Do you think it's safe to go outside?
Many Democrats are now asking themselves this question.
This is tribal warfare, but the more interesting element is groupthink, how you change someone's opinion.
Last night Bill Maher said to open America, he wants to go to a restaurant.
Today people are strolling on beaches in Florida, why can't you? After all, you believe you're Covid-19 free. Sure, some people are asymptomatic carriers, but obviously you're not one, and you're not going to infect anyone, so you should be able to go outside. And if you get near someone else...nothing will happen, because they're confident they're healthy too.
And then you've got Bethany McLean, a business reporter for "Vanity Fair," saying Florida didn't run out of hospital beds as predicted, so maybe the people are right.
"And yet, the predicted surge that was supposed to overwhelm hospitals due to Floridians' obvious stupidity hasn't happened yet. Maybe they know something that the states shutting their parks don't.": https://bit.ly/2ysPX1b
So now you're wondering...maybe you're wrong, maybe you've been taking this too seriously, after all, many people you know who've been loose with self-quarantining are just fine. You know, the people who had their housekeeper come, albeit wearing a mask, those who've seen their grandchildren. And you're losing money sitting at home. You did it for over a month, and that's enough.
So, the self-quarantiners wonder if it's worth it to stay at home at all, if everybody else is not.
Meanwhile, the other side is just fighting with science.
But science is fungible, haven't you heard? As for statistics, they can be manipulated, so you're best off not believing any of them, just go with your gut.
As for facts... Trump's not wearing a mask, he's fine, and he's around people all the time. Same deal with Congresspeople, sure, some got infected, but maybe they got it elsewhere, otherwise all of Congress would be infected.
And if you're rich, fine. But I could use the money from going back to work.
And I'm sick and tired of listening to Fauci, he's a tool of Trump and he's lost credibility.
I think I'm gonna go with the flow, it's time to open America. It's time for me to live my life. It's time to put Covid-19 in the rearview mirror, after all, nobody I know died. As for the people who did die...people are dying all the time. And that's another question I have. Are more people dying from this than the flu, and isn't China to blame?
________________________
The right has been on a full court press to make Covid-19 a political issue.
You may not have seen Dr. Fauci on Laura Ingraham's broadcast, you should read this and watch the video:
"Fox News host Laura Ingraham's interview with Anthony Fauci goes sideways - Fauci repeatedly dismissed Ingraham's dodgy premises in an interview that reinforced how punditry like Ingraham's has flown in the face of what health officials are saying": https://wapo.st/2Ke82CO
Just as interesting is this story about Michael Savage, who turns out to have a Ph.D with training as an epidemiologist:
"Why Michael Savage Is Blasting Hannity and the Right-Wing Media on the Virus - Mr. Savage, the conservative radio host, is still loyal to President Trump but says right-wing media got it all wrong by doubting the severity of the coronavirus early on.": https://nyti.ms/3bmQssn
Neither of these stories got any legs, never mind not being featured on Fox or other right wing outlets, which amplify the words of doctors Phil and Oz. And you might dismiss them, but the reason they're being featured at all is because they've got large audiences, primarily those of housewives, who make decisions about the health of their children.
The left does not understand how to play this game. The left does not know how to get people to question their values and beliefs. The left is not organized, it's busy infighting, coming to consensus, abhorring leaders and being left behind.
What is the promise of Biden's campaign? A RETURN TO NORMALCY!
We're not going back to normalcy, just like we're not going back to dial telephones and vinyl records. Oh, oops, that's something the left has been able to sell, a faulty story about the return of vinyl records, when their distribution and revenue is de minimis in the world of music consumption and revenue.
But you've got people amplifying these falsehoods. Just like you've got the Never Trumpers, does it make any difference? NO!
Just like the media has sold the story we live in a hip-hop nation. Look at concert grosses, which are not shared with the general public. It turns out people have much more diverse interests than hip-hop. As a matter of fact, those on the hit parade tend to sell fewer tickets and fall off the radar screen sooner.
But that doesn't matter, it's all about perception.
So, you're sitting at home, cheering Andrew Cuomo's press conference yesterday, but you're not spreading the word on it, chances are you're unaware of its details, you're hearing about it from me.
"Reminder: Don't get on Andrew Cuomo's bad side": https://wapo.st/2xHGhjr
You don't need to read the article, just scroll down to the video. Cuomo nails Trump without becoming histrionic, but we've placed our faith in Old Joe, who can't get any ink, can't get any mindshare.
"Biden Is Losing the Internet. Does That Matter? - The coronavirus has forced Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee into an all-digital campaign, and he's struggling to break through.": https://nyti.ms/2RP9XCe
Meanwhile, Trump owns Facebook.
"How Facebook Works for Trump - Donald Trump won the presidency by using the social network's advertising machinery in exactly the way the company wanted. He's poised to do it again.": https://bit.ly/2Khn2A4
The war is fought online, that's where you ensure victory, not on television, and Biden and the Democrats haven't even gotten their army together, never mind started to fight.
As for the truth?
"Protesters slam California stay-at-home orders as 'tyranny.' But truth is more complex.": https://lat.ms/2Vhaor8
Read the article. Most people are scared and are willing to stay home, overwhelmingly, but the scuttlebutt is all about the protesters!
Women and Democrats have these mass gatherings, these mass protests, and nothing happens. The Republicans inspire a few acolytes to go out on the front lines and everything changes.
And it's not only leaving your house during the era of Covid-19, you're questioning a lot of other things.
Maybe the government does waste money, maybe I am better off keeping my taxes, donating if I feel like it, it's everybody for themselves in America anyway.
I don't have the money for an electric car, which they tell me are expensive, I need cars to be cheap, and if lowering the pollution standards does this, so be it. And technology will take care of the climate crisis, didn't all these car companies come up with anti-pollution methods and increase gasoline efficiency when forced to?
Maybe the Democrats only do want to tax and spend. I have compassion for others, but I'm sick and tired of supporting those who are unwilling to work.
As for Medicare for All...I've got a good policy and I don't want to risk losing it, after all, Obama said everybody could keep their policy and that was untrue, even if I was able to keep mine.
Are you getting this? The truth doesn't matter. As for the score... Sure, we've got elections, but this is not a game of football or basketball, where you can see all the plays and cheating is limited. In this case, plans are made secretly, and if you don't have a plan, you're always playing defense. And, if you're living in the twentieth century, you're one century behind and you're never going to catch up.
So, let's look what happened in the music business. For years, we had oldsters bitching that music was undervalued, CDs sounded best and the youth were not to be trusted, they wanted all the music for free. Now, today, the youth have inherited the business and the oldsters are irrelevant. Only those who've embraced the internet, who employed Soundcloud, who gave their music away for free, have traction in today's recorded music world. And, the younger generation is willing to spend for streaming and is willing to pay sky high prices to go to concerts. Meanwhile, the older generation is still bitching that it's right, but nobody is listening.
You've got to fight today's battles.
And the left keeps saying Trump is losing.
But if you look at the landscape today, it appears he and his minions are winning!
Think about this. Your heart may be in the right place, you may rely on facts, but you're in the minority.
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Saturday, 18 April 2020
Friday, 17 April 2020
Virtual Concerts
Is Coachella about what happens on the stage or off? About the music or the audience?
Both.
But we've been vastly underestimating how important the non-music experience is.
I'm not talking about food. America has turned a corner. No one wants to eat boiled hot dogs and limp french fries at an event anywhere anymore, I'm not even sure toddlers will eat that crap.
I'm talking about the attendees themselves.
In yesterday's "New York Times" there was a story about how the cancellation of Coachella is killing brands.
"For Festival Fashion, the Music has Stopped - Festivals like Coachella have been postponed, leaving scores of online fashion retailers with a mass of unsold inventory and unpaid suppliers.": https://nyti.ms/2VACf4A
You go to show off. You need a wardrobe. And in today's era of cheap fashion-forward clothing concertgoers buy outfits and accessories just for the festival, AND THEN THEY THROW THEM AWAY!
This can't be understood by oldsters, who were taught clothes were to be worn until they wore out, or at least saved until that style came back. Today clothing is like a meal, an experience, worn briefly and then discarded.
You can't go to Coachella in your cut-offs and t-shirt, YOU'LL BE IGNORED!
It's all about attention today. Which is quantified online. And if you're a teenager, chances are you have no status other than your appearance, so you double down.
And acts are not the only ones being paid at Coachella, brands pay influencers to flaunt their products at the festival, you can read about it here:
"Macaroni recipes and hand washing videos. How influencers are adapting to the coronavirus crisis": https://lat.ms/34OMIxh
Forget that more than a few of these influencers make six figures a year, their incomes are driven by advertising, and with everybody staying at home, people are not buying, and ads have plummeted.
But the advertisers are looking for opportunities.
Now everybody keeps saying how nothing will be the same after Covid-19. I think they're wrong. They said the same thing after 9/11, and all that really happened was flying became more of a hassle. More people will work at home, technology will stop being denigrated, other than that, it'll look pretty similar. Sure, some changes will be accelerated, but they were in the pipeline anyway.
Multiple people have been e-mailing me this article from Bloomberg:
"People Are Paying Real Money to Get Into Virtual Zoom Nightclubs - Can a novelty for the bored-at-home last after the coronavirus pandemic?: https://bloom.bg/2VAZjQt
That is another trend that will be accelerated by the coronavirus...more and more, news will not be free. Oh, your neighbor can voice their opinion on social media, you'll find out if a bomb was dropped, but anything beyond that...someone will have to pay for.
People want news. And right now they're addicted. And most newspapers are going out of business, leaving the big three, the "New York Times," the "Washington Post" and the "Wall Street Journal."
Read this article from last week:
"News Media Outlets Have Been Ravaged by the Pandemic - Roughly 33,000 workers at news companies in the U.S. have been laid off, been furloughed or had their pay reduced. some publications that rely on ads have shut down": https://nyti.ms/2XJ69pO
And when these other outlets die, even the biggest, like Gannett, power will be concentrated in the above three publications, the NYT, WaPo and WSJ...and then they'll have leverage. They survived by spending, most notably the WaPo, with the infusion of cash by Bezos, whereas every other outlet has been stripped to the bone, there's even a hedge fund buying up papers like the "Denver Post," stripping them bare and making the profits now, while they still exist, and writing off their futures.
So, just like in tech, just like in every business, once there are fewer entities, prices go up. Facebook and Google can't live without news, it's one of their main drivers. Now they can get news from many outlets, but soon they will not be able to.
Which brings me back to that Bloomberg article.
Bloomberg has a soft paywall. You only get a couple of articles free, then you've got to pay. The decision makers pay, the rest of the world remains ignorant. A sad state of affairs, but never forget that Stewart Brand said..."Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive." Now the tide is turning towards the latter.
But getting back to the content of this Bloomberg article, entrepreneurs are filling the role of traditional concert promoters.
Let's face it, concert promoters were in their heyday until this lockdown. Prices, attendance, grosses...they've gone through the roof! And there's almost no innovation, you build it and they come.
But now they're not coming. Ezekiel Emanuel says no concerts until the fall of 2021, Garcetti says at least not until 2021 begins. And we know that concerts will come last, because of the close contact of the people. So, is everybody just going to sit on the sidelines for over a year?
Of course not, the entrepreneurs won't let that happen, they're eating the big boys' lunch.
Forget livestreams, the novelty is over, who even cares about this weekend's two hour event. Yup, you boil the essence down for consumption, squeeze it tighter, and fans are not interested, only looky-loos. We need real concerts, real festivals, real events.
Believe me, people will pay to see their favorite acts online. And that should happen NOW!
Sure, a lot of big name talent is tied to Live Nation and AEG, but a lot of it is not. The field is ripe for the picking by anybody with a great idea and a little cash.
Now if you read the Bloomberg article, what you find is these Zoom nightclubs work because of the AUDIENCE, not so much the performers. The audience gets dressed up, the audience is on camera, the audience interacts with each other, the music is just a setting.
Just like at Coachella.
So this desire to show off and interact could be easily harnessed. By EDM deejays and solo acts...and even bands, eventually. And, just like today, where there's a festival for every genre of music, you go and meet like-minded people and dress accordingly.
Jimmy Buffett?
Most people don't care, but those who do know how to get outfitted, to put on their Hawaiian shirts and have boat drinks right by their side.
Telluride Bluegrass Festival? I've yet to go, but I love that music, and would wear my jeans and sit in front of the screen.
So, true live music is not coming back for a long time. But just like people are interacting even more, albeit online, during this crisis, there's a yearning to go to the show. People will pay. But, once again, it has to be an experience. Maybe make everybody cook and show off what they've made, there are a zillion ideas for creative people.
But just like the digital disruption of the past thirty years illustrates, change always comes from outside. At first it's laughed at by the big boys, it's cheap and crude...and then the upstarts supersede the big boys.
All the news is about how WME will survive. All the talk is about banks and loans and...same deal with Live Nation and StubHub. Couldn't the people working at these entities stop crying in their beer and start innovating?
They said recorded music was gonna be free and go extinct.
Well, it turns out twenty years later that many are willing to pay for it, and there's a plethora of people making it. Furthermore, without retail stores, with music being streamed virtually, business continues, revenues continue to come in.
And they could come in for the live business too, if promoters just started thinking out of the box. Your time has come, now you have to work hard for the money.
But one thing's for sure, people want to spend to attend and interact. Music and live events have been burgeoning for a decade because of this. And in today's quarantined world, the desire is even greater!
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Both.
But we've been vastly underestimating how important the non-music experience is.
I'm not talking about food. America has turned a corner. No one wants to eat boiled hot dogs and limp french fries at an event anywhere anymore, I'm not even sure toddlers will eat that crap.
I'm talking about the attendees themselves.
In yesterday's "New York Times" there was a story about how the cancellation of Coachella is killing brands.
"For Festival Fashion, the Music has Stopped - Festivals like Coachella have been postponed, leaving scores of online fashion retailers with a mass of unsold inventory and unpaid suppliers.": https://nyti.ms/2VACf4A
You go to show off. You need a wardrobe. And in today's era of cheap fashion-forward clothing concertgoers buy outfits and accessories just for the festival, AND THEN THEY THROW THEM AWAY!
This can't be understood by oldsters, who were taught clothes were to be worn until they wore out, or at least saved until that style came back. Today clothing is like a meal, an experience, worn briefly and then discarded.
You can't go to Coachella in your cut-offs and t-shirt, YOU'LL BE IGNORED!
It's all about attention today. Which is quantified online. And if you're a teenager, chances are you have no status other than your appearance, so you double down.
