Bottlerock is America’s most upscale major festival. Based in Napa, the food is not the usual institutional fare, but served by restaurants from the area, never mind the wine… I talk with the three principals about the cost and perks of the various levels of ticketing, and then we dive deep into the history and finances of the festival.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bottlerock/id1316200737?i=1000646381157

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/1ca6e497-7030-442b-902b-2e252aabd673/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-bottlerock

It started in the eighties with trickle-down economics. If we just lowered taxes on the rich, the poor would get the benefit. We know how that worked out, rampant income inequality. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. And then the poor were blamed for their lack of capital, they were told to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Even supposed Democrat Bill Clinton put a dent in welfare, because as we all know, the takers are what’s wrong with society.

And then came the dotcom era. You could deliver a popsicle for free. Stocks only went up. Made no sense, and of course it was untrue, and the market crashed and many lost their life savings.

But they were told everybody in America is entitled to own a house, that is the goal. And the end result was the 2008 crash. Even worse, those who caused it skated completely, they had to be saved for the good of the economy. Wondering now who’s looking out for your interests? You should.

And then came Trump’s lies. It’s a fact people, Trump has lied more than any President in history. The truth went out the window. The press which disagreed with him was the enemy, especially the “mainstream media.” Furthermore, everybody was getting their news from algorithms that just fed their preexisting positions. And we had Kellyanne Conway talking about “alternative facts.” Wait just a minute, aren’t facts just that, true, definitive? Not anymore!

And then Trump clearly lost the election and said he won.

And there was a riot in the Capitol building and we were told it was a peaceful demonstration. This confounded anybody who watched on TV. I mean I saw it with my own eyes, you’re telling me I’m wrong? As for “election fraud,” it couldn’t be found, not in any significant amount, no court sided with Trump’s team. But many people in America still believe the election was stolen. So now our entire Democratic system is up for grabs. It’s hard to play a game, have a contest when the rules are fungible.

And now we’ve got Biden. You just have to watch him, stiff, with a soft voice, this guy presents old. But we’re told again and again not to believe our eyes. Insiders who refuse access to Biden, who keep him in a bubble, say he’s fine. Or they say that Trump is 77. Which is like saying a seventy year old paraplegic should be judged on the same terms as a fully functioning human being of similar age. On one hand we’re all the same, on another we’re all different. What’s the truth? All I know is I know very few 86 year olds with all their marbles, many are repeating themselves, never mind having trouble with mobility. But somehow Biden is immune. Even though we can see with our own eyes he’s not.

And when asked about the killing of Khashoggi, Jared Kushner says “are we really still doing this”? Hell, it’s not only Kushner, it’s the golfers and more who let cash whitewash the bad behavior of MBS. Makes your head spin.

And we had Putin saying that the explosion of Prigozhin’s private jet was an accident. As if private planes, any planes are exploding in midair these days. As a matter of fact, it’s when they’re cruising that jets are the safest!

Then we get Navalny. Guy succumbed to natural causes. Trust us, you can’t have access to the body.

Even worse, only days later, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine was killed in Spain. But Tucker Carlson says that Russia is a paradise, with better supermarkets and subways than the U.S. And Carlson is supported by Elon Musk, who is certifiably…well, if not crazy, myopic and power-hungry with little knowledge of world situations and the truth.

And Putin disses Carlson and then says he’s for Biden after Trump has made a career out of giving him the benefit of the doubt, praising him.

And with all this, we can’t send money to Ukraine, no way, that’s their problem, not ours. But the past is prologue and we can see in the two World Wars of the last century you cannot isolate yourself, you have to pick a side or else you lose. Just like all those workers who lost their high-paying jobs when the elected officials enabled or looked the other way when the jobs were shipped overseas, leaving these people to do service work at low-paying compensation.

What’s a poor boy to do?

Certainly not play in a rock and roll band. Music has distanced itself from politics, from reality, for fear that one potential customer might be pissed off. Kinda like the networks back before cable.

Well, you could look out for yourself. This is what the elite are all about. Using the advantages of their parents to build résumés such that they can get into a good college and get a high-paying job, and believe me it’s not in the arts. The arts are for the great unwashed. The odds of success are too low. And the great unwashed are uneducated, if we’re looking to them for answers…we might as well go to Facebook.

And then we’ve got those who went to Yale and Harvard scapegoating the elite when they are members of it.

And billionaires are to be revered. If you make money in America, you’re God, the rules don’t apply to you. Meanwhile, the poor pay a higher rate of tax than the rich, they own no stocks, there are no capital gains. And then the rich tell us they pay the lion’s share of tax when in truth the poor that might not be paying income tax are paying taxes all day long, on gas, on food in certain areas, on all the purchases you need to stay alive. Never mind that without the poor buying their products the rich wouldn’t be such.

