Re: Jason Aldean
Rural America IS Real America.
You wouldn't understand you're nothing but a kike , dirty Jew who's breed of people have been kicked out of every country in history. The armpit race of America.
Never trust a backstabbing, dirty Jew. Backstabbing values. Not real Americans.
tammo.goudsmit.mirbeau
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Saturday, 22 July 2023
Jason Aldean
We already know this guy is a right wing, racist prick, but what exactly are we accomplishing by amplifying this story?
Just hardening his fans to him. Aldean becomes a beacon, a rallying point for people just like him.
Meanwhile, the holier-than-thou police, most of whom have never heard of Jason Aldean, or only through the controversy of his wife vis-a-vis Maren Morris, are up in arms like their agitation and viewpoint will make a difference.
Twitter rules... You don't respond, because if you do you amplify the story.
Yes, CMT was correct in banishing the video. But the endless pile-on thereafter has only flagged the flame of racism as opposed to waking up America to the despicable viewpoints of Aldean and his minions.
This is what the left wing doesn't understand. You end up pouring gasoline on the story and in the end it hurts you.
After all, truth is fungible.
"Rolling Stone" reported that some of the protest images in "Try That in a Small Town" were actually shot in Canada. Aldean doesn't care about truth, it's all image. He wants to cement his bond with the ignorant and racist, truth has nothing to do with it.
As for small town values...
Why is it that rural burgs are seen as the true America? As if America hasn't progressed in a hundred years, if not more. This is another right wing trope. Got to give them credit for forging it though, because not enough people live or have been exposed to small rural towns to combat it!
Man, the right wing is expert on this. The hellholes of the city. According to the right wing if you live in Chicago your life is endangered, it's worse than Ukraine, which we should get out of.
It goes on and on, they've built a platform amplified by Fox News to the point where they want to elect a criminal. Whew! Get your knickers in a twist. Everybody knows that Trump is a delusional, dumb narcissist, but he's convinced these same Aldean nitwits that he's standing up for them. Aldean is standing up for no one but himself.
Meanwhile, Aldean didn't even write the damn song. Because that's not his talent. The words of cynical others are sung by this doofus, he's responsible for amplifying something he can't even articulate in the first place. But why did these "writers" write this. This is not Neil Young writing from the heart, or even Jason Isbell. This is cynical men, and they're all men, no woman would write this tripe. They're writing for a market. They're fanning the flames of racism.
Meanwhile, all this hogwash about Black Lives Matter. Whenever you bring anything up to the right it's Hillary's e-mails, or Black Lives Matter, it's false equivalence on parade. Meanwhile, did you see that New York City just agreed to pay $13 million to 2020 BLM protesters? Maybe the problem is with the police, ever think of that?
Man this country has changed. Used to be people were suspicious of the police, that was the sixties mantra, amplified by Rodney King. Yes, thinking people realized that too often the police were a gang, a rogue gang, your enemy as opposed to your friend.
But then came the Iran crisis. And 9/11. And suddenly we're all up the rear end of the police, they're gods.
As for Defund the Police... Only the left could come up with such a bad moniker. There's a problem. We all know we need police. But can we at least try and address the ills as opposed to make it a pro or con vision?
Believe me, when you want the police they oftentimes don't come. And when they do they've got a hair-trigger, they don't want to die. But you blindly defend them, ignorance on parade.
And as the right wing country singers double-down on their heinous values, the rest of the "artists" are silent, afraid of pissing off some potential fan. But Jason Aldean has proven that having a position actually advantages your career, it bonds fans to you, they want something to root for, they just don't want bland platitudes. This is how hip-hop killed rock. Rock became safe, was no longer focused on the truth, and it was eclipsed. And in case you didn't know, a lot of the heavier metal/Active Rock music is performed and loved by the right wing. That is the rock of today. Scratch these guys, they're all right wing. Well, not all. But many believe in the police and gun ownership and under your very eyes, the landscape has changed. These are not the guys I want carrying the flag of rock.
Somehow it's fine to have an identity if you're right wing, but if you're left wing, you must be silent.
As for Aldean... He is laughing all the way to the bank. Do you know how hard it is to get this amount of attention today? Nearly impossible. Now everybody, or at least a hell of a lot more than before, knows his name. He's a hero to his constituents. As for Aldean and his fans saying he was canceled, this is one of the best, if not the best thing to happen to him in his career. I mean come on, when they made this video they didn't think it would blow up and cause controversy? Of course they did! That was the goal! Meanwhile, the rest of the "artists" are dancing geeks or complaining about what some other "artist" said about them or dealing dope and going to jail. That's another strange thing, we lionize these rappers who shoot others and do drugs. Talk about a sick society. Then again, we can't address the problems of the Black man because it's been almost two hundred years since slavery and they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, like the rest of society. We're color blind, don't you know? Doesn't this video illustrate this? STFU and be beholden to the billionaires, the upper class, they know better.
And then we've got RFJ, Jr. An antisemitic conspiracy spreading lunatic who is seen as an alternative to Biden. First and foremost, he's being pushed by cynical right wing operatives, but how come nobody on the left can see Biden is flawed? Nobody wants him to run other than himself and some out of touch left wing operatives.
But we've got to play it safe. Just like the Democratic musicians. You don't want to make a stand, risk blowback. I mean how can you win if you never go on the offensive? We need a rebirth on the left to combat the recalcitrance of the right, which wants no change. We've got to give people options as opposed to just pointing fingers at the bad behavior of people who aren't listening anyway.
Morgan Wallen was not hurt by the n-word controversy. He's the biggest act in recorded music, period. And unlike the classic rock acts, he's not coasting on the past, it's all new music, mostly derived from classic rock if you think about it. How come he can do this but no one on the left can?
In other words, you might hate Wallen based on the n-word controversy, but chances are you've never heard his music and his fans don't care whatsoever, they're happy, and Wallen is going straight to the bank.
If we want to change America people must vote.
Then again, Donald Trump says your vote doesn't count. Put this guy in jail. Poor people pay consequences, rich people hire expensive attorneys and deny. And it's not like there's not evidence to prove Trump's criminality, and we should continue to prosecute his bad behavior, but it is having very little effect on his voters, just like this Aldean blowback is having very little effect on his fans.
Yes, Aldean is from Macon, not a small town. Yes, Aldean is not struggling in a meth-infested village. Aldean is not reporting his truth, not whatsoever. But he's got you amplifying his vision, what a joke.
You cannot convince these people they're wrong. Please stop trying, you're only emboldening them.
Meanwhile, all of you out there claiming to be socially liberal and financially conservative.... That makes you a Republican. Period. Don't deny it. If you're financially conservative that means you don't believe in a healthy safety net, you don't believe in more money for the IRS, you only believe in your own pocketbook. Everything takes money, and if you think you can run the government better why don't you get involved instead of complaining. The fix is not to starve the beast, even though this is the right wing mantra.
The left is operating on an old playbook, as if the internet didn't exist. And when someone on their side stands up and fights for right, like AOC, they're isolated. AOC would be a hero to the right if she was on their side, why are she and her brethren anathema to the left?
That's the story here, not that some redneck geek crossed over the line. Jason Aldean and his fans will be fine. They've won, complaining that they've lost all the time.
The song was on an album in the marketplace for months. No one even cared about the video until CMT took it down. Meaning if everybody on the left didn't get pissed-off this song would have faded away and not radiated. But now it's a cause celeb.
Don't be knee-jerk, think about this. Stop amplifying heinous behavior. You're only emboldening believers. If you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist. Now people know more about Jason Aldean than they do about Biden and his economic policies, something the left has been trying to amplify for weeks under the label "Bidenomics." Once again, the left has lost the battle. Will it lose the war? Yes, if it continues to turn nothingburgers into conflagrations.
I know this, doesn't anybody in D.C? Doesn't anybody on the left with a viewpoint?
Looks like no.
The left wing fans are hungering for a leader who speaks the truth. But all we've got is a tired old man, who can believe in that?
You want us to have hope? Then give us someone to believe in.
The right has this in spades, on the left? CRICKETS!
Just hardening his fans to him. Aldean becomes a beacon, a rallying point for people just like him.
Meanwhile, the holier-than-thou police, most of whom have never heard of Jason Aldean, or only through the controversy of his wife vis-a-vis Maren Morris, are up in arms like their agitation and viewpoint will make a difference.
Twitter rules... You don't respond, because if you do you amplify the story.
Yes, CMT was correct in banishing the video. But the endless pile-on thereafter has only flagged the flame of racism as opposed to waking up America to the despicable viewpoints of Aldean and his minions.
This is what the left wing doesn't understand. You end up pouring gasoline on the story and in the end it hurts you.
After all, truth is fungible.
"Rolling Stone" reported that some of the protest images in "Try That in a Small Town" were actually shot in Canada. Aldean doesn't care about truth, it's all image. He wants to cement his bond with the ignorant and racist, truth has nothing to do with it.
As for small town values...
Why is it that rural burgs are seen as the true America? As if America hasn't progressed in a hundred years, if not more. This is another right wing trope. Got to give them credit for forging it though, because not enough people live or have been exposed to small rural towns to combat it!
Man, the right wing is expert on this. The hellholes of the city. According to the right wing if you live in Chicago your life is endangered, it's worse than Ukraine, which we should get out of.
It goes on and on, they've built a platform amplified by Fox News to the point where they want to elect a criminal. Whew! Get your knickers in a twist. Everybody knows that Trump is a delusional, dumb narcissist, but he's convinced these same Aldean nitwits that he's standing up for them. Aldean is standing up for no one but himself.
