Talk about an unpopular opinion…

In case you haven’t been following this story, clubs are closing at an alarming rate in the U.K. Now they want tax relief, which is fine with me, that’s part of the game, but also a tax on other, larger gigs, has been proffered to keep the smaller venues in business, and I say HELL NO!

We hated to see Main Street go. But the truth was that Walmart was selling goods at a cheaper price and independent merchants could not compete. And now Walmart is challenged by Amazon. And even drugstores are closing. What, are we supposed to preserve the past?

The bottom line is today’s generation doesn’t want to go to clubs to listen to the music of unsigned/developing acts.

There, I said it.

The music business has completely flipped. Most acts gain their start online. Not to mention the fact that most of the name clubs in the U.S. were supported by the record companies, and after Napster came along they closed in droves.

We can have nostalgia for the past. But that does not mean we should legislate its continued existence.

Life has changed. The experience has changed. Used to be you had to leave the house for socialization, to meet people, to get laid. But that hasn’t been true for years. Now, you can meet people online, and it’s a much more efficient process. I can’t tell you how many clubs I went to alone…and came home alone (not every time, but most of the time!)

As for the music… Music is no longer a scarce commodity. It’s everywhere. If anything, we can complain that there’s too much music in the pipeline. It’s hard to find your way through the detritus. And the dirty little secret is that just because you make it that does not mean people will want to listen to it. If I declare myself an independent plumber am I entitled to work? And professions like medicine and law have licensing procedures. The major labels used to operate as equivalents. Either you were of a certain quality…or you kept your day job and gave up the dream.

I know, I know, the truth is harsh. But just because your parents and significant other think you’re great, that does not mean the public does, you are not entitled to be heard, nor are you entitled to make a living.

Now in the miasma of modernism the major labels are completely flummoxed and are signing ever fewer acts in ever fewer genres, leaving holes filled by independents. But before they cut back, there was this fiction that there were all these overlooked, unsigned bands that the internet would surface to our satisfaction. That turned out to be untrue.

So, let’s say I even want to go out to a club. Do I really want to hear some unsigned band playing original material, drowning out my conversation? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Are there acts with such a draw that you go to see them, to listen to them? Absolutely. But they are few and far between. Like I said above, that’s not how acts develop these days, they do so online. Of course there are genres like jam, that defy the paradigm, but today’s action starts with the recording, and then the live show.

Look at Sam Smith. He had a hit record and immediately played arenas. This was unheard of back in the day. You started in clubs, worked your way up to theatres and maybe arenas. But if you’re known, the demand is there.

And don’t confuse Chappell Roan with the club business. She made it by opening for a superstar, she was in front of all those eyeballs.

The chance of building it from your local club, bigger and bigger into stardom, have never been lower.

And this isn’t the kind of music people want anymore anyway.

Five guys, and it was almost always guys, gritty from the city, working it out on stage, playing rock music. No, it’s solo acts, oftentimes women, who are popular today. Maybe because they sing about their inner turmoil in a way the guys do not. That’s why Noah Kahan is so successful, he’s singing about his problems, but he’s not exactly playing rock music, the kind you used to hear in clubs.

Well, maybe a bit. But it’s not bombastic, Kahan’s music is not in your face. Convincing those who don’t care to pay attention in a club…is an incredibly heavy lift. Hell, people won’t even get to the arena to hear an opening act, almost always with stature, they’re going to show up at a club for even less? I don’t think so.

Spend all the money you want. Keep all the clubs open. Be my guest. But good luck getting people to show up. Even if you allow them in for free. People are bombarded with options, and they’ll overpay to see their heart’s desire, but for something they consider to be mediocre? No way.

So we could address the issue at its heart. How to get more types of music, that of developing acts, in front of the audience. That’s a worthy cause. But starting in burgs with clubs, that’s a fool’s errand.

Which is why so many clubs are closing.