And don’t bother positing the truth. People live in the dark, their leaders keep them in the dark, they don’t know anything that doesn’t agree with the principles of their officials. As if life were black and white, not gray.

And if your kid gets pregnant good luck getting an abortion, even though you can now get one in Catholic Ireland. And we keep hearing we don’t want socialism, from people who’ve never been to socialist countries, which are in many ways better than the U.S., never mind that in many ways America is already a socialist country.

And we’ve got wankers running for office asking for our money. Wasting it on television ads when everybody’s online. AOC stated this and was excoriated. Get on the team!

And if you’re gay or transgender… Sleep with one eye open. Because freedom is for them, not you.

We’re fatigued, we’re disillusioned, but we’re told to continue to believe. Like the African-Americans who’ve voted Democratic for decades whose needs are rarely addressed.

And we’ve got people like Kim Kardashian, famous for nothing. Yes, you don’t even have to do anything to make it these days.

So what do you want me to do?

Well, another thing that changed was the evisceration of the power of teachers and school administrations. Used to be that the worst thing that could happen was to bring a note home from school. Now, if you do, your parent goes and yells at the teacher, saying you can’t be at fault.

Our entire society has flipped. And if I had to pick one target, it would be trickle down economics, and the resulting income inequality. The rich skate, the poor get charged and go to jail. And we must cut the budget of the IRS so you, who file the standard form, are not taken advantage of. Talk about being false on the surface, just like the small business hogwash. It’s big business that generates the most dollars and employs the most people.

And you wonder why people give up.

They’re told to vote, but they don’t see change with their vote.

Everybody’s in a silo. Everybody is out for themselves. It’s constant social warfare.

But we’re told to deny what we see. It’s all just normal behavior.

As for leaders, we’ve got nincompoop Trump and aged Biden. Talk about being disillusioned. And the elders ignore the youngsters who will inhabit this warming planet, who embrace tech the oldsters can’t comprehend.

This is life in the United States today. And sure, there’s plenty of outrage, but it’s equivalent to sporting contests, it’s one team against another.

So we drop out. Because we can see that the world is insane and we’re sick of people telling us it’s not. We’d like an honest leader, standing up for the people, but everybody is sold out to the corporations, or fearful of alienating someone instead of drawing people to them.

And you’ll argue with me on some of the above. But that just means you’re buying into the insanity, normalizing it. Believe me, the truth is out there, but you’ve got to research it. In many cases in the words of the mainstream media, who actually do the reporting. Online all you get is opinionated drivel.

But you don’t want to question your underpinnings, your beliefs. You don’t want to be excommunicated from your tribe.

We believed in JFK because he asked what we could do for our country.

Today it’s what you can do for yourself. While at the same time telling other people how they should live their lives.

The world is topsy-turvy, but we keep being told to accept it.

I’m not. And I believe there are many on my team, but we don’t have a representative, no one is willing to go against the flow.

So we watch streaming television, get high and check out.

Welcome to modern America.

Maybe you’re unaware. Maybe you’re too cheap to pay for Max, one of the worst apps ever, technologically. As for the name change, the most watched shows are still those from HBO.

Or maybe you wait until the episode hits YouTube. Well, now you’ve got to wait until Thursday, HBO doesn’t want you to get anything for free, they want you to pay up, that’s how streaming works these days, they’re stopping leaks, trying to make the numbers work, but they only work at Netflix because the Silicon Valley giant keeps making new product, and it’s all about new product. Netflix does what the major labels do not. It’s not only searching for hits, it’s playing to the niches too. Not worrying about nurturing one project, adding songwriters and remixing in search of success, just handing the reins to the talent and the result is some misses, but some stuff that absolutely wows you. Like “Squid Game.” You’re still talking about that, when was the last time you talked about a record?

Actually, we watched one of Netflix’s new programs last night, “Lover, Stalker, Killer.” I found it via a RottenTomatoes search. It had a 100% critics’ score, and an 81% from the public. Sure, there were only nine critics, but there were one hundred plus rank and file raters.

I don’t recommend it. But it’s only ninety minutes. The story is fascinating, but it’s too much like “20/20” or “Dateline.” Then again, the underlying facts engender conversation. It’s so whacked. People. You can’t trust ’em. Or should I say those who look normal may not be.

And after talking about “Lover, Stalker, Killer,” we pulled up “Last Night Tonight with John Oliver.” Sure, it premiered the night before, but you can never tell when a series stops and starts these days, when there’s a new episode.

And Oliver’s show has a formula. Bits and pieces and then a deep investigation into a single topic. In a world where they tell us to keep it brief. And Oliver’s got this indignant style with attitude, but with a sense of humor and self-deprecation involved. It’s Howard Stern on steroids, Oliver’s words are often delivered at a rapid clip. And last night it was all about a lack of trust in the Supreme Court, a major issue, and the undeclared gifts to the Justices.

