Re: Rubberband Man!

Bob, The Spinners’ immortal song, “Rubberband Man,” has a special place in the history of Ben & Jerry’s.  On the last day of September in 1978, after surviving our first summer in business, Ben and I hosted a “Fall Down Festival” in front of our original scoop shop in Burlington Vermont.  By far, the highlight of the day was the debut of the dramatic sledgehammer-smashing of a cinder block on the bare stomach of “Habeeni Ben Coheeni,” the noted Indian mystic.

As the crowd gathered in anticipation, “Rubberband Man” was cranked out over the makeshift PA system. Habeeni appeared, bearing a passing resemblance to Ben, draped in a bed sheet and perched on a platform in the lotus position.  He was carried onto the scene by six bearers, while chanting in a tongue not comprehended by mere mortals.  His entrance completed, Habeeni took his place alongside of me, and I recounted the improbable story of how his holiness had come to be before them today.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, what you are about to see will astound and amaze you.  What you have before you here today is the genuine article, the real thing.  The man of rubber, the man of steel, the man whose body defies every law of nature!  Born in India, Habeeni was abandoned as a baby, but rescued and raised by Indian fakirs, those magical and mystical people.  One day, Habeeni was studying at the temple of Rishikesh, when disaster struck – an earthquake.  The building crumbled, rubble and stones tumbling all around.  However, Habeeni was able to survive by placing himself into a metabolic trance, which he will simulate here before us today.”

I then invited a few kids to come up and verify that indeed the cinder block and sledgehammer were real, and then Habeeni went metabolic, falling backwards into the hands of attendants, who suspended him in a supine position, between two chairs.  Once he was settled in place, I pulled back the sheet, and placed the cinderblock on Habeeni’s bare belly. I then took the sledgehammer and, raising it high above my head, brought it crashing down on the cinder block, smashing it into lots of little pieces.  To call it dramatic does not begin to capture what a spectacle it was.  “Habeeni Ben Coheeni, ladies and gentlemen, the noted Indian mystic, Habeeni Ben Coheeni,” reverberated over and over, as “Rubberband Man” once again cranked out over the speakers.  Habeeni, restored to his platform, left in triumph, carried out by his handlers, tossing flower petals to the pumped-up crowd.

In later years, Habeeni returned to demonstrate his incredible feats at our annual shareholders meetings, but Habeeni and I realized we needed to forego this when it became too challenging to balance the cinder block on his ever rounding bare belly. Too much ice cream, wailed the cynics and nonbelievers.  Yes, even for Habeeni himself.

It was great to see the clip of the live performance of the Spinners singing their great song. Thanks also for the recent shout out for Americone Dream, my current favorite flavor.

 

Regards, Jerry Greenfield

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From: Chuck Morris

Subject: Mike Finnigan

Just attended his service. Would love it if you wrote something on him. One amazing and wonderful guy. First met him when he played with Finnigan and Wood at my first club Tulagi in 1972. I,m sure you are aware of Mike being the most sort after sideman in the business playing for years with acts like CSN,Joe Cocker and the last 10 years Bonnie Raitt. He was a world class keyboard and organ player and one great singer. And most important this 6. 7 ex basketball player from Kansas University was one caring person who befriended all of us and had a lasting impact as one beautiful guy. His service was amazing with so many attended from Stephen Stills to all of Bonnie Raitt’s band. I loved the guy.

