A long overdue column.

Long on the cusp of sensory overload, Taylor’s carpet bombing marketing started with the massive Eras Tour which, amazingly, still has seven months to go—with no surcease on the horizon.

Let’s review:1). The re-recording of old catalogue has been a complete artistic failure. Cynically marketed as an “artist rights” triumph, it was never more than a money grab.

These re-records did nothing for her artistic growth and, in fact, retarded it.

2) This, in turn, lead to a glut of her product in the marketplace and ridiculous palaver about her business acumen.

3) So, the tour gets rolling and we can’t escape daily updates about every record set; it’s even more ridiculous than those bogus ESPN stats, e.g., most bunt singles by a DH in a day game at Wrigley field.

4) This train starts to get derailed during the Kelsey romance—the ultimate marriage of the NFL and the world’s biggest superstar.

5). Taylor goes off the rails at the Grammys.  She makes a grand entrance after the monologue starts, walking an entire semi-circle to her table with the entire posse in tow!  The nadir comes when she wins the award for the Best Album, music’s highest honor, and sashays to the stage to announce the release date of her next album, more than two months away AND announces that she needs to go back stage to post the artwork!!!

6). Finally the release of the bloated 31  song album showing no artistic growth whatever, in fact, a step backward with too much repetition.

It’s more than fatigue, it’s simply too much at every level.

Best,
Lance Grode

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My 21 year old daughter, who has been a Taylor fan, has told me she is “over it”.

She also thinks she’s using AI to write. Interesting theory.

Ed Toth

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Bob this is rubbish. Get over yourself.

Mark Lafond

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I saw this coming a mile away. Last year there was endless 24/7 round the clock coverage of the Eras tour combined non-stop coverage of her relationship with Travis Kelce. It was inescapable. Every conceivable news and music outlet I follow on social media would bombard people with an endless barrage of all things Taylor Swift. As it stands right now, it’s far too soon for another album. Her tonedeaf album announcement at the Grammy’s was also cringe. She clearly doesn’t know how to read the room and her and her people have grossly overplayed their hand here. The last thing the world needed right now is more Taylor Swift. I’m happy to that there are dents in the armor and some mixed reviews are coming in. This one needed a reality check.

-Jake Dibiase

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Make me miss you.  That was my first thought when she announced the album.  And when she dropped two versions… 30 tracks within hours, I thought “pretty self indulgent.”  And I’m a fan.  Her Folklore and Evermore albums weren’t for me, but she won me back with Midnights and the Eras tour.  I’ve listened twice to Poets.  I’m unmoved.  Oh, you broke-up again? Great.  Too whiny, repetitive melodies, seems she’s writing with a dictionary at hand.  The word “Impropriety” is used in a song.  She rhymes Aristotle with Grand Theft Auto. Forcibly, IMO.  And the whole vibe seems to be ripped from her BFF Lana Del Ray.  An editor was needed but she’s reached the “Yes Taylor” stage of anything she proposes.  And yet, I still admire her.  There are levels of genius. And she is kind to her fans.  Sometimes too much is too much.

Jerry J. Sharell

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Her intentional efforts to oversaturate the marketplace makes this double album a bit too self-indulgent and unneeded for my likes.

I most definitely have Taylor fatigue and I acutally enjoy a good chunk of these 31 songs.

Greg Robson

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Bob, I understand where the author is coming from but from a record store’s perspective, we haven’t seen any backlash on Taylor Swift. The buzz was in full effect last weekend and her fans, especially younger teens, have maybe multiplied since the last album.

Scott Farrell

Down In The Valley Records

Minneapolis MN

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Don’t let go of the handlebars just yet, Bob. First of all, you personally inspired a hit song by Taylor Swift. Take a look at your rare company. You’re standing among a couple of rock/pop stars and a Super Bowl champion.

Secondly, maybe review the material first? Courtney Love is thankful that a media outlet will pick up the phone these days and Hole was never, ever interesting.

Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff are producing incredible and interesting music, whether it’s their own work or collaborations with others like Taylor. Take her songwriting magic, which she has whether anyone likes it or not, combined with that level of production brilliance and you’re going to have some killer tracks. Fortnight, TTPD and loml are a few. Listen to the record, write about the record and then complain about the dyed vinyl, okay?

Aubrey Parker

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I’m not a fan, but I listened to the album (at least the first drop.) and it just wasn’t that good. Bland, repetitive. Case closed for me.

Mitchell Manasse

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Yes.

“Let the farmland lay fallow”.

Meg Griffin

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Yes, didn’t she just have the biggest tour, and the biggest movie, and the biggest public romance and was seen at the biggest sporting event and now she has the biggest album with the most streams ever?…damn, that’s a lot!

Who else could render Trump mysterious by comparison? And the words tortured and poet in her album’s title just sound out of place to me. But hey I’m your age.

Shepherd Stevenson

L.A.

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Mark me down for over T Swift. Actually was over it during football season. Well really never a fan. When everyone around you tells you you’re great, you are. Suffering from TSTSD.

B Chapin

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With you on this. Her oversatuation/marketing ploys have gotten to such extremes it has turned me off her.

I have enjoyed her music but literally can’t listen to the new album, skipped through it, just a rehash.

Too much of even a good thing IS too much.

Guess showing her true egomaniacal/vengeful stripes, or perhaps the billionare status has gone to her head. Likely a combination but regardless, sad, actually.

