And there used to be music.  No longer.

In just the last few generations, we have witnessed the complete devolution of the mainstream of music from the intricacies and demands of jazz, swing and modern “classical”; the subtleties and finesse of the best of popular song writing; the mastery of “folk” instruments and vocal performance in the best of folk and rock; the singular high-mindedness of the greatest singer songwriters; and the hard-won craft of playing and writing and creating meaningful work, to four bar grids of “cut and paste” monotony over which someone writes shallow nursery rhymes about partying, trucks and beer or bitches and bling, or whines in hardly rhyming verse about their sad little white boy or girl life.

There are occasional exceptions, of course.  But where are the anthems, the protest songs, the songs to march to or the ideas to fight for, the truths to believe in.  Instead it’s all about “me”.

“Glory” from the film “Selma” is the great current exception – as is Kendrick Lamarr’s work. And – yes – let’s not forget the valiant Dixie Chicks!!  But mostly there’s little more than a bit of catchy ear candy and nice beats.

All that talk about the “me generation” turns out to be true.  We lost “us” in the 80’s and since then we only care about ourselves and our personal gain;  we only want the money.

The rhetoric endures – as it does in politics.  There’s not a single human working in the “music industry” who doesn’t say that they’re in it for the music, for the art form.  Just like there’s no politician who doesn’t claim to be doing it to serve their country or community. But the reality is, we’re all in everything for the pay off.  Period.

There used to be meaning.  No more.

With our music and words, we used to fight for freedom;  we used to incite change;  we used to elevate each other;  we used to speak for all of us and literally move mountains.

No more.

Thanks for reminding us of this, Bob.

Bob Ezrin

I can’t get an Apple Watch, but every celebrity known to man has been seeded one to make them look cool. Who’s using who? And if you think it’s the musicians who are coming out ahead, you own no Apple stock.

Used to be different. Players weren’t rich. They were in it for the dope, the sex, the hang and the music. It was a lifestyle. What did Donald Fagen sing in “Deacon Blues”…”I cried when I wrote this song, sue me if I play too long”? There are no blues in popular music today. No one’s crying, unless it’s about the loss of recorded music revenue as they charge a zillion dollars for a ticket.

Once again, watch this video:

Tidal – End The Suffering

In it you’ll see how rich Jay Z and Madonna and the rest of the Tidalites truly are. Turns your stomach, makes you lose sympathy.

Ever know any bluebloods?

I certainly did. Back in Connecticut. They wore chinos and Topsiders and drove old Fords, they didn’t flaunt their wealth, it was unseemly. Now it’s all about showing how rich you are. Then again, a lot of the techies don’t. Zuck wears a hoodie and doesn’t brag about flying private, that’s for the “artists.”

No wonder no one believes in them.

That’s the Tidal story. It’s got nothing to do with streaming and everything to do with income inequality. Once upon a time it was about forming a tribe, a fan base, people who heard your music and followed you everywhere. No one wanted to follow anybody to Tidal. Why?

The story was completely missed by the media. Because the goal is to write a book and go on a lecture tour. Used to be writers were outsiders who were in it for the alcohol and the truth. Now they’re wannabe stars themselves, who don’t want to offend anyone on their way up.

Once the artist is divorced from his fan base, he’s screwed.

Your fans are all you’ve got. Life is long. You want them in your pocket after your hits dry up. And they will. No one has ever sustained.

But the players play on.

The classic rockers didn’t know there was that much money in it. Go back and read the interviews. Ringo figured he’d become a hairdresser, everybody was out on a lark, having fun before their real lives began. No one thought being a rock musician was a role you could play to the end of your days.

But today Ringo hypes Skechers.

Explain this to me Mr. Starkey… Do you want to buy a baseball team? Don’t you have enough cash? Or are we supposed to believe you just want the rest of the world to be turned on to a great product.

But that’s food. Something evanescent that everybody’s talking about. Remember chefs? The unheralded nobodies? Then they were in the right place at the right time and they became rich and famous. The stardom comes AFTER!

But today everybody believes it comes before.

They want to be famous, they want to be rich.

They don’t want to be musicians.

A musician is someone who practices, ALONE! Explain that to today’s social media darlings.

And a musician is someone who is oftentimes ignored. Sometimes for his entire career. And a musician never bitches he can’t get paid, he’s privileged to be playing.

But not today! Today everybody with a YouTube clip feels entitled to be wealthy. They’ll spam you to watch and complain if you don’t. As if everybody could make it. What, are we living in Lake Wobegon?

How about saying no. How about ending the fashion parade and the ghost writes and sitting down and hammering it out yourself. How about testing limits and blowing our minds.

But that can’t happen. That’s too hard. It might piss somebody off. Remember the Dixie Chicks?

