Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3fMsca5
__________
10cc - 10cc - Rubber Bullets
AC/DC - BACK IN BLACK - "Shoot to Thrill"
Al Kooper - I STAND ALONE - "Hey, Western Union Man"
Alice Cooper - KILLER - "Under My Wheels"
Aerosmith - GET YOUR WINGS - "Lord of the Thighs"
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill - "Hand in My Pocket"
Amanda Marshall - AMANDA MARSHALL "Dark Horse"
The Band - STAGE FRIGHT - "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show"
Beach Boys - SUMMER DAYS (AND SUMMER NIGHTS!!) - "Girl Don't Tell Me"
The Beatles - BEATLES FOR SALE - "Every Little Thing"
Bob Dylan - BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME - "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Bonnie Raitt - GIVE IT UP - "Too Long at the Fair" or
Bonnie Raitt - LUCK OF THE DRAW - "One Part Be My Lover"
Boston - BOSTON - "Foreplay/Long Time"
Carole King - TAPESTRY - "So Far Away"
Cheap Trick - IN COLOR - "So Good to See You"
Stephen Stills -MANASSAS - "The Treasure"
Dave Mason - ALONE TOGETHER - "Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave"
Dido -LIFE FOR RENT - "Sand In My Shoes"
Doobie Brothers - WHAT WERE ONCE VICES ARE NOW HABITS - "Another Park, Another Sunday"
The Doors - THE DOORS - "The End"
Elton John - DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER - "Teacher I Need You"
Elvis Costello - MY AIM IS TRUE - "Alison"
Emitt Rhodes - EMITT RHODES - "With My Face on the Floor"
Fountains of Wayne - WELCOME INTERSTATE MANAGERS - "Peace and Love"
Gabe Dixon - LIVE AT WORLD CAFE - "Five More Hours"
Glen Burtnik - PALOOKAVILLE - "The Liar's Club"
Hoku - HOKU - "Another Dumb Blonde"
Ian Matthews - WALKING A CHANGING LINE - "Shadows Break"
J.D. Souther - BLACK ROSE - "Your Turn Now"
Jackson Browne - LATE FOR THE SKY - "The Late Show"
James Gang - YER' ALBUM - "Take A Look Around"
James Taylor - ONE MAN DOG - "Dance"
Jethro Tull - BENEFIT - "To Cry You a Song"
Karla Bonoff - KARLA BONOFF - "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me"
Kraftwerk - COMPUTER WORLD - "Computer Love"
Laura Nyro - NEW YORK TENDABERRY - "Captain For Dark Mornings"
Lee Michaels - BARREL - "Day of Change"
Little Feat - DIXIE CHICKEN - "Fool Yourself"
Loggins & Messina - SITTIN' IN - "Same Old Wine"
Marc Cohn - MARC COHN - "True Companion"
Paul McCartney - McCARTNEY - "That Would Be Something"
Michael Hedges - WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY - "Woman of the World"
Todd Rundgren - THE BALLAD OF TODD RUNDGREN - "A Long Time, a Long Way to Go"
Ozzy Osbourne - NO MORE TEARS - "I Don't Want to Change the World"
Pete Townshend - EMPTY GLASS - "A Little Is Enough"
Randy Newman - SAIL AWAY - "Sail Away"
Rod Stewart - GASOLINE ALLEY - "Gasoline Alley"
Rolling Stones - BEGGARS BANQUET - "Parachute Woman"
Roxette - JOYRIDE - "Watercolours in the Rain"
Ry Cooder - INTO THE PURPLE VALLEY - "Money Honey"
The Silencers - A LETTER FROM ST. PAUL- "A Letter from St. Paul
Simon & Garfunkel - BOOKENDS - "America"
Split Enz - TRUE COLOURS - "Poor Boy"
Steve Miller Band - BRAVE NEW WORLD - "Seasons"
Steve Winwood - BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE - "My Love's Leavin'"
Sting - TEN SUMMONER'S TALES - "Fields of Gold"
Supertramp - CRIME OF THE CENTURY - "Crime of the Century"
Traffic - TRAFFIC - "40,000 Headmen"
The Tubes - THE TUBES - "Mondo Bondage"
Wendy Waldman - LOVE HAS GOT ME - "Lee's Traveling Song"
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Saturday, 8 October 2022
Friday, 7 October 2022
The FT Publishing Podcast
Podcast: https://on.ft.com/3V8F5LY
Transcript: https://on.ft.com/3VbVTBD
You took a 30% haircut on your money.
Let's say you sold your catalog. What did you do with the cash?
First you paid taxes, and commissions to your team: your manager, lawyer... So, the figure you read in the news, that's not the net, far from it.
And then you've got to invest the money. Keep it in cash and you're losing money. There's not a single cash investment that's keeping up with inflation. Sure, you could invest it in real estate, which has inherent value, but you can't do that overnight, it requires research, kicking the tires. No, what most people do is put the money in the market. Sure, if they've got a good financial advisor, investments are hedged, it's not all in stocks, there are bonds and so much else. But if you've been reading the financial news...the market is bad, overall. We've seen an uptick very recently, but the experts at the WSJ believe the market is behind reality, and has further to fall. Which makes sense, the market doesn't always perform rationally, and people don't want to believe their stocks are cratering, so false hope keeps the market at an unreal level, until...
And then there are those who bought the dip. The WSJ did an exhaustive study on this. Most of their assets are now underwater. It was different back in March 2020, when the market crashed and Michael Rapino and others bought stock in their companies to give the impression of solidity. The market crashed and soon went back up. No one expects that to happen today.
So, you got all that money from the publishing company, and now not only have you lost a significant amount of it, on paper at least, but you've also given up that yearly income your songs and/or recordings and/or royalty streams were generating, which is why the publishing company paid such a high multiple to begin with!
Which is going down. Hipgnosis drove the number sky high, supposedly 22x for Neil Young. You don't see that number anymore, nowhere close.
22x. That means 22 times yearly earnings. Positively insane for old acts whose material is aging daily. Especially in a world where catalog means 18 months old. Then again, classic tunes have ascended somewhat, I point you to Spotify's deep dive:
"Spotify for Artists: Catalog": https://bit.ly/3yoTHgA
Artists tend to be terrible business people. It's like that old Wimpy story, they'll take 7x when they've got miles to go in their lives. Yup, they sell their songs or royalty streams and in some cases the money is recouped by the company in fewer than five years. Meanwhile, you're done.
So, Neil Young sells out to the friendly Merck and...
"Old Man" is used in an NFL commercial. Sung by Beck, but...does Neil Young really want his classic number associated with a football game featuring aged quarterbacks? No, and he bit back online, which is all he can do, because he sold his songs:
"Neil Young Registers a Quiet Protest Against Beck's 'Old Man' NFL Commercial": https://bit.ly/3VezsvV
So you got a chunk of change and gave up your rights and you lost money on what was paid you. Sound like a good deal?
And then there's when you sold. Bob Dylan was too early, he could have gotten more if he held out. As for Springsteen... What kind of bizarre world do we live in where Diane Warren refuses to sell her songs and the Boss makes a deal? Doesn't artistic integrity stand for anything anymore? Don't you want to control your assets? Think of how much money and time you put in creating them.
And as much as Springsteen got, history has always told us that these deals are underpriced, because those involved can't see the future. Usually, the artist is influenced by the manager, who wants their commission. Colonel Tom Parker sold all of Elvis's recording assets to RCA. Talk about a bad deal... That's the gift that keeps on giving, to RCA, not Lisa Marie. And Peter Grant sold Led Zeppelin assets to Atlantic, thank god the CD came out and the company needed unforeseen rights and Led Zeppelin could cut a new deal. You see there's always a way to make more money on music. That's Merck's pitch. And he's right, but once you get involved with the money people...
It all comes down to money, and you don't beat the banks or the professional investors.
No one foresaw huge inflation and concomitantly high interest rates. Investors want to get paid. And now song returns are below interest rates. And you don't screw the banks. So Blackstone could end up owning all your songs, and if you think they care how they're used, you've never met a banker. It's all about return, baby.
So maybe you got a huge multiple. Maybe you're doing estate planning. But most of these acts' deaths are not imminent, especially not Springsteen's. Dylan could live another fifteen or twenty years, think of how much more money he could make.
No one cares about your songs other than you. Get that straight. And those with percentage participations don't like to sit at home and make no money. If there's an opportunity, they at least want to kick the tires. And then you see the giant number and...
As publisher Randall Wixen says, show me one person who didn't regret selling their catalog. I've never found one. It's just that these new deals are...new. Then again, many of these acts must have seller's remorse, after that market haircut. But it's too late now, baby. They were getting those big checks every year, while they continued to own the assets which were growing in value, now they're out of the game.
Listen to this podcast. Insiders know all this. But there are very few insiders.
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Transcript: https://on.ft.com/3VbVTBD
You took a 30% haircut on your money.
Let's say you sold your catalog. What did you do with the cash?
First you paid taxes, and commissions to your team: your manager, lawyer... So, the figure you read in the news, that's not the net, far from it.
And then you've got to invest the money. Keep it in cash and you're losing money. There's not a single cash investment that's keeping up with inflation. Sure, you could invest it in real estate, which has inherent value, but you can't do that overnight, it requires research, kicking the tires. No, what most people do is put the money in the market. Sure, if they've got a good financial advisor, investments are hedged, it's not all in stocks, there are bonds and so much else. But if you've been reading the financial news...the market is bad, overall. We've seen an uptick very recently, but the experts at the WSJ believe the market is behind reality, and has further to fall. Which makes sense, the market doesn't always perform rationally, and people don't want to believe their stocks are cratering, so false hope keeps the market at an unreal level, until...
And then there are those who bought the dip. The WSJ did an exhaustive study on this. Most of their assets are now underwater. It was different back in March 2020, when the market crashed and Michael Rapino and others bought stock in their companies to give the impression of solidity. The market crashed and soon went back up. No one expects that to happen today.
So, you got all that money from the publishing company, and now not only have you lost a significant amount of it, on paper at least, but you've also given up that yearly income your songs and/or recordings and/or royalty streams were generating, which is why the publishing company paid such a high multiple to begin with!
Which is going down. Hipgnosis drove the number sky high, supposedly 22x for Neil Young. You don't see that number anymore, nowhere close.
22x. That means 22 times yearly earnings. Positively insane for old acts whose material is aging daily. Especially in a world where catalog means 18 months old. Then again, classic tunes have ascended somewhat, I point you to Spotify's deep dive:
"Spotify for Artists: Catalog": https://bit.ly/3yoTHgA
Artists tend to be terrible business people. It's like that old Wimpy story, they'll take 7x when they've got miles to go in their lives. Yup, they sell their songs or royalty streams and in some cases the money is recouped by the company in fewer than five years. Meanwhile, you're done.
So, Neil Young sells out to the friendly Merck and...
"Old Man" is used in an NFL commercial. Sung by Beck, but...does Neil Young really want his classic number associated with a football game featuring aged quarterbacks? No, and he bit back online, which is all he can do, because he sold his songs:
"Neil Young Registers a Quiet Protest Against Beck's 'Old Man' NFL Commercial": https://bit.ly/3VezsvV
So you got a chunk of change and gave up your rights and you lost money on what was paid you. Sound like a good deal?