DG

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There would be no negative Taylor Swift writings if the songs on this album were better.  There is no saturation for good new music.

Frederick Licciardi, M.D.

Reproductive Endocrinology Fellowship Director

Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

New York University Langone Health

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Hi Bob. Not a Swiftie, can’t even name or identify any of her music (though I passively followed her “feud” with you while it lasted). Enjoyed your take here and thought you might enjoy Marsha’s take in the Globe.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/a190b54233b6b220747b2f5e5cbe3f73677b764a365e39107e7b2850357a7ae7/75CN4G5YGJCGTOL7NIGTEIMKRA/

Cheers!

Michael Craig

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I’m from Syracuse and there were some empty seats at his show on the 18th. But he is playing the Dome: 30K plus for concerts–unlike the basketball-sized arenas he played in Albany and Columbus before and after Syracuse. The empties were in the back of the dome and in the upper decks.  The sound is famously lousy in the Dome too–but it was a great show.  I’ve seen the promo videos he made for a couple of the shows–not on Tik Tok which I don’t use, but reposts on the fansite Blogness on the Edge of Town–the go to site for set lists/videos etc. for the tour now that Backstreets shut down. His video for Syracuse was him and Garry W. Tallent–the only two folks at his very first Syracuse show in 1973 (opening for Chicago). Funny–and a little ballsy with the use of the f-word.

I’m a huge Bruce fan, amazed that he can do these energetic 3 hr. shows at 74 years old. I’m 64 and starting to hobble around.

Phil Prehn

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She has been putting out new versions of past albums. So, this is all new material? Swifties want a piece of everything she does. For RSD last weekend, who beat out the usual people first in line? Swifties. To get a reproduction of a letter she wrote. There was no RSD limited vinyl. She has more power than any other woman in the world. Can anybody else sellout the Superdome for three nights in a couple of hours? A Pink Floyd reunion, maybe?

The young people need a hero and they have chosen her. Post Covid, etc. Let them have their hero. It also helps with parent/child bonding. The last few RSD”s involving Swifties,  the same mother brings her daughter and stays overnight with her. She told me she is taking her to Europe to TS,  She buys her all the variants, too. Good mother. Good medicine in these times.

That said, I think people should be able to give their honest opinion. As long  as it is not done out of meaness.

John Kauchick

Mississippi

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Great read, but I hope you tackle the “the thanK you, aIMee” song… the ultimate retribution and “FU” to Kim Kardashian for going after her.  Made me have a whole new level of respect for her.

Will Ward

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Truer words, maestro.

Between the ginormous tours, the tour movie, the NFL/Kelcie soap opera, the nonstop posting and perceived attempts to dominate the news cycles, and, now what I think really feels like a cash grab with the re-recordings (and why would this pop star ever need any more money?), and that’s coming also from some hard core swifties I know and am fond of, I have felt, before this article and your post, like she’s blowing it. It’s the old adage: “how can I miss you if you don’t go away?”

She’s far from the first pop star who miscalculated this way, and/or can’t get out of her own narcissistic shadow, and almost surely won’t be the last.

Steve Jones

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One of my father’s favorite retorts whenever I criticized a popular artist I couldn’t give a sh*t about (Barry Manilow comes to mind) was, “All the way to the bank.” Taylor Swift is literally a billionaire.  She has a huge fan base who loves everything she does and no amount of “think pieces” in mainstream publications (or Paste, whoever the f*ck reads that) is going to change their minds. So I guess like most sons, I’ve become my dad. Plus I like a lot of her music and thought The Eras Tour movie was pretty incredible.

Neil Krupnick

Expat Boomer in Portugal

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At the Atlanta concert she (Madonna) did show up at 10:04PM for 8:30PM show. But THAT”S NOT WHAT PISSED ME OFF! As we arrived, on time, for the show and sat in our $450.00 seats I immediately notice how f*cking hot it was. So I go to one of the ushers in our section and ask if he can crank up the AC? He says ” Too bad you didn’t get the memo. I’m wearing this short sleeve polo because they warned all the venue staff that Madonna wanted it HOT.” Well, I was schvitzing until the show ended at 12:30AM.”

And THAT’S the part of the class action that the Material Girl may have trouble wiggling out of.

Eron Epstein

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I am not a Swiftie, but I listened to Taylor’s album because I like some of her songs and I heard the hype. (I haven’t heard them all, in fact I’ve never heard one of her albums all the way through before.)

I found it boring.  All the music is around the same midtempo plodding speed, with vocals that mostly sound like they were recorded when she was half asleep.  All the drums and keyboards backing her sound like they are from the same off-the-shelf AI-generator do-it-yourself-band program.  (Are all of her records this way? If so, then I can’t understand her massive success.)

If I was a mom, I’d be upset with all the foul language in the album. For someone who has such a nice-girl image, there sure are a lot of F-bombs .  I’d hate to have my young daughter walking around singing:

‘Cause f*ck it, I was in love
So f*ck you if I can’t have us

Language aside, many of the lyrics are pretty deep and cool, I guess, but I think more fans are into hooks than the lyrics, but maybe I’m wrong about that.  But a good album makes me want to start over and listen to it again.  This album made me want to skip to the next song, repeatedly.

