The Heart Scan

1 I had to go to Torrance. Those playing the home game will remember that I see this heart doctor who says if I follow her program, I'll never die of a heart attack, no patient has yet. And like seemingly every good doctor in Los Angeles, she doesn't take insurance, which means I've got to pay $2500 a year for the privilege. And they draw blood in her office. And do ultrasounds too. But you have to go out for some tests, like this CT scan with contrast. You know, where they pump this iodine solution into your veins while you're inside the machine, that gives you a metallic taste in your mouth and makes you feel warm all over. Now the last time I went across the street, to that scan center on Wilshire. All good except they missed my vein twice and I insisted they bring a new person in to do it, which they were not happy about. So why did I have to go all the way to Torrance? I called and got this vague response about the doctor preferring it and there being some benefit so, I agreed. Now when I first moved to Los Angeles... It was like my records came alive. El Monte...you mean where Legion Stadium was, from the Zappa record? And Pico and Sepulveda. All the references were right up close and personal. In addition there were other landmarks of interest, and we partook of them. Me and my girlfriend thought nothing of going deep into the Valley for what was said were the best chips in L.A. (they were, made on the spot, I still think about them), or into the hood to get barbecue from Mr. Jim's ("You don't need no teeth to eat Mr. Jim's meat."). Or to a movie. Actually, I remember one holiday going to a movie theatre in Torrance to see "Popeye." I was alone and at that point I saw nearly everything, but despite it being a Robert Altman film it wasn't really worth it. Driving south the coast goes from Playa del Rey to Manhattan Beach to Hermosa Beach to Redondo Beach to Palos Verdes. And if you go inland from there, you get Torrance. And the bike path goes all the way down to Redondo, and I rode down there on a regular basis back in the day, however the wind always blows south, so the ride back up was always a slog. I've been to all the coastal restaurants and bars, it's a different lifestyle down there. I've experienced it. But not for years. Because the traffic is just too bad and been there/done that. As for the traffic... I'd drive from West L.A. to Valley Circle to see a film in that dump of a duplex. No one would do that today. But you reach a certain age... Is it that I've done it all. Or that I'm not interested in doing that which I have not? The seventies are positively weird. In your twenties and into your thirties it's all about going out. But once you're in your sixties it becomes about staying home. Most of the people I know no longer even go out to eat on a regular basis. They certainly won't go on the weekend. Is this how it's going to be going forward? Or do I have to go to new cities and countries just to explore? But even worse, reach a certain age and you realize you're never going to get everywhere. So Torrance... Exactly how long is it going to take me to get there? I could tell you all about the psychology of traffic in Los Angeles, but I must say with the advent of map apps, it's gotten so much easier. But when you're trying to plan days in advance... The maps will give you a reading, but it's not definitive. So I've got to book a time that's not too early and not too late. Because the afternoon traffic coming back is hellish. So, they want me to be there at 10:50 to be ready for an 11:20 scan. I know it's all b.s., they do this so you won't be late, and I'm always on time. But when I called to book the appointment, they were going through the details and told me my doctor prescribed a Cleerly and insurance didn't cover it and it would be $950 cash. WHAT? I told them I'd call them back. So I immediately went to Dr. Google and it told me a Cleerly was AI plaque mapping. Yeah, right. Whenever I hear AI, my eyes roll into the back of my head. Like with the cannabis fever of a few years back. CBD will cure anything! Did you ever try it? Multiple brands of CBD ointments never worked for me (don't worry, I didn't pay, I got them for free), and no one ever talks about them anymore. So I e-mailed the doctor, was this really necessary? And she didn't insist I get the Cleerly, but she spoke of its advantages and highly recommended it. So I've got to ask myself, do I feel lucky? 2 So someone close to me whose name I won't mention found out they needed three stents and a heart valve. When I got this person one on one, they told me they hadn't gone for a physical in five years, only a prostate test. But they'd been taking the statin, right? Nope. They just started when this was all diagnosed back in April. That's what you've got to know about my generation. They're anti-pill. But now we're at the age where it all catches up with you, everything they warned you about. Now your arteries are filling up with plaque. It's like rust, it never sleeps. So I guess I'm gonna spend the $950. What does it matter if I die? And I always remember the words of Narada Michael Walden...he told me money comes, and money goes. That's the truth. Whenever I think I'm getting ahead, I get a big bill. As for laying out the $6250 for the Valeda eye treatments last year... The FDA ultimately approved the treatment and I got all my money back in July! So I'm driving down to Torrance. And I'm getting uptight about the gridlock going north, wondering