Or nothing is forever…

People have been e-mailing me this twenty minute anti-Vail YouTube video. Yeah! Let’s beat up on Vail! And while we’re at it, let’s beat up on Spotify! And Ticketmaster is why concert prices are so high!

I’d say I sound like a Republican, but now the Republicans want to go back to the past just like these wanker Democrats.

As for antitrust policy…

Have you used Google recently? Used to be you’d scroll down the page for an answer. Now AI generates one right up top and there’s no scrolling involved. And it’s getting damn good.

And all those musicians who are starving, can’t we take care of them?

I mean Trump is right when he talks about common sense.

Skiing has never been cheaper.

WHAT????

That’s a fact. Equipment has not risen proportionately with inflation. Meanwhile, you can get a season pass for a multitude of ski areas for a grand.

BUT YOU’RE PUTTING THE LITTLE GUY OUT OF BUSINESS!

No, students of the game will know those areas were failing and closing long before the Epic and IKON passes. Why? BECAUSE PEOPLE WANTED TO GO TO THE BIG RESORTS!

Where they complain about lines and then when you try to build a new lift they want to preserve the old days. Park City protested a new lift and Vail ended up moving it to Whistler. It was already built, ready to install…but Vail is the big bad wolf.

Is Vail perfect?

I’ve got complaints since Rob Katz handed over the CEO job to Kirsten Lynch, but…

Vail has invested heavily in lift infrastructure…

BUT THE DAILY LIFT TICKET!

Well, right now you can buy an Epic daily lift ticket for under a hundred bucks, as low as fifty in some instances. Sure, you have to buy it in advance (it’s not tied to a single day), but you have to buy concert tickets in advance…

BUT REAL ESTATE, THEY’RE SQUEEZING OUT THE LITTLE PEOPLE!

This is a problem, but it’s not Vail’s fault. As a matter of fact, Vail is the first ski conglomerate that is not real-estate based. You’ve got the same problem with Manhattan. Those with money buying up real estate. Address income inequality, don’t blame it on the wrong entity.

But that’s America today. Misinformation.

And everybody’s an expert. But the truth is there are people who’ve been in the trenches forever who know the truth and they’ve stopped fighting the falsehoods.

Do you think Ticketmaster gets anxious with all this blowback? They know they’re taking the heat for the acts and they are the best at selling the most tickets simultaneously. And I doubt the antitrust suit is going to continue under Trump.

That’s what happens. The public is so out of touch that the targets of their hatred detach, they stop listening.

You want change?

Try to level the economic playing field of America.

Let’s lower concert ticket prices! Leave all that cash to the secondary market! Or tie the ticket to the buyer who hates this, who wants flexibility/the ability to resell.

And Spotify! How dare you rescue the recording industry! All this b.s. about vinyl, it’s streaming that’s keeping the business alive and healthy, that caused a rebound.

I got streamed and I made a pittance! Isn’t that terrible?

Well, it’s just like the high daily prices of a lift ticket. You couldn’t plan in advance at all (very few people pay the daily rate, you can even buy online in advance during the season and get a discount)? You can’t make music people want to hear? This is kind of like Lake Wobegon…”where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”

Speaking of which, “A Prairie Home Companion” couldn’t survive without Garrison Keillor. They had to change the name and ultimately it got canceled. Shouldn’t Chris Thile be entitled to the same audience and the same compensation?

This is the fallacious logic that has you demanding pay for artists whose music is not listened to.

Once again, there are real problems in America. But when you pick the wrong target you ensure that nothing changes, because those with the ability to foment change ignore you.

And change keeps happening. We thought Google search was forever…but now it doesn’t look that way. And if I want information on products I go to Amazon or the Wirecutter… Meanwhile, “Consumer Reports” is publishing less frequently, it’s fading.

But no one can re-evaluate their beliefs. They feel one way. They want to be a member of the group, not the dreaded outlier.

But not me.

