Netflix trailer: https://t.ly/kiSF8

This is better than “Drive to Survive,” which I stopped watching after Red Bull stole the championship from Lewis Hamilton, after Verstappen started winning all the races, and I stopped watching the races too. Sure, there is human drama, but the problem is the machines. If you’re in a lousy car, there’s no way you can win. Whereas with the Tour de France…it’s not about the bicycle, it’s about you.

And the team, of course, especially if you’re going for the GC, which is the overall title. There is strategy, but sometimes riders throw the strategy out the window and just ride for themselves, which the owners/coaches hate, unless said rider wins.

I wrote about this series last year, this year is even better.

It’s inherently flawed because you don’t get a feel for the overall landscape, you’re never told how many teams/riders are involved, how much money is involved, and that is frustrating, but it does not detract from your overall enjoyment of the series.

You see bike riding is dangerous. You can be going as fast as a motorcycle, and when you crash, which happens all the time, you’re not wearing leather but a thin jersey… Talk about road rash!

But it really comes down to personalities. I hate, hate, HATE Jasper Phillipsen, who doesn’t ride fair, he squeezes his competition into the barriers.

And I’m not a huge fan of Jonas Vingegaard either, he’s quiet and skilled, but he’s involved in the biggest controversy of the season. If you win by too much, if it’s inhuman, did you…DOPE? Yes, that underlies cycling to this day.

Everybody takes it so seriously. You’d think the rest of life, politics, global warming, doesn’t even exist. Which makes the series a great respite from everyday life. Big girls may not cry, but big men do, especially with joy, when seemingly impossible goals are achieved.

Do you root for the winner or the underdog? Is winning everything, or is how you win important?

There are twenty one stages and each is different. And the landscape is jaw-dropping.

There are other bicycle races, but this is the big kahuna. As for the athletes, it’s a herculean feat, to be able to ride these distances, climb these mountains, day after day after day.

I don’t watch much sports on TV anymore. Can I say it’s a time-waster? Especially baseball, which used to be my favorite big league sport. I guess the essence is gone, and sure it comes down to the speed of the game, i.e. it’s slow, but changing all the pitchers, swinging for the fences…

And now I’m going to hear from all the baseball lovers. All I’ll say is I don’t know where you find the time.

As for the NFL… John Madden said you play one game and your body will never be the same. I don’t quite know why everybody’s addicted, even the wimps who never played in high school or even on the sandlot. You may think you’re an expert, but the true experts will tell you you don’t really know what is going on on the field.

And then there’s soccer/football, the world’s game. Some say there’s not enough scoring, but I don’t watch that either.

I guess I can say that watching sports on television is no longer a priority, with so many other options available. There are things I’d rather do than spend hours watching sports. That’s what the internet age has wrought, and that’s what people can’t get over. Why don’t you listen to my record? Because it’s a very low priority. If I heard you were the greatest thing since sliced bread, I might check you out, assuming I heard it from people I trust.

But I hope you trust my television recommendations.

I don’t care if you’ve never gotten on a bike. I don’t care if you don’t understand how bike racing works. Neither will detract from your enjoyment of this series.

Bob Costas famously said that sports are a metaphor for life. And you see it all in this series. Which makes you feel human. You’re involved. You don’t feel the sport is at a distance, but it’s right there. They’re not talking down to you, they’re just trying to win.

And not everybody can. And you can be a great rider and have a difficult personality…

CHECK THIS OUT!

You can’t have a contrary opinion.

Let me restate that…you can’t VERBALIZE a contrary opinion. You’re supposed to adhere to the orthodoxy of your tribe, or else you become a pariah.

You can’t say that Biden is old if you’re a Democrat. You can’t say you support Israel in Gaza if you’re a Democrat.

This is political. Unfortunately, the Democrats are becoming who the Republicans said they were. Let’s start on college campuses. Everything is seen through the lens of oppressor and oppressed, facts be damned. If you’re the little guy, you have the advantage, someone must support David in his battle with Goliath, even if David is a terrorist.

And then there’s the woke orthodoxy. And this is complicated. Because I don’t believe that many are woke as the term is incorrectly defined by the Republicans. But they’re afraid to stand up and say otherwise. If you’re a Democrat you’d better beware of the language you use. You must employ the right pronouns, you must not step on anybody’s toes, you must be fearful, for if you make a mistake you might be excommunicated from the tribe, your career might be ruined. Funny how the party that’s supposedly a big tent requires everybody to have the same viewpoint.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t look out for everybody’s rights, I’m not saying all people are not created equally, I’m not saying that racism doesn’t exist in America, it’s just that Democrats believe we live in a fantasy world more akin to a Disney movie than reality.

