So I’m reading the “Vail Daily” and I see that Matt Nathanson is playing at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek.

But I don’t have a car. It’s gonna cost me as much in Ubers as it would for a ticket. But could I really be here while he’s here and not see him?

So I e-mailed Matt.

And heard nothing.

I hear from Matt on an irregular basis. To say I’m familiar with his material would be dishonest. But he is forthcoming and intelligent and we’ve talked about doing a podcast but the last time we e-mailed, it took him a week to respond.

And when I heard nothing, I figured it was a no-go.

But I woke up to an e-mail from Matt and now it was back on and I’m sitting in the Uber thinking how I don’t know this guy, what will conversation be like?

I can make musician/rock star conversation. I can turn that on. But inside I’m anxious, it seems stilted. I mean what if I don’t connect with Matt?

Now the night before in Aspen was a disaster according to Matt. To quote the e-mail:

“f*ck aspen. last night was like playing to a room full of guarded, entitled white douche bags. yikes.”

Now I don’t think printing this will piss off Matt, because he says sh*t and f*ck throughout the show. As do I, so I could relate. But Matt is much more likable than me. He’s like the smart kid in the top class who everybody digs.

And he’s an equal opportunity offender.

Now the opener was KT Tunstall, who was stupendous. To come out alone and enrapture an audience that was unfamiliar with almost all of her material? She did it Ed Sheeran style, you know, creating beats and… She strummed powerfully and sang with gusto and did her best to endear herself to the audience.

Is that what it takes?

I mean I’m in the middle of Colorado. Not a hotbed of the entertainment industry. And, in truth, the Vilar is a subsidized venue. Meaning ticket sales don’t always cover the act’s fee. You see there are rich people and they want culture in their community and they show up with their graying or already white hair…

And I told Matt not to expect much better than Aspen in Beaver Creek.

But that’s not the way it turned out.

I’m sitting there thinking how good KT was, remembering how she had that big hit and now it’s decades later and she can’t have another big hit because she’s no longer the new thing and almost nobody can have a hit.

It’s a weird business out there. Based on KT’s performance tonight would those in the audience shell out dough to see her again?

That’s the question.

And then Matt took the stage.

I wasn’t prepared. He was a bundle of energy, he had an identity, he had PERSONALITY!

And that’s something you cannot teach. That’s something those on the TV competition shows are lacking. Even judges like Carrie Underwood are not 3-D. You think if they turned sideways, there’d be nothing to see, you’d miss them.

But not Matt Nathanson.

Now there were hard core fans in the audience. But everybody else in attendance, whether supporters of the Vilar or those on a ski vacation, were immediately brought inside by Matt. It was like being in his living room. No, scratch that. You felt that close, it was that intimate, but it was definitely a performance.

He did a bit of crowd work. Asking the ages of kids after swearing.

And he both explained his career and his show and his state of mind while he was performing, THAT’S HIS ACT!

And the songs he’s singing are not “moon in June,” they’re deeper, they’re more real, they’re personal, anything but written by committee.

And Matt did have a hit while he was signed to Vanguard, but…

That was not what is driving his business. It’s him, IT’S THE SHOW!

Now most of the acts in the Spotify Top 50 are hit dependent. People come to hear the songs. And if there are no recent hits, ticket sales fall off. That’s the mainstream business.

And there is a parallel business of people playing stuff that would never make the Spotify Top 50, but oftentimes these people barely talk on stage, they speak through their music.

And Matt Nathanson speaks through his music, but he speaks so much more!

He had a spinning wheel of tunes, a la Elvis Costello. But he went through each and every listing, giving backstory. It was humorous and fascinating.

Talked about an old girlfriend whose video he saw on TikTok who blocked him after he liked her post.

It was a real person on stage.

And he spoke about playing “Thunder Road” in New Jersey and…

A couple of songs later, the lyrics are unmistakable…

“I have climbed highest mountains

I have run through the fields…”

Only to be with you, only to be with you here in the Vilar, the assembled multitude chiming in that they still hadn’t found what they were looking for.

And there was audience participation. Mostly led by Matt, not always spontaneous.

And I’m sitting there thinking this is the paradigm, this is what it’s all about. If you saw Matt Nathanson in concert, you’d pay to see him again, you’d come back. Sure, you wanted to hear the songs, Matt’s got more than a dozen albums, he’s not relying on covers, but you go to see the man, to see the PERFORMANCE!

This is not HELLO CLEVELAND! Not mindless, in some cases scripted patter by the barely verbal…

No, Matt is a college graduate, who can cogitate, who can tell a story, who can make you laugh and you may not cry, but his songs speak of real emotions, and those are not aways positive.

