The Four Seasons-Season 2

They used to make movies like this. As a matter of fact, this Netflix series is based on a movie of the same name that was released back in 1981. I saw it at a screening. That was a big thing forty years ago. You would be walking down the street, shopping at the mall, and be offered tickets. And most people who signed up went, because they wanted to be an insider. L.A. was a company town, driven by movies, they were a constant source of banter and they impacted society. Not anymore. I get invited to screenings on a regular basis. Ooh, do I want to go to the Paramount lot? NO! I've got to drive there just to see a movie that is almost never great, no thank you. Basically I want a link to a screener, that I can watch at my leisure at home. Everybody's begging for publicity and they hope I'll provide it. But when it comes to straight ahead movies (not music docs), does anybody really care? There are genres. Superhero, horror and animation, those are the only ones with a good chance of success. And if you have any success, there are endless sequels, it's too heavy a lift to start from scratch in a world where you can't reach anybody. "Must-See TV" died with the nineties. There's not one place that garners all the eyeballs. Other than maybe the Netflix homepage. And screen real estate is important, and there are some people who watch based on what appears, but mostly we pull up stuff we've heard about from our friends, from seeing scuttlebutt online, our interest is piqued and we dive in. Honestly, I'll check out anything Tina Fey is involved in. Then again, I've never watched a full "30 Rock." Nor "Mean Girls." In those cases Fey is in her environment, i.e. delivering laughs based on stereotypes, played broadly. And I must admit that "The Four Seasons" has an element of that, but it does not override the quality. What you've got here is relationships. The world runs on relationships. Which is why we used to have movies about them. Ultimately the relationship film world devolved until only Nancy Meyers was left, but even she lost the plot, the look and feel became more important than the story. Her movies became like influencer productions on steroids. Showing all the accoutrements of upper middle class living. And the audience of women loved this. But the men ultimately fell out. At what point does it steer into chick lit? Because if you're selling to the females, odds are the men are not interested. How do you walk the line, make it interesting to both? Well, if you're not completely supportive of women, they won't partake. And if it's too soft, too tilted toward women, the men won't bother. It's a tightrope, which is why many don't even start. But Tina Fey did. What you've got to know about Tina Fey is that she's now in her fifties. And she looks it. In a good way. What I mean is everybody's trying to cheat, to look younger in Hollywood. When you see someone who looks and acts their age suddenly you can relate. The odds of getting involved with, even having contact with, some facelifted, botoxed man or woman trying to pass for twenty years younger are low. But someone who is your age, with a personality... Whether it be romantic or not, you can relate, you KNOW these people. As for Will Forte... I never cottoned to him. Ultimately I realized it's his voice. He turns it on and it's kinda nasal and rough and unbelievable...the funny thing is when he acts normal, he's much more palatable. The secret sauce is Kerri Kenney-Silver. Now in the old days, you knew all the productions actors were in, you followed them as they moved up the ladder. Kenny-Silver has a ton of credits, all in shows that are not up my alley. Broad comedies. Genre pics. I like something more real. And Kerri Kenney-Silver as Anne is totally believable. She has moments that are over the top, but mostly she plays true to type. The scorned woman, the wife the husband left for the younger woman. And the thing about Anne is she can understand it on one level, she's no longer young and hot, but she radiates an intellect and a personality that make her so appealing. Arm candy is nice in public, but at home you have to have something to talk about. Colman Domingo as Danny, one half of a gay couple, plays a bit too broad this season, he was a bit more believable last season, but in many ways he rings true. Which his husband, Marco Calvani as Claude, does not. Claude is a caricature. There are people like this, gay men parading feminine characteristics on steroids, but Claude's behavior detracts from believability. I mean why would Danny be interested in Claude, who is idiosyncratic and oftentimes complaining. But despite some broad characters and broad scripting... There is a ton of real stuff in "Four Seasons," and I recommend all adults watch it, preferably couples together. Because everything is not always hunky-dory. The couples argue, fight, make up... Jack and Kate... Jack (Will Forte), can't get over the death of Steve Carell's Nick. How is Kate (Tina Fey) supposed to handle this, and how does it affect her? Do you enable, are you sympathetic or do you tell the other person to get it together. It's a constant challenge, and it ends up affecting your own mood. And you're living together but emotionally apart. So ultimately you acknowledge this distance, but finding a solution is tough. And all Kate wants is for Jack to be happy. She tries to get the rest of the group to go along for Jack's benefit. But people don't always pay attention to him and things get worse. Should Danny and Claude have a baby? Very rarely are couples in agreement on major issues out of the box. And some people go along to get along, but does this blow up after the fact? And I can't tell you how many over fifty men and women have receded from the dating pool. They say their lives are full, and they've been hurt and they don't want to risk and should friends push them or leave them alone? And the issue of male friendship is addressed. And how women accede to men's desires in the beginning of a relationship, but when years go by and it gets real... In other words, watch "The Four Seasons" if you want to connect, relate. Almost all of the adult issues are addressed here. And watching you see what the couples do and wonder if you should be doing them too. Have group vacations... Should you maintain bonds with people you've outgrown? And will your spouse support your dream? Let's be