It’s a blip on the ass of social media. For a self-selecting group who need to keep up on the news, evidence their opinions, and haters who want to undercut anybody who participates.

In other words, the story of Elon Musk BUYING Twitter is more important than the platform itself, because almost no one uses it.

Really, it’s all about TikTok. We were told the internet would surface untold number of overlooked musical acts. The concept was right, the genre was wrong. In other words, creativity is on a rampage. And it’s coming from the grass roots. But it’s not about music.

You see TikTok has unleashed the creativity of America. 

This is not Instagram, where you post polished pics to demonstrate how groovy and privileged you are. Nor is it YouTube, with influencers hawking their brand ad infinitum, sans soul.

First and foremost, TikTok is different because you don’t have to be a winner to play. You can be no one and your post can be boosted to everyone. I’d say it’s like a lottery, but it is not. Because it all comes down to your creativity. And you can’t buy it, not like beats online. And you can’t fake it. It’s all you, from inside your brain, and the less polished it is, the more authentic it is, and authenticity is everything. This boost in the creative side of the brain, in these millions of short clip endeavors, has been overlooked by the mainstream for two reasons… One, they do not fit in a traditional, established, anointed vertical and two, the mainstream decries TikTok, they don’t even investigate it, they just pooh-pooh it as a backwater of young amateurs that deserves no attention, like toddlers playing in a sandbox. But that’s not what it is.

So the story of Trump on Twitter is purely access. To a large group. Trump played when the staid establishment did not. In an era where all news junkies, most importantly the reporters and commentators, were addicted to Twitter, so that his impact on the short message service was overblown. Believe me, if Trump comes back to Twitter the impact will be minimal, although never underestimate the media’s ability to make a small story big, by amplifying it. The media was complicit in the election of Trump in 2016, by giving him all that oxygen. A similar thing is happening with the midterm reporting. The establishment media has decided Republicans are going to win and that’s the story, even though the underpinnings of that opinion are slim, just some polls that have been notoriously inaccurate since Trump’s election. The media is so fearful of missing a big story outside the liberal domain of its members, that it is overemphasizing stories about the unknown on the right.

So, for the past few months the story hasn’t been about Twitter, but Musk. Musk was feeling his oats on Twitter, with his follower count of bros, so he decided to buy it. It’d be like you going to a carnival, riding the Ferris wheel and raving about it and all your friends being enthralled with your experience. MOST PEOPLE DIDN’T EVEN GO TO THE CARNIVAL! MOST PEOPLE WERE NEVER EXPOSED TO IT!

This is the dirty little secret of Twitter, most people never see your tweet. Follower counts are nearly irrelevant. Someone has to either be on Twitter when you tweet, or be so interested in what you say as to go back in time on your feed. Furthermore, most Twitter addicts follow so many people most of the posts are lost in the shuffle.

Which is why I rarely tweet. Let’s see, right now I have 66.3k followers on Twitter. Sounds like a lot. But if I tweet it’s like pissing in the wind. I can say the same thing to my mailing list and my inbox can go wild. Because it’s a direct connection. Twitter is not a direct connection, it’s not used that way by most people.

As for the number counts… It was a fad. People signed up and signed off. This is a bigger issue than the bots. The bots are a sideshow for most of the people on the platform, and in truth most people are not on the platform!

And, even if you are using Twitter on a regular basis, it’s confusing.

Twitter tried to make it easier by employing an algorithm, like Facebook, which selected posts that most appealed to you. In theory. In practice, the algorithm is so poor, it overemphasizes some people and de-emphasizes others, who you are interested in. And if you miss a post on Facebook about someone’s afternoon activity, who cares. But if you’re on Twitter for news and you miss a big story, that’s a huge loss.

You see people on Twitter base their lives on being informed. And since Twitter is instant, that’s where stories break. And, all other reporters are on the service. How many people in America are reporters, or comprehensive news junkies? VERY FEW! If Twitter was a sport it would be Monster trucks. No, that can get TV exposure… Well, Twitter is bigger than backcountry skiing, but it generates less enthusiasm than Pickleball, which is on the way up, whereas Twitter is on the way down. You only get a chance to be brand new once. And the hardest thing is to bring someone back who gave you up, it’s nearly impossible, if for no other reason than there are so many other entertainment/information options.

