The Dirty Knobs At The Bellwether

I was not the oldest person there, and that is rare.

The Bellwether is a cool venue. An edifice built by Another Planet, proving that as big as Live Nation is, there is still room for competitors. And when it comes to small venues, the Bellwether is so far superior to the Novo that they should tear the latter down and start over.

It was sold out, meaning people still have an attraction to Mike Campbell. And nobody had their look on, and nobody was on their phone, it felt like nothing so much as the seventies, when rock ruled.

The seventies, they get a bad rap. Corporate rock. Disco. But they were very different from the eighties, when MTV made acts worldwide phenomena we all knew, when we ended up living in a monoculture, when mainstream was everything.

Now it's just the opposite. The mainstream is niche. And if you're not mainstream, you're on your own, sans support.

For all the hype about the Spotify Top 50, the Swifts and the Beyoncés and the Weeknds and the Drakes, the real action, the real excitement is elsewhere, acts that don't dance, don't dress up and don't even have hit records, but live they resonate, in a world where live is ultimately everything. And I mean truly live, if you're doing it to hard drive, if it's the same every night, you're doing it wrong. It's got to be alive, it's got to breathe, it's got to be different, people have to believe they're having a unique experience, that if they followed the tour to the next gig it wouldn't be the same, the only community, the only similarity is in the room where the show is happening, and that makes you feel involved, and special. I could say this is the paradigm the Grateful Dead invented, but they were not the only ones. And they ultimately had a hit. And before they crossed over on MTV, they got airplay on FM radio when we were still listening, whereas today FM is a backwater, if you listen you probably sign up for the streaming service with commercials.

Now in the seventies rock ruled. There were different strains of rock, from heavy to progressive to straight ahead, but in any bar in seemingly any town there was a band playing on the weekend. And their goal was to be so good that they could get away with playing original material. And you'd go to the venue to drink, that's for sure, but also to hear the band, you'd talk about this band with your friends, even though it might never get a deal, might not ever be able to play in the next state.

And speaking of playing, we still did. The Beatles started that. Soon, everybody had a guitar, everybody knew how to play, at least a few rudimentary chords, we banged it out in the garage, we sang along at parties, it was radically different from today, unless you were at the Bellwether last night to see the Dirty Knobs.

Now the difference with the Knobs from those bands of yore is Mike Campbell is a veritable superstar. And he didn't make it on speed, like the Yngwies and other guitarists of the eighties, he made it on style, on taste, and it's a thrill just to see him play anything. And when he takes the stage, it's palpable, this is the guy.

And with Ferrone on drums and two lesser known but just as skilled sidemen, the Knobs hit it from the very first note, they are tight, and it's a revelation, because this is the sound, the one that infected us, that rooted us, that meant everything to us.

Sure, there have been shows forever. But music meant much more to the boomers and Gen-X'ers than it did to the generations both before and after. You know if you were there, if you weren't, you deny this. Or, you're a wanker in the business trying to look hip.

And the audience did not, try to look hip that is. I didn't see one outfit, no one dressed up, it was like the Allman Brothers and the aforementioned Dead and so many of the bands back when, they wore their street clothes on stage, the music was enough, more than enough.

I mean my generation doesn't look so great. But even though we're in Los Angeles, that image thing, the Kardashianism, it wasn't evident. No plastic surgery, no injections, no three digit coifs...most of the women were like the men, in jeans, dungarees, nobody was looking to make a sartorial statement, they were there for the music.

And you know rock and roll when you hear it. But it's such a rare event these days. You can go to the amphitheatre and see the legacy acts, but that's something different, that's nostalgia, you want to hear your favorites and reminisce. But Campbell and the Knobs were playing all original material, for two hours. And you didn't need to know it to get it. The changes, the picking, the sound, that was enough.

The records are secondary in this world, nearly superfluous. It's all about the live show, you can go not knowing the material at all and have a fine time, whereas it used to be just the opposite. You memorized the records before the show, to be plugged in.

So, I'm involuntarily throwing my arms in the air, I'm grooving, and this is completely unexpected. I mean it's not like the Knobs are going to play the Super Bowl, I'm here in a club, but the music centered me, connected me to who I always was, even though I was wary that those days and that feeling were in the past.

So, the Dirty Knobs are far superior to a bar band. But it's not about stardom, but the music. It was extremely enjoyable, until...

The four musicians left the stage after almost two hours, you know, before the obligatory encore, and nobody kept applauding. I was wondering if they'd just turn up the lights, whether that would be it, but that almost never happens. They weren't clapping, but they weren't leaving either. They knew the band would come back on. And when they did...

Mike had three guitars propped up in front of the mic. He said these were the axes he used on the originals, that they're too valuable to take on the road, but since this is a hometown gig... And he picked up the first guitar and...played the very first track from the very first Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album, "Rockin' Around With You." Whew!

Campbell doesn't have quite the pipes of Petty, but the interesting thing is he talks the same way, with the same accent, it's not Petty and it's not a facsimile, the Knobs make these songs their own, but you know them by heart.

And what an interesting choice. You'd expect "American Girl," or "Breakdown."

You see it was Tom Petty's birthday, and the band was playing his material in honor of that date. And just when you figured they'd stop, they went on. And on. And on. The Dirty Knobs played ten Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers numbers, more than anybody could expect, and they were not the usual suspects. The most obvious were "You Wreck Me," "You Got Lucky" and "Even the Losers." The words of the last two truly resonated. All these decades later you can visualize what they're based upon. And you can see the economy of the songwriting. Today they throw everything in, Tom and Mike left a lot out, in song and production, which made the records transcendent, as fresh today as yesterday.

Oh, there was a rendition of "Listen to Her Heart," the failed single from the second album. Yes, you heard the song on the radio, especially in L.A., but the band was poised for greatness and somehow "You're Gonna Get It" did not improve the band's status. It was good, but...a year and a half later "Damn the Torpedoes," burst out of the dashboard with "Refugee" and the rest is history.

"You don't have to live like a refugee"

The perspective was not only different from the boasting prominent in today's music, but it was also different from the bombast purveyed by the English and heartland rockers. Tom Petty was slight, he wasn't the macho cool dude, he was a thinking person, he didn't see the world the same way as the bloviators.

Which leads me to the absolute highlight of the evening.

Now I saw Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Whisky. I heard "Breakdown" and "American Girl" on the radio in L.A., before the rest of the country cottoned to the sound. But if you want to talk about the first album, if I'm going to request a song from the first album, it's either going to be "The Wild One, Forever," or "Luna." They've got that late night with too much humidity in the air feel.

But they did not play those last night. They played one I least expected, "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)."

"Looks like I've been fooled again
Looks like I'm the fool again
I don't like it, I don't like it"

Picture it, it's easy. Petty is the victim. He thought he had something, but it was too good to be true. Not only did he lose it, he wasn't even aware of how it was going down. All he can do is protest, tell his story in this song. And it starts off slow and quiet, but then it builds, evidences all the anger...

Now unlike the Dirty Knobs songs in the first two hours of the performance, everybody in the hall knew the words to these Petty songs. Because that was the era, you bought the albums and you devoured them. And sure, you might have seen the band live, but mostly you knew the songs from the records.

Now Mike got the audience to sing along to his own songs, got everybody to say F*CK THAT GUY! It's not like there was an undercurrent of talk, people were paying attention, but let's be honest, they came because Mike was Petty's guitarist. So when Mike gave them what they were looking for, more than they were looking for, they were elated.

I certainly was.

And the thing about those Petty records is you could hear everything, the kitchen sink was left out, so when Mike strums the chords and Ferrone pounds the beat on the drums, it's positively primal, but it's everything.