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Subject: RE: The Bill Wyman Documentary

 

I interviewed Bill during the Steel Wheels tour.  He had just written his autobiography. I imagine the book was intended to provide him some regular funding after he left the band.  Something that belonged to him.  I have several vivid memories of the interview.  One was that it was at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington DC.  They were performing that night at RFK Stadium.  Each of the band members had their own floor in the hotel, each with their own elevator key.  I got off the elevator on Bill’s floor and saw an empty hall with a guard seated in front of a suite.  Bill’s suite was huge.  It had a huge living room (where we did the interview), and adjacent dining room, where he had his computer set up for writing.  He was very proud of the computer, and it was large enough for its own flight case.  He wrote his book on it, but he told me he was writing more.  He loved writing.  It was something he could do alone.  He told me some of the same stories that went into the documentary. He wasn’t very emotional or expressive.  He spoke very simply and calmly.  At the end of the interview, I asked for a picture.  This was before cell phones, so we needed someone to snap the picture.  I figured he’d ask the security guard at the front door, but instead walked over to the bedroom.  He opened the door, and I could see two scantily clad young girls on the bed.  One of them came out and took the picture.  That was the end of the interview.  It’s only rock & roll.

 

George Achaves

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From: Eric Bazilian

Subject: Re: The Brian Jones Documentary

First line, second verse. Written in 1998(?).

https://open.spotify.com/track/4EbTY9VKz1fmm08ifcp0ho?si=8oeg6GuGSwSjsVEC45o71A&dl_branch=1

The Stones have existed with the title ‘The World’s Greatest Rock And Roll Band’ but with Brian they were transcendent. Yes, Mick Taylor shredded rings around everyone else and Woody has fit like a glove around Mick and Keith since 1975, but Brian was the secret sauce, the left turn, the recorder in Ruby Tuesday, said sitar in Paint It, Black, the slide in Little Red Rooster. I stand by the first line, second verse.

I did take her to see the Stones, finally, by the way. Several times.

_________________________________

From: Andre’ Cholmondeley

Subject: Re: Music

Oh man, Bob, you’re gonna trigger a LOT of people w this one.

The part about musicians relaxing, smoking dope and think it’s not their fault when it doesn’t work out….ouch

Stings but…..true for so very many. The fantasy of “being discovered” ……..and next thing you’re in a private jet, is still strong.

One thing you didn’t say — but touched on when you mention how cheap it is to make music — is that thanks to globalization, democratization and easy access to tech — WHICH MUSICIANS CHAMPIONED FOR DECADES, we now have hundreds of thousands, probably millions MORE musicians than ever before.

Which means — essentially infinite supply of music. From GLOBAL sources, when it used to be predominantly from…….the USA and UK.

With a $200 pawnshop laptop, and a cheap mic, teens and 20-somethings are making great music. Sure, some bad music too. But as you say — that’s a sidebar. It’s music that gets heard.

Made with free software for recording , synthesizers, promotions tools, hosting their music, streaming their shows etc. Free free free free free — yet older musicians want the payouts to be like 1989. Literally NO OTHER INDUSTRY would have economics like that — where the inputs approach free on so many fronts…. the creators explode in numbers, yet the principals expect the same market value for the item sold !!

So the FIRST LAW of Economics kicks in — Supply & Demand.

But musicians get MAD when that is brought up — they want the culprit to be “Spotify”, or ‘Apple” or “napster”, or “streaming” in general…all while they love their all-you-can-watch streaming bargains with Amazon, Hulu, Netflix. As you always point out  – NOBODY would go back to driving DVDs back & forth to Blockbuster  …..or the independent video rental place. Or dropping off their Kodak film to be developed for $25…. then half the pictures are blurry or your mom was blinking in the best shot. Nor would they give up the great “unlimited” cell phone plan and go back to the “600 mins for $35” model……

On and on. A fantastic psychological experiment, watching fellow musicians literally stamp their feet like Dorothy trying to go back home…..to what never was anyway — it was always a record-company blanket party, with the execs running away with the major rewards.

Andre´Cholmondeley

tech- Steve Howe/YES

& Celebrating David Bowie

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From: THOMAS ALLEN

Subject: Re: It’s A Team Sport

….yup…..there was a time when burl ives sold records……

_________________________________

Subject: Re: It’s A Team Sport

Bailed on Guns last night in Phoenix after I realized there was no policy to show either a negative test or vaccination. So 19k ppl packed in there like this is all over. No thanks. Can’t believe Axl, Slash, Duff and the rest of the hired Guns are ok with this, and are willing to risk their own health. Strange times continue.