Now in truth, it’s hard for me to disconnect from politics. Every day I turn on my phone and am amazed.

But sitting in the Vilar, in the dark…

Everything else disappears. And I did see some dude at the end of the row reading his cellphone, but I didn’t catch anybody else doing so. They were PAYING ATTENTION!

And this was not a club show, where you’re standing endlessly, sidled up to humanity… No, the Vilar has seats, which means the music flows in the dark and it sets your mind free. That’s what I like most, when my mind drifts into places it normally never would, when I’m not caught up in the b.s. of life. This is what the show represents.

Then again, too many concerts are videos come alive. They’re synched to hard drive, there’s production. You can see it, but you don’t feel involved.

You felt involved with Matt tonight, you felt connected. I could see how one could continue to live without thinking constantly about politics.

And stardom is not about possessions, it’s not about lifestyle, sure, it’s about hits, but as I referenced with KT above… Almost nobody can have a hit today. And even the Spotify Top 50 reaches relatively few. This is not the heyday of MTV, when a limited number of videos were anointed for exposure and we all knew the songs. Today you forage…

But you’re definitely looking. And mostly it’s what you’ve already gotten.

I’m sitting there thinking as Matt’s singing U2 that he’s got a lot more personality than Bono. Sure, Bono has huge hits, he’s gallivanting with the powerful, trying to change the world. But as far as standing up on stage, telling a story, letting the audience inside, making them feel that they can identify…I’ve never seen Bono do that.

Most of these acts cannot do that.

Not that some of these acts are not truly great, have not delivered A-level material, but…

Matt Nathanson is selling something different. His viewpoint, evidenced in his songs, his stories, his IDENTITY! You feel like you know this guy. You know you couldn’t do what he does, but also you know if you were one on one with him you could talk endlessly.

Which is what we did after the show. And the amazing thing is Matt immediately revealed certain family stories…that most people NEVER TELL! He was anything but guarded. And he asked me questions and…

Needless to say I didn’t have to be anxious about our conversation. But I knew that during the show. Because I could see how Matt is.

And the bottom line is there are very few people who would not be won over by a Matt Nathanson show. Sure, he’s only got one hit. But he’s selling something more than the hit.

Matt Nathanson is unique. And that’s what we’re looking for, especially in a world of me-too.

More of this PLEASE!

Terence Reilly brought Crocs back from the dead, turned the Stanley Quencher into a phenomenon and is now President of HEYDUDE shoes. Learn how a modern magnate stays in touch with the culture and lifts brands into the stratosphere.

Early this morning I got the following e-mail from Dan Harrell:

“Was bummed when excitedly opened your podcast this morning. Not bummed anymore. One of your best guests ever. Every leader in business should take a listen. So much of what he says and what he has done I have a shared adventure with the impossible being possible. 30 years in music managing Amy Grant made his journey ring true.”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/terence-reilly/id1316200737?i=1000701044475

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/d677f03d-299f-424d-bcbf-6dfaa508d84b/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-terence-reilly

I thought it was only me.

Having immune issues, I was locked up longer than most. And honestly, it took me a full year to recover. To not be anxious out and about. To decide to go out and about.

And I know a lot of people who died. I found this was uncommon. Maybe it’s because I reach more people than most. Lisa’s father died early in the pandemic and now I think about him more than I did when he was still alive. And that Tom was, very alive, and very current, I could discuss the day’s issues with him, he was the family patriarch.

But now he’s gone.

And not only Adam Schlesinger, but Jerry Blair, who was only 60, his wife convinced him not to get the vaccine. And then Neil Lasher too, who like Tom passed before the vaccine came on board.

Not that I want to relitigate the vaccine. I also don’t want to relitigate the cause of the pandemic. Whether it was a lab leak or a wet market… It’s all in the rearview mirror now. And isn’t it funny that all these people who propagate the lab leak theory are not anxious about preparing for bird flu or some other new virus?

But that’s one thing I’ve learned in the past couple of years. We’re all not on the same page. Sometimes I’m wrong, but one thing is for sure, the people who e-mail me are not. I mean you have to be willing to re-evaluate your precepts. But this is anathema to most. It crumbles their identity.

And I’d say I don’t want to get into politics, but it is a snapshot of today, and that’s why I’m writing this missive, to delineate how things are different.

It’s been five years, and David Bowie isn’t even around to weigh in on it. But seemingly every media outlet has. There’s a recounting of the facts, the effects on children, questioning whether choices were correct and…

That’s not what I’m thinking about.