And acts are not the only ones being paid at Coachella, brands pay influencers to flaunt their products at the festival, you can read about it here:
"Macaroni recipes and hand washing videos. How influencers are adapting to the coronavirus crisis": https://lat.ms/34OMIxh
Forget that more than a few of these influencers make six figures a year, their incomes are driven by advertising, and with everybody staying at home, people are not buying, and ads have plummeted.
But the advertisers are looking for opportunities.
Now everybody keeps saying how nothing will be the same after Covid-19. I think they're wrong. They said the same thing after 9/11, and all that really happened was flying became more of a hassle. More people will work at home, technology will stop being denigrated, other than that, it'll look pretty similar. Sure, some changes will be accelerated, but they were in the pipeline anyway.
Multiple people have been e-mailing me this article from Bloomberg:
"People Are Paying Real Money to Get Into Virtual Zoom Nightclubs - Can a novelty for the bored-at-home last after the coronavirus pandemic?: https://bloom.bg/2VAZjQt
That is another trend that will be accelerated by the coronavirus...more and more, news will not be free. Oh, your neighbor can voice their opinion on social media, you'll find out if a bomb was dropped, but anything beyond that...someone will have to pay for.
People want news. And right now they're addicted. And most newspapers are going out of business, leaving the big three, the "New York Times," the "Washington Post" and the "Wall Street Journal."
Read this article from last week:
"News Media Outlets Have Been Ravaged by the Pandemic - Roughly 33,000 workers at news companies in the U.S. have been laid off, been furloughed or had their pay reduced. some publications that rely on ads have shut down": https://nyti.ms/2XJ69pO
And when these other outlets die, even the biggest, like Gannett, power will be concentrated in the above three publications, the NYT, WaPo and WSJ...and then they'll have leverage. They survived by spending, most notably the WaPo, with the infusion of cash by Bezos, whereas every other outlet has been stripped to the bone, there's even a hedge fund buying up papers like the "Denver Post," stripping them bare and making the profits now, while they still exist, and writing off their futures.
So, just like in tech, just like in every business, once there are fewer entities, prices go up. Facebook and Google can't live without news, it's one of their main drivers. Now they can get news from many outlets, but soon they will not be able to.
Which brings me back to that Bloomberg article.
Bloomberg has a soft paywall. You only get a couple of articles free, then you've got to pay. The decision makers pay, the rest of the world remains ignorant. A sad state of affairs, but never forget that Stewart Brand said..."Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive." Now the tide is turning towards the latter.
But getting back to the content of this Bloomberg article, entrepreneurs are filling the role of traditional concert promoters.
Let's face it, concert promoters were in their heyday until this lockdown. Prices, attendance, grosses...they've gone through the roof! And there's almost no innovation, you build it and they come.
But now they're not coming. Ezekiel Emanuel says no concerts until the fall of 2021, Garcetti says at least not until 2021 begins. And we know that concerts will come last, because of the close contact of the people. So, is everybody just going to sit on the sidelines for over a year?
Of course not, the entrepreneurs won't let that happen, they're eating the big boys' lunch.
Forget livestreams, the novelty is over, who even cares about this weekend's two hour event. Yup, you boil the essence down for consumption, squeeze it tighter, and fans are not interested, only looky-loos. We need real concerts, real festivals, real events.
Believe me, people will pay to see their favorite acts online. And that should happen NOW!
Sure, a lot of big name talent is tied to Live Nation and AEG, but a lot of it is not. The field is ripe for the picking by anybody with a great idea and a little cash.
Now if you read the Bloomberg article, what you find is these Zoom nightclubs work because of the AUDIENCE, not so much the performers. The audience gets dressed up, the audience is on camera, the audience interacts with each other, the music is just a setting.
Just like at Coachella.
So this desire to show off and interact could be easily harnessed. By EDM deejays and solo acts...and even bands, eventually. And, just like today, where there's a festival for every genre of music, you go and meet like-minded people and dress accordingly.
Jimmy Buffett?
Most people don't care, but those who do know how to get outfitted, to put on their Hawaiian shirts and have boat drinks right by their side.
Telluride Bluegrass Festival? I've yet to go, but I love that music, and would wear my jeans and sit in front of the screen.
So, true live music is not coming back for a long time. But just like people are interacting even more, albeit online, during this crisis, there's a yearning to go to the show. People will pay. But, once again, it has to be an experience. Maybe make everybody cook and show off what they've made, there are a zillion ideas for creative people.
But just like the digital disruption of the past thirty years illustrates, change always comes from outside. At first it's laughed at by the big boys, it's cheap and crude...and then the upstarts supersede the big boys.
All the news is about how WME will survive. All the talk is about banks and loans and...same deal with Live Nation and StubHub. Couldn't the people working at these entities stop crying in their beer and start innovating?
They said recorded music was gonna be free and go extinct.
Well, it turns out twenty years later that many are willing to pay for it, and there's a plethora of people making it. Furthermore, without retail stores, with music being streamed virtually, business continues, revenues continue to come in.
And they could come in for the live business too, if promoters just started thinking out of the box. Your time has come, now you have to work hard for the money.
But one thing's for sure, people want to spend to attend and interact. Music and live events have been burgeoning for a decade because of this. And in today's quarantined world, the desire is even greater!
--
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, 16 April 2020
Elizabeth Warren For Vice President.
No way, I thought.
Now I've been wrong pretty consistently for the past year. I thought a centrist had a chance, and then Elizabeth Warren ate up the airwaves and dominated the polls. Then, Warren shot herself in the foot, by kowtowing to the center, changing her Medicare for All plan, refusing to answer how she would pay for it for far too long, and then Bernie Sanders took the progressive flag and ran with it, and with victory in sight, the DNC and the media circled the wagons, kicked out every Biden challenger and got behind Joe. And it worked!
But no one is excited about Joe. What's worse is he's got no traction in today's Covid-19 world. And when he tries, he fails.
Old Joe wrote an opinion piece in the "New York Times," how he'd address the coronavirus...AND HE WAS EXCORIATED! You don't have to read Biden's original piece, it's boring, but if you want to, it's here:
"Joe Biden: My Plan to Safely Reopen America - An effective strategy to beat the virus is the ultimate answer to how we get our economy back on track": https://nyti.ms/2xrtHFa
But you do need to read the blowback:
"Critiques of Joe Biden's Coronavirus Plan": https://nyti.ms/3aerytM
Now the amazing thing is Joe Biden did his big coronavirus reveal and...crickets. I saw no mention of it outside the "Times" itself. It's like a classic rocker playing a new tune and the only people who heard it were in the arena, at least those who did not go to the bathroom. We're hanging on Trump's every word, but we don't even want to listen to Joe, even if we've decided to vote for him. Joe is the safe candidate, the compromise candidate, the consensus candidate, he's like the horse created by committee, which is a camel in case you don't know the aphorism.
Joe's got no media traction, he doesn't know how to make news. And he's too old to figure out social media. The only sunlight he's gotten recently has been when Bernie, Barack and Elizabeth endorsed him.
And when asked point blank whether she'd accept the VP nomination, last night Elizabeth Warren gave Rachel Maddow an instant, emphatic YES!
But I didn't buy Elizabeth until I read the piece in the the "New Yorker Today" last night:
"The Case for Joe Biden to Pick Elizabeth Warren As His Running Mate": https://bit.ly/3cqnWq4
Biden has already said he's picking a woman. But we expected it to be someone significantly younger, who had the same middle of the road positions. As far left as he was gonna go might be Stacey Abrams, but even she's considered an outlier. Maybe Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, that's a state in play. Or Amy Klobuchar, she's got more mindshare. But then I'm reading the article and thinking Gretchen and Amy won't add anything significant to the ticket.
Now usually the VP is an afterthought. Except for maybe Nelson Rockefeller, who wasn't even elected, but appointed.
And sure, Biden was picked as the old steady hand to guide Obama, but Biden had failed running for president and he did not come with his own, built-in cadre.
But Elizabeth Warren?
The only people who are attacking her, who hate her, are those on the right, who are never ever going to vote Democratic anyway!
So, all the theoretical baggage Warren has evaporates. Oh, they'll chant "Pocahontas, Pocahontas!," but that did not prevent her from being a frontrunner in the Democratic race for quite a while.
As for baggage... Believe me, Hunter Biden and Ukraine have not died in the eyes of Republicans, they're the new Hillary's e-mails!
You don't need to satiate everybody to win, that'd be too bland a candidate to succeed anyway. No, what you need is to excite Democrats to come out and vote. AND ELIZABETH WARREN WILL DO THIS!
I'd finally get excited about the ticket. All the Bernie Bros...they'd sign on. And even Bernie Sanders himself, he'd campaign vigorously if Warren was on the ticket.
So, in one fell swoop, the Democrats would consolidate the party and be on the road to victory. As for Biden-lovers who dislike Warren, believing she's too far left...that's not gonna make them vote for Trump.
And one thing we know about Warren is she can eviscerate people in an eye-popping way. Hell, she killed Michael Bloomberg's candidacy in one debate, he had no idea what hit him! Warren is our attack dog, with good values...everybody's broke, the "stimulus" is going to the corporations and the rich and we need Medicare for All, or something like it!
As for Covid-19... Read those letters in the "Times." She got better reviews for her coronavirus plan than Biden!
"Congress Needs a Plan to Confront the Coronavirus. I Have One. Government action is essential to save lives and to rescue our economy. Let's get back to work.": https://nyti.ms/2yk3gRF
Yup, Elizabeth Warren has a plan for EVERYTHING! Laugh all you want, but in an era where Trump seemed to have no plan at all for fighting the coronavirus, Warren's position looks PRETTY, PRETTY GOOD, as Larry David would say.
And since Warren has a gig, as a senator, she's at the center of the action, she gets ink, she gets attention when Biden gets none.
Bernie will stop arguing for a push left for the platform. He'll be instantly quieted, made part of the team. And wait until they unleash Warren on Pence, it's no contest, TKO.
Biden will be bad with Trump, it's scary to contemplate a debate.
But if you study history, duels always have a second, hopefully a strong one.
The Democratic convention has already been postponed, most likely it will be canceled, it should be canceled, its only advantage would be an economic boost to Milwaukee and a trip for the delegates, it's basically a waste of time.
So, Biden should nominate Warren NOW, TODAY, in the middle of the crisis, when everybody's paying attention.
Biden nominates Warren and she's in the news every damn day. She's already a player, time to elevate her to the big leagues.
Once again, I thought it would never happen, that Biden wouldn't go this far left, he wouldn't nominate anybody as strong, if not stronger than he is.
And I was fearful of Warren's baggage, but the whole Ukraine affair didn't keep Biden from winning the nomination.
This is the way to go, we've just got to convince Biden and the DNC.
And just like the media killed Sanders, they could elevate Warren, making it a fait accompli.
Hell, the "New Yorker" is first, who's next?
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Now I've been wrong pretty consistently for the past year. I thought a centrist had a chance, and then Elizabeth Warren ate up the airwaves and dominated the polls. Then, Warren shot herself in the foot, by kowtowing to the center, changing her Medicare for All plan, refusing to answer how she would pay for it for far too long, and then Bernie Sanders took the progressive flag and ran with it, and with victory in sight, the DNC and the media circled the wagons, kicked out every Biden challenger and got behind Joe. And it worked!
But no one is excited about Joe. What's worse is he's got no traction in today's Covid-19 world. And when he tries, he fails.
Old Joe wrote an opinion piece in the "New York Times," how he'd address the coronavirus...AND HE WAS EXCORIATED! You don't have to read Biden's original piece, it's boring, but if you want to, it's here:
"Joe Biden: My Plan to Safely Reopen America - An effective strategy to beat the virus is the ultimate answer to how we get our economy back on track": https://nyti.ms/2xrtHFa
But you do need to read the blowback:
"Critiques of Joe Biden's Coronavirus Plan": https://nyti.ms/3aerytM
Now the amazing thing is Joe Biden did his big coronavirus reveal and...crickets. I saw no mention of it outside the "Times" itself. It's like a classic rocker playing a new tune and the only people who heard it were in the arena, at least those who did not go to the bathroom. We're hanging on Trump's every word, but we don't even want to listen to Joe, even if we've decided to vote for him. Joe is the safe candidate, the compromise candidate, the consensus candidate, he's like the horse created by committee, which is a camel in case you don't know the aphorism.
Joe's got no media traction, he doesn't know how to make news. And he's too old to figure out social media. The only sunlight he's gotten recently has been when Bernie, Barack and Elizabeth endorsed him.
And when asked point blank whether she'd accept the VP nomination, last night Elizabeth Warren gave Rachel Maddow an instant, emphatic YES!
But I didn't buy Elizabeth until I read the piece in the the "New Yorker Today" last night:
"The Case for Joe Biden to Pick Elizabeth Warren As His Running Mate": https://bit.ly/3cqnWq4
Biden has already said he's picking a woman. But we expected it to be someone significantly younger, who had the same middle of the road positions. As far left as he was gonna go might be Stacey Abrams, but even she's considered an outlier. Maybe Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, that's a state in play. Or Amy Klobuchar, she's got more mindshare. But then I'm reading the article and thinking Gretchen and Amy won't add anything significant to the ticket.
Now usually the VP is an afterthought. Except for maybe Nelson Rockefeller, who wasn't even elected, but appointed.
And sure, Biden was picked as the old steady hand to guide Obama, but Biden had failed running for president and he did not come with his own, built-in cadre.
But Elizabeth Warren?
The only people who are attacking her, who hate her, are those on the right, who are never ever going to vote Democratic anyway!
So, all the theoretical baggage Warren has evaporates. Oh, they'll chant "Pocahontas, Pocahontas!," but that did not prevent her from being a frontrunner in the Democratic race for quite a while.
As for baggage... Believe me, Hunter Biden and Ukraine have not died in the eyes of Republicans, they're the new Hillary's e-mails!
You don't need to satiate everybody to win, that'd be too bland a candidate to succeed anyway. No, what you need is to excite Democrats to come out and vote. AND ELIZABETH WARREN WILL DO THIS!
I'd finally get excited about the ticket. All the Bernie Bros...they'd sign on. And even Bernie Sanders himself, he'd campaign vigorously if Warren was on the ticket.
So, in one fell swoop, the Democrats would consolidate the party and be on the road to victory. As for Biden-lovers who dislike Warren, believing she's too far left...that's not gonna make them vote for Trump.
And one thing we know about Warren is she can eviscerate people in an eye-popping way. Hell, she killed Michael Bloomberg's candidacy in one debate, he had no idea what hit him! Warren is our attack dog, with good values...everybody's broke, the "stimulus" is going to the corporations and the rich and we need Medicare for All, or something like it!
As for Covid-19... Read those letters in the "Times." She got better reviews for her coronavirus plan than Biden!