Marcus Thunich

Glendale, AZ

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From: Linden Coll

Subject: Covid – NYT’s UK article can’t be trusted. “Scotland could impose new restrictions as Delta cases rise”

Sure, there’s a lot of people/idiots acting as if its all over – especially the young, but the article failed to mention the music festival in Cornwall

mid-august which was prominent in the news recently because it led to ~5,000 new infections.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/23/almost-5000-covid-cases-linked-to-cornish-music-and-surf-festival-boardmasters

Scotland’s schools went back a couple of weeks ago and predictably cases are suddenly escalating

England’s return this week with universities following later in the month.

https://londonlovesbusiness.com/scotland-could-impose-new-restrictions-as-delta-cases-rise-which-will-move-to-parts-the-uk-soon/

rgds

LC

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Subject: Re: Don’t Ya Mess With Me

Hey, Bob –

What’s interesting musically about “Baby, I Need Your Loving” is the variable verse lengths. Of course, it’s a Holland-Dozier-Holland composition but rarely, if ever, would they utilize anything but the standard four-line verses and choruses.

But for BINYL, the instrumental intro is three couplets, the first verse is seven couplets, the second verse is five, followed by the four-couplet bridge (of sorts) and the eight-couplet third verse. But all the choruses are four lines (all the easier to sing along to) and it fades with a vamped chorus.

If you’re playing it live, you really have to be paying attention.

Love to learn how that came about if anyone has any backgrounder on the writing and the session.

Thanks,

Larry Butler

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From: Tom Johnston

Subject: Re: Don’t Ya Mess With Me

Thanks for the “window”! I agree on Oh Mexico and a couple of other tracks on the full length album.

We played Chicago last night to 25,000 people and they did respond to the new stuff and in general tore it up for the whole show which is 2 1/2 hrs.

From the road,

Tom

The media is not prepared for a Democrat who doesn’t apologize.

For over twenty years, the Republicans have set the agenda and the Democrats have reacted. And you can’t win playing defense the entire time.

As for the media?

It lost a lot of credibility supporting the Bush (Cheney) incursions/wars in the Middle East. It didn’t root out the facts, that Saddam Hussein had no WMDs, and was so fearful of appearing pacifist, it was rah-rah and lost its role as an independent arbiter. Ironically, at the same time TV and internet news became partisan.

Meanwhile, the Democrats were squabbling within, and at the same time losing control of their constituency, and their pulse on America. Let’s not forget, globalization flourished under Democrats, and globalization is inevitable, but there was no provision for shoring up the lives of those displaced, who ultimately realized the Democrats were mostly talk and little action and then switched parties to the Republicans, who were as angry as them, despite still being in service to the fat cats.

That’s income inequality, goosed by St. Reagan. Our country has never been the same since. Because if you earn a billion dollars, you think you’re better than the rest of us. Come on, would we be listening to Bill Gates if he didn’t have all that money? No, it’d be some academic, someone with history in the field, but in America today, money trumps everything.

So the Democrats detach from their base. It is an issue of elitism. Yes, the elite ran the Republican agenda too, but they mostly operated behind the scenes, a lot of them inherited their wealth and position, whereas the Democrats worked hard to get where they were, via education and innovation, and they had contempt for the little people, but they did not realize the little people knew it, and couldn’t be controlled.

So the country becomes radicalized technologically. We have a government that cannot function in today’s digital world, if for no other reason than elected officials do not understand how it works, are not familiar with its ins and outs. Happens all the time, Congress brings in techies for hearings too late, after the fact, and then nothing happens. Facebook buys WhatsApp and nobody in D.C. seems to understand the power of that platform, maybe because its strength was overseas, where it ruled. And those in D.C. thought the aughts would continue forever, with new hardware and new apps, not realizing it was a game of musical chairs with the end result being a handful of gargantuan companies that became too hard to mess with. Come on, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon…they’re bigger than the country. China realizes this, and the irony is these companies completely back down, to stay in business, because money is king, but in the U.S. not only do they operate unfettered, they act with impunity, they push back, or pay a little lip service and then go back to their heinous ways.

