From high school dropout to EMI to Abbey Road to Pink Floyd to the Alan Parsons Project and the new album…we cover it all!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alan-parsons/id1316200737?i=1000580290841

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/f2f3d670-139b-40e2-bd70-d912fab85b48/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-alan-parsons

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/alan-parsons-206956694

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3DGF23N

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3xH50A6

I’ve been waiting for the blues to come back. Isn’t it about time? Aren’t the blues forever? One thing’s for sure, we’ve got ’em, you and me, it’s tough times, despite all the hedonistic music on the hit parade.

Which most people don’t know.

Happens to me all the time. Yesterday at the Subaru dealer. Service writer had no idea who Morgan Wallen was. I felt like I was speaking a foreign language, all I got was a blank face talking about the acts I was going to see.

Meanwhile, they keep telling us it’s about the Spotify Top 50.

Not that Buddy Guy hasn’t gotten his victory lap. The only person who’s had more is Joni Mitchell. For the last almost thirty years we’ve seen Buddy on late night TV, smiling, wincing, working his axe. A progenitor hiding in plain sight.

That’s right, Buddy was born in ’36, 19 that is. We’ll have to say that soon, not that many people live for a hundred years. But Buddy’s 86, makes me wonder how much longer Mick Jagger and his compatriots can ply the boards. You see once you’ve got the blues inside you, they never leave, but you have to get them out, otherwise they just pile up.

I’ll admit I found “Gunsmoke Blues” via Spotify’s Discover Weekly. I’ll admit the fact that Jason Isbell was involved made me curious. But I did not expect to immediately fall in that groove that the blues deliver, you know, the kind you hear all over “Fillmore East.”

That’s the Allman Brothers in case you don’t know. Not everybody who played with them is gone yet, but the Allman Brothers themselves are. Never mind almost every other member of the original band. But after a hiatus way back when, the Allmans toured, they were available, once again, hiding in plain sight.

Still, I must say I haven’t had the desire to play Buddy Guy’s new albums, I’m always eager to see him play, but I didn’t expect this complete return to form, not only has Buddy not lost a step, he’s got tons of energy left, when everybody else is thinking about retirement, or already has, or is dead.

“Trouble down at the high school

Somebody got the gunsmoke blues”

That’s the latest research, that most of these shooters are not mentally ill. Oh, they’re depressed, they’re frustrated, but they’re not schizophrenic. You see when you eliminate opportunity and the ability to get laid…you’ve got nowhere to lay your feelings. So, you choose to go out in a blaze of glory, but it’s quite different than the one Jon Bon Jovi sang about in that cowboy movie back in the eighties.

I’m not condoning the behavior. I believe in gun control. But I found what Scott Galloway said fascinating, if all these shooters just got laid would that put a huge dent in the problem?

God, are you on social media? What gets me is all these women saying they’re fat when they’re nothing of the sort. It’s true, everybody is held to an impossible ideal, hell, look at these celebrities without makeup. And it used to be everything was localized, but today everything is worldwide. Just like today’s musicians have to compete with the best of all time on Spotify, you’ve got to compete with the best looking people alive. So not only do you feel inadequate, your desires are fantasies, not rooted in reality. Everybody wants something they can’t have. I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret, being famous doesn’t solve all your problems, they’re still there, still troubling you. Sure, it’s nice to not have to worry about money, to have relationship opportunities, but most people seeking to be in the public eye are screwed-up to begin with, trying to fill an unfillable hole.

“Read it in the morning paper

Watch it on the evening news”

The bubble-headed bleached blondes are still testifying on TV, it’s just that they’re reaching ever fewer people. Quick, name your local TV newspeople! I bet you can’t, I certainly cannot. Only antiques getting their news from TV still can, the rest of us…

Don’t even get our news in the morning paper. Check the statistics, forget the Big Three, the NYT, WSJ and WaPo, circulation numbers keep dropping. Used to be everybody in L.A. got the “Los Angeles Times,” now it’s hard to find someone who does. So, if it’s in there and nowhere else, it’s like it didn’t happen. I think the stories in the LAT are there purely to make the PR people involved feel good, because they don’t move the needle.

“Over at the house of worship

People praying to the lord”

If they shoot Black people… It’s like some bizarre hearkening back to the past, where they’re only three-quarters or a half of a person. Especially if it’s a rapper, but even worse if it’s someone not famous. Yup, some white kid shoots up a Black church and most people shrug.

But people are still praying, because they haven’t got much else.

“Mama said what’s the matter

Son, you ain’t acting right”

If only the parents could see it. If only they weren’t looking at their phones, if only both parents didn’t have to work outside the home to make ends meet. Even worse, today everybody’s kid is perfect. The enemy? The teachers! Scroll down and read these stories of why teachers are quitting: https://bloom.bg/3xJF2Mt

“Some folks blame the shooter

Other folks blame the gun

But that don’t stop the bullets

And more bloodshed to come

A million thoughts and prayers

Won’t bring back anyone”

I don’t think I can add anything to this. Now mass shootings are de rigueur, they happen on a regular basis, and the news doesn’t sustain, everybody wants to forget about them.

