Shooting Rampage Leaves 4 Dead in California

It’s weird when it happens in your own damn neighborhood.

I’m not much for local news, I like to scale to a bigger platform with the limited time I’ve got in this overburdening world, but when I awoke this morning the number one topic of conversation was…

Obama.

Just like Santa Claus, he was coming to town.

Why?

To lunch at Peter Chernin’s house. The entertainment bigwig. To raise money.

And that’s what’s wrong with America. The money in politics. As well as the firearms in the hands of nitwits, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

There were tweets warning me, expressing sympathy that I lived in the neighborhood.

Oh, not where Obama was lunching. But by Santa Monica Airport. Where he was landing. Right near my house.

At least that’s what I thought at first. Until it occurred to me that Air Force One couldn’t land in Santa Monica.

Turns out Obama was landing at LAX. But did he take a helicopter from there?

Not sure. But there were Sikorskys all over town. You know, those two rotor helicopters you see in the Vietnam movies. Maybe he was flying to Chernin’s backyard.

But a cursory search of the Internet showed…

The streets by my house were gonna be closed.

Huh? I’m just trying to get home. And now I can’t because the chief executive, instead of doing his job, is hobnobbing with Chernin and his folk, as if these bigwigs are entitled to an opinion, and be sure that that’s what they’re getting with their donations. You haven’t got a chance. To paraphrase George Carlin, vote if you want to, I hope it makes you feel good, but it’s the owners who run this country, and you’re not one of them.

But they say the streets will be clear by 11:30 AM. And I’m not exiting my appointment until just before noon. It should be cool.

But as I’m driving down 20th Street, just by the freeway, a cop car comes speeding by. And then another.

And I’m thinking to myself that someone’s gonna get hurt. They’ve got the gumballs on, but they’re going really fast, and this is a pretty sleepy area.

But then came a copper on two wheels. And then an unmarked car going so fast…I was worried he was gonna hit me.

So when I got to Pico, I went through the alley to 21st. To get away from the fray. My original plan had been to shoot down 20th. To either go through Pearl to Ocean Park or cut through SMC to Bob’s Market, where I wanted to buy some yogurt… It’s always a minor endeavor when something bad happens. You’re going out for ice cream. You’re picking up your dry cleaning. Buckle your seat belt, most accidents happen close to home.

And now I’m driving down 21st and I get to Pearl.

I could draw you a map, but…

The north south streets increase in number as you go east from the beach.

And Pearl is the east west street parallel to and in between Pico and Ocean Park. And Santa Monica College, SMC, is at Pearl and 20th, on the northwest corner of the intersection.

So I’m now at 21st and Pearl. A hundred or so feet from 20th. And at 20th, by the college, all the cop cars have congregated. Maybe something serious is going on. I don’t think too much about it. I go to Bob’s Market and go home. To my life. To the Internet.

And my homepage is the Yahoo News I used to use Google, but the computer curation missed stories, gave the wrong impression, so I switched to Yahoo and am staying there, even though Google now has human beings involved…it’s hard to get someone to break a habit.

And I surf with multiple windows. I could have twenty open at a time, I rarely have fewer than five. So I’m home for about half an hour, and I open a new window, which means I’m confronted with the Yahoo News, and I see a breaking story. Three shot at Santa Monica College.

Huh?

There’s very little information. The L.A. “Times” has a story. Every other site is copying it.

So I go to Twitter. Which is positively freaky. Because I’m seeing tweets from those at the school. They’re right there right now.

For the uninitiated, I searched on “smc” and “santa monica college.” Try it:

https://twitter.com/search-home

And then I go back to the web, where I find a site that’s posted a cornucopia of Twitter pics. Blood and everything.

And I’m searching madly for more info. And now they say they got the shooter in the library, and the three injured people were in a car.

Okay, domestic dispute, an argument amongst friends.

Your goal in tragedy is to make sense of it, to remove yourself, to make yourself feel safe. You try to explain it away.

But then comes the story that he fired shots on 21st Street.

Oh boy. That could have been me. That was my detour.

And then it comes out that the shooter was wearing body armor. And he stopped a car, shot out all the windows and…

Little details keep coming through. Is there a second shooter? I mean I don’t feel scared in my house, but this is literally happening in my neighborhood!

They’re still not sure if there’s a second shooter. They’ve got somebody in custody.