And then there's when you sold. Bob Dylan was too early, he could have gotten more if he held out. As for Springsteen... What kind of bizarre world do we live in where Diane Warren refuses to sell her songs and the Boss makes a deal? Doesn't artistic integrity stand for anything anymore? Don't you want to control your assets? Think of how much money and time you put in creating them.
And as much as Springsteen got, history has always told us that these deals are underpriced, because those involved can't see the future. Usually, the artist is influenced by the manager, who wants their commission. Colonel Tom Parker sold all of Elvis's recording assets to RCA. Talk about a bad deal... That's the gift that keeps on giving, to RCA, not Lisa Marie. And Peter Grant sold Led Zeppelin assets to Atlantic, thank god the CD came out and the company needed unforeseen rights and Led Zeppelin could cut a new deal. You see there's always a way to make more money on music. That's Merck's pitch. And he's right, but once you get involved with the money people...
It all comes down to money, and you don't beat the banks or the professional investors.
No one foresaw huge inflation and concomitantly high interest rates. Investors want to get paid. And now song returns are below interest rates. And you don't screw the banks. So Blackstone could end up owning all your songs, and if you think they care how they're used, you've never met a banker. It's all about return, baby.
So maybe you got a huge multiple. Maybe you're doing estate planning. But most of these acts' deaths are not imminent, especially not Springsteen's. Dylan could live another fifteen or twenty years, think of how much more money he could make.
No one cares about your songs other than you. Get that straight. And those with percentage participations don't like to sit at home and make no money. If there's an opportunity, they at least want to kick the tires. And then you see the giant number and...
As publisher Randall Wixen says, show me one person who didn't regret selling their catalog. I've never found one. It's just that these new deals are...new. Then again, many of these acts must have seller's remorse, after that market haircut. But it's too late now, baby. They were getting those big checks every year, while they continued to own the assets which were growing in value, now they're out of the game.
Listen to this podcast. Insiders know all this. But there are very few insiders.
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Albums You Want To Hear Live-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in tomorrow, Saturday October 8th, to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
Phone #: 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
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Phone #: 844-686-5863
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Thursday, 6 October 2022
More iPhone 14 Pro Max
1
This is where I get pissed off at my readers. Well, at least those who responded.
Number one, I DID NOT SWITCH TO T-MOBILE! This makes me crazy, not only the people who can't read, but don't read. Happens all the time. I write about something and I get scabrous e-mail from people that I didn't mention this or that when if they only read what I wrote they'd see that I did! And then there are those who can't read, don't know what a quotation mark is. It never occurred to me that people would not see the bit about switching to T-Mobile was written by Om Malik. What I wrote was: "So I decide to e-mail Om (whom I'd referenced as "Om Malik" above, and one more time below) and this is what he said:". And then I used quotation marks. But I got an insane number of e-mails asking me what I thought of T-Mobile. Crazy. This is why you can't deal with the public.
Oh, you can give people what they want. They call that business. I'm interested in art.
As for T-Mobile... My inbox was also inundated with people testifying as to the service. This too makes me crazy. BECAUSE MOST OF THEM DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE!
This is like when you ride the chairlift and ask people how they like their new skis. They bought 'em, THEY LOVE 'EM! But for someone like me, who cases the market, who owns multiple pairs, has demoed many models, I know that there are distinct differences between the brands. Now a casual skier may not care, but... Bottom line, most Volkls are stiff and worthless in the bumps. You say your under 90mm-waisted skis are perfect for powder, when I own a pair of 118s, as do most who ski many days a year in powder country, because it makes it so much EASIER! The wider girth allows the ski to float. So if you're happy with T-Mobile...
I've experienced T-Mobile. Many times at Vail.
Let's start with Mid-Vail, I get high speed everywhere inside Mid-Vail, a lodge. Until recently, AT&T didn't get any service whatsoever, now you don't get high speed data, if you get data at all. As for T-Mobile... GOOD LUCK! I remember standing in zero degree weather at the top of Chair 26 waiting to meet a family and they never showed up. They ultimately e-mailed me from the village at the end of the day. THEY'D NEVER SEEN THE TEXTS!
Or on Skyline, #37, the main chair in Blue Sky Basin, which is miles from the village/base. We're riding past Lover's Leap and the phone rings and I'm talking and the person with me is stunned, positively stunned I tell you. There's no cell service in Blue Sky Basin, everybody know that! So I asked her what cell service provider she was using...T-MOBILE!
Now in truth, not every service works in every location. So, you might be living where Verizon, where none of the providers has service. Buy the one that works. Although you really don't have to, because of WI-FI CALLING! Yes, it's free. It hooks up to your internet. Go into the Cellular settings. Verizon is very spotty where I live, but I've got no issue whatsoever, because of WI-FI CALLING!
And then there's price.
My philosophy is different from most. I'd rather deny myself, save up for the best, rather than settle for the mediocre. Like when I purchased my stereo back in 1976. I could buy a receiver, or for the same price I could get an integrated amplifier with enough power to really sing, to never hear distortion. So I sacrificed for a year without FM in the home. And then bought a top of the line Yamaha tuner, not that it's worth much these days. Ditto my Nakamichi 582.
But the landscape has changed. All these devices are cheaper and better. Frequently the best costs little more. Also, people don't employ the big picture. I've actually talked to people who have a house budget of multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then their dream home is ten to fifteen thousand more and they say NO! Crazy. You're gonna live there for years! Like features in your car...don't skimp, it's a fraction of the overall price.
And let's get back to the skis. No, let's stay with the phone. The smartphone is a very powerful device and most people only use a fraction of its power. Like the video-recorder I purchased in the eighties, an NEC, which is mostly out of the consumer products business these days. It was almost a thousand bucks. But, the remote had a window and you could push buttons to record, it was positively simple. So, in the era when most people didn't record on their tape machines (most didn't start until the TiVo/hard drive era), I did. I didn't watch anything in real time other than sports.
I am what they call a power user. And it's fine if you're not, but don't confuse your needs with mine. You may not need the latest features, but I do. Don't judge me. Because there's plenty of stuff you've got that I don't need at all.
And...
There's price.
As referenced above, I'm willing to pay a premium for excellence. It's kind of like a car. I used to drive BMWs, now I drive a Saab which is really a Subaru WRX. My 1985 BMW had a computer, a bunch of idiot lights for oil level and more, and my 2005 Saab...HAS NONE OF THIS! All it does is handle and accelerate really well. It's got four wheel drive and turbocharging and it's noisy and after buying it I realized you got something for more money. Do you get twice the car if you splurge for a BMW or Mercedes? Absolutely not. But you do get a bunch of stuff that is nice if you can afford it.
So, you're happy with little rural coverage, you like saving money, kudos, good for you. But coverage is very important to me, and I'm willing to pay for it!
_________________________________________________
2
Then there are those who e-mail me that they're happy with their old phones, their 6s... What these wankers don't realize is THOSE PHONES ARE NO LONGER SUPPORTED! So, these same people, who are usually oldsters uptight about privacy, don't realize by saving money they're leaving themselves wide open to hacking, because Apple no longer provides security updates for their phone. As for devices lasting forever...buy something inert, like furniture. And if everything was supported there'd be no progress. This is one of the reasons Steve Jobs's return to Apple was so successful, he was willing to cast aside convention, write off legacy all together, in order to push the envelope into the future. But I get all this hate mail blaming Apple because it's not making and supporting ten year old products.
As for those who say you don't need a new phone, I point you to the power-using point above.
But even worse is the people who say you need no smartphone, that a landline is good enough. ABSOLUTELY NOT, NO WAY!
I'll give you some examples. When my iPhone finally got service yesterday it started going wild, downloading phone message and texts from the previous two days. Like the text from the dentist looking for confirmation of my appointment today, which I had to book nearly two months in advance. They were gonna cancel it if they didn't hear back.
Many other phone calls, important messages.
Point being THE WORLD ASSUMES YOU HAVE A SMARTPHONE, and if you don't, THE JOKE IS ON YOU!
Forget utility. The internet is no longer new. Not only can you buy things online, you get endless confirmations from medical labs, even restaurants via text. And people expect you to be reachable all day. If you don't get back to them for hours they think you're being rude or have been in an accident. Don't like it? Be my guest. But this is the world we live in today. The train left the station a long time ago.
_________________________________________________
3
Dear Robert Lefsetz,
My name is Theresa, and I work in the Executive Office of Verizon. I received your complaint from Manon Brouillette, EVP & Group CEO-VZ Consumer, and wish to speak with you to address your concern.
I would first like to apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced with our company. I understand from reviewing your concern that you are without service
I truly appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns, as it helps us become better at what we do.
Please contact me directly at: _______________, Monday through Friday between the hours of 12:00 AM - 9:00 PM. I look forward to speaking to you soon.
Regards,
Theresa
__________________
I called, she couldn't help. She said she put the A-team on it and she would get back to me. I believed her, she was working for the muckety-muck, as for the senior technician who was supposed to get back to me from the day before...I'm still waiting.
So I left to go to Ralph's house and when I got to his neighborhood, a road was closed. This was in the hills, it was twisty and turny, and at least half the streets had no sign. So, I was on my own. I'd printed a map and directions, but I hadn't bothered to zoom in on the map pic so tight that every street was clear, it seemed unnecessary. But, the street I was supposed to take according to Google's directions was closed. You need a smartphone to get around.
And when I got home, just before three, there was an e-mail with instructions, and they didn't work.
But then Ray called.
Ray told me he was called "the e-Sim whisperer" at Verizon. I got tons of e-mail castigating Apple, but it was a Verizon problem, not an Apple problem.
So...
Ray kept sending me invitations to activate, and they never worked. We tried everything in the book. And then Ray asked if the phone was backed up to the cloud, which it was, so he said to erase it, which I did.
So now we start with a clean phone, and Ray says to skip cellular activation.
And after we set up the rest of the phone, we attacked it.
We went through four Verizon prompts to activate, and each and every one didn't work. This was astounding Ray, but this is what was going on.
Meanwhile, since I was on the call with Ray for AN HOUR AND A HALF, we got to be best friends. Not only do I know where he grew up, his work career, but how he met his wife, where his kids go to school and what he does on the weekends. Because we were constantly waiting for things to work, and they did not.
And thank god I'm a power user. Do you know how many times I had to go in and out of the settings, read the ICCID number? Man, otherwise it would have taken days. As it was, mine was one of the longest phone calls Ray had ever been on. Most iPhone 14 calls last ten minutes, never mind people with other problems.
And when the phone finally activated, which was astounding, Ray said he was making a notation, for future reference, to spread to the company. Who knows what the problem was, Ray didn't even know, the workaround that had worked for him for weeks didn't work, but one thing is for sure, it was not Apple's fault.
But eSIMS... I could list the advantages. But you'd rather have a physical SIM from the past. Like in your iPhone 6s.
