48 vs. 192

I can hear the difference, it's very subtle, but at 192 the tracks sound more open, it's like someone blew away the building I'd been listening to previously, at 48.

Not that all audio experts will agree with me. Not that many people will have any idea what I'm talking about.

You see there's a streaming audio revolution. The bitch twenty years ago was about the sound quality of MP3s. They were compressed, data was thrown away, they sounded inherently inferior...mostly to the people who made the music and those who were anti-internet, but as for the public...MP3s sounded just fine, especially since their playback equipment was so primitive, so limited.

Apple used AAC, a different codec, and ultimately bumped everything from 128 to 256 and...it was hard to find any complaints.

But there still were some. From the same anti-streaming audio, pro-CD people on the creator side, but they'd never read Clayton Christensen's "Innovator's Dilemma," which states that disruption comes from outside the box, away from the mainstream, and at first it's cheap and of poor quality and then it gets better and it ultimately displaces the status quo. And now we have CD quality streaming, even better than that, we've now got 192kHz, assuming you have the DAC to decode it, which few do. But at least Apple can say they're offering this quality, something Amazon offered already, and unlike Apple's tracks you don't have to change any settings to listen in higher resolution, but with both you need a DAC to listen at 192kHz.

Now if you're into headphones, you know they sound much better with amplification. But the truth is most people today are listening on AirPods, they're the status symbol Sennheiser and its brethren used to be. But the truth is Sennheiser sold its headphone division this year, it can't keep up, what the public demands is the opposite of what the company specializes in. The public wants cheap and wireless, and certainly doesn't want to pay much for audio quality, which you can't really hear on cheap headphones anyway. Furthermore, the standard is now Bluetooth, which is inherently substandard. You might think you want Bluetooth, but this is the selling point of Sonos, transmission in high quality sound up to 24 bit/48kHz, but not yet 24 bit/192kHz. Then again, Sonos has even bowed to the crowd and now allows Bluetooth and even AirPlay on its recent portable products like the Move, and the astounding Roam. But do you want to play $169 for a tiny portable speaker? You will if you hear it, it far outstrips the quality of comparable products, then again many see this as too high a price.

So there's been a lot of noise re the Apple lossless products. Unfortunately it's been trumped by the botched launch of its Atmos remixes, not that the final chapter has been written, then again quad and surround never caught fire, what you've got is cool technology that most people don't need, like lossless audio, especially at 192kHz.

Now the truth is my iMac supports 192kHz digital audio, but you have to have a TOSLINK optical cable to hear it, and I don't, have the cable that is. But if I did, I could listen to Amazon Music at 192.

So today I've been playing the music of an act I wanted to write about last night and then I shifted to something else and for some reason I thought about quality and that's when I saw the Cypher Labs Theorem 720 DAC that the company sent me when I had no real use for it (although there is an amplifier in the unit too, but I'd been using the ALO International for that) sitting atop the box for my Sennheiser HD800 headphones. I decided to check it out.

You've got to follow the instructions with electronic equipment, it's easy to blow stuff up, I've done it. Not that it's hard, but not that the instructions are that good. And ultimately I figured it out. But then I wondered if the International would be just as good, but my research told me the Theorem would be better re the DAC, so...

Now superior sound requires superior equipment to hear it. So I plugged in a pair of $700 Audeze headphones, but the sound was too bright, there really wasn't enough power to drive them properly, so then I plugged in my Sennheiser HD800s, for years considered the absolute best headphones, with a price tag to match, but there wasn't enough power to drive them to a reasonable loudness. So then I went into the house and got my go-to headphones, Sennheiser HD 595s, which were in the neighborhood of $200+ fifteen years ago, not that I paid for any of these pairs. And I plugged them in and...

The truth is headphones are not a speaker experience, you get clarity but you don't get the bottom, but...

Everything worked swimmingly on Amazon Music, but it switches automatically.

So I did the research on Apple Music and found I had to go into the settings on my iPhone, where I had three options:

"High Quality AAC 256kbps"

"Lossless ALAC up to 24 bit/48kHz"

"High-Resolution Lossless ALAC up to 24 bit/192kHz"

And then I started listening. To James Taylor's "Greatest Hits"...like I said, quiet works better on headphones. And the songs were playing while I was researching online and then I was stopped in my tracks by the sound, it was so much more clear and present than what I was used to, on a track that's far from my favorite, "You've Got A Friend."

Now the truth is that was on Amazon Music HD, but I immediately switched to Apple Lossless and heard the same sounds and now I got excited.

I mean it used to be different, we wanted to get closer to the music, hear things nobody else could. I remember listening to "Strawberry Fields Forever" via headphones and hearing "I'm very cold" at the end, a year and a half later they said it was "I buried Paul," but no one talked about these words at all before that point, because almost no one heard them!

Now at first I thought Amazon Music HD sounded a bit better than Apple Lossless, but let's leave that for another day, at least I was now listening to both in 192, and I hadn't been this close to the music in eons.

Now the truth is I love James, but I was not in the mood for his music, so I switched to Led Zeppelin and I started with "Physical Graffiti" but then I wanted something simpler, a bit airier, I went back to the first album, and it was "Dazed and Confused" that mesmerized me. It was John Paul Jones's bass. It was no longer a sound, it was an INSTRUMENT! Instead of narrow, the sound was broad. And I kept switching between the three sound choice qualities. And honestly, for most people 256 was plenty good, but if you have superior equipment and care, the 48kHz lossless was definitely superior, and then at 192 it was not only John Paul Jones's bass, but Bonzo's cymbals at the beginning of "Good Times Bad Times," he's been dead for forty years, but I could see him in my mind's eye sitting behind the kit hitting the cymbals and then a wooden block or cowbell softly and suddenly I was not listening to the music, I was IN IT!

And the fatness of Jimmy's guitar, the slight distortion. WHEW!!

And the more I listened, the more I was into it.

Now my experiment had told me I could hear the difference between 48 and 192, but I know audio engineers oftentimes say no so I started researching online and almost instantly I read the words of an engineer who said he couldn't hear the difference on each and every track/instrument, but when it was all mixed together, 192 was more open. EXACTLY!

So, the truth is this is an argument between very few, and there will never be a definitive conclusion, because we can't measure people's hearing, can't get insight statistically into their brains.

But the listening experience at this audio quality is definitely different.

I mean it's Saturday and I've spent all afternoon listening to music, getting closer. And not only is the experience out of date, but so is the music, because now most music is made on the cheap, it's made to be disposable, and in any event it's compressed in mastering to jump out at you losing all subtlety in the process. Ever notice your old vinyl is so much quieter than your CDs?

Of course I listened to Supertramp's "Crime of the Century," one of the best engineered albums ever.

And the truth is way back when, when half speed mastering was a thing, I bought "Crime of the Century" and also Heart's debut, because I didn't own it all, and I wanted it.

And the truth is "Dreamboat Annie" was cut up north by the less experienced, but when "Magic Man" came on I woke up, my head turned, wow, the sound!

Now the truth is some of the best music doesn't sound that good, and it is about the feel more than the detail, but back when musicians were an elite breed who were gods for their creativity not their brand extensions, we needed to get closer.

And today I am, more than ever.

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Donda

Maybe Kanye never should have put it out.

If you haven't been paying attention, Kanye West kept tweaking his album, and he held multiple listening parties in preparation for the final release. As a matter of fact, he's still arguing with Universal over the final release.

Anyway, the listening parties in Atlanta and Chicago were boffo at the b.o. Millions.

And then the album came out.

The instant reviews were positive, but by the next day not so much.

If you go to Metacritic, where they list and then average all the reviews, "Donda" has a 53 out of 100 from the critics and a 6.3 out of 10 from the public.

These are not good numbers.

Then again, if you check the U.S. Spotify Top 50, Kanye is all over it. It's literally half of the chart, 25 out of 50. Internationally not so much, where "Donda" has only 11 of the 50 spots. Proving that it's a great big world out there, and in the myopic USA we oftentimes don't see what is happening overseas. But the bottom line is this is amazing penetration. Not seen since the release of Morgan Wallen's "Dangerous," which has a 72 out of 100 critics score on Metacritic, and a 6.4 out of 10 from the public. Then again, country music fans don't tend to post on Metacritic, in the eight months since the release of "Dangerous" only 8 people have reviewed it, whereas 2,333 users have already reviewed "Donda" in less than a week.