And my mother calls, and I tell her what’s going on. I tell her she’s gonna read all about it in tomorrow’s newspaper, she’s addicted to the “New York Times.” But as time goes by, I think not. It’s a minor story on the “Times” homepage. Three people get shot and live, that’s not big news. Then again, ever since Newtown any shooting gets airtime, as it should…we Americans should stop hiding our problems and confront them.

And as the afternoon wears on…

Obama’s team is imitating Freddie Prinze, who not so ironically took his own life with a gun, saying EES NOT MY JOB! Yup, that’s literally what they said, it’s a LOCAL MATTER!

That’s the best you could come up with? You couldn’t even express sympathy? They went on to say this had nothing to do with Obama. Yup, it’s got nothing to do with anybody until suddenly…you’re right there!

Kind of like the ’94 earthquake. I still haven’t recovered. But if you didn’t experience it, it’s like it didn’t happen. Kind of like Sandy. Kind of like…

Boston.

Those people were minding their own business.

And then you’ve got the press conference. It was a Yahoo headline. I clicked through to see a doctor saying nothing.

And then… There’s a story about two people being dead in a house the shooter tried to burn down. There’s an address. I look it up. That’s a bad neighborhood.

Yup, you might think Santa Monica is tony, but in between Pico and the freeway… You wouldn’t walk alone at night, you wouldn’t even stop your car.

And the guy drove down Pico shooting away.

Huh?

And now there are six dead.

Strike that.

I just refreshed the link at the top. It’s now seven.

And the helicopter is hovering, my house is shaking…

Oh, not Obama, he’s long gone. The news. The vultures. There’s nothing to see, but they’ve got to stay up there, disturbing the locals, so the bubble-headed bleach blondes can titillate the television viewers.

And I always think it’s nuts when parents are afraid to send their kids to school after there’s a shooting half a continent away, but I’m a bit numb.

But I decide to venture outside.

And I come across this:

 twitter.com/Lefsetz/status…

— Bob Lefsetz (@Lefsetz) June 8, 2013

And there are orange cones in the middle of the street. And the gumballs are still going by Santa Monica College seven hours later. And I ask myself, what is wrong with us, how far have we come that these random shootings happen seemingly every week and there’s nothing we can do about it because the gun makers need to do business and the rednecks need to shoot stuff.

Oh, I know it’s a thorny issue.

But the cops don’t have guns in the U.K.

It’s America with the culture of violence.

And really, I’m less worried about random shootings. I’m more worried about the suicides, of people who bought guns for protection and then turned them upon themselves when they reached the limits of despair, or shot their loved ones in anger or by mistake.

So Obama’s filling his coffers, innocent people are dead, and the rest of us shrug our shoulders and move on.

But not me, not tonight, because I WAS RIGHT THERE!

Where it happened the flash of light is by Santa Monica College. twitter.com/Lefsetz/status…

— Bob Lefsetz (@Lefsetz) June 8, 2013

Orange cones in the middle of Ocean Park Boulevard. twitter.com/Lefsetz/status…

— Bob Lefsetz (@Lefsetz) June 8, 2013

I don’t know why the Thompson Twins have been forgotten.

They emerged on to the American scene with the exquisite “In The Name Of Love”…

We’ve got to stop right here. This was a KROQ staple. Long before the Pasadena station was on its victory lap, which still sustains despite the outlet being far from number one. Rick Carroll had shaken up the playlist, he took a free format station with a weak signal into the eighties by turning it into a Top Forty alternative outlet. Its bones were made on two records, “Don’t You Want Me” and “Tainted Love.” Yup, credit KROQ, the station was on these records first. And these were the records that killed AOR, because AOR refused to play them, oh how wrong they were.

And there were so many great follow-ups, like Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough.”

And the Thompson Twins’ “In The Name Of Love.”

It’s been years since I’ve heard it on the radio… And stunningly, it sounds as fresh and innovative as it did thirty years ago. This sound has been gone so long, it would react with the kids…if they only heard it!

In the name of love…
Yeah
IN THE NAME OF LOVE!

It was about the horn intro flourish, the sounds, the groove, “In The Name Of Love” is one of those songs you hear and have to hear again, that you have to own!

And some KROQ/alternative hits followed. “Lies.” And “Love On Your Side.” But we were unprepared for “Hold Me Now.”

The Thompson Twins were alternative, left of center, quirky…whereas “Hold Me Now” was positively MAINSTREAM! Kind of like 10cc with “The Things We Do For Love,” a left field band was suddenly front and center, the Top Forty stations started playing it, it became ubiquitous, kind of like Oasis with “Wonderwall”…a left of center band suddenly hits a mainstream bullseye.

