I feel vindicated! According to the obituary in the “New York Times,” Pete Townshend considered “Yummy Yummy Yummy” one of his favorite songs when it came out. And I loved it too! I even bought the single! And singles were made to be played over and over, until the vinyl turned grey, and mine did… I even took it along with me to Providence when we went to visit our cousins on some holiday, I was the only boy there, I sat in the corner of the room alone and listened…

You’ve got to know, everybody hated bubblegum music.

Scratch that… Bubblegum music had a huge audience amongst the young and brain dead, who had not shifted to album rock, which had its biggest triumph with “Sgt. Pepper,” which had no singles at all, in the same year that the 1910 Fruitgum Company released…

“Simon Says.” I hated that song! It was stupid!

1967 was not only the year of “Sgt. Pepper,” it was also the year of “Disraeli Gears” and “Are You Experienced,” both of which you had to own to hear, at least until the summer of ’68, when “Sunshine of Your Love” crossed over, “Purple Haze” never did.

1967 was the year of FM rock’s birth. First in San Francisco, then in New York. And believe me, I was a listener, I owned all those albums, but if you lived anywhere else you were a victim of AM Top 40 radio. Most people didn’t even own an FM radio… That band was seen as traveling short distances and featuring classical music. As for cars…good luck finding one with an FM receiver back in ’67.

So the hipsters not only knew the albums of the burgeoning album rock scene, but the Top 40 too. Upon which they placed judgment. And there were a lot of great tracks in ’67, like “Dance to the Music” and “Respect” and “Soul Man” and…nobody bought the albums of these acts (don’t write me and tell me you own one, the bottom line is the album phenomenon started with white rock, period). Stuff that those in the know could listen to and enjoy. But “Simon Says”? That was going backwards! That was a return to the pre-Beatle era. That was the kind of commercial dreck labels put out today, commerce as opposed to art.

And the following year’s “1, 2, 3, Red Light” was just as bad, if not worse.

Bubblegum music was foisted upon the public by the team of  Kasenetz & Katz. They were the stars, the bands were faceless, they usually didn’t really exist, although concoctions were formed to go on the road and hoover up money.

But back in ’67… “Rolling Stone” launched that year and didn’t gain mainstream traction for almost half a decade thereafter. Meaning…there wasn’t much information about these two producers and their productions, all we had were the records. It was not like today, where you can go deep down the rabbit hole on the internet.

But it was more than straight bubblegum.  Kasenetz & Katz had their first hit with the Music Explosion’s cover of “Little Bit O’ Soul” earlier in the year of 1967, before anybody had even heard of bubblegum, never mind “Simon Says.” And “Little Bit O’ Soul” was seen as credible, it was infectious without being saccharine, it got respect. It fit into the Texas oeuvre of Doug Sahm and…even though the band was from Ohio.

And after the run of bubblegum was just about done, in 1969, Kasenetz & Katz had a hit with Crazy Elephant’s “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’.” Which had the rough-throated vocals of FM rock matched with an undeniable hook of a chorus and a driving beat. These were not saccharine, clean-cut boys who’d barely crossed the line over to puberty, these were definitely men, there was a sexual undertone, and an organ solo and a guitar solo… If only today’s acts could write a song so infectious. Yes, that’s what Kasenetz & Katz specialized in, infection…you heard their songs and you could not get them out of your head.

Now I didn’t know until the internet filled in the gaps that 10cc worked with the producers, even participated in the records before they were called 10cc…they used the money to build Strawberry Studios in Manchester.

But Kasenetz & Katz’s epoch faded except for one last gasp with Ram Jam’s version of “Black Betty,” which was big in the heartland, not so much on the coasts.

But their benefactor, Neil Bogart, really hit his stride in the seventies. After parting ways with Buddah and forming Casablanca he stumbled with his initial release, a Johnny Carson compilation, but then struck gold with KISS and Donna Summer and more.

What Bogart did best was promote. As for the money and where it went… Well, Polygram ultimately swallowed the label. And although Bogart started over with Boardwalk, the times were different. The full force promotion of yesteryear no longer worked. Bogart could will a hit. Well, not exactly will it, but create such a field of distraction and excitement that people paid attention, and hits ensued.

It was a different era.

