“Zach Bryan Is Absent From 2025 Grammy Ballot, as He Joins the Superstar Ranks of Drake and the Weeknd in Declining to Submit”

https://t.ly/vzfZn

And that’s why he’s such a big star.

When the Eagles sing we haven’t had that spirit here since 1969, this is what they’re talking about.

This is what made music so powerful, not Lady Gaga in a lame Hollywood movie, but those who were on their own path, away from the mainstream, thinking for themselves, which is why everybody followed them.

Bryan is in tune with the times. People are sick of the construct, they feel marginalized, they want someone to believe in.

This is the antidote to Kardashianism, that was so 2010s.

The story of the past ten years, the Trump ascendance, is that people are questioning institutions and the people who run them. Like Hillary Clinton. They want someone new, someone to lead them, someone to believe in. That was not Trump, but he tapped into a feeling, the zeitgeist of today’s America, meanwhile, historical institutions like the Grammys double-down like they still count, oblivious. He not busy being born is busy dying? That’s what Bob Dylan sang, meanwhile the Grammys are calcified. They can’t even eliminate categories for fear some marginalized musician will complain they don’t have an opportunity to win a statuette.

I could continue to trash the Grammys, but what’s the point.

The point is music can be our number one cultural driver, no art form is as powerful, but it requires artists to think for themselves, out of the box.

One of the great things about the decimation of the major labels is that now acts don’t have to listen to suits tell them what to do. This is the way it was in the late sixties and seventies. The suits finally realized they didn’t know, the acts were in control, they just delivered finished albums, there was no remixing, none of the constant drone about a hit single…

There’s this canard that music is a commodity. That the major labels are stewards of what is popular now. That’s business, not art. And never confuse them.

There is no artistic competition. It’s a faux construct. Who is better, Picasso or Braque or Pollock or… Picasso kept changing, knowing that to stay stuck in a rut is anathema. Pollock threw out the entire rulebook forget traditional representation.

Imagine a TV painting competition. Couldn’t be done. What are the criteria for excellence? How long does someone get? But now too much music is made on an assembly line.

Meanwhile, when the outside triumphs, it’s good for everyone. Chappell Roan is good for everyone. Because she’s not a tween from a TV show singing songs written by committee.

And in country age is no longer a barrier.

And the most revered man in country, who is also very successful, is 46 and overweight.

You have to be able to say no. You have to be able to question convention and authority. You must think for yourself and risk.

This is what the public is looking for from artists.

Artistry knows no bounds. It’s about inspiration, vision. Not some committee deciding whether you’re good or bad.

We need more artists pulling out of the Grammys as opposed to those complaining they’re not winning awards.

A Grammy is meaningless. A song that changes someone’s life is not.

If your obituary says how many Grammys you won, either you missed the point or the writer did.

We live in a bottom up society. Think of what the public wants. When you hang with celebrities and are featured in TMZ, when you flaunt your lifestyle, when you start selling us perfume and brandy…you may be making money, but you’re missing the point.

That’s got nothing to do with music.

And the money goes to those who focus on music, and only music.

Because when you do this, when you are uncompromised, people believe in you, FOREVER! You can pursue your art FOREVER!

Music is not about the momentary, it’s about careers, those who explore and last.

The stars should exist in their own world, outside the corporation, beacons to the people.

Which is what Zach Bryan does, which is why he succeeds.

“You know those lights were bright on Broadway

That was so many years ago

Before we all lived here in Florida…”

“Miami 2017”

Billy Joel

Hasn’t Billy moved to Florida, and Howard Stern for a lot of the time too?

Actually, I first heard this song in 1981, as the opener of Billy’s “Songs in the Attic,” live versions of numbers that were previously cut in the studio that Mr. Joel felt didn’t get proper treatment, and now after a trifecta of hit albums, it was finally time.

Actually, “Miami 2017” was originally on “Turnstiles,” the overlooked 1976 album that convinced Billy to stop self-producing and work with Phil Ramone, and the rest is history. But pound for pound, “Turnstiles” is fantastic. It includes the original “New York State of Mind” and “Summer, Highland Falls,” which follows up “Miami 2017” on “Songs in the Attic” in a rollicking version. (I was looking for a description, I couldn’t quite nail one in my head. It’s fast, but not exactly jaunty. Let me just go with the generic it’s GREAT!)

And the thing about “Turnstiles” is it was made when Billy was on the downswing, so it’s personal in a way what came thereafter was not. Kinda like David Gray’s “White Ladder.” You could picture Billy on the New York Thruway, you could see him in the Catskills.

And that’s a state of mind I know so well, it’s in my DNA, but instead of decamping for Florida, I came to Los Angeles. And in the meantime, Miami became hip.

You’ve got to know, it was where old Jews went to die. Where those with money vacationed during the winter, you know, the people whose parents drove Cadillacs.

And then Madonna came along and then “Miami Vice” and cocaine and… Funny these United States, you see it on TV, but until you actually go there, you don’t really get it.