So, looking at recent history, there's mania after initial release, but Kanye's new albums fall out of the Spotify Top 50 quite quickly. Make no mistake, Kanye's going to make bank from "Donda," at least for a while, but looking at recent history, it won't sustain.

But interestingly, Kanye is not bothering to play today's insider game that renders the "Billboard" Top Ten inaccurate and ultimately worthless, where #1 is manipulated by selling high-priced vinyl and other packages. Kanye is actually selling a Stem Player on his website, but this doesn't count on the chart. In other words, Kanye knows the truth, he's bigger than the chart. If you're playing the chart game you've already lost, you're not as big as you think you are, you're actually working against yourself, you're marginalizing yourself, you may be appealing to the media but the music business is driven first and foremost by fans, from the bottom up, as opposed to yesteryear when majors anointed albums, manipulated all important radio and determined stars from the top down.

Kanye has got a huge fan base.

But just imagine if he'd never released "Donda" publicly, to streaming services, at all. Then we'd have true mania, you'd have to go to the show to hear it. And Kanye is constantly changing it, so every night is different!

To play a record costs much less than putting on a complete show/stage performance. But people were paying beaucoup bucks to be inside the stadium, it was an event, they did not want to be left out, one could brag they'd gone. This is radically different from the prominent paradigm today, where acts rehearse, get the show down, align it with triggers for production as well as music and it's the same in each and every burg. Most shows are just an advertisement for the underlying record(s), whereas with Kanye it's all about him and once again, he's creating an event.

This is how it used to be, primarily before production and the feeling that one must replicate one's MTV video on stage. Shows lived and breathed, set lists were not always identical, each gig was special.

The jam bands have continued this tradition. People go to multiple shows, they're completists, they don't want to miss a thing. Which is another reason why the Dead & Company tour is so huge. Better to get this coverage in the "New York Times" Style section than be number one in some lame article reproducing the chart:

"When the Parking Lot Is Its Own Strange Trip - Outside Dead & Company shows, a tradition started by the Grateful Dead lives on, vivid uniforms and all.": https://nyti.ms/38JiHBG

There's no new recorded music at all. Everything's an oldie, but no performance is identical. There's a culture, a scene, which is what the photos in the above article represent. By going you become a member of a club. And believe me, those who went to Kanye's listening party felt the same way. Never mind all the Phish fans.

All the money is on the road anyway.

So Kanye plays his record and...

Videos and audio recordings don't come close to replicating the sound, never mind finding it impossible to capture the vibe of the event. And if professional "tapers" get involved, you generate a huge cadre of traders, needing to hear last night's show, needing to hear everything!

Kanye can't go on the road and do listening parties anymore, the album is out. Now he has to tour with a complete show. But if he never released the album to the public...

All this bitching about recorded music revenues is missing the point. The script has been flipped, the truly valuable acts, the ones that sustain and make all the money...the recordings are ancillary, they're just the kindling. In most cases these acts don't even need new music to tour! And the music is primary, absolutely. This is completely different from videos with product placement, endorsements...it's all about the music.

And the event.

Kanye took a risk.

Maybe someone else will too.


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The Texas Laws

It's the left you have to worry about.

For years, we've been told to fear the right. They've got the guns. They've got an echo chamber of Fox News and right wing radio. They even believe in QAnon. You don't want to anger them because they're gonna show up at your house, they're gonna camp on the statehouse steps, they're going to invade the Capitol.

Now the insurrection...people told them to do it. It's not like it was a secret. Almost no one expected them to breach the Capitol, but everybody knew a rally was planned, to support the inane belief that Trump had been cheated, that he'd actually won the election.

And since the election, southern states have clamped down on voting rights. The Republicans changed their strategy, they realized they couldn't win on the national level, and therefore they focused on the states. And now we've got the Texas six week abortion law. And open carry. And voter suppression, under the guise of voter security.

So if you're inside the bubble, you're smiling, pinching yourself, it hasn't been this good in eons, maybe forever!

But it's not only the rank and file, it's the news institutions. "The New York Times" has been neutered. As has been Fauci. If it's run by the left, it's no good. Ergo supporting Trump in his deal with the Taliban to pull out of Afghanistan, but excoriating Biden when he actually does so. And we can debate the smoothness of the extraction all day long, but these flip-flopping officials and pundits wanted the U.S. to stay there! And there are foreign policy hawks on both the left and the right. Afraid of the bogeyman, they never say no. Communism was not only going to come to Vietnam, further dominoes were going to fall thereafter. They say our exit from Afghanistan sets the table for Chinese influence. Then again, if the Russians and the United States couldn't make lasting progress in Afghanistan, maybe no one can. The territory has been fought over for centuries.

And McCarthy is telling corporations not to cough up data on the January 6th insurrection. It's a full court press. If I write anything political, it's the right I hear from, they're working the refs 24/7, trying to make you doubt yourself, about speaking up. The right sets the agenda and the left cowers. Hell, look at supposed Democrat Joe Manchin, he's more afraid of the Republicans than he is of those in his own damn party!

As for the legal system...

People have little faith in it anymore. The richest, most prominent people, lie on the stand, and the appointment of judges has become completely political. Ergo the Supreme Court. Which resulted in yesterday's decision not to stay the enforcement of the Texas abortion law.

But the Democrats are mostly silent. Unsure exactly who their constituency is, afraid of pissing off the progressives and at the same time afraid of pissing off a theoretical middle. If you're looking for leadership, you're not going to get it from a Democratic politician.

But then we had that pesky little event last spring. A policeman kneels on a black man in Minnesota who then dies...AND ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!

What do we know, George Floyd was no picnic, he didn't have a clean record. Then again, did you read about Beverly Hills' crackdown on crime? They arrested 106 people, 105 black and 1 Latino. It's hard to be a person of color and not have a record.

Anyway, George Floyd dies and there are protests not only in Minnesota, not only in the United States, BUT ALL OVER THE WORLD!

We can argue all day long about the ultimate results of said protest, but one thing is for sure, the world came out in force, far in excess of any protest on a right wing issue. Because this one man died.

Remind you of the Arab Spring?

One college educated fruit vendor in Tunisia gets pissed about harassment and lack of opportunity and he sets himself on fire and the whole region is destabilized. After decades of in many cases iron fist rule. Unfortunately, after brief democratic experiments authoritarians moved in, but I'm talking here about the conflagration. It's not like there was a build-up, it's not like anybody could see this coming, just like no one could see the protests in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Which is a talking point for the right. Look at the destruction! That was their response re the Capitol invasion on 1/6. It's always a false equivalency, they start talking and won't shut up and hope to tire you out. But were the George Floyd protests really like 1/6? Let me see, was there damage to infrastructure last spring? Absolutely! Did anybody demand that the entire system of government be thrown overboard, invade the Capitol and threaten to kill elected officials? Of course not. It's not even the same conversation. But on the right...

But the right is now self-satisfied. Hell, McConnell stacked the Supreme Court. But soon they're going to stack one too many things on the edifice and the left will awaken and tear down the entire enterprise. I can't tell you when it's going to happen, but between the ridiculous recall in California, with so much money spent by a minority in what appears to be a completely fruitless effort, and the endless push of their agenda, the right never sleeps, if you think the left is completely somnambulant and will suffer any indignity, you're just plain wrong.

And it's the left that's got the numbers on its side. Forget the electoral college, Democrats won the Presidential election popular vote handily in both 2016 and 2020. Gerrymandering and an antique system wherein North Dakota gets as many Senators as California has resulted in the tyranny of the minority. And history is laden with revolts upon said paradigm. When the majority of the public is on the side of the government, not so much. But when an authoritarian is clamping down on the majority, blowback happens not only in Tunisia, but in France, remember the famous phrase "let them eat cake"? It's hard to even get unemployment in many red states, including Florida. As for the canard that unemployment checks were keeping people from getting jobs...turns out in states where government payments were not stricken, the jobs numbers were nearly identical to where they were, and this is not only the "New York Times" speaking, but the "Wall Street Journal" too.

And then there are the states that refuse to take federal money for Medicaid. Now the truth is people are hurt by this, individuals, you can stand on principle all day long, but these policies have effects. Just like wars kill people, done deal. You want to go over there, you want to die? I didn't think so.

So what is going to break the left's back?

