Netflix Official Trailer: https://bit.ly/3PS6DCz

This is riveting television.

It will make you smile and it will bring tears to your eyes. As a matter of fact I’m holding back the waterworks right now.

You know someone on the spectrum. Even though they may not even know it themselves. But in the last thirty years incredible advancements have been made.

The spectrum… Usually with every little thing taken away, something is added back in. You’ll be wowed at Subodh’s mathematical skills.

So that’s what this show is about, people on the spectrum dating, many for the very first time.

Do you remember the first time you went on a date? Remember your anxiety? Somehow this show gets it right better than any movie. There’s anxiety, wishin’ and hopin’, and a fear of playing the game.

We’ve got Dani who not only has an undergraduate degree, but a master’s too. She seems so competent, but the longer you’re exposed to her the more her issues are revealed. The diagnosis. It wasn’t until she was nearly an adult that her aunt realized she was on the spectrum. And usually this is a relief, it explains so much.

Like the people making fun of you. You’re trying your best, but you just can’t read the signals. But you want what everybody else does, love.

Boys don’t talk about it. They say they want a girlfriend, and then they shuck and jive and you realize you’d better start cracking jokes too or you’ll become a pariah. You don’t want to be sensitive around the guys, you’ll be labeled a sissy and ostracized. Hopefully you find your people, but some people never do. And then there are others who yearn to be accepted into a group that in truth they’d rather not belong to. But the inner desire to be accepted, that never goes away. And everybody is sensitive, they just might not show it.

As for the girls? Sure, they can be catty, but they’re also supportive. They dream, they fantasize, they know what they want and even articulate it, but getting it? That’s harder.

And even harder if you’re on the spectrum.

The signs start coming early. You get kicked out of pre-school. You have trouble making friends. Everybody tells you to fly straight but you don’t know you’re not, you just know you’re not approved of, and that feels awful.

Hopefully you can get into a special program tuned to your needs. But frequently you have to have money and tenacious parents. And with both parents working outside the house and the hurdles you need to jump to get government assistance, it’s hard. And then you become an adult and no one cares about you anymore, you’re on your own. And if you can work at all, you can’t pay your bills. Just pull yourself up by those bootstraps why don’t you!

And it is a spectrum. They no longer call it “Asperger’s.” So there are people on both ends of what I describe above, highly functional and less functional, but one thing is for sure, you never detach from your parents, who worry about how you’ll survive after they die.

Loneliness. It’s the scourge of America. That’s what’s great about the internet, you can find your people. Sure, there’s a lot of hate, but those who decry screens are denying the need to connect, to talk. Of course this connectedness comes at a price, hate and showing off, but all progress comes with negatives, you’ve just got to adjust your vision, because the past is never coming back.

So the six episode series starts with people who are yearning for love, but they don’t know how to get it. There are coaches.

And then they dive in.

Will the other person accept their autism?

This is a big issue for Dani. And Kaelynn too. Once the boys find out who they really are, will they dump them?

There are so many interesting plot twists, but in this case they are real.

Maybe you can’t watch this. Because you can’t own your feelings. You can’t own your needs.

And on some level it’s painful, because you see where your own inadequacies are, none of us are perfect.

But the humanity shines bright! In a country where everybody’s trying to become rich and famous, in truth most people are just living their lives, and the penumbra is ultimately irrelevant, it all comes down to the personal, your feelings.

It’s conversation, it’s touch.

One of the things I like most about being in a relationship is the floor. What I mean by that is when you’re involved with another person your feelings only get so low. But if you’re alone…you can sink to the point of suicide. You’re bouncing off the walls. And not everybody has a community around them. And as Chris Rock says, you get married because you don’t want to be the oldest guy in the club. Yes, you age out of a lot of behaviors. And if you’re old and single… It’s a couples world and some will include you as a third or fifth wheel, but you don’t always count on it and after the conversation you go back home alone.

You’ll breeze through the series in a day. Because you’re instantly invested, you want to know what happens.

We’re all looking for truth. And in most reality television there is none.

But that’s at the heart of “Love on the Spectrum U.S.” WATCH IT!

Have you listened to this album? IT’S A REVELATION!

The insider buzz got to me. How could a guy have the same last name as one of the biggest stars in country music? I couldn’t take him seriously. But when I started seeing his name everywhere…

Let’s be clear, I’m not talking about consumer publications, that’s hype. I’m talking about trade publications. There’s hype there too, but they’re really focused on numbers, and they’re all talking about Zach Bryan, so I decided to check out the music.

And I’m stunned. This is closer to 1972 than 2022. This is mostly one guy on his acoustic guitar, singing from the heart.

So I start to do some research.

I’m late to the party. This guy had indie success, he’s got a hit on the country chart. But how is anybody supposed to know?

Also, you dig deeper and you see his music was featured in one of Spotify’s fakokta new programs, promoted by the streaming company. But that’s not the interesting part of that story, but the fact that people continued to play it. You can get it on the playlist, but will people listen to it more than once, will they save it?