That’s what I was thinking in the drive from the airport. Used to be we were all focused on the same things. I just asked a woman with daughters to name me two Taylor Swift songs and she couldn’t. You get the impression from the media that we’re all focused on the same things, but never has America been so Balkanized, at least in my lifetime. In other words, what happens in Miami may not travel to the west coast, and vice versa.

Actually, I regretted booking a hotel downtown, I thought we should have stayed at the airport, like Steve and Nancy. We weren’t going to arrive until 7 and had to be out just twelve hours later.

But I was wrong, because if we’d stayed at the airport I would have missed it.

This is not the Miami of my youth, not that I ever went there, but Jackie Gleason used to do his show from there, and the Beatles played “Ed Sullivan” down there. But the landscape was not populated with skyscrapers. Empty skyscrapers.

America is now about the haves and have-nots. And barring some economic revolution, it’s going to stay that way. Then again, there’d be a revolution if the poor saw how the rich truly live.

If you’re checking your wallet, you don’t belong in Miami, at least not downtown, by Riverwalk.

It’s kind of like “Blade Runner.” Tower after tower. Each one more than half dark. Because the wealthy now have multiple homes, and this is shoulder season, it’s not quite cold enough in the northeast to decamp.

And it’s the three rules of real estate, location, location, location. As in how close to the water you can be.

And to tell you the truth, if I told you I’ve seen more than twenty five minutes of “Miami Vice,” I’d be lying. But it’s midnight, and yachts are cruising, music blasting, such that you can hear it up on the 24th floor as the boats idle waiting for the bridge to rise.

There are boats in Marina Del Rey, but you don’t see them unless you go there, whereas just downtown… Actually, a hundred footer was docked right outside the hotel. And two other yachts almost as big. And I’m asking myself which comes first, the yacht or the jet. Probably the jet. But do you really need to own a yacht? I mean most people are on them even less than the number of days people spend in these Miami residential towers.

But it’s part of the lifestyle.

I mean you’re looking out at the lights, which don’t quite rival Broadway, but it’s far from dark, and you stare at the boats and you can see it…cocaine. I don’t think you can bring in Bolivian Marching Powder by boat these days, never mind marijuana, but they once did.

As Jimmy Buffett would say, it’s a haven of pirates.

And to tell you the truth, the rich aren’t that law-abiding. How do you think they made that money?

But it’s overwhelming, and inspiring, and HOT! If these people just flew to Los Angeles I doubt they’d buy in Miami. It’s the HUMIDITY! It never feels this hot in L.A., never ever. Up until climate change reared its ugly head you didn’t even need A/C on the westside, even the houses of the rich were naturally cooled.

But not anymore.

And Miami is just three hours from New York. A hop and a skip, but no jump is required. And what you’ve got to know is the east coast mentality is completely different from the west. No one drives ten hours on a whim. And a New Yorker will tell you that the city is the greatest in the world, and there’s no telling them otherwise.

Actually, I might agree, and I’d like a condo there, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

So Miami is New York south, with a whole lot of Spanish speaking people. Every Uber driver. It reminded me of that TV series “StartUp,” which is ultimately unsatisfying but I’m glad I saw it. You’ve got the Latin culture and the dope and it’s visceral and includes the Miami you think you know and the one you don’t.

The U.S. is about the hustle. Sure, there are some entertainers, some tech titans, but everybody else is looking for an edge, a way in, a way to lift their lifestyle above the hoi polloi. And Miami is one place you can do it.

So I rode the elevator down to Riverwalk, which was just outside the door. Can you walk alone in the dark at ten p.m. in Miami? I mean for a long while you couldn’t in New York City, but still…you think before you take chances.

But I’m out there, walking past the hotels, the restaurants, the occasional person, and it was palpable, you could feel the vibe, the opportunity of the city.

Now unlike L.A., if you want to play you’ve got to have the clothes. This may be the beach, but if you’re wearing flip-flops you’re either filthy rich and don’t care, or you’re part of the underclass.

Everybody’s flashing it.

Everybody wants to show up and show off. I saw outfits which never appear in L.A. A one piece green thing with sparkles, a similar tight outfit in red…

That was at the restaurant, not out on the walk.

And the restaurant got busier as the night wore on.

We all want to play, we all want to exhibit our bona fides, evidence our quality, whether it be money, looks, talent, intellect or all of them. Some lick their wounds afraid they’ll lose. But the brave and the ignorant show up. Sometimes the less you know, the further you go.

And I know, I know, they tried to establish a new Silicon Valley in Miami and they failed, even New York has a hard time competing with the real thing.

And you’ve got all the rich New Yorkers who’ve moved for the tax benefits, including those teetering on bankruptcy who want to keep their houses.

And then there are the South Americans. That’s not something you see in L.A.

And all you had to do was go outside, for a walk, or sit on the balcony, and you could feel it. It’s different, and exciting, and hot! People spending all that money to shvitz?

But this is where you go to impress.

Miami has moved beyond the dope and even the partying of the eighties and nineties. It’s now the big time.

And I’m no longer there.

Tune in Saturday October 5th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

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

The one and only.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/richard-thompson/id1316200737?i=1000671654137

 

 

 

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