As for the Republicans… They were the first political party to demand absolute fealty with no questions asked. The Democrats may deny that Biden is old, but the Republicans see a doddering old man who can’t put a sentence together who demonstrates no knowledge of the political landscape and is a convicted felon and say…THAT’S MY GUY!

We can add in the ignorance leavened into the equation by the internet, where everybody gets their own news from a different source, and only the news that supports their view, but what I’m lamenting here is the lack of discussion, of analysis in America, to its detriment. And sure, many people who’ve been taught to the test lack the power of analysis, but even those who possess this skill have parked it for fear of excoriation.

And it’s not only politics. If you don’t think Taylor Swift is a talented cultural icon, the biggest act in the world, who can do no wrong, then you’re wrong. And will be shouted down by every female in America.

At least K-pop fans used to keep to themselves. And One Direction fans before them. But now, if you believe in an act you must let everybody know they’re inviolate, and nothing opposite can be said.

Which is kind of why there’s a news blackout in the “left wing press” about the success of Morgan Wallen. These outlets are fearful that their readers will go bananas if something positive is written about the country superstar. Didn’t he use the “N-word” (in a colloquial way that he learned from rap records) and throw a chair off the roof? Furthermore, no one on the left can see why anybody would support Wallen. And his fans know it. You know when you sit on the wrong side of the fence. Even if you’re silent.

Today’s music is as good as it ever was. Look at the statistics, Mariah Carey, Swift, others have the same chart numbers as the Beatles! Never mind it’s not the same chart. And SAT scores are higher, never mind that they were so low that they added a hundred points to everybody’s score a couple of decades back.

Problems either don’t exist or they’re the worst in the world. Climate change? There can be no rational debate on that, not if you’re on the right side of the fence, and I mean Republican. You’ve got to fall in line if you’re an elected Republican official. Want to know how it works? If you were anti-Trump, if you thought he needed to be impeached, you lost your seat. Doesn’t matter if you toed the line on every other Republican issue. Can you say “Liz Cheney”?

And if you’re a Democrat you cannot fight back vociferously. You cannot live in the twenty first century. You must be civilized, because the Republican game is dirty and uncouth and if you employ it you will be stooping to their level and lose. When they go low, we go high. How’s that working for you Michelle’s minions?

And groupthink goes even further. Isn’t there anybody who’s going to say enough with the 808? A four decade old computerized sound which seems to appear on every hit record?

It goes on and on, ask any questions and you’re the problem. You need to be quiet.

Meanwhile, those outside the discussion scratch their head and laugh. Biden is old and presents old. Sure, Trump is almost as old, but doesn’t present in the same way. He isn’t physically stiff and doesn’t beam into the crowd like a Moonie.

America was founded by the rugged individual, we’re drawn to they who have an individual opinion, that they’ll fight for, who have charisma.

Today we’re told to fall behind an intellectual construct, that oftentimes doesn’t align with our emotional state. Follow your instincts, your gut? If you do that today you’re going to find yourself out of step, I hope you like it alone out on the prairie, because that’s where you’re going to be. And that’s lonely and most people can’t handle it, they need to be a member of the group.

And there is nothing I’ve said above that you don’t know. Everything is evident and obvious. But you’ve been taught not to acknowledge it, not to believe your eyes. And ears.

Yes, the movie and music businesses are so busy trying to hit grand slams that they keep releasing me-too product that doesn’t resonate with the majority of the public. You’d think someone would go a different way, but not the major labels. And then these same labels try to rig the system in their favor, wanting more streaming payouts for stars and less for non-stars. Why? To ensure the longevity of their game. Which is kind of funny, since they’ve been disrupted again and again in the last twenty five years and never have they seen any of it coming. And Daniel Ek single-handedly saved the recorded music business, SINGLE-HANDEDLY! But if you don’t say he’s the devil, if you don’t think streaming payments are unfair for small artists and wannabes, you’re sold out to the man and your opinion doesn’t count.