“Hold Me Now” starts off quiet and introspective. Then there’s that bass, underpinning the track. And then Tom Bailey’s vocal. The anti-TV show effort. The way he wraps himself around the lyrics.

But the magic is in the backup vocals. You can’t help but sing along. Especially when, towards the end of the song, you get the echoes in the chorus:

Hold me now
HOLD ME IN YOUR LOVING ARMS
Warm my heart
WARM MY COLD AND TIRED HEART
Stay with me
COME ON AND STAY WITH ME
Let lovin’ start
Let lovin’ start

It’s pure magic. So magical, in fact, that I had to run out and buy the album, back when there was a belief that the single was just an advertisement, the tip of the iceberg of the long player.

And “Into The Gap” is one of those albums that’s playable throughout. I couldn’t stop. And I’m not revising my opinion today.

The best song on the album is the opener, “Doctor! Doctor!”

It’s the synth intro. And the dynamics.

“Doctor! Doctor!” is not one of those tracks you listen to passively, rather your whole body becomes involved, your head nods, your arms thrust, your fingers animate, there’s just that much in the track, that much that intrigues you. It’s positively modern sounds, but there’s a humanity percolating throughout. It’s dark without being cold. Whew!

“You Take Me Up,” with its harmonica intro, is a strange combo of Beatles quirkiness and “Working In A Coal Mine.” It’s an album track, but it’s hooky! Remember when the album cuts were as magical as the radio hits?

And then there’s the second side opener, “The Gap,” with its middle eastern bazaar feel without being off-putting. You can’t believe it’s the same album!

And only an English act could cut “Sisters Of Mercy,” Americans don’t make tracks with this same dreamy feel.

And “Who Can Stop The Rain” sounds like a conclusion… Like you’re nearing the end. And when the needle lifts off the LP you can’t help but…flip it over and play it again!

I’d like to say the follow-up, “Here’s To Future Days,” was as good, but it wasn’t close. It wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t have the aforementioned magic.

Then the band got worse, further off the mark, it splintered, it reemerged as something completely different, Babble, but then Tom Bailey was done.

Yes, he was the genius. Maybe too much so. And the greats shine bright and burn out. When tedium sets in, when they realize music might save the lives of their audience, but not their own.

But I did see them at the Greek, during that summer of ’84, and it was everything I wanted it to be, back when you knew the album by heart and you hoped and prayed they’d play the favorites you thought only you knew…and they did!

Rhinofy-Into The Gap

Previous Rhinofy playlists

Subject: Queens of the Stone Age first week sales.

Interscope only manages to move 52,000 copies first week of their last album (2007). How much have record sales decreased since 2007?

Now they’re with Matador and their new record appears on track to sell 85,000 first week.

How does that happen? Have the major labels just completely forgotten how to sell alternative rock?

MSL

 

Subject: Re: Persistence

Hi Bob,

I am curious what your thoughts are on the new Queens of the Stone Age album and release campaign.  I am a lifelong fan, saw when they had an almost-hit with Songs For The Deaf, watched them sell a bunch and then fade right back out of the public conscious, and then nothing.  Them Crooked Vultures was an awesome record, but the kids (understandably) didn’t get it, perhaps too jammy, or insular.

Now fast forward to 2013, they are back, announcing a new album on an ‘indie’ label.  They roll out a bunch of visually striking/disturbing videos showcasing a complete unknown’s work, and now the album.  I honestly didn’t know how I was going to feel coming into it because of my feelings towards the last album, “Era Vulgaris”.  Meh at best.  Upon my first listen of “…Like Clockwork”, I was hesitant to get it, wondering where Josh Homme was going, but upon further listening, its beauty and craftsmanship completely reveal themselves.  The lyrics are vulnerable and exposed, and the music is extraordinary.  10 songs, concise, and part of me wonders if the big names Homme has played with in the past/present (JPJ, Elton, Grohl, etc) has influenced his songwriting.  It is a MAJOR step up from all of their prior work.  I read things on message boards and it’s clear they are one of the most polarizing rock bands out there.

They are on pace to debut at #1 and sell roughly 25,000-30,000 more first week than their last album, released by Interscope in 2007.  So do you think this comes from the marketing campaign (indie signing, videos, performances on NPE, Letterman, etc) a rabid fan base who has come back around, the guest stars (but none actually credited anywhere on the album or sticker on front), or a combination of all?

I hope you dig the album too, they are a rare breed, and I’m glad to see the people are agreeing.  Quality music sells. Hopefully it hangs around.  They have a wonderful single ready in “I Sat By The Ocean”, great breakup tune.