Gateways… Amazon is where people do research for products, not Google. And if you don’t play by Amazon’s rules, you can’t get on the platform and the chance of your business being successful is almost nil. Google truly controls information. But it’s all in the algorithm, no human is involved. And the search engine got so good that almost no one goes beyond the first or second result. So if you’re below… Furthermore, everybody gets different results, even to the same damn question! Microsoft misses so much but gets rid of Ballmer and focuses on its corporate customers and the cloud and is about to overtake Apple as the world’s most valuable company. As for Apple… The truth is it’s very profitable, but waning in influence. Their handsets, their cash cow, may have a healthy market share in the U.S., but elsewhere? As for their App Store rules…they only matter because Apple punches far above its weight in apps, because the elite are on iPhones. As for the hoi polloi on Android? They can’t even update the operating system and their phones and app stores are riddled with viruses and scams, but Android is not as sexy as Apple, so it doesn’t get the attention, those in D.C. are too stupid to look at the facts as opposed to focusing on the hubbub. As for Facebook? For four years we’ve known it’s a repository for inaccurate information, and that it thrives on sensationalism, but what has changed since the election of Trump? Almost nothing!

So you’ve got the media and D.C. believing they’re in touch with both business and the public when that is patently untrue. Come on, the media completely missed Trump’s rise in 2016. Anybody who actually interacted with his constituency was aware of the strength of his position, he channeled people’s anger while Hillary was oblivious. And then she labels people deplorables and all hell breaks loose and she apologizes…when the truth is they were and still are deplorables, look at America today, where ignorance and agendas based on falsehoods are badges of honor! Hillary came from her husband’s camp, triangulating, never go with your gut, get everybody’s advice and then try to appeal to the most people, which has been history since the advent of the internet. Hillary couldn’t own that our country was divided and be the leader of one side, as a result her mushy, uninformed campaign was doomed. When things are bad, you need a leader. And many Republicans thought things were bad and we got Trump.

Who never ever apologized in his life. He came from the world of a controlled spotlight into the glare of the world stage and didn’t change a whit. Come on, so much of what you read about entertainment is just complete B.S. No one calls the perpetrators on this crap because they don’t believe it really matters. That’s Trump’s background. Smoke and mirrors. But he ascends to the throne and acts the same damn way!

But even worse, the establishment, the press, believes he will play rationally and abide by the rules. And fearful of being beaten up by the right, the left wing media prints false equivalencies, so fearful of looking biased when the media on the other side of the fence so clearly is.

And then the younger generation comes in. AOC.

Funny, she doesn’t back down either. And what those who decry her don’t understand is many on the left, especially those skewing young, finally believe they have someone who is fighting for them. And, an educated woman of color! Forever, woman and minorities have been told to shut up and wait their turn. The white establishment even neutered affirmative action. But AOC doesn’t care about any of that, she jumps to the head of the class, ignores the rules. And the funny thing is as everybody keeps beating up on her, both the left and the right, it’s only the right who glom on to the paradigm wholeheartedly. Ergo, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. Two wackadoodles who you can’t take seriously on the surface, but they represent their base so they got elected. What do we hear on the left? Play to the center! We’ve got to appeal to everybody. Let’s do it the old way. Meanwhile, after last November’s election AOC doubles-down and says if only they employed her playbook they would have won…which was utilization of the internet. But the old pols playing by the old rules still spend money on TV, reaching ever fewer, but since it skews old and a greater percentage of old people vote, they say it’s the right thing. It’d be like playing in internet land with no knowledge of it. Actually, that’s exactly what it was!

And this same media said Biden had no chance, and then he won. Proving, once again, the media has got its head up its ass, if you’re looking for someone to tell you where it’s going, don’t listen to a reporter, the talking heads on TV are even worse.