But really, “Gunsmoke Blues” has nothing to do with the lyrics. I didn’t catch them until I looked them up. Instead, it’s the sound. You feel something, sadness, introspection, appraisal of the landscape. You stop and reflect.

“Gunsmoke Blues” has got nothing to do with the Spotify Top 50, got nothing to do with the major music business. No one expects this stuff to sell so they’re not interested. Old guy playing old music.

But now more than ever there are niches which are bigger than ever before. So many different types of music have an audience.

But it’s hard to keep going, feeling like you’re standing in the same place, struggling for money, missing home. Takes the most dedicated to keep on keepin’ on.

Or those who were brought up in a different era when music was godhead and they can’t do anything else. However too many are running on fumes, just riding around playing the old stuff, it’s nostalgia.

“Gunsmoke Blues” is not nostalgia, it’s positively now.

But it’s just a blueprint, in truth the blues live live.

Did you read today’s story on Robert Fripp in the “New York Times”?

“Robert Fripp Lightens Up – No one expected to see the leader of King Crimson dancing in a tutu on YouTube. In a rare interview, the guitarist explains ‘an entirely different trajectory.'”: https://nyti.ms/3Sp3ISi

You should, even if you’ve got no idea who Fripp is.

The money quote is this:

“I’ve learned to trust the music, trust the process. And it’s important that the audience should know they are as important as the musician. If the audience is present and engaged and listening, the relationship is qualitatively different. When that happens, the moment becomes actually real. And there is a profound satisfaction in there.”

Fripp isn’t talking about hard drives, he’s not talking about dancing, he’s not talking about flying in the backup vocals, he’s talking about real, living and breathing music.

Like Buddy Guy’s “Gunsmoke Blues.” Which says more about the shooter situation than a whole house of Congressmen.

Yes, men. The same ones taking away a woman’s right to abortion. I thought we fought this war back in the seventies, why are ignorant old men still telling women what to do with their bodies?

No wonder they’ve got the blues.

Yes, the blues are forever. They never go away. They might wax and wane, but they’re still here. And when you hear them you feel connected, get the power to soldier on in this world where you’re carrying all this weight on your shoulders, where opportunities are slim and you have to be weary of getting your ass shot off.

“Gunsmoke Blues” contains the essence of the blues. But this is the music we used to go see on a regular basis, to connect with the feeling.

The feeling is still there.

https://spoti.fi/3BPZrCf

As the email stated, the topic this week was YOUR Song of the Summer, and it was of all-time, and…

It’s easy to list songs with “summer” in the title, or summer in the song’s lyrics/story. But in truth, a good number of summer songs were actually released in the winter.

But what you’ve got below is the songs that remind ME of summer. I can see exactly where I was when I heard them, they make my life come alive. And just about all of them were hits over the summer. Ergo, MY Songs of the Summer.

The list is not comprehensive. I mean how many songs can you play in a one hour radio show, even thirty second snippets, which is what I do, not many. But these are the ones that came to my mind first.

I won’t exactly say your mileage might vary, I KNOW your mileage will vary. You’ve got your own memories. And in truth, I’ve got no specific memories of listening to “Summer in the City,” even though I’ve heard it a zillion times, but I can still see standing by the pool in Lancaster, PA, hearing “Doo Wah Diddy” come out of the radio. Likewise, “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” at Jennings Beach, coming out of the transistor in the “pavilion.” And riding my Raleigh with the transistor slung over the handlebars waiting for and then exulting in hearing “California Girls.” And sitting in my sister’s apartment in Brentwood looking out towards the ocean listening to “One of These Nights.” And finally liking a Carpenters song when I heard it on the AM-only radio in my ’63 Chevy convertible, sans A/C, driving for the City Directory and…

You get the point.

