The light killed Hollywood. And once the mystery was gone, the old entertainment business was history.

There are no movie stars anymore. Except for oldsters, like Harrison Ford, who is 80, and Tom Cruise, who is 60. The paradigm shifted, the film is the star, not the actor. Which is why superhero movies can succeed. You’re invested in the character, not the actor. The actors? They’ve been revealed to be narcissistic and vain two-dimensional thespians at best. This is what the internet has wrought. With so much information, their foibles have been revealed.

As for music, it used to be based on foibles. Bad boys and girls who marched to the beat of their own drummers. Who were distanced from regular society, who couldn’t be controlled by regular society, who never kowtowed to regular society, and the public could not get enough of them. Of course there were two verticals in music, AM and FM. FM was for the mysterious speaking their truth, AM was pure commerce. Of course, FM acts occasionally crossed over to AM, but this happened most when the general public was still addicted to AM, when it had no access to FM, but by the middle seventies… Corporate rock, the invisible hand of the corporation then intervened, saw all that cash, delivered what it believed the market wanted, and it all imploded. Might have taken the better part of five years to blow apart, but 1979/80 was a disaster in the record business, Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America” was number one for six weeks, but the story was how few copies it sold compared to its progenitors. And then came MTV.

The change in the movie business happened about the same time, with “Jaws” and “Star Wars” ushering in the era where money was king, basically everything, and the kind of pictures made were skewed. The seventies rode out on a bunch of prestige pictures, but by time the eighties launched, the pendulum had swung. Money came first, appeal to as many as possible.

And television was AM to the movies’ FM. But it was in the eighties that cable outlets started to make original programming. Took years to flower, but when “The Sopranos” was launched in 1999 the dam broke, and we’ve been living in a heyday of television ever since. And like the movies of yore, series are based on story, not star power. With so many offerings people want to watch something good, not the latest project by their favorite star, like they used to do with movies. Will this golden age of television continue? That’s questionable, there’s sudden attention to the bottom line and Netflix is now focusing on mainstream fare as opposed to the highbrow projects that brought respect in the past ten years. Could this have something to do with the halt in stratospheric sign-ups? Possibly, but just like in the cell phone business, there are only so many customers. However, I’ve noticed a marked decrease in the discussion of television shows recently. Of course, with the “end” of Covid and a return to normalcy people may have less time to watch, but somehow streaming TV is losing its cachet, and the focus is on politics, which are vital in a way movies and music used to be, so much is at stake, and it’s a visceral experience. Used to be you didn’t have to pay attention to politics, but now everybody does. Everybody!

So once the internet came along and revealed so much about entertainers, the public became less enamored. There was a flattening of society. People in local burgs believed they had talent and were just as good as the stars and with new digital tools they started to play, to the point where there’s so much in the pipeline that it’s incomprehensible, one can only take a stab at what’s going on, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

So to triumph in today’s world you have to employ some of the tricks of the pre-internet era. You have to be less available, reveal less, be less connected to your audience, so you can be believed in. That’s one of the reasons the K-pop acts are so successful, they don’t speak English, you can invest in them whatever hopes and dreams you want to. Believe me, if you actually meet stars, whether they be actors or musicians, they very rarely live up to the rep, the vision in your head. You may be in love with them from afar, but when you connect you find out they’re just like you and your neighbors, only more flawed. It’s an image, and not much more. There are exceptions, but few.

So being allowed to expose themselves, everybody in entertainment decided to become overexposed. But none could do it as well as Kim Kardashian, who broke via a sex tape, which used to be a career killer. Almost nothing is taboo anymore, nothing a bridge too far, even racist comments, you may be excoriated by half of the population, but you may be embraced by the other half.

And it’s all in the name of money. There’s endless begging. Buy this, buy that. The product is irrelevant, you, as a fan, owe me. This is my business. I say the item is great even if it isn’t. And then move on to the next. Credibility is history. And when the past president of the United States lies incessantly… What you have is 30% of the public that are blind followers, Trump can do no wrong. Which is the same with BTS and Taylor Swift and so many. They command armies. Cross them at your peril.

And the bottom line is always cash. Always. Record labels remix records not to make them better, but to make them more commercial. Marketing costs are so high they don’t want to take a risk. In the old days, the acts were kings and queens, the labels had to put out what the artists delivered, unchanged.

A return to the past is a fool’s errand. Certain elements of the past come back, but always with a twist. But there’s no way society is getting smaller in the future, no way we’re disconnected. The world is shrinking, you can reach out and touch everybody you’ve ever known. The oldsters tell us about loneliness, but the truth is you know and are in contact with more people than ever before. The media and its journalists are stuck in the past.

When they’re not playing to the fans themselves. That’s the story of Fox News. The news! Cross the public at your peril. That was the story of the Dominion case. It’s all about ratings, money, and if you don’t give people what they want… Steve Jobs famously said the public doesn’t know what it wants, that you’ve got to show them, deliver it. That used to be the mantra in entertainment, now everybody and everything is sold out. Funny how Jobs is more memorable than any contemporaneous artist.