Sotomayor went ballistic on her fellow Supremes. Let's not forget, supposed right winger Roberts voted with the Dems. And if the playing field had been level, Kavanaugh and Barrett never would have been appointed, it would be two Democrats, and the Texas laws would be stopped. Don't think those on the left aren't aware of the weaseling of McConnell. You think people are ignorant, but they're not that ignorant when it affects them personally, and if you've never been worried your girlfriend is pregnant, you've never had sex.

But the same party that says their bodies are inviolate want to have dominion over yours. Forget the logic, it hasn't worked up to now, they don't see the hypocrisy, because that's not what it's about, truth and justice, it's just about getting what they want.

And they're afraid that vaccine passports will be akin to giving Hitler power over them, but then they turn the entire populace of Texas into government agents, tattling on others, sounds exactly like East Germany to me.

But the left sits here and takes it, over and over and over again. To the point that the right is patting itself on the back. It's working! Fight every point of the left's agenda, manipulate the game so you win.

But this isn't sports, it's people's lives.

So am I worried about living in an authoritarian country run by the Trumpers? ABSOLUTELY! But after the enactment of the new Texas laws I know we'll never get that far, not at first. The right believes the left are pushovers, that they can do anything and get away with it. But now the metaphorical battered women are dying. And those in a similar position are agitated and on guard, they know what they've got to lose, and they're ready to rise up when just the lightest feather is added to the right wing pile. It won't be a major event that wakes up the left, it'll be the smallest thing, which will have major consequences.

In the south one Black woman didn't want to sit in the back of the bus and the entire region erupted, they came from the north in support.

And these new laws affect everybody. If you don't know a Catholic family with an abortion, you know no Catholics. Because when push comes to shove, they know the baby will ruin the person's life. As for rape and incest? Almost no one is anti-abortion re those. As for open carry? Statistics tell us even in Texas they're against it. But the right keeps pushing and pushing and when they get away with it they push a little more. It's a scorched earth policy, every issue is black or white. You're on their side or you don't count. They're organized, the left is disorganized, but there's a lot of disgruntlement on the left.

The arts are secondary to politics in today's world. If I write anything political I get light years more e-mails in response. And isn't it interesting that the right always says to stay in your lane, when they're certainly not staying in theirs.

If there's not an adjustment, there's going to be a realignment. It'll be something relatively trivial that is going to wake up the beast, it'll be like the George Floyd protests on steroids. And they'll far outweigh the numbers on the right, who won't even see it coming.

But it is.


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Suzi Quatro-This Week's Podcast

Suzi Quatro is a trip! You're gonna dig this podcast even if you've never heard any of her hit singles or seen her on "Happy Days" or read any of her books or seen her on stage or listened to her radio show... Suzi is open and honest about everything, displaying her Detroit roots despite living in the U.K. for decades. Suzi needed to make it, and she's still out there doing it. It was a blast talking to her!

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7mNnGcWF1txHIqfqE6tc3C?si=eyaeT26gQBWyQlzQGg_gug&dl_branch=1

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast


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Biden Plays Offense

The media is not prepared for a Democrat who doesn't apologize.

For over twenty years, the Republicans have set the agenda and the Democrats have reacted. And you can't win playing defense the entire time.

As for the media?

It lost a lot of credibility supporting the Bush (Cheney) incursions/wars in the Middle East. It didn't root out the facts, that Saddam Hussein had no WMDs, and was so fearful of appearing pacifist, it was rah-rah and lost its role as an independent arbiter. Ironically, at the same time TV and internet news became partisan.

Meanwhile, the Democrats were squabbling within, and at the same time losing control of their constituency, and their pulse on America. Let's not forget, globalization flourished under Democrats, and globalization is inevitable, but there was no provision for shoring up the lives of those displaced, who ultimately realized the Democrats were mostly talk and little action and then switched parties to the Republicans, who were as angry as them, despite still being in service to the fat cats.

That's income inequality, goosed by St. Reagan. Our country has never been the same since. Because if you earn a billion dollars, you think you're better than the rest of us. Come on, would we be listening to Bill Gates if he didn't have all that money? No, it'd be some academic, someone with history in the field, but in America today, money trumps everything.

So the Democrats detach from their base. It is an issue of elitism. Yes, the elite ran the Republican agenda too, but they mostly operated behind the scenes, a lot of them inherited their wealth and position, whereas the Democrats worked hard to get where they were, via education and innovation, and they had contempt for the little people, but they did not realize the little people knew it, and couldn't be controlled.

So the country becomes radicalized technologically. We have a government that cannot function in today's digital world, if for no other reason than elected officials do not understand how it works, are not familiar with its ins and outs. Happens all the time, Congress brings in techies for hearings too late, after the fact, and then nothing happens. Facebook buys WhatsApp and nobody in D.C. seems to understand the power of that platform, maybe because its strength was overseas, where it ruled. And those in D.C. thought the aughts would continue forever, with new hardware and new apps, not realizing it was a game of musical chairs with the end result being a handful of gargantuan companies that became too hard to mess with. Come on, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon...they're bigger than the country. China realizes this, and the irony is these companies completely back down, to stay in business, because money is king, but in the U.S. not only do they operate unfettered, they act with impunity, they push back, or pay a little lip service and then go back to their heinous ways.

Gateways... Amazon is where people do research for products, not Google. And if you don't play by Amazon's rules, you can't get on the platform and the chance of your business being successful is almost nil. Google truly controls information. But it's all in the algorithm, no human is involved. And the search engine got so good that almost no one goes beyond the first or second result. So if you're below... Furthermore, everybody gets different results, even to the same damn question! Microsoft misses so much but gets rid of Ballmer and focuses on its corporate customers and the cloud and is about to overtake Apple as the world's most valuable company. As for Apple... The truth is it's very profitable, but waning in influence. Their handsets, their cash cow, may have a healthy market share in the U.S., but elsewhere? As for their App Store rules...they only matter because Apple punches far above its weight in apps, because the elite are on iPhones. As for the hoi polloi on Android? They can't even update the operating system and their phones and app stores are riddled with viruses and scams, but Android is not as sexy as Apple, so it doesn't get the attention, those in D.C. are too stupid to look at the facts as opposed to focusing on the hubbub. As for Facebook? For four years we've known it's a repository for inaccurate information, and that it thrives on sensationalism, but what has changed since the election of Trump? Almost nothing!

So you've got the media and D.C. believing they're in touch with both business and the public when that is patently untrue. Come on, the media completely missed Trump's rise in 2016. Anybody who actually interacted with his constituency was aware of the strength of his position, he channeled people's anger while Hillary was oblivious. And then she labels people deplorables and all hell breaks loose and she apologizes...when the truth is they were and still are deplorables, look at America today, where ignorance and agendas based on falsehoods are badges of honor! Hillary came from her husband's camp, triangulating, never go with your gut, get everybody's advice and then try to appeal to the most people, which has been history since the advent of the internet. Hillary couldn't own that our country was divided and be the leader of one side, as a result her mushy, uninformed campaign was doomed. When things are bad, you need a leader. And many Republicans thought things were bad and we got Trump.

Who never ever apologized in his life. He came from the world of a controlled spotlight into the glare of the world stage and didn't change a whit. Come on, so much of what you read about entertainment is just complete B.S. No one calls the perpetrators on this crap because they don't believe it really matters. That's Trump's background. Smoke and mirrors. But he ascends to the throne and acts the same damn way!

But even worse, the establishment, the press, believes he will play rationally and abide by the rules. And fearful of being beaten up by the right, the left wing media prints false equivalencies, so fearful of looking biased when the media on the other side of the fence so clearly is.

And then the younger generation comes in. AOC.

Funny, she doesn't back down either. And what those who decry her don't understand is many on the left, especially those skewing young, finally believe they have someone who is fighting for them. And, an educated woman of color! Forever, woman and minorities have been told to shut up and wait their turn. The white establishment even neutered affirmative action. But AOC doesn't care about any of that, she jumps to the head of the class, ignores the rules. And the funny thing is as everybody keeps beating up on her, both the left and the right, it's only the right who glom on to the paradigm wholeheartedly. Ergo, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. Two wackadoodles who you can't take seriously on the surface, but they represent their base so they got elected. What do we hear on the left? Play to the center! We've got to appeal to everybody. Let's do it the old way. Meanwhile, after last November's election AOC doubles-down and says if only they employed her playbook they would have won...which was utilization of the internet. But the old pols playing by the old rules still spend money on TV, reaching ever fewer, but since it skews old and a greater percentage of old people vote, they say it's the right thing. It'd be like playing in internet land with no knowledge of it. Actually, that's exactly what it was!