This is UnitedHealthcare.

This is what happens when the Democratic leadership is somnambulant, people take matters into their own hands.

 

I don’t know if this news has made it into the right wing blogosphere. But in the mainstream press this week there have been all these stories about Tesla sales tanking. Significantly.

And now people are attacking Tesla cars and dealerships and…

We can’t say exactly how many people are responsible, but one thing is for sure, they’re tapping into an anger that permeates the left, if not some of the right too.

We could make this about Musk. Prognosticators believe it’s only a matter of time before he’s excised, that’s Trump’s style, but really this is about frustration with the direction of the country under Trump’s rule. The Democrats keep telling constituents to believe in the system. Meanwhile, Mike Johnson tells his minions to stop holding town halls.

In other words, the government may be losing control of the public, and that’s never a good sign. Trump’s approval ratings are dismal. And when people feel powerless…some take action. And just like with UnitedHealthcare, their behavior is endorsed by the general public and chaos rules.

You can’t paint someone else’s car. You can’t shoot bullets into a car dealership. But that’s what people are doing.

Now you could say that people have a right to express themselves… Which is what they said to Elon himself, who uttered some nonsense about private property and I’m not saying he’s wrong, but it’s no longer about the law, but about emotions.

Let’s take it further. You can’t take anybody’s job in America today. You can’t fire them. Talk to anybody in control at a corporation. Everywhere from the assembly line to concert promotion. In order to fire someone…you need a litany of documented misbehavior, and you still may have to pay them to go, to avoid a lawsuit. Forget what’s right, this is the situation.

AND ELON MUSK IS TAKING TONS OF PEOPLE’S JOBS!

Now what. Most people don’t have deep pockets like Elon. We keep reading how close everyone is to being broke, with only a few weeks’ money in the bank. You fire these people and they’re just going to shrug their shoulders and get on the bread line? NO, THEY’RE GOING TO GET ANGRY!

This is what happens when you’re rich, both Trump and Elon, you’re out of touch with the public. Yes, yes, yes, Trump channeled the dissatisfaction of the blue collar workers and underclass, but don’t think he really knows anything about their lives. Do you know anybody rich? Especially those who grew up rich? Their experiences, their perspective is different. They don’t know what they don’t know.

As for Elon… He was squeezed out of PayPal for being an a**hole. His Teslas are responsible for more accidents per vehicle than any other brand because the self-driving software doesn’t work and sure, he blasted off a few rockets, but a bunch blew up too. And Canada just canceled its Starlink order. I mean why in the hell is this guy a hero? Not to mention he fires people willy-nilly.

And I’d be stunned if this anti-Tesla fervor is tolerated on X. It’s free speech for him, but not for the rest of us. Just like it’s socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. Musk is the beneficiary of government money for SpaceX, but he’s gonna fire the asses of the hoi polloi?

Oh, he might rehire some people. But once bitten, twice shy. It’s not like these workers are going to breathe a sigh of relief when they get their jobs back, they’re going to keep looking over their shoulders, they’re going to clam up and protect their jobs first and foremost. And you’ve got Trump saying air traffic controllers should be MIT graduates. AT THAT PAY?? Like I said, he’s out of touch, he doesn’t know how Americans live, never mind not knowing how America works.

Consider this a news bulletin. Don’t blow back with right wing crap. If someone sets a Tesla on fire, that’s a fact, that’s happened. There are no alternative fact patterns here.

This is the Arab Spring moment I’ve been speaking of. When the government loses touch with the public, who knows what will happen, everything is up for grabs.

And that fruit vendor who started it all fifteen years ago… He was frustrated over his JOB, or lack thereof. He was a college graduate, and now he’s selling FRUIT?

I’m not saying that America does not have problems. I’m not saying that there’s no government waste. But you don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. And there’s no comprehension of the effects on people’s lives. Screw the country, most people only have one life and if you want to mess with their job, their health care, their quality of life, you’re going to hear about it.