And let’s not forget that when Jobs owned Pixar every single movie was a success. The focus was on getting it exactly right. And every picture was innovative and different. This is the old music paradigm. But that’s been shot to hell. All producers have lowered their standards. And are stunned when some outside endeavor succeeds. It’s always about quality and vision. That’s the essence of “Squid Game,” so innovative that you can’t even describe it to someone. And the breakthrough of “The Bear” is the second season is completely different from the first. This is not “Cheers,” where the location never changes and it’s about petty issues amongst the characters, no, the second season of “The Bear” starts with a new restaurant, new love, characters evolve, you don’t think you’ve seen it before. And with so much today you think you’ve seen or heard it before.

So the professionals have ceded production to the amateurs. That’s where the eyeballs are, on TikTok, far exceeding the time spent on streaming platforms. Doesn’t matter what you think, the public is addicted to nobodies being innovative in ways the usual suspect purveyors are not. Furthermore, the music business no longer even develops acts, they just poach from TikTok, you build it and they invest in it, they refuse to take risk from dollar one, that’s not the business they’re in.

As for the older performers… Everyone in music with a portfolio seems to be selling it. Talking about coming tax changes that have never arisen, just like the carried interest rule has never been changed. They fought for creative control and now they are ceding it. And it’s all about business, believe me, Bob Dylan wishes he had held back and sold now, he would have gotten more money, whereas it used to never be about sales/money with Dylan, but cultural impact.

So the movie and music businesses are calcified. Which is why Netflix ate Hollywood’s lunch and indies keep gaining market share. The old players want no change. They just want a continuous gravy train.

Meanwhile, the TikTok performers sell out to become actors and it never works, because that’s not what they were selling to begin with, which was innovation and authenticity. They needed to stay where they were, but they couldn’t turn down the bucks. Then again, everything is about the bucks.

The above leaves lots of holes, many points of entry for outsiders. But to succeed you can’t do it their way, but your way. And that means slowly. More slowly than ever before. And it can’t be about money, because you can never make as much as the tech titans making music. What you’ve got is the ability to touch hearts and minds and speak truth to power. Believe me, this is no longer the sixties, the studios and record labels are out of touch, even though they believe otherwise. They’re so busy watching their ledgers that they’ve sacrificed the bleeding edge, the evolution that sustained them. Movies were being killed by TV until the younger generation came along with “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate” and “The Godfather”… Turned out if you gave the young ‘uns the reins, you ended up with something better. But it was a risk. And the funny thing is production is much cheaper in the music business, but there’s still no risk. Because the labels no longer know how to sell. They know terrestrial radio, which is dying. They have relationships with the music streaming outlets, but none of them break artists, that happens on TikTok and elsewhere online. To start from ground zero and build it, that’s just too difficult.

That’s your job.

From: Dan Navarro 

Subject: Re: Affirmative Action

Were it not for Affirmative Action in 1969, I would not have been able to attend UCLA immediately upon high school graduation. I was admitted under the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) that looked past my mediocre grades, and into my wide range of activities, strong letters of recommendation, my heartfelt essay and, particularly, my Latino ethnicity and border town upbringing.

I am 100% certain that being exposed to the artistic environment I was, and not to a different school in a different town in a different community, led to a career I have cherished. I have been openly grateful to the opportunities, environments and experiences that came my way due to the EOP program, and am profoundly sad to see 50 years of sociocultural justice thrown out. 

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From: Ian Lee

Subject: Re: Music Burgeons

Thanks for this one Bob

Top of your game insights-the content we want 🙂

I see the same unlimited upside. 

“And I just can’t see a downside.”

I do. Personnel to keep live going. The infrastructure of the touring industry is old. 

Is there a pipeline of killer sound guys, tour managers? Bus drivers? No.

And there’s no infrastructure to train these highly specified niche skills. 

The speed that the internet has allowed YouTube and tick toc stars to start playing arenas has come up against the lack of a path for new personnel who want to join the circus of the support crews. 

This is part of why you hear “production costs” are so high. More demand than supply of competent crew= crew demanding more. 

I have 2 competing quotes from other bus companies for tours im doing that were over 3x my bid. 

I don’t raise my prices because it’s simply gouging. But at the same time, the competition is taking advantage of the misbalance of supply (in the case of buses, a huge capital investment) demand= nobody can find a tour bus.

I wrote a couple of business plans to solve these during the pandemic, which i parked over the last 2 years playing catch up as we came out of it.

Recently started talking to some people about them.

Fun.

Over and out

Your on the road bus driving fool reporter.

Ian

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From: Xavier Ramirez

Subject: Re: TikTok Marketing

I think the unspoken part about the post-covid touring music world is how unprepared all these venue and promoter marketing teams are for the new paradigm.

TikTok surged during covid and what did every promoter and marketing team (if they were lucky enough to retain a marketing team or find new ones)? For nationwide amphitheater tours? They all went straight back to Facebook and Instagram ads. And if you ask for ad spend buyouts/marketing dollars to promote your show? They don’t do that.

