They call it a chilling effect.

That’s the terminology in constitutional law. What influence, what change in behavior will the statute or decision have.

AWS was the pioneer in cloud computing, and is still the market leader. Yet under Trump, the government contract was given to Microsoft.

Bezos does not want to let that happen again.

Let me bring it closer to home… Anybody who has ever blown the whistle re sexual abuse in the music business has never worked again. They may have gotten a big check, they may have some minor job in a private office, but working for the big boys, and it’s usually boys, that’s history.

All of which is a good reason not to vote for Trump.

But none of these messages are reaching those not already converted.

So how do you change minds?

Trump going on Joe Rogan is a master stroke.

Joe Rogan has 14+ million listeners to each of his podcasts.

Think about that, Harris was on CNN the other day and reached 3.3!

You see everything today is about identity. Joe Rogan’s podcast is not successful because of the guests, but because of the host. Ditto “Call Her Daddy.” And this same paradigm explains why you can have a hit and be unable to sell tickets. And it’s also a reason why Harris’s campaign is challenged.

The last two cycles were about social media. But X has turned into a right wing cesspool and only oldsters who know who they’re going to vote for are on Facebook and all the Democrats are doing is complaining. Is this any way to win an election?

Now the power is in podcasts.

To tell you the truth, I think Bruce Springsteen appearing at a Kamala rally hurts her more than helps her. The non working man working man is abhorred by those on the right. They see him as a left wing shill. The media is controlled by Springsteen fans. Kenny Chesney can sell out stadiums across the country, Bruce does not even go clean in every arena.

We’re living in a changed world and all those in control of the narrative refuse to acknowledge this, because then they’d have to look at themselves and change course.

Seth Godin wrote a brilliant column this week:

“How to Avoid Strategy Myopia”

https://t.ly/2sThz

The route to future profits does not always go up, up, up! Adobe changed from a sales model to a subscription model and revenue went down before it went up.

“But polishing yesterday’s work isn’t useful if the world is in flux. When we focus on improving the efficiency of our current plan, we inevitably miss the opportunity to develop a new strategy in response to new conditions.”

This is today’s record business. Contracting to make Wall Street happy. Polaroid made Wall Street happy before it went out of business. Instant photography was a gigantic market until digital photography came along and killed it. The indies are eating the majors’ lunch these days. How are they reacting? BY PUTTING OUT FEWER RECORDS!

And with less money, the indies are making more urgent recordings, nailing a feeling as opposed to reworking a song written by committee to fit a radio format that doesn’t mean much anyway.

The WaPo is not the only paper that has refused to endorse a presidential candidate. The “Los Angeles Times” has taken the same route. The paper wanted to endorse Harris, but its owner said no. Because he sees pulling away from Harris and leaning towards Trump by the other tech titans, and that’s how Patrick Soon-Shiong made his money, in medical tech, and he doesn’t want to end up on the wrong side of the divide.

Elon Musk is talking to Putin! How powerful does that make Biden and Harris look? Not very.

Now is the time to let your freak flag fly, now is the time to be an individual, now is the time to own your identity. Joe Rogan may have been boosted by TV and the UFC, but Alexandra Cooper doesn’t have this CV. She started at Barstool Sports and has risen to the top on her identity, her personality. That’s a star, not someone who has a hit record and then tries to rip their audience off with perfume and overpriced merch.

And Elon Musk knows that controlling the narrative is everything. That’s what he’s got with X. Unlike the owners of the “New York Times,” Musk is a mega-billionaire. Used to be publishers’ power was in the ink, not their bank account. And more people are rooting for Musk than either the Yankees or the Dodgers. He’s playing his own game. That’s today’s world, you invent the game, then you play it. This is why Trump is so successful. He’s not playing the usual game, he’s not playing the Democrats’ game, and therefore he can’t be beaten in his efforts. Every day there are articles in the news about Trump’s heinous behavior. If anything, that EMBELLISHES his image. It’s the opposite of Springsteen for Kamala. Springsteen is a shill adding his imprimatur to a traditional candidate. And sure, Trump is only for himself, but everybody knows it. What you see is what you get, unvarnished.

Trump controls the narrative. Because he refused to play the old game and made it all about him. How do you compete with this? By creating your own identity and establishing your own narrative. Instead, we were told by Democratic insiders that Biden was up to the game, when nothing of the sort was true. They were hiding him in a world where everybody is exposed all the time. Biden and his wonks were showing their age, they’re still living in the last century.

There is a lot up for grabs in this election. But somehow, the Democrats and the “New York Times” have not done a good job of convincing people this is so. And therefore tech titans are hedging their bets, even publishing icons. They don’t want to go down with the ship. And it’s all in plain sight.