So yes, a little after four thirty p.m. yesterday I got service. And maybe now I've completely recovered, well, not quite yet.
You see I've been a daily computer user since 1986 and my Mac Plus. And one thing I've learned is...if you have a major major problem it will always get fixed. But this was the longest I've ever had to wait for a fix. This time many Verizon techsters were stumped. Thank god I got to Ray.
_________________________________________________
4
So, yes, I'm still on Verizon. I want that rural coverage.
And it's not only rural... L.A. is a hilly town, Verizon delivers the most consistent service. Whenever the phone call drops out...it's always T-Mobile or AT&T. And if you're doing business, this is important. Your kid may not need the most reliable connections, but the amount you pay for your phone bill is a pittance compared to the amount you're earning for a living.
If you scrimp and save, it's to your detriment. I see it all the time, and the people you want to be in business judge you for it. I'd like to say otherwise, but this is the truth. They ask you if you've seen this streaming show... Don't say you don't have that service and you won't sign up for it, say you haven't seen it yet and then pay for the month! You can't cut corners in business. You've got to spend money to make money. I'd like to tell you it's untrue, but it's a fact.
As for this screed... It was gonna be more detail about what happened in my conversations with Verizon but it would have gone over the head of almost everybody.
So I got hung up in pissing off my audience.
Oh, that's another thing, you can present someone with the truth, even a picture, and they'll deny it, stay with their old position. That doesn't mean you shouldn't deliver the truth, some people will change their minds after the fact, but the truth is the truth.
And the truth is America has got crappy cell service. It's much better overseas, everybody who's been there knows this. As for T-Mobile being a good overseas option, I understand that. But, I can pay Verizon ten bucks a day in Europe or Asia or South America, and if I'm gone for ten days, it's a hundred bucks. What's that in comparison to the trip costs? What's that in comparison to what you might make on the trip? It's just like business class. Believe me, if you fly twelve hours in the back of the plane it's going to take you a week to recover. That's what business class is about, not showing off. Which is why American's planes to NYC are now mainly business class, have been for years. A small first class section, maybe a third of the plane economy and the rest is business, with lie-flat seats. If people are paying, they want service, ergo the seats. And in truth, unless you're going at the busiest time, business class to NYC from L.A. is affordable. Now overseas, that's another issue, that's where status and upgrades and points come in. But as to the number of points I've got...I've got no idea. It's just not worth it to me to track them. I'd rather work trying to make more money than spend all that time getting credit card bonuses and combing the flights for one I can get for free... Time is the most valuable commodity, waste it at your peril.
Now I'm only reacting to those who e-mailed me. If the rest of you understood what I wrote, mea culpa.
All I know is I've now got service.
I've crawled from the wreckage into a brand new car!
This is where I get pissed off at my readers. Well, at least those who responded.
Number one, I DID NOT SWITCH TO T-MOBILE! This makes me crazy, not only the people who can't read, but don't read. Happens all the time. I write about something and I get scabrous e-mail from people that I didn't mention this or that when if they only read what I wrote they'd see that I did! And then there are those who can't read, don't know what a quotation mark is. It never occurred to me that people would not see the bit about switching to T-Mobile was written by Om Malik. What I wrote was: "So I decide to e-mail Om (whom I'd referenced as "Om Malik" above, and one more time below) and this is what he said:". And then I used quotation marks. But I got an insane number of e-mails asking me what I thought of T-Mobile. Crazy. This is why you can't deal with the public.
Oh, you can give people what they want. They call that business. I'm interested in art.
As for T-Mobile... My inbox was also inundated with people testifying as to the service. This too makes me crazy. BECAUSE MOST OF THEM DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE!
This is like when you ride the chairlift and ask people how they like their new skis. They bought 'em, THEY LOVE 'EM! But for someone like me, who cases the market, who owns multiple pairs, has demoed many models, I know that there are distinct differences between the brands. Now a casual skier may not care, but... Bottom line, most Volkls are stiff and worthless in the bumps. You say your under 90mm-waisted skis are perfect for powder, when I own a pair of 118s, as do most who ski many days a year in powder country, because it makes it so much EASIER! The wider girth allows the ski to float. So if you're happy with T-Mobile...
I've experienced T-Mobile. Many times at Vail.
Let's start with Mid-Vail, I get high speed everywhere inside Mid-Vail, a lodge. Until recently, AT&T didn't get any service whatsoever, now you don't get high speed data, if you get data at all. As for T-Mobile... GOOD LUCK! I remember standing in zero degree weather at the top of Chair 26 waiting to meet a family and they never showed up. They ultimately e-mailed me from the village at the end of the day. THEY'D NEVER SEEN THE TEXTS!
Or on Skyline, #37, the main chair in Blue Sky Basin, which is miles from the village/base. We're riding past Lover's Leap and the phone rings and I'm talking and the person with me is stunned, positively stunned I tell you. There's no cell service in Blue Sky Basin, everybody know that! So I asked her what cell service provider she was using...T-MOBILE!
Now in truth, not every service works in every location. So, you might be living where Verizon, where none of the providers has service. Buy the one that works. Although you really don't have to, because of WI-FI CALLING! Yes, it's free. It hooks up to your internet. Go into the Cellular settings. Verizon is very spotty where I live, but I've got no issue whatsoever, because of WI-FI CALLING!
And then there's price.
My philosophy is different from most. I'd rather deny myself, save up for the best, rather than settle for the mediocre. Like when I purchased my stereo back in 1976. I could buy a receiver, or for the same price I could get an integrated amplifier with enough power to really sing, to never hear distortion. So I sacrificed for a year without FM in the home. And then bought a top of the line Yamaha tuner, not that it's worth much these days. Ditto my Nakamichi 582.
But the landscape has changed. All these devices are cheaper and better. Frequently the best costs little more. Also, people don't employ the big picture. I've actually talked to people who have a house budget of multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then their dream home is ten to fifteen thousand more and they say NO! Crazy. You're gonna live there for years! Like features in your car...don't skimp, it's a fraction of the overall price.
And let's get back to the skis. No, let's stay with the phone. The smartphone is a very powerful device and most people only use a fraction of its power. Like the video-recorder I purchased in the eighties, an NEC, which is mostly out of the consumer products business these days. It was almost a thousand bucks. But, the remote had a window and you could push buttons to record, it was positively simple. So, in the era when most people didn't record on their tape machines (most didn't start until the TiVo/hard drive era), I did. I didn't watch anything in real time other than sports.
I am what they call a power user. And it's fine if you're not, but don't confuse your needs with mine. You may not need the latest features, but I do. Don't judge me. Because there's plenty of stuff you've got that I don't need at all.
And...
There's price.
As referenced above, I'm willing to pay a premium for excellence. It's kind of like a car. I used to drive BMWs, now I drive a Saab which is really a Subaru WRX. My 1985 BMW had a computer, a bunch of idiot lights for oil level and more, and my 2005 Saab...HAS NONE OF THIS! All it does is handle and accelerate really well. It's got four wheel drive and turbocharging and it's noisy and after buying it I realized you got something for more money. Do you get twice the car if you splurge for a BMW or Mercedes? Absolutely not. But you do get a bunch of stuff that is nice if you can afford it.
So, you're happy with little rural coverage, you like saving money, kudos, good for you. But coverage is very important to me, and I'm willing to pay for it!
_________________________________________________
2
Then there are those who e-mail me that they're happy with their old phones, their 6s... What these wankers don't realize is THOSE PHONES ARE NO LONGER SUPPORTED! So, these same people, who are usually oldsters uptight about privacy, don't realize by saving money they're leaving themselves wide open to hacking, because Apple no longer provides security updates for their phone. As for devices lasting forever...buy something inert, like furniture. And if everything was supported there'd be no progress. This is one of the reasons Steve Jobs's return to Apple was so successful, he was willing to cast aside convention, write off legacy all together, in order to push the envelope into the future. But I get all this hate mail blaming Apple because it's not making and supporting ten year old products.
As for those who say you don't need a new phone, I point you to the power-using point above.
But even worse is the people who say you need no smartphone, that a landline is good enough. ABSOLUTELY NOT, NO WAY!
I'll give you some examples. When my iPhone finally got service yesterday it started going wild, downloading phone message and texts from the previous two days. Like the text from the dentist looking for confirmation of my appointment today, which I had to book nearly two months in advance. They were gonna cancel it if they didn't hear back.
Many other phone calls, important messages.
Point being THE WORLD ASSUMES YOU HAVE A SMARTPHONE, and if you don't, THE JOKE IS ON YOU!
Forget utility. The internet is no longer new. Not only can you buy things online, you get endless confirmations from medical labs, even restaurants via text. And people expect you to be reachable all day. If you don't get back to them for hours they think you're being rude or have been in an accident. Don't like it? Be my guest. But this is the world we live in today. The train left the station a long time ago.
_________________________________________________
3
Dear Robert Lefsetz,
My name is Theresa, and I work in the Executive Office of Verizon. I received your complaint from Manon Brouillette, EVP & Group CEO-VZ Consumer, and wish to speak with you to address your concern.
I would first like to apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced with our company. I understand from reviewing your concern that you are without service
I truly appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns, as it helps us become better at what we do.
Please contact me directly at: _______________, Monday through Friday between the hours of 12:00 AM - 9:00 PM. I look forward to speaking to you soon.
Regards,
Theresa
__________________
I called, she couldn't help. She said she put the A-team on it and she would get back to me. I believed her, she was working for the muckety-muck, as for the senior technician who was supposed to get back to me from the day before...I'm still waiting.
So I left to go to Ralph's house and when I got to his neighborhood, a road was closed. This was in the hills, it was twisty and turny, and at least half the streets had no sign. So, I was on my own. I'd printed a map and directions, but I hadn't bothered to zoom in on the map pic so tight that every street was clear, it seemed unnecessary. But, the street I was supposed to take according to Google's directions was closed. You need a smartphone to get around.
And when I got home, just before three, there was an e-mail with instructions, and they didn't work.
But then Ray called.
Ray told me he was called "the e-Sim whisperer" at Verizon. I got tons of e-mail castigating Apple, but it was a Verizon problem, not an Apple problem.
So...
Ray kept sending me invitations to activate, and they never worked. We tried everything in the book. And then Ray asked if the phone was backed up to the cloud, which it was, so he said to erase it, which I did.
So now we start with a clean phone, and Ray says to skip cellular activation.
And after we set up the rest of the phone, we attacked it.
We went through four Verizon prompts to activate, and each and every one didn't work. This was astounding Ray, but this is what was going on.
Meanwhile, since I was on the call with Ray for AN HOUR AND A HALF, we got to be best friends. Not only do I know where he grew up, his work career, but how he met his wife, where his kids go to school and what he does on the weekends. Because we were constantly waiting for things to work, and they did not.
And thank god I'm a power user. Do you know how many times I had to go in and out of the settings, read the ICCID number? Man, otherwise it would have taken days. As it was, mine was one of the longest phone calls Ray had ever been on. Most iPhone 14 calls last ten minutes, never mind people with other problems.