It all comes down to income inequality. That’s what ails America. You can only keep the people down for so long. Many on the right want the government drowned in the bathtub because they want more money in their wallet. They can barely make ends meet.

And the great mass of the public has to be exposed to the lifestyles and shenanigans of the rich and famous and now you’re going to take things away from them?

Once again, if you want to see someone get angry, just take away their job. Now the entire nation is going to go postal!

Once again, don’t argue concepts with me, I’m just reporting the facts, which may have eluded you.

The “New York Times” just published this article:

“Rage Against Elon Musk Turns Tesla Into a Target – The backlash against the electric vehicle company has turned violent at times, as its billionaire chief executive parlays his support for President Trump into consequential influence over the federal government.”

And the conservatives and progressives both hate the “Times,” because of opinions expressed on the editorial pages, but the reason the “Times” triumphs is because of its reporting. You’re getting opinion on talk radio, blogs and podcasts…when was the last time Joe Rogan ever did any reporting? But if you want to know what is going on… Just read the “Times.”

And it’s not only the “Times,” the “Washington Post” published this article today:

“Anger at Elon Musk turns violent with molotov cocktails and gunfire at Tesla lots – The string of violence against Tesla storefronts, charging stations and vehicles exacerbates the company’s woes, analysts said.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/08/elon-musk-tesla-protest-violence-vandalism/

And if you want to track Tesla’s waning fortunes, just read the “Wall Street Journal”: 

“Tesla’s Fortunes Fall as Musk Rises in Trump World – CEO’s politics erode brand’s appeal among some core buyers of electric vehicles; ‘I used to idolize the guy’

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-elon-musk-consumer-backlash-19326a57?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1

We’ve skipped right past the nonviolent protests of the sixties to the activities of the Weathermen.

And things are much worse overall than they were in the sixties.

And if we can’t stop school shootings, how in the hell are we going to stop random acts of violence against Teslas…and who knows what else next.

People are sick and tired of their leaders. They’ve disappointed them again and again over decades. Do you think Democrats are going to trust and follow the mealy-mouthed politicians in D.C? Only those in the game take Kamala Harris’s run for California governor seriously. We’ve had enough of her, her inauthenticity, refusing to go on record and offend anybody, her word salad disappointing those who believe in progressive principles.

Ooh, the truth!

Losing your job has no political ideology. And it’s happening to those on both sides of the political spectrum.

Musk, et al, have lost control of the country. You want me to believe some inexperienced twentysomething knows more about my work than I do?

This is just the beginning.

Tune in Saturday March 8th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

“Dreams I’ll Never See”: https://www.tiktok.com/@teeharpo/video/7470338734437797150?_r=1&_t=ZT-8uTftkeGuqs

1

You couldn’t get that rich.

Then again, rich was relative.

You formed a band because you loved the music. Continued to play because the money was good and it kept you from the assembly line and boring professional jobs.

You were living an alternative lifestyle. Sleeping until noon. But everything worth experiencing happens after dark. Gain enough success, and that always came after paying a ton of dues, and the people came to see you. They bought you drinks, gave you dope, sucked your dick…

Yes, so many of the English musicians have gone on record. They played because they were shy and it was the only way to meet girls. And there’s a power in music that actually supersedes money. Because when done right music is life itself. You’re speaking through your instrument, through your lyrics, it’s directly from your heart into theirs. It’s irresistible.

So you’re a gang, you’re all in it together. And you might even be making good money, but the goal was a record deal. And hopefully resonance with the national, even worldwide audience, thereafter. You knew few made it, but you’d already come this far, so why not? And every band had a driving force, who could see the target, who could keep the band on course.

And it was never your first rodeo. You’d been playing in bands since high school. You knew what worked and what didn’t. Who was reliable and who was not. That’s not to say you weren’t ripped-off multiple times along the way. By club owners, managers…

And if you were one of the few who went all the way… As your record gained success you worked on the road. Loving it, but doing drugs to endure it. And when the dates stopped you had to go back into the studio and cut another record. And if that was a success, if you went through the wash/rinse cycle a few times, that’s when the cracks usually started to show.