A handful might know what to do if you give them a TikTok Sparks code but even then, TikTok’s ad targeting is still extremely limited. My artist and scene is very niche/specialized so the broad TikTok interests and demographic targeting just doesn’t cut it. In comparison with the pixels, audiences, segments, etc we spent the last decade curating on Meta, the data is still catching up. Thankfully we were able to port over all the phone numbers (way better match rate), emails, pixel data, etc… and then great lookalikes from those to create a large enough pool (THEN we can geotarget against that list).

To be fair, artists are just as much to blame… they’re still trying to focus on Instagram clinging to their likes and engagement (nevermind all the bots mess up all the engagement audiences for targeting).

End rant.

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From: Terence Reilly

Subject: TikTok

Bob – 

Ahmed makes some great points especially about “getting noticed.”

TikTok changed my 110-year-old company – Stanley.  Wow, did we ever get noticed!

Just search Stanley Quencher on TikTok and you’ll see what I mean. You can scroll for hours – your thumb will hurt. The Times, Journal and seemingly every other media outlet also noticed. Adele too!

And as much as it’s about TikTok, for us it’s also about the power of female consumers as it’s their passion that has fueled our resurgence. Listening to their ideas and suggestions has been crucial and naturally we make many of those connections on TikTok.

Imagine that, a 110-year-old Tik Tok sensation.

Stay well. And hydrated. 

Terence

Terence Reilly

President – Stanley

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From: Charlie Brusco

Subject: Re: Oh I Wept

In the late 60s early 70s all over England it was proclaimed Clapton is God and Paul Rodgers was and remains The Voice.

Many of us grew up and remain mesmerized by Paul Rodgers but a young guitar player from Jacksonville, FL   followed everything that was Paul Kossoff. Gary Rossington was a true disciple of Kossoff and Ronnie Van Zant idolized Rodgers. And that was the English blues part of Skynyrd music. It’s part of the fabric and Fire and Water was the Holy Grail. Over 50 years later I sat at Gary’s funeral and listen to Paul eulogize my great friend and I could feel Gary smiling down on all of us as Paul spoke of his love for Gary as he had told me many times over the years.

What a long strange trip it certainly has been.

Cheers,

Charlie

Red Light Management

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Mark Williams

Re: All Right Now

Recently read Chris Blackwell’s book The Islander and he goes in depth about Free and the origins of All Right Now and how one song can change everything for a band. I did not know Free were on Island as in U.S. it was A&M. It inspired me to revisit All Right Now and appreciate how perfect a rock song it is.
Another interesting Free note in the excellent Lynyrd Skynyrd documentary Gone With The Wind, which is way more detailed than the more recent If I Leave Here Tomorrow, I learned that Ronnie Van Zant was obsessed with Free and insisted Albert Collins and Gary Rossington see their show when they played Jacksonville just as Lynyrd Skynyrd were just starting to become a band.  It made so much sense. It’s all there in particularly in the first album with Simple Man, Tuesday’s Gone, Gimme 3 Steps etc. It helped Lynyrd Skynyrd develop their own sound of southern rock infused with the British version of blues separating them from The Allmans and Marshall Tucker.

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From: Gary Lang

Subject: Re: Oh I Wept

Love it.

You do know that Skynyrd were complete Free maniacs right?

Listen to “On the Hunt” on “Nuthin’ Fancy”. The guitar work is pure Kossoff-driven. The song has the feel of “The Stealer”. And then, as the guitar climaxes and goes into the kind of chording Kossoff loved, van Zandt actually shouts “I’m a Hunter” (shades of “Tons of Sobs”). They loved Free, and I can tell… so do you.

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From: Lionel Conway

Subject: All Right Now

Hi Bob,

I ran Island Music for Chris Blackwell back in those days.

I represented the band Free, and here is a little story about the track “All right Now”

In the UK at the time BBC radio was all important, if you didn’t get on Radio 1 you had very little chance of breaking a record,

The BBC had very strict rules regarding language, you could not  use “swear words” in a lyric.

They banned the song “All right now” because  in their opinion  Paul had sung ” lets move before they raise the fucking rate “   Its very possible he did.  Banning the record caused a backlash of press , BBC had never had that kind of bad press,  this caused  much more interest in the song

We insisted that Paul had not used the word “fucking” but in actuality the word was ” parking”

We won the arguement, I think mainly due to the public eager to hear the record,  BBC lifted the ban and of course it became a w/w hit and it started the bands career.

They were 16/17 years old at the time. amazing band.

Lionel Conway

Co-President

Mothership Music Publishing

_______________________________________

Subject: Re: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

I was Mott’s A&R man between 73-75. I remixed and edited All The Way From Memphis for the single back in the time when that was just part of your day job. Ian Hunter was the only rock’n’roller I met who truly lived up to his image. He could be intimidating, he could be vulnerable, and – if he learned to trust you – he could be kind and funny. He also wrote some fine songs that never got the recognition they deserved. But man, what a career he built over the decades, built on the concrete of a true rock’n’roll spirit and serious intelligence. 

Paul Phillips

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From: Tom Rush

Subject: Re: David Bromberg-This Week’s Podcast

I pride myself, Bob, as being the one who got him back on stage after that 22 -year hiatus. 

