THE VIRTUES

We had to sign up for Topic to watch the second season of “Lykkeland,” which I’m getting very positive feedback on, so you should check out the first season on Amazon Prime, which seemingly everybody has access to but now I’ll get e-mail from people who don’t, who hate Amazon or have an issue with the price. It’s hard to judge truth based on feedback, because usually it’s a particular kind of person who feeds back, one who wants to be heard or one who needs to show you you’re wrong or both, not that there aren’t those who agree, like with “Lykkeland” above, which I got no negative feedback about.

I’m a researcher. As Logan Ury puts it in her book, I’m a “maximizer.” I’ll research everything. Because I want the best and usually the best costs no more than the rest. Research will tell you this, but it takes a lot of time. And the question becomes whether the time is worth it. Even worse, it’s oftentimes hard to make a decision and I go without, at least for a while. Whereas Felice can make a decision in an instant. And if she gets it wrong… I’m afraid to get it wrong, and this works against me.

Having said that, I recently bought a new electric shaver, after twenty-odd years. And buying a shaver is like buying a mattress, you can’t comparison shop. So the research was hell, and took several days, hours really, and I’m not proud of that. But triangulating I found out the top of the line was the oldest, and a younger model was actually more fully-featured. The shaver CLEANS ITSELF! Well, you’ve got to put it in this pod and turn it on, but this removes an electric shaver headache. And now I’ll get people telling me manual razors are better, and they might give you a better shave, but I haven’t got time for the pain, or time at all. So I get a lot of satisfaction from this shaver.

Also, I had to buy a new electric toothbrush. Man, that’s even worse than razors. But I’ll bottom line it, I ended up with a Bluetooth connected one with an app. Yes, overkill. HOWEVER, the app taught me how to brush properly, which I’d never known previously. And my health is important, and although I overpaid, it’s worth it.

So, we had to pay $5.99 for a month of Topic. And after finishing the second season of “Lykkeland” I went into deep research, to find out what was worth watching on the channel. And when it comes to foreign shows, they oftentimes don’t have RotttenTomatoes ratings, which makes it harder.

So, Topic said its most binged series was “Arctic Circle,” a Finnish show. I figured that was worth something, but we’re stuck in the first episode of the second season and probably won’t complete it. It’s not great, and really I want great, it is my time, and they’re making no more of it. So…

The “New York Times”‘s recommended “Nox.”

WOW! These French shows are so far superior to the American ones. Better, much more believable actors. But the core of the plot is a bit unbelievable, so you’re on your own. Although the main character, the mother…despite being a pain in the ass, she goes on about testing limits, not coloring inside the lines, not doing what you’re told, not playing by the rules. If you want to be truly successful, don’t obey the rules if they constrict you from doing your job. But maybe you know this…

Then we watched “Deceit.” Which is based on a real English crime story from the nineties. Just when you think it’s paint-by-numbers… But, you should first watch “Nox,” not that either of these shows are long, “Nox” is six episodes, “Deceit” is only four, whereas too many Netflix shows are too long for the plot.

Which brings me to “The Virtues.”

Chances are you’ll never subscribe to Topic, but if you do and you hate depressing shows, won’t watch them, DON’T watch “The Virtues.”

“The Virtues” is only four episodes, and it’s heavy, and I don’t really want to tell you much about it because I don’t want to ruin it for you, but let me just say it involves family and…

Real life, we don’t usually see it on TV, certainly not on “reality” TV. But what about those who are working for a living, living to hang out at the pub and drink. What about those burdened by the past. We always see shows about the unbelievable, the winners, but…

Stephen Graham as Joe you might know, he’s got American credits, even music video credits, but he’s 100% believable in this role. A good sot who has had some hard knocks, not that he’s innocent in the direction of his life.

Joe’s sister… Is loving, but she’s got a limit. Like real people.

And her husband… He first appears to be a prick, but turns out not to be. He’s capable of raising his voice, but is not to be feared in everyday doings, he’s compassionate.

As for his sister, Niamh Algar…she’s the star of “Deceit.” And she’s wholly believable and…

If you’re interested in real life, in the visceral, if you’re looking for more from entertainment than escapism, if you want to feel someone’s pain and joy too, if you want to see real people in real life situations unaffected by global issues…

Then put “The Virtues” at the top of your list.

I’m not the only one, it’s an award-winning show, I just want to incentivize you to watch it. I did the research, please benefit from it.

Trailer: https://bit.ly/3QWc2c7

THE CONDITION

“Mercy Street,” Jennifer Haigh’s latest, released February 1st of this year, is her best.

Not that “Heat & Light” from 2016 is not good.

And needing a book that resonated, that I wanted to read throughout, I read 2011’s “Faith,” which I mentioned previously. Great family story, but the ending left me hanging a bit, too often the case with literary fiction.