The music is so AUTHENTIC!

Authenticity is rare these days. Do I really care what Britney Spears has to say about the Texas school shooting? At first I couldn’t find any musician weighing in, but then I searched. Were any of them canceling gigs, putting their careers on the line? Of course not, that would be too much to risk. They’re no different from the Republicans, they offered thoughts and prayers. Remember when Boston called on James Brown to quell riots? Who would you call today?

The acts are so busy selling out that when you encounter authenticity you’re stunned, you’re drawn to it.

And it didn’t happen in rock. Because rock considers streaming the devil. Did you watch that Ted Gioia YouTube video with Rick Beato? It’s laden with so much b.s. I wanna puke. Why don’t people understand that streaming saved the recorded music business instead of killed it? As for Sony and Warner immediately selling their shares in Spotify, they didn’t do that because they thought it was gonna tank, they wanted that money right away, to add to their bottom line. If you think major label executives are thinking long term, you’ve never seen their contracts. All the action, the upside, is in the bonus, just like in Silicon Valley it’s in the low-priced stock options.

Not that anybody on the inside is going to listen to Ted Gioia. But my inbox is full of recs of this video. Yes, the key is to sell physical recordings, that’s the future for artists? Huh??? Do you see the movie studios putting all their energies into DVDs? Hell, it’s all about getting the product as soon as possible on their proprietary streaming services. And vinyl? Talk to anybody in the recording business, vinyl is an inherently flawed reproduction method and the vinyl “warmth” you’re hearing is mostly distortion. Never mind the inherent problems with the needle being at a different angle in every groove. And all these damn records are cut digitally to begin with. And now streaming services allow you to listen to them at HIGHER than CD quality. But you’re telling us to go back to vinyl? To come out with a better vinyl record? That’s like movie studios championing VHS tapes.

And there’s no understanding of popular music and the money involved. It’s a business.

I could go on and on, and not all of what Gioia says is wrong, but too much of the nuts and bolts is, and he’ll be steering the wannabe musicians and even the real musicians the wrong way. It’s not only the Republicans who are prey to misinformation.

Anyway, turns out Zach Bryan was in the military. And he’s from Oklahoma. I listened for right wing b.s., which permeates the country scene, I couldn’t find it right away, but I’m not sure it’s not there. But there are THIRTY FOUR SONGS! Yes, Zach Bryan’s new album, “American Heartbreak,” is two hours long. That’s double the length of “Exile on Main Street.” It’s gonna take a long time for me to digest this. But I wanted to hear it, I listened to the whole damn thing, it was more interesting than any of the usual suspect podcasts, more genuine, more lifelike, it’s what music can do that no other art form can, assuming you’re trying to get it right.

That’s the funny thing about music. Play the game by the rules and the result is rarely transcendent and ubiquitous. But go on your own hejira and your honesty might resonate with the public, blowing you up in a way that could not be foreseen.

And if you listen to Zach Bryan’s hit, with 92 plus million streams on Spotify, you’ll find “Heartbreak South” is sans all the studio tricks, it’s got a feeling of life absent from all the stuff on the hit parade. And he’s singing about being alienated and misunderstood, remember when that was the essence of hit music as opposed to bragging about how rich you are or singing about how you love your family?

And “Heading South” is almost three years old.

And those focusing on the marketing as opposed to the music will talk about the “Yellowstone” synchs, when the truth it’s in the MUSIC!

I mean start playing “American Heartbreak” from the top. You’ll be amazed, this is not in-your-face, this is just someone playing their music, you’re eager to lean in.

And unlike too many lauded singer/songwriters, Zach Bryan has a good voice. Bob Dylan could get away with having a less than perfect voice, BUT HE WAS THE BEST LYRICIST OF ALL TIME!

Another thing about “American Heartbreak,” its success is ahead of the usual suspect sites. I couldn’t find credits for the album on AllMusic or Discogs, which are usually extensive. The guy is in the spotlight, but the album in so many ways is still a mystery.

But one thing I can tell you is that Zach Bryan did not do it how everybody else does it these days, HE WROTE THE SONGS HIMSELF! At least that’s how it appears based on my research, like I said, there’s so little info.

But really it’s all about the music.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the biggest album of the last eighteen months has been Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous,” another double album. But on Bryan’s more than double album there’s none of the studio trickery, it’s not overproduced, it’s closer to one of the initial, magical Bonnie Raitt records, with that homemade feeling.

Maybe Zach Bryan is so good because he’s been removed, in Oklahoma and the Navy, he’s not in Hollywood groveling for attention.

Not that Bryan is Dylan, and…

You may click to stream and turn “American Heartbreak” off immediately. It’s not noisy enough, not punk, not loud enough. Or maybe you’ll lament the absence of beats. But that’s just fine, because there are enough people looking for this stuff to build an audience and a career.

Zach had to prove it independently before Warner got on board. That’s the majors for you, they don’t believe in it until you prove it, they don’t want to take a risk.

But Zach Bryan is not a business story, it’s a MUSIC story.

