https://www.tiktok.com/@franfloyd/video/7473656464880438551?_r=1&_t=ZT-8uk8PLz9ZhD
I was served this up on TikTok.
I've got a special place in my heart for "Take the Long Way Home" because that's the song I sang in my head after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. This was when California was still hip and natural disasters were not everyday events. Still...unless you've experienced an earthquake you don't really get it. It's so unnatural. I guess because it is natural. You count on terra firma being...firm. And when it's not, your body is not prepared for it.
Anyway, the freeway collapsed, ergo "Take the Long Way Home."
Now I never saw Supertramp in their heyday, even though I was a huge fan. Actually, "Breakfast in America" was the last hurrah. The audience finally caught up with the band, then again the band compromised too...gave up most of the alienation.
That's what made "Crime of the Century" so fantastic. You could resonate with it.
Of course, of course, we can all resonate with love songs, either dreamy or breakup. But the human condition... Today people will testify they're depressed, but not that they're alienated, that's taboo. You've got your tribe. But in reality, you may not. Certainly not in the sixties and seventies, before money was everything and income inequality was rampant.
I'm an alienated f*ck. Have been my entire life. I feel...just outside of life. I'm here, but my mind is elsewhere. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. It seems that everybody else is on a different wavelength, getting with the program, hopping through the steps, investing in a car, a spouse, a house, a retirement account... Where are my people, who are questioning everything?
In a song.
So I'm watching this performance of "Take the Long Way Home" and it's so perfect, I cannot believe it. First and foremost, Roger Hodgson still has his pipes, unlike many of the singers of his vintage. But all the flourishes in the original, they're reproduced, with an orchestra.
These are some of my favorite finds. One of my Napster gems was Neil Finn singing "Message to My Girl" with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. You can see it on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-6Ta_8T7QM
"No more empty self-possession
Visions swept under the mat
It's no New Year's resolution
It's more than that"
"Message to My Girl" comes from the last real Split Enz album, before Tim Finn left. And I'd like to say "Conflicting Emotions" is as good as "True Colours," the band's best work, or even "Waiata," but it's not.
However, it's got "Message to My Girl."
He's infatuated, but he's having a hard time crossing the gap, telling his object of affection, but finally...
"I can't spend the rest of my life
Buried in the sand"
These are the moments of every alienated, pessimistic life. You realize that you've got to stop listening to your records and take a risk.
That Neil Finn with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra track/video was recorded in 1996, when was this iteration of "Take the Long Way Home" recorded?
Well, when the camera pulls back, you can see the words "Jazz Open Stuttgart," so I Googled and it came right up.
2013.
Okay, okay... I remember the early days of YouTube, when we'd find amazing things and send them to each other. But that era faded, just like the early days of e-mail when you forwarded jokes.
So Google told me the full show was on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBUCNKQyTIQ
So I clicked and...
I went through the track listing and the second song was "School."
"Don't do this and don't do that
What are they trying to do? (Make a good boy of you)
And do they know where it's at?
But don't criticize, they're old and wise
Do as they tell you to, don't want the devil to
Come and put out your eyes"
That's what they teach you in school, to obey the rules. And if you continue to go to school, matriculate at a college, you ultimately realize it's all...
B.S.
The puffed up professors. The grinding students. All for what? A grade that will mean nothing in your future life? Maybe you can trade in your grades for a good graduate school, or a job, but at some point you're going to wake up and realize none of this make sense. Or you're going to get fired and confront reality.
Which is why baby boomers can't understand the techies. You dropped out of college, WHAT DIDYOUR PARENTS SAY?
The concert also includes "Hide in Your Shell," the second longest song from "Crime of the Century," it's got multiple movements, it's a tour-de-force.
"But what you see is just illusion
(What you see is just illusion)
You're surrounded by confusion
(You're surrounded by confusion)
Saying life's begun to cheat you
Friends are out to beat you
Grab on to what you can scramble for"
Now ultimately "Hide in Your Shell" is akin to "Message to My Girl," a hand extended to bring you into the world of love.
However...
"Crime of the Century" closes with the title track.
"Now they're planning the crime of the century
Well what would it be?