So, what you’ve got on Twitter is writers with no direct connection with their audience. They’ve got no mailing list, they don’t know who their readers are, so they post to make themselves feel good, by gaining followers and getting a reaction. And then they’re stunned when there is evil blowback. Hello, this has been an issue online FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS! It’s just a matter of whether you have direct connection with your audience. To complain about this hate today is laughable. You’re a muckety-muck, people don’t like your status, they don’t like your attitude, and they want to bring you down. Period.

The funny thing is these establishment wankers are too stupid to look at the follower count of most of these haters. It’s anemic, they reach almost no one. And anybody with any experience knows you never respond, that’s exactly what the haters want. And they never back down, if you think you can set them straight you’re wrong.

So, what you’ve got on Twitter is not the hoi polloi, but an elite group, which cries that they’re now subjected to all the vagaries of the internet. And the haters keep piling on, because they can reach these people.

And it’s a tempest in a teapot, most people don’t see it and don’t care.

So Musk is forced to buy Twitter. To honor his deal.

He’s lost all credibility in the process. He made a deal with no strings attached and then wanted to add strings after the fact, and this don’t play when you’ve got a legal contract, homey won’t allow that.

And now Tesla is in trouble in China and everybody knows the automobiles are poorly built and…

In one fell swoop not only has Elon messed with his image, but with Tesla’s too. As for rehabilitation… I expect a mea culpa when Kanye gives one, which is NEVER!

Elon thinks he’s untouchable, that the rules don’t apply to him. And since this story was all over the news for months, the public is aware of it. They’re not ON Twitter, but they know the business story. It’s better than almost all TV and definitely better than all records. Only streaming television can compete.

So, because he’s not on Twitter 24/7, because he has other obligations, Musk doesn’t really have a feel for the service. And his lack of knowledge means he’s living in a vacuum and is unaware of the issues. You can’t let everybody say whatever they want whenever they want, BECAUSE OF THE ADVERTISERS! Advertisers are conservative. They don’t want to be where one single customer can be pissed off. And believe me, these companies often make decisions based on very little feedback, it’s not like they get a million e-mails, maybe ten or fifteen. But they’re scared.

So, Elon has to make money, he’s going to charge for verification. WHO CARES! Who is that dedicated to Twitter that they need their identity authenticated? Almost no one. And no one is stealing the identities of the big players anyway, BECAUSE THEY PLAY SO MUCH! And the supposed advantages of a blue check mark are de minimis.

And then there’s the right, the Trumpers. They started supporting Musk under the rubric of “free speech,” but once Musk gained control of the company he found out there had to be content moderation. So now those free-speechers on the right are mad at him. Musk has succeeded in pissing EVERYBODY off!

And then there are the wankers who talk about competition, a new Twitter. Give me a break, take a look at Truth Social lately?

First and foremost, Twitter is not good business. But the history of the internet tells us new platforms are based on new ideas! I.e. TikTok vs. Instagram. And the thing that is most interesting is Instagram has tried to imitate TikTok, with the same features, AND IT’S NOT WORKING! People have TikTok, why do they need to post videos on Instagram? What is the problem, other than Instagram’s waning business, which users couldn’t care less about.

And building an audience is almost impossible these days. Everything scales much more slowly, because there’s so much in the channel. So you’re going to start a new business from scratch when we’ve already got Twitter?

As for people leaving… Didn’t take down Amazon. It never works. There are just not enough people who care enough to go without.

Do you know how many people would have to leave Twitter before it impacted my usage of it? I can’t imagine it ever happening.

And then there are those who use the service as a personal megaphone. I don’t want your damn opinion, give me INFORMATION! That’s what the complaining posters don’t realize, we don’t want to hear what you have to say, just give us the news, right away. So the service is inundated with endless detritus. My feed has too much b.s. in it. And the more b.s., the less I look at it.

