“What Happens When a Pop Star Isn’t That Popular? – Pop’s middle class enjoys loyal online fan bases. For these artists, pop stardom isn’t a commercial category, but a sound, an aesthetic and an attitude.”: https://tinyurl.com/bdcd3x6y

That’s a free link, and you should click on it.

As for the Kesha/Dr. Luke story, if you don’t subscribe directly to the L.A. “Times” you can still read it as part of the Apple News: https://tinyurl.com/3z9hzrpe

If you’re on TikTok or Instagram, you’d think that Bebe Rexha is a big star. Rexha has 8.4 million followers on TikTok and 11 million on Instagram. And for weeks there’s been a debate about her weight. Rexha’s retort has been that she has PCOS, which notoriously causes weight gain, and she is doing the best she can. So Rexha is both humanized and humiliated, still an object of hate. But that’s social media. However, when it comes to charts, Rexha is challenged.

And despite the Top Ten being published every week in news outlets, it’s only oldsters and those in the business who care about charts, the fans care not a whit. They’re fervent believers willing to take on all comers, defending the object of their affection, such that one might get a skewed view of the overall marketplace.

Just like Trumpers.

If you were aware during Watergate the Trump indictments are a head-scratcher. News for a day and then they disappear. And on Fox, it’s not even the main story. In a world where Hillary Clinton is President and Hunter Biden the Democratic Minority Leader of the House, there are more important fish to fry. But you can’t tell a Fox fan, a Trumper, any different. But how many  Trumpers are there?

This is where media falls down. Basing its info on polls that have been notoriously inaccurate for nearly a decade. Why trust them now?

Trumpers are a niche. Even if you give them 35% of the Republican electorate. But the Democrats are deathly afraid, and non-biased media too, because if they say anything anti-Trump, their inbox is going to go wild.

That’s right, decry Trump and you’ll be flooded with incoming. Praise Biden and some of these same people will blow back, but the Biden voters, the Democrats? They’re not that active, they don’t see a need to defend Joe, or any of the Dems, as much as the Trumpers need to defend Donald.

So if you’re in the maelstrom, you’d better have perspective, or you’re going to get it all wrong.

Like I said, on social media Bebe Rexha is a queen. And she is, just to a very small number of people. And it’s the same with Trump.

As for the Trumpers…

They ain’t gonna show up in person. They learned their lesson on January 6th. They want to be vocal, but they don’t want to go to jail. Those days are through. It’s easy to bloviate online, yet to put your person at risk is a no-no. But the Donald doesn’t even understand this himself. He doesn’t know he’s living in a past era. If he really wanted to win he’d adjust his message, but vengeance excludes all contrary input, actually, all input other than exacting revenge is excluded. In other words, despite being told again and again that Donald Trump is in touch with the public, just the opposite is true.

But still, if he shows up, the crowd will go wild.

Well, there are acts you’ve never heard of that sell out Madison Square Garden, that’s how fervent fans can be these days. And people need to believe, to make their lives work. As for truth? That train left the station long ago.

But non-Trump media keeps wincing, keeps adding right wing commentary, all to appease a right that will never be satisfied. If you’re going to deal with these people at all you must go on the offensive, but the only people who know this are those who interact with the right wing each and every day. You think teaching is easy, but talk to a teacher, just keeping order is a big problem, controlling the classroom is a skill unto itself. Unless you’re there, you don’t know.

So…

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they turn. Right now Donald Trump is sh*tting bricks. This ain’t some civil b.s., this is criminal, if he loses he could go to jail. And his constituents can’t help him. It’s not like they’re going to revolt in the streets, they tried that, and once bitten, twice shy.

So really, you should laugh at Trump. Laugh at his minions. You see they’re on a losing path. They’re desperate. Kind of like those Japanese soldiers still fighting the war years afterward. They may think the battle is continuing, but it’s over, the public has moved on.

Don’t be scared, just vote. If you do, it’s no contest. And it turns out the Democrats are motivated, that’s what we learned in Ohio. Being in the public eye for all these years, giving us a look at his shenanigans, most people are scared of giving Trump control of anything. But the news is like Chicken Little, always telling us the sky is falling.

And reporting on Trump’s so-called defenses.

Let the circle jerk itself. You’re never going to penetrate it. They’re going to say it’s free speech. That’s like you’re four year old saying he didn’t know not to eat all the cookies in the jar. The kid is desperate, they’ll say anything. But you don’t set up a court and hear the defense, because it’s obvious. Just like Trump’s crimes are obvious, they were in plain sight, January 6th was on television, and if you think that’s peaceful, how about we do it at your house?