how bad my return trip will be, and I get off at Normandie and I immediately ask myself... WHERE THE HELL AM I? Who lives here? Because if you work in L.A., if you commute, you're going to waste half your life on the freeway. And if you don't, why not live even further away, in a nicer location? Normandie is four lanes and endless. On one side is a vast wasteland, on the other is those condos you see everywhere. Recent construction, behind a wall. People buying a piece of the rock to live on top of one another. The condos were nearly new, and that's nice, but you're living out here? And I'm driving and driving, miles, and then the map app tells me to get ready to make a left. BUT THERE'S NOTHING THERE! Oh, a couple of broken down houses... But it looks more like a nuclear wasteland than a location for a hospital. But I make a left, then a right and... There's an open parking lot. If you can find a hospital sans parking structure in L.A...I've never been to one. Even better, THEY DON'T CHARGE! How can this be? But it looks full. And I'm investigating a space on the street, pondering if it's legal, but then I find a space right in front of the Farima Czyzyk Center for Cardiac Research and Wellness at the Lundquist Institute. (That's right, don't ask me to pronounce it.) And they want my credit card right away. At least I'll get points. And the waiting area is not crowded, but there's someone on the phone... Now this is a heart scan, so some of the folks don't look so good. Do I really want to tell her to stop talking on the phone, she could be close to death! I gave her the stink eye, which didn't work. Even worse...the Wi-Fi sucked. Don't you hate that? Where they've got WIFI, but it's glacially slow, almost unusable. But I only had one bar of cellular signal... So I got up and moved closer to the door and got two, which I needed, because then they told me they were running an hour late. Turned out to be an hour fifteen, but who's counting. ME! So the woman helping me is nice, but I've got to ask her, where does she live? She's taken aback... No, I don't want your address, just the general location. She lives just south of Compton so the drive is usually fifteen minutes. Then she starts telling me the exact route in both directions, how sometimes she gets on the 105... I just wanted to commiserate on the schlepp there, I wasn't looking for driving advice. Ultimately they called me in and one thing I've got to say is they had it together. Unlike at the place on Wilshire, two people worked simultaneously and were hands-on. One getting me in the right position, one piercing my vein and... By time it was all through was I really going to wait for the bone density test they proffered when I was checking in, saying I was due and it was covered by insurance? So I asked how long the wait would be. And was told that they'd already done it, as part of the CT scan! And I was relieved and thinking how great this was until I got ahold of my internist who told me although I was due for a bone scan, the one he prescribed was different. If only I knew. 3 So I was a bit woozy on the way home. Which I won't say was a breeze, but that cluster of stopped cars had worked its way out and I was a bit off the rest of the day, which the info didn't say would happen, but was this just a result of not getting enough sleep the night before? So now it comes down to the results. They told me there was an app, but I wasn't gonna check. Last time I had this test it said I was about to have a heart attack and when I went to see the doctor she remarked how good my numbers were. Huh? It's all about interpretation, about the movement more than the exact number, and I was good. Not so good I could ignore continued treatment. I take a statin and zetia and some other stuff... She sends the blood to the Boston Heart lab, she creates a unique program for each patient, there is no one size fits all solution to creeping heart disease. But curious, I clicked on the e-mail and could then download the results. Hell, I've gotten this far, this is what the CT angiogram said: ______ The coronary system is right dominant. Left main (less than 30%) with mild calcified plaque. The left anterior descending coronary artery with mild disease. Proximal LAD (less than 30%) with mild mixed plaque. Mid LAD (30-49%) with moderate calcified plaque. The left circumflex coronary artery with minimal disease. Proximal CX (less than 30%) with mild calcified plaque. The obtuse marginal branches are without disease. The right coronary artery is normal. The LPDA and PLB are without disease. The left ventricle is of normal size, wall thickness. The left atrium, right ventricle and right atrium are normal. The pericardium, mediastinum and aorta are normal as are the remainder of the cardiac structures. ______ So what does that all mean? Well, at the bottom of the report, it said this: "Impression: Non-obstructive CAD. Moderate atherosclerosis." Well that doesn't sound good. So I went to Dr. Google and you could read it either way, freak out or just hang in there. But wait! There's another report! This is the Coronary Calcium Report. Well, they come up with a number. My score on the Left Main was 3 My score on the Left Anterior Descending was 267. Circumflex was 92. Right was 0. For a grand total of 362! So what does that mean? Let me quote: "As compared to other persons of your age and gender you are in the 50th percentile, with 100 percentile being the highest scores seen in this age category among over 30,000 persons scanned at Harbor-UCLA. Using data from over 30,000 patients, scores are reported based on averages for age and gender. The calcium score suggests a degree of coronary disease which is: Average. Your score is average among people of your age and gender." Well, that doesn't sound bad. Now when you scroll down the page there are some charts, with interpretations and behavior recommendations. The top one says the diagnosis is "Moderate plaque burden." The interpretation is "Moderate, non-obstructive artery disease high likely." What are the recommendations? 