Read all about their schemes and adventuring
Yes it's well worth the fee
So roll up and see
As they rape the universe
How they've gone from bad to worse"
Us versus them. That's the way we saw it back then. To sell out was anathema. Now selling out is the goal, that's the backbone of social media influencers. Screw credibility, it's money I want!
But the acts of yore left money on the table. Not everything felt right.
Not anymore.
Now "Crime of the Century" is not a part of the Stuttgart show, it was sung by Rick Davies.
"Crisis? What Crisis?" followed "Crime of the Century," it was for fans only.
But after that came "In the Quietest Moments" with "Give a Little Bit."
That's a Hodgson song, and it's part of this show. But also included is the title cut, my favorite from the album.
"Don't you let the sun fade away
Don't you let the sun fade away
Don't you let the sun be leaving
Won't you come to me soon?"
There's a reaching out, an optimism.
But the pure sound of the record... It's hermetically sealed. It's not made for dancing, but listening. You want to sidle up to it, try to get inside it.
That's music.
Assuming you're a big fan from the seventies. When the charts meant nothing, even though those who were not there keep referencing said charts whilst depicting a reality that is far from the one those who were there experienced.
So I'm thinking how this music wouldn't float today. Sure, we've got some introspection, but everybody's looking for a way in, nobody is on the outside feeling that they don't fit in and this might be their condition for the rest of their life, people with more questions than answers.
Then again, the outsiders question the status quo, whereas the insiders are invested in it.
Now punk was a reaction to corporate rock, which Supertramp was not, however Supertramp was a bunch of skilled musicians taking their time to create a seamless statement. So the punks didn't embrace it. However, Supertramp and the punks did share a basic trait, the aforesaid ALIENATION!
So you may pooh-pooh Supertramp, not only not watch this video, but feel a need to insult it.
However, for a chosen few...
This is manna from heaven.
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Sunday, 16 March 2025
Chuck Schumer
This was his Napster moment.
And he failed.
Everything comes back to the music business. Which was the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption. When they finally started stealing movies...there was a trailer in the theatre scolding moviegoers not to, PAYING CUSTOMERS WHO WERE ALREADY THERE!
Never forget, those with money and status protect money and status first and foremost, they cannot question their beliefs.
Like Chuck Schumer.
Schumer seems to believe it's business as usual. That the system works. As it is crumbling all around him. He reminds me of the executives who kept saying that the CD was perfect, who would want anything more...after ripping off the public with one good track on a disc they sold for fifteen bucks. The public was angry, the industry was ignorant, and then an explosion happened.
This time the explosion is on the other side, the Republican side, a slide towards authoritarianism. If you think Trump believes in the system...you just haven't been following the news. He acts willy-nilly and dares the legal system to stop him, and so far it hasn't done a great job of this.
Now it's not only Trump. But his acolytes. We've got to stop demonizing each and every person who voted for Trump. Forget the Biden-haters, those who constantly want to own the libs. The bottom line is people wanted change, and the Democrats weren't giving it to them. Biden was a placeholder. Where was the march to the future?
Oh, don't bother to defend him. And don't bother to point out the small margin with which Trump won. Or denigrate Gavin Newsom's new podcast. Makes me crazy when people are so up their own rear ends, inside their bubble, that they can't see the outside.
Sure, if you're part of the educated elite you think you know better. But one thing you do not know is how the other half lives. You're so busy chasing the billionaires that you're myopic.
Ah, I'm an equal-opportunity offender! People hate when you question your own team. Which is what Newsom is doing. He realizes he's vulnerable, with the issues in California, with the fetid debate with DeSantis on Fox. So Gavin is switching it up, trying to save his presidential prospects, and what do we keep hearing? HE'S LEGITIMIZING THE RIGHT!
As if we don't all live in a society together. Isn't that the cliché, keep your friends close, your enemies closer?
And then there's James Carville telling the Democrats to roll over and play dead and wait for the Republicans to self-destruct.
I'm sick and tired of the usual suspect Democrats who believe in the game so much that they can't question the game.
Like the coming elections... Do you really believe they're going to happen? On a fair basis? I mean they have elections in Russia and Hungary and it makes no difference, the incumbent strongman wins.
Everything is suddenly up for grabs. People are afraid to speak. Talk about a chilling effect... How do you lose the ability to speak truth to power? Very slowly and then all at once.