AT LEAST WE DO!

Most of their contemporaries have faded in the rearview mirror. Because if you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.

We want people who stand for something. We’re a nation of followers looking for leaders.

They used to be musicians.

No longer.

1. “This Diamond Ring”
Gary Lewis & the Playboys

Cowritten by our Lefsetz favorite, Al Kooper. However, Al was horrified by this take until the royalty checks started piling in. Al saw it as a soul number. And I’m including Al’s take from his 1977 album “Act Like Nothing’s Wrong,” check it out.

But Gary Lewis’s version was different. Haunting, very sixties.

Let’s see, February 1965. We were one year into the British Invasion, long enough for the hysteria to die down and allow American acts onto the chart.

And this week I spent with my parents at the Concord, in Kiamesha Lake, New York. Sick from a rained-out Christmas in Vermont, they wanted to take no chances, the Concord had a ski area, however minimal.

It also had entertainment. That week Neil Sedaka. I was too young to know “Calendar Girl” when it was a hit, but I remember hearing Neil perform it that evening, and banging the knockers on the table instead of clapping…that’s what you did.

Who wants to buy this diamond ring
She took it off her finger now it doesn’t mean a thing

How different from today, where everybody’s a winner, not only in rap but pop. What did Pink sing…that the party could finally start because she arrived? Make me puke.

Life is full of losses. Big ones and little ones. And when you experience discomfort, you turn to the tunes.

And you saved them up for when they were necessary. I’m not sure I’d been rejected when I first heard “This Diamond Ring,” but I certainly have been since!

2. “Downtown”
Petula Clark

How did you pronounce it? “Pet” like the animal or “Petch”? I’m still not sure. But I’m absolutely positive this was a huge smash that winter. My little sister bought the single.

Although British, this was a respite from the usual male stuff. We had no idea that Petula had been at it for years, was not brand new, this was back before the internet provided all the answers.

Brings you right back. This track was made for the listener only, even if you were listening in a group.

So GO DOWNTOWN
Where all the lights are bright
DOWNTOWN
Waiting for you tonight
DOWNTOWN
You’re gonna be all right now…

3. “Eight Days A Week”
The Beatles

You know it by heart, doesn’t everybody?

Obviously not on Spotify, but just click the chip in your brain and you’ll hear it.

From my favorite Beatles album, “Beatles For Sale,” but I didn’t know that until the CDs came out in America in their proper form decades later.

The way the song comes over the hill, the way it gets louder, John Lennon’s vocal, the handclaps, the bridge…a stone cold smash. Then, now and forevermore.

4. “My Girl”
The Temptations

I was just too young.

I’d had my first girlfriend. I even looked her up online, took me years, positively horrifying, never mess with your memories.

But, I hadn’t had enough love experience to fully understand “My Girl.” Of course it’s a masterpiece, but I’ve recognized this more as the years have gone by, sometimes you hear something so many times it seems less than special, but in this case that is wrong, it doesn’t get much better than this.

5. “The Name Game”
Shirley Ellis

Okay, let’s do CHUCK!

The funny thing is this song gets little airplay, but every baby boomer can sing its complicated lyrics.

Come on…

Arnold!
Arnold, Arnold bo Barnold Bonana fanna fo Farnold
Fee fy mo Marnold, Arnold!

6. “Goldfinger”
Shirley Bassey

Remember when they flipped over the pool table and there was a model of Fort Knox?!

“Goldfinger” was the movie that ensconced James Bond in the public consciousness, it was the one with the tricked-out Aston Martin they exhibited at the New York World’s Fair.

One can argue the film’s predecessor, “From Russia With Love,” was superior, but “Goldfinger” was in your face, it had Pussy Galore, it had this track.

The girl was literally painted gold. Story was they left part of her skin unpainted, otherwise she would have died.

Nothing like the British Invasion numbers, this was still from the island nation and its bombast was foreign enough to stop us in our tracks and mesmerize us.

7. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”
The Righteous Brothers

Nearly Phil Spector’s last hurrah. A throwback to what had come before…before the Beatles, who ultimately used Spector themselves.

To say this was overplayed… It was ubiquitous, it made me yearn for more British Invasion stuff on the radio. Like “My Girl,” I’ve come to love it as time has gone by. You know what turned me? Bill Medley’s duet with Jennifer Warnes on “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” from the “Dirty Dancing” soundtrack.

There used to be movies like this, that the whole nation rallied around because they captured the zeitgeist from years gone by. Stuff like “American Graffiti” and “Dirty Dancing.” It wasn’t real, but in some way it was. I refused to see “Dirty Dancing” in the theatre, but my then wife and I rented the videotape and couldn’t stop watching it for the twenty four hours until we returned it. And hearing Bill Medley’s voice connected me to this classic track from ’64 and I came to love it, just like everybody else.