Forget these people, they’ve forgotten us. And their goal is to jet back to a past that was worse for everybody and is never returning anyway.

And they’ve got their statistics, which like Bebe Rexha’s are in a vacuum. Jason Aldean’s song going to number one! Well, most people don’t even listen to the radio and you can live quite easily not knowing a single song in the Spotify Top 50. This is not the Beatles, the song is not ubiquitous, there’s a hard core that know it, and that’s it.

Kind of like this Oliver Anthony “Rich Men North of Richmond” kerfuffle. A tempest in a teapot. Maybe if you’re in the business, you’ve seen the story. But otherwise, no one knows. And if you pay attention, like with the Aldean song, you come across offensive lyrics:

“Well god, if you’re 5’3″ and you’re 300 pounds

Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds”

Now let me see… The red state people are all skinny, and those in the city are fat. Actually, percentage-wise the opposite is true. In other words, to be a fan of this song you’ve got to be self-hating. And just like every family has a gay person, every family has an obese person, maybe all of the people. Where is fat-shaming a good look?

Once again, once you pierce the bubble you find there’s nothing there. But the right wing agitators keep throwing up this crap and making the left crazy, which is exactly what they want. No, Oliver Anthony is not a new hit artist, he’s a brief moment in time, ultimately meaningless, because almost nothing sticks these days, to have a career means to pay untold dues that most people don’t want to. Even if you have a hit it’s forgotten. But we should pay attention to this bigot?

I don’t think so.

But all those on the left are up-in-arms. As if their agitation will make a difference. The first rule of internet hate is don’t respond, that’s exactly what the haters want. But those with keyboards on the left never seem to have learned this, while they keep telling us to put the smartphone down. Pick it up, the more you’re on the more you win. Hell, the most revered person in the music business today is the internet marketer. If you can penetrate the morass and reach the people you’re king, or queen. But you’re hearing just the opposite from those who made their bones in the last century.

The “New York Times,” the “Washington Post,” they’re on the back foot, constantly playing defense. Don’t they understand that the only thing that will satiate their haters is if they shut down the entire enterprise? Hell, if I listened to all my haters I wouldn’t write at all, which is exactly what they want. And the haters are more vocal than the lovers, always.

But we’d better not indict Trump, his numbers will go up, people will attach ever more tightly to him. In what world have you ever seen this? Sure, his hard core, who were never going to give up the fight, might embrace him more, but no one else sees Trump being indicted and says “He’s my man!” but the old school bloviators keep telling us the wolf is at the door, and Trump is commanding an ever-growing army. Yeah, just like Putin in Ukraine. Everyone thought he was going to win in a second, but here we are many seasons later, and he’s far from victory. Furthermore, even more of what’s behind the curtain has been revealed. Putin is holding on by a thread.

But Putin is proffering disinformation. Like the educational system of Florida. But if people truly loved DeSantis’s policies he’d be trouncing Trump, but the guy is cold and offensive and the closer you look the more you’re disgusted.

Just like abortion. Dodd revealed the culpability of the Supreme Court. It single-handedly undercut their credibility, just like lawyers in Watergate. Lawyers haven’t regained their status, and it’s fifty years later. The Supreme Court is vulnerable, seen as a bunch of self-dealing doofuses who can’t even judge their own lives properly.

Turns out people want abortion rights, and they’ll come out to fight for them.

In other words, the left is winning. As Trump and the nincompoops dug their hole ever deeper, the rest of us woke up. And we’re saying NO MAS! That’s the one thing we all agree on.

So how about a news reset. How about the end of fearmongering. How about making fun of Trump and his people. How about owning this great country of ours instead of getting down in the gutter with these agitators who just want to tear down the government. Yeah, just wait until there’s a natural disaster in their backyard, they’ll be looking for a federal handout. And their hero Elon Musk digs his own grave each and every day. He’s another one we should ignore. Leave him in his own backwater.

But first and foremost pull back and see the landscape.

Musk dented Twitter and it’s never recovered. And sure, Threads is no replacement, but if you think we need Twitter/X, you think that tech could never survive without Steve Jobs. I mean there’s no lack of information. And what’s important will get out, it always does.

And social media is a nightclub, it’s hip and successful and then it goes bankrupt. It’s a moment in time. Everybody realizes it’s no longer cool and they go somewhere new. But Elon Musk doesn’t understand cool, and the world runs on cool. And Donald Trump is not cool. Nor is white nationalism. However much they press, their platform is a bad look.

