I had no idea “Anita de Monte Laughs Last” was based on a true story.
Turns out minimalist Carl Andre pushed his artist wife Ana Mendieta out the window and got off and lived… Happily ever after?
What you’ve got here is Helen Molesworth, a curator who lost her job at MOCA, telling the story. And it’s not deep history, it all went down in the eighties.
Molesworth sets the scene, very clearly, and then there’s the trial.
Really, it’s riveting until…
There’s a heavy dose of feminism and MeToo that ultimately overshadows the story in the later episodes, but the podcast does recenter.
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with talking about feminism and MeToo, it’s just that it makes Molesworth look somewhat myopic, it takes the focus off what’s most important here, Andre’s bad behavior and how he got away with it.
As for the vagaries of the legal system, they’re involved in every trial. Molesworth has a hard time believing someone who is obviously guilty gets off. She starts debating “beyond a reasonable doubt”… This is what lay people don’t understand about the law, emotion doesn’t come into play, there are rules, which must be abided (unless, of course, you’re the Supreme Court).
Molesworth is frustrated that Andre escaped unharmed and Ana and her work were buried. But in truth, Mendieta’s star has been rising for decades. Seems like the truth always outs.
And there’s a lot of insight into how the art world works, how it’s a closed community almost exclusively run by white men.
But when Molesworth becomes conversational and introspective at the end… This is the problem with too many podcasts, they’re focused on the hosts as opposed to the subject/guests. When Molesworth talks at the end about her feelings… They do not have the gravitas or the meaning that the raw facts of the story have. Like how could Ana have fallen out of the window when the ledge was up around her chest and she was short and had a legendary fear of heights?
But not everything could be introduced at trial. There are rules of evidence.
But despite all of Andre’s buddies rallying around him, he may not have ended up in jail, but he definitely paid a price.
This is very good work. I’m just pointing out some of the flaws so you don’t come back to me and complain.
Also, like too many true crime podcasts, there’s overproduction. With the music, the dramatic sounds. Podcasts are a storytelling format, the facts should be enough, the audience doesn’t really want a return to radio dramas, never mind these elements give the feeling of “Dateline,” a lowbrow production that focuses on sensationalism and has none of the ultimate effect of “60 Minutes,” never mind print.
But if you do listen to this podcast, you will have to endure the commercials read by Malcolm Gladwell, a principal in Pushkin Industries, the producer of this podcast.
I’ve been down on Gladwell ever since he excoriated Bowdoin College and was wrong and wouldn’t admit it, he doubled-down.
And I like him better as a writer than a podcaster. But people go where the money is, irrelevant of their talents.
And then there was Gladwell saying that L.A. is known for its luxurious golf courses. I’ve lived in L.A. for decades, and I’ve never ever heard ANYBODY say this.
So Gladwell’s credibility is cratering. He fits the facts to his theories. But why I’m mentioning him at all is the tone of his voice. An orator who knows more than you do, who is coming down from the mountaintop to deign you with his brilliance. The elocution is so offensive. Just talk like a regular person. Furthermore, when you use this fake gravitas in support of your sponsors, it makes my stomach turn. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.
P.S. My original post on the book “Anna de Monte Laughs Last”: https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2024/08/21/anita-de-monte-laughs-last/
P.P.S. “Death of an Artist – Season 1” is available on all podcast platforms, just search.
Once you get past the poker, “On the Edge” is a very deep exploration of concepts known and unknown. You’ll feel like there’s an alternative universe out there, and not only are you not a member, do you really care?
I took a philosophy course in college that was deadly, if for no other reason than it was taught at eight in the morning by an aged guy who seemed ready to pass. Philosophy is not something I think about, never mind the fact that it does not pay.
But it turns out there are all these philosophers and philosophies in the tech/bleeding edge world.
Like “Effective Altruism.” I heard that bandied about when SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried), got in trouble. I thought it was just a guy using his money to achieve good ends. But NO! It’s a whole philosophy. And it’s in battle with the Rationalists. Really.
