"You in the moonlight
With your sleepy eyes
Could you ever love a man like me"
This was the highlight of the day. Stevie Nicks started talking about needing someone to sing "Leather and Lace" with her, and then said her vocal coach Steve Real was in attendance.
"I need you to love me
I need you today
Give me to your leather
Take from me my lace"
And now it's Don Henley's turn. You remember the original from the second side of "Bella Donna," released just four days before MTV launched, right?
Well, many in attendance came of age long after MTV stopped showing videos.
And this is a NorCal crowd, which is different from a SoCal crowd. In SoCal image is everything, how you look is most important. So everybody does their best to diet down and look good. But in the rest of the world it is not this way. In the rest of the world the people are normal, and what's on the inside counts more than the exterior. Like in Northern California.
And the east coast. But California is a different mentality. California is about freedom. You're three hours behind New York, everybody's up and at 'em before you've even had your coffee. So you let go and focus on your surroundings as opposed to the hustle and bustle of America.
Sure, Silicon Valley is in California. But that was founded by nerds. The nerd uniform is t-shirts and jeans. It's about undermining society as opposed to accepting it. Which California has done from time immemorial. Whether it be the movies or the San Francisco Sound of the late sixties, with the Airplane, the Dead and so many more. You can feel it in the air.
Actually, I saw an Instagram Reel wherein the San Diego resident went to South Carolina for work and was asked by a college graduate about the $25 hamburgers, and how she coped with all the trans kids on her son's baseball team. Live outside the Golden State and you're led to believe it's a hellhole. But it's not, and that's our little secret.
So Bottlerock is held in Napa, the epicenter of California wine country. But I don't drink. Well, I used to drink, but that's a long story. Which is all to say I'm not Napa-fluent. But I got on the JSX flight in Burbank and landed in Concord and it was like getting a vibe transplant. Southern California is mountains and desert, it's brown. But up here there are rolling hills of gold, which is I guess where they got the state's moniker from. It's a different feel. Hell, we've got everything in California, from the mountains to the lakes and... Sure, we might have a lot of regulation, but wouldn't you rather be safe than rich? And traffic sucks, but it sucks in your town now too. While everybody was banking their profits infrastructure has lain dormant. And you can get an abortion here too. Hate all you want, but not only is there no place I'd rather live, if MAGA wins, I'm safe, how about you?
Whew! That was a rant. But it's all to say Bottlerock ain't Coachella, a fest for young Angelenos to show their wares, and it's not the Governors Ball, where you might get rained out. However, it ain't hot here. Memorial Day weekend usually is not. In SoCal the hottest months are August and September. It dips down into the fifties before the last act leaves the stage. But they've got lockers for the extra clothing you bring for warmth. You see Bottlerock is uber-CIVILIZED!
Your conception of a festival? Wherein people push and shove and you're worn out at the end of the day, that ain't Bottlerock. You won't leave hating humanity. There's room to move around. Although I did get into a scrum trying to go from the Culinary Stage to VIP. I thought this was a harbinger of things to come. Because it was now late in the afternoon, maybe it just took this long for people to arrive. But no, it turned out that everybody needed to get a peek at Cameron Diaz. Musicians may have more gravitas, but the hoi polloi rarely get to see a movie star up close and personal. Well, kinda close anyway, you could see her on the big screen.
And the Culinary Stage is one of the best features of Bottlerock. I watched chef Aaron May cook Beef Wellington with Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket while the USC Marching Band came out and played their signature song, the Fleetwood Mac hit, "Tusk."
And although Bottlerock is all about VIP, unlike with many festivals if you're not, if you don't want to pony up extra, you don't feel left out. But you'd better bring cash...er, load up your wristband...because the food offerings are delectable. Nearly as exciting as the music.
As for the music, I got there early, I wanted to see 17 year old guitar phenom Grace Powers. There weren't many in attendance before one, but if you were there you could have closed your eyes and thought it was the late sixties. Yes, the blues rock/extended solos of yore. Making me think how it's no longer about recordings, it's how good you are on the road, that's where you prove your mettle. You tour and tour and hopefully build a fan base. Whereas the hit parade is a different game, you might fly up the Spotify chart but when it comes to selling tickets...few may want to buy.
I then walked over to see this guy Boywithuke on the Verizon stage, the second biggest. The music coming through the speakers was really good, but there was only one guy on stage. And he was wearing a mask a la Deadmau5 and Marshmello. And that's when I decided to Shazam the tunes. And they came right up. And this doesn't happen if the music is live.
And there were deejays and rappers, which is all to say every nook and cranny of music was covered. Then again, this was the undercard. You need stars to draw the customers in.
One was Bebe Rexha. Who came out with two backup dancers and delivered until...I realized a lot of her show was on hard drive. Didn't seem to bug the audience, but can't say I was satisfied, I moved on to see Miike Snow.
Or maybe it was All Time Low.
But my experience for both was the same. In that over time I got into it. I mean All Time Low is an act from the Warped Tour, two decades ago. And the lead singer kept referencing this. And my stomach turned when the other axeman started dropping f-bombs and... I had to laugh. You're pushing forty and still acting like an adolescent. But despite the dated vocals, even the new tunes resonated. Which I didn't expect.
Miike Snow I expected to like more from the beginning. But it took them a while to find their groove. Swedish electronic music blended with regular rock...it's a worldwide business these days.
Not everybody was memorable. Pete Yorn... Can I say that he was never quite good enough, not distinctive enough in songwriting or vocals to be beloved by many? I know people hate when I diss their favorites, but most of the time at festivals only a few acts are your favorites, otherwise you're grazing, and if someone doesn't resonate soon, you move on.
Speaking of which I'd have to say the musical highlight was St. Vincent, who I'd only seen once before, at the Hollywood Bowl as part of a multi-act show. I can't say I'm familiar with her material, but I stayed and listened to every note. I got it. As for the performance...she was slinking and posing and it worked, but all this is to say that's usually more of an indoor performance. St. Vincent has a seventies sensibility. And I'll admit I'm sick of reading about her, but I was more than pleasantly surprised by her performance.
You see hype doesn't matter at a festival. When you play indoors it's to fans only. Outdoors...you have to prove it. Most people are not there to see you, can you win them over? If so, you're on your way. But it's a long, hard road. There's magic, you can be adored by people, but you can also starve. And when you're not on stage you're traveling with the same people and not getting enough sleep and it becomes a grind very quickly.
Yes, there are two music businesses. Live and recordings. It used to be that everything trickled down from recordings, that's no longer true. Used to be we all knew the same hits, that too is untrue. But I did see women mouthing the lyrics to St. Vincent's songs.
So what you do at Bottlerock is circulate. And there are only 40,000 people, which sounds like a lot, but it isn't. And if you've got some kind of VIP credential, you circle back there as home base, for the elbow room, for the better bathrooms. And if you're lucky enough to have platinum...
I have a hard time with people waiting on me. I have a hard time with servants. And in the platinum lounge there are servers passing delicacies and I can see the economic disparity between them and the consumers.
Then again, we live in a capitalistic democracy. You get to choose how to spend your money. Not everybody who is living it up is truly rich, this may be their one extravagance, and your server could be a college student about to set the world on fire. But still... It's hard for me to feel special.
But in platinum there's endless delicacies. From shrimp to shu mai, which I found to be the highlight of the day.
And there's a cornucopia of snacks to take on your travels. Is it the trail mix that just caused one of my teeth to fall out? I don't know if I can afford getting old. I invested thousands less than a year ago saving that tooth, now I'm going to have to add that to the bill for an implant? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't upset, but I'm trying to not get depressed, it's just not worth it, this is the nature of life, good things happen and then bad. And then the reverse. But it's not always so easy to hold your head up, as Argent sang.
So the two big headliners last night were Megan Thee Stallion and Ms. Nicks. I really would have liked to have seen Megan, but given the choice I had to go for royalty.
That's right, they're minting almost no new royalty. Or should I say it used to be different. Or should I say everybody in attendance could sing "Rhiannon," the young as well as the old.
And I'm watching Stevie perform and I can't stop thinking about the days gone by. The sixties were a revolution, the seventies were a victory lap. But music ruled the world. Music does not rule the world these days. Furthermore, we don't have universal hits, despite what the industry and media want you to believe. If you were alive in '75, you knew "Rhiannon." And ultimately every lick of "Rumours" thereafter. We don't have that equivalent today. Period.
And Lindsey Buckingham may have squeezed himself out, but Fleetwood Mac is no more anyway. Because Stevie doesn't need the rest to sell tickets and Christine is gone. Actually, that was a moment of gravitas. The pictures of Christine on the big screen as Stevie sang. I felt the loss. The records remain, but the person is gone. It's done, finito. But when you saw the pictures from the seventies, of Christine in the plane, laughing, you remembered when rock truly was royalty, and it was all about living outside the system and having fun, making money all the while. The corporation was the enemy, you existed in your own plane (literally and figuratively). And there were no billionaires, you didn't need more money, you were as rich as anybody in America, whereas today's players are all chasing that corporate cash.
And it took a bit for Stevie's act to come together. Maybe it was the fact that she started while it was still light, which is anathema to rock and roll.
She shocked me by starting with "Rock and Roll," the Zeppelin track on the flip side of the single of "Black Dog" in the jukebox at Tony's Pizza in Middlebury, Vermont. Not only did Led Zeppelin never get any respect, they were kept at arm's length by the rest of the business. Nicks singing "Rock and Roll" showed how deeply Zeppelin truly penetrated, it's hard to believe three members of the group are still alive.
And speaking of dead, Nicks paid tribute to Tom Petty and you felt the loss. Now that he's gone Petty's shadow looms large, he made it seem simple, but no one else could do straight ahead rock in his era as well as he did. And unlike so many of the legends, Petty never sold out, he was a true believer.
But it was "Leather and Lace" that made me swoon.
You know, the moment when Don Henley comes in, and then the two duet. The initial hit was "Edge of Seventeen," which I never loved, yet it was phenomenal last night. But nothing could be as good as "Leather and Lace."
How do we set the scene. This was at the dawn of the eighties. The boomers had not yet sold out. They still had their old values, where what was inside mattered most, you wore your jeans each and every day. People were falling in love, they were pairing up.
"But I carry this feeling
When you walked into my house
That you wouldn't be walking out the door
Still I carry this feeling
When you walked into my house
That you won't be walking out the door"
Sure, Stevie Nicks is a great songwriter, but her voice is distinctive.
And so is Don Henley's. You know it immediately.
But Henley wasn't in attendance last night. This guy Steve Real was. Standing next to Stevie, waiting his turn. And when he stepped up to the mic with is pure voice, not expected from this beefy guy, the audience audibly swooned, as did I. I just got goosebumps writing that.
So it's the same as it ever was. I'm standing there, wondering if the good times are gone, wondering if everything is just a dash for cash, and then there's this pure musical moment that transcends the rest of life, that is life itself.
"Lovers forever, face to face
My city, your mountains
Stay with me, stay
I need you to love me
I need you today
Give to me your leather
Take from me my lace"
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Saturday, 25 May 2024
Friday, 24 May 2024
Disco Songs I Like-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in Saturday May 25th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Me On CNBC
https://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/e5ac0671-1a91-46e5-a181-1372c95887c9?token=9aa51495-6aa6-463e-a087-bf59ccfb92dd
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Thursday, 23 May 2024
Me On CNBC
https://t.ly/6wa3b
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Stevie Salas-This Week's Podcast
Native American Stevie Salas played guitar for Rod Stewart, was the guitarist and music director for Mick Jagger, and has worked with a cornucopia of artists, from Terence Trent D'Arby to T.I. and Justin Timberlake. Stevie is a personable raconteur, you'll love him.
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/steve-salas/id1316200737?i=1000656496399
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/43WfNGrUiDL6sEI3S4bgFf?si=3805ff6972d145b5
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Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/steve-salas/id1316200737?i=1000656496399
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Live Nation/DOJ
It's not going to make ticket prices any lower.
Assuming that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are broken up, or ticketing is not exclusive at venues. Ticket prices have nothing to do with Ticketmaster. If anything, a remedy will help other promoters, who will be able to participate in ticket resale by using another platform. But if you think any change is going to trickle down to the consumer, you're delusional.