Meanwhile, Aldean didn't even write the damn song. Because that's not his talent. The words of cynical others are sung by this doofus, he's responsible for amplifying something he can't even articulate in the first place. But why did these "writers" write this. This is not Neil Young writing from the heart, or even Jason Isbell. This is cynical men, and they're all men, no woman would write this tripe. They're writing for a market. They're fanning the flames of racism.
Meanwhile, all this hogwash about Black Lives Matter. Whenever you bring anything up to the right it's Hillary's e-mails, or Black Lives Matter, it's false equivalence on parade. Meanwhile, did you see that New York City just agreed to pay $13 million to 2020 BLM protesters? Maybe the problem is with the police, ever think of that?
Man this country has changed. Used to be people were suspicious of the police, that was the sixties mantra, amplified by Rodney King. Yes, thinking people realized that too often the police were a gang, a rogue gang, your enemy as opposed to your friend.
But then came the Iran crisis. And 9/11. And suddenly we're all up the rear end of the police, they're gods.
As for Defund the Police... Only the left could come up with such a bad moniker. There's a problem. We all know we need police. But can we at least try and address the ills as opposed to make it a pro or con vision?
Believe me, when you want the police they oftentimes don't come. And when they do they've got a hair-trigger, they don't want to die. But you blindly defend them, ignorance on parade.
And as the right wing country singers double-down on their heinous values, the rest of the "artists" are silent, afraid of pissing off some potential fan. But Jason Aldean has proven that having a position actually advantages your career, it bonds fans to you, they want something to root for, they just don't want bland platitudes. This is how hip-hop killed rock. Rock became safe, was no longer focused on the truth, and it was eclipsed. And in case you didn't know, a lot of the heavier metal/Active Rock music is performed and loved by the right wing. That is the rock of today. Scratch these guys, they're all right wing. Well, not all. But many believe in the police and gun ownership and under your very eyes, the landscape has changed. These are not the guys I want carrying the flag of rock.
Somehow it's fine to have an identity if you're right wing, but if you're left wing, you must be silent.
As for Aldean... He is laughing all the way to the bank. Do you know how hard it is to get this amount of attention today? Nearly impossible. Now everybody, or at least a hell of a lot more than before, knows his name. He's a hero to his constituents. As for Aldean and his fans saying he was canceled, this is one of the best, if not the best thing to happen to him in his career. I mean come on, when they made this video they didn't think it would blow up and cause controversy? Of course they did! That was the goal! Meanwhile, the rest of the "artists" are dancing geeks or complaining about what some other "artist" said about them or dealing dope and going to jail. That's another strange thing, we lionize these rappers who shoot others and do drugs. Talk about a sick society. Then again, we can't address the problems of the Black man because it's been almost two hundred years since slavery and they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, like the rest of society. We're color blind, don't you know? Doesn't this video illustrate this? STFU and be beholden to the billionaires, the upper class, they know better.
And then we've got RFJ, Jr. An antisemitic conspiracy spreading lunatic who is seen as an alternative to Biden. First and foremost, he's being pushed by cynical right wing operatives, but how come nobody on the left can see Biden is flawed? Nobody wants him to run other than himself and some out of touch left wing operatives.
But we've got to play it safe. Just like the Democratic musicians. You don't want to make a stand, risk blowback. I mean how can you win if you never go on the offensive? We need a rebirth on the left to combat the recalcitrance of the right, which wants no change. We've got to give people options as opposed to just pointing fingers at the bad behavior of people who aren't listening anyway.
Morgan Wallen was not hurt by the n-word controversy. He's the biggest act in recorded music, period. And unlike the classic rock acts, he's not coasting on the past, it's all new music, mostly derived from classic rock if you think about it. How come he can do this but no one on the left can?
In other words, you might hate Wallen based on the n-word controversy, but chances are you've never heard his music and his fans don't care whatsoever, they're happy, and Wallen is going straight to the bank.
If we want to change America people must vote.
Then again, Donald Trump says your vote doesn't count. Put this guy in jail. Poor people pay consequences, rich people hire expensive attorneys and deny. And it's not like there's not evidence to prove Trump's criminality, and we should continue to prosecute his bad behavior, but it is having very little effect on his voters, just like this Aldean blowback is having very little effect on his fans.
Yes, Aldean is from Macon, not a small town. Yes, Aldean is not struggling in a meth-infested village. Aldean is not reporting his truth, not whatsoever. But he's got you amplifying his vision, what a joke.
You cannot convince these people they're wrong. Please stop trying, you're only emboldening them.
Meanwhile, all of you out there claiming to be socially liberal and financially conservative.... That makes you a Republican. Period. Don't deny it. If you're financially conservative that means you don't believe in a healthy safety net, you don't believe in more money for the IRS, you only believe in your own pocketbook. Everything takes money, and if you think you can run the government better why don't you get involved instead of complaining. The fix is not to starve the beast, even though this is the right wing mantra.
The left is operating on an old playbook, as if the internet didn't exist. And when someone on their side stands up and fights for right, like AOC, they're isolated. AOC would be a hero to the right if she was on their side, why are she and her brethren anathema to the left?
That's the story here, not that some redneck geek crossed over the line. Jason Aldean and his fans will be fine. They've won, complaining that they've lost all the time.
The song was on an album in the marketplace for months. No one even cared about the video until CMT took it down. Meaning if everybody on the left didn't get pissed-off this song would have faded away and not radiated. But now it's a cause celeb.
Don't be knee-jerk, think about this. Stop amplifying heinous behavior. You're only emboldening believers. If you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist. Now people know more about Jason Aldean than they do about Biden and his economic policies, something the left has been trying to amplify for weeks under the label "Bidenomics." Once again, the left has lost the battle. Will it lose the war? Yes, if it continues to turn nothingburgers into conflagrations.
I know this, doesn't anybody in D.C? Doesn't anybody on the left with a viewpoint?
Looks like no.
The left wing fans are hungering for a leader who speaks the truth. But all we've got is a tired old man, who can believe in that?
You want us to have hope? Then give us someone to believe in.
The right has this in spades, on the left? CRICKETS!
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Friday, 21 July 2023
More Alcohol/Drinking Songs-SiriusXM This Week-text
Tune in Saturday July 22nd to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
Phone #: 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Thursday, 20 July 2023
David Sedaris At The Vilar
It's a comedy show.
I've seen Sedaris twice before, but this was the first time I realized that first and foremost people come for the jokes, they come to laugh. I'd say they come to get away from everyday life but that would assume that Sedaris made no political comments, refused to take sides, but he did.
Now the most astounding thing I saw all night was Sedaris signing books BEFORE the show. There are so many lessons to learn from this, even if you're a musician, even if you don't believe in laughing, which we all do, which is part of Sedaris's magic.
Sedaris has perfected the art of the anti-star. This used to be the province of musicians, but in an era where every act wants to be a brand, that has been forgone. Sedaris positions himself just like you or me, but a little different. And those differences are not hidden, like his homosexuality.
So I was stunned to see David in the lobby before the lights went down. Why not? Otherwise he'd just be sitting backstage alone, twiddling his thumbs. The people were there, why not work?
This is part of Sedaris's shtick, after the gig he sits and signs books for hours, wants to hear stories and jokes, and not only does this make attendees superfans, it delivers Sedaris material.
So I thought Sedaris was a writer. That it was all about reading his pieces on stage. But really, like I said, it's about the jokes. But the jokes are not delivered in traditional standup fashion. In other words, Sedaris has created his own niche.
Wow, this used to be the province of musicians. The acts all used to sound different. You found your sound and pursued it, the rest of the landscape be damned. No one can imitate David Sedaris because there's only one of him. Oh, I guess you could imitate him poorly, but could you draw a sellout audience live? No.
And it is all about live. The goal of a standup comedian is a TV special, maybe their own show. A special would be detrimental to Sedaris's act. In other words, it's positively old school, you have to go to know. It's a club. And members tell newbies they've got to go and the whole operation flies under the radar.
And Sedaris paid his dues for decades. This is the antithesis of today's music model. Hell, I get videos from parents of "artists" who haven't yet hit double digits. They believe the ability to sing is enough, as if worldly experience was irrelevant. Sedaris has been broke, he's struggled, he's worked lousy jobs, and all of that informs his art. He's been there, he's done that, and he DOESN'T GIVE A F@CK!
That's one of the best aspects of Sedaris's act. He's lived long enough to feel entitled to speak his truth and he doesn't care what you think and this honesty is absent in politics and most of music and therefore it is enticing.
Talk about crossing the line... If a musician told some of these jokes, it would be a national scandal. Of course, Sedaris has the advantage of being a short, gay man when he tells jokes about women and sex, but everyone knows he's not being evil. Today everything is a litmus test, the gotcha police are out in force, but somehow Sedaris goes unscathed. I think this is because he's not eager to be part of THEIR world. He's not dying to be more, to have more, he's satisfied where he is. You know the musicians, they're afraid of offending someone, hurting their career, after all you don't want to eliminate half of your audience. They're so busy protecting their "brand" that there's not much brand there. They're famous, they get on stage, and beyond that... I did a podcast with a successful comedian who refused to talk politics. How have we gotten here, why is everybody so afraid? Would David Crosby and his passing be such a big deal if this guy didn't own his opinions? That was part of his magic. He spoke his truth and he didn't care what anybody else thought. There's a huge lesson there.
And Sedaris is constantly crossing the line into taboo. Dissing his dad, feeling released now that he's dead.