And then there’s the concept of penalization. They want successful gigs to be taxed to keep the clubs open. So I’m successful and you’re going to penalize me? I’m sick and tired of ancient acts professing faux concern for the young acts of today. It’s a different world. And if you ask these acts whether they want to PAY to support the up and coming…good luck with that.

We’ve seen this myth employed over and over again. We had to save the aforementioned Main Street, we had to save the independent bookstore, all these efforts and none ever worked. Turned out people would rather sit at home and get a book delivered by Amazon. Takes a lot less time and effort and is usually cheaper, if for no other reason than Amazon doesn’t have all that overhead.

But you can browse in a bookstore, get advice from the owner!

Well, we don’t have a shortage of advice, and Amazon used to have editorial staff, but then it found that the algorithm was better at recommendation!

And while we’re at it, enough with bringing manufacturing back to the States. Hell, I even saw a Chappelle clip where he went on about this. Who wants to pay thousands for a flat screen TV? In a world where people will not even choose a seat on a plane just to save a handful of bucks. Most people fall into the lowest common denominator/cheapest bucket, to try to deny that is to put your head in the sand.

Let’s think forward, not back.

People are hungry for music, the new and the different. But today it rarely starts in clubs. For all the denigration of the internet, that’s where it starts, and then it goes to live, that’s the formula.

“Brothers”: https://t.ly/uhISi

This is not a typical rock autobiography. You know, we went there and did this. Tales of debauchery as we ride the road to success, delivering gossip along the way.

No, this is the story of an immigrant family…

That does not resemble my own an iota.

I’m the same age as Alex Van Halen. I grew up in the suburbs outside the metropolis too. But it was all about education and fulfillment, the ride to success. In retrospect, we were buying insurance, our parents didn’t want to have to worry about us when we grew up, they wanted us to have professions, steady incomes, a middle class life, they didn’t want to have us risk it all for a brass ring that very few can grasp.

Now the tonality of the book…

Someone pointed me to an Ariel Levy interview where Alex didn’t come across like this at all:

https://t.ly/6j6rT

He seemed somewhat warm.

But in this book, he comes across cold and direct and it’s almost an affectation, it’s hard to like this guy. It’s akin to his old bandmate Sammy Hagar’s book, in that it was written in Sammy’s voice. But is this really Alex’s voice? I’ve never met Alex, I knew Ed a little bit. But Ed was always the quiet, smiling one. Ed could be warm, but Ed could be suspicious. Then again, if you’ve made it to the top in rock and roll you’ve been screwed, and you’re worried about getting screwed again.

So what we’ve got is the Van Halen family taking a ship from the Netherlands to New York and ending up in Pasadena in an 800 square foot house whose bills were paid by…

Their father, a musician.

Not a star, a working musician.

And their Indonesian mother comes from the upper crust and insists they take piano lessons.

And their father takes them to gigs, has Alex playing drums when he’s barely hit double digits.

This is not the upbringing of the average American. Even the average successful American musician. This is not about seeing the Beatles, buying a guitar and having a dream… Music was in their blood.

And Eddie focused on playing the guitar.

If you’ve ever seen Ed’s guitar up close, you’re stunned not only that he built it, but that he ever took it on stage, it appears so fragile.

But Alex makes a good case for Eddie’s tinkering. They came from nothing, they had to make do with what they had, the concept of improving the mediocre so it could be great was in their DNA. This isn’t your typical teen getting a Stratocaster and being afraid to touch it.

What you get here is the Van Halen sensibility.

And a ton of musician philosophy.

One could argue that the star of the book is the Van Halens’ father. Who is constantly dropping wisdom. Reminded me of my own father, who wasn’t always engaged, but his drips of philosophy, they’ve stuck with me, I employ them to this day.

The Van Halens were taught that it was a show. First and foremost it had to be entertainment, you had to read the crowd, get people up and dancing. And Alex goes on about how it’s not the notes played, the actual music at a gig, but how the performance makes the audience feel. Which is damn true. Ever hear the audio of a gig you were at that you loved only to find the music was substandard?

