People don’t like the streamers. The only company with any good will left is Netflix, which even I am less than enthusiastic about since it canned the woman who made the highbrow halo productions for someone green-lighting middle of the road, dumbed-down fare, the kind that caused the networks to lose market share to the cable companies, especially pay cable, like HBO. AND WE’RE PAYING FOR STREAMING!

At first cable providers were the most hated corporations in America. Then the major record labels. I won’t say that streamers are number three, but they’ve been hurt by focusing on what Wall Street wants as opposed to what their customers want. But it’s even worse. The people who run these outlets are grossly overpaid. Tell me how Zaslav makes triple-digit millions while cutting production and telling HBO viewers they’re second class citizens. Does he think we don’t know all this? Following entertainment is like following sports, people know the players and their maneuvers, and the end result does not look pretty.

Amazon… People hate the company anyway. But if you sign up for a streaming outlet via the Prime app…good luck figuring out how to cancel. Re the FTC lawsuit, the response has been that if companies make it too easy to cancel, people might cancel by accident. This is the kind of insane gobbledygook that turns customers against companies. Furthermore, it’s not that hard to ask again if the subscriber wants to cancel, that’s normally how computers work. You go to delete and it asks you if you’re sure. But Amazon, et al, know better? Give me a break.

Apple… Highbrow product dripped-out over months. And they just raised the price. I won’t pay. It’s an insult, no matter how much I love and am part of the Apple ecosystem.

Disney? A dearth of new product. It’s child fare and “Star Wars” stuff. I mean really?

Paramount and Peacock… Really? You want me to pay for this stuff? I’ve got to be the most avid TV addict to pony up. These outlets are like auto dealerships filled with old cars with crank windows and no A/C. There’s no there there.

Furthermore, it’s all Balkanized. Like being pecked to death by ducks. Quote me an overall price, for everything. This is what saved the music business. Certainly not the major labels, but Daniel Ek, who wouldn’t even launch in America until he had all three majors on board. He was worried about the customer first. And you can naysay all you want, but Daniel Ek single-handedly saved the recorded music business. The majors certainly couldn’t do it. They were inured to the past. Ek incentivized the labels with stock, which in some cases was promptly sold. Think about that…you don’t even believe in the future of your distributor. You’re so myopic, it’s about today’s bottom line as opposed to the future’s.

As for hating the major record labels… This has stopped, because everybody can play. The tools of creation and distribution are in the hands of the consumer, and marketing is too. As for online promotional outlets like TikTok…that’s where the youth spend their time, that’s the main competition for streamers. But the elements of TikTok that adhere it to its audience? The big swinging dicks in streaming don’t want to employ them: honest, authenticity, credibility… Mindless escapism? There’s an audience for that, but that’s not what’s propping up TikTok, humanity and creativity are propping up TikTok.

As for unions…

There’s a renaissance.

Apple and Amazon fighting unionization is a bad look. Especially when Apple is worth three trillion. The little people should be left out? But it’s the little people who sustain your business, the customer. Ignore the customer at your peril. And working at the Amazon warehouse is like being in prison. Amazon is on the verge of running out of available workers who have not already worked for the company. It’s like today’s “Wall Street Journal,” the pompous writer who said Florida’s anti-immigration law problems will be solved by the market. Yeah, when you pay farm and service workers twenty or thirty dollars an hour, which they’re never going to do, hell, the minimum wage in the Sunshine State is eleven bucks. Truth is so many of these jobs the immigrants do American citizens don’t want to. The work is too dirty, too intense and too poorly-paid for them to be incentivized. Ever pick crops? I have, it’s back-breaking, almost any job is better.

So what we have here is an elite that believe their sh*t doesn’t stink and they’re better than us. That they earned their status and their riches. Rubbish, it’s all on the back of us, the public, the consumers, and you constantly want to screw us in the process.

Bankers… What exactly do they add?

Private equity. You buy, lay debt on the company and frequently it crashes under said debt, even though you made money! People lose their jobs, but you come out smelling like a rose. This is the story of Warner Bros. Discovery. The company is loaded up with tens of billions in debt. Which didn’t exist until AT&T decided to buy Warner Bros. and… You must pay. Wall Street must be served. Zaslav cut foreign TV production. Meaning you won’t see no “Squid Game” on Max.