If I was her manager I’d have suggested an edit.  Just because you can put out an endless amount of music doesn’t mean you should.  We learned that with all those over-stuffed 80 minute CDs in the ’90s, didn’t we?

Mike Blakesley

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My two centimes: I’ve thought Swift is talented and not doing the same old sh*t. (adult here–not bracelet Swiftie). However, in this group of songs (disclaimer: didn’t buy it, though I have a turntable. Heard on YT.)… possibly because of the number released I started to see a formula. I also hear a formula in the beats.

Any group of work created in a short time is going to reflect that time… hence, it’s a lot of 4pm.

Take Cezanne’s apples… If you see thirty paintings of them, as great as the artist may be there is a saturation point. And, I doubt Cezanne would drop thirty apple paintings. Ms. Swift needs an editor.

I don’t understand this release. Swift is more than huge.. it can’t be about the money… drop this after the Eras tour and the fans will buy anything. As a prolific artist she must be concerned with her body of work and her legacy. I don’t think if Beethoven released all 32 piano sonate (one more than Swift song on the album) it would be a good idea. (probably bad analogy– he composed them during about 45  years)… but, even so… say in a boxed set they invite comparison. To have your work compete with your work doesn’t seem like a good idea for Ludwig or for Taylor.

Best wishes,

Elisabetta di Cagno

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Don’t know how much backlash there is…

Backlash only matters in 2024 to the people doing the backlashing.

The fans don’t care. Taylor doesn’t care as she fuels up her jet. But the haters do.

This is just the beginning of the new future that you’ve talked about for so long. No need for her to STFU, she won’t.

Stephen Tatton

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Taylor Swift is her own worst ex and we’re her sounding board. That said, I’ll take more Taylor over the next four years if it means less Trump, and I’m not even in her demographic. But after all the media hype, maybe I am the demographic. Love her new video, the music can take it or leave it. Commercial pop is commercial pop, suck it like a lollipop and toss the wrapper into the slush pile for the next sucker to contend with.

Stephen Gordon

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How dare you Bob! Take it back!
Seriously though, our entire family are Taylor Swift fans and even our 10 year old is saying “she’s starting to repeat herself” or “doesn’t she sing that melody on 3 or 4 other songs?”

I even noticed more Swifties actually complaining during the presale process because they don’t have the money for all of the variants and editions being offered with only one new bonus track on each one. If you are on her mailing list you also know that her team is always promoting scarcity. It’s always “available for 48 hours only!!!”… and of course just a week or so before the album came out she made all of the different versions become available ‘one more time for only 48 hours’.

And now we have the 31 song version which for sure will be available to buy and hardcopy as well at some point with probably at least four variants.

More re-invention and less scarcity and oversaturation I say…

Jemal Jalal Hines

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Great article again Bob. It is certainly about the marketing but I DO think it’s about Taylor Swift. She obviously controls EVERYTHING including the marketing AND how many of the same albums are released and when. No , I am not a TS hater but I’m not blind or deaf either. In fact I thought she had talent and potential when she was her original self. That went to the wayside light years ago and as we know – sooner or later it all catches up with you.  That’s entertainment.  Peace & Love, Jeff Booth

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Couldn’t agree more. My household though is a testament to both sides…

I am a longtime producer / writer and have mega respect (duh) for Taylor. Love a lot of her stuff. Have been enjoying for the most part my 12 year olds obsession with her. I liked Midnights a lot. Have been trying to get reasonable tickets for my daughter (haha good luck) She was OVER the moon excited for this album.

It came out, I started listening last friday to all 31 tracks, and it immediately hit me within the first or two tracks… this is too much, it’s not that good, it sounds like everything else she’s done the last few years, but just, not as good. I couldn’t get through it. I tried again, and again. Just, feels to me like an artist surrounded by yes people, with nobody telling her “hey, the lyrics may be very meaningful, but the songs themselves, the chords, the melodies, the vibe… NOT GOOD… over cooked”

My daughter… LOVES IT. She’s a super fan. Obsessed with the lyrics. And I keep hearing from other swifties… they kinda love that it’s a record “for them”, not for the rest. We’ll see how long that attitude lasts.

But personally I agree. It has completely turned me off of her older music now too, and I’m leaning towards not shilling out for the concert. I”m just kinda turned off big time. She had an opportunity to DO SOMETHING NEW and really special here… biggest audience in the world. Biggest moment. She could afford to take some risks, try something radical… This feels like mailed in content to max out streaming numbers… that’s it.

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Tell me about it, Bob. How would you like to be mistaken for her manager? I get messages on LinkedIn and FB all the time from people who want tickets for their daughter or some charity event that wants Taylor’s time. I got one a couple of week’s ago from someone making a documentary in Germany and wanted me to set up an interview with Taylor for broadcast on National German TV. I have to tell them I’m not THAT Robert Allen. lol

This goes back a number of years, but I used to think the industry people in Nashville were super nice. When I’d call some manager or label, they would put me right through to the person I was calling. I’m thinking, that’s unusual but maybe that’s Nashville. Then I started getting the emails for Taylor Swift’s attention and it dawns on me that my name has something to do with it. Now it makes sense because when I’d call Nashville, a receptionist would ask who’s calling and I would say my name and there would be this 1-2 second pause and then they would put me right through. Good luck getting a receptionist since Covid. lol

So I look up who’s managing Taylor and it’s her parents, which doesn’t make sense to me why people are contacting me. Finally I saw that there was a Robert Allen who was her Tour Manager at the time. He’s now become her full-time manager as head of her management company. But that hasn’t stopped people from contacting me for TS.