So just ignore the Trumpers. Don’t argue with them. And if they can’t shut up, stay away from them. And if they continue to talk, just laugh. They want you to engage, don’t. Supersede them, live above them.

Because they’re niche.

And to win in this country you’ve got to be mass. And Trump is losing followers each and every day.

“What really happened between Kesha and Dr. Luke”: https://tinyurl.com/2s47yjmc

This is the “Hit Men” of its day.

But nobody seems to know this, because nobody seems to have read it, and you can’t unless you subscribe to the “Los Angeles Times,” which nobody seems to do anymore, the paper having shrunk itself down to near irrelevance.

This story launched online six days ago. Was in print yesterday, on the front page. How many e-mails do you think I’ve gotten about it? ZERO!

But if you want to know how the music business really works you should read it.

It’s about the money, it’s always about the money. And most people don’t know it’s about the money, because they’re employees, they don’t know what it’s like to run a company, they’re not exposed to the shenanigans of those who start and run enterprises. Because if you don’t have sharp elbows, you’re going to be taken out.

So…

If you read the above article, you’ll conclude Dr. Luke never raped Kesha. That it was all a ruse to get out of her contract. That she signed with full representation.

Leverage. There it is, your first deal will be crappy. Unless you’re somebody, and probably you’re not.

And how talented are you anyway? Sans Dr. Luke, Kesha’s career has faltered, but Lukasz Gottwald has ultimately had more hits.

Everybody came to her defense. Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift gave her $250,000. And Dr. Luke might not be the most lovable guy around, but that’s different from raping someone. But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.

This is the “Rolling Stone”/UVA story of its day. A “Rolling Stone” reporter made up a rape story, the truth came out and heads rolled. Well, the editor of “Rolling Stone” at least. What will be the aftermath of this L.A. “Times” Kesha/Dr. Luke story?

Nothing.

If you want to know how the music business really works, read this article. Forget all those websites giving you false hope. All the nobodies noddering about nothing. At the elite level, it’s business, with a lot of dollars involved. And you need no degree to be in the music business, on either side of the recording console. Having said that, most of the winners are whip-smart, street smart.

As for the legal system… The wheels of justice turn very slowly, but they do turn. And you can say whatever you want, get your minions agitated, but that does not mean you’ll skate. This is the story we’re seeing with Trump right now, this is the story of Kesha and Dr. Luke. 

As for the final settlement… Dr. Luke got no money, because Kesha is probably near judgment-proof and it would cost him millions more to find whatever she has and to get it. So what he got from Kesha was…

“Only God knows what happened that night.”

Hmm… You’re suing and you don’t know what happened? And there’s no evidence?

How about the attorneys who took this case.

And Kesha switched managers… The talent will always screw you.

As for Kesha’s mother… Let’s just say she’s a piece of work.

This is the music business today. People trying to get rich and famous with no CV. But you probably don’t know what a CV is anyway, which proves the point.

Music is one of the rare enterprises where no qualifications are necessary, everybody can play. But not everybody can be successful.

As for the public? It’s completely ignorant, not knowing that most of the acts it reveres are two-dimensional people built into stars by the machine. It was always this way, you always need people to prop you up, to grease the skids, to get you and keep you on your way, but whether the underlying “artist” is truly talented…that waxes and wanes. This is not the sixties and seventies, and the eighties were dominated by MTV and CDs, the big money era began. And we presently live in the blockbuster era. If you want to be in the Spotify Top 50, you have to align yourself with the people in this article, or those similar to them.

I was absolutely riveted reading this story, and I already knew it! Because it was all there, the way the music business really works. And I’m the only one who seems to have read it.

Nothing shows up in the Google News, NOTHING! As for music news outlets, this story is too hot to touch, and in a world where everything passes, why take the risk.

Do I know exactly what happened that night? No. But I did read this article, and if you do you’ll draw your own conclusion, but I’d be stunned if you come out believing that Dr. Luke raped Kesha.

But if you don’t read it, it doesn’t exist.

Dr. Luke is still a pariah.

I’m not saying Kesha isn’t entitled to work, isn’t entitled to get the best deal possible. But I am saying that false accusations can impede a career, and it might take years for the truth to come out, and that’s too late.

If a tree falls in the forest…

If a tree falls in Los Angeles…

This story is just a microcosm of the world we live in. Where truth is fungible and the public can be convinced something is true when it may not be.

Once again, READ THIS!

Tune in Saturday August 12th 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

She had a white hot band.