1. Institute risk factor modification and clinical follow up. 2. Ensure strict adherence to NCEP cholesterol-lowering guidelines Recommend an appropriate exercise program. 3. Aspirin and cholesterol therapy recommended. 4 As for the Cleerly? I'm still waiting. But reading all the above...are you doing everything you can to prevent death, or do you have your head in the sand. I've got to ask you, do you feel lucky? I'll leave you with that. -- 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

Toe Hold

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7j8kivJI4rOy06o1tN1M2P?si=e7405762bfe042b7 1 I was used to the Al Kooper version, with a lot more production. But I was out hiking in the mountains listening to the Spotify playlist I created for the "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" missive and when it slipped into the Johnnie Taylor version of "Toe Hold" I truly got the lyrics for the very first time. Funny how that works, it's half a century later and suddenly you get the meaning of a song. Sometimes I was just oblivious, other times I was too young to understand at the time, and I've always marveled at how these musicians/songwriters were so insightful at such a young age, hell, Jackson Browne was sixteen when he wrote "These Days." Now I always thought the original "Toe Hold" was too naked compared to the Al Kooper cover, but the other night... The thing that truly amazed me first was Johnnie Taylor's voice and delivery. Like most people I knew him most from "Who's Making Love" (to your old lady, while you were out making love), another soul hit on the AM Top 40 of the day. But listening again, this guy is utterly fantastic, amazing, positively a legend whose reputation needs to excavated, studied and admired. You can't get this on a singing competition show. The passion, the intensity. Now the truth is we've got to give Kooper notice for excavating "Toe Hold," which was a b-side to "Little Bluebird" in 1966. I never heard it on the radio, I only knew it because Kooper covered it. But he was not the only one, the same year as it was included in "I Stand Alone," Wilson Pickett did a version. And Pickett deserves all the props he's received, but here he's going through the motions compared to Taylor on his take, Pickett's just Pickettfying the song, whereas Taylor is at his wit's end, he's telling us a tale from his soul, you truly believe it. Now Ellen McIlwaine covered "Toe Hold" too. I'd like to tell you it's delicious, but at best it's interesting. She's received a lot of press recently, but her take pales in comparison to Taylor's too. The only one who comes close is Kooper, because he throws everything into the song, it's a white man's take on the song with horns providing the emphasis that Taylor delivers purely with his voice. 2 "All my life I've been a poor boy It's been hard to get a dime Everything I got I had to pay for it on time, but that's all right" ON TIME! When I was fifteen I knew he wasn't talking about paying on a certain date, but I wasn't wise enough to know what it was like to pay for something on time, not having enough cash to pay for it right up front. "Long as I got a toe hold Long as I got a piece of you Long as I got a toe hold I can make it through" That's all he's looking for, he's not asking for much, he only needs a toe hold. This is the opposite of the braggadocio of today, when everybody's a winner, displaying their wealth. This is the truth, but sans pessimism. "I said I went to my doctor First thing he talked about is malnutrition I'm not tryin' to be a fat man I got to look after my ambition" The doctor takes one look and sees that this guy is struggling, he doesn't have enough of the right food. Yet Johnnie is not focusing on the negative, but the positive. He doesn't want to focus on the pitfalls, but the opportunities. "A lil', lil', lil', lil', lil', lil', lil', lil' toe hold A lil', lil', lil', lil', lil', lil', lil', lil' toe hold" This always stuck out to me in Kooper's take, but it was the sound, the delivery, the way he got all the "lil'"s out. But when Taylor sings it... There's a combination of desperation and internal strength at the same time. He believes in himself, he can make it through. "So baby if you're with me Let the whole world be against me" It's like by singing the song Taylor has convinced himself, with her he can succeed, screw all the forces against him. "I don't expect to ever get rich You may find me diggin' in a ditch" All he's looking for is a toe hold, he's willing to do whatever it takes to get by. It all works as long as he's got her by his side. Now with this delivery, it wouldn't be hard to be convinced. And women were. Taylor had six acknowledged children and three others by three different women. You've got the He-Men of the Universe with all the money in the world, but they haven't got the game of the guy singing this song. That's the power of music. And one can say that fifty