 

I called him and asked him to be a guest on one of my Club 47 multi-artist concerts (2 “established” acts, 2 brilliant-but-unknown newcomers who would mix it up on stage). “Hey, David, it’s just a 30-minute set and you can get other guests to join you. Easy! Good money! And if you take 2 Advil and 2 Tylenol your fingers won’t hurt!”

 

He went for it and we did several of those shows (with different newcomers) before he decided he wanted to get his band back together. I couldn’t afford that — the plane tickets, the hotel rooms, the paychecks — so we parted ways, but remain good friends to this day and have shared the stage on many occasions. Sad to see him retiring!

 

Tom Rush

www.TomRush.com

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From: Jesse Lundy

Subject: Re: David Bromberg-This Week’s Podcast

Such a hero. I’ve had the good fortune to work with him many times (as promoter), and I tour managed for a long weekend in the midwest. Of all the things I’ve done in my career, it’s THE thing that my parents were really excited about.

“Hey mom, here’s a picture of me and The Stones”

“Very nice!”

“Mom, I’m working with Bromberg!”

“We are SO proud of you!”

David’s the best

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From: Rueben Williams

Subject: Re: Oh I Wept

Bob,

We appreciate you taking the time to write about Eric Johanson. Whiskey Bayou Records is owned by guitarist Tab Benoit. Tab took Eric out on the road where he supported Tab Benoit dates for a couple of years. The record was a one off and has already recouped. We saw an opportunity to help new Artist who are ignored by the traditional record labels and my clients Samantha Fish, Devon Allman, and Tab Benoit started their own labels to support new Artist.

Eric just signed with Ruf Records out of Germany and is on a year long tour supporting Samantha Fish and Jesse Daytons Death Wish Blues tour.  On Ruf he joins the roster who once had blues legend Luther Allison, Walter Trout, and Eric Burden. Today Ruf has Eddie 9volt, Ghalia Volt, and Ally Venable. The label has always focused on Blues Rock.

My Artist wanted to use their success to help new Artist and invest in the support acts. The trade off for the new Artist is  access to larger social media following and their ticket buying fan base.  It is true that with  out Whiskey Bayou Eric Johanson would not be appearing in front of thousands and would not have signed to Ruf Records.  Jesse Dayton would not have produced his new record and you would not have made us all happy by writing about him. Eric is super talented and deserves all the attention he is getting. We have launched a few Artist though our labels and like Eric they are on to a successful career.

Eric was going to sign with Blue Elan Records. One reason why we chose Ruf Records is because Eric JOHNSON is on that label. I mentioned to him a few days ago that I felt that people would get their names confused.

Thank you again for writing and keep your eye on Eric Johanson.  His new record is great and the purist will say it’s not blues while others will call it blues. It’s only rocknroll.

Rueben Williams

Thunderbird Management

Artist Management Plus

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From: Jesse Dayton

Subject: I produced the Eric Johanson record

Hey Bob this is Jesse Dayton. You wrote about me a few years back. Thanks for the incredible piece on the Eric Johanson music. I co-wrote & produced his new record The Deep and the Dirty that comes about to come out.

Hope your piece alerts folks to the fact that their is a massive disenfranchised record buying demographic out there of folks who love blues-rock but have been ignored by the industry in favor of soulless regurgitated youth driven pop music. These snarky hipsters pushing this pathetic narrative they’ve deemed “Dad Rock”, are missing out on an entire movement that is still and will always be a large part of the market share.

My friend/comedian Jay Mohr has a great bit about these hipsters who walk around Park Slope and Silver Lake in vintage Journey concert T shirts which they claim to be wearing “ironically”. Jay Mohr ask them “oh, do you like Jouney?” Hipster responds “nah, just thought it was funny”. Jay Mohr than begins a tirade telling the hipster “if you would’ve seen Journey in 1979 in a 12,000 seat auditorium, they would’ve rocked your balls off!”

Of course this borders on “hey you kids get off of my lawn!” But it also reveals that these younger bands like Greta Van Fleet,(who I must admit, I’m not really a fan of), are filling a huge record sales/ticket sales void left by these so-called “Dad Rock” acts. Eric Johanson is a blues based rock guitar act who is no way aping Stevie Ray Vaughn, which is unto itself, a miracle. Great songs, great playing, multi-racial power trio, balls out blues rock…expect great things. Blues-rock has historically re-trended every 10 years since the 60s when the hybrid was invented and Eric has the goods to do it again.

best, Jesse Dayton

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From: Eric Johanson

Subject: Thank you – Oh I Wept

Hi Bob – I can’t thank you enough for your thoughtful and kind words about my cover version of the Free song. I made those Covered Tracks EPs by myself in my living room, during the pandemic when the live gigs were all but shut down.  The fact that you discovered me through that, is just the coolest surprise.

I’m back out on the road now, with a new record on the way in July.

I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to listen and share those thoughts. I really appreciate it.

All the best,

Eric Johanson

—

Eric Johanson

EricJohanson.com

New Orleans, LA

THE DEEP AND THE DIRTY – Out 7/28

ffm.to/tdatd

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From: Denny Somach

Subject: Abut Eric Johnson…

Bob,

I had no idea you were a big fan of Eric Johnson and I also know you like a good backstory, so here is the story on Eric.