And Lists are just for pros, which is almost nobody.

And as far as what is trending and general news and entertainment…the stuff you click on that is not based on following anybody specific? Idiots create these trends, no one with a brain cares. And there are much better places to get news and entertainment that is not of the moment.

So what happens now?

WHO KNOWS?

Can Musk make the trains run on time, make Twitter a burgeoning business?

Possibly. BUT THAT’S NOT GOING TO AFFECT THE SERVICE!

Once again, users don’t care about the profitability of your business. They just want to know about the utility to them. And nothing Elon has said or done in the past year has directly affected the utility of the service, the business story is separate from the utilization of the service!

So no, there won’t be a Twitter competitor, not one with any traction.

And no, most people tweeting will not sign off, or if they do, they’ll come back on.

And nothing Musk can do with Twitter will turn it into a powerhouse, attracting new users. Sure, he could turn the app into something else, like WeChat… But in truth, that’s about building a whole new service, there’s not that much there at Twitter to base a new effort upon.

So, Elon tries to clean up the business, bloviates how great it is, then takes the company public once again and GETS OUT!

So far, Musk has not done anything to improve Twitter, not a single thing. So one guy owns a social media outlet that most people never think about? He bought it on impulse, he didn’t think it through, which is why he wanted to get out of the deal. This is who Elon is. He demonstrates this over and over again, he shoots from the hip and ignores the law and social mores. It’s just that this time there was tens of billions of dollars involved.

Let him pay the price. Not only the cash spent in the acquisition, but the burden of owning this moribund social media service which stumbles along but no one has been able to blow up into boffo business. It’s his problem. GOOD LUCK!

If this guy was white…

Most people have no idea what goes on behind the records. Despite the braggadocio, the flash of cash, the actual lives of these rappers are not depicted.

They’re in danger.

In an underground economy.

This is rock and roll in the old days. A cash business, but much more dangerous.

Not that I knew that much until I read Joe Coscarelli’s book, “Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story”: https://amzn.to/3Ns7PMl and talked to him for the podcast: https://bit.ly/3haAadK

First, we’ve got a huge incarceration problem in America, which targets Black men disproportionately. It’s stunning how so many of these ultimately famous rappers go in and out of jail. And if you think racism is passé, you must be on the Supreme Court. There are places in Georgia where the rappers are on guard because of noted white police crackdowns for minor offenses.

As for pay…

Everything seems simple from the outside. There’s record company royalties and concerts. But it’s much more complicated than that. There are tons of cash gigs, the IRS is not only missing the rich CEOs, but the rappers too, who are sometimes incredibly wealthy themselves as a result of this economy, where you show up at a club to rap to track and…you can do multiple gigs a night. That’s another stunning thing in Coscarelli’s book, how rich some of these rappers are.

Not that a career is guaranteed. It’s one thing to have a hit, quite another to sustain.

And it’s not only the underground economy that’s involved, but the Fortune 500 too. They know that rappers have the most cred, never mind popularity, with the target audience, so they go into business with them. Used to be you had to have a number of hits before the corporations came calling, but now they’re involved from the get-go.

And so many of the acts are disposable. And end up back where they came from. Never mind the fact that many don’t make it.

And while rockers and old blowhards are still trying to figure out the internet, it was embraced by the hip-hop community from the advent. The rappers knew you had to give to get, like a dope dealer. They knew it was about going for the big money, not the small. Ergo mixtapes. These recordings endeared them to an audience that became bonded to them. There was plenty of money down the road, if you had fans.

And culture.

And, the culture involves a lot posturing and violence.

And the whites and the mainstream media might report it, but they do not decry it.

It’s taken as a given, that rappers get shot. Why?

Well, we could go to the source, and ask why Black people don’t have more opportunity. Coscarelli writes about college graduates who end up doing manual labor. But affirmative action is taboo, because someone might gain an advantage that’s been baked into a majority group. I mean you have to attack the problem at some point.

