Re: Springsteen’s Silence

Bob

An interesting version however I do not buy it.

I spent 30 years protecting Bruce from scalpers.

Then LN offered more than the net available.

Then only way they could do that is by inflating the price of a chunk of tickets.

I know that management knew that.

So it is only about the MONEY.

Harvey

He can’t say ANYTHING!

As pissed as the fans might be, Bruce himself is completely devastated. How did this HAPPEN???

Forget the money, the hit to Bruce’s image is priceless. Most acts would never completely recover, thank god he’s 72. Most acts would immediately fire the manager. Someone’s got to take the blame, someone’s got to walk the plank.

Please look at this as inside baseball. We’ll get to the fans.

Bruce is going on the road. Not only does he not want to give the uplift to scalpers, Ticketmaster says they have a system to foil them. They say they’re experienced, they’ve done it multiple times, it will be no problem.

Does Bruce know all the ins-and-outs of going on the road? You’d be surprised what musicians don’t know. I could cite chapter and verse. Like there are a hundred cents in the dollar of publishing, how much do you get? I regularly talk to household names who can’t fathom this. Well, if the publisher owns the publishing, they get fifty cents and as the writer you get fifty cents. But if you own the publishing, you get a dollar minus an administrative fee. Seems simple, doesn’t it? Or the difference between on demand and user picked streaming royalties. They continue to complain online when it’s the lower radio rate and furthermore, they don’t own the publishing and they wrote the song with other people. All they know is they’re getting ripped-off.

If you haven’t been ripped-off you’re not a musician. When it comes down to it, they trust almost no one. In many cases not even the manager.

But Bruce has a long history with Jon Landau. He figures Jon is looking out for his best interests, their views are aligned.

Jon Landau is 75 years old. How tech-savvy do you think he is? Maybe more than most people his age, but if you know 75 year olds…you’ve probably helped them with their smartphone, and you may have even told them to plug their electronics in.

Furthermore, Bruce is Landau’s only superstar client. And Bruce has been out of the market for half a decade. How experienced is Landau here?

Which is why managers should consult with their lawyers before they make a touring deal, with someone who makes deals on a regular basis. You’ve got to be in the game to understand the landscape.

So, Landau is probably just as naive as Bruce. But Ticketmaster is in the business every damn day, so he trusts what they say, that their system should work.

As for raw ticket prices…

Don’t tell me Bruce has enough money. You obviously don’t know rich people. They’re constantly whipping their members out, they’re constantly comparing themselves to each other. You took the G4? Well, I took the 650!

I’ll tell you one of my favorite stories on this. I was riding the bus from Snowmass to Aspen with Marc Reiter, part of Metallica’s management team. And we’re wondering whether we’ll make it to our destination in time. And Marc looks at his watch and he says “Well, wheels up at 4:30.”

And I laughingly give him a hard time about his use of private jet talk.

But then I tell Marc, you know we were flying from New Orleans to L.A. on NetJet and the plane came with a flight attendant! Yes, NetJet shuffles the aircraft, sometimes they have to get a plane from here to there, so you end up with more capacity than you need. And Marc turns to me, dead serious, and says DON’T THEY ALWAYS COME WITH A FLIGHT ATTENDANT?

Well, the planes Metallica hires do.

Bruce wants to be able to hang with the other superstars and not only feel equal, but hopefully better. As for being a man of the people… Do you know how hard it is to make it? All the trials and tribulations? You couldn’t do it, almost no one could. You want the winnings.

And you want to beat the scalpers.

But, Ticketmaster had never dealt with an act doing such an underplay with fans who wanted to see multiple shows. And since Bruce and Jon are not tech-savvy, they had no idea the algorithm could go out of control, they didn’t even think of capping ticket prices. So, the ticket goes up a couple of hundred bucks, better we get the money than the scalpers. As for the ultimate multiple four figure prices? They didn’t even contemplate this, they did not foresee this. Someone making their money in Silicon Valley would have seen it right away, but despite Ticketmaster being a public company, so much of the music business is still street. Sophistication is not a feature. Muscle, attitude and money are.

So now what is Bruce supposed to do?

He can’t make a public statement. I don’t care what he says, that’s like pouring gasoline on the fire. Most people don’t care about this kerfuffle, and they weren’t even aware. There’s a bit more news today, but the story is going to die out very soon. And many people will never even remember the details. Especially those who go to the show and enjoy it.

But if Bruce says ANYTHING, it will be international news, in all publications, on all websites, and they’ll rehash all the details and…THE PUBLIC WILL STILL NOT BE SATISFIED!

You can’t satisfy the fans, it’s absolutely impossible.

The fan not only believes they should get a front row seat for a cheap price, they believe they should be able to do anything with the ticket they want to.

Yes, if they buy four and want to scalp one, so be it. You can’t take their right away, they’re going to scream. As a matter of fact, they have. Which is why you have these state laws preventing the promoter from controlling the fate of the ticket. It’s a sophisticated business, and lawmakers don’t understand it.