 

In the late 80’s, Lee Abrams and I started a label with the idea of making new progressive music. The label was called Cinema and we got a distribution deal with Capitol. The first record we put out was by Pete Bardens, the ex-Camel founder. Don Zimmerman was president at the time and believed in the concept. We went through more presidents, including David Berman, Gary Gersh, Hale Milgram, and Joe Smith. We did three more artists for Capitol. They were beginning to lose patience, and our deal was for five artists, so we had one more to go.

 

Eric had a bit of a following from other guitarists, namely Skunk Baxter and Steve Morse, who raved about him. He was also one of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s favorite players. After seeing him on Austin City Limits where he was one of the few artists to play the show without a record deal, Prince saw him and mentioned Eric to somebody at Warner Brothers, where they signed him. He made one album, ‘Tones’, that did nothing and was immediately dropped by them.

 

I happened to be at the Tower one day and stopped in to say hi to Thom Walley. He had just become head of A&R. I asked him if had heard anything interesting that fit our criteria. He handed me a cassette of demos by a little-known guitarist named Eric Johnson from Austin, Texas. His main claim to fame was that he had played with Carole King and Cat Stevens and was all over the Christopher Cross debut.

 

I listened to the tape and was absolutely blown away, especially the song ‘Cliffs of Dover.’ Sent it to Lee and he agreed that this guy was amazing, so we signed him. He made ‘Ah via Musicom’ which included many of the songs that were on that demo. The record started out slow but built momentum. It sold about 200,000 and Capitol was about to drop him. They figured every guitar player had bought a copy, but interest from anywhere else was zilch.

All of a sudden, it started to get attention from stations like WBCN, WNEW-FM, KLOS, and other influencers. The record started to get adds, not a lot right away, but consistently about a dozen a week. The record had now been out for almost a year, so Capitol started chasing it and it took off. Eventually went platinum and Eric was nominated for three Grammy awards and won for Best Rock Instrumental. He is one of only three guitarists to be voted Best Overall Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine three years in a row. The only other two guitarists to win the category for the Gallery of Greats are Steve Morse and Steve Howe.

Eric is a perfectionist, and it took five years to deliver a follow up, ‘Venus Isle.’ As you know, the public has a short memory, and he was dropped by Capitol when it didn’t immediately take off. It did eventually go Gold.

 

He still does great business on the road particularly in the south and southwest. Joe Bonamassa is quoted in the March issue of Guitar World saying he regularly apologizes to Eric Johnson: “Every time I see him I’m like, I’m sorry for stealing your style.”

 

I just saw Eric play in south Florida a couple of months ago and he is still amazing, definitely in the top three. I told him there should be a documentary done on him and he agreed. So, now I am looking for a director who plays guitar and knows about this phenomenal player named Eric Johnson.

 

That’s the story, hope you liked it.

 

Regards,

 

Denny Somach

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From: Lee Abrams

Subject: Re: Chris Licht/CNN

CNN had the opportunity to reinvent themselves for this century.  Like most news organizations,  they’re good at gathering news,  terrible at presenting it

Changing the lower third, losing the “breaking news” moniker and a few lineup changes ain’t going to do it.  Information is the new rock n roll —- it’s what’s driving culture and CNN is  as flat as the platform

It’s on at a time when the world is going through a revolution similar to the late 60’s.

Journalists and TV executives aren’t programmers and they get caught up in their own battles reporting to each other and the conference room rather than the streets. The world is an electric place and requires truthful reporting of the right stories ( there’s no research going into story selection ) presented with Technicolor inventiveness.

CNN’s failures were predictable.  A revolution in video information is and will happen,  but it won’t be with a bland format rooted in the 80’s.  It’ll be as explosively fresh and 180 degrees from the cliched and pompous presentation we’re currently seeing.  A complete rethink rather than compromises and bandaids.  Oh…and it’ll be online and IMHO will change the future of information delivery.

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From: Jason Harris

Subject: Re: Chris Licht/CNN

Hubris is so spot on. 

It’s Not TV. It’s HBO.

It’s Not HBO. It’s MAX?

As a guy who spend an entire career in marketing/advertising, 

This must be the worst branding move of all time. 

Hubris and dumbassery. 

In one ego shot, wiping out 51 years of brand equity and identity.

_______________________________________

Subject: Re: Chris Licht/CNN

Hey, Bob –

Once again, you’ve covered all sides of the story well.

Please allow me to add an aside from Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: “The ego may be clever, but it is not intelligent. Cleverness pursues its own little aims. Intelligence sees the larger whole in which all things are connected. Cleverness is motivated by self-interest, and it is extremely short-sighted. Most politicians and businesspeople are clever. Very few are intelligent. Whatever is attained through cleverness is short-lived and always turns out to be eventually self-defeating. Cleverness divides; intelligence includes.”

