Tune in Saturday June 28th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

Phone #: 844-686-5863

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

Is this the end of late stage capitalism?

Or to put it another way, is this equivalent of LET THEM EAT CAKE!

This affair is so tone-deaf. It illustrates the point that just because you’re rich, that does not mean you’re a fully rounded personality who can read the room, never mind society.

Example #1? Elon Musk. Tesla sales have dropped for the fifth straight month in Europe, they’re down by 28%, meanwhile, overall electric car sales are UP! People have had enough of the man from Africa. They’re saying “no mas.” This isn’t a judgment of the automobiles, but Musk himself. Who has run roughshod over the government and believes that the rules don’t apply to him while being a vengeful crybaby all the while.

It’s not like these two characters have not been married before. What is the need for this celebration? Just go to the justice of the peace and be done with it. But NO, everything must be done at an outrageous scale. And this seems to be all Sanchez, Bezos demonstrated none of these qualities before he became involved with her. Believe me, no male is envious of Bezos, they’re all laughing at him, he’s just another nincompoop being led around by a woman who’s been proven to bolt for finer fields when the option presents itself. If Bezos wasn’t so rich would he appeal to her? It’s not like the laughing hyena has any charisma.

So Bezos builds a yacht so big that he wants to have a bridge removed so he can get it out of harbor. And what is it with these yachts anyway? Boys and their toys. Akin to getting a Ferrari back in the day. These aren’t sailors, they’re just busy keeping up with the Joneses.

As for the guest list… As soon as you invite the Kardashians you excise any gravitas, any patina of seriousness. The family K may be rich, but they evidence no talent other than self-marketing. It doesn’t take much to look down on the Kardashians, the only ones who look up are young and unformed.

As for going to this affair… I’d say no. Venetians have been protesting for weeks. They’re still protesting. Projecting messages on buildings, placing a banner in the square imploring Bezos to pay more taxes.

This is not royalty, this is not Lady Di, never mind William and Kate.

Only two people as out of touch as Bezos and Sanchez would want to draw attention to themselves. If you’re rich you want no publicity. Hell, Brad Pitt’s house was burgled when he went to the “F1” movie premiere. You want the public out of your hair, not in it. You want your story out of the press, not in it. But these two want a victory lap, for having risen from nothing to this status. It’s ugly.

So I’m questioning myself. Would I want to be there? Do I just feel left out? Like a lower class English person believing the upper class are a wholly different caste which they have no access to, that they can only judge?

We keep hearing that people want lower taxes on the rich because they plan to be rich too. But if this is what being rich is…

Hell, being a dope dealer, a member of the Mafia… You make that money so you can booze and whore it up. Is that what life is really about? Ask a rock star, it gets really old. They get sober, they give it up long before they get old. They know it’s empty, they want to settle down and be married.

Used to be there was the American Dream. And although these two lived it, the odds of going from poor to rich have never been this long. The odds of you climbing up the economic ladder…

They don’t let you into their schools, they don’t let you into their clubs, they say they have your best interests at heart, but really they just want to keep you down in the hole you’re in.

The news is endless. The gigantic paydays for people like Zaslav who presided over the cratering of the stock for a company he put together that was laden with debt and a bad idea to begin with. I mean it’s one thing to reward someone for a good job.

But it’s a club. If you’re a CEO, you’re overpaid. Because the boards are made up of your cronies and there’s a fiction that you need to be paid or you’ll go elsewhere, that this is what you’re worth. NO ONE IS WORTH THIS MUCH!

The public is agitated. And it’s been proven again and again that uprisings, reactions, are completely unpredictable. Things appear calm, and then they explode.

I mean how much longer are people, the hoi polloi, going to take this, when they’re working for a minimum wage that is artificially low, because the owners say they can’t survive if they’re paid a living wage.

Everything is YOUR fault. They bear no responsibility. They’re the winners, you’re the loser. We hear this all day long. But you don’t have to RUB IT IN OUR FACE!