This isn't as bad as the Amazon Kindle action, which resulted in the price of e-books GOING UP! Yes, under the aegis of aiding the consumer, the government f*cked the consumer. Instead of e-books being under ten bucks, they jumped five to ten dollars when the model was changed to an agency format pioneered by Apple's iBooks. And all these years later...iBooks has a sliver of the overall e-book market. Amazon's ecosystem was just too good. And the Seattle company had a first mover advantage. You could download e-books to your Kindle. Apple didn't have a competing device. Although you could download e-books to your iPad, where you'd have a nearly indistinguishable experience between Apple and Amazon. Actually, I'd say the iBooks app on the iPad is just a tiny bit better than the Kindle app on the iPad, but the improvement is nearly irrelevant. It's akin to the battle between VHS and Beta. Although in this case, Beta, i.e. Apple, came later. Bottom line, people now had an option to buy e-books for the same price at Apple and almost no one did. I don't see Apple even promoting iBooks anymore.
The silver lining was reserved for publishers, who wanted the e-book dead. They didn't like the fact that Amazon sold books for below wholesale, to build a business, to grow the overall book business, despite paying wholesale price to the publisher. E-books in many cases ended up costing as much as the physical book, and no one could fathom that, just like they can't fathom all the fees that come with purchasing a concert ticket.
All these fees exist in order to have a pot of money that acts can't commission, so the promoter and the ticket company can profit. And the dirty little secret is the acts even share in the fees while in many cases railing against them.
It's perfect for the acts. They give the impression that they're on the fans' side, against evil Ticketmaster, when in truth they love passing the blame for high ticket prices, which they want and authorize, on to someone else.
So you hate the fees. Without the fees there are no shows. Period.
So let's just bake the fees into the overall ticket price. Which Live Nation has begun to do. Let's be clear, it's the acts who have resisted all-in ticket pricing, because once again, they like to make it look like it's not their fault that the ticket price is high.
So let's say we get rid of exclusive building contracts. Then the building won't have that guaranteed money that goes straight to its bottom line. Meaning they're going to have to get it somewhere else, after all it's a business. Meaning the money's just going to be shifted around, but it will all be behind the scenes, and you'll end up paying the same. Not a penny less.
And you hate the so-called Taylor Swift ticketing "debacle." I hate to tell you this, but Ticketmaster is the best at what it does. Only Ticketmaster has the computing power to sell this many tickets. As for the glitches... Blame them on the bots, the secondary market.
And the secondary market has done a genius job of marketing. Convincing consumers and lawmakers that fans own the ticket and can do whatever they want with it. Sounds good in principle, but the end result is tickets in the secondary market are oftentimes astronomically priced. And the act doesn't share in a penny of this uplift. So, acts are charging more and more, what the tickets are really worth, so they capture that money. And the consumer complains. The same consumer that likes the secondary market because they know if they're willing to pay the price, they can buy a ticket at the last minute to any show.
If you want to address high ticket prices, you've got to address the secondary market. That would be a better effort for the DOJ. But the unsophisticated public incorrectly believes Ticketmaster is responsible for high ticket prices and therefore must be hobbled.
Once again, if another promoter wants to use a different ticketing company, even their own... That gives them many advantages. Primarily because of the uplift on resale. Yes, go to the Ticketmaster site and you'll see that many tickets for shows are being resold by the primary buyer. And Ticketmaster takes a percentage of that, even if it's not a Live Nation show. And the act decides whether to turn on Ticketmaster resale or not. But there's a big pool of money there, and third party promoters are angry they don't have access to it.
As for Live Nation routing tours to buildings where they have ticketing contracts... This is hazy. They've already been slapped by the government once for leveraging this relationship. But it makes good business sense. If you have the option between two buildings, why not choose your own, where you can make more money? Live Nation says it is not doing this, but how can one prove this? You can look at each and every date on each and every tour and it still might not be clear.
But if Live Nation puts a show in a building that has an exclusive contract with Ticketmaster, the company ends up making more money.
Let's be very clear, concert promotion is a license to lose money. Guarantees are large and margins are slim, which is why there's not a huge indie sphere. A bad show or two can put you out of business, whereas Live Nation can suffer a loss. Also, Live Nation pays. It's not the wild west, if you make a deal with Live Nation you'll get your money, unlike in the old days of cash and guns and...
So, if Live Nation doesn't have the advantage of Ticketmaster, that will make it a bit easier for third parties to bid for talent. But Live Nation can oftentimes still pay more, because of sponsorship and other revenue streams. Some acts might shift their tours to a third party, but that's assuming the third party will pay them as much and is as good. And if you're a developing act, Live Nation might even make you a deal for the future. You can use that money to your advantage while you grow your business. The ticket price is not the only revenue stream. There's merch, food, parking... Almost no one goes to a show and pays for a ticket and nothing more.
So, antitrust law is about making change to the advantage of the consumer. Nothing the DOJ can do will lower prices for consumers, NOTHING! Because you, the consumer, are willing to pay the high prices to see your favorite acts. One person might stay at home, but another will pony up, in many cases even if they're not rich. After all, IT'S THEIR FAVORITE ACT!
So there will be hosannas in the marketplace on Thursday, or whenever the DOJ files their action. Finally, someone is standing up to Ticketb*stard. But it's a pyrrhic victory. Because Ticketmaster is not responsible for high prices, not whatsoever. As a matter of fact, Ticketmaster takes a de minimis amount of the overall fees.
As for fees that are equal to the face price... I mean come on, you think you can see these major acts for twenty five or fifty bucks? It doesn't make financial sense. The act makes it look like they're doing the fan a solid and it's Ticketmaster's fault prices are high. But that's complete b.s. Once again, without the fees there is no show, they pay for the promoter, the building, the staffing...the act doesn't bring any of these with it.
So we have to see what the DOJ is asking for. And whatever it is, there's no guarantee they'll win. Live Nation could settle on the most advantageous terms possible or it could fight the action in court, which could take years!
And in truth, ticketing is a low margin business. Don't expect a plethora of new competitors to Ticketmaster, it wouldn't be cost effective, there's just not enough money in it.
So, there are true advantages to third part promoters if Ticketmaster is separated from Live Nation, or exclusive contracts with buildings are prohibited, but no advantages to the public whatsoever.
And the DOJ's track record is not perfect. They can file, but it does not mean they'll win. Rulings are not based on emotion, but law, statutes. There are burdens of proof, can the DOJ reach them?
If you want lower ticket prices address the secondary market. Allow the act and promoter to control the ticket as opposed to the fan. But the fan doesn't want this. The fan wants to be able to resell their ticket and make a profit. Someone's got to suffer in order to bring ticket prices down. And Live Nation and Ticketmaster are not the culprit.
Assuming that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are broken up, or ticketing is not exclusive at venues. Ticket prices have nothing to do with Ticketmaster. If anything, a remedy will help other promoters, who will be able to participate in ticket resale by using another platform. But if you think any change is going to trickle down to the consumer, you're delusional.
This isn't as bad as the Amazon Kindle action, which resulted in the price of e-books GOING UP! Yes, under the aegis of aiding the consumer, the government f*cked the consumer. Instead of e-books being under ten bucks, they jumped five to ten dollars when the model was changed to an agency format pioneered by Apple's iBooks. And all these years later...iBooks has a sliver of the overall e-book market. Amazon's ecosystem was just too good. And the Seattle company had a first mover advantage. You could download e-books to your Kindle. Apple didn't have a competing device. Although you could download e-books to your iPad, where you'd have a nearly indistinguishable experience between Apple and Amazon. Actually, I'd say the iBooks app on the iPad is just a tiny bit better than the Kindle app on the iPad, but the improvement is nearly irrelevant. It's akin to the battle between VHS and Beta. Although in this case, Beta, i.e. Apple, came later. Bottom line, people now had an option to buy e-books for the same price at Apple and almost no one did. I don't see Apple even promoting iBooks anymore.
The silver lining was reserved for publishers, who wanted the e-book dead. They didn't like the fact that Amazon sold books for below wholesale, to build a business, to grow the overall book business, despite paying wholesale price to the publisher. E-books in many cases ended up costing as much as the physical book, and no one could fathom that, just like they can't fathom all the fees that come with purchasing a concert ticket.
All these fees exist in order to have a pot of money that acts can't commission, so the promoter and the ticket company can profit. And the dirty little secret is the acts even share in the fees while in many cases railing against them.
It's perfect for the acts. They give the impression that they're on the fans' side, against evil Ticketmaster, when in truth they love passing the blame for high ticket prices, which they want and authorize, on to someone else.
So you hate the fees. Without the fees there are no shows. Period.
So let's just bake the fees into the overall ticket price. Which Live Nation has begun to do. Let's be clear, it's the acts who have resisted all-in ticket pricing, because once again, they like to make it look like it's not their fault that the ticket price is high.
So let's say we get rid of exclusive building contracts. Then the building won't have that guaranteed money that goes straight to its bottom line. Meaning they're going to have to get it somewhere else, after all it's a business. Meaning the money's just going to be shifted around, but it will all be behind the scenes, and you'll end up paying the same. Not a penny less.
And you hate the so-called Taylor Swift ticketing "debacle." I hate to tell you this, but Ticketmaster is the best at what it does. Only Ticketmaster has the computing power to sell this many tickets. As for the glitches... Blame them on the bots, the secondary market.
And the secondary market has done a genius job of marketing. Convincing consumers and lawmakers that fans own the ticket and can do whatever they want with it. Sounds good in principle, but the end result is tickets in the secondary market are oftentimes astronomically priced. And the act doesn't share in a penny of this uplift. So, acts are charging more and more, what the tickets are really worth, so they capture that money. And the consumer complains. The same consumer that likes the secondary market because they know if they're willing to pay the price, they can buy a ticket at the last minute to any show.
If you want to address high ticket prices, you've got to address the secondary market. That would be a better effort for the DOJ. But the unsophisticated public incorrectly believes Ticketmaster is responsible for high ticket prices and therefore must be hobbled.
Once again, if another promoter wants to use a different ticketing company, even their own... That gives them many advantages. Primarily because of the uplift on resale. Yes, go to the Ticketmaster site and you'll see that many tickets for shows are being resold by the primary buyer. And Ticketmaster takes a percentage of that, even if it's not a Live Nation show. And the act decides whether to turn on Ticketmaster resale or not. But there's a big pool of money there, and third party promoters are angry they don't have access to it.
As for Live Nation routing tours to buildings where they have ticketing contracts... This is hazy. They've already been slapped by the government once for leveraging this relationship. But it makes good business sense. If you have the option between two buildings, why not choose your own, where you can make more money? Live Nation says it is not doing this, but how can one prove this? You can look at each and every date on each and every tour and it still might not be clear.
But if Live Nation puts a show in a building that has an exclusive contract with Ticketmaster, the company ends up making more money.
Let's be very clear, concert promotion is a license to lose money. Guarantees are large and margins are slim, which is why there's not a huge indie sphere. A bad show or two can put you out of business, whereas Live Nation can suffer a loss. Also, Live Nation pays. It's not the wild west, if you make a deal with Live Nation you'll get your money, unlike in the old days of cash and guns and...
So, if Live Nation doesn't have the advantage of Ticketmaster, that will make it a bit easier for third parties to bid for talent. But Live Nation can oftentimes still pay more, because of sponsorship and other revenue streams. Some acts might shift their tours to a third party, but that's assuming the third party will pay them as much and is as good. And if you're a developing act, Live Nation might even make you a deal for the future. You can use that money to your advantage while you grow your business. The ticket price is not the only revenue stream. There's merch, food, parking... Almost no one goes to a show and pays for a ticket and nothing more.
So, antitrust law is about making change to the advantage of the consumer. Nothing the DOJ can do will lower prices for consumers, NOTHING! Because you, the consumer, are willing to pay the high prices to see your favorite acts. One person might stay at home, but another will pony up, in many cases even if they're not rich. After all, IT'S THEIR FAVORITE ACT!
So there will be hosannas in the marketplace on Thursday, or whenever the DOJ files their action. Finally, someone is standing up to Ticketb*stard. But it's a pyrrhic victory. Because Ticketmaster is not responsible for high prices, not whatsoever. As a matter of fact, Ticketmaster takes a de minimis amount of the overall fees.
As for fees that are equal to the face price... I mean come on, you think you can see these major acts for twenty five or fifty bucks? It doesn't make financial sense. The act makes it look like they're doing the fan a solid and it's Ticketmaster's fault prices are high. But that's complete b.s. Once again, without the fees there is no show, they pay for the promoter, the building, the staffing...the act doesn't bring any of these with it.
So we have to see what the DOJ is asking for. And whatever it is, there's no guarantee they'll win. Live Nation could settle on the most advantageous terms possible or it could fight the action in court, which could take years!