That’s what Trump ushered in. Nothing is taboo anymore. If your handler says not to do something because it will offend people…chances are they’re living in the past. You’ve got to lead, and if you’re trying to appeal to everybody, you lose. I don’t listen to Rogan, I’ve tried him out, he’s not my thing, but that does not mean double digit millions are not tuning him in every day.

The politicians have become pawns. Trump wouldn’t even have become president without the salesmanship of Mark Burnett.

And despite her insanity, Marjorie Taylor Greene keeps getting elected.

Good for Kamala for going on Howard and being on “Call Her Daddy” but the problem is Howard has left the bros behind, he’s got a more upscale audience these days, more intellectual, to his credit. If you want to reach the bros, you’ve got to go into the lion’s den, and be unafraid in doing so.

Everybody’s so scared. Bezos, Soon-Shiong. This is where politicians can shine, because it’s not about the money, it’s about control of the narrative, policy, power.

But just like everything else in America politics is solely about the bucks today. Bezos and Soon-Shiong don’t want to sacrifice any, don’t want to risk any.

You know these people. The ones who won’t take a chance, who won’t lead.

Don’t be afraid. Own your identity. Evidence it.

It’s the only way to win.

https://t.ly/sBx9m

This is a stupendous book.

We’re watching this Apple TV series “Women in Blue,” not that anybody’s e-mailed me about it, not that there’s a buzz, but it has great RottenTomatoes ratings, 100/86. It’s a Mexican series inspired by real events about a killer and the government’s decision to hire women on the police force to improve the administration’s image. And in one scene, one candidate, one cadet, accuses another, her sister, of always coloring inside the lines, always doing what she’s told to do. Would you?

That’s the essence of education. Regimentation. By following the rules you get to ascend to the top of the ladder, get into a good college and then a good graduate school, even though those who change the world oftentimes drop out.

So…

So, Germany took over France in 1940, and Jews had to report their identity, wear clothing that reflected this, and then had to report to the government of their town to be sent away. Myriam’s parents did what they were told, to earn brownie points, favor with the administration, believing dividends would be paid when the war was over. And…they were sent straight to the ovens. And this was after two of their children were taken previously.

But through a quirk of registration, Myriam escaped. Truly. Her father told her to run away.

And this is the story of her survival.

But even more it’s the story of how her past haunts her daughter Lélia, and Lélia’s daughter Anne, the author of this book, and Anne’s daughter Clara, they can’t escape their Jewish heritage, even though they don’t practice the religion, Anne has no idea what goes on at a seder.

Sounds like a book only for Jews.

But that is not the case whatsoever. I recommend “The Postcard” to everybody who is able to read. For the first sixty percent it is unputdownable. It’s a bit confusing for the subsequent twenty or thirty percent, when Myriam is in hiding, on the run during World War II, and then there’s a strong finish, just when you don’t expect it.

The reason I’m not just raving about the book from start to finish is to preserve my credibility. Too many people tell you stuff is great that is not. I want you to trust me. It’s not that the second half of the book is bad, indecipherable, not whatsoever. And it’s a necessary part of the story. And I couldn’t put the book down during this section either, it’s just that what comes before…

You’re drawn into someone’s world, a whole family’s world, you’re taken away to another place and another time…

That has too many parallels to today.

So, we’ve got the family. They have to leave Latvia. Are you willing to leave everything behind, sacrifice all you’ve built, to survive? This is a question that is asked in this book again and again. Myriam’s grandparents decamp to Palestine and despite their hosannas when Myriam’s family gets there they find out it’s hot and desolate and you need to work hard and you can’t really make any money so after a few years they decamp to Paris.

And then comes the war.

But in the twenty first century a postcard arrives listing the names of the deceased, those sent to the camps. This is a mystery. WHO SENT IT!

That’s the underlying story. And you’d be surprised how many people don’t want to talk about the past. You’ll also be surprised how artifacts of the past, looted from the houses of those deported to their death, are now residing in the houses of their neighbors, who pilfered said items.

It’s living history. And it never ends.

I mean I’m reading the book and I’m not thinking it can’t happen here. On some level, it already is. Did you read the “Wall Street Journal” article?

“Jewish Students at UCLA Were Harassed, Threatened and Assaulted on Campus, Report Finds – UCLA antisemitism task force says the university prioritized free speech over stopping protests, which were among the most violent of the pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations”

Free link: https://t.ly/M5_EE

That’s only a couple of miles from where I live. I go to the hospital on campus and my doctor tells me the latest. He feels the oppression.

And this is where Elon Musk’s absolute free speech leads you. Not that I want to get deep into a discussion of that, but I will say that if students can’t attend classes because they’re Jewish… Isn’t that a problem?

Appears not.

If you’re Black or Palestinian or of some foreign ethnicity the institutions will protect you, but if you’re a Jew…

My point here is how I feel. And if you’re not Jewish, you may not feel it. But if you read “The Postcard” you will.