Well, not completely different from today, which is cottage industry. Kasenetz & Katz came from nowhere, they established a foothold with the help of Bogart and more. Today, you’ve got all the tools at home, you don’t need a major label deal, you can post and get views and listens and make money and most people have never even heard of you or your music. But back in ’67, it was different. There was a threshold. Either you had a record deal or you did not. And either you were on AM radio or you were a sideshow… FM came along to rescue the sideshow, make it the main show, but before that…

“Yummy Yummy Yummy”…

I constantly have acts and their retinue tell me to give a record a few spins, to live with it.

Nothing like that was a hit back in the days of sixties Top 40. If you didn’t get it on the first listen, didn’t die to hear it again on the radio, didn’t need to go to the store to buy the record to hear it whenever you wanted to…you weren’t in the game, no one was interested, not the stations or the public.

And unlike today, records didn’t last a long time. They were hits and then they were done, replaced by new hits…not that you ever forgot the old ones. You played them to death until you could listen no more, but they were indelibly imprinted upon your brain.

As for “Yummy Yummy Yummy”…it had a driving beat. And then a nasal vocal that did sound straight out of the bubblegum canon, but then there was a change…

“Ooh love to hold ya, ooh love to kiss ya

Ooh love, I love it so”

The singer took it up a notch, lost his nasality, and then there was a chorus of backup vocalists, making the whole thing sweet.

And then the driving beat once again, with stabs of emphasis.

And the second time through the verse the backup vocals were littered throughout, everybody was having a good time. There was exuberance!

And then came the nonsense lyrics…

“Ba, da, ba, da, da, da, da

Ba, da, da, da, da, da”

And then the modulation up! And even more emphatic vocals.

And an outro with the “Ba, da, ba” backup vocals and the lead singer testifying on top…and when it fades out all you can do is take it from the top once again.

And if you don’t get it…

You’re too hip for the room. You’re the same person who believes “Metal Machine Music” is a masterpiece, who listens to music with your head as opposed to your heart, who is worried about what others think about your taste while simultaneously bullying them into believing your word is gospel.

In other words, you need to take “Yummy Yummy Yummy” on the surface. Shut off your brain and just let the music…

Infect you.

Kasenetz & Katz infected the entire world.

Legendarily, those behind the scenes make most of the money, the acts that front the songs end up famous with the name and oftentimes little else. Then again, Kasenetz & Katz were not only the producers, in many cases they were essentially the act.

Leaving the question… How did they do financially?

Now the truth is bubblegum music has never faded away, those songs are still played, so there’s publishing money, assuming they took an interest, and it being the sixties they probably did.

And assuming they continued to get paid by the record company… You complain about streaming royalties? Good luck getting paid at all by indie labels in the past.

Now did they sell their interests?

I don’t know… Maybe some deep research will tell me, but all I know is those records were hits over half a century ago and they’re still part of the fabric of society today. So whoever owned the rights/income stream has done very well. What seemed as disposable, transitory back then, turned out not to be. Which is why I always tell acts not to sell their songs, their babies. Certainly when they’re young.

So a piece of music history died this week. You may not have known Jerry Kasenetz’s name, but if you’re a student of the game, he and his partner Jeffry Katz are LEGENDS!

And I still smile when I hear the Music Explosion, Crazy Elephant and Ohio Express hits. They’re part of my life. AND I AIN’T APOLOGIZING FOR IT!

Mr. OK Go.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/damian-kulash/id1316200737?i=1000742674669

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/500badd5-c4b7-429e-810a-14fd9cbbf833/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-damian-kulash

I didn’t read it either…

But I did read “Tale of Two Cities” in high school…you know, it was the best of times and the worst of times (kind of like today, although I think we’re leaning towards “worst”). And “Great Expectations” with Pip. But that’s it. As for reading Dickens in college… It was part of a course that required you to read books up to a thousand pages at the pace of one a week and if I actually did all the reading…I’d have no time to do anything else.

There have been all these stories recently how even in college students no longer read entire books. But the dirty little secret is always what college you go to. If you go to a classic liberal arts college, believe me, you will. As for studying business at a multi-university…I don’t know. Then again, my classic New England upbringing leaves me with a different view of college from most people today. College was not a place you went to to get a job, but to enrich your life.