And let’s be clear, it’s not what you learn at Harvard or Yale, it’s the people you encounter, who become part of your network. J.D. Vance was a hillbilly until he went to Yale Law School, made connections, went to work with Peter Thiel and ended up writing a distorted book that he used as a platform to run for the Senate in Ohio. Where is the concomitant advantage for Black people?

Believe me, the upper middle class knows all the tricks. But even the middle class is clueless, that the top educational institutions are need blind, and if you can get in and you’re broke you don’t have to pay a dime.

The American information gap, right there.

So think about all the people profiting off of rap. The labels run by white people, the TV and streaming companies, the aforementioned Fortune 500, but none of them lift a finger to counter the violence in the culture, they don’t even bother to decry it.

It’s racism incarnate.

As for George Floyd… All the companies who came out in support of Black people…that was then and this is now, the end result is far from major, it’s the same as it ever was.

So, if a white rapper had gotten shot, there’d be front page stories on his family, their devastation. And there would be investigative articles in the media asking how this could happen. How this upright citizen from a good family got snuffed out. Yes, they’d candy-coat the deceased’s background, ever read an obit where they say the person was an arrogant punk?

And all the governmental leaders would convene and talk about taking action.

Meanwhile, where are the stories about Takeoff’s family? Where’s the deep dive into his past live?

AND WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE!

We can start with gun control… But that seems to be going in the other direction. I’d think twice about moving to Texas, where everybody can carry a gun without a permit. Rave to me about the supposed economic advantages all day long, they don’t mean much when you’re dead.

The truth is whites and the mainstream community don’t care if another Black person dies. Just one less mouth to feed. Yup, that’s the way they see it, that Black people are takers, always wanting more, the government must stop supporting them.

While they’re at it, why don’t they pull all that money the government disproportionately gives to red states, huh?

And an advanced society looks out for those at the low end of the economic spectrum. In most western countries. But welfare was hobbled during the Clinton administration and the idea that Black women are just having babies and being supported by the government is untrue. You figure someone must be taking your money, that you should pay fewer taxes, but when there’s a natural disaster you immediately want federal relief.

Yes, there must be a scapegoat. And the Black people are number one.

Even though their schools are substandard. The right says there should be school choice, to close bad schools, only there’s not enough room in good schools for all the disadvantaged to go to! And in truth, this is just a ruse to advance the cause of religious schools, which are not free, and if you’re not a believer…

And let’s not equate every rapper with Kanye. They’re not that rich, and they’re not that crazy. They’re just trying to survive.

So, we’ve got to get the guns off the street. Enough of throwing our hands in the air. When your kid gets shot you’re going to go bonkers, how about someone else’s kid?

And how about a denigration of violence. Why are gangs and violence portrayed as cool? Many kids go into gangs not because they’re cool, but just to survive. And since the police are ineffective, the gangs and others take the law into their own hands. And since opportunities are low, kids deal drugs, for that fast cash, I mean how long are they going to live anyway?

This is what stunned me in “Hoop Dreams.” They had a big birthday party for the player because living to eighteen is such an achievement. Do we feel the same thing as whites? That just staying alive is something to be celebrated?

And often, they find the perpetrators of this violence and lock them up, but it’s not much of a deterrent, because they don’t feel they have much of a future to begin with. And honor and image is everything, like we’re living in the feudal past.

All these talent agencies and clothing manufacturers can drop Kanye like he’s hot, but how about dropping those involved in violence. Believe me, if you take away the few avenues of opportunity it will change the culture.

As for the clubs and the strippers and making it rain…

Everybody gets to choose how they want to live their lives, but we shower these big time athletes with cash they’ve got no education on how to spend, and then they blow it and end up broke and ultimately dead with CTE. But the players are disposable, just like the rappers. Hell, most of the players in the NFL don’t even have guaranteed contracts! Get hurt and you’re out. We don’t care about you. Life is tough. Meanwhile, the bad actor billionaire owner continues to rape and pillage not only in business, but their personal life.

This is a way you can demonstrate your status, by making money and spending it.

Now in truth, on TikTok, there are all these videos talking about money, about the economics of buying a new car, investing. Maybe up and comers will see them, but we don’t even teach economic skills in school, because if we did the sellers wouldn’t be able to pull the wool over the eyes of these customers. Dollar stores, payday loans… They’re heinous, but if you’re broke sometimes you have no choice.