So they’re making their way and Alex graduates…

And works in a machine shop. There was no future. No path to success. It all had to be eked out gig by gig.

And this whole paradigm no longer exists. Forming bands in high school, playing parties… Kids who are truly interested go to the School of Rock, as for parties, they’ve got deejays, no one wants to listen to mediocre covers, never mind originals.

Of course there are some still trying to do it. But they’re not ignorant like the Van Halen brothers, who hire someone who works for the label as their manager and then their road manager as his replacement, getting a terrible label deal in the process.

And it’s not about the trappings… It’s about the music, the show. Whatever money they do make they plow back into the show.

Where they blow household names, their heroes, off the stage.

But “Brothers” is not an endless recitation of star experiences. Yet the story of Ozzy Osbourne shooting decoys in his pond is pretty good.

Rather, this is a story of struggle, us vs. them.

And David Lee Roth looks good.

I know, I know, that seems impossible, with all the ultimate fights and breakup.

But Roth knows how to entertain. He’s got vision. And those lyrics…

Ted Templeman wants to kick Diamond Dave out of the band, because he can’t sing. But Alex knows…it’s all of them or nothing. I was taught this in music management, a group is an entity, fire one person and oftentimes you kill the entire act.

And they’re struggling and struggling, playing covers at Gazzarri’s, and then they play the Starwood and get signed.

Let me tell you, Van Halen were not a secret in Los Angeles. You’d see their name on marquees all over town in the seventies, when it was all about signed bands, not local bands. We were not in the hinterlands, we could see name brand entertainment every night, who was going to go to a show to see someone the labels passed over?

I certainly didn’t. And in truth, buzz was more about the outside, left field bands, than the more meat and potatoes Van Halen.

And the first time I saw them was when they opened for Nils Lofgren at the Santa Monica Civic, a gig Alex actually mentions in the book. Can you imagine Nils Lofgren headlining? What can I say, it was a different era. And Van Halen hit the stage totally out of tune with the Lofgren audience and Dave was doing his Jim Dandy routine and…it was almost laughable.

But then we heard “Runnin’ With the Devil” on KROQ. First, the Gene Simmons demo, and then the finished product from the debut album. It’s a one listen smash. It’s got everything, the changes, the dynamics, the whoops, the ENERGY! That’s what Van Halen was selling, they amped it up to 11 and then…who knows what would happen.

The girls came out, and Alex’s mother didn’t approve of them.

And Valerie Bertinelli showed up and Roth never got over it, didn’t even go to the wedding reception.

It’s the little things that break up bands. And the amazing thing is Alex knows this, when many don’t.

As for Eddie… What you learn most about is the relationship between the two. Edward spoke through his guitar, Alex steered the ship. And they hated interviews so they let Dave do them, who ultimately got drunk on the effort and…

Alex takes a few shots here. Talking about how Ted Templeman didn’t really understand their brown sound, and refused to put “Jump” on an earlier album, NO KEYBOARDS!

They don’t want you to grow, they want you to remain the same.

As for being pissed that Eddie played on “Beat It”… I don’t think it hurt the underlying band to the degree Alex does. In truth, I’d like to have heard Ed on more records in more styles. Van Halen did one thing, but Ed could do a lot more.

And seemingly half the book is a cut and paste job, quotes from other books and interviews.

And Sammy Hagar is not mentioned by name. Hell, the whole story ends when Dave goes solo, to his detriment. I’ve heard why Alex has a bug up his ass about Sammy…who knows if it’s the truth. And I agree, the quintessential Van Halen is with Diamond Dave, but “Best of Both Worlds” from “5150”? ASTOUNDING!

And most people have two personalities, the one on stage and the one off. But some don’t, like Gene Simmons and David Lee Roth. And it can be hard to live with them, although Alex cuts Dave a lot of breaks in this book.

So do you need to read “Brothers”?

Well, if you’re an aspiring musician, I heartily recommend it, there’s truth in here, articulated in a way that I’ve never seen a successful musician say it before.