Amazon, a great service. Built to a degree on heinous business practices. Try to compete and they’ll undercut you, forcing you to sell or go bankrupt. The site itself is now barely usable, with its plethora of ads. Not to mention the real money comes from AWS and selling third party products. 

As for Sanchez… What’s the message here, get plastic surgery to the point where you look like a caricature of yourself and trade in your husband for his best friend? Is this the role model women want?

No.

Income inequality. No one needs to be that rich. It skews society. History tells us that income inequality ultimately leads to upheaval and complete change. Meanwhile, you’re going to lose your Medicaid and your SNAP benefits because you’re a bum who won’t work while simultaneously jumping through government hoops that are so daunting that you ultimately give up.

The public is laughing at Bezos and Sanchez. When they’re not angry with them.

America no longer looks up to celebrities, that’s what social media has wrought, everybody is a star, the world has been flattened. Who is admiring these two? Very few.

I don’t see them feeding starving kids, I just see them flying into space in an ultimately excoriated expedition. Didn’t they learn their lesson? You’re showing off, we’re not on your team, we’re making fun of you.

ENOUGH!

The joke will ultimately be on you.

Instant karma’s gonna get you, gonna knock you off your feet, better recognize your brothers, everyone you meet!

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7F5Hc4ta5ivrgpVGAs5m7y?si=57e28b9b0ed34a9c

This is where the Bad Company and Mott the Hoople versions of “Ready for Love” differ.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at all the kudos Mick Ralphs has been receiving. I didn’t expect this, especially since Bad Company gets no love from the press and the cognoscenti. Which has always baffled me. Because not only was Bad Company successful and ubiquitous and still-played on the radio today, THEY WERE GREAT!

There have been obits in every major newspaper. And more than a squib, there have been details.

And rock musicians have been testifying. You might have seen Joe Elliott’s version of “Seagull”: 

The irony being that this is the one number on the debut that Mick Ralphs did not play on, the acoustic guitar was played by Paul Rodgers, although Mick did co-write it. And the lyrics fit:

“Seagull you fly across the horizon

Into the misty morning sun”

That’s the metaphor, that dead people are now birds, in any event are up in the sky, in heaven.

However there is a twist:

“And you fly all around ’til somebody, yeah

Shoots you down”

That’s being a rock star. You fly above everybody else, they adore you, you look down upon them, but ultimately you are cut down.

As for “Seagull”… All dedicated Bad Company fans know this track that closes the second side of the album, I remember Tommy Nast mentioning it to me, actually singing it… Then again, maybe if you were a fan of Patti Smith or Whitney Houston you never even heard it. (As for me, I bought those Patti Smith albums, never a Whitney Houston one, but I could appreciate the greatness of Bad Company too. And although I occasionally sang “Kimberly” to myself back in the day, it’s Bad Company songs that I sing to myself and play to this day.)

Anyway, since Ralphs died I’ve been on a jag, playing his music, which is not usually the case. I know, I know, someone dies and consumption goes up, but if I was a fan I was usually such a big fan that to hear their music weirds me out, I don’t need to be reminded, I never forgot. But it’s been different with Mick, maybe because his work encapsulated the core of rock and roll, you could draw a straight line from Chuck Berry to him, Bad Company had no frills, it was rock and roll sans extras, it was direct, and that was its power.

Anyway, I know the albums so well, I’ve been searching for additional material. And there are a number of live albums, but you’ve got to investigate, not all of them feature Ralphs. Like “Live at Red Rocks.” Cut in 2018, Mick was already bedridden from his stroke at this point.

But there is one live set entitled “Live 1977 & 1979” that features the original band, including Mick. And last night I got hooked on that one.

The funny thing is live the band sounds a bit different, Paul’s vocals are a bit less controlled. Then again, live is where rock and roll has always lived. The energy, the feel.

First I pulled up “Simple Man.” I was stunned there was a live version of this, my favorite Bad Company song. But this take is less eerie, yet more powerful. Instead of being ethereal, it’s down to earth. Performed on a stage right in front of you, from a band that was employing no tricks, it’s just them and when they hit the chorus the emotion and the power rise.