I’m a fanboy.  Cheers and hope all is well on your side of the screen.

Billy Martin
Rochester, NY

 

Subject: Check out Dangerous Minds – The Rolling Stones continue their long march toward self-annihilation

The Rolling Stones continue their long march toward self-annihilation

Hi Bob,
Thought you might like this!

Mike Tobin

Yes, that’s a twist on the Doobie Brothers’ number.

But this has nothing to do with that Northern California band.

That’s what separates artists from everybody else. They don’t give people what they want, they give people what they NEED!

If you think you know what people want, you’re dreaming. They can’t articulate it. Hell, talk to the dating pros. The women say they want tall dark and handsome but they end up marrying short blond and…looks-challenged. Even more so for the guys. They’re not settling when they don’t marry supermodels, they’re finding their niche, they’re finding what’s right. That’s what the statistics indicate, people choose contrary to what they say they want. So when you’re playing to people’s expectations, you’re missing out.

Kind of like all those surveys saying how much kids will pay for albums… They always say albums are worth ten bucks, but then you dig deeper and they haven’t bought one in eons.

I learned this long ago…

Want someone to be happy? Give them your all, deliver what you do best, not what they say they want.

Kind of like in Ibiza… They wanted me to give a closing speech, articulating the highlights of the conference. Huh? I’d already written about them and that would be boring.

So I ignored their request. Completely.

And I told the story of how I got into EDM.

Hell, I’ll tell it to you now!

So I’m standing upstairs at the Whisky, with Robin Zander, and he starts telling me a joke…

A musician comes home to find his house burned down and his wife gone. He asks his next door neighbor what happened.

“Well, your manager’s been coming over every day to screw your wife and he fell asleep with a lit cigarette and the house burned down and now he’s in the Bahamas with your significant other and all the cash from your joint account.”

MY MANAGER CAME TO MY HOUSE?

The newspaper was full of stories about an underage girl who died at the Electric Daisy Carnival in the summer of 2011. Sad story, she was only fifteen. But that was not what impressed me… They did 230,000 people in three days?

NO ONE CAN DO THAT!

There are only three stadium acts out there. U2 took all the money out, if they went on a stadium tour tomorrow, there’d be a ton of unsold seats, certainly in the U.S. As for Kenny Chesney…he had to take a year off because of soft demand, he did a bunch of papering just before that. And Taylor Swift can go clean… Maybe she could match these numbers… But she’s only one act. These EDM events go wild everywhere!

EDM… The IMS people hate that term.

I chided them.

Yup, you can’t be afraid of alienating people. The truth is more powerful than any ass-kissing or b.s. Kind of like Robert Gottlieb’s review of Clive Davis’s tome in the “New York Review Of Books.” Yes, this pedigreed member of the New York publishing industry said exactly what I did, that Clive left nothing out… That it was about hagiography as opposed to readability.

But you didn’t see that in a single review elsewhere.

And has anybody talked about this book for months?

Has anybody even finished it?

As for Clive, he’s done. He aged out.

But Gottlieb even attacks Clive’s vaunted Grammy party… WHO CARES?

Truth.

I can’t tell you how much negative feedback I got for pissing on Clive’s book. Hell, I wanted to like it, you just can’t.

Kind of like your record. It’s just not different enough, it just doesn’t break new ground.

And one can argue strongly that Daft Punk’s record has retread elements, but it’s quite definitely not what people wanted, but it’s certainly what they need.

The fans wanted something closer to Kraftwerk, something made completely with machines.

But Daft Punk surprised them. And has its biggest seller ever as a result.

EDM? Who cares what they call it. Truth is, everybody complaining about this term has been in the dance/deejay business for decades, they don’t like all the newcomers. But without the newcomers, it’s niche. GET OVER IT!

This rule is rampant on TV. Cable gives people what they need, deep dramas, not always with sympathetic characters. Network tries to give people what they want, and continues to fade.

And the labels just try to copy Rihanna. They go to the usual suspects to make the records. Leaving too many of the audience tuned out. Radio is even worse. Once upon a time it led, now it’s a dying rearview carcass.

Apple is giving people downloads. Which they now want.

But Spotify is giving them streams, which they need.

Oh, the public says they’ll never pay for access.

The same public which rented videotapes, then bought them, then bought DVDs, then rented them and now streams via Netflix.

The public has no idea what it wants.

But it’s wide open to what it needs.

Robert Gottlieb “At The Top Of Pop”