"Strange voice on the telephone
Telling me I better leave you alone
Why don't somebody say what's going on
Uh-oh, I think I been through this before"

This is not the football player, not the cheerleader, this song is sung by the other, who is living their life in the shadows, but it's just as meaningful as yours.

"You never said you had no number two
I need to know about it if you do
If two is one I might as well be three
It's good to see you think so much of me"

I've felt this. I've been fooled, more than once, and in certain cases by the same girl. I remember when I saw my more than crush kissing other guys at the party, out in the open, all I know is she wasn't kissing me.

Never mind more than crushes that involved some connection, some physical activity, that I thought were leading to more, but it turned out this uber-desirable woman lived with an upper classman.

"I don't like it
I don't like it
I don't like it
I DON'T LIKE IT"

This music spoke to us, it was personal. It was not made to dance to, to party to, to shoot selfies to, it wasn't background noise, it was positively primal.

And when it was all over, it was quarter to midnight, the show had lasted two hours and forty five minutes. But this was not Springsteen giving us his all, trying to overwhelm us, beat us into submission, it was clear that Mike and his compatriots loved playing, and as long as we showed up and stayed they'd do so. It's tough to soldier on, but Mike is playing clubs, because that's what a musician does, play, the money is secondary.

And I can't say the tickets were expensive. But maybe that's just the point, it was a show, not an event, and there's a difference. The music blended with your regular life, was part of your regular life, it was rooting, and that was more than a surprise.

And I got home and was hungover, and am still not completely centered, even though I didn't drink an ounce of alcohol. You see I was transported, to what once was and I thought could never again be. I thought maybe I'd moved on, because nobody was delivering what I was looking for, the essence, more than stardom, more than a jukebox, but living breathing rock and roll.

The kids don't get it, otherwise they'd have been in the audience last night. But if you're of a certain vintage, of a certain age, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And if you go to see the Dirty Knobs...

You won't be fooled again.

It's the real deal.

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Netflix Price Increase

I don't want to pay for Netflix's ad-supported tier.

WHAT?

Here's the bottom line. Netflix knee-jerked and established an ad-based tier after a quarter of bad numbers to appease Wall Street and now the model is floundering, as if one couldn't see this from the get-go.

People hate commercials. Period. Netflix established a new model, then it punted. It'd be like Mercedes-Benz offering the right to drive a car three days a week for a cheap price. Not only does it make no sense, because people need a car all seven days of the week, or not at all, it CHEAPENS THE BRAND!

It's bad enough that Zaslav trashed the HBO brand. It'd be like Columbia Records changing its name to Black Rock Records. Why? Zaslav's logic is too many people have a bad impression of HBO, they see it as elitist, so he caters to the lowest common denominator and...according to Scott Galloway Warner Discovery is soon going to be in play.

But not Netflix. Because the bottom line is Netflix had first mover advantage in streaming, it kept pushing the envelope, adding product when Zaslav was eliminating it from Max. Yes, I want to pay for less, in what world does that work? Netflix is a powerhouse of production, Zaslav eliminated foreign production but Netflix carried on, and I'll argue their best original content is foreign. Good move.

I had no intention of dropping my Netflix account. I even paid five bucks extra for 4k. But now, you want to raise me three dollars because your advertising tier is a failure?

Yes, the advertisers themselves are complaining because Netflix is not delivering the audience it said it would. So, how do you goose the ad-based audience? BY RAISING THE PRICE ON EVERYBODY ELSE!

I'm just here minding my own business, touting Netflix, check the archives, and the pricks who run it don't care about me at all. Steve Jobs was against raising prices at the iTunes Store, he didn't want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. And when Spotify raised its streaming price, it did it by a dollar. I can understand that, it's been under ten bucks for years, and inflation is rampant, Spotify deserves a dollar. But why does Netflix deserve THREE?

Once again, Netflix is looking at its bottom line, playing to the Street instead of its customers. I mean how out of touch can you be?

I was cool with cracking down on password-sharing. Because we're all paying the price for that, as we are for shrinkage at retail outlets. But Netflix won that war, raw subscriptions went up, and now you're going to put the shiv in me?

Never mind the issue of price points. $19.99 is not twenty dollars, even though it is. Perception is it's less than twenty. So, if like Spotify, it went to $20.99, I could rationalize that. But $22.99? What, did Ted Sarandos pull that number out of his ass? There is a limit to what people will pay, just ask the cable providers, who were the only game in town until they weren't. Cord-cutting is rampant. Because people are sick of paying for content they're not watching, especially ESPN.

And now Netflix is turning into cable. The most hated outlet in the country. The record industry was tops there for a while, when it sued its own customers to keep revenue from physical product coming in, trying to eliminate file-trading, but the record industry saw the light, well, Daniel Ek made the industry see the light, he started the streaming juggernaut and now the labels are rolling in dough with many fewer expenses, how great is that?

I never thought of canceling Netflix. I'll let it run, I thought, there's always something I want to watch on the service, especially if I can't find anything elsewhere. Yes, Netflix is bedrock. And most people see it this way, which is why it's the only streamer in the black. So what does Netflix do? You'd think they'd reward us, but instead they disregard us.

At $22.99 a month... Maybe I'll disconnect when there's no good product. Kinda like BritBox... I just signed up to watch a series, I'll keep it for a month and then I'll disconnect. Like I do with Mhz. Like I do with Apple TV+. And don't tell me dripping an episode a week changes the paradigm, with Apple TV+ I just wait until the series is done and then...usually I don't even bother watching it, there's new stuff to watch. Apple TV+ is an insult, there's just not enough there.

Didn't anyone learn the lesson of the new millennium, that the customer comes first? If we all stop subscribing to Netflix, the outfit is screwed. And Netflix is not like water or food, we can live without it. Turns out many people can live without the aforementioned ESPN. Treat me bad and I'm out.

I want it all and I want it now. That's one of the reasons I love Netflix. If I hear about a show I can dig in and watch it all the way through. As for waiting a week for a new episode, what, are we living in the last century, it's already 2023! Sure, some complacent oldsters who never learned how to use their DVR, never mind their VCR, are cool with an old model they grew up with, but poll the youngsters... Holding back product, that's insane!

Remember when the issue was leaks in the music business? Yeah, the bad people put out the album without authorization, it screwed up the label's promotion plan. For all the complaining, the script has flipped. Now labels just wish there was that kind of hoopla about a new release, that someone would care so much that they'd make the effort to leak it and the audience would clamor for it. Today you put out new music to crickets. It's hard to gain attention, you'll do anything for attention.

It's not like Netflix does not have competition. And I'm not talking about Prime or Disney or Hulu or... I'm talking about TikTok. That's the story no one wants to amplify, that the hours spent on TikTok far outstrip those spent on these streaming services. Just give me more of an incentive to drop my subscription Netflix, I dare you.

But you can admit your mistake. Delta lifted its frequent flier milestones so high that members went berserk. Then Delta backed off. They still have higher thresholds, but it's not quite the insult.

Most people don't know Netflix is raising its prices, there's time to backtrack. Charge me a dollar more. I'm with you on that. Like I said, there's been inflation, prices have gone up everywhere. But you're going to raise me more than 10%? Inflation has been tamed, what are you thinking?

They're not. This is just further demonstration of the elite being out of touch with the public. Many people are struggling, they're on a budget. For all the b.s. about people paying for subscriptions they're not using, the truth is most people know exactly what they're paying for, and when they see $22.99 on their next bill, they're going to think about it.

