1

When I was in fifth grade Mr. Luti had a metal box where you placed  your book reports. These were for pseudo credit. Kind of like when he asked everybody to tell him how much time they watched PBS. I didn’t watch it at all, but I said something like three and a half hours a week, everybody lied. Actually, today Felice watches a ton of PBS, and donates in support thereof, but in the sixties, it was all about sitcoms and “Bonanza” and except for this heroin documentary I watched over my mother’s shoulder, I don’t remember ever watching PBS. Oh, now I remember, the show everybody said they watched was “Japanese Brush Painting.” Don’t forget, this was in the era of black and white, I can’t draw a straight line, one of my elementary teachers was hip to me, saying somehow I always managed to wiggle my way out of art class. And, back to the heroin doc, there was a lithe blonde-haired woman who seemed normal and I’ll tell you, the more I watched that documentary, the more I wanted to try heroin. Just to have the experience. I felt out of the loop.

So the books we reported on came from the Arrow Book Club. They were paperbacks and they cost about a quarter. A big package would come every month and Mr. Luti would break it down and we’d get our books and we’d feel special. Nothing like a little retail therapy to boost one’s mood, even at age nine.

And that was the problem. I was nine and everybody else was ten. I used to think this caused all my problems, skipping a grade, but after years of therapy I realized I would have turned out the same no matter what, it was the house I grew up in, my parents and sisters. They made me who I am. In some ways positive, in some ways nonfunctional.

So having skipped a grade they thought I was behind, that they needed to ease me into fifth grade, and therefore they put me in the slow reading group. Doesn’t that screw up people for life? Knowing that they don’t measure up? Meanwhile, in the slow reading group…some people had problems reading. Oh, there was a truly slow reading group, of just a handful of people, but this was back before they held people back, talk about traumatizing, you didn’t want to be so old you wouldn’t fit behind the desk. Then again, in the melting pot suburbs of the sixties the middle class ruled, and everything was equitable. If you were rich you drove a Cadillac. Illustrating that no one was really that rich. And sure, there were no Black people in school, but Black people were all around, right next door in Bridgeport, and by time I got to high school there were a number of Black kids, but I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you their parents were doctors. This was back in the era when the thought of having a Black family move into the neighborhood was anathema. Something everybody would talk about. Then again, we didn’t live in such an upscale neighborhood. Then again, almost no one ever moved.

So, pissed they’d left me behind in reading, I decided the only way to get ahead was to file book reports, hoping that Mr. Luti would notice. I remember I was up to twentysomething reports when no one else had five and finally, two-thirds of the way through the school year, I was moved up to the smart reading group, where I had no adjustment period whatsoever. You either love to read or you don’t. Books are a treasure, if you don’t have the key try to borrow one, you might find out you love books too. It’s just that books are not cool, smoking and drugs are. Books are a solitary experience, the opposite of today’s social society. But I love to read.

And almost all of the books I reported on back in fifth grade were unmemorable. There was one about a kid who batted a thousand. He had one hit and then he fouled everything off. And the other one about a kid who mailed himself across the country, I think to his grandparents. Then again, if you mailed yourself today you’d truly starve in the interim, it might take you months to get there.

And that’s all to tell you that the books I’m going to report on today are not A plusses. They’re very good. But don’t buy them or borrow then and then get mad at me when you find them tedious and don’t like them. If you’re looking for one book to get you started, I’m going to send you somewhere else. But what I read this week were “Deacon King Kong” and “Nomadland.”

2

“Deacon King Kong” is on everybody’s Top Ten list. I read about it and wasn’t interested in it. But the e-mail was so heavy, I reserved it at the library, via Libby, and then I was able to jump the line, it became available for seven days. And then it becomes a race to finish. So, you’ve got to start as soon as you get it and…

I liked it at first. But then it became too difficult.

You see James McBride, the author, has a certain style. He injects seven descriptors when one will do. And you keep waiting for the story. Turns out about forty percent of the book was setup, and then it got really good, when the story truly kicked in. But by that time I was reading two books.

