Zynga, Groupon and now Facebook. They’re Internet darlings, the buzz is incredible, they go public and the stock plunges. Are they one hit wonders?

The Internet’s a funny place. Everybody is findable and reachable but most content goes unknown, forever sitting deep in Google unclicked upon. And then there are those pages that go monstrous instantly. That everyone pays attention to.

I think this is a social phenomenon.

You see we need rallying points.

Once upon a time we got this with TV. Whether it be discussing last night’s “Laugh In” routines or watching the finale of “M.A.S.H.”, the box was our culture.

But then, with five hundred channels, movies took TV’s place. That was one thing we could count on, that you’d seen the hit movies. But as Hollywood focused more and more on international high concept drivel, many people lost the habit of going to the theatre and films were no longer guaranteed water cooler discussion topics. Turns out you might have seen the film, but no one else did, or vice versa.

And then came the Internet, with everything only a click away.

Remember Rebecca Black?

She’s no different from the Pet Rock. Something overhyped that we all remember but have not seen in the wild for an eternity.

Or there’s that athlete warming up for the hurdles. If you’re a male, you’ve seen the clip. But she didn’t even qualify for the Olympics.

Now the foregoing are viral videos that grew from the bottom up, which gained a bit of traction in the mainstream media, but to see the game in action at a higher level, just look at the aforementioned public companies, Zynga, Groupon and Facebook. They all existed before the mainstream trumpeted them. But once the mainstream decided to hype them they became national treasures, before they became national disappointments.

But we all loved talking about Facebook. And Groupon coupons. And, of course, millions played FarmVille.

But to think a game would sustain is to believe Falco or that “How Bizarre” guy, whose name eludes me, is a career artist and is forever.

In other words, Wall Street business is now the record business. And the only people who seem to know this is the users, those on the outside, who don’t even own any stock.

You enjoy utilizing Facebook and Groupon and Zynga. But that’s all you do. You don’t see them as vehicles for getting rich.

But that’s usually the only reason their executives formed the companies. To make money. And they’ve hyped these entities like PR companies hype films, which most times fail upon release. But in this case, the mainstream bought it.

And because we’ve got so few common reference points, and it’s so easy for us to access these products, they take on an air of ubiquity and inevitability, that they’re here to stay.

But we just needed something to talk about, to rally around. They’re really no different from popsicles.

I’m not saying every Internet business is flawed. But many are. Focus on those involved with hard goods, whether it be Apple or Amazon. And Google is great for now, but even the search giant is challenged by the move to mobile. We’ve yet to see Google have a second act.

You see there’s very little big thinking. We used to rely on the mainstream media and Wall Street to look out for us, to survey the landscape and distill an even-handed reality. But if they ever did that before, they certainly don’t do it now. Wall Street is chasing instant profits. Warren Buffett may play for the long term, but he’s about the only one. And the media is too often peopled by reporters as opposed to experts. People asking the five w’s, getting the story, but missing the point. The facts oftentimes don’t tell you what’s going on, they’re just a basis for analysis.

So the consumer ping-pongs from item to item and the media and money believe everywhere people alight is gonna rain down money. But this has been proven to be untrue over and over again in the Internet sphere. People are grazers. And they like going where everybody else is. For a moment. Then they usually move on.

P.S. Please read this article on Path

Here’s the app that could kill Facebook

It’s a social network that only works on mobiles. It could be the next thing, but is it the last thing? That’s a different question.

Once upon a time you had to know how to sing.

This was before auto-tune, before all the special effects that allow poseurs to fake it. When one’s personal goals included buying a stereo so big and powerful it could be heard by your neighbors…the next block over. I’m convinced a whole genre of music, acoustic-based rock, has been relegated to also-ran status by the compressed music delivered to customers today, who listen to it on earbuds so lousy even dogs would complain. But in the seventies, the richness of the sound coming out of your speakers was enough to make you happy in itself, you needed no additional drugs, it was an aural orgasm.

And one of the great sounds emanating from the big rigs was the voice of Larry Hoppen. In such exquisite productions as “Dance With Me”. If you think it sounds good on Spotify, just imagine it with all the highs intact, filling up your living room.

Larry didn’t write the songs. That was done by Johanna Hall oftentimes in partnership with her husband John. But the vocalist behind the Orleans hits was Larry Hoppen. And maybe the band is a minor footnote in the history of rock, but you can’t find a baby boomer who does not know “Dance With Me” and…

“Still The One”.

I know, I know, you’re burned out on it, it’s cheesy, it’s overused. But once upon a time, “Still The One” was brand new. And when it burst out of the radio speakers, and that’s where we always heard things first, it was beyond a breath of fresh air, it was a lightning bolt to the head and heart, “Still The One” made life worth living.