And when the phone finally activated, which was astounding, Ray said he was making a notation, for future reference, to spread to the company. Who knows what the problem was, Ray didn't even know, the workaround that had worked for him for weeks didn't work, but one thing is for sure, it was not Apple's fault.
But eSIMS... I could list the advantages. But you'd rather have a physical SIM from the past. Like in your iPhone 6s.
So yes, a little after four thirty p.m. yesterday I got service. And maybe now I've completely recovered, well, not quite yet.
You see I've been a daily computer user since 1986 and my Mac Plus. And one thing I've learned is...if you have a major major problem it will always get fixed. But this was the longest I've ever had to wait for a fix. This time many Verizon techsters were stumped. Thank god I got to Ray.
_________________________________________________
4
So, yes, I'm still on Verizon. I want that rural coverage.
And it's not only rural... L.A. is a hilly town, Verizon delivers the most consistent service. Whenever the phone call drops out...it's always T-Mobile or AT&T. And if you're doing business, this is important. Your kid may not need the most reliable connections, but the amount you pay for your phone bill is a pittance compared to the amount you're earning for a living.
If you scrimp and save, it's to your detriment. I see it all the time, and the people you want to be in business judge you for it. I'd like to say otherwise, but this is the truth. They ask you if you've seen this streaming show... Don't say you don't have that service and you won't sign up for it, say you haven't seen it yet and then pay for the month! You can't cut corners in business. You've got to spend money to make money. I'd like to tell you it's untrue, but it's a fact.
As for this screed... It was gonna be more detail about what happened in my conversations with Verizon but it would have gone over the head of almost everybody.
So I got hung up in pissing off my audience.
Oh, that's another thing, you can present someone with the truth, even a picture, and they'll deny it, stay with their old position. That doesn't mean you shouldn't deliver the truth, some people will change their minds after the fact, but the truth is the truth.
And the truth is America has got crappy cell service. It's much better overseas, everybody who's been there knows this. As for T-Mobile being a good overseas option, I understand that. But, I can pay Verizon ten bucks a day in Europe or Asia or South America, and if I'm gone for ten days, it's a hundred bucks. What's that in comparison to the trip costs? What's that in comparison to what you might make on the trip? It's just like business class. Believe me, if you fly twelve hours in the back of the plane it's going to take you a week to recover. That's what business class is about, not showing off. Which is why American's planes to NYC are now mainly business class, have been for years. A small first class section, maybe a third of the plane economy and the rest is business, with lie-flat seats. If people are paying, they want service, ergo the seats. And in truth, unless you're going at the busiest time, business class to NYC from L.A. is affordable. Now overseas, that's another issue, that's where status and upgrades and points come in. But as to the number of points I've got...I've got no idea. It's just not worth it to me to track them. I'd rather work trying to make more money than spend all that time getting credit card bonuses and combing the flights for one I can get for free... Time is the most valuable commodity, waste it at your peril.
Now I'm only reacting to those who e-mailed me. If the rest of you understood what I wrote, mea culpa.
All I know is I've now got service.
I've crawled from the wreckage into a brand new car!
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Harey Fierstein-This Week's Podcast
Writer/actor Harvey Fierstein is a charismatic raconteur you can't help but love. Listen to this podcast whether you know him or not, because embedded in his tales is so much wisdom, it's changed my life already!
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/harvey-fierstein-102900319/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/harvey-fierstein/id1316200737?i=1000581781401
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Z4BUeTjbiaF7NPOKAc6n8?si=ff2r3jHFQH2s3oHPI-4N9w
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/428f4c49-45e9-4fc8-9894-fd356dfcd1c5/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-harvey-fierstein
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/harvey-fierstein-207359981
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Listen to the podcast:
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/harvey-fierstein-102900319/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/harvey-fierstein/id1316200737?i=1000581781401
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Z4BUeTjbiaF7NPOKAc6n8?si=ff2r3jHFQH2s3oHPI-4N9w
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/428f4c49-45e9-4fc8-9894-fd356dfcd1c5/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-harvey-fierstein
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/harvey-fierstein-207359981
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Tuesday, 4 October 2022
iPhone 14 Pro Max
I've got no service. Haven't had any cellular since last night. When I exported the data from my iPhone 13 Pro Max to my new iPhone 14 Pro Max.
But it gets worse.
No, it can't be any worse than that. In a world where you only have one phone line, and my cell is mine, I'M LIVING IN THE PRE ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ERA!
Darkness, darkness, as Jesse Colin Young would sing.
Yes, I get a new iPhone every year. I can rationalize it. Because it's the most used device I've got, more than my Macs, more than my car, so I'm treating myself, and paying through the nose for the experience, full retail.
And I get my iPhone via Apple, because the transaction is seamless. I want to do it all online, because online there are no MISTAKES!
But, to satiate east coasters, the iPhone goes on sale at 5 AM, and I'm not going to get up that early to order so mine always comes late, and it came yesterday.
I wasn't gonna set it up. I remember the old days, when there used to be computer problems, before OS X. You could spend all night trying to make your hardware or software work, and sometimes you found out it wasn't even your fault, there was a bug in the system.
But it being 2022, I decided to take the risk.
It failed. The activation and transfer. I've never had this happen before. I had to reset the damn phone and start all over.
But the second time it worked, until...
THE NEW PHONE WAS BRICKED!
Well, it had a blank screen, dark black, and I was afraid to touch it, for fear of screwing up the transfer process.
But it being 2022, and knowing that calling tech support it just a waste of time, I did my own research, and found out it was an acknowledged bug. WHAT???
Apple said just to force quit and restart. I mean why is this not more publicized?
So I thought I was home free. But then I tried to send a message and...
It wouldn't go through. And that's strange, I mean I had Wi-Fi service.
I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
And then I couldn't make any calls either.
And I'm researching on my iPad, and I'm going through all the prompts. Turning Airplane Mode off and on, resetting the network settings, rebooting a zillion times, and nothing ever worked.
And then I saw Om Malik's tweet that he spent four hours on the phone with Verizon with the same problem, but it was too late to talk to anybody at Verizon other than the chatbot, which is built for idiots. Did you plug it in, did you charge it up? So I continued experimenting.
Maybe it was cell range. So I got in my car at 11 PM and drove down to the Whole Foods parking lot... Nada.
Now unlike in the old days, when you transfer data from one iPhone to another, it now KILLS the other iPhone. So I couldn't use the iPhone 13 Pro Max either.
But in the morning...
But I had a packed day. Even worse, a follow-up phone call with my doctor re my annual physical. I ended up using Felice's iPhone, an ancient 7, and there was an issue, but I got through it.
Then I called Apple.
I got India. Or at least someone with an Indian accent. A heavy Indian accent. That used to be the advantage of Apple, you got an Anglo, an American. And I'm not saying that Indians don't know the tech, but I am saying so many of these people I CAN'T UNDERSTAND!
And this woman has got me doing the same damn things I already did multiple times, I knew more about the damn phone than she did, which is one of the reasons I don't call tech support. You've got to waste all this time talking to someone who assumes you're a nincompoop, who doesn't know that much to begin with, waiting to be kicked upstairs to a senior tech.
But this woman said to call Verizon, and thinking about Om's text, I did that.
And spent nearly an hour with someone going through the same damn "fixes" I'd spent two hours on the night before. Finally this guy kicked me upstairs.
And over the next hour, the expert technician couldn't fix my damn phone either. He even put me on hold and called Apple. He left me by saying he'd kicked the issue up the food chain to the super tech team, gave me a case number, and told me he'd call me back, tonight. But when I pushed him he said HOPEFULLY tonight. Then he said sometime tomorrow.
And in truth, I have e-mail. But I've got to go to someone's house tomorrow, a place I've never been, and I guess I'll have to print out a map like in the MapQuest days.
So I decide to e-mail Om. And this is what he said:
"Sorry to hear that you are having the same issues as me. It took them a full day to figure out that it is an actual bug and it is on the Verizon side. This is a much bigger problem than they are acknowledging.
For instance the PR guy who got in touch later pinged me and sent a long email. Here is the part which told me that they are lying: 'your escalation helped identify a provisioning anomaly which affected a small number of customer activations. We quickly pinpointed and resolved the issue.'
This is PR speak at its finest. By the time he responded I did what I needed to do.
I simply decided enough is enough and switched to TMobile. It took me 30 minutes to switch and 30 seconds to use the eSIM to get my number working. It was seamless as Apple intended.
I have two lines on TMobile and paying 90 for Magenta Max 55+ for unlimited everything. I was paying roughly $170 a month to Verizon. The whole quality network thing worked 25 years ago, but now it is just a sham.
If TMobile coverage is good where you live or in Aspen (where you seem to go often) then switch. You actually get real 5g. I am getting 400 mbps on my phone.
Enough with Verizon and it's draconian charges! TMobile isn't perfect but god damn, they are cheap and they don't nickel and dime you.
Ps: I might hate them in a few weeks, but for now glad they Verizon isn't part of my life."
If you don't know Om Malik, Google him, he's a player. Like that old song, he hasn't got time for the pain.
So what are the odds that senior tech at Verizon is going to get back to me with the solution? PROBABLY ZERO!
What next, drive to the Apple Store to waste hours and still get no solution?
Or the Verizon Wireless store, which is run by dummies?
I'm not about to switch to T-Mobile, but I'll be honest, I just researched it. Speeds are fantastic, because of spectrum issues. Verizon bought spectrum that allows higher speeds, it's just that it doesn't go very far and it doesn't penetrate walls and there's not that much of it anyway. But, getting into it, T-Mobile still has spotty rural service, check it out: https://bit.ly/3yfXcGa
And I don't really care about the price. I'll pay extra for the best. But if I've got no service at all?
So, I resorted to tweeting Verizon. Needless to say, I've gotten no response.
So I'm writing this. Because this is now my sole means of communication, e-mail.
Utterly ridiculous.
I'VE GOT NO SERVICE!
When the internet goes down in an office, everybody goes home.
But I'm already home, where am I supposed to go?
I haven't a clue.
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But it gets worse.
No, it can't be any worse than that. In a world where you only have one phone line, and my cell is mine, I'M LIVING IN THE PRE ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ERA!
Darkness, darkness, as Jesse Colin Young would sing.
Yes, I get a new iPhone every year. I can rationalize it. Because it's the most used device I've got, more than my Macs, more than my car, so I'm treating myself, and paying through the nose for the experience, full retail.
And I get my iPhone via Apple, because the transaction is seamless. I want to do it all online, because online there are no MISTAKES!
But, to satiate east coasters, the iPhone goes on sale at 5 AM, and I'm not going to get up that early to order so mine always comes late, and it came yesterday.
I wasn't gonna set it up. I remember the old days, when there used to be computer problems, before OS X. You could spend all night trying to make your hardware or software work, and sometimes you found out it wasn't even your fault, there was a bug in the system.
But it being 2022, I decided to take the risk.
It failed. The activation and transfer. I've never had this happen before. I had to reset the damn phone and start all over.
But the second time it worked, until...
THE NEW PHONE WAS BRICKED!
Well, it had a blank screen, dark black, and I was afraid to touch it, for fear of screwing up the transfer process.