Like your cable bill. I mean enough already. It's like a car payment. Why do I need cable? But I've got to give the cable outfits credit, they're starting to realize this, they know their future is internet delivery, which is why Comcast stood up to Disney. Allow me to excise my ESPN subscription. And while you're at it, let me cut out Fox too. Two outlets that I'm supporting with my three digit cable bill. I get to vote with streaming, but not on cable. Which is why people are cutting the cord.

No one at Netflix understands business, understands people. Excel is inert. It's all about emotions. And I'll never feel the same way about Netflix again. The company is not looking out for me, it's looking out for itself. We had a partnership, now Netflix is an overlord squeezing me. Well, I don't need Netflix...and I'm not the only one.


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Fall Freshman Year-SiriusXM This Week

Tune in Saturday October 21st 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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The Woman In Me

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It was not a hit. As a matter of fact, the entire album was a stiff.

Donna Summer was part of David Geffen's trifecta, launching his new, eponymous label with three superstars, Donna Summer, Elton John and John Lennon. And all three of their albums stiffed, although subsequent to his tragic and untimely assassination Lennon's album was resuscitated, "(Just Like) Starting Over" was played incessantly, and one can argue quite strongly that "Double Fantasy" contains the most well-known Lennon solo cuts, the ones the audience knows best, other than "Imagine," and the album is the one that has been embraced by the public.

But this is not about John Lennon.

Donna Summer was a superstar. Seen as a disco sideshow, the sound she helped pioneer became dominant and she was the scene's queen. Still derided by many, but then came "Bad Girls," suddenly it was clear Donna Summer could rock, that she was testing limits while the corporate rockers were repeating themselves.

That's where I came along. Someone my boss represented was in the band. Actually, two people. And they came in one day with the double "Bad Girls" album and I dropped the needle and was stunned, it was good! "Hot Stuff" started with a driving beat, with more energy than you heard on the rock stations. "Bad Girls" had a breezy feel that epitomized the ethos of the late seventies, and then there were those extraneous, background sounds, the beep beeps, and then Summer started to toss off the lyrics, as if she ruled the world and didn't care at the same time. And "Dim All the Lights," had a swinging, swaying feeling like the last dance at your high school, it captured the zeitgeist better than the rock stuff. And the closer, "Sunset People," which captured the feel of the Boulevard back when you had to be here to experience it.

So I bought "Donna Summer," the initial Geffen album, the day it was released. The initial single, the opening cut, "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)," had everything but the kitchen sink, but underneath the production was a substandard song. This was a new sound, nowhere near as good as the Giorgio Moroder sound. It was Michael Jacksonized Donna Summer.

Yes, they shared the same producer, Q, Quincy Jones, this was going to be a revelation, an apotheosis, Summer was going to be as big as the man with the one white glove, only she wasn't. "Donna Summer" was a dud.

Now, in truth, decades later I cottoned to "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)," especially the breakdown, what happens starting at 2:42 is magical, but what are the odds something can be a hit, can become legendary if it takes years to get it? Zero.

Track 2 was even worse, "Mystery of Love." God, the whole album featured incredible production, incredible playing, incredible singing, just substandard material. The record existed in a nowheresville, this was not the Donna Summer of yore, it was too slick, too mainstream, it wasn't hip.

But Donna Summer still owed one album to Mercury, from her old deal, which she had to deliver as part of her contract with Geffen. And funnily enough, just like with Linda Ronstadt and Asylum a decade before, the album sans Geffen was gigantic, the one that broke through. Donna Summer was singing "She Works Hard for the Money" in her waitress uniform on MTV. She was back. But then she disappeared again, she never had anything resembling a true hit thereafter. Well, that's not completely true, Summer decamped to Atlantic, worked with Stock Aitken Waterman and produced "This Time I Know It's for Real" in 1989, but despite the chart numbers listed on the song's Wikipedia page, I don't remember a video in constant rotation on MTV. And I don't remember it being on the radio, it eluded me completely. Then again, I'd given up on Donna Summer at this point, there'd been too much disappointment.

But on that first Geffen album, "Donna Summer," there were two tracks, and I continued to go back to them, again and again.

The first was "State of Independence," a Jon and Vangelis composition whose recording had gotten radio airplay, that I knew, that was built on the magic of Jon Anderson's voice before he went back to Yes for the monster "90215," a sorely overlooked album today, sure "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is still heard occasionally, but go back and listen to "It Can Happen," Hold On," "Changes and "Leave It," maybe the younger generations will discover the album in the future, it's right there on streaming services, it's unique, requires no prior listening or understanding, and it delivers.

But the best iteration of "State of Independence" does not, exist on streaming services that is. Whoa, wait a second, after decades, it's finally appeared, an album I played incessantly back in the nineties, Moodswings's "Moodfood"!

Talk about a magical album, one that almost no one knows...

The entry point is "Skinthieves," with an astounding Jeff Beck guitar solo at the end. And then there's "Rainsong"... I could pull up what I wrote about this ethereal, meaningful number back in the nineties, but I don't want to bring up chiaroscuro memories. I'll just leave you with these lyrics:

"I was thinking about our life together
Knowing it must be now or never
To get back to you
Now I've just got to get out of this rain"

The vocal is by Linda Muriel, someone neither you nor I know, but the delivery is from deep inside her soul.

But the piece-de-resistance on "Moodfood" is "Spiritual High (State of Independence), Pt. 2." Actually, there are three parts to "Spiritual High," they start the album, and you should listen to them all, but Pt. 2 has got a driving club beat and the vocal is by none other than Chrissie Hynde! Yes, with a voice somewhere between Jon Anderson and Donna Summer, and for some reason her thinner vocal adds even more meaning. But the version on "Donna Summer"...

Q throws in everything, including the kitchen sink, but this time the underlying song is worthy of the production. It features the essence of Toto, David Paich, Steve Porcaro and Steve Lukather, as well as backup vocals by Bill Champlin, Steve George, Richard Page and one Pamela Quinlan. Well, there's also an all-star chorus featuring everybody from Michaels Jackson and McDonald and James Ingram, Stevie Wonder, Christopher Cross, Dionne Warwick, and even Dyan Cannon, and that's not everybody! Yes, only Q does this, but here it works. But this nearly six minute version of "State of Independence" isn't a single, not what they play on pop radio, although it did go to number one in the Netherlands, but in the U.S. they played this kind of stuff on FM rock stations, but this was not rock, but it was great.

But not as great as "The Woman in Me."

"You know baby
I'm so happy to be here
With you tonight

And I just wanna let you know
That I'd follow you to the end of the world
Just to show you that I care

And I want you to know that
If you need me
I'll always be there"

That's all sotto voce, before the main vocal begins. It's so intimate.

Unlike U2 at the Sphere. I was reading about that earlier today, that's spectacle, U2 performing "Achtung Baby" and other hits, "The Woman in Me" was never a hit, and never will be. It was released as a single, but barely made a dent, it's just an album track on an album that was a stiff, that is not going to have a renaissance, because it was a misfire, not that good, Donna didn't need all that production, she was enough, but on this cut Q's production techniques work.

"Dancing close
Feeling restless
It's a slow sultry night"

Sultry is the word. For the entire song. It's the aural equivalent of "Body Heat." And it's personal. You feel like you're the only one listening, unless you're living the life delineated in the song, with your honey, sharing a private moment.

Private. So much of today's music is public. Meant to be shared with the assembled multitude, to party. And some of that stuff is great, but what really reaches me is the opposite, the stuff made for just me, alone in my bedroom, when my spirits are low, when I need the music to soothe me, to make me feel like there's a reason to continue to live, just to hear this sound, to experience this bond with the sound.

