I don’t know anything you don’t.

Having said that, if you’re living in L.A., I recommend KABC, channel 7, which overlays streets onto the landscape, making it a bit easier to see what has burned.

Actually, that’s pretty amazing, that we don’t have specifics re which houses are gone and which are not. That map does not exist.

But what we’ve got here is a war between technology and nature…and nature is winning. You can’t put out a fire with the internet.

Now I was in a meeting yesterday when the person on the other side of the screen got a text to evacuate. His house is south of Sunset, I figured he’d be fine.

Now it appears that everything in that neighborhood is gone.

Generally speaking, if you live in the flats in Los Angeles, you’re safe…from fire, from rains, from mudslides… So I was surprised these neighborhoods south of Sunset were torched. The fire had to come down the hills, cross the business district and then march all the way to the sea. Hasn’t happened previously, but it happened last night.

I first got an inkling that these houses were in trouble when they showed Theatre Palisades burning. That’s on Temescal, south of the Boulevard. Furthermore, there’s flat land, Temescal Canyon, on the other side of Sunset. No way I figured that would go, but it’s history now. I’ve been there numerous times, to see plays of the kids of my friends, other events.

And on the other side of the road is the high school. We kept hearing that was on fire, but there were no distinct images last night.

As for what you’re hearing about Pacific Palisades being a rich neighborhood…

What you’ve got to know is this didn’t used to be true. L.A. is unique in that it’s a giant suburb, spread out for miles. But they’re not making any more land, yet they are making more people. So property that was reasonably priced yesterday ends up being mega-expensive today. Used to be you could live on Monument in a starter home (that’s north of the Boulevard, where the landscape starts to slope up). Maybe you had to be a lawyer, upper middle class, but if you drove through you’d see small ranch houses, you wouldn’t be impressed.

South of the Boulevard… What we’ve seen more and more over the years is teardowns. McMansions on tiny slivers of property. Because south of the Boulevard means closer to the beach… And the closer to the beach you are the better the weather is in Los Angeles, and the clearer the air.

And it used to be the Palisades were too far away to commute. The drive to downtown was unfathomable. The Palisades was a suburb unto itself. A small town. And to some degree it still is. But about thirty years ago the traffic flipped. Now west of the 405 is horrendous, whereas it used to be empty. Santa Monica is gridlocked in the afternoon whereas it used to be sleepy. But Santa Monica is no longer a distant beach town, it’s got tons of offices and it too is riddled with teardowns and McMansions.

Even the dreaded San Fernando Valley… Benjamin’s mother told him relatives came all the way from Tarzana for his party in “The Graduate.” But the disdain has evaporated, now you have to be rich to live on the other side of the hill. From Malibu to the Palisades to Santa Monica to Brentwood to Bel Air to Beverly Hills…this is where the money is in Los Angeles.

As for the hills… They’re long and languid on the city side, steep and short on the Valley side. But if you live in the hills, you’re susceptible to disaster. You have to constantly cut back the vegetation, it’s a regular battle against the elements, and you may be vigilant but your neighbor may not be and therefore their land can slide on top of yours.

We live in the hills. Meaning we are susceptible. Hell, you should see it when it rains, the water coursing down the street.

And it used to be everybody laughed about L.A. disasters. The earthquakes. But now there are all these floods on the east coast and shoreline that is constantly in danger and…is it global warming? Some of it definitely is, and that’s one of the first things I thought of yesterday, but you may think differently. Doesn’t matter, no one is really doing anything about it anyway.

Other than canceling property insurance. It’s a regular discussion in Los Angeles, and coverage is hard to replace. I just watched a video on TikTok of someone whose house was in danger in the Palisades who had had their insurance canceled and if their house went up in flames, they were SOL.

Funny about the government, people can’t stop complaining about it, but when they experience a loss… And there’s this fiction that the government will make you whole, it will not. If you lose your house and have no insurance…you’re not only homeless now, you probably can’t afford to build on the same piece of property, maybe you have to move to an apartment. Then again, land is so valuable in Los Angeles.

As for personal effects…

I went to the doctor for a physical this morning and there’s no way his house survived, like I said above, presently there is no accounting. But he just recovered from prostate cancer, so he’s got perspective. And we were talking about aged parents, how they end up living in small spaces with few possessions in retirement homes/care facilities. Everything that’s so valuable to you is gonna get tossed. But I’ve told Felice over and over not to toss my vinyl records, they’re worth a FORTUNE!