The tide has turned. Income inequality… We’ve felt powerless for years. Give us an opportunity and we take action.

That reporter saying Threads is the new Google+… Yes, this was said in the “New York Times,” how ignorant can you be? People didn’t have a problem with Facebook, they didn’t need Google+, thus it failed. But people HATE Elon Musk and his Twitter experience, otherwise triple-digit millions wouldn’t have signed up for Threads. Sans Musk’s purchase of Twitter, Threads is dead on arrival. But that guy…

Doesn’t matter if you feel differently. Believe me, my inbox is filled with people citing the Twitter Files and all kinds of b.s. to defend Twitter and Musk. I won’t even bother going into the details, but the truth is in the number of Threads signups, people were dissatisfied with Twitter. And the truth is users want content moderation. And if you look into the Twitter Files you’ll find no smoking gun, Twitter’s regulators were dealing with both Democrats and Republicans looking for moderation, and wrestling with what to do. But no, we must have FREEDUMB!

You don’t have the freedom to yell FIRE! in a crowded auditorium.

No one has unlimited freedom, even though these rich bozo elites think they do, that they’re above the law.

What Musk and his minions want is chaos, so the truth can’t out, and so they can control the narrative.

So just like with Twitter you’ve got all these anti-union people with loud voices. But the average citizen… They’re on the other side. They wish they were a member of a union. That they had greater pay and protection. And sure, you can  point out flaws in past unions, but… This is another thing that drives me crazy, the bad apples in the Democratic party are held up as evidence that the whole party must be thrown out with the bathwater. There are bad actors everywhere. Even you have made mistakes. But politicians can’t even admit them, for fear of being excoriated by the party police. Just like we can’t have new taxes.

Of course the streamers have costs. But should the actors pay for the streamers’ overproduction? What a concept, we overspend and then we’re rescued. Everybody in America would sign up for that, but it’s not offered. We’re supposed to be responsible. But when corporations screw up? It’s our money that bails them out! Keeping the airlines in business. The subsidies to oil and gas companies. Carried interest benefits for billionaire hedge funders. But nothing can change, that’s the America we now live in. Gridlock. While in other countries they build roads and other infrastructure and… You want the fire department to show up, the police too. You want to drive on the roads. But you shouldn’t have to pay for it? That’s what taxes pay for. As for waste… Even you waste. You’ve purchased products you haven’t used. But the government should be held to a higher standard?

America is angry. And as James Carville famously said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Everybody is worried about their finances. We’re dying to stick it to the man. And when we get the option, we salivate and act. That’s what the migration to Threads was all about.

Should SAG-AFTRA get everything it wants? The WGA? Of course not. There should be honest negotiation, which has yet to happen. The landscape changed. There are buyouts, no residuals, shorter production schedules. But it’s all dependent on the workers at the bottom of the pyramid. The streamers can’t excise them, they’re the fuel that makes the operation run. 

I mean really.

As for the public being unwilling to forgo Hollywood, and therefore being on the streamers’/producers’ side? There’s tons of entertainment out there already. People are not willing to throw everybody under the bus to get momentary satisfaction. Hell, jobs were shipped overseas… This is what the blue collar backlash is all about. The left helped eliminate their jobs but did not protect them for the future. As for the right, their solution is to own the libs, which is no solution at all. We all need progress. We all need to come to the table. All this hogwash about everyone needing to be self-reliant is just that, hogwash. Shi*t happens, which is why you need the government. Which is why you need health insurance, but you think you’re immune. Same deal with car insurance. Everybody thinks the problem won’t happen to them, and then it does.

You’ll want more pay. You’ll want more job security. These union fights are for you, don’t ever forget it.

Of Yes. Need I say more?

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/jon-anderson/id1316200737?i=1000621004013

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/3bee3d46-bc13-45a2-a874-73537a4ec618/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-jon-anderson

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/jon-anderson-305237766

Trailer: https://tinyurl.com/26vjsvcj

It’s FANTASTIC!

