Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

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It’s an Oprah book. But that’s not why I read it.

Every Sunday I scan the “New York Times” book section to see what interests me, and a story of four sisters does. Family, personalities, relationships, ultimately they’re all that matter. You might be interested in the big game, business, but that never comprises your entire life, you’re a person 24/7, with thoughts, you want to express them, and it’s almost never appropriate in business, which is ultimately a competition. Family is not a competition, but it is.

Now for me the book was all setup until two characters speak on a bench. There was a connection. They realized they were simpatico. It resonated.

So what you’ve got here is a couple that’s married, the wife is Type-A and she’s got plans, it’s all laid out in her head, and she tries to imprint her desires on her husband and…

It doesn’t take.

So what defines success? Is it monetary, or personality?

The mother, Rose, married Charlie, her husband, because she got knocked-up. And she’s resented Charlie ever since. He gets demoted at work, he barely brings home the bacon. But it turns out he’s the secret sauce, the man who quotes Whitman, he’s got a personality, he’s 3-D, he cares about others, it takes a long time for his impact to reveal itself, but it’s major.

And then there’s the above referenced competition between the sisters. The hopes and dreams are usually in the first-born, they ultimately feel entitled. If you’re in their wake, you’re subsidiary, you find your own role in their shadow.

And the thing about life is it never turns out the way you think it will. Can you accept the twists and turns? Many people cannot. It’s kinda like tech, be a Luddite at your peril, you’re going to miss out. At some point you have to accept people’s choices, or forgo interaction, and the latter can not only render a loss, it can be soul-crushing.

So do introverts have a place in this world?

Actually, introverts will love “Hello Beautiful” the most. They will connect. They want someone to peek inside, to understand them, yet they have a hard time reaching out for what they want. Then they find someone who gets them… We all want someone who gets us.

I mean you can live on the surface, but…

That’s why many famous marriages end, not only celebrities but the people in your circle. From the outside they’re gay and alive, smiling, going everywhere, but inside their relationship might be hollow, it’s more of a business deal than a relationship.

This is not a hard book to read. And once you get about a quarter of the way through you’ll barely be able to put it down.

Unlike Jenna’s book club, Oprah’s has an imprimatur of quality. And “Hello Beautiful” is a very good book. Will it be an award-winner? I wouldn’t think so. But it’s not a mystery, it’s not a typical genre book. “Hello Beautiful” is about life. And you’re living. And what transpires in the novel is not always expected, just like in your life right now.

“So Many Steves: Afternoons with Steve Martin”: https://bit.ly/3LC9kqA

Does anybody know about this?

I listened and quite enjoyed it, but it’s not worth $14.99. It’s a podcast, not an audiobook. How come nobody at Pushkin knows this?

The paradigm was established when Pushkin released “Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon”: https://bit.ly/3LD7KVk It had absolutely no impact, even though Simon revealed things heretofore unknown, like how ayahuasca changed his life. But almost nobody paid for it. If anything, we now live in a freemium universe. Or all you can eat for one price. There’s still an iTunes Store, but everybody who shops there is aged, because everybody who is younger and a true music fan has defected to a streaming outlet.

Now the Paul Simon audiobook was hobbled by Malcolm Gladwell. Who needs to be taken down a few pegs. Not only is he frequently plain wrong in his podcast “Revisionist History,” coming up with a premise and cherry-picking facts to prove it, his delivery has become offensive, like he’s God come down from the mountaintop and we should all pay attention. His slow speech, like an orator…nobody talks like that, he’s done too many corporate speeches. Furthermore, he’s not that knowledgeable about Simon, whereas Adam Gopnik is good friends with Steve Martin.

But “New Yorker” writer Gopnik, like Gladwell, comes up with a theory and then…it doesn’t all come together. Sure, Steve Martin walked away from comedy, but not completely. Rather than shed one life for another, Martin keeps building upon the lives he’s established.

Now Martin is an interesting character. Does anybody not like Steve Martin? But the fascinating thing is…he’s screwed up. We tend to think that our stars are superior, together. But when Martin talks about dating after his divorce, you’d think he’d be a king, but he was not.

And Martin talks about how he learned to be nice.

And at the advent, he talks about these e.e. cummings records that inspired him, and they might inspire you too.

And there are a few insights that might inspire you, that you might connect with, but this is more of an autobiography than anything else. Which is cool, but they shouldn’t have tried to make it something bigger in concept.

So do I recommend listening to this book?

Yes, you’ll enjoy it. But I absolutely cannot endorse purchasing it. Meaning very few people will ever hear it.

That’s the challenge today, getting people to be aware of something and partake of it. It’s nearly impossible. You don’t want to put up any barriers, any paywalls, only people inured to the old game do this. First get attention, there are a million ways to monetize if you do this. Silicon Valley empires have been built on this concept.

Pushkin should have found one sponsor for the entire project and released it as a podcast. Some huge company that wants its image burnished. After all, Steve Martin is not offensive. Gladwell shilled for Lexus, they’d be perfect for this. And then many people would listen to this audiobook and Lexus’s image would get a boost and it would be a win-win-win. For Pushkin, Lexus and the public.

Charge the public at your peril. There’s so much free entertainment. And then there are Spotify, Netflix, et al, which automatically pay for like their cell plan. It’s an incredible hurdle to get someone to pay up front for something unknown.

But people don’t understand this.

Just like they write books. Do you know how few people read these books? People always ask me when I’m going to write a book. NEVER! Why take two or three years to write something that might reach a fraction of the number of people I’m reaching right now. Fiction is one thing, but I don’t write fiction, and the dirty little secret is most fiction sells in four digits, not even ten thousand copies. Much less. You hear about these books, and then no one buys them. I’m not saying I’ll never do a compilation book, but to write something from scratch, that’s a fool’s errand!

But I’ve got a leg up. I’ve built an audience.

Today authors rely on the publisher, ain’t that a laugh, you’ve got to promote your book yourself. Hand sell it.

And Pushkin has no reputation as a publisher of audiobooks, no platform. Man, it takes eons to build your audience. So you’d better be invested for the long haul. So choose your options very wisely.

Just like the public.

They’re not going to buy Steve Martin’s audiobook.

What a waste.

Eric Andersen was a folkie in Greenwich Village in the sixties, recorded the classic album “Blue River’ in the seventies, and is still touring and recording to this day. Eric’s still got something to say, he believes music can make a difference, and this is his story.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eric-andersen/id1316200737?i=1000611718864

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/0121082b-7e53-4bfc-b5db-6a913bbff048/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-eric-andersen

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/eric-andersen-302830883