Now if you’re a dedicated follower of the news, as I am, there was nothing in the twenty or so minutes that I was unaware of. Then again, I loved how he contrasted today’s behavior to the resignation of Abe Fortas, which was a big deal, and certainly amongst the mishpucha, for he was Jewish.

And there was footage of Clarence Thomas bloviating.

But then when it was all wrapped up, when the curtain was about to fall, Oliver whipped out one more thing.

During the piece John emphasized that Thomas had complained he couldn’t make enough money as a Justice. And Oliver posited that Thomas was staying on the Court for the perks of the penumbra.

So, with that nerdy smile that endears you to him, John made an offer.

He’d pay Clarence a million dollars a year to resign. He had a contract and everything. You knew it was real. Oliver’s pranks, Oliver’s offers might be outrageous, but they’re beyond jokes, they have follow-through. And sometimes they succeed. He’s messing with the establishment, people who take themselves too seriously. Who love the rules. It’s the sixties reincarnated.

Yes, Thomas could make enough money to pay for all the perks himself, until he or Oliver passed, when one did the deal was over.

Sure, it’s HBO’s money.

But NO! Zaslav ain’t going to part with any of his dough. This was Oliver’s personal cash. It’s his money on the line. He’s putting his mazuma where his mouth is, which almost nobody does these days.

And now I’m excited, laughing. While I’m calculating how much Oliver actually makes, how much of a hit to his pocketbook this will be.

But wait, there’s more!

Oliver leaves the set, goes backstage, where you can see how phony the set is, walks through the halls, and ultimately goes to a room (yes, it was prerecorded, you could tell by the audio, but the effect was the same), where he revealed a multi-million dollar Prevost motor coach. Far superior to the one Thomas owns. Yes, this was the sweetener, Thomas would get the motor coach too.

And I’m literally howling. Clapping my hands, exclaiming loudly. You think you’ve seen it all, and then you haven’t.

You see…this would be a good deal for Clarence Thomas. He’d end up with much more than he would as a Supreme Court Justice.

And, he’d find out who his friends really are. Were Harlan Crow and the rest just buddies because he was a Justice, or…

And when I finish howling, smiling, I go to the internet. After all, its twenty four hours later. And the story is all over the news, but it hadn’t reached me.

You see that’s not enough. Most people no longer trust the news. They only trust their friends. They’re waiting for their friends to tell them something, for no financial advantage, only to share the joy.

And that’s what I’m doing here.

I’d love to tell you about a record. Records can zing you in a way that television cannot.

But we’ve lost the forebears in music. Acts are imitating Mariah Carey, that’s what TV competition shows are all about. And Carey broke over thirty years ago. The heritage, the meaning of the music from the sixties and seventies is long gone.

We don’t have a Frank Zappa, never mind a David Crosby speaking his mind.

Everybody just talks about the money. What it takes to get the money.

Or they complain that no one is paying attention.

They don’t know it comes down to the music itself.

And it’s not how well you play, it always comes down to the IDEA!

The sound, the record can be dead simple, as are many of the greatest hits of all time. “Satisfaction.” “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” They didn’t need cowriters, remixers, weeks in the studio. Their essence was baked in, the music was raw, unhindered by the sheen. You didn’t have to know who the act was to get it.

Never mind the Mothers of Invention singing about losing status at the high school.

Then again, the best and the brightest don’t go into music anymore. It’s not a sea of college graduates, rather kids who’ve been pushed by their parents since puberty. They’ve got no frame of reference, got no background, what you see is what you get. Whereas with the greats, you’re always confounded, HOW DID THEY COME UP WITH THAT?

I mean it’s not like John Oliver’s act is new. It’s a formula. But he doesn’t change it up to try and stay current, he’s sticking to his guns, tweaking it to his and our advantage along the way. He’s not a weekday late night talk show host. He’s sui generis. And he’s forty six. Takes years to mature, to achieve greatness, enough with the teenage phenoms.

So just like Freddie Garrity, I’m telling you now. Sure, I gave you the punch line, but I’d still check out the show.

It may be comedy, but it’s underlined with facts. Like Leonard Cohen wrote, everybody knows. We just need someone we can trust to say it.

And we trust John Oliver more than we do Lindsey Graham, never mind Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The tools are out there. In plain sight. But no one picks them up.

Acts can’t write a bridge, never mind a chorus.

There’s an entire music business, firing on all cylinders financially. Then again, the major labels are firing people as they’re making more and more profits.

But not in the live business, which is why all the action is there today.

Dig down deep. Forget the surface. It’s what comes to you in the shower, when you’re not working, that is gold. We want to be wowed, we want to be amazed, we want to be enticed, we want you to provide that which we could not conceive of so we can tell everybody about it.

Like I’m doing now.

The Michael Jackson sale to Sony, catalog sales, R&RHOF and cuts that changed the course of music history.

Tune in Saturday February 17th 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