And sure, many of the opinions above are my own, but the dirty little secret is they’re working for me. By expressing what people feel inside that they’re afraid to say…that’s the key to my success. What are you gonna do, read a trade publication saying everything’s groovy? Or a consumer rag that avoids the real issues, and when it stumbles on them gets them wrong?

Hell, I get a monthly music magazine that gives every act a positive review. Each and every record. How does that help the reader?

Let your freak flag fly. That’s how you’ll gain success. And stop whining that the game is rigged against you. The game is just the game, you have to learn how to play it so you can win. And in life there are so many ways to win. I could delineate the multiple potential revenue streams of a musical act today, but all I’ll get in response are STREAMING RATES ARE TOO LOW!

An artist goes down the road less taken. And you never know where inspiration will come from. And institutions oftentimes breed conformity. Which is why so many college graduates are bores going through the steps, whether at the bank or the tech company.

One person disrupted politics, Trump. One person disrupted recorded music consumption, Daniel Ek, but we’re continually told the individual doesn’t matter, and if you don’t fall into line you’re done.

This is untrue.

Tune in Saturday June 15th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

Phone #: 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

Spotify: https://t.ly/c7AqJ

YouTube: https://shorturl.at/e9cCG

1

So I’m locked in traffic listening to Jelly Roll tell Howard Stern about his new song “I Am Not Okay,” a sentiment many feel but do not admit, and then Mr. Roll sings it with the band and I’m blown away. At first I wonder if it’s a recording, or whether there are hard drives involved. But there’s a full band and with a voice this good, no wonder he’s a star.

Mainstream media is picking up on the Balkanization in music. Took too long, but now the truth is evident:

“Why Pop Music Is So ‘Meh’ Right Now – New releases by Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa were supposed to be huge. Instead, they have fallen short of past works.”

Free link: https://t.ly/bJo46

In other words, despite the onslaught of hype the acts they tell us are so big, are not. The “Wall Street Journal” is blaming it on quality, but no matter how good your record is, you can’t reach everybody:

“But today, with the world awash in content, TikTok rewriting labels’ playbooks and listeners burrowing deeper into their own personalized niches, even avid pop fans don’t recognize what’s in the Billboard top 10. In such a decentralized market, pop stars face fierce competition. Disappointing albums, in turn, can hurt concert sales. It all adds up to music executives across genres seeming to wield less power over the star-making machinery than ever.”

Uh-oh, with Lucian Grainge and the rest of the honchos tailoring their businesses for Wall Street this is bad news. They keep telling the Street everything is going up, up, up, but it appears there’s a hole in the bucket. Sure, their catalogs are blue chip revenue machines, but having focused on a handful of tentpole artists, they’re missing the mark just like the movie studios. Turns out everybody doesn’t want the same thing, and despite the constant press hoopla, there isn’t even consensus that these “hits” are any good. Furthermore, as we’ve learned in the past, if you’re a hit-based artist, you’re dependent upon hits, when they dry up, so do your ticket sales. Turns out in music the tortoise caring most about the music, oftentimes written alone without committee, have hard core fans who will keep them alive through thick and thin, whereas those with the ink do not, at least not in prodigious numbers.

Think about this… Tours are being canceled and now records too. In other words, most of the public is just not interested.

As for the WSJ’s argument that the music isn’t that good… People have been denying this throughout the twenty first century, but that is the truth. I’m not saying there’s not good stuff out there, but that which captures the zeitgeist, that which gets everybody talking, doesn’t exist. Not in a major way, at least.

What has happened here is we’ve lived through the MTV era and the advent of the internet and the post-Covid blip, and now what? Now that people are more discerning, and are leaving the house less immune to hype.

Contrary to what complaining artists are telling us, distribution has been figured out, better than in any other entertainment vertical. It’s the software we’ve got a problem with, i.e. music. The tools of creation are in the hands of the proletariat, distribution costs are de minimis, it’s no longer a rigged system, do people really want to listen to your music?

An even bigger question is whether the era of dominant superstars and hits is history. Or whether the new model is something more like Zach Bryan, who bubbled up from the bottom, who made it on songs first and foremost, garnered a core audience and then grew, who performs sans trappings, who is selling authenticity.

And Jelly Roll is selling something similar.

Zach Bryan is a hell of a lot more serious. And Jelly Roll has been caught up in the machine in a way that Bryan, an anti-star, has not. But could it be that Jelly’s success is well-deserved? That Mr. Roll has learned something in his thirty nine years that the youngsters populating the hit parade have not? Roll is breaking the rules. And we love nothing more. Older, obese man with a sweet voice sings songs that resonate and…

People rally around him.