In any event now I’m on a Haigh jag, I want to read everything, not to be a completist, but because her work is just that good. This is how it used to be with bands, you bought an album, savored it, and went back and purchased the catalog. Many acts these days don’t even have a catalog, irrelevant of whether it’s good.

Which brings me to “The Condition,” Haigh’s 2009 novel.

Did you grow up on the east coast in the era of bluebloods?

Did you grow up in a family that revered education, where where you went to school was mega-important?

Did you grow up in a family with unwritten rules, ones that must be obeyed?

Did you grow up in a family where the mother stayed home and the father worked all the time?

If you resonate with any of the above, you’re going to LOVE “The Condition.”

It’s about family, it’s about relationships, but about the upper middle class as opposed to the lower class Joe in “The Virtues.”

Maybe you had to grow up in the last century, before income inequality skewed the classes, when it was all about getting ahead via education, which yielded status, when money was just a factor.

God, everybody in this book is flawed, just like regular people. We’re imperfect, three-dimensional.

Now when you get together with your family and talk you don’t broadcast it on the internet, it’s personal and private. But mega-important.

You’d be stunned how many people my age did what their parents wanted them to and are not happy with the results all these years later. There was a path, you could smoke a little dope, drink some beer, but you hewed to it. And these people are not famous, and they’re not rich, but they’re far from poor, they’re not thinking about money every second. They’re thinking about fulfillment, status…

Wow, I guess what I’m saying is if you like to read a book about people, relationships, fiction that has more truth than nonfiction, I highly recommend “The Condition.” You’ll get involved, and the rest of the world won’t matter.

Just like the essence of your regular life.

https://amzn.to/3pLvr3o

Today I’m feeling optimistic, and I haven’t had that spirt here for a very long time.

Let’s start with France banning private jets:

“As France Swelters, Private Jets Come Under Attack – Politicians are proposing regulating or banning flights by such planes after a summer of extreme heat and soaring energy prices prompted growing calls to tackle the causes of climate change.”: https://nyti.ms/3Ks9AaH

I like to fly private as much as the next person, but not at the cost of burning up the planet.

Now the interesting thing is this has been a bottom-up effort. It started with that kid tracking Elon Musk’s flights, and evidence came out of the short trips taken by a Kardashian, Drake and Taylor Swift and… We have been told for decades that money rules and there’s nothing we can do about it other than to try and get ours. But the truth is the game is rigged, and in most cases we can’t get ours, and certainly not enough money to influence policy.

So the hated California goes all electric in 2035, and what do the car companies say? FANTASTIC! What kind of bizarre world do we live in where Detroit is ahead of the population? Yes, Detroit has historically had to be dragged into the future, with average fuel economy standards as the Japanese and even the Koreans continue to eat their lunch in terms of quality and longevity. But now Detroit realizes if it doesn’t go electric, it’s going to go out of business. You either disrupt yourself or you get disrupted, and fall by the wayside, like Kodak, like even tech companies. The news is a sideshow when it comes to business, it doesn’t matter how many ignorant people support fossil fuels, Ford and GM don’t want to go out of business.

And then there’s the IRS and the tax situation.

My favorite story on this comes from today’s “Washington Post”: 

“Leaked audio of a billionaire GOP donor hands Democrats a weapon”: https://wapo.st/3AMUk58

Most people don’t even itemize deductions, their tax forms are simple, and they can’t be rigged, these filers can’t cheat. But if you do itemize deductions, which usually means you’re making beaucoup bucks, or if you’re a billionaire not making most of your money via salary, IT’S OPEN SEASON!

This is the Trump tax issue. And I’d delineate it but most people still wouldn’t understand it. The point is, if there’d been oversight the shenanigans never would have passed muster. But there weren’t enough IRS agents to dig down deep into the returns!

That’s right, the odds of ANYONE getting audited have decreased dramatically over the past decade plus. Because the IRS has been starved. I mean if there’s no law, there’s going to be many scofflaws.

I mean you don’t want to intentionally cheat on your taxes, because that’s a CRIMINAL matter. It’s not just a matter of paying what’s owed plus interest, you go to jail. And nobody wants to go to jail, not even to save a few bucks, which you end up paying anyway.

Wesley Snipes got caught in a cockamamie the government doesn’t deserve my tax money scheme and the end result? HE WENT TO JAIL! And his career was decimated. There are no good optics in being a tax cheat.

So, the Republicans are trying to say that the addition of IRS agents is going to hurt the hoi polloi, when this is patently untrue, unless you’re avoiding taxes by taking cash and not declaring it, when in truth it’s the rich who have something to lose.

But every time they pursue what they perceive to be a winning theme, the right loses!