But it being 2022, and knowing that calling tech support it just a waste of time, I did my own research, and found out it was an acknowledged bug. WHAT???
Apple said just to force quit and restart. I mean why is this not more publicized?
So I thought I was home free. But then I tried to send a message and...
It wouldn't go through. And that's strange, I mean I had Wi-Fi service.
I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
And then I couldn't make any calls either.
And I'm researching on my iPad, and I'm going through all the prompts. Turning Airplane Mode off and on, resetting the network settings, rebooting a zillion times, and nothing ever worked.
And then I saw Om Malik's tweet that he spent four hours on the phone with Verizon with the same problem, but it was too late to talk to anybody at Verizon other than the chatbot, which is built for idiots. Did you plug it in, did you charge it up? So I continued experimenting.
Maybe it was cell range. So I got in my car at 11 PM and drove down to the Whole Foods parking lot... Nada.
Now unlike in the old days, when you transfer data from one iPhone to another, it now KILLS the other iPhone. So I couldn't use the iPhone 13 Pro Max either.
But in the morning...
But I had a packed day. Even worse, a follow-up phone call with my doctor re my annual physical. I ended up using Felice's iPhone, an ancient 7, and there was an issue, but I got through it.
Then I called Apple.
I got India. Or at least someone with an Indian accent. A heavy Indian accent. That used to be the advantage of Apple, you got an Anglo, an American. And I'm not saying that Indians don't know the tech, but I am saying so many of these people I CAN'T UNDERSTAND!
And this woman has got me doing the same damn things I already did multiple times, I knew more about the damn phone than she did, which is one of the reasons I don't call tech support. You've got to waste all this time talking to someone who assumes you're a nincompoop, who doesn't know that much to begin with, waiting to be kicked upstairs to a senior tech.
But this woman said to call Verizon, and thinking about Om's text, I did that.
And spent nearly an hour with someone going through the same damn "fixes" I'd spent two hours on the night before. Finally this guy kicked me upstairs.
And over the next hour, the expert technician couldn't fix my damn phone either. He even put me on hold and called Apple. He left me by saying he'd kicked the issue up the food chain to the super tech team, gave me a case number, and told me he'd call me back, tonight. But when I pushed him he said HOPEFULLY tonight. Then he said sometime tomorrow.
And in truth, I have e-mail. But I've got to go to someone's house tomorrow, a place I've never been, and I guess I'll have to print out a map like in the MapQuest days.
So I decide to e-mail Om. And this is what he said:
"Sorry to hear that you are having the same issues as me. It took them a full day to figure out that it is an actual bug and it is on the Verizon side. This is a much bigger problem than they are acknowledging.
For instance the PR guy who got in touch later pinged me and sent a long email. Here is the part which told me that they are lying: 'your escalation helped identify a provisioning anomaly which affected a small number of customer activations. We quickly pinpointed and resolved the issue.'
This is PR speak at its finest. By the time he responded I did what I needed to do.
I simply decided enough is enough and switched to TMobile. It took me 30 minutes to switch and 30 seconds to use the eSIM to get my number working. It was seamless as Apple intended.
I have two lines on TMobile and paying 90 for Magenta Max 55+ for unlimited everything. I was paying roughly $170 a month to Verizon. The whole quality network thing worked 25 years ago, but now it is just a sham.
If TMobile coverage is good where you live or in Aspen (where you seem to go often) then switch. You actually get real 5g. I am getting 400 mbps on my phone.
Enough with Verizon and it's draconian charges! TMobile isn't perfect but god damn, they are cheap and they don't nickel and dime you.
Ps: I might hate them in a few weeks, but for now glad they Verizon isn't part of my life."
If you don't know Om Malik, Google him, he's a player. Like that old song, he hasn't got time for the pain.
So what are the odds that senior tech at Verizon is going to get back to me with the solution? PROBABLY ZERO!
What next, drive to the Apple Store to waste hours and still get no solution?
Or the Verizon Wireless store, which is run by dummies?
I'm not about to switch to T-Mobile, but I'll be honest, I just researched it. Speeds are fantastic, because of spectrum issues. Verizon bought spectrum that allows higher speeds, it's just that it doesn't go very far and it doesn't penetrate walls and there's not that much of it anyway. But, getting into it, T-Mobile still has spotty rural service, check it out: https://bit.ly/3yfXcGa
And I don't really care about the price. I'll pay extra for the best. But if I've got no service at all?
So, I resorted to tweeting Verizon. Needless to say, I've gotten no response.
So I'm writing this. Because this is now my sole means of communication, e-mail.
Utterly ridiculous.
I'VE GOT NO SERVICE!
When the internet goes down in an office, everybody goes home.
But I'm already home, where am I supposed to go?
I haven't a clue.
--
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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Re-The Doobie Brothers
Spotify: Doobie Brothers Primer playlist: https://spoti.fi/3fLWWIA
Qobuz: Doobie Brothers Primer playlist: https://bit.ly/3CaLa1G
(I include the Spotify playlist because the company has a free tier, and has the largest market share. I include the Qobuz playlist because Qobuz has the best audio quality and every track on the playlist other than "World Gone Crazy" is in hi-res. You can try Qobuz for free, and see. The difference between hi-res and CD quality is palpable, anybody could tell. However, the listening experience is greatly enhanced by an external DAC, i.e. "digital to analog converter." Once again, I spotlight the DragonFly Cobalt. That is a $329 product and worth every penny: https://amzn.to/3ygooUX However, you could also use the THX Onyx, which is much less costly and almost equally good, presently 11% off at $178.90, and whose purchase includes three months of Qobuz: https://amzn.to/3RwhcuF The Onyx goes all the way to 192 kHz, whereas the Cobalt only goes to 96 kHz. The creator of the Cobalt intentionally limited the device to 96 kHz because 192 kHz uses more power, which matters on a portable device. Also, the Onyx gets pretty warm, and has a cable, which the Cobalt does not (however the two are very small devices). But both provide an astounding listening experience. If your speakers are mediocre, use headphones. Both of these devices can be used with a desktop computer or an iPhone or iPad. You need the $29 Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter https://amzn.to/3SXclUq to connect to your iPhone, and unless your iPad is a recent one with a USB-C connector, you'll need an Apple Camera adapter to connect to it also.)
_______________________________
_______________________________
So you WERE there?!
I was about halfway through the first chorus of "Another Park" when I wondered (having read before how much you dig that tune).…."I wonder if Lefsetz is here?"
Glad you enjoyed it
Ed Toth
___________________________________
I say this as a person who is often and high and I might be right now: I think if the Doobie Brothers (my first concert) had less doobie-ish name, they'd be regularly included on the list of the top few rock bands. The range, the re-invention, amazing.
Dave Pell
___________________________________
Thanks for the great article on the Doobies. You summed up exactly how I've always felt about them.
I came onboard about the same time you did, around the third LP. They were and are one of the best bands ever, and they don't get their due and probably never will, especially Pat Simmons (who is to the Doobies what Christine is to Fleetwood Mac when it comes to recognition). I hope the great results they're getting from their tour helps them know just how awesome they are.
Mike Blakesley
___________________________________
I have to agree with you that the Doobies 50th Concert was quite enjoyable! I was able to see them at The Chicago Theatre a couple of weeks ago. My first Doobies concert dates back to College 73" in Des Moines, IA where I saw the Doobies coupled with Fleetwood Mac. Those were the days when you had 2- 3 acts of the time bundled!
Yes, The Doobs conjured up songs that were not necessarily hits, but die hard fans recognize and enjoy like myself. Yes, fan got the pallet of Hits to sing along to.
Tom, Pat and John McFee's vocals and guitar playing were as fresh as 1972. How many bands this age can claim that? Michael McDonald's playing was excellent and struggled to hit those high notes but overall really good. Will the Doobies sustain another 50? Probably not, but it takes our sons and daughter to enjoy and carry on 70" Rock.
Thanks for you great review!
Marc R/Chicago
___________________________________
Hello Bob. For the longest time I had the sleeve with the roach from the Doobies album on my wall in a frame. I put it back on the album recently. I always thought it was beautiful. I would work to emulate that artifact but could never keep any of them for long. I can still remember the dealer singing falsetto when I told him I was on my way to hear the boys do their thing. Whoa, listen to the music!!!! Peace, rwhake.
___________________________________
Awesome review Bob!
They were my mainstay music in the early 70s. As a guitar player, there was no mystery in learning to play their songs.
It was indeed a glorious time with my Ric 12-string amplified through my modified 251 Leslie.
Will Eggleston
___________________________________
I love the Doobies. Only thing I didn't agree with Funkadelic about, hell yeah I need some Doobie in my funk!!!
Kenneth Williams
___________________________________
Bob, saw them in Chicago and your comments nailed it. Such a great show and with Johnston and McDonald it was the best of both worlds. The walkers lined up in the lobby looked like we were boarding a flight to Florida!
Thanks,
Neal Berz
___________________________________
I recall the time I saw them hanging out in a trailer in Uniontown PA in the 1970's when we trekked there from Pittsburgh to buy some blonde hash. Skunk was sitting on the floor in the living room - there was like one chair - and all these hot babes sitting there hanging on every word he said. He was telling them about some prof that made him go to the back of the room 'cause his feet stunk so bad.
My buddies older brother and the guy that lived in the trailer left us there to go score (they never did), leaving me and my friend standing there like Beavis and Butthead.
So from around the partition wall for the kitchen I see this guy with long brown hair motion for us to come into the kitchen. Him and Tiran were smoking a bowl of some killer black hash. Gave me and my friend a hit and both of us almost passed out. They laughed. So we go back in to the living room all stoned out and continued listening to Skunk talk to these women sitting on the floor.
I had no idea who you they were. Not a clue. Then about a year later I recall seeing pic's in Circus Magazine or something. I freaked. I called my friend. "Dude - was that the Doobie Brothers?" "Yep..." I recently talked to him again after all these years - thinking maybe I dreamt it.
"Nope, that really happened. We smoked a doobie with the Doobies..."
wam
___________________________________
Another Park & South City Midnight Lady are my two favorites of theirs
bfletcher28
___________________________________
Spot on as usual, Bob. "Whoa oh ohhhhhhhh, listen to the music...all the time".
Blaine Leeds
Nashville
___________________________________
Great band.
Harold Love
___________________________________
I love that band and thankful that I got to promote them back in the day. Hopefully they make it back to to Australia next year…if they do I will be there front & centre!
Tom Johnston is THE Man & Another park, another Sunday is THE Song
Don Elford
___________________________________
Caught them at Shoreline last week and jumped out of my skin to hear "South City Midnight Lady" live, followed by "Clear as the Driven Snow," my personal #2 and #1 favorites respectively, with "Another Park, Another Sunday" following close behind at #3.