After watching the movie, I’d reserved “Nomadland,” and finally that became available. I jumped from “Deacon King Kong” to “Nomadland” and back, chapter by chapter, and I never read two books at one time, but if I didn’t, there’d be no way to finish “Deacon King Kong,” I needed a palate cleanser, like the sherbet they serve you in little cones in highfalutin’ restaurants.

But when I hit the aforementioned forty percent point, I powered through the rest of “Deacon King Kong,” I wanted to read it, I dug it. You see it’s the story of the inner city fifty years ago, New York in sixty-nine in fact. Yes, the Mets are winning and the city is on the way to becoming what it was in the seventies, i.e. bankrupt and crime-ridden. So what you’ve got here is people going nowhere who are thrilled to be out of the south. Yes, these are Blacks and they come to New York City and there’s less racism, but your gig is as a domestic, or a maintenance man, or a drug dealer. Upward mobility was nonexistent. To a great degree it’s still nonexistent. But now since the white people don’t have money, they don’t want to help out anybody else. Even the “Wall Street Journal” ran an opinion piece saying it was all about income inequality, and the Republicans must stop okaying deficit and debt increases when they’re in power and abhor them when they are not. Don’t shoot the messenger, I’d link you but it’s behind a paywall.

So to get by you hang on to God, the church is the center of activity, and activity there is. It’s all about relationships and gossip, fun. You remember fun, don’t you? You can still have it, even if you’re living from paycheck to paycheck.

And there’s a Mafia strain and ultimately all the personages merge into a story that’s kind of interesting. More interesting is who they are and how they act. Oftentimes it’s the broke people who are good and the rich people who are bad. And there’s a bit of romance. Just a hint, not sex scenes. You know when you find someone and you click, you know it from the first note? That’s in here. That’s life. We’re always looking to connect. And one day you’re buds and one day you’re enemies and one day you’re friends again, funny how this world works.

So would I recommend “Deacon King Kong”?

No. Not unless you’re a voracious reader. The plot is too often obscured by description. But those who do complete it rave about it, because they feel good about trumpeting the work of a Black man.

I can’t just leave it at that. You’ll judge me too harshly. But let me just say that those waving the flag of equality the most noisily are the same ones who’d freak if a person of color moved into their neighborhood, never mind having a homeless person camp out on their sidewalk. Out of sight, out of mind is the American mantra. And the people in “Nomadland” are truly out of sight.

3

There were about three times reading “Nomadland” I wanted to jump up to the keyboard and testify. We live in a screwed-up nation where it is easy to fall between the cracks and once there, nobody cares about you.

The movie is excellent.

But the book is more fully fleshed-out, and ultimately way more depressing.

Frances McDormand’s character was made up. But the ultimate facts of the movie remain true. That company town in Nevada did close up shop. There is the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. And the houseless do work temporarily at Amazon.

That’s what they say, they’re not homeless, they’re HOUSEless. It’s a difference, of mind-set, of class. You don’t want to see yourself as homeless, that’s rock bottom, it’s hard to maintain your optimism, and that’s one thing all the vandwellers possess, optimism, blind optimism, because otherwise life would just be too hard, with its endless setbacks.

You ain’t got any money, otherwise you wouldn’t be living on the road. But your automobile is your house, and one thing we know for sure is autos need maintenance. And the vehicles the nomads buy are never new. And the older a vehicle, the more prone it is to breakdowns. Major breakdowns. Even if you have a AAA card, the club won’t service vehicles on dirt roads, that’s their policy. So you can be in the middle of the desert, with a broken vehicle and no money to fix it and…

Maybe you get an advance on your Social Security, which is minimal to begin with, since you worked all those low-paying jobs. And you have to pay the cash back at an exorbitant interest rate, so you’re always behind.

And you can’t live with your family because you’re either too proud or they don’t want you or they don’t have room. Reach a certain age and there’s no place in society for you.

And that’s the age of most of the people here. Sixties and seventies. And they’re working, HARD! Putting in unpaid overtime supervising campsites. Running the rides at an amusement park. All of the gigs temporary, there’s no health insurance, no benefits, you just show up when they need you, and then you’re back on the road.

But the worst is Amazon.