2022 is going to be like 2018. As in Democrats are going to do much better in the midterm elections than predicted. Because polls have failed and now it has turned into a one issue election, abortion! And the dyed-in-the-wool Republicans are not going to switch parties, but those on the fence and the previously unregistered…are registering and will come out in droves, that’s the story of Kansas. Women are mad as hell and ain’t going to take it!

As for Trump… This isn’t about his anointed candidates winning primaries, this is about Rupert Murdoch and Fox pulling away from him. Fox is already being sued by Dominion, every person who supported Trump’s bogus claim that he won the election seems to have been subpoenaed, and some have lost their right to practice law and nobody wants to go down with the ship, not even Trump himself. I don’t agree with the Democrats supporting far right candidates in order to make elections more winnable, because you never really know, and if you’re wrong the result is heinous, but it’s turning out the only people supporting Trump are those with blind faith desirous of living in the past, and the past never comes back, even if an authoritarian is in power, that’s the power of the people, it’s just a matter of when.

We thought it was about elections, we thought it was about money, but really it’s about people. People have the power, they just have to exercise it. And once some victories emerge, other people get optimistic and take action.

Not that I don’t expect the pendulum to swing back at some point, I’ve learned this in so many years of life, but the tide is turning as I write this, and if you’re rich and flaunting your wealth…

You’d better shut up right now. Because you’re out of touch and out of time. Boasting about your lifestyle, your yacht, your cars, your trips…you thought it was aspirational for the public, but it turns out the public is pissed it can never get there, and sees that in order to live your large lifestyle you’re oftentimes exhibiting not only bad behavior, but even illegal behavior.

How come there’s not more publicity about Fetty Wap pleading guilty?

“Rapper Fetty Wap pleads guilty in drug-trafficking case, faces minimum 5 years in federal prison”: https://bit.ly/3ThdZBo

Bottom line? There’s not enough money in one hit to live large for the rest of your life. And you might think the life of an outlaw is admirable, but in truth those who continue to flout the law get caught. Being a billionaire helps, but you’d better not advertise your wealth, this is how Trump got into trouble to begin with. If he hadn’t run for president, if he’d kept a lower profile, his business dealings, his tax offenses, would have gone unexamined.

It’s only the newly wealthy who boast about what they’ve got. They think they’ve earned the attention, it’s part of their success. Whereas those with older money have learned there’s no upside in going public, none!

So we’ve got an entire music industry based on money. Quality is irrelevant. Hell, sign that TikTok star with a zillion views. But people are sick of this, what does it have to do with music?

Which is why all the excitement, all the innovation, is coming from outside the major label system. And if that’s where you live you’d better stop bitching about what you’re getting paid and start emphasizing values because the enemy is not Spotify, but the major labels, and in truth you just can’t make that much money in music, but you do have a big voice if you choose to exercise it, speaking truth to power.

Sponsorships, perfumes, clothing, that’s all short term money. I hope you invest wisely, because it won’t last forever, a few years at most, and your image, your credibility, will be undercut by selling out. All this b.s. about people not caring about their favorites selling out is just that, b.s.

So what we have here is a change in public consciousness. And too often the Boomers and Gen-X are out of touch. They keep saying that Millennials and Gen-Z don’t want to work, want to be paid more, want unions… Now let me see, just because you crapped in an outhouse does that mean everybody else must continue to do so?

And Djokovic not playing in the U.S. Open because he refuses to get the vaccine?

Well, all the rest of the players have been vaxxed, and you don’t hear them complaining it’s hurt their game. And irrelevant of whether they personally want to get vaxxed, most Americans want  foreigners who come into this country to be vaxxed. So how is Djokovic winning here?

He’s not! Not in either court, public opinion or tennis.

The Covid vax wars are history. That’s not what people talk about anymore. He could get vaxxed and declare victory, but instead he feels required to stand his ground, continue to state beliefs that are out of date.

This is what happens when you believe you can’t change, that you must be consistent forever. The world changes, if you’re not changing with it, you’re left behind. It’s a badge of honor to change your mind.

And we can all see climate change. Yes, you can doctor a video, but you know when it’s 120 degrees out, when it doesn’t stop raining and it floods. It’s not about convincing the deniers, it’s about knowing that others are on your side, waking up too.

The times truly are changin’. The wheels of change move slowly, but they gain momentum overnight, impossible change suddenly becomes obvious, and then happens. I mean who would have predicted the legality of marijuana? Not me! They’ve been fighting for that since the sixties!

And Putin… If Zelensky and Ukraine can hold their ground against them, do we really have to be afraid of Russia? And in truth, Russia is not the economic power of China, nowhere close.