Not that I was eager to watch it. The e-mail started to come in last week, absolute raves. So I read the reviews and said…maybe, but not right now. But watching a disappointing comedy special tonight Felice suggested it, and WOW!

Started off cheesy. I mean the titles. Like the Motley Crue movie. A wink, a fabrication, a step away from the real nitty-gritty. But momentarily thereafter…

This is a document of an era. The MTV era.

But even more it’s a document of the post-punk world of Britain.

It’s a smaller country than the U.S. And therefore there’s more of a feeling of being in it together. Music is followed like sports, like horse racing. Everybody reads the charts. Which are a mash-up of all kinds of genres. And stuff that is gigantic over there never makes it here, frequently unjustifiably, like Rag’n’Bone Man’s “Human.”

The label screwed that one up.

Used to be the label was everything. Wham!’s breakthrough was an appearance on “Top of the Pops.” The doc says it was a phone call out of the blue, but anybody on the inside knows it never works that way, that the label worked the TV show until the opportunity arrived.

And then Wham! delivered.

Times were different. The sixties were about revolution. The seventies, licking our wounds and cynicism. And the eighties were about hedonism.

Then again, Margaret Thatcher ruled from ’79-’90. Not that the average person in Americas knows much about her and her conservative government, how she broke the backs of unions and musicians and the underclass resented her, to this day. Today politics is everything. You might be misinformed, but you’re aware of the players. Ergo, Brexit. The perpetrators are out of government, the country is suffering economically compared to the EU and the musical touring business has been hindered in both directions, Britain to the EU and EU to Britain. But the nationalism of the ignorant drove Brexit. And the same uninformed wanting no part of the EU were supported by the EU and didn’t even know it, kinda like the Republicans who bitch about the government and social programs when they’re the beneficiaries thereof. Voting against your interests, it’s the twenty first century way.

So Wham! was huge in England.

But it took a while for them to cross over to America and MTV. This was before the channel was a worldwide phenomenon. Today you can make it from anywhere. Who knew Latin was gonna be this big? Other genres from other countries will come down the pike. Back then, especially as the eighties played out, you were either on MTV or you weren’t, you were either a hit act or marginal. That was the power of MTV. Nobody has that power today.

Nor do the labels.

Sure, the labels rejected Wham! at first, but Wham! needed a label to make it. And the band signed an horrific deal. Sure, people will sign anything to make it, but today musicians are much better informed, they know you need an attorney, and the royalty standards have improved. 2%? Nothing on twelve inches? Today an act can get 50% after expenses, or release the music themselves and make even more. And although terrestrial radio is not yet dead, it’s less powerful than ever before. It was the bastion of the major labels, still is, it’s where hits were solidified. Now active customers don’t listen and acts are broken online in ways the major labels do not control. It’s very different from yesterday, even though the oldsters like to tell us it’s just the same.

And speaking of different…

I’m not sure you can find an American or Briton conscious in the eighties who does not know “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” Nothing is that ubiquitous today, NOTHING! Everybody aware back then could sing the chorus and still can, that’s how catchy the number was and still is.

And that’s a point of the film, what a great songwriter and producer George Michael was.

And his father didn’t believe in his career and he was gay and closeted…

The people who make it need it. They’re not normal, they’re flawed. They believe the success, the adulation, will fulfill them, cover up that hole inside, and when they finally realize it can’t, they stop being able to deliver. But before that, they’re DRIVEN!

Like George Michael.

He needed it. He reveled in it. He wanted four number ones in one year. And the power of the audience, of being on stage, is evident time and again in this movie.

So the film is a time capsule. But in this case, there’s footage and photos. Yes, the eighties were documented. This separates the Wham! movie from the documentaries from earlier eras. It’s all right there to see, no imagination is needed, you’re just overwhelmed.

And China is still backward.

And publicity is everything. Press, TV news… They’re nearly powerless today, especially for developing acts. You put it out there and try to engage your fans.

But a difference between yesterday and today is in the old days you had to build your career over time. Today, one album and you can be playing arenas. The road work was important for Wham!, as it is for developing acts today, but George Michael lived for the studio, for the hit records. Today live is everything. It’s the visceral experience everybody desires in a digitized world. It’s unique, you can own it.