clear, this is a Tina Fey show, so there are quips, jokes littered in each episode. It's not overbearing, but this is not how people talk on a regular basis, they're just not that quick...although these quips do add laughs and do not undercut the gravitas. I don't want to say "The Four Seasons" is believable, never mind perfect, but it's addressing human, adult issues, and I hunger for this. This is why I read books, and sometimes you get these issues addressed in streaming TV series... But never forget, comedy is very hard to do. And "The Four Seasons" is ultimately a comedy. And when a comedy misses, it's unwatchable. And very few comedies hit every note. The writing and the performing and the directing have to harmonize to create an alchemy that works, and that's a lot of moving parts. This is what Tina Fey specializes in. And a hell of a lot more is right in "The Four Seasons" than is wrong. It is not a huge commitment, each season is only eight half hour episodes. Nothing is dragged out. But it's addictive. An episode ends and you're hungry for the next one, you can't take a break, because you're in this environment... It's less needing to know what happens on a macro level than finding out how the couples are going to deal with the smaller issues, the everyday issues, that arise. "The Four Seasons" might not be your kind of show. Then again, I know a lot of men who love this stuff even though they wouldn't admit it out loud. In a perfect world I'd watch the series with a group of couples on a vacation, one sans outside diversions, where you're all in it together. "The Four Seasons" stimulates not only thoughts, but conversation. You're invested. It's real. And I recommend it. -- 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

Amy Grant-This Week's Podcast

Amy has a new album, "The Me That Remains." https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amy-grant/id1316200737?i=1000769983611 https://open.spotify.com/episode/3i78oCPCcZvs4ExDdKjnJz?si=xgjiKBY1TXq2t9PzTQsyaA https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/amy-grant-335084319?app=listen https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/4a70e0cc-b93a-41f9-bb28-9efff9097d55/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-amy-grant -- 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

Mailbag-Willie Nile & More

From: Lincoln Myerson Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile Hey Bob- I’m late to your post on Willie. (I blame the international timeline despite being a day ahead of you here in New Zealand but I digress) I thought I’d share my anecdote nonetheless.  You might enjoy it.  I brought Willie to McCabe’s for the first time in 2006 or 2007. I’d  been a fan since the mid 80s when, while working at the old Rhino record store on Westwood, I got hipped to that first Arista record of his.  Cut to 2006 and I’m at my first SXSW as the new booker for McCabe’s. I’d seen Willie at a daytime party and loved what he was doing and after the show tried to get him to play McCabe’s. He wasn’t so sure. Didn’t really get out to the West Coast that much yada yada.  I gave him my card and left it at that.  The next day I went to see a Ray Davies interview/Q&A at the convention center. Turns out about 5000 people had the same idea and the line stretched out around the block. I gave up on that and started heading out when I heard “Pssst! Hey McCabe’s” and then, slyly… “cuts?” Willie and I were the last two admitted before they cut off the line.  10 minutes of us fanboying over the Kinks while in line and the dye was cast. Willie was at McCabe’s later that year.  A real rock n roll lifer.  And gem of a human being.  A goofy side note- my father was a TV and film director.  He directed Private Lessons which features a Willie track on the end credits.  Take care Bob. Until the next time, Lincoln __________________________________ From: Meg Griffin Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile My True Friend in RocknRoll!  The unstoppable Willie Nile! __________________________________ Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile Back in 2013 and we had tickets for Ian Hunter at the City Winery, flying in from Oklahoma. There was a blizzard arriving the same time we were so we changed our flight to a day earlier. We decided to see what was happening at the winery. The scheduled band couldn't make it as the snow was coming down heavily. So, I guess they called up Willie who made the short trip from his home and did a hell of a solo show. We had the window view of the beautiful snow falling and Willie Nile singing his beautiful song "The Crossing" at the piano. It was magical memory.  Steve Walker Tulsa __________________________________ From: Steve Martin Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile   Hi Bob, I so glad you saw Willie at McCabes and slightly surprised he hadn’t come across your radar earlier.  I first saw Willie in Central Park in 1980.  The Arista album had come out,with quite a buzz.  And he killed that night.   He was —and still is- one of the best live artists,ever.   I’ve seen him countless times over the years & he has never disappointed.   He’s a truly gifted songwriter,dynamic performer & a true gentleman.   Glad you gave him a spotlight.    Write on, my friend.   Best, Steve #UAP __________________________________ Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile I saw Willie Nile at the Bottom Line when the first album came out.  The record label did not know how to promote him and the record got lost.  I moved on to other artists until 2006 when Streets of New York came out.  Simply a fantastic album and one of my five favorites of this century.. I saw him at Joe’s Pub two weeks ago.  It was the first time I had seen him since I saw him at City Winery several years ago.  At that show Congressman Joe Crowley, who lost in a primary to AOC a year later, came out to sing with him on “One Guitar”. The show at Joe’s pub was solo and was terrific.  Interesting thing was he knew half the audience and was calling people out by name.   