I don’t even know what kind of Bentley this was.  Other than it was white, had four wheel drive and 660 horsepower.

Jamie Kitman.  Do you know him?

I do.  He’s the irascible dude in "Automobile" magazine.  The contrarian who occasionally opines on the Op-Ed page of the "New York Times", about the fallacy of both hybrids and SUVs.  I’ve been reading Jamie for years.  Who knew he was a rock manager?

Dude called me a couple of years back.  About his new band OK Go.  They had this video featuring treadmills that was getting traction…

Ever speak with a manager on the phone?  Hard to get a word in edgewise.  They’re gonna plow through your consciousness like a plow on I-95 in a snowstorm, they’re gonna leave an impression, they want you to know that whatever their band is doing is important and you’ve got to pay attention.  Doesn’t matter if the manager represents nobodies or somebodies…  Get Tony Dimitriades on the line, he’s represented Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers for decades, still, he’ll sell you, he’ll do his best to close you, it’s in his DNA.

Which is why all those schools that try to teach you the music business are bullshit.  Managers aren’t taught, managers are BORN!  They just don’t fit in anywhere else.  They’ve got no option but to fend for themselves, make their own headway promoting the latest and the greatest.

Jamie went to law school.  Even had great work.  But after driving a Lotus Esprit Turbo cross-country for a magazine article, he quit.  You just can’t beat music and cars.  Hell, ask Billy Gibbons!

And after meeting Tom Werman as an adolescent, Jamie got the bug.  He took the leap.  He started managing They Might Be Giants.

And there the adventure begins.

They Might Be Giants was headlining Largo this evening.  Which, ostensibly, is why Jamie is in town.  A kids’ show at 2, and then an adult performance in the evening, and then they do it all over again tomorrow.

And being a big macher in the car world, Jamie can order up a machine for a demo.  Which is how he ended up picking me up in this Bentley behemoth.

A work of art.  With a stabilizing bar made of graphite where the rear seat should have been.  And bucket seats.  Real buckets.  Like a race car.  Where your tucas barely fit.  I couldn’t own it, my hips were too wide!

But I’m not in danger of owning what Jamie called "The World’s Most Expensive Volkswagen", yes, VW owns Bentley, I’m not that rich. But I was king for a day.  And when I mashed my foot on the accelerator you’d think we were blasting off for the moon, it was just that powerful.

We took Sunset to the beach.  And then into the Valley via Malibu Canyon.  Which is where I took the wheel, for the ride into Echo Park, where OK Go was shooting its new video.  In an abandoned warehouse just off Glendale Boulevard.

Fascinating story.  It’s all Damian’s idea, a semiotics major at Brown, he wanted to construct the world’s biggest Rube Goldberg contraption.  So he went online, to a geek board, advertising for a couple of helpers.  He ended up with rocket scientists.  Twenty of them. Just about all of them doing the work for free.

Not that the video is free.  State Farm Insurance is paying.  All 160k.  Welcome to the new music business.  Capitol may not have any cash, so it’s using its connections.  You just need to put the logo in the video.

It was like the eighties, but with a twist.  You had the excitement of video, in a world where video no longer rules.  Then again, video broke OK Go.  Could they do it again?

Damian walked us through all the contraptions.  On two floors.  They were going to shoot it all in one take.  Wednesday and Thursday are the days.  They’re gonna do it over and over again until they get it right.  Should rival "Sledgehammer" when it’s done.

The music?  I’ve got the benefit of NEVER HEARING THE MUSIC!  So I can’t render an opinion.  But, I will say that Damian was charismatic.  I got his sex appeal.  If I was a girl, I’d fall in love.  That’s what we’re selling.  Charisma.  Attractiveness.

And then we ventured to Largo to see They Might Be Giants.  Appearing in a sold out show.  Where the fans were so rabid, you’d have thought they were the Beatles.