And then there are the philosophers debating doom. Whether the world is going to end and when. And how many people have to die in order to rub out humanity.
Really.
As for Sam Bankman-Fried…
What you’ve got to know is it was the emperor’s new clothes. Everybody bought the act, the VCs, the investors. Here you’ve got a guy from MIT who shows up in shorts and spews all this opportunity, all this money to be made, he must be right, let’s give him boatloads of cash.
But when Silver sits down with him even before the FTX crash, SBF says such insane things it’s amazing, anybody listening wouldn’t have thought he was off his rocker. SBF was all in, with concepts that made no sense, that relied on trust that people don’t have. Like we’ll put all your money in a black box and you’ll get a token in exchange, and then everybody will get rich when the tokens go up! Who is going to put millions into that? Hard-earned cash for air? That didn’t come to be.
But crypto…
Crypto started as a new banking system, with traceable assets, that would reduce friction in exchanges.
That’s not what it ended up to be. But Andreessen Horowitz is so deep into it, it wants its return, even though crypto is now a giant casino. And casinos are built on marks. Are you sitting at home really thinking you know more than, or even as much as, the people in control, who do this every day?
This is what has happened in politics. Which leads to crypto. All the authorities have been taken off the table. People are led into the wilderness by a pariah, telling them riches are in the offing.
Well, in truth many crypto investors lose money. There’s little talk about this because the losses are spread over such a large number of people.
Furthermore, just like Vegas itself, you hear about the winners, but the losers?
And then it comes down to AI, which the average person thinks they understand but they don’t.
As for being ready for prime time… I was reading Emily Nussbaum’s highly reviewed but unread by many book on reality TV, “Cue the Sun!” If you haven’t been a consistent viewer of reality television, don’t bother. But if you watched, you’ll learn some interesting stuff, like the only person who actually lived in the “Real World” house during the first season was Julie.
Anyway, Nussbaum writes in depth about “The Bachelor,” a show I’ve never watched. And talks about Trista Rehn, how everybody on the inside believed she’d win the first season, and how she ultimately married that firefighter, had kids and has lived happily ever after.
I decided to Google her. And Google’s AI told me that TRISTA WAS A FIREFIGHTER!
Yes, it made a mistake. A HUGE mistake. And if I hadn’t known a little about Trista and her life, I would have bought it.
So if you’re depending on AI… You never know when it will hallucinate, get it wrong.
But the story is AI combs data, on the web. And it can come up with remarkably relevant and correct answers, but also can be totally wrong. So the AI companies hire humans to correct it. And it keeps getting smarter and smarter but does it ever truly get smart enough?
But the bottom line is you type a question… Silver analogizes it to a symphony orchestra. The conductor assigns everybody their part, they go off to practice…
Every word is assigned a token. Those in charge of each token go in search of answers. But the violins work together, before they report back to the conductor.
And all the instruments are working on different tokens simultaneously. And at the end, they show up with their info, pop it into a translator and voila, you’ve got an answer.
But how exactly did AI do it?
What is happening on those token searches. How are the different instruments/token owners collaborating? THEY DON’T KNOW, ONLY THAT IT WORKS!
Really.
You’ll learn all this and more if you read “On the Edge.”
But you’re going to really have to want to read it. Because it’s five hundred pages long. And it’s a mess, it doesn’t hold together. There’s this overall theme of risk, as evidenced in poker, devolving into game theory and other mathematical concepts, but then there’s detailed investigations of Vegas, Silicon Valley, crypto, AI, that really don’t need to be in the same book. Yes, they’re tied together by risk…but Silver is so deep into his endeavor that he can’t see the forest for the trees. Like a college student delivering a paper in order to get a grade, to evidence completion, comprehensibility and quality are not reached, never mind even being the goals.
However, there is a lot of stimulating info contained within the book’s pages. But very few will read it. Because they’ve never had to read a book like this. People don’t want to put in hours to read something that is not straightforward, that they have to mentally wrestle with.