So, Biden gets elected and…

Goes his own way.

But stumbles on infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the story in the media is 2022. They can’t stop weighing the odds, following the horse race, as if that’s the most important story. Actually, we’ve got a government, what is happening now!

And then comes Afghanistan. Something the mainstream media ignored, believing it didn’t garner eyeballs, didn’t sell advertising. But suddenly it becomes a sexy story, it’s war, and people are trying to get out, and there’s a suicide bomb, it’s a phenomenal movie, and it’s real!

As for the right, they’ve been waiting for this, they see it as Benghazi on steroids, forgetting that they’re talking out of both sides of their mouth. Save the interpreters, after voting not to! Stay in Afghanistan, after Trump makes a deal to leave! It’s so myopic as to be humorous, if the American public were not so ill-informed sans the power of analysis that it can be blown this way or that like a feather.

And in slow motion, with constant coverage, the Afghanistan situation looks bad. Everybody’s beating up on Biden, the left and right press, the Democrats and the Republicans. Everybody’s opining his tenure is now hobbled, it’s over for the Democrats. Biden should be at home, paralyzed, wondering how he lost the favor of the left wing insiders and gave fodder to the right wing haters. BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HE DID!

First Biden says he owns it.

And then yesterday he comes out and declares victory. Yes, he got us out on time and did a good job of it. He cites facts and figures. He addresses naysayers, saying if he started withdrawing earlier it wouldn’t have made any difference, might have even been worse. No one foresaw this, no one! Biden was supposed to be a senile oldster with no backbone who delegated all power, who was clueless as to what was going on. One expected him to cower in the indignity and become completely neutered. So what does he do? Unlike Trump, he doesn’t go after his attackers so much as fly above it all. The most powerful person on the planet with the most information speaking from his heart and mind and telling the truth from his perspective. And he owned the news cycle. To a great degree he quashed the blowback. Especially since so much of this is opinion anyway. I mean some guy on TV says Biden cocked it up and we should have stayed and then the guy himself comes out, without worrying about the effect of his words on every single person and says no, that’s not the way it is, he did a phenomenal job. Trump might say something like that, but never a Democrat.

And in addition, he pooh-poohs the old mantra, the old armed forces on the ground mantra. No, the new war will be fought in cyberspace, against the Russians and Chinese. And if they need to take action they’ve got drones. Meanwhile, every elected official dependent upon military pork for their state to keep their job is quaking in their boots.

And Biden isn’t worried about the rearguard, but he’s not insulting them either. He’s moving forward, but he’s also got his finger on the pulse more than anybody in the media, he knows the public, those whose kids actually go into the military, are glad we’re the hell out of there. People worried about budgets can’t fathom the twenty years of spending, someone spoke English!

So what does this mean?

Not that those on the right will embrace Biden, they hate him in principle, he’s a Democrat. But that maybe the tables will be leveled, maybe the left will realize it’s got more power, more room to move, than previously thought.

As for the right, it’s got Gaetz, who stays in power, even though the Democrats fire anybody who even looks at a woman too long, and Boebert, whose husband made over $450,000 in each of the last two years yet didn’t put it in her election filings, stating that his income was “N/A.” And you wondered how Shooters Grill stayed in business… It was all a front, a way for her to boost her image, it was a failed business from day one, and now it’s out of business. But the Democrats aren’t zeroing in on this, she’s still in power. The supposed woman of the people is anything but. Then again, those who voted for her will say at least she’s not a Democrat.

