THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO HER!

In case you missed the memo, Kacey Musgraves’s new album was disqualified for the country music Grammy because it wasn’t country enough, despite her working with the same damn people she always has.

I don’t want to debate the issue. Because the Grammys are irrelevant. If they meant anything, their ratings would be sky high instead of bottom barrel. Nobody cares, it’s just a circle jerk for those sucking the at the tit of the organization and the wankers unknown by most people whose self-image is burnished by winning these crappy little trophies, physical in a world of digital, where the fake merch you buy for your videogame has more value. Real artists take no pride in awards. Because if you’re really pushing the envelope, organizations don’t give you your due until way after the fact. And art is not a competition. Then again, there are people invested in every tiny little niche, so I guess these males, and they are males, can live in their John Gruden world unfettered but they keep on committing these faux pas that draw attention to the inherent flaws of the generation.

Last year it was the Weeknd. He had the biggest record of the year and wasn’t nominated. THAT became the story. If he’d just been nominated and even won no one would have cared. But by being EXCLUDED, it was a big story, that ran for months, now everybody knows who the Weeknd is, everybody who cares was drawn to listening to “Blinding Lights” in a world where the history of recorded music is at one’s fingertips.

Do most Americans know Kacey Musgraves? NO WAY!

Most Americans don’t know anybody these days, except for maybe Donald Trump. This is the fallacy of the entertainment business. Everything is smaller than ever before. Look at TV ratings. Check the numbers for the networks. They’re less than A TENTH of what they were in their heyday, there’s just too much in the channel, and it’s even WORSE in music. So, you can make yourself feel good by hiring a PR company and getting ink in dead tree media that means nothing, or manipulate the “Billboard” chart by releasing signed CDs to people who don’t have CD players, but unless you’re the artist or the purchaser, no one cares whatsoever, NO ONE! No one cares what the number one television show is, nor the number one musical artist. That’s so last century. But the media loves charts, rankings… Today it’s all about the individual, their vertical, until there’s a train-wreck.

Like Donald Trump.

Like this Kacey Musgraves kerfuffle.

Kacey Musgraves is uber-talented. My only complaint is the endless plastic surgery/fillers/who knows what. She was a very cute woman who is now trying to achieve conventional beauty and ruining her appeal. It’s dangerous to even say this, but I’m sick and tired of women who change their looks, often permanently, to appeal to people who ultimately find it a turn-off. It seems women are doing their best to impress other women, because they’re certainly not impressing the men. And in this politically correct world one can’t even say this, even though I just did. Musgraves’s music is so honest, I wish she were happy, satisfied, with her God-given looks, which are better than almost all of the population’s to begin with!

But John Lennon urged us to give him some truth, and then Jack Nicholson told us we couldn’t handle the truth and then Leonard Cohen told us everybody knows the truth but in the end, truth is taboo, we have to deny it exists, to keep everybody happy.

Anyway, Musgraves’s latest album, “star-crossed,” is quite good. It’ll turn your head when you hear it, you’ll want to play the whole thing in a world where you can usually not even make it through the single. Is it her best work, is it great work? We can debate that all day long, but in a world of flotsam and jetsam it stands out.

On Spotify, all of “star-crossed”‘s tracks have over a million plays. One has ten million. Sounds impressive until you compare it to the hits, which have triple digit millions, can even have a billion. Actually, Kacey has two tracks over a hundred million streams, and one very close to that number, from her previous LP, 2018’s “Golden Hour.” But rather than repeat the formula, Kacey continued to push the envelope, into new territory, and for this she is being PUNISHED!

Isn’t this what we want from artists, to stretch? Instead, the Grammys keep rewarding those who stay in their lane and repeat themselves, they hew to conventional wisdom, and that’s got nothing to do with art.

In a changing environment. They rap in country songs and have soul singers in country songs and some of these even cross over to pop…that’s the world we live in, especially amongst the younger generation, the genres have blurred. But no, in Grammyworld, they’re defined. You’d better not put a fiddle on your rock record, you’ll be excommunicated from the category!