I’m thinking about how no one goes to lunch anymore.

I’ll be honest, I’d rather not, I don’t want to kill that much time. But it turns out neither does anybody else!

I thought it might only be me. But I was with a Silicon Valley lawyer a couple of weeks back and he said the same thing. All these peripheral social activities…they no longer happen. Sure, you’ll get together if necessary, but if it’s casual, if it’s not productive, no way.

And my older sister weighed in that she doesn’t go out as much either. On the weekends they’d go to a restaurant, now they stay home and watch streaming television.

Which brings us to another change in the post-Covid landscape. The death of the movie business. Once people got out of the habit of going, they wondered why they were still going in the first place. Sure, some teens still participate in the submarine races in the darkened theatre, and if it’s a hit film, a cultural signpost, people will go to see “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” but how many of those are there?

You may have seen last weekend’s grosses. Which are down 7% from last year’s anemic total. Who needs a remake of “Snow White”? Not many. Turns out they want something original, but for that they go to Netflix, et al. And if a show sucks, it doesn’t tank the service, there is always something else to watch…which is not the case in the movie theatre.

And, of course, everything is on demand these days. People want it when they want it, and films don’t start when you get there, never mind having to schlep there.

But this generates boomer outcry. That’s another thing that happened post-Covid, the baby boomers became the older generation. Despite having smartphones and hip clothing, they’re anti-tech, the smartphone is the devil, they wonder why things can’t be the way they used to.

This has been shocking to me. My friends I’ve known for decades. They’re constantly defending the past. Movie theatres, bookstores, physical media… When the truth is the younger generations have moved on.

And then there are the boomers who believe in old media when the youngsters don’t even partake. I’m talking about news media here.

And speaking of news…

Covid finally killed the magazine. It started with the 2008 crash, but now… Maybe you can be “The New Yorker,” and charge your dedicated fan base a fortune to subscribe, but the casual buy…

It just doesn’t work anymore. It’s not worth that much an issue and…

Apple News+ has revealed that most of the writing in these rags is not only substandard, but piss-poor. When you see it all right next to each other… You’ve got hacks writing about that which they do not know.

I’ve given up renewing magazines. One after another has folded before my term has expired. And sure, I’m missing something, but I’m getting a whole hell of a lot else in return. Info online, even TikTok. That’s another thing the boomers hate, but if you want to know what is going on in this country, you need to tune in.

But then you’d have to question your anti-internet, anti-social media bias, and you don’t want to cave, because it’s part of your identity.

And DeJoy slowed down the mail to where you don’t want to drop anything in the box, and you don’t expect anything in return, except junk mail. If I’m looking for deals, once again I’ll go online, at least they’re au courant.

And now that the news cycle is so accelerated, the aforementioned “New Yorker” looks out of time and date. It’s so combed over, so edited, that it’s got no visceral element. Today it’s all about being immediate. Which doesn’t mean you can’t fact check.

Which brings us to newspapers. Print is now on its last legs. Do you know how I know this? Because stories that appear in the app might not make it into the physical newspaper FOR WEEKS! Never mind all that never makes it at all. We’re all checking our news apps all day long. News is no longer a once a day affair. Whether it be the physical newspaper or the 7 o’clock (or 6:30) TV news broadcast.

But now I’ve listed so many changes that you’re pissed off. You believe in the past.

But soon you will be in the past.

That’s another post-Covid element, I’m closer to the grave. And so many changes I attributed to my age, but really they’re society broad.

A lot of this is acknowledged by all, like people wanting experiences more than assets. But those invested in the old paradigm are flummoxed…you mean people won’t be impressed if I own this or that?

And bragging has just become amplified. Everybody’s begging for attention.

And oldsters don’t want to admit that we no longer live in a pyramid world. Where there are stars at the top and everything else below… No, the world has been flattened.

And more than ever, you’re hearing about crazy people doing crazy things. If it bleeds, it leads used to be the credo of the 10 o’clock news, but now you’re confronted with the bizarre all day long, wondering if you’re normal or just out of the loop.

And you never know if something is a fad or here to stay. Today I saw someone with a tattoo over the back half of his head, half of his entire skull. Have we evolved to the point where we accept everybody and everything or will there ultimately be consequences? Will the next head of Microsoft have a neck tattoo? A face tattoo?

This is where my ancient mores come into play. If it’s permanent…

That’s what we always used to be threatened with in high school, that some misdeed or misadventure would go on our permanent record. Now we’re leaving bread crumbs 24/7 online, which most people don’t pay attention to until… We gain some notoriety, and then our entire past comes back to haunt us.