Scott Kauffman
___________________________________
It's likely you didn't see anyone you know at the gig because -- despite the temporary "anomaly" of Michael McDonald's brilliant tenure in the band and the more upscale-sounding, female-appeal hits it delivered -- the Doobie Brothers as a going concern (with Johnston and Simmons at its center) were initially, and remain, a band "owned," and still supported, by the working class rock fan: tradespersons, service sector personnel, hourly wage earners, bikers (literally bikers). Growing up in the Bronx, we loved the Doobies, while the kids we knew from "downtown" (our generic term for the entirety of Manhattan), whose parents all seemed to be professionals, hated them. Probably not many to the manor born "coastal elites" in the hall last night.
Sure sounds like they missed some great music, though.
Best,
Rick Alexander
___________________________________
Great write up Bob. I saw them exactly a year ago at the forum and thought they were terrific.
Kyle J. Ferraro
___________________________________
I've got a great personal story. I had opened my first club Tulagi in Boulder and when agent Fred Bohlander sent me their second album Toulouse Street (their first album didn't do much) I heard Listen To the Music which was coming out as the first single and I smelled a big hit and took a chance and booked them for 10 shows in 5 nights.($500 a night plus percentage) By the time the date came around Listen to Music was top 5 single and if my memory is correct they ended up on the cover of The Rolling Stone the week they played for me. I was such a rookie I wouldn't take Fred's call right before the dates because I thought he would cancel it because they got so big and wouldn't want to play a small club with a low guarantee. But they never cancelled and I think they made $10,000 in percentage (turning away a ton of fans for all the sold out shows) and the band told me it was the biggest payday in their career (up till then). Have remained best friends with Fred and band since then. Realized what type of class guy Fred and his partner Dan Weiner were. They both became 2 of my best and oldest friends. (FYI they were at IFA agency then)
Chuck Morris - Chairman Emeritus
AEG PRESENTS
___________________________________
Thanks Bob, the You Tube review is much appreciated!
Tom Johnston
Qobuz: Doobie Brothers Primer playlist: https://bit.ly/3CaLa1G
(I include the Spotify playlist because the company has a free tier, and has the largest market share. I include the Qobuz playlist because Qobuz has the best audio quality and every track on the playlist other than "World Gone Crazy" is in hi-res. You can try Qobuz for free, and see. The difference between hi-res and CD quality is palpable, anybody could tell. However, the listening experience is greatly enhanced by an external DAC, i.e. "digital to analog converter." Once again, I spotlight the DragonFly Cobalt. That is a $329 product and worth every penny: https://amzn.to/3ygooUX However, you could also use the THX Onyx, which is much less costly and almost equally good, presently 11% off at $178.90, and whose purchase includes three months of Qobuz: https://amzn.to/3RwhcuF The Onyx goes all the way to 192 kHz, whereas the Cobalt only goes to 96 kHz. The creator of the Cobalt intentionally limited the device to 96 kHz because 192 kHz uses more power, which matters on a portable device. Also, the Onyx gets pretty warm, and has a cable, which the Cobalt does not (however the two are very small devices). But both provide an astounding listening experience. If your speakers are mediocre, use headphones. Both of these devices can be used with a desktop computer or an iPhone or iPad. You need the $29 Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter https://amzn.to/3SXclUq to connect to your iPhone, and unless your iPad is a recent one with a USB-C connector, you'll need an Apple Camera adapter to connect to it also.)
_______________________________
_______________________________
So you WERE there?!
I was about halfway through the first chorus of "Another Park" when I wondered (having read before how much you dig that tune).…."I wonder if Lefsetz is here?"
Glad you enjoyed it
Ed Toth
___________________________________
I say this as a person who is often and high and I might be right now: I think if the Doobie Brothers (my first concert) had less doobie-ish name, they'd be regularly included on the list of the top few rock bands. The range, the re-invention, amazing.
Dave Pell
___________________________________
Thanks for the great article on the Doobies. You summed up exactly how I've always felt about them.
I came onboard about the same time you did, around the third LP. They were and are one of the best bands ever, and they don't get their due and probably never will, especially Pat Simmons (who is to the Doobies what Christine is to Fleetwood Mac when it comes to recognition). I hope the great results they're getting from their tour helps them know just how awesome they are.
Mike Blakesley
___________________________________
I have to agree with you that the Doobies 50th Concert was quite enjoyable! I was able to see them at The Chicago Theatre a couple of weeks ago. My first Doobies concert dates back to College 73" in Des Moines, IA where I saw the Doobies coupled with Fleetwood Mac. Those were the days when you had 2- 3 acts of the time bundled!
Yes, The Doobs conjured up songs that were not necessarily hits, but die hard fans recognize and enjoy like myself. Yes, fan got the pallet of Hits to sing along to.
Tom, Pat and John McFee's vocals and guitar playing were as fresh as 1972. How many bands this age can claim that? Michael McDonald's playing was excellent and struggled to hit those high notes but overall really good. Will the Doobies sustain another 50? Probably not, but it takes our sons and daughter to enjoy and carry on 70" Rock.
Thanks for you great review!
Marc R/Chicago
___________________________________
Hello Bob. For the longest time I had the sleeve with the roach from the Doobies album on my wall in a frame. I put it back on the album recently. I always thought it was beautiful. I would work to emulate that artifact but could never keep any of them for long. I can still remember the dealer singing falsetto when I told him I was on my way to hear the boys do their thing. Whoa, listen to the music!!!! Peace, rwhake.
___________________________________
Awesome review Bob!
They were my mainstay music in the early 70s. As a guitar player, there was no mystery in learning to play their songs.
It was indeed a glorious time with my Ric 12-string amplified through my modified 251 Leslie.
Will Eggleston
___________________________________
I love the Doobies. Only thing I didn't agree with Funkadelic about, hell yeah I need some Doobie in my funk!!!
Kenneth Williams
___________________________________
Bob, saw them in Chicago and your comments nailed it. Such a great show and with Johnston and McDonald it was the best of both worlds. The walkers lined up in the lobby looked like we were boarding a flight to Florida!
Thanks,
Neal Berz
___________________________________
I recall the time I saw them hanging out in a trailer in Uniontown PA in the 1970's when we trekked there from Pittsburgh to buy some blonde hash. Skunk was sitting on the floor in the living room - there was like one chair - and all these hot babes sitting there hanging on every word he said. He was telling them about some prof that made him go to the back of the room 'cause his feet stunk so bad.
My buddies older brother and the guy that lived in the trailer left us there to go score (they never did), leaving me and my friend standing there like Beavis and Butthead.
So from around the partition wall for the kitchen I see this guy with long brown hair motion for us to come into the kitchen. Him and Tiran were smoking a bowl of some killer black hash. Gave me and my friend a hit and both of us almost passed out. They laughed. So we go back in to the living room all stoned out and continued listening to Skunk talk to these women sitting on the floor.
I had no idea who you they were. Not a clue. Then about a year later I recall seeing pic's in Circus Magazine or something. I freaked. I called my friend. "Dude - was that the Doobie Brothers?" "Yep..." I recently talked to him again after all these years - thinking maybe I dreamt it.
"Nope, that really happened. We smoked a doobie with the Doobies..."
wam
___________________________________
Another Park & South City Midnight Lady are my two favorites of theirs
bfletcher28
___________________________________
Spot on as usual, Bob. "Whoa oh ohhhhhhhh, listen to the music...all the time".
Blaine Leeds
Nashville
___________________________________
Great band.
Harold Love
___________________________________
I love that band and thankful that I got to promote them back in the day. Hopefully they make it back to to Australia next year…if they do I will be there front & centre!
Tom Johnston is THE Man & Another park, another Sunday is THE Song
Don Elford
___________________________________
Caught them at Shoreline last week and jumped out of my skin to hear "South City Midnight Lady" live, followed by "Clear as the Driven Snow," my personal #2 and #1 favorites respectively, with "Another Park, Another Sunday" following close behind at #3.
Scott Kauffman
___________________________________
It's likely you didn't see anyone you know at the gig because -- despite the temporary "anomaly" of Michael McDonald's brilliant tenure in the band and the more upscale-sounding, female-appeal hits it delivered -- the Doobie Brothers as a going concern (with Johnston and Simmons at its center) were initially, and remain, a band "owned," and still supported, by the working class rock fan: tradespersons, service sector personnel, hourly wage earners, bikers (literally bikers). Growing up in the Bronx, we loved the Doobies, while the kids we knew from "downtown" (our generic term for the entirety of Manhattan), whose parents all seemed to be professionals, hated them. Probably not many to the manor born "coastal elites" in the hall last night.
Sure sounds like they missed some great music, though.
Best,
Rick Alexander
___________________________________
Great write up Bob. I saw them exactly a year ago at the forum and thought they were terrific.
Kyle J. Ferraro
___________________________________
I've got a great personal story. I had opened my first club Tulagi in Boulder and when agent Fred Bohlander sent me their second album Toulouse Street (their first album didn't do much) I heard Listen To the Music which was coming out as the first single and I smelled a big hit and took a chance and booked them for 10 shows in 5 nights.($500 a night plus percentage) By the time the date came around Listen to Music was top 5 single and if my memory is correct they ended up on the cover of The Rolling Stone the week they played for me. I was such a rookie I wouldn't take Fred's call right before the dates because I thought he would cancel it because they got so big and wouldn't want to play a small club with a low guarantee. But they never cancelled and I think they made $10,000 in percentage (turning away a ton of fans for all the sold out shows) and the band told me it was the biggest payday in their career (up till then). Have remained best friends with Fred and band since then. Realized what type of class guy Fred and his partner Dan Weiner were. They both became 2 of my best and oldest friends. (FYI they were at IFA agency then)
Chuck Morris - Chairman Emeritus
AEG PRESENTS
___________________________________
Thanks Bob, the You Tube review is much appreciated!
Tom Johnston
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
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To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
Monday, 3 October 2022
Doobies' 50th At The YouTube Theater
1
It wasn't nostalgia, we're too old for that.
Now maybe some newbies came to this show because they were intrigued by the presence of Michael McDonald, but probably most of this audience had already seen the Doobie Brothers, more than once.
You see nostalgia is when you look back and remember the good times. You know, you go to the show and bask in the aura of what once was. But after you do that a few times, it comes down to the music, just the music. Does it resonate with you? Does it make you feel good? Does it make you smile?
The opening number, after a bit of Michael McDonald improvisation was "Nobody," the opening song on the very first Doobies album, a stiff, I didn't hear it until it came through the speakers as part of the boxed set. This occasionally happens, you hear an unknown hit, kinda like "Love Shines" from the Fleetwood Mac boxed set, which disappeared, but now the song is part of a new compilation. The focus is on Stevie Nicks, and as a result Christine McVie's smooth excellence is too often overlooked. I love "Love Shines," listen to it here: https://spoti.fi/3V3ar6z
But even though Fleetwood Mac started recording long before the Doobie Brothers, the Doobies had commercial success first. But not on the first album, "Nobody" had the ultimately instantly recognizable sound, but it was too early, radio wasn't on board, that happened with the second LP, 1972's "Toulouse Street," and "Listen to the Music."
And when Tom Johnston stepped up to the mic and started singing "Nobody" a jolt of adrenaline went through my body, I was one with the music, I said to myself, THIS IS FANTASTIC!