If you want to be really horrified, read this piece from "The New York Times':
"Young Democrats' Anger Boils Over as Schumer Retreats on Shutdown - A generational divide, seen in newer lawmakers' impatience with bipartisanship and for colleagues who don't understand new media, has emerged as one of the deepest rifts within the party."
Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/government-shutdown-spending-bill-schumer-democrats.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4U4.rYGH.R5a6fF1fgYte&smid=url-share
Here's the money quote:
"And in private, 30- and 40-something lawmakers commiserate about having to decipher the mysteries of the internet for their older colleagues; one said she recently had to explain to another House member what a podcast was."
This reminds me of the turn of the century when record execs did not use computers and had their e-mail printed out. How in the hell could they understand technological change? THEY COULDN'T! They couldn't fathom the discontent of the public. And they had the law on their side... So they sued their customers, and instituted the rootkit. How did that work out? HORRIBLY! Revenues continued to sink until an outsider, Daniel Ek, came along and rescued them.
And the funny thing is the labels LOVE Ek and Spotify, he's their largest account. And the users who bought the internet dream that everybody would be rich and famous in the future because of the unlimited opportunity blame Ek when this fallacy evidenced itself. More artists are making more money than ever before on Spotify and this still isn't enough for wannabe and broke artists, especially those who made money in the past. What more do you want?
Oh, a penny a stream. Then you're instantly ignored. You don't know economics. And if you don't know the landscape, you're screwed.
The public knows the landscape and is horrified and scared. And the only people seemingly tapping into this are D.C. pariahs Bernie Sanders and AOC. Bernie is speaking English, constantly railing against the oligarchs, and AOC represents the younger generation. But Schumer, et al, are in bed with the oligarchs, they've got their own team just like Trump and the Republicans, and they want no change, while believing that they know everything and rule forever, they're baby boomers, aren't they?
The record labels refused to make a deal with Napster, they legally shut it down, it was copyright infringement. And then what happened? KaZaA surfaced, and since there was no central database, a new legal question arose. And after KaZaA came lockers... It was an endless race until Ek and Spotify. (Don't talk to me about the iTunes Store, it was a wank, a temporary solution of ownership when ownership is passé, just ask anybody under thirty, they want ACCESS, not OWNERSHIP, meanwhile the aforementioned boomers can't understand this, aren't you supposed to build a shrine to yourself?)
So as you can see, it was one cut after another for the music industry until an outsider came along and rescued them.
So Schumer capitulates on the budget and he thinks this is the end. No, it's just the BEGINNING! Trump has Schumer and the Democrats just where he wants them, afraid and complacent, believing in business as usual when nothing could be further from the truth.
Well, they'll get him next time. Huh? When are you going to draw a line in the sand, when are you going to activate the public, get them on your side.
Napster gained traction with college students, because at the time they were the few with high speed connections. And even eventual users pooh-poohed Napster. It was illegal, the sound was supposedly poor, there were viruses... And then they started to use it and they were amazed, this was the greatest thing of all time! Not only could you get the hits you wanted that you'd never buy, you'd get all this unreleased stuff! Metallica said they didn't want their work tapes out there. Now acts are begging for attention, they're flooding YouTube with live shows, covers... Credit Napster. And if you think we're ever going back to the controlled market of yesteryear... You believe that foreign music is not infiltrating the scene and diluting the power of U.S. and U.K. repertoire.
Now the labels had an edict that no one employed could use Napster. Which only made them ignorant. Because if you used the service, you saw its magic, its advantages.
Schumer wants the Democrats to fall in line.
Whereas if he'd voted down the budget we'd be in uncharted territory, which a politician hates the most, they want a controlled environment. Yes, in the past a government shutdown was anathema, but I wouldn't think that would be the case today. It would focus and define the issues. As for the deleterious effects...how about all the people who've already lost their jobs as a result of Musk's chainsaw?
And the press keeps reporting the news. Just like with Napster. But the press didn't make the difference, THE USERS DID!
The general public.
And the general public is pissed, certainly the Democrats. And Republicans who voted for Trump are about to experience pain and what did Schumer do? Roll over and play dead.
It's a new world. You employ new strategies.