Now I could go on a rant here about education… You do know that despite hating on teachers’ unions the goal of many is to starve public schools, to replace them with parochial schools… But I feel like I’m living in bizarroland. I just grew up in the middle class suburbs. Where education was treasured. And I won’t say necessarily rigorous, not for everybody, but I assumed this model continued to dominate, now I know that is not the case. And just one more thing here…although I don’t understand sending your kids away to prep school, I will say they get a much better education there. I was stunned at how well read my prep school compatriots were at Middlebury.

Not that I feel totally warm about Middlebury… I’ve mellowed, but it took me ten years to get over that place. It was a hothouse of conservatism where the students jockeyed for position and…the real world was not like that, god…if you just showed up every day you ended up ascending the job ladder quickly.

Anyway, I hope the title of this spiel doesn’t turn you off, because this 2005 BBC production of “Bleak House” is definitely worth your while.

Now before this we watched “Eddington,” which had a big buzz when it was released over the summer, there were articles and conversation but I’m not going to to go to the theatre… Once again, for many reasons, but…I find I can’t slow down enough to enjoy the picture, if nothing else. I can’t go from working steadily to calming down on demand.

Anyway, RottenTomatoes rates “Eddington” at  69/65 and I’d say that’s exactly right. Which is why I’d refrained from watching it previously, my threshold is 80, but the film continues to pop up in my reading so we delved in.

“Eddington” rang my bell at first, it’s a perfect depiction of the maelstrom we presently live in, with beliefs on the left and the right, arguments between the young and the old, but they throw in everything, including the kitchen sink, it’s overplotted, and you end up disappointed at the end.

Which is why I found myself on Metacritic researching TV series. Once again, I like the character development in series, the greater depth, even though the educated classes, Hollywood royalty, still think movies are the sh*t.

So I’m looking at the best TV series of all time on Metacritic, and not far from the top I find a 2005 remake of “Bleak House.” And wanting to watch something good, we dove in.

Now you can watch “Bleak House” on multiple platforms. We watched it on Amazon… As for the ads, there’s a thirty second one before every episode and that’s all, so you don’t have to pay the $2.99 to get rid of them. I can afford $2.99, but I find it an insult. Just give me one overall price, stop pecking me to death like an overaggressive duck. If you want to see where you can see “Bleak House,” just go to justwatch.com  Ah, here’s the page:

https://www.justwatch.com/us/search?q=bleak%20house%202005

So this 2005 series is not the only edition of “Bleak House,” but this is the one that was rated so well on Metacritic. It stars Gillian Anderson.

Now as I said previously, science fiction is not my thing, so I never watched “The X-Files,” I wasn’t really familiar with Anderson’s work. But she was so good in “The Fall,” I became a fan. And you should watch “The Fall”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(TV_series) 

And Anderson is great in “Bleak House,” but she’s far from the only draw. It’s a cornucopia of great U.K. actors. You’ve seen Anna Maxwell Martin in so many productions…you may not recognize the name, but you’ll know her instantly by her face. Charles Dance as Mr. Tulkinghorn is an intense villain, without becoming two-dimensional. It even features a young Carey Mulligan. This is not an American series with stars showing off, oftentimes sans acting skills. This is a primer in great acting.

Anyway, the plot is…

There’s a legal case regarding a will that’s been going on for years, but everybody whose put their faith in a payout has had their life ruined by this focus.

And then there’s the heritage of Anna Maxwell Martin’s Esther Summerson.

But, there is tons of plot, tons of twists and turns. You see a huge issue that would be resolved in the very last episode in an American series and then you’re stunned when the truth comes out much earlier…where is the story going to go?

Meanwhile, it’s all set in mid-century England, the 1800s, and you’ve got vast income inequality, the idle rich living in luxury and the poor living in squalor. Actually, it’s not that different from today, even though we’ve pulled back from the extremes.

So there are issues of money, but also passion and honor and…

Don’t be scared off by it being Dickens… You’d be interested no matter who wrote it

The avarice.  Everybody’s trying to get ahead, whether it be the drunken landlord Krook or the invalid carried by chair Smallweed.

Do you let young lovers live their impassioned lives impulsively or does the elder try to slow their lives down, having learned how life plays out over his years.