And this same media said Biden had no chance, and then he won. Proving, once again, the media has got its head up its ass, if you're looking for someone to tell you where it's going, don't listen to a reporter, the talking heads on TV are even worse.

So, Biden gets elected and...

Goes his own way.

But stumbles on infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the story in the media is 2022. They can't stop weighing the odds, following the horse race, as if that's the most important story. Actually, we've got a government, what is happening now!

And then comes Afghanistan. Something the mainstream media ignored, believing it didn't garner eyeballs, didn't sell advertising. But suddenly it becomes a sexy story, it's war, and people are trying to get out, and there's a suicide bomb, it's a phenomenal movie, and it's real!

As for the right, they've been waiting for this, they see it as Benghazi on steroids, forgetting that they're talking out of both sides of their mouth. Save the interpreters, after voting not to! Stay in Afghanistan, after Trump makes a deal to leave! It's so myopic as to be humorous, if the American public were not so ill-informed sans the power of analysis that it can be blown this way or that like a feather.

And in slow motion, with constant coverage, the Afghanistan situation looks bad. Everybody's beating up on Biden, the left and right press, the Democrats and the Republicans. Everybody's opining his tenure is now hobbled, it's over for the Democrats. Biden should be at home, paralyzed, wondering how he lost the favor of the left wing insiders and gave fodder to the right wing haters. BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT HE DID!

First Biden says he owns it.

And then yesterday he comes out and declares victory. Yes, he got us out on time and did a good job of it. He cites facts and figures. He addresses naysayers, saying if he started withdrawing earlier it wouldn't have made any difference, might have even been worse. No one foresaw this, no one! Biden was supposed to be a senile oldster with no backbone who delegated all power, who was clueless as to what was going on. One expected him to cower in the indignity and become completely neutered. So what does he do? Unlike Trump, he doesn't go after his attackers so much as fly above it all. The most powerful person on the planet with the most information speaking from his heart and mind and telling the truth from his perspective. And he owned the news cycle. To a great degree he quashed the blowback. Especially since so much of this is opinion anyway. I mean some guy on TV says Biden cocked it up and we should have stayed and then the guy himself comes out, without worrying about the effect of his words on every single person and says no, that's not the way it is, he did a phenomenal job. Trump might say something like that, but never a Democrat.

And in addition, he pooh-poohs the old mantra, the old armed forces on the ground mantra. No, the new war will be fought in cyberspace, against the Russians and Chinese. And if they need to take action they've got drones. Meanwhile, every elected official dependent upon military pork for their state to keep their job is quaking in their boots.

And Biden isn't worried about the rearguard, but he's not insulting them either. He's moving forward, but he's also got his finger on the pulse more than anybody in the media, he knows the public, those whose kids actually go into the military, are glad we're the hell out of there. People worried about budgets can't fathom the twenty years of spending, someone spoke English!

So what does this mean?

Not that those on the right will embrace Biden, they hate him in principle, he's a Democrat. But that maybe the tables will be leveled, maybe the left will realize it's got more power, more room to move, than previously thought.

As for the right, it's got Gaetz, who stays in power, even though the Democrats fire anybody who even looks at a woman too long, and Boebert, whose husband made over $450,000 in each of the last two years yet didn't put it in her election filings, stating that his income was "N/A." And you wondered how Shooters Grill stayed in business... It was all a front, a way for her to boost her image, it was a failed business from day one, and now it's out of business. But the Democrats aren't zeroing in on this, she's still in power. The supposed woman of the people is anything but. Then again, those who voted for her will say at least she's not a Democrat.

Yes, the Republicans play by different rules than the Democrats, I'm not even sure they're playing the same game! The Republicans circle the wagons, get on the same page, and will do anything to win. The Democrats fight over the making of the sausage and when they're done no one is happy and they can never get on the same page and no one can get everybody in line. But even worse, the rules are out the window for the right... Voting law protection? Forget it! Meanwhile, there's a Supreme Court that doesn't represent the public which was tilted right by Mitch McConnell that as of this writing is allowing Texas's six week abortion rule to stay in place. The Republicans are like insects, who never stop, they don't win nationally, they organize locally, there's more than one way to win. And they form the Federalist Society, they play the long game, they've got a whole host of young presidential candidates in the wings, from DeSantis to Noem to Haley to Cruz. Who do we have on the left? Pretty boy Newsom who is in the middle of an recall election. Buttigieg, who the more you investigate his tenure as mayor the worse it looks. But he went to Harvard and then into the military! Trump skated from the military and Boebert is a high school dropout. And they both won!

So Biden is being a leader, and the Democrats haven't experienced this in eons. St. Obama was so busy not being seen as an angry black man, trying to appease absolutely everyone, that he got so little done. Meanwhile, no one on the left can blow the whistle on him, he's sacrosanct. But not on the right. It's all about today's team...they're not busy defending Cheney's warmongering strategy, which proved to be plain wrong.

So, this is utterly astounding. Biden is not just taking responsibility, he's saying it was the right thing to do and he did it well and then he says why. Where's the contrition? Nowhere to be found!

At least somebody is fighting back.

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Mailbag

Re: Rubberband Man!

Bob, The Spinners' immortal song, "Rubberband Man," has a special place in the history of Ben & Jerry's. On the last day of September in 1978, after surviving our first summer in business, Ben and I hosted a "Fall Down Festival" in front of our original scoop shop in Burlington Vermont. By far, the highlight of the day was the debut of the dramatic sledgehammer-smashing of a cinder block on the bare stomach of "Habeeni Ben Coheeni," the noted Indian mystic.

As the crowd gathered in anticipation, "Rubberband Man" was cranked out over the makeshift PA system. Habeeni appeared, bearing a passing resemblance to Ben, draped in a bed sheet and perched on a platform in the lotus position. He was carried onto the scene by six bearers, while chanting in a tongue not comprehended by mere mortals. His entrance completed, Habeeni took his place alongside of me, and I recounted the improbable story of how his holiness had come to be before them today.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, what you are about to see will astound and amaze you. What you have before you here today is the genuine article, the real thing. The man of rubber, the man of steel, the man whose body defies every law of nature! Born in India, Habeeni was abandoned as a baby, but rescued and raised by Indian fakirs, those magical and mystical people. One day, Habeeni was studying at the temple of Rishikesh, when disaster struck – an earthquake. The building crumbled, rubble and stones tumbling all around. However, Habeeni was able to survive by placing himself into a metabolic trance, which he will simulate here before us today."

I then invited a few kids to come up and verify that indeed the cinder block and sledgehammer were real, and then Habeeni went metabolic, falling backwards into the hands of attendants, who suspended him in a supine position, between two chairs. Once he was settled in place, I pulled back the sheet, and placed the cinderblock on Habeeni's bare belly. I then took the sledgehammer and, raising it high above my head, brought it crashing down on the cinder block, smashing it into lots of little pieces. To call it dramatic does not begin to capture what a spectacle it was. "Habeeni Ben Coheeni, ladies and gentlemen, the noted Indian mystic, Habeeni Ben Coheeni," reverberated over and over, as "Rubberband Man" once again cranked out over the speakers. Habeeni, restored to his platform, left in triumph, carried out by his handlers, tossing flower petals to the pumped-up crowd.

In later years, Habeeni returned to demonstrate his incredible feats at our annual shareholders meetings, but Habeeni and I realized we needed to forego this when it became too challenging to balance the cinder block on his ever rounding bare belly. Too much ice cream, wailed the cynics and nonbelievers. Yes, even for Habeeni himself.

It was great to see the clip of the live performance of the Spinners singing their great song. Thanks also for the recent shout out for Americone Dream, my current favorite flavor.

Regards, Jerry Greenfield

_________________________________

From: Chuck Morris
Subject: Mike Finnigan

Just attended his service. Would love it if you wrote something on him. One amazing and wonderful guy. First met him when he played with Finnigan and Wood at my first club Tulagi in 1972. I,m sure you are aware of Mike being the most sort after sideman in the business playing for years with acts like CSN,Joe Cocker and the last 10 years Bonnie Raitt. He was a world class keyboard and organ player and one great singer. And most important this 6. 7 ex basketball player from Kansas University was one caring person who befriended all of us and had a lasting impact as one beautiful guy. His service was amazing with so many attended from Stephen Stills to all of Bonnie Raitt's band. I loved the guy.

