Spotify playlist: https://tinyurl.com/yr8h28sn

I wonder if this is available in hi-res?

Last night I was on CNNi talking about that new Beatles song, you know the one with John Lennon, made with AI. I love Paul McCartney, but this was a publicity stunt, isn’t it interesting that he announced this when he was hyping a new book and exhibition of his photographs. It’s hard to get attention for anything these days, even if you’re a Beatle, so this was a way to gain eyeballs. As for the track… “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” weren’t that good, George Harrison refused to work on “Now and Then,” and it was far from finished to begin with, just a Lennon cassette. As far as the technology employed by Peter Jackson to make that Hulu documentary… We knew about it, and that was eighteen months ago. But got to give McCartney credit for pushing the envelope of AI. You’ve got to look at the possibilities, not the detriments. The drum machine, sampling…were the enemy until they were de rigueur, and in some cases superseded. Remember when every album featured syndrums?

Not to impress you that I was on television. But just to point out that after you do your hit, you’re wired, it takes hours to calm down. This kind of work is different from what most people do. The light goes on, you come alive, you’re talking off the top of your head, depending on your entire life and its history, cogitating while you’re talking, and then it’s over.

So what was I gonna do?

At first I wanted to write. But that would be a big mistake. I was on at 10:50 PM west coast time. If I wrote, I’d be lucky if I fell asleep by daylight.

And I wasn’t calm enough, slowed-down enough, to read a book.

And I knew if I fired up TikTok, that would be the evening.

So, I decided to listen to music. And ultimately read my book at the same time. I used to do this all the time in the seventies, but rarely these days, it’s too distracting. But if I play songs I know by heart, it’s really not.

But I had to listen via headphones, I couldn’t blast the tunes and wake up Felice.

So, I wanted to hear “Ready for Love/After Lights” from the Mott the Hoople album “All the Young Dudes.”

That album came out in 1972. The height of Bowie-mania. Well, actually it got even more intense, and in truth the masses hadn’t caught on yet in America, but I’d bought “Ziggy” and seen the tour and I was up on all things British. And I’d paid attention to Mott the Hoople, had even seen them on their first American tour at the Fillmore. But what got me to buy my first Mott album was the title track, a David Bowie composition. You know how you hear something once and have to own it, so you can hear it again and again? Well, maybe if you’re young you don’t, you just go online and click, it’s instant. Whereas in the old days… Some songs you could wait to come back on the radio, but “All the Young Dudes” was not spun constantly, you had to buy it to hear it.

And it got to the point where I’d prefer playing the second side instead of the first, with the hit. And “One of the Boys”… The dialing of that phone…love that song.

And then “Ready for Love/After Lights.”

It was unique in that it was sung by Mick Ralphs, in a thin voice. It radiated meaning, a privacy that was not evidenced on the radio but you could get in album tracks. And when “After Lights” played I was surprised, that I was the same as I ever was. It’s not about fighting that feeling, but recapturing it. The years go by and you start to think that era’s passed. And then you’re suddenly surprised that it’s not.

Used to be different, we didn’t used to be so involved, so connected, you could be lonesome, and alone. And you were forced to go out and integrate. Remember talking on the phone? I used to do that, to connect. I rarely do that anymore. And I’m down with that. I hear from and am connected to more people than I’ve ever been in my life. And I like that. That’s the advantage of the internet. I hear from people I know every day, from around the world, even when I’m asleep. Yet people still hate the internet, are anti-social media. Sure, there are MAGA people you pooh-pooh, but if you took a deep look at yourself, how tied to the past are you? How much do you want to go back to a rosy era that wasn’t that rosy to begin with?

So some people are members of the group. This is different from having friends. This is about shaving off your edges to be a member of a gang. Maybe not one that terrorizes citizens, but in truth that’s the ethos of public high school. The gangs and everybody else. The number one gang is the athletes and the cheerleaders. And there might be another gang of hipsters. And then there’s everybody else. Sure, there are always unpopular loners who don’t seem to care about their status, but the rest of us yearn to be popular, admit it. Instead, we fly off the radar.

And we satisfy ourselves.