And in truth, ticketing is a low margin business. Don't expect a plethora of new competitors to Ticketmaster, it wouldn't be cost effective, there's just not enough money in it.
So, there are true advantages to third part promoters if Ticketmaster is separated from Live Nation, or exclusive contracts with buildings are prohibited, but no advantages to the public whatsoever.
And the DOJ's track record is not perfect. They can file, but it does not mean they'll win. Rulings are not based on emotion, but law, statutes. There are burdens of proof, can the DOJ reach them?
If you want lower ticket prices address the secondary market. Allow the act and promoter to control the ticket as opposed to the fan. But the fan doesn't want this. The fan wants to be able to resell their ticket and make a profit. Someone's got to suffer in order to bring ticket prices down. And Live Nation and Ticketmaster are not the culprit.
--
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, 22 May 2024
Let It Flow
Spotify: https://t.ly/vpULR
YouTube: https://t.ly/QKq5d
Did you know that Collective Soul has a new album? A double? Hell, there aren't even any details in Wikipedia. This is the challenge of legacy acts, they might be able to sell tickets, but no one is interested in their new music, if they play it live they risk alienating paying customers, but the dirty little secret is most of the new work is substandard, a pale imitation of what made their rep.
Used to be you were a member of a club, centered around a radio station that you were devoted to. Especially before they got bogus deejays without personalities who all sounded the same. You got your news, it was one stop listening, and you were introduced to music that got the stamp of approval of the gatekeepers.
Who get a bad name. And I hear you. It was hard to get through if you were new and different or without push. But now with all the gatekeepers gone you don't know where to start, what to listen to, you're subjected to pure hype, and we've never trusted that.
But it gets even worse, if you happen to find something you like you feel like a party of one, who are your compatriots who are invested in it? You may be playing it, but the boys of summer have left the beach, there's nobody there but you, and that's lonely.
Now I liked Collective Soul's "December" and "The World I Know," I must admit that I was exposed to them by MTV, otherwise they might not have crossed my radar. But they did, and I'm not the only one who got exposed and listened and loved, those were gigantic hits on a major label, Atlantic, you can still picture the videos in your mind's eye, at least I can.
But that was thirty years ago.
What happened in the interim?
Napster. The death of MTV. Hip-hop and pop took over the hit parade. As for rock... You've got the heavy Active Rock on a radio format that draws a de minimis audience. I mean I see the number ones in that world and they almost never cross over elsewhere. Nor would you expect them to. They're heavy, and noisy. Not mass appeal. Which is fine, but...
I pulled up Collective Soul's "Here to Eternity" on Spotify to familiarize myself with it for a conversation with Ed Roland. And I was confronted with truly anemic streaming numbers. In most cases barely more than 10,000.
So when you're researching an act, new or not, you immediately go to the tracks with the greatest number of streams, to see what the rest of the world has anointed.
The first cut of "Here to Eternity," "Mother's Love," didn't reach me. It was surprisingly heavy for an opening track. There was melody in the chorus, but I didn't hear the song and think I needed to hear it again.
Ditto the follow-up, "Bluer Than So Blue." Which also has triple digit thousand streams, 124,636 to "Mother's Love"'s 234,684. No one is getting rich on these numbers. Then again, the album has been in the marketplace for less than a week.
Listening to "Bluer Than So Blue" again right now, I'm starting to get it. We used to invest in our records and play them until we got them. Usually a track or two reached out on the first spin, but it took a while for the rest to reveal themselves.
And I must admit, I see this listening as work. But then Spotify drifts into track 3, "Let It Flow." AND I HEAR THAT RIFF!
I was positively stunned. This is the sound I love. This is rock. Not rock and roll, like in the fifties. Not prog rock like in the seventies. Not punk rock. But the kind of thing radio played for decades, that lived on MTV, that you never hear anymore. It's too straightforward. And today if it's not edgy, it's pooh-poohed. Don't work in a passé genre and expect anybody to care. Get those 808 beats, they even feature them in country today, it's the law, without the 808 and its fake handclaps you can't have a hit, who decided this?
There's no drum machine in "Let It Flow." Just slashing guitar. And a catchy chorus. Sounds easy, but it's not. Listening to "Let It Flow" is like discovering a Dead Sea Scroll, an oasis in the desert. This is the sound that nobody takes seriously today, in an era of image and brand extensions, but this is the sound I love. I got it in just a few seconds, and with the change I was immediately enraptured. And this never happens.
A song you get the first time through. That you want to hear again. That you listen to and you feel good. This is the power of music, rock music.
And I'd like to tell you listening to "Let It Flow" again right now I'm re-evaluating, believing it's not as good. But that would be untrue. It's just as satisfying, the little flourishes resonate. I'm wincing to the guitar at 2:05. And there is only 3:18, "Let It Flow" is not bloated, it's compact.
So I retrieved the album sticker from the garbage, I remembered it had featured a couple of cuts.
But neither was "Let It Flow." One was "Mother's Love," the other "Keep It On Track," which I hadn't gotten to yet.
So I skipped over to cut 11 to play "Keep It On Track," and I immediately realized why they'd picked it to emphasize. It was more complicated, but it didn't resonate with me like the more straight-ahead, simple "Let It Flow."
I know I'm setting myself up for abuse. Collective Soul is not an approved band, this sound has been excommunicated, but damn did I enjoy listening to it. It gave me the hit I look for from music, it energized me. Isn't there room for this music in today's world?
Appears not.
--
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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YouTube: https://t.ly/QKq5d
Did you know that Collective Soul has a new album? A double? Hell, there aren't even any details in Wikipedia. This is the challenge of legacy acts, they might be able to sell tickets, but no one is interested in their new music, if they play it live they risk alienating paying customers, but the dirty little secret is most of the new work is substandard, a pale imitation of what made their rep.
Used to be you were a member of a club, centered around a radio station that you were devoted to. Especially before they got bogus deejays without personalities who all sounded the same. You got your news, it was one stop listening, and you were introduced to music that got the stamp of approval of the gatekeepers.
Who get a bad name. And I hear you. It was hard to get through if you were new and different or without push. But now with all the gatekeepers gone you don't know where to start, what to listen to, you're subjected to pure hype, and we've never trusted that.
But it gets even worse, if you happen to find something you like you feel like a party of one, who are your compatriots who are invested in it? You may be playing it, but the boys of summer have left the beach, there's nobody there but you, and that's lonely.
Now I liked Collective Soul's "December" and "The World I Know," I must admit that I was exposed to them by MTV, otherwise they might not have crossed my radar. But they did, and I'm not the only one who got exposed and listened and loved, those were gigantic hits on a major label, Atlantic, you can still picture the videos in your mind's eye, at least I can.
But that was thirty years ago.
What happened in the interim?
Napster. The death of MTV. Hip-hop and pop took over the hit parade. As for rock... You've got the heavy Active Rock on a radio format that draws a de minimis audience. I mean I see the number ones in that world and they almost never cross over elsewhere. Nor would you expect them to. They're heavy, and noisy. Not mass appeal. Which is fine, but...
I pulled up Collective Soul's "Here to Eternity" on Spotify to familiarize myself with it for a conversation with Ed Roland. And I was confronted with truly anemic streaming numbers. In most cases barely more than 10,000.
So when you're researching an act, new or not, you immediately go to the tracks with the greatest number of streams, to see what the rest of the world has anointed.
The first cut of "Here to Eternity," "Mother's Love," didn't reach me. It was surprisingly heavy for an opening track. There was melody in the chorus, but I didn't hear the song and think I needed to hear it again.
Ditto the follow-up, "Bluer Than So Blue." Which also has triple digit thousand streams, 124,636 to "Mother's Love"'s 234,684. No one is getting rich on these numbers. Then again, the album has been in the marketplace for less than a week.
Listening to "Bluer Than So Blue" again right now, I'm starting to get it. We used to invest in our records and play them until we got them. Usually a track or two reached out on the first spin, but it took a while for the rest to reveal themselves.
And I must admit, I see this listening as work. But then Spotify drifts into track 3, "Let It Flow." AND I HEAR THAT RIFF!
I was positively stunned. This is the sound I love. This is rock. Not rock and roll, like in the fifties. Not prog rock like in the seventies. Not punk rock. But the kind of thing radio played for decades, that lived on MTV, that you never hear anymore. It's too straightforward. And today if it's not edgy, it's pooh-poohed. Don't work in a passé genre and expect anybody to care. Get those 808 beats, they even feature them in country today, it's the law, without the 808 and its fake handclaps you can't have a hit, who decided this?
There's no drum machine in "Let It Flow." Just slashing guitar. And a catchy chorus. Sounds easy, but it's not. Listening to "Let It Flow" is like discovering a Dead Sea Scroll, an oasis in the desert. This is the sound that nobody takes seriously today, in an era of image and brand extensions, but this is the sound I love. I got it in just a few seconds, and with the change I was immediately enraptured. And this never happens.
A song you get the first time through. That you want to hear again. That you listen to and you feel good. This is the power of music, rock music.
And I'd like to tell you listening to "Let It Flow" again right now I'm re-evaluating, believing it's not as good. But that would be untrue. It's just as satisfying, the little flourishes resonate. I'm wincing to the guitar at 2:05. And there is only 3:18, "Let It Flow" is not bloated, it's compact.
So I retrieved the album sticker from the garbage, I remembered it had featured a couple of cuts.
But neither was "Let It Flow." One was "Mother's Love," the other "Keep It On Track," which I hadn't gotten to yet.
So I skipped over to cut 11 to play "Keep It On Track," and I immediately realized why they'd picked it to emphasize. It was more complicated, but it didn't resonate with me like the more straight-ahead, simple "Let It Flow."
I know I'm setting myself up for abuse. Collective Soul is not an approved band, this sound has been excommunicated, but damn did I enjoy listening to it. It gave me the hit I look for from music, it energized me. Isn't there room for this music in today's world?
Appears not.
--
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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Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Creativity Is Everything
And you've got to be everywhere.
The reason influencers are such is because of their creativity. There's a spark, a je ne sais quoi in their posts that attracts fans, who spread the word to other fans. It all comes down to inspiration.
And that inspiration is too often lacking in music marketing.
Making the music is not enough. Oh, don't tell me you don't want another job, posting to social media, that's the wrong way to look at it, see it as another outlet for being CREATIVE!
Hits are all about ideas. You can get people to play. You can hire the best tech people. But to create a hit song, a song people want to listen to again and again, never mind all the way through, it must contain a nugget of creativity that sparks the interest of the listener.
This is why me-too music is inherently limited. It might reach the target audience, but it never supersedes the progenitor and the act lasts an even shorter period of time. If you want to have success in the music business you've got to be original.
Forget the Spotify Top 50, that's a completely different world. If that appeals to you, go for it, the rules are clearly defined. But if you want to have success outside of that sphere...
First it comes down to the music.
Then it comes down to the marketing.
Informational posts are for fans only, they do not go viral. Furthermore, most fans don't even see them. I've got 60,000+ followers on X/Twitter. If I post someone will see it, but the number is tiny. There's just too much in the channel, Twitter posts are made to be evanescent, they're not made to last.
So don't bank on your followers, that's the wrong way to look at it. You're not feeding the already converted, you're trolling for newcomers.
Once again, the music must be of a certain standard and almost none of it is. If it was about raw skills, the charts would be dominated by Berklee graduates, but that's far from the case. Just like Belmont graduates don't run record companies or talent agencies. It's more than knowing the ropes, as a matter of fact you're oftentimes better off not having the skills, because then you won't be constrained by the delineated game.
The reason you want to be on TikTok is ByteDance doesn't care about your prior success. You can go from zero to hero nearly instantly. Everything comes down to the clip itself. If you're a successful creator with a bad clip it's not going to be shown to most people. But if it's a creative clip?
Don't post your new video. Don't post your tour dates. Don't do anything that's been done before. You want to do something innovative.
And it's not as simple as filming your life.
If you're a metal band, a member should go in leather to the food outlet of the moment and film themselves eating the offerings, whether it be a doughnut or a fine dining restaurant. This is cognitive dissonance, most in metal are so skinny they look like they don't eat at all. And they're known for drinking and drugging lifestyles. The key is to play against type.
Or if you're a pop singer start talking about your favorite metal tracks, and sing them a cappella.
I could come up with a million ideas, and most wouldn't go viral, but there's a chance some would.
But you're the one who has to come up with the ideas.
If everybody else is doing stupid pet tricks, come down off your throne and do one. Imagine Bill Maher in a suit getting down in the dirt.