"Congress Needs a Plan to Confront the Coronavirus. I Have One. Government action is essential to save lives and to rescue our economy. Let's get back to work.": https://nyti.ms/2yk3gRF
Yup, Elizabeth Warren has a plan for EVERYTHING! Laugh all you want, but in an era where Trump seemed to have no plan at all for fighting the coronavirus, Warren's position looks PRETTY, PRETTY GOOD, as Larry David would say.
And since Warren has a gig, as a senator, she's at the center of the action, she gets ink, she gets attention when Biden gets none.
Bernie will stop arguing for a push left for the platform. He'll be instantly quieted, made part of the team. And wait until they unleash Warren on Pence, it's no contest, TKO.
Biden will be bad with Trump, it's scary to contemplate a debate.
But if you study history, duels always have a second, hopefully a strong one.
The Democratic convention has already been postponed, most likely it will be canceled, it should be canceled, its only advantage would be an economic boost to Milwaukee and a trip for the delegates, it's basically a waste of time.
So, Biden should nominate Warren NOW, TODAY, in the middle of the crisis, when everybody's paying attention.
Biden nominates Warren and she's in the news every damn day. She's already a player, time to elevate her to the big leagues.
Once again, I thought it would never happen, that Biden wouldn't go this far left, he wouldn't nominate anybody as strong, if not stronger than he is.
And I was fearful of Warren's baggage, but the whole Ukraine affair didn't keep Biden from winning the nomination.
This is the way to go, we've just got to convince Biden and the DNC.
And just like the media killed Sanders, they could elevate Warren, making it a fait accompli.
Hell, the "New Yorker" is first, who's next?
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John Watson-This Week's Podcast
John Watson started in A&R at Sony Music and then went on to manage Silverchair, Missy Higgins, Midnight Oil and more. Listen to how a guy from Down Under breaks acts internationally. (Recorded live at Australian Music Week.)
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-watson/id1316200737?i=1000471651360
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5IWiwSguwYuthIsxX6iL0n
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=68867560
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-watson/id1316200737?i=1000471651360
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5IWiwSguwYuthIsxX6iL0n
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=68867560
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Wednesday, 15 April 2020
Testing
This is basic math. And just like with masks, obvious.
It comes in waves, my pissed-offness. I wake up in the morning and I immediately go to my phone, for the latest news. And then I go to the physical papers to read yesterday's news. And then all day long I have incoming, from friends and subscribers, their heads twisting, wondering just how this can be.
You've got to read this story in the "Washington Post," "Trump's attempt to enlist business in reopening push gets off to a rocky start": https://wapo.st/2VrY85W Only you can't, it's behind a paywall.
Did you read the insane news that staff from the L.A. "Times" is being furloughed? I thought the owner was a billionaire, Patrick Soon-Shiong is buying a hospital, he can't afford to pay his newspaper staff? The journalists are our friends in this fight. This is not a matter of opinion, this is a matter of fact, and the only people who can distribute these facts are journalists. Your opinion? My opinion? They don't mean much if we don't have the facts.
And speaking of facts, the story on Laura Ingraham's show last night was the encroachment upon our freedoms. Yup, that we can't leave our houses and die (and infect others!) willy-nilly. That's what happens when you listen/watch Fox News, you end up knowing less than nothing. Just like Trump is getting his comeuppance, so is Fox, it will never be trusted again.
So, you've got wankers in Michigan and Oklahoma protesting that business must open! You know Trump is in a snit with the governor of the Wolverine State, and therefore it's license to pile on.
Speaking of playing favorites, you might have heard that Nebraska gets 300k per coronavirus case while New York gets 12k. Can you explain that to me? Oh, of course, Nebraska is a red state!
And yesterday Trump said he was all powerful and the governors and the legal experts pushed back.
Undeterred, Trump today said he was gonna shut down Congress so he could fill his administration's vacancies, but the truth is he never even nominated people.
And if you read the "New York Times," the "Washington Post," even the "Wall Street Journal," you'll learn all this. But no, if it's in a paper it must be fake. Better to trust those you have a relationship with, Rush, your friends, your buddies on Fox.
And I know, I know, the left is tearing its hair out. Then again, the left had a rousing victory in Wisconsin the other day. Does this presage victory in November? I think so, but nothing is clear, because Democratic turnout was high because of the Presidential primary.
So, Trump could be evicted and both houses of Congress could go blue and...it'd just be a matter of time before they flip again. Those tax and spend Democrats are gonna push it too far, and then because they're sick of paying taxes, Americans will give the reins back to the Republicans. However, if the Democrats play within boundaries, they'll still be excoriated, so why not try and gerrymander and get some pork while you can? (Meanwhile, once again the Republicans are framing the debate. The nature of government IS taxing and spending!)
It's hard to have faith in the system.
But one thing is for sure, we need the system, despite what we've been hearing for all these years from the right. You've got to prepare for a crisis. If you lose your job and you can't pay next month's rent...either you had a very low-paying job, which is quite possible, or you thought the gravy train would never end. The Republicans want to blame you. But one thing's for sure, doesn't the buck stop with the government? I'm not saying that the government should make everybody absolutely whole, but I am saying with the best and the brightest it should be prepared for contingencies. Then again, even the airlines were unprepared, they blew all their income on stock repurchases.
So I don't know about you, but I want to live through this experience.
And for me, that means taking no risks. I can't live in a bubble, but I can be smart and do my best not to come in contact with a carrier.
And it would be very simple to achieve this. By having everybody in America tested.
The first tests manufactured failed, and Trump blamed it on Obama. I thought Hillary was the culprit, it was in her e-mails, but the second rule of credibility, after being honest, is to own your mistakes. If you're always right, if you never lose, we stop believing you, because no one wins all the time.
Yup, America is so sick of winning we're willing to DIE for Trump!
As for putting young people on the frontlines... Sure, their odds of getting infected are low, but not nonexistent. And young people need old people, for shelter and food. So, students come home and...THEY INFECT THEIR PARENTS! So, the whole system breaks down.
But we've got to open America for business!
No, they do that in South Korea, where they tested everybody, where they were prepared for a pandemic!
So, if you read that WaPo article, you'll find that people on Trump's blue ribbon panel were never asked to be on it. And they keep telling Trump it's too soon to open!
This is kind of like Chernobyl. Do you want to enter the reactor?
We don't have that level of self-sacrifice in America, no one ever wants to die. So, you've got to make it as safe as possible.
But, safety takes a backseat, the right has convinced the public that the problem with torts is the greedy attorneys, when that is completely untrue. The attorneys keep the corporations in line, and the amount of money they cost the corporations is de minimis in the overall picture. But the people at home are stunned when they see a seven or eight figure judgment.
No one is keeping anybody in line. Except for some governors and mayors. There's no oversight. Make too many mistakes on the test and you fail, they kick you out of college. Blow governing and you get a free pass. Can you explain this to me? And that three branches of the government, the checks and balances...Dick Cheney hacked away at it and Trump has taken it even further.
And don't give me that quid pro quo nonsense. Of course the Democrats have made mistakes, of course they haven't always been morally perfect. But it's like comparing the kid who burns down the school with the one who stuffs the commode with toilet paper. The level of egregiousness is just that much worse. And just because you've got some high-paid talking head saying it's otherwise, that does not make it true.
So forget all the problems at the end of the story, let's go back to the beginning. Which involves self-quarantining and tests.
Most people are staying home, at least in California and New York.
Now, ramp up the tests, whatever it takes. Yes, save the ill first, but then we've got to find out who has got it and who has not. And then we can start talking about opening up the country for business. We want to make this decision based on science, which is anathema in the White House.
There, I said it.
Let me tell you how this works folks, the right are working the refs 24/7. They're always telling you you're out of line, they're always telling you to be quiet, their goal is to inhibit you so you don't speak.
But one thing is for sure, individuals are gonna make a difference here. And the coronavirus knows no political party.
Look at the ruckus made by Greta Thunberg. Forget the climate deniers, more people are talking about climate change than ever before.
We need someone to stick up and form an army. Someone who's got no skin in the game other than that they're human. Someone who doesn't want to be part of the media/political circus as a career, just someone who knows right from wrong who can stand up and rally the people.
I ain't going out until it's safe.
And despite all the publicity about those who will, most of you are like me. We are the majority. We want safety. We don't want to take undue risks. When are we gonna get control?
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It comes in waves, my pissed-offness. I wake up in the morning and I immediately go to my phone, for the latest news. And then I go to the physical papers to read yesterday's news. And then all day long I have incoming, from friends and subscribers, their heads twisting, wondering just how this can be.
You've got to read this story in the "Washington Post," "Trump's attempt to enlist business in reopening push gets off to a rocky start": https://wapo.st/2VrY85W Only you can't, it's behind a paywall.
Did you read the insane news that staff from the L.A. "Times" is being furloughed? I thought the owner was a billionaire, Patrick Soon-Shiong is buying a hospital, he can't afford to pay his newspaper staff? The journalists are our friends in this fight. This is not a matter of opinion, this is a matter of fact, and the only people who can distribute these facts are journalists. Your opinion? My opinion? They don't mean much if we don't have the facts.
And speaking of facts, the story on Laura Ingraham's show last night was the encroachment upon our freedoms. Yup, that we can't leave our houses and die (and infect others!) willy-nilly. That's what happens when you listen/watch Fox News, you end up knowing less than nothing. Just like Trump is getting his comeuppance, so is Fox, it will never be trusted again.
So, you've got wankers in Michigan and Oklahoma protesting that business must open! You know Trump is in a snit with the governor of the Wolverine State, and therefore it's license to pile on.
Speaking of playing favorites, you might have heard that Nebraska gets 300k per coronavirus case while New York gets 12k. Can you explain that to me? Oh, of course, Nebraska is a red state!
And yesterday Trump said he was all powerful and the governors and the legal experts pushed back.
Undeterred, Trump today said he was gonna shut down Congress so he could fill his administration's vacancies, but the truth is he never even nominated people.
And if you read the "New York Times," the "Washington Post," even the "Wall Street Journal," you'll learn all this. But no, if it's in a paper it must be fake. Better to trust those you have a relationship with, Rush, your friends, your buddies on Fox.
And I know, I know, the left is tearing its hair out. Then again, the left had a rousing victory in Wisconsin the other day. Does this presage victory in November? I think so, but nothing is clear, because Democratic turnout was high because of the Presidential primary.
So, Trump could be evicted and both houses of Congress could go blue and...it'd just be a matter of time before they flip again. Those tax and spend Democrats are gonna push it too far, and then because they're sick of paying taxes, Americans will give the reins back to the Republicans. However, if the Democrats play within boundaries, they'll still be excoriated, so why not try and gerrymander and get some pork while you can? (Meanwhile, once again the Republicans are framing the debate. The nature of government IS taxing and spending!)
It's hard to have faith in the system.
But one thing is for sure, we need the system, despite what we've been hearing for all these years from the right. You've got to prepare for a crisis. If you lose your job and you can't pay next month's rent...either you had a very low-paying job, which is quite possible, or you thought the gravy train would never end. The Republicans want to blame you. But one thing's for sure, doesn't the buck stop with the government? I'm not saying that the government should make everybody absolutely whole, but I am saying with the best and the brightest it should be prepared for contingencies. Then again, even the airlines were unprepared, they blew all their income on stock repurchases.
So I don't know about you, but I want to live through this experience.
And for me, that means taking no risks. I can't live in a bubble, but I can be smart and do my best not to come in contact with a carrier.
And it would be very simple to achieve this. By having everybody in America tested.
The first tests manufactured failed, and Trump blamed it on Obama. I thought Hillary was the culprit, it was in her e-mails, but the second rule of credibility, after being honest, is to own your mistakes. If you're always right, if you never lose, we stop believing you, because no one wins all the time.
Yup, America is so sick of winning we're willing to DIE for Trump!
As for putting young people on the frontlines... Sure, their odds of getting infected are low, but not nonexistent. And young people need old people, for shelter and food. So, students come home and...THEY INFECT THEIR PARENTS! So, the whole system breaks down.
But we've got to open America for business!
No, they do that in South Korea, where they tested everybody, where they were prepared for a pandemic!
So, if you read that WaPo article, you'll find that people on Trump's blue ribbon panel were never asked to be on it. And they keep telling Trump it's too soon to open!
This is kind of like Chernobyl. Do you want to enter the reactor?
We don't have that level of self-sacrifice in America, no one ever wants to die. So, you've got to make it as safe as possible.
But, safety takes a backseat, the right has convinced the public that the problem with torts is the greedy attorneys, when that is completely untrue. The attorneys keep the corporations in line, and the amount of money they cost the corporations is de minimis in the overall picture. But the people at home are stunned when they see a seven or eight figure judgment.
No one is keeping anybody in line. Except for some governors and mayors. There's no oversight. Make too many mistakes on the test and you fail, they kick you out of college. Blow governing and you get a free pass. Can you explain this to me? And that three branches of the government, the checks and balances...Dick Cheney hacked away at it and Trump has taken it even further.
And don't give me that quid pro quo nonsense. Of course the Democrats have made mistakes, of course they haven't always been morally perfect. But it's like comparing the kid who burns down the school with the one who stuffs the commode with toilet paper. The level of egregiousness is just that much worse. And just because you've got some high-paid talking head saying it's otherwise, that does not make it true.
So forget all the problems at the end of the story, let's go back to the beginning. Which involves self-quarantining and tests.
Most people are staying home, at least in California and New York.
Now, ramp up the tests, whatever it takes. Yes, save the ill first, but then we've got to find out who has got it and who has not. And then we can start talking about opening up the country for business. We want to make this decision based on science, which is anathema in the White House.
There, I said it.
Let me tell you how this works folks, the right are working the refs 24/7. They're always telling you you're out of line, they're always telling you to be quiet, their goal is to inhibit you so you don't speak.
But one thing is for sure, individuals are gonna make a difference here. And the coronavirus knows no political party.
Look at the ruckus made by Greta Thunberg. Forget the climate deniers, more people are talking about climate change than ever before.
We need someone to stick up and form an army. Someone who's got no skin in the game other than that they're human. Someone who doesn't want to be part of the media/political circus as a career, just someone who knows right from wrong who can stand up and rally the people.
I ain't going out until it's safe.
And despite all the publicity about those who will, most of you are like me. We are the majority. We want safety. We don't want to take undue risks. When are we gonna get control?
--
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Live Pittsburgh 1976
https://spoti.fi/2XKRAlP
Live shows used to be rare, to the point where it was a staple of a band's career to release a double live album of their greatest hits, even though it did not count against their label quota as per the contract.
And there was the King Biscuit Flower Hour. If it was gonna be a simulcast in your neighborhood, you listened. I still remember hearing a live radio tape of the Stones at the Slope bar in Aspen in February 1970, that's how few and far between these recordings were.
And then the internet came along and everything flipped. Live is something you do on YouTube, to satiate your existing fanbase, and hopefully grow it with newbies.