“I’m just a simple man, trying to be me

Oh, it ain’t easy”

These are the words that resonated most last night. I just want to be me. And that’s a hard choice, a rough journey in today’s world. You can’t be you if you’re busy trying to fit in and be a member of the group, if you’re holding back for fear of offending someone.

Then I played “Good Lovin’ Good Bad,” you’d be stunned how Mick’s guitar fills up the entire space. But what I love most about this number is it requires Rodgers to sing in a higher register, he’s straining, like Levi Stubbs in those great Four Tops hits.

And I’m working through the numbers and ultimately have to play “Movin’ On” to see if it’s got the same energy as the original, recorded version. It’s got Mick’s sound and Paul is strutting and if you know the track you can envision how great it must have been to hear this live, that was what I always loved best, hearing my personal hits live, the ones I knew from playing the album from start to finish over and over again, that were embedded in my brain, I was not a casual concert attendee just there to hear the hits, not knowing much more.

But what I’ve been singing in my head most, what I’ve been playing most, is “After Lights.”

We’ve already established that the versions of “Ready for Love” by Mott the Hoople and Bad Company are different. I mean compare Paul’s strong vocal to Mick’s weak, thin one. The irony is when Mick sings “want you to stay” it’s even more believable, it evidences a need, a near desperation. And this is amped up in the second verse:

“Don’t let go, you know I’m ready for you

Don’t you be slow, you know what I’m going to do

Give it to me, you know what I’m talking of

Give it to me, I’m ready for love”

This may sound macho on paper, but if you listen to the record… He approached her, but now he’s got up his gumption, he’s emoting, he’s proving why he needs her attention.

And then the track breaks down, Mick calms down, he’s reciting the details without the emphatic emotion:

“Now I’m on my feet again

Better things are bound to happen

All my dues surely must be paid

Many miles and many tears

Times were hard but now they’re changing

You should know that I’m not afraid”

You’ve got to understand, before they make it, before they break through, musicians struggle, sometimes even if they have a record deal. They’re working all the time, they’ve got little money, but then like an alcoholic or drug addict now clean, Mick is approaching the object of his affection and letting her know he was lost, but he’s ready to be found, he’s ready for love.

Then at 3:07 the track modulates up. Adding more emotion, near-pleading, but then…it breaks down completely. There’s a keyboard solo, dark in that classic U.K. way, and then he implores her once more.

“Oh, I’m ready for love

Oh baby, I’m ready for love”

And that’s where the Bad Company version ends. But not the Mott the Hoople original. At 4:26 the number completely changes, now we’ve got AFTER LIGHTS! The cut quiets down and gets mellow, it’s like the singer and the band have been launched into space and are floating around millions of miles away. The vocals moan and then whoo-ooh and then there are guitar licks like shooting stars. And they continue. And then the track enters a groove like a space capsule orbiting the earth, and who knows what happened between him and the woman. Is he happy in his own mind, in orbit, or are they together?

This is the part I’ve been singing to myself these past few days. Especially Mick Ralphs’s moans and whoos. This has been the part that’s killed me, the last two minutes, “After Lights.” I’ve slid the slider to 4:26 in Spotify over and over and over again.

This is not hit music. Not in the way of the Spotify Top 50. But this is what the entire modern music business was built upon. It was singles with the Beatles and British Invasion, and then Hendrix and Cream came along and blew that paradigm apart. For years it was all about exploration, there were no time limits, records were adventures, it was the low spark of high heeled boys.

And then MTV made it about the hit single again. But then hip-hop, a singles driven medium, took over and now, a quarter of the way into the twenty first century it’s like it was before the Beatles all over again. There is a music business, it is purveying hits, but they’re evanescent candy that don’t touch your soul in the same way as “After Lights.” This was the experience, alone in your bedroom after dark, going on an aural adventure, having your head explode to the music. You knew other people felt the same way, but you didn’t meet most of them until you were together at the gig. And the acts knew this was their job, to set the listener’s mind free, take them away, and they could only do this by throwing off restrictions and testing the limits themselves. Who cared if the record company couldn’t hear a single, the audience was tuned in, your fans were keeping you alive.