2

Let’s be clear, Jelly Roll is operating in a controlled market, the last one that means anything, country radio. The playlist is defined and acolytes still listen, which is not the case in other genres. And that gives acts a leg up.

Then again, Morgan Wallen is the biggest act in America.

People hate when I say this. They’ve got a million beefs. But if you look at the statistics, it’s Wallen all the way. Not only does he make albums that stay in the Top Ten for a year, he sells out stadiums and has hit after hit after hit.

Which you can hear if you’d just play the damn record. Yes, he’s got that southern accent, but you accepted Tom Petty, didn’t you? Yes, he used the “N-word” and threw a chair off the rooftop…as for the latter, my inbox is filled with people calling that rock star behavior, de rigueur in the seventies. My point here is, does Morgan Wallen deserve to be cancelled? There was pushback against DEI, against woke and now they’ve come for cancellation. We all make mistakes. When did this one strike and you’re out culture become dominant? You can’t learn a lesson, you can’t improve? And those who say no change can be made cause an equal reaction on the other side. Which is why you’ve got Bill Burr saying there is no more cancellation, and Jerry Seinfeld saying essentially the same thing. It’s kind of like the supposed ubiquitous hitmakers in the “Wall Street Journal” article…the press is out of touch with the people.

But my point with Wallen is you can sing along. Good luck singing along with most of the Spotify Top 50. Never mind that so many of those acts can’t really sing.

But Jelly Roll can.

“I am not okay

I’m barely gettin’ by

I’m losin’ track of days

And losin’ sleep at night

I am not okay

I’m hangin’ on the rails

So if I say I am fine

Just know I’ve learned to hide it well”

Ain’t that America? Certainly male America. Internalize your feelings, don’t share weakness, but this guy is speaking his truth, which is yours.

“I know I can’t be the only one

Who’s holdin’ on for dear life”

Bode Miller and filmmaker Brett Rapkin have a new movie, “The Paradise Paradox,” about suicide in the mountains: https://t.ly/mcNVw

And the “New York Times” just printed a story about the epidemic of suicides in Montana: 

“She’s Fighting to Save America’s ‘Last Best Place’ From Suicide – Montana’s suicide rate has been the highest in the U.S. for the past three years. Most of the deaths involved firearms. But suicide rarely registers in the national debate over guns.” 

https://t.ly/FcsFg

Meanwhile, the Spotify Top 50 artists tell us how fabulous their lives are. They focus on petty beefs. You can possibly like these songs, but you can’t relate. But you can relate to “I Am Not Okay.”

3

So I’m listening to Jelly Roll on Stern and he comes across as likable. With a sense of humor. And not stupid.

He’s led a hard life, like the country artists of yore. He’s been to jail. And he’s putting it all down in song.

Isn’t this what we’re looking for? Didn’t John Lennon tell us to give him some truth? That’s what we’re all looking for in this phony, sold-out culture. The only antidote is art, but artists have abdicated this power, along with the labels who proffer them. Like the movie studios, they’re so busy making and promoting music that supposedly resonates with all that it ultimately resonates with few. What do you expect when the songs are massaged ad infinitum? With rewrites and remixes… So busy trying to make sure they’re a hit that if there was ever any lightning in the bottle, it’s now been extinguished.

We are now in a new era. And when the media says so before the industry, you know you’re in trouble. The old paradigm is dead. The era of ubiquitous hits anointed by few and known by many is done.

This does not mean you can’t have a career, even sell out large venues and make a lot of dough. Because what we’ve got now is passionate fan bases. That’s what you want, people who bleed for you, who live for you, and forget the rest. Stay true to your vision.

It’s all gone. The multi-single album with tracks spread out over years. The three-four year album cycle. A stiff killing your career (it just gets lost in the miasma of product). There are new rules, the game’s been eviscerated, but the players keep on playing, and they’re not winning.

Could I use some additional lyrics in Jelly Roll’s “I Am Not Okay”? Some more insight? That would be good. But he’s not Bob Dylan, who comes along once in a generation. But not only can Jelly Roll sing, he can write changes, he can create a song, a formula that’s been lost to many in this one chord world.

You should listen to the Jelly Roll interview on Howard Stern.

And you can see the segment I listened to and referenced above here: https://t.ly/1eUyA