This guy is a star. And I don't think there's a single person who'd go to his show and be offended, never mind dislike it. It's like Sedaris transcends the rabble-rousing into our best self, and we are eager to get some of that. That's what musicians used to provide, a beacon. And those of us in the trenches of everyday life desire that, need that.
And Sedaris is singular, he's not commanding an army, he may speak to many, but he doesn't want to unite them, he doesn't want to mobilize them.
And the MONEY!
All we hear is artists bitching about the cost of the road, the buses, the trucks, the staging, the personnel. Whereas, Sedaris packs a suitcase, and that's it. Travels by car. AND KEEPS ALL THE MONEY!
I mean he pays an agent, but after that...
Maybe a hotel room is part of the deal, maybe it's not. But what is that, a grand a night? There are places Sedaris appears that there aren't even hotels that charge four figures. Sedaris legendarily loves a good hotel room, being on the road is hard enough. Everybody else is trying to poor-mouth, saying they're just like you and me, whereas Sedaris is owning his success and somehow ending up even more like you and me. I mean if it was free, or I was making a fortune, wouldn't I like a nice hotel room?
And Sedaris does not have to conquer to succeed. He kept praising Fran Lebowitz, telling attendees to see her imminent performance at the Vilar. And he hyped Susan Orlean's book. In other words, he broke all the rules of stardom while evidencing enough talent to be a star. He didn't have to tell us he was a star, it was obvious.
And like a comedian, he points out the absurdities of life, and that which gets under his skin. But the cadence is different, the stories are longer, but not with the endless hesitations and self-laughing of Dave Chappelle. I mean Chappelle is very talented, but Sedaris is closer to the heart of America, and that includes the extremes.
It's really quite something to see, something to experience.
I can only envy him. I know I can't be him, I'm not a comedian, but the fact that he's built it essentially all by himself, by writing words on a page...whew!
Just like everybody tells me to write a book, Sedaris says his limit is only a small number of pages, he doesn't go beyond that. In other words, Sedaris knows who he is, is not trying to be somebody else. He doesn't need world domination, his own vertical is enough, and it's plenty wide.
And Sedaris puts all his quirks and failings on display for others to see. This is the opposite of the musicians getting plastic surgery and lying about it. We all age, as does Sedaris. He's living life, and trying to laugh about it before it's over.
Really, the next time Sedaris is in town, go. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive. And although he does sell out, it's not everywhere. Not that there are any stiff shows. In other words, you don't have to worry about getting frozen out during the initial Ticketmaster on-sale. You can go, if you care, if you take action.
In other words, David Sedaris is more of a rock star than most of the rock stars, if not all of them. He's not doing endorsement deals. He's not employing carpet bomb publicity. He's not bragging about his grosses, the breaking of records. Rather, like I said above, he's being David Sedaris, and that's enough.
Sedaris is just like you and me, but different. Not better, not worse. And this is his magic. He's us. We've all got opinions, we've all got insights, we think no one else feels what we do, is frustrated the way we are, but Sedaris shows us this is untrue.
Don't stumble through life blindly. Don't just jump through the hoops. A little bit of thinking, a little bit of life will pay untold dividends. Don't be so busy working that you miss it, that you have no perspective.
Be more like David Sedaris.
But you can't.
And that makes a star right there.
I've seen Sedaris twice before, but this was the first time I realized that first and foremost people come for the jokes, they come to laugh. I'd say they come to get away from everyday life but that would assume that Sedaris made no political comments, refused to take sides, but he did.
Now the most astounding thing I saw all night was Sedaris signing books BEFORE the show. There are so many lessons to learn from this, even if you're a musician, even if you don't believe in laughing, which we all do, which is part of Sedaris's magic.
Sedaris has perfected the art of the anti-star. This used to be the province of musicians, but in an era where every act wants to be a brand, that has been forgone. Sedaris positions himself just like you or me, but a little different. And those differences are not hidden, like his homosexuality.
So I was stunned to see David in the lobby before the lights went down. Why not? Otherwise he'd just be sitting backstage alone, twiddling his thumbs. The people were there, why not work?
This is part of Sedaris's shtick, after the gig he sits and signs books for hours, wants to hear stories and jokes, and not only does this make attendees superfans, it delivers Sedaris material.
So I thought Sedaris was a writer. That it was all about reading his pieces on stage. But really, like I said, it's about the jokes. But the jokes are not delivered in traditional standup fashion. In other words, Sedaris has created his own niche.
Wow, this used to be the province of musicians. The acts all used to sound different. You found your sound and pursued it, the rest of the landscape be damned. No one can imitate David Sedaris because there's only one of him. Oh, I guess you could imitate him poorly, but could you draw a sellout audience live? No.
And it is all about live. The goal of a standup comedian is a TV special, maybe their own show. A special would be detrimental to Sedaris's act. In other words, it's positively old school, you have to go to know. It's a club. And members tell newbies they've got to go and the whole operation flies under the radar.
And Sedaris paid his dues for decades. This is the antithesis of today's music model. Hell, I get videos from parents of "artists" who haven't yet hit double digits. They believe the ability to sing is enough, as if worldly experience was irrelevant. Sedaris has been broke, he's struggled, he's worked lousy jobs, and all of that informs his art. He's been there, he's done that, and he DOESN'T GIVE A F@CK!
That's one of the best aspects of Sedaris's act. He's lived long enough to feel entitled to speak his truth and he doesn't care what you think and this honesty is absent in politics and most of music and therefore it is enticing.
Talk about crossing the line... If a musician told some of these jokes, it would be a national scandal. Of course, Sedaris has the advantage of being a short, gay man when he tells jokes about women and sex, but everyone knows he's not being evil. Today everything is a litmus test, the gotcha police are out in force, but somehow Sedaris goes unscathed. I think this is because he's not eager to be part of THEIR world. He's not dying to be more, to have more, he's satisfied where he is. You know the musicians, they're afraid of offending someone, hurting their career, after all you don't want to eliminate half of your audience. They're so busy protecting their "brand" that there's not much brand there. They're famous, they get on stage, and beyond that... I did a podcast with a successful comedian who refused to talk politics. How have we gotten here, why is everybody so afraid? Would David Crosby and his passing be such a big deal if this guy didn't own his opinions? That was part of his magic. He spoke his truth and he didn't care what anybody else thought. There's a huge lesson there.
And Sedaris is constantly crossing the line into taboo. Dissing his dad, feeling released now that he's dead.
This guy is a star. And I don't think there's a single person who'd go to his show and be offended, never mind dislike it. It's like Sedaris transcends the rabble-rousing into our best self, and we are eager to get some of that. That's what musicians used to provide, a beacon. And those of us in the trenches of everyday life desire that, need that.
And Sedaris is singular, he's not commanding an army, he may speak to many, but he doesn't want to unite them, he doesn't want to mobilize them.
And the MONEY!
All we hear is artists bitching about the cost of the road, the buses, the trucks, the staging, the personnel. Whereas, Sedaris packs a suitcase, and that's it. Travels by car. AND KEEPS ALL THE MONEY!
I mean he pays an agent, but after that...
Maybe a hotel room is part of the deal, maybe it's not. But what is that, a grand a night? There are places Sedaris appears that there aren't even hotels that charge four figures. Sedaris legendarily loves a good hotel room, being on the road is hard enough. Everybody else is trying to poor-mouth, saying they're just like you and me, whereas Sedaris is owning his success and somehow ending up even more like you and me. I mean if it was free, or I was making a fortune, wouldn't I like a nice hotel room?
And Sedaris does not have to conquer to succeed. He kept praising Fran Lebowitz, telling attendees to see her imminent performance at the Vilar. And he hyped Susan Orlean's book. In other words, he broke all the rules of stardom while evidencing enough talent to be a star. He didn't have to tell us he was a star, it was obvious.
And like a comedian, he points out the absurdities of life, and that which gets under his skin. But the cadence is different, the stories are longer, but not with the endless hesitations and self-laughing of Dave Chappelle. I mean Chappelle is very talented, but Sedaris is closer to the heart of America, and that includes the extremes.
It's really quite something to see, something to experience.
I can only envy him. I know I can't be him, I'm not a comedian, but the fact that he's built it essentially all by himself, by writing words on a page...whew!
Just like everybody tells me to write a book, Sedaris says his limit is only a small number of pages, he doesn't go beyond that. In other words, Sedaris knows who he is, is not trying to be somebody else. He doesn't need world domination, his own vertical is enough, and it's plenty wide.
And Sedaris puts all his quirks and failings on display for others to see. This is the opposite of the musicians getting plastic surgery and lying about it. We all age, as does Sedaris. He's living life, and trying to laugh about it before it's over.
Really, the next time Sedaris is in town, go. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive. And although he does sell out, it's not everywhere. Not that there are any stiff shows. In other words, you don't have to worry about getting frozen out during the initial Ticketmaster on-sale. You can go, if you care, if you take action.
In other words, David Sedaris is more of a rock star than most of the rock stars, if not all of them. He's not doing endorsement deals. He's not employing carpet bomb publicity. He's not bragging about his grosses, the breaking of records. Rather, like I said above, he's being David Sedaris, and that's enough.
Sedaris is just like you and me, but different. Not better, not worse. And this is his magic. He's us. We've all got opinions, we've all got insights, we think no one else feels what we do, is frustrated the way we are, but Sedaris shows us this is untrue.
Don't stumble through life blindly. Don't just jump through the hoops. A little bit of thinking, a little bit of life will pay untold dividends. Don't be so busy working that you miss it, that you have no perspective.