And to see Wham!’s contemporaries… Especially recording the Band Aid single. Everybody is so young. Sting is somewhat dorky. Bono is wearing that ridiculous hat. Phil Collins can still play the drums. It’s a window into what once was, and now no longer exists.

You watch the Wham! movie and remember why you wanted to be in the music business, why you NEEDED to be in the music business! Music was everything, all wrapped into one. The music, the look, the money, the meaning, the edginess… Music was pushing the envelope in ways no other art form was. And if you made it, you were more famous than anybody in the world, politicians, never mind business people.

This is not “Behind the Music.” This is not a false arc. This is the story of two guys who wanted to make it, and worked hard to do so. That’s the power of youth, the ignorance and the lack of experience. You believe in your talent and push on. And back then there wasn’t the constant sour grapes. Most people couldn’t even get a record deal, whereas today everybody can be on Spotify. And Wham! had number ones and was still broke. And then they hired Simon Napier-Bell.

A good manager is crucial.

And I love “Father Figure” from George Michael’s solo career, but I can’t say I was a big fan of Wham! I go for something more meaningful. But what is clear here is that George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were incredibly self-aware, they knew what they were selling. There were no false airs. Ultimately it was good time music, for partying. And the eighties were all about partying.

You’ve got to see this movie, even if you hate George Michael and Wham! It’s a window into what once was, which you didn’t know everything about. It puts the act and the eighties in context. If this were still the eighties…

MTV would make the Wham! movie an event. Everybody would know about it. It would be the talk of the youth.

But we haven’t had that spirit here…for decades.

And the Eagles are a good analogy to Wham! Don Henley never would have made it if it weren’t for Glenn Frey. And as the act evolved, it was clear that Henley was the superior talent, and Frey was down with that. Ridgeley is self-aware. He went for a ride with one of the greatest songwriter/performers of the era, and he’s thrilled about it, anything but bitter.

Of course Glenn Frey was much more talented than Andrew Ridgeley, but the bottom line is it’s very hard to keep an act together. They break up even if their fans want them to stay together. You see it’s not a business venture, but an artistic quest. Artists don’t play it safe, they evolve. They’re willing to change, to put it all on the line, risking everything for their vision.

Today hits require more money than ever before. As a result, there are cowriters and remixers and everybody’s trying to buy insurance. But the moment in the Chateau, when George Michael is talking about pulling the line from deep within, being amazed at what comes out, unaware it was there and stunned that he’s got it in him…that’s the essence of creativity. You’ve either got it or you don’t. Andrew Ridgeley didn’t have that, so he had to retire.

As for George Michael, he became one of the biggest stars in the world, but that was not enough. He stopped making records on principle, wanted off Columbia, and the label broke him, he never recaptured his glory. And then he died at a young age.

You think you want what George Michael got. But almost nobody really does. It requires an incredible amount of hard work. The aforementioned drive. It’s not for the well-adjusted. You must sacrifice so much. And when it’s all over everybody knows your name yet you still might feel hollow inside.

Watch the movie.

From: James Montgomery

Subject: Thank you

Bob, Thank you so much for writing about me and Tom Rush.  I’ve heard from people all over the globe responding to the article.  Since the stuff on Wikipedia I was in The Johnny Winter Band for 6 years and one of the people responsible for getting him off prescription drugs during that time. I also was featured in a movie about Delta Blues with Morgan Freeman, Willie Nelson, Charlie Musslewhite and others.  I currently have 2 documentaries I Co-Produced, one about James Cotton that was one of 5 finalists in The Library of Congress Ken Burns Prize for Film, and another about my brother Jeffrey, an LGBTQ warrior who fought so diligently for Gay Rights that he ended up on the Aryan Nation hit-list (they actually tried to kill him a few times).  Anyway, I continue to play out, have never stopped and never will.  Thanks again for your kind words.  Means a lot to me!

James Montgomery

www.jamesmontgomerybluesband.com

mail@jamesmontgomery.com

Grammy Nominated with Johnny Winter

Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame

New England Music Hall of Fame

Co-Producer: Bonnie Blue – James Cotton’s Life in the Blues

Co-Producer: America You Kill Me – Jeffrey Montgomery LGBTQ Warrior

____________________________________

Subject: James montgomery/Duke and The Drivers

Bob,

I could not have been happier to Read what you had to say about James Montgomery. Early in my career I was given the wonderful opportunity to help James Montgomery first as a booking agent, and then as a manager. I felt exactly as you did about him.