Well, let’s go paperless. Believe me, the public hates that too. But the scalpers see it as no problem. If you need to enter with a credit card, they just use a cheap disposable one. If you need a driver’s license, no problem. The scalper buys four tickets at $250, sells three for $2000, walks the clients in and then leaves, burning his own ticket, but he doesn’t care, he still made $5,000.

Or, you could tie the ticket to the individual. But what if one individual buys four tickets and their sister gets sick and their brother wants to go instead. Well, if the name has to be on the ticket the fan is screwed. Never mind that he or she might have always planned to scalp one or two tickets.

So, to beat the scalpers, to beat the bots, you’ve got to tie every single ticket to a very specific individual. So, think of the purchase shenanigans. You have to know who you’re going with when you buy the tickets. And you can’t change the name. You can sell your ticket back to the promoter for face value, but you got up at 10 AM, you got the code in advance, you verified your fandom, you’re entitled to that ticket!

The only way around all this is to charge what the tickets are worth.

But they’re worth so much the fans will still bitch. They bitch no matter what!

As for Ticketmaster taking all the heat… They screwed up with their algorithm, but they do nothing, NOTHING without Bruce and Jon’s approval.

The fault lies at the feet of Bruce.

And all he can do is stay silent and hope it all blows over. It’s killing him not to say anything, but in a world where people are unaware of mass events, almost everything fades away, like school shootings. Name the last three big shootings, I dare you. Sure, you can, but most people? They don’t even know who their Senators are!

This is not the seventies. Music is mature. Bruce and the rest of the aging boomer superstars mainly go on the road to get that hit, have that wave of applause roll over them when they take the stage. You can’t get that anywhere else, and they NEED IT! Otherwise they would not have pursued this line of work to begin with.

As for the money…

As they say in the music business, it’s not about the money… IT’S ABOUT THE MONEY!

This won’t happen again. Not for Bruce, probably not for any other act. Bruce was the guinea pig. He is suffering the losses.

Do I think Bruce is evil? No. I don’t even think that Ticketmaster is evil. The company is just providing a service.

Bruce just wants what he’s entitled to. He’s giving so much, multi-hour shows, with around a dozen people on stage. What more do you want?

In an era when many people his age are already retired, living a life of leisure, Bruce is out on the road, working for YOU! And I don’t care if you take the private jet and stay at the Four Seasons it’s still a slog. And by time you hit your seventies the women and booze are deep in the rearview mirror.

It’s a job.

Are you willing to leave any of your salary on the table, for the good of those less wealthy?

Are you willing to pay more taxes?

Most people want every single buck they believe they’re entitled to.

But when Bruce does this, feels the same way, NO, HE’S NOT ENTITLED!

So, Bruce made a mistake. Steve Ballmer bought Nokia for Microsoft and brought it down to near zero and still had enough money to buy the L.A. Clippers with billions left over. Believe me, Bruce doesn’t have anywhere near the money that Ballmer has. Or Bezos. Can Bruce afford a yacht that big? No, he has to sail on David Geffen’s, he’s a guest, which means you’re automatically a second-class citizen, paying fealty, you want YOUR OWN YACHT! Which is why you want all the money, you don’t want others making bank on your hard work.

Welcome to America. Welcome to capitalism.

You only want to go to the show because Bruce slaved for years to hone and sustain an act that interests you. No one is forcing you to buy a ticket. This is not a gulag, you have freedom of choice.

There are so many questions, so many avenues of discussion. If Bruce says one word it will be endless, and he can’t win. Think of OAN. Think of the crackpots asking presidents questions. Same deal with Bruce.

This was a learning experience. It won’t happen again. You can’t enter the future unless you take a risk and try. This is the history of rock and roll, innovation. Did Bruce blow it here? Of course! And believe me, he’s paying the price, not in dollars, but reputation. I’m sure he’d like to give all the money back and start all over if he could.

But he can’t.

And neither can you.

There are lessons to be learned here, stop complaining and pay attention.

From: Steve Page

Subject: Re: The Decline Of New Music

This is exactly what so many new artists and producers don’t understand. People don’t realize that they are in competition with their idols… it’s literally the same marketplace. There’s no “minor league” to hone your craft and create buzz. If you’re confident you’re ready for the big leagues, streaming services say: “Sure thing – good luck!” The music biz thrives on this kind of music hobby-ism, selling the dream, and the idea that “everyone deserves a seat at the table” – no one wants to tell someone they aren’t good enough… especially not when they can profit off lying about it. This was not always the case.

It would be like giving film students the ability to upload their senior projects directly to Netflix or Hulu for a fee. Are you sure you want to compete with… Stranger Things? or Love is Blind? or Top Gun? To your point, even if you managed to create something beautiful, interesting, fresh, or GOOD, there’s barely an audience to support it. No one has the time or energy to sift through it all and few outlets offer meaningful criticism anymore to help with the sifting.