Once upon a time, the muckety-mucks pooh-poohed the Giants, although they were signed by Sue Drew to Elektra and had a tenure on the major.  But now, the Giants are the future.  A hard core of fans who will see you every time you come through.  You can live off this. Someone will come to see the flavor of the moment perform their hit once.  Twice?  No, not unless there’s another hit.  And it ain’t easy having another one.  Not since Haircut 100 and that Rico Suave dude…

Now I don’t think the Giants are rich.  But is that what you got into it for?  I hope that’s not the case.

Anyway, very fun day.  The way rock and roll used to be.  Breaking the rules.  Testing the limits of our creativity.  Believing that we’re not part of the system…  Hell, we got into this to stay OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM!

And music will only flourish, will only drive the culture once again, when it realizes it can’t be synonymous with the man, but must chart its own course, of freedom and limit-testing, the American Way.

The Car

I looked it up.  Turns out it’s only 621 horsepower.  Sue me.  Isn’t that enough for you?  This could be the exact car we drove, it’s certainly the same color with the same trim.  Click on the "Interior" button to see the tiny seats.

I took a chance, I took a shot
And you might think I’m bulletproof, but I’m not

Silence. It’s always worst in a crisis.  Just ask Tiger Woods.

Johnson & Johnson wrote the book on this, with Tylenol.  Remember the capsules with cyanide?  No? Proves the point.  J&J admitted fault, even though the company was not responsible, executed a fix and life went on.

It’s a veritable conflagration.  Not only online.  But in the mainstream news.

The "New York Times" took a swing at Taylor Swift, they said her singing was "painfully out of tune".

In an article on the Oscars, Patrick Goldstein of the "Los Angeles Times" excoriated her: "Even though Swift was the big winner Sunday night, she has largely been derided by critics and is viewed as a youthful enthusiasm, not a serious artist. (If you watched the show, you may have noticed that while she has lovely hair, she can barely sing.)"

The non-music outlet known as MTV is riding Swift’s performance to ratings just like the channel rode the derided "Jersey Shore" controversy.  Even taking the unprecedented action of printing blowback from haters:

Taylor Swift Backlash: Readers Weigh In

And what do we get from Taylor Swift’s camp?  She’s in Australia.  Scott Borchetta bit back lamely once, and then was indignant in the "Tennessean":

Updated: Taylor Swift gets mixed reviews at Grammys

You could write a book on how
To ruin someone’s perfect day

This is all wrong.  You don’t bite back this way, you’re contrite, go on the offensive by endearing yourself to consumers.

Taylor Swift should not be hiding Down Under, she should jet back to the U.S., do "Oprah", reveal secrets, do a town hall…  You know major news outlets are interested, because this is a major story. Except maybe to those in the eye of the hurricane, where the calm does not reflect the winds outside.

Scott Swift, Taylor’s dad, I know you’re reading this.  You’re a smart guy.  I know you’re protective of your daughter, I know you believe in her, why don’t you help her?

Call Larry Solters.  Call another crisis publicity agent.  To manage the story.  Because I’d say you’ve lost control of it, no, I’d say you never had a hold on it, and it’s time you did.

Everything’s got to come out.  Honesty is the best policy in a crisis.  We’re a forgiving country.  Tell the backstory, the true story, of how Scott spent so much to make Taylor happen.  Not as a tale of millions spent, but as a father doing everything to make his daughter’s dream come true.  Release video of Taylor singing at twelve.  Show the arc of her development.  Make the Grammy appearance part of her development.  Instead of the end of the story…

This is serious business.  Just look at John Edwards.  The aforementioned Tiger Woods.  There are people who specialize in handling these crises.  Hire one.  Because the team in control of Taylor Swift’s image is woefully overmatched.  I wouldn’t call it a public relations offensive but an explanation, a bringing of the public into Taylor Swift’s heart.  Don’t throw stones at your enemies, hug them tight, by admitting your faults and showing that you’re reasonable, and dedicated to solving the problem.

I take a step back, let you go
I told you I’m not bulletproof
Now you know

I’m sure Taylor’s hurt.  Hell, if she’s this upset about a boy in "Tell Me Why", imagine what it’s like breaking up with your career?