It almost always comes down to money. Someone’s making more than you. They say they wrote the songs, even though you created that bass part, that lead. Or the manager is stealing from you and you’ve had enough. People start to leave. Sometimes you can replace them, usually you cannot.

So you go back home, look at the four walls, and very soon you realize your only option is to…

Do it all over again. Maybe just play locally, so you can have a home life. Maybe associate with some others who’ve been through the mill, who have experience.

2

Everybody in Molly Hatchet is dead. Well, the original members. Then again, who are the original members? Danny Joe Brown might have been the front man, but it was guitarist Dave Hlubek’s band. He formed it, he kept it together. He lived a long time for a member of Molly Hatchet, he made it all the way to 68. Guitarist Duane Roland made it to 53. Guitarist Steve Holland made it to 66. Drummer Bruce Crump lived to 57. Bass player Banner Thomas made it to 63. And singer Danny Joe Brown? His light went out at 53.

That’s the classic version of Molly Hatchet. And there’s still a Molly Hatchet on the road today, as long as someone is willing to pay…brand names, hit records, mean something, financially.

And Danny Joe Brown ultimately put out a solo record, I’d see it in the bins, with his crossed-arms visage staring me in the face. It was even produced by Glyn Johns, but it stiffed.

But for a while there, the original Molly Hatchet was intact, and had hits.

AND WHO THE F*CK CARED!

Southern rock started with the Allman Brothers. And then manager/label owner Phil Walden followed them with a slew of southern rock acts (as well as Captain Beyond, with the remnants of Iron Butterfly, I could never figure that one out). Even the Marshall Tucker Band, who started off southern rock before they went country and whose front man Toy Caldwell, as well as his brother Tommy, are long gone.

And after the first wave of southern rock, we got Lynyrd Skynyrd, Al Kooper plucked them from obscurity and they became giants on his Sounds of the South label, distributed by MCA.

As for Molly Hatchet? They seemed me-too.

But they had that one record, “Flirtin’ With Disaster.”

3

It hit the ground running, and then Danny Joe Brown started to sing and it was a veritable conflagration.

“I’m travelin’ down the road and I’m flirtin’ with disaster

I’ve got the pedal to the floor, my life is running faster

I’m out of money, I’m out of hope, it looks like self-destruction

Well, how much more can you take with all of this corruption”

I’m sure this was autobiographical. The music business is rife with corruption. Talk about not making money on Spotify? Used to be you made the money but it never ended up in your account.

“We’re flirtin’ with disaster, ya’ll know what I mean

And the way we run our lives it makes no sense to me

I don’t know about yourself or what you want to be, yeah

When we gamble with our time we choose our destiny”

Meat and potatoes. This is not intellectual, but rawly in your face. This ain’t no disco, this ain’t no foolin’ around at CBGB’s.

The Ramones had albums, critical acclaim, but almost no commercial success. They traveled in a van to play clubs.

But AOR? There was a station in every market. Playing music you needed to crank up as you drove your Camaro down the highway.

The war was over. Males breathed a sigh of relief. It was like some engineer turned the faders up to 11 and the ensuing sound drowned out everything else and made listeners feel good, they listened to the radio, bought the albums and went to the shows. They went to a lot of shows. It was part of the religion.

Of course corporate rock and repetition of the formula and mindless disco ultimately caused the business to collapse, but we were flirtin’ with disaster right before that.

That’s what rock meant. Leaving conventional society behind, thinking for yourself, doing it your way AND SUCCEEDING! The musicians were our heroes, our guides, we followed them and wished we could be them, BECAUSE THEY’D BEATEN THE SYSTEM!

4

And I like “Flirtin’ With Disaster,” the key rise in the second verse is enticing, but it’s the guitar work that puts it over the top.