Read that article above:
"Representative Sara Jacobs of California, 36 — who said she recently had to explain what a podcast was to a Democratic colleague she would not name..."
Said:
"'Democrats won the people who watch cable news and read newspapers,' Ms. Jacobs said. 'We lost the people who don't feel like they're part of politics at all. And so, how do we go to them, instead of keep trying to force them to come to us?'"
Bingo. It's not only those on the right who do not believe in mainstream news. You've just got to read my inbox.
Oh, that's right, YOU DON'T!
If you did, you wouldn't have been surprised that Trump won in 2016 or 2020. And you'd be aware of the discontent and anger on the left today. People who are not only sick of the politicians, but big media. They rely on Substack and YouTube and podcasts and...alta kachers in Congress are clueless. Even baseball changed its rules, realizing the game had to be sped up and reined in.
But not the Democrats.
What do you want them to do? Their hands are tied!
No, they're not, we want you to wake up and LEAD!
--
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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And he failed.
Everything comes back to the music business. Which was the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption. When they finally started stealing movies...there was a trailer in the theatre scolding moviegoers not to, PAYING CUSTOMERS WHO WERE ALREADY THERE!
Never forget, those with money and status protect money and status first and foremost, they cannot question their beliefs.
Like Chuck Schumer.
Schumer seems to believe it's business as usual. That the system works. As it is crumbling all around him. He reminds me of the executives who kept saying that the CD was perfect, who would want anything more...after ripping off the public with one good track on a disc they sold for fifteen bucks. The public was angry, the industry was ignorant, and then an explosion happened.
This time the explosion is on the other side, the Republican side, a slide towards authoritarianism. If you think Trump believes in the system...you just haven't been following the news. He acts willy-nilly and dares the legal system to stop him, and so far it hasn't done a great job of this.
Now it's not only Trump. But his acolytes. We've got to stop demonizing each and every person who voted for Trump. Forget the Biden-haters, those who constantly want to own the libs. The bottom line is people wanted change, and the Democrats weren't giving it to them. Biden was a placeholder. Where was the march to the future?
Oh, don't bother to defend him. And don't bother to point out the small margin with which Trump won. Or denigrate Gavin Newsom's new podcast. Makes me crazy when people are so up their own rear ends, inside their bubble, that they can't see the outside.
Sure, if you're part of the educated elite you think you know better. But one thing you do not know is how the other half lives. You're so busy chasing the billionaires that you're myopic.
Ah, I'm an equal-opportunity offender! People hate when you question your own team. Which is what Newsom is doing. He realizes he's vulnerable, with the issues in California, with the fetid debate with DeSantis on Fox. So Gavin is switching it up, trying to save his presidential prospects, and what do we keep hearing? HE'S LEGITIMIZING THE RIGHT!
As if we don't all live in a society together. Isn't that the cliché, keep your friends close, your enemies closer?
And then there's James Carville telling the Democrats to roll over and play dead and wait for the Republicans to self-destruct.
I'm sick and tired of the usual suspect Democrats who believe in the game so much that they can't question the game.
Like the coming elections... Do you really believe they're going to happen? On a fair basis? I mean they have elections in Russia and Hungary and it makes no difference, the incumbent strongman wins.
Everything is suddenly up for grabs. People are afraid to speak. Talk about a chilling effect... How do you lose the ability to speak truth to power? Very slowly and then all at once.
If you want to be really horrified, read this piece from "The New York Times':
"Young Democrats' Anger Boils Over as Schumer Retreats on Shutdown - A generational divide, seen in newer lawmakers' impatience with bipartisanship and for colleagues who don't understand new media, has emerged as one of the deepest rifts within the party."
Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/government-shutdown-spending-bill-schumer-democrats.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4U4.rYGH.R5a6fF1fgYte&smid=url-share
Here's the money quote:
"And in private, 30- and 40-something lawmakers commiserate about having to decipher the mysteries of the internet for their older colleagues; one said she recently had to explain to another House member what a podcast was."
This reminds me of the turn of the century when record execs did not use computers and had their e-mail printed out. How in the hell could they understand technological change? THEY COULDN'T! They couldn't fathom the discontent of the public. And they had the law on their side... So they sued their customers, and instituted the rootkit. How did that work out? HORRIBLY! Revenues continued to sink until an outsider, Daniel Ek, came along and rescued them.