And the truth is the hype on Kacey Musgraves’s new album has been monumental, there’s been a story in every outlet known to man, but it’s definitely not working, the streams are not there, they’re not commensurate. Because the public knows it’s hype and no longer trusts it. I was aware of the hype, I’ve even seen Kacey Musgraves twice live, but I didn’t listen to it, and then I heard a track from “star-crossed” on a playlist from someone I respect and it stood out from every other track, it was a cut above, I had to listen to it again, then I had to listen to the album, I almost wrote about it, didn’t, BUT NOW I AM! Because the Grammy organization messed with her!

Unlike the Weeknd, Musgraves didn’t get her knickers in a twist, she just posted a pic on Instagram giving the middle finger. That’s where you speak today, on social media, Musgraves is young and gets it, the old men at the Grammy organization are still clueless. Let’s see, Harvey Mason, Jr. has 13,100 followers on Twitter, Kacey Musgraves has 977,300. Harvey Mason, Jr. has 26,500 followers on Instagram, Kacey Musgraves has 2,300,000. I ask you, who has the power here? THE ARTIST! The way it was before Clive Davis and Tommy Mottola tried to tell us they were the stars. It hasn’t been this way since the seventies, the artists are in charge.

But that does not mean each and every one of them can gain traction.

But when you pour gasoline on the fire they’ve created, a conflagration can transpire. Now the story is how out of touch the Grammy organization is, by time it burns out, the story will have been EVERYWHERE! More and more people will check out Kacey’s music to form their own opinion, just like they did with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” which was deemed not country enough!

Categories are BS. Kacey Musgraves wasn’t promoting “star-crossed” based on category, it was just music. The Lil Nas X country kerfuffle was a manipulated story proffered by the establishment, it was not like any country radio stations had decided not to play it, THEY WEREN’T EVEN AWARE OF IT!

So now Lil Nas X’s career is all about spectacle, the music is secondary.

But with Kacey Musgraves the music is still primary. And when people go to check it out, a number will be intrigued. People will become fans. Her career will be enhanced, embellished, all because the Grammy organization is out of touch, not living in today’s musical reality, and doubling-down on the inanity. Didn’t the music business learn its lesson twenty years ago, with Napster, et al? If you don’t know what you’re talking about, SHUT UP! Then again, the more out of touch you are the less you’re aware your head is up your butt and you put yourself in the spotlight to be made fun of.

Let’s say “star-crossed” was nominated in the country category. It probably wouldn’t win, based on the number of streams, but even if it did, who exactly would be complaining? Not the rest of Nashville, because they know the Grammys are irrelevant, that it’s all about the CMAs. That’s right, country has its own awards show. Meanwhile, every other musical genre wants to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And you wonder why all these organizations have lost credibility.

This is no movie.

But that’s what the best art is. Like Kacey Musgraves’s song:

“If this was a movie
I’d be surprised
Hearing your car
Coming up the drive
And you’d run up the stairs
You’d hold my face
Say we’re being stupid
And we’d fall back into place
If this was a movie
If this was a movie”

“If This Was a Movie..”: https://spoti.fi/3iYCKBO

Gary Katz produced every Steely Dan album from “Can’t Buy a Thrill” to “Gaucho” as well as Donald Fagen’s “Nightfly.” Listen as we chart Gary’s career from Brooklyn to Hollywood, from Bobby Darin to Warner Brothers, with ABC/Dunhill in between. I guarantee you’ll learn something about Steely Dan you didn’t know!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

My youngest daughter and her wife went to a wedding in Alabama a few weeks ago. Both are healthcare workers. Both are vaxxed. Everyone at the wedding was vaxxed. When they came home, my daughter got sick. Was tested several times for covid, each test negative. Flu-like symptoms and eventually pink-eye. Not COVID. 

A few days later, her wife developed symptoms and then lost sense of taste. Tested- covid. 

Airline, airport, rental car, filling station…who knows. 

Tonight- this from my Eldest daughter ( a prof at Elon) 

“We’ve now lost a fourth student at UNC since the semester started. We’ve also lost a student at Elon. I’m devastated. 

My students are the best part of my week. I can’t imagine losing one of them. 