He truly is a NYC treasure and deserves as much recognition as possible. Adam Gerstein __________________________________ Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile Worked as an Arista label mgr at EMI Sweden, when the 1st Willie Nile album surfaced on my desk. Loved the first listen and still love it hasse breitholtz __________________________________ Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile I had the privilege of seeing Willie a few years ago at the Grammy Museum in L.A. Great show and talk back. Been a huge Willie guy since the early NYC days. Seems he was always playing the Bottom Line, Max’s Kansas City, etc. He still rocks and is 100% the real deal. He should give seminars to the current crop of rock artists to show ‘em how it’s done with integrity and courage. All the best, Larry Laffer Malibu, CA __________________________________ From: Michael Leonard Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile Thanks for this heads up on Willie, whom I most definitely never heard of until now. Sadly. I know you said not to run to Spotify to check out his albums but that advice i decided to ignore. Thankfully.  Goddamn there’s some certified BANGERS on his last several albums! “The Great Yellow Light”, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “New York at Night” all burst with such vital old school rockin energy. Willie and his band would most definitely fit along side a playlist or concert with the Black Crowes, Whiskey Myers, Blackberry Smoke or the Stones.  His lyrics didn’t loose any bite at all with his band - including a new favorite of mine, a duet with Steve Earle, “Wake Up America”.  Not only bites, it’s a kick in the teeth.  Wake up America Rise and shine The sun’s going down And it’s all on the line Wake up America Red, white and blue You used to be great What happened to you? … Wake up America Land of the free Are you everything That you say you want to be? Thanks Bob. Here’s hoping Willie has got the same longevity as is Pop!  Michael Leonard, Portland Maine. __________________________________ Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile For the Streets Of New York album, Willie came to play for the staff at the SonyBMG branch office. As awkward as office performances can be, he was utterly amazing and blew the team sway. Afterwards, Willie couldn’t have been kinder to everyone (even me, a lowly college rep at the time). Became a fan for life.  The standout track for me on that album is “Cellphones Ringing In The Pockets Of The Dead” (which stemmed from the bombings at the train station in Madrid, Spain). When I visited the station a few years after that performance, that song was in my head & further drove home the impact of his writing. A surreal & powerful moment, which is what great art (like Willie’s) should make you feel.  Later had the pleasure of booking Willie & Johnny Pisano for a private late-night party during Folk Alliance (you remember the setup - artists play 30 minute sets in hotel rooms while conference attendees watch). Will never forget watching Willie sing & jump on the bed in the room - no one was having a better time that night than him! Mike Fordham __________________________________ Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile Bob, This was shared with me by someone who knows I’m a fan and friend of Willie Nile You captured how I feel perfectly.  I little more than dozen years ago, I was dragged by my father-in-law, with my wife and two young daughters, to a small venue in the DC suburbs. My father-in-law had been been following Willie for decades and had asked enough times that we couldn’t say no. We should have listened sooner.  He had his full band and they rocked. His base player, Johnny Pizano is a talent. They, especially Willie brought magic. My then 8 year old ended up on stage for his closing anthem, One Guitar. We have been a fans since.  We’ve probably seen him play 20+ times in a half dozen venues. Mostly with his band but also solo. You are spot on… We have had him to play two (business) client events and done two unplugged shows for close friends in our home  We had our kids’ talented piano teacher join for a few songs. Very cool to watch musicians who haven’t played together figure it out. Clip attached.  I think some of his songs could be perfect in a movie soundtrack.  I imagine you know he is a musician’s musician, with relationships with many big names. Springsteen has jumped on stage at multiple Willie Nile shows- lots on YouTube. I would think a shout out from a big name or two could give Willie a nice boost. Maybe if he was invited on stage on a tour to play one of his songs like One Guitar with a superstar… Separate from his talent, he is a special human being. I’m not in the music business. I have this idea that one break could help him catch fire and maybe get him into an elevator building… Long way of saying, I appreciate what you wrote. If you find yourself in DC when Wille is here, feel free to reach out and join us for a show. For that matter, we have and will travel if the logistics work.  Best regards, Peter Glassman __________________________________ Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile Thanks Bob A long overdue tribute.  I’ve seen Willie three times in London, both with the band, electric and also on his own ( maybe plus 1?), acoustic.  He is criminally underrated and plays clubs here so small I doubt he can pay his hotel bill! He has some fab songs of his own and his Dylan covers album is a gem.  Love him!    Adam AB Pollock __________________________________ From: Jason Cilo Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile Just think, with those genes, Willie's got another THIRTY YEARS to rock! __________________________________ From: nancy barnum Subject: Herb Alpert….the 91 year old we all aspire to be Hi Bob, Thanks to your review of Herb Alpert some months back, I was motivated to see if his tour would be coming nearby and sure enough, he had a date in Rochester NY, a mere 90 minutes away. The show was 5 days ago and I am STILL euphoric over the musicianship, the memories and the fact a 91 year old guy can still blow with the best of them!   I don’t remember how much I paid for the tickets but it was a bargain at any price! I see by your mailbag he’s talking about a European tour next year…that would absolutely be a show worth dealing with the inconveniences of traveling to experience again. Thank you for keeping us all informed and thinking…about music, books, cinema, television and the current political hellscape.   