Somehow America has flipped, and it’s the whites who are disadvantaged. What’s a poor boy to do? Not play in a rock and roll band, BUT BECOME A RAPPER! It’s one of the few potentially high paying jobs for a disadvantaged youth, other than dope-dealing.

But we demonize these people, as we profit off their backs.

Come on, Blacks punch way above their weight when it comes to culture. And, unfortunately, this culture of gun violence impacts not only them, but white people too, BECAUSE IT’S SEEN AS COOL!

Let me tell you, when you’re dead nothing is cool. Finito. It’s over. The challenge is staying alive. Hell, the government should give a million dollars to every rapper that makes it to forty. Even better, a guaranteed income to everybody, including Black people.

But no one wants to PAY FOR IT! I don’t get it, do you want to live in Venezuela? I’ve been there, the wealthy people live in the hills in houses surrounded by concrete walls topped with concertina wire.

You think you’re immune, but you’re not. We live in one big society. And you’re part of it, and you’re vulnerable. If you don’t take care of your brothers and sisters, lift them up, it’s going to negatively impact you.

But then you’ve got all these execs saying they earned their billions who don’t acknowledge that without customers they’d have NOTHING!

Consumers are king. But that’s not the way our society sees it. We venerate the rich and criticize the poor, ignoring what is going on in their brains.

And when it comes to hip-hop, it’s all about creativity. You don’t make it to the top by accident. So why can’t we acknowledge this, other than on awards shows that no one watches anyway?

Granted, everything fades almost instantly these days. But in the wake of Takeoff’s death, I haven’t seen one elected official comment about it. I haven’t seen any outcry. At best, there’s been a shrug of the shoulders.

And that’s not okay.

Something’s gotta give. And if you don’t address the underlying problem, it’s going to affect you.

Come on, isn’t anybody outraged that this guy was shot?

I guess not.

Yep. It’s primarily a bunch of unconnected vignettes just factually recounted with a one-line commentary. Jan lived an extraordinary life, meeting extraordinary people creating extraordinary experiences and yet the book feels like the disappointing and fragmented memories of a distant passenger in his own life story.

Olivier Chastain

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I wish I had read your review before I bought his book. I finally finished it, only reading it when I went to bed before falling asleep. It took weeks! Each story was only a paragraph & disjointed from the previous paragraph. His description of his drug use was particularly offensive. I’m older than Jann but no angel. What a waste of time!

Pan Oliver

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You’re absolutely spot on. Never knew he was such a self aggrandizing lordly snob. I did make it about 2/3’s of the way through. Much more to gain and be inspired from with your great interview with Bonnie Raitt. Really well done Bob. Thank you.

John C. Yarmo

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Chapter 57 (!) “My City In Ruins” encapsulates everything you said about this book.  Ostensibly about his recollection of being in NYC during 9/11, he sprinkles antidotes about yatching with Jagger and selling 49% of his gossip rag to Eisner before he actually gets down to the point of the chapter. Which only lasts 2 pages and then he’s back to Mick and actually trying to defend his mandated 5 star review of “Goddess In the Doorway”.   The only revealing thing about this book are the lack of revelations.

Iain Taylor

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Yes Bob . You’re right.
I felt obligated to read his book. Rolling Stone was my bible growing up.
I felt ripped off when I finished the book.  He seems like a spoiled brat. It’s that simple.
At the same time I’m forever grateful he started Rolling Stone.    Humans, you can’t live with them & you can’t live without them.   Hahahaha

Alan Childs

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Should  have been titled “Lucky F…y Me” I Audio booked it the only good thing I got my was my basement cleaned. I had hoped for admittance  to people and bands that there  wrongly maligned through the years.

Lori Baldassi

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most bizarre take away is JW thinks the revelation of Yoko needing a wheelchair will be interpreted as a dig?  The woman is 89 years old. She turns 90 in February.

