“Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral”: https://amzn.to/41zXBPb

This is not the book I thought it would be.

And I don’t advise you read it. I don’t see why anybody would read it. I thought it would be an insight into virality, how something spreads in today’s marketplace. Instead, it’s a history of virality, from Nick Denton and Gawker to the Huffington Post to BuzzFeed. Who’s interested in that?

This is why writing books is so messed up. Everybody involved is so myopic and stupid. This is not household names, this is people mostly from Silicon Alley, the New York City answer to Silicon Valley. And unless you’re one of them, you’ll have no interest. And if you are one of them, you know everything already, why would you need to read it in a book?

Ben Smith worked for Politico, then BuzzFeed and the “New York Times” and now he runs the newsletter/events company Semafor. Reading this book I can only feel worse about him. He’s a detailer of facts, not a deep thinker. He’s addicted to Twitter. This is not someone who moves mountains, he is a cog in the machine. And he admits he missed it, that everybody from Jonah Peretti to the rest of the tech titans missed it. Because ultimately virality didn’t pay.

The goal here is so empty. Jonah Peretti wants virality for the traffic, for the advertising, for the money, it’s just that simple. And Nick Denton before him. If it bleeds, it leads. There are no limits to what is posted. But then Facebook will change its algorithm and philosophy and…BuzzFeed will have a meeting with Facebook to plead its case, to get featured as much as it used to. So? I mean at least in the music business there’s music involved, art. This is a pure money play. For almost all of them. All those scumbags who are spamming your inbox 24/7, this is the same damn thing, only these guys, and they’re almost all guys, don’t live in Russia and are findable. Disillusions you when it comes to business. Money is everything? This is what the best and brightest care about?

And all those headlines you see about sales on Amazon and elsewhere, they’re all over BuzzFeed and other sites. I mean I always scratch my head, because the discounts are so low, 10% off, whoopee! Well, since virality pays so poorly, because advertisers pay less for traffic, these sites have resorted to affiliate fees to make their money. They hope you’ll click through and buy and then they can get their pennies from Amazon. It’s kind of a scam.

Smith starts the BuzzFeed news operation. But mostly it’s amplifying what is already out there, or posting something that more traditional outlets are afraid to, like the Steele dossier.

So then Smith goes to the “New York Times”…

That’s the big story in the book, how the “Times” is the ultimate winner and all these sites based on advertising failed. The “Times” charged for news, they went to a subscription model and made beaucoup profits, are no longer totally dependent on a fading advertising market. And the “Times” even diversified, into cooking and puzzle apps and…you pay for all of them.

So if you’ve been following the news, you know that BuzzFeed just killed its news division. But is that in this book? Of course not, because the ancient publishing industry needs lead time, to print all these dead tree tomes. Oh, you can update the digital version instantly, but the physical books? They’re out of date from the moment they’re printed. The web is about living and breathing stories. “Traffic” is about a story set in amber, the rearview mirror, it’d be like writing about Napster today, then again, Napster is a hell of a lot more interesting and led to a bigger upheaval than these bros trying to tweak brain dead stories for virality.

So Smith ended up at the “Times” himself. In the old David Carr role.

But Carr was a reporter, and he didn’t see the “Times” as a waystation on the journey to hoped riches, being a reporter was enough.

And Smith’s “Times” stories were good, mostly about what his contacts were into, and then he quit and started Semafor.

So how is Semafor gonna make it? EVENTS!

God, there are not enough people to go to all of the events proffered.

The red hot Pivot crew, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, held a conference in Florida and…they lost money.

I mean if you can’t get in for free to these confabs, you’re the sucker. Mostly it’s wannabes, believing they’re going to get to hang with the names, which doesn’t happen. You do get to meet like-minded people on the way up, but…

These things have a shelf life.

Like Summit at Sea, happening imminently, next week in fact.

Well, a couple of weeks past they said registration was gonna close. But now I keep getting e-mails that it’s open. Turns out not enough people want to go. It’s expensive, and what are the dividends? If you’re charging a high price either the entertainment has to be really damn good or the networking has to be worth it, and it almost never is. Furthermore, you can’t do it all, you can’t stay up all night partying and then go to hear the names speak. You’ve got to choose. And the best and the brightest don’t go to the speeches at all. Just like the rest of the world, it’s a two class system, them and us. And believe me, they don’t want to give the great unwashed access, their time is too valuable. The smart ones will be nice if you buttonhole them, but for a very brief moment. It’s not their job to lift you up, to get you a gig, that’s your job, and that’s really damn hard.