I think it’s possible to chart a course that looks something like a middle class career in music if you have a work ethic, don’t give up, play the game, and get some luck. Same as it always was. But most musicians/artists I meet don’t know the first thing about how to actually earn money making music, how royalty streams work, or most importantly, who they are in competition with.

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From: Jarred Arfa

Subject: Re: The Springsteen Ticket Fracas

Bob,

While seemingly not the situation here the problem with the bots on many on sales is not that they get in ticketing systems first and buy seats it’s that they sit on inventory  and many times don’t actually buy the tickets. (Typically to protect inventory brokers already have purchased in the market so they want to push fans straight to secondary.) So what happens is Joe fan shows up at 10am and can’t get in the system bc the bots are holding up all of the seats. 20 minutes later the bots have released plenty of inventory but the fans have already given up and think the show is sold out when it’s not. Many times ppl just think of bots as a tool to beat fans to tickets but the other part of it is the deception it creates in the market about what is actually available on an onsale.

Best,

Jarred

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From: Anton Fig

Subject: Re: The Springsteen Ticket Fracas

Business is business, but music acts should appreciate that going to a show should not be a privilege to the wealthy.

I was impressed with what the Smile did when they played three shows in London earlier this year.

Tickets were linked to ID’s and non-transferable. If someone could not go to the show and wanted to sell their ticket, they could get a full refund and the ticket went back into the pool of people on a wait list.

Not sure this would work on the stadium scale, but it worked remarkably well for these shows.

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From: Brendan Hasenstab

Subject: Re: The Springsteen Ticket Fracas

Funny that Trent Reznor got this right back in 2009, for Nine Inch Nails’ “Wave Goodbye” tour. It was all done through NIN.com. You could purchase up to two tickets, it was run with wristbands and Will-Call window pickup for tickets. Took a lot of people to orchestrate it, but was smooth as butter the night I went to Webster Hall for the show I got tickets for. ZERO scalpers. Also, next to no re-sale because my name was printed on the wristbands and the Will-Call folks checked ID.

And yet all these years later, no one has copied this model, and so you get clusterbombed like Bruce Springsteen did.

Someone should tell the Boss to give Trent a call.

Best regards,

—Brendan

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Subject: Bruce Springsteen

UK gigs -£600 per ticket

US gigs -$4000 to$ 5000 a ticket

Including $569.50 booking fees

Man of the People —-I don’t think so !!

Harvey Goldsmith

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From: Whitten Pell

Subject: RE: The Springsteen Ticket Fracas

Bruce has never sold out Dallas or Kansas City…two markets I know about. Further he tanked so badly in the Dakotas he lost a well-known promoter over $200k. so as you noted there a many markets where “the boss” is just another high profile touring act……. 

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From: John-Angus MacDonald

Subject: Re: The Decline Of New Music

Hey Bob,

My take away from this is … that’s just how long a song released in 2018/2019/2020 takes to permeate the landscape. As you pointed out, the old gatekeepers of radio, traditional media, television are either gone, not trusted or less influential than ever before. People still want to discover “new” (to them) music, there’s nothing more exciting, but it takes a lot longer (2, 3 years??) for the target audience, those who will be turned on by it, to find it. I need look no further than my own “new music” discoveries  on the DSP’s. Do I care whether is was release in any one of the last five years? No, it’s new to me and I love it and will follow it. That’s the whole point IMO, both as an artist and a fan, get it to the people who will like it by any means necessary and on any timeline. Maybe it’s time to redefine that which is “current” and that which is “catalogue”.

Best, 

JA

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From: Christian Ver Halen 

Subject: HEY BOB Re: The Decline Of New Music

Two points:

1) Why is NOBODY talking about the fact that we are no longer talking about sales, we’re talking about active LISTENING HABITS.

For the past 70 years the only metric we had was sales. That’s how we were programmed to understand success. Now we’re seeing actual listens. If you bought an album in 1967 and still listened to it in 1972 there was no way to measure that. I was a teen in the 80’s. Me and my friends listened to a ton of Led Zeppelin. My older brothers had the albums = no sales. No way to track that. Were people actively listening to Led Zeppelin more than Culture Club? Were other teens were discovering older music? Of course they were. No way to know.

How many albums did you buy, listen to once, then throw in your collection? And how many albums did you listen to constantly until you wore out the grooves? How many did you come back to a couple years later when you were ready for the music? THERE WAS NO WAY TO QUANTIFY THESE STATS. They all counted as one sale each. Totally even. End of story.

If you asked most people what is the most popular Beatles song they’d say “Yesterday” without hesitation. Yet “Here Comes The Sun” has almost DOUBLE the amount of listens. A George Harrison song is the most popular Beatles song. Let that fry your brain for a moment.