Today you go online and find your cohorts. I wish we had this back then. Instead, I often felt like a party of one, especially when I was going to college in Vermont in not only the pre-internet era, but the pre-VCR era, the pre-cable era. I’d put on a record and it would set me free, I would bond with it, not only did I feel relaxed and satiated, I dreamed that there was a better life out there, where I would be understood and accepted, and it was all related to the music.

That’s true. But not everybody in music is on the same page. They all might have even played in bands, but there are business people, and the rest of us. You’d sit in your burg in the seventies, devouring rock magazines and…you’d get to L.A. and find out the bigwigs knew less than you. But they knew a lot more about business, and that’s what sustained them. You were more like that kid in the Kinks’ “A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy”: 

“There’s a guy in my block, he lives for rock

He plays records day and night

And when he feels down he puts some rock ‘n’ roll on

And it makes him feel all right”

And this works for a while, until you need dough to go to the show. You’re forced to go straight, your dreams are squeezed out of you. Except for a very few who follow their dream, and get to the destination.

And I can’t believe how good “After Life” sounds. I play it twice.

And then I go to Qobuz, to see if it’s available in hi-res. And the funny thing is the Atlantic albums are, but the Columbia albums are not. It’s usually the reverse, Columbia has upgraded more albums than anybody, at least that’s the way it seems.

So then I decide to play the Bad Company version of “Ready for Love.”

And it’s different, not ethereal, at least not in the same way. But Paul Rodgers’s vocal adds something, it’s satisfying to listen to a pro at work.

And then I want to hear “Live for the Music.”

“Some people say I’m no good

Laying in my bed all day

But when the nighttime comes I’m ready to rock

And roll my troubles away”

That’s me. Kind of like Yogi Bear. You know, he may sleep ’til noon, but before it’s dark, he’ll have every picnic basket that’s in Jellystone Park.

“I love the nightlife, I’ve got to boogie”

But not necessarily on the disco floor.

You see I’m a contrary. I may have seen “Saturday Night Fever” the night it came out, and who couldn’t love “Stayin’ Alive,” but I never bought a leisure suit, I never learned the dance steps… However, if rawly inspired I could jump up and move, it just had to be the right track.

But my main point here is I love the nighttime. When everybody goes to bed, when the world is mine, when there’s no incoming, no commitments, and I can let my mind drift.

So I’m listening to Bad Company, I had to let the album slip into “Simple Man,” it’s one of my anthems…

“Freedom is the only thing means a damn to me”

I’m not simple, but I love the freedom so often denied me. I’m not talking about the right wing freedom, I’m not even talking about political freedom, I’m talking about raw freedom. If I’m myself…people don’t like it. I speed too fast into the lift line, even if there’s no one around. I’ve been stopped for that. I’m too into things, I’m told to mellow out. Please, let me be me! But I can’t, but during the nighttime…

I can.

And Rodgers is so damn good, that I decide to listen to Free.

But the damn Free albums have not been converted to hi-res, they’re only available in CD quality. But I decide to listen to “Molten Gold: The Anthology” anyway. The only Free album I ever bought was “Fire and Water,” to own “All Right Now.” But when this double CD package came in the mail back in 1993…I got hooked.

Not that I planned to. I wanted to hear “I’ll Be Creepin’,” which I remember from the free A&M sampler album “Friends”…and then I just let it play.

So I’m listening on Qobuz, where everything sounds better, reading my book, and it’s with the second cut, “The Hunter,” that the music starts to resonate.

And then two later it comes to “I’ll Be Creepin’.”

“I’ll hold you in my arms

Like nobody else”

I mean “I’ll Be Creepin'” is good, it struts, but then it slows and quiets down and Paul Rodgers sings the above lyrics over Paul Kossoff’s stone in the water plunks and it’s transcendent.

And I get stuck on “I’ll Be Creepin’,” and wonder if there’s a live version.

And then I find that Three Dog Night covered it!

And then I’m wondering whether I knew this and forgot this or…

But I pull up “I’ll Be Creeping” by Three Dog Night and I’m impressed, if for no other reason than the group knew it. And I’m going through Three Dog Night’s discography track by track, re-evaluating my notion of the band, and then I go back to “Molten Gold.”

