My father taught me to be skeptical.

Middlebury taught me how to interact with the rich.

And seemingly every day since I’ve gone to school, even if it hasn’t taken place in a classroom.

I just listened to Tom Brokaw on David Axelrod’s podcast. He was telling the story of questioning President Nixon about executive privilege. Dick’s handlers accosted him after the press conference and asked him how dare he, treat the President that way. Tom said he’d done the scholarship, had they?

Intimidation… It doesn’t only happen on the schoolyard. Bullies are everywhere. And you don’t want your mommy to complain to the principal, you have to learn how to stand up to them, they’re often paper tigers.

But I get scared.

But now I won’t be as much.

Irving Azoff taught me not to be insulted by the offer, it’s just a starting point.

Marty Albertson taught me when the economy is tanking, you go for market share. Which is why when the Dow Jones crashes the pros buy, because they know it will go back up.

They also have cash to burn. You’ve got to have cash to burn. If you’re looking after every last dollar you’re not gonna get ahead.

And although you have a responsibility to aid those less fortunate, America is a jungle where it’s every person for themselves and if you don’t learn the hard lessons you’re gonna end up on the sidelines. Those who complain they just weren’t born with the talent or the skills or the right parents are left out of the game to their detriment. Each of us has own special gifts, you too can triumph, if you continue to educate yourself.

My shrink taught me how to get along. That no one gets to be themselves 24/7, that I’m in control of my own life, I get to interact however I want to, what choices can I make that will behoove me?

And my dad taught me…

Being a member of the group is overrated.

But being a member of the group is everything.

And if that sounds contradictory, the point is you need friends to survive, but don’t jump off a bridge just because they did.

My father taught me to search for the truth. This is a skill especially helpful in Hollywood, where everybody’s full of crap, putting up a good image. If the person has no visible means of support yet drives a Mercedes… They have a rich father or are up to their neck in debt. And the media prints the legend, because oftentimes the truth is too disillusioning.

And as I get older I keep peeling back the layers of the onion. I’m constantly learning new tricks, gaining new insights.

But time is running out.

My education lags my career. If only I knew then what I know now.

Like commitment is everything in relationships. Sure, sex and attraction are important. And never rule out money, it’s the number one relationship killer. But having someone who’ll stick by you through thick and thin, that’s key.

We get dazzled by looks, we can’t see through the skin, so we oftentimes make bad choices.

And sometimes we’re so worried we’re gonna make mistakes that we make no choices at all.

Book learning is cool. You’ve got to know how to read and write, er, type. Even more important is the power of analysis. The mark of an educated man is one who can hold two competing thoughts in his brain at the same time. You’d be surprised how few can do this, it’s what separates the men from the boys, it’s what you learn at elite institutions. If you’re going to college to make money…there are easier ways.

So it’s thrilling to uncover the truth on seemingly a daily basis. To tear down icons in my mind and realize I’ve got the chops, I can play.

And then I learn something new and feel so stupid. Now I get how it works. If only I knew then…

Too many people will tell you they have the answers. You can put your faith in a guru, you can read endless self-help books. But nothing equates with personal experience. We’re all individuals and we all have lessons to impart.

You’re on your own.

But that’s the game of life.

We can all play, if we realize the adventure is about lessons. Wisdom is gained through experience. Signposts are everywhere. You’ve just got to open your mind.

And apply yourself.

My father always told me to apply myself.

It used to be about fighting piracy.

Now it’s about getting attention.

That’s the story of today, media matters, the world has flip-flopped back to the way it used to be, but it’s even worse, because there are so many messages.

In other words, publicity counts. Going viral is a near-impossibility. If you’re depending on word of mouth, count on your audience being very small. Of course, some of the best stuff breaks organically, but to go big, you need a push.

Media sways the story.

The media coronated Kanye West and the media decided Hillary Clinton won the initial debate. In both cases, there’s a solid groundswell agreeing with these proclamations, but the sheer fact of their publicity becomes reinforcing. The media said Trump lost the first debate and he immediately became defensive, making excuses.

That’s the power of the press.

Today, if someone’s pirating your music, that’s a good thing. Especially since the lion’s share of revenue does not come from recordings. Your goal is to get people to listen, if at all. Releases come and go so fast, you know something’s available but you don’t even bother to check it out, there’s already something new.

Sure, the instant release is losing its special character, it’s not the revelation it once was. But instant availability is a treasure. We live in the era of instant gratification. To promote that which we cannot consume is to leave money on the table. If you can get someone’s attention, let them click, let them experience, let them listen!

Which is why exclusives are to the detriment of artists. There’s a movie on Apple Music and the press does a story and then the rest of the world forgets about it. If you’re bothering to sell, let people partake.