And the funny thing is the labels LOVE Ek and Spotify, he's their largest account. And the users who bought the internet dream that everybody would be rich and famous in the future because of the unlimited opportunity blame Ek when this fallacy evidenced itself. More artists are making more money than ever before on Spotify and this still isn't enough for wannabe and broke artists, especially those who made money in the past. What more do you want?
Oh, a penny a stream. Then you're instantly ignored. You don't know economics. And if you don't know the landscape, you're screwed.
The public knows the landscape and is horrified and scared. And the only people seemingly tapping into this are D.C. pariahs Bernie Sanders and AOC. Bernie is speaking English, constantly railing against the oligarchs, and AOC represents the younger generation. But Schumer, et al, are in bed with the oligarchs, they've got their own team just like Trump and the Republicans, and they want no change, while believing that they know everything and rule forever, they're baby boomers, aren't they?
The record labels refused to make a deal with Napster, they legally shut it down, it was copyright infringement. And then what happened? KaZaA surfaced, and since there was no central database, a new legal question arose. And after KaZaA came lockers... It was an endless race until Ek and Spotify. (Don't talk to me about the iTunes Store, it was a wank, a temporary solution of ownership when ownership is passé, just ask anybody under thirty, they want ACCESS, not OWNERSHIP, meanwhile the aforementioned boomers can't understand this, aren't you supposed to build a shrine to yourself?)
So as you can see, it was one cut after another for the music industry until an outsider came along and rescued them.
So Schumer capitulates on the budget and he thinks this is the end. No, it's just the BEGINNING! Trump has Schumer and the Democrats just where he wants them, afraid and complacent, believing in business as usual when nothing could be further from the truth.
Well, they'll get him next time. Huh? When are you going to draw a line in the sand, when are you going to activate the public, get them on your side.
Napster gained traction with college students, because at the time they were the few with high speed connections. And even eventual users pooh-poohed Napster. It was illegal, the sound was supposedly poor, there were viruses... And then they started to use it and they were amazed, this was the greatest thing of all time! Not only could you get the hits you wanted that you'd never buy, you'd get all this unreleased stuff! Metallica said they didn't want their work tapes out there. Now acts are begging for attention, they're flooding YouTube with live shows, covers... Credit Napster. And if you think we're ever going back to the controlled market of yesteryear... You believe that foreign music is not infiltrating the scene and diluting the power of U.S. and U.K. repertoire.
Now the labels had an edict that no one employed could use Napster. Which only made them ignorant. Because if you used the service, you saw its magic, its advantages.
Schumer wants the Democrats to fall in line.
Whereas if he'd voted down the budget we'd be in uncharted territory, which a politician hates the most, they want a controlled environment. Yes, in the past a government shutdown was anathema, but I wouldn't think that would be the case today. It would focus and define the issues. As for the deleterious effects...how about all the people who've already lost their jobs as a result of Musk's chainsaw?
And the press keeps reporting the news. Just like with Napster. But the press didn't make the difference, THE USERS DID!
The general public.
And the general public is pissed, certainly the Democrats. And Republicans who voted for Trump are about to experience pain and what did Schumer do? Roll over and play dead.
It's a new world. You employ new strategies.
Read that article above:
"Representative Sara Jacobs of California, 36 — who said she recently had to explain what a podcast was to a Democratic colleague she would not name..."
Said:
"'Democrats won the people who watch cable news and read newspapers,' Ms. Jacobs said. 'We lost the people who don't feel like they're part of politics at all. And so, how do we go to them, instead of keep trying to force them to come to us?'"
Bingo. It's not only those on the right who do not believe in mainstream news. You've just got to read my inbox.
Oh, that's right, YOU DON'T!
If you did, you wouldn't have been surprised that Trump won in 2016 or 2020. And you'd be aware of the discontent and anger on the left today. People who are not only sick of the politicians, but big media. They rely on Substack and YouTube and podcasts and...alta kachers in Congress are clueless. Even baseball changed its rules, realizing the game had to be sped up and reined in.
But not the Democrats.
What do you want them to do? Their hands are tied!
No, they're not, we want you to wake up and LEAD!
--
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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