After “I’ll Be Creepin'” comes “Songs of Yesterday”…

And that’s when I realize, there’s very little on these tracks. It’s not like today, in no way were these cuts sweetened. They’re basic, any combo could sound like this, but they don’t. And then I start to wonder, will the kids of today, tomorrow, discover these tracks the same way the people who made ’em discovered the Delta blues artists?

I mean these Free songs are so pure. And therefore they’re honest. Not unpolished, not unformed, but little more than four guys in a room, focusing on the basics, but with one of the best guitarists and best singers of all time. One died, the other gained more fame elsewhere, then again Paul Rodgers says Paul Kossoff was the best guitarist he’s ever worked with, and Chris Blackwell testified about Free to me.

And two songs later it’s “Broad Daylight.”

And I know all these tracks, having played the anthology so many times, but somehow “Broad Daylight” is now resonating. I’m getting into the verses, and before this it’s the chorus that opens the track that’s gotten to me. I have to stop reading my book, I have to look up the lyrics. And I find there’s not much more there than what I caught while focusing on something else.

And then two tracks later came “All Right Now.”

I pulled up the app to skip it, knowing I wanted to get to bed by two, and there was no way I could complete the “Anthology” by then, and I knew “All Right Now” by heart. But then I reconsidered, let it play.

And having broken from my book, I’m listening, I’m focused. And Qobuz sounds so good, even at CD quality, that it’s like Paul Kossoff is playing his Les Paul mere feet away.

Now most people know “All Right Now” from the radio. And believe me, it jumped out of the speaker in the dash in the late summer of 1970, but few bought the album, got any closer.

And that’s what we wanted to do, get closer. We bought better and better stereo systems, headphones, whereas today people have ten dollar computer speakers and tiny earbuds. Remember all those complaints about the sound of MP3s? Now better than CD quality is available on streaming and most people don’t seem to care.

And I’m waiting for the guitar break in the middle, that was excised from the single, it always seemed weak, but now the sound was full-bodied, it made sense.

And Simon Kirke is a master on the drums.

And the piano comes in.

And the bass.

And I can hear everything. Like I said above, there’s very little on these Free records to begin with. And when Paul Rodgers is not singing, Paul Kossoff is shining. But now that I’m listening at such high quality, wow. This isn’t just guitar-picking, this is something more. The sound…there’s more than just the note.

And even when Paul comes back in, man, that Les Paul is chunking as Simon Kirke is holding a steady beat and…

It’s positively mesmerizing, astounding. I’m discovering new things on a record I’ve heard a zillion times. And the funny thing, how do I explain this… You hear things that are not there when you listen via a crappy system, but last night I learned that there are times when Kossoff stops playing, but the sustain carries on and marries with the holes to make you hear something that’s not even there. I mean there’s an effect.

And there’s a minute-long outro, and ultimately Kossoff is playing a completely different groove, it’s subtle, yet obvious if you’re listening closely.

And now I’ve got to research the history of “All Right Now,” even though I’ve done so before. There are so many things I look up again and again, touching the stone, hoping for new insight.

And then I’m reminded of how the track was written quickly, the band needed a closer for their live show. Funny how the greats are made. Today you put a zillion writers together and polish the turd, whereas most of the absolutely great songs, the elevens, were written on inspiration, on desire. There was no concentration, they just came. Acts wish they came more.

And I’m positively stunned. And after listening to the second half of “All Right Now” twice I decide to see if there’s some single, maybe something from a compilation, that’s been released in hi-res.

That proves to be untrue.

But there are numerous live takes.

And “All Right Now” is a unique track, so much of this stuff cannot be replicated live, it’s a studio sound. But Paul Rodgers is unlike the fakes, he can really sing like that, and it turns out Paul Kossoff can get that sound. I’m listening to the take from “Free Live!,” and damn if the essence isn’t there.

And I’m scanning through the track listing on Qobuz and there are more live takes, there’s even one from the Isle of Wight!

That was legendary. Back in 1970. Jimi Hendrix’s last gig, at least that’s how I remember it, I could check but why lose the flow, even though if I’m wrong my inbox will be inundated with those who know better… But music is not a competition, and those taking the time to correct me are usually the self-satisfied far from the center, this is all they’ve got.

And I’m asking myself how good this could be. I mean there wasn’t a soundtrack album back then, not one I can remember, or maybe it was a three disc set and it didn’t seem worth it, Isle of Wight was something you read about, not something you heard or saw. But this is great too.