So I dropped the needle on "Donna Summer" the day I bought it and was disappointed until I got to cut 3, "The Woman in Me." It immediately registered. And I wasn't listening to it on earbuds, it didn't emanate from a small speaker in the dash of an automobile, rather it was coming out of the speakers of my state of the art stereo with enough power to wake up the neighbors (and, unfortunately, I once did this).

We need an entry point to an album. And back when records were shorter, with two sides, it was easier to do this. We'd play them through once, then concentrate on one side, then the other, waiting for a track to speak to us. And "The Woman in Me" spoke to me, immediately.

And for some reason, in a fog this morning, reading the newspaper, eating coffee skyr with walnuts and blueberries, "The Woman in Me" started playing in my head. I could have called out to Alexa to play it, but it was better in my mind, more personal.

It's not like I was in a bad mood, but I can't say I was in a good one. I had nothing on my day's plate that was disturbing, then again, there was nothing exciting scheduled. And the news was fascinating, but it was at arm's length, I was not in the paper, but "The Woman in Me" was in my head.

And I started to think... Of that old house, listening to "The Woman in Me." About all my moods, all my feelings, back when. And how "The Woman in Me" is primary to me, but seemingly no one else. It was a commercial misfire. You're not hearing it on the radio. All that effort went into its production, its recording, but it's really only known to a select few, those who purchased the album and played it, and those who might have heard it on one of its occasional radio spins. But it's a hit. To me. On my own personal parade. Donna Summer is alive when I hear "The Woman in Me," and so am I. When I hear the right song in my head my life is complete, I can conquer all comers, I feel powerful.

And today "The Woman in Me" is that song.


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Keith Carlock-This Week's Podcast

Drummer extraordinaire Keith Carlock has been Steely Dan's man on the skins for decades. Hear the story of how he made it from Mississippi to the big time!

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/keith-carlock-126132916/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keith-carlock/id1316200737?i=1000631849077

https://open.spotify.com/episode/10goUTMOozAEotFCgbAfGA?si=c-yudidNQZ6QvDpqUQVIIQ

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/475e0f43-391f-4260-a31d-66fd0a18488a/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-keith-carlock


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The Only Girl

"The Only Girl - My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone": https://tinyurl.com/5xcn4xum

I'd never heard of this book, never mind its author, Robin Green.

Then again, I had. I saw her credit for years, as a writer and executive producer on "The Sopranos." What? That's quite a career!

Now this is not a self-published tome, it was put out by Little Brown. But it flew under my radar, and whether or not I read these rock books, I'm certainly aware of them. But in the brouhaha after Jann Wenner's unfortunate remarks, an article I read went through the various books about "Rolling Stone" and said this was the best. Huh? I immediately reserved it at the library, I wasn't going to buy it, what were the odds I'd even read it.

But I did. I finished it in less than 24 hours. Primarily because Robin Green delineates the era better than any book written by a person in music.

Yes, the sixties... They're fading. But if you were alive and kicking, it was the opposite of today, it was an era of possibilities. And you certainly didn't live your life by rote. Green graduated from Pembroke, which was to Brown as Radcliffe was to Harvard, and then...tried to fly straight in New York City, but on a whim moved to California with an old boyfriend.

Come on, do you know anybody who graduates from an Ivy and makes career decisions on a whim today? Hell, people have their careers planned out before they even take a class. And the goal is to make money. To set the world on fire. Personal fulfillment? That's way down the list. But in the sixties and early seventies, that was everything.

And you could afford to meander. You could live on minimum wage. And not only did people do this, they were itinerant, as in moving from place to place. You didn't fly across the country, you drove. You didn't just see places on the internet, you went and experienced them up close and personal. And if a friend was going somewhere, even hundreds of miles away, you might decide to accompany them, and it might change your entire life.

So Robin is in Berkeley working a day job, and then she finds out she has a connection at "Rolling Stone," so she borrows a car and drives over the bridge for a meeting with this bloke where she offers herself up as a secretary, a low level employee, she just wants to get in the building, to be close to the action.

But this guy doesn't understand it. Why would she want such a lowly gig, didn't she have more ambition, why didn't she want to write for the magazine?

It had never occurred to her.

But she had a meeting with Jann, who found out she was an assistant to Stan Lee at Marvel during her brief tenure in New York, and he said if she wrote an article about Marvel and he liked it, he'd pay her five cents a word, if he didn't, he'd kill it and pay her half. And seeing as how she was going to the east coast anyway, she took the gig.

And it became a cover story.

And from there...

I remember Robin's story about Dennis Hopper and "The Last Movie," it was in one of the early issues after my subscription to the magazine took hold. And its creation is retold in this book, and Hopper doesn't look good. So many don't look good, not even David Chase, Robin lays it down straight.

And you may not actually like Robin, but she was there, she lived it.

She had sex with many men. One night stands. She wouldn't submit her story about the Kennedy children to "Rolling Stone" because...

But these were the days. Before AIDS. During women's liberation. When women were demanding and living with the same power as men.

Green is far from subservient, she was one of the boys, but she maintained her female identity.

Green writes about the legendary "Rolling Stone" conference at Esalen. About Hunter Thompson. About the trials and tribulations of the "Rolling Stone" staff. It didn't play out pleasantly for so many of them. But they were bedding each other, even if they were married to other people.

As for this focus on sex... You've got to know, at this point sex before marriage was seen as taboo, even divorce was. But the birth control pill came along and everything changed. There was freedom.

Green ultimately is demoted from the masthead of "Rolling Stone" after refusing to deliver that Kennedy piece and she went to the Iowa Writers' Workshop and then moved to Los Angeles and once again worked at a low level until she caught fire in TV. And this ultimately led to "The Sopranos," and more.

This is not a typical tell-all. It's more than the facts. And Green can certainly write. But it's like it never came out, no one ever talked to me about "The Only Girl." That's what Robin was, again and again, the only girl amongst a group of men.

You'll have a hard time putting "The Only Girl" down, especially if you lived through that era, the years have been bastardized and pooh-poohed, but if you read Green's book, you'll learn how it all really went down, from a perspective you don't usually find. You've got men writing about the era, and you've got people who weren't there writing about the era, but Robin Green was there, and she holds nothing back.

There's just something about this book. It's not like it's hot or sexy, yet it's far from dry. It's kinda like a peek into Robin Green's brain, her inner world. A perspective you don't get too often, especially without judgment and a moral.

When looking for the Amazon link I saw that right now they're selling the Kindle version for $3.99. That's not much of a commitment. But if you do buy it, I know you'll read it, I know you'll finish it. Because you want this perspective. You want a book that is more than I did this and that, met this person and that. You're thinking all the time, and so is Robin Green, but she laid her inner feelings down.

A big thumb's up!

P.S. This book is not only about "Rolling Stone," actually the best parts are about her family and friends and growing up in Providence. And it does go into "The Sopranos" and...just wanted to let you know.


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The Hospital Bombing

It's happening again. What my parents warned me about. Anti-Semitism.

My inbox is overflowing. Overwhelmingly in support of what I wrote about Gaza. But you know what so many of those e-mailers said? DON'T USE MY NAME!

And there you have it in a nutshell. Yes, I blame the Jews. Not Israel, but the assimilated Jews in America who stood by during the heyday of BDS, during the rise of pro-Palestinian sentiment, while the perception changed, from poor Israel to poor Palestinians.

"Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a briefing early Wednesday morning that no Israeli strike, either by air, land or sea occurred near the hospital at the time of the deadly explosion. He said the Israeli military would soon publish the radar information, footage and a recording of militants in Gaza assigning blame to Islamic Jihad, a group aligned with Hamas.

"Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour accused Israel of carrying out the strike and lying. 'Now they change the story to try to blame the Palestinians. It is a lie,' Mansour said during a press conference at the U.N. headquarters."

https://tinyurl.com/5u626rkd

That's from the "Wall Street Journal," you could read it if you wanted to but you won't. Because the truth is irrelevant today, now it's only about perception.

I mean who are you going to believe? One of the most technically developed militaries of the world? Or the terrorist group in Palestine?

It's easy. Of course the Israelis are guilty.

And none of this would have happened if the Israelis hadn't decided to retaliate, right? I mean even if it was a wayward, failed Palestinian rocket, would they be shooting off rockets if Israel didn't threaten to invade? Get it straight, Israel is the aggressor here. The poor Palestinians have just been trying to live their lives quietly and those damn Jews upset the apple cart. They've got no compassion. They want to see every Palestinian desiring to return to their homeland dead. If only they wanted peace, a two state solution...

WHAT?

My inbox says all that. And I've never had this many people unsubscribe in one day, never. And after posting this I'm sure I'll lose the same number, if not more. But I'm not writing for those people, I'm not writing for those taking the side of the poor Palestinians, I'm writing this for you silent Jews, afraid of suffering individually. I mean haven't we seen this movie already? Never mind the Nazis, but in Charlottesville, never mind terrorism in Pittsburgh?

Yes, I've gotten e-mail from people keeping their kids home from school, because they're Jewish. Others afraid to go to synagogue, even though there are armed guards at the temple.

But you sit there silently, trying to stay out of the fray. Fearful of blowback. Yes, you who let the pendulum swing, who got fat and happy, seeing Israel as a safe technological juggernaut. You thought you were assimilated. But you haven't gotten those e-mails I have, talking about anti-Semitism in this supposedly Jewish dominated business.

But you don't want to get involved. You don't want people angry with you. You don't want to lose friends.

Forget the wimpy executives, who are only concerned about their paycheck, where are the Jewish artists? You can't take a stand? You are who people listen to, if not now, when?

But the executives need to stand up too. I'm imploring you. If I can take the risk, you can too. We have each other, and we need each other, but now we are divided.

That's right, whatever and if ever the truth about the hospital bombing comes out one thing is for sure, the image of Israel and the Jews will continue to decline, and it will only get worse.

As for those Jews at colleges and universities... They're complacent, they didn't live through the '67 and '73 wars, never mind Munich in '72. They align with their Palestinian brothers, knowing nothing of the history of the region, only knowing that the Palestinians have a good case, and they do, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

I'm not going to sit here and say Israel is perfect. But one thing I will say is it's our last best hope if we are Jewish, it's the only place we can go and not be persecuted. And if it goes by the wayside, it's just a matter of time before they come for you.

I mean have you studied history? Again and again the Jews have been the scapegoat, and been exiled and limited in business and killed and you think just because we have the internet it can't happen again? IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN!

Think of authoritarianism... We thought those days were through. And Poland just turned left, but what about Italy? Never mind Hungary? This was not supposed to happen, democracy was supposed to gain momentum and rule, but just the opposite seems to be happening.

So on my birthday a few years back I went to the Holocaust museum in Los Angeles. And they had reprints from the L.A. "Times." And contrary to conventional wisdom, people knew! Yes, the repression of the Jews, their ghettoization, the stripping of their rights, their need to wear Jewish stars... WE KNEW! And what did we do? Nothing, not for a long while. And after the war the truth of the concentration camps was revealed, but now we find out the Holocaust didn't really happen. And the Jews need to shut up anyway, because other people died too. It's kind of like saying there's no more racism, get the Blacks to agree with you on that one. But even the Blacks hate the Jews. Don't tell me you don't, do you think I'm polling each and every African-American? But the facts are there. Jews are the enemy, just ask Kanye.

Yes, Jews are the cause of all the world's problems, don't you know? And if they'd just let those damn Palestinians live in peace... And give them back their country while they're at it, everything would be groovy. Iran would be happy and Lebanon would be happy and...ARE YOU DREAMING?

But you are asleep. Because you're afraid to get in the fray.

But I don't care if you're mother's mother was Jewish and nobody else, when they come looking, you're going to be considered Jewish, there's no getting away from it. You think you're immune, but you're not.

So can all you wusses out there, afraid of having your names revealed, stand up and be proud to be a Jew? Stand up to the misinformation?

Of course it's a thorny issue. And the Israelis haven't always been right, but they haven't been celebrating the death of Palestinians, whereas it's vice versa on the other side.

I won't even talk about all the times the Palestinians were offered their own country as part of a two state solution..,

That's another type of e-mail that drives me wild. The "risk-takers" who tell me that everybody just needs to believe in peace. That if we all sat down the problem could be solved. That we need a two-state solution. Don't you get it, Israel has agreed to all that, it's the Palestinians who are holding us back, who will only be happy when Israel ceases to exist, when the Jews are driven into the sea. Don't think those are metaphors, that's Hamas's charter!

This is only the beginning. As this war progresses, Israel is going to look worse and worse, just you wait. It's going to be even harder to be a Jew. The right has turned on Ukraine, what are the odds every American is going to side with Israel? And yes, there are Christians who support Israel because that's where Jesus lived, but if you think this means they're sympathetic to the Jews...

It is happening. Right now. We Jews are losing purchase, we're losing power, we're losing the argument, it's going in the wrong direction. But you think it's all happening over there, that it doesn't affect you.

You couldn't be more wrong.

WAKE UP!
_______________________________________
_______________________________________

From: Michael Fisher
Subject: Re: Gaza

"But that's the society we live in. Where money, your job, triumphs. Tell me how that works for you when you're rounded-up and put in a ghetto."

Exactly. You should've added "and dragged off and murdered". I'm African-American and German. My mother was German. I was born in Germany and grew up among plenty of "Ex-Nazis" and their children.  I grew up hearing what they said. To this day when I'm in Germany (I was there in the beginning of the year) I keep hearing "Well, you're half black, but at least you're not a Jew". I'll hear that from Germans who will usually present themselves as completely pro-jewish. So, don't get it twisted. Anti-semitism is still around, rising and virulent. And it's deadly. Anti-Black racism is about "keeping Blacks in their place". Anti-Jewish racism (Anti-semitism) is straight up about genocide.

Michael
_______________________________________

From: Jason Hess
Subject: Re: Gaza

A few years ago, My daughter was bullied in high school for being Jewish by pro Palestinian students. You know what the administration did? They said they were trying to have honest conversations about the issues. This is response to my daughter getting pictures of Hitler and being told that all Jews are racist animals. So you know what I did? I sued them in federal court at tremendous personal and emotional expense. I took a stand. I am no hero but almost everyone told me to let it go. But I could not do it Bob. We settled and received an apology. I hope I had an impact but I doubt it. They all hate us. But we must keep fighting. 

Jason
_______________________________________

Subject: Re: Gaza

Bob,
I read your news letter daily. Sometimes it's too long. But today u got it right. I have lived as a Jew with anti semitism my entire life. From having pennies thrown at me in middle school to being ridiculed because I am a female JEWISH lawyer. I remain a proud Jew, maybe not religious, but I know I am a Jew. Each day at my previous job, now retired, I tried to have a Holocaust moment and explain to my associates that every day I say NEVER AGAIN. You got it right. We killed innocent people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With war comes consequences. Hamas started it. Let Israel and the US if necessary finish it. Those hostages are goners their lives are done even if saved. They will forever suffer. The time is now. So shut up and stop crying for innocent people. Let's get this job done the way we should have when people walked my relatives to ovens. It's time.