Now in the nineties, those King Biscuit shows came out on CD, but it was too late, the mania was gone. Acts used to be uptight about imperfect performances, they wanted to hold back material, the exact opposite of today, even though we had to fight about it for the last twenty years.
And at the advent of Napster it was astounding what surfaced, live shows you never knew existed, live shows you were at. But most of that material has disappeared with legal streaming services. But on these services you oftentimes find live albums you didn't even know existed, like James Taylor's "Live Pittsburgh 1976."
I saw James at the Universal Amphitheatre back then. It was 1975, just after "Gorilla" brought him back to the top of the charts. Crosby & Nash sang harmonies, Carly Simon came out for "Mockingbird."
If you missed a tour, you missed material. Sure, the hits remained in the show, but if you were a fan of the act, you had to buy the album and see the act every year. You were bonded. It's very different from the nostalgia of today, where the acts and their audience try to jet their minds back to the past.
Then again, we thought we'd never get old.
And so many who are old now view music as safe that they used to find dangerous, or were too unhip to know about.
So, last night scrounging around on Amazon Music on Sonos I came across a James Taylor live album I never knew existed, and this caught me off guard, since I've got a live album never released in the U.S. and...
"Live Pittsburgh 1976" was only released two years ago, if there was any hype I missed it, I can't find any reviews online, it's like it was a stealth release.
1975 was "Gorilla."
1976 was "In the Pocket." This show is hype for that album, which was not seen as good as "Gorilla," it was not as sunny, but contains one of my favorite JT songs, "Captain Jim's Drunken Dream," and the exquisite
"Nothing Like a Hundred Miles," but the only track that has stood the test of time, that the hoi polloi know, is "Shower the People."
So this Pittsburgh show, performed at the Syria Mosque on July 25th, was a live FM radio show. So, you'd expect imperfections, but you don't find them. This was back when acts needed no help to perform.
And the opening cut is "Lighthouse," my absolute favorite from "Gorilla," a song that's long left James's set list. Well, it's a recurrent, according to setlist.fm it got played 23 times in 2012. 20 in 2005. And then it goes down from there. 6 in 1986. And...my point is if you go to a James Taylor show today, your odds of hearing "Lighthouse" are low, odds are you've never even heard "Lighthouse" live, and it was not on that 1993 double live album so...this is probably your only chance to hear a live version.
And I quote "Lighthouse" all the time.
"But just because I might be standing here
That don't mean I won't be wrong this time
You could follow me and lose your mind"
When someone hangs on every word, believes everything I have to say, I leaven their expectations by quoting these lines.
Next comes "Riding on a Railroad," which I mentioned last night, and is not rare, but is always good to hear.
The third cut is a complete surprise, "Secret of Life." Billed as "Secret O' Life" on the album "JT"...the recorded version didn't come out until the following year!
"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time"
And that applies in sequestration as much as the old days, where we could go where we wanted to, do what we wanted to do, with whomever we wanted to do it with.
And then comes "Shower the People." This iteration is not my favorite, it's slowed down from the take that opens "In the Pocket," and I'm not in love with the backup vocals, but I am in love with the lyrics, which eluded me until long after this song was a hit. They're all genius, but I'll just quote a few, in this era where everybody's a winner, when everybody's afraid of revealing themselves. Oh, there are people making careers of oversharing, especially online, but most people are too uptight to tell their truth, but when they do...
"Once you tell somebody the way that you feel
You can feel it beginning to ease
I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel
Always getting the grease"
One of the reasons I no longer talk on the phone is it's all salesmanship, the people are not real, but when they are, tell me their inner thoughts and demons, then I feel it was all worth it, then I really know them.
Next comes "Mexico." In its original breezy arrangement. Today's radio, which oldsters do listen to, only plays a few hits by each act, so "Mexico" is rare.
Then "Anywhere Like Heaven." This was the last song I got into on "Sweet Baby James." Seen as a minor track, it's anything but. And this is another cut rarely played live. It got 11 performances in 2012, but you have to go back to 1986 to find another live performance.
And then a surprise, "Walking Man."
James had jettisoned Peter Asher, he was looking to change it up. Eventually he worked with Russ and Lenny on the aforementioned "Gorilla" and "In the Pocket," but before that he did an LP with David Spinozza and his New York cats. "One Man Dog" hadn't met expectations, "Walking Man" did worse. The sound is not right, it's muted. But there are a few great tracks, "Rock 'n' Roll is Music Now," with Paul McCartney on background vocals, and "Me and My Guitar," and my favorite, "Migration," but the only song most people know from this LP is the title cut. And it's amazing how many people know it, not because it was a radio hit, but because despite not garnering the sales of the previous LPs, fans bought "Walking Man," and know it.
"Family Man" was from "In The Pocket," and it was played live a couple of times in 2006, but you have to go back to 1987 before that.
And James cannot do a show without "Fire and Rain" and "Carolina In My Mind," so they're both here.
Following those two, you've got "Bartender's Blues," which like "Secret of Life" didn't appear on wax until the following year.
And then comes my favorite track in the collection, why I'm writing this at all.
The second side of "One Man Dog" was a suite, like the second side of "Abbey Road," the only thing that pisses me off is that James did not do "Mescalito," which precedes "Dance" on "One Man Dog." "Dance" sounds like a barn dance, like it's Saturday night and you're having a good time and the rest of the world doesn't matter, only the music and the people you're with, the live iteration encapsulates this same vibe. If you were a fan of "One Man Dog" you'll be thrilled to hear this!
This is a good rendition of "Everybody Has the Blues." More intimate than the version on "In the Pocket," but honestly, it was never one of my favorite songs, but if I listened to this take enough I might change my mind.
And then we come to the second side killer from "Gorilla." "I Was a Fool to Care" is genius in every way, with all that love now behind you, check out the lyrics, and this slowed-down, somewhat naked take is different and nearly equally good.
And another "Walking Man" nugget, "Hello Old Friend," which is better than the recorded take, sans strings, sans the sonic flattening.
And now we roll to the end of the show.
A heartfelt "Hey Mister, That's Me up on the Jukebox." It'll hit you in your gut more than the original from "Mud Slide Slim," it sounds world-weary.
And I guess that was the end of the radio show, but there are three additional bonus tracks. The classics "Rainy Day Man," "Steamroller" and "Carolina In My Mind." All in good versions.
So what we've got here is nearly astounding. We've got a live show from almost 44 years ago that sounds like it could be cut today, but it wasn't. It's honest, sans the studio trickery that eliminates the life in so many recordings. It contains both classics and songs only a fan knows by heart. But do you need to hear it?
We're overwhelmed with material.
But if it's a slow afternoon, like now, in our days of hibernation, pull this up. Put it on the big speakers if you've still got 'em. Sit and listen, or do mindless chores, just live your life like you used to, before you were addicted to your smartphone, when you could disconnect.
And you'll remember what once was.
And in this case, still is.
--
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
--
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Live shows used to be rare, to the point where it was a staple of a band's career to release a double live album of their greatest hits, even though it did not count against their label quota as per the contract.
And there was the King Biscuit Flower Hour. If it was gonna be a simulcast in your neighborhood, you listened. I still remember hearing a live radio tape of the Stones at the Slope bar in Aspen in February 1970, that's how few and far between these recordings were.
And then the internet came along and everything flipped. Live is something you do on YouTube, to satiate your existing fanbase, and hopefully grow it with newbies.
Now in the nineties, those King Biscuit shows came out on CD, but it was too late, the mania was gone. Acts used to be uptight about imperfect performances, they wanted to hold back material, the exact opposite of today, even though we had to fight about it for the last twenty years.
And at the advent of Napster it was astounding what surfaced, live shows you never knew existed, live shows you were at. But most of that material has disappeared with legal streaming services. But on these services you oftentimes find live albums you didn't even know existed, like James Taylor's "Live Pittsburgh 1976."
I saw James at the Universal Amphitheatre back then. It was 1975, just after "Gorilla" brought him back to the top of the charts. Crosby & Nash sang harmonies, Carly Simon came out for "Mockingbird."
If you missed a tour, you missed material. Sure, the hits remained in the show, but if you were a fan of the act, you had to buy the album and see the act every year. You were bonded. It's very different from the nostalgia of today, where the acts and their audience try to jet their minds back to the past.
Then again, we thought we'd never get old.
And so many who are old now view music as safe that they used to find dangerous, or were too unhip to know about.
So, last night scrounging around on Amazon Music on Sonos I came across a James Taylor live album I never knew existed, and this caught me off guard, since I've got a live album never released in the U.S. and...
"Live Pittsburgh 1976" was only released two years ago, if there was any hype I missed it, I can't find any reviews online, it's like it was a stealth release.
1975 was "Gorilla."
1976 was "In the Pocket." This show is hype for that album, which was not seen as good as "Gorilla," it was not as sunny, but contains one of my favorite JT songs, "Captain Jim's Drunken Dream," and the exquisite
"Nothing Like a Hundred Miles," but the only track that has stood the test of time, that the hoi polloi know, is "Shower the People."
So this Pittsburgh show, performed at the Syria Mosque on July 25th, was a live FM radio show. So, you'd expect imperfections, but you don't find them. This was back when acts needed no help to perform.
And the opening cut is "Lighthouse," my absolute favorite from "Gorilla," a song that's long left James's set list. Well, it's a recurrent, according to setlist.fm it got played 23 times in 2012. 20 in 2005. And then it goes down from there. 6 in 1986. And...my point is if you go to a James Taylor show today, your odds of hearing "Lighthouse" are low, odds are you've never even heard "Lighthouse" live, and it was not on that 1993 double live album so...this is probably your only chance to hear a live version.
And I quote "Lighthouse" all the time.
"But just because I might be standing here
That don't mean I won't be wrong this time
You could follow me and lose your mind"
When someone hangs on every word, believes everything I have to say, I leaven their expectations by quoting these lines.
Next comes "Riding on a Railroad," which I mentioned last night, and is not rare, but is always good to hear.
The third cut is a complete surprise, "Secret of Life." Billed as "Secret O' Life" on the album "JT"...the recorded version didn't come out until the following year!
"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time"
And that applies in sequestration as much as the old days, where we could go where we wanted to, do what we wanted to do, with whomever we wanted to do it with.
And then comes "Shower the People." This iteration is not my favorite, it's slowed down from the take that opens "In the Pocket," and I'm not in love with the backup vocals, but I am in love with the lyrics, which eluded me until long after this song was a hit. They're all genius, but I'll just quote a few, in this era where everybody's a winner, when everybody's afraid of revealing themselves. Oh, there are people making careers of oversharing, especially online, but most people are too uptight to tell their truth, but when they do...
"Once you tell somebody the way that you feel
You can feel it beginning to ease
I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel
Always getting the grease"
One of the reasons I no longer talk on the phone is it's all salesmanship, the people are not real, but when they are, tell me their inner thoughts and demons, then I feel it was all worth it, then I really know them.
Next comes "Mexico." In its original breezy arrangement. Today's radio, which oldsters do listen to, only plays a few hits by each act, so "Mexico" is rare.
Then "Anywhere Like Heaven." This was the last song I got into on "Sweet Baby James." Seen as a minor track, it's anything but. And this is another cut rarely played live. It got 11 performances in 2012, but you have to go back to 1986 to find another live performance.
And then a surprise, "Walking Man."
James had jettisoned Peter Asher, he was looking to change it up. Eventually he worked with Russ and Lenny on the aforementioned "Gorilla" and "In the Pocket," but before that he did an LP with David Spinozza and his New York cats. "One Man Dog" hadn't met expectations, "Walking Man" did worse. The sound is not right, it's muted. But there are a few great tracks, "Rock 'n' Roll is Music Now," with Paul McCartney on background vocals, and "Me and My Guitar," and my favorite, "Migration," but the only song most people know from this LP is the title cut. And it's amazing how many people know it, not because it was a radio hit, but because despite not garnering the sales of the previous LPs, fans bought "Walking Man," and know it.
"Family Man" was from "In The Pocket," and it was played live a couple of times in 2006, but you have to go back to 1987 before that.
And James cannot do a show without "Fire and Rain" and "Carolina In My Mind," so they're both here.
Following those two, you've got "Bartender's Blues," which like "Secret of Life" didn't appear on wax until the following year.
And then comes my favorite track in the collection, why I'm writing this at all.
The second side of "One Man Dog" was a suite, like the second side of "Abbey Road," the only thing that pisses me off is that James did not do "Mescalito," which precedes "Dance" on "One Man Dog." "Dance" sounds like a barn dance, like it's Saturday night and you're having a good time and the rest of the world doesn't matter, only the music and the people you're with, the live iteration encapsulates this same vibe. If you were a fan of "One Man Dog" you'll be thrilled to hear this!
This is a good rendition of "Everybody Has the Blues." More intimate than the version on "In the Pocket," but honestly, it was never one of my favorite songs, but if I listened to this take enough I might change my mind.
And then we come to the second side killer from "Gorilla." "I Was a Fool to Care" is genius in every way, with all that love now behind you, check out the lyrics, and this slowed-down, somewhat naked take is different and nearly equally good.
And another "Walking Man" nugget, "Hello Old Friend," which is better than the recorded take, sans strings, sans the sonic flattening.
And now we roll to the end of the show.
A heartfelt "Hey Mister, That's Me up on the Jukebox." It'll hit you in your gut more than the original from "Mud Slide Slim," it sounds world-weary.
And I guess that was the end of the radio show, but there are three additional bonus tracks. The classics "Rainy Day Man," "Steamroller" and "Carolina In My Mind." All in good versions.
So what we've got here is nearly astounding. We've got a live show from almost 44 years ago that sounds like it could be cut today, but it wasn't. It's honest, sans the studio trickery that eliminates the life in so many recordings. It contains both classics and songs only a fan knows by heart. But do you need to hear it?
We're overwhelmed with material.
But if it's a slow afternoon, like now, in our days of hibernation, pull this up. Put it on the big speakers if you've still got 'em. Sit and listen, or do mindless chores, just live your life like you used to, before you were addicted to your smartphone, when you could disconnect.
And you'll remember what once was.
And in this case, still is.
--
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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--
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Mailbag
Subject: RE: You Can Close Your Eyes
Dear Bob,
A good one. And thank you remembering both the Apple version of "Carolina" and the album "Mud Slide Slim" so fondly. I shall try to recover from my deep depression upon learning that you prefer the Carole & Lou version of "You've Got a Friend" to the James & me version! There is an interesting story as to how they came to coexist.
Yes I agree that "Riding on a Railroad" and "You Can Close Your Eyes" are a couple of James' greatest songs and working with him on them was a privilege. And let us be sure to give Kootch full credit for the excellence of "Machine Gun Kelly"!