years ago the Black man was a second-class citizen sans the opportunities of today, that it's a breakthrough to be able to boast, however... Most people are not winners and the truth is as long as you've got a modicum of ambition you can cobble together a life, you can get by. And more important than the money is love, relationships, life. Tell me all you want about Sam Altman, I'd rather be Johnnie Taylor. The truth is back then musicians were the winners. Because of the music they created. It was right there baked into the grooves, in an era where you had to have the chops to make it, when being a nepo-baby opening for a star was not enough to garner an audience. When all that dreck of today fades away Johnnie Taylor will still be around to triumph, convincing listeners with his music. This guy is utterly fantastic. I'd like to point to someone in today's hit parade who's even in the same league, but I cannot. Although "Toe Hold" was written by Stax greats Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Johnnie Taylor truly makes it his own. "Toe Hold" is a showstopper. One listen would inspire greatness... And cause a plethora of wannabes to call it a day. -- 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

Brett Gurewitz-This Week's Podcast

Brett Gurewitz is not only the owner of Epitaph Records, but a member of Bad Religion as well. We go deep into Brett's history, from becoming a punk in the San Fernando Valley to ultimately signing Tom Waits to his record label. But before that, Brett opines on the nuts and bolts of running a record label...who to sign, how to promote, interactions with DSPs... Brett is fantastic, this is a MUST-LISTEN! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brett-gurewitz/id1316200737?i=1000787632482 https://open.spotify.com/episode/2g3zImikq1Ba96fDlHEnT4?si=yNOgWeP0QiyPSzrG4cLAvA https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/brett-gurewitz-343049589 https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/a7f74282-3d37-4868-b5c6-91e249433c9f/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-brett-gurewitz -- 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

Too Busy Thinking About My Baby

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0oioxEPvYSl0e07ZsIO2uK?si=f4c4a662074c49f7 1 People forget that "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" went to number two for Gladys Knight & the Pips before Marvin Gaye took it to number one little over a year later, on the way to its becoming the biggest Motown single to date. And the Temptations released "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" in 1966 before Marvin Gaye had huge success with the song in 1969, although the Temptations never put it out as a single. I could never understand how a song that was already a hit could be a hit by a different artist on the same label so soon thereafter. As for Creedence Clearwater Revival's eleven minute version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" mere months after the success of Gaye's take, that made no sense to me. It wasn't that different. Unlike Al Kooper's version of "Season of the Witch." 2 That was the track from "Super Session" you heard first, the eleven minute cover of Donovan's "Season of the Witch," it was the same song, but completely different, and just as great, if not better, in its own way. Now I'm an anomaly, I've always preferred the second side of "Super Session" to the first, the one with Stephen Stills as opposed to Michael Bloomfield. Maybe if Stills had died instead he'd be just as revered, then again, Bloomfield's star is fading. So the first song on the second side, Stills's side, is a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry." And it couldn't be further from the original on "Highway 61 Revisited." Now if you listen to it you'll see although Gram Parsons gets all the credit for bringing country to rock, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" came out on August 30, 1968, whereas "Super Session" was released before that, on July 22nd. Interesting. Now of course "Super Session" came out after the first Blood, Sweat & Tears LP, which is a masterpiece. But it didn't sell prodigiously and Al Kooper was replaced by David Clayton Thomas in his own band. Now Thomas just died and got lengthy obits everywhere. But in truth, his only success came with the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album, whose songs Kooper had picked before leaving/being kicked out (depending on who you listen to). Sans Kooper, the band was dead in the water. So if you purchased the first Blood, Sweat & Tears album, and then "Super Session," you were primed for, and immediately went out and bought, Al Kooper's solo debut, "I Stand Alone." 