But I didn’t spend much time thinking about Molly Hatchet, a band considered so unattractive they weren’t even on their own album covers.

But a few years back I got hooked on their cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Dreams,” I knew it, but I never owned it. But in the modern streaming world I could play it ad infinitum, get hooked into a trance.

The original “Dreams,” on the Allmans’ debut, which was unknown by many even in the band’s heyday, traction started with the follow-up, “Idlewild South,” is a slow misty movement, with Gregg’s angst. It’s the kind of thing you listen to in the middle of the night, when you’re at loose ends. Or first thing in the morning, after a bad night.

Whereas the Molly Hatchet version has got a head-nodding rhythm. Set by a bass note. And then the rest of the band comes in and half a minute in everybody’s locked in. This is not about subtlety, this is about lifting the emporium, taking your spirits higher. Talk about squeezing out the rest of your thoughts and making you feel good…that’s what Molly Hatchet’s version of “Dreams” does, with a hint of anger and rebellion to boot.

5

So I’m sitting on the couch late last night scrolling TikTok and…

Instagram Reels is still mostly about self-promotion. But you never know what you’ll find on TikTok. Right now what I like most is the people testifying about politics, because they evidence the emotion absent from the regular news. They feel it. They’re pissed-off.

And my finger is pushing to scroll on my phone and then…I’m confronted with Molly Hatchet performing a live version of “Dreams”?

Normally I’d skip right by this, but like I just said, I’ve become enamored of their version.

And from the very beginning I’m brought back to the day. It’s the way the band members are into it. Moving their bodies. Danny Joe Brown clapping his hands over his head, getting not only the band, but the audience in the groove.

And Danny Joe starts to sing and…it’s not perfect. Is it his voice or the mix? But those guitars are chunking along in the background.

And Danny Joe looks like an ex-jock, all beefy, with the de rigueur long hair. Yes, this is what our musicians looked like back then.

And there was no backdrop, no production, never mind anything on tape/hard drive.

And the second verse begins and Danny Joe goes guttural. And he’s wearing a shirt that says “Redneck Power.” That’s one thing the southern rockers did…they weren’t ashamed of the educated, northern perception of them, they EMBRACED IT!

And now they’re in the instrumental break. Some guy whose name I don’t know is wailing on his Les Paul. All very good, this train is a-rollin’.

But then the camera angle changes, and you see THREE LEAD GUITARISTS!

WHAT?

Eric Clapton needed no one else.

Nor did the Police.

But Skynyrd did have three.

And now they’re deep into the groove, everybody’s shaking their ass in time, moving their bodies back and forth, ultimately swinging their guitars back and forth, which looks hokey all these years later, but that was relatively new back then.

And they’re still playing.

And then all three guitarists are standing next to each other, performing the change. It’s all in tune, together, how does this work?

And then it slows down for Danny Joe once again.

And all I can think of is being in the audience.

Maybe you didn’t like Molly Hatchet, in that case you didn’t go.

Forget reviews, not that there were many for live shows at all back then, never mind for Molly Hatchet.

But if you were there. You were caught in a trance, feeling the power, nodding your head, in your own space, connecting with the band and its music, a communal experience completely outside the rest of the world, never mind the building.

You were there. This was a peak. You’d leave the theatre tingling. The next day you’d tell all your  friends about it. And the next time through, you’d drag them to the show.

And all there was was the experience, the feeling.

The band was wearing the same clothes they did off stage. It was clear they were not punching the clock, they were enjoying it, giving it their all, not only for those in attendance, but themselves.

And more people knew “Flirtin’ With Disaster” than any Taylor Swift song today. And Drake and the Weeknd. This music was inescapable, and we were drawn to it. And it was not only southern rock, you could be a fan of the Talking Heads and James Taylor too, and Elvis Costello, because you were a fan of MUSIC!

And they say it’s the same…

It’s not.