_________________________________

Subject: RE: The Bill Wyman Documentary

I interviewed Bill during the Steel Wheels tour. He had just written his autobiography. I imagine the book was intended to provide him some regular funding after he left the band. Something that belonged to him. I have several vivid memories of the interview. One was that it was at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington DC. They were performing that night at RFK Stadium. Each of the band members had their own floor in the hotel, each with their own elevator key. I got off the elevator on Bill's floor and saw an empty hall with a guard seated in front of a suite. Bill's suite was huge. It had a huge living room (where we did the interview), and adjacent dining room, where he had his computer set up for writing. He was very proud of the computer, and it was large enough for its own flight case. He wrote his book on it, but he told me he was writing more. He loved writing. It was something he could do alone. He told me some of the same stories that went into the documentary. He wasn't very emotional or expressive. He spoke very simply and calmly. At the end of the interview, I asked for a picture. This was before cell phones, so we needed someone to snap the picture. I figured he'd ask the security guard at the front door, but instead walked over to the bedroom. He opened the door, and I could see two scantily clad young girls on the bed. One of them came out and took the picture. That was the end of the interview. It's only rock & roll.

George Achaves

_________________________________

From: Eric Bazilian
Subject: Re: The Brian Jones Documentary

First line, second verse. Written in 1998(?).

https://open.spotify.com/track/4EbTY9VKz1fmm08ifcp0ho?si=8oeg6GuGSwSjsVEC45o71A&dl_branch=1

The Stones have existed with the title 'The World's Greatest Rock And Roll Band' but with Brian they were transcendent. Yes, Mick Taylor shredded rings around everyone else and Woody has fit like a glove around Mick and Keith since 1975, but Brian was the secret sauce, the left turn, the recorder in Ruby Tuesday, said sitar in Paint It, Black, the slide in Little Red Rooster. I stand by the first line, second verse.

I did take her to see the Stones, finally, by the way. Several times.

_________________________________

From: Andre' Cholmondeley
Subject: Re: Music

Oh man, Bob, you're gonna trigger a LOT of people w this one.
The part about musicians relaxing, smoking dope and think it's not their fault when it doesn't work out....ouch

Stings but.....true for so very many. The fantasy of "being discovered" ........and next thing you're in a private jet, is still strong.

One thing you didn't say -- but touched on when you mention how cheap it is to make music -- is that thanks to globalization, democratization and easy access to tech --- WHICH MUSICIANS CHAMPIONED FOR DECADES, we now have hundreds of thousands, probably millions MORE musicians than ever before.

Which means -- essentially infinite supply of music. From GLOBAL sources, when it used to be predominantly from.......the USA and UK.

With a $200 pawnshop laptop, and a cheap mic, teens and 20-somethings are making great music. Sure, some bad music too. But as you say -- that's a sidebar. It's music that gets heard.

Made with free software for recording , synthesizers, promotions tools, hosting their music, streaming their shows etc. Free free free free free -- yet older musicians want the payouts to be like 1989. Literally NO OTHER INDUSTRY would have economics like that -- where the inputs approach free on so many fronts.... the creators explode in numbers, yet the principals expect the same market value for the item sold !!

So the FIRST LAW of Economics kicks in -- Supply & Demand.

But musicians get MAD when that is brought up -- they want the culprit to be "Spotify", or 'Apple" or "napster", or "streaming" in general...all while they love their all-you-can-watch streaming bargains with Amazon, Hulu, Netflix. As you always point out - NOBODY would go back to driving DVDs back & forth to Blockbuster .....or the independent video rental place. Or dropping off their Kodak film to be developed for $25.... then half the pictures are blurry or your mom was blinking in the best shot. Nor would they give up the great "unlimited" cell phone plan and go back to the "600 mins for $35" model......

On and on. A fantastic psychological experiment, watching fellow musicians literally stamp their feet like Dorothy trying to go back home.....to what never was anyway -- it was always a record-company blanket party, with the execs running away with the major rewards.

Andre´Cholmondeley
tech- Steve Howe/YES
& Celebrating David Bowie

_________________________________

From: THOMAS ALLEN
Subject: Re: It's A Team Sport

….yup…..there was a time when burl ives sold records……

_________________________________

Subject: Re: It's A Team Sport

Bailed on Guns last night in Phoenix after I realized there was no policy to show either a negative test or vaccination. So 19k ppl packed in there like this is all over. No thanks. Can't believe Axl, Slash, Duff and the rest of the hired Guns are ok with this, and are willing to risk their own health. Strange times continue.

Marcus Thunich
Glendale, AZ

_________________________________

From: Linden Coll
Subject: Covid - NYT's UK article can't be trusted. "Scotland could impose new restrictions as Delta cases rise"

Sure, there's a lot of people/idiots acting as if its all over - especially the young, but the article failed to mention the music festival in Cornwall
mid-august which was prominent in the news recently because it led to ~5,000 new infections.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/23/almost-5000-covid-cases-linked-to-cornish-music-and-surf-festival-boardmasters


Scotland's schools went back a couple of weeks ago and predictably cases are suddenly escalating
England's return this week with universities following later in the month.

https://londonlovesbusiness.com/scotland-could-impose-new-restrictions-as-delta-cases-rise-which-will-move-to-parts-the-uk-soon/

rgds

LC

_________________________________

Subject: Re: Don't Ya Mess With Me

Hey, Bob -

What's interesting musically about "Baby, I Need Your Loving" is the variable verse lengths. Of course, it's a Holland-Dozier-Holland composition but rarely, if ever, would they utilize anything but the standard four-line verses and choruses.

But for BINYL, the instrumental intro is three couplets, the first verse is seven couplets, the second verse is five, followed by the four-couplet bridge (of sorts) and the eight-couplet third verse. But all the choruses are four lines (all the easier to sing along to) and it fades with a vamped chorus.

If you're playing it live, you really have to be paying attention.
Love to learn how that came about if anyone has any backgrounder on the writing and the session.

Thanks,
Larry Butler

_________________________________

From: Tom Johnston
Subject: Re: Don't Ya Mess With Me

Thanks for the "window"! I agree on Oh Mexico and a couple of other tracks on the full length album.

We played Chicago last night to 25,000 people and they did respond to the new stuff and in general tore it up for the whole show which is 2 1/2 hrs.

From the road,
Tom

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This Week On SiriusXM

Since we discussed Charlie Watts last week, the topic this week will finally be:

Your favorite long song - six minutes or longer...

Tune in today, August 31st, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863 

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive  

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive 

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It's A Team Sport

The oldsters and the wannabes are convinced that Spotify is ripping them off, when the facts say completely the opposite. But nothing can convince them otherwise.

The most insightful article this week was in the "New York Times":

"Britons, Unfazed by High Covid Rates, Weigh Their 'Price of Freedom' - Britain is reporting more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases a day, but the public seems to have moved on. Experts say this could be a glimpse into the future for other countries.": https://nyti.ms/2WHPape

Bottom line? They're packing them in at concerts and sports events with impunity, no one seems to be troubled, despite rising covid rates. I can't get this story out of my mind, believing it's a harbinger for the rest of the world, certainly the United States.

Then again, can the newspaper be trusted?

For weeks we've been inundated with stories about the fall of Afghanistan, it's considered to be the most important thing in America. And everybody is beating up on Biden. You'd think it's a disaster for him.

However:

"What Voters in a California Swing District Say About Afghanistan - In a battleground district, even some Trump voters said they were hesitant to hold President Biden accountable for the casualties and chaos in the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan.": https://nyti.ms/3BnD43G

Seems like the news media is out of touch with the public, the same way it was out of touch with the groundswell for Trump in 2016. Meanwhile, most reporters are concerned about the Beltway, they don't interact with any regular people, so they've got no idea what they're thinking. As for news... We now live in the internet era, where things come and go so fast it's like they didn't even happen. So people concerned about Afghanistan now that we've pulled out completely? Unless they want a political battle cry, like the anti-Spotify crowd above, they'll forget about it, the same way the public ignores the cries of the artists and pays up for streaming services and is in heaven.

"Sitting in a park in Paris France
Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They won't give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had"

"California"
Joni Mitchell

These lines have been going through my head for the last month, the news is all bad. I have felt powerless and doing my best to detach, since nothing I say will change anybody's mind. But I wake up this morning and hop on my phone and see this story:

"G.O.P. Governors Fight Mandates as the Party's Covid Politics Harden - As several Republican-controlled states confront their worst outbreaks yet, their leaders — following the base — have doubled down on resisting vaccine and mask requirements.": https://nyti.ms/38vs0VP

You must read this story.