Deb Wilker

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Re: The Wenner autobiography. Most people don’t realize that book writing is way different from writing an article, even a long one. A book needs a “controlling idea” that serves as its backbone. And even if a story ladders back to that OK, it still has to pass the “Who cares?” test. This is especially important in memoir because it helps you decide what can (and should) be left out. Otherwise you get, “What I did on my summer vacation” or to your point, a diary, which is what this reads like. BTW, I poked around and the three other books he wrote have other people associated either as authors or “with” someone and they seem better. In the old days, a developmental editor came with the book contract but no more. Now people have to hire someone like me to advocate for the reader and help save the book from wandering off into the desert. —

Helena Bouchez

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I’m trying to murk  through it as well. It’s very tough to get in half a chapter at a time.

Jon Scott

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You probably heard the Jann Wenner interview on Howard. To a nobody like me, Wenner came off uber-pretentious. Skiing with Springsteen and Sting, being serenaded by Mick Jagger at a bonfire with other musical intelligentsia – who gives a f….. Were they just “hanging out” with Jann because a publicist said a positive RS article would sell another 50,000 copies of their latest album?

FC Thornton
Philly, PA

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Bob, I heard him on Howard and had to struggle to stay tuned.  Even Howard couldn’t make this guy interesting and truly he had no ,none, personal insight. Too bad

Cathy Davis

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When I heard Jann Wenner was going to be on Howard Stern a couple of weeks ago, I was really looking forward to it.   Howard is generally a solid interviewer and Jann has lived quite an interesting life.  It has to be good, right?  Well, it wasn’t.  It was boring as hell.

Despite the interview, I thought that I might buy the book and give it a chance.  After reading your review, I will take a pass.  Sounds like much of the same drivel he spit out during the interview with Howard.

Thanks, Bob!   You just saved me $20 and (even more importantly) a ton of time.

Bill Waliewski

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I heard Jann interviewed on both Marc Maron’s and Joe Rogan’s podcasts. He was able to handle himself ok with Maron, but in talking with Rogan, he appeared small and narrow minded. He was dismissive about any ideas that weren’t his own and just not very impressive at all. I thought he was a lot more intelligent than he is – the mystique he always maintained was a lot more impressive than the real person!

It’s like what they say about meeting your heroes – prepare to be disappointed and I was.

Patrick Whitaker

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Hi Bob! I didn’t see it the same way at all. I, too, read RS in my younger days when it was good. I loved the retelling of his life from his POV, the good and the bad. Loved the gossip, the bits about famous people.

Honestly, you sound a bit jealous.

Young people won’t read this, I don’t know why they would want to. There is no trip down memory lane for them. I listened to it on Audible and thoroughly enjoyed stopping and listening to a referenced song on Spotify or Googling a cover to jog my memory.

I hope to read YOUR memoir when it comes out.

Thanks for listening.

Kristine Waldenburg

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Wow, that’s the harshest review I’ve read since…

The one of “Led Zeppelin I” in Rolling Stone,” lol!

Mark B. Spiegel

“Like a Rolling Stone: A Memoir”: https://amzn.to/3DMvofw

This is a terrible book.

At the end, Wenner thanks all his insider readers, you know, the friends that helped him write the book. Didn’t a single one raise their hand or blow the whistle and say…THIS BOOK SUCKS!

Sycophancy on parade. Which makes one question the endless relationships Wenner details in this book. I mean how deep were those discussions if no one ever spoke their real, inner truth?

As for self-knowledge… Wenner displays absolutely none, other than referencing about three-quarters through that he’s short. I’d say he left the personal insight out, but that couldn’t be the case, since he put everything else in. This guy needs to go to therapy.

Now the truth is “Rolling Stone” is the greatest rock magazine in history. Oh, don’t rant and rave about “Creem,” I had a subscription, and I enjoyed it, but it was a niche product, with attitude. Fun, but not comprehensive. And I’ll never forgive the Michigan-based rag for their hype of KISS. Every other reasonable outlet put the band down, but as if their core audience was pre-teens, “Creem” kept putting the band on its cover. It became unreadable.