So does anybody care about the details of people trying to game the system to make bread via a paradigm that’s already history? Do you think you can sell a book about last year’s Little League season?

And this guy took all of this time to write this book? All those hours? Sure, he got an advance, but it won’t sell, and to earn back the advance there’s got to be good word of mouth. And sure, all the inside people Ben Smith knows will blurb for their friend, it’s an inside job, but you’ve got to interest those outside and believe me, no one else cares.

Now a blog about what exactly is happening today? That’d be great. But Smith isn’t selling distance, perspective, Semafor is all news, what is happening now. What it all means? Well, if you’re at dinner with Smith I’m sure the first thing he’ll mention is the money, then the collegiality, making a difference, moving the culture? That’s way down the line, not to mention the target keeps moving.

The facts, they’re easily garnered. Just Google a news event, there are zillions of hits, even from publications in India! But someone who can make sense of it all? Where is the perspective on AI? Mostly it’s just hysteria, to the point where the hoi polloi are talking about it and they’ve got no clue. Where’s the seer drilling down into the weeds, making it clear, revealing the thoughts of those involved while having no skin in the game? That’s hard to find, because everybody is trying to make a buck.

So if you’re a scam artist, maybe you should check out “Traffic.” Otherwise, FORGET IT!

Bassist extraordinaire Colonel Les Claypool has regrouped his Fearless Flying Brigade for its first tour in two decades. This is Claypool’s story, from picking up the bass at 14 to Primus to Oysterhead to wine-making to… Les will entertain you!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/les-claypool/id1316200737?i=1000612610024

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/ff11192e-740a-4d8e-92b6-fb946c315810/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-les-claypool

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/les-claypool-303101494

https://bit.ly/3nYYRxA

Will there be guitar heroes again?

Sure, we can find teenagers online who can play the licks, copying the greatest hits of classic rock, but the raw innovation, that journey into the stratosphere, that originality, is that history?

Now I checked, this video is also on YouTube, posted thirteen years ago. But I’m not going to search for Van Halen playing the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” But based on TikTok clips I’ve watched, this video was just served up to me while I was doing my back stretches preparing to go out for dinner with Luke.

Now if you’re a baby boomer you know “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by heart. But you also know that intro and solo were done on synthesizer, somehow Eddie Van Halen manages to play them on the guitar. EFFORTLESSLY!

You watch him and he’s not even looking at the strings, at his fingers on the neck, it’s like Eddie knows it instinctively, AND HE PROBABLY DOES!

Now if you want to put your analyst hat on you can say that Alex’s drums are a bit loud and you can’t hear Michael Anthony’s bass, but Sammy sings as effortlessly as Roger Daltrey, hitting the notes no problem.

Then again, Sammy doesn’t have the sense of humor, the intelligence in lyrics that David Lee Roth has.

We can argue over which era of Van Halen we prefer, but one thing’s for sure, the essence is Eddie Van Halen.

Sammy’s tried, but he’s never been able to equal the success without Eddie. Ditto DLR, who had a big solo hit with his cover of “California Girls” right after the monstrous “Jump,” but then he ultimately faded away while Eddie carried on, unscathed.

Music touches you when you aren’t paying attention, when you don’t expect it, when you’re doing something different, when your mind is elsewhere. And then this sound enters your brain and it’s not intellectual, it’s more of a feeling, your whole mood changes, your whole attitude, you feel connected, powerful and optimistic. That’s the power of music, ultimately indefinable but something we’ve all experienced.

And not every song does it, not every performance. And sometimes what is great slides off us, even sounds bad when we’re not in the right mood, but if you’ve slowed down enough, are not distracted, and it all comes together, it’s one of life’s great feelings.

Just wanted to tell you.

P.S. If you want to watch the clip on YouTube: https://bit.ly/44TnRr0

He’s got no online strategy. No identity. Joe seems to be hiding from the country.

Don’t tell me otherwise, that just means you’re in the bubble. You’re operating under the old paradigm, you devour the words of the mainstream media and talk politics with similarly minded people. Which is why you were flummoxed when Trump won in 2016. You didn’t know anybody voting for Trump!

I knew plenty. Because my inbox was inundated with the words of Trump supporters. Still is. These people are relentless.