We are, just now, learning what people are actually listening to. And it’s not the same as album sales and it’s not the same as concert ticket sales. I suspect it’s always been this way but there was simply no way to measure it.

2) Why hasn’t pop music changed more? Lyrics, chord progressions, and production have been stagnate for such a long time. Again, growing up in the 80’s when I heard music from the 50’s the production sounded ANCIENT. Even 60’s recordings sounded crusty and that was only two decades earlier. Nowadays productions from the 80’s sound not-really-all-that-different from today’s music (if you told me six months ago that Kate Bush would be the breakout artist of 2022 I would have kicked you in the shin). Why is music still verse-chorus-verse-chorus and 3.5 minutes long? Why haven’t teens invented new styles? So much going on in the world and we still only get songs about relationships. Has there been one hit about the pandemic??? Seems to me Tik Tok is ripe to get people to start making 1 minute long songs. We’ll see.

This also translates to fashion. There is such a major distinction between fashion from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. You can easily picture each of them in your mind. What’s distinct about the fashion of the 2000’s or 2010’s? Some changes in fit, no major changes in colors, patterns, etc. At least not compared with 20th century decades. Not even close.

Everyone’s staring at their phone watching and copying what everyone else is doing instead of sitting around bored and creating out of necessity. We need an artistic revolution.

 

-Christian Ver Halen

International Program Director 

Blue Note Entertainment Group

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From: Tom HEDTKE

Subject: Re: Streetlife Serenader

Back in the 80’s Joel came to play Sacramento.  They had played the Bay Area the night before and they were frankly pretty flat. 4th song in is Piano man. At the end of the song the crowd erupted and gave him a standing ovation for close to 10 minutes.  No joke. They weren’t flat after that. Joel was freaking out. It turned into one of the best shows I’ve ever seen and easily the best of his I’ve seen. He never slowed down and it was pretty obvious the band better keep up. Did 3 encores and really wanted to do another but they pulled him off the stage. Perhaps that was choreographed but we didn’t think so. The man was inspired. Will never forget that..

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From: Musicians Contact

Subject: RE: Streetlife Serenader

Bob, I still have Billy Joel’s paper resume, dated November 8, 1972, that he filled out in my office, looking for gigs.  At the bottom he wrote “Don’t call me unless you have a group together working and making money.  I’m not interested in jamming or fucking around”.  A couple weeks later he came in again and crossed out “fucking” and replaced it with “messing”, thinking it might offend an employer.  True story!

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From: Paul W Robinson

Subject: RE: Streetlife Serenader

Billy Joel actually cold cocked me during an interview where I mocked him for sounding like the Chipmunks on his debut LP “Cold Spring Harbor”  The master was recorded at UltraSonic Studios (once owned by the Isley Brothers) in Hempstead, New York..  Also, I mocked Billy for “using the town “Oyster Bay” on the tune “Billy the Kid”…  Joel was actually from Hicksville, and he was a Golden Gloves boxer… 

I deserved what I got!

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Subject: The Beatles in mono.

Jeez Bob, If you went to an art gallery and found they had put a pink wash over a Monet or maybe put some jewelled highlights on a Picasso you could be forgiven for being devastated but that is the exact thing that appears to have happened to The Beatles on Spotify. 

All the Fab Four’s records up to The White Album were recorded on 4 track tape recorders and mixed in Mono. All pop music in the UK was mixed in Mono, Stereo being reserved for Classical and “proper” music. Any stereo versions of songs before Sergeant Pepper were actually done long after the records were made largely because of pressure from EMI’s US subsidiary Capital. These Stereo mixes are horrible with usually the instruments in one speaker and the singing in the other and most of the mono effects rendered useless by the artificial stereo. 

All the Beatles discography was lovingly remastered in 2009, the early albums of course in mono. A separate remastering of the artificial stereo mixes was also done. The remastered albums were supported by a “back to mono” campaign. 

Today I had a notion to listen to “Girl” from the amazingly reverb-less album “Rubber Soul”. It is NOT AVAILABLE  in it’s correct mono form anymore on Spotify! Only the shitty novelty faux stereo versions are available. I’m sorry but this is ART, art that changed the world and is still incredibly influential to musicians to this day. This is like going to the Musee d’Orsay and finding the Impressionists are all in 3D and you have to wear silly glasses to view them. How can whatever company that controls the Beatles legacy let this happen? You can still hear the records in Mono on YouTube and despite the poorer audio quality, they still sound better than the “stereo” versions on Spotify. A disgrace.