Please, please, please check in on the people (especially the young people) in your lives. This has been a rough year. 

If you are struggling and you think things aren’t ‘bad enough yet’, please reach out for help. You don’t need to suffer alone.”

John Williams

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I decided not to play rec league hockey this winter. A huge decision here in Canada. Prime reason : if I get hurt playing I’m in for quite an experience trying to get treated. The anti vax folks have filled the hospitals and they get top priority. A fully vaxxed injured hockey player ? Of course if you are Wayne Gretzky you’ll get treated , otherwise wait in line. And it’s a long wait with the anti vax folks constantly cutting in line in front of everyone else. 

Cheers, Owen Dearing

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Saw Jason Isbell two nights in a row at Austin City Limits Live (the first shows that he required vaccinations or negative tests). The venue wasn’t checking IDs with the vaxx cards, and barely glanced at your papers. They weren’t happy about having the extra work, at least the guy that “checked” our cards. Those shows were sold out, and looked to be at least 90% attendance. Then, I saw him in Schaumburg, IL at a baseball field a few weeks later, and it was probably less than half full. It might have been because the word was out about the entry requirements (they checked them carefully at the venue with your ID), or because it was in the suburbs, instead of the city of Chicago (gasp!). Who knows? I know that it was the first time I’ve seen Jason recently without a packed venue. I also caught Toad the Wet Sprocket at Park West in Chicago (who also checked documentation carefully, and required masks), and it was maybe half full. They played the same venue two years ago to a full house. Attendance definitely seems down, for whatever reason(s).

Kevin Goodwin

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I had tickets to see Todd Rundgren last June. In March, when things shut down, I hoped that we’d be back to normal by June. 
 That didn’t happen.
When tix for the rescheduled tour went on sale in July, I felt confident enough that by Oct 23, we’d be good to go.

The Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater (I’m happy to rant about the stupid name any time) DOES require proof of vaccination or negative test and masks allegedly. 
But as I’m reading all of responses here, I’m thinking it’s probably not worth it. 

I’m triple vaccinated, but a lung cancer survivor,  down a lung. Covid is the last thing I need. 

And I live in Floriduh. So I can’t trust anything. 

But, I haven’t been out to a live show in almost two years now. 
And it’s Todd Rundgren. 

I guess I have 22 days to figure out what to do.  

Nicole Sandler

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I am in my mid-50s. My local venue in Connecticut (not a bad seat in the
house) has three of my all-time favorites coming in the next few weeks:

- Todd Rundgren (seen 17x)
- Rick Wakeman (seen at least 10x between Yes and solo shows)
- Pat Metheny (seen 24X)

I will go see exactly NONE of them. Just can’t get comfortable with it.

Also, I have been a subscriber to the NY Philharmonic for about a decade.
When they called me to renew for the 2021-2022 season, I told the person on
the phone how much I missed the symphony, but no thanks. I hoped to see them
in fall ’22 for the ’22-’23 season.

As much as I miss live music, there is no way I can sit
shoulder-to-shoulder, indoors, with strangers and enjoy myself, despite
being fully vaccinated and living in a generally vax-compliant part of the
country.

Just. Can’t.

Bill Baker

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as a ticket broker i’ve noticed last minute sales are awful, but the
people planning to go are paying and buying. Also sports sales are
good, concert sales are worse

thanks, Tom

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We had several shows lined up for October.  Many of the shows cancelled.  One of them was out of town.  I won’t be buying tickets for any big shows until they figure this shit out. 
 
Dinosaur Jr., State Theater, Ithaca, NY CANCELLED (rescheduled for September 2022!)
Dead & Co, WPB, FL CANCELLED (they were in a catch-22 b/c state doesn’t require masks, but will fine the artist for each violation of COVID protocols, $5,000 per violation, per individual.  That made it impossible for Dead & Co to entertain in the State of Florida)
Tame Impala, AA, Miami, FL CANCELLED (after being rescheduled)
 
Made the effort to see James Bond in the theater this past weekend.  What a horrible waste of my vaccine.
 