3 "I Stand Alone"... If only it came out a few years later, when it didn't matter whether you had AM hits or not. It was far from a stiff, but it was ultimately a cult item. At this point, February 1969, very few markets had underground FM radio stations, with free formats that played a cornucopia of music like this. So, in order to hear "I Stand Alone" in most markets you had to buy it. And, in truth, Al Kooper didn't reach his pinnacle of fame until the live version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" from "The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper" became a radio staple over the ensuing years, gaining traction as FM radio spread. That's right, the original Traffic "Dear Mr. Fantasy" was not a hit. By this point, the band had broken up, there was no single. The song was legendary if you knew it, but not that many people knew it, not that many people had purchased Traffic's debut at all. But Al Kooper had. "Smiling Phases" had been picked for, and appeared on, the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album, the one without him, and on "I Stand Alone," Kooper covered "Coloured Rain." Now in truth, the title track, "I Stand Alone," is a standout. But some of the covers... Kooper covered Nilsson's "One," and Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," but the two soul covers were the piece-de-resistance, "Toe Hold" and "Hey, Western Union Man." "Toe Hold" was a Stax staple, first recorded by Johnnie Taylor. This song has been unjustly lost to the sands of time, and Jerry Butler's "Hey, Western Union Man" had more commercial success, and I hear it on SiriusXM every once in a blue moon, but this is a soul classic just waiting to be discovered by the younger generations. But back in 1969, Al Kooper took these two numbers and applied the Blood, Sweat & Tears formula, maintaining some soul, but bringing horns right up front and rockifying both of them, "Hey, Western Union Man" is one of my absolute favorite tracks period, with the horn flourish announcing the number, down to the telegraph clicks to boot. Yes, Kooper threw in everything, including the kitchen sink, but instead of a mess, he made a delectable concoction. So if you loved these songs as much as I did, purchasing Al Kooper's 1969 follow-up, "You Never Know Who Your Friends Are," was a no-brainer. No, scratch that, I awaited it with bated-breath, bought it immediately when it came out, broke the shrinkwrap, dropped the needle... Now the title track opens the second side, and it's an enjoyable jaunt. And the first side opener, "Magic in My Socks" was good too, but ultimately one can't call the "You Never Know Who Your Friends Are" album anything but a disappointment. And I was really disappointed, having loved "I Stand Alone" so much. But back in those days, if you bought it, you played it, ad infinitum, because you'd paid for it, and you ended up knowing it by heart. And at this late date the one track I think of when I think of this album, the one that sticks out, that is embedded in my brain, is Al's version of "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby." 4 "Uh-huh, oh yeah Uh-huh, oh yeah" And then the horns come in heralding excitement, levitating the room, and Al starts to sing: "I ain't got time to think about money Or what it can buy" They were off and running, just like with "Toe Hold" and "Hey, Western Union Man" on the previous album. This ain't the Marvin Gaye version, it's sped-up, it's a tear, only a little bit of the soul is left, replaced with those horns and the mellifluous voices of the backup singers. It might have been cut in a studio, but it's got a live feel, this is the kind of music you want the band to play when you're at the club. (Well, at least when they used to have bands at clubs.) You know how it is. There's nothing somnambulant about it, you're completely energized, at the end of your wits, bopping around. And Kooper's take is great, but it's not in the league of Marvin's. You don't want to compete with Gaye, because he'll wipe the floor with you. 5 Now the Temptations' original has a different groove, it positively swings, it's even sweetened with strings. Eddie Kendricks is giving it everything he's got. But today it sounds dated, a period piece, hearkening back to the past more than looking forward. Sure, it's soul, but it sounds closer to the big band era than what Kooper did with the track, modernizing the horns, never mind the groove. And that's what Marvin Gaye added, the groove. "Uh-huh-huh, oh yeah Oh, listen to me, people" And we are. This is not the Kooper take, hedonistically dancing in the club to the band banging it out on stage. No, Marvin demands our attention, from the very get-go. "I ain't got time to think about money Or what it can buy" And you believe him. But it really kicks in in the second verse, when Marvin truly gets into it, starts to play. He growls. He takes his voice way up high. He's showing off for the object of his affection...and us. There's a brief instrumental section, with the strings sweetly singing, and then Marvin comes back. "All the diamonds and pearls in the world Could never match her worth, no, no She's some kind of wonderful, people will tell you" BINGO! "She's some kind of wonderful," Marvin lays it down exactly as Grand Funk lifts it for their own track with that moniker, directly from Gaye to Farner. Yup, when I hear people mention "Some Kind of Wonderful" these two songs conflate, become one in my brain. Then again, both acts are from Michigan and the message is ultimately the same. But, Grand Funk is bopping the woman over the head, it's akin to the Flintstones, whereas Marvin is more like Cary Crant, suave. "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" is two minutes and fifty six seconds of perfection, compact and exquisite. And Norman Whitfield produced the record. And he wrote the song too, along with Barrett Strong and... Janie Bradford. -- 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

Janie Bradford