Unfortunately, that’s where the rewards are.
Will there be better books on these subjects?
Well, you’ve got Michael Lewis, a great writer whose belief in himself and his ideas is so strong that he was totally snookered by SBF, never mind the parents in “Blind Side.”
And the people interviewing Silver… They’ve got neither the time nor the inclination to read the book. who’s going to dedicate in excess of ten hours to do so, they’re busy building their brand, becoming famous!
But if you want to know more about America, the divide between Silicon Valley and the east coast intelligentsia, you will gain a ton of insight from reading “On the Edge.”
The legendary writer of “Wichita Lineman,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “MacArthur Park” and many more discusses his hits, his history and his tenure on the ASCAP board!
This clip sums up why talent cannot remain hidden forever. It’s simple, profound, touching, and deeply human…
Olivier Chastan
1
You could never know this guy. He was too laid back, too cool, and back then there was no access.
Even more you wanted to BE this guy. Cool with charisma. You were a mirror star, but in truth you were nothing special, nobody noticed you, you lived in your own world where the music completed you, it was the only thing that understood you.
They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Musicians.
That’s what they say they are, but most are not.
Today not only do you believe in brand extensions, oftentimes you can neither play nor write. You’re a construct for cash, a monetary effort.
But once upon a time, it was different.
We tingled. Because there was no personal access, just to be in the room with these cats was a peak experience.
Used to be there came a point where you decided whether you were going to go pro or stay in school, get a day job. And if you took the road less traveled, it was not easy. Sure, you’d eventually cut and shop a demo, but that was after years of paying dues.
So if you were a musician… You’d already spent years learning your instrument, not that you did not continue to practice. If you were lucky you had enough of a rep that you could go on the road. In a van, or like the Allmans, a Winnebago. You got high and played your heart out on stage. Trying to win over mostly people who did not know you, never mind the material.
And if you did it enough, maybe you broke through.
You’ve got to know the musicians of yore were different from those of today. Because they were making it up as they went along. That picture in “Rolling Stone” of Duane Allman’s guitars belted into the seat next to him on the plane… It wasn’t like you could buy a manual, even go to Guitar Center, you worked things out through trial and error. And when you broke through the devotion of the fans…
Was not like being a Swiftie. Or a K-Pop fan.
It was the way the music made you feel. And when you went to see the band live it was just the band, no tapes, the sound they made on stage was all you got. And the Allmans were legendary because of the sound they made, but unlike today’s acts they neither demanded to make it immediately nor did they achieve this status. It took a while for the audience to catch up with them, for word of mouth to spread.
2
The come and go blues… I’ve experienced them.
You’ve gotten beyond crush status. You actually know them. You’ve gone places together, but they’re still going places with other people. They’re fully present when they’re here, but they’re not always here, what do you do?
LISTEN TO A RECORD!
“People say that you’re no good
But I wouldn’t cut you loose, baby, if I could”
There might have been a few women at my high school who were no good, but in the suburbs everything was truly average, safe. But these musicians…they were involved with a whole ‘nother level of person, one unavailable to us, one we could only dream of.
And the musicians were in a completely different category from the actors. Because the musicians WERE their songs. They wrote ’em and played ’em from their heart.
“Well I seem to stay down on the ground
Baby I’m too far gone to turn around”
But when you’re infatuated, they’re all you can think about. Everybody tells you to move on, you might even acknowledge their truth, but you just can’t.
“Oh, if only you would make up your mind
Take me where you go, you’re leaving me behind”
You want to have an honest discussion. But you’re afraid of falling flat, professing your love and finding out they don’t see you that way, that you’re just a “friend”… And then you run away and avoid them in the future.
“Lord, you got those come and go blues”
I’ve had ’em in high school, I’ve had ’em as an adult, and I wish I could give you some advice, but I can’t, it’s a private hell.