Be more like David Sedaris.
But you can't.
And that makes a star right there.
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Don't Be Defensive
It just pisses people off.
If you make a mistake, own it. You'll get a whole hell of a lot more respect for that rather than trying to explain why you were right and should not be culpable.
Nobody knows everything, and you're not expected to. So, admit what you don't know, it enhances your reputation. Funny, I find the more successful someone is the more they're willing to admit they don't know something.
You're defending yourself, but it's not a court of law, there's no advantage to this. The person you're talking to is rolling their eyes, they think you're a child. Being an adult means accepting responsibility.
Defensiveness pisses people off and ends conversations, to everybody's detriment. Only if you're open and honest can there be a conversation, where things can be learned and a consensus can be reached.
If you are defensive people won't want to interact with you, they'll leave you out of discussions, gatherings, business...because it's just too much of a hassle to have you around.
You can always learn new tricks. Being defensive illustrates that you think you know it all and are impervious to criticism.
You're oftentimes being defensive about things that the other person isn't even thinking about or doesn't care about.
Oftentimes what is very simple becomes complicated because you are defensive. What was going to be an easy interaction is now long and tense because you've got to explain what you did and why.
Accept blame, it actually feels good. If you're always trying to be right, you're wrong.
Don't confuse defensiveness with standing your ground.
You've got to let some things slide. Even if the speaker is wrong, sometimes it's best not to say anything. Oftentimes the point is irrelevant, or evanescent, but if you defend yourself in some bogus search for truth, then the interaction becomes memorable.
You may think life is a competition, but in reality it's an interaction. Life is all about interacting with other people, learn how to do this and it will be to your advantage. I'm not saying you can't have a contrary opinion, but you also need to know not to hammer it.
There is no box score, no one usually cares that you're right other than you, and oftentimes you're wrong, because you can't see the entire picture.
Your superior or boss will like you more if you admit fault, take responsibility, than if you try to weasel out of it. You will be labeled difficult and your rise in the entity will be hindered.
Conversation is two-way, defensiveness makes it one way, and that's not a conversation.
What do you expect someone to say in reaction to your defensiveness? Do you expect them to get into the details with you, which they usually don't care much about? Do you expect them to apologize, say you're right, when the matter is almost always trivial? What are you trying to achieve here?
You're gonna be wrong. Otherwise you're not living life. Own it and you'll go up the ladder as opposed to staying where you are, if not getting kicked off entirely.
If your boss is an a-hole, accept it. Trying to prove to them that you're right and they're wrong is worthless. Try to work for someone else. The funny thing is most people know who the a-holes are, and unless they own the company, their tenure is limited. Life is long, don't let momentary hurdles get in your way.
Go to therapy. The more you know about yourself, the better you'll interact, the more you'll succeed in life. But the funny thing is the defensive people are the ones who don't go to therapy, even though they need it the most. You see therapy is an open process, where you're supposed to learn about yourself, gain insight, change to your advantage. But if you can't hear you're less than perfect, it doesn't work, but that doesn't matter, because like I said above, these people don't even go.
Therapy is a badge of honor for Millennials and Gen-Z. People want to date others who've done some work on themselves, who have some insight into themselves and others.
You get to choose how you interact. Think about that, how do you want to engage such that when the conversation is over you've got the best chance of getting the result you want? This is the antithesis of defensiveness. Defensive people don't think, they just react. And the rest of us are sick of it.
--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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If you make a mistake, own it. You'll get a whole hell of a lot more respect for that rather than trying to explain why you were right and should not be culpable.
Nobody knows everything, and you're not expected to. So, admit what you don't know, it enhances your reputation. Funny, I find the more successful someone is the more they're willing to admit they don't know something.
You're defending yourself, but it's not a court of law, there's no advantage to this. The person you're talking to is rolling their eyes, they think you're a child. Being an adult means accepting responsibility.
Defensiveness pisses people off and ends conversations, to everybody's detriment. Only if you're open and honest can there be a conversation, where things can be learned and a consensus can be reached.
If you are defensive people won't want to interact with you, they'll leave you out of discussions, gatherings, business...because it's just too much of a hassle to have you around.
You can always learn new tricks. Being defensive illustrates that you think you know it all and are impervious to criticism.
You're oftentimes being defensive about things that the other person isn't even thinking about or doesn't care about.
Oftentimes what is very simple becomes complicated because you are defensive. What was going to be an easy interaction is now long and tense because you've got to explain what you did and why.
Accept blame, it actually feels good. If you're always trying to be right, you're wrong.
Don't confuse defensiveness with standing your ground.
You've got to let some things slide. Even if the speaker is wrong, sometimes it's best not to say anything. Oftentimes the point is irrelevant, or evanescent, but if you defend yourself in some bogus search for truth, then the interaction becomes memorable.
You may think life is a competition, but in reality it's an interaction. Life is all about interacting with other people, learn how to do this and it will be to your advantage. I'm not saying you can't have a contrary opinion, but you also need to know not to hammer it.
There is no box score, no one usually cares that you're right other than you, and oftentimes you're wrong, because you can't see the entire picture.
Your superior or boss will like you more if you admit fault, take responsibility, than if you try to weasel out of it. You will be labeled difficult and your rise in the entity will be hindered.
Conversation is two-way, defensiveness makes it one way, and that's not a conversation.
What do you expect someone to say in reaction to your defensiveness? Do you expect them to get into the details with you, which they usually don't care much about? Do you expect them to apologize, say you're right, when the matter is almost always trivial? What are you trying to achieve here?
You're gonna be wrong. Otherwise you're not living life. Own it and you'll go up the ladder as opposed to staying where you are, if not getting kicked off entirely.
If your boss is an a-hole, accept it. Trying to prove to them that you're right and they're wrong is worthless. Try to work for someone else. The funny thing is most people know who the a-holes are, and unless they own the company, their tenure is limited. Life is long, don't let momentary hurdles get in your way.
Go to therapy. The more you know about yourself, the better you'll interact, the more you'll succeed in life. But the funny thing is the defensive people are the ones who don't go to therapy, even though they need it the most. You see therapy is an open process, where you're supposed to learn about yourself, gain insight, change to your advantage. But if you can't hear you're less than perfect, it doesn't work, but that doesn't matter, because like I said above, these people don't even go.
Therapy is a badge of honor for Millennials and Gen-Z. People want to date others who've done some work on themselves, who have some insight into themselves and others.
You get to choose how you interact. Think about that, how do you want to engage such that when the conversation is over you've got the best chance of getting the result you want? This is the antithesis of defensiveness. Defensive people don't think, they just react. And the rest of us are sick of it.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Kevin Cronin-This Week's Podcast
Mr. REO Speedwagon. Kevin is open and honest, he's your best friend. This is the entire story, from Illinois to leaving the band to "Hi Infidelity" to "Ozark." A great listen.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/kevin-cronin-119306080/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kevin-cronin/id1316200737?i=1000621745239
https://open.spotify.com/episode/77EneK0BU8vu7P1lvGTU4h?si=7CjYeQKmQKm4sv9aB2mjDQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/0a39f5ee-7deb-41f3-8cdc-019c6ff2a536/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-kevin-cronin
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/kevin-cronin-305424402
--
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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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/kevin-cronin-119306080/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kevin-cronin/id1316200737?i=1000621745239
https://open.spotify.com/episode/77EneK0BU8vu7P1lvGTU4h?si=7CjYeQKmQKm4sv9aB2mjDQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/0a39f5ee-7deb-41f3-8cdc-019c6ff2a536/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-kevin-cronin
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/kevin-cronin-305424402
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Wednesday, 19 July 2023
Gaming The System
Focus on sales, they're disproportionately counted on the chart.
Although you can sell CDs and files, focus on vinyl, people buy it as a souvenir and oftentimes don't even listen to it, but the chart doesn't care.
Make unique, multiple vinyl. So fans have to buy more than one disc.
Lie. There is no music business police. And reporters are not skilled enough nor have enough time to ferret out the truth.
Blame the ticketing company for everything. They can't bite back, because you're going to go on tour again and they want your business. Furthermore, they know they're paid to take the heat.
If you need the publicity, say the gig is sold out even if it isn't. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but if it's a big space and/or multiple dates odds are you won't reach sellout anyway, so you might as well get the benefit of saying it is sold out. Also, this does create a mania driving people to get tickets. And sure, they might go to secondary sites where you won't get the uplift, but they will also go to the primary site, where seats are available. On authorized resale the the primary sits right next to the secondary, and many concertgoers don't care or don't know the difference.
If you can sell out quickly, turn off Ticketmaster's resale exchange. It makes it look like tickets are hard to get, and the public can't see how many tickets scalpers have (and how many fans have purchased multiple tickets planning to scalp tickets themselves).
Break records on a constant basis. Invent new categories if you need to. Remember the words "most" and "fastest." Most tickets ever sold in Wyoming! Fastest sale since the Beatles! You want to beat the Beatles, that's the ultimate goal, that gets people's attention, even though the charts are different and you have nowhere near the impact of the Fab Four.
Come up with a name for your fans, even if they don't call themselves that, it makes you look you've got a huge fan base and it is rabid.
Complain. Not about how you've been hurt, but how your fans have been abused. Primarily focus on ticketing, but you can come up with any way they've been abused.
Mobilize your fan base. It will do anything for you. The more people act, the more they're bonded to you. Have them defend you against any perceived negative feedback.
Have your operation be mysterious, it makes it look like you've got geniuses working for you who can do what no other act has never done before.