Yes, the Republicans play by different rules than the Democrats, I’m not even sure they’re playing the same game! The Republicans circle the wagons, get on the same page, and will do anything to win. The Democrats fight over the making of the sausage and when they’re done no one is happy and they can never get on the same page and no one can get everybody in line. But even worse, the rules are out the window for the right… Voting law protection? Forget it! Meanwhile, there’s a Supreme Court that doesn’t represent the public which was tilted right by Mitch McConnell that as of this writing is allowing Texas’s six week abortion rule to stay in place. The Republicans are like insects, who never stop, they don’t win nationally, they organize locally, there’s more than one way to win. And they form the Federalist Society, they play the long game, they’ve got a whole host of young presidential candidates in the wings, from DeSantis to Noem to Haley to Cruz. Who do we have on the left? Pretty boy Newsom who is in the middle of an recall election. Buttigieg, who the more you investigate his tenure as mayor the worse it looks. But he went to Harvard and then into the military! Trump skated from the military and Boebert is a high school dropout. And they both won!

So Biden is being a leader, and the Democrats haven’t experienced this in eons. St. Obama was so busy not being seen as an angry black man, trying to appease absolutely everyone, that he got so little done. Meanwhile, no one on the left can blow the whistle on him, he’s sacrosanct. But not on the right. It’s all about today’s team…they’re not busy defending Cheney’s warmongering strategy, which proved to be plain wrong.

So, this is utterly astounding. Biden is not just taking responsibility, he’s saying it was the right thing to do and he did it well and then he says why. Where’s the contrition? Nowhere to be found!

At least somebody is fighting back. 

Since we discussed Charlie Watts last week, the topic this week will finally be:

Your favorite long song – six minutes or longer…

Tune in today, August 31st, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

The oldsters and the wannabes are convinced that Spotify is ripping them off, when the facts say completely the opposite. But nothing can convince them otherwise.

The most insightful article this week was in the “New York Times”:

“Britons, Unfazed by High Covid Rates, Weigh Their ‘Price of Freedom’ – Britain is reporting more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases a day, but the public seems to have moved on. Experts say this could be a glimpse into the future for other countries.”: https://nyti.ms/2WHPape

Bottom line? They’re packing them in at concerts and sports events with impunity, no one seems to be troubled, despite rising covid rates. I can’t get this story out of my mind, believing it’s a harbinger for the rest of the world, certainly the United States.

Then again, can the newspaper be trusted?

For weeks we’ve been inundated with stories about the fall of Afghanistan, it’s considered to be the most important thing in America. And everybody is beating up on Biden. You’d think it’s a disaster for him.

However:

“What Voters in a California Swing District Say About Afghanistan – In a battleground district, even some Trump voters said they were hesitant to hold President Biden accountable for the casualties and chaos in the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan.”: https://nyti.ms/3BnD43G

Seems like the news media is out of touch with the public, the same way it was out of touch with the groundswell for Trump in 2016. Meanwhile, most reporters are concerned about the Beltway, they don’t interact with any regular people, so they’ve got no idea what they’re thinking. As for news… We now live in the internet era, where things come and go so fast it’s like they didn’t even happen. So people concerned about Afghanistan now that we’ve pulled out completely? Unless they want a political battle cry, like the anti-Spotify crowd above, they’ll forget about it, the same way the public ignores the cries of the artists and pays up for streaming services and is in heaven.

“Sitting in a park in Paris France

Reading the news and it sure looks bad

They won’t give peace a chance

That was just a dream some of us had”

“California”

Joni Mitchell

These lines have been going through my head for the last month, the news is all bad. I have felt powerless and doing my best to detach, since nothing I say will change anybody’s mind. But I wake up this morning and hop on my phone and see this story:

“G.O.P. Governors Fight Mandates as the Party’s Covid Politics Harden – As several Republican-controlled states confront their worst outbreaks yet, their leaders — following the base — have doubled down on resisting vaccine and mask requirements.”: https://nyti.ms/38vs0VP

You must read this story.

In Florida, covid is worse than ever before: https://nyti.ms/38vxuQq but Ron DeSantis refuses to enact any mask mandates, as a matter of fact he’s making sure local businesses cannot do this even though this is the opposite of traditional Republican doctrine wherein decisions are made at a local level.

And Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, went to Sturgis to greet the half a million in attendance and covid numbers SPIKED! And if you’re Trump, or a Republican governor, and you go against the orthodoxy, if you applaud vaccination, support masking, you are booed and excoriated. The mob has taken over the asylum and the wards are too scared to go against them.

But the United States is the greatest country in the world, the undisputed leader!

Well, I’m not sure the rest of the world sees us that way:

“E.U. Set to Propose Travel Restrictions on U.S. Visitors – Three officials from the bloc said that starting Monday, the European Council would advise its member states to ban nonessential travel from the United States.”: https://nyti.ms/3sZ3p5m

It’s a result of low vaccination rates. How come the rest of the world can see what American cannot?

As for ignoring the coronavirus and just soldiering on, the music business is down for that, the only person in opposition is Neil Young:

“Concerts and Covid”: https://bit.ly/3kCUaEg

But it took two days for Young’s words on his website to get any traction. Yes, even legendary Neil has trouble getting the public’s attention. He’s too scared to play Farm Aid, he calls out AEG and Live Nation, but…in a corporatized world the execs are insulated anyway, they’re not showing up at the shows. America was opened on July 4th weekend and it appears nothing can close it, nothing!

As for mask/vaccine requirements, read the review of “Hamilton” in yesterday’s “Los Angeles Times”: https://lat.ms/3mPtwdK

“But when I asked the ticket check-in person if he wanted to see my proof of vaccination, he declined the privilege.”

“It wasn’t until I went inside the theater that I began to spot the scofflaws. The first was a guy with his mask hanging from his chin like a wayward bandage. He appeared to be hitting on a female acquaintance who, by the way she slipped away from him, didn’t seem all that impressed by his undraped nose.

Directly across the aisle from me, an arrogant-looking fellow in his 60s sat unmasked for nearly the entire show. ‘Hamilton’ is long, nearly three hours. That’s a lot of time for not a single usher to confront the smugness of a guy who assumed that rules don’t apply to him.”

So we can talk about vaccine restrictions, but they seem to leak like sieves, and everybody thinks they’re immune.

As for facts?

“No, the Taliban did not seize $83 billion of U.S. weapons”: https://wapo.st/3zxcFju

But don’t let your emotions get in the way of an internet meme that aligns with your position, that feels right.

Which brings us back to Spotify.

So, all the oldster and younger musicians testified in front of the U.K. government about Spotify and other streaming services. And what was the government’s conclusion? IT WAS THE LABELS’ FAULT!

Everybody who studied the sphere knew this was true. It’s kind of like blaming Ticketmaster for fees. When you should really blame the acts. The only profit is in the fees, because the acts take all the rest, this is a way to create a pool of money the acts can’t commission. Furthermore, Ticketmaster doesn’t keep all the fees… They’ve got to pay the venue, the promoter, sometimes even the act itself. But you’ve got to have someone to blame, so Ticketmaster is the enemy, nothing will convince you otherwise! And when an all-in ticket is proffered you don’t buy it, you click on the link with the lowest price and end up paying the same amount with fees at the end. So who is really the enemy here?

As for Spotify… It keeps approximately 30% of revenues, from which it must pay all expenses and hopefully extract a profit.

As for the remaining monies…

One can argue strongly that publishers should get more, but since the major record labels also own big publishers they won’t budge. But in any event, the remaining 70% is paid to rights holders, i.e. labels and publishers. Now if you’re your own label and publisher the truth is you can make beaucoup bucks on Spotify, ASSUMING ANYBODY IS LISTENING!

Let me ask you… Do you really think your fifty year old music should be as popular as today’s top ten or fifty? Was Sinatra in the top ten in the seventies and eighties? Of course not, even though he was cleaning up on the road. Even more important, in the days of physical retail, there were limits, a store couldn’t have everything, so unless you were hot, the store might only stock your greatest hits album, maybe one or two other LPs if you were a superstar, and if you were a less impactful act…YOUR RECORDS WEREN’T IN THE STORE WHATSOEVER! So what we’ve got here is a bunch of old acts who believe they’re entitled to partake at the gravy train ad infinitum. Which is like saying the ratings of “Leave It to Beaver, “”The Real McCoys” and “My Mother the Car” should be cleaning up today!

