sudden. But we keep thinking it will be slow and gradual change that we can see coming and get ready for. But it never is. And I said I had given up on mainstream media to do anything except report on the status quo and I looked to other sources for insights into what was really happening. I said I had given up on the New York Times even though in my house it was regarded as revealed truth by my parents and by me up until their incessant fawning over Hilary four years ago.
At that point a neighbor at the next table leaned over and asked what did I mean I had given up on the NYT. Elizabeth Warren just held a big rally at a theater in our neighborhood and it was mobbed with people lined up for blocks and waiting for hours to get in. I asked him if he read much about that in the NYT or WaPo etc. I pointed out that all they do is urge a return to "reasonableness" whatever that is. Or they dither over silly PC issues to distract and divide us.
He admitted he was sliding into the "anybody but Trump" mindset and I asked what that exactly means. No clear answer to that. I said it is basically asking us to simply vote for the lesser of two evils and admitted that we were older and more rational and could make that kind of choice. Then I asked him if that kind of choice would have motivated him to get out and vote when he was 25 years old. He said no. Exactly, I said. We need ideas that will motivate the millenials to turn out.
If the millenials show up and vote we win. If they don't then we loose. Simple as that.
Michael Hugos
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If Bernie Sanders is the new Beatles, resulting in Warren becoming the new Monkees, then Buttigieg is the new Milli Vanilli. As fake as they make them. (And I guess that makes Biden the Pat Boone.)
Only the team of Bernie-Tulsi can beat Trump. Everyone else loses BIG, impeachment or not. Americans have been sick of politics as usual since Bush-Cheney pulled the wool over the nation's eyes. Just look at who we've considered since.
Why is Bernie the only one who can win? Nearly all dems will vote for Bernie, even the ones that have to hold their nose this time. (Except for maybe Hillary, who would rather vote for Trump.) Plus nearly all independents will come out to vote for Bernie. That's 42% of the electorate! Also, a big plus, Tulsi has tremendous appeal both to the blue collar Trump voter and the 18-20% antiwar protest vote that went to Trump in 2016 to vote against the war pig Clinton. No other Democrat can aggregate these numbers with this kind of broad based appeal.
Mark my words. This isn't about top down marketing of a candidate; it's about grass roots demand; the American people have been ready for someone like Bernie since the day FDR died; they couldn't even beat the notion out of us with the McCarthy era.
So stop watching the paid news and following the curated polls and start listening to the heartbeat of the nation. The folks you circulate amongst don't have a clue, so stop echoing their moneyed sensibilities. Get down here in the trenches with me and learn for yourself!
Your high school classmate and co-founder of The Glass Onion,
Ken Shain
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I love you but I think you're wrong about what will win in 2020.
Really, Medicare for All is a Big Idea? Please. It's an easy pitch but hard to hit, especially when it's mandatory. If it's so great, let people choose.
As for Mayor Pete, he's the one Dem candidate who I think could take on Trump in a televised debate. That said, Pete is all about reason and reason is not going to win in 2020. What is the FIRE the Dems could tame to win? Bernie? Nah, he's not saying anything that hasn't been said since Stalin (a cheap shot, yes, but socialism sucks, history has proven that). Warren? Never. A detailed plan is not emotional. Worse, it makes everyday people feel stupid. Biden? He's got a god complex but no fire and brimstone to spread The Word. Plus, let's be honest, he's incoherent on today's big issues. Is he suffering a bit of dementia? Maybe, but that's not the problem. He's supposed to be the center, but what's his center? The past? The way we were?
Back to Mayor Pete. So what if he worked for McKinsey? Or Bain (in the ass)? Or BCG? I consider that quality an asset. He knows how the rich think, what big corporations want. Know your enemy, right? If Mayor Pete can stoke some real emotion -- and I think he can -- he could win. No other Dem that I know of has a chance. Except...
Maybe Bloomberg. He's a battle hardened New Yorker and could go toe to toe with Trump and STOMP The Donald, no sweat. And he's a LOT richer than Trump, which will unhinge the Orange Menace.
So that's where I stand, Mayor Pete or Bloomberg. I'll vote for either over Trump (admittedly, I would vote for a Pet Rock over DT).
Jeff Shattuck
PS: Sorry for all the Caps. It's Trumpian!
____________________________________
Agree with so much of this, Bob.
The Presidency is a beast of a job to have as your first real capital-R responsibility. That's a hard weight for anyone to carry. Without the inner strength of having done it before, it's too easy to fall back on what advisors tell you to do, and to give up on your convictions.
You're exactly right that Buttiegieg is the candidate of the status quo of three years ago. Considering what's around us now, this seems deceptively attractive. But the world before was already rotting from greed, from the abuse of power, by the tyranny of a financial value system that's come to rule all else.
But the Democratic Party remains invested in protecting that system. The whole reason Bloomberg is in the race is to stop Bernie or Warren, even to throw the election to Trump by staying in with a third party bid. Like Ross Perot, only shorter and with weirdly the same ears. We need major changes to break this pattern.
I'm Team Bernie as I think he knows what those changes are, he has the stomach to push on them as much as is possible, and I think he can win. It's the last of those Bernie factors that might be scariest of all to the rest of the field, and people like Bloomberg.
To some these ideas may seem radical. But to me -- and I think to history -- it's the last four decades that have been radical as money has overtaken us (as I write about in my book, This Could Be Our Future), and this is the kind of change we need to get back to normal.
Anyway, great email!
Yancey Strickler
____________________________________
Thank you, Bob. Great piece. We needed a revolution in 2016; we need one now. Well, you know.
Liz Warren was my prof at Penn and she's brilliant. Maybe I'm biased, but I loved office hours with her: she was kind, engaging, super smart, good-natured and funny. Honest to Universe, her presentation was so conservative I was convinced she was a conservative. When her actual political beliefs filtered out in Massachusetts, I was thrilled. Sad. Flub one answer – and yes, she did indeed flub during the second debate – and you're dead in the water? The man in the White House is a walking flub, which I suppose isn't so much of an accomplishment with a vocabulary of twenty words.
Also unfortunate that Harris and Booker and Castro got no traction. So what are we left with? A fumbling old-school Biden and Buttegieg, a boy scout with a questionable past and present that cleaves to the politics of the middle and mediocrity. I'm gay and even in the gay community the honeymoon is over, at least among those who don't have a knee-jerk reaction to love Mayor Petey just because he shares our sexual identity. Identity politics could have me supporting Sanders or Bloomberg, I suppose. Honestly, I know nothing about the billionaire except that my friends in NYC seemed to think he was a good mayor. Is Bloomberg responsible for the Highline? Maybe that explains it. Maybe folks won't admit that they were actually in favor of "stop and frisk."
The party is a mess and the impeachment process isn't rousing the populace… at least not enough … and doesn't seem to be converting hearts and minds in the numbers it needs to.
And now I'll go listen to "Ball of Confusion" for the rest of the day ponder my medical insurance that costs over $1000/month and weep.
Myles Silton
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Agree,
Marshall Crenshaw
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Lefsetz, you hit the nail on the head today. i've followed your work since 2001 when i did a short interview with you while I was at the Bay Guardian, and i've been fascinated by the evolution of your ideas. We're a long way from the Napster-or-not days, and I look forward to reading your columns more today than I did then. Your work is honest - and i know you know how rare that is. Thanks, man.
Tommy Amano-Tompkins
LA
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