Never give the press direct quotes. Nor should you put out press releases. When you've got something to say, say it online, where it can be amplified by your fans, so that media can hear about it from the buzz online. It makes it look like you don't care about the media, when in truth you do!
Stay in the news on a regular basis. It's easiest if you're regularly breaking records, the press eats this stuff up and repeats it. And you ultimately get a cumulative effect, you must be huge because you keep breaking records!
Make people afraid of holding you accountable. This is what your rabid fan base is all about. People in the business, the hoi polloi and even media must be afraid of losing out in the future, losing access, you want them to be complicit in the game.
Reward those who come through for you. Whether it be business people or radio or the streaming outlet. Call them, text them, make them believe they have a relationship with you.
Don't get in petty online wars, it ultimately makes you lose. You don't want train-wreck publicity, you don't want to be seen on TMZ, you want to be above that.
Have photos taken with other stars. Primarily musicians, who have a greater aura than actors or ballplayers. The media loves to run these pics, burnishing your image as being fabulous and knowing everybody.
Bring musical stars out on stage to perform with you, but only occasionally and only sparingly.
Never be surprised, never appear dumb. You want to appear to be in control without being controlling.
You want to put out albums on a regular basis, which you can then manipulate via sales to the top of the chart so you can get the resulting publicity. No one cares if you fall from number one the next week. Everything is about being number one, if you're not number one, don't publicize it.
Make it look like media is not serving you, even though that's your goal. You want your story to be so big that they must report it as a public service.
Whatever you do, make fans want more. This isn't like in the old days, where you hold back. Rather in the modern era you keep selling, people want to evidence their brand loyalty. Vinyl, for the charts, merchandise, whatever can bond the fan to you, do it. And if it is merch, it must be limited. You can only buy it NOW! Don't limit quantity, just time frame.
You want to appear to be bigger than the system, therefore it looks like you're not gaming it, even though you are!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Although you can sell CDs and files, focus on vinyl, people buy it as a souvenir and oftentimes don't even listen to it, but the chart doesn't care.
Make unique, multiple vinyl. So fans have to buy more than one disc.
Lie. There is no music business police. And reporters are not skilled enough nor have enough time to ferret out the truth.
Blame the ticketing company for everything. They can't bite back, because you're going to go on tour again and they want your business. Furthermore, they know they're paid to take the heat.
If you need the publicity, say the gig is sold out even if it isn't. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but if it's a big space and/or multiple dates odds are you won't reach sellout anyway, so you might as well get the benefit of saying it is sold out. Also, this does create a mania driving people to get tickets. And sure, they might go to secondary sites where you won't get the uplift, but they will also go to the primary site, where seats are available. On authorized resale the the primary sits right next to the secondary, and many concertgoers don't care or don't know the difference.
If you can sell out quickly, turn off Ticketmaster's resale exchange. It makes it look like tickets are hard to get, and the public can't see how many tickets scalpers have (and how many fans have purchased multiple tickets planning to scalp tickets themselves).
Break records on a constant basis. Invent new categories if you need to. Remember the words "most" and "fastest." Most tickets ever sold in Wyoming! Fastest sale since the Beatles! You want to beat the Beatles, that's the ultimate goal, that gets people's attention, even though the charts are different and you have nowhere near the impact of the Fab Four.
Come up with a name for your fans, even if they don't call themselves that, it makes you look you've got a huge fan base and it is rabid.
Complain. Not about how you've been hurt, but how your fans have been abused. Primarily focus on ticketing, but you can come up with any way they've been abused.
Mobilize your fan base. It will do anything for you. The more people act, the more they're bonded to you. Have them defend you against any perceived negative feedback.
Have your operation be mysterious, it makes it look like you've got geniuses working for you who can do what no other act has never done before.
Never give the press direct quotes. Nor should you put out press releases. When you've got something to say, say it online, where it can be amplified by your fans, so that media can hear about it from the buzz online. It makes it look like you don't care about the media, when in truth you do!
Stay in the news on a regular basis. It's easiest if you're regularly breaking records, the press eats this stuff up and repeats it. And you ultimately get a cumulative effect, you must be huge because you keep breaking records!
Make people afraid of holding you accountable. This is what your rabid fan base is all about. People in the business, the hoi polloi and even media must be afraid of losing out in the future, losing access, you want them to be complicit in the game.
Reward those who come through for you. Whether it be business people or radio or the streaming outlet. Call them, text them, make them believe they have a relationship with you.
Don't get in petty online wars, it ultimately makes you lose. You don't want train-wreck publicity, you don't want to be seen on TMZ, you want to be above that.
Have photos taken with other stars. Primarily musicians, who have a greater aura than actors or ballplayers. The media loves to run these pics, burnishing your image as being fabulous and knowing everybody.
Bring musical stars out on stage to perform with you, but only occasionally and only sparingly.
Never be surprised, never appear dumb. You want to appear to be in control without being controlling.
You want to put out albums on a regular basis, which you can then manipulate via sales to the top of the chart so you can get the resulting publicity. No one cares if you fall from number one the next week. Everything is about being number one, if you're not number one, don't publicize it.
Make it look like media is not serving you, even though that's your goal. You want your story to be so big that they must report it as a public service.
Whatever you do, make fans want more. This isn't like in the old days, where you hold back. Rather in the modern era you keep selling, people want to evidence their brand loyalty. Vinyl, for the charts, merchandise, whatever can bond the fan to you, do it. And if it is merch, it must be limited. You can only buy it NOW! Don't limit quantity, just time frame.
You want to appear to be bigger than the system, therefore it looks like you're not gaming it, even though you are!
--
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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Monday, 17 July 2023
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band At The Vilar
They're still doing it. Even though Jeff Hanna is 76 and Jimmie Fadden is 75. Musicians never stop, unlike civilians. Everybody I know not in the music business is talking about retiring, or is already retired, whereas musicians ten or twenty years older are still plying the boards, because they love their jobs, along with that audience hit you can only get on stage.
Greetings from Vail, Colorado, where it is not as warm as it is in the rest of the country and there's enough name brand entertainment to have you believe you're living in a small city. Strasburg had String Cheese in Dillon on Wednesday, Thievery Corporation on Friday and Old Crow Medicine Show on Sunday in Vail and in Beaver Creek, they had the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Saturday night. And the experience is much better up here in the mountains, because the venues are so much smaller. As for the economics...if you know anything about performing arts centers there are subsidies and boards and the bottom line is that the Vilar has 150 dates a year, and don't forget that that the spring and fall, especially May and October, are shoulder season, and essentially dead.
Now if you want to see an act in the Spotify Top 50, the mountains are not the place. Acts can only play a limited number of gigs, and they focus on the metropoli, where there are more bodies and more money, then again in the mountains the locals may be struggling, but not the tourists.
So the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has survived by pivot. Instead of just doing the same thing over and over, they went from "Mr. Bojangles" to country roots with "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" to smooth singer songwriter to country hits to...now. They're still making albums. Is anybody paying attention?
No.
Which is why I was amazed when Jeff introduced the song "Bless the Broken Road," as a Dirt Band original, from the overlooked album "Acoustic" from 1994. It was released by a major label, Liberty, but it wasn't until Rascal Flatts recorded the song in 2005 that it went to number one, earning the Grammy for Best Country Song. You see a hit song is a hit song is a hit song. And that's very different from a record. Some hit records are great songs and some are not. And a lot of today's tracks may be hits, but no one would consider them great songs. A great song is so good that it doesn't matter who sings it. Kind of like the Dirt Band's opener "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," an unreleased Bob Dylan song that the Byrds used to open the groundbreaking "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and many others have covered. It might not have appeared on the charts, but it lives strongly in people's hearts.
Another highlight of the show was the band's performance of "An American Dream," the Rodney Cowell-penned opening tune from their 1979 album of the same name. You see I own that record. I went on a three album run, before the band decamped for Nashville and the country sound, when the smooth singer-songwriter sound was a revered staple as opposed to an in-joke, like yacht rock. Denigrate it all you want, this sound is still selling tickets prodigiously, keeping the creators alive.
I would have been thrilled if they'd performed "Harmony," from 1980's "Make a Little Magic," but I guess I'll have to wait for that one. Then again I'm going to give you links to the Hanna/Fadden track sung by long-standing band member Bob Carpenter, as was "Bless the Broken Road."
"Whether I'm right or I'm wrong
Too weak or strong
Sure seems plain to me
Too young or old
Too shy or bold
We all need help
Just to move the stone"
These are the ashes from another generation, when love was still believed to conquer all, when we still believed we were all in it together.
I don't think a cover would make the Spotify Top 50, maybe it could make it in the country market, but one thing for sure is this was a hit back in 1980, even though you couldn't see it on the chart. Check it out:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/3sp3md33
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/mwfurfrf
But at this late date we no longer expect to hear deep album cuts live, only the hits. So when you're in the audience and hear a song you know by heart but don't believe anyone else is aware of it's a special thrill, it makes your night.
Not that it was only the songs, the musicianship was notable in its own right.
There was Ross Holmes on fiddle and mandolin, known for his work with Mumford and Songs and Bruce Hornsby, earning a well-deserved standing ovation for his efforts on an extended solo.
And Jeff's son Jaime, who paid his dues with the Mavericks and Gary Allan, performed an extended acoustic guitar solo that thrilled me.
As for the bass...