All the best, Nancy Barnum __________________________________ From: John-Angus MacDonald Subject: Jack Douglas Hey Bob! Jack was the best. We hired him to produce our second album, Den of Thieves, back in 2005. We were still a pretty young band at the time — I was only 24 when we made that album — but Jack was a great guide in the studio. He loved to tell stories and have a laugh, but he was also able to crack the whip and keep us on task. And the record turned out great. It was a big hit for us in Canada. We hired him because we loved the work he did on Aerosmith’s 2004 album, Honkin’ on Bobo. Put on that opening track, Road Runner, again — if it doesn’t have you grinning ear to ear and bopping along, you haven’t got a pulse! He went on a good run after that record, doing our record next, followed by the New York Dolls comeback record, One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, which is also a damn good record — easily their second best after the debut, which he also had a huge hand in making. What a legend of a man he was. I really enjoyed the interview you did with him for your podcast a few years back. Another great one gone. May he rest in peace. ~ John-Angus MacDonald (The Trews) __________________________________ From: Chip Dorsch Subject: Harry Styles in Amsterdam I’m here in the 2nd weekend. Anyone bitching about the stage / view is only here for instagram, or I bet if we dig they bitch about everything on twitter or whatever it’s called. Somehow, and it’s beyond my comprehension, but the silent majority is louder. There is truly nothing to complain about with this show. There are accommodations for everyone. Gender neutral bathrooms. Everything. Air conditioning (we all take it for granted!) and even f*cking ice (when requested). Champagne problems but you get the point, if my lil issues are being accommodated, just imagine how they are treating this with actual needs. With kindness. It’s not just a lyric, it’s a business strategy. I don’t understand why we all don’t follow it. Money is awesome. But can we all just f*cking chill out and make it at least SECOND to kindness!?!  If you’re reading this, you’re either a real music head, a kid rock fan who’s here to troll bob or probably rich - and if not, you’re much more comfortable than basic needs. His band is multi-racial, mostly women and has a keys player in a f*cking wheelchair. And the story is the stage got in my way?!?  F*ck off!  Harry runs a marathon+ a night. The marathons we’ve read about online are just him warming up. He runs more during a show than most of us do in a lifetime to make sure everyone feels connected and seen…and spends an unusual but appreciated amount of his time on stage expressing his gratitude. Even when singing it, it’s often with direct eye contact. These complainers clearly see the bridges of his stage as a barrier. And anyone amplifying it as a story is part of the problem and missing the f*cking point. Can we all stop amplifying hateful sh*t and take a f*cking second to look for the meaning?!? Full disclose:  Card carrying homo here. He’s f*cking gorgeous. Even my straight male friends can acknowledge that. Also, I’m not a Harry fan girl or whatever they’re called. I’m a music manager with real industry perspective who chose to spend my own money and Memorial Day weekend seeing 2 shows. I have to ask all of your readers… WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS???   Chip Dorsch, Red Light Management __________________________________ From: Amanda Palmer Re: AI Protests Hey Bob -  So so right on about this one. Just yesterday my mgmt team had to reach out to Spotify to get some horrific AI slop animation video taken down as the background for all the songs on the The Dresden Dolls 2006 record we are about to re-release. It looked horrible and wasn’t there even a few weeks ago. Why? Who knows who put it there....and what they were thinking? For sure: the band wasn’t consulted. I was pissed. It wasn't about the AI so much as the lack of agency, control. We're a band who tried so hard to exercise artistic control and there's our beloved logo, which held a lot of emotional meaning and was deliberately made to read hand-drawn (it was, my me, in a tour bus in 2005)....there it was, looking like a badly animated spinning AI joke. This really struck me, what you said, re: the molotov cocktail:  "People only react when it affects them directly. People feel their futures are bleak, and that's what they're reacting to." I have been reflecting lately on the times I've been personally caught in the crossfire of a cultural moment - more than I can count now - and this sentiment seems to be the big common denominator.  My infamous 2012 Kickstarter kerfuffle (when people got on my case about a tour in which I asked my fans to bring their instruments and play on stage with my touring band in exchange for tickets and merch and glory) did not happen in a vacuum.  It happened RIGHT at a time when young gigging musicians were facing the aftershocks of the 2008 recession. If you'd just spent serious dough on a music education and you were trying to bust into the music profession in 2012, getting a gig was looking increasingly bleak. There was nobody to directly be pissed at; the conditions just sucked at that moment. And along comes this lady (hi) who had just optically made a million on Kickstarter (even though it all went to pay for the project and the goods, etc) looking for - on the surface - unpaid labor. You just graduated Juilliard or Berklee, you can't find a paid gig, and there's nobody to yell at and then you see someone like me asking for volunteers. Whether or not the gun was badly aimed at me. I get it: how tone deaf it must have felt to other musicians; I really do. I wasn’t looking for unpaid labor, really, I was just hoping to do what we’d always done as a scrappy punk band, which was to get the local community involved as much as possible…I had a paid crew and a paid touring band, etc.  But the optics…the optics were that I was a gazillionaire getting unpaid labor using my beguiling witchy grifter ways.  I think about this a lot with the AI....the collision could not be coming at a worse time.  