Who? Every day my father used to wake up my mother saying "Muggs, guess who died!" Well, not every day, but often enough that it became a regular joke in our family. My father read the obituaries assiduously, after all, he grew up in Bridgeport and he knew most of the names. Not anymore. Today you can die and most people are unaware. Oh, you can purchase an obit in the paper...then again, who reads the paper? No, at this point very few purchase obituaries, but the papers publish their own words for significant people. And it's interesting who makes the cut, who they choose. Of course Dolly Parton gets reams. To tell you the truth, I don't remember this much passion and furor about anybody dying since Elvis. (Of course, except for John Lennon, who is in his own category, I'm still not over that.) So Dave Marsh earned an obituary. But more well-known people do not. Seems the more idiosyncratic your success was, the more impact you had in a certain field, however narrow, the greater the odds you'll be featured. Just being rich is not enough. Although if you reach a certain amount of fame, you'll get some words. But the thing about obits is they come after you die. So you can't bask in the admiration. It's kind of like that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode with Albert Brooks watching his own funeral. That's what you want, to hear the accolades before you pass. And the funny thing is obits are not always consistent. Like with Jaye P. Morgan. The "Los Angeles Times" said this: "Morgan was class treasurer of her California high school, and her peers nicknamed her J.P. after the 19th century financier J.P. Morgan. She later feminized it by changing the initial J to Jaye." The "New York Times" this: "'My name was Mary Morgan, and at the time there were a lot of singers with the last name "Morgan,"' she said. (Their ranks included Jane Morgan and Marion Morgan.) It was Mr. DeVol who came up with Jaye P., a play on the name of the Gilded Age financier J.P. Morgan." What is the truth? I tend to trust the "New York Times," its obits are usually more in-depth, but when it comes to entertainment figures, the "Los Angeles Times" is occasionally superior. Which raises the question whether Barrett Strong, singer of the song, was one of the composers of "Money (That's What I Want)," the first hit Motown single, albeit on Tamla. Here's what Wikipedia says: "Singer Barrett Strong claimed that he co-wrote the song with Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford. His name was removed from the copyright registration three years after the song was written, restored in 1987 when the copyright was renewed, and then excised again the following year. Gordy has stated that Strong's name was only included because of a clerical error." (Wikipedia was determined to be almost as accurate as the Brittanica...) So that's who Janie Bradford is/was. She co-wrote "Money." You know, that song that every garage band played back in the sixties, never mind the new wave version by the Flying Lizards in 1979. Of course the Beatles covered it. Was that our inspiration? "Money" just seemed to be a song in the air, the kind that was always there, the concept of someone actually writing it seemed if not unfathomable, at least superfluous. It was bigger than its composers. Now depending on which obit you read, Janie Bradford either got a gig as a receptionist at Motown and worked her way into becoming a songwriter or Gordy Berry was introduced to her by Jackie Wilson as a songwriter and she was regarded as such from the very beginning. Does it matter? Yes, only because the story is so unique. For all the stories of Carole King and Cynthia Weil, the truth is successful woman songwriters were a rarity, especially in the Black soul music world. Hell, we've heard about Holland/Dozier/Holland and Smokey Robinson, as for Ashford & Simpson, their first hit didn't come until 1966, with Ray Charles's version of "Let's Go Get Stoned." But "Money" was released in 1959. Now anybody can get a credit once. Maybe you were just in the room. But to do it twice? We all know "Money." But we also know "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby." -- 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

The Boeing Documentary

Netflix trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZDSYBkcH2U 1 I became fascinated with airplanes when I was 13 and my family made a cross-country trip. Our first flight was on a 720B to Chicago. I'd never heard of that plane. It was the 707 that was famous, the epitome of the jet age. But on the tarmac I saw planes with three engines in the back, and found out they were the latest and greatest, they were 727s. And on one leg of the trip we took a Lockheed that was not a jet, we were lucky to get on it, for there was an airline strike. And then from L.A. to Phoenix we took a DC-9. With only two engines in the back. What I remember most about that flight was it jumped into the air very quickly. And descended just about as fast. Now Lockheed and Douglas ultimately released their own jets with three engines in the tail, to compete with the 727. But Lockheed's L1011 was the last commercial plane the company built, they couldn't compete with Boeing. As for what was then known as McDonnell Douglas...an engine fell off the DC-10, their version of the 727, and in the resulting financial mess, the company was sold to Boeing. So only Boeing was left. It was the big kahuna. It won. And we were proud of it. But then there was a fakokta consortium formed to build the supersonic Concorde. It had an "e" at the end at the behest of the French, their British partners capitulated. This was truly the jet age. But when a tire blew out on the runway and the plane took a dive, the Concorde was sidelined and only Boeing was left. But not really. A competitor emerged with the moniker "Airbus," a consortium of European powers: France, Germany, Spain and Britain. A plane built by committee? We didn't expect technological breakthroughs from the continent, those were the domain of the States. And calling it an AirBUS? We were in the jet age, flight was still relatively exotic. People might not have still dressed up, but they weren't quite wearing shorts and flip-flops as they do today. Then again, the reduction in sartorial fare coincided with the deregulation of the airlines, which caused a concomitant drop in the price of flights, and seemingly everybody took to the air thereafter. 