You’ll also read about those who joined the Resistance, fighting for what was right as opposed to being sheep herded by the Germans and their French proxies. And you’ll also learn about the clergyman who was a double agent who told on them and then these people who were working against the Germans were killed. This was not America, there was no trial. Cross the Germans, hide those against the regime, and you’re gonna die if you’re found out, and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

So reading “The Postcard” you’re taken completely away from everyday life. Talk about a respite from the election and obligations. Then again, in some ways it’s just like life today.

Clara asks her grandmother if she’s a Jew. Not in the forties, but in this century. And when Clara finds out she is she responds:

“They don’t like Jews very much at at school.”

She won’t get picked for a team because she’s Jewish.

Now “The Postcard” is translated from the French. And occasionally you can tell, the words, the passages…they don’t flow, but this is very occasionally.

I guess what I’m saying is “The Postcard” is very readable. You’ll start and you’ll keep reading, you won’t want to put it down.

You’ll be pinching yourself, is this really a true story?

It is.

Get back to me when you’ve finished it.

Spotify: https://lnkfwd.com/u/LAZeDiUL

YouTube: https://lnkfwd.com/u/LAZt4nmT

1

Well, not exactly new, as a matter of fact Billy released the same song last year to crickets. But now it’s been remixed to sound like Billy in his heyday, the “Don’t Say No” era.

And what an era it was.

How do I know Billy was in Piper?

That’s how hungry we were for information back then. We read incessantly, the key was to be comprehensive, to know everything. Furthermore, the acts inspired this curiosity. I mean how did Billy Squier come out of nowhere to top the chart? And it wasn’t only “The Stroke.” No, it was one hit after another, “In the Dark” was fantastic, “My Kind of Lover” as good as what it preceded it and “Lonely Is the Night” phenomenal too. But having said that, my favorite song ended up being “Too Daze Gone.”

I didn’t buy the LP upon release. I didn’t love the ubiquitous “The Stroke,” but then came “In the Dark” and then one day I just had to pop for the album and I played it just like everybody else on my powerful stereo that could blow the roof off not only my house, but my next door neighbor’s.

This was just before MTV. When rock ruled. AOR ruled. Disco had been killed two years before by Steve Dahl at Comiskey Park, even though in truth it just went underground, and Prince released the heavy beat “Dirty Mind” in the interim. But only aficionados were aware of that well-reviewed album, it was the next album, “Controversy,” that got the public to pay attention to the man from Minneapolis, if for no other reason than he opened for the Stones and…

Well, you know the story.

Just like you know the story of Billy jumping on the bed in that video and…

1981. Even though the mainstream didn’t truly embrace Bryan Adams until 1984’s “Reckless,” with “Run to You,” in July of that year, just before the launch of MTV on August 1st, Adams put out the best album of his career, “You Want It You Got It,” with “Lonely Nights” all over FM radio, if not “Fits Ya Good.” Play “Lonely Nights,” it will bring you right back, to when most of America was on the same page. It was white and it was rock, but country was still considered twangy and like I said above, disco had been squeezed off the main highway and…

In 1981 AC/DC followed up their breakthrough “Back in Black” with “For Those About to Rock…” Which was nowhere near as good, but we played it.

And ZZ Top had switched to Warner Bros. and followed up “Deguello” with “El Loco.”

And Rush put out “Moving Pictures” and Genesis put out “Abacab” and Van Halen released “Fair Warning” and Foreigner put out “4” and Hall & Oates released “Private Eyes” and Ozzy put out “Diary of a Madman,” with the FM staple, my favorite Ozzy track, “Flying High Again,” as well as “Over the Mountain”…

Everything was groovy.

And along comes this interloper.

Billy Squier had no history. Was unknown, whereas most of the acts burning up the airwaves had history. But there was this sound on the record, which was produced by Mack, who’d streamlined the Queen sound on “The Game,” an album which ranged from the undeniable acoustic rockabilly hit of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” to “Another One Bites the Dust” and you could hear the through line, the punch in Billy’s album.

Haven’t heard much from Mack recently.

Nor Billy Squier.

I heard Billy was back on the road, but it all seemed a bit off the radar.

And then…

I got an e-mail about Billy’s new track.

2

This guy knew Billy, despite living in Oz. I told him I wanted to do a podcast with Squier. Could he hook me up.

Took a while, but ultimately I got into conversation with Squier himself and he said no. Even though this was contradictory to the title of his breakthrough LP.

Let’s be clear. I would have to ask him about that video, Billy in the pink top jumping on the aforementioned bed, that tanked his career overnight, took Billy from big time star to has-been nearly instantly. He just didn’t display the proper macho.

Didn’t matter what Squier said, how it wasn’t his decision. It rarely was in the video days, at least at this point, but it was too bad. The public decided that Billy was…

Not for them. A wuss.