And then I pull up the version Paul Rodgers sings with Queen. And I’m hesitant, this is Brian May, not Paul Kossoff. But man, May gets the same sound, but the track is just a bit louder, more in-your-face, having been recorded in the modern era.

And Brian even performs the solo excised from the single. And the audience is singing along…

“All right now

Baby, it’s all right now”

And when that’s done, I pull up this Paul Rodgers solo take from his 2018 album “Free Spirit.”

And it was around this time that I saw Bad Company live. A band I never saw during its heyday, even though I bought all the albums and was a huge fan. And it’s one of the best shows I’ve seen this century. There were no airs, after all the show was at the L.A. County Fair. But man, the music!

And on this “Free Spirit” version… Paul Rodgers has not lost a step, he’s still got the pipes, and…

The audience is singing along.

“All right now

Baby, it’s all right now”

And now I’m watching the clock. How much more can I listen before going to bed. But I don’t want the sound to end, I don’t want the feeling to end. I eventually shut it down. But I’m thrilled that I’m the same as I ever was. Still the same person, rooted in the sound, the guy in the Kinks song, doesn’t matter who is President, how much cash I’ve got, whether the cut is new or old, because I’m alive and elated. What more can you ask for?

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/2p9hwy6t

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/yckdmsj3

1

“You didn’t know that rock ‘n’ roll burned
So you bought a candle and you loved and you learned”

Mott the Hoople couldn’t weather the loss of Mick Ralphs. Who surprised us all when he jumped ship for Bad Company and evidenced skills we were unaware he had.

Mott the Hoople debuted with an instrumental cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” years before it became associated with Van Halen. But even though there was some press and some airplay the band didn’t break through. They put out four albums on Atlantic, and even though the final release, “Brain Capers,” got good reviews, it had no commercial impact, even the devoted hipsters had seen the movie and were no longer interested.

Then the band switched labels to Columbia and set up shop with David Bowie and can you say…”All the Young Dudes”?

“All the young dudes
Carry the news”

They most certainly did. Their older siblings were back at home with their Beatles and their Stones and the young ‘uns dressed up and listened to new, simpler, stripped-down tunes and lived for the music.

“I’m gonna live for the music
Give it everything you got”

What a concept. No one with a brain does that anymore, just the prepubescent, the unformed, because once you get older you get it together and go online and become an act yourself, and it’s very hard to make it in music, you evidence other skills.

As for those in music… It’s ugly, it makes you wince. Cynical baby boomers and Gen-X’ers pulling the strings and uneducated nincompoops performing the songs and it’s a sideshow, a lot of people stop to see the atrocities, it’s a train-wreck on the midway, but if you’re a serious person you don’t even bother. And believe me, we were serious people taking our music seriously, arguing about it, not blind sycophants equivalent to Trumpers, defending our favorites at all costs and decrying those who don’t believe.

But the interesting thing is that first Mott the Hoople album on Columbia not only contained the monolithic Bowie cut, it opened with Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane, years before it gained prominence on “Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal.” But on the flip slide there was “One of the Boys”:

“I’m just one of the boys
One of the boys
I don’t say much but I make a big noise
And it’s growing, yeah it’s growing”

That was the power of the rock and roll audience. That’s where it was all happening, in music.

And then there was the original version of “Ready For Love,” redone on the first Bad Company album, but sung by the inimitable Paul Rodgers. Whereas on the “All the Young Dudes” album…the writer, Mick Ralphs, sung it with his weak voice and it was so intimate, especially with the instrumental second half, “After Lights,” that it couldn’t help but penetrate.

And there was “Jerkin’ Crocus”…

In other words, the “All the Young Dudes” album was good!

But most people consider the follow-up, sans hits, even better. It opened up with “All the Way From Memphis,” which Marty Scorsese used to open his breakthrough film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”

And “Mott” also had “Honaloochie Boogie” and “Drivin’ Sister” and…

It wasn’t as commercially successful as the previous album, Ralphs left and was replaced by the inadequate Ariel Bender, and then Mott the Hoople broke up. And Ian Hunter proceeded to make three solo albums for Columbia, none of which were successful.