You see this is the only place you can get this sound. The chunka-chunka guitar and Tom's voice. It's classic, and too often the Doobies are pooh-poohed, because they had hits when those were secondary, when bands were hip with backstories and featured on FM as opposed to AM, if they got any radio play whatsoever. That's what happens when you're a cut above, you're embraced, as Fleetwood Mac with Stevie and Lindsey ultimately were in '75.
But this was '72.
2
Albums rarely jump out of the gate, at least back then. There'd be a hit on the radio, but most people didn't buy the LP based on that, because albums were expensive, and you didn't want to get a dud. But "Toulouse Street" had a second cut, a cover of "Jesus is Just Alright," which first came to fans' attention on the Byrds album "The Ballad of Easy Rider," which was for dorm and living rooms only, it didn't break through on the radio, even though the magnificence of Clarence White's playing was ultimately recognized.
But the Byrds' take on "Jesus Is Just Alright" was a bridge between what once was and what now was becoming. You could hear the classic Byrds' sound, whereas the Doobies' take was different, it rocked harder, with searing electric guitar, the label pushed the track and radio played it, but I didn't buy the album. The hits came too soon, and I didn't know anybody who owned the album, so I never heard it.
And then came "The Captain and Me" eight months later and "Long Train Runnin'" was ubiquitous, you couldn't avoid it, AM, FM, it was everywhere. Followed up by the superior "China Grove" and now the Doobies were the hottest act out there, and they were everywhere. You see by 1973, the establishment had woken up to the power of music, there was "In Concert" Friday night, you saw bands, albeit not as much as you did during the MTV era.
And the Doobie Brothers got put in the meat and potatoes category, I mean hit after hit, who else does this? And it's not like there was a dark past, it was just straight ahead rock.
But the single "Another Park, Another Sunday," from 1974's highly anticipated "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," stiffed, and just when it looked like the momentum had evaporated, "Black Water" became a left field smash and people all over America were singing along in their cars. You couldn't help yourself, "Black Water" sounded like nothing else on the radio, and that's what we're drawn to most.
And that's where I came along. That's when I became a fan.
You see I might not have purchased the mainstream product, but the mainstream did. I spent a month in Mammoth, California in a condo with six other freestyle skiers and Jimmy Kay's 8-tracks, which he'd made himself. He had "Toulouse Street," "The Captain and Me" and "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," although the songs' order was rearranged, and hearing them every day I got infected, and ultimately that fall purchased them myself. And the song that got under my skin was "Natural Thing," the opening cut from "The Captain and Me," with the sounds of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, who created those magical sounds on Stevie Wonder's albums.
3
Now the following spring I got the world's worst case of mononucleosis but was wary of leaving my BMW in Salt Lake City, so I went to Odyssey Records on Main Street and bought six prerecorded cassettes, something I'd never done before, because you can make better ones at home, and took off for the east coast.
One of those albums was the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets." It was confounding. Was this even the same band? The cassette came with almost no information, and there was no internet to check. I mean it was good, but it was completely different.
And then this completely different unit had a breakthrough with "Minute by Minute" just when they were about to be written off, and stunningly, they were now the biggest band in America. With a new lead singer, Michael McDonald. Who after one more album with the Doobies, left, the whole band broke up, because everybody wanted a song on the LP "One Step Closer," and it suffered in quality as a result, but there was one absolute smash in sound and lyrics, "Real Love."
Michael McDonald followed this up with his solo hit, "I Keep Forgettin'," but the hits didn't continue to flow, the original Tom Johnston unit reformed and made two albums on Capitol and then it was the nineties, and everybody was an oldie. The world had superseded them. But unlike so much of what surrounded them in the seventies, their music sustained, it got airplay. And the Doobies worked and Michael McDonald worked and then came the idea to merge the two for one big 50th anniversary tour. Ergo, last night.
4
What can I tell you about the YouTube Theater? Having been built so recently, a lot of the flaws of yore have been eliminated. There's a separate VIP entrance, a separate VIP lounge, albeit much smaller than the Forum Club, and excellent sight lines and sound. But it's industrial. No carpet. It looks like you could hose the whole thing down after a show. And in truth the best halls are kinda greasy, kinda lived-in, like the Forum, and the YouTube Theater is brand new, and last night it held an old audience.
You hear it all the time, from "heritage" acts. Yup, there's a whole new generation at their shows. Well, they weren't in attendance last night. I saw three kids about twelve, but the rest of the assembled multitude was old. Like me. They'd lived through the heyday of the Doobies in the seventies, they remembered it like yesterday, and now with all the years gone by they were worse for wear. The woman behind me wore skintight pants and had plumped up lips, but everybody else seemed to be comfortable in their skin, they owned who they were. And they didn't dude themselves up for the gig, which many boomers do. No, these were the same clothes they'd worn that afternoon. Jeans. 501s more than designer duds. And they sat. Tom Johnston kept on imploring the audience to stand, and a number of people in the pit did, but when you're in your sixties and seventies your knees are creaky, you'd rather sit and let your mind drift.
And on some level it was cognitive dissonance. Just when you were marinating in the Tom Johnston/Pat Simmons sound, there'd be a Michael McDonald number. So you got the blending of a rock show with more MOR, more cerebral tunes. It was the same band, but...
Michael McDonald exhibits no charisma, he doesn't want the spotlight, he played the keyboards throughout, and he got the most initial applause, you know when the audience recognizes the intro to the song, which made me think of the era, the late seventies, when disco was peaking and the music industry was about to collapse of its own weight. McDonald's songs were great, but they are not rock like the earlier Doobies work.
But there's that one killer line in "You Belong to Me":
"You don't have to prove to me you're beautiful to strangers"
Wow, what insight!
And the upbeat "Takin' It to the Streets" was a powerhouse. And I must admit a fondness for "Here to Love You," which was especially good last night, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it was the rockers, the traditional, classic sound of the Doobies, that reached me most. Like "Rockin' Down the Highway."
"Oh, ROCKIN' DOWN THE HIGHWAY"
This was the hedonistic seventies. The sixties were done, we were focusing on fun, and we had it, sans documentation, the records inspired us and the rest is only in our minds, those nights of being falling down drunk, out in the country, rollin' down the highway with the windows down, back when that was still a thing.
But I must say Pat Simmons's "Clear as the Driven Snow" was a highlight. That's an album cut off of "The Captain and Me" that you know when you buy the album and play it, otherwise you'd be out of the loop. the acoustic guitar, the mellowness, that ultimately leads to an electric journey, this is the kind of music that sets your mind free.
And the band had the balls to play a few songs from their new album, which I knew, but most people seemed not to, and then...
Tom told us they were going to play a song they normally don't, they were resurrecting that stiff song from "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," "Another Park, Another Sunday."
5
"I'm sittin' in my room, I'm starin' out my window
And I wonder where you've gone"
These are the songs we like most, the introspective ones, that engender stories of our own life.
"City streets and lonely highways I travel down
My car is empty and the radio just seems to bring me down"
I've been there. You've been there. You can't stay home any longer, back in the pre-internet era, where everything good that happened happened outside the house. You need a change of scenery, you need to cut free.
"I'm just tryin' to find me
A pretty smile that I can get into
It's true, I'm lost without you"
Well, in today's #MeToo era, finding another pretty smile to get into seems a bit macho, but the key here is he's lost without her. All guys are. They say they kicked her to the curb, but inside they're dying.
"Another park, another Sunday
Why is it life turns out that way
Just when you think you got a good thing
It seems to slip away"
Live long enough and you start to prepare for this. You can make plans, but that does not mean they're going to happen. When everything's going great, you know to anticipate the bringdown.
"Another park, another Sunday
It's dark and empty thanks to you
I got to get myself together
But it's hard to do"
Sunday is the loneliest day. When you're heartbroken you can't wait for the work week to start back up again, to see people, to distract yourself from these feelings. And you try to get yourself out of the hole....but only time helps, if it helps at all.
And word is "Another Park, Another Sunday" tanked because of the supposed put-down of radio, which was a misreading of the song, but in truth "Another Park, Another Sunday" is too good for the radio. The mellifluous sound, the indelible chorus, the meaningful lyrics... It's now my favorite Doobie Brothers song. I play it all the time. And to see it performed live...
WHAT ELSE CAN YOU ASK FOR?
I wasn't thinking about the seventies and that Mammoth condo, I was thinking about this year, the past few months, being out of sorts and pulling up "Another Park, Another Sunday" on my phone to root myself, to make myself feel good.
6
"Black Water" was a tour-de-force, but it's the finale that truly sums it up.
"What the people need is a way to make 'em smile"
And that's what the Doobie Brothers do, all you've got to do is listen to the music.
That's what we did back then, listen to the music. And it was foreground, not background. And if you were big, you were gigantic, much bigger than any of today's hit acts. The Weeknd only reaches a small fraction of the populace compared to the Doobies back then. The entire nation was driven by the youth, who by the seventies were gaining power, and it was music that powered them forward.
"Whoa, oh, listen to the music"
All the time.
7
I didn't see a single person I knew. I haven't had that experience in years. Which was a bit weird, was this show off the radar? Then again, as I said up top, the Doobies were never cool, they were providing for the audience, not the insiders and critics.
And the key to a show is to gauge whether your mind wanders, whether you're checking your phone.
People weren't checking last night. And they didn't even leave early! Which is de rigueur in Los Angeles.
And by time the classic anthem was being played everybody in the hall was on their feet, thrusting their arms in the air, singing along, just like me.
And when that happens everything else falls away, it's a pure moment, a peak moment, what life is all about.
Do I think the Doobie Brothers' music will be heard fifty years hence?
I wouldn't bet on it.
Maybe this music dies with us. But that's all right, because we won't be here either.
Our parents went to concerts, but not like we do. We learned in our youth and we are maintaining the mission. Music is in our DNA, we know these songs by heart, to go to the show to hear them performed live is better than a new car, better than almost anything other than sex.
The gig ended at 10:20. Early enough for the oldsters to get home and go to bed, staying up past midnight is long in their past. The train pulled into the station at eight PM and then departed two hours and twenty minutes later. The experience was dropped, and then the rock and roll circus moved on to another town, to satisfy thousands more people you know like best friends, because you share this history, it's a point of connection, you've got something to talk about even though you've never met.
The Doobie Brothers don't get enough respect. Because they're not edgy, they're not controversial, they're delivering right down the middle, but it feels so right.
And it did last night.
--
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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It wasn't nostalgia, we're too old for that.
Now maybe some newbies came to this show because they were intrigued by the presence of Michael McDonald, but probably most of this audience had already seen the Doobie Brothers, more than once.
You see nostalgia is when you look back and remember the good times. You know, you go to the show and bask in the aura of what once was. But after you do that a few times, it comes down to the music, just the music. Does it resonate with you? Does it make you feel good? Does it make you smile?