The music business is still not completely up to speed post-covid. What I mean is there are not as many lunches, as many hangs, as there were pre-pandemic. Which means I’m still at home a bunch, and I don’t like it. Sure, I like to read my books and watch my shows, and unlike many I’m hearing from people all day long, but there’s nothing like being out and about.

Like last night at the Ford.

I went alone. I used to always go to the show alone. You know those who talk about shows being parties? That was never me. It’s always been about what’s on the stage and my communication with the music, setting my mind adrift, setting me free. It’s a religious experience. Related to listening to recordings, but different.

And I don’t want to drag someone to a show. I don’t want to feel responsible for anybody else. I don’t want my experience impaired. But if no one else will go, that won’t hold me back.

So…

As soon as I parked my car and got on the golf cart to take me up the hill, a feature at the Ford, I encountered people and my mood changed. After picking up my ticket and going through security and entering the building I got a feeling you can only get at a show, a feeling of anticipation and excitement. Not only is this why live will never die, but it’s also why live is burgeoning. In an era where so much is done inside, at home, it’s great to go outside, it refreshes your mood and inspires you. In the pre-internet era we were always out of the house, home was anathema, all the action was at the club, the movie theatre, the arena… But now people stay at home not only to stream TV, but to play video games, dedicate time to their devices, such that out is such a huge contrast. And no matter how many gigs you’ve been to, the feeling when you walk inside the building remains palpable, you’re never completely relaxed, you’re waiting, to be lifted off, jetted into the stratosphere.

Now it’s not like Lucinda Williams is unknown. But she’s never had a hit record, not even one, not one cut that everybody knows. She has been the beneficiary of a ton of press, but press means less than ever before. Used to be your PR person could get you in enough traditional publications to get the word out, so everybody was aware of you, but that’s impossible today. Even worse, the younger you are the less you even read/are exposed to mainstream publications. My name was mentioned three times in an article on ticketing in the “Los Angeles Times” last week and I only heard about it from one person, my sister. In the pre-internet era there would be a plethora of incoming. My point being if you get your name in the newspaper, if you’re on TV, enjoy it, because it almost never leads anywhere.

So…

Lucinda Williams recently released an autobiography and a new album, and that generated some of the aforementioned press, but in today’s world if you’re not a fan, you’re not interested. No one sits at home and says…that’s sounds interesting, I think I’ll go. Because there are so many events that are in your wheelhouse. The looky-loos stay away. Then again, there are cultural events, like the Taylor Swift tour, that incite FOMO, but for most shows this is not the case.

Now in the past century, in a much smaller music business, charts meant everything, you could quantify someone’s success. Despite there still being charts, today they’re notable for what they miss as opposed to what they include. In other words, the charts won’t tell you what is happening. Like the fact that Lucinda Williams has a hard core, dedicated fan base who will keep her career alive.

Now it’s important to know that Lucinda fandom is not casual. People find the lyrics speak to them. They’re devoted.

And almost all of them are oldsters. At least last night.

It was the opposite of TMZ, the opposite of Kardashian, the opposite of almost everything everybody tells us is important and dominates. I haven’t seen this much gray hair at a show in memory. And I’m not talking about the men so much as the women. They were not conforming to society’s beauty standards. And a lot of the men and women had imperfect bodies. But boy were they into the music. Like the people who came down the aisles to get closer. The guy who sidled up next to me was in his seventies, but he just needed to get closer to the sound, to the show, and he was not the only one.

And this is different from our parents. Our parents were not constantly going to see their heroes live. They might occasionally go to a popular music show in their later years, but if anything they went to hear the symphony, classical music. Their popular music was not classic, but ours is. They call it classic rock because it is. And it’s a sound and an attitude and…

You need it. Boomers go to shows on a regular basis. Sure, a lot of times to see older acts, but not always. Then again, so much of the modern music is rooted in the sounds of yore.

So…

Have you ever listened to “Get-Yer-Ya-Ya’s Out!”? This classic Stones album from 1970 is unlike today’s live albums. In that it’s rough, it’s a feeling as much as the sound, it’s not impenetrable, if anything it draws you deeper in, because it’s alive and breathing and…

If you got a bunch of teenagers in the venue last night you could have sold Fenders by the dozens on the way out. Because you wanted to be one of those guys on stage, playing. It looked like the height of living. It had nothing to do with money, but the happy expressions on their faces, the way they locked in together and squeezed out the notes, the way they played effortlessly.