And you’ll get a sense of what it was like for Alex and Ed growing up.

But you won’t get what happened backstage in Cleveland, endless radio interviews and chart numbers, groupie stories. Those are another book, which Alex will probably never write. It was a different era, in many ways not looked upon so fondly today. Hell, it looks like the Menendez brothers may go free! From laughable pariahs to being embraced in a culture where abuse is exposed and…

It was a long, long time ago. That’s another thing you’ll realize reading “Brothers.” Not only was Van Halen not part of the first wave of modern rock and roll, which began with the Beatles, they were not one of the AOR bands of the early to mid-seventies. No, Van Halen came after that.

And now that entire world is gone. Rock bands don’t top the chart, rappers and solo women do. Raunch is out of favor. But if you go back to those Van Halen albums the bedrock was Eddie Van Halen’s guitar. Sure, he could play. But that’s only half the battle. How do you write so it’s palatable, so it hits the listener in the gut and head at the same time, without looking like you’re showing off.

There’s power in those Van Halen records. They remain.

Eddie does not.

Alex can’t play drums, he uses a cane to walk.

And it’s one thing to replace a vocalist, quite another to replace the guitarist of the band, the true talent in Van Halen, the one of a kind Eddie Van Halen.

There was a moment there, and it wasn’t so short, when Van Halen was everywhere.

I won’t say they’re nowhere today.

Then again I will say, if you were there…

It wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but still, I’m satisfied.

You see there’s a bit too much plot. Too much story. Whereas the setup is what made the first season great, the relationships, the establishment of the landscape.

But the second season starts with a not so convoluted plot and you think you’re watching network TV, which is anathema, and then the soul of the series starts to shine.

The marriage of Kate and Hal, Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell, this is what we lack in most productions, an honest relationship. When Kate finds out Hal has been planning an over the top extravaganza and hasn’t clued her in on the details, she insists he sleep in the other bedroom.

I’ve lived this relationship. You know, where you have an argument and one or the other ends up sleeping on the couch. Thank god I’m not in that relationship anymore. I want my relationship to be bedrock, I don’t want it to be in question, I don’t want to go through every day wondering if a breakup is imminent and my whole life will be derailed.

Yet Kate is thinking of divorcing Hal.

And Hal knows Kate was about to sleep with David, the Foreign Secretary.

People know more than TV lets on. When Hal squeezes David to come to Scotland because he almost slept with his wife… That’s what you’re watching this series for, truth.

Not that this is the truth of the foreign service. In other words, the job is not as dynamic and thrilling as it is in this fictional depiction. Kind of like being a lawyer, which is oftentimes the most boring gig on the planet, but if you watch “Perry Mason”…

As for the issues at hand, the destabilization of the entire world, with an election looming within which our entire nation might be destabilized, it’s hard to get hard for some Russian doing dirty work akin to Prizgozhin. Now in real life, Putin took Prizgozhin’s life. But just like Bezos and Sion-Shiong are afraid to piss off Trump, the entertainment industry is afraid to piss off Putin so we’ve got this fakokta plot about Scottish secession that is just hard to get concerned about. Of course, the ultimate reveal, the ultimate payoff, is kind of worth it, then again, the last two episodes redeem the entire season, with the main plot points established, we can get back to the personal interactions, which make “The Diplomat” so great.

Keri Russell is 48, can you believe that? And here she plays against type, with her less than perfect hair. And when the VP brings this issue up…

And Russell can’t see the benefits of being married to Sewell, they have to be pointed out to her, which is the case in so many high-powered relationships, people are so focused on what they’re doing that they’ve got no perspective.

And the truth is if you live long enough you learn that you don’t get to the top by accident. I read that Kamala Harris took a briefcase to class at Howard. We would have laughed, but we aren’t running for President, we’re just at home pontificating. You’ve got to have sharp elbows, you’ve got to keep your eyes on the prize in order to have a chance to make it to the top, and odds are you won’t anyway.

And Kate and Hal are a typical power couple. Working their relationships, better in public than in the bedroom.