In Florida, covid is worse than ever before: https://nyti.ms/38vxuQq but Ron DeSantis refuses to enact any mask mandates, as a matter of fact he's making sure local businesses cannot do this even though this is the opposite of traditional Republican doctrine wherein decisions are made at a local level.

And Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, went to Sturgis to greet the half a million in attendance and covid numbers SPIKED! And if you're Trump, or a Republican governor, and you go against the orthodoxy, if you applaud vaccination, support masking, you are booed and excoriated. The mob has taken over the asylum and the wards are too scared to go against them.

But the United States is the greatest country in the world, the undisputed leader!

Well, I'm not sure the rest of the world sees us that way:

"E.U. Set to Propose Travel Restrictions on U.S. Visitors - Three officials from the bloc said that starting Monday, the European Council would advise its member states to ban nonessential travel from the United States.": https://nyti.ms/3sZ3p5m

It's a result of low vaccination rates. How come the rest of the world can see what American cannot?

As for ignoring the coronavirus and just soldiering on, the music business is down for that, the only person in opposition is Neil Young:

"Concerts and Covid": https://bit.ly/3kCUaEg

But it took two days for Young's words on his website to get any traction. Yes, even legendary Neil has trouble getting the public's attention. He's too scared to play Farm Aid, he calls out AEG and Live Nation, but...in a corporatized world the execs are insulated anyway, they're not showing up at the shows. America was opened on July 4th weekend and it appears nothing can close it, nothing!

As for mask/vaccine requirements, read the review of "Hamilton" in yesterday's "Los Angeles Times": https://lat.ms/3mPtwdK

"But when I asked the ticket check-in person if he wanted to see my proof of vaccination, he declined the privilege."

"It wasn't until I went inside the theater that I began to spot the scofflaws. The first was a guy with his mask hanging from his chin like a wayward bandage. He appeared to be hitting on a female acquaintance who, by the way she slipped away from him, didn't seem all that impressed by his undraped nose.

Directly across the aisle from me, an arrogant-looking fellow in his 60s sat unmasked for nearly the entire show. 'Hamilton' is long, nearly three hours. That's a lot of time for not a single usher to confront the smugness of a guy who assumed that rules don't apply to him."

So we can talk about vaccine restrictions, but they seem to leak like sieves, and everybody thinks they're immune.

As for facts?

"No, the Taliban did not seize $83 billion of U.S. weapons": https://wapo.st/3zxcFju

But don't let your emotions get in the way of an internet meme that aligns with your position, that feels right.

Which brings us back to Spotify.

So, all the oldster and younger musicians testified in front of the U.K. government about Spotify and other streaming services. And what was the government's conclusion? IT WAS THE LABELS' FAULT!

Everybody who studied the sphere knew this was true. It's kind of like blaming Ticketmaster for fees. When you should really blame the acts. The only profit is in the fees, because the acts take all the rest, this is a way to create a pool of money the acts can't commission. Furthermore, Ticketmaster doesn't keep all the fees... They've got to pay the venue, the promoter, sometimes even the act itself. But you've got to have someone to blame, so Ticketmaster is the enemy, nothing will convince you otherwise! And when an all-in ticket is proffered you don't buy it, you click on the link with the lowest price and end up paying the same amount with fees at the end. So who is really the enemy here?

As for Spotify... It keeps approximately 30% of revenues, from which it must pay all expenses and hopefully extract a profit.

As for the remaining monies...

One can argue strongly that publishers should get more, but since the major record labels also own big publishers they won't budge. But in any event, the remaining 70% is paid to rights holders, i.e. labels and publishers. Now if you're your own label and publisher the truth is you can make beaucoup bucks on Spotify, ASSUMING ANYBODY IS LISTENING!

Let me ask you... Do you really think your fifty year old music should be as popular as today's top ten or fifty? Was Sinatra in the top ten in the seventies and eighties? Of course not, even though he was cleaning up on the road. Even more important, in the days of physical retail, there were limits, a store couldn't have everything, so unless you were hot, the store might only stock your greatest hits album, maybe one or two other LPs if you were a superstar, and if you were a less impactful act...YOUR RECORDS WEREN'T IN THE STORE WHATSOEVER! So what we've got here is a bunch of old acts who believe they're entitled to partake at the gravy train ad infinitum. Which is like saying the ratings of "Leave It to Beaver, ""The Real McCoys" and "My Mother the Car" should be cleaning up today!

As for the endless stories about income:

1. What was the use? On demand pays a different rate from radio. And online pays for the record as well as the song, unlike traditional, over the air radio.

2. What was the split? How much of the song did you own? Did you own the publishing?

3. Raw numbers. Spotify can't pay more per stream, absolutely impossible, it would instantly bankrupt the company. It's already paying out 70% of income, as stated above!

4. So you've got millions of streams. Be thankful anybody is listening at all! Because in the pre-internet era your albums wouldn't be in the store and your music wouldn't be able to be heard unless someone bought it, which in many cases they would not be able to! As for radio...good luck, maybe on an oldies station. And millions don't mean much anymore, in the overall scheme. There are tracks, one single track, with over a billion streams!

5. The canard that if streaming payments don't go up there will be no music. We heard this twenty years ago, in the heyday of Napster, and what was the end result? TOO MUCH NEW MUSIC! And if you believe anybody who wants to should be able to earn a living in music...think back to the pre-internet era when if you didn't have a label you couldn't even get your records distributed!

6. Never mind that Spotify, et al, lay the groundwork, via availability, to monetize elsewhere. Ticket prices have outpaced inflation by a multiple. And there are other avenues than live. And you can record at home and distribute essentially for free...

7. As for dominance... Nothing else is dominant, why should your music be?

But it just doesn't feel right. You were making all this money before Spotify...

Well, the internet cut recorded music revenues in half, it's only streaming that has allowed income to come back.

As for ownership... Let me ask you, buy any DVDs lately? Everything is on demand, music was actually a leader, to its benefit! But no, let's try to jet back to the past. While you're at it, why don't you use your Mac Plus and a Motorola StarTAC?

But nothing I write here, NOTHING, will sway any musician's opinion. Because the truth doesn't matter. They've got their agenda. They believe someone is out to get them, they refuse to see any advantage to the new model and they're dug in, not even listening to facts or reason.

So why should it be different in any other sphere?

Fauci is Spotify to the right. And vaccines make you grow a third head, which is magnetized, and your body transmits data via a chip to the government so you'd better not get one!

It's bigger than vaccines. It's bigger than politics. Team sports have influenced our entire society. Everybody's got their tribe and if you go against it...

Hell, if I was only interested in the money I'd jump on board. Yes, Spotify is the devil! State the unpopular truth and not only are you hated upon, you're excommunicated.

But all of America is now about leverage. Building your tribe and pushing its agenda, irrelevant of its veracity or benefit. The only difference is institutions don't have the power they once did. They still don't realize the power of the people, their ability to organize online, oftentimes around inaccurate information.

So what they're doing in China is cracking down. On social media stars. On gaming. And the truth is, there are many Americans who would sign up for that, especially on the left, where everybody with an elite degree can't stop bitching about the downsides of technology, despite being dependent upon their smartphone. They refuse to see any advantage to the new systems, and therefore just put themselves into a backwater. Just like the oldster musicians, who bitched about internet distribution while youngsters gave music away for free and embraced streaming. The youngsters are not bitching, at least those who are not wannabes. Only the marginal newbies have the time to complain, the rest are busy working to get ahead.

There is a way through this morass. But we'd need leadership based on what's right as opposed to what's wrong, not letting the tail, the uneducated, sway their opinions and directions, willing to do the unpopular. And a willingness to stay the course, evolution keeps happening. It used to be about computer hardware, now it's all about software. There used to be a new app every week, now there's nothing new on the horizon. It shakes itself out if you're willing to stay in the game. Sitting on the sidelines bitching that it's not the way it used to be, letting the ignorant have power, is the path to destruction. And that seems to be the path we are on.


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The Brian Jones Documentary

"Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones": https://bit.ly/3sZEcYo

This guy must have never worn a condom. He fathered six kids out of wedlock and he died at 27!