I figured it was just some road guy, some Nashville cat hanging in the deep background. But it turned out to be soft rock staple Jim Photoglo, who was a staple of L.A.'s soft rock station KNX-FM, 93.1, when that sound was still a dominant force. Jim co-wrote the Dirt Band's huge country hit "Fishin' in the Dark" with Wendy Waldman, a number one for the band back in 1987.
Not to take anything away from drummer Jimmie Fadden. Who pounded the skins and played the harmonica simultaneously, a seemingly impossible feat. Also, Jimmie was really into it. As if it were still the sixties, when music was everything and to be a musician was to affect millions and elude the straits of standard life. We envied these people. They were anything but faceless.
And the band played a few songs from the three "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" sets, including the title cut, which as an encore bled into the Band's "The Weight."
That's another song like "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" that everybody knows but was never a hit. Made it all the way up number 63, which means AM radio is not where most people were exposed to it.
Nor was so much of what we were addicted to even played on FM, these records are part of our DNA, they enriched our lives, they made us who we are.
So the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band goes on to another town. Playing to believers, those who remember when our music transcended everyday life, when it was life itself.
They're still doing it and we're still here. Much older, a bit battered, but young at heart, because we remember.
The music keeps us alive.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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--
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Greetings from Vail, Colorado, where it is not as warm as it is in the rest of the country and there's enough name brand entertainment to have you believe you're living in a small city. Strasburg had String Cheese in Dillon on Wednesday, Thievery Corporation on Friday and Old Crow Medicine Show on Sunday in Vail and in Beaver Creek, they had the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Saturday night. And the experience is much better up here in the mountains, because the venues are so much smaller. As for the economics...if you know anything about performing arts centers there are subsidies and boards and the bottom line is that the Vilar has 150 dates a year, and don't forget that that the spring and fall, especially May and October, are shoulder season, and essentially dead.
Now if you want to see an act in the Spotify Top 50, the mountains are not the place. Acts can only play a limited number of gigs, and they focus on the metropoli, where there are more bodies and more money, then again in the mountains the locals may be struggling, but not the tourists.
So the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has survived by pivot. Instead of just doing the same thing over and over, they went from "Mr. Bojangles" to country roots with "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" to smooth singer songwriter to country hits to...now. They're still making albums. Is anybody paying attention?
No.
Which is why I was amazed when Jeff introduced the song "Bless the Broken Road," as a Dirt Band original, from the overlooked album "Acoustic" from 1994. It was released by a major label, Liberty, but it wasn't until Rascal Flatts recorded the song in 2005 that it went to number one, earning the Grammy for Best Country Song. You see a hit song is a hit song is a hit song. And that's very different from a record. Some hit records are great songs and some are not. And a lot of today's tracks may be hits, but no one would consider them great songs. A great song is so good that it doesn't matter who sings it. Kind of like the Dirt Band's opener "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," an unreleased Bob Dylan song that the Byrds used to open the groundbreaking "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and many others have covered. It might not have appeared on the charts, but it lives strongly in people's hearts.
Another highlight of the show was the band's performance of "An American Dream," the Rodney Cowell-penned opening tune from their 1979 album of the same name. You see I own that record. I went on a three album run, before the band decamped for Nashville and the country sound, when the smooth singer-songwriter sound was a revered staple as opposed to an in-joke, like yacht rock. Denigrate it all you want, this sound is still selling tickets prodigiously, keeping the creators alive.
I would have been thrilled if they'd performed "Harmony," from 1980's "Make a Little Magic," but I guess I'll have to wait for that one. Then again I'm going to give you links to the Hanna/Fadden track sung by long-standing band member Bob Carpenter, as was "Bless the Broken Road."
"Whether I'm right or I'm wrong
Too weak or strong
Sure seems plain to me
Too young or old
Too shy or bold
We all need help
Just to move the stone"
These are the ashes from another generation, when love was still believed to conquer all, when we still believed we were all in it together.
I don't think a cover would make the Spotify Top 50, maybe it could make it in the country market, but one thing for sure is this was a hit back in 1980, even though you couldn't see it on the chart. Check it out:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/3sp3md33
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/mwfurfrf
But at this late date we no longer expect to hear deep album cuts live, only the hits. So when you're in the audience and hear a song you know by heart but don't believe anyone else is aware of it's a special thrill, it makes your night.
Not that it was only the songs, the musicianship was notable in its own right.
There was Ross Holmes on fiddle and mandolin, known for his work with Mumford and Songs and Bruce Hornsby, earning a well-deserved standing ovation for his efforts on an extended solo.
And Jeff's son Jaime, who paid his dues with the Mavericks and Gary Allan, performed an extended acoustic guitar solo that thrilled me.
As for the bass...
I figured it was just some road guy, some Nashville cat hanging in the deep background. But it turned out to be soft rock staple Jim Photoglo, who was a staple of L.A.'s soft rock station KNX-FM, 93.1, when that sound was still a dominant force. Jim co-wrote the Dirt Band's huge country hit "Fishin' in the Dark" with Wendy Waldman, a number one for the band back in 1987.
Not to take anything away from drummer Jimmie Fadden. Who pounded the skins and played the harmonica simultaneously, a seemingly impossible feat. Also, Jimmie was really into it. As if it were still the sixties, when music was everything and to be a musician was to affect millions and elude the straits of standard life. We envied these people. They were anything but faceless.
And the band played a few songs from the three "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" sets, including the title cut, which as an encore bled into the Band's "The Weight."
That's another song like "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" that everybody knows but was never a hit. Made it all the way up number 63, which means AM radio is not where most people were exposed to it.
Nor was so much of what we were addicted to even played on FM, these records are part of our DNA, they enriched our lives, they made us who we are.
So the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band goes on to another town. Playing to believers, those who remember when our music transcended everyday life, when it was life itself.
They're still doing it and we're still here. Much older, a bit battered, but young at heart, because we remember.
The music keeps us alive.
--
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
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Rock's Resurgence
Well, that's classic rock.
There's so much info in the pipeline today that anything important oftentimes goes unheeded, or flows down the river with the overwhelming detritus of what is called internet news and most people remain unaware of it.
I wake up every morning and read the news on my phone and am agitated and inspired, wanting to point out stories/information I fear will go unnoticed. But then as the day goes on I slink back into my life and the information recedes and then, the next day, the whole process repeats. We live in what I've endlessly referred to as a Tower of Babel society, where we all listen to different music, watch different TV show, are exposed to different social media and big time media keeps telling us it's the same as it ever was. According to big time media "Succession" is a hit on the level of "M.A.S.H.," everybody saw the finale and it's all the country can talk about. And Taylor Swift is as dominant as the Beatles or the Stones were in their era, never mind Culture Club and Duran Duran during the eighties and Nirvana in the nineties, when this is a complete falsehood. No act has that kind of penetration today, NONE! Which is another reason to ignore the manipulated charts published in media, tools of the labels, too often skewed by the sale of vinyl. The Republicans have nothing on record labels when it comes to disinformation.
Speaking of which, Elon Musk cried yesterday that Twitter had a 50% drop in advertising revenue and that this advertising deficit and heavy debt prevented the company from being cash flow positive. Now wait just a minute, isn't this the same guy who told us all the advertisers were back and that Twitter was about to turn the corner? That's Musk's idea of freedom, the right to post outright lies on Twitter. What a great service!
And then there's that story in today's "New York Times," talk about horrifying...
"Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025 - The former president and his backers aim to strengthen the power of the White House and limit the independence of federal agencies.": https://tinyurl.com/mzznjpa9
Read some of this. That's a free link. Scared yet? Most of the country not enough. Meanwhile, if Manchin runs under the No Labels banner it's toast for Biden. I was at a family lunch last week and I asked the assembled Democrats who wanted Biden to run, and not a single person raised their hand. How can the DNC be so out of touch?
And then I segued to Emily Nussbaum's article about Nashville in this week's "New Yorker":
"Country Music's Culture Wars and the Remaking of Nashville - Tennessee's government has turned hard red, but a new set of outlaw songwriters is challenging Music City's conservative ways—and ruling bro-country sound.": https://tinyurl.com/67sxvsxu
This demands a read too. As an antidote to the claim that Nashville is the new Los Angeles, but more harmonious with more opportunities when it comes to music. And for the politics.
And classic rock rules.
Well, not exactly, but it's experiencing a renaissance, rock's streaming percentage is going UP!
"Why Is Rock So Big
"Overall, rock has grown most of any genre year over year in consumption units, with 11.2 million more units in 2023 over 2022. That growth, however, is almost entirely from catalog — 10.3 million of it, compared to 900,000 units of growth from current releases."
That's from the "Billboard," behind a paywall. Once again, you've got to pay for news in 2023. The twenty five year old conception that everything is free online was and still is completely wrong.
R&B/Hip-Hop is still the number one genre, but rock is #2, and R&B/Hip-Hop's numbers are going down, and rock's are going up.
And as you can see in the above quote, the rock consumption is not being driven by new music, but old.
Wait just a second, wasn't this old fart music in the rearview mirror with its creators in the grave or close to it, on their farewell tours?
Needless to say, you won't get the idea that classic rock is so prevalent from the news media, populated by young writers who hate the past, make fun of the classic rockers and want to promote new music. But could it be that the new music is not as good, not as appealing as the old music?
Despite all the blather about Frank Sinatra today, he was the enemy until the late eighties and then the nineties. Sure, he had a couple of hits in the sixties, which we knew as a result of the all-dominant AM radio, but boomers gave him no respect and didn't listen to him.
Bette Midler covered the Andrews Sisters' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" in 1972, but almost no boomer could sing another song from 1941.