But it’s very rare you get what is perceived to be a journeyman musician as a driving force of a superstar band. This is not the Edge getting kudos, no one talked about Mick Ralphs during his heyday, you just felt the music, the audience just knew. But without him there would be a hole not only in these bands, but in rock and roll history. You see if you did it right the roots were evident, but the end result was just a little bit different, which is what made you special. And you had to have the chops to make it. There was no autotune, no hard drives on stage, you were playing without a net and the audience could sense this tension.

Mick Ralphs was too ill to attend the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, yet he did know the band was finally in, but I wish he’d still been alive to experience this well of emotion, these testimonials from his peers and his fans, for this final victory lap.

So far it’s not as good. And we’re only in four episodes so far. But there were two moments in last night’s viewing that struck me that I want to write about.

First, Richie. You know, the hotheaded bro called “cousin” even though he’s not related by blood.

Richie is played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who I first encountered in the last seasons of “Girls.” Ebon played a wimpy, needy folksinger involved with Allison Williams. Everything about this guy bugged me. On one hand he was kind of macho, but he cried and was manipulative and…

Maybe you never watched “Girls.” And it’s funny how it’s now in the rearview mirror. It was of a time and place and it has not sustained, it has not been picked up by the next generation, or maybe HBO/Max has not publicized viewing numbers, megalomaniac David Zaslav too busy being paid. Not that I watched the whole series, but I got hooked on Lena Dunham/Hannah Horvath going to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she didn’t fit in, she was an original and they were not.

And to be honest, Moss-Bachrach’s hyphenated last name rubbed me wrong just as much as the character he played. Why are you making it so difficult for us? Just pick one or the other, “Moss” or “Bachrach,” the hyphenation is pretentious.

And Ebon played another annoying character in “The Bear.” But now, with the fine dining restaurant open, as the maître d’, he’s started to come into his own, he feels better about himself, he respects himself more, and he feels he’s truly an integral part of the restaurant.

But said restaurant is teetering financially.

So one night, after midnight, on the way home Ebon/Richie stops off in a bar for a few drinks and… One thing about Ebon is he’s good-looking. Which doesn’t quite square with his character. The way he reaches his limit so quickly and explodes. He’s normal and calm and then operating at a hundred miles an hour. Anyway, in a usual show the good-looking character goes to a bar and he meets a woman. Happens all the time. But Ebon/Richie drinks alone. And then he goes home alone. And he’s lying in his single bed in his downscale apartment and…

Richie was once married. He’s got a kid. But his ex is getting remarried, and wants him to come to the wedding to boot.

Richie’s got nothing, other than his gig at the restaurant, and he lies on his bed and he tells this to God, prays that the restaurant stays open, that he keeps his job, BECAUSE HE’S GOT NOTHING ELSE!

Nitpickers might claim he’s got his daughter. But his ex does not agree with his parenting techniques and if he loses his income he’ll lose access and…

I’ve been there. Sans daughter, but… Whatever you had has now been destroyed or lost. You’re living in less than ideal circumstances. You’re surviving on sheer will. And you don’t know how you’ll cope if the little income you’ve got disappears.

We see all these shows about meeting people, getting married, but after breakup, after divorce…this is oftentimes how it is. You were somewhere, it all worked, and now it doesn’t. And you’re on the verge of being desperate. The depiction is brilliant.

Also, and to not spoil the series I won’t mention names, when one character approaches another and… This is a love relationship. And there’s been discord. And eventually they talk it out. Whew, this is right too.

Now on some level I think they should have wrapped up the series already. I mean where are they going to go? On a high level show like this the restaurant could fail, but how would you keep the cast together?

But, they are not painting by numbers. They are still throwing the long ball. And in these two instances, they scored.