And it was not long before you never heard from Billy again. He got a bit of airplay thereafter, but it didn’t sustain, and at that point you were either on MTV or off. And Billy was off. And ultimately he became a footnote.

But why was this new track so GOOD?

3

Rock has come a long way since Billy Squier’s heyday. Well, let’s just say there’s a huge distance between where Billy was forty years ago and where we are today. Today, if it hints of mainstream, of sellout, Active Rock doesn’t want to play it. Active Rock is all about edge, the other. If you play mainstream, straight ahead rock, there’s no place for you. Metallica is the model. Loud, thrashy, angry. That foursome used to be considered fringe, and then ultimately mainstream with “Enter Sandman,” but then hip-hop truly triumphed and the acts that followed Metallica were angrier and noisier and faster and…the mainstream checked out, and now rock is niche.

But sometimes to come back you’ve got to go back to the garden.

4

So I figured that’s the last I’d hear from Billy, I told him a podcast would not be gotcha, but he was not going to say yes, yet he kept e-mailing me about this new release.

He’d given it away on his website. I told him that was an antique strategy, files were for the Active Rock crowd, no, you had to be on streaming services.

Then Billy told me he’d made a deal with UMe and…that’s why I’m writing about it now, it’s just a click away, everywhere.

And if you were ever a fan, you should listen.

5

It’s the guitar. You can see the player in front of the amp, getting that big sound from the Marshall. And then Billy comes in sounding…

Exactly like he used to. How can this BE?

And if you ever liked this sound you’re immediately in the groove. You’re nodding your head involuntarily. The sounds are layered, there are changes, you can picture yourself driving your Camaro on the highway with the windows down blasting this number.

Which seems to have no place in today’s music world.

But the funny thing is, unlike all the modern people, Billy is taking a stand.

“Molly’s got a problem – what she gonna do

Took away her freedom – she can’t believe it’s true”

What’s going on here?

Billy Squier has written a PROTEST SONG! Yes, in the wake of the Dobbs decision.

“Freedom takes a holiday – it comes as no surprise

Justice in America is dust before your eyes

And no man is your brother – it’s all a bed of lies

Gotta fight for your rights”

When seemingly the harder you rock, the more you lean right, Billy Squier is standing up for women, against the elimination of their rights.

But the amazing thing is the track works irrelevant of the lyrics. We could argue for a stronger chorus, but there are so many changes, it’s infectious, the song starts off a full throttle and then it goes into hyperdrive, and then all you can do is PLAY IT OVER AGAIN!

“Harder on a Woman” is completely out of time. I don’t know if Generation Alpha could even understand it. Gen-Z would be flummoxed. This sound hasn’t been on the airwaves, hasn’t been fashionable for decades, to the point where it sounds fresh. If rock ever comes back it’ll germinate from this sound, not what passes for rock today, whether it be that outside stuff on Active Rock or all the people who can’t sing and can’t write songs who believe they deserve attention.

6

And the funny thing is it was released a year ago.

But the remix is everything. Listen to the two side by side. Here’s the old version:

Spotify: https://shorturl.at/q6ZjG

YouTube: https://tiny.cc/5twrzz

It’s the same song, but it’s different, it doesn’t have the same PUNCH!

Here, I’ll let Billy explain it:

The initial recording of “Harder on A Woman” was released on March 8, 2023. It was written in the summer of 22, as a response to the Dobbs Decision and the implicit threat it poses to our individual freedoms. Music is my mouthpiece – if I have something to say, I choose to speak through that medium. The song wasn’t conceived as a “Billy Squier Comeback Record”, but rather a musical call-to-arms that I felt compelled to put out on the street. It was recorded in a very straight-forward manner, with some of my great musician friends: Simon Kirke on drums, Mark Clarke on bass, and GE Smith as second guitar. I gave no real time or thought to “producing” the track – I simply wanted people to hear the song and focus on the message.

 

In the Fall of 2023, I got this idea to revisit the song as a proper “Billy Squier Record”, that is, make it sound like a track I would have cut back in the 80’s, with the production values and recording techniques I would have used in making “Don’t Say No” and my other albums. You might say I put the original track into a WayBack Machine and set the destination for Power Station 1981. I added a few bits, but the original performances are pretty much intact.

 

If you listen to the two versions back-to-back, the sonic differences are readily apparent, with the emphasis  more on ‘Billy’ in the later version. The limited feedback I’ve gotten on “Harder 24 – Don’t Say No Mix” has validated my process. People identify with this as a Billy Squier Record, which is what they’ve been waiting for…

 

And now they’ll  have it.

 

Billy

Of X.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-doe-exene-cervenka/id1316200737?i=1000674276572

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/c9e759db-7a7d-492b-abc2-27c902af4e9d/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-john-doe-exene-cervenka