The opening number, after a bit of Michael McDonald improvisation was "Nobody," the opening song on the very first Doobies album, a stiff, I didn't hear it until it came through the speakers as part of the boxed set. This occasionally happens, you hear an unknown hit, kinda like "Love Shines" from the Fleetwood Mac boxed set, which disappeared, but now the song is part of a new compilation. The focus is on Stevie Nicks, and as a result Christine McVie's smooth excellence is too often overlooked. I love "Love Shines," listen to it here: https://spoti.fi/3V3ar6z
But even though Fleetwood Mac started recording long before the Doobie Brothers, the Doobies had commercial success first. But not on the first album, "Nobody" had the ultimately instantly recognizable sound, but it was too early, radio wasn't on board, that happened with the second LP, 1972's "Toulouse Street," and "Listen to the Music."
And when Tom Johnston stepped up to the mic and started singing "Nobody" a jolt of adrenaline went through my body, I was one with the music, I said to myself, THIS IS FANTASTIC!
You see this is the only place you can get this sound. The chunka-chunka guitar and Tom's voice. It's classic, and too often the Doobies are pooh-poohed, because they had hits when those were secondary, when bands were hip with backstories and featured on FM as opposed to AM, if they got any radio play whatsoever. That's what happens when you're a cut above, you're embraced, as Fleetwood Mac with Stevie and Lindsey ultimately were in '75.
But this was '72.
2
Albums rarely jump out of the gate, at least back then. There'd be a hit on the radio, but most people didn't buy the LP based on that, because albums were expensive, and you didn't want to get a dud. But "Toulouse Street" had a second cut, a cover of "Jesus is Just Alright," which first came to fans' attention on the Byrds album "The Ballad of Easy Rider," which was for dorm and living rooms only, it didn't break through on the radio, even though the magnificence of Clarence White's playing was ultimately recognized.
But the Byrds' take on "Jesus Is Just Alright" was a bridge between what once was and what now was becoming. You could hear the classic Byrds' sound, whereas the Doobies' take was different, it rocked harder, with searing electric guitar, the label pushed the track and radio played it, but I didn't buy the album. The hits came too soon, and I didn't know anybody who owned the album, so I never heard it.
And then came "The Captain and Me" eight months later and "Long Train Runnin'" was ubiquitous, you couldn't avoid it, AM, FM, it was everywhere. Followed up by the superior "China Grove" and now the Doobies were the hottest act out there, and they were everywhere. You see by 1973, the establishment had woken up to the power of music, there was "In Concert" Friday night, you saw bands, albeit not as much as you did during the MTV era.
And the Doobie Brothers got put in the meat and potatoes category, I mean hit after hit, who else does this? And it's not like there was a dark past, it was just straight ahead rock.
But the single "Another Park, Another Sunday," from 1974's highly anticipated "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," stiffed, and just when it looked like the momentum had evaporated, "Black Water" became a left field smash and people all over America were singing along in their cars. You couldn't help yourself, "Black Water" sounded like nothing else on the radio, and that's what we're drawn to most.
And that's where I came along. That's when I became a fan.
You see I might not have purchased the mainstream product, but the mainstream did. I spent a month in Mammoth, California in a condo with six other freestyle skiers and Jimmy Kay's 8-tracks, which he'd made himself. He had "Toulouse Street," "The Captain and Me" and "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," although the songs' order was rearranged, and hearing them every day I got infected, and ultimately that fall purchased them myself. And the song that got under my skin was "Natural Thing," the opening cut from "The Captain and Me," with the sounds of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, who created those magical sounds on Stevie Wonder's albums.
3
Now the following spring I got the world's worst case of mononucleosis but was wary of leaving my BMW in Salt Lake City, so I went to Odyssey Records on Main Street and bought six prerecorded cassettes, something I'd never done before, because you can make better ones at home, and took off for the east coast.
One of those albums was the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets." It was confounding. Was this even the same band? The cassette came with almost no information, and there was no internet to check. I mean it was good, but it was completely different.
And then this completely different unit had a breakthrough with "Minute by Minute" just when they were about to be written off, and stunningly, they were now the biggest band in America. With a new lead singer, Michael McDonald. Who after one more album with the Doobies, left, the whole band broke up, because everybody wanted a song on the LP "One Step Closer," and it suffered in quality as a result, but there was one absolute smash in sound and lyrics, "Real Love."
Michael McDonald followed this up with his solo hit, "I Keep Forgettin'," but the hits didn't continue to flow, the original Tom Johnston unit reformed and made two albums on Capitol and then it was the nineties, and everybody was an oldie. The world had superseded them. But unlike so much of what surrounded them in the seventies, their music sustained, it got airplay. And the Doobies worked and Michael McDonald worked and then came the idea to merge the two for one big 50th anniversary tour. Ergo, last night.
4
What can I tell you about the YouTube Theater? Having been built so recently, a lot of the flaws of yore have been eliminated. There's a separate VIP entrance, a separate VIP lounge, albeit much smaller than the Forum Club, and excellent sight lines and sound. But it's industrial. No carpet. It looks like you could hose the whole thing down after a show. And in truth the best halls are kinda greasy, kinda lived-in, like the Forum, and the YouTube Theater is brand new, and last night it held an old audience.
You hear it all the time, from "heritage" acts. Yup, there's a whole new generation at their shows. Well, they weren't in attendance last night. I saw three kids about twelve, but the rest of the assembled multitude was old. Like me. They'd lived through the heyday of the Doobies in the seventies, they remembered it like yesterday, and now with all the years gone by they were worse for wear. The woman behind me wore skintight pants and had plumped up lips, but everybody else seemed to be comfortable in their skin, they owned who they were. And they didn't dude themselves up for the gig, which many boomers do. No, these were the same clothes they'd worn that afternoon. Jeans. 501s more than designer duds. And they sat. Tom Johnston kept on imploring the audience to stand, and a number of people in the pit did, but when you're in your sixties and seventies your knees are creaky, you'd rather sit and let your mind drift.
And on some level it was cognitive dissonance. Just when you were marinating in the Tom Johnston/Pat Simmons sound, there'd be a Michael McDonald number. So you got the blending of a rock show with more MOR, more cerebral tunes. It was the same band, but...
Michael McDonald exhibits no charisma, he doesn't want the spotlight, he played the keyboards throughout, and he got the most initial applause, you know when the audience recognizes the intro to the song, which made me think of the era, the late seventies, when disco was peaking and the music industry was about to collapse of its own weight. McDonald's songs were great, but they are not rock like the earlier Doobies work.
But there's that one killer line in "You Belong to Me":
"You don't have to prove to me you're beautiful to strangers"
Wow, what insight!
And the upbeat "Takin' It to the Streets" was a powerhouse. And I must admit a fondness for "Here to Love You," which was especially good last night, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it was the rockers, the traditional, classic sound of the Doobies, that reached me most. Like "Rockin' Down the Highway."
"Oh, ROCKIN' DOWN THE HIGHWAY"
This was the hedonistic seventies. The sixties were done, we were focusing on fun, and we had it, sans documentation, the records inspired us and the rest is only in our minds, those nights of being falling down drunk, out in the country, rollin' down the highway with the windows down, back when that was still a thing.
But I must say Pat Simmons's "Clear as the Driven Snow" was a highlight. That's an album cut off of "The Captain and Me" that you know when you buy the album and play it, otherwise you'd be out of the loop. the acoustic guitar, the mellowness, that ultimately leads to an electric journey, this is the kind of music that sets your mind free.
And the band had the balls to play a few songs from their new album, which I knew, but most people seemed not to, and then...
Tom told us they were going to play a song they normally don't, they were resurrecting that stiff song from "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," "Another Park, Another Sunday."
5
"I'm sittin' in my room, I'm starin' out my window
And I wonder where you've gone"
These are the songs we like most, the introspective ones, that engender stories of our own life.
"City streets and lonely highways I travel down
My car is empty and the radio just seems to bring me down"
I've been there. You've been there. You can't stay home any longer, back in the pre-internet era, where everything good that happened happened outside the house. You need a change of scenery, you need to cut free.
"I'm just tryin' to find me
A pretty smile that I can get into
It's true, I'm lost without you"
Well, in today's #MeToo era, finding another pretty smile to get into seems a bit macho, but the key here is he's lost without her. All guys are. They say they kicked her to the curb, but inside they're dying.
"Another park, another Sunday
Why is it life turns out that way
Just when you think you got a good thing
It seems to slip away"
Live long enough and you start to prepare for this. You can make plans, but that does not mean they're going to happen. When everything's going great, you know to anticipate the bringdown.
"Another park, another Sunday
It's dark and empty thanks to you
I got to get myself together
But it's hard to do"
Sunday is the loneliest day. When you're heartbroken you can't wait for the work week to start back up again, to see people, to distract yourself from these feelings. And you try to get yourself out of the hole....but only time helps, if it helps at all.
And word is "Another Park, Another Sunday" tanked because of the supposed put-down of radio, which was a misreading of the song, but in truth "Another Park, Another Sunday" is too good for the radio. The mellifluous sound, the indelible chorus, the meaningful lyrics... It's now my favorite Doobie Brothers song. I play it all the time. And to see it performed live...
WHAT ELSE CAN YOU ASK FOR?
I wasn't thinking about the seventies and that Mammoth condo, I was thinking about this year, the past few months, being out of sorts and pulling up "Another Park, Another Sunday" on my phone to root myself, to make myself feel good.
6
"Black Water" was a tour-de-force, but it's the finale that truly sums it up.
"What the people need is a way to make 'em smile"
And that's what the Doobie Brothers do, all you've got to do is listen to the music.
That's what we did back then, listen to the music. And it was foreground, not background. And if you were big, you were gigantic, much bigger than any of today's hit acts. The Weeknd only reaches a small fraction of the populace compared to the Doobies back then. The entire nation was driven by the youth, who by the seventies were gaining power, and it was music that powered them forward.
"Whoa, oh, listen to the music"
All the time.
7
I didn't see a single person I knew. I haven't had that experience in years. Which was a bit weird, was this show off the radar? Then again, as I said up top, the Doobies were never cool, they were providing for the audience, not the insiders and critics.
And the key to a show is to gauge whether your mind wanders, whether you're checking your phone.
People weren't checking last night. And they didn't even leave early! Which is de rigueur in Los Angeles.
And by time the classic anthem was being played everybody in the hall was on their feet, thrusting their arms in the air, singing along, just like me.
And when that happens everything else falls away, it's a pure moment, a peak moment, what life is all about.
Do I think the Doobie Brothers' music will be heard fifty years hence?
I wouldn't bet on it.
Maybe this music dies with us. But that's all right, because we won't be here either.
Our parents went to concerts, but not like we do. We learned in our youth and we are maintaining the mission. Music is in our DNA, we know these songs by heart, to go to the show to hear them performed live is better than a new car, better than almost anything other than sex.
The gig ended at 10:20. Early enough for the oldsters to get home and go to bed, staying up past midnight is long in their past. The train pulled into the station at eight PM and then departed two hours and twenty minutes later. The experience was dropped, and then the rock and roll circus moved on to another town, to satisfy thousands more people you know like best friends, because you share this history, it's a point of connection, you've got something to talk about even though you've never met.
The Doobie Brothers don't get enough respect. Because they're not edgy, they're not controversial, they're delivering right down the middle, but it feels so right.
And it did last night.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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