I spent five years trying to convince the music industry and the world in general about the authenticity and incredible performances James Montgomery consistently  delivered. It was an uphill battle.

Much like being the skipper of a classic sailing yacht — authentic, soulful, and original — in the era of MTV and the other converging forces of disco,  rap, etc., James Montgomery got lost in the shuffle.

But James never lost his originality, and he never stopped playing. As a manager, it was tough to pull James away from playing benefits and giving back to his community at a time when it really wasn’t affordable for him.  He didn’t care. James is the real deal.

Your mention of Duke and the Drivers, though, saddened me greatly. A lot of us worked diligently for “The Drivers” as they personified everything you could want in a hardworking band. I worked for their manager Peter Casperson and was eventually privileged to handle their first reunion tour in my own company.

Without Duke and The Drivers and James Montgomery,  I don’t think there would have been an Aerosmith reunion. I got to learn the ropes from those guys and actually met Joe Perry through The Drivers’ drummer Danny “Doc” McGrath. The ties that bind Bostonian musicians and music industry folks run deep.

Perhaps it was an off night for them – or for a college aged Bob. I hope you know I have always maintained my respect for you even during times when I felt you were “off the mark”.

I do think they deserve more respect than the all too current easily thrown out label “loser” …

Tim Collins

(Note: As evidenced by Tim Swift’s e-mail in the “Re-James Montgomery” mailbag, Duke and the Drivers were a developing band when they played at Middlebury, sans even an album release. Winter Carnival is the biggest event at Middlebury, however small that may be, and to have an unknown, developing band be the talent…wouldn’t you be disappointed, especially with a history of shows by name/recognizable talent at prior Carnivals? Duke and the Drivers were not bad, they were okay, but they had the smallest attendance of any show at Middlebury while I was there. Maybe a great band at the advent of its development, but wouldn’t you expect more? I certainly did. Ultimately, this is about the infrequent and lame shows we got at Middlebury, not Duke and the Drivers. Sure, Duke and the Drivers might have been hot on the club scene in Boston…but we didn’t even have a club scene!)

____________________________________

From: Peter Van Ness

Subject: RE: James Montgomery?!

Well…I’m catching up on your letters (that’s right I binge them) and come across this one about my friend James Montgomery.  Thanks for giving him some ink.  He deserves it.  My wife and I hosted his “70th Birthday Bash” concert in May, 2019 at our little club north of Boston, called 9 Wallis (it didn’t survive the lockdown).

____________________________________

Subject: Re: Re-James Montgomery

Bob,

Thanks for the shout out about one of my oldest friends…James Montgomery..in 1967 my parents dropped me off at the Boston University dorms…after they left I decided to go down to the street and light up a joint…on the way down the elevator opened and this guy wearing a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows, like some professor, got in and it was James Montgomery… the first person I ever met at school !!! We shared that joint and over the years became best friends, housemates and really like family…He is an amazing survivor!!! he has been doing this for over 50 years… and one hell of a harp player…..

As far as  “Duke and The Drivers”…I was their road manager right around their first record produced by Eddie Kramer at Electric Ladyland in NYC…Although they were not the kind of name like James in Northern New England… in the Boston area they were a big draw…WBCN took them under their wing and played their great cover of Eddie Bo’s “Check Your Bucket” as a tape…their shows were raucous and great energy… the covers they did were some real R&B gems.by bands like “Dyke and the Blazers”…crowds loved them… they recently released new mixes some of their old tunes and Joe Lilly know as “Sam Deluxe” has a great roots band called “The Mystics”…man did you bring back some memories of my days in Boston…..