And can you restrict your passion, your love for another, even if society frowns on it?

And then there’s the power wielded over those who have no standing.

The surprises are plentiful.

My only regret is one of my favorite actors, John Lynch…

Well, I don’t want to give anything away, I’ll just say I wish he was featured more in the series.

You may not be hooked immediately, but within two or three episodes you will be, you’ll be drawn to the TV because you want to know what happens. And you’ll be surprised by what happens.

And on one hand you’ll be taken away from today…but so many of the same issues are in play in the twenty first century.

“Bleak House” was written as a twenty episode serial over a year and a half. Which means Dickens had to keep the reader interested, on the edge of their seat, wanting to know what happened.

Don’t let a knee-jerk aversion to Dickens prevent you from watching this series. It’s a BBC tour-de-force.

And much better than all the vaunted American productions of 2025.

If you’re looking for a respite from this mixed up, muddled up, shook up world…

I recommend this book.

Which I was hesitant about in the beginning, because it’s a “Read with Jenna Pick.” Not that I knew this when I reserved it on Libby a few months back after reading a review in the “New York Times,” but oftentimes the books Jenna recommends are relatively lowbrow and unsatisfying, I won’t quite say time-killers, but I’m looking for soul-fulfillment in my reading more than just warm feelings.

But not long after I started I stopped. And then read and stopped again. Because, you see, one of the characters was clairvoyant.

Maybe that’s not the exactly right word. Becky can connect with people from the past. A spiritualist? I don’t know, but I’ve got no time for this stuff…I’m rooted in reality. And for that reason I’ve got absolutely no interest in fantasy and rarely am entranced by science fiction. I know, I know, you like “Dark” and so many streaming shows…but they’re not my thing.

So I’m going to read a 451 page book that turns on a character communing with the other side?

I don’t think so.

But giving “Buckeye” one more go I got hooked. Turns out that the spiritualist element ends up being a relatively minor theme in this saga about America. Which starts just prior to the Second World War and then plays out through the lives of the earliest baby boomers.

Based in Ohio…in sleepy Bonhomie, you ultimately see the town flourish in the boom of the fifties and sixties. If you lived through this era, you recognize the optimism, and then the looming Vietnam War. That’s one thing young ‘uns never had to worry about…getting drafted. Never mind fighting and dying or coming back with no acceptance, no kudos. The government was disconnected from the public just like today, but instead of fearing you were going to get shipped overseas to fight, now you’re worried about being deported.

Now not everybody is born to set the world on fire. Today’s “news” is littered with people trying to become rich and famous. The opportunity is vast, even though the odds are low. But just living your life was enough back in the late forties and fifties. You wanted a marriage, kids, a job, good times.. Being average was not a sentence, but what most people wanted and were happy with.

So we’ve got the war. Actually three wars… II, Korea and Vietnam. And the men who go and either come back or don’t. And the women wait for their return.

And the depiction of the World War II era…

One of the hottest recent books is Kristin Hannah’s “The Women”…which is phenomenal when it deals with war, but is nearly two-dimensional when the main character returns to the U.S. This is not “Buckeye”… “Buckeye” focuses less on what happens overseas, although it does a good job, but when the focus returns to the U.S., it’s far superior to “The Women.”

So if you liked “The Women”…

“Buckeye” is a saga. It doesn’t start where it ends up. Kind of like the new John Irving book “Queen Esther,” an orphanage figures into the beginning but the plot does not remain there…(I loved the Irving book at first, but it gets twisted up…you’re on your own with “Queen Esther.”)

So you’ve got the orphan who…

“Buckeye” ends up a family drama. With everything from work to passion to internal despair…just like regular life, just like your life.

In a world dominated by “news”…there’s more real life, more truth in “Buckeye” than what you’ll find online.

I don’t want to overhype it, but I love this kind of book…that takes me into another space, separated from everyday reality, yet makes me contemplate life all the while.

As I look at Amazon right now, it says “Buckeye” is:

“ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, NPR, People, Minnesota Star Tribune, Chicago Public Library”

But no one has ever mentioned it to me.

Yet it is a best seller.

So if this is the kind of book that appeals to you, one that is not hard to read but tells the story of life…

“Buckeye” is perfect for this period of holiday limbo, you will lose yourself in it.