Peace,

Robert Allen

Sha-La Music Inc.

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Great email.

I was in correspondence with the manager of another of the world’s biggest stars about their being a guest on my podcast. I was told they’d consider it when they came back from their “off cycle.”

debbie millman

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I still couldn’t name a single Taylor Swift song if you put a gun to my head (and I’m so dulled by her uber-ubiquity you’d probably have to), but the thought of a double album containing thirty one songs just makes me feel like Trump in that courtroom.

Best, as always,

Dave King

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She is a talentless hack who can’t sing. Followed by a bunch of social media-obsessed female age 11 teenyboppers who rely on their “peers” to help them decide what they like since they don’t know what they like. I was over TS from day one. May the fatigue be permanent. All the media shills who write about her have never heard one of her sh*tty songs. This includes Kara Swisher. A brilliant tech analyst but musically clueless.

Derek Morris

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“Always leave them asking for more.”  – P.T. Barnum

Mark Maheu
Barrie, Ontario

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I wonder if Swift adding that additional album to the release was an unforced error?  I note that the Spotify numbers for the second album are a third to a fourth of the numbers for the first several tracks.  Her fans, who seem to be consumers of albums, aren’t making it all the way through the two hours of music.  She would have done better to hold the second album and release it later in the year.

 

Don Friedman

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Let’s not forget to include Pearl Jam in this onslaught of multiple editions of records.  There are 12 different color variations of their latest ‘Dark Matter,’ retailing for around $50 each.  Limited pressings of each, but as I understand it, most of the variants have not sold out as of today.  At least they tried to do something interesting with this, by having them be specifically region-exclusive and certain independent record stores would be selling them online (Easy Street Records in Seattle, Newbury Comics in Boston, etc).

However, as a fan, the thought of dropping $600 or more to collect all of them (that’s the only reason you would do it if you were hardcore about having everything) is too much for me.  I like the new record a lot and feel like it’s their best since ‘Yield’ in 1998.  But if Pearl Jam is embracing the cash grab of limited edition vinyl, it’s going to happen for every band eventually.

-Nathan Lind

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I agree with Courtney.

This nails it:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Charlene Kaye (@charlenekaye)

EveAnna Manley

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“But does that mean I can never comment about her again?”

Yes. It is perceived as possibly  disingenuous and/or based on a personal agenda. Classic conflict of interest.

Micah Sheveloff

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Excellent viewpoint on this Bob . She’s not the first one to commit this faux pas . BTW hooray to the plaintiffs participating in the class action against Madonna . Like really who does she think she is ?

Chris

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Drake and Swift actually seem to have the same problems. The act is stale and they’re too old for their stances in their own songs. They’re insulated for now by their money and the rubber stamp they have with fans.

I also think both of them can survive passing their peak and still break interesting ground, maybe even more interesting, as long as they admit it happened and dig into their artistic cores. They’re successful for good, sustainable reasons.

Gregg DeMammos

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This can also be compared to “Trump burnout”. He’s on every network and cable news channel every day all day. He’s on the front page of the WSJ today and in at least one article every day.

He’s a common criminal, pigs have better personalities, a modern day Al Capone minus the Tommy gun, but uggh, he is the presumptive GOP Presidential nominee. Make this stop too.

Jim Gilmore

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It’s an open secret that Taylor can’t sing live. I worked a video crew at a trade show where she performed with her incredible band when she was still country and sweet as can be.

The brand spent a lot of time and money on post production and the engineer who cut the live audio tried to make it feel “live” by leaving a few clams in Final Cut.

The brand sent the videos to management and management they wouldn’t agree to release the “live” videos until her entire vocal track got pitch corrected.

But fans in the audience had already recorded and shared the songs online exposing her clam sandwich of a performance. Remember when Milli Vanilli got pilloried for being phony?  Well, looks like Tay Tay gets a new jet.

Shane Roeschlein

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I think what is very frustrating to us fans of Swift and you is that you just never have anything positive to say. I can’t remember the last time you actually delved into the actual quality of her music. It’s always a negative take.

It doesn’t really matter what you or other critics say though. The connection she has now with her people is just too strong. The total honesty on this new album is astounding, and she has not made it for the masses. She knows that it’s only the most hardcore of fans that will pore over the dense lyrics to 31 songs. There’s only one hit single contender (Down Bad).

But for those of us who have grown up with her it’s pure gold. We now know so much more about  what’s she’s been going through for the past decade, and for a rich global superstar to admit she chose the wrong partner, or that the guy who she thought was the one ghosted and left her high and dry is astounding. It’s all so relatable, even after all these years.

So keep on hoping she’ll make a misstep, because this is the thing; she never will. Because she is ultimately just plainly perhaps the greatest and truest artist that has ever lived (thus far).

Imagine the stories you could be writing if you accepted the enormity of her talent and success. You’re alive during the reign of possibly the greatest artist in history and you don’t see it. It’s actually quite bewildering.

Sincerely,
John Paterson

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I love what Taylor Swift does now, but you were right: her performance with Stevie Nicks at The Grammies was out of tune and terrible.  And for all the pre performance hype it had, it seemed even worse than it was, which was pretty bad.