And then he decamped for Chrysalis. Built on the back of Jethro Tull, the company had been reinvented, with Blondie and Huey Lewis and the News and Hunter dropped “You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic,” which was even better than the Mott albums, and contained a monster hit, “Ships,” albeit in the cover version by Barry Manilow, the ultimately iconic “Cleveland Rocks,” which got a renaissance via its use, in a cover version by the Presidents of the United States of America, as the theme song for Drew Carey’s sitcom, and the delightful “When the Daylight Comes.”

But back on that first solo album, when the label still believed, when Ian was finally released from the shackles of a group, there was one song that got traction.

“Once Bitten, Twice Shy.”

And you heard it on the radio, but really most people didn’t know it until it was covered by Great White fourteen years later and became an FM staple, back when radio still played the band, before the Rhode Island nightclub fire.

2

“You didn’t know what rock and roll was
Until you met a drummer on a Greyhound bus
I got there in the nick of time
Before he got his hands across your state line,”

This was before smartphones. Before everybody had a camera in their pocket. Before there was a visual record. When bands were still dangerous, and I don’t mean that in a completely positive way.

Everybody wanted to go on the bus, not only girls, but boys. But boys didn’t have the right ticket, the bands weren’t interested in them, this was long before acts came out of the closet, but if you were a girl, attractive and eager, even unattractive and eager, the door was open.

But there was a price. You just didn’t get to laugh and eat, you had to perform services.

“Well in the middle of the night on the open road
And the heater don’t work and it’s oh-so cold
You’re gettin’ tired, you’re lookin’ kinda beat
The music of the street drive you off your feet”

You didn’t know what you were getting into. Not only the sex, but the drugs. These tours were like Hotel California, if you got in, it was nearly impossible to leave. What, and give up the circus?

But the costs…they were there.

And there was a feeder system. The rock and roll crazies were everywhere.

“You didn’t know how rock and roll looked
Until you caught your sister with a guy from the group
Halfway home in the parking lot
By the look in her eye she was givin’ what she got”

Don’t mistake “Almost Famous” for reality. That’s a fairy tale. In truth the rock acts abused the women, and were proud of it. Not all of them, but the tales are rampant. It seemed that all behavior was tolerated, and if you disapproved you just looked the other way.

“Woman you’re a mess, gonna die in your sleep
All the blood on my hand and my Les Paul’s heat
I can’t leave you home, ’cause you’re messin’ around
My best friend told me you’re the best trick in town”

Sweet Sweet Connie in Little Rock? The Plaster Casters? Pamela Des Barres and her cronies on the Sunset Strip? There was a circuit, lore was passed from act to act, these girls were stars in their own right, but they paid a price.

“I didn’t know you got a rock and roll record
Until I saw your picture on another guy’s jacket
You told me I was the only one
But look at you now, well it’s dark as it’s dumb”

You could jump from musician to musician, but don’t think your ex was happy about it. Most of these rock stars were unformed, oftentimes less than verbal, you were their trophy, and once you moved on, you were anathema, you were the enemy.

And eventually, you wore out your welcome. You had too much experience, you got too old, you were kicked to the curb and if you survived…

Once bitten, twice shy.

3

You followed Donald Trump to D.C. on the 6th. You were sick of the east coast elites and the immigrants stealing your future. You wanted to bite back, but you had no power.

As for the musicians, they were sold out to the man, the same man who’d screwed you, the same corporations that dominated the Republican party and took all the money.

No one was looking out for you.

And then Donald Trump came along. He was showbiz, earthier, more rock and roll than the rest. Sure, he was rich, but so were the rock stars of yore. He seemed not to be beholden to anyone. He said what he thought. And he constantly professed love to you, his fans.

He was crude, used the language of the street. This was someone you could identify with, who would speak for you against…

And your enemy was caught flat-footed, they didn’t see it coming and couldn’t understand it, they thought it was a joke. Just like they thought rock and roll was a joke back in the sixties and seventies. It was pooh-poohed, for children only, worthless.

But now we’ve got elected officials quoting Bruce Springsteen, never mind Bob Dylan.

Suddenly the rockers became the establishment and you were the punks. You were the Ramones, who really didn’t get any respect until Joey was dead, they never had a hit record, not one. But when decades had passed, they were finally safe.