Jim Hall musician/composer, Wellington, New Zealand

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Subject: Re: DragonFly Cobalt

Bob,

I feel compelled to echo your props on the DragonFly. It’s beyond astounding; it’s entirely renewed my love for a lot of music. I got a Cobalt last year, coinciding with the Zappa Trust going hi-res with Qobuz. I got the Apple camera adapter too (worth it), specifically to listen in the car, and whoa, did my $300 whim suddenly skyrocket. Days later, and $1,600+ more, I had an iPhone 12 with the highest storage capacity available. I don’t know about Amazon Music or the others, but Qobuz makes it very easy to fill one’s phone with hi-res files, and my old 6S+ didn’t even remotely cut it for the massive amount of hi-res I suddenly needed to carry everywhere. Pardon my metaphor, but there is little more boner-inducing to me than listening through the DragonFly in the car. I listen to Zeppelin tunes that I thought I’d tired of years ago, and hear details that were just never there–on vinyl, cd, remaster, etc., and the punch! It all feels so new again. It’s entirely and single-handedly revitalized my love for music I grew up with. Glad to hear you’ve discovered it too!

Best,

Jeremy Fleisher

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From: Justin Brown

Subject: Re: Genelecs/More DragonFly

Hello Mr Lefsetz, can you please explain more in-depth what listening to music was like in your time? You said you guys didnt multi-task while listening? That is literally a challenge for me. I was born in 2000. Why has the great music culture that you speak of disappeared?? I’m asking because I wish I could experience those times you speak of. But it seems as if people who claim to be music lovers are actually fame whores. They buy the brand, not the music. And the music that they DO listen to, is very discouraging and low in Morality & Creativity. Sometimes I feel myself longing to live in a past time before social media & technology led to people isolating themselves. I get incredibly jealous of people who were young in the 70s & 80s.

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Subject: Re: Jim Kerr-This Week’s Podcast

Hi Bob,

I’ve been a Simple Minds fan since the beginning, have every album.  I’ve never heard Jim Kerr in conversation until now.  I expected to listen to a little bit of the podcast but that was not possible.  He’s a remarkable storyteller.  That voice, his keen intelligence and your questions made this one of the best podcasts I’ve ever listened to.

Thanks,

Jeff Capshew

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From: james kerr

Subject: Re: Podcast is up!

People love good songs, but they love good stories even more. Been that way since the start of time I guess.

I love listening to your show for that reason.

If I had to pick a fave to date I’d probably go with your chat with Bob Ezrin.

Mind blowing!

Best,

Jim

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Subject: Re: It Don’t Matter To Me

Bob. 

Glad you finally discovered us (50 years later but who’s counting) and I appreciated your examination of It Don’t Matter to Me

Two things:

1. David was nowhere near 40 when we did that record, he had just turned 30 or was about to. 

2. Your analysis of the record was almost entirely about the lyrics but what I think was extraordinary about that song was the chord progression and the melody. It was always my favorite Bread song. 

The controversy at the time was to follow Make it with You with It Don’t Matter or Look What You’ve Done which featured Jimmy Griffin on vocals. The label was in favor of IDMTM for continuity’s sake and so was I simply because I loved the song. 

When Bread was formed the idea was to have two lead singers but after IDMTM and especially after If, it was David’s band. 

When we signed, everybody (including David) expected Jimmy to be the main singer but it didn’t turn out that way. Jimmy was the stronger singer but David was writing better singles and had worked out a fabulous way of recording himself. Had Jimmy gotten a hit the entire Bread history would have been different for better or worse. (He died in 2005)

In any case thank you for shining some light our way.

Robb Royer

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Subject: Re: The Bear

It’s an FX series . John Landgraf does support artists in a really amazing way. I made a series called  Legit with Jim Jefferies and and another the Riches with Eddie Izzard on FX- and all they wanted was good and on budget. Incredible creative freedom . Amazing experience. One of the best I’ve had. 

Peter O’Fallon

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From: Craig Anderton

Subject: Re: Biden

“The authors write on computers, they send the file to publishers on computers, they’re edited on computers, BUT THE BOOK MUST COME OUT IN PHYSICAL FORM!”

My “treating-books-like-software” continues to be exceptionally/unexpectedly successful. No major publisher would do it, but etailers TOTALLY got it. And now THEY’RE making money from books instead of “publishers.”

I just got reversion of rights for books that a publisher insisted had to come out on paper. Now they can become part of my collection of downloadable books.

For this author, life is GREAT in the virtual world! And life sucks with paper.

Craig

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From: Dan Millen

Subject: Re: Biden

This:

“And you’ve got to speak to the issues that young people are concerned with. Debt, the minimum wage, income inequality. To be born knowing it’s nearly impossible to make it?”

Ironically the right is speaking to those issues and seems to have captured them.  Their message of course is “this ain’t’ my ‘merica anymore and we’re all getting screwed”  so let’s demonize immigrants and minorities and radical liberals and woke corporations.

They got it wired so short and tight that even though they themselves are a minority they are able to evilly chip away at our basic human rights – including the right to free and fair elections, dictate our morality, and strip-mine our economy all in the name of “the lefties are trying to take our ‘merica away from us.”

People eat that shit up because it’s short, dumb, and angry.