Colin Boyd

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“How can I miss you if you won’t go away?”

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. Same album as the immortal “I Scare Myself.” Great stuff.

I think Taylor may have finally jumped the shark but then again my daughter was quick to order a “Tortured Poets” sweater for her mom. It is starting to feel a bit like KISS.

Regarding Bruce I have to assume that all the social media hype is to get butts in seats after he had to reschedule all the shows. I couldn’t go to the rescheduled show in Columbus but I managed to sell my two tickets for $1000. So it seems there is still some demand among the boomer elite.

Keep up the great work. Somehow you made even the guy from Loverboy sound interesting.

Best

David Vawter

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When you make bad music, you can make it all day long.

Luke Joerger

Hastings Digital Studios LLC

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Put me in the “Swiftie column”

Mike Bone

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You are getting hard to read. Ailsa Morozow

“Taylor Swift Has Given Fans a Lot. Is It Finally Too Much? – Swift has been inescapable over the last year. With the release of ‘The Tortured Poets Department,’ her latest (very long) album, some seem to finally be feeling fatigued.”

Free link: https://shorturl.at/ejVYZ

Gregg said he hadn’t heard anything about Harry Styles recently, was he over? No, I said, HE WAS BETWEEN CYCLES!

That’s something you learn in elementary school, letting farmland lay fallow, otherwise you drain all the nutrients. Sometimes you have to go away for a while to sustain.

So on Friday, all Taylor Swift information was hosannas. Now, a handful of days later, negative feedback is slipping in. Did the album change? Not a lick!

Oh Bob, get over it. She wrote a song about you and you can’t let it go. She’s the biggest star in the world and you can’t handle it.

But does that mean I can never comment about her again?

“Paste Magazine opted not to put a byline on its harsh review of Swift’s album, citing safety concerns for the writer.”

It’s a RECORD! It’s not Trump, it’s not Gaza, but the writer of this review was afraid to attach his name.

“For some, the constant deluge that has peaked in the past year is starting to add up to a new (and previously unthinkable) feeling: Taylor Swift fatigue.”

This is a business story. How do you manage a career in the 2020s?

“‘It’s almost like if you produce too much… too fast… in a brazen attempt to completely saturate and dominate a market rather than having something important or even halfway interesting to say… the art suffers!’ Chris Murphy, a staff writer at Vanity Fair, posted on X.”

“Some admonished Swift for selling so many versions of ‘Poets’ only to double its size after those orders were in, part of a cynically corporate rollout. (Care for the CD, vinyl or the Phantom Clear vinyl?)”

For twenty years we’ve heard that selling out is no longer an issue, that brand extensions are good, that you cannot oversaturate the fans. Is this true? That is the question.

What do we know about Michael Jackson? He peaked, was the biggest star in the world with “Thriller,” and then he needed to stay at that level thereafter. Not only was no subsequent album as good, he labeled himself “The King of Pop” and became a caricature of himself, a punchline.

But that was in the last century.

So the hardest thing to get these days is attention. Which is why you must stay in the public eye 24/7, if you go away then you’ve got to make a comeback. That’s been conventional wisdom. But what if you’re a superstar, do the same rules apply?

Forget the music, this has been an endless sell, an incredible hype, ever since the announcement of the album on the Grammys. Could anything live up to this buildup?

Or is it just non-fans who are antagonized, who want Taylor Swift out of their feed…

Then you have Courtney Love:

“She added that Swift is ‘is not important’ and noted that she ‘might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.'”

https://tinyurl.com/45x6dwfu

Can Love get away with this because she is seen as the last gasp of credibility, from an era when music still meant something, moved the culture, or is she just laughed off as a cartoon? All I know is the story is everywhere, you can’t avoid it, whereas you had to dig, be a fan, to find minutiae like this in the last century.

And then you’ve got another Madonna lawsuit:

“Madonna Sued Again for Late Concerts: ‘A Consumer’s Worst Nightmare’ – Plaintiffs also allege singer kept concert uncomfortably hot on purpose and that she lip-synced.”

https://tinyurl.com/38h37ktf

How can we miss you if you never go away?

How do you manage a career in the twenty first century?

Let’s be clear, Taylor Swift wrote a song about me because I believed her horrific, off-key performance at the Grammys would seriously damage her career. Turned out that I was wrong. That’s what happened in the twentieth century, but not the twenty first, where we all live in separate silos and a fan forgives all faux pas.

But how about now?

People can tell if you need it. And at some point, with a certain level of success, you have to appear that you don’t. The classic example being Neil Young, who peaked with “Harvest” and went on tour with a noisy rock band and played all new material. And I wish I could mention more names, but Young is just about the only one who’s been willing to kill his career to save it, in order to have artistic freedom.

And is it art, or is it sales? The tech bros were beloved for most of this century, now they’re loathed. Public sentiment shifts.

Furthermore, most people just don’t care. They’re not going to listen to Taylor Swift or so much of the hyped music of today. We no longer live in a monoculture, but we’re told we do by media, and if you question this…be ready for feedback, NEGATIVE FEEDBACK!

I don’t care if the Swifties love the new album, buy multiple copies of vinyl… Then again, I will ask why you need more than one copy of a record, if you even have a turntable.

I don’t care if Swift sells out stadiums for eternity.