The past was anathema, truly history.
But today...
The funny little thing is that the classic rockers bitching about streaming payouts are the same ones who are benefiting from streaming, it's keeping their music alive! This didn't happen in the past, records went out of production, they were not stocked by retailers, they faded away. But not today!
Today's customers can sample/listen to anything, all they need is a hankering.
And, once again, rock's resurgence is not based on new music:
"Consider the rankings in terms of current share: rock (10.32%) slides to third place, behind pop (10.69%) and barely ahead of country (10.16%), with Latin coming in fifth at 7.84%. And its current unit growth year over year of 900,000 is significantly behind country (4.5 million), world music (3.3 million) and Latin (2.5 million), although at least it's still growing, while R&B/hip-hop and pop are not. "
"Billboard"
Wow, new country music is nearly as big as new rock music! Because, as Tom Petty said in concert, today's country music is the rock music of the seventies. Tom was decrying the marginalization of the classic country sound, but ultimately the melodies and changes and memorable choruses of today's country, lifted straight from old rock, are what so many in the public cotton to.
This is not pop with one chord and literally no changes.
And it's certainly not today's rock. Hard-edged and marginal, cult music for the brain dead and those living in an alternative universe where the 21st century never happened.
Now I'm all for evolution, that's what made rock so great. But if you were starting today, I'd begin with three chords and the truth. Melodies, bridges, singable choruses...all sung by someone with a palatable voice. It's just like in politics, rock has gotten so far from the center that the whole world is distorted.
And you wonder why music gets no respect.
It's a backwater of people creating brands. Afraid of their customers. Not willing to go on record about anything unless it's the essence of their image.
But you won't hear any of this in boardrooms.
At the labels, they scour social media to look for those who've already got a base who they can make stars, whereas in the heyday of classic rock the labels led, found new and different talent and promoted it. Steve Jobs said the public doesn't know what it wants and it's Apple's obligation to deliver it. The labels have abdicated that power.
Quick, who runs the record company?
You don't know and you don't need to know. Sure, you've got Lucian Grainge and his triple-digit million payout and the successful Monte, but after that? There is no Jimmy Iovine, never mind Mo and Joe.
So...
Everything I've said here goes unreported in big media and the public has a skewed view of the music landscape.
Furthermore, rock is seen as dead. And it's true, new rock is dead, because it skewed too far from the garden.
But if you get back there...
Is it any wonder Joni Mitchell is singing and triumphing again?
We're not going back to Woodstock, then again a lot of those values built the modern music business, pay heed.
P.S. You can get a lot of this "Billboard" information as part of your Apple News+ subscription. Don't be cheap, lay down the $9.99 a month.
There's so much info in the pipeline today that anything important oftentimes goes unheeded, or flows down the river with the overwhelming detritus of what is called internet news and most people remain unaware of it.
I wake up every morning and read the news on my phone and am agitated and inspired, wanting to point out stories/information I fear will go unnoticed. But then as the day goes on I slink back into my life and the information recedes and then, the next day, the whole process repeats. We live in what I've endlessly referred to as a Tower of Babel society, where we all listen to different music, watch different TV show, are exposed to different social media and big time media keeps telling us it's the same as it ever was. According to big time media "Succession" is a hit on the level of "M.A.S.H.," everybody saw the finale and it's all the country can talk about. And Taylor Swift is as dominant as the Beatles or the Stones were in their era, never mind Culture Club and Duran Duran during the eighties and Nirvana in the nineties, when this is a complete falsehood. No act has that kind of penetration today, NONE! Which is another reason to ignore the manipulated charts published in media, tools of the labels, too often skewed by the sale of vinyl. The Republicans have nothing on record labels when it comes to disinformation.
Speaking of which, Elon Musk cried yesterday that Twitter had a 50% drop in advertising revenue and that this advertising deficit and heavy debt prevented the company from being cash flow positive. Now wait just a minute, isn't this the same guy who told us all the advertisers were back and that Twitter was about to turn the corner? That's Musk's idea of freedom, the right to post outright lies on Twitter. What a great service!
And then there's that story in today's "New York Times," talk about horrifying...
"Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025 - The former president and his backers aim to strengthen the power of the White House and limit the independence of federal agencies.": https://tinyurl.com/mzznjpa9
Read some of this. That's a free link. Scared yet? Most of the country not enough. Meanwhile, if Manchin runs under the No Labels banner it's toast for Biden. I was at a family lunch last week and I asked the assembled Democrats who wanted Biden to run, and not a single person raised their hand. How can the DNC be so out of touch?
And then I segued to Emily Nussbaum's article about Nashville in this week's "New Yorker":
"Country Music's Culture Wars and the Remaking of Nashville - Tennessee's government has turned hard red, but a new set of outlaw songwriters is challenging Music City's conservative ways—and ruling bro-country sound.": https://tinyurl.com/67sxvsxu
This demands a read too. As an antidote to the claim that Nashville is the new Los Angeles, but more harmonious with more opportunities when it comes to music. And for the politics.
And classic rock rules.
Well, not exactly, but it's experiencing a renaissance, rock's streaming percentage is going UP!
"Why Is Rock So Big
"Overall, rock has grown most of any genre year over year in consumption units, with 11.2 million more units in 2023 over 2022. That growth, however, is almost entirely from catalog — 10.3 million of it, compared to 900,000 units of growth from current releases."
That's from the "Billboard," behind a paywall. Once again, you've got to pay for news in 2023. The twenty five year old conception that everything is free online was and still is completely wrong.
R&B/Hip-Hop is still the number one genre, but rock is #2, and R&B/Hip-Hop's numbers are going down, and rock's are going up.
And as you can see in the above quote, the rock consumption is not being driven by new music, but old.
Wait just a second, wasn't this old fart music in the rearview mirror with its creators in the grave or close to it, on their farewell tours?
Needless to say, you won't get the idea that classic rock is so prevalent from the news media, populated by young writers who hate the past, make fun of the classic rockers and want to promote new music. But could it be that the new music is not as good, not as appealing as the old music?
Despite all the blather about Frank Sinatra today, he was the enemy until the late eighties and then the nineties. Sure, he had a couple of hits in the sixties, which we knew as a result of the all-dominant AM radio, but boomers gave him no respect and didn't listen to him.
Bette Midler covered the Andrews Sisters' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" in 1972, but almost no boomer could sing another song from 1941.
The past was anathema, truly history.
But today...
The funny little thing is that the classic rockers bitching about streaming payouts are the same ones who are benefiting from streaming, it's keeping their music alive! This didn't happen in the past, records went out of production, they were not stocked by retailers, they faded away. But not today!
Today's customers can sample/listen to anything, all they need is a hankering.
And, once again, rock's resurgence is not based on new music:
"Consider the rankings in terms of current share: rock (10.32%) slides to third place, behind pop (10.69%) and barely ahead of country (10.16%), with Latin coming in fifth at 7.84%. And its current unit growth year over year of 900,000 is significantly behind country (4.5 million), world music (3.3 million) and Latin (2.5 million), although at least it's still growing, while R&B/hip-hop and pop are not. "
"Billboard"
Wow, new country music is nearly as big as new rock music! Because, as Tom Petty said in concert, today's country music is the rock music of the seventies. Tom was decrying the marginalization of the classic country sound, but ultimately the melodies and changes and memorable choruses of today's country, lifted straight from old rock, are what so many in the public cotton to.
This is not pop with one chord and literally no changes.
And it's certainly not today's rock. Hard-edged and marginal, cult music for the brain dead and those living in an alternative universe where the 21st century never happened.
Now I'm all for evolution, that's what made rock so great. But if you were starting today, I'd begin with three chords and the truth. Melodies, bridges, singable choruses...all sung by someone with a palatable voice. It's just like in politics, rock has gotten so far from the center that the whole world is distorted.
And you wonder why music gets no respect.
It's a backwater of people creating brands. Afraid of their customers. Not willing to go on record about anything unless it's the essence of their image.
But you won't hear any of this in boardrooms.
At the labels, they scour social media to look for those who've already got a base who they can make stars, whereas in the heyday of classic rock the labels led, found new and different talent and promoted it. Steve Jobs said the public doesn't know what it wants and it's Apple's obligation to deliver it. The labels have abdicated that power.
Quick, who runs the record company?
You don't know and you don't need to know. Sure, you've got Lucian Grainge and his triple-digit million payout and the successful Monte, but after that? There is no Jimmy Iovine, never mind Mo and Joe.
So...
Everything I've said here goes unreported in big media and the public has a skewed view of the music landscape.
Furthermore, rock is seen as dead. And it's true, new rock is dead, because it skewed too far from the garden.
But if you get back there...
Is it any wonder Joni Mitchell is singing and triumphing again?
We're not going back to Woodstock, then again a lot of those values built the modern music business, pay heed.
P.S. You can get a lot of this "Billboard" information as part of your Apple News+ subscription. Don't be cheap, lay down the $9.99 a month.
--
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,
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Sunday, 16 July 2023
E-Mail Of The Day
Re: The Forgotten Girls
Bob as usual, whenever you delve into politics, you completely mis represent things because you are a delusional follower of Marxism. That is absolutely not what conservative values are about. True these towns are screwed up for many different reasons, and conservative with money care, and help a poor person no matter what. Liberals on the other hand only line their pockets. Remember Black Lives Matter. No, of course you'll spin it but we all know better or how about the green new deal where we're going to use clean renewable energies even though we don't even have a power grid to maintain our current state, let alone, adding millions of new electric vehicles, and other devices to the grid. You take every opportunity you can to push your Marxist propaganda and have lost at least 50 Percent of your audience. No maybe some still continue to subscribe like I do but you are a true piece of shit for using your platform to spread the elite Marxist propaganda. Fuck you is all I can say.