And then they say religion is dying, and just recently they said religion is coming back. It’s kind of like Woody Allen’s “Sleeper,” where it turns out in the future that chocolate and smoking are some of the best things for you.

We’re in uncharted territory culturally, not only politically. But those with their hands on the reins refuse to admit this.

Kind of like the movie actors. They’ve all realized they’re not the stars they used to be, they’re all on TV, and if they’re on social media they’re revealed to be no different from you and me.

It’s kinda like the entire world digested a Devo album.

Then again, Devo would have no chance today. You don’t want to be too outside, the mainstream will reject you. But what is the mainstream’s power anyway? Everybody is trying to get to the top of the aforementioned pyramid which no longer exists.

But time keeps marching on, change keeps happening and one thing’s for sure, since lockdown arrived five years ago…

Things are different.

I don’t care if you’re the most MAGA person on the planet, I don’t care if you think the paper enabled George Clooney, et al, to push aside Biden. THAT WAS NOT MY POINT! It’s not the content of the paper, but its PRINCIPLES!

When I said:

“it appears that the only outfit that will stand up to Trump is the “New York Times.”

What I meant was that the “Times” wouldn’t compromise, do what was expedient for the bottom line. The “Times” has a long history of fighting legal claims. As do its reporters. Going to jail rather than testifying. Whereas every other news outlet…

Let’s forget the cable news channels, they’re biased one way or the other. ABC settled with Trump rather than fight the accusations. And now CBS is considering doing the same thing. Not because they’re guilty, but it’s easier to pay and move on, and put a little pixie dust on their relationship with Trump and cross their fingers for the future.

In both the ABC and CBS cases essentially all lawyers (except those working for Trump with their cockamamie theories), believe the networks would never be held liable. The laws are on the side of the media, especially when it comes to libel/slander/defamation. Truth is an absolute defense. As for falsehoods… You have to prove that there was actual malice, that the perpetrator knew of the statement’s falsity or had a reckless disregard for the truth, and this is a very heavy lift, nearly impossible…unless, of course, you’re Fox and Dominion…

The dirty little secret is if you’re an individual and you’re up against the corporation or the government you can almost never win…BECAUSE YOU CAN’T AFFORD THE DEFENSE! The corporate law firm will bury you in paper. The government will do the same and hold jail time over your head. Sure, billionaires can defend themselves, but you and me? GOOD LUCK!

That’s a flaw in the system. Which is why we depend upon certain entities to push back.

That’s what tort law is all about. Sure, there are a lot of sleazy tort lawyers, but when you read about these astronomical awards…oftentimes there’s a settlement for less than one hundred cents on the dollar and it’s a pittance relative to the corporation but the truth is the tort lawyers keep the companies in line.

Ditto the media.

So the “Washington Post” and “Los Angeles Times” have already punted. If you’re not aware of the changes at these papers as a result of Trump…you live in a right wing bubble or believe news is irrelevant. So, all we’ve got left is the “Wall Street Journal” and the “New York Times.” The “Journal” has a history of standing up, but Trump is more on the “Journal”‘s side here (not that the “Journal” has not been excoriating him on Ukraine and tariffs and…)

So that leaves the “Times.”

And the “Times” is fighting for you.

Hopefully the courts will too. But that’s up in the air. It’s one thing to get a decision, but to enforce it is another matter, didn’t we just see this with the Venezuelan “gang members”?

So what is protecting you?

You think you’re immune, but…

There are a lot of people in red states whose Medicaid hangs in the balance, who will be negatively affected by DOGE.

But how about your rights?

Do you want to be snatched unawares like that Columbia student, and then jailed without a hearing/due process?

The laws are there for you.

As are the regulations.

Are they imperfect, absolutely.

And the ACLU defends Nazis and KKK members not because it agrees with the cause, but because they have a right to speak, like every American.

And you don’t want to compromise that.

Seems like the entire nation is compromised. Nobody has any principles. If it involves losing money, they fold.

Hell, in the record business acts used to stand up to labels all the time. Maybe even losing money in the process. But that was back when the acts were king as opposed to the executives. Lucian Grainge and Universal are forever. You, you’re expendable.

I won’t even bother to go into the fact that the “Times” has reporters all over the world, more than any other outlet, and whether you’re on the right or left you need the facts, then you can bloviate. That’s not my point.

Once again, who is going to stand up to Trump? To the very end? Not settle, not do what is expedient?

So far, no one.

So the “Times” is our backstop.

Unless you are suddenly going to grow a pair…