Thanks for reading

Gail LEVINE
A proud Jew
_______________________________________

From: Ronli Tzour
Subject: Re: Gaza

Thank you for speaking out, Bob. 
It's nauseating to see fellow jews say nothing.
It's nauseating to see non-jews say nothing.

It's nauseating to see people I called friends, people I still have to work with, people that were in my home liking and sharing posts that are riddled with misinformation.

And it's nauseating when I reach out to explain why what they're engaging with is straight propaganda or incorrect and they simply, don't respond. 

Our babies are beheaded. Our women raped then butchered. Our families erased. Our college kids mourn our slaughtered, behind them is a group of pro-Palestinian students screaming at them how it's justice. Our houses are being marked with 'Jew' or Magen Davids to indicate jews live there. Our businesses are being trashed either physically or accounts are being unfollowed or spammed with hate. Our flags are being burned in the name of another statehood and there are chants of our genocide and yet in Israeli marches - we sing about how we just want peace for Israel and dance around together. There is video evidence of all of this. 

People don't want to see what's happening. They want to blindly hate Israel and jewish people. They want to believe we're evil, no matter what we do. 

We are seeing the 1930s play out in front of our eyes. People watching our Instagram stories but won't say anything to us or on their own socials is the equivalent of their not-so-distant ancestors just watching jews thru their windows being rounded up..

Thank god we have our own defense force to help us in 2023. Never again is now. And truly (and I mean this from the bottom of my soul and from my long line of actual resistance fighter ancestors), f*ck anyone that believes any differently. Too harsh? Too bad. 

In multiple jewish group chats I am, we are discussing: Removing our mezzuzahs from our doors. (We dont want to.) 

Is it safe to wear our Magen David necklaces? (No, but we've dusted them off and are now constantly wearing them.)

Do people need security to walk them to synagogue? (Yes, in LA there is a volunteer group that walks families to synagogue whenever they need - let alone the amped up security at synagogues to begin with.)

Amongst many, many other things but these barely just scratch the surface.

May peace be with us soon, may all of our families stay safe, may the 150+ hostages make it back to us alive and unharmed, may we never know this kind of terror again, and may Hamas be eliminated forever. 

Our hearts are so broken and also so angry. I will never understand this level of hate that has been unleashed. 

Thanks again for speaking out, Bob. We need more people to use their voices, too. 

Am yisrael chai -
Ronli Tzour
_______________________________________

From: Gary Lucas
Subject: Re: Gaza

Thank you for this Bob. We've all been there—even in a supposedly Jewish-dominated music biz.

Years ago when I was a copywriter at CBS Records, I really wanted to get into A&R, but found it to be a closed shop (especially for a guy who had played with Captain Beefheart).

After much badgering, the Jewish head of A&R at Columbia told me: 
"Bring me a hit first, and then we can talk about hiring you."

So in 1986, I'm in the UK with my English-Jewish wife visiting her family, and while there ventured forth into UK record company-land in search of a hit for Columbia.

I lined up a meeting with the head of A&R at London Records, who was a very affable fellow.

I told him Columbia had just done a licensing deal with Geoff Travis's  Rough Trade Records—and did he have any potential hits for us to license?

He proceeded to play me the soon to be released new single by The Communards, a cover of Thelma Houston's smash "Don't Leave Me This Way". 

This new version had "hit" written all over it.

He told me they are about to make a deal for America, but that if Columbia wants in...

He gives me a cassette to take back and play for my guy. His parting words as I leave his office are : 

"What's the matter with Columbia—do they just want to do a deal with a bunch of Jews??" (Geoff Travis is Jewish).

I don't know if he knew that I was Jewish or not. Perhaps he just thought he was being funny--but I was seriously offended. 

Nevertheless, as I wanted an A&R gig, I swallowed my pride and said nothing--which I regret to this day.

When I got back to NYC, I duly delivered the cassette to my "rabbi", and gave him a big pitch on The Communards—and he duly threw the tape in a drawer…next!

A few months later this song is #1 on the Billboard Dance Charts. I felt more than vindicated re my A&R instincts, but whatever.

A few years later, partially out of frustration with the record biz, I left my day-job of 13 years to become a full-time artist. 

And I did a collaboration in London with Alabama 3—huge Beefheart fans who had recently been schmeckled vis a vis their song "Woke Up This Morning"--part of the very warp and woof of "The Sopranos"—
which their manager licensed away forever for a pittance in a one-time buy-out with HBO. 

While doing this session for their new song about the Great Train Robbery, "Have You Seen Bruce Richards Reynolds"
(you can hear it here, I'm on National steel bottleneck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QbmRgKuWa8 ),
they played me another new track entitled "Hello I'm Johnny Cash", whose lyrics consisted of lines from various Johnny Cash songs.
In settling up on the phone with their manager for the session the next morning, I mentioned how much I enjoyed their Johnny Cash pastiche, and he said:

"I'm sure some Jew lawyer from New York will try and sue us for that". 

Ouch!  I should have said something right there again, but as I wanted to get paid…

Anyway, you could say maybe it's just a UK thing. Maybe it was just crass Jew-baiting.

But we all know too well that anti-semitism is worldwide, it sucks, it ain't going away—and we should call it out for what it is whenever it rears its ugly head.

Gary Lucas
NYC
_______________________________________

From: Lynn Crosswaite
Subject: Re: Gaza

Yes! Right on! I'm losing my mind over the pro-Palestinian marches. We need Doron!  Send in Doron and his crew to obliterate Hamas off the face of the earth!

Lynn


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Nada

This is a magical show. With a guest star so left field and so right it'll stun you when you see him on the screen.

Well, now that I've given him such an intro it won't, but when this Argentinian series suddenly shifts locales...it's a complete surprise.

So what we've got here is the aged dandy Manuel, who earns his living as a restaurant/food critic. He's got kids, but has little interaction with them. He had a relationship with Grace, but he's too difficult to be with. It's just him and his housekeeper in his densely decorated home. He's afraid of dying, but almost has one foot in the grave.

"Nada" is slow until it isn't. There isn't a lot there until there isn't. But ultimately it is very satisfying. It's on Hulu and...

Don't put it at the top of your list, it's nothing like "The Bureau," or "Master of None"...I could name twenty series you should watch before "Nada," but if you've seen the heavyweights and are looking for something different...

It's set in Buenos Aires. And South America is foreign to the U.S. What I mean is most Americans know more about Europe than they do about the continent just south of them. And Americans always believe foreigners are living an inferior life, that no one outside their country's borders is sophisticated. But Buenos Aires is certainly sophisticated and cultured, and you get to see a bit of the city, but really this is a character study.

And a food study.

One of the highlights is when Manuel describes the three levels of consumption. I won't ruin it, but I will say that a meal can be an artistic experience. Now in truth, America has come a long way in the past twenty five years, you can get more than hot dogs and popcorn at the stadium, they're even selling daily passports to the Atlanta airport, so you can sample the food and shops, but this does not mean Americans have a sophisticated palate.

Manuel is all about splitting the hairs. And that resonated with me, because I'm the same way. I don't care if it made a lot of money, I don't care if everybody anoints it as great, I want to start from zero and make my own evaluation on an absolute scale.

I guess it's that excellence is so satisfying. Like when my car's just been serviced and it's running perfectly. As a matter of fact, my car is in the shop right now and they gave me a brand new Outback as a loaner. I'd never buy it. The center of gravity is too high and the suspension is too soft, why does everybody want an SUV? To sit higher in an inherently unstable machine? Fashion and industry profits have everybody buying an SUV/truck when they'd be better serviced with a sedan, but people can't go against trends, conventional wisdom. When the turbo in my ancient machine is turning, when all four wheels are pulling, when I'm accelerating or going around a corner, it's a thrill, it's a high.