8. “Stop! In The Name Of Love”
The Supremes

My favorite is “Come See About Me,” but I always loved this.

Imagine, there were two camps competing for our attention, England and Michigan. Two different sounds, that came from the same roots but were oh-so-different.

And the Wrecking Crew in L.A., creating the Brian Wilson classics.

It was a golden era.

9. “The Boy From New York City”
The Ad Libs

This is why I’m writing this list… I heard this on Sirius XM this afternoon and it made my day.

I disliked this way back when… It seemed like a cheesy throwback. But all these years later, it’s just COOL!

Do kids know this? Does Kidz Bop do a cover?

They should, it’s infectious in any incarnation.

10. “Hurt So  Bad”
Little Anthony and the Imperials

My favorite is “Goin’ Out Of My Head,” but this ethereal number resonates too.

A winter song, no one is this depressed, no one is this interior during the summer.

That’s one great thing about living on the east coast, the miserable weather, having you playing board games and listening to the radio and your records daydreaming…about both the pitfalls and the way life can be.

Rhinofy-WABC Top Ten-2/24/65

Reality or the myth, take your pick!

Greetings from my birthday, wherein I hit the trifecta, a pastrami sandwich at Langer’s, a movie (two, actually) and a hot fudge sundae. The tradition was established back in ’77, when it all came together by accident. My girlfriend introduced me to Langer’s. I introduced her to C.C. Brown’s. And we went to see “Annie Hall” on the day it opened. Pretty memorable, and I’ve been trying to touch all the bases ever since.

But not last year, last year I spent getting a root canal.

But this year?

I was worried Langer’s was going to go out of business. We went early, I had to get back to the Westside to see my shrink, and I was shocked to see ropes outside, to handle the crowd. Made me smile, as did my number #19, their legendary sandwich. That’s pastrami, Swiss cheese, cole slaw and Russian dressing piled high between two slices of warm, corn rye bread. I know, I know, sounds like too much. I used to be a purist, I used to go for only the meat and the bread and some mustard. Swiss cheese is not such a stretch, but cole slaw? That’s what puts the concoction over the top. The Russian dressing glues it all together, but it’s the cole slaw that adds zest. I recommend it.

And after my doctor’s appointment we went to the Apple Store, so I could check out the watches.

Talk about confusing.

But what’s even worse is the clerk was clueless. They didn’t know who they were dealing with. I’d done my research, I knew more than she did. And I’d like to tell you I’m down with the help, but when I schlepp all the way out there and my appointment is winding down I get frustrated, I can’t hold back my feelings.

I got a new clerk. Pete. And he made sense of it all to me.

And it’s all pretty senseless. The media focuses on functionality, but Apple is focusing on style. My instincts tell me to buy the cheapest one, knowing it will be superseded in a year, at most, but the Sport only comes with an elastomer band, and the leather one is so much more comfortable. The Milanese strap is cool. But now the price is stratospheric. So, do I buy the middle model, called the “Watch,” so I can get a good band or do I go with the Sport… I’m gonna have to do more research.

And then we drove to Beverly Hills to see “Gett,” the highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes. My mother hipped me to it, she lives to go to the movies. And I’d like to recommend the flick but I cannot do so. It’s a courtroom drama that’s only in the courtroom. About a gett, which is basically a divorce for the non-Jews out there. And some amazing stuff comes out, and it’s stunning that Israelis focus on the intellectual while we Americans applaud comic books, but the truth is if it was on TV, you’d turn it off.

And then to the Landmark.

That’s right, a second movie on the same day. It’s only the second movie I’ve seen in a theatre this year, but I used to do this all the time. Three on a Saturday was not exceptional. Four was done now and again. Back when movies drove the culture and when the lights went down I was transported to a world where feelings were king and I was feeling all right.

The movie we went to see was “While We’re Young.”

I was interested because of its writer/director, Noah Baumbach. “The Squid and the Whale” was fantastic. “Greenberg” missed the mark, but I’m a believer.

And this film turned out to be everything the hype said it was not.

The hype was all about the Adams, Horovitz and Driver.

If you didn’t watch the credits, you’d have never known it was a Beastie Boy.

As for Adam Driver… He’s a star. He’s off-putting on “Girls” at first, but he’s got this weird charisma. And there’s even more of it in evidence here.

So the set-up is Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts are fortysomething and childless. And they become friends with the twentysomething couple of Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried. Ben and Naomi become intrigued by the carefree lifestyle of the married young ‘uns.

And that’s a theme of the picture. Aging. Done quite well. It resonated on my birthday.

But not so much as the business lesson.