Larry Butler

Nashville

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From: Michael Scott

Subject: Re: The Backseat Lovers

Hi Bob, 

I saw the Backstreet Lovers at Sea, Hear, Now festival in Asbury Park last summer. They played on a side stage in the middle of the afternoon, but the crowd, mostly 20-something’s (I’m almost 50!), was totally engaged, knew all the words. They were the best performance I saw that weekend, and that includes the headliners, Stevie Nicks and Green Day. I’ve been a huge fan since. Kilby Girl comes up on my Spotify once a week, and I never skip over it. Great song. Check out “Pool House”. 

Take Care,

_______________________________________

From: Roger McNamee

Subject: Re: The Baseball Game

Dear Bob,

On the off chance you were not asking a rhetorical question, Cracker Jill was a brand extension introduced last year by Frito Lay to honor women in sports.

I have not done a side-by-side taste test, but the Cracker Jill bag I had at Dodger Stadium has month tasted better than what I remember of the last bag of Cracker Jack that I had.  Fresher.  Crunchier.  Until further notice I am a Cracker Jill man.

Roger

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From: Garrett Gravley

Subject: Re: Gutfeld Beats The Tonight Show

I interviewed Greg Gutfeld once. It was because Riley Gale from the band Power Trip had died, and he paid tribute to him on The Five, telling everyone that the two struck a fortuitous friendship. After the tribute aired, I reached out to Fox News thinking he wouldn’t talk to me in a million years, but to my surprise, he did. He had nothing to promote or anything – he just wanted to discuss his friendship with an artist whose music he liked. And that’s what the story was about. No politics or anything – just a story about that friendship and the grief he was feeling after his friend’s death.

I rarely ever get behind his politics and can NEVER get behind the network he’s on, but I will always respect him for being charitable with his time and opening up to me about that without looking to plug anything.

The story: https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/the-unlikely-friendship-between-a-fox-news-host-and-a-trash-metal-musician-11939649

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From: Randy Stine

Subject: Full circle after 15 years

Bob –

It’s hard to believe you first wrote about Straight No Chaser over 15 years ago, when the original 1998 performance of 12 Days of Christmas went viral.  At that time, seven million views in a month were considered big numbers, as YouTube was in its infancy.  I know how lucky we were to rise to anyone’s attention, let alone yours, along with Craig Kallman’s at Atlantic Records.  After you wrote about us, I got several very kind, generous e-mails from Steve Lukather, encouraging us to reunite, and even assuring us that “Toto has your back!”  Steve and I haven’t connected in person yet, but, ten years ago, I’m sitting in our signing line after a show at the Wiltern in LA, and a gentleman comes down the line and says, “Hi, I’m David, I wrote Africa and I love your arrangement.”  He had no arrogance, he hadn’t requested tickets or passes, and he even waited in-line to come say hello.  After years of corresponding via e-mail, and him coming to see us again last year in Thousand Oaks, David Paich had us fly out and record with him, in his studio this past March.  It was a thrill, a real full-circle moment for us, and we’re proud to have him on our new album.

It’s amazing for me to think about the power of a single song. If David Paich hadn’t penned Africa, we wouldn’t have covered it in college and morphed it into the end of a Christmas song.  Which means, without Africa, our silly version of a Christmas carol would never have gone viral, and we wouldn’t have been recording and touring for the last 15 years.

Thanks again for your part in all of this too; your kind words for us from the very beginning are not forgotten.

Randy

The whole album is here, not that you don’t have 1,000 other things to listen to.

_______________________________________

From: Kevin Cronin

Subject: Re: Alito

Yo Bob,

I fucking love this letter. Your parting thought is a basic human truth. I have done my best to lead a righteous life, and yeah, I missed the mark several times. But when I did, it bothered me. I didn’t like myself in those times. I have a little voice in my head, my Catholic upbringing calls it a conscience. I bailed on all the “changing water into wine, and walking on water” fantasies, but the conscience part stuck with me. It is, in my opinion, the most important thing I learned in my religious upbringing…and it has nothing to do with organized religion. Feeling bad when you lie, or cheat, or hurt someone is Human Being 101. Trump flunked that course, and flaunts his failure. “I could kill someone in Times Square and no one would care.” He is proud of his hall pass to “grab ‘em by the pussy.” The Klu Klux Klan took notice, and took off their hoods. Sorry guys, but racist assholes were meant to be marginalized, and remanded to a life in the shadows. LGBTQ people are meant to be out of the closet and live their authentic lives. The Klan needs to be the ones closeted.  It is ludicrous to me that Trump retains his cult-like hold on so many otherwise good and reasonable citizens. My point is in line with yours. Trumps blatant misbehavior serves to undermine what I have spent years trying to impart to my children: When you are honest, driven by integrity, and care about others, it feels good. It doesn’t feel good when you act like an asshole. I have tried it, so I know. Trump legitimizes the worst parts of human nature. He must be remanded to the same closet as the Klan. My fantasy is that Trump and OJ end up as roommates in a two bedroom apartment West Palm Beach, with no ocean view. … kc

PS. I only fly on private jets owned by people I like. And yeah, I have turned down plenty of opportunities. Who wants to be stuck on a fancy boat, luxurious plane, or in a mansion guest room, owned by an a-hole billionaire! There are plenty of nice billionaires who know the value of hard work and are grateful for their good fortune. When invited, I’ll fly, float, or hang with them, any day. Oops, I’m flying commercial toady, and about to miss my flight. Where’s a righteous billionaire when you need one?! … kc

More songs with “Change” in the title.