Like the right pair of skis. As someone said, there's no such thing as a bad pair of skis these days. But the right ones? It's such a sweet experience.

And the same thing with food. When they nail it...

It's not about quantity. And it's not about complication. That's one of the points in this movie, a simple country soup can be exquisite. When it is made with love and experience and...

This is what life is really about. These tiny moments of elation. When Manuel eats something spectacular he's elated, if it's just a bit off, he's disappointed, no matter how good it is. He says he's only got so many meals left in his life, he doesn't want to waste one.

I understand that. Actually, right now I'm paralyzed. Because I don't want to waste time with the time I have left. I don't want to be blind and miss it. I want to eat up life. But there are so many things, so many people, who are unsatisfying, or not satisfying enough and...

I hear people rave about this act or that. But I've seen that act, the first time around, the comeback and then on the endless tour and really, they were great in the beginning and now they're running on fumes and nostalgia is overrated. I don't want to be calcified, talking about what once was. But everything important to me is denigrated by my cohorts. Technology? It's the enemy, right? Man, all the people I know who are afraid of AI who don't really understand it.

That's another thing, the misinformation. Got to blame technology, communication methods, for that. My inbox overflows with people citing incorrect facts. They could just google the truth, but then they'd be disillusioned, because they'd realize what they've been spewing is wrong, and their self-identity can't handle that.

So one ends up feeling alone, on their own adventure. At least I do. I find my connection in streaming TV. I'd like to find my connection in music more, but the purveyors are brands, not artists. They're fearful of complaints, they don't want to alienate anybody. They're more like Procter & Gamble than John Lennon.

And Manuel can't even get along with his friends.

Assuming you've got friends, who are alive and kicking. You learn to live and forget, but not Manuel, he's irascible and it's funny except he's the person paying the price.

You know people like this, who are convinced they're right, always. And when you inform them of possibilities, new items or methods of behavior or anything new they don't want to hear it, they're comfortable where they are. When did everybody become afraid of the future?

And on one hand Manuel knows what a pain in the ass he is, it's one reason he stays isolated. But his heart can be warmed.

And he does have status. Everybody knows who he is, he eats for free, but caught up in his quest for the mountaintop he doesn't realize he's pissing people off.

But the show is slow at the beginning. Not so slow it's akin to watching paint dry. But it's not intense, vivid, not that much happens. You just see Manuel living his life. But as the episodes unfold...

"Nada" is not a big commitment. It's five half hour episodes. But you won't watch it and forget it. You'll continue to think about it and talk to people about it, just like I am doing here.

I can't say I know of another series like "Nada." Maybe a couple of movies, but they're a different paradigm from series. And isn't that what we're looking for, the new and different? Wasn't that the story of Barbenheimer, killing the sequels?

But many are happy with what was, what they know. But the real stimulation is that which is riding the edge, off in the distance, that's what gets your brain going, cogitating, and feeling.

I don't want to overhype "Nada," it's just that it's a special show. I can't see them making it in the U.S. We need more. Beautiful people acting irrationally...wait, that's not only TV, that's real life! Today it's Britney Spears getting an abortion, yesterday it was Kanye and his new wife in Italy. These people live on publicity, their whole lives are based on being in the public eye. And not only do so many follow them, they want to be them. Sounds like an empty life to me. Kinda like Taylor Swift. She's setting all these attendance and gross records. Kudos, that's fine with me. But who would want to do the work? The same show, week after week, for years on end? I'd rather do something better with my time. It's one thing if you're trying to make it. Swift ends up in the public eye, she's certainly famous, she's America's darling, but what exactly is it like being her? I mean on the inside?

That's what's interesting, what makes people tick, their motivation... This used to be part of the musician ethos. People were 3-D. More of a scan, actually. It wasn't about the image, but the interior. Kind of like David Crosby... He went on the road spewing anti-Trump vitriol and said he didn't care if he lost fans over it, he didn't want those people at his shows. I don't care if you agree, and David was a difficult guy, but that's someone with an identity, a backbone, and he wasn't compromising for anyone. He wasn't dancing, he wasn't doing commercials, he wasn't toning down his speech or behavior. That's the life of an artist, more than chart positions and awards.

I guess you've learned more about me than "Nada" in this screed. But maybe that's the point, "Nada" is getting me to open up, to deliver my feelings and wants. You might have the same experience.

Trailer (only watch if you need convincing, because it reveals too much): https://tinyurl.com/4xp8srux


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Joe Walsh Playlist

Spotify playlist: https://tinyurl.com/mrxdwzrz

"Take a Look Around" - James Gang

"Bluebird" - James Gang

"Fred" - James Gang

"Stop" - James Gang

"Stop" - Howard Tate

"Funk #49" - James Gang

"The Bomber: Closet Queen"/'Boléro'/'Cast Your Fate to the Wind'" - James Gang

"Ashes the Rain And I" - James Gang

"Walk Away" - James Gang

"Turn to Stone" - Barnstorm

"Rocky Mountain Way" - Joe Walsh

"Meadows" - Joe Walsh

"Welcome to the Club" - Joe Walsh

"Pavanne" - Joe Walsh

"Time Out" - Joe Walsh

"All Night Laundry Mat Blues" - Joe Walsh

"County Fair" - Joe Walsh

"Song For Emma"

"Meadows" Joe Walsh

"Life in the Fast Lane": Eagles

"At the Station" - Joe Walsh

"Life's Been Good" - Joe Walsh

"In the City" - Joe Walsh

"A Life of Illusion" - Joe Walsh

"Rivers (Of the Hidden Funk)" - Joe Walsh

"Space Age Whiz Kids" - Joe Walsh

"I Broke My Leg" - Joe Walsh

"Bubbles" - Joe Walsh

"Slow Dancing" - Joe Walsh

"The Confessor" - Joe Walsh

"Rosewood Bitters" - Joe Walsh

"Dear John" - Joe Walsh

"Don't Mean Nothing" - Richard Marx

"In My Car" - Joe Walsh

"Ordinary Average Guy" - Joe Walsh

"Analog Man" - Joe Walsh

"Baby Come Home" - J.D. Souther

"Ridin' the Storm Out" - REO Speedwagon

"Little Criminals" - Randy Newman

"Thunder Island" Jay Ferguson

"Dirty Laundry" - Don Henley

"Split Decision" - Steve Winwood

"Freedom Overspill" - Steve Winwood

"Impulsive" - Wilson Phillips

"Wild Ride" - Kenny Chesney

"The Mountain" - Bob Seger


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Gaza

The Israelis can't win.

I'm sick and tired of the bothsidesism employed by every celebrity with a pulpit. I'm looking at you John Oliver, never mind the silent musicians fearful of alienating just one fan. Of course innocent people in Palestine will die. And I can't find a single person who wants them to. I certainly don't. But that didn't stop the U.S. when it invaded Iraq.

Relative to population, tens more people died in Israel than in 9/11. Did we hear people rising up in the wake of that tragedy telling us to learn our lesson, that we were the oppressors, and we should just ponder the destruction and take no action? No, we had a government that decided to enter Iraq under false premises, never mind what happened in Afghanistan, and nearly the entire country was behind the U.S. actions.

But when it comes to Israel, with a history of terrorist attacks upon its soil and against its people? They should just eat it, they should stand down. Because innocent civilians will be killed in Gaza. What kind of bizarre world do we live in where that plays?