But when Kate says her marriage may not always work but it’s got a certain magic that sometimes does, that solves big problems… That’s the essence of the two of them, with no kids, with career and power key, sure there’s love involved, but in some ways their coming together was more like a merger.

And there’s the constant tension between Kate and Hal over the latter usurping her power. Can a man with experience be number two? And the strange thing is, in reality he’s doing it all for her. Then again, if it benefits her, it will ultimately benefit him.

And Allison Janney as the Vice President is perfect. She seems detached, like a classic #2, but slowly her power and manipulation shines through, as well as her need to get the right result, irrelevant of how you get there.

Morality. Choices. These are addressed well in this series. The truth is everybody at the top has to do things that are hard to live with. It takes a special kind of person to be able to live with themselves after taking these actions, can you sleep at night? Most people want to. But the “winners” are willing to be haunted, to compartmentalize, to march forward.

And favors are traded and the issue arises… To what degree are our governments telling us the truth? I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but when you watch “The Diplomat” you wonder…is the public out of the loop?

Russell holds the whole thing together. She plays against type. She doesn’t trade on her looks, but her intellect. And she occasionally gets it wrong, but she lives to be in the game.

We finished season 2 in two days. We started watching a series on Apple TV+ that I don’t want to talk about, because you’ll tell me what happened, and still we won’t get to the finale until Friday.

Which is why Netflix owns streaming television. The blueprint is there, yet all the competitors think they know better. They’re watching their dollars, MAX cut foreign production, they’re dribbling out product trying to create water cooler talk…that ultimately doesn’t occur. When was the last time someone brought up “The Old Man” to you? There was the premiere and then crickets.

Once again, we live in an on demand culture and if you don’t give the public all it wants, right away, people will go elsewhere. You can’t employ a twentieth century playbook in a twenty first century world.

And they never would have made this exact series for network.

And they never could have made “House of Cards” for network, not even pay cable wanted it. But that one series built Netflix. And further chances solidified it. No one can predict success in entertainment. And you can have the best intentions and still fail. Which is why you’ve got to take a lot of chances in different genres/fields. Something the record labels refuse to do.

Where do they go next with “The Diplomat”?

This is not “Ozark,” this is not “House of Cards,” maybe it’s the underlying comic tonality, the gravitas is not there. But let’s be clear, compared to the mindless drivel purveyed by the usual suspects, “The Diplomat” season 2″ is great.

If you liked the first season, watch the second.

It’s only six episodes. Enough to tell the story. You’re not bored, and you’re left wanting more.

I’m looking for a series that can intrigue me every night. Too often producers calculate how to appeal to the lowest common denominator, the widest audience, and the bland result appeals to few.

“The Diplomat” is trying. And it isn’t failing.

And in television, THAT’S A SUCCESS!

https://t.ly/4qyHV

This is a tough book to read. But I recommend it to anyone who needs to know that they are capable, that all they have to do is declare themselves competent, jump into the pool and act.

We expect this in entertainment. People come to Hollywood with no portfolio, only braggadocio, and they gladhand, puff themselves up, lie, intimidate and make it to the top.

But it’s not supposed to be this way in traditional business, is it?

Of course you should read this book for the definitive insight into Elon Musk. But these people starting companies in Silicon Valley, we see them as He-Men of the Universe, when oftentimes they had little more than an idea, or got to the Bay Area and cooked up an idea, and then convinced VCs and others to fund it.

And it’s not only the founders sucking on the tit. There are the banks, the lawyers… You too can do it, you’re as good as they are. Put your fears aside and step forward.

So what we’ve got here is a company with broad influence that is challenged financially. One could argue the world ran on Twitter, but that did not make it a gold mine. Everybody knowing your name is different from being rich.

Who could steer Twitter out of the wilderness? The golden boy creator back for a second time, Jack Dorsey… Or an engineer… Or was the task impossible?

Where was the revenue to come from? Advertising was not enough, where were the other revenue streams?