And when you get dumped, your friends rally ’round.  They’ll rally ’round Taylor if she cries, tells how she tried, dedicates herself to doing better in the future and allows the public to embrace her.

"Tell Me Why"

After breaking my leg, I moved into a house on Peony Way, in the cinder block suburbs, 103 streets south of the Temple, in the heart of The City of Salt.

That’s what we called it.  We outsiders, we Jews, "The City of Salt".  It gave us some distance, prevented us from being swallowed up by the Mormons, who were out to convert you at every turn, even at Snowbird.  Reminds me of that guy New York George, who opened a restaurant in the shade of the Scientology Center.  Wasn’t long until George too was a Scientologist…it was good for business.

But I wasn’t supposed to be down in the flats, I was supposed to be up in the canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon, to be exact, I’d lined up a job being a waiter at the Goldminer’s Daughter not long after Labor Day.  But I’d broken my leg in the interim, and not only did I lose a few months of the ski season, I forfeited the gig too.  But hunting down my old Middlebury buddy who’d followed me out to Utah, I learned that he’d quit his job at the Alta Peruvian and moved in with two renegades in Sandy, on the aforementioned Peony Way, where ski bums stood out like alta kachers at a rap show.  Big Wheels screamed down the street as we hid inside with our multiple pairs of skis and very little cash.  But we knew what was important, sliding down the hill, we were not in pursuit of cash.  At least that’s what I thought, until the second winter when too many people stopped skiing and started working day jobs, even for the phone company, then I knew I had to get out of there.

But after selling hot dogs up at Snowbird during the day, and skiing The Greatest Snow On Earth, I came home to a house with a couple maybe in love, at least they were sleeping together, who watched TV each and every night.  Their set was black and white, seeming to deny their interest, but they were addicted.  And after living in Vermont with no reception for four years, I was not, I’d broken the habit.

So I ended up retreating to my favorite haunt.  The library.

It was brand new.  About forty streets north.  You could check out cassettes, which I did, returning them after two weeks and then removing them once again, who else would want the latest Todd Rundgren opus?

But I also combed the stacks.  Looking for something to read, something to placate my loneliness, this was still months before I finally found my people, on a snowy night downtown, plotting to move to Mammoth Lakes for the spring while "Physical Graffiti" blared in the background.

I checked out Bob Greene’s Alice Cooper book.  I enjoyed that.

And then I kept combing the aisles.  I started to read Salinger.  I’m not sure why, could I have just stumbled upon it?  I don’t recall.

Not "The Catcher In The Rye".  We’d read that in high school.  Liked it, didn’t love it.  But "Nine Stories" and "Franny and Zooey".  And "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction". I’d never even heard of the last.  And I read it last.  And it kind of left me hanging.  I wanted more, but there was no more.

Salinger stopped writing.

And America could not tolerate it.  The public felt it was entitled to more.  Salinger owed them.

The obits have been fascinating.  Stunning to read that "The Catcher In The Rye", the definitive classic, was panned upon release by so many.  But even more interesting has been the insight into the man. Not the cranky old sot who wouldn’t deliver, but the real Jerry.

He had no tolerance for phonies.

In other words, Salinger was a character in his books.  Keeping the straight world at arm’s length. Incorruptible.

We all start off incorruptible.  But then that fades.  We cheat on tests to get good grades to insure we go to the right college so we can get into the right graduate school and rape and plunder.  And since you’ve got to have the totems, the car and the house, and ultimately the family too, you end up being on the hook for a lot of bread, you can’t walk away, you start rationalizing your life, criticizing those who don’t agree with you, you sacrificed, they should too.

Or else you’re an outsider who trades solely on that, creating nothing of value, but putting down the works of others.  You know them.  The black jeans crowd.  Nothing is ever hip enough for them, except for stuff you just can’t comprehend.  As Salinger said, "A community of seriously hip observers is a scary and depressing thing."