It’s time SOMEBODY who isn’t evil learned how to speak the language of “short, dumb, and angry” because that’s all people will listen to.  Even the smart ones.

It’s not about policy and nuance anymore and may not be for a long time.  It’s about good vs evil, and evil is winning because evil knows how to communicate.

And the fact that NOBODY in the democratic party seems to get that is just baffling to me.

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From: Ron Eschaton

Subject: Re: Change

Spot on as usual Bob!

With regards to the Kavanaugh/SCOTUS dinners……….

My wife and I have decided to fly into the DC area every other weekend and then we wait for word on where the justices will be dining (there’s a Twitter account). Then we Uber to the restaurant armed with airhorns/noisemakers!

It’s really the least we can do to preserve our democracy!

Ron E

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Subject: Re: Change

To follow upon your idea that change comes from the bottom up, a perfect example is Karl Rove’s plan to focus Republican Party efforts on gaining control of state houses. With the now decades long paralysis of U. S. Congress, power has devolved back to the states and Democrats will be playing catch up for at least another decade..

This was no doubt aided and abetted by the failure of most voters to pay much attention to state and local races. I’m a faithful and careful voter but up until this year there were always certain local races I skipped over.

Not this year. I am voting every slot down to and especially including the school board race. This is where conservative radicals are focusing their attention and so should the rest of us. As you point out, the center can hold if people get upset enough to pay attention and do something.

George Laugelli

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From: Ryan Nixon

Subject: Re: Change

Bob,

I’m wiping the tears of laughter from my face right now. Not only am I an ardent supporter of The Free State Project and have been for many years, I also hope to be a participant in the near future. What is with you evangelical progressives? No one who disagrees with your inane notions are allowed to exist anywhere else? You can have your socialist dystopia in California where you can still murder your baby five minutes before birth and in other states there might be a few restrictions. Who cares? Don’t you worship “Democracy”? As long as the results are what you want I suppose. Anyway I’m just so happy that the FSP has garnered national attention. It is fantastic. If the entirety of the NYC city council can be avowed Socialists then the State Senate of New Hampshire can be Libertarians, tit for tat as far as I see it. With any luck in a few years they will collapse the sham that is the public school system at least in NH, it’s mass exodus of students will continue elsewhere in the country. Teachers Unions will actually have to find productive work for once in their lives. Well, stay triggered and don’t forget to wear your mask and get your boosters.

Frank

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From: Alan Abrahams

Subject: Re: Manchin

Bob,

Your take on Manchin…”DINO”…………..Perfect!……………you are perfectly on point regarding this asshole.

This hypocrite may be eyeing some bigger place for himself, I don’t care what his aspirations are, his insurrection is equally insidious………

When my bestie, Joan Baez (I also produced 3 of her albums and our families have remained very close for over 30 years) received The Kennedy Center Honor a couple of years ago – her segment included the small group of attendees (Covid) were singing “We Shall Overcome”…………..and there over her shoulder (positioned himself to be in the frame) was Dino Manchin merrily singing along…….that’s how much of a clueless putz he is…………………It’s all about HIM!………He and donnie boy deserve each other.

Yes, Dems……………grow some balls and get him the f–k out!

Keep up the great work Bob………..and thank you!

Alan Abrahams

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From: Toby Mamis

Subject: Re: Manchin

I believe there is a group of more progressive Democrats in W Virginia who have organized to try to begin getting positions throughout W Virginia in a plan to challenge Manchin.

Sen. Joe Manchin May Not Be Kingmaker in West Virginia for Long

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From: thomas quinn

Subject: Re: The Decline Of New Music

Ever watch Jeopardy! when they have a clue about a song, musical act, or TV series from the last 5 years?

It’s usually three blank stares.

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Subject: Re: The Decline Of New Music

Music brings people together…with no common reference, the world will have no common bond

🙂 

– Al Connelly

Glass Tiger

I was driving down Sunset, just before the light at Bundy, listening to MSNBC on SiriusXM, and wondering why I was wasting my time. It was depressing, they were talking about Trump’s bad behavior and so far he has not been held accountable.

And while I was sitting at the light my mind flashed on Watergate. And I realized that Nixon resigned in 1974, and even if you were born in that year, you’re presently 48. Meaning most people have no exposure to that era, those hearings, what was going on. It’s history. Just like World War II was when I was growing up, even worse, World War I!

It was different.

Let’s go back to the sixties. LBJ was the enemy. He wouldn’t get us out of Vietnam. Kids were going there to get their ass shot off for exactly what? By time we hit the second half of the decade minds were changing, and by ’68 it was not only the youth, but adults too. War, what is it good for? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Not that we have an anthem like that today.

In retrospect, LBJ was a god. Not only passing civil rights, but the way he worked behind the scenes. He used his experience in Congress to needle and twist arms, to get things done. He was in charge, he was a leader. We thought we were getting something similar with Biden but this turned out to be untrue. Old Joe is grandpa trying to keep things calm while the fire is raging right outside the house.