“Rolling Stone” didn’t become unreadable until the 21st century. And even to this day, well, before Jann left, one had hope that it would find the secret sauce and once again reach the Holy Grail.

You see “Rolling Stone” was not only authoritative about music, but so much else. I literally read it from cover to cover. You knew the writers by name, which was not the case with most other publications. You felt the magazine was on your side. True, as time went on too much attention was paid to the dinosaur acts, giving great reviews to mediocre product, then again most of the modern stuff wasn’t worth covering, there was no there there. I mean an interview with David Crosby in the early seventies compared to an interview with Justin Bieber, any of today’s acts…a comparison of a self-educated, experienced intellectual to an uneducated nitwit. I mean who cares what the acts of today have to say. They’re lower class denizens in search of cash. Music is a way out of poverty, the lower class. Always has been, but there was a sprinkle of intelligence, middle class ethos, in the bands before Reagan, who legitimized greed and delivered income inequality.

And “Rolling Stone” commented about all that. Which is one of the reasons I read it. Never mind breaking the Patty Hearst story and writing about Karen Silkwood and nuclear power. As for the vaunted Hunter Thompson, I’m a fan, and there’s plenty about Thompson in this book, but I preferred the work of Joe Eszterhas, before he went for money and fame in the movie business, when he dug deep into that which we thought we weren’t interested in and made it fascinating. “Rolling Stone” was more interesting and more educational than anything I learned in college. It used to arrive on a Tuesday or Wednesday, I cleared the decks, did all my homework before, just so I could spend hours and hours reading every word.

But you won’t want to read every word of Wenner’s book.

So why did I?

Well, the reviews were not charitable. They referenced all the name-dropping.

But Bonnie Raitt said she and Jackson were discussing it, and that was truly Jann’s life, so I dug in.

Awful.

What we’ve got here is a man who is afraid of being forgotten, as if “Rolling Stone” itself is not enough of a legacy. He recounts the endless highlights of his life, that’s the book, to…achieve exactly what? His “friends” already know him. As for the rest of us, by time you get to the end you’re anything but envious, you see Jann as a narcissistic dilettante with low self-esteem, otherwise why write such a self-aggrandizing book?

So why did I read it?

I’m a completist. I stopped a number of times, but I ultimately plowed through for the 1% I didn’t know. To fill out my knowledge of the past.

And I’m reading this “testimonial” and I’m telling myself, well, I lived through it, I know so much, what about youngsters? They’d find it completely unreadable! With no frame of reference, just an endless recitation of what some wanker did long ago.

The book does get a bit better three-quarters of the way through when Wenner falls in love with Matt and comes out, but what I’m saying here is he’s reveals a few unknown details, as for the rest.

This is not a book. This is a diary.

The mark of a true author? THEY KNOW YOU’VE GOT TO LEAVE SOME OF THE BEST STUFF OUT TO SERVE THE STORY! I’m not saying Wenner didn’t leave some stuff out from his half a century career, but everything he considered a highlight is referenced. There is truly no story involved.

What could the story be?

Well, how his insecurity based on being sent to boarding school at twelve and his parents divorcing and his mother being even more narcissistic than he is affected his entire life. But NO, he mentions that stuff, but there’s nothing about trying to prove something, needing achievements to fill an unending, deep inner hole, what he was looking for in relationships, was he clingy or did he keep people at a distance, fearful of abandonment…

I don’t know this creep personally, so I don’t really know what makes him tick. But what he has done here is create a 564 page book telling us he’s better than us, led a more full life. And I’ll admit he knows more stars than I do, but in truth most of these famous people are self-centered assholes anyway. You’ve got to be that self-centered and driven to make it. And believe me, I may not know as many as Jann, but I know plenty.

And too many people read books like this and feel inadequate, not knowing you’ve got to be true to yourself. I’ve had enough psychotherapy to know that’s not who I am. I remember talking with my shrink about an industry golf weekend I was not invited to, and my guy dug in, were these really my people, did I really want to hang with them? NO! Sure, I could put it on my resumé, but in truth I’d rather stay home and read a book.

I’m just not a bro.

