I love this company.

Good is not good enough for me. I don’t want a cheap Windows machine with low resolution and little power. I’m willing to pay a few hundred dollars extra for four-way stretch in my ski jacket and… I’m willing to give Verizon Wireless all my money to know that I’ve got the best connections in the business.

What triggered this?

THEY WERE OVERBILLING ME!

Happens all the time when you go to Europe. You add international calling and they say it’s going to come off automatically, but it doesn’t. So I call the international desk, I don’t hold and they immediately take off the charges, as nice as they can be. T-Mobile offers 2G data for free in Europe, and free voice calling to Mexico and Canada, but…I’M NOT SWITCHING!

I used to be on AT&T, I know what a lousy connection can be.

And the thing about wireless is…it’s like skis, if you bought ’em, you love ’em. Everybody tells you their company is the best, that they’re really no different. But I’ll tell you I called the hospital in Vail to find out if my buddy had been admitted. I’d been texting him all day and hadn’t heard back… BECAUSE HE’S ON AT&T! He never got the messages!

As for Verizon 4G LTE… It covers Vail completely.

But you don’t believe what I say, you say the wireless companies are all the same, I say…

Believe what you want.

Clayton Christensen says good enough is good enough, but not for me!

I was interviewed by the BBC today. They couldn’t get a studio, did I have an iPhone?

OF COURSE!

If the app works on an Android, if you can record on an Android, it makes no difference, because these people in the UK were clueless, iPhone was all they knew.

And I feel sorry for you if you cannot afford the best. Sucks, I know. But if you’ve got some bread, why not go for it? Oftentimes it doesn’t even cost any more!

Assuming you know what to buy. Information is at your fingertips, but you refuse to research. And when it comes to political issues, misinformation reigns supreme. Everybody’s full of crap online, putting forth their own agenda.

And now it sounds like I’ve contradicted myself.

But the truth is if you’re a savvy surfer, you can get to the bottom of the issue easily. Go to Amazon, throw out the bad reviews, they’re always from cranks, who are unsatisfiable, or they had a delivery issue or the product was dead out of the box, and then read the rest. And you do go to Amazon, right? Why pay less when Amazon gives such great service?

We do live in the service economy. And don’t ask me to endorse the employment policies of these enterprises, I don’t work there, but I will tell you…if you provide something great and treat me right I’m gonna give you my business.

Others shop on price only.

But you get what you pay for, never forget that.

And today your mobile phone is your lifeline. And it doesn’t matter how good it is if you’ve got no connection. And without high speed data, you’re not operating.

E-mail me all you want that I’m wrong. E-mail me that Verizon doesn’t work overseas, demonstrating your ignorance. E-mail me that it just doesn’t matter.

But it does.

P.S. All those of you staying with other companies for the unlimited data… IT ISN’T! If you don’t know someone who’s been throttled at AT&T, you know no one who uses their phone. And did you know SoftBank was willing to write off its entire investment in Sprint when the merger with T-Mobile failed? These are the owners you’re paying fealty to. They know it’s just business. Kind of like Donald Trump, when he takes companies bankrupt. Don’t get too attached to brands, because they’re in flux. Once upon a time I’d buy only Sony, that’s been replaced by Samsung. And theoretically Verizon could be superseded by another carrier…BUT IT HASN’T HAPPENED YET!

Why is it when major media is cropping its stories down to nothing, believing that’s the only way to achieve virality, because America is dumb and has a short attention span, that podcasts are gaining traction and are generating the word of mouth traditional outlets crave?

There’s the splash and then the regeneration. Podcasting was all over the news in 2005 and then it crashed. But suddenly, it’s been reborn. As a long-form medium where those excluded from the traditional airwaves are making not only a home, but inroads.

It’s San Francisco in ’66. Seattle in ’91. It’s passionate people pursuing their dream with money in the background. And if you partake of the art, you know there’s not enough time to listen to all the podcasts you want, you’re addicted and can’t stop talking about them.