Then again, Brian Jones was famous for being amoral, mean and manipulative. And when you mix these characteristics in with someone who cannot say no to any drug and who is incorrigible...you can understand why Mick and Keith took over the band and ultimately kicked Brian out.

Now if you're under forty and you die and they do a documentary on you there's gonna be tons of footage. Your parents have been shooting video from the moment you were born, and you're posting pics to social media, but this was the sixties, cameras meant film, which was expensive and needed development, and most of what happened in that era has fallen through the cracks. So, the truth is there's very little footage of Brian Jones in this movie. It's really just an oral biography, but in movie as opposed to book form. Should you watch it? Yes.

If you don't have a documentary on you you were never a factor in the music business. It's astounding. And most are amateurish and barely watchable, for fans only. I watched the Bill Wyman doc because it got great reviews. Did I need to watch a movie on Brian Jones that I wasn't even sure I'd heard of? Well, compared to the other music documentary offerings...I decided to give it a few minutes, especially since the blurb said the filmmakers were experienced and looking for the truth, although I took that with a grain of salt, but it costs nothing to dive in, in this case on Amazon Prime.

So the first thing you notice is Brian Jones lived a long time ago and the people who've survived are OLD! And they live up to the English rep, they have bad teeth. And then you're watching the story unfold and you realize that these guys were all in their twenties. Look back from beyond that and it's flabbergasting, they were babies, at an age when a breakup can devastate you, Anita Pallenberg leaves Brian for Keith and Brian can't recover, and Keith was hanging with Brian and Anita because he was devastated that he'd been dumped. And you think being a rock star you always call the shots, never!

So Brian figures he's gonna give it one more shot. He wrote film for this movie that Anita is starring in that's opening in Cannes so he flies down with his buddy to steal her back, and she's all lovey-dovey, but she's not returning, so they fly in a babe from the U.K. to make Anita jealous, and this new woman, Suki, is about as good-looking, but she doesn't have Anita's personality, a limit tester who drags people into trouble and feels she's invulnerable, making great conversation along the way. People are people, as Depeche Mode sang, and if you can't understand why John Lennon was with Yoko Ono, you've never hung with a six foot tall cover girl with nothing to say.

Brian doesn't suffer fools. He wants the stimulation of conversation. He wants to talk about blues records. So he's mostly silent until he feels the resonance and then... He was the Stone hanging with John Lennon. He met Bob Dylan and then called him every day, he was so thrilled to CONNECT!

How do you make friends in this world? You know when you have that resonance, and the older you get the harder it is to find. And the truth is music and celebrity culture are not known for their intellectual rigor, so if you're looking for that...

So Brian is born into an upper middle class family. He's learning to play the piano, the clarinet, but then he discovers jazz, and his parents can no longer keep him on track, he's all in. So they pack a suitcase, put it on the front stoop and lock the door, Brian is now on his own.

And he mooches and is broke but he follows the music.

But contrary to so many of the stars of that era, Brian knew how to play, so he was the focus. He started bands. The Stones were his band. Talk to Andrew, he'll tell you. Brian was the spokesman, he was the one who negotiated. But then Brian took a secret five pound commission on gigs and the rest of the group never forgave him. But then it got worse, he lost control because he didn't write, a friend testifies he was categorically unable.

So not only is there little footage, there's absolutely no Stones music, they couldn't pay for it, never mind whether it would be licensed to them. But it's not really necessary, because this is a character study, of someone who's been left to the past. And yes, his friends defend him, but just when it starts to slip into hagiography they talk about what a pain in the ass Brian was, a girlfriend says he was "a shit"...

So the film paints the Stones as dangerous, and the government out to get them. Which is hard to believe in today's hip-hop world where porn is a cottage industry that you run out of your home. The Stones were blues purists, but then the Beatles blew it all up and you needed your own songs and...

The flourishes Brian added made so many tracks hits, like the marimba in "Under My Thumb"... Sans the marimba, it's not a hit. And the sitar in "Paint It, Black." And then when he's fading, intransigent and barely showing up, he lays down the slide in "No Expectations," which makes that track too. That was Brian's calling card in the beginning, he could play slide.

But for every positive aspect, there's a negative one. He would push people to the edge just for the hell of it. He would disconnect.

And the truth is Brian Jones has faded into the rearview mirror. He who writes history owns it. And all that happened over fifty years ago, all we've got is these geezers who testify, and so many, like Anita Pallenberg, are already gone. So now Mick and Keith are lions, and Brian Jones is a footnote. Proving, if you're a budding musician...WRITE YOUR OWN SONGS!

Then again, musicians used to worry about publishing rights, now they don't really care because it's all about building your brand and cashing in elsewhere, where the real money is, so if you've got eighteen writers on a song, who cares? And they're used to the labels not paying, so they believe they'll get screwed on the publishing anyway. And who knows how long they're going to live?

But everything today is an extension of what was developed in the sixties...EVERYTHING! Which is why if you were around back then, so much of it seems boring today. Concert promoters were like app developers, and just about as honest, didn't Sean Parker steal the names from one app for another that went bust anyway? You cut corners in rock, as you did in tech, but not anymore...LIVE NATION IS A PUBLIC COMPANY!

So you've got to be into it for the music and the lifestyle, and these guys were primarily in it for the music, they'd sit around and listen to records all day. Life was slower, you weren't interacting with everybody you know on a handheld device all day long. There were long stretches where nothing was going on, where you went deeper into yourself and your surroundings, ergo the music renaissance. Albums were not for listening together, but listening alone, they kept you company!

Unfortunately, the last fifteen minutes or so are an investigation into Brian's death. And I hate to say it, but who cares? Dead is dead. No one has ever brought anybody back, and I'm doubtful about Jesus, but if you believe he did they killed him anyway. It's kinda like the coronavirus. Other than blame, what would we achieve if we find out it was leaked from a lab? It's not like China is gonna give a mea culpa. That's one thing being a lawyer teaches you, being right oftentimes doesn't pay.

So it was a long, long time ago. Almost all of the images are in black and white. You get the feeling of dark, damp England back then. The world these musicians wanted to escape from.

And I don't want you to think that Brian Jones was a saint who was solely responsible for the band's success, because that's patently untrue, but he was a guy who was infatuated with the music, who lived to play the music, who was always exploring before the drugs got the better of him.

So it appears Brian was killed by his just-fired contractor. But the contractor is dead and...

The funny thing is the records remain. There may not be images, but we've got the records. Pull up "Paint It, Black" or "Under My Thumb" or "No Expectations." They're magic. I only had to hear "Under My Thumb" once to get it, and I can tell you where I heard it, in Howard Johnson's on Mount Washington..."Aftermath" was literally the only album that was there.

And Howard Johnson's was just a hut halfway up the mountain, it shared nothing with the orange-roofed enterprise that sold fried clams and ice cream. And I'd love to have video of the week we spent there, when our tent blew over, just below where the highest wind speed in history was recorded, but it's all in my brain, it's just memories.

But memories have feelings.

Watch "Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones," that's one thing it will evoke, feelings. You'll feel the passage of time. You'll marvel that you weren't as hip or experimental. And even though it's not on the soundtrack, the music will play in your head, it's there forever!


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Don't Ya Mess With Me

Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3jmOoHf

I was listening to the Top 100 of the 1964 "Billboard" chart on shuffle.

And I heard "Baby, I Need Your Loving."

Now the truth is 1964 was absolutely dripping with hits. Go back and you'll be astounded. To the point where you were not starving for great new music, it was constantly being heaped upon your table. And not only was 1964 the year the Beatles broke in America, it was the year Motown truly crossed over to white Top 40 outlets. It started with the Supremes, with three number ones that year, "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me." I always associated "Where Did Our Love Go" with the Shangri-Las' "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)," they were hits at the same time. I thought they both hearkened back to the pre-Beatle era, I thought neither act would last. The Supremes certainly did, the Shangri-Las not so much. Today the Shangri-Las focus is all on "Leader of the Pack" and "Give Him a Great Big Kiss," but "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" was always my favorite, still is. Ditto on "Where Did Our Love Go," it's always had a special place in my heart, but during the nineties I started to cotton to "Come See About Me" which I now prefer, but when I hear "Where Did Our Love Go" I think of the summer of '64 whereas "Come See About Me" is not rooted in time. And there's always power in being the progenitor.