And historically I’ve been very into my possessions. After cancer a little bit less so. But that feeling doesn’t last. Over the years you normalize. But the older you get so much becomes meaningless. It’s about you and your life and then you’re gone too.

You’ve got your memories. Sure, it’s great to have the photos, but how often do you look at them? And even if you’re someone who puts them on the wall…

But the funny thing is so much is virtual these days. Contemplating evacuating I figured I’d take my laptop and two medications, everything else can go. My world is on my computer, in the cloud. Don’t they say that life is about experiences today?

So I used to spend a ton of time in the Palisades. Friends moved there in the early eighties, and then Kate opened a bookstore, but in the last few years there’s been a diaspora. But I still know so many people there.

And Felice’s mother used to have a beach house, that appears to have been torched.

The scale is devastating.

As for the living… Man, I woke up yesterday and you could feel the wind blowing, not only see it. And in certain places the smoke is dense and dark, in others perfectly clear. Credit the wind. But when I woke up today there was that hazy yellow light, which is familiar from previous fires.

But usually not in the winter, and usually not of this scale.

So how do you make those who lost their properties whole? I’m not talking about monetarily, but emotionally. What can you say and do?

And just like with school shootings, there’s a plethora of compassion and then everybody moves on. They live their life, you’re still hobbled.

But eventually it happens to you. No one is immune.

And then there are those who have nothing… Unlike in the Bob Dylan song, unless they’re truly homeless they’ve got plenty to lose. If you’re scraping along paycheck to paycheck and a disaster happens, unless you have insurance…

But the thing about America is everybody gets to live their own life, make their own choices. I’m paying so much in premiums and never collecting, you’re going bare and triumphing. But we’re all just one disaster away from being beaten down.

When he was still alive, my father always used to start our phone calls asking about my health. Which didn’t resonate when I was in my twenties. But I totally get it now.

No one here gets out alive. Don’t skimp on medical attention. You may think you’re winning, but statistically the wealthy live longer than the poor because of the health care they receive. You’ve got to get your priorities straight.

I just hope you don’t have to experience a disaster to realize this.

But one thing is for sure, a disaster is coming down the pike, no one lives a completely charmed life, it’s just a matter of when.

Thank god it wasn’t you today.

Hulu trailer: https://rb.gy/f5lk4w

For the first six or so episodes I didn’t get the hoopla, this is considered to be one of the best series of the past year.

But then…

I’ve been to Belfast. I went by Van Morrison’s home, I actually walked down into the hollow, but didn’t see that brown eyed girl.

And I learned about the Troubles, I saw the paintings on the walls, the walls themselves, there was now peace but the remnants of what once was were highly visible.

And I thought I had somewhat of a grasp on what had gone on there until I watched this series.

“Give Ireland back to the Irish”

That’s what Paul McCartney sang back in ’72, it was the first Wings single.

And of course Bono sang about Bloody Sunday.

Then again, that was in the early eighties, when we took our music seriously, before Bono decided to save the entire world, before how much you made eclipsed what you had to say.

And there were the Catholics and the Protestants and the Brits and…

I live in America, where we believe it’s the greatest country in the world, to the point where we don’t have to even learn about the rest of the globe.

Meaning, chances are you don’t know the essence of this story either.

Now the initial episodes are all about IRA activities. Shooting, blowing things up, death and…

It doesn’t wholly ring true. I mean you accept the story, but the series is lacking a realistic edge, you don’t feel the grit, you don’t feel the danger.

Having said that… Lola Petticrew as Dolours Price is beyond belief. She’s got that devil may care attitude, the belief in the cause the young possess. But she can feel fear too.

And the story revolves around the activities of Dolours and her sister Marian. And it’s good TV.

And then…

Gerry Adams becomes a politician and negotiates peace.

I guess I thought Gerry Adams was a hero. But after watching this series…

But I don’t want to ruin it, I just want you to commit to it.

This is a true story. People fighting for their freedom. You wonder if this can happen in America…

And the fight goes on for decades and then…

You’ll remember some of this, the bombs, assuming you were alive back then. You’ll remember when all the terrorism happened over there, when we believed we were immune.

But not anymore. Can you say not only 9/11, but New Orleans?

There is a visceral quality that emerges in the story deep into the series. Ironically, it’s got less to do with action than feelings. How certain people feel sold out, feel duped.