And your enemy, the elites and the denizens of the city, didn’t want to know you, just wanted to ignore you, to the point where you enjoyed their reaction, dug in your heels and stuck with it. Even gained a new hero, Ron DeSantis.

And like the pre-Beatles acts, the politicians got on board with the new sound/creed, or fell by the wayside. They too didn’t know what was going on, but they didn’t want to lose their job, it’s always about your job. Trust the Bob Dylan of politics, James Carville, who famously said “It’s the economy, stupid!” A memorable quip equivalent to the bard’s “He not busy being born is busy dying.”

The rockers, the Democrats, were the establishment, no one was listening to you, you were going to show them a thing or two.

And your hero was above it all. Trump said he didn’t need the money. And he acted with impunity. He was your guy. Until…

You went to jail and he didn’t.

Once bitten, twice shy.

You’ve seen this movie. You’re not going to go to Miami and protest his arraignment. Because you might pay a price, as he skates.

You believe in him like the rockers believed in John Lennon. Don’t kick him out of the country!

But at that point everybody smoked marijuana.

How many are hoarding classified documents in their personal club/mansion?

That’s right, Trump became Frampton, all the other acts who made it and played to their audience. Sure, some true believers stayed on, but to the rest it was creepy, they might have bought “I’m in You” when it came out, but then they moved on.

After all, the big wheel keeps on turnin’.

Proud Mary, er, the country, keeps on burnin’.

The truth was revealed. Trump was a poser.

But the old rockers, the Democrats, never got the message, they were still afraid of Trump like they were of the dirty young rockers of the sixties. They were going to ruin the youth, they would reign forever and the country would be destroyed.

But the audience moved on. And the acts died or grew up.

But Trump doesn’t grow up, he doesn’t evolve, and we all know acts that try to replicate their hit records experience commercial death, relatively quickly. You’ve got to keep on changing, keep on innovating. The public doesn’t want the same thing over and over again. They want to be titillated.

And at some point, unknown by the media, everybody gets the message and turns away. Which is why you can sell out arenas on one tour and have to cancel your tour the next time around because you can’t move tickets.

We’re always searching for the other in the ether. That’s what the audience wants.

Once bitten, twice shy.

They’re not going to get arrested, pay the price again.

Spotify playist: https://tinyurl.com/2kcytafs

“Friends”
Elton John

“You’re My Best Friend”
Queen

“With a Little Help From My Friend”
Beatles

“Can We Still Be Friends”
Todd Rundgren

“You’ve Got a Friend”
Carole King

“Thank You For Being a Friend”
Andrew Gold

“Friends In Low Places”
Garth Brooks

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvCgSqPZ4EM

“Why Can’t We Be Friends”
War

“Be My Friend”
Free

“Friend of the Devi”
Grateful Dead

“Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”
T-Bone Burnett

“Goodbye My Friend”
Karla Bonoff

“Funeral For a Friend-”
Elton John

“My Best Friend’s Girl”
The Cars

“Old Friends”
Simon & Garfunkel

“Red Neck Friend”
Jackson Browne

“Outside of a Small Circle of Friends”
Phil Ochs

“You Never Know Who Your Friends Are”
Al Kooper

“How Many Friends”
The Who

“Hello Old Friend”
James Taylor

“My Best Friend”
Jefferson Airplane

“Friends”
Led Zeppelin

“Friends”
Buzzy Linhart

“See My Friends”
The Kinks

“Friends”
Beach Boys

“All My Friends Say”
Luke Bryan

“Waiting On A Friend”
Rolling Stones

“The Turn of A Friendly Card”
Alan Parsons Project

“Always a Friend”
Alejandro Escovedo

“A Friend Is a Friend”
Pete Townshend

“Thank You Friends”
Big Star

This video perplexed me:

“The EXACT MOMENT where the lead singer of a band saw my sign and bought me on stage: https://tinyurl.com/ypd2jjr7

I’ve been watching TikTok videos for the past hour and a half. I wanted to see if my feed was dominated by Trump indictment clips, like it was on Friday.

This was after seeing the headline in today’s “New York Times”:

“Trump Supporters’ Violent Rhetoric in His Defense Disturbs Experts – The former president’s allies have portrayed the indictment as an act of war and called for retribution, which political violence experts say increases the risk of action.”: https://tinyurl.com/4xr97fnr

This piece made me think how the media was complicit. That it pushed the Trump agenda for so long that it came back to bite them in the ass.