The Democrats used to control the internet. They took a victory lap after Obama’s victory in the 2008 election. But everything evolves faster on the internet. Those days are history. Today the right owns the internet, furthermore, they’re constantly pushing back, saying they’re getting a raw deal! Yes, the most shared stories on Facebook are right wing stories. But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good narrative.

This is Biden’s problem. The facts are actually quite good, but the narrative is terrible. The right has defined him as a bumbling old man who is afraid to give press conferences who already has one foot in the retirement home. As for Kamala Harris? She’s defined as a do-nothing who failed in her one area of concentration, immigration. Of course you can rebut all this, but once again it’s all about the narrative, not the facts. The people who know the facts are already convinced, but those who don’t, how do you reach them? ON THE INTERNET!

2024 is not 2020. 2020 was a referendum on Donald Trump. Biden was somewhat of a cipher. The most moderate man available who also appealed to Blacks. The Democrats played it safe. But now Biden has a record. And as soon as you have a record, you’re vulnerable. Period.

Yes, the nation was activated back in 2020. To keep the evil Trump at bay. What are they activated about now?

Well, you can talk all day about the abortion issue, but it doesn’t seem to resonate with men. Sure, some are sympathetic, but for most it’s not a defining issue. Like guns. People won’t vote for a Democrat merely because they’re pro-gun control. We don’t have that kind of rabidity on the left, primarily because no one feels powerful, no one feels they can make a difference. Reports are people of color feel ignored by the Democratic regime. This is how the Democrats lost the blue collar, what have you done for me lately?

I’m not saying that abortion ain’t gonna pay dividends for the Democrats in 2024, but I wouldn’t count on it swaying the election. Don’t talk to me about filibustering in South Carolina… Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, giving states the right to codify abortion laws, the availability of abortion keeps decreasing. If you call this winning, you don’t know anything about competition.

For years the young have been pooh-poohed. We hear they don’t vote. That elections are decided by the aged.

Now we do know the aged vote, they punch above their weight in election participation, but what we’ve learned in the past few election cycles is that the youth vote in higher percentages than they used to. Primarily because THEY KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON!

If you’re a member of the youth, you’re pilloried by the old 24/7. You’ve got a short attention span, you have a bad work ethic, you’re narcissistic and you spend too much time on social media. Put that damn phone down.

Do you hear those on the right saying this? Do you think the “Wall Street Journal” is filled with these screeds? No! Because the right knows the internet is where you spread your message. And you don’t talk down to the youth, you embrace them.

I mean come on, if I read another Ivy League blowhard testifying in the “New York Times” as to the detriment of smartphones and the internet, I’m gonna puke. Man, this is why the Democrats look bad. So, you’ve got a good education, you make a good buck, you read books and see foreign movies. You keep telling us you’re better than we are, and that you know better, when the truth is just the opposite, these people are IGNORANT!

Ask yourself if you’re ignorant. I was out for lunch with two high-powered people in the music business the other day and neither one had been on TikTok. NEITHER ONE! It’s not like the barrier to entry is that high. But they’re busy with other things. Fine, but don’t expect to know what is going on with the youth.

The youth brought Napster. Which evolved into streaming. And if you think this is bad, you’re not a consumer. Sure, old acts who made their bones in a controlled system might be making less from recordings, but not everything is positive in evolutionary change. Just like the internet today, it’s ushered in a Tower of Babel society. Most people in America haven’t even heard the number one song, never mind being able to sing it! But the industry and the wankers who report on it refuse to acknowledge this. They keep testifying and printing a manipulated Top Ten that most people ignore. It’s not the twentieth century anymore.

TikTok is where the youth live. Will they be living there in 2028? There’s a good chance they will not. Everybody thought Facebook was forever, now if you’re on Facebook it’s the equivalent of having an Android phone, when that green bubble shows up everybody else rolls their eyes! Oh, so you’re an iconoclast and you don’t care. Fine, but you’re part of the minority, and it’s the majority who have sway in elections.

Biden needs to post on Twitter every single day, multiple times, evidencing a personality, not bland proclamations. Why? Because this is where reporters live, they’re trolling for news 24/7. You never know what will go viral, but when it comes to hard news it usually starts on Twitter.

Most people never even go to Twitter. Talk to your friends, are they active? It’s a laugh, the social network punches way above its weight. But that’s where stories start.