But now Larry Hoppen is dead.

I don’t know what happened. The fact that future gigs were booked suggests some kind of misadventure. But does it really matter, once someone passes?

And they’re dropping like flies. You see being a musician is a hard life. The highs and lows of the road. And the swings in compensation. And we’re suddenly realizing that not everybody can do it forever, because health doesn’t play that way. Hell, in the last six months seemingly everybody I know has gotten cancer. Sure, that’s an overstatement, but it seems that way…that it’s only a matter of time before we’re all afflicted.

And what gets us through the pain is music.

And when “Still The One” breaks down just shy of three minutes in, and Larry Hoppen’s voice floats over the bass vocals and drums, we revel in the wonderment of being alive. Sure, nature can overwhelm us, render us speechless, but music can do this too. It’s almost impossible to explain, it’s something you feel.

I heard from Larry regularly. And my heart always skipped a beat. Not because he was famous, but because he possessed that voice, that emanated from the radio, that made me feel it was so great to be alive.

Spotify link

The homeless guy wouldn’t take a quarter.

I stopped for gas at the 76 station. I won’t go to the Shell across the street anymore, my credit card kept getting stolen. Yup, if you inserted it in the pump, they had a stealth program that ripped off the number such that you could not only not get gas, you had to get on the phone with Shell, where they explained the problem and apologized and sent you a new card. After this happened three times, I gave up. Why didn’t they just investigate this station?

And I love Shell gas. Don’t e-mail me about the company’s policies, all I know is it gives my machine a bit more oomph. I mash the pedal and it takes off. And that’s the only thing my car is good for, performance, it gets horrible gas mileage. And don’t chide me and tell me to trade it in, economically that makes no sense, you see this car is paid for!

So I swipe the card in the pump at the 76 station and I can barely comprehend the read-out, with the sun washing out the LED’s, but eventually I get an error message, I’ve got to see the attendant.

You’ve got to be kidding! My card number was stolen again? Where am I gonna get gas now? In case you didn’t notice, the stations keep closing, the Chevron around the corner turned into a smog stop a decade ago.

So I try again.

Same result.

I move to a different pump, which is a privilege, because normally you can’t even get a spot at this station at Cloverfield and the 10, and I get the same message.

So I go inside.

Where the woman in the Miata across the way is complaining about the same thing. And the attendant says “the satellite is down.” Mmm… That’s how reliant upon technology we’ve become, you can’t even pump gas if the lines are down. But he said it would be back up in a minute and it was and I filled my tank and checked my oil and washed my windows, tasks attendants used to do when gasoline cost less than fifty cents but have now been offloaded to we, the people. We live in a self-serve world. You wonder why we buy on the Internet instead of your store? Because there’s no service in your shop, and it takes an eternity to check out after finally finding the item we came looking for.

And having burned more time than I’d planned I decided to stop at Rite-Aid, for some batteries, I was low. And when I pulled into a primo spot I was confronted with a relatively well dressed man carrying a bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels. I figured he’d just bought them and was washing his windows.

But no, he wanted to wash mine.

They might have cleaned up New York, but L.A. is struggling. The whole state of California is struggling. Crime is through the roof now that Stockton’s gone bankrupt. And can you blame citizens like this windshield wiper, who’ve got nowhere else to turn, who are down on their luck?

He didn’t seem mentally ill. But I’d just washed my windows. So I gave him a quarter.

That’s when he told me he wasn’t interested in it. He didn’t care about quarters. That’s a quote.

So I broke out my wallet and pulled out a single and gave it to him. I’d like to say he was thrilled, that he thanked me profusely, but I got little more than a grunt.

And you might think I’m feeling good about myself at this point, doing my part to help society, but I consider it protection money. The last time I didn’t give the homeless person money, he threw motor oil all over my car. It’s cheaper to pay them off.

But that’s what we’ve come to. For fear of welfare mothers ripping off the system we’ve got homeless people with initiative blocking our entrance into retail establishments. I always think twice about going to this store. It’s in a borderline neighborhood, albeit close to my house.

And I won’t stop on Lincoln anymore. After a crook broke the lock on my trunk when I went into Albertsons for some yogurt.

And I know you experience these same quirks of life each and every day. I just wanted to say that I’m with you. That everyday life is a challenge, there are hurdles at each and every step. And it seems like no one’s paying attention but us, locked in our own little movies.

Chris brought Tal into Rena’s office.

That’s Tal Wilkenfeld. You know, the curly-haired twenty five year old bassist most famous for playing with Jeff Beck. Hell, she’s all over YouTube, you can even see her backing up Mick Jagger. You see Tal came out at the end of the show, during “With A Little Help From My Friends”.

I went because Luke was the guitar player. And Luke positively WAILED!