_________

Summer Rain – Johnny Rivers

Hot Fun in the Summertime – Sly & the Family Stone

A Hard Day’s Night – Beatles

Help! – Beatles

I Get Around – Beach Boys

The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena) – Jan & Dean

See You in September – the Happenings

Satisfaction – the Rolling Stones

Hello, I Love You – the Doors

Doo Wah Diddy – Manfred Mann

Closer to Home (I’m Your Captain) – Grand Funk Railroad

Hold Your Head Up – Argent

The Bitch Is Back – Elton John

Thick as a Brick – Jethro Tull

Love Is Alive – Gary Wright

What Do You Want From Life – the Tubes

A World Without Love – Peter and Gordon

Do You Love Me – Dave Clark 5

Little Children – Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas

House of the Rising Sun – the Animals

I Can’t Help Myself – Four Tops

I Got You Babe – Sonny & Cher

For Your Love – the Yardbirds

Eve of Destruction – Barry McGuire

California Girls – Beach Boys

Paperback Writer/Rain – Beatles

Along Comes Mary – the Association

Wild Thing – Troggs

Sweet Pea – Tommy Roe

Sunshine Superman – Donovan

Yellow Submarine – Beatles

Somebody to Love – Jefferson Airplane

Light My Fire – the Doors

All You Need Is Love – Beatles

Carrie-Anne – the Hollies

Little Bit O’ Soul – Music Explosion

Stoned Soul Picnic – 5th Dimension

Pictures of Matchstick Men – Status Quo

Hush – Deep Purple

Grazing in the Grass – Friends of Distinction

Honky Tonk Women – Rolling Stones

Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond

Mama Told Me Not to Come – Three Dog Night

Make It With You – Bread

Yesterday Once More – Carpenters

Signs – Five Man Electrical Band

Rocket Man – Elton John

Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress) – the Hollies

School’s Out – Alice Cooper

Sealed With a Kiss – Brian Hyland

Kodachrome – Paul Simon

Frankenstein – Edgar Winter Group

Long Train Runnin’ – the Doobie Brothers

Live and Let Die – Wings

Rock the Boat – Hues Corporation

Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot

Rock Your Baby – George McCrae

Jive Talkin’- Bee Gees

One of These Nights – Eagles

Take it Easy – Eagles

Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty

Miss You – Rolling Stones

Funkytown – Lipps Inc.

Emotional Rescue – Rolling Stones

Every Picture Tells a Story – Rod Stewart

Piece of My Heart-Big Brother & the Holding Company

https://www.netflix.com/title/81076756

It’s not as good as the first, but still a cut above most TV series (and movies too!)

Chalk it up to Shefali Shah, “Madam Sir.” If you can’t get over Sidse Babett Knudsen in “Borgen,” you should check out Shefali Shah. They’re completely different, Knudsen is selling sensuality and softness that Shah does not evidence. However, they’re both strong characters, strong women in a man’s world.

Shah plays Vartika Chaturvedi, Deputy Commissioner of the police. And Delhi…is essentially unpoliceable, according to this show. I love the establishing shots, of an almost endless low-rise landscape. Makes me want to go there, but Felice says I say this about all the foreign shows we watch.

I’ve been to Mumbai, and there are a lot of similarities. Most especially the traffic and the motorized rickshaws. They’re like ants in Mumbai. Swarms of them, going in and out of traffic. And with three wheels you know they’re inherently compromised safety-wise. But it’s every person for themselves in India. Actually, the same is true in America, but we didn’t know that until Covid.

So Vartika, i.e. Madam Sir, is in charge of an investigation of brutal break-ins at the residences of wealthy people. They can’t figure out who did it, never mind the motivation. And I could tell you about the twists and turns, but I don’t want to give anything away.

But, Shah plays Vartika seriously. She’s competent, and self-directed, and admits what she doesn’t know, and is loath to play the games of her male superiors who are concerned first and foremost with optics.

Vartika is the voice of reason in an unreasonable world.

Can’t say that I’ve seen an equivalent portrayal in American productions. Because even if the woman has the lead role, she’s glamorous. Whereas Vartika is just a person in the world doing a job. Like most people. Sure, it’s an elevated job, but in Hollywood productions you can see the divide between those on screen and the rest of us. Or else you’ve got a beautiful actress slumming, like Charlize Theron in “Monster.” The Oscars eat this stuff up, but I can’t say I watched the film and didn’t see Theron playing the role, the same way I always see Meryl Streep in her roles, too often the acting is too studied.

But Shefali Shah is more natural, living in her skin.

So I live for these TV series. Movies won’t do it for me, they’re too quick, too much is left out. I love to turn out the lights and get involved. Commit. But too often what you see is just not good enough, you’re watching it but not involved in it. Whereas the shows I like feel almost real.

Everything about “Delhi Crime” is a cut above. Not just the acting. It was not made on the cheap, but unlike in Hollywood the cinematography does not eclipse the story.

And India is the land where the rich and poor live right alongside. And how do you move up the ladder? In America, we’ve been sold the fiction that there’s upward mobility, if you just work hard enough, but that’s statistically untrue, compared to the European countries. Oh, for the first time in my life some of these other countries appear equal to the U.S. We can’t get anything done and the dog is wagged by the tail of the minority and there’s no free health care. HOW CAN THIS BE?

So if you watched the first season of “Delhi Crime,” you should watch the second. And you can watch the second without watching the first, but there’s no reason to do that.

And being a streaming show, not all episodes are cut to length, to fit time constraints. Some are thirty-odd minutes long, and others nearly an hour. And there are only five episodes. Which is a disappointment, because they go so much deeper in the first season. But you can blow through “Delhi Crime 2” in a day or two, it’s not a huge commitment.

You can watch it in English, the default, but I’d say to switch to Hindi with English subtitles, so much of the show is in English anyway.

Once again, you know who you are, you know if this appeals to you. It’s a self-selecting group. There are two camps. Those who turn on the flat screen to find something to watch and those who turn it on because they plan to watch something, those who are looking for entertainment, and those who are looking for more than empty calories, who want to bite into the steak, chew a bit, have their food marinate in their mouths.

Forget that it’s an Indian production, it’s not very foreign, because people around the world are now more similar than different, and the characters ring true more than they do on most TV.

And, once again, as a result of the binge model, you can see it all at once. I’m sad it’s over.