And if you’re living over there, in Ireland, this is all 101.

But if you’re over here…

You mean people truly risked their lives for freedom? Killed in the name of the cause?

When this series is over you’ll feel this sense of emptiness. And you don’t have to have experienced the Troubles to understand it. You only have to get older.

You think ultimately things are going to work out. That you will always be able to depend upon certain people.

But then those you trusted most do what’s expedient. It’s like you don’t even know them anymore. They treat you like you’re still friends, but they’ve changed and you have not, and you’re creeped out about it.

Commit to all nine episodes. “Say Nothing” will stay with you.

At first it might seem like lightweight Scorsese, but ultimately it’s more meaningful than most of Scorsese’s work. There’s a gravitas along with an emptiness, more questions than answers… Is this how the world really works?

You watch it and you decide.

Giving people what they want is commerce.

Doing what you want is art. But that does not mean everybody will be interested in what you do. But when you get art right, it’s forever, when you get commerce right, it’s evanescent. Think of all the legendary companies and products that have gone out of business/ceased to exist. But art…when done right, it lasts for the ages.

Artists don’t compromise, artists don’t do what’s expedient, artists don’t put the money first and won’t do just anything for the money (not that they don’t like to get paid).

Artists are born, not made, and people don’t like this. You can study forever, practice, and still not be an artist, even though you might call yourself one. Artistry is a sensibility, an otherness, a perspective, a need to express oneself.

And once again, just because you want to put it out there, that does not mean you’ll gain any attention.

Just because you can post to Spotify that does not mean you can get paid. If anything, fewer artists/acts can be ultra-successful today, because unlike in the past, the greatest of yesterday and the greatest of today are only a fingertip away online. Yes, if you’re a singer-songwriter and you don’t sing and write as well as Joni Mitchell…you’re never going to be as big as her, at least not for long.

Since art cannot be measured, non-artists default to numbers, qualifications, chart positions, touring income. But think of all the acts that did boffo at the b.o. who can’t get arrested today. Here today, gone tomorrow, isn’t that what they say?

And artists know what their specialty is, and they don’t stray from it, unless they’re having fun and letting their audience know this is the case. Which is why most brand extensions don’t ring true. Yes, you can sell clothing and perfume but are you really a designer? People might buy your products, but it undercuts whatever credibility you have, assuming you have any at all.

Sometimes the public embraces artistry out of the box. A good case would be Elton John’s “Your Song.” Then again, Elton had put out a previous solo album in the U.K. that meant nothing in America, never mind playing piano for acts before that. Chances are if you’re starting today you’re not going to be embraced tomorrow as an artist. Artists develop, they hone their chops, they figure out what works.

A true artist knows when they ring the bell.

Hacks don’t.

Ask someone who has a legendary cut… They knew it when they made it. It might not have gone to number one, but they knew it was phenomenal. And you can only create something phenomenal occasionally, no matter how hard you try. But you keep trying.

But business doesn’t like artistry, business likes insurance, guarantees. Which is why business insists that you work with others, they keep polishing the turd, thinking they know what is successful. But most of this work doesn’t hit and even if it does it’s forgotten. Sure, there can be artistry in collaboration, the push and pull of creation, but when the goal is commerciality and you get multiple people involved you lose the vision, and songwriting is all about the vision, and the chops.

But usually artistry takes a while to be embraced by the public. People don’t understand it, because it’s so different. They have to be exposed to it, it has to percolate in their brains.

And don’t let anybody tell you that the game trumps the art. People who will say today’s #1 is just as good as yesterday’s. That’s patently untrue.

All great art has an edge. It doesn’t go down easily, or if it does it engenders feelings that never go away. Art makes you feel something, it could be anger, it could be love, but it’s not mindless drivel, to be heard today and forgotten tomorrow.

But art, like I said above, is not easily quantified, nor is success predictable, so gatekeepers hate art. Which is why you get sequels in the movie business.

As for the public… It always wants the new and different and unpredictable. But the bar is extremely high, the work must resonate, and this is difficult to achieve, oftentimes you fail in your effort.

Think about all the acts that have hit records and then try to repeat the formula, make another record that sounds just like the last one. That almost never works, because even though people say they want something like what came before, they really don’t, they want something new and different.

Artists are leaders, ahead of the game. Commerce comes to them.