Maybe they give you four months, you know, the run-up to Christmas. But what you’re doing is working twelve hours a day, literally, those are the shifts, for almost nothing. In this case, $10.25 an hour only a few years ago. And you get three breaks, a half hour for lunch and then two fifteen minute bathroom breaks. I’d never make it, I can’t hold it that long. And you have to be able to lift fifty pounds. That’s surprisingly heavy. And some of these people are EIGHTY!

They give away free over-the-counter painkillers. And the truth is you can’t make it without Advil, Aleve, the anti-inflammatory of your choice. And even if you buck up to this boring work, yes, you’ve got to play games in your head just to get through the day, there’s a strong chance you’ll get injured on the job. Taken off the playing field or going on injured reserve for overuse injuries. Yes, one person can’t go back to Amazon the next year because of wrist issues caused by holding the scanner. Her wrist took three years to heal. And you’re walking on concrete and you’ve got ancient muscles and bones, you’re brittle and broken to begin with, this is the final insult, judgment day, where you learn you’ve got to work in Hades just to survive.

Yes, survive. That’s what it comes down to. For all these complaints about welfare queens, the truth is oftentimes you cannot get money or if you do it’s insufficient. Then again, those on the road look out for each other. To a degree anyway, almost all of them are introverted, loners.

4

Now the truth is ultimately it was harder to finish “Nomadland,” which is easier to read. Because “Nomadland” is non-fiction, fiction is almost always superior, there’s a story, it’s not just about facts, information.

But I believe everybody should read “Nomadland.” Everybody in America, a national book club. Because you cannot read it without having your viewpoint changed. Things are much worse in America than we think. The truth is, the underclass is just given lip service, most people have no idea what is going on at the bottom, there’s not enough news and either they’re too self-centered or worried about falling down themselves.

And I finished “Nomadland” this afternoon. But I just couldn’t get into the new books on my Kindle. Sometimes this is definitive, sometimes this is not, sometimes it’s just your mood. But the truth is there’s very little worth reading. Most of what is reviewed you can ignore. As for what is not… Writing is a skill, which most people don’t possess, but you can have the skill and still turn out a turkey. As for recommendations…it’s just like music, people tell you what they like, not what you’d like, so I always turn to the web, trying to find what might interest me, and it’s not an easy journey.

Not that I write about everything I read, or watch. I bought Kristin Hannah’s “The Four Winds” the night it came out, literally, just after midnight Monday on my Kindle, before it went to number one, I liked “The Great Alone” just that much. Not “The Nightingale,” but “The Great Alone.” But “The Four Winds” was a disappointment. It does a great job of portraying the Dust Bowl era, especially before the characters journey to California. It’s just that the description ultimately overwhelms the story. To a degree it’s a polemic.

I’m slicing hairs here. People hate when I do this. I should like everything, especially what they’ve produced, they’ve put in so much time and effort! But that’s not the way it works. My time is limited, everybody’s time is limited, we’re all looking for the very best we can find, and like I said, there’s little that great out there.

So tonight we’re going back to our streaming series. It’s Israeli, and it’s good, but I’m not telling you the name, because even though I’ll do my best not to reveal the plot someone always e-mails me the ending of the show, without fail.

So I’m just informing you of the landscape, that’s the goal in life today, to assess the world and figure out where you fit in it. And whether you’re on the right path or need to make radical change. And change is hard for most people, it’s easier to put on the blinders and stay where you are. But to make change first you need inspiration, and that’s what you get in books. I guess that’s my main point.

It’s an inside job. And that’s been publicized by all the major media. But since the “New York Times” is a left wing rag that should be ignored and the “Wall Street Journal” is behind a paywall the hoi polloi have not realized this, and are still trying to scam a sale.

It’s kind of like Spotify. Did you see those bozos protesting for a penny a stream? Spotify would be bankrupt nearly instantly. Not that musicians are good with math. But you can’t get more money than a company has, literally impossible.

So these purchasers of NFTs made a boatload on cryptocurrency. Come on, even you’ve seen that news. About the price of Bitcoin. What did I read, someone paid for a pizza with a Bitcoin and if he still had it today he’d have 50k. BUT HE DOESN’T!