The internet was supposed to make things FAIR. It was gonna educate everybody, help everybody, make everything accessible. Revolutions against governments happened on twitter. It would be great, it would flatten the artistic playing field. It didn’t happen. We all clicked "I agree to the terms and conditions" having no idea what we were selling off to platforms that seemed utopian. There were no ads on early twitter. NONE. For YEARS. We didn't think about how the bill would come due. Then....the money didn’t flow into the middle, it flowed straight to the top. This is exactly what I was hoping we would all avoid, post-Napster. I was hoping the people would all move to more of a middle class economy for artists, a meritocracy based on artistic have and need, from the avant-garde to the pop world...some utopian global street-theater mindset, imagining consumers sharing their small disposable incomes via the internet. I imagined the common person putting money down on the various artists they enjoyed and discovered, from the large to the little local ones....all in direct proportion.  No way. Spotify and the streaming giants have squashed that possibility.  There were missed opportunities for sure. We could have done what the publishing industry did, what the movie industry did, and locked things up, hard, and early. We didn't. I put my hand up as one of the responsible ones, here. Trent Reznor and Bono both came and grumbled at me that I was ruining the ecosystem by espusing a "just give it away, and ask" approach, and I pooh-pooh'ed them as old-school dudes who didn't understand that the genie couldn't be put back in the bottle. But they were kinda right: my TED talk (my defense of Kickstarter, and of "giving things away, then asking for help, do the grand trust fall! The net will appear!") was missing one main key factor: not only does the audience has to be on board.... so do the corporations,and more importantly: the monetizing internet itself has to play the game, and it didn't. HOW was I giving my music away? YouTube. Twitter. Somewhere, somewhere, some company was hosting and distributing my "free" content and waiting to strike, then frack.  The bill has come due. There was Flattr, for a while, created by Peter Sunde from The Pirate Bay (he wound up doing jail time), which would have distributed the download/subscription wealth among all creators in a way that Spotify doesn’t, but it sank due to lack of critical mass. Not enough people got on board to float it. And then there’s this handful of hyper-social ADHD artists like me willing to be super-interactive and present, ready to basically run a community center and an open-kimono art workshop in a bid to get people to support the whole life of an artist directly, and hey, I’m doing great, I have 25,000 patrons paying $5-$750 a month and I make a solid salary and pay my team well.  But it isn’t alway replicable. Most musicians and songwriters I know can't organize their way out of a paper bag.....nor should they. THEY'RE ARTISTS. And I spend way more of my time running a small company than I do making songs and art. Wah wah, you say, poor rich artist. But it's true: running a full time crowdfund takes a ton of attention, time, energy, and money...it's not for everyone.  This gets us back to the AI & the moment; it’s about the health of the existing arts economy NOW. It blows. Arts funding is getting slashed everywhere, at the city, state and federal levels. Young artists I talk to don't understand the idea of not wanting a brand endorsement as an amazing thing, a golden ring. My 90s DIY self dies a million deaths when I hear them talk about where their dough is gonna come from.  But you're right, in a nutshell: it’s a mess, corporations rule, people know, and people are PISSED. They feel powerless. Artists feel powerless and so do the ordinary people who love listening to music. Nobody feels like they can control their reality. It feels so hard to get away from the corporate tithe.  AI may not - in retrospect, like twenty years from now - wind up being as satanic as people are currently making it out to be (though I think it’s pretty satanic and meanwhile we are totally missing the mark on where to put the guardrails), but for the moment, for sure, it’s the perfect target for all this caged rage that has nowhere else to aim itself.  Amanda Palmer The Dresden Dolls p.s. This is also where I plug subvert.fm, where a lot of my musician/songwriter friends are currently trying to point people as an alternative to this sh*tshow. If I can make one small change in this industry, maybe we can all put our attention there, place our bets, and make a change for the better. -- 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

Grainges For Pratt

A reality TV star who's bad at business? That sounds like a perfect candidate to be mayor of Los Angeles. Never mind that Los Angeles is essentially an ungovernable city where the mayor has little power, as evidenced in this article by Steve Lopez in the "Los Angeles Times: "Spencer Pratt, please call me. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into": https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-23/la-mayoral-hopeful-spencer-pratt-is-making-big-splash-but-can-he-swim Now the truth is if you can find someone who lovingly and full-throatily supports Karen Bass, they must be related to her. As for the rest of us... Can I fault her for being overseas when the fires hit? I mean who has that foresight? Then again, Monday morning quarterbacks have all the answers. As for the empty reservoir... I've got to ask you, when are you supposed to fix a reservoir? I'll tell you, in the rainy season, when fire is least likely to happen, which is what was being done. And now it turns out that the fire was set and the fire department did a poor job of monitoring the exhaustion of this fire such that it smoldered and reignited and ultimately there was a conflagration. Do we need to re-evaluate and hold responsible those at the fire department? Definitely. But also note that it took nearly a year to find out the facts, while everybody rushes to judgment. As for the homeless problem... The unhoused got smart, they went where the weather suited their clothes, where it never goes below freezing, and that is the streets of Los Angeles. The homeless are not migrating to Buffalo nor Sioux Falls. As for what should be done with the homeless... It's a thorny problem. We live in the richest country in the world but we've devolved into a nation where everybody must pull themselves up by their bootstraps...if you get cancer, if you run out of money, if you're mentally ill, it's your fault. So what are supposed to do about the homeless? That's a good question. But if you're faulting the Los Angeles government for having compassion for these people... I'm not saying I like seeing people