Peter
Peter Asher CBE
Remote Control Productions
__________________________________
From: Brian Greenbaum
Subject: Re: You Can Close Your Eyes
James and Bonnie Raitt have been touring together for a few years and they sang this song together every night. I must have seen them do it 20 times in various cities and every time the hair on the back of my neck stood up!
Here is a link to them singing the song for the Harvey Can't Mess With Texas Benefit Show in Austin in 2017:
https://youtu.be/uncbcue4uDs
Enjoy!
__________________________________
Subject: Re: You Can Close Your Eyes
That song is powerful. I got my start as a "roadie" working for James Taylor about 7 years ago. He brought that song back around when he started touring with Bonnie. It's great as a duet. Before that he might play it once and a while when Carol King would make an appearance or at Tanglewood. Always made me cry. Although I don't work with him anymore I still slow dance to that song with my girlfriend before leaving for any tour. Nobody is like James Taylor and I naively thought I would work in that camp forever. You don't always appreciate things fully until they're gone but I feel I appreciated every minute of work for him. It would really be a bummer to truly hate your job.
Best regards,
Luke Shea
__________________________________
Subject: RE: You Can Close Your Eyes
Hey Bob,
Glad to see you're focusing on sound quality. Now, I'd like to make a suggestion:
1. Buy an inexpensive but pro quality audio interface for your Mac - for example, the MOTU M2 or Focusrite 2i2. Under $200. Plug it into a USB port - no setup needed except to make sure that it is selected as your audio output device. You can do that under System Preferences, Sound.
2. Hook a pair of powered speakers of your choice to the audio interface. You can use the quarter inch outputs or the headphone output. Use high end headphones if you want to really hear the difference.
3. Log onto www.prostudiomasters.com or www.hdtracks.com and buy one of your favorite albums that was originally recorded in analog. Buy the WAV or AIFF file, making sure it's 24-bit, 96k - no need to go to the 192k version. I'm suggesting "Graceland" or "Court and Spark" (available on either site) or "Kind of Blue" (only available on HDTracks) to get you going. Use the website's download app and let it install the file on your Mac. I signed up for both sites because they compete on price sometimes.
4. Get the free Vox Music Player for Mac.
5. Load the High Res digital files of the album you bought into a Vox playlist.
6. Put on the headphones, set the level and listen. You will hear detail you never heard before. Enjoy!
Best,
John Boylan
__________________________________
Subject: Re: The Kathy Valentine Book
I work in a tech role for a company in the northeast that names all their conference rooms after Adirondack and Native American names and places. Chatham, sacandaga, Saratoga etc. One of the tech companies we deal with is based out of Austin, and they name their conference rooms after local musicians. When we have meetings, from their side, it's often in the Kathy Valentine room. I wonder if she even knows that?
Bob
Bobsville Studios
__________________________________
Re: John Prine
this past December I was playing a club gig in Nashville with Pat McLaughlin, John's long time co writer. Pat told us the day of the gig that John was going to come and play 4 or 5 songs with us. John and Pat wrote Summer's End, one of my favorite songs of last year, and that was one of the songs we planned to play. So, we get about halfway thru the gig, and Pat calls John up to play. He comes out onstage and the whole place stands up before he plays a note. I mean, the people were WITH him. He just had this presence of greatness about him, and I remember thinking while I was playing, it just doesn't get any better than this. And it was truly magnificent. I know his music and lyrics were a gift to so many……
Kenny Greenberg
__________________________________
Re: John Prine
I loved him and he always was wonderful and I hope a little proud of me.
The last time I spoke to him was at Rosanne's show at the Ryman last summer...
The last thing he said to me was , "I love you, Colin", and though I know I was hardly alone in this, it made me feel so good... like he knew his kindness really helped one kid's life.
Blessed to have known him, even a little... and doubly blessed to have gotten to know him again, and play with him a couple of times when I grew up" - Colin Linden (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings)
__________________________________
Re: John Prine
I was lucky enough to meet my songwriting hero after his show at my Uptown Theatre in Napa 8 years ago. We had some laughs, And I thanked him for being the only songwriter who could make me laugh, cry, and think in just one song.
I told him two stories:
1) about my old girlfriend who had introduced me to his music and storytelling, then years later got sad and took her own life;
2) and about winning an elementary school talent show with my 11 year old daughter, Angelica....duetting on "Linda Goes to Mars".....explaining to
another parent that it wasn't my song, but rather one of John Prine's more obscure songs. John broke out laughing, and said....."yeah, I got a whole lot of those!"
He signed my old Martin..."To Bob and his Angels, Thank you, John Prine".
He has now joined them as another one of my Angels.
Rest In Peace, John.....after having your cocktail, vodka and ginger ale,
Bob Vogt
__________________________________
Re: John Prine
Hi Bob - I finally met John Prine (after what I believe was his last show anywhere) in Paris just a few months ago when the world was still normal. Of course I knew, loved and respected him as any singer-songwriter must but we had a special bond as (along with Bruce Springsteen and Louden Wainwright) we were all part of the "new Dylan" club of the 1970s. The odd thing was that none of us sounded particularly like each other (or Bob Dylan for that matter) but each of us in our own way were pushing against the same lyrical boundaries that Bob had made irrelevant. Critics called the whole "new Dylan" thing a curse but what could be further from the truth? I call it a guarantee of lifetime employment. So when I met John in his dressing room at Café de la Dance this was the first thing we got into, laughed about; two of the new Dylan's, both now in their 70's, both still doing it. We talked about maybe doing some future shows together in Spain, a country that has supported my music for over 35 years, and a public I long to play for again when this dark age is behind us. John had been forced to cut his European tour short for an urgent hip replacement in Nashville but he still danced his way off the stage that night with help of cane and friends. The Paris audience gave him a standing ovation that would not end even if their understanding of his sublime plain-spoken lyrics was minimal. Parisians know legend when they see it. I asked John where he was staying and he replied at the George V hotel off Champs Elysee, a real palace. That's a nice place I said. "We figured what the hell and blew out the tour budget," he replied. John Prine went out in style, a style all his own, one that we won't see again...
From Paris,
Elliott Murphy
__________________________________
Subject: Re: News Update-Day 33
Hi Bob,
My Mom (Alicia) is 90 years young, a proud and voting Trump supporter.
Until last week.
You see, she's paying attention everyday, reading and watching the news.
Yesterday she said to me, "I can now see that Trump is a liar, and a horrible person.
The proof is there that he dismissed this virus early on, and as a result, he let many people die,
including my boyfriend (Frank, age 94) who'd died last week of COVID-19.
He has lost my vote."
If this can change my mom's mind,
it can change many more.
This is the hope.
Damian Calcagne
__________________________________
From: LaRhonda Tracy
Subject: Tyson
Dear Mr. Lefsetz
My husband is employed at Tyson in Joslin Illinois. They have 38 employees test positive for Covid-19. Yet no local media are reporting it and it remains in production.
I know you reach far and wide. I am kindly asking for your help. I think media wide attention may get this plant to hunker down for a couple weeks.
Thank you in advance.
LaRhonda T.
Dear Bob,
A good one. And thank you remembering both the Apple version of "Carolina" and the album "Mud Slide Slim" so fondly. I shall try to recover from my deep depression upon learning that you prefer the Carole & Lou version of "You've Got a Friend" to the James & me version! There is an interesting story as to how they came to coexist.
Yes I agree that "Riding on a Railroad" and "You Can Close Your Eyes" are a couple of James' greatest songs and working with him on them was a privilege. And let us be sure to give Kootch full credit for the excellence of "Machine Gun Kelly"!
Peter
Peter Asher CBE
Remote Control Productions
__________________________________
From: Brian Greenbaum
Subject: Re: You Can Close Your Eyes
James and Bonnie Raitt have been touring together for a few years and they sang this song together every night. I must have seen them do it 20 times in various cities and every time the hair on the back of my neck stood up!
Here is a link to them singing the song for the Harvey Can't Mess With Texas Benefit Show in Austin in 2017:
https://youtu.be/uncbcue4uDs
Enjoy!
__________________________________
Subject: Re: You Can Close Your Eyes
That song is powerful. I got my start as a "roadie" working for James Taylor about 7 years ago. He brought that song back around when he started touring with Bonnie. It's great as a duet. Before that he might play it once and a while when Carol King would make an appearance or at Tanglewood. Always made me cry. Although I don't work with him anymore I still slow dance to that song with my girlfriend before leaving for any tour. Nobody is like James Taylor and I naively thought I would work in that camp forever. You don't always appreciate things fully until they're gone but I feel I appreciated every minute of work for him. It would really be a bummer to truly hate your job.
Best regards,
Luke Shea
__________________________________
Subject: RE: You Can Close Your Eyes
Hey Bob,
Glad to see you're focusing on sound quality. Now, I'd like to make a suggestion:
1. Buy an inexpensive but pro quality audio interface for your Mac - for example, the MOTU M2 or Focusrite 2i2. Under $200. Plug it into a USB port - no setup needed except to make sure that it is selected as your audio output device. You can do that under System Preferences, Sound.
2. Hook a pair of powered speakers of your choice to the audio interface. You can use the quarter inch outputs or the headphone output. Use high end headphones if you want to really hear the difference.
3. Log onto www.prostudiomasters.com or www.hdtracks.com and buy one of your favorite albums that was originally recorded in analog. Buy the WAV or AIFF file, making sure it's 24-bit, 96k - no need to go to the 192k version. I'm suggesting "Graceland" or "Court and Spark" (available on either site) or "Kind of Blue" (only available on HDTracks) to get you going. Use the website's download app and let it install the file on your Mac. I signed up for both sites because they compete on price sometimes.
4. Get the free Vox Music Player for Mac.
5. Load the High Res digital files of the album you bought into a Vox playlist.
6. Put on the headphones, set the level and listen. You will hear detail you never heard before. Enjoy!
Best,
John Boylan
__________________________________
Subject: Re: The Kathy Valentine Book
I work in a tech role for a company in the northeast that names all their conference rooms after Adirondack and Native American names and places. Chatham, sacandaga, Saratoga etc. One of the tech companies we deal with is based out of Austin, and they name their conference rooms after local musicians. When we have meetings, from their side, it's often in the Kathy Valentine room. I wonder if she even knows that?
Bob
Bobsville Studios
__________________________________
Re: John Prine
this past December I was playing a club gig in Nashville with Pat McLaughlin, John's long time co writer. Pat told us the day of the gig that John was going to come and play 4 or 5 songs with us. John and Pat wrote Summer's End, one of my favorite songs of last year, and that was one of the songs we planned to play. So, we get about halfway thru the gig, and Pat calls John up to play. He comes out onstage and the whole place stands up before he plays a note. I mean, the people were WITH him. He just had this presence of greatness about him, and I remember thinking while I was playing, it just doesn't get any better than this. And it was truly magnificent. I know his music and lyrics were a gift to so many……
Kenny Greenberg
__________________________________
Re: John Prine
I loved him and he always was wonderful and I hope a little proud of me.
The last time I spoke to him was at Rosanne's show at the Ryman last summer...
The last thing he said to me was , "I love you, Colin", and though I know I was hardly alone in this, it made me feel so good... like he knew his kindness really helped one kid's life.
Blessed to have known him, even a little... and doubly blessed to have gotten to know him again, and play with him a couple of times when I grew up" - Colin Linden (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings)
__________________________________
Re: John Prine
I was lucky enough to meet my songwriting hero after his show at my Uptown Theatre in Napa 8 years ago. We had some laughs, And I thanked him for being the only songwriter who could make me laugh, cry, and think in just one song.
I told him two stories:
1) about my old girlfriend who had introduced me to his music and storytelling, then years later got sad and took her own life;
2) and about winning an elementary school talent show with my 11 year old daughter, Angelica....duetting on "Linda Goes to Mars".....explaining to
another parent that it wasn't my song, but rather one of John Prine's more obscure songs. John broke out laughing, and said....."yeah, I got a whole lot of those!"
He signed my old Martin..."To Bob and his Angels, Thank you, John Prine".
He has now joined them as another one of my Angels.
Rest In Peace, John.....after having your cocktail, vodka and ginger ale,
Bob Vogt
__________________________________
Re: John Prine
Hi Bob - I finally met John Prine (after what I believe was his last show anywhere) in Paris just a few months ago when the world was still normal. Of course I knew, loved and respected him as any singer-songwriter must but we had a special bond as (along with Bruce Springsteen and Louden Wainwright) we were all part of the "new Dylan" club of the 1970s. The odd thing was that none of us sounded particularly like each other (or Bob Dylan for that matter) but each of us in our own way were pushing against the same lyrical boundaries that Bob had made irrelevant. Critics called the whole "new Dylan" thing a curse but what could be further from the truth? I call it a guarantee of lifetime employment. So when I met John in his dressing room at Café de la Dance this was the first thing we got into, laughed about; two of the new Dylan's, both now in their 70's, both still doing it. We talked about maybe doing some future shows together in Spain, a country that has supported my music for over 35 years, and a public I long to play for again when this dark age is behind us. John had been forced to cut his European tour short for an urgent hip replacement in Nashville but he still danced his way off the stage that night with help of cane and friends. The Paris audience gave him a standing ovation that would not end even if their understanding of his sublime plain-spoken lyrics was minimal. Parisians know legend when they see it. I asked John where he was staying and he replied at the George V hotel off Champs Elysee, a real palace. That's a nice place I said. "We figured what the hell and blew out the tour budget," he replied. John Prine went out in style, a style all his own, one that we won't see again...
From Paris,
Elliott Murphy
__________________________________
Subject: Re: News Update-Day 33
Hi Bob,
My Mom (Alicia) is 90 years young, a proud and voting Trump supporter.
Until last week.
You see, she's paying attention everyday, reading and watching the news.
Yesterday she said to me, "I can now see that Trump is a liar, and a horrible person.
The proof is there that he dismissed this virus early on, and as a result, he let many people die,
including my boyfriend (Frank, age 94) who'd died last week of COVID-19.
He has lost my vote."
If this can change my mom's mind,
it can change many more.
This is the hope.
Damian Calcagne
__________________________________
From: LaRhonda Tracy
Subject: Tyson
Dear Mr. Lefsetz
My husband is employed at Tyson in Joslin Illinois. They have 38 employees test positive for Covid-19. Yet no local media are reporting it and it remains in production.
I know you reach far and wide. I am kindly asking for your help. I think media wide attention may get this plant to hunker down for a couple weeks.
Thank you in advance.
LaRhonda T.
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Tuesday, 14 April 2020
You Can Close Your Eyes
"Well it won't be long before another day
We're gonna have a good time
And no one's gonna take that time away
You can stay as long as you like"
I fired up the big rig. I caught up on the latest episode of "Better Call Saul," debated whether to finally dig into "Chernobyl," but then I realized I had to jump on the computer and answer a few e-mails before I did anything.