Finally, I live in a State that does not see the benefit of wearing masks and is bucking their way through vaccine mandates.  As long as the individual states do not agree on how to approach this virus, we will be in this holding pattern for quite some time.  I’m not going to stay home, but I am going to continue to wear a mask, social distance as much as possible and wash my hands often.
 
Khila L. Khani
Hollywood, FL

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As somebody in the ticketing industry which manages over 3000 venues, there is no doubt that tickets sales have not returned to to pre COVID levels. However they are rising steadily. Not sure what people are expecting before we can even say with any confidence we are through the Pandemic.
Last week I attended a show at A.R.T in Boston which was packed, not a free seat in the house and nearly everybody was a boomer. The venue was masked and you had to show proof of vaccine before you were admitted.
Many ticketing companies including ours are integrating with Vaccine Apps and there is an overwhelming energy from Venue operators to ensure the safest environments possible.
More than this, many people are looking to smaller venues in their communities who have made it this far through the pandemic. People want to support local community venues that do not inflict huge ticketing fees on hardcore fans. There may indeed be a significant shift in the industry as Venues take more control over their brand in lieu of advances from larger ticketing companies.
These companies who breeze into town to promote larger events and may not have the same community spirit. If these events become super spreader events then it will be the smaller community venues that will feel the pain the most from a further winter lockdown.
I am confident that the public would much rather attend a live event than sit on their sofas and watch more streamed content, its just with Internet overload consumers are likely to be much more considerate of the quality of the bands they choose to go and see.

Regards

Stefan Prescott

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I attended my first post-COVID show on Friday night with my 15-year old daughter, a Harry Styles concert in Sunrise, Florida, in Broward County.  

We are New Yorkers and in town visiting my in-laws for the long weekend. I had no idea what to expect, given the DeSantis anti-mask campaign and his general misinformation m.o. 

All ticketholders at the FLA Live Arena were required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test within 48 hours of entry and be wearing a mask. The crowd, which was 90% young woman and teenage girls, was a compliant one, as far as concerts go. Even in the arena, which felt sold out, many patrons tended to keep their masks on (which didn’t seem to mute the Beatlemania-like shrieking throughout the show).  Before taking the stage, Harry’s voice was heard in a pre-recorded PSA asking the audience to keep masks on and be safe.  

I couldn’t help but think that Harry’s devoted, “treat-people-with-kindness” fanbase had something to do with my overall feeling of safety. There was also very little testosterone among the crowd, let alone any displays of political affiliation (unless one associates feather boas with liberals). Whatever it was, I was pleasantly surprised in South Florida.

Tony DiNota

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I’m  a double vaxxed boomer and I’ve been to perhaps 40 UK shows and festivals since restrictions were lifted, first social distanced shows since April, and then no-restriction shows since August. 
 
Here there is no legal requirement to show Vax certificates / passes or wear masks, however perhaps 50% of the shows do ask to see some evidence (certificate or rapid test). I’ve not seen anyone complain when asked and it’s quick and efficient, mostly. The biggest indoor show as Gorillaz at the 02, a free show for 18,000 health workers  and I’m regularly at small club shows, 100-300.
 
BTW I work in music and I have to admit, I’m not over-risk-adverse, although I would definitely not class myself as a high-risk-taker. Generally, I feel safe and in the instances where perhaps a club is just too crowded, I stand at the back.
 
Ticket sales are varied, some big shows selling out when you don’t expect them to, some smaller shows at lesser capacity, but at least shows are happening and musicians and crews are getting work (not enough money though, for sure).
 
Oh and as a manager of artists, I can tell you Brexit is a HUGE problem for our country and of course especially for most musicians who simply cannot tour profitably on mainland Europe any more… I take issue with ‘no one is telling the truth about Brexit’ trust me 60% + of the country are Fully aware that it was Boris’ Brexit Bullshit that has sold this country down the river, for his own personal benefit and many more now have ‘buyers remorse’…. 
 
We will never Stop calling Boris and Brexit out (and the left-leaning media still does), and wont stop until the day we re-enter the EU, even if it takes 20 years or more so my kids can enjoy the same rights and freedoms that we did.
 