But is the penumbra, which is really the majority, just sick and tired of hearing about Swift, period. This isn’t a judgment of her music, but you know how it is when you keep seeing the same ad online, it drives you crazy, are people just sick of being bombarded with info on Taylor Swift?

Many are. And it’s not that they’re haters. Hell, in the old days most people did not have a voice, there was no internet, never mind no social media. And if you express your opinion do you have to worry about your safety, online or in real life?

This is not about Swift the person, this is about marketing. We were told there were no limits, are there?

And the major labels can’t break new stars so they keep pushing the old ones upon us.

And media is looking for universal stories.

Can there ever be too much?

I think about this each and every day. How many e-mails can I send to my list? More than one a day and I get sign-offs. Do I think about the audience and adjust to it or live by my own inner tuning fork? But if you’re operating in a personal vacuum, you’ve got to accept the consequences. Sometimes I just want to say something, it’s important to me, and I hit send knowing that some of the audience won’t want to read it, others will be offended, others will tell me to stay in my lane and…

It’s hard to be a saint in the city.

Then again, have you seen Bruce Springsteen’s hype for his shows on TikTok? At first I thought it was brilliant. But now, he just looks like an old guy shilling. And X told me there were a lot of tickets available in Syracuse. Bruce sold out multiple stadiums back in the eighties, but that was almost forty years ago.

If you’re in everybody’s face all the time there’s going to be fatigue.

Maybe you don’t care because your fan base still supports you.

But these are all questions a manager should ask. Taylor Swift has just illustrated the issue. In a world where we’ve believed there can never be too much, can there be? At some point do you have to hold back?

Once again, if you have to make an artistic statement and you don’t care about the consequences, that’s one thing. But selling multiple versions of the same damn album on vinyl is not about art. And telling us every day you’re setting records… Sometimes you just have to STFU!

Now that was a surprise.

After yesterday’s frustrations, today we decided to hire a guide. I was taken aback by the price, but when’s the next time I’ll be in Rome? Possibly never!

Back in ’72, which is a great Bob Seger album unavailable on streaming services, you flew to Europe for $200, bought a Eurail pass and the goal was to spend as little as possible, to come home with money, and that was a mistake. When you’re confronted with an entrance fee, any fee at all in a foreign country, and you desire to partake, pay, you’ll regret it if you don’t, when you’re home.

So we said yes.

And walked down to the lobby this morning to find a little old man and a driver and from the moment we pulled away from the curb this little old man with the vigor of someone decades younger started to speak. And he didn’t stop speaking until we were dropped off three hours later.

Giancarlo started with facts and figures, the number of palaces, the number of churches, while telling us the layout of the city is the same as two thousand years ago, it’s the same buildings, redone.

One palace had two thousand rooms, that’s where the Pope used to live, before the Vatican.

And I’m positively riveted. Paying attention. This is the learning experience I didn’t get in college.

Then I thought about it… The college teachers were pedigreed with a degree, there were no teaching assistants where I went to school, the professors had their doctorates and they couldn’t have been more boring. But Giancarlo?!

That’s why I became an art history major. Because the teachers were all good, it was a pleasure to go to class. I remember Art 101, which I only took as a sophomore because everybody recommended it, John Hunisak showed us some slide and said there was a great ice cream place around the corner… In art history you could think for yourself, do your own analysis, whereas in the English department it was all about someone else’s theories, too much was set in stone instead of being vibrant and alive like in art.

Giancarlo is telling us how Napoleon was Italian. And then the French took over Corsica… And after becoming emperor, Napoleon built a palace for his mother and brother in Rome, with a veranda where she could look down on the hoi polloi, unseen. It’s still there!

And then city hall, redone by Michelangelo… The walkway is built of stones ripped-off from the Coliseum.

Our ultimate destination was the Catacombs, since we’d been to the usual tourist sites on previous visits to the city.

So what you had was the pagans. They thought life ended with death. Done, gone. So to preserve your memory, they created a sculpture of you and posted it on the Appian Way. There are thirty thousand of these sculptures in the Vatican Museum.

But the Christians were persecuted, at least until Constantine conquered Rome in the fourth century, and they believed you never really died, you went to heaven, hell or purgatory. So, you “rested in peace” until this happened.

So because of this persecution, the Christians buried their dead underground, they dug into soft volcanic rock, made a hole big enough for a wrapped body, and then put a marble plaque over the whole thing to signify who was there. If you were a martyr, you were buried under an arch. There are four levels and forty seven miles of paths and this is not the only catacombs. Giancarlo told us we’d see no skulls, but there might be some bones. And he reached into one of the graves and pulled out a humerus or something and it was absolutely creepy. And he pulled out a fragment of a ceramic jug. And he’d sift his hand through the dirt for bone fragments… I thought in a museum you looked but did not touch, but I guess there are so many graves…

And they had these carved out spots where they put these little pots of deodorant. It smelled like hell down there back in the day.

So when we came back above ground, we had to get Giancarlo’s story. Turns out he has a Ph.D. And taught not only in Italy, but at Penn State and the University of Phoenix. If only I had a professor like this…

And from there we went to the Appian Way, which for years I thought was just a home pizza kit. And on each side of the Appian Way are these giant tombs, like houses. And the road goes on for seven hundred kilometers, and it used to be smooth before they ripped up the paving stones to lay modern utilities and just put the stones back willy-nilly. Giancarlo kept on telling us that back in the day they had what we do now, newspapers… Until the Mongols came along and wiped everybody out with the plague they carried.