But through the door the Supremes opened came an outpouring of Motown acts. And I'd be lying if I told you I loved all that music in that era, it took away radio time from the Beatles and the British Invasion, it seemed to be looking back as opposed to forward, I needed years to go by to gain perspective. And over the years the greatness of Levi Stubbs has been extolled, and I always love hearing "Reach Out I'll Be There" with him testing the upper limit of his range. And the track is so dramatic, urgent, it's like it all matters SO MUCH! Nearly as good is "Standing in the Shadows of Love." The rest of the hits I know by heart, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)," "It's the Same Old Song," "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" and the positively exquisite "Bernadette"! But I never think of "Baby I Need Your Loving" and never listen to it, but in context, with its brethren from 1964, it reached me in a new way. "Baby I Need Your Loving" swings, it's smooth in a way the latter hits were not, less urgent, more subtle, but equally meaningful.

And I'm sitting on the couch late at night grooving on the Four Tops. Luxuriating in not only the music, but my detachment from the news. It's just me, I'm having a private experience, I'm loving it! I'm not scrolling on my phone, only searching to do Four Tops research, did you know that Levi Stubbs not only refused to put his name in the act's moniker, he refused to go solo, he stayed with the act, he was so loyal. Unlike not only so many Motown acts, but Phillippé Wynne of Thom Bell's Philadelphia soul factory. Phillippé Wynne was just a member of the Spinners, then went solo to little acclaim and then died on stage at 43, but there's a huge cult of insiders who testify as to his greatness, check out this performance of "Rubberband Man" on "The Midnight Special": https://bit.ly/3kzdMcc You can't believe this is totally live, you think about how much money the label spent, you're wowed by the synchronized dancing, but what is most impressive, what is positively amazing, is Phillippé Wynne's voice, his voice seems to transcend humanity, that tone, that delivery, singing but almost sounding like shouting, you just want MORE!

And I check out all the streaming services, I oftentimes listen to two or three at once. I was listening to the Four Tops on Amazon, and researching on Apple and Spotify. And then I saw this playlist, made just for me on Apple Music, entitled "New Music Mix." Spotify was first, I didn't even know Apple had this product, but Spotify's personalized new release playlist is laden with reissues, it doesn't deliver on the premise, which is new music. And I was excited about new music when I saw the first track was "Lifting You" by Jungle. I'm really into their work, was about to write about them. The second cut was from Jackson Browne's new album "Downhill From Everywhere" which has gotten tons of press but is barely more than listenable. The playing is fantastic, Jackson's voice? Not so much. But the third track was by...THE DOOBIE BROTHERS?

I hadn't heard they had new music, Tom Johnston had told me he was eager to go into the studio, but I didn't know there was finished product. So I clicked and I was stunned...IT SOUNDED LIKE THE DOOBIE BROTHERS! And I'd be lying if I listened and thought "Don't Ya Mess With Me" sounded like a hit single, then again there's no station that plays this music anymore. Certainly not Top 40. Not even Adult Alternative, the Doobies are not hip enough. And Active Rock is too hard. This music lives in a vacuum. But then nearly two-thirds of the way through the guitar started to WAIL! And after a repetition of the chorus, that lead axe went back on its roller coaster ride, dancing all over the fundamentals of the band, and this is certainly a band, unlike today's lauded compositions created solo in the bedroom. And then when the track suddenly faded out, I had to hear it again, and then again, AND AGAIN! Usually I can't get through even thirty seconds of the new work of ancient bands.

And it turns out "Don't Ya Mess With Me" is one of four tracks released on August 6th from the album "Liberté," coming out on October 1st.

So I cautiously decided to play the other three released cuts. And the truth was none were as good as "Don't Ya Mess With Me," especially the two non-Johnston tracks, the man with the signature sound of the Doobies. But I liked "Don't Ya Mess With Me" so much that the next afternoon I decided to listen it on the big rig, and then played the three other cuts again. And after a couple of plays through I had to admit the opener, "Oh Mexico," was actually superior to "Don't Ya Mess With Me," I guess I was turned off by the title and subject matter, seemed redundant to me, but the picking, the vocal, the sound... It sounded like the band was having fun. Knowing how good they were and smiling while delivering what they knew their fans would appreciate.

And make no mistake, this new Doobies music is only for fans. Don't even bother if you don't like the Doobies, it's not for you. As for hating on this uber-successful act of the seventies, don't waste your time, that was forty years ago, they, and you, are in the rearview mirror, but it appears the Doobies want to go out in a blaze as opposed to fading away.

It's a cliché, make an album of new music and play any of it live and the audience starts talking and goes to the loo, no matter how much they love you, no matter how big a fan they are.

Then again, old acts making new music oftentimes are too cerebral about it. Forget those putting out product for ink, to sell tickets, that's all calculation with forgettable product. I'm talking about acts trying to match their classic work. They get self-conscious. Feel they must test limits to prove they're not dated and even worse the power struggle often gets in the way. Yes, everybody in the act wants a song or two on the record, irrelevant of their quality, they want the attention, they want to get paid, even though there's so little cash in these projects, you can net more in one night of live performance.

But some acts are so self-conscious or defeated or both that they don't even bother recording new music. They know the eras have changed. It's all too depressing, they'd rather just go on the road, play their hits, collect the money and pay their bills. Sad, but most of these acts are in their seventies, or close to it. And then there are those who made so much on recordings back when who bitch about streaming payouts when the truth is few are actually listening and you're lucky people can hear your new music at all, if we were still in a physical world there'd be room for nothing more than your greatest hits in the record store.

So the Doobie Brothers started out as a bar band. The lineup changed. Michael McDonald became the lead singer and there was a second round of hits, as a matter of fact Johnston and McDonald are on tour together with the band this fall. Then again, at this point the band is only Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Clover refugee John McFee, brought aboard to play the parts others couldn't and shine and he's the secret sauce here, his picking goes straight to your heart, makes your body twist, just like this music did back in the seventies, and that's a good thing.

But my point here is the Doobies started out in the bars, where you honed your chops, something no one does today, there aren't even places to play, if there's music at all it's provided by a deejay. One can argue this entire paradigm is on life support, along with rock music itself. Turns out rock is too expensive to make and support, four or five people have to be fed and housed and hopefully paid. And it takes money to record this stuff and... Today rock is anything but mellow, today it's in-your-face and hard edged, but if you close your eyes and let your mind drift you can see yourself nodding your head in the low-ceilinged bar listening to this new music, getting up and dancing, having a good time. Now the only way to have even a facsimile of this experience is to go to the overpriced gig, and at those prices you believe you DESERVE to hear each and every hit, you want to know every track by heart.

But the funny thing is if the Doobies played "Don't Ya Mess With Me" and "Oh Mexico" live nobody would go to the bathroom, they'd be grooving just like they were to the hits, because these two cuts hit the sweet spot of the band, they may not be innovative, but they're not repetitive, they contain the essence of the Doobies' magic.

But they won't be on "The Midnight Special," never mind "In Concert." So many members of this audience listen to podcasts and the news, they're not driving down the highway in their Dodge Dart with the windows down banging their arm on the side of the car in unison to the beat. In other words, everything's moved on but the music itself. Everybody's gotten older, but there's this shared sound from way back when that meant so much that the bands purveying it are still on the road playing to thousands. You can't get this hit anywhere else. Kids aren't looking for this sound, the Led Zeppelin renaissance is in the rearview mirror, the classic rock acts are fading away, at least in listening power, check the Spotify numbers, then again the oldsters are not spinning these nuggets ad infinitum on streaming services, if they're even subscribing, Spotify is for youngsters, who wants beats more than melody, who see music as participatory, as background to not only videos, but partying. The music is evanescent, it's just temporary grease enabling you to have a good time, then it's discarded.

Not classic rock.

And I predict a renaissance at some point in the future, could be twenty years from now, maybe fifty, the music is just too good, like that of the bluesmeisters who inspired it, the tunes are hiding in plain sight, even more accessible, and when music becomes more about the essence than the trappings people will seek it out.

Are they gonna seek out the Doobie Brothers?

Well, I wouldn't put them at the top of the list. But if younger generations find themselves still driving, still going into the hinterlands with no internet access they'll discover how much this music resonates, how it rides shotgun and inspires.

And "Don't Ya Mess With Me" and "Oh Mexico" continue the tradition. They're in the pocket. And that's where all the great music resides, right?

YouTube-"Don't Ya Mess With Me": https://bit.ly/3mOyiIN

YouTube-"Oh Mexico": https://bit.ly/3sYceMT

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