And I’ll let you in on a little secret, these movers and shakers at the top have no real friends, just a zillion acquaintances. They’re always looking over their shoulder, afraid of being vulnerable, losing status, so they can compare dicks with the size of their planes, can vacation together, but being open, honest and real…

Well, it’s not in this book.

But maybe some of the conversations delineated were real. But other than Jann telling us so, there’s no evidence thereof.

As for the quality of writing, to say it’s pedestrian would be charitable. This is the guy who owned and ran a magazine? Who even wrote columns for it?

As for the business… There’s none of the story that’s detailed in other books on “Rolling Stone,” the borrowing of money when in a pinch, almost losing the magazine…Jann just says in one case he didn’t need it. But he liked the perks provided by a man with real money.

And the truth is there’s always someone with more money. And the competition is like the cocaine years, when you reach the pinnacle you end up in a bathroom all by yourself. Yes, unlike marijuana, people were not generous with their coke. It was expensive. Most people were left out. And it became ever more elitist and if you think drugs are cool…

You’re probably a stoner.

I won’t go down that path, I don’t think drugs should be illegal, but I can tell you that I’ve never had a drug high as good as a natural high, never ever. And the excitement of life is going through it straight, confronting it knowledgably with all your wits, you’ve got to feel the anxiety and be sharp at the same time. When I see guys toking and laughing in a circle I look down upon them, they think they’re cool but they’re losers.

Well, I’ll get off my soapbox here. I’ll just say that there have been a number of books written about “Rolling Stone” and all are better than this one.

As for details… Jackie O. loved to gossip. So what. Today’s kids are not infected with Camelot, the righteousness of the Kennedys. As for being friends with John John… Other than being a Kennedy, what was his redeeming quality? He had a pedigree, that was about it. He was no better than the rest of us, and all these years later one can definitely say he didn’t leave a mark. I’m not saying his early death was not tragic, but I’m supposed to feel good about you because you skied with him? Come on.

And the endless lauding of his kids, you’d believe they’re angels, when the kids of rich people are the most screwed-up extant. If you know some, you know this. And if money made you happy, Christina Onassis wouldn’t have died just shy of her 38th birthday.

So what Wenner has done is a disservice to not only the history of “Rolling Stone,” but history period. All the values of the sixties, embodied in the early days, have been cast aside in a quest to be rich and beautiful. Man, this guy needs to be re-educated, he needs an attitude adjustment.

So there’s nothing to be learned in this book, certainly nothing that is worth the twelve plus hours my Kindle told me it took me to read it. I wouldn’t even recommend an hour. And don’t bother to skim it…

Why does the past continue to be trivialized? Why can no one stick to their values? Why is everybody seduced by the money? Why does being rich make you better, smarter and more insightful than everybody else?

Just own who you are.

I guarantee you there are people all over this great country of ours who are married with kids who have fulfilling jobs and happier lives than Wenner has led. But they don’t have to tell us all about it. I mean it’s like watching the slides of someone’s trip to Europe. After a few it’s about them, not you, you don’t care, you’re just sitting there thinking how long until the lights come back on.

You only go around once. And you get to choose how to live your life. I wouldn’t use Jann Wenner’s book as a blueprint. And so many of the records the magazine touted of the acts Jann didn’t hang with have more truth in forty minutes than Jann has had in his entire life.

This is sad.

Wenner was pissed his anointed biographer got it wrong and he decided to set the record straight. He should have gone with the ultimately published book, not only would he have had plausible deniability, he would not have revealed himself to be this guy you wouldn’t want to hang with, knowing he’d be looking over your shoulder in search of someone better.

And yes, Wenner does settle some scores, says Yoko is in a wheelchair, takes a poke at David Geffen, but they just make him look small. Because if you know these people you know how they are, and in truth no one else ever will, because of their bogus, polished, public images. Jann is just trying to make himself feel good by association. And that’s almost heartbreaking, except it’s hard to have any sympathy for Wenner.

In truth almost no one will finish this book. It’s just too much of an ordeal. But I’m warning you, stay away, best to keep your memories and fantasies intact.