Or a diva getting into a false argument with their manager or agent. Screaming about the tuna fish at the catering table. You said you wanted CAPERS!
Clips need changes just like songs, hooks. Bridges, choruses. That resonate with the public.
Don't take yourself too seriously, unless your image is as a doofus.
Talk about the movies you watch on the tour bus.
Tell how it's taboo to go number two on the tour bus. Most insiders don't know this.
Film yourself getting up every morning, talking about how much sleep you got each and every night, showing the stress of the road.
The idea is best when it comes from the ARTIST, not a company hired for social media, not any third party. The same reason people love your music must be evidenced in your clip.
Imagine a TikTok wherein Bob Dylan talked quickly about his life. This guy is available nowhere and talks cagily and slow when he does. He's famous for telling lies. Imagine if he told the truth!
And you can start off by telling the etymology of songs. People are dying to know the points of inspiration. The people, the places. This is easy. But it can't be by rote, it must be intimate.
Once again, don't see yourself as a rock star, as a celebrity, but just another person in the pit of the social media app. If you come across as equal, ironically, it boosts your cred.
You're trying to get lucky. And you can only do so if you're in the marketplace, each and every day. You need to see it as your full time job creating for online. It pays much bigger dividends than a piece in the newspaper or a spot on TV. I mean look at the views of these social media clips, they far outweigh the audience of almost any TV show.
And you can build an audience. Which only burnishes your career down the line. You've got a personality, an identity, this is key to bonding the fan to you.
And you must be everywhere. Of course Instagram Reels, and YouTube and Snapchat...
You're throwing a line into the ocean. You're hoping a fish wanders by and is so intrigued that they tell every other fish.
This is where it happens. On social media.
Forget press releases, a waste of time. Most PR firms are clueless.
If it's been done before, you shouldn't do it. Unless you put a personal spin on it, with a wink of the eye.
View it as a good SNL skit. Like from the first five years of the show. But shorter. Brief works.
And since you're making so many, on some you play your music in the background. Don't beat people over the head with your music, they've got to like you enough to be curious about your music, to pull it. You've got to leave it to them, not push it on them.
Spreading the word, getting attention in the new world is nearly impossible. The old methods don't work. You're an artist. And this is in your wheelhouse. So many musicians learned technical skills, built their own studios. But they can't create viral clips?
And unlike in the days of MTV today's clips are not expensive, and each and every one gets airplay.
This is an OPPORTUNITY!
If you see it as a burden you're missing the point.
--
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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The reason influencers are such is because of their creativity. There's a spark, a je ne sais quoi in their posts that attracts fans, who spread the word to other fans. It all comes down to inspiration.
And that inspiration is too often lacking in music marketing.
Making the music is not enough. Oh, don't tell me you don't want another job, posting to social media, that's the wrong way to look at it, see it as another outlet for being CREATIVE!
Hits are all about ideas. You can get people to play. You can hire the best tech people. But to create a hit song, a song people want to listen to again and again, never mind all the way through, it must contain a nugget of creativity that sparks the interest of the listener.
This is why me-too music is inherently limited. It might reach the target audience, but it never supersedes the progenitor and the act lasts an even shorter period of time. If you want to have success in the music business you've got to be original.
Forget the Spotify Top 50, that's a completely different world. If that appeals to you, go for it, the rules are clearly defined. But if you want to have success outside of that sphere...
First it comes down to the music.
Then it comes down to the marketing.
Informational posts are for fans only, they do not go viral. Furthermore, most fans don't even see them. I've got 60,000+ followers on X/Twitter. If I post someone will see it, but the number is tiny. There's just too much in the channel, Twitter posts are made to be evanescent, they're not made to last.
So don't bank on your followers, that's the wrong way to look at it. You're not feeding the already converted, you're trolling for newcomers.
Once again, the music must be of a certain standard and almost none of it is. If it was about raw skills, the charts would be dominated by Berklee graduates, but that's far from the case. Just like Belmont graduates don't run record companies or talent agencies. It's more than knowing the ropes, as a matter of fact you're oftentimes better off not having the skills, because then you won't be constrained by the delineated game.
The reason you want to be on TikTok is ByteDance doesn't care about your prior success. You can go from zero to hero nearly instantly. Everything comes down to the clip itself. If you're a successful creator with a bad clip it's not going to be shown to most people. But if it's a creative clip?
Don't post your new video. Don't post your tour dates. Don't do anything that's been done before. You want to do something innovative.
And it's not as simple as filming your life.
If you're a metal band, a member should go in leather to the food outlet of the moment and film themselves eating the offerings, whether it be a doughnut or a fine dining restaurant. This is cognitive dissonance, most in metal are so skinny they look like they don't eat at all. And they're known for drinking and drugging lifestyles. The key is to play against type.
Or if you're a pop singer start talking about your favorite metal tracks, and sing them a cappella.
I could come up with a million ideas, and most wouldn't go viral, but there's a chance some would.
But you're the one who has to come up with the ideas.
If everybody else is doing stupid pet tricks, come down off your throne and do one. Imagine Bill Maher in a suit getting down in the dirt.
Or a diva getting into a false argument with their manager or agent. Screaming about the tuna fish at the catering table. You said you wanted CAPERS!
Clips need changes just like songs, hooks. Bridges, choruses. That resonate with the public.
Don't take yourself too seriously, unless your image is as a doofus.
Talk about the movies you watch on the tour bus.
Tell how it's taboo to go number two on the tour bus. Most insiders don't know this.
Film yourself getting up every morning, talking about how much sleep you got each and every night, showing the stress of the road.
The idea is best when it comes from the ARTIST, not a company hired for social media, not any third party. The same reason people love your music must be evidenced in your clip.
Imagine a TikTok wherein Bob Dylan talked quickly about his life. This guy is available nowhere and talks cagily and slow when he does. He's famous for telling lies. Imagine if he told the truth!
And you can start off by telling the etymology of songs. People are dying to know the points of inspiration. The people, the places. This is easy. But it can't be by rote, it must be intimate.
Once again, don't see yourself as a rock star, as a celebrity, but just another person in the pit of the social media app. If you come across as equal, ironically, it boosts your cred.
You're trying to get lucky. And you can only do so if you're in the marketplace, each and every day. You need to see it as your full time job creating for online. It pays much bigger dividends than a piece in the newspaper or a spot on TV. I mean look at the views of these social media clips, they far outweigh the audience of almost any TV show.
And you can build an audience. Which only burnishes your career down the line. You've got a personality, an identity, this is key to bonding the fan to you.
And you must be everywhere. Of course Instagram Reels, and YouTube and Snapchat...
You're throwing a line into the ocean. You're hoping a fish wanders by and is so intrigued that they tell every other fish.
This is where it happens. On social media.
Forget press releases, a waste of time. Most PR firms are clueless.
If it's been done before, you shouldn't do it. Unless you put a personal spin on it, with a wink of the eye.
View it as a good SNL skit. Like from the first five years of the show. But shorter. Brief works.
And since you're making so many, on some you play your music in the background. Don't beat people over the head with your music, they've got to like you enough to be curious about your music, to pull it. You've got to leave it to them, not push it on them.
Spreading the word, getting attention in the new world is nearly impossible. The old methods don't work. You're an artist. And this is in your wheelhouse. So many musicians learned technical skills, built their own studios. But they can't create viral clips?
And unlike in the days of MTV today's clips are not expensive, and each and every one gets airplay.
This is an OPPORTUNITY!
If you see it as a burden you're missing the point.
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Re-Bill Maher/Television
I saw Maher at Constitution Hall DC before the pandemic. He was just okay. There was a good crowd, he may have sold out, but again this was before the pandemic and his open skepticism about vaccines and masks and his agnosticism on hydrochloroquine and ivermectin and the rest, is when I believe he lost many progressive fans. At one point he started hollering at an audience member for being on their phone, which was not funny and cringy.
The jokes were mostly anti-Trump (this was DC) but he was reading his jokes off of blue sheets on a music stand.
It was the epitome of mailing it in.
I agree with your assessment of "Club Random."
Man is he a grouchy old man, broken record, Johnny One Note.
Not only does he talk too much, but he's a horrible listener.
One of his handlers should force him to rewatch these episodes and work on his interview technique.
It's embarrassing for someone who's been on air as long as he has.
Brilliant guy; I could watch him be a guest any day (when he would do Larry King Live, it was gold) that's when he's at his best.
But I can understand why his traveling standup routine is not attracting audiences. The world has passed him by, which dovetails with his opinion of his politics: he hasn't changed, the Democrats have. Well that applies to his comedic persona too.
-Emory Damron, Alexandria VA.
________________________________________
I've been a big fan of Bill Maher since I was a teenager in the mid 90s and that has only increased over time. I rarely miss an episode of Real Time and I regularly enjoy the podcast as well. You can chalk part of that up to my now being a middle aged Dad who doesn't get out much on Fridays anymore but here's the thing: for the first time since I was much younger, I went to see him perform at a theatre in Philly about a year ago and was disappointed. He didn't suck, he wasn't off his game... it was just that I already knew most of the material! And this was over a year after his last HBO special had aired. But it wasn't just jokes and commentary from that special - it was from everything he does.
On the way home I was scratching my head... it's not like he's a rising star attracting new, curious and unfamiliar crowds...so did he owe more "new" to us true loyal fans who paid and made the effort to get there? Was this somehow my fault and had I shown up with too much prior exposure to the performer? The audience (it was full or close to a full house, older crowd) was clearly enjoying it but they did not get raucous even at the best moments. Maybe that's an age thing but I suspected many were having a similar experience to me. Long live Bill and everything he does, but I'm not in a hurry to catch him live again soon - even if he meant what he said about retiring from the road.
Matt Robertson
________________________________________
Most of the time Club Random is weird and uncomfortable. Almost no one gets high with him or even has a drink, maybe a beer. And he does make it about himself but the worst was with Cameron Crowe! Bill needed to show him how much he knew about music. His take on the Beatles was dead wrong but Cameron was a real pro and just let him talk through the entire show.
Ron Maiorino
________________________________________
He might think he's a comedian, but to much of the world he's a political pundit. That's why he can't fill seats - he's spent three decades alienating half the potential audience.
Chris Beytes
________________________________________
You are correct. I will watch clips of Bill Maher's Real Time, but I'm not going out of my house to see him.
I think for a lot of folks he is too politically one-sided. How many pro-left or pro-right comics fill up stadiums? I don't think too many. Bill may criticize the left but he lets the audience know he is still firmly with one team. So when folks go out to a show they usually go with someone, and even if it is your long time spouse you may not share the same political views, so who wants to be uncomfortable for a couple of hours.
And he is not really that funny, so there's that...
Thanks,
Edmund J. Kelly
________________________________________
My kids are 12 and 14 and could care less about what couch cushion has swallowed the remote. They don't know that stress. All they care about is when their favorite Youtube creator is about to drop a new episode. So many choices out there.
-Brent Grunow
________________________________________
Bill Maher is funny and trenchant. And he's 68 maybe he's had enough of touring.
Hannah Gadsby is maybe quirky but she isn't funny. Sorry.
Mitch Tenzer
________________________________________
Bill Maher is the one TV show I get excited for every week. Don't like his podcast nearly as much. But I am a religious real time watcher. It's the only appointment TV in my life.
Greg McLoughlin
________________________________________
Interesting thing about the Brady roast: when it went out live — not the version now up on Netflix — one could really see who killed and who was just ok, as opposed to the edited versions of the roasts we usually see that makes everyone's set look equally great. For my money, Nikki Glaser was by far the standout. She killed. Her standup act distilled down to that couple of minutes was fabulous and harsh and cutting and everything you want from a roast. And she destroyed the men. No one did it better. I'm a fan of hers generally, she's bawdy, smart and sexy and transgressive, and her delivery is usually top notch. I was generally happy for her and the reaction in the room and the huge zeitgeist'sbump she got from that command performance. It reminded me of that old definition of luck, it's when preparation meets opportunity, and Ms. Glaser saw her moment and seized it. It was a beautiful thing.
P.S. but then I saw her new standup special on Max and it was dreck. Just terrible. Everything about it sucked and was the opposite of the lightning in a bottle thing she created at the roast. From the fake opening shot, to the weird dress and stupidly high heels (whomever was responsible for those atrocious choices should be flogged), to the ham fisted, bush league, pull up cutaways and bullsh*t sound editing "laughter enhancement, (I'd like to add whomever directed this steaming pile of sh*t to the flogging line up) to the unbelievably long, boring and icky gang bang 'metaphor' at the end. And damn none of it was sexy. Au contraire. I still can't wrap my mind around the ying and the yang of both in one week.