So in Watergate the incident was much more minor. A break-in to Democratic headquarters. And then Nixon’s cover-up.

And just like with the January 6th committee, it took a long time for hearings to begin, Nixon was president.

Oh, did I mention he got re-elected in 1972? Blame war criminal Henry Kissinger, who kept telling us peace was at hand, when this was completely untrue. The Paris peace talks were a joke. And in the end, we just folded up our tent and got the hell out of Vietnam, but that wasn’t until 1975. Wonder what the people bitching about Afghanistan would say if they saw the way we exited Vietnam. Remember those pictures of the helicopters above the embassy? Probably not, but they were famous back then, when we all watched TV news and read the newspaper, when we were all operating on a similar basis of facts, even if we disagreed on the interpretation.

So, the Watergate hearings began. They were held every day. Not that news was broken every day, but they were held. It was like a soap opera, in television terms, it was stripped. But you probably don’t even know that TV lingo in the era of streaming.

So, there was gravitas.

And then there was John Dean.

John Dean was Cassidy Hutchinson on steroids. He told his truth. It was a bombshell, the worm started to turn, but still, it was not enough, Nixon had no intention of going.

And then came the tapes. That eventually pushed the Republican senators over the line, they went to visit Nixon and told him he had to go. Which he ultimately did. We just saw this happen in London, with Boris Johnson. But I wouldn’t expect most people to know what happened there, even understand it, they might know who Boris Johnson is, but that’s about it.

Now that Boris will be gone imminently, and Nigel Farage has been neutralized, does this mean Brexit is undone? Hell, they can’t even get accommodations for touring. Going to France for a gig is like going to America, whereas it used to be like going from New York to Pennsylvania. 

Many lies were told in order for Brexit to pass, for Johnson to win.

And similar lies were told in order to put Trump in power. I.e. Cambridge Analytica. Hell, can we put Mark Zuckerberg in jail along with Steve Bannon? You see if there are never any consequences, people never change their behavior.

So, Watergate was a universal story. Everybody knew it, in relative detail. And many on the right said even if it transpired, it wasn’t that big a deal. And, of course, that Nixon wasn’t responsible. Nixon stonewalled, until the tapes emerged and the truth was evidenced.

Counter that to today.

The right didn’t even want hearings, they wanted to let January 6th pass without investigation.

But this time, we had it all on tape. In the modern era there are cameras everywhere, we have hard evidence. But the right was constantly telling us not to believe what we saw. It was Antifa, not Trump supporters. Which made no sense on the surface. Antifa showed up at the Trump rally and then invaded the Capitol? Almost all the people in attendance were not Trump supporters?

So, despite the evidence given by Republicans, since they were in the White House with Trump, the right says to ignore the hearings. That’s like saying to ignore the SS, they weren’t there, they don’t know the truth about Hitler. And really, Nazism applies here. If you’re a person of color, or of a religious persuasion other than Christianity, be very afraid.

So they have these hearings in D.C., and all this evidence comes out, and what happens? NOTHING!

Absolutely nothing. I’m driving in my car, comparing Watergate to today, and I’m thinking back to then, and I realized we had a modicum of hope. We had Nixon on the run. We weren’t sure he was going to resign, we thought at best there would be an impeachment trial, but we thought there would be a penalty for his behavior.

I don’t have that hope today. And why should I? Let’s see, you can’t get an abortion, you can pray at school events… Everything that was bedrock is suddenly free-flowing lava.

So last night I watched the hearings. In truth, they were not as good as the previous two, there were not the same bombshells.

But one thing I realized was most people were not watching. Not only not watching, they might never even be exposed to what was said. This couldn’t happen back in ’73 and ’74. An impossibility. The country was torn, but not like today. We all knew the same stories, the same facts.

And exposure is everything. If you see it with your own eyes, it’s hard to deny. Then again, that seems to be what is happening with the invasion of the Capitol.

In other words, the hearings in the House appear to be a circle jerk. Because most people neither saw them nor heard about them, never mind accepted what was said as fact.

So it all comes down to Merrick Garland. A man who was proffered for the Supreme Court because Obama thought he was conservative enough to get approval from the right. Ain’t that a laugh. And to complete the circle, Biden gave Garland the AG job. Why? This was the best he could do?

Back in the sixties, we had RFK. People hated him because of nepotism, he was JFK’s brother, and because he TOOK ACTION! Today the AG is mostly a passive role, RFK was aggressive. He wanted equality. He didn’t throw his hands in the air like today’s Democrats, saying there was nothing he could do. He kept pushing.

So Merrick Garland…it all comes down to him. Will he prosecute Trump?

I’ve got no faith in Garland. He seems to be nothing better than a Democratic Bill Barr, who is afraid of his own shadow.