There’s the intimacy… In a world where you’re constantly told you’re inadequate and don’t count, you feel close to podcasters, even if you never contact them. It’s akin to FM radio back in the midsixties, it’s a small club and you’re thrilled to stay up all night listening.

There’s the stories… Most podcasts cover stories that appear nowhere else.

There’s the humanity… In this tech-dominated culture we love our smartphones, but we’re looking for something a little more squishy, a little more gray than black and white. Podcasting is primarily about people, their backgrounds and flaws.

You can start with “Radiolab.” Which happens to be going through an identity crisis.

Don’t start with Adam Carolla. Although he got a lot of press, it was for all the wrong reasons. Carolla was a refugee from the system, doing his old act in a new place. The revolution is happening with those doing new acts in a new arena, their shows don’t resemble anything on the traditional airwaves.

“Radiolab” started on NPR. And it’s interesting that so many great podcasts are made by NPR refugees. But what makes “Radiolab” great is it’s the last vestige of curiosity, with no limits. Remember being intrigued by something out of your wheelhouse? I hated science in school, but I love listening to “Radiolab.” Unfortunately, it takes a long while to make a “Radiolab” podcast, so they keep adding shorter material that’s not akin to the regular format which is ultimately disappointing. In podcasting, you must be true to yourself.

The next big star of podcasting is Alec Baldwin. Who interviews those who have something to say as opposed to those who have something to promote. Like David Remnick of the “New Yorker.” Alec asks tough questions, you marvel at his intelligence and you lament the ending of an episode. But don’t go on his show if you’ve got nothing to say. Paul Simon was execrable. We live in an era of honesty and transparency, and if you don’t adhere to these precepts, stay away.

After you check out Alec, check out Bret Easton Ellis. Who’s famous for edgy books but is so erudite and opinionated on his podcast you wish he’d be the one who interviewed the candidates. Then again, he doesn’t really care about politics, Bret Easton Ellis cares about art. He’s passionate about film. And he’s all about splitting hairs and asking the difficult questions. Listening to Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast, you’ll discover what it’s like to go to a liberal arts college.

Then there’s Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond’s “Dear Sugar.” Amateurs giving advice to the lovelorn. But Strayed evidences incredible insight whilst revealing personal details most are afraid to shine light on, like the fact that her husband had an affair. This week’s show was a killer. A woman wrote in asking if she should wait for her boyfriend to come back, after he experiments with men. Cheryl and Steve called Dan Savage, who has his own podcast. And Dan said… They write to Cheryl because she’s nice and forgiving, but he had to be blunt, the woman’s beloved was never coming back, he lied about his reason for leaving, he just wasn’t that into the writer. Whew! You’re lying in the dark listening to someone giving advice and you’re reviewing every episode of your own life, which is the essence of great art. You think the past is set in stone, but the truth is your conception of it is malleable.

Then there’s “Mystery Show,” Starlee Kine’s hour-long endeavor which is exactly what it says. However the mysteries are minimal, and she doesn’t really solve them, but the journey along the way…the detours are the best part, just like life.

I found out about “Mystery Show” in a magazine or a newspaper… The same way I used to find out about bands, before everything became part of the industrial hype machine. You’re on a treasure hunt. And when you uncover something satisfying you want to tell everybody you know about it.

Of course there’s “Serial.” Which got the press talking. And Marc Maron’s WTF…which is successful because unlike Carolla, he’s doing a show completely different from the one he did on the radio. Check out Maron’s interview of Terry Gross…who reveals she was married before and dropped out of college to travel cross-country.

And now either you know what I’m talking about or have probably stopped reading.

This is how things begin in America. A hard core lives for it, then it slowly becomes winnowed down and commercialized. But right now, the podcasting world is unformed. And just because anybody can play, don’t believe anybody can be successful. You need production, you’ve got to be riveting, we’re building a whole new bevy of stars.

Because people want to go deep. They want to feel connected. They want to be stimulated. They want new and different and they want to talk about it.

Podcasts are the radio shows of yore, before there was TV, but they’re on demand.

And you may not be listening now, but you will be.