3
Now “Eat a Peach” was a huge seller, but it didn’t have the feel of a breakthrough, it was more of a holding pattern. One studio disc, one live disc. Another double album. It seemed like a continuation of “Fillmore East,” then again the band had been through a tragedy. Duane couldn’t be replaced, and they didn’t. “Eat a Peach” was everywhere, the studio cuts had impact, but mostly it was people who were already fans.
And then came “Brothers and Sisters.”
It was all new studio work. The fans ate it up immediately.
But “Ramblin’ Man” crossed over to AM, when that was still a thing, and the Allmans had never done this before. Which mean that a whole lot of people bought an Allman Brothers album who never had before. The Allman Brothers, as big as they had been, were no longer just owned by those who’d been with them through thick and thin, but EVERYBODY!
And when you dropped the needle on “Brothers and Sisters” you heard a statement, “Wasted Words” was in your face, the band was a freight train, firing on all cylinders. This was not “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” the opener on “Eat a Peach.”
“Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” started with a piano, it was slow, in a groove, there was gravitas, there was meaning. This was the “Idlewild South” sound, the trademark Gregg Allman number.Â
But on “Wasted Words” Gregg was no longer reflective. He was up front, he was all in, he was back.
But he only had two originals on “Brothers and Sisters.”
And what happened to that magical, introspective sound that hooked us just as much as the twin guitar tears?
Well, once you finished with “Ramblin’ Man,” the second cut on the LP, you got a Gregg Allman classic, “Come and Go Blues.”
The piano was akin to a slide, taking you immediately into the water.
The guy singing this cut… He was experienced, unlike us, he was full of wisdom, and we couldn’t stop listening to him.
And the way he became more intense in the chorus, and the piano in that section, it was so infectious.
But “Come and Go Blues” was just an album track, I never heard anybody talk about it. And did I mention the dynamite piano playing in the breaks? Straight out of a roadhouse, where most of us had never been. We were waiting to live, and that’s all they’d been doing down south from the date of birth. They weren’t thinking long term, just about today. It wasn’t forever, just for now. And therefore the music had a completely different feel, we were outsiders, these were not New York bands, we just wanted to get closer, we wanted to live in this sound, this environment that was foreign but as American as apple pie.
4
People send me YouTube videos all the time. Spotify tracks too. If I just pay attention, I’ll get it, immediately. They love it, I should too.
But that’s not how it works. Most people have lousy taste, which they’re entitled to, but then there are those you can trust.
And you learn who they are.
Olivier Chastan has a history of sending me winners, and when he wrote the above e-mail, I checked out the clip.
It was so quiet. Gregg stopped to pull something from his teeth. He was completely comfortable with his instrument, it was a part of him, and then he sang as if he had no problem, as if this was really him, in an era where many stars can’t, sing. And those who can rarely write great songs.
But it’s when the camera focuses on Gregg’s face that it strikes you… Who is exactly is this guy? He definitely doesn’t seem safe. He’s the kind of guy you’d avoid in a bar, but the girls would flock to.
But he’s effortlessly playing this classic number. Not worried about matching the record, because the song is in him, he’s just letting it loose.
This is not the bedraggled Gregg Allman. This guy has some miles on him, but he’s fully alive, then again is he stoned?
And this organ player can pick those notes, play that guitar.
And the way he stops for just a second to tune his guitar…
This is the magic that infected us, that kept us going for decades, which is gone now.
First and foremost, there’s no mystery. Not only are you omnipresent, we know everything about you. Charisma is nearly impossible to maintain.
And musicians are not the peak of society. They may be stars, they may be rich, but they’re not as rich as the techies and the bankers, they don’t influence the culture as much, they’re chasing as much as leading.
And Gregg Allman is leading in this clip almost effortlessly.
Where’d he go after this?
How long was he even there?
You don’t see hair and makeup, all the handlers. It’s just him.
And he’s playing a song better than almost everything in today’s hit parade. Acoustically, he don’t need no stinkin’ help.
It’s all in this clip.
And it’s all gone, that rock and Gregg himself.
But he’s so alive here.
It’s just like Gregg and his band feeding on the music of the Delta bluesmen.