And artists constantly reinvent themselves. Sure, there’s business in going on the road and playing your greatest hits year after year, but that’s not artistry.

Sometimes edge/artistry is about shock. That worked for Frank Zappa and Alice Cooper. But right now, in the unfettered internet era, almost nothing is shocking, not even Rammstein.

Art causes a reaction, it oftentimes rubs people the wrong way.

But when artists get it right, fans need to tell everybody they know about it.

The lack of artistry not only killed the mainstream movie business, but network television. If you’re playing to everybody, you’re losing. Everybody is never going to agree. If you’re not hated, you’re not an artist. It goes with the territory.

You want to be pushing people’s buttons, you want to be challenging them, you want them eager to hear what you’re going to do next.

But it used to be in the pre-internet era that the world was small, and the artists coexisted alongside the hacks. They could be seen, they were in the landscape. To get a major label deal and distribution, never mind press and radio, was nearly impossible, it was only for a select few.

But now everybody can play, and everybody tells you to compromise, to give the public what it wants.

That might get you a look, but not a sustained one. If you hit overnight today, chances are you’re going to be forgotten tomorrow. Hell, most people don’t even know what is #1 these days. Despite the press banging them over the head with it. The press is about consensus, the press is last when it comes to artistry. Just like most news stories break somewhere online before they end up in the major media. Today you go straight to the people, the audience, they are the tastemakers, not the intermediaries, who are too invested in the system to understand breakthroughs.

And just because it is outside and championed by fans that does not make it art. That’s all tastemakers have got, their taste, and if they like what you do they have nothing. Which is why you oftentimes disagree with the critics. If something makes an impact and lasts forever, and is embraced by the public at large, there’s a good chance that it’s art. Back in the seventies all the rockers hated the Carpenters, now they love them. and one thing you’ve got to know about the Carpenters is they went against the grain. When everybody else was getting dirtier in their music and physical appearance, they were purveying clean and sweet.

Artists read an audience, but they don’t kowtow to the public.

As for Grammy Awards… They belong in the closet or the bathroom. Chances are if you’re boasting about your Grammys, you’re a hack.

Now, more than ever, we want artists.

But the system is built for commerce.

But the barrier to entry is nearly nonexistent, and therefore it’s hard to get noticed.

Artists always get noticed, even though it might take decades.

There are very few artists, even though so many people believe they are one.

And artistry is not enough to be successful. You have to have the desire, the perseverance, the ability to forgo almost everything…family, material wealth…in pursuit of your art.

True artists don’t complain about Spotify payments, about the cost of going on the road, they know it all works out in the end.

Assuming they stay true to their art, their vision and keep on keepin’ on. 

Someone should get fired for this, hopefully CEO Kirsten Lynch.

Vail is the most hated name in skiing, justifiably or unjustifiably. Rob Katz revolutionized the skiing business not quite twenty years ago. He flipped the script. Unlike previous ski conglomerates, Katz decided that Vail Resorts would make its money on skiing and its ancillaries as opposed to real estate. And the effort was wildly successful.

Skiing has never been cheaper.

This is kind of like Ticketmaster, the truth doesn’t seem to matter, even though you’ll see that M. Shadows finally spoke the truth here:

“Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows Unmasks Truth Behind ‘Dynamic’ Ticket Pricing: ‘Artists Love to Hide Behind Live Nation and Ticketmaster and Go, ‘Oh. We Had No Clue”’

https://shorturl.at/85Aug

In other words, the big corporation must be guilty, and an occasional bad story gets amplified as opposed to the truth.

Yes, you can walk up to the window during the holiday at Vail and pay in excess of $300 for a lift ticket, but if you buy before the first week of December deadline, you can get unlimited skiing at 42 ski areas around the world for about $1000. Talk about a deal… Break even is in four days. And there’s nothing like a season’s pass… If the weather is bad, you quit, you don’t have to eke out the value of a day pass.

But never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Furthermore, Vail invested heavily in the ski areas it purchased, most prominently in lift structure. Other than beginner lifts, every chair at Vail Mountain is now high-speed. And those lifts are very expensive with relatively short lifespans (approximately 30 years).

But now, when there’s a lift line it must be Vail’s fault. If you’re unhappy, it must be Vail’s fault.