But the music business has become about the short money. If you pay me now, I’ll forget about tomorrow.

But we’re not selling Wimpy Burgers.

Remember the days of leaks?

Sure, security is so much better.

But the acts are so much smaller.

With the death of MTV came the loss of ubiquity. Nobody’s that big. Sure, they might sell out a stadium, but I’d argue there are more people who haven’t heard Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Coldplay’s new work than have.

There’s a business in preaching to the converted.

But the converted die. They lose interest, they literally die. He not busy making new fans is in danger of losing his career.

So, decide if you’re shoring up your fanbase or trolling for new customers.

If you’re shoring up your fanbase, release music with no hit potential that sounds like what you’ve already done, that’s fine.

But if you’re looking for new listeners, write a hit. Don’t put out music until you’ve got one. One successful track is better than a dozen album cuts…on an album. It’s hard to get people’s attention, you can only go to the well so many times. Mixing metaphors, if you’re coming to bat, hit it out of the park!

So, if you’re a star, you’re better off with an instant release. All your publicity will be coordinated, there will be buzz, excitement for at least a week, when your record hits number one (and then, in too many cases, falls right off the chart.)

If you’re not a star…

It doesn’t matter when your album comes out. Whether there’s advance publicity or not. It’s about a story, that spreads.

But the underlying material has to support the venture.

Forget about the cycle. Whether it be once every two years or even once a year. When you ramp up your publicity for a stiff album…you alienate people, it’s hard to get them back.

So, for your core fans, constantly put out new music under the radar. See if it gains traction. If so, work it into your live set. Make it a staple. So the attendees are not subjected to unwanted stuff and forced to take a bathroom break.

But if all eyes are upon you…

You’ve got to deliver. You’ve got to have music that people want to hear more than once. With the plethora of material the bar has been raised. If your inner circle isn’t doing cartwheels, expressing hosannas, go back to the drawing board. Furthermore, you know when you do great work, it’s part of being an artist. And so much great work comes from sheer inspiration. We live in a land where too many do it too slowly. And they over-process a lame song into a turd. We’re looking for energy, passion, that ethereal sound that makes us want to listen to something again and again and again.

And with so much stuff to listen to…

It’s a privilege to get someone to check your stuff out. You may be putting out an hour long album, but you’d be stunned to find out that only your hardest core of fans listens all the way through, because you’ve let them down, in an era of plentitude, only the strong survive.

Music is a marathon. Your goal is longevity. You start with the media story, but then it’s all in your own hands.

And radio helps.

But today the playlist rules.

You need to be in the Top Lists. The Spotify chart does not lie, and that’s the only one that means anything, because it evidences listenership, sales are a false metric. You might have gotten paid, but someone might have deleted the album after hearing it once.

It’s going to get ever tighter. People only have so much time. They’re in search of the new, but they’ll discard the work of their favorites just like that if it doesn’t measure up.

So, start with a song. Release it to fanfare.

Then see if the public gets on board.

P.S. I’m waiting for the instant movie release. It’ll be a monster. A comic book flick starring Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lawrence that just shows up in the theatres on Friday. Imagine the buzz! The studios are too busy infiltrating Comic Con, laying the groundwork. If it’s all about the first weekend, why not truly make it an event!

P.P.S. The music business is far ahead of film and TV. You can get everything for one low price instantly. Which is why piracy is on the wane. Ten percent of the public will never pay, forget about them. The rest embrace convenience. And you should too, by making all your tunes available instantly on all services.

P.P.P.S. Only Luddites keep their songs off streaming services. Don’t put the money first! Most of Neil Young’s material is unavailable to stream, but the dirty little secret is it sells poorly anyway. Why not let newbies check it out? I heard “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” on Sirius today, I didn’t write about it because I couldn’t link to it on Spotify.

P.P.P.P.S. Read David Brooks’s “The Age Of Reaction”
He’s talking about politics, but his words apply to the music business. Things will only get better, we’ve endured fifteen years of chaos, but revenue is up and the tools of creation are in the hands of the proletariat and we cannot go back to what once was, we can only go forward.

This is one of the great live albums of all time.

I was listening to a Kenny Aronoff podcast. I’m not sure of the future of podcasting, not because of the measurement issue, but because so many players are gonna be disillusioned when the great consolidation occurs. That’s the story of new technology, everybody plays, ultimately they find few are paying attention and then the big boys come in and clean up.