Steve Jones
________________________________________
Brady roast was AWESOME. I grew up in foxboro, ma. Brady is a hero. They all were. Was great to see them all get down and dirty. One of the funniest things in a long time on tv.
Tim Lefebvre
________________________________________
I watch Bill Maher's show on HBO pretty much every week but I saw him in Vegas a few years ago and he's just not that funny.
He came off as arrogant but not funny at all.
Robert Pisaneschi
________________________________________
Bill Maher can't sell out one show after three decades on TV yet Sebastian Maniscalco sold out five shows at MSG for September. People will leave their homes if you're funny! -t
Tony D'Amelio
________________________________________
Bill Maher used to be interesting and occasionally funny. Now he is neither.
Best wishes,
Adrian Day
________________________________________
"But people don't want to leave their houses to see Bill live".
No ....more like maybe people don't want to pay to see or listen to blowhards.
Dante
________________________________________
Maher can't sell tickets because he's out of touch. And he's smug, too; so self-absorbed in his belief that he knows better than everyone that he is oblivious to how he's become the kind of elitist he used to rail against. He's also the worst kind of moral equivocator; everything is either/or with him: If you support trans rights, then you don't believe in biology. All college students are indoctrinated fools. Criticizing the policies of the Israeli government automatically makes you a supporter of Hamas. If you wear a mask in public, you're a hysterical hypochondriac. It's so tiresome, his constant both-sidesing of every issue like this, especially when both sides are obviously not the same. One is complaining about pronouns. The other tried to overthrow the government. The two are not comparable.
But this is unsurprising, given that Maher's mostly Boomer audience tends to see the world in black and white terms. So you could say he's just pandering to his audience. But I say that with friends like this, what the hell do we need the Republicans for?
Take care,
Wes R. Benash
________________________________________
I think you're missing something about Bill Maher's drop in selling tickets: he has become nasty and insufferable, especially since the pandemic. It's no fun watching him anymore. Whereas his antipathy to Trump and his correct reading of the dangers of the Republican agenda and takeover have never been unwavering, his attacks on basically anything on the democratic side, anything progressive, diverse or "woke" and the especially cruel assessment of the campus protests have turned many of his fans against him. He gives a platform to many of the rightwing voices without challenging them and is dismissive of anyone's opinion that doesn't support his. Clearly, he was miserable during the pandemic, unable to go out and reach the crowds and adulation he clearly needs so much, but that has morphed into an unending attack on decisions that were made during the pandemic, decisions designed to protect vulnerable members of OUR society. While I am in agreement with his assessment of one's responsibility for one's own health, especially in terms of eating choices (I am myself a vegan) his attacks on overweight people are cruel and dismissive. Let's not even get into his attacks on Muslims, a classic and terrible case of othering.
Who hurt him?
Bill Megalos
Venice
________________________________________
Bill Maher Is a complete crank and a pompous ass. Has-been.
And Bill Burr put him in his place.
https://youtu.be/Zu7wd6KahHk?si=nqlPAwOIwkm2Lw2N
Bill Seipel
________________________________________
I promote him. I watch him religiously. But he's lost his base. He's left, center and right. There's no audience for that. I'm a big fan but I'm certainly not capable of giving him advice. Actually I'm afraid to.
By the way, the comedians, of which Bill isn't as he's a political commentator, that are selling out tell jokes. Not a fair comparison.
The jokes were mostly anti-Trump (this was DC) but he was reading his jokes off of blue sheets on a music stand.
It was the epitome of mailing it in.
I agree with your assessment of "Club Random."
Man is he a grouchy old man, broken record, Johnny One Note.
Not only does he talk too much, but he's a horrible listener.
One of his handlers should force him to rewatch these episodes and work on his interview technique.
It's embarrassing for someone who's been on air as long as he has.
Brilliant guy; I could watch him be a guest any day (when he would do Larry King Live, it was gold) that's when he's at his best.
But I can understand why his traveling standup routine is not attracting audiences. The world has passed him by, which dovetails with his opinion of his politics: he hasn't changed, the Democrats have. Well that applies to his comedic persona too.
-Emory Damron, Alexandria VA.
________________________________________
I've been a big fan of Bill Maher since I was a teenager in the mid 90s and that has only increased over time. I rarely miss an episode of Real Time and I regularly enjoy the podcast as well. You can chalk part of that up to my now being a middle aged Dad who doesn't get out much on Fridays anymore but here's the thing: for the first time since I was much younger, I went to see him perform at a theatre in Philly about a year ago and was disappointed. He didn't suck, he wasn't off his game... it was just that I already knew most of the material! And this was over a year after his last HBO special had aired. But it wasn't just jokes and commentary from that special - it was from everything he does.
On the way home I was scratching my head... it's not like he's a rising star attracting new, curious and unfamiliar crowds...so did he owe more "new" to us true loyal fans who paid and made the effort to get there? Was this somehow my fault and had I shown up with too much prior exposure to the performer? The audience (it was full or close to a full house, older crowd) was clearly enjoying it but they did not get raucous even at the best moments. Maybe that's an age thing but I suspected many were having a similar experience to me. Long live Bill and everything he does, but I'm not in a hurry to catch him live again soon - even if he meant what he said about retiring from the road.
Matt Robertson
________________________________________
Most of the time Club Random is weird and uncomfortable. Almost no one gets high with him or even has a drink, maybe a beer. And he does make it about himself but the worst was with Cameron Crowe! Bill needed to show him how much he knew about music. His take on the Beatles was dead wrong but Cameron was a real pro and just let him talk through the entire show.
Ron Maiorino
________________________________________
He might think he's a comedian, but to much of the world he's a political pundit. That's why he can't fill seats - he's spent three decades alienating half the potential audience.
Chris Beytes
________________________________________
You are correct. I will watch clips of Bill Maher's Real Time, but I'm not going out of my house to see him.
I think for a lot of folks he is too politically one-sided. How many pro-left or pro-right comics fill up stadiums? I don't think too many. Bill may criticize the left but he lets the audience know he is still firmly with one team. So when folks go out to a show they usually go with someone, and even if it is your long time spouse you may not share the same political views, so who wants to be uncomfortable for a couple of hours.
And he is not really that funny, so there's that...
Thanks,
Edmund J. Kelly
________________________________________
My kids are 12 and 14 and could care less about what couch cushion has swallowed the remote. They don't know that stress. All they care about is when their favorite Youtube creator is about to drop a new episode. So many choices out there.
-Brent Grunow
________________________________________
Bill Maher is funny and trenchant. And he's 68 maybe he's had enough of touring.
Hannah Gadsby is maybe quirky but she isn't funny. Sorry.
Mitch Tenzer
________________________________________
Bill Maher is the one TV show I get excited for every week. Don't like his podcast nearly as much. But I am a religious real time watcher. It's the only appointment TV in my life.
Greg McLoughlin
________________________________________
Interesting thing about the Brady roast: when it went out live — not the version now up on Netflix — one could really see who killed and who was just ok, as opposed to the edited versions of the roasts we usually see that makes everyone's set look equally great. For my money, Nikki Glaser was by far the standout. She killed. Her standup act distilled down to that couple of minutes was fabulous and harsh and cutting and everything you want from a roast. And she destroyed the men. No one did it better. I'm a fan of hers generally, she's bawdy, smart and sexy and transgressive, and her delivery is usually top notch. I was generally happy for her and the reaction in the room and the huge zeitgeist'sbump she got from that command performance. It reminded me of that old definition of luck, it's when preparation meets opportunity, and Ms. Glaser saw her moment and seized it. It was a beautiful thing.
P.S. but then I saw her new standup special on Max and it was dreck. Just terrible. Everything about it sucked and was the opposite of the lightning in a bottle thing she created at the roast. From the fake opening shot, to the weird dress and stupidly high heels (whomever was responsible for those atrocious choices should be flogged), to the ham fisted, bush league, pull up cutaways and bullsh*t sound editing "laughter enhancement, (I'd like to add whomever directed this steaming pile of sh*t to the flogging line up) to the unbelievably long, boring and icky gang bang 'metaphor' at the end. And damn none of it was sexy. Au contraire. I still can't wrap my mind around the ying and the yang of both in one week.
Steve Jones
________________________________________
Brady roast was AWESOME. I grew up in foxboro, ma. Brady is a hero. They all were. Was great to see them all get down and dirty. One of the funniest things in a long time on tv.
Tim Lefebvre
________________________________________
I watch Bill Maher's show on HBO pretty much every week but I saw him in Vegas a few years ago and he's just not that funny.
He came off as arrogant but not funny at all.
Robert Pisaneschi
________________________________________
Bill Maher can't sell out one show after three decades on TV yet Sebastian Maniscalco sold out five shows at MSG for September. People will leave their homes if you're funny! -t
Tony D'Amelio
________________________________________
Bill Maher used to be interesting and occasionally funny. Now he is neither.
Best wishes,
Adrian Day
________________________________________
"But people don't want to leave their houses to see Bill live".
No ....more like maybe people don't want to pay to see or listen to blowhards.
Dante
________________________________________
Maher can't sell tickets because he's out of touch. And he's smug, too; so self-absorbed in his belief that he knows better than everyone that he is oblivious to how he's become the kind of elitist he used to rail against. He's also the worst kind of moral equivocator; everything is either/or with him: If you support trans rights, then you don't believe in biology. All college students are indoctrinated fools. Criticizing the policies of the Israeli government automatically makes you a supporter of Hamas. If you wear a mask in public, you're a hysterical hypochondriac. It's so tiresome, his constant both-sidesing of every issue like this, especially when both sides are obviously not the same. One is complaining about pronouns. The other tried to overthrow the government. The two are not comparable.
But this is unsurprising, given that Maher's mostly Boomer audience tends to see the world in black and white terms. So you could say he's just pandering to his audience. But I say that with friends like this, what the hell do we need the Republicans for?
Take care,
Wes R. Benash
________________________________________
I think you're missing something about Bill Maher's drop in selling tickets: he has become nasty and insufferable, especially since the pandemic. It's no fun watching him anymore. Whereas his antipathy to Trump and his correct reading of the dangers of the Republican agenda and takeover have never been unwavering, his attacks on basically anything on the democratic side, anything progressive, diverse or "woke" and the especially cruel assessment of the campus protests have turned many of his fans against him. He gives a platform to many of the rightwing voices without challenging them and is dismissive of anyone's opinion that doesn't support his. Clearly, he was miserable during the pandemic, unable to go out and reach the crowds and adulation he clearly needs so much, but that has morphed into an unending attack on decisions that were made during the pandemic, decisions designed to protect vulnerable members of OUR society. While I am in agreement with his assessment of one's responsibility for one's own health, especially in terms of eating choices (I am myself a vegan) his attacks on overweight people are cruel and dismissive. Let's not even get into his attacks on Muslims, a classic and terrible case of othering.
Who hurt him?
Bill Megalos
Venice
________________________________________
Bill Maher Is a complete crank and a pompous ass. Has-been.
And Bill Burr put him in his place.
https://youtu.be/Zu7wd6KahHk?si=nqlPAwOIwkm2Lw2N
Bill Seipel
________________________________________
I promote him. I watch him religiously. But he's lost his base. He's left, center and right. There's no audience for that. I'm a big fan but I'm certainly not capable of giving him advice. Actually I'm afraid to.
By the way, the comedians, of which Bill isn't as he's a political commentator, that are selling out tell jokes. Not a fair comparison.
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Tiny Bubbles
Today the "New York Times" said that the Luminate/"Billboard" chart was manipulated:
"Swift made 'Tortured Poets' available in four variants across physical formats, each with an extra track; these were also sold in special editions from Swift's website with autographs and collectibles like magnets and engraved bookmarks. Eilish, who has complained about artists' excessive marketing of physical media — saying in a recent Billboard interview that it was 'wasteful' to release '40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more' — put 'Hit Me' out in eight colored vinyl variants, as well as other formats like a CD decorated with paint 'splattered by Billie.' (Eilish defended her release plans by promoting an "eco-friendly" approach to manufacturing, saying her releases would use recycled materials.)
Even worse is the following:
"on the day that (Eilish's) 'Hit Me' was released, Swift put out three digital-only editions of her album that included 'first-draft phone memo' tracks — while Eilish released a digital edition of her album that added isolated vocal tracks for each song."
https://t.ly/nCKlp
So why isn't there change, why isn't there a correction, so we get a true, accurate chart, which would focus primarily on and give the most weight to streaming, where nearly all of the consumption takes place.