P.S. Every iPhone has a podcasting app built in. It’s purple and it’s got a white mic in the middle, with radio waves emanating therefrom. Click on it and then in the lower right-hand corner of the app click on the magnifying glass to search. Search on the above podcasts, when you find one, subscribe. And click on the Feed to download past episodes from the cloud. As long as you keep listening, new episodes will download automatically.

P.P.S. I also recommend “Freakonomics Radio” and the above-referenced “Savage Lovecast.”

P.P.P.S. You think you don’t have time, but you do. That’s the essence of today’s world, we all want something to slow us down and pull us down the rabbit hole.

P.P.P.P.S. Ignore the hype, forget the me-too podcasts, a new art form is being created in front of our very eyes. Right now, monetization is not high, you cannot get rich, which means people are free to experiment, which makes listening more exciting.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Squarespace. Stamps.com. If you want to get traction for your product, advertise in new media, on the edge. I’ve never heard about Square Space anywhere else, but it sponsors a multitude of podcasts, and I feel good about the company, it’s a pioneer.

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. I want to be a pioneer. I want to be on the leading edge. And right now the action is in podcasts. The same way it was with music in the sixties and tech in the last few decades. But this time the emphasis is on art. And art is so much more satisfying than money.

“Radiolab”

“Here’s The Thing With Alec Baldwin”

“Bret Easton Ellis Podcast”

Cheryl Strayed/Steve Almond “Dear Sugar”

Starlee Kine “Mystery Show”

“Serial”

“WTF With Marc Maron”

WTF Episode 604 – Terry Gross

“Freakonomics Radio”

“Savage Lovecast”

There’s a fiction that we all want to be doing our own thing, burrowing down into holes of our own device, satiated with a world only we control.

But the truth is we want to feel part of humanity, we want to belong, and the further we get away from the rest of our fellow human beings, the worse our state of mind.

We want to not only engage with art, we want to discuss it, argue about it. And that’s why music burgeoned in the MTV era…we could all argue about Duran Duran and Culture Club, literally everyone saw Michael Jackson thrill us with his moonwalk.

But today we know there’s Taylor Swift and Kanye West and…

Those passionate about music can’t understand those who aren’t…

And the industry itself lives in a bubble similar to the one enveloping the GOP.

Not only is the money in mass, so is the satisfaction! We all know the story of the Tower of Babel, it’s not a nursery rhyme, but rather a cautionary tale…how did we get so far from the garden?

Prior to MTV there were a number of radio formats. But then the television outlet merged them together and made a monoculture. People who were left out screamed. Suddenly AOR, the rock format, was history. Top Forty was everything… Even hip-hop invaded the Top Forty.

And then the internet came along and blew everything apart and without a manual, and with no sense of history, the industry has not only been flummoxed, it’s wandering in the wilderness with no direction home.

The future is not playlists and the future is not Beats 1.

The future is TRUSTED filters directing the audience where to partake of desirable music.

Apple Music’s playlists aren’t bad, but who made them? We live in a culture of stars, but the makers of these lists are complete unknowns, why should we trust them, why should we pay attention, is anybody listening? Until we heap praise upon list makers, drawing attention and an audience to them, we’re mired in the mud.

And Apple 1 radio is a sideshow. It’s the same damn thing we’ve seen for far too long, which is to take hip insiders and have a party that the rest of us have no desire to attend. Sure, the station has fans, but in an on demand culture, who wants to be beholden to the ravings of lunatics not appealing to them?

In other words, we watch HBO on demand.

And we watch the shows because they’re on HBO.

HBO is a trusted filter. It doesn’t add shows to fill the schedule, there’s not something new every hour. If HBO lays down its cash, we deem it important, we want to check it out.

And HBO has competitors, like Showtime and now Starz. But the truth is, after that…it’s a vast wasteland of programming looking for traction, with over 400 shows a year no one can check them all out, they have to wait for word of mouth to build, which rarely does. Shows get canceled before they get good and reach critical mass and even “Breaking Bad” takes years to become a hit.