2 Now the bumpiest flights I encounter are flying east, over the Rockies, to land in Denver. You're cruising along, smoothly, looking down at the snow in the mountains and then... The landscape immediately flattens out and this causes airflow to change dramatically, and as a result...if you're afraid of turbulence, get ready for a white knuckle ride. And on one of these flights, with the plane going sideways, wondering if we were even going to make the runway, my friend leaned over from the seat behind me and said: "Freak out all you want, but the plane is never going to crash." And I embraced that. It's carried me through a number of sketchy flights thereafter. Plane crashes used to be a regular feature. But now, it's really only private craft. Until... The 737 Max. Now the 737 is a plane that was launched in the sixties. Relatively low to the ground, so you didn't need jetways, you could just roll up a set of stairs. No one expected it to become a workhorse, to even fly cross-country, but it turned out carriers wanted smaller planes, not bigger ones. To the point where Airbus came out with the double-decker A380 and despite being the smoothest experience ever, it's like flying on your living room couch, demand was de minimis and it went out of production. Seeing that the demand had switched to smaller jets, Airbus created the A320. And other than on Southwest, which famously flies only 737s, you started to see them around. But then Airbus saw the future, and created a smaller, more fuel-efficient version of the A320 called the A320neo, which was much more fuel-efficient. And Boeing was caught flat-footed. 3 Covid taught me nobody is in control. The fact that the world runs at all is staggering to me. But I was brought up to respect experts, my elders, and if you follow the business press, the biggest hero of the nineties was Jack Welch. The accolades were unending, he was the CEO of the century, making GE the most valuable company in America. How did he do this? I won't quite say he cooked the books, but it's something like that. He sold divisions that were not very profitable and got into finance. But when the bubble burst... If you follow GE, you know that today it is a shadow of what it once was. Slimmed down to nearly nonexistence to keep the company alive. But back then... You could not stop hearing about Jack Welch. And with all this publicity, corporations fought to hire those from his team. Which they did at Boeing. It was utterly ridiculous. The headquarters was moved from Seattle to Chicago, and...corners were cut. Like with the 737 MAX. What Boeing needed to do was design a new plane from scratch. But that would cost billions and take years. Boeing had been asleep at the wheel. So, they decided to upgrade the 737 to compete, ergo the "MAX." Which was a technological marvel, but not in a good way. You see the new, bigger engines, had to sit more forward, and they threw off the balance of the plane, and as a result, software was needed to compensate for this. But Boeing didn't tell the government there was a big change, for that would require pilot-retraining, they wanted it to be easy. Now this new software system was called MCAS. But everybody did not get the same system, you had to pay more for two sensors instead of one. Two created a fail-safe system. With only one...it could ice up and give false readings and the MCAS would take over and the pilots would be overwhelmed, if for no other reason than they weren't trained for this, never mind having so little time to react, and the jet would crash. Which happened twice. 4 Then it came out. Ad infinitum. Boeing had been cutting corners. They grounded the 737 MAX, And there was a deep dive and... They found all kinds of flaws. Caused to a great degree by outsourcing production. But it looked like the problems were finally solved, the planes took back to the air and then... A door plug blew out. And then an engine cowling fell off. But Boeing blamed it on maintenance. But really, you thought the company had changed. But then you watch this documentary. 