Because the labels don't want this. The labels want to be able to manipulate the chart, for bragging rights, for future hype, talking about all the broken records. And Luminate/"Billboard" is beholden to the labels, so they're afraid to impose any change.
But this is in the "New York Times," isn't sunlight the best disinfectant?
How many people do you think read the "New York Times," never mind this article, never mind caring about this subject. Almost none.
And most of the public doesn't even care who is number one, because they're not listening to this music, if they're listening to new music at all.
And all of the acts on the chart are trumped by Morgan Wallen, whose 2023 album "One Thing at a Time" is number three and whose 2021 album "Dangerous" is parked at number five, sans the shenanigans.
Yes, Morgan Wallen is bigger than Taylor Swift. But he's a redneck pariah, so he doesn't get the ink either Swift or Eilish do.
But this is a horse race almost no one is paying attention to. And that's the big story here. One that is not covered not only by the "New York Times," but in the Luminate/"Billboard" charts.
Let's start with the "Times" itself. It is not comprehensive. The papers don't even print sports scores, because they're readily accessible elsewhere. If you're getting all your news from the newspaper, you've got a very myopic view of society.
I went to lunch yesterday with an RFK, Jr. supporter. This guy was agitated about obesity, child health care issues. He supported RFK, Jr. because RFK, Jr. had a plan for this. Do you hear either Biden or Trump talking about childhood obesity, never mind Big Food and Big Pharma?
Well, conventional wisdom is they're in the pocket of both, they can't say anything negative. But whether that is true or false, many people believe the two major candidates are not speaking to the issues that are important to them.
But in the mainstream press it's all binary. Trump or Biden, pick a side.
And they wonder why so much of the general public is alienated.
They keep telling us to care about that which we do not. Keep telling us it's important. It's like the media has detached from the public. Do they actually know anybody outside their bubble?
I'm not supporting RFK, Jr. for a whole host of reasons. But the person talking to me didn't even care about vaccines, he cared about our food, children. What do you care about?
Chances are you live in a small bubble of people who care about what you do and feel isolated because no one else is concerned with what you are.
And then there's the micro, the everyday living, i.e. paying the rent and putting food on the table. I don't want to trot out economic numbers, I'll just say when you keep reading about how much CEOs are making you become deflated. Are they really that much better, so skilled, or are they just in a club that keeps paying its cronies more and more?
And then you play the music of the hitmakers and it doesn't resonate at all. You wonder if it's you or them. Many people just disengage.
And then there are people who are passionate about music and insult you because you don't feel the same way they do.
But you might be watching cornhole or pickle ball contests on YouTube. Activities that you can participate in, relate to. Cheaper and less time-consuming than golf. There are so many alternatives today, many of which didn't even exist before. Or, if they did, you couldn't bring all the acolytes together, which is easy to do online.
It's hard not to disconnect. It's not only Taylor Swift, but Joe Biden. You can't say he's old. It's taboo. The Democrats will become draconian in their pushback. But that's what your eyes say, can't we have a discussion?
And why should I care about Taylor Swift and the records she's breaking if I'm not listening to Taylor Swift. This is not the Beatles, never mind "The Godfather,' a cultural tsunami that we all have to pay attention to, that affects us all.
But this analysis is nowhere. You keep being dunned with a mainstream you don't care about.
We were inundated with news about movie grosses. But shooting for the fences with high concept films the studios excluded traditional moviegoers and then the superhero fans moved on and there was nothing left. Movie grosses are abysmal, and never coming back. And if you want soul fulfillment you get it at home, via your streaming service, which doesn't hype a year in advance films that you don't care about. Or books. They keep telling us what's coming down the pike, telling us to get excited, not knowing that we wait for the wisdom of the crowd, we know if a movie is worth seeing the day it comes out, why should we get hyped in advance?
The presidential election isn't until November, you want me to wring my hands over every nuance today? Give up my life because someone says democracy is on the line? I'll vote in November, but stop bugging me.
And the MAGGOTS have lost the plot. It's about Trump and nothing else. Would you hire an employee without looking at their CV? Would you just have blind faith?
And the liberals just say to be afraid of Trump. To get behind the nearly dead man who most of America can't relate to. Got to give Trump credit for living in the modern world, he's on social media, he understands the internet, it seems like Wi-Fi is blocked in Washington, D.C, how can you relate to these people?
And today everybody lies in court, and Marjorie Taylor Greene makes fun of people's appearances. Everything that used to be taboo is now fair game. There's no center.
So you retreat to your vertical, your interests, and ultimately tune out the mainstream story. The film studios are living the mainstream story to their detriment, as are the record labels. They've cut off huge swaths of the public yet believe the majority are still with them, when they're not.
You might be a fan of Taylor Swift, or Billie Eilish, or live for Trump or Biden, kudos, live it up. Just don't expect the rest of us to care. We are just as passionate about something else, but you won't give it any attention, never mind respect.
We live in a Tower of Babel society and they keep telling us it's otherwise.
They're wrong.
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"Swift made 'Tortured Poets' available in four variants across physical formats, each with an extra track; these were also sold in special editions from Swift's website with autographs and collectibles like magnets and engraved bookmarks. Eilish, who has complained about artists' excessive marketing of physical media — saying in a recent Billboard interview that it was 'wasteful' to release '40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more' — put 'Hit Me' out in eight colored vinyl variants, as well as other formats like a CD decorated with paint 'splattered by Billie.' (Eilish defended her release plans by promoting an "eco-friendly" approach to manufacturing, saying her releases would use recycled materials.)
Even worse is the following:
"on the day that (Eilish's) 'Hit Me' was released, Swift put out three digital-only editions of her album that included 'first-draft phone memo' tracks — while Eilish released a digital edition of her album that added isolated vocal tracks for each song."
https://t.ly/nCKlp
So why isn't there change, why isn't there a correction, so we get a true, accurate chart, which would focus primarily on and give the most weight to streaming, where nearly all of the consumption takes place.
Because the labels don't want this. The labels want to be able to manipulate the chart, for bragging rights, for future hype, talking about all the broken records. And Luminate/"Billboard" is beholden to the labels, so they're afraid to impose any change.
But this is in the "New York Times," isn't sunlight the best disinfectant?
How many people do you think read the "New York Times," never mind this article, never mind caring about this subject. Almost none.
And most of the public doesn't even care who is number one, because they're not listening to this music, if they're listening to new music at all.
And all of the acts on the chart are trumped by Morgan Wallen, whose 2023 album "One Thing at a Time" is number three and whose 2021 album "Dangerous" is parked at number five, sans the shenanigans.
Yes, Morgan Wallen is bigger than Taylor Swift. But he's a redneck pariah, so he doesn't get the ink either Swift or Eilish do.
But this is a horse race almost no one is paying attention to. And that's the big story here. One that is not covered not only by the "New York Times," but in the Luminate/"Billboard" charts.
Let's start with the "Times" itself. It is not comprehensive. The papers don't even print sports scores, because they're readily accessible elsewhere. If you're getting all your news from the newspaper, you've got a very myopic view of society.
I went to lunch yesterday with an RFK, Jr. supporter. This guy was agitated about obesity, child health care issues. He supported RFK, Jr. because RFK, Jr. had a plan for this. Do you hear either Biden or Trump talking about childhood obesity, never mind Big Food and Big Pharma?
Well, conventional wisdom is they're in the pocket of both, they can't say anything negative. But whether that is true or false, many people believe the two major candidates are not speaking to the issues that are important to them.
But in the mainstream press it's all binary. Trump or Biden, pick a side.
And they wonder why so much of the general public is alienated.
They keep telling us to care about that which we do not. Keep telling us it's important. It's like the media has detached from the public. Do they actually know anybody outside their bubble?
I'm not supporting RFK, Jr. for a whole host of reasons. But the person talking to me didn't even care about vaccines, he cared about our food, children. What do you care about?
Chances are you live in a small bubble of people who care about what you do and feel isolated because no one else is concerned with what you are.
And then there's the micro, the everyday living, i.e. paying the rent and putting food on the table. I don't want to trot out economic numbers, I'll just say when you keep reading about how much CEOs are making you become deflated. Are they really that much better, so skilled, or are they just in a club that keeps paying its cronies more and more?
And then you play the music of the hitmakers and it doesn't resonate at all. You wonder if it's you or them. Many people just disengage.
And then there are people who are passionate about music and insult you because you don't feel the same way they do.
But you might be watching cornhole or pickle ball contests on YouTube. Activities that you can participate in, relate to. Cheaper and less time-consuming than golf. There are so many alternatives today, many of which didn't even exist before. Or, if they did, you couldn't bring all the acolytes together, which is easy to do online.
It's hard not to disconnect. It's not only Taylor Swift, but Joe Biden. You can't say he's old. It's taboo. The Democrats will become draconian in their pushback. But that's what your eyes say, can't we have a discussion?
And why should I care about Taylor Swift and the records she's breaking if I'm not listening to Taylor Swift. This is not the Beatles, never mind "The Godfather,' a cultural tsunami that we all have to pay attention to, that affects us all.
But this analysis is nowhere. You keep being dunned with a mainstream you don't care about.
We were inundated with news about movie grosses. But shooting for the fences with high concept films the studios excluded traditional moviegoers and then the superhero fans moved on and there was nothing left. Movie grosses are abysmal, and never coming back. And if you want soul fulfillment you get it at home, via your streaming service, which doesn't hype a year in advance films that you don't care about. Or books. They keep telling us what's coming down the pike, telling us to get excited, not knowing that we wait for the wisdom of the crowd, we know if a movie is worth seeing the day it comes out, why should we get hyped in advance?
The presidential election isn't until November, you want me to wring my hands over every nuance today? Give up my life because someone says democracy is on the line? I'll vote in November, but stop bugging me.
And the MAGGOTS have lost the plot. It's about Trump and nothing else. Would you hire an employee without looking at their CV? Would you just have blind faith?
And the liberals just say to be afraid of Trump. To get behind the nearly dead man who most of America can't relate to. Got to give Trump credit for living in the modern world, he's on social media, he understands the internet, it seems like Wi-Fi is blocked in Washington, D.C, how can you relate to these people?
And today everybody lies in court, and Marjorie Taylor Greene makes fun of people's appearances. Everything that used to be taboo is now fair game. There's no center.
So you retreat to your vertical, your interests, and ultimately tune out the mainstream story. The film studios are living the mainstream story to their detriment, as are the record labels. They've cut off huge swaths of the public yet believe the majority are still with them, when they're not.
You might be a fan of Taylor Swift, or Billie Eilish, or live for Trump or Biden, kudos, live it up. Just don't expect the rest of us to care. We are just as passionate about something else, but you won't give it any attention, never mind respect.
We live in a Tower of Babel society and they keep telling us it's otherwise.
They're wrong.
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Monday, 20 May 2024
The (Lack Of ) Power Of Television
Bill Maher can't play arenas.
I'm not sure if you're listening to Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast. Unfortunately Bill too often makes it about himself, when we're mostly interested in what the guests have to say, but there are some good episodes. Like the recent one with Jerry Seinfeld. Who was aloof yet analytical, he doesn't take himself too seriously, and when Bill was stunned that Jerry had a contrary opinion Seinfeld said he just likes to argue. I laughed at that. That's east coast, that's Jewish. Let's lay all the issues out on the table and try to illuminate the situation and come to a conclusion. If everybody agrees there's nothing learned.
So at one point in the conversation, Bill says he's retiring from the road. BECAUSE HE CAN'T SELL ENOUGH TICKETS! Bill can't play arenas like the big comics, he does not sell out everywhere he goes, why do it?
Now Bill has been on TV for three decades. First on Comedy Central and then on ABC four nights a week. And for the last two decades he's been on HBO. "Real Time" is one of their flagship series, one of the only ones that has sustained.
But people don't want to leave their houses to see Bill live.
Maybe they don't realize he's primarily a comedian. Then again, the same outlet that hosts his show, HBO, has aired a number of Bill's comedy specials.
Maybe they don't find Bill that funny. It's subjective, but Bill thinks he's one of the best out there, he's said so multiple times.
But it's not enough to bring the masses into the building. Bill plays theatres, and doesn't always sell out.
But it's even worse. At the end of every "Real Time," Bill announces where he'll be appearing next. I always thought this was a cheap shot, that fans would know to go to the show, but it turns out he needs the ad, he needs to tell people, otherwise how many people would show up at all?
Now it's hard to reach the audience today. To let them know you're even playing in their town.