And I’m not gonna provide any links. Either you’re interested in checking him out or you’re not. That’s right, a real music fan makes an effort…is looking to be plucked from the desert, saved by what they cannot articulate, but they know it when they hear it.

And in this case it is Zach Bryan.

You know when you do something great.

Conventional wisdom is no one knows anything in Hollywood. Only hacks believe that. Certainly when it comes to music, some songs are UNDENIABLE!

My favorite story here involves Al Kooper. He was being inducted into the Guitar Center RockWalk and we’re sitting in the green room after the ceremony and Lonn Friend was interviewing him, he’d scored that gig, and Al said that Lynyrd Skynyrd cut “Sweet Home Alabama” a year before it came out.

He was in Atlanta, he’d moved there because of the music scene, funny how it’s one of the epicenters of hip-hop today, and he’d signed Lynyrd Skynyrd to his label Sounds of the South and had recorded the first album and “Free Bird” was just starting to gain notice and Ronnie Van Zant called him up and said the band had a new song they needed to cut right away, and Al booked the studio time and they cut the track and like I said above, it wasn’t released for another year. So I asked Al if he knew it was a hit. And he said…IT WAS SWEET HOME ALABAMA!

If you listen to the John Fogerty podcast, you’ll hear the story of how he wrote “Proud Mary,” as well as how he decided to start playing Creedence songs live again. I don’t want to step on the story, but the bottom line is he wrote nearly all of “Proud Mary” in a flash, alone. And when he was done he felt like he’d written a standard, something on the level of Stephen Foster, something that would last forever. HE KNEW!

So the arc of this season of “Hacks” is Deborah Vance, i.e. Jean Smart, has lost her residency in Vegas… That happened last season, but now I’ll give a spoiler alert, even though you know how these shows play out, maybe you want to be surprised and can stop here but…

Deborah goes on the road to hone her new routine. She’s throwing out the old, the stale one that worked for decades in Vegas, and is starting with a clean slate, she wants to tell her story, she wants to be honest.

But it’s not working.

Get this straight. She’s come down from the mountaintop. She had a steady gig in Vegas baby, and now she’s back on the road, paying her dues, in small clubs, in secondary, TERTIARY markets and you’d think a star of her caliber would kill, but that’s not how it plays out. She keeps missing the mark, she wants to give up.

That’s another thing, the greats not only know when they’ve hit a grand slam, created an 11, they also wrestle with giving up. If you haven’t thought of giving up, you’re probably a hack. Because a true great may project an image of confidence, but inside many feel like a fraud. After all, they need the success to make themselves complete, it’s all that counts, success, they’re just that damaged.

And after you decide to stick with it, the light bulb does not go on instantly, you just have a little more oomph, a little more inner strength that keeps you keepin’ on. You’re in the creative wilderness, looking for hooks. And if you’re honest with yourself, you know what’s B material. You not only know what is B material, but B+ too. You need to be in the A category to play, especially today. An A- will get you notice, but to transcend the pack, to truly gain traction with the public, you need a solid A, and hopefully an A+.

And the dirty little secret is no one can reach that level every time out, NO ONE! Furthermore, the best stuff usually comes when you’re not even trying. You’re taking a shower, you’re driving in your car, you’re out and about and suddenly you have a blast of insight. And sometimes the insight feels good but ultimately is not good, but then there are other times when your adrenaline starts to pump, you know you’re on to something, and you know you have to commit, catch lightning in a bottle, or the moment may pass, your opportunity will be history.

Deborah keeps missing the mark.

But then it comes to her in a flash. Like my shrink says, sometimes you change one little thing and the whole picture changes. And suddenly she’s back on track, it all works and now she wants success even bigger than she had, more than Vegas and…

This is a business built on dishonesty. Either people are falsely humble or falsely bragging. It takes years to understand the game. Actually, someone had me going today, and then I got off the phone and realized I knew much more about the subject than they did, but they had me convinced for a while there, I just needed to step back and give it some context.

And when you hit a grand slam, create an 11, you’re not thinking about the money, the sponsorships, none of the crap that the amateurs can’t stop talking about. No, you get this feeling inside, like you’ve climbed Mount Everest. You’ve planted your flag but you’re solo, there is no audience, it’s just you, and that’s enough.

Sure, after the fact, when the track is released, you might get the accolades, even win an award. But if you think it’s about the award you’ve probably never been in the zone and hit it far over the fence, nearly 600 feet. Which is why the greats put their Grammys in the bathroom, if they even know where they are.

The feeling of victory is fleeting. On one hand you’re excited, on the other you’re scared.

You see you want to try again, you need to try again, but you’re afraid you won’t reach the same level.

And A+, undeniability, is very rare. A great will always produce something serviceable, but something transcendent? If you can do it once or twice a year that’s a good record.

And you know it!

The one and only. I guarantee you’ll learn something you never knew before.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-fogerty/id1316200737?i=1000563978104

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/e5ac6f22-b10c-4d7c-8625-9dbca28e7205/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-john-fogerty

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/john-fogerty-203502496