Stephen  Budd

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I am 65, but don’t call me a boomer, cause I’m not. Anyway, with many things closed down in my town since last March, only recently have shows started happening. In that time, our only smallish venue closed and was torn down, so there are no shows with people packed together here for now.

In the last week and a half, I went to 4 shows, all at a small theatre, 3 of which had been postponed from last year and which I still had tickets for.
As I know the promoter and some of the staff, and one of them usually gives me a ride, I saw all the pre-show stuff. I have been double vaccinated and brought my card, and we were all wearing masks. As all these particular shows were folk music, much of the crowd were my age, but there were numbers of younger people.

Here’s the interesting part of this story. At the first show, I met a new worker for the promoter, a 21-year old college student who was doing merch for those shows. We got to talking quite a bit. I informed her about the artists she was selling stuff for so she’d have a better idea what people might ask. At three of the shows, the artists did not sign stuff at. One of them, a duo did, and it came off pretty great. Everything went well.

So yesterday, I got a call from my friend, and he let me know that the young woman had lost her taste and smell. It has been determined that she likely got it from another student at the college and not at the theatre. As a result she could not work shows on Sunday or tomorrow (Tuesday). She also was going to go home on a school break to see her parents starting on Friday but will now have to stay in quarantine.

I had been notified online a few days ago that there were going to be boosters available yesterday and on Wednesday and Friday. Initially, I was going to wait as the location is inconvenient for me. But I decided that I would do it this Wed, but NOT for me. I feel fine, and I try not to worry about this kind of thing. But I decided I wanted to do this for HER, so when I see her again (probably on Oct 25th) there will be one less person she has to worry about. That is really what we all should be doing – this is the only way it will ever end, if we don’t care about others, it will take much longer for the virus to go away.

Hope you and yours are well,
David Bly

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Respect for those artists going out and braving the cold temperatures.  Where I live, people are filling restaurants, wedding events, and downtown bars to capacity again, have been for quite awhile, but the live music industry continues to struggle.   Ticket sales, at least for my clients, are 50% what they were in 2018 & 2019, and 10-25% of those 50% bought their tickets a year ago and just don’t show.   The science says that if you got the shot, it was supposed to be more safe to go back out again, and many are, it’s just relative to what people are choosing to do.   

Jordan Burger
Madison House

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I do not know why the music industry, and specifically music festivals take so much heat and have so much pressure put upon us vs other entertainment options regarding Front of House COVID protocols. 

As we demonstrated this summer, Elevation is fully committed to running the safest events possible. My colleagues across the music industry have gone to great lengths (and expense) to insure the safety of our fans. I am proud of the efforts put forth by so many. 
 
But, in my opinion, the reality is, while music promoters and venues are checking ticket buyers for proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test,  most football, baseball and basketball stadiums/arenas across the country are doing nothing in this regard. 

NFL and NCAA football stadiums have been packed each of the past five weeks. No masks required, no proof of vax needed. 

Just last week, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse – in Cleveland – released their COVID rules moving forward: “Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse this week announced some COVID restrictions for certain events, but those will  not include any regular season Cavs or Monsters games.”

https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2021/10/05/covid-protocols-at-rocket-mortgage-fieldhouse-could-differ-for-concerts–cavs-games

What are we saying to the ticket buying public? Could the messaging be anymore mixed? Does science really tell us that a packed football stadium or basketball arena is free of COVID transmission, but a concert at the same venue is not????  How can we – as an industry – compete with these other high profile options? Wow!

Denny Young
President
The Elevation Group

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False Vacc Documents or tests…  They are out there!  Ridiculous!!!! Very Worried about this!!! We are going on the Blues Cruise Nov.  Kind of impressed with the safety protocol of the Cruise Lines! Wish us SAFTEY!!!!

XOXO

Mardi Silva
Controller
Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise

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The number of bands I’m dying to see?  Tons.  The number of bands I’m willing to die to see?  Zero

Peter Burnside

https://www.joyfullbakery.com

I’m sick of the food I’m eating. We get it all via Instacart, no grocery stores for me! And even though we buy most of our food from Gelson’s, after eighteen months at home I’m burned out on essentially everything they sell. I’ve eaten so many Siggi’s yogurt/skyr that I just can’t eat them right now. But even worse is the pre-made stuff. Can’t eat the mini-quiche anymore. Can’t eat the parmesan turkey meatballs. Can’t eat almost any of the chickens. I was thrilled by so many of these items back in 2020, now they turn my stomach. There are some alternatives at Bristol Farms, but not that many. And did I tell you certain items are completely unavailable?