Now if you’ve ever picked up a guitar you know it’s far from effortless, at least beyond a few chords. You’ve got to spend your time, pay your dues. The hurdle is pretty high. The rewards come deep in your career. And that’s too hard a lift for most today. Or they want to show off before they are ready. But these guys are seasoned and ready.

So…

You’ve probably heard that Lucinda Williams had a stroke. Based on the scuttlebutt, I thought she was doing better than she is. Sure, stairs can be dangerous territory for the most agile person, so I understood her slow movement down the steps, on the arm of a helper, but when she crossed the stage to the microphone tentatively…

I was reminded that she had more days behind her than in front of her. That this is the case with me and everybody in the audience. This is it, this is our time, pay attention, because it won’t be long before it’s over.

And Lucinda was performing this way. She was not punching the clock, this was not just another gig, this was more than that. The music used to be more than that. With Lucinda, it still is.

So…

The show began with “Let’s Get the Band Back Together,” and this was…

Well, like being hooked up to thousand watt electrodes. The audience was instantly energized, swinging, this is the sound that they grew up with, that’s in their DNA, this is rock and roll.

They say that rock is dead, but if you were at the Ford last night you’d think otherwise. And it wasn’t nostalgia, everybody was worse for wear but they were pushing forward.

I really can’t describe it, it’s something you feel. When the band lights up and so do you, when you can’t help but move, dance in your seat, even if instinctively you’re too uptight to dance in public, you just can’t help yourself.

It was inspiring, it was overwhelming. And I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest Lucinda Williams fan, and I’d seen her before, but this was something different. She was the headliner, the venue was small, this was her audience, she damn rocked the place.

Now I’m not saying there were not quieter moments, but you sat there and felt like whatever you believed in, the sound of yore, the roots, back from the sixties and seventies, were still alive and blooming. There were no hard drives, no synths, it was what you used to do with your buddies in the garage, but on a professional level.

The bass player’s Precision was worn down around the edges, the finish was gone, that’s how long he’d been playing it.

And the drummer? He had a kit bigger than most touring musicians today. But what was really interesting was between songs he reached behind his seat and extracted a new Paiste and changed cymbals. I mean really, it made that much difference, he needed to put in the effort? Yes it did and he did.

And two lead guitarists, intertwining. Akin to the Stones when Mick Taylor was in the band. Like on “Ya-Ya’s.” And no one was showing off, no one was grimacing, squeezing out the note, they were just playing.

But it wouldn’t have mattered if not for Lucinda. Because sans songs you’ve got nothing.

And Lucinda does not come from the Moon/June school of songwriting. It’s personal, with attitude. She lived the rock and roll lifestyle. You know, the clubs, the drunken nights, the road less taken. Then again, we too used to go to the clubs on a regular basis, back when they still existed, when they had live music at the bar down the street.

But today everybody puts money first. And if they bother to go down the music path they want quick results, they don’t want to be lifers, they don’t want to sacrifice, they want brand extensions. But Lucinda Williams is not a brand, but a person, an artist, and it’s a big difference. She doesn’t stand for something, she is something!

Now if you were unfamiliar with the music you still would have gotten it. But if you were…

What a long strange trip it’s been, kids who were born after Jerry died pledging fealty to a Dead that’s been cast in amber, as opposed to the living, breathing ensemble that Garcia drove into the future. That’s right, as good as Dead and Company were, and they were excellent, it was nostalgia.

Lucinda Williams is not selling nostalgia. She’s still pushing the envelope.

But she’s not the only one. There are so many scenes out there garnering fans that get no big time attention. They are what’s keeping music alive.

So, last night was a triumph, for Lucinda, the audience and me. Yes, I got out into the world, I felt alive. And being a member of an audience, even though I spoke to not a single person, made me feel like I belonged, that other people were on my wavelength. And Lucinda Williams was the ringleader, with songs, stories and attitude. It was reverse charisma. She didn’t need to be a star, this was her job.

It was inspiring. She’s still here and so are we. And we won’t be forever, but we still want that hit, the live music, sans the trappings of dancing, even production. We want the sound, the feel, and we don’t want it to be exactly like it was before. And we want to feel like it’s being built from scratch every night, that everybody isn’t just going through the motions, that playing these songs is a coming together, a meshing, a living, breathing enterprise, all done without a net.

You see you don’t have to be two-dimensional to triumph. You don’t have to get plastic surgery and refuse to age. You don’t have to adopt a look and a persona. What we want most is three-dimensional, malleable human beings wrestling with the same questions we all are, but soldiering on, shedding light and inspiring us at the same time, helping ease our journey in this confusing life.

That’s what Lucinda Williams did last night.