As for the endless stories about income:

1. What was the use? On demand pays a different rate from radio. And online pays for the record as well as the song, unlike traditional, over the air radio.

2. What was the split? How much of the song did you own? Did you own the publishing?

3. Raw numbers. Spotify can’t pay more per stream, absolutely impossible, it would instantly bankrupt the company. It’s already paying out 70% of income, as stated above!

4. So you’ve got millions of streams. Be thankful anybody is listening at all! Because in the pre-internet era your albums wouldn’t be in the store and your music wouldn’t be able to be heard unless someone bought it, which in many cases they would not be able to! As for radio…good luck, maybe on an oldies station. And millions don’t mean much anymore, in the overall scheme. There are tracks, one single track, with over a billion streams!

5. The canard that if streaming payments don’t go up there will be no music. We heard this twenty years ago, in the heyday of Napster, and what was the end result? TOO MUCH NEW MUSIC! And if you believe anybody who wants to should be able to earn a living in music…think back to the pre-internet era when if you didn’t have a label you couldn’t even get your records distributed!

6. Never mind that Spotify, et al, lay the groundwork, via availability, to monetize elsewhere. Ticket prices have outpaced inflation by a multiple. And there are other avenues than live. And you can record at home and distribute essentially for free…

7. As for dominance… Nothing else is dominant, why should your music be?

But it just doesn’t feel right. You were making all this money before Spotify…

Well, the internet cut recorded music revenues in half, it’s only streaming that has allowed income to come back.

As for ownership… Let me ask you, buy any DVDs lately? Everything is on demand, music was actually a leader, to its benefit! But no, let’s try to jet back to the past. While you’re at it, why don’t you use your Mac Plus and a Motorola StarTAC?

But nothing I write here, NOTHING, will sway any musician’s opinion. Because the truth doesn’t matter. They’ve got their agenda. They believe someone is out to get them, they refuse to see any advantage to the new model and they’re dug in, not even listening to facts or reason.

So why should it be different in any other sphere?

Fauci is Spotify to the right. And vaccines make you grow a third head, which is magnetized, and your body transmits data via a chip to the government so you’d better not get one!

It’s bigger than vaccines. It’s bigger than politics. Team sports have influenced our entire society. Everybody’s got their tribe and if you go against it…

Hell, if I was only interested in the money I’d jump on board. Yes, Spotify is the devil! State the unpopular truth and not only are you hated upon, you’re excommunicated.

But all of America is now about leverage. Building your tribe and pushing its agenda, irrelevant of its veracity or benefit. The only difference is institutions don’t have the power they once did. They still don’t realize the power of the people, their ability to organize online, oftentimes around inaccurate information.

So what they’re doing in China is cracking down. On social media stars. On gaming. And the truth is, there are many Americans who would sign up for that, especially on the left, where everybody with an elite degree can’t stop bitching about the downsides of technology, despite being dependent upon their smartphone. They refuse to see any advantage to the new systems, and therefore just put themselves into a backwater. Just like the oldster musicians, who bitched about internet distribution while youngsters gave music away for free and embraced streaming. The youngsters are not bitching, at least those who are not wannabes. Only the marginal newbies have the time to complain, the rest are busy working to get ahead.

There is a way through this morass. But we’d need leadership based on what’s right as opposed to what’s wrong, not letting the tail, the uneducated, sway their opinions and directions, willing to do the unpopular. And a willingness to stay the course, evolution keeps happening. It used to be about computer hardware, now it’s all about software. There used to be a new app every week, now there’s nothing new on the horizon. It shakes itself out if you’re willing to stay in the game. Sitting on the sidelines bitching that it’s not the way it used to be, letting the ignorant have power, is the path to destruction. And that seems to be the path we are on.