Ben is a documentary filmmaker. He had some early success, but he’s been stuck on the same flick for ten years now.

Adam Driver is a wannabe.

And Naomi Watts produces the films of her father, legendary documentarian Charles Grodin. It’s creepy to see Grodin so old when he was so young and vibrant in the “Heartbreak Kid.”

But we all age. But will our dreams come true?

You remember dreams.

They used to be a house in the suburbs, two cars and three kids.

That dream is gone, even though some still believe that manual labor and service work will get you close. Good luck with that.

And then there are those of us who are searching for something more.

We’re students of the game. We read the newspapers. Even the self-help books. We think we know what’s going on.

But we don’t.

Because success has got nothing to do with the facts and everything to do with the edges.

That’s right. Are you willing to bend the truth, are you willing to lie, cheat and steal because everybody else does it and that’s what you need to do to make it?

Don’t argue with me. Your band may be incredible, but without a great manager you’ll never succeed. David Krebs made Aerosmith. Not better, but rich and famous.

Truth is for pussies. Facebook is constantly changing the rules, getting in trouble for experiments, doing things you’d never do. Kind of like the government. If you don’t think Edward Snowden is a hero, you think the government is trustworthy. And isn’t it funny that the people saying Snowden is a traitor are the same people saying there’s got to be less government? Head-spinning, I know, but so is life.

That’s what separates the winners from the losers. Those who know how to bend the rules, or employ someone who does. Those who know expedience trumps legality every day of the week. Those who know some get caught breaking the code, but few do, and usually it’s those further down the food chain who are poor and unconnected.

And Ben Stiller realizes all this.

Maybe there are exceptions, Bob Dylan said to live outside the law you’ve got to be honest. But are you really living outside the law, speaking truth to power? And never forget Dylan had Albert Grossman, and without him you’d probably have never heard of the bard from Hibbing, Minnesota.

Stiller can’t believe it when his fantasy is dashed. He’s judging himself for being too selfish, too narcissistic, and this is just what the winners want you to do, to be self-effacing about irrelevant crap while they run rampant all over you. Stiller exposes the truth, but no one cares.

And there’s more than that. The manipulations of Driver. The younger generation’s disrespect for intellectual property rights.

But what “While We’re Young” is really about is…

You’ve got to cheat to win.

There, I said it.

And if you’re arguing with me, you’re a loser.

P.S. After the flick we went to Baskin-Robbins, where the parking spaces were limited to 31 minutes, get it?

P.P.S. When I was broke in 1975, I used my birthday coupons to eat dinner at the Reno Baskin-Robbins. That’s right, my little sister sent me five bucks worth, I was in town to exchange Hart Freestyle skis.

P.P.P.S. Got back home and pulled up “Silicon Valley” on HBO. You’d think it was L.A. in the seventies. All the money and excitement. Only this time it was tech and then it was music. They still make music, but tech rules, because it impacts everybody. The show is so well done… The superfluous spending, the VC rats who glom on to the coders. It’s just like the record business, only there are a lot more zeros and it counts. Also, Mike Judge is poking fun. No one pokes fun in music anymore, they’re too busy drinking the kool-aid.

P.P.P.P.S. After turning off “Silicon Valley”, Jon Stewart was on. He was comparing the Atlanta cheating scandal to Wall Street. He played it out so well… The difference was the teachers had remorse and went to jail. The financial firms paid small fines, admitted no responsibility and one person went to jail. Proving once again, cheaters win.

P.P.P.P.P.S. You’ve got to watch this YouTube video, it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen this week (thanks Larry!) And like the greatest humor, it’s funny because of the core truth…

“Tidal – End The Suffering”

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. What you read in books and papers is the myth. Insiders don’t want you to know the truth, then you might horn in on their game. But you probably won’t, your conscience won’t allow you to. But you don’t get to complain when others win and you don’t. Never forget that.

P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Everything worth learning happens in life, not school. If you don’t know anybody, you’ll never make it. People don’t get MBAs for the education, but the connection. You go to the Ivys for the better class of people you get to meet. Winners don’t whine and winners have no time. Mentor, schmentor. Identify the winners and try to get closer. Abandon those without the killer instinct, who are not climbing the ladder. Time is ticking. Careers are war, but unlike in the Middle East, they’re time-stamped. Use every “friend,” take no time off unless it’s to recharge your batteries. Or be resigned to middle management.

P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Family trumps business. Have a couple of kids who call you “Pa” and you’ll probably be happier than the business titans. Who might have children but don’t go to the Little League games. That’s right, you cannot have it all. It’s your choice. The game of life is hard. Hopefully you’ve got someone telling you the truth. My father always did. But he was a lone wolf who believed no one in business was his friend. And he was right, they weren’t.