That's when I decided to turn on the stereo.
I'm trying not to be a hoarder. I'm trying to throw things out. I guess I was building a museum to myself, and then I realized I'd be forgotten anyway. But my stereo equipment, my records, they're never gonna go, at least not while I'm still here.
I've been thinking about sound recently, listening to music on my phone. Sounds pretty good compared to the old AM dashboard radio, but compared to the stereos of the seventies, it's crap. And now everybody's listening to crap, it's the standard. But when the music is reproduced accurately, clearly, it's alive, it breathes, and you're enveloped in the sound and it changes your mood.
The Sonos system didn't work.
But this stuff always works, so I started to troubleshoot. Turns out unplugging the bridge and replugging it worked.
And then I picked out the tunes.
Oh, one of the reasons I decided to do this was because my stereo is hooked up to Sonos, and I've now got Amazon Music HD. But to tell you the truth, I'm afraid to leave my amplifier on all the time, even though it's no longer new, because the previous one burned up, I seem to be planning for a future that will never come. We all run out of runway. And you get to a certain point and you can feel the end even if you can't see it, and that's positively freaky, because suddenly all the stuff that you thought mattered no longer does.
Now when Sonos started, it was all about enabling your stereo system, granting it streaming music. But over the years the paradigm has changed, Sonos now makes speakers, that's what people buy, hell, I haven't heard of someone buying a component stereo system in at least ten years, maybe more, that's just not done anymore. But if you're someone like me, and you still have the equipment...
Just before he died Ed Cherney told me to throw out my Nakamichi 582. It's not worth much, but it means so much to me. I'm worried the belts are stretched out and can't be replaced so I haven't turned it on. Oh, I've turned it on, I just haven't tried to play a cassette, I still have some of those. And I read about myself in Anne Tyler's new book "Redhead by the Side of the Road." One of the characters is afraid to call her landlady for fear of bad news. That's me. Actually, I always think it's bad news. Although I'm getting much better, I can open my mail the day I get it.
So I tested the speakers with Supertramp, "Crime of the Century" is one of the best engineered albums of all time.
And then I decided to switch from the JBLs to the Thiels. The sound was completely different. It was smooth, there was more air, you could hear instruments a bit better. Then I played my standards, like Joe Walsh, the James Gang and Boston. I was evaluating sound, but as time passed by the music stopped resonating.
But before I shut the stereo down, I decided to play "Carolina In My Mind," the original version, from the Apple album, I used to play that every morning at about this time fully fifty years ago, how weird is that, and I wanted to relive the experience.
But I saw "Mud Slide Slim."
"Mud Slide Slim" is known today for containing "You've Got a Friend." And to tell you the truth, I always preferred Carole King's version.
But "Mud Slide Slim" represents the spring of '71, I was in college, it came out at this very time.
And April in Vermont is kind of strange. It's not like California, it's not like the Sierras, where they get feet of snow and you can ski till July 4th, one big rainstorm and rising temperatures and the snow is gone, seemingly instantly. But it's still nippy at night, but winter is over, spring is about to be sprung, but to tell you the truth in Vermont that's in May.
Now when "Mud Slide Slim" came out all the hype was about "Hey Mister, That's Me up on the Jukebox." The articles analyzed James Taylor's sudden fame, they used this song to explain it. But that song never broke through.
And you never hear about the first side opener "Love Has Brought Me Around," but I always loved it.
Still, there are three absolute killers on "Mud Slide Slim."
One is "Riding on a Railroad." That's the one that switched my mood, made me want to continue to listen and write.
And the funny thing is this quieter material sounded better on the JBLs, even though I thought the JBLs were better for bass, which is basically absent here.
Then, of course, there's "Machine Gun Kelly."
"This is not a time for levity, do you understand what happened to Machine Gun Kelly?"
"I'll tell you about Machine Gun Kelly
He rode along the outlaw trail"
I've been watching all these shows featuring drug dealers. And the gig is unappealing at this age. Oh sure, you could always get arrested, but the gig itself...IT'S BORING! And the people who do it are just interested in getting high, screwing and laughing, and if that's all your life is about, I feel sorry for you. Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really care.
I'm bugged about billionaires, bugged about so much of today's world, but once again, when you're running out of runway, you realize all that you're not going to be, all that you're not going to accomplish, and hopefully you're happy with that. If you hated your job until you retired, I feel sorry for you too. What a waste. Yes, I'm being "judgy" as the kids say today, it's part of my personality, sue me. If I can read, listen to music and ski, I think that's enough to make me happy. Then again, I planned to ski at every area in the United States, that'll never happen.
But back to "You Can Close Your Eyes."
Now 1971 was a very good snow year. I skied the day before my birthday at Stowe and there were absolutely no bare spots. And the very next day I went swimming in the quarry. But shortly thereafter, I went with the Zeta Psis for a picnic by the lake. I had no intention of joining the fraternity, but they had Boone's Farm and I was not legal, and they were nice guys, who brought their girls, and for one moment I didn't feel uncomfortable and inferior. We played a little ball, drank some wine and had some good conversations. And I sang "You Can Close Your Eyes" in my mind. That used to be a regular occurrence, before the days of the Walkman, I spent an entire summer in Europe singing songs to myself, mostly those from Todd Rundgren's "Something/Anything?"
"Well the sun is surely sinking down
But the moon is slowly rising
And this old world must still be spinning 'round"
You can see the stars in L.A. now. You look up and it's a cornucopia of brightness, it's thrilling. And even though we're all on edge, the world keeps turning.
Today everybody told me how they were freaked out. Me too, did you read that story about that doctor in Washington, whew! (https://lat.ms/2Xx7gsG)
But you can only be so paranoid, you can only do your best, and hopefully that's good enough.
So tomorrow is another day. Just like today.
All the news is about opening the country for business. It's all a waste of time. Bottom line, the people are in control, we had to be convinced to stay home, and we'll have to be convinced to go out. And if one person dies, they're gonna sue the ass off of whomever or whichever entity told them it was safe. You go first, isn't that what they say?
So I'm planning on being quarantined to June 1st. I can handle that. Hell, it's already been in excess of a month.
But what happens after that?
There'll be no mass gatherings, no concerts, no sports, at least with fans in attendance.
But I'm not thinking that far ahead, I'm in suspended animation, I'm in the now.
And if you think about it, if you kick back and relax, it's not that bad. We've got our Netflix, our Kindles. We've got Zoom, and all the other ways to connect online. And today, things slowed down enough to remind me of...
The way it used to be.
I'm ultra-busy, and I'm not complaining about it. But if you're going really fast, you miss things. Who has time to sit at home and listen to the same songs over and over again?
But I pulled up the new Kenny Chesney and Luke Bryan songs, and they were pretty good. Sure, generic, but they were ear-pleasing. And then I played some of the Spotify Hot Country playlist and I realized this is where rock is. Sure, there are a few too many references to church, there's too much pandering, but there are changes and it's not Jason Isbell, but not that much is.
And Jason Isbell is not James Taylor.
You don't know what you've got till it's gone?
Kinda like John Prine. And Adam Schlesinger. And in the not so distant future, all the classic acts will pass, and many won't be remembered.
But it doesn't really matter, because you won't be here either. Those memories are gonna die with you, but they mean so much to you.
"So close your eyes
You can close your eyes, it's all right
I don't know no love songs
And I can't sing the blues anymore
But I can sing this song
And you can sing this song
When I'm gone"
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Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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We're gonna have a good time
And no one's gonna take that time away
You can stay as long as you like"
I fired up the big rig. I caught up on the latest episode of "Better Call Saul," debated whether to finally dig into "Chernobyl," but then I realized I had to jump on the computer and answer a few e-mails before I did anything.
That's when I decided to turn on the stereo.
I'm trying not to be a hoarder. I'm trying to throw things out. I guess I was building a museum to myself, and then I realized I'd be forgotten anyway. But my stereo equipment, my records, they're never gonna go, at least not while I'm still here.
I've been thinking about sound recently, listening to music on my phone. Sounds pretty good compared to the old AM dashboard radio, but compared to the stereos of the seventies, it's crap. And now everybody's listening to crap, it's the standard. But when the music is reproduced accurately, clearly, it's alive, it breathes, and you're enveloped in the sound and it changes your mood.
The Sonos system didn't work.
But this stuff always works, so I started to troubleshoot. Turns out unplugging the bridge and replugging it worked.
And then I picked out the tunes.
Oh, one of the reasons I decided to do this was because my stereo is hooked up to Sonos, and I've now got Amazon Music HD. But to tell you the truth, I'm afraid to leave my amplifier on all the time, even though it's no longer new, because the previous one burned up, I seem to be planning for a future that will never come. We all run out of runway. And you get to a certain point and you can feel the end even if you can't see it, and that's positively freaky, because suddenly all the stuff that you thought mattered no longer does.
Now when Sonos started, it was all about enabling your stereo system, granting it streaming music. But over the years the paradigm has changed, Sonos now makes speakers, that's what people buy, hell, I haven't heard of someone buying a component stereo system in at least ten years, maybe more, that's just not done anymore. But if you're someone like me, and you still have the equipment...
Just before he died Ed Cherney told me to throw out my Nakamichi 582. It's not worth much, but it means so much to me. I'm worried the belts are stretched out and can't be replaced so I haven't turned it on. Oh, I've turned it on, I just haven't tried to play a cassette, I still have some of those. And I read about myself in Anne Tyler's new book "Redhead by the Side of the Road." One of the characters is afraid to call her landlady for fear of bad news. That's me. Actually, I always think it's bad news. Although I'm getting much better, I can open my mail the day I get it.
So I tested the speakers with Supertramp, "Crime of the Century" is one of the best engineered albums of all time.
And then I decided to switch from the JBLs to the Thiels. The sound was completely different. It was smooth, there was more air, you could hear instruments a bit better. Then I played my standards, like Joe Walsh, the James Gang and Boston. I was evaluating sound, but as time passed by the music stopped resonating.
But before I shut the stereo down, I decided to play "Carolina In My Mind," the original version, from the Apple album, I used to play that every morning at about this time fully fifty years ago, how weird is that, and I wanted to relive the experience.
But I saw "Mud Slide Slim."
"Mud Slide Slim" is known today for containing "You've Got a Friend." And to tell you the truth, I always preferred Carole King's version.
But "Mud Slide Slim" represents the spring of '71, I was in college, it came out at this very time.
And April in Vermont is kind of strange. It's not like California, it's not like the Sierras, where they get feet of snow and you can ski till July 4th, one big rainstorm and rising temperatures and the snow is gone, seemingly instantly. But it's still nippy at night, but winter is over, spring is about to be sprung, but to tell you the truth in Vermont that's in May.
Now when "Mud Slide Slim" came out all the hype was about "Hey Mister, That's Me up on the Jukebox." The articles analyzed James Taylor's sudden fame, they used this song to explain it. But that song never broke through.
And you never hear about the first side opener "Love Has Brought Me Around," but I always loved it.
Still, there are three absolute killers on "Mud Slide Slim."
One is "Riding on a Railroad." That's the one that switched my mood, made me want to continue to listen and write.
And the funny thing is this quieter material sounded better on the JBLs, even though I thought the JBLs were better for bass, which is basically absent here.
Then, of course, there's "Machine Gun Kelly."
"This is not a time for levity, do you understand what happened to Machine Gun Kelly?"
"I'll tell you about Machine Gun Kelly
He rode along the outlaw trail"
I've been watching all these shows featuring drug dealers. And the gig is unappealing at this age. Oh sure, you could always get arrested, but the gig itself...IT'S BORING! And the people who do it are just interested in getting high, screwing and laughing, and if that's all your life is about, I feel sorry for you. Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really care.
I'm bugged about billionaires, bugged about so much of today's world, but once again, when you're running out of runway, you realize all that you're not going to be, all that you're not going to accomplish, and hopefully you're happy with that. If you hated your job until you retired, I feel sorry for you too. What a waste. Yes, I'm being "judgy" as the kids say today, it's part of my personality, sue me. If I can read, listen to music and ski, I think that's enough to make me happy. Then again, I planned to ski at every area in the United States, that'll never happen.
But back to "You Can Close Your Eyes."
Now 1971 was a very good snow year. I skied the day before my birthday at Stowe and there were absolutely no bare spots. And the very next day I went swimming in the quarry. But shortly thereafter, I went with the Zeta Psis for a picnic by the lake. I had no intention of joining the fraternity, but they had Boone's Farm and I was not legal, and they were nice guys, who brought their girls, and for one moment I didn't feel uncomfortable and inferior. We played a little ball, drank some wine and had some good conversations. And I sang "You Can Close Your Eyes" in my mind. That used to be a regular occurrence, before the days of the Walkman, I spent an entire summer in Europe singing songs to myself, mostly those from Todd Rundgren's "Something/Anything?"
"Well the sun is surely sinking down
But the moon is slowly rising
And this old world must still be spinning 'round"
You can see the stars in L.A. now. You look up and it's a cornucopia of brightness, it's thrilling. And even though we're all on edge, the world keeps turning.
Today everybody told me how they were freaked out. Me too, did you read that story about that doctor in Washington, whew! (https://lat.ms/2Xx7gsG)
But you can only be so paranoid, you can only do your best, and hopefully that's good enough.
So tomorrow is another day. Just like today.
All the news is about opening the country for business. It's all a waste of time. Bottom line, the people are in control, we had to be convinced to stay home, and we'll have to be convinced to go out. And if one person dies, they're gonna sue the ass off of whomever or whichever entity told them it was safe. You go first, isn't that what they say?
So I'm planning on being quarantined to June 1st. I can handle that. Hell, it's already been in excess of a month.
But what happens after that?
There'll be no mass gatherings, no concerts, no sports, at least with fans in attendance.
But I'm not thinking that far ahead, I'm in suspended animation, I'm in the now.
And if you think about it, if you kick back and relax, it's not that bad. We've got our Netflix, our Kindles. We've got Zoom, and all the other ways to connect online. And today, things slowed down enough to remind me of...
The way it used to be.
I'm ultra-busy, and I'm not complaining about it. But if you're going really fast, you miss things. Who has time to sit at home and listen to the same songs over and over again?
But I pulled up the new Kenny Chesney and Luke Bryan songs, and they were pretty good. Sure, generic, but they were ear-pleasing. And then I played some of the Spotify Hot Country playlist and I realized this is where rock is. Sure, there are a few too many references to church, there's too much pandering, but there are changes and it's not Jason Isbell, but not that much is.
And Jason Isbell is not James Taylor.
You don't know what you've got till it's gone?