We do live in an on demand culture. We do want to check out the wares on our own time. HBO has an app which allows you to watch its shows ON DEMAND! We can stream Beats 1, but we’re more interested in a brief Zane Lowe playlist which we can click on and sample.

So maybe Mr. Lowe is a trusted filter. At least in the U.K. He’s yet to make his bones elsewhere, and so far the hype has not achieved this goal. We haven’t learned why we should be paying attention to Mr. Lowe, his track record of breaking worthy hits, instead it’s all about his story. Story comes AFTER the work. You don’t read a profile of an unknown techie before his company goes public.

Then again, whittling down music to a few hit tunes is anathema to the labels and the musicians. Because it means most people will be left out. They like it this way, the utter chaos that has the potential audience throwing its collective hands in the air.

We will have trusted filters.

And they will be built upon the backs of human beings. Algorithms don’t work with art.

And these human beings’ work may be exposed under the moniker of the corporation, but music will only be healthy when it’s understandable, and now it is not.

We might need a playlist for every genre. But only one, that we all pay attention to.

That’s what radio has right, the playlist. Radio weeds through all the material and delivers the good stuff for its listeners… With too many commercials and jive programming. But what if you excised the deejays and ads from radio, and you didn’t have to listen all at once?

Then you’d have the future.

Like television, music is driving towards the great consolidation. Everybody can make it, but not everybody can be heard.

Businesses depend upon audiences, upon customers. If no one is buying, companies fail.

Music has been failing for over a decade.

What does tech tell us?

ATTENTION COMES FIRST! MONETIZATION COMES LATER!

All the scuttlebutt in music is what streaming services pay, instead of how many people are signing up, free or not. We’ve got it wrong. It’s not about where people are listening, BUT WHAT THEY’RE LISTENING TO!

I want to find the good stuff. I want to be able to talk about the good stuff with others. I want to go to the concert and enjoy the communal moment.

And so does everybody else.

It’s like a roller coaster, really. Not a love roller coaster, like in a Luke Bryan song, but an old wooden amusement park one, back before safety rules were strictly enforced.

It’s the organ that sets the mood. You know, when it’s finally your turn and you walk onto the platform and sit down in the car, in eager anticipation, but also fear.

And then the old wizened man chewing on a cigar pulls back the arm and the train starts to move as Carlos’s guitar starts to buzzsaw, it’s too late now, you’re off and running, it’s all out of your control.

You reach the peak and your hair is flying, you’re holding on tight, this is long before seat belt laws, and you’re having the time of your life.

Got no time for foolin’ with you baby
Your stupid game is about to end

The power of endings, when you make the decision and decide you’re going to waste no more time, you’re gonna risk, you’re gonna ride by yourself, with no hand to hold.

Santana’s initial LP only sold in the wake of Woodstock, the movie blew it up, “Evil Ways” was all over the radio, people had to hear “Soul Sacrifice.” But we were unprepared for “Abraxas.” The nude woman on the cover, the quietude of the instrumentals, the just rightness of “Oye Como Va,” the hit of “Black Magic Woman,” but my favorite cut was always “Mother’s Daughter.

I woke up with a Luke Bryan song in my head, “Way Way Back,” but it wasn’t until thinking about the Fillmore book and pulling up “Abraxas” that I experienced the true power of music, to completely change your mood.

I listened to “Incident At Neshabur,” and then I pushed the button on my headphones until I heard the mellifluous sound of “Mother’s Daughter.”

I was brought back to fall at Middlebury, when I was a freshman and the air was changing, the heat was leaving us, and this emanated from the dorm room of Muddy Waters, this is when I finally realized I liked Santana.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard “Mother’s Daughter” on the radio. But that’s how it was back then, the album tracks were just as important, when being a professional musician was a high bar few crossed, and when you did, when you got your major label deal, we checked you out and if you were worthy we devoured your music, played it ad infinitum, it was all we had.

It’s all we’ve got.

Mother’s Daughter – Spotify

Mother’s Daughter – YouTube