Tune in Saturday July 1st, to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

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

I feel powerless. You’ll tell me to vote, and I do, each and every time, the only time I missed an election was a California Democratic primary for which I was out of town, and I know voting makes a bit of difference, but it seems more about putting one’s finger in the dike as opposed to making positive change. It didn’t used to be that way, then again I came of age in the sixties, when everything was possible and everything was up for grabs. It was all about going forward, questioning norms and authority for a better life for everyone.

Yes, we live in a society. Even the white nationalists. The actions of the rest of us affect them. This reminds me of the wealthy, who always say they did it alone and are entitled to their riches. Well, no. You see if we didn’t buy your products, you’d have bupkes. We’re all interconnected, we all need to get along. Isn’t that what Rodney King said? Oh, he’s dead. And it won’t be long before I am too. Do I just shrug my shoulders and go on with my life? When did everybody in America become so narcissistic, only focusing upon themselves. Imagine if Kennedy were President again today, and I’m talking about JFK, not the conspiracy spewing RFK, Jr. who seems to be building a base of the uninformed looking for change. JFK said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” There are many people today who don’t believe in the country. Oh, they say they’re nationalists, but the government is evil and should be stripped down and out of their lives. How can this be? As for altruism… I’m not saying nobody cares, but it’s all about careers. You don’t want to take time out of your procession up the ladder to do for others. That’s someone else’s problem, the government’s. But isn’t this the same government that everybody hates?

So in the sixties we recognized that certain people were at a disadvantage and this needed to be rectified. Let me see… Do we want people of color to sit in the back of the bus? Be unable to go to college? Well, the dirty little secret is that many Blacks are forced into substandard schools sans the rest of society. And this impacts them their entire life. So they may not be as well-prepared for college as others who were the beneficiaries of a better education. But we’re all equal, right?

It wasn’t only about affirmative action in schools, it was also about voting rights. But the Supreme Court said racism was a thing of the past and laws were not needed. Everybody on the street knows racism is not a thing of the past. I’ll make it very simple, when you get in an elevator and you’re the only white person amongst Blacks or Latinos or…do you feel totally at ease? Admit it, in many cases you do not. You’re afraid.

But it’s their problem. They have to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. Why does everybody in America have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps? Oh, you were born handicapped? It’s your problem. Tough noogies. Or without a father? Well, you should have chosen better. What, I was unborn! And you told my mother that she couldn’t have an abortion. Are you proposing eugenics? Absolutely, we just don’t call it that.

As for the guy who started this Harvard lawsuit, it’s got nothing to do with Asians, he’s been on this tip for decades. This is his calling, to get rid of affirmative action, just like Grover Norquist wants no new taxes. Talk about the power of an individual. You can’t get a single Republican to raise taxes. Forget whether it’s called for, they’ll be excoriated by the party, they’ll be primaried. This is the result of gerrymandering. Yes, the seat is Republican, but without a Democrat who can possibly win the lunatic right winger gets the seat.

Yes, call me a Democrat. Call me a liberal. And don’t tell me it’s the same on both sides, because it’s absolutely not.

Then again, the Democrats don’t know how to fight back. Somehow Hunter Biden is the worst criminal in the world but Trump’s kids are saints? His son-in-law involved with the Saudis? As is Trump with LIV Golf. These are grifters, out to line their own pockets. Why if Trump is so rich does he keep asking for money for his legal defense?

Are there lunatic Democrats? Compromised Democrats? Of course. But the “Woke,” the language police, all those straw men the right puts up, are a tiny minority. Do we judge all Republicans by the Ku Klux Klan? Then why do we judge the Democrats by a tiny extreme?

So you’re born Black in the inner city which the Republicans label a hellhole. You’re branded before you even start. And now doors are being shut left and right, opportunity is fading. The rich have nincompoop kids who they keep trying to get advantaged. Maybe two went to Harvard and there’s one…he barely graduated high school, after being kicked out of prep school after prep school. But Daddy and his money get him one cushy job after another, because Daddy is connected. Who is doing the same for the nincompoops who are not white and rich? NOBODY! It’s their own damn fault. And we don’t want to give you no damn money, go out and work. But even if you do, we’re not gonna raise the minimum wage. Go live in a flophouse with many, eat fast food, it’s your fault you’re obese and you’ve got to pay for it. National health care? Where in the hell is personal responsibility?

Personal responsibility. Like five year olds know all about this. Like everybody in America is born equal.

Well, in the eyes of the Supreme Court they are.

Sure, in a perfect world we need no affirmative action, but we don’t live in a perfect world.

Let’s make it about women… The corporation doesn’t want you and if it does it pays you less. You might get pregnant. You’re just too risky. But we have laws to level the playing field. But if you’re a person of color? Too bad. The right wing Supreme Court justices might be going by the literal law, but not the spirit of the law. The MLB was playing by baseball’s rules. But the end result was games were getting impossibly long. So what did the MLB do? Change the rules to equalize the game and make it more appealing to the masses, who ultimately support baseball, because once again it does not exist in a vacuum. End result? It works! Games are shorter and baseball is on the way up.