Peter Wassyng

____________________________________

From: Holly Knight

Subject: Re: Re-My Hometown

Hi Bob

I loved your story about Fairfield .After growing up in NYC- Manhattan to be exact, I moved to LA  for my career and lived here for fifteen years before deciding I didn’t want to raise my kids in LA. It was the year of the Rodney King beatings, THE EARTHQUAKE, and the Malibu mud slides. I think I told you that I did the unthinkable- Iike totally backasswards –  I packed up all my things, and moved back east thinking how lovely it would be to experience the four seasons again- and be closer to my (dysfunctional family) cause after all NYC is in my DNA.

I moved to Fairfield- specifically the Greenfield Hill area which is affluent and waspy but very beautiful. Three and a half years later and I wanted to slit my throat…especially after I went back to LA and saw kids in shorts playing in the school yard in January – and I said- why did I leave here? So I put my house on the market and moved back – 25 years ago.  In the beginning all of my east coast diehard New Yorker friends said LA was lame, plastic and phony. And gee, they all live here now. When I need a dose of grit and film noir I go back east to visit, but honestly after a week I’m so ready to come home and take my bike on the beach path. And yeah, I wouldn’t want to have grown up anywhere else. Now my favorite people are native east coasters that have moved out here and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

____________________________________

From: James Spencer

Subject: Re: Re-My Hometown

Imagine our shock and disbelief, when family friends told us that they saw our beloved family home in the local (rural Arkansas) newspaper..

It was busted for being a METH LAB..

I drove those tiny streets a few years ago, in town for a funeral..Once proud houses were condemned..Yet people were still living in them..

The farming business had gone belly-up, and religion and meth had become the mainstays.

This isn’t that idyllic quaint small town you’ll hear about on country radio..That’s pure fantasy..

Of course (The Boss’s) “My Father’s House” can’t be touched for its poignancy..

But Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me” comes in a close second..

She’s the real deal..An outlaw/rock star..She does HER..Suits be damned..Her work is anything but cookie cutter..Her Vegas show is fantastic, too..She rocks hard, sans the artificial sweetener so prevalent in Nashville pop..

Why can’t we have more country acts like her?

No one has her BALLS..

“The House That Built Me”: https://youtu.be/DQYNM6SjD_o

____________________________________

From: Cob Carlson

Subject: Re: Re-My Hometown

“Bridgeport is Listed as One of Top 5 Booming Cities, According to Today Show”: https://tinyurl.com/yexs4xj2

____________________________________

Subject: Re: Re-My Hometown

Bob:  Long time reader.   A friend once said to me, “You can always go home, but you can’t stay.”

Marty Hecker

Denver, CO (originally from Green Bay)

____________________________________

Subject: Re: Definition Of A Rock Star

Politicians are described as “Rock stars.”

Athletes are described as “Rock stars.”

A child learning how to ride a bicycle is a “rock star.”

You name it. I’ll give up there.

In other words, three chord velvet glory has gone into the mists of time.

Jumping Jack flashes no more.

No lemon juice is squeezed down anybody’s leg.

We still have the vinyl to prove our allegiance to rock ‘n’ roll & our glorious memories.

Michael Des Barres.

____________________________________

From: Tony Dimitriades

Subject: Re: Definition Of A Rock Star

“Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – For Real”

“Tom Petty | What If You Had A Dream Documentary – Songwriting, MTV videos, Success, Longevity”

 

___________________________________

Roberto, my newfound friend.

I loved every minute/hour of our conversation.

Absolutely one of my favorite interviews of all time. I love the way you conduct an interview. Your knowledge of the industry and your obvious intelligence make a person like myself just uncomfortable enough to stay focused, dig deep, stay honest, & be respectful.

I sincerely thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell my story knowing it will be presented the way I would want it to be presented.

Let me know if I can ever do something for you Bob

Sammy

PS:  Finished the whole podcast. I love the second half of this podcast as much as any interview I’ve ever done. It’s my book written in shorthand. And not that short by the way! You certainly know how to get a lot of information in a short amount of time.

____________________________________

In response to e-mail from listeners loving the podcast:

Well who coulda thunk that those four hours would be that entertaining for anyone else to listen to as opposed to being as boring as watching a truck rust… which is what my fear was about all my ramblings after we finished that night! Thanks again for having me on Bob and let me know if you want to finish as Paul Harvey would say “the rest of the story.” Thanks also for passing along that email.

Best,

Dwight