Maybe Kanye never should have put it out.

If you haven’t been paying attention, Kanye West kept tweaking his album, and he held multiple listening parties in preparation for the final release. As a matter of fact, he’s still arguing with Universal over the final release.

Anyway, the listening parties in Atlanta and Chicago were boffo at the b.o. Millions.

And then the album came out.

The instant reviews were positive, but by the next day not so much.

If you go to Metacritic, where they list and then average all the reviews, “Donda” has a 53 out of 100 from the critics and a 6.3 out of 10 from the