Respectfully
Johnny Vieira
Bob as usual, whenever you delve into politics, you completely mis represent things because you are a delusional follower of Marxism. That is absolutely not what conservative values are about. True these towns are screwed up for many different reasons, and conservative with money care, and help a poor person no matter what. Liberals on the other hand only line their pockets. Remember Black Lives Matter. No, of course you'll spin it but we all know better or how about the green new deal where we're going to use clean renewable energies even though we don't even have a power grid to maintain our current state, let alone, adding millions of new electric vehicles, and other devices to the grid. You take every opportunity you can to push your Marxist propaganda and have lost at least 50 Percent of your audience. No maybe some still continue to subscribe like I do but you are a true piece of shit for using your platform to spread the elite Marxist propaganda. Fuck you is all I can say.
Respectfully
Johnny Vieira
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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--
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The Forgotten Girls
"The Forgotten Girls: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America": https://tinyurl.com/mryc7n8c
This is the real "Hillbilly Elegy."
If you want to understand the rural MAGA mentality, this is the place.
What we've got here is Clinton, Arkansas. Not Fayetteville, the hip Arkansas, not Little Rock, the urban Arkansas, but nowhere Arkansas, where people have no money, drop out of school when they're pregnant and the cycle of poverty continues and everybody believes it's God's will and you will be saved by the Almighty.
It's your responsibility. Even though you were born without advantages, and your hometown continues to go down the drain as the tax base craters and you entertain yourself with drugs and alcohol while you live a shortened life.
Deaths of despair. You'll read about them in the elite press, now you'll fully understand them.
Yes, the elite, the enemy. You hear politicians talk about the real America, American values, a return to when America was great? This is what they're talking about. It's not great at all, these people are being duped. Then again, they've got one advantage over almost half the country, they're white, and that makes them superior, no matter what you think.
Now by this point those on the right side of the bench have already tuned out. But this book isn't for them. Because either they don't read books or they're taking advantage of those being written about. Yes, lower taxes, all that hogwash, is benefiting them as it continues to hurt the base. Voting against your interests? This is the place!
So what we've got here is Monica Potts, yes, that's her real name, and her best friend Darci. They're smart, funny, the leaders of their class. But Monica goes one way, and Darci the other. Monica's mom wants her to get out, and Darci's mom? She exercises no control over Darci, she's serving her husband, not that Darci would listen. Then there's the mother who lets her daughter get married at fifteen to get her out of town, believing she is saving her. Monica stays on the straight and narrow, but as Darci hits high school, she goes boy crazy (the book's term, don't think I'm holier-than-thou, judging here), and starts to party with ever older boys (men), and school becomes secondary...
If you grew up where I did, in the suburbs in the fifties and sixties, you'll marvel how different this is. I was born knowing I was going to college. My parents tolerated little. I had to do well in school. It wasn't that it was strict, there was plenty of fun, but the goals were clear, life was laid out in front of me, become a professional, or else...
Living in California I've told all my friends that their kids should apply to the elite schools, assuming they're qualified, because if they get in, the school will foot the bill. They didn't believe me. They saw those price tags and blanched. Better to go to the state school. Almost no one is leaving Arkansas to go to school. And then there are people who never leave Arkansas whatsoever, I mean why?
But Monica falls into the east coast system by accident. Spends a summer in NYC at Barnard. And ends up going to Bryn Mawr, only because her mother had heard of it, she hadn't and had never been there until she stepped foot on campus. But it changed her life. Because once you're on the leafy grounds you're coddled, the administration cares about you, there are all these services, mental health and more. As for therapy, it's a sign of weakness, don't you know?
And the city... Everybody says not to go, it's a hellhole. This is what they've been told, growing up and from Fox News. You can't stay alive in the city, you'll be robbed and killed, better to stay home where you are safe, where you die from drugs and alcohol and other misadventures.
This is not a hard book to read. And people are reading it. But I wish more would. I learned more about the rural, MAGA mentality in the few hours it took to read "The Forgotten Girls" than I ever have reading "The New York Times," "The New Yorker" or watching Fox News. This is a report from the heartland, someone who actually lived there, who grew up there. This is not a reporter taking notes with an agenda.
Monica got out, went to Bryn Mawr and Columbia Journalism School. But she moved back to Clinton. Now works remotely for 538. She's back there, she reported this story.
And it's not histrionic, not over the top dramatic, but ultimately you'll learn more from "The Forgotten Girls" than "Educated."
"Educated" is a horror movie. "The Forgotten Girls" is a train-wreck. "Educated" blows your mind, whereas "The Forgotten Girls" sinks in gradually and then stays with you, because these people aren't rawly batsh*t crazy, but they're not like you or me, unless you live in these circumstances.
Now the book is peppered with studies, facts, it's not pure narrative. Which lends authority, but makes the book just a bit more difficult to read. But don't let that turn you off. If you want to know what is going on with all those blind Trump-lovers, the people who support the elected officials and their nonsense in the House of Representatives, whose positions seem looney-tunes and can't be changed, you need to read "The Forgotten Girls." Not as a sentence, this is not schoolwork, this is not an assignment... It's just fascinating. See how the other half lives.
--
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This is the real "Hillbilly Elegy."
If you want to understand the rural MAGA mentality, this is the place.
What we've got here is Clinton, Arkansas. Not Fayetteville, the hip Arkansas, not Little Rock, the urban Arkansas, but nowhere Arkansas, where people have no money, drop out of school when they're pregnant and the cycle of poverty continues and everybody believes it's God's will and you will be saved by the Almighty.
It's your responsibility. Even though you were born without advantages, and your hometown continues to go down the drain as the tax base craters and you entertain yourself with drugs and alcohol while you live a shortened life.
Deaths of despair. You'll read about them in the elite press, now you'll fully understand them.
Yes, the elite, the enemy. You hear politicians talk about the real America, American values, a return to when America was great? This is what they're talking about. It's not great at all, these people are being duped. Then again, they've got one advantage over almost half the country, they're white, and that makes them superior, no matter what you think.
Now by this point those on the right side of the bench have already tuned out. But this book isn't for them. Because either they don't read books or they're taking advantage of those being written about. Yes, lower taxes, all that hogwash, is benefiting them as it continues to hurt the base. Voting against your interests? This is the place!
So what we've got here is Monica Potts, yes, that's her real name, and her best friend Darci. They're smart, funny, the leaders of their class. But Monica goes one way, and Darci the other. Monica's mom wants her to get out, and Darci's mom? She exercises no control over Darci, she's serving her husband, not that Darci would listen. Then there's the mother who lets her daughter get married at fifteen to get her out of town, believing she is saving her. Monica stays on the straight and narrow, but as Darci hits high school, she goes boy crazy (the book's term, don't think I'm holier-than-thou, judging here), and starts to party with ever older boys (men), and school becomes secondary...
If you grew up where I did, in the suburbs in the fifties and sixties, you'll marvel how different this is. I was born knowing I was going to college. My parents tolerated little. I had to do well in school. It wasn't that it was strict, there was plenty of fun, but the goals were clear, life was laid out in front of me, become a professional, or else...
Living in California I've told all my friends that their kids should apply to the elite schools, assuming they're qualified, because if they get in, the school will foot the bill. They didn't believe me. They saw those price tags and blanched. Better to go to the state school. Almost no one is leaving Arkansas to go to school. And then there are people who never leave Arkansas whatsoever, I mean why?
But Monica falls into the east coast system by accident. Spends a summer in NYC at Barnard. And ends up going to Bryn Mawr, only because her mother had heard of it, she hadn't and had never been there until she stepped foot on campus. But it changed her life. Because once you're on the leafy grounds you're coddled, the administration cares about you, there are all these services, mental health and more. As for therapy, it's a sign of weakness, don't you know?
And the city... Everybody says not to go, it's a hellhole. This is what they've been told, growing up and from Fox News. You can't stay alive in the city, you'll be robbed and killed, better to stay home where you are safe, where you die from drugs and alcohol and other misadventures.
This is not a hard book to read. And people are reading it. But I wish more would. I learned more about the rural, MAGA mentality in the few hours it took to read "The Forgotten Girls" than I ever have reading "The New York Times," "The New Yorker" or watching Fox News. This is a report from the heartland, someone who actually lived there, who grew up there. This is not a reporter taking notes with an agenda.
Monica got out, went to Bryn Mawr and Columbia Journalism School. But she moved back to Clinton. Now works remotely for 538. She's back there, she reported this story.
And it's not histrionic, not over the top dramatic, but ultimately you'll learn more from "The Forgotten Girls" than "Educated."
"Educated" is a horror movie. "The Forgotten Girls" is a train-wreck. "Educated" blows your mind, whereas "The Forgotten Girls" sinks in gradually and then stays with you, because these people aren't rawly batsh*t crazy, but they're not like you or me, unless you live in these circumstances.
Now the book is peppered with studies, facts, it's not pure narrative. Which lends authority, but makes the book just a bit more difficult to read. But don't let that turn you off. If you want to know what is going on with all those blind Trump-lovers, the people who support the elected officials and their nonsense in the House of Representatives, whose positions seem looney-tunes and can't be changed, you need to read "The Forgotten Girls." Not as a sentence, this is not schoolwork, this is not an assignment... It's just fascinating. See how the other half lives.
--
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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