But stories live on other platforms. Where is the twentysomething, or even the teenager, making daily TikToks for Biden? Once again, not policy so much as personality. Bill Clinton won by playing the sax on “Arsenio” and going on MTV and answering the question, “boxers or briefs?” It’s kind of like that old Sam Kinison joke, telling concerned people to stop sending food to starving people in Africa…instead they should send suitcases! Because these Africans need to MOVE WHERE THE FOOD IS! Clinton knew this, and not only did he go where the youth were, his appearances humanized him. Made him more relatable. If you find Joe Biden relatable, you must be a relative.

Of course, the right populates social media with inaccuracies and indignation. I’m not saying the left should proffer inaccuracies, but outrage? I’m down with that. There’s so much to be outraged about. The right is touching land mines 24/7, but some Democratic strategist somewhere said not to fight back. Before he got caught up in sex scandals, my guy was Anthony Weiner, because he FOUGHT BACK! He stood up to these bullies. The only people on the left who will stand up to bullies aren’t elected! Like James Carville and Paul Krugman. I hate Chuck Schumer because he’s got no balls. Nor is he evil like McConnell. Chuck is bland. It’d be like being behind by four runs and the batter refusing to swing away, willing to bunt at most. I mean what game are you playing? We’re far behind, GO FOR IT!

And when some elected official on the left does so…they’re isolated and excoriated.

Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Marjorie Taylor Greene is looney-tunes, but do you hear anybody on the right saying so? They either support her or shut up. But we shoot our own on the left. I mean you may not like or agree with AOC, but if she was so bad, why was she elected? And don’t tell me it was in New York, because the truth is active, enlightened youth live in the metropolis and they’re like-minded! As a matter of fact, after the last election cycle Ocasio-Cortez bitched that the Dems didn’t properly utilize the internet, that if they’d handed campaigns over to her, the candidates would have won! She was laughed at by the cognoscenti and nothing happened.

Who are these cognoscenti? Just because you studied the Great Books in college doesn’t mean you’re up to date. A good education prepares you for interpreting the future, but if you don’t engage with the future your opinion is worthless.

As for AI…

Yeah, like the government has ever demonstrated that it knows ANYTHING about tech. Congress grandstanded for Napster and Ticketmaster and…didn’t take action. And did you notice that most of the high profile people against AI are in the game? Talk about self-interest. And I want you to show me one thing that’s been eviscerated online, that no longer appears or is talked about. Hell, you can Google porn. As for child locks, the children know how to beat them. AI is here and it’s coming down the pike. Prepare for it, don’t try to outlaw it. Yes, guardrails would be good. Then again, we don’t want laws made by the ignorant, like Act 230, which made all the internet providers immune. Or even the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that allowed radio consolidation, and homogenized and ruined the medium. Yes, lawmakers were lobbied by radio station owners while most of us were asleep. Meanwhile, new outlets came along to supersede terrestrial radio: satellite radio, podcasts, streaming… Same deal with AI, if you think you can stop the future, you’re wrong. Make laws, but very carefully. Does Silicon Valley hire legislators to code? OF COURSE NOT! These elected officials are bought and paid for and when it comes to things like this they think the average Jane and Joe are not paying attention and they bend to the donors who pay the most and that’s not you and me folks, but fat cats with an investment in the outcome.

How about educating our youth so they can argue factually with those on the right? A daily list of topics. This is what the right does internally, but on the left? We throw our hands in the air if we react at all.

Steve Jobs famously said he was creating TOOLS!

That’s what the internet is, a tool. And if you want to build an edifice, you need to use the tools.

And just like you wouldn’t plow your field with a horse today, traditional media no longer does the trick.

Everything I said above? The right knows it. They’re laughing at the left as they run circles around the Democrats. Whose hearts are in the right place, but don’t organize and take action. Not online, where it all goes down today.

Sure, Biden won by hiding during the pandemic. But he won’t be able to do that in 2024. How come everybody on the right is talking about Trump eating potential candidates alive on the campaign trail, but nobody on the left is concerned with Biden standing up to Trump himself? As for Kamala… She was piss-poor in the 2020 debates, she received few votes. She’s got no constituency, not one of any size.

We hold the above truths to be self-evident. If you’re online for hours a day and are plugged into society, America.

If you’re not?

YOU’RE OUT OF TOUCH!