Skiing is akin to surfing. In that there are always people who say you should have been here yesterday, that it was better. When Vail proposed replacing the slow triple chair with a high-speed quad in the original Back Bowls, the locals were up in arms, the powder was going to get skied out! But once the lift was installed, everybody was happy. And you may have seen the photos of endless lines for this new lift on a powder day. Forget that powder days are insane, Vail dealt with this problem by installing another high speed quad chairlift in the same area.

But all this doesn’t matter. Because in life it always come down to perception, not reality. And perception is that Vail is evil. It has homogenized the sport, it has ruined it.

Never mind that Alterra created the rival IKON pass with the same formula, albeit a tiny bit more expensive with fewer resorts, and restrictions at number of the legendary ones.

But Vail is Ticketmaster. Or UnitedHealthcare, the enemy, the root of all problems.

So how do you deal with this?

Not by being ignorant of perception.

The Park City ski patrol went on strike, for a few dollars more. They want $23 dollars an hour to open the area and keep it safe (a raise from $21).

That’s too much for Vail. Which believes if it raises wages for these patrollers, it will have to raise wages across the board.

And one might possibly understand it when it comes to the numbers, but not when it comes to the effect.

The ski patrol went on strike and most of Park City didn’t open and the vacations of thousands of people were ruined, over the Christmas holidays. You’re paying a grand a night for a hotel room, or maybe you’re staying in a fleabag hotel in Salt Lake City. You’ve come all this way and…

You can’t ski.

Or you can wait in an endless line for limited skiing.

If it were me, I’d never give Vail another dollar, I’d never vacation at one of their resorts again. I spent all this money and you F*CKED ME? Without people like me, without customers, YOU’VE GOT NO BUSINESS!

This makes me crazy, all these rich CEOs believe they live in a vacuum, they don’t acknowledge that if we don’t buy/use their products, there is no company.

So how do you solve this problem?

Well, you never ever should have let the ski patrol go on strike during the holiday. And, if they ever were going to go on strike, you needed to give the public advance warning. It’s not like this was a completely hidden issue if you were paying attention, but how many skiers pay attention to the minutiae of the ski business? Not many.

You pay the patrollers to work during the holiday, with the promise of negotiation thereafter. Furthermore, unionization/strikes have been bubbling up for the past few years, and the public is on the unions’ side. Look at Shawn Fain and the autoworkers. He’s a hero!

And Kirsten Lynch, paid millions a year, is a schlemiel.

Vail was already behind the 8-ball, and Lynch stuck a knife in the corporation’s heart. All in the name of money, but as a result the stock went down.

There is only one side to this story, and Vail needs to deliver a mea culpa immediately. You just don’t screw hard-paying customers this way, NEVER EVER!

If Lynch doesn’t lose her job, there’s no justice.

Those Ivy League college presidents lost their jobs as a result of their mishandling of the protests in the wake of October 7th.

You’ve got to send a message, you’ve got to set an example.

And the fact that Kirsten Lynch is a woman…SO WHAT? She’s the decider, she has to go!

And if Vail was smart, it would find a way to give reparations. This may be impossible to do in practice, but an effort should be made. Everybody who actually showed up on the hill should get a discount on next year’s Epic Pass. This won’t make everybody happy, but it’s an olive branch, and you can never make everybody happy.

Then again, are the lawsuits coming?

You want to cut them off at the pass. You want to control the situation, not let it control you.

This is not Vail’s first faux pas, there was the Stevens Pass fiasco just a few years ago… But the trend is going in the wrong direction. This is now international news, only because Vail corporate was too stupid to read the tea leaves.

Kirsten Lynch has got an MBA, begging the question what they teach in these programs. Is it Milton Friedman all the time, does no one think of customers?

This is an atrocious situation. You might as well have a tornado on my wedding day, or a typhoon on my honeymoon. But those are truly acts of God, this strike is not.

I already came to Park City. I planned, I was looking forward to it. This is not like other strikes where I can buy coffee somewhere else, or buy a different brand of car. I’m already invested AND YOU SCREWED ME!

Vail’s obliviousness is hurting the entire ski industry, making it look like an elite sport when as I said above, skiing has never been cheaper.

Good work Kirsten Lynch! It’s your fault, the buck stops with you, tender your resignation before the board fires you.

As for the patrollers…

All I know is that Park City MUST STAY OPEN! The complete ski area. Everything else is subsidiary to this.

Ain’t that obvious?

At least to everybody but Kirsten Lynch and Vail Resorts.