Kinda like John Prine. And Adam Schlesinger. And in the not so distant future, all the classic acts will pass, and many won't be remembered.
But it doesn't really matter, because you won't be here either. Those memories are gonna die with you, but they mean so much to you.
"So close your eyes
You can close your eyes, it's all right
I don't know no love songs
And I can't sing the blues anymore
But I can sing this song
And you can sing this song
When I'm gone"
--
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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Songs About L.A.-SiriusXM This Week
Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2Xz2cEg
Once again, SiriusXM streaming is FREE until May 15th.
Listen today, 4 PM Pacific, 7 PM East, on Volume 106 at:
siriusxm.us/VOLUMESXM
Listen to previous shows on demand:
https://player.siriusxm.com/query/lefsetz
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Once again, SiriusXM streaming is FREE until May 15th.
Listen today, 4 PM Pacific, 7 PM East, on Volume 106 at:
siriusxm.us/VOLUMESXM
Listen to previous shows on demand:
https://player.siriusxm.com/query/lefsetz
--
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Monday, 13 April 2020
More Quibi
They broke the number one rule of the internet.
You start from the bottom up.
Downloads are anemic, because most people are unaware of the product, all the hype has been in traditional news outlets, and the readers of those might have credit cards, but they are not the target audience for a service like this.
Take TikTok... Did you see a carpet bomb promotional campaign? OF COURSE NOT! That would have killed it, the kids can smell a rat.
The kids found TikTok, and the press didn't glom on until Lil Nas X had a hit with "Old Town Road." As for Drake employing TikTok to break his new track big...that paradigm is gonna die, soon, because everybody will be trying to do this and really TikTok is a platform for the users, not the promoters. Think of viral videos on YouTube, everybody was amazed by PSY'S "Gangnam Style," has there been a viral video recently? OF COURSE NOT! After the "Harlem Shake," fully seven years ago, the audience realized it was being manipulated, and refused to be marks. Just like people stopped e-mailing jokes like they did in the AOL era, people stopped e-mailing "viral" videos, there was no excitement there. Right now there's excitement at TikTok, and it might continue, but it won't be built to benefit major label musicians, just like all the talk about YouTube these days is about influencers, nobodies who've gained traction, many of whom have moved on from YouTube to Instagram, the people remain constant, the platforms change.
And it's hard to break a new platform. Bing is pretty good, but after billions it just has a sliver of the search market, and a lot of it is paid for. Google was good enough, people didn't need an alternative. As for content on the handheld device, there are already too many options. Have you ever heard someone complain that there's nothing to watch, do or say on their smartphone?
All of the internet platforms that broke big started small. Can you say YouTube and Instagram and Snapchat? People like the process of discovery, they want to own things, they want to be able to turn others on to them, that's half the fun, they don't like things jammed down their throat.
And there's nothing cool about Quibi, the usual suspects telling us to watch? Don't we have enough Chrissy Teigen anyway? Today celebrities have enough outlets to expose themselves online, can you say Facebook Live?, they're not yearning for more platforms, they're yearning for more eyeballs!
Netflix streaming was new. It broke open with "House of Cards."
Ditto with HBO, "The Sopranos" made it must see TV.
So, if Quibi wanted to do it the right way, they'd have released very little product and waited until they had a hit, and then built upon that, eventually charging. Or at least have a two-tiered system, like Spotify, free with ads and pay without. And Apple would have had no traction with its streaming service if Spotify didn't pave the way.
And it's too late for new platforms anyway. You can't game the system. Everybody's on overload, we don't have time for everything we're paying for already! The new paradigm in TV streaming services is free with ads, because the networks know there's no way the public is going to pay for one more service. But Quibi seems oblivious to this. The outlet could have pivoted, that's the Silicon Valley way, but Katzenberg thinks he knows better. No, Ed Catmull knew better. Katzenberg had a moment, like a rock star, and he thinks he can keep innovating and we'll care, even though after an initial window it's hard for any musician to have another hit.
So, the second day downloads went DOWN! That's heat for you! We see no ramping up, no hockey stick. Sure, Meg Whitman trumpeted 1.7 million downloads since launch, but that's bupkes, and how many apps do you download and not use? I've got Disney+ and Apple TV+. I got both of the apps free, as did many, they came with a Verizon unlimited account and the purchase of an Apple product. I haven't fired up either of the apps since the day I installed them, last fall, there's no programming I have to see.
It used to be about platforms.
Now it's about content.
Used to be you built your fame on someone else's site, and then you broke free and created your own site, hoovered up all those dollars. But now, in an era where you can't get enough attention, where there are so many options, you can no longer do that, be thankful anybody is paying attention at all, even if it's on someone else's site!
And speaking of the media...
Did you catch the multi-page spread on Quibi in the "L.A. Times" yesterday? Almost as much in the "New York Times"? Made me puke. Shows the power of public relations people, but even worse it shows the susceptibility of these "news" outlets. If you think they're independent, and chasing news, you're wrong, oftentimes they're just printing what is fed to them.
Furthermore, this press blast has no lasting impression. It's here today and gone tomorrow. And most of the target market missed it anyway, never mind not caring about it. There's no virality whatsoever.
We've seen this movie again and again in Hollywood, the old powers trying to eclipse the young. Do you remember all those false starts in the music business twenty years ago? The Farm Club? And others I can no longer remember the name of without research firing my synapses (oh, that's right, PressPlay!) Furthermore, it was labeled "Jimmy & Doug"'s, only people in Hollywood would be so self-aggrandizing. The techies let their work speak for itself.
And the techies started with a clean slate. Sony got hung up with MiniDiscs and DRM and missed the MP3 revolution. Furthermore, those stuck in the past can rarely see the future.
So, there's nothing new about Quibi, other than it's chopped-up television. Do you think that's appealing?
But all those investors bet on Katzenberg and Whitman because of what they'd done. But what they'd done had little to do with what they were attempting to do!
Now I doubt Quibi will expire. They'll pivot and declare victory, and the media will repeat the fiction.
But I ask you, based on almost a week's worth of numbers and reviews, are you ready to pay?
OF COURSE NOT!
You start from the bottom up.
Downloads are anemic, because most people are unaware of the product, all the hype has been in traditional news outlets, and the readers of those might have credit cards, but they are not the target audience for a service like this.
Take TikTok... Did you see a carpet bomb promotional campaign? OF COURSE NOT! That would have killed it, the kids can smell a rat.
The kids found TikTok, and the press didn't glom on until Lil Nas X had a hit with "Old Town Road." As for Drake employing TikTok to break his new track big...that paradigm is gonna die, soon, because everybody will be trying to do this and really TikTok is a platform for the users, not the promoters. Think of viral videos on YouTube, everybody was amazed by PSY'S "Gangnam Style," has there been a viral video recently? OF COURSE NOT! After the "Harlem Shake," fully seven years ago, the audience realized it was being manipulated, and refused to be marks. Just like people stopped e-mailing jokes like they did in the AOL era, people stopped e-mailing "viral" videos, there was no excitement there. Right now there's excitement at TikTok, and it might continue, but it won't be built to benefit major label musicians, just like all the talk about YouTube these days is about influencers, nobodies who've gained traction, many of whom have moved on from YouTube to Instagram, the people remain constant, the platforms change.
And it's hard to break a new platform. Bing is pretty good, but after billions it just has a sliver of the search market, and a lot of it is paid for. Google was good enough, people didn't need an alternative. As for content on the handheld device, there are already too many options. Have you ever heard someone complain that there's nothing to watch, do or say on their smartphone?
All of the internet platforms that broke big started small. Can you say YouTube and Instagram and Snapchat? People like the process of discovery, they want to own things, they want to be able to turn others on to them, that's half the fun, they don't like things jammed down their throat.
And there's nothing cool about Quibi, the usual suspects telling us to watch? Don't we have enough Chrissy Teigen anyway? Today celebrities have enough outlets to expose themselves online, can you say Facebook Live?, they're not yearning for more platforms, they're yearning for more eyeballs!
Netflix streaming was new. It broke open with "House of Cards."
Ditto with HBO, "The Sopranos" made it must see TV.
So, if Quibi wanted to do it the right way, they'd have released very little product and waited until they had a hit, and then built upon that, eventually charging. Or at least have a two-tiered system, like Spotify, free with ads and pay without. And Apple would have had no traction with its streaming service if Spotify didn't pave the way.
And it's too late for new platforms anyway. You can't game the system. Everybody's on overload, we don't have time for everything we're paying for already! The new paradigm in TV streaming services is free with ads, because the networks know there's no way the public is going to pay for one more service. But Quibi seems oblivious to this. The outlet could have pivoted, that's the Silicon Valley way, but Katzenberg thinks he knows better. No, Ed Catmull knew better. Katzenberg had a moment, like a rock star, and he thinks he can keep innovating and we'll care, even though after an initial window it's hard for any musician to have another hit.
So, the second day downloads went DOWN! That's heat for you! We see no ramping up, no hockey stick. Sure, Meg Whitman trumpeted 1.7 million downloads since launch, but that's bupkes, and how many apps do you download and not use? I've got Disney+ and Apple TV+. I got both of the apps free, as did many, they came with a Verizon unlimited account and the purchase of an Apple product. I haven't fired up either of the apps since the day I installed them, last fall, there's no programming I have to see.
It used to be about platforms.
Now it's about content.
Used to be you built your fame on someone else's site, and then you broke free and created your own site, hoovered up all those dollars. But now, in an era where you can't get enough attention, where there are so many options, you can no longer do that, be thankful anybody is paying attention at all, even if it's on someone else's site!
And speaking of the media...
Did you catch the multi-page spread on Quibi in the "L.A. Times" yesterday? Almost as much in the "New York Times"? Made me puke. Shows the power of public relations people, but even worse it shows the susceptibility of these "news" outlets. If you think they're independent, and chasing news, you're wrong, oftentimes they're just printing what is fed to them.
Furthermore, this press blast has no lasting impression. It's here today and gone tomorrow. And most of the target market missed it anyway, never mind not caring about it. There's no virality whatsoever.
We've seen this movie again and again in Hollywood, the old powers trying to eclipse the young. Do you remember all those false starts in the music business twenty years ago? The Farm Club? And others I can no longer remember the name of without research firing my synapses (oh, that's right, PressPlay!) Furthermore, it was labeled "Jimmy & Doug"'s, only people in Hollywood would be so self-aggrandizing. The techies let their work speak for itself.
And the techies started with a clean slate. Sony got hung up with MiniDiscs and DRM and missed the MP3 revolution. Furthermore, those stuck in the past can rarely see the future.
So, there's nothing new about Quibi, other than it's chopped-up television. Do you think that's appealing?
But all those investors bet on Katzenberg and Whitman because of what they'd done. But what they'd done had little to do with what they were attempting to do!
Now I doubt Quibi will expire. They'll pivot and declare victory, and the media will repeat the fiction.
But I ask you, based on almost a week's worth of numbers and reviews, are you ready to pay?
OF COURSE NOT!
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News Update-Day 33
Are you still scared?
I'm not seeing anybody face to face, but my anxiety is greatly reduced. The facts are hard to synthesize...Garcetti and Newsom say self-quarantining is flattening the curve, but more people died in L.A. yesterday than ever before. But you don't have to read the papers from cover to cover every day, you don't need to be glued to the news to have an idea of what's going on. It's clear, it's here and you've got to stay home. For how long? WHO KNOWS!
But into this vacuum has seeped analysis.
The big story was in yesterday's "New York Times":
"He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus - An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response.": https://nyti.ms/2yQ8IMi
You might see this as preaching to the choir, the leftist cabal, but as I've written previously, the "New York Times" sets the agenda for the country, it's tossed up on TV and people react to it. Rachel Maddow embellishes it, Fox News tears it apart.
But yesterday...
Chris Wallace confronted the panel with this story.
Then all hell broke loose.
Trump excoriated Wallace, and then Fox host Jedediah Bila bit back at Trump:
"Enough with the 3rd grade name-calling. Chris is doing his job. The news should not be any president's friend, ally, or buddy. If it bothered you when Obama complained about Fox News, but you're silent on this complete nonsense, then just stop. Seriously. Enough."
But it didn't matter. The right was calling for Wallace's head. How did I find, out? Wallace was trending on Twitter. Although I listen to Fox News more than a bit, I do not watch any channel's Sunday shows, they're all spin, news is almost never broken.
And then Trump tweeted Fox's call for Fauci's head, and today the White House denied Fauci was on the chopping block. Then again, everybody else has been subject to the chopping block, the only person who's been immune is Trump himself, and maybe his son-in-law Jared Kushner, because when your back is against the wall, family is everything, it's about all you can rely on.
But irrelevant kerfuffles right? No one's opinion is being changed here.
But today the "Los Angeles Times" piled on:
"'It all could have been different' - Trump administration disbanded team of pandemic experts": https://bit.ly/39ZjZqE
This front page article blames Bolton.
But what's interesting is we're in the post-impeachment world. In other words, these stories are not being revealed to achieve a specific goal, rather they're analyzing what happened, before the government does, which it always does, way too late.
So, once again, now that we're all on the same page, now that spring breakers are not at the beach, now that we all know the consequences of interaction, the story has shifted.
But there are still facts.
The first sailor from that ship just died. You know, the one where the captain was relieved of his duties.
Now there are no mea culpas in the government, certainly not in Trump's administration, but Brett Cozier is living in today's world, where you make your own story, because the system no longer works. That's today's America, nobody abides by the rules, because they just don't work. Supposedly, Cozier didn't follow the chain of command. We can argue whether his statements were leaked or not, but where does sympathy lie when someone dies?
In other words, it's everybody for themselves in America today. If you're obeying orders, you're a chump, no one else is.
Then there's the chloroquine story:
"Small Chloroquine Study Halted Over Risk of Fatal Heart Complications - A research trial of coronavirus patients in Brazil ended after patients taking a higher dose of chloroquine, one of the drugs President Trump has promoted, developed irregular heart rates.": https://nyti.ms/2RzgWPz
Once again, do I think all this is going to change the hearts and minds of the Trumpsters? Absolutely not.
Then again, the DNC is out of touch with reality.
Rachel Bitecofer has gone on and on how it's a waste of time to try and convince those who voted for Trump to come back to the Democrats. Ain't gonna happen. This flow was established over years, it just wasn't Trump. It was NAFTA and the Democrats' focus on corporations as opposed to workers. In other words, the Democrats can only win if they get out the vote.
But they're doing a piss-poor job of that.