Meanwhile, there were thousands of employees, and all the attendant costs of running a major corporation. Twitter was a lumbering giant.

Until Elon Musk came along and cut it off at its knees.

So I followed the story of Musk’s purchase of Twitter very closely. I didn’t see a reason to read this book. But then when they got into Musk’s personality, his emotions, his choices, I couldn’t put it down, it called out to me, I just had to plow through it.

Musk had no idea what he was doing. He thought since he used Twitter, he could run it.

Even more astounding, he purchased the company with no due diligence. NO ONE would do this. But his bankers and lawyers and chums went along, because after all, he’s ELON MUSK!

So Musk lives for positive feedback. And can’t handle criticism. And believes he is unfettered. When the remaining Twitter employees tell him the company needs to file FTC reports, under the privacy consent decree, it doesn’t bother him a whit. He’ll fight and sue and do whatever he wants, he’ll stand up to anybody in the world. And sure, we can feel this in the news, but when you get right down to the real nitty-gritty…

The government is no match for Elon Musk. All you have to do is believe you can compete, and the truth is you can, assuming you’ve got the balls.

So Elon comes in and cuts costs.

Have you been following his statements ] recently? How Elon would act as Trump’s efficiency expert? That’s one of the best parts of the book, the endless layoffs, the endless reduction of costs. Too much rent? LET’S STOP PAYING IT! Yup, they’d wait until they were evicted. And then in Boulder they shipped some flat screens and servers to Musk, and sold everything else in a yard sale. As for layoffs… Paranoid Musk was unjustly convinced there were people on the payroll who weren’t working, he asked people to opt in to keep their jobs, even though just the opposite had been agreed to by his team, that you checked the box if you wanted to LEAVE! Mass confusion ensued, and people who had no intention of leaving, who did great work, were fired anyway, just because they didn’t understand they had to check the box.

Covid taught me that it’s a miracle the country runs at all. I thought someone was in control, but this is patently untrue.

And it’s the same in business. Regulation, schmegulation.

And you’ve got the kiss-asses, trying to keep their jobs with Elon.

And then there are those who need their gigs for the health care, or their visas.

You’ve put a decade into a company and you’re fired overnight. Maybe because you just didn’t deliver Elon an easy fix for his problem, even though one didn’t exist. How much pain are you wiling to endure to keep your job?

If you want a novelistic business book, one that cuts like butter, I’d recommend John Carreyrou’s “Bad Blood,” about Theranos.

If you just want story, “Character Limit” doesn’t shine. It does not have you on the edge of your seat.

But maybe the comparison to Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes is apt. She just said she knew what she was doing and raised millions and never ever delivered.

That’s all it takes.

I’m not saying there’s no skill involved at all these companies.

I’m just saying that my mother always told me I wasn’t the one, that someone else was the expert. Reading this book, I’m convinced otherwise.

As for the political implications…

Trump doesn’t read, never mind books. Musk is addicted to his phone, he rarely looks at a computer. They’re both so busy doing that they can’t think, see the big picture.

And that’s where the money is, the success. It’s in the thinking, the idea, the ability to assess the landscape.

So do I think this book will affect the outcome of the election? Not a bit. But if Trump wins, it’s a blueprint.

As for Walter Isaacson’s hagiographic biography…no wonder it was such idolatry, Musk reeled him in, asked him for business advice, AND TOOK IT!

Now you might think the two “Times” writers who authored this book were out to get Musk, but in truth Musk hangs himself, with his words and actions.

And if you’re someone who reads business books for tips, insights, I’d put “Character Limit” at the absolute top of the heap.

And if you’re someone who’s just looking for a job, to be part of the process…read this book and weep. You’re just a pawn in their game. Sure, the world needs worker bees, but it’s not run by them. 

You want to control your own life, you want to know the game, there are books that will tell you how to do it, which are really how the author did it, almost never replicable, but when you see the cast of characters in “Character Limit”…you can see where you fit in, or don’t.

And that’s very valuable information.