But then there were the elected officials, afraid of losing their jobs, who got on the Trump train too.

And I wanted to write something, but I didn’t. Because to a degree it feels like pissing in the wind, while pissing people off at the same point.

But then I reflected on how on Friday afternoon I was listening to Mark Levin rant and rave on Fox and then, when he took a breath for air, the Fox host contradicted him, told him he was wrong. Levin went apoplectic. Then again, that’s his act to begin with. And it had me wondering, had Fox changed in the wake of the Dominion settlement?

And that’s when I went to TikTok. And was served up this video:

“Former Trump AG Bill Barr on Trump’s federal indictment”: https://tinyurl.com/we6pmv65

I’ve got no time for Bill Barr, especially in the wake of his preemption of the Mueller report, delivering a conclusion that was not aligned with the ultimately released document. But even worse is his hairpiece, doesn’t he know we can tell? I noticed it the first time he surfaced with Trump. He had a head full of hair, yet his face was lined. He’s 73. I mean come on. This is just a warning to those of you losing your hair, own it, it works out far better.

So it appears that Bill Barr is the new Liz Cheney. Able to stand up for truth, justice and the American Way…after they didn’t. But better late than never.

So maybe the tide is turning. Then again, this is my TikTok feed, what’s in everybody else’s?

And then I stumbled on these clips of Steve Harvey giving advice. And it was really good:

“He’s a little scared to get back in”: https://tinyurl.com/4apzjyvk

They went on a date and then she never heard from him. And when they ultimately made contact he said he wasn’t ready. And she said should she strike him from her contacts and he said not to do that, and that maybe they could go to church together.

And then Steve went on to diagnose the guy, you need to watch this, both boys and girls, to see how men really think.

And Steve was so good, that I decided to click to watch more of his feed. Turns out this is a feature, of what I’m not exactly sure. I know that Steve had a sitcom, I know he hosts a game show, but until I looked him up on Wikipedia I had no idea he had an empire.

And there was the woman who had a tatted-up biker boyfriend who wouldn’t… I don’t want to ruin it, you should watch it:

https://tinyurl.com/3ervx5np

But even better was this segment that Bill Barr should watch:

“Going bald is not something you should try to fight”: https://tinyurl.com/ypf942ka

Then Felice interrupted me and asked me what I was reading. And I told her that I was watching TikTok clips. I started telling her about Steve Harvey, she didn’t know he had a talk show, all she knew was the aged sitcom. And then I started telling her about the Backseat Lovers.

In the clip there was a band on stage. Wearing street clothes. With no production. And it was a really big stage. And when the camera turned it was a pretty big venue, full of people. It looked like nothing so much as the seventies. But this was positively now.

Oh, I know. This must be Christian rock. How could something be this big and I’ve never heard of it?

So I Googled, and found out that although the band was from Utah, they were not a Christian act.

And then I had to hear them. So I looked the Backseat Lovers up on Spotify and found out they had a song with 237,849,712 streams. And another with 67,636,049. And another with 62,777,795. And another with 24,605,553.

Now let’s be clear, the aged acts of yore, the classic rock icons, when they release new work it doesn’t come anywhere near these numbers. Very few people do. Most scrape along, if they’re lucky breaking a million and complaining to the government that they’re not getting paid, something must be wrong. FIX THIS FOR ME!

Well, maybe it’s not broken.

So I decide to play the first track on Spotify, the one with 237+ million streams.

Let’s be clear, I’m doing something else at the same time. I mean I’m not going to dedicate all my focus to this. And then…

“I overheard that she was nineteen
She’s got a fake I.D. and a nose ring”

I’m a fool for this stuff. I hate platitudes. And I hate boasting. But if you set the scene, if you’re personal, I’m all in.

And it occurs to me, this song, “Kilby Girl,” is really good.

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yc2muzef

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/2e3as7fd

This is not Top Forty stuff, it’s not overproduced. Yet it’s hooky. And intimate, you don’t find intimate on Top Forty anymore. But people are craving intimate.