You see crypto is a long game. Hell, if I owned it, I would have sold it after it went into the twenties and dropped down near ten. But if you’ve got more money than you know what to do with, especially if you’re diversified, you believe in digital currency and want to make beaucoup bucks in the future. It’s not that different from being a venture capitalist. Quick, are you a VC? Could you handle that success ratio? Maybe one in twenty hit and you’re rolling in dough. Look at Masayoshi Son and SoftBank, talk about a violent seesaw. He bought Sprint, he bought WeWork, he’s famous for doing little due diligence, he just gives you the cash and tells you to spend it. And he’s looking for big wins, not little ones. That’s another thing the hoi polloi don’t know about business. That there’s too much cost in hitting singles. Best to spend the money for home runs, at least if they happen you can make big money. Kind of like movies and music. You want to make a movie for a million dollars, make a record for $100. And if you double your money, you’re dancing, ecstatic! But those victories cannot sustain a major enterprise, the costs are too heavy. Do these major enterprises sometimes miss cheap productions which make bank? Of course! This is what disruption is all about. Clayton Christensen said the new product is cheap and inferior but ultimately it gets better and the new enterprise topples the old, unless the old enterprise topples itself, or buys all the new product, which happens in movies and music, if the big guys come along almost all of the small guys will sell out, irrelevant of the possible upside, they want that cash up front.

So, if you speculated in Bitcoin and made all that money… You’re a speculator at heart, you’re willing to take risks, what are your new opportunities? NFTs!

You’re reading about these immense sales numbers, like with Beeple. That Beeple NFT was purchased by a guy who made so much money in cryptocurrency that he decided to invest some of it in this new area, NFTs. He’d already purchased a bunch of the artist’s work. Will NFTs ultimately be worth something? WHO KNOWS!

Of course there are the idiots blowing their money on well-distributed sports clips. Never underestimate the ability of the unsophisticated to blow their cash. Like with GameStop. Sure, the man on the street showed Wall Street it is vulnerable, but almost all the profits went to Wall Street, which knows how to ride a rise and the subsequent fall. You can make money on anything if you know where it’s going. And everybody inside knew GameStop was overvalued, EVERYBODY!

As for NFTs and art… As has also been well-documented, the value of art became detached from the physical product eons ago. Art is an investment vehicle, sometimes the purchasers don’t even display it! So, an enterprise that is already detached from reality is ripe for movement into a financial product that is detached from reality. Then again, there’s the sale of NFTs for ephemeral or digital art to begin with. I won’t go down that rabbit hole because it doesn’t apply to you.

What we’ve got is a lot of sellers, or potential sellers, with no knowledge of the buyers. These crypto speculators disappear and the value of your NFT goes down to NOTHING! If you can’t sell something, that’s what it’s worth.

It was too good to be true. Selling essentially nothing for big bucks.

But maybe this nothing will have value in the future, it’s possible. Or maybe the buyers will create a market detached from reality, like with fine art. Is this a game for you? OF COURSE NOT!

And when those without previous relationships with crypto kings/buyers have tried to sell NFTs…in many cases they’ve fallen flat. Like the Kings of Leon. There was some mania so fans bought a few, but this is not what the crypto investors want to pay for.

It was a momentary blip. It’s just a matter of when it crashes. I believe it’s crashed already, or will very soon. It just makes no sense. Who wants to buy this stuff? You don’t even get a Beanie Baby!

Are you in the physical game or the money game? Do you make products or do you invest in products? These are radically different enterprises. Don’t equate an hour of work at the factory, in the recording studio, to finance. So much of Wall Street is legalized gambling. Now, more than ever. It’s no place for amateurs. Ever talk to an elite athlete? PGA Tour golfers play a completely different game than you do, even if your handicap is zero. They’re working the ball in ways you can’t even think of. And they compete under pressure that would have you shanking almost every shot. But when it comes to NFTs, it’s all just easy money, it’s a flat landscape, you understand it as well as the players. OF COURSE NOT!

What is the real story. That’s what my father taught me to figure out. If someone is driving a hundred thousand dollar car and doesn’t have a job…either they inherited a ton of money or they stole it or borrowed it. Never accept the exterior for what it appears. Try to peel back the layers and try to understand it.

And the amazing thing is there’s so much information out there, assuming you’re willing to put in the time to find it and read it.

But people would rather hang with their buddies and dream up schemes that will net them millions.