It was mind-blowing, I didn’t want it to end.

And then I thought of my mother going to Elderhostel, now known as “Road Scholar.” Yes, old people go to some far-flung place and learn.

And I thought of how life was the same at the beginning and the end. In the beginning you know nothing and go to school to learn. And when you get out of school you think you know everything. But when you get old and retire you realize all you don’t know, you’re fascinated by history, imagination, you contemplate how much you’ll never know, never experience.

Made me want to go back to every city and hire a guide, but I’m not rich enough to do that. When I was in Rome half a century ago, it was like my art history courses come alive. But Giancarlo filled in the details between the paintings and sculpture. Furthermore, you could tell he enjoyed doing this, it just wasn’t a gig.

He’s eighty four, although he has the vim and vigor of someone much younger. And a girlfriend in Dublin who he owns a house with who is dying of brain cancer after their twenty years together, her sisters don’t want him to visit her in the hospital for fear he’ll convince her to give him all her money. And he’s got a son. And he keeps pushing the envelope.

I hate to tell you this, but life has no meaning, it is what you make of it. No one is keeping score, and I’m down with the pagans, there is no afterlife. So you have to gain your own perspective.

In school they tell you what to do, how to behave. And the freedom of graduating feels so liberating. But then you get older and there’s no structure, no one telling you what to do, no scorecard that applies to all.

Some just put one foot in front of another at a job, whether it be digging ditches or being a doctor. Others lament that they didn’t pay more attention in school for a better adulthood. And some have families, but eventually even the children grow up and have children of their own. So what do you do?

That’s the big question in life, what do you do?

Ultimately it’s your decision, even though you might feel parental or societal pressure. It’s tough to go your own way. Even worse, when people truly have freedom, they’re so often paralyzed.

And you can’t do everything, and a lot of times we can only do the same thing, Giancarlo told us he took Bill Gates and his family on a tour of the Vatican… I can go on that tour too, and so can you!

But deeper…

Most people live in a bubble, because to contemplate what is going on outside it is too overwhelming. That’s what being in Rome is like, overwhelming. There’s so much to learn, so much to see. And you realize the people two millenniums ago were really no different from us. Which is hard to fathom.

So I learned plenty today, it was utterly fascinating. Will there be a test, will I get a gold star? Absolutely not. I’ve got to get off on it for itself.

And I did.

Giancarlo Alú: https://shorturl.at/tM056

Make reservations.

Andrew Zimmern and David Kuller recommended the restaurant Roscioli. Andrew wrote “you’d be hard-pressed to find a better griciathan than at Roscioli.” Honestly, I had to look up “griciathan.” Turns out it’s pasta with three ingredients: Guanciale (pork cheek), pepper and Pecorino Romano cheese, and that appealed to me. So we went downstairs to the concierge and announced we wanted a reservation.

And they pooh-poohed the restaurant. This makes me crazy, like when the guy at the shop said there are better skis than Peaks. Well, Peak is direct to consumer only and you can’t sell them… But I stood my ground and said we wanted to go anyway.

No problem, we could get a reservation on June 19th.

Well, that took us aback. But the concierge said he knew an even better place around the corner and…

The fact that the place was empty should have been a heads-up. But it was after one and…

The salad was substandard. And the pasta… Was oversalted.

This put me in an extremely bad mood. I know my food, it was one of my father’s priorities, if I’m paying I want the best. Yes, I’m that person, I need the best. I want the iPhone 15 Pro, not the one with last year’s chip. Sometimes the best is the same price as the also-ran, usually it’s just a little bit more. And you do your research and…

Most people just ask their friends. Our world runs on misinformation. Everybody thinks they know the most and have got the best spot and it drives me crazy.

And I was beyond frustrated over our meal. I mean with just a bit less salt the pasta would have been agreeable, but I’m wasting all these carbs and eating something substandard? Put me in a really bad mood.

And then Carrot said there was going to be thunder, lightning and rain. (You can’t trust Apple Weather, it’s worthless, somehow Cupertino bought the best weather app, Dark Sky, and positively ruined it. The worst thing is it never says it’s going to precipitate…and then it does.)

So we got our rain gear and entered the Borghese Gardens and it starts to sprinkle and then the thunder claps and Felice gets reluctant. The day is going from bad to worse, she doesn’t want to be out in the rain, but I’m in ROME, I don’t want to waste any of my precious time.

So I say let’s go into the Gallery. But Felice is anxious that I’m going to spend too much time there…

Yes, I’m that guy. As in a quick walk through is not enough. I just don’t want to say I saw it… No, I want to consume it, I want to explore every nook and cranny, I want to drink up the experience…and most people don’t want to do this.

So we parted ways. Maybe not a bad idea after a week together with her family. And I go to enter the museum and…

It’s sold out. There’s a waiting line, but the information desk says I probably won’t get in. So I pop my umbrella and go out into the rain and ponder my next destination. And for some reason the Piazza Navona comes to mind. I remember sitting in a metal chair at the end of the square on a Sunday back in ’72 and at least I can connect with that.

So I start walking and…

What kind of crazy, f*cked up world do we live in where Apple Maps is better than Google Maps? Remember when we used to argue over cell phone providers, over which map apps to use? My default has been Google, I remember when Apple Maps launched and took you far from your destination.