The Democrats still believe the war is fought on TV and in the newspapers, when the truth is it's fought online, where the Republicans are so far ahead it'd be funny if so much weren't at risk. Donald Trump has 76.9 million Twitter followers. Joe Biden has 4.8 million. It's like the difference between Drake and your local bar band. And one thing's for sure, the bar band isn't gonna get bigger unless it broadens its focus, plays in other locales, ties up with an entity that can bring the message to millions. But Joe Biden keeps making videos no one sees in his basement and posts an opinion piece in the "New York Times" that is so inconsequential it's laughable. It'd be like the police chief speaking to the academy when there's a riot outside. GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE!
But the Democrats don't know how to do this. Because the DNC is run by oldsters who think they know technology, but don't. Just because you've got an iPhone and a Facebook account, that does not mean you're social media savvy. Here's the dividing line...if you don't know how to launch Zoom and go into Gallery View, get out of the way.
But Mark Cuban has 7.8 million Twitter followers, and he's on TV seemingly every night. People know more about Cuban than they do about Biden, and Cuban is talking about running.
Now Cuban is not a Democrat. And if he does run, who does he negatively impact?
I'd say the Republicans. But I'm not sure. But today Mark Cuban is trusted more than Donald Trump, and Biden isn't even in their league.
The DNC pulled a fast one on Bernie Sanders. Everybody folded their efforts into the losing Biden and he beat out Bernie. Fine, but was Joe the person to put all that effort behind? I mean they would have been better off with Klobuchar or Buttigieg, at least they're living in 2020. But so scared of Bernie, the insiders who are actually outside the public discussion, rallied around the wrong guy. This is what happens when you panic. If Amy or Pete were making pronouncements about Covid-19, people would be listening, especially to Amy, who is still in Congress. But the Democrats freaked out too soon. Especially in a world where Sanders's platform no longer looks left field. Last night John Oliver featured an EMT without health insurance. His job doesn't offer it and the ACA is too expensive. Is this the guy you want coming to your house? And in a time when people are worried about running out of cash, the giveaways are to the corporations and Wall Street titans.
"Too Big to Fail, Covid-19 Edition: How Private Equity Is Winning the Coronavirus Crisis - Private equity has made multibillionaires of executives like Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman (net worth: $17.5 billion) and Apollo's Leon Black ($7.5 billion). Thanks to the $2 trillion bipartisan bailout bill, the industry's coronavirus losses will belong to all of us.": https://bit.ly/34A4hRu
Bottom line: hedge funds control pension money, and that can't be lost, so the funds have to be bailed out. As for you? You're on your own!
But it gets even worse!
Turns out we had the wrong story about fracking, we've been debating the environmental issues when we should have been debating the financial issues:
"Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream - America's energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. All that's left to tally is the damage": https://nyti.ms/2wy6IYi
The fracking boom was a scam. Sure, oil was produced, but at a loss, CONTINUOUSLY!
Meanwhile, the oil producing nations agree on an output cut and the stock market still drops. You can read all about it in the "Wall Street Journal," whose editorial page has been in a fight with Trump. Which is like the Koch Brothers being in a fight with the Mercer family.
In other words, it appears that business has little loyalty to Trump. Trump's true constituency is the people. But the people are broke and dying in this pandemic. And therefore, Trump's approval ratings have gone down.
But that doesn't seem to matter to anybody other than Trump. And Trump is still fundraising like a machine, it's astounding how much cash he's hoovering up. As for Biden? He's looking to the corporations to kick in, nobody else cares. Unless you're rich and have something to lose, you don't want to give Joe anything.
Trump has a bizarre charisma.
Biden barely knows what day it is, he looks more like Grandpa Simpson than a Presidential candidate.
So that's the world we're living in.
Oh, one more thing, if you're not scared already. You must, and I mean YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST, read Paul Krugman's opinion piece from last Friday:
"American Democracy May Be Dying - Authoritarian rule may be just around the corner.": https://nyti.ms/2K2k9mt
This explains the election in Wisconsin. Be afraid, be very afraid. It was all about getting a Republican Supreme Court judge elected. The Republicans figured city folk would vote against him, so they only had five polling places open in Milwaukee, instead of the usual one hundred and eighty.
Meanwhile, the latest studies say that voting by mail doesn't hurt the Republicans at all. And even nitwit Georgian governor Kemp allowed the state's primary to be delayed.
So, what have we learned here?
Most people are not paying attention. Now that they feel safe inside, they're tuning out the news, especially anything that involves pointing fingers, that isn't relevant to them today.
And we've also learned that nothing sticks to Trump.
And that despite all this news, the Democrats have no plan to defeat Trump in November other than Trump himself. There's no agenda, no platform that people know about, that resonates.
We are in the midst of a giant sea change in American culture. The retirement of the baby boomers and the subsequent power of the millennials (Gen-X, once again, has lost out, being skipped over).
Unfortunately, Trump is more in tune with the millennials than Biden. He understands it's a fast-moving culture where the truth is buried by the next event and the most important thing is to keep your name in the online scuttlebutt.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are running on old political theories. That people want gradual change and young people don't vote. It might actually work this time, but it's hard not to sleep with one eye open.
And when it comes to business as usual...are you willing to go to a restaurant, are you willing to go to the office? Ultimately, the end of self-quarantining will be decided by the people, not the government. Just like they had to be convinced to stay home, they'll have to be convinced to go out, and that won't happen instantaneously, no one wants to die.
And they keep dying.
Some, like Boris Johnson, recover.
But, triage is now even being done in the United States, if you're over seventy with a preexisting condition, good luck.
So both parties and business depend upon you being ignorant, easily swayed with disinformation. So now is the time to educate yourself.
But in a country where lying is de rigueur and facts are fungible, don't expect a sea change in public sentiment. People still believe they're going to win the lottery.
The odds of getting the coronavirus are much higher.
--
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--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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I'm not seeing anybody face to face, but my anxiety is greatly reduced. The facts are hard to synthesize...Garcetti and Newsom say self-quarantining is flattening the curve, but more people died in L.A. yesterday than ever before. But you don't have to read the papers from cover to cover every day, you don't need to be glued to the news to have an idea of what's going on. It's clear, it's here and you've got to stay home. For how long? WHO KNOWS!
But into this vacuum has seeped analysis.
The big story was in yesterday's "New York Times":
"He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus - An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response.": https://nyti.ms/2yQ8IMi
You might see this as preaching to the choir, the leftist cabal, but as I've written previously, the "New York Times" sets the agenda for the country, it's tossed up on TV and people react to it. Rachel Maddow embellishes it, Fox News tears it apart.
But yesterday...
Chris Wallace confronted the panel with this story.
Then all hell broke loose.
Trump excoriated Wallace, and then Fox host Jedediah Bila bit back at Trump:
"Enough with the 3rd grade name-calling. Chris is doing his job. The news should not be any president's friend, ally, or buddy. If it bothered you when Obama complained about Fox News, but you're silent on this complete nonsense, then just stop. Seriously. Enough."
But it didn't matter. The right was calling for Wallace's head. How did I find, out? Wallace was trending on Twitter. Although I listen to Fox News more than a bit, I do not watch any channel's Sunday shows, they're all spin, news is almost never broken.
And then Trump tweeted Fox's call for Fauci's head, and today the White House denied Fauci was on the chopping block. Then again, everybody else has been subject to the chopping block, the only person who's been immune is Trump himself, and maybe his son-in-law Jared Kushner, because when your back is against the wall, family is everything, it's about all you can rely on.
But irrelevant kerfuffles right? No one's opinion is being changed here.
But today the "Los Angeles Times" piled on:
"'It all could have been different' - Trump administration disbanded team of pandemic experts": https://bit.ly/39ZjZqE
This front page article blames Bolton.
But what's interesting is we're in the post-impeachment world. In other words, these stories are not being revealed to achieve a specific goal, rather they're analyzing what happened, before the government does, which it always does, way too late.
So, once again, now that we're all on the same page, now that spring breakers are not at the beach, now that we all know the consequences of interaction, the story has shifted.
But there are still facts.
The first sailor from that ship just died. You know, the one where the captain was relieved of his duties.
Now there are no mea culpas in the government, certainly not in Trump's administration, but Brett Cozier is living in today's world, where you make your own story, because the system no longer works. That's today's America, nobody abides by the rules, because they just don't work. Supposedly, Cozier didn't follow the chain of command. We can argue whether his statements were leaked or not, but where does sympathy lie when someone dies?
In other words, it's everybody for themselves in America today. If you're obeying orders, you're a chump, no one else is.
Then there's the chloroquine story:
"Small Chloroquine Study Halted Over Risk of Fatal Heart Complications - A research trial of coronavirus patients in Brazil ended after patients taking a higher dose of chloroquine, one of the drugs President Trump has promoted, developed irregular heart rates.": https://nyti.ms/2RzgWPz
Once again, do I think all this is going to change the hearts and minds of the Trumpsters? Absolutely not.
Then again, the DNC is out of touch with reality.
Rachel Bitecofer has gone on and on how it's a waste of time to try and convince those who voted for Trump to come back to the Democrats. Ain't gonna happen. This flow was established over years, it just wasn't Trump. It was NAFTA and the Democrats' focus on corporations as opposed to workers. In other words, the Democrats can only win if they get out the vote.
But they're doing a piss-poor job of that.
The Democrats still believe the war is fought on TV and in the newspapers, when the truth is it's fought online, where the Republicans are so far ahead it'd be funny if so much weren't at risk. Donald Trump has 76.9 million Twitter followers. Joe Biden has 4.8 million. It's like the difference between Drake and your local bar band. And one thing's for sure, the bar band isn't gonna get bigger unless it broadens its focus, plays in other locales, ties up with an entity that can bring the message to millions. But Joe Biden keeps making videos no one sees in his basement and posts an opinion piece in the "New York Times" that is so inconsequential it's laughable. It'd be like the police chief speaking to the academy when there's a riot outside. GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE!
But the Democrats don't know how to do this. Because the DNC is run by oldsters who think they know technology, but don't. Just because you've got an iPhone and a Facebook account, that does not mean you're social media savvy. Here's the dividing line...if you don't know how to launch Zoom and go into Gallery View, get out of the way.
But Mark Cuban has 7.8 million Twitter followers, and he's on TV seemingly every night. People know more about Cuban than they do about Biden, and Cuban is talking about running.
Now Cuban is not a Democrat. And if he does run, who does he negatively impact?
I'd say the Republicans. But I'm not sure. But today Mark Cuban is trusted more than Donald Trump, and Biden isn't even in their league.
The DNC pulled a fast one on Bernie Sanders. Everybody folded their efforts into the losing Biden and he beat out Bernie. Fine, but was Joe the person to put all that effort behind? I mean they would have been better off with Klobuchar or Buttigieg, at least they're living in 2020. But so scared of Bernie, the insiders who are actually outside the public discussion, rallied around the wrong guy. This is what happens when you panic. If Amy or Pete were making pronouncements about Covid-19, people would be listening, especially to Amy, who is still in Congress. But the Democrats freaked out too soon. Especially in a world where Sanders's platform no longer looks left field. Last night John Oliver featured an EMT without health insurance. His job doesn't offer it and the ACA is too expensive. Is this the guy you want coming to your house? And in a time when people are worried about running out of cash, the giveaways are to the corporations and Wall Street titans.
"Too Big to Fail, Covid-19 Edition: How Private Equity Is Winning the Coronavirus Crisis - Private equity has made multibillionaires of executives like Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman (net worth: $17.5 billion) and Apollo's Leon Black ($7.5 billion). Thanks to the $2 trillion bipartisan bailout bill, the industry's coronavirus losses will belong to all of us.": https://bit.ly/34A4hRu
Bottom line: hedge funds control pension money, and that can't be lost, so the funds have to be bailed out. As for you? You're on your own!
But it gets even worse!
Turns out we had the wrong story about fracking, we've been debating the environmental issues when we should have been debating the financial issues:
"Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever Dream - America's energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. All that's left to tally is the damage": https://nyti.ms/2wy6IYi
The fracking boom was a scam. Sure, oil was produced, but at a loss, CONTINUOUSLY!
Meanwhile, the oil producing nations agree on an output cut and the stock market still drops. You can read all about it in the "Wall Street Journal," whose editorial page has been in a fight with Trump. Which is like the Koch Brothers being in a fight with the Mercer family.
In other words, it appears that business has little loyalty to Trump. Trump's true constituency is the people. But the people are broke and dying in this pandemic. And therefore, Trump's approval ratings have gone down.
But that doesn't seem to matter to anybody other than Trump. And Trump is still fundraising like a machine, it's astounding how much cash he's hoovering up. As for Biden? He's looking to the corporations to kick in, nobody else cares. Unless you're rich and have something to lose, you don't want to give Joe anything.
Trump has a bizarre charisma.
Biden barely knows what day it is, he looks more like Grandpa Simpson than a Presidential candidate.
So that's the world we're living in.
Oh, one more thing, if you're not scared already. You must, and I mean YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST, read Paul Krugman's opinion piece from last Friday:
"American Democracy May Be Dying - Authoritarian rule may be just around the corner.": https://nyti.ms/2K2k9mt
This explains the election in Wisconsin. Be afraid, be very afraid. It was all about getting a Republican Supreme Court judge elected. The Republicans figured city folk would vote against him, so they only had five polling places open in Milwaukee, instead of the usual one hundred and eighty.
Meanwhile, the latest studies say that voting by mail doesn't hurt the Republicans at all. And even nitwit Georgian governor Kemp allowed the state's primary to be delayed.
So, what have we learned here?
Most people are not paying attention. Now that they feel safe inside, they're tuning out the news, especially anything that involves pointing fingers, that isn't relevant to them today.
And we've also learned that nothing sticks to Trump.
And that despite all this news, the Democrats have no plan to defeat Trump in November other than Trump himself. There's no agenda, no platform that people know about, that resonates.
We are in the midst of a giant sea change in American culture. The retirement of the baby boomers and the subsequent power of the millennials (Gen-X, once again, has lost out, being skipped over).
Unfortunately, Trump is more in tune with the millennials than Biden. He understands it's a fast-moving culture where the truth is buried by the next event and the most important thing is to keep your name in the online scuttlebutt.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are running on old political theories. That people want gradual change and young people don't vote. It might actually work this time, but it's hard not to sleep with one eye open.
And when it comes to business as usual...are you willing to go to a restaurant, are you willing to go to the office? Ultimately, the end of self-quarantining will be decided by the people, not the government. Just like they had to be convinced to stay home, they'll have to be convinced to go out, and that won't happen instantaneously, no one wants to die.
And they keep dying.
Some, like Boris Johnson, recover.
But, triage is now even being done in the United States, if you're over seventy with a preexisting condition, good luck.
So both parties and business depend upon you being ignorant, easily swayed with disinformation. So now is the time to educate yourself.
But in a country where lying is de rigueur and facts are fungible, don't expect a sea change in public sentiment. People still believe they're going to win the lottery.
The odds of getting the coronavirus are much higher.
--
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
--
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