Let me see... Someone keeps breaching your property line, do you just take it?

But everybody hates the Jews. Oh, don't argue with me. Coded antisemitism is rampant, and the only people who care are the Jews themselves, who've been subject to it. I certainly have, throughout my life. Right now there is antisemitic b.s. in my inbox. All about the eradication of kikes. But I live in a civil society so I should just endure it, because after all, there are good people on both sides.

One of the best e-mails I got about the Roger Waters controversy asked how come it took the people in those documentaries so long to stand up. I was taught from a young age that you immediately respond to antisemitism, and I have, and believe me, it's been uncomfortable. And I've lost opportunities as a result. But some things are more important than money, like your identity and dignity. If you're a Jew and you're not standing up to antisemitism, you're complicit. If you hear anybody make a joke, make a comment, you need to say something, immediately.

But that's the society we live in. Where money, your job, triumphs. Tell me how that works for you when you're rounded-up and put in a ghetto. Don't tell me it can't happen, history has taught us that it has happened on a regular basis. And just because you lived through the enlightened sixties and seventies doesn't mean society keeps progressing. Just look at the political landscape. You could get an abortion in the seventies, easily. Good luck today. Talk about religious persecution.

So, all you celebrities. STFU. Or speak English. Otherwise you're just like Trump and Charlottesville. Thank god there was a lawsuit there, which the Jews won, because if you don't fight back, not only antisemitism creeps in, but authoritarianism too. We enabled Trump again and again. And it's our fault.

So what we've got here is a terrorist organization, Hamas. Does every Palestinian in Gaza support Hamas? OF COURSE NOT! But did we poll every Iraqi to find out whether they supported Saddam before we went into that country? It's been driving me nuts, all this talk about Hamas not being representative of the Palestinian people... Both Trump and Bush became President after losing the popular vote, but did anybody doubt they represented America, led the country? OF COURSE NOT!

Let's not even bother to recite history. Bottom line is Hamas controls Gaza, and it uses civilians as human shields. And historically Hamas is willing to sacrifice lives in a way that the Israelis are not. But it's the Israelis who are the targets of hate, who are told they're warmongers and need to step back, take a breath and then lay down their arms. Believe me, if it weren't for the hostages, Israel would be a lot more aggressive. Israel has a long history of trading for hostages, usually at a rate insanely higher than one to one. But let's not remember that, let's not remember Munich or '73 or... Yes, today's crisis exists in a vacuum. The Middle East was a land of peace and harmony and then one group made an incursion into Israel, it was an anomaly. WRONG! They've been throwing bombs at Israel since its inception. But let's throw the baby out with the bathwater. The Israelis need to stand down because some Palestinian civilians might be killed.

No one, including the Israeli government, is saying they want to kill Palestinian citizens willy-nilly. Come on, what country in war warns the civilians of their opponent, telling them to get out of harm's way?

Don't tell me these people have nowhere to go. Why don't you start attacking Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, never mind the rest of the Arab countries who are not rising up in support of this humanitarian crisis.

Yes, I believe this is antisemitism. Because if any other country, and I mean any other country, suffered a proportional loss and invaded its attacker there'd be crickets.

You know, those loud-mouthed Jews. Running the world. They need to be taken down a peg. George Soros. He's putting his money where his mouth is. Having survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary, Soros wants it never to happen again. Where is Bezos? Playing on his yacht with the woman he stole from his supposed best friend. Ditto Elon... Who is doing the opposite, stirring hate on X. And Bill Gates, who pledges to give away his money. He caused Covid, don't you know?

Why is it those trying to do something good are excoriated? This causes too many to sit on the sidelines, where nothing gets done. And if you can't stand the slings and arrows, you're a wimp. Take a stand. Certainly the pro-Palestinian cohort is.

But even Jews, mostly youngsters, are taking the Palestinian side. Furthermore, not being a Jew, many don't know that the goal has been assimilation, keeping your head down, so it won't be chopped off. For all the hatred of Jews, the goal of many is just to try to be invisible, to cause no trouble, they're pessimists, in an optimistic nation.

And the truth is Jews are going to fade away anyway, at least in America, because of intermarriage. I could quote the statistics, but numbers no longer mean anything, everybody runs on emotions.

Give credit to Rowan and the rest of the donors clamping down on Penn and Harvard. This is the rule of life, you take my money and you're beholden to me. So now there's a call by Rowan, et al, not to give another dollar until these administrations wake up. That seems to be the only way you can fight antisemitism, with money. And you complain about Soros?

So if you're sitting at home whining about the imminent death of Palestinian civilians, you're part of the problem. You're punting. You're employing bothsidesism. You're taking the easy road out. You say you're on the side of humanity. So let me get this straight, whenever a nation is attacked the victim should just stand down forevermore?

As for doing its best not to kill innocent civilians... Israel has already said it will do this. But you know there will be collateral damage, and innocent people will be killed. Hell, Hamas told Gazans not to move, even though Israelis told them to. That'd be like your teacher telling you to stay in the classroom after the fire alarm went off and you could see the flames. Explain that one to me, makes no sense. But once a single Palestinian is shot or blown up, loses his life, expect an international uproar, pictures on the front page of the paper. Yes, the news media is afraid of taking a stand too. And don't tell me the media doesn't take a stand, just tune in Fox or MSNBC. But they're fearful of alienating a viewer, losing an advertiser, they've got no soul. If you think AI is the number one enemy of the people you've got it wrong, it's the people themselves!

The one good thing is Israel doesn't give a f*ck. In that it's not going to be cowered to act against its own interests.

Yes, all you people out there afraid of taking a stand, or the wuss musicians and celebrities lamenting the death of innocent people on both sides... Anybody who works in the public eye knows that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. If I listened to my audience I would never write again. People find fault with everything I write. And I could excise all the edgy elements, but you know what happens then? Nothing. You're overlooked, you don't matter.

It's all about having a backbone. Standing up for what is right.
And standing up for human life... Whoo-hoo! Aren't you admirable, aren't you taking a risk, saying you don't want people to die. I never thought of that, how insightful, how innovative. No!

And you Jews doing your best to assimilate, trying not to live up to a perception of being noisy and dirty and...you make me puke. Everybody knows you're Jewish, doesn't matter what they say, when they start rounding up Jews you're going to be sent away, no matter how much you've integrated with the goyim. There's a line, and you're on the wrong side of it. Know that, acknowledge it, and stand up for your Jewishness. You're entitled. And the more of us regular people who stand up, the more we'll counteract the crazy Orthodox who have become the image of the Jews.

So everybody needs to start looking at themselves, asking themselves hard questions. What exactly do you want the Israelis to do here? Even better, what would you do here? Nothing? Human history tells us this is never the case. And everybody knows if you don't stand up to bullies they come at you more frequently, and harder.

Yes, it's a thorny situation. But all the Israelis want to do is live in peace. And don't tell me that the Palestinians want the same thing, otherwise they'd stop shooting rockets, being terrorists. Yes, show me all the data where the Jews are the aggressors.

Do I think Israel is perfect?

Far from it.

Am I an Israeli or an American first?

I'm an American, hands down.

But at the core I'm a Jew. Not because I think I am, but because you think I am. And if there's no Jewish homeland, where are we supposed to go? There are still clubs we cannot join, and then there are those with a token Jew. If you think antisemitism is absent from America, you probably think racism has been eradicated too.

Get off your high horse. Get down into the pit. Get educated, take a stand. Don't just condemn the terrorism, that's no risk at all. Go deeper.

Like I said, what do you want the Israelis to do?

Think about it.


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