So if you’re confronted with the issue of standing your ground, making decisions based on the past, or going into the unknown… Now is the time to go into the unknown, now is the time to take the temperature of the public as opposed to the corporations and the rich. Hell, the mainstream missed the Trump phenomenon back in 2016, no one really knows what’s going on, including me.

But change is in the air.

I can feel the wind blowin’. That’s where you get the answer, not from those preaching falsehoods in order to get people to sacrifice their futures in order to hold on to a past that never existed in the first place.

Logan Ury is a behavioral scientist turned dating coach, and the author of the book “How To Not Die Alone.” As the Director of Relationship Science at the dating app Hinge, she leads a research team dedicated to helping people find love. After studying psychology at Harvard, Logan ran Google’s behavioral science team—the Irrational Lab. Her work has appeared in “The New York Times,” “The Atlantic,” “TIME,” “The Washington Post,” “GQ,” “Glamour,” “Vice,” and on HBO and the BBC. If you’re looking for love, or just interested in relationships, you’ll be riveted and inspired to take action. Do you know how to fill out your dating profile? Do you know your profile photo can change an empty inbox into a full one? Are you wondering whether to continue or end a relationship and how to do it? Logan is the expert, you’ll love listening to her!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/logan-ury/id1316200737?i=1000577315189

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/a9936ff0-8a23-44ec-909c-43bb4cbaf750/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-logan-ury

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/logan-ury-206105839

“Capitol Drops “Virtual Rapper” FN Meka After Backlash Over Stereotypes – The record company apologized to ‘the Black community’ for insensitivity in promoting an AI-backed artist that critics said was ‘appropriative’ and included ‘slurs infused in lyrics.'”: https://nyti.ms/3QUBLli

I can’t tell you how many times people e-mailed me this story, about this “virtual rapper.” Talk about making news… This story was EVERYWHERE!

Kinda stuns me that Capitol did no due diligence, was unaware of what they were signing, but that’s not what stuck out in this article, that was THERE WAS NO ADVANCE!

In other words, there was no there there. Capitol made no commitment, laid down no dollars, had no investment. Maybe there was a recording budget, but it sounds like this operation was self-contained, and Capitol’s only obligation was to distribute and promote.

And we all know distribution cost is de minimis. Just ask all those nobodies posting their music to streaming services each and every day. And it’s not like Capitol was going to do a run of physical product, at least not until the act actually had traction.

IN OTHER WORDS THIS WAS A PRESS STORY! And if you read the above article you wonder if the act was what was claimed. The impression was this was a robot act, created by machines. But it turns out there was a human voice and…

This has been the music business’s concern for decades. More on the creative side than the business side. The business side would LOVE virtual/robot acts, because robots don’t talk back, they don’t get hooked on drugs, they don’t call you in the middle of the night… But creators are afraid of being usurped, disrupted, by machines. But the dirty little truth today is that in a mechanized, digitized society what people are looking for most is humanity. Want to succeed with the public? Don’t comp the vocals, leave the mistakes in. It’s not only your music, it’s YOU! The more you excise your personality, the less the audience can identify with you. And to have a long career it’s got to be about you, not only the music.

I won’t say the live business is honest. But instead of reciting the b.s., like changing capacity figures to say a show was nearly sold out when in truth it was a disaster, I will say it all comes down to the money. No concert promoter would promote a deal like this. Because everybody knows you do the show and you get paid. And if you’re nobody, you start at the bottom. You build it from the ground up. There are no turntable hits live, there are no press stars, live is where the rubber meets the road. And sure, grosses can be manipulated to look good, but good luck trying to get a big guarantee next time around, promoters have long memories, they can lose a fortune on you, especially with Live Nation being a public company and acts not wanting to give money back.

So the entire recording industry lost with this story. Capitol lost credibility, but it infects other labels. If you’re not paying an advance, what are you really committing to? This signing is more like a trial balloon, let’s put out the story and see what happens, if it gets traction.

So what other record company stories are b.s? What is the label’s commitment?

It used to be different, acts trumpeted the advance. Oftentimes misunderstood by the public, a twelve million dollar deal might be for five years and five records and the label could drop you after one, after you got only a couple of million, but at least the label paid something.

Getting a record deal was the Holy Grail, you’d made it. Now acts are weary of the major labels, if for no other reason than they don’t want to give that much up, especially when so much of the revenue comes directly from digital and there are no big gatekeepers.

This all started back in the nineties, when Mo Ostin left Warner Bros. The new regime would sign acts for one record, whereas Mo believed in careers. And oftentimes they only lasted one record. Investment, artist development, OUT THE WINDOW! Today’s labels specialize in blowing things up, from big to bigger, not starting from scratch, and when they say they’re starting from scratch…we get bogus stories like this.

And you wonder why the record business has a bad reputation…