tented in Hollywood, it's creepy. But if there were an instant, easy solution, it would have been found and executed. So now Spencer Pratt is channeling the anger of the populace. And the populace is angry. But this is the same situation we had with Trump. Adding in an aged Biden who was too dumb to go and a replacement candidate Harris who was so inauthentic that she basically handed the election to Trump. And how is that working out? Trump has abysmal ratings. And seems not to care about the economic problems of the hoi polloi, never mind believing the law doesn't apply to him. Of course Trump has supporters. But who exactly is supporting Spencer Pratt? Certainly not fans of "The Hills," where he played a villain. As for his business acumen...this is a guy who made millions and squandered them. This is the guy you want to put in charge of the government? But Pratt does have name recognition and is employing modern media, i.e. the internet, to gain mindshare. But does he have to be supported by the Grainges? Of all things to come out for... This doofus? I mean David Foster has retained his talent but has squandered all credibility with his reality TV appearances and in true Hollywood fashion he's somewhat connected to Pratt... He was married to Linda Thompson, whose son Brody is close friends with Pratt. That's Hollywood. Where nepotism reigns supreme. But Foster is a lone wolf, whereas the Grainges are responsible for nearly half of all music production in America. They represent more than themselves. And now you've got Trump supporting Pratt and I don't see the Grainges distancing themselves from Spencer. Don't tell me it's a personal choice, that's not the world we live in. Pratt is a Republican... Which means the odds of him winning the mayorship are miniscule in super-blue Los Angeles. You can see the latest odds here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/polls/los-angeles-mayor-election-polls-2026.html I'm not saying Pratt can't win, but just imagine if he did... Not only must we ask what government/leadership skills Pratt possesses, but his monetary skills and people skills... Is this who we really want for mayor? Of course not. I can understand wanting to throw a spanner in the works, there is frustration with L.A.'s governance, but why support a nincompoop? Why not get involved in the process and support a better, experienced Democratic candidate? Or throw your money down for Bass... We all know money gives you access and power. And we've already seen this movie with Rick Caruso... Who spent $104 million trying to become mayor and failed. But at least it was his own money. Donating to Pratt... That's who I want as mayor, a guy who blew through all his money and is now monetizing his appearances on TikTok. All you fat cats, you need to distance yourself from Pratt. How can you be so out of touch, you're akin to the tech bros being vilified by the younger generation for their AI efforts. And it's the younger generation who disproportionately support the music industry. And if Pratt is so appealing to the notoriously left-leaning music business, how come no one else has lined up in support of him? Rather we've got fat cats who are all about using their money and influence to tilt the table in their favor. People like the Winklevoss crypto-bros and the beloved Sean Rad, founder of Tinder. The Grainges support of Pratt is a bad look. Probably Elliott is friends with Spencer and they didn't think twice about supporting him, I don't know for sure, yet that's how it works in politics. But now that Pratt is all over the news the Grainges' support is trumpeted in all the media that thrives on this long shot candidacy to sell advertising. I didn't see the Grainges come out against ICE. I didn't see them taking public positions on the White House ballroom or the slush fund or... Why Pratt? Once again, L.A. has issues. And Harris has a low profile. But that does not mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater. But the Democratic party has lost control of the narrative, which today is established online. It's all about creativity. But the Democratic candidates keep asking us for dollars for television advertising...who exactly watches broadcast TV these days? My phone is burning up with requests for money... Not until they start living in the twenty twenties...I'm not giving them a f*cking dollar. But that does not mean I support Pratt. And you shouldn't either. As for those who do... They need to be called out. These tax-evaders who just want to make the game work for themselves... And one more thing, the billionaire tax. I was actually going to vote against this tax, but after reading the below, I'm not so sure. You MUST read this story: "The Case for California's Billionaire Wealth Tax": Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/26/opinion/wealth-tax-california-billionaire.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lVA.6x7K.AyDLG_idtHFw&smid=url-share Here's the key point: "California’s billionaires currently pay such a low tax rate that even if all of them left the state, it would take 25 years for the loss of their tax payments under the current set of rules to surpass the amount the state would raise if the one-time tax succeeds this fall." We keep hearing all these protestations about the rich paying a disproportionate share of taxes, but these billionaires borrow against their holdings and the increase in their wealth is not taxed. Read this: "From 2019 to 2025, California billionaires' wealth grew an average of over 15 percent per year, while they paid, on average, just 0.26 percent of their wealth annually in state income taxes. Their income tax payments accounted for only 2.4 percent of California’s income tax revenue." So what we've got here is oligarchs and idiots struggling for power while the rest of us are powerless and getting more and more pissed. How did Stealer's Wheel put it? I'm stuck in the middle with you. And if you don't agree with me, you're on the wrong side. -- 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

David Beard's Beach Boys Book