Caffeine Free Diet Coke. There was a short window when you could get it, in both cans and plastic bottles, and then just plastic bottles, and now not at all. Siggi’s coffee? Completely unavailable, EVERYWHERE! Even Chobani Coffee and Cream. We can get it sometimes at Ralphs… Hell, even Costco is out of Vitamin Water Zero, and their own house brand equivalent, Vita Rain!

I know these shortages pale in comparison to those in the automotive world, where the lack of chips has customers paying sticker, if not more, for the few new cars that are available. And then there are all those bottlenecks at the ports… For decades we imitated the Japanese, with their just-in-time delivery/production methods. Automakers made little, they outsourced everything, and the manufacturer of the part had to store it until the day it was needed at the plant. But throw a spanner into the works and suddenly the whole system breaks down. We were worried about the communist domino effect in Vietnam? It turns out manmade war is nothing compared to Covid-19, wreaking havoc everywhere. There’s a shortage of one product which leads to the shortage of another and then there are not enough truckers to deliver it. It’s amazing America, never mind the world, works at all!

And then you add in the misinformation.

Mention anything about vaccines and the antivaxxer wankers come out in full force, quoting misinformation. Well, I’ve got some information for them!

“Vaccination advised even for survivors – Past infection may offer only short-term immunity, health experts say”: https://lat.ms/3lBg0cO

That’s the headline in the newspaper, online it’s “Why do unvaccinated COVID survivors also need a vaccine?” But it all doesn’t matter. The antivaxxers are unreachable. For some reason they know better than the scientists. And I hear from them, as if by sending me information from unheard of sites, that an easy Google will reveal as being biased and laden with false information, I’ll be convinced to think otherwise.

But that’s the world we live in, where facts don’t matter and if you’re intelligent and educated you’re a pariah.

So what’s a poor boy to do? Certainly not play in a rock and roll band. That’s so sixties. How many young kids do you know playing in a rock and roll band? I don’t know any. Everybody’s in their house doing it on their own, spamming us to pay attention when we’re inundated with information and their work is subpar.

So, it’s the little things in life that satisfy, like Joyfull Bakery parmesan crisps.

We didn’t eat a lot of cheese growing up. I constantly hear that Americans love cheese, but we never got the memo. Oh, for parties my mother would serve Boursin… Remember that stuff? Soft and crumbly? At first you could only get it with a black pepper exterior, but now I see they’ve got brand extensions, but I haven’t seen Boursin served anywhere in years: https://www.boursin.com

And then if you read the food pages, unfortunately more interesting than the music pages, because there’s a search for excellence, an embracing of the cutting edge that deserves attention, that people will like if they just eat the food product, there are the artisanal cheeses, made by individuals in the hinterlands, many of them goat milk cheeses.

But unless you make it a full time job, how do you get up to speed on cheese?

I mean I love going to parties where there’s a cornucopia of choices, but at home… I guess I need a sampler that comes with instructions, there’s a business for you, but it won’t generate billions so I guess no one will get into it.

Not that I never ate cheese. Of course we had pizza!

Funny how pizza has become the default food of choice. In the sixties it started out as the hot dog, then it became about the hamburger, and now it’s pizza. Who orders out for hamburgers? No one! But pizza! Pizza and tacos, even the white nationalists eat ’em! Yes, they’re both native to America, thank god they weren’t brought here by those pesky immigrants. Bagels too, by the Jews to boot! Who did I just read was refusing to release their new book in Israel… Imagine if any other nationality occupied that territory, there wouldn’t be this outcry. The Jews are not perfect, but they’re fighting for their country’s raw existence against terrorists. But let’s take the side of the terrorists. They lob bombs and then their people are killed in return. This is a no-win situation, which is why the Israelis are no longer worried about public opinion. And if you follow closely, you know they also no longer need foreign money to protect themselves. Then again, you can’t depend on the United States, where DEMOCRATS are refusing to fund the Iron Dome defense system.