Right now I’m hooked on this David Axelrod podcast wherein he interviews all these politicos. I gave it a whirl since Chelsea Handler said she was wowed by S.E. Cupp and had her on her show. I was not, wowed, that is. Anybody who has no idea what party their parents belong to is lying. And when you start saying that Democrats are anti-religion, you lose me. But Cupp is intelligent and the level of discourse is an antidote to the drivel so often posing as entertainment. That’s what’s so great about podcasts, they’re the last bastion of intellectualism, where being smart isn’t stupid, where you can dig down deep believing someone cares until you find out they don’t.

And I was deciding between listening to Michael Steele or Tom Brokaw, I’m not anti-Republican, I found listening to Karl Rove’s story quite illuminating, when I saw that “Rock Solid” podcast someone had hipped me to, with the lengthy interview with Kenny Aronoff:

Episode 244: Kenny Aronoff – The Rock Solid Guide

You should check it out if you remember when. When bands were everything, a hit on MTV was everywhere and knowing how to play was a calling card.

Kenny was hooked by the Beatles.

But then he took lessons.

I believe if we had music in the schools it would revolutionize the business. Because when you’ve got the building blocks you can construct amazing edifices. Education is just a jumping off point. But when you know nothing it’s hard to achieve much, just look at reality TV, tune in to the hit parade, it’s paint by numbers work created by the usual suspects or those who’ve foraged on their own. Max Martin and Adele went to music school, never forget it.

So, after getting his start with John Mellencamp, Kenny ultimately played with a cornucopia of acts, some he’s still dedicated to, like John Fogerty.

And the BoDeans.

They were on Slash. That made them uber-hip. When that still mattered, before getting noticed at all was a challenge and we no longer made delineations between that which had elan and that which did not.

And there were a number of BoDean tracks.

I’m not talking about the overplayed “Closer To Free,” which is good, but…

“Idaho,” “Black, White and Blood Red,” and…

“True Devotion.”

I was lucky for a long, long time
I never felt much pain
Mess of clouds came over me
The night it finally rained

That’s growing up. The loss. Everything’s working out, and then it doesn’t. It’s even worse when you’re out of school, no one cares.

And I played the studio iteration on “Black and White,” the band’s 1991 release, over and over again. But not the whole album, I cherry-picked.

And then I got “Joe Dirt Car.”

Used to be a live album was a cheap shot. A way to bide time, make some quick bucks. For every classic double package there’s a plethora of junk.

There’s “Frampton Comes Alive,” the legendary seller.

“Live At Leeds,” considered to be the best, even though I think it suffers for lack of crowd noise.

And the unheralded “Five Man Acoustical Jam,” if you don’t know this Tesla live set you’re in for a treat, then again, you’re probably best off knowing their material.

And then there’s “Joe Dirt Car,” the BoDeans’ 1995 double CD package.

It came in a box from Warner Brothers, back when being on the mailing list was everything, even though the more that came the less you listened to. But there was certain stuff you spun that became your favorite even though it got so little traction, like “Joe Dirt Car.”

It’s the feel. Like you’re at the gig, inside the club, with a band firing on all cylinders, not faking it whatsoever, not needing hard drives to get their message across.

And for a long time “Joe Dirt Car” was not on Spotify.

But listening to Kenny testify I searched and found out it. I decided to check it out, it’s been years.

It sounded just as special, just as good. It was a sui generis Dead Sea Scroll. There’s no context, “Joe Dirt Car” is part of no continuum. It’s like stumbling into a local gig where a band better than the neighborhood is playing and slaying you, you’re in the groove, you’re hooked, you feel fully alive.

So, if you remember rock and roll. When it was all about guitars and drums. When what you wore was irrelevant. When immediacy was more important than perfection.

You’re gonna love this.

Before you go to sleep tonight
Say a prayer for me, yeah
And all the other wasted souls
Drowning definitely

Those who saw the Beatles on TV, who cast aside our previous desires and took up instruments, like Kenny Aronoff, who got bitten by the sound.

Our lives took a U-turn. And we’ve never recovered. And it wasn’t only about hits, but bands that had that sound.

BoDeans had that sound.

I’m going down with true devotion. I’ve wavered, but when this music fills my ears…

It’s the only thing that makes me feel good.

Joe Dirt Car – Spotify

So I’m driving down Route 30 looking for something to listen to. Funny to remember the days when music was scarce, when it wasn’t available in quantity at your fingertips, when you were in rural areas and you were lucky to find anything to listen to at all.

I’d inherited the car from my older sister. Who’d gotten it from my father, a ’63 Chevy Impala. It had a wandering eye, as in if you took your hands off the steering wheel you might end up in a ditch, but you could put the top down, which I did on this fall day in the seventies.