5 Actually, I wasn't planning on seeing it, having followed the story so closely, but I came home from hiking one night and Felice was glued to the set, absolutely horrified, and you will be too. Forget the workers who won't fly on the planes they built. Forget the details about mistakes that were not fixed. Metal shavings in the wires. What really blew my mind about "Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing" was the culture. And it's not only in aircraft, it permeates American business and society. It's all groupthink, you don't want to be an individual in today's world. And it's as bad on the left as it is on the right. If you don't adhere to the orthodoxy on trans rights and Israel, you're pilloried by the left, even if you're a Democrat. As for the other side, it's all about paying fealty to Trump, no matter what he does. But he's a businessman... AND THAT'S EXACTLY THE POINT! Here you see it in action. These overpaid wankers employing financial engineering to make the stock price go up. After all, the reason a corporation exists is to reward the shareholders, right? That's cockamamie crap. That's not the way it used to be. Then again, we no longer have supersonic commercial air travel and we haven't landed a man on the moon in half a century. Today it's all about wealth, and flaunting it. Used to be you owned the company, and even if you were CEO, you felt a responsibility to your employees. No longer. You don't want workers to unionize, and you'd rather not pay them benefits at all. It's best if you can outsource the work, as Amazon does with its delivery drivers, so you can say it's not your fault when it's revealed these drivers are woefully undercompensated. Look at AI... All the investments are off the books, so the stocks of Meta, et al, don't fall. And then there's Nvidia, on both sides of the deal, selling its chips to companies it's got a stake in. But the market keeps rolling along. And if your holdings are in stock, you can borrow against them and not pay taxes! What a country! So what we've got here is corporate brass doing everything in its power to lower costs and the quality control workers flagging the problems that result, whereupon they are ignored. The worst thing is employees are afraid to go to HR. Because if you do, at best you'll get reassigned, but there's a good chance you'll just be fired, and then good luck getting another job in the field. But they use scrapped parts. And the mistakes keep happening. I didn't know about the problem with the faulty oxygen tanks. It is said that 25% of them don't work. So, when the door plug blows out of the Alaska Air plane, fliers don their masks and...they don't work. 6 Now you may or may not be following the latest news about football and CTE. One in four players will get it, if not more. But our nation blindly champions the game. This is like Russian Roulette. And I've got to ask you, do you feel lucky? But the players get paid well (although few of them have guaranteed contracts, get hurt and you don't get paid), and it's their own choice. But is it really? That's like me telling you to jump off the bridge. You might die, but if you don't, I'll pay you ten thousand dollars. Are you going to take that risk? And believe me, having CTE is worse than dying, which is why so many with the disease commit suicide. Being locked into a non-functioning body, one with pressure and pain, is just too much. Just like it is standing up to the man. You can blow the whistle, but they're going to put you through hell before there's any change, never mind getting your reward. And they don't only question the work, but your complete identity. So, you can watch this doc and ask yourself, what is better, to shut up and be the company man, overlook bad activity so you can maintain a paycheck... Hell, that's what we see in the music business. Everybody turns their head, especially when it comes to MeToo... Blow the whistle and you'll never work in this industry again. Are you really going to take that risk? 7 We live in a two-tiered society, the haves and the have-nots. And the haves believe they're smarter and are entitled to their riches, when this is usually not the case, if for no other reason than if the public doesn't buy the product you're going to go out of business, no matter how good it is. And, in truth, with even a grifter President, who ignores the law with impunity, the average citizen no longer believes. They know the game is rigged against them. They know the winners are breaking the rules, so why shouldn't they? And if you say anything negative about Trump it's like being on the left and not falling behind every tenet of democratic socialism... There can be no questioning involved. Either get with the program, or get out. Now the reason I brought up the CTE study is how fast it was off the front page. With so much coming down the pike, worthy news falls by the wayside. Furthermore, there are those who no longer believe in facts and science, and if I die this week you know it will be from the flu shot I just got at Costco, that's what many would say. That's the world we live in. So I don't have much hope that this Boeing documentary will have a big impact. Because you just can't fight the system. And if you try, it takes forever and you still may not win. The corporate powers have deep pockets and can outlast you. But if you watch "Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing," you're not going to be so complacent the next time you get on a Boeing plane. But everybody else is! That's what they want you to think. But watching this documentary you discover that these are just time bombs in the sky. But it's nobody's fault, except maybe yours. You can't fly private. You should have known better than to get on the plane in the first place. And one thing is for sure, whatever happens, really no one is going to be held accountable. That'd be a step in the right direction, if bad actors went to jail. But they think they're above that, that it's an impossibility. Hell, if you want to fight social media practices, don't fine Meta a quarter of their net profit, put Mark Zuckerberg in jail. But he went to Harvard and he's rich, he's inviolate. And unfortunately, that's the truth. -- 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