But everybody loves the Italians, except when they’re making fun of them privately.

That’s the John Gruden story. The NFL runs on Black people and you’re making racist slurs? Gays can be married but you’re expressing homophobia regularly?

But it gets even worse:

“Hundreds of Police Officers Have Died From Covid. Vaccines remain a Hard Sell. Far more law enforcement officers in the U.S. have died from Covid-19 than from any other work-related cause in 2020 and 2021. Even so, police unions are fighting vaccine mandates”: https://nyti.ms/2YGkczz

Even worse is the Riverside sheriff who was a member of the Oath Keepers: https://lat.ms/2YROajT

And Gabe Kapler, manager of the San Francisco Giants, is Jewish and when he played for the Red Sox he was the only Democrat on the team, the twenty four others were Republicans.

In other words, toxic masculinity knows no bounds. And if you think the police are going to defend you in the coming civil war, you’re sorely mistaken, they’re on THEIR SIDE! And their side is just like Hamas… They don’t only want to win, they want to eradicate the Democrats, they see them as a threat to humanity. They’ve got all those guns, check in with the rhetoric.

But food is apolitical.

Then again, what passes for food in the red states may not be what is eaten in the northern states. Southern cooking is amazing, but not always heart healthy. As for Michelin stars, fine dining, that’s anathema to the rabble-rousers who want to bring back “the real America.” Or as John Gruden would probably say, “that’s for pussies.”

Then again, we keep hearing there is no problem. There’s no racism, opportunity is equal and if anything, the whites are getting the short end of the stick. Meanwhile, comedian Al Franken must be banned from the Senate yet sex criminal Matt Gaetz holds his seat unfettered. Depressed yet? I certainly am.

So every once in a while Felice makes these parmesan crisps. But they’re relatively small. Excellent, but she doesn’t make them too often. Oh, did I tell you we don’t cook? TAKES TOO MUCH TIME! That’s what I don’t have enough of. Even during the pandemic, I couldn’t get everything done. I don’t have time to waste, it’s running out.

And then, just the other week, Felice got these parmesan crisps from Gelson’s… Oh, she also got dates too. Have you had a date shake out in the desert? You’ve got to go to Shields: https://shieldsdategarden.com The movie? Utterly laughable. It’s like the print hasn’t been updated since the fifties. But the date shakes? How do they almost taste like chocolate, how can they be so thick?

So I tasted one of the Joyfull parmesan crisps and…

I had to have another. They’re like potato chips, but a hell of a lot more healthy. And I can scoop up tuna fish with them and I’ve discovered a whole new food that’s getting me through. And we just got a delivery from Gelson’s and Felice ordered TWO CONTAINERS! And even though I’d eaten yogurt, I could not hold back, I ate half of a crisp, it was broken anyway. But then I got up and ate the other half. And then twenty minutes later another half and then shortly thereafter the rest.

Now are you going to be able to buy Joyfull parmesan crisps across the country? NO! May you find an equivalent? Maybe, who knows. But this is the America we yearn to return. We want the eradication of homogenization. Sure, a McDonald’s burger tastes the same all over the world, but is that really the burger you want to eat? No, you’re looking for something that tickles the taste buds, that isn’t just food but a peak experience, like Joyfull parmesan crisps.

And I’m sure I’ll burn out on them soon. And then what, I don’t know. It used to be people were constantly shuffling through L.A., dinners were rampant. Now most people with real power, who are all in the aged Covid demo, are afraid. Yes, the touring business is run by oldsters. And now, even the major labels are run by oldsters! A youth business controlled by cynical old people, chew on that one! Not that those in the touring business are so cynical, but they are bottom line oriented. That’s where the rubber meets the road. Sure, you want to play, BUT CAN YOU SELL ANY TICKETS! You create your own opportunities in modern day America, and that’s what the Joyfull bakery has done, and having just finished my second parmesan crisp…I’M JOYFUL!