"All Summer Long: Conversations with the Beach Boys From Surfin' to SMiLE": https://www.amazon.com/All-Summer-Long-Conversations-Surfin/dp/B0FRLHT1X6 1 I live in California because of the Beach Boys. That may be hard to understand if you're under the age of 40, as there has been a multi-decade campaign to vilify the state. But if you grew up in the sixties, California was a dream. The bleeding edge was on the west coast of our country. That's where life was free, trends were started, music and movies were made and there were two girls for every boy. Growing up in the east it's hard to understand Los Angeles, even to this day. What you've got is a city that's really comprised of endless suburbs, which extend all the way to San Diego in the south and Santa Barbara in the north. And not only does it hardly ever rain, schools are built so you walk outside to classes. This is unfathomable if you grew up in the east. In the east you're destined for the best college you can get into, it's a given. In the west, you're going to a state school. Seemingly everybody takes courses at the community college before they retire or fly up to a university. Even Brian Wilson. So what we've got here is a string of Southern California families... Growing up in the fifties and sixties when you played outside instead of inside, when there were no cameras and you could get away with pranks, when safety was not first and society was fluid. You didn't graduate and chase a career, rather you spent time finding yourself, with a series of low-paying jobs while you pursued your dreams, whether they be in business or at the beach or... And we thought we knew what was really going on out here, but we didn't. And at this point, most people still don't. However the landscape has changed. The Wilsons and the Loves got together to sing. I can't tell you the last time I stood around the piano singing tunes. Hell, in the late sixties and early seventies no party was complete without breaking out guitars and singing Beatles songs and other hits of the days. The Wilsons and Loves didn't compose beats, they took lessons, they learned on the fly, they weren't singing and playing to get rich, but because they loved the music. Now if you're not a big fan of the Beach Boys I hesitate to recommend this book, because there are a lot of references to songs that you won't get. But if you are... 2 I have an issue with oral histories, and for that reason the person who e-mailed me about this book was reluctant to send it. But it's the BEACH BOYS! I'm always up for more info on the Beach Boys. And what stunned me was how much I didn't know, how much I learned. We all know the basic story, not only have there been books, but even movies. But these interviews are more ground-level. Not the stories of success, but of everyday life. Sure, they go through the making of the records, but more interesting to me is how people met and connected and hung out... This is what you did back in the day, you went out, it was the only way you could meet people. And there was a community of people you met, all with the same interests. And you made friends and... Brian Wilson met Marilyn Rovell, his teenage bride, at Pandora's Box, a club on a plot of land that no longer even exists. It was where the Sunset Strip riots took place, the ones that Buffalo Springfield sang about in "For What It's Worth." Today, everybody wants to be instantly rich and famous. Actually, they believe wealth comes with fame, but the goals were not that lofty back then. A lot of the gigs the Beach Boys played were puny. At high schools. This was not a cash machine, this was people playing music. Now eventually it all blew up, as a result of the success of the records embodying the California Dream, but before that... They were just living their lives on a minor level. Their first hit, "Surfin'," was on an indie label and made no impact outside of Southern California. Radio was still regional. And before the Beach Boys came Jan & Dean, my first love. And what astounded me in this book about the Beach Boys is it gave me more insight into Jan & Dean than I've ever had, despite knowing Dean Torrence, despite reading his book and so many more. I guess this book is more about feel than details. Of course there are plenty of details, but you get a vibe... Jan & Dean were in college, they made records around their school schedules. Lou Adler was the majordomo and the label was clueless, both acts can't stop bitching about how clueless their labels were. Not only did they not understand the music, but there was no thought put into photos and artwork and... 3 What I took from this book, other than the lifestyle elements above, was incredible insight into the creative process. Let's start with the fact that Brian Wilson produced all kinds of records, and wrote many songs that were never hits too. He's seen as a savant who got in the studio to produce Beach Boys records, but if you were a friend of his, if you made music, he wanted to work with you. What I'm saying here is Brian's success did not come out of thin air, he paid his dues, he learned on the job, and despite all the hits, there was a lot of detritus. As well as people who fell by the wayside, all of whom come alive in this book. But despite all the insight into the earlier albums, all the stories about the people, what made this book so important, that resonated with me, is the question of creativity. How do you keep it interesting to yourself? Now from the start of time, not only the label, but the public has wanted something just like the other thing, the hit. And not only are you competing with yourself, but all your imitators too. But the funny thing is the public says that's what they want, but really they do not. They want something new and different, unique. And it's easy to experiment when you're nowhere, when no one is paying attention, but success can be crippling. And on one wants to fall off the pedestal. But do you have your finger on the pulse, or did you lose this ability or..? So Brian just could not do it anymore. First, go on the road. Second, make the same old music. So he has Al Jardine, then Glen Campbell and then Bruce Johnston replace him and ultimately he just spends his days tinkering, creating. And after meeting Tony Asher, a jinglemeister, a healthy period of time afterward he rings him up and tells him he wants to make an album about love. That's right, there was a concept for "Pet Sounds." Today people start off wanting to make hits. Or, they say they have a concept for an album, but don't forget Brian did this before "Sgt. Pepper" and "Tommy," it was just a feeling. So he and Tony explored, they wanted to get the vibe right and... "Pet Sounds" was ahead of its audience. Some