But numerous comedians can sell out arenas. Interestingly, for most it's not a sideline, but the main line. Sure, Chris Rock has worked in film and TV, but no one sees him as an actor. They see Chris as a comedian, and need to go to connect with him live.
This is not the way it used to be. If you were on TV at all it paid dividends. People fought to be on TV. Now it's nearly meaningless.
Then again, this is not what the mainstream media tells us. They keep repeating the jokes from the previous evening's late night shows. But the savviest of those on at the midnight hour know that it's really not even about the show itself anymore, but creating viral moments. That are viewed on YouTube.
So you can appear on a late night TV show but... You're going to reach almost no one, unless you're featured in a moment that is clipped and goes viral, and that's almost never the case with musicians. The shows all reach fewer than two million people nightly, that's piss-poor in the YouTube world, and YouTube is all pull! If you're watching, you're probably a fan. How many people watching an act on late night TV are watching for that act? Very few.
Now in the old days, an appearance on TV translated into instant results. Sales. Of both recordings and tickets. But TV is the new terrestrial radio. Sure, it's got the largest number of viewers/listeners in one place, but it's far less than it used to be and the most active fans, the youth, are hardly participating at all.
But it's easier to be on TV than to figure out how to truly reach the audience. No one knows how anymore. They keep trying the old methods to failing results.
If Bill Maher wants to work live, and it seems that he's happy just doing his New Rules monologue at the end "Real Time," he'd have to work more and change his act. He'd have to find a way to connect with the audience that he isn't doing now. It would require something edgy, something that resonates, it might even require a personality transplant. Yes, Bill is talking down to you, you don't feel like you're in it with him, like you do with Hannah Gadsby, who is a gay woman on the autism spectrum, i.e. most people can't identify with her on the surface, but at the core we're all people, and she finds a way to connect.
TV is broad. Which is one reason late night talk shows have declined. We don't want to sit through some celebrity bloviating to get to the musical act, we want the musical act immediately. And we're certainly not going to tune in just to see an act we're unfamiliar with.
Too many acts are playing to the Fortune 500. They've become brands, they're not artists. Whereas the best comedians exist outside the law, they say the unsayable, they're truth-sayers like musicians used to be way back when. Music is too often just entertainment, whereas standup is life itself.
We keep being hammered by the media on Taylor Swift setting records, but for the past two weeks there's been much more spontaneous conversation in my world over the Tom Brady roast. It was live, on a wire, and you can debate ad infinitum whether lines were crossed.
Then again, the Brady roast was on Netflix, which keeps pushing the envelope.
You can tell everybody about it, they can even be aware of it, but that does not mean they'll partake. I don't think there's anyone who is unaware of "Tortured Poets Department," but did you listen to it? Were you driven to listen to it?
That's the challenge.
How do you create work so interesting that those who were not previously interested now are.
It's about being authentic, taking risk, not trying to hoover up every dollar, not telling us how great you are but just being great.
It's a buzz in society, it's bottom-up, not top-down.
Never before have so many been aware of something yet shrugged their shoulders. There are too many options. You can beat me over the head all you want, that doesn't mean I'll pay attention.
My attention is the most valuable thing to me. You've got to earn it.
And that's very hard to do.
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I'm not sure if you're listening to Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast. Unfortunately Bill too often makes it about himself, when we're mostly interested in what the guests have to say, but there are some good episodes. Like the recent one with Jerry Seinfeld. Who was aloof yet analytical, he doesn't take himself too seriously, and when Bill was stunned that Jerry had a contrary opinion Seinfeld said he just likes to argue. I laughed at that. That's east coast, that's Jewish. Let's lay all the issues out on the table and try to illuminate the situation and come to a conclusion. If everybody agrees there's nothing learned.
So at one point in the conversation, Bill says he's retiring from the road. BECAUSE HE CAN'T SELL ENOUGH TICKETS! Bill can't play arenas like the big comics, he does not sell out everywhere he goes, why do it?
Now Bill has been on TV for three decades. First on Comedy Central and then on ABC four nights a week. And for the last two decades he's been on HBO. "Real Time" is one of their flagship series, one of the only ones that has sustained.
But people don't want to leave their houses to see Bill live.
Maybe they don't realize he's primarily a comedian. Then again, the same outlet that hosts his show, HBO, has aired a number of Bill's comedy specials.
Maybe they don't find Bill that funny. It's subjective, but Bill thinks he's one of the best out there, he's said so multiple times.
But it's not enough to bring the masses into the building. Bill plays theatres, and doesn't always sell out.
But it's even worse. At the end of every "Real Time," Bill announces where he'll be appearing next. I always thought this was a cheap shot, that fans would know to go to the show, but it turns out he needs the ad, he needs to tell people, otherwise how many people would show up at all?
Now it's hard to reach the audience today. To let them know you're even playing in their town.
But numerous comedians can sell out arenas. Interestingly, for most it's not a sideline, but the main line. Sure, Chris Rock has worked in film and TV, but no one sees him as an actor. They see Chris as a comedian, and need to go to connect with him live.
This is not the way it used to be. If you were on TV at all it paid dividends. People fought to be on TV. Now it's nearly meaningless.
Then again, this is not what the mainstream media tells us. They keep repeating the jokes from the previous evening's late night shows. But the savviest of those on at the midnight hour know that it's really not even about the show itself anymore, but creating viral moments. That are viewed on YouTube.
So you can appear on a late night TV show but... You're going to reach almost no one, unless you're featured in a moment that is clipped and goes viral, and that's almost never the case with musicians. The shows all reach fewer than two million people nightly, that's piss-poor in the YouTube world, and YouTube is all pull! If you're watching, you're probably a fan. How many people watching an act on late night TV are watching for that act? Very few.
Now in the old days, an appearance on TV translated into instant results. Sales. Of both recordings and tickets. But TV is the new terrestrial radio. Sure, it's got the largest number of viewers/listeners in one place, but it's far less than it used to be and the most active fans, the youth, are hardly participating at all.
But it's easier to be on TV than to figure out how to truly reach the audience. No one knows how anymore. They keep trying the old methods to failing results.
If Bill Maher wants to work live, and it seems that he's happy just doing his New Rules monologue at the end "Real Time," he'd have to work more and change his act. He'd have to find a way to connect with the audience that he isn't doing now. It would require something edgy, something that resonates, it might even require a personality transplant. Yes, Bill is talking down to you, you don't feel like you're in it with him, like you do with Hannah Gadsby, who is a gay woman on the autism spectrum, i.e. most people can't identify with her on the surface, but at the core we're all people, and she finds a way to connect.
TV is broad. Which is one reason late night talk shows have declined. We don't want to sit through some celebrity bloviating to get to the musical act, we want the musical act immediately. And we're certainly not going to tune in just to see an act we're unfamiliar with.
Too many acts are playing to the Fortune 500. They've become brands, they're not artists. Whereas the best comedians exist outside the law, they say the unsayable, they're truth-sayers like musicians used to be way back when. Music is too often just entertainment, whereas standup is life itself.
We keep being hammered by the media on Taylor Swift setting records, but for the past two weeks there's been much more spontaneous conversation in my world over the Tom Brady roast. It was live, on a wire, and you can debate ad infinitum whether lines were crossed.
Then again, the Brady roast was on Netflix, which keeps pushing the envelope.
You can tell everybody about it, they can even be aware of it, but that does not mean they'll partake. I don't think there's anyone who is unaware of "Tortured Poets Department," but did you listen to it? Were you driven to listen to it?
That's the challenge.
How do you create work so interesting that those who were not previously interested now are.
It's about being authentic, taking risk, not trying to hoover up every dollar, not telling us how great you are but just being great.
It's a buzz in society, it's bottom-up, not top-down.
Never before have so many been aware of something yet shrugged their shoulders. There are too many options. You can beat me over the head all you want, that doesn't mean I'll pay attention.
My attention is the most valuable thing to me. You've got to earn it.
And that's very hard to do.
--
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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Sunday, 19 May 2024
Leaving
https://t.ly/rHlWw
This is not a book for those still at their first rodeo. But if you're a boomer, or a Gen-X'er, and you can't relate... Then you probably are not in touch with your inner life.
Life doesn't work out the way you expect it to. Even if you try and jump through the ordained hoops. Never mind waking up and finding out you don't want to jump through said hoops, that they don't resonate with you. Life is an ongoing train of experiences. And the older you get, the more you reflect upon them, and then you ultimately realize they are set in amber, there is no next chapter.
Except when there is.
Get old enough and you'll realize there are places you'll never go, people you'll never see again, that you'll never be in contact with again. Then again, you never know when you'll be surprised.
So there's the one who got away. But sometimes you don't realize they got away until long thereafter.
And they tell you to listen to your heart. But sometimes your heart is undeveloped, it only knows the short term, it is not as wise it ultimately becomes.
And then there are issues of morality and commitment.
Most people cannot commit, cannot follow through. This was driven home to me by Daniel Glass thirty years ago at the initial SBK Records convention. He said you needed a college degree to work at SBK. This confounded me, I was a college graduate, but many of the music business titans were not, why was this a requirement?
And Daniel told me it had nothing to do with what you learned, but finishing college demonstrated that you could complete things. This has stuck in my head forevermore. If you want someone for the long haul, who won't jump off the ship when the seas are rough, a college degree is ultimately a demonstration of that character.
Kind of like the aphorism that half of the job is just showing up on time. You'd be surprised how many people cannot.
Which brings us to the ultimate commitment, marriage. Can you get divorced?
I once read a book that said the only reasons to get divorced were physical violence and drug abuse. Otherwise, the breakup would result in too many regrets.
The funny thing is it's today's college graduates who get married and stay married. Whereas those with less education are more prone to divorce, and have children out of wedlock.
But just because you did what you were told, is that the right thing for you? You wake up too far down the line and realize you've done things for others, your parents, your family, and your entire life has not resonated with you.
So there's this tension. Between doing the right thing and not getting caught up in it to the point where you become lost and unhappy.
That's what "Leaving" is about.
Well, much more than that. This is your one and only life. What resonates, what rewards? Work or personal relationships? Or are children primary.
And then out of the blue...
You're surprised. Something happens that makes you question your whole life. Do you have the power to change, is change the right thing?
I'm skirting around the plot of "Leaving" because I want the experience of reading it to be fresh to you, for you to be surprised by the plot. First and foremost a book is about the story. As for the language...
That's my only complaint with "Leaving." It aspires to be literary fiction, and therefore there's a bit too much description, but even worse words are employed that you absolutely will not know the meaning of. For all I know Roxana Robinson does, but I've got to believe she used a thesaurus. Ultimately, you just ride over the unknown terms, you get the gist, but I'm not sure who Robinson was trying to impress. Oh, that's right, the arbiters of literary fiction, where the form often trumps the story.
But the essence of "Leaving" is the inner dialogue. That which will not leave your brain that you cannot share. We live in a society where you're supposed to get over events instantly. Crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. But that's impossible, that's denial. Personal bonds when broken leave streaks of memory and discontent, that you cannot get out of your mind no matter how hard you try. You may have moved on, be involved with someone else, but you cannot forget what happened with that previous person, questioning your behavior all the while.
Once again, if you've had your ups and downs, if you can look back at life and wonder, I highly recommend "Leaving."
If you are not self-reflective...you're just denying your feelings, and it's not for you.
--
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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This is not a book for those still at their first rodeo. But if you're a boomer, or a Gen-X'er, and you can't relate... Then you probably are not in touch with your inner life.
Life doesn't work out the way you expect it to. Even if you try and jump through the ordained hoops. Never mind waking up and finding out you don't want to jump through said hoops, that they don't resonate with you. Life is an ongoing train of experiences. And the older you get, the more you reflect upon them, and then you ultimately realize they are set in amber, there is no next chapter.
Except when there is.
Get old enough and you'll realize there are places you'll never go, people you'll never see again, that you'll never be in contact with again. Then again, you never know when you'll be surprised.
So there's the one who got away. But sometimes you don't realize they got away until long thereafter.
And they tell you to listen to your heart. But sometimes your heart is undeveloped, it only knows the short term, it is not as wise it ultimately becomes.
And then there are issues of morality and commitment.
Most people cannot commit, cannot follow through. This was driven home to me by Daniel Glass thirty years ago at the initial SBK Records convention. He said you needed a college degree to work at SBK. This confounded me, I was a college graduate, but many of the music business titans were not, why was this a requirement?