So either you can sell out or be a nerd.  It’s hard to be an individual.  In a world that’s sorting out your totals constantly.  Are you a winner or a loser?  It’s either/or.  Pick a side.  But what if you don’t want to pick a side?

In Lillian Ross’ remembrance in the "New Yorker", she quotes Salinger’s letter stating: "I think I despise every school and college in the world, but the ones with the best reputation first."

I don’t get higher education.  Who cares about those subjects?  Or else they’re teaching something cool that’s unteachable, like the music business.  How do you teach that?  You’ve got to EXPERIENCE that!

Elite schooling teaches you how the system works, you’re thrown in with a bunch of other sharp people, but you don’t learn much in the classroom.  But that’s not something you can say in the halls of academia, with all the tenured professors and suck-ups, thinking that if they just get straight A’s, their lives will work.

And now I’m sounding like Salinger.  Bitter by your judgment, but angry that true heart, genuine emotions don’t have much currency in modern life.  It’s all fake.  Lying so you can play the corporate game like a pinball machine.  You win, and then you want to shoot yourself?

I haven’t read a lick of Salinger in decades, not since I returned that last volume to that library in Utah.  I don’t reread, makes no sense, not with so much more to still read.  But that doesn’t mean I forget what I read.  What I remember most is the way it made me feel.  Reading Salinger made me feel human, warm, like the game I had a hard time playing, of winners and losers on the economic totem pole, didn’t make much sense.  Real life was about being open, hopeful, taking risks, sharing joy.  Being honest.

That’s what’s gone today, honesty.  If you’re honest, you’re outside the game, and if you’re not playing the game, you’re judging us, so we judge you in turn, you’re a loser.  But not necessarily.

We revere those who refuse to play the game, who work hard, search out their own path.  We call these people artists.  They’re in short supply.  But we recognize them when we see them, we flock to them, we want more.

We always wanted more Salinger.

We still want more Lennon.

We don’t want much of the hit parade.

1. Book Pricing

Amazon blinked.

In case you missed the story, over the weekend Macmillan drew a line in the sand.  No more devaluing our product, no more underselling to boost Kindle market share, we’re not going to let you sell electronic books for $9.99 upon date of hard cover publication.

Oh YEAH??

Well, yeah.  You should have seen the mealy-mouthed Amazon explanation when the retailer caved.  Something about Macmillan having a "monopoly over their own titles"?  Huh?

The record companies want to raise prices at the iTunes Store and Steve Jobs goes public and calls them greedy.  Jeff Bezos just caves.

But the truly interesting point is Macmillan’s desire to stand up to Amazon.  It was emboldened by a product that has not yet hit the shelves, the iPad.  Steve Jobs said electronic books would be a straight 70/30 deal, in favor of the publisher.  And books would cost $12.99 to $14.99.

Overnight, with an unreleased product, Steve Jobs changed electronic book pricing.  Wow.

(Meanwhile, emboldened by Macmillan, HarperCollins is now angling for a better e-book deal with Amazon, which Murdoch said today is ready to renegotiate. Meanwhile, Murdoch, who controls HarperCollins, referenced Apple’s higher prices in his criticism of Amazon.  So, Bezos takes his finger out of the dike and the water comes rushing in, just like that, all because Jeff is afraid of Steve Jobs and Apple.)

2. Flash

You should have seen the blogosphere.  Up in arms.  The iPad doesn’t support FLASH!

And it doesn’t have a camera, which the ultimately released edition is now rumored to include, and there’s no USB…

But Flash?  How can we run the Internet without Flash?  It’s the standard!  Hell, you could see the blank spot in the "New York Times" page Jobs pulled up in the demo, where the movie was supposed to go.  The iPad can’t triumph…  Maybe you can get away without Flash on the tiny iPhone, but not the iPad!

Then Jobs struck back.  Trumping the naysayers by saying that Flash sucks.  That it’s the main reason Safari crashes on computers.

Mmm…  That’s right.