works resonate thereafter, like Nick Drake's, but the songs off "Pet Sounds" became ubiquitous. Despite all the hype in the seventies, I think the truly breakthrough moment was the use of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" in "Shampoo," there was truly synergy with the images, you got that Southern California vibe. And it's well-known that Capitol buried that album with a greatest hits LP right thereafter when "Pet Sounds" didn't burn up the charts, but then... Brian went even deeper, with "Smile." All we hear about "Smile" is Brian abandoning it when he heard fire engines and... That's not even discussed here. Although it is said that Brian gave up on the project after realizing it was too advanced for the listener. But before that... Van Dyke Parks came up with the concept of a journey from east to west, encompassing the entire breadth of the United States. You might say they were out there. I guess that's the point. The Beach Boys were the biggest act in America, and Brian wasn't even thinking about hits. Now you've got Mike Love talking about writing relatable lyrics for "Good Vibrations," but... This was of no concern to Wilson and Parks. They were pushing the envelope, to make it interesting to themselves. And after the failure of this project, Brian Wilson could never do it again. 4 So reading this book I realized the early to-mid-sixties in Southern California was a unique time. The vibes, the tentacles extended for decades, right up to this very point. But the truth was the musical movement was very brief, basically from 1962-1966. The blink of an eye today. But unlike today the Beach Boys would not only put out multiple albums per year, they'd have multiple hits. They'd rise to the top of the chart and then fall off and be replaced, all in a matter of months. Nothing moves that fast anymore, never mind the lack of ubiquity. But did time move on from Brian Wilson? Did the scene just change? The scene always changes, and very few can adjust, no matter how big and successful they've been in their heyday. And then they either grasp at straws, following trends, or give up making music all together. Or did something change for Brian, such that he couldn't do it anymore? Let's be clear, unlike most creators, Brian wasn't repeating himself. But despite having the royalty money to execute his wildest fantasies...(bad word, let's just say support his vision)...he was out on a limb, nobody was supporting him. And then there was LSD. Now if you ever hung with Brian Wilson, you knew something was off, something was wrong. As for it being schizophrenia, that tends to manifest itself in your mid to late twenties, when Wilson fell off the edge. But is that what was truly going on? Maybe he was just spent. Or maybe...without the support and success, he lost something. 5 Now I could tell you to support your artists' vision, but that's really putting it backward. The truth is, usually only the creator can understand their vision. And there was so much money in music in the sixties and seventies and then eighties that labels stood aside and let the acts follow their paths. But then it changed. The business was no longer cottage industry, the labels were looking for moonshots, they're still looking for moonshots, and in that case you're risk averse. But the nature of being an artist is to take risks. Let's be clear, most major acts today are taking no risks, maybe it's because they're performers, not artists. And then there are people who keep telling us they're artists who complain no one is paying attention. But the truth is Brian Wilson was not considered a genius until Derek Taylor started a publicity campaign saying that. The public bought it, but what exactly is a genius? Who exactly was Brian Wilson? How could he create and make this music? That's the mystery. It was in his head, and he wanted to get it down on tape. In most cases, there's nothing in someone's head other than a business construct. Which might be marketed to success, but... Of course "Bohemian Rhapsody" was like nothing heard previously, however it built upon a decade of rock innovation. But the intro to "California Girls"? Where did that come from? In a world where radio chopped off most instrumental intros. And then there's the theremin in "Good Vibrations"... It's not like everybody was doing this, NO ONE was doing it! And then commercial success separated from Brian's efforts and... 6 We are all looking for the new and different, but finding someone who provides it... Hell, we get cartoon movies because people want to escape from scary reality. But not in the heyday of the Beach Boys. That's when you had to turn on the radio to find out what was going on, to be hip. The records informed us. And everybody knew them. 7 So what is your life about? I guess if you're a civilian with a straight job it's about getting married, buying a house, having children and getting a gig that will pay for all this, that will move you up the lifestyle ladder. But an artist... It's a journey into the wilderness. You never know what will resonate, what will work. As for those people e-mailing me complaining that their music can't pay for their house and family...who told you to have a house and family? And let's be clear, it was all much cheaper back then, but... The art always came first. Which is one of the reasons that relationships didn't tend to last, the creators were married to their music, their vision, their projects. All of this is clear in this book in a way that I have not seen previously. Most acts blink, give us more of what we're looking for, they're afraid to fall off the pedestal. But Brian not only did not see himself as being on a pedestal, he actually got freaked out by people, public access. In many ways he was a child who never left the streets of Hawthorne, with its sports and good times and... He was always trying to get this down on wax when everybody else was busy growing up. It's hard to be out of step with society. Some complained. Brian just retreated. And although they trotted him out for decades thereafter, it was different. Because in the sixties, in his heyday, people were waiting with bated breath for Brian's next work. But the people were just a couple of years and a couple of changes behind Brian. Everybody told him he was on the wrong path, but he wasn't. What path are you on? -- 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