Ain’t gonna happen.

Warren Haynes is the number one utility player in rock music today. Whether with the Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule, the Dead or other acts, for decades Warren has been playing guitar, without airs, depending only on chops, on stages and in studios throughout the nation. Furthermore, his vocals are as sweet as his guitar licks. Here we cover Warren’s start in North Carolina as well as the breakup of the Allman Brothers and more. Unassuming, yet articulate, Warren has miles of experience and is as vital as ever.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/warren-haynes/id1316200737?i=1000513536367

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast

I want to know the people who love this show. Because they’re right on my wavelength.

I like shows about people, their situations. And I’m not bothered by whether they’re likable or not, people in real life aren’t always likable, why do we need someone to identify with on the screen?

Not that that’s a big issue here. But it seems that people want a show that reflects their lives, and only their lives, but the truth is by watching “Ethos” they’ll feel more connected than with any of the American tripe on TV.

That’s right, “Ethos” is not American. It’s Turkish!

And yes, there are real people with real problems living in Turkey. All we hear about is Erdogan, who’s a strongman, causing unrest to the point where the U.S. recommends you not visit the country, then again, if you’re a foreigner, are you safe in the U.S?

It’s just utterly astounding to watch these shows set in faraway countries and find that really, the people are not so different from us. You should see the house Peri’s parents live in! It’s on the water, it’s like Venice, only it’s a wide river, not a dirty canal. And Peri laments the sale of the family vacation home. And there are pictures of her skiing. And she’s got the dream job of every parent, at least Jewish, SHE’S A DOCTOR! A psychiatrist. And she’s beautiful but a tight-ass and her life doesn’t really work.

Everybody’s got problems.

But there’s backlash. Unless you’re starving on the street in a third world nation you’re not entitled to talk about your woes. Why? Didn’t Depeche Mode sing that “people are people”? We share our humanity. And yes, some people think all day long about survival, and that’s sad, and should be addressed, but not at the cost of the discussion of our issues.

So Meryem keeps fainting so she ends up seeing Peri. Meryem is hobbled by religion and the weighty finger of her brother. You know how it is, then again, hopefully you don’t. There’s someone in the household who’s more powerful than you and if you’re yourself not only do they tell you to shut up, but that you are wrong. And you start to wonder, “maybe I am?” You lose track of what is right. Maybe you go away to college and gain another perspective, but too many people are beholden to their parents’ mores, their attitudes, it’s sad.

And Meryem’s sister-in-law is depressed. Anybody would see she needs treatment. But what if you’ve got no money, if you believe religion can solve all your problems, if you just pray to God…

That’s a running theme… Between the believers and the deniers.

And then there’s Sinan. Who lives larger than most of us and believes he’s God’s gift to women. That with cunning he can get whatever he wants. We all know this is not true.

And Peri sees Gulbin for supervision. And she talks and we’re privy to Gulbin’s perspective on her. Don’t you always wonder what your shrink thinks about you? You’ve got to be quite narcissistic to think you’re not sometimes boring them, or that they’re sick of hearing the same damn stories over and over and over again.

And Melisa is an actress, she’s recognized wherever she goes. But she’s pissed she’s in a soap opera, that she’s not doing real work.

So, on one hand we’ve got the story of Meryem, Yasin and his wife Ruhiye. They all live under one roof. And Yasin is a tyrant. You can’t get away with this behavior in the U.S. Then again, he’s bringing home the bacon, doing a job he doesn’t want to do.

And then there’s the Hodja, and his wife and daughter. The daughter wants to be modern, but the Hodja supposedly descends from God. Western music, dancing, really?

And Peri’s parents treat her like a child, but in some ways Peri is a child. Keeping herself in tip-top shape so she can meet a guy…but no guy would be interested in her, once they got to know her. You know people like this, who’ve jumped through all the hoops but when you pry below the surface, there’s trouble, you either retreat or it’s like riding a bucking bronco, trying to get the other to open up, to trust you.

And Gulbin… Like Peri, she too appears to have everything. But what is everything these days? Is it a good job with a concomitant lifestyle, or is it really all about family?

We make our choices, but none of us really know. You wake up one day and you realize this is the path you are on, sure you could change it, but you’d be starting from scratch when you’ve got an investment in this one.