But in L’Aquila, Google Maps steered me wrong, very wrong. And wasn’t so comprehensible. Furthermore, the blue dot wasn’t always accurate. But when I switched to Apple Maps? Everything was hunky-dory.

So I fired up Apple and started walking to the Piazza Navona.

And I was in one of those moods where I wasn’t sure who I was anymore and how I fit in. I could have taken a cab, or even an Uber, but I’m walking half an hour… Do I still have college values, have I not grown up? And others don’t even bother with the sights, that’s not what travel is about for them. But that’s what it’s all about for me. I don’t want to lie on a beach, I want to be stimulated. I could go to museums all day long, every day.

And I’m feeling so alienated. Thinking about how different I am. I mean did you read that “Wall Street Journal” article about the high end confabs? Do I really want to hang with a bunch of rich people and feel fabulous? And to tell you the truth, I’ve done that, and it’s all about networking and that’s not who I am. I’m not looking to use you, and I certainly don’t want you to use me. And lifestyle is not everything.

And my feet are hurting on the uneven pavement and I’ve got no idea where I am, but I’m just following the blue line and then…

I arrive. And it’s crowded. The opposite of the empty plaza from half a century ago. They keep making more people, but they are not making more sites.

So I find a spot on a bench and sit down and…

My pants get wet. That’s why I could find a space.

So I end up finding a railing where I park my ass and start researching on my phone.

And that’s when I read about the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, known in English as the Fountain of the Four Rivers…

Wait a second, this rings a bell. Doesn’t one person have their face covered because they didn’t know the source of the Nile back then?

Is this even the same sculpture?

Meanwhile, I’m looking at the nearby fountain and it’s not resonating.

So I stand up and walk to the center of the Piazza and…

There it is. Straight out of the 1600s.

Bernini didn’t want to do it. But at the last minute he was convinced to send a model to the Pope, who immediately green-lit his vision.

That’s how it always is. There’s a level of talent above the rest, and too often the rest don’t like it. They want you to believe they’re just as good, even though deep down inside they know this is not true. And the most talented are often mercurial, anything but warm and fuzzy.

So there it is, the river god of the Nile, with his face covered.

And suddenly there was a spark, a connection to college, to who I once was, and my mood changed.

And under the god representing the Americas, there was a stack of coins, because the new world was seen as the land of riches.

But it was the feet that truly impacted me. I noticed the second toe of one god was longer than the first. And it rose above, just like a real person. There were all these nuances. Bernini had to get it right, every little thing. He wasn’t making it for a price.

Yes, Bernini was better than the rest. Just like the right restaurant and the right phone, it feels so good when you experience it. It’s not about status, but an inner mounting flame, a good feeling inside. You feel whole.

And nothing else matters.

Bernini has been dead for nearly half a millennium. He’s not bitching about Spotify payments. All that’s left is the work. This is the opposite of Gene Simmons saying that it’s all about money. It’s not. When it’s art.

So what is art?

I don’t want to define it, I’ll just say on the opposite end of the spectrum is commerce.

Now when I went to college there was no commerce. No business classes. College was not seen as a career prep, but an enrichment of the individual, of their mind. This was back before being an art history major made you a pariah.

Yes, I was an art history major. And I never wanted to work in a museum, I didn’t want a job in the art world, but there was a sensibility…in the art, in the art department, that was different from the usual subjects, that impacted me.

I’m all about splitting hairs, trying to reach the zenith, whereas too many people say good is good enough.

And this makes me feel alienated.

But in truth the great musical artists were all alienated. Bob Dylan? John Lennon? These were outsiders commenting on a world they were not a part of. They couldn’t sell out, even if they wanted to, they constitutionally didn’t know how to. They were on their own journeys.

And people don’t like it when you go your own way. Especially now, when it’s all about groupspeak. Reviewers are afraid to say anything negative about the new Taylor Swift album for fear of backlash, or appearing a hater.

As a matter of fact, you need to read the comments on the Swift articles in the WaPo and the NYT. Readers are APOPLECTIC! Can these outlets stop writing about Taylor Swift! The readers are maxed out, and they have no intention of listening to the music, they’ve checked Swift out and she’s not for them. What’s interesting is the blowback is more about the press than Taylor or her work. Dedicated readers wonder who these papers think their audience truly is. But Taylor Swift has been anointed the biggest story in the land and if you don’t agree…

What if you don’t agree? What if you’re not part of the mainstream? What if you want to go a different way?

Be prepared to go it alone. But know that you have forebears.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi centered me, made me feel whole and good. Maybe not connected to society, but I could feel the thread back to college and Bernini and his fountain. There was meaning, there was elation. And it wasn’t about money, but it was truly inspiring.

Funny how your mood can change on a dime.

But that’s the power of greatness, that’s the power of the long ball. It’s not about hype, it’s about the work itself. It may need to be interpreted and explained so you can understand it, but the penumbra is irrelevant, the trappings don’t matter, the art stands on its own, makes its own statement. And greatness lasts while the rest fades away.

So I didn’t feel closer to society looking at the Fountain of the Four Rivers, I felt closer to myself. Yes, this is who I am. This resonates, engenders a feeling inside that makes me whole. That explains my life. That makes me feel I’m o.k.