There was no underground FM radio in Vermont. Never mind no FM radio in the car. You were lucky to find a few ersatz pop stations and a country outlet, and that’s what I settled upon on this trip.

I heard Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”

That’s the power of music, you remember where you heard it forevermore.

And I knew she wrote her own material and was a big star but the closest I got to country was listening to Charlie Rich sing about the most beautiful girl in the world on the jukebox at the diner in Rutland. I hated the twang.

But now I get it.

Country music has moved on. Ironically, it’s more akin to the rock of the seventies than the legends of C&W, but it’s funny how that old sound permeated the rock scene, from Gram Parsons to CSN to the Grateful Dead to Tom Petty… I’ve got a lot of learnin’ to do.

But that’s not why I went to see Dolly Parton. My friend was the agent. Otherwise I would have skipped it. She’s lovable, she made that movie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, but she’s irrelevant and I wasn’t that interested to begin with and…

It was one of the best shows I’ve seen all year.

Boomers go to see the same acts over and over again. Never mind in the original epoch, but the comeback tour and then the endless dashes for cash. I don’t quite understand the  motivation to take a Desert Trip. Those acts have been hiding in plain sight, you haven’t seen them already? But to experience something new…

Normally I hate going to shows when I don’t know the material. It’s an endless wash of sound. It’s a clarion call to check your phone. But Dolly had me hooked from the get-go. Because she’s old school in a good way, her music has melody, the lyrics are comprehensible and…

She had that legendary sense of humor about herself.

And she could tell a story! Boy could she tell a story.

She emerged to “Hello Dolly.” In an era of big production she had little. Some sashes hung from the ceiling and there were three supporting musicians and…it was old school in a good way. Remember when the acts had to hold your attention? Hook you and keep you on the line?

Dolly has that skill.

“Jolene” was one of the first songs.

It’s a real story. About a woman at the bank. Her husband said he was looking for a loan, couldn’t he talk to a man?

Human emotions…too many are swinging for the fences, or playing to the cheap seats, but when you just tell the honest to goodness truth, we resonate. Dolly’s a big star, but she too can be jealous.

So, between every number was a tale. Mostly about growing up with eleven brothers and sisters in the holler, dirt poor.

I’m not sure anybody’s that poor anymore, sipping stone soup.

But they used to be, and it was hard, but it built character. When sacrifice was everything and we did not know what we did not have.

I wanted nothing so much as to take a road trip. To get in my car and drive to eastern Tennessee, to see what it was like. We’re all in it together, the separation of the sixties is passe, I want to know what made you you.

And Dolly talked and sang about her mother and her father. The former making clothing and the latter going up to Detroit for little more than a minute, because he missed his family and he knew where he belonged.

And then there was the tale about graduating from high school and taking the bus to Nashville, tears streaming down her face along the way. I did some research after the fact and it turned out Dolly had some traction before this, she wasn’t a complete newbie, but no one leaves home like this anymore. They might travel, but they’re in constant contact with mommy and daddy, there’s an emotional safety net, it used to be you were on your own.

But there’s still risk involved. And most don’t want to take it. America’s about playing it safe. Staying where you grew up, going to a good college to get a job in finance. But creating your career out of whole cloth?

That’s what a musician does.

And it’s a long strange trip. You don’t know you’re gonna be in movies, you don’t know you’re gonna duet with Kenny Rogers. Today too much is codified to the culture’s detriment. It’s so hard to make it that people rarely take chances, they just follow in the footsteps, but that won’t take you where you want to go.

And where do I want to go?

Live long enough and you feel that you’ve been there and done that.

And then you go to see Dolly Parton and a whole world opens up to you, something new, that you can not only enjoy, but sink your teeth into. How did this itty-bitty woman from nowhere channel truth all the way to stardom? How did she get it right when so many get it wrong? How is she more cutting edge than those with all the media attention?

This is a woman who not only covered “Stairway To Heaven,” but Collective Soul’s “Shine.”

And the highlight of the show was her medley of sixties and seventies hits, “American Pie” into “If I Had A Hammer” into “Blowin’ In The Wind” into “Dust In The Wind” into “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”

These are songs we know by heart. That bring us back to those halcyon days when we not only listened to music, but played it and sang it. When the tunes bonded us together, when they were more than the song of the summer, when they were life itself.

The tour was called “Pure and Simple.”

And that’s what it was. Pure talent evidenced in songs played simply on stage, in this case linked together by a narrative, the story of Dolly Parton’s life.

She’s seen as a cartoon character.

But the other night she was three-dimensional, a woman who could not only sing, but play and write. She got bitten by the bug and rode her talent and inspiration to stardom.

She deserves your attention.

Go.