And psychiatric help is a taboo in so many worlds. Even the U.S. Tell someone you’re seeing a shrink and the first question they’ll have is WHY? Never mind telling your parents, or the cause of your pain. You’re supposed to buck up, be optimistic and fly straight. But what if you can’t?

And what if you want to investigate life on this planet. What if you want to address the issues?

The funny thing is the U.S. is getting more like a third world country every day. Everything is black or white. You’re right or your wrong. You fight to the finish to defend your opinion, winning is more important than truth.

But the truth is we’re all confused, we’ve all got tons to learn, and we can only get this by talking to each other.

Most men don’t. Talk to each other that is.

That’s what I like most. Call me up with your problems, I’d much rather hear about them than your business. I’m not talking about your car breaking down and overwork, I mean what you feel! Guys are afraid of revealing their feelings. Which is why conversation is so much better with women, they’ll open up, every conversation is not a competition.

So “Ethos,” or “Bir Baskadir” in Turkish, is a slice of life drama. With people all over the economic stratum. They’re all equal, but they’re not. But they’ve all got wants, they’ve all had losses. Many question their choices, their lifestyles…

They call this life. “Ethos” is about life. There are no superheroes, there are few laughs, it’s about what life is like on this planet, all over the world. We’re all struggling, not all the time, but too much of the time. Unless we bury ourselves in work or religion so we don’t have to think, having been provided all the answers.

“Ethos” is on Netflix. You can search for it under that name. Be sure to watch in Turkish, with subtitles. It’s not hard to achieve. You ultimately feel like the characters are talking in English, not that I’m exactly sure how that happens.

I’m looking for series that draw me to the TV set, that I think about all day, that I can’t wait to watch. But too often series disappointment me. I’m interested in something shooting for the moon, that is not made for an audience, but is the true vision of the producer/director/writer. No compromise for the studio, no playing to the audience. It’s when you’re true to yourself that your work resonates.

And we’d tried another Turkish show and it had disappointed.

But I’d read a review of “Ethos” in the “Wall Street Journal.” I researched the ratings. All signs were thumbs-up. So I put it on the list.

And after the show we planned to watch was behind another paywall, we fired it up.

Turns out Turkey is a hotbed of dramas. That like Israel, the country is known for these programs, which play throughout the world. And the truth is they don’t make shows like this in the U.S., not this true to life. Even “thirtysomething,” which I adored, was not this gritty, not this down to earth, there was a patina of flash that real life doesn’t possess. But you could see yourself in “Ethos.” As a matter of fact, you will.

This is not “Call My Agent.” This is not lightweight farce. Not that it’s unbearably heavy, it’s just higher brow than most shows, it’s not pandering. You know if this is your kind of show. If so, put it at the top of your list. Well, after you’ve watched “Borgen,” “The Bureau,” and “Spiral” and…

“Ethos” is a show for those who hunt. Who believe streaming television is superior to film, because the length allows the story to be deeper, more fleshed-out. “Ethos” is a show for those who’ve already got the hits under their belts. “Ethos” is a show you’ll think about. And I don’t know you, but my mind is working all the time, nonstop. I cannot turn it off, I don’t want to turn it off! But so much of the time my thoughts and feelings are internalized, I feel alone. I’m looking to feel connected, to be known, to bond. Too often I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who feels this way. But when I watch a show like “Ethos,” I know I am not.

Maybe you’re like me. You’re going through the motions of life, but you’re looking for that edge, that extra zest. And I’m not talking about alcohol or drugs, the best highs are always natural. I’m talking about that feeling of being alive, on the planet, fully-realized, almost powerful. It’s thrilling. You focus, the rest of the world recedes. You have a peak experience that you hope never ends.

But it always does.

It’s unclear if there’ll be another season of “Ethos.”

Then again, one is not necessary, we’re not left wondering who shot J.R.

But it’s what I want. I want to invest, I want to binge. That’s why I hate HBO and Apple TV+ and the rest of the weekly dribblers. Give it to me all at once, let me marinate, this is not entertainment, to me it’s REAL LIFE!

Yes, “Ethos” is real life.

And if you’re real, you should watch it, you’ll dig it.