Now let me make this clear. I don’t care if Trump goes to jail, but I do care if he’s convicted. If Trump gets away with all this who can believe in the American system, in democracy?

Kind of like Elon Musk. He disobeys the law again and again. He didn’t report his 5% interest in Tesla to the SEC. Why? He’s got more money than they do, he can fight it, he’s a lifer, they’re not, and the SEC consistently comes out pro-business, and the Supreme Court is even worse.

Now most people don’t get the opportunity to break the law on this level. They’re not white collar, so they cannot commit white collar crime. At best they can steal something, and since there are cameras everywhere there is no plausible deniability, their ass is grass, they’re convicted, they go to jail. But the rich? It’s a whole different set of rules.

Now Bannon refusing to comply with the demands of the January 6th committee is like a high school student refusing to see the principal. You know what would happen, they’d be suspended, and if they never complied, EXPELLED! Furthermore, Trump pardoned Bannon previously, and Roger Stone who was already convicted. This is like a Mob boss getting a soldier to lie in court in order to protect the Mafioso on trial. It’s a raw bastardization of the legal system.

So, I was not convinced Bannon would be convicted. I’m kinda stunned that he was, even though it was an open and shut case. I mean there is some justice in the world. Even if he only serves 30 days at a country club prison. It’s not about Bannon, it’s about everybody else and their cockamamie reasons for not complying with the legal system. They’re gonna cough it up. Because loyalty only lasts until you’re in the hot seat. Do you really want to go to jail for Trump who will end up throwing you under the bus anyway?

I still have no hope, no confidence that Trump will go on trial, never mind be convicted. My desire is not so much to nail him on his heinous behavior but to send a message to everybody in these great United States that you can’t do what he did, you can’t break the law with impunity. If we don’t believe in laws, then our whole country folds.

But this isn’t really about laws. Hell, it isn’t even about Trump.

You’ve got to give me some hope. You’ve got to make me believe. You’ve got to give me the ability to march forward with my head up. And I haven’t had that spirt for a long time. Back in ’69 I was optimistic, today?

Yes, I’m old, I’ve seen the movie. And despite all the lionization of youth in this country, with age comes wisdom. Ask any boomer, if only they knew then what they know now. You’re more relaxed, less impulsive, you can see the landscape better, you’ve learned through experience.

And if you’re of my age it’s been going downhill for decades. I’m talking about government, democracy, FREEDOM! Sure, you might have raped and pillaged financially since Reagan cut taxes and liberated Wall Street. Hell, the internet is great. But income inequality is out of control. Where’s my hope there? Oh, to tell you the truth, I did have hope reading the news this morning, they don’t stop striking, in every business vertical. I mean you can’t give all the rewards to the rich and keep the poor down forever. As for unions having a bad name, they’ve tarnished “liberals” too. We do not live in a black and white world, sure, unions have been imperfect, but we need someone to stand up for the little people, the government has punted, the minimum wage? You can’t even afford shelter!

We need to take back our country. This is like African Americans taking back the “N-word.” The right keeps claiming freedom while they take our freedoms away. And the union-busters are Starbucks and Amazon! It’s not like Schultz and Jassy don’t have enough money.

As for falling on your sword… John Dean was disbarred. Seemingly nobody involved with Trump has suffered. It’s business as usual.

The Democrats are the party of law and order. Because law and order is about more than police, it’s about JUSTICE!

The Democrats are the ones looking to the future as opposed to holding on to a past that crumbles every day.

How come I know all this and those in government, our elected officials, are dumbfounded and dumb? They say their hands are tied by the system. What about Nelson Mandela? Enough with this crap about the system, it’s really about hearts and minds and you’ve got to start somewhere.

Is this Bannon decision a start?

Maybe.

But, what will have to happen to get our leaders to take action, hold bad actors accountable? As for fear of consequences if Trump is indicted… Yeah, that’s right, be afraid of your enemies. Do you see the right being afraid whatsoever? OF COURSE NOT!

So everybody who feels like they don’t have a voice, know that you are not alone. There are more of us than them. We are on the same page. We want the rules to apply to everybody. We want to believe in America. We want the Constitution to be a blueprint, not a finished product. We want to be able to believe what we see with our own two eyes.

We have no leaders. It only takes one. One person can move mountains, can motivate an entire populace. Can you say GANDHI?

Where is our unconstrained leader on the left? Not inured to the powers-that-be. Who believes in truth, justice and the American Way? A flag pin is just that, a pin. It’s what’s inside that counts. But we’ve become a nation of exteriors. Inside everybody wants the freedom to earn a living, to have a family and be happy. And to do that we need a system of laws that apply to everyone.

In this dystopian world with no center Trump has convinced too many people that up is down. And everybody else is too busy posting on social media to pay attention. We have the power. I want you to gimme some truth, but even more I want you to give me some hope, let me believe things are going to improve, work out better, because honestly I don’t feel that way right now.