I don’t know if you’re on a Mac, but it never crashes, not only the whole computer, but any individual program, except for occasionally Microsoft Office, where so many cooks ended up releasing a half-baked product, and Safari.

Yes, it’s not frequent, but Safari crashes.  Or hangs.  And it’s always the damn movie.  It’s always Flash.

Suddenly, online, there’s all this hoopla about HTML5.  How it and H.264 are better than Flash and are going to replace it.

Wow.  Talk about turning lemons into lemonade.  Steve Jobs is so powerful he can change the STANDARD!  Then again, this is not the first time he’s done it.  Remember the iMac without the floppy drive, with USB connectors?  Seen a floppy drive recently?  Isn’t USB the standard (is the proprietary iPod connector about to be the new standard?)

3. AT&T

There were audible groans in the auditorium when Jobs stated that high speed cellular connections for the iPad would be through AT&T.  The groans may not have made the official video, but do you wonder why the stream doesn’t appear until hours later?  It’s got to be cleaned up!

AT&T has shitty 3G coverage.  Just watch TV and see the maps.  Yes, AT&T’s 3G is extremely fast, WHERE YOU CAN GET IT!  Which is in the metropolis, assuming the system’s not overloaded.

But today it was revealed that Verizon just didn’t bid high enough.  That AT&T put its money where its mouth was.  Coming up with a low-priced service plan that other providers weren’t about to match.  Giving AT&T a monopoly on Apple products and time to finally get those infrastructure changes in place before everybody abandons the legacy carrier.

All this and the iPad has not yet been released.

It seems the world comes down to two kinds of people.  Those who are afraid of Apple and those who are not.  Verizon is not.  But they just reported shitty numbers.  Amazon is.

You see companies believe that Steve Jobs is in control of a giant tribe, who will follow him anywhere.  So far, Mr. Jobs has not revealed a compelling reason to purchase an iPad.  But that doesn’t mean he won’t.  And when he does, when the tribe has acquired it and harangued newbies to join the team, do you want to be left out?

This is utterly amazing.  We’ve got a President, a whole cadre of elected officials whored out to corporations, their approval ratings in the dumper. But we’ve got a businessman (aren’t we supposed to hate businessmen?) who appears beholden to no one, in search of excellence, willing to do it his way at the risk that potential partners might take the highway.  When so-called musical "artists" are eager to sell out, do you wonder why Steve Jobs has got such a throng of admirers, such a posse?  To the point where an unreleased product changes the course of business?

AT&T would be in the same boat as Sprint without the iPhone and now the iPad, hemorrhaging customers.

Adobe felt it won the war of Web video and rested on its laurels, just like Microsoft.  We’ve got dominant market share, Flash is the standard, you have to use our product…huh?  Especially if the platform changes.  Microsoft may own the desktop, although their share is slipping, but it’s losing tremendous ground in the new medium, mobile devices.  Hell who’d want Windows Mobile after using Windows on their desktop?  And it’s not like Windows Mobile has gotten good reviews.

And if you think physical books are the way of the future, then you’re unaware of the towns that no longer sport a bookstore, like Laredo, TX, you’re unaware that library hours are shortening, that Borders is on the bring of bankruptcy and Barnes & Noble might soon be taken over.  The publishers are too ignorant to even see what’s going on.  They’re running into the arms of Apple to avoid Amazon.  Who do you need to fear most? Just look at a Kindle and an iPad and you’ve got your answer.  Publishers are doing BETTER by selling e-books on Amazon today, they’re getting physical book wholesale!  But fearful of $9.99 becoming the pricing standard, they’re taking a worse deal from Apple.  Retailing the books at higher prices, but getting less in return.  But how about when you want to raise prices again?  Look what happened with the record companies.  Suddenly, Apple had all the power, not them.

But publishers are shortsighted.

And Amazon is weak.

AT&T realized it’s better to get on the Jobs bandwagon than not.

And the public wants cheaper prices, or it steals.  Not that Steve Jobs really cares, he’s in the hardware business…