Well, this is in the alternative lane. And it made it all the way to number 39 on the US R&A chart. What exactly is that? “Rock & Alternative”? Try Googling it, good luck finding an answer. I mean there’s Active Rock and Triple-A and…number 39 means it got some regional airplay at best, most people didn’t hear it on the radio, if they listen to the radio at all anyway.

And there’s another track, “Growing Dying,” that made it to number 18 on the AAA chart. And the funny thing is that cut only has 9,557,940 streams, whereas there are six tracks with double-digit million streams that got no radio airplay, at least not enough to make a chart.

Now I’ve got to go deeper.

The band is signed with Capitol. Okay, there’s a major label involved. But to what effect? The band certainly wasn’t helped by radio play, which the major can deliver. And as a matter of fact, “Kilby Girl” was from the first album, which was independent.

And now I have to look up the lyrics.

And then I’ve got to look up the meaning of the song, you can do that you know.

Songtell says:

“The song ‘Kilby Girl’ by The Backseat Lovers is a song that tells the story of a young couple meeting on a rainy night. The girl, who is nineteen and has a fake ID and nose ring, has a ‘secret’ which the protagonist is determined to figure out. As they spend the afternoon together they seem to both be ‘throwing smoke into the night’, revealing their secrets and deepening their connection. The song is about the thrill of young love, the mystery of the unknown other and the vulnerability and bravery required to share your secrets and yourself with someone new.”

https://tinyurl.com/2z8n6tad

Well, I can relate to that, but the description almost reads like it was written by ChatGPT, it’s generic, I need more, I need to go deeper. And I come across this article in the “Utah Statesman” that says:

“The lyrics to local hit song “Kilby Girl” by The Backseat Lovers paint a narrative for the lesser-known music-based subculture born within the conservative landscape of Utah.

“What does it mean to be a Kilby Girl? Mainly an Instagramable title, Utah Kilby Girls and Kilby Boys, or any genderless title to the Utah version of a hipster, refers to a sublet of indie, punk and alternative fans that have dived deeper into local music. They are not simply satisfied with the world-wide hits of The 1975 and Phoebe Bridgers. Kilby Girls also spend the majority of their energy actively supporting a surprisingly large number of local bands like Ritt Momney, Adult Prom and Cinders, all of whom are based out of Salt Lake City, Ogden, Logan and yes, even Provo.

“‘Kilby’ refers to Kilby Court, the iconic Utah venue located in outer Salt Lake City. The venue is owned by the local music entrepreneurs of S&S Presents and has quite the personality of its own.”

https://tinyurl.com/zu55nwd6

And this truly resonates. Daniel Glass said he’d like to hire Phoebe Bridgers as his head of marketing, that’s what she does best. And I agree. And did you even see the 1975 in the “New Yorker”? Make me puke. You’re supposed to say no to stuff like this. Then again, how do you get traction these days?

Well, I stumbled on a Backseat Lovers performance on “Kimmel”…but is the target audience watching this?

I mean how did everybody find out about the Backseat Lovers?

TikTok, just like me.

And then I’m thinking, scrolling TikTok…it’s not only more entertaining, but more real than what I see on streaming TV.

And on TikTok, women comedians are king, er, queen. I love the delivery of Esther Povitsky. You should check out her feed to get her sensibility, to get an idea: https://tinyurl.com/4kx7vyhr

But start with these:

“how to marry a billionaire”: https://tinyurl.com/4cj7xf5k

And the politically incorrect one about her fiancé:

https://tinyurl.com/wh92dave

And she’s not the only one.

And I’m listening to the Backseat Lovers, trying to evaluate them, seeing if the rest of their material is as good as “Kilby Girl” and…you can’t even get me to click on the songs that people e-mail me, there’s not enough incentive, if you’re pushing it it doesn’t work, people have to find it. I didn’t find the Backseat Lovers on their TikTok page, but one of a fan.

And on one hand you can throw your hands in the air and say it’s all overwhelming.

And on another you can put down the Backseat Lovers, but…if you listen to the soloing in “Kilby Girl” you’ll find that it doesn’t remind you so much of the modern alternative sound, but New York in the seventies, I thought of Television and…

So they say that TikTok is the most powerful streaming service. And I’m including Netflix here too. And damn it’s entertaining.

But it’s also where things are breaking.