But the crowd that showed up was so eclectic. Right inside the door I was introduced to Andrew Loog Oldham. It’s fascinating when legends still walk the earth. I should not be able to speak with Andrew, he’s a god, but here he was, talking about “Bittersweet Symphony” and Keith and living in Bogota. I could have gone on all night.

And Frampton was sitting behind us.

And on the other side of the aisle were the Bach sisters. Who almost appeared to be twins. They came with their own security. And needed it. For a drunk guy sitting behind them was dancing in the aisle with abandon, showing his butt crack to the point where everybody whipped out their cameras, but then he got tossed, thank god.

And the unexpected highlight of the show was Richard Page, singing “Broken Wings”. I know, I know, I’m not supposed to like that number. But you know how there are certain records outside of your genre that you just cannot burn out on? “Broken Wings” is one of them.

And I was stunned when Todd played “Love Is The Answer”.

And when you feel afraid
LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

Do you know this record, England Dan & John Ford Coley had the cover, but it’s syrupy, the original is ethereal, and powerful. And Todd looked like a buffoon, Ringo accused him of categorically being unable to “Act Naturally”, but seeing this man in the flesh who belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before half its members is a thrill.

And Santana has all the fame, but Gregg Rolie sang those Santana hits. And you should have seen Lukather wail on Carlos’s parts. He earned his standing ovation. Hell, there were many of them.

This is our world. This is our tribal rite. Ringo might be 72, but now the age difference between him and us…is almost insignificant. We’re all on our way out, we’re all on our victory lap. Going to the show is in our DNA, and although we like our iPhones and digital media what we like most is having the music wash over us. Yes, there was this moment during the show that I felt like I was right where I both wanted and needed to be, that I was complete, that I’d not only survived, I’d won.

And self-critical Ringo was laughing that fewer than ten people had bought his 2012 CD, or downloaded it, or purchased the vinyl. You see we don’t care. No one cares.

That’s what too many musicians don’t understand. That breaking into public consciousness is nigh near impossible.

Kind of like Joe Walsh, Ringo’s brother-in-law, who came out and played “Rocky Mountain Way”. His new album sank like a stone. They all do.

And during the finale the stage was peopled by so many legends. From Jim Keltner to Jeff Lynne to Frampton to Gary Wright to Joe to an essentially unrecognizable Bud Cort. Yes, we all get by with a little help from our friends.

And on stage too was Tal. Joe dragged her up. She didn’t know him previously. She’d only me him this night.

Tal’s making an album. Her guru Steve Perry says that she should be happy with it, because trying to second guess the market…if you fail, you hate everything about it.

And she proceeded to drop the names of a who’s who of legendary musicians. She’s recording at Jackson Browne’s studio. She was talking about Benmont having a minor accident.

And I love all those people. But not a single one has a clue what’s going on today.

Kind of like Jackson himself. He went down to Occupy Wall Street and performed a new acoustic song with Dawes that was amazing. I just found out by accident that it’s included on the Occupy album, which if I don’t know about, no one does, and furthermore, he killed it, sapped all the vitality and vigor from the street performance.

You see, today the YouTube version IS the hit. And if you’re lucky, not only will your fans see it, they’ll cover it. Albums are irrelevant. They’re static moments in time, they’re forgotten almost instantly after they’re released. But the oldsters keep banging their heads against the wall, lamenting the change in the landscape.

Hell, Jackson could release multiple versions on YouTube, both acoustically, caught on an iPhone, and the studio take. He can have both on iTunes and Spotify. The oldsters perfect and dribble out material. Newbies release constantly, aren’t afraid of warts and mistakes, they know their audience eats everything up.

Assuming you’ve got an audience.

And Tal said she had 100,000 e-mail addresses! I was wowed! Because that’s how you play. If you don’t know who your fans are, if you can’t reach them, you’re sunk.

And she’s got an agent and is playing some test gigs and isn’t sure about labels and I told her to forget about labels unless she’s got radio-friendly music.

As for labels, they’re publicity machines. Joe Walsh got a ton of traditional publicity for his latest album, the name of which I can’t even remember, and I liked it, but it’s like it never came out.

You’ve got to stay in the public eye. There’s no such thing as mystery. Manipulation is for pussies. Hell, the truth always comes out.

The oldsters aren’t hungry enough. They do one round of publicity and give up. Whereas to make it today, you’ve got to be working around the clock. And it’s not about publicity, it’s about creativity.

And Tal lamented she didn’t have a manager.

But I told her she didn’t want one. Because at this stage of her career, the people who’d take the gig weren’t good enough and the great people won’t do it until they get paid.

Yes, managers are about money. Artists are about music.

It’s a brand new world.

And the youth will inherit the earth.