But our country is on the way down. We can’t change rules, only tear them down. Because god forbid someone gains an advantage, that the law works in their behalf. It’s your fault that you’re gay or trans and we’re going to teach you a lesson by closing doors. We say we’re all about freedom, but it turns out that freedom’s for us, not you.

So everything they told us in the “Weekly Reader” turns out to be untrue. Anybody can be President? Let’s start from the beginning, who would want to be President?

And I won’t say the election fights of the past were fair, but now it’s all about defining the Democratic candidate unfairly, taking them out of the contest. Dukakis was weak on crime. As for Hillary? Didn’t she kill Vince Foster? Forget that she was educated, she thinks she’s above us. Well let me see… Do you want to have your car fixed by an amateur? Why are education and experience anathema?

The Republicans have got this game down cold. Start labeling left wing candidates negatively as soon as they pop up on the radar screen. Death taxes? Almost nobody pays them. As for the man who came up with this term…Frank Luntz is now fighting against Trump and the crazy right. But he’s to blame, the rest of them too, enabling the ignorant and racist to the point where the tail is wagging the dog. This doesn’t work in business, the CEO gets fired, but in politics it’s fine. To the point where the Republican party is now run by the tail, not the head. The uninformed.

All you’ve got to do is go on TikTok, there are a plethora of videos. Trump is a saint and Biden belongs in jail. The facts don’t matter. Fox News and its brethren, like Luntz, have created a monster, and since it’s all about money, all they do is feed the monster.

As for the Supreme Court… The voters are so ignorant.

They were told again and again to elect Hillary because of the Supreme Court and…they didn’t like this “mean” lady. I don’t care what you thought about her, but these Supreme Court decisions are a direct result of her loss.

People voting against their interests. They’ve got no idea what is going on. How can you run a country when almost nobody knows the truth? I’ll say it again, forget opinion, the number one factual resource in America is the “New York Times.” Forget the left, the right devours it and reacts to it. But the right has told its constituents to ignore the “Times,” live in darkness.

Back to the “Weekly Reader.”

Believe me, we were nationalists back in the early sixties, we believed in our country. But then we started to question.

But it didn’t occur to us that the game was rigged. That the Federalist Society would proffer inherently biased Supreme Court justices. There’s no responsibility, just fealty to the team. And if you’re not on that team…

Even worse, if your team is bigger, you still lose. Whether it be the Constitution’s two senators for every state, the massage of voting rules or… The deck is stacked against you. And if you win, you lost. Isn’t that Trump’s mantra? Play that out. Everything is up for grabs, the aforementioned baseball game, Wall Street…facts are fungible, emotions are everything, and there are takers everywhere, poised to push you into the gutter, so you’d better be alert and vigilant to make sure they gain no traction, no advantage.

Respect? How can you respect the Supreme Court? Lackeys, tools of the right. There’s an agenda, and it’s not in your favor, the majority, the average citizen, it’s all about protecting the whites and corporate interests, too often the same damn thing.

But there’s nothing I can do about it. You can’t get an abortion in your state? MOVE! But don’t move to California or New York City because they’re crime-ridden and morally bankrupt and… Well, which way is it?

Everybody’s so confused they’ve got no idea.

And all we hear is freedom, FREEDOM, FREEDUMB!

I thought freedom wasn’t supposed to hurt anybody else. And if it did, we enacted laws preventing the behavior. How does someone else’s abortion hurt you? If anything, the birth hurts you. That kid has needs, and they may have to be met by the government. But they shouldn’t be! Personal responsibility! Think about that every time you have sex, every time the condom breaks, every time the baby you’re carrying is gonna kill you but an abortion is illegal.

So we’re on our own. We can’t play in the MLB and we can’t really play in government and we certainly can’t play on the Supreme Court.

Sounds good in theory, that everybody has an equal chance to get into college. But the truth is everybody is not equal, everybody does not begin at the same starting point. Let’s talk about golf, the white man’s game. Everybody gets a handicap, to equalize scores in tournaments. Yes, you get an advantage at the country club, but not in regular life, it’s unfair!

Talk about unfair…

But I won’t. Because it won’t make a difference. The game is rigged and too often those on the side of right say their hands are tied.

We’re going backwards. I lived through the good old days of equality. Now society is much coarser and much less even. Sure, we’ve got smartphones. And yes, poor people have flat screens. But you can’t afford good food and you can’t afford a new car and…it’s capitalism. Any change will bring socialism and you don’t want that, do you?

Maybe you do.

Like Medicare.

And Social Security.

Nah, let’s just let our old people suffer. We keep hearing about deaths of despair. This didn’t used to be a thing. But I’ll tell you, if I run out of money I’ll kill myself, you can’t get a job when you’re ninety. Too many baby boomers are going to confront this situation, and then what?

Oh, too bad, it’s their own damn fault.

And it might be, but does that mean we’re going to cut them loose?

That’s what the Supreme Court says. We’re all born and then you’re on your own. However it plays out it’s your fault.

Hogwash.