And Daniel told me it had nothing to do with what you learned, but finishing college demonstrated that you could complete things. This has stuck in my head forevermore. If you want someone for the long haul, who won't jump off the ship when the seas are rough, a college degree is ultimately a demonstration of that character.
Kind of like the aphorism that half of the job is just showing up on time. You'd be surprised how many people cannot.
Which brings us to the ultimate commitment, marriage. Can you get divorced?
I once read a book that said the only reasons to get divorced were physical violence and drug abuse. Otherwise, the breakup would result in too many regrets.
The funny thing is it's today's college graduates who get married and stay married. Whereas those with less education are more prone to divorce, and have children out of wedlock.
But just because you did what you were told, is that the right thing for you? You wake up too far down the line and realize you've done things for others, your parents, your family, and your entire life has not resonated with you.
So there's this tension. Between doing the right thing and not getting caught up in it to the point where you become lost and unhappy.
That's what "Leaving" is about.
Well, much more than that. This is your one and only life. What resonates, what rewards? Work or personal relationships? Or are children primary.
And then out of the blue...
You're surprised. Something happens that makes you question your whole life. Do you have the power to change, is change the right thing?
I'm skirting around the plot of "Leaving" because I want the experience of reading it to be fresh to you, for you to be surprised by the plot. First and foremost a book is about the story. As for the language...
That's my only complaint with "Leaving." It aspires to be literary fiction, and therefore there's a bit too much description, but even worse words are employed that you absolutely will not know the meaning of. For all I know Roxana Robinson does, but I've got to believe she used a thesaurus. Ultimately, you just ride over the unknown terms, you get the gist, but I'm not sure who Robinson was trying to impress. Oh, that's right, the arbiters of literary fiction, where the form often trumps the story.
But the essence of "Leaving" is the inner dialogue. That which will not leave your brain that you cannot share. We live in a society where you're supposed to get over events instantly. Crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. But that's impossible, that's denial. Personal bonds when broken leave streaks of memory and discontent, that you cannot get out of your mind no matter how hard you try. You may have moved on, be involved with someone else, but you cannot forget what happened with that previous person, questioning your behavior all the while.
Once again, if you've had your ups and downs, if you can look back at life and wonder, I highly recommend "Leaving."
If you are not self-reflective...you're just denying your feelings, and it's not for you.
--
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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The Holdovers
It's now on Amazon Prime.
But it's the kind of movie we used to go to the theatre for, when film was still the national religion, when cinema engendered analysis, conversation, before everything became two-dimensional, in-your-face entertainment made to be consumed with popcorn and then forgotten.
Movies had to play around the world, they had to be dumbed-down, if you weren't shooting for the fences, you weren't even in the game. Studios even stopped buying art films, never mind closed their divisions in that area down, they limited production to grand slam efforts and in the process not only ceded the visual entertainment field to streaming television, but alienated an entire swath of dedicated moviegoers. Never mind not inculcating the desire, the religion, in young fans. You need to follow the sport, know what is going on, see the players move from flick to flick, so you can be involved. You need to be respected. Funny how food has gone upscale and movies down.
So "The Holdovers" is a flawed film, because the plot is predictable. You're waiting for a left turn, something surprising, but when it all plays out as you predicted, as you've seen before, you're disappointed.
Having said that, Paul Giamatti is great as usual, however it does take too long for his character to soften. But his ultimate confessional rings true, and is satisfying.
As for Mary, played by Da'Vine Joh Randolph... She evidences a wisdom, sense of humor and a sense of reality that is the heart of the film. The overlooked, those with less upward mobility, those not reaching for the stars, are the heart of our society, and Randolph evidences this. At first you think she's a caricature, large Black woman who is the school's cook. Over decades we've been exposed to the archetype, a second-class citizen who has been put upon. But Mary is the wisest person in the film. Not only does she have a sense of humor, she's the truth-teller, she suffers no B.S. She's attractive, you're drawn to her. I'm watching this film wondering when Giamatti is going to fall for her, she's normal but so desirable.
However the star of this movie is the penumbra. The set, the look.
You want to know what it was like going to college in my era? Watch "The Holdovers."
It's snowy. At times bleak. And isolated. You're there with your peers and your overlords, and that's it. Finito. In the pre-internet era. When we were not connected 24/7, when people could be unreachable, when there was an emphasis on what was in your head as opposed to the image you presented online.
But as much as the snowy weather enticed me, placed this movie, what blew my mind, the absolute peak of connection, was the poster of W.C. Fields on the dorm room wall.
W.C. Fields was an icon in the late sixties. A little more cult than Peter Fonda in "Easy Rider," but we quoted him all the time, after having seen each and every one of his movies, back before you could pull them up anywhere, instantly. Today there's a tsunami of information, of entertainment options, but in the pre-internet era not only were there fewer choices, you had to make an effort to consume them. Anybody could watch the three networks and listen to Top Forty radio. But to go see the films, both mainstream and art, to dive into FM and purchase the albums and read all the information you could get your hands on...that required an effort. And when you participated, did the work, you were a member of a club and reveled in it.
W.C. Fields died in 1946, just after the first baby boomers were born. His last great film, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break," was released in 1941. Yet we argued what was said on his gravestone, never mind imitating his vocal style.
And I doubt any youngster today even knows who he is.
W.C. Fields was a cult item on the periphery of the mainstream. Just an inch away. Today cult items are far from the mainstream, they almost never break through to ubiquity. But back then we had these mental totems based on our experience that wove us together. That's how you knew you had found your people, when they could quote the same movies and records as you.
And then there's the interactions amongst the students. Put males in a group without females and this is how they act, constantly jockeying for position, bullying, ganging up against the weak sheep, making fun of them. Sure, this is prep school, but many never outgrow this behavior.
And there's the spark of meeting someone of the opposite sex. Potential. And if they too are interested...
And there's the kid whose father won't let him come on vacation because he refuses to cut his hair. Amazingly, this was an issue back then. But even better, the ski trip is to Haystack, a ski area in Southern Vermont right next to Mt. Snow that ultimately went bankrupt and after lying dormant for years is now the private Hermitage Club. Skiing was hip back then, as skateboarding ultimately became. People still ski today, but it's a mature sport. Back then it was a reasonable question to ask, "Do you ski?" And you didn't have to be upper class to do so.
Then again, the striation of classes was less defined back then. Most people didn't know anybody who was rich, and wealthy roles on TV were caricatures. And there were no billionaires. And you never boasted about your financial status, the bluebloods kept their wealth close to the vest.
And the wealthy went to prep school. I went to college with a class that was made up of 45% prep school graduates. They knew the ropes, the college environment was not new to them. And they told tales. How at Lawrenceville the walls in the dorm did not go all the way to the ceiling, and after dark people would throw balls from one room to another.
"The Holdovers" captures a bygone era. And if you lived in it, you'll recognize it.
But there's nothing like it today. We're all connected, but less connected. Because we have options. Back then there were limits, not only technological, but you were beholden to the boss, your parents, your teachers, you chafed at the restrictions. Today kids talk back to their parents. Teachers and administrators are afraid of the students.
And I do not want to go back to this bygone era, but I haven't seen a film that has captured it as well as "The Holdovers" in quite a while.
It's hard to sustain this mood, this look and feel, throughout a series. This is where film triumphs, in setting a mood and a story upon it. But that power has been abdicated. However Alex Payne is still working in that milieu.
Once again, you'll ultimately be disappointed by the predictability of the plot. But the rest of the movie, the look, the feel, the mood? A+!
--
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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To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
But it's the kind of movie we used to go to the theatre for, when film was still the national religion, when cinema engendered analysis, conversation, before everything became two-dimensional, in-your-face entertainment made to be consumed with popcorn and then forgotten.
Movies had to play around the world, they had to be dumbed-down, if you weren't shooting for the fences, you weren't even in the game. Studios even stopped buying art films, never mind closed their divisions in that area down, they limited production to grand slam efforts and in the process not only ceded the visual entertainment field to streaming television, but alienated an entire swath of dedicated moviegoers. Never mind not inculcating the desire, the religion, in young fans. You need to follow the sport, know what is going on, see the players move from flick to flick, so you can be involved. You need to be respected. Funny how food has gone upscale and movies down.
So "The Holdovers" is a flawed film, because the plot is predictable. You're waiting for a left turn, something surprising, but when it all plays out as you predicted, as you've seen before, you're disappointed.
Having said that, Paul Giamatti is great as usual, however it does take too long for his character to soften. But his ultimate confessional rings true, and is satisfying.
As for Mary, played by Da'Vine Joh Randolph... She evidences a wisdom, sense of humor and a sense of reality that is the heart of the film. The overlooked, those with less upward mobility, those not reaching for the stars, are the heart of our society, and Randolph evidences this. At first you think she's a caricature, large Black woman who is the school's cook. Over decades we've been exposed to the archetype, a second-class citizen who has been put upon. But Mary is the wisest person in the film. Not only does she have a sense of humor, she's the truth-teller, she suffers no B.S. She's attractive, you're drawn to her. I'm watching this film wondering when Giamatti is going to fall for her, she's normal but so desirable.
However the star of this movie is the penumbra. The set, the look.
You want to know what it was like going to college in my era? Watch "The Holdovers."
It's snowy. At times bleak. And isolated. You're there with your peers and your overlords, and that's it. Finito. In the pre-internet era. When we were not connected 24/7, when people could be unreachable, when there was an emphasis on what was in your head as opposed to the image you presented online.
But as much as the snowy weather enticed me, placed this movie, what blew my mind, the absolute peak of connection, was the poster of W.C. Fields on the dorm room wall.
W.C. Fields was an icon in the late sixties. A little more cult than Peter Fonda in "Easy Rider," but we quoted him all the time, after having seen each and every one of his movies, back before you could pull them up anywhere, instantly. Today there's a tsunami of information, of entertainment options, but in the pre-internet era not only were there fewer choices, you had to make an effort to consume them. Anybody could watch the three networks and listen to Top Forty radio. But to go see the films, both mainstream and art, to dive into FM and purchase the albums and read all the information you could get your hands on...that required an effort. And when you participated, did the work, you were a member of a club and reveled in it.
W.C. Fields died in 1946, just after the first baby boomers were born. His last great film, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break," was released in 1941. Yet we argued what was said on his gravestone, never mind imitating his vocal style.
And I doubt any youngster today even knows who he is.
W.C. Fields was a cult item on the periphery of the mainstream. Just an inch away. Today cult items are far from the mainstream, they almost never break through to ubiquity. But back then we had these mental totems based on our experience that wove us together. That's how you knew you had found your people, when they could quote the same movies and records as you.
And then there's the interactions amongst the students. Put males in a group without females and this is how they act, constantly jockeying for position, bullying, ganging up against the weak sheep, making fun of them. Sure, this is prep school, but many never outgrow this behavior.
And there's the spark of meeting someone of the opposite sex. Potential. And if they too are interested...
And there's the kid whose father won't let him come on vacation because he refuses to cut his hair. Amazingly, this was an issue back then. But even better, the ski trip is to Haystack, a ski area in Southern Vermont right next to Mt. Snow that ultimately went bankrupt and after lying dormant for years is now the private Hermitage Club. Skiing was hip back then, as skateboarding ultimately became. People still ski today, but it's a mature sport. Back then it was a reasonable question to ask, "Do you ski?" And you didn't have to be upper class to do so.
Then again, the striation of classes was less defined back then. Most people didn't know anybody who was rich, and wealthy roles on TV were caricatures. And there were no billionaires. And you never boasted about your financial status, the bluebloods kept their wealth close to the vest.
And the wealthy went to prep school. I went to college with a class that was made up of 45% prep school graduates. They knew the ropes, the college environment was not new to them. And they told tales. How at Lawrenceville the walls in the dorm did not go all the way to the ceiling, and after dark people would throw balls from one room to another.
"The Holdovers" captures a bygone era. And if you lived in it, you'll recognize it.
But there's nothing like it today. We're all connected, but less connected. Because we have options. Back then there were limits, not only technological, but you were beholden to the boss, your parents, your teachers, you chafed at the restrictions. Today kids talk back to their parents. Teachers and administrators are afraid of the students.
And I do not want to go back to this bygone era, but I haven't seen a film that has captured it as well as "The Holdovers" in quite a while.
It's hard to sustain this mood, this look and feel, throughout a series. This is where film triumphs, in setting a mood and a story upon it. But that power has been abdicated. However Alex Payne is still working in that milieu.
Once again, you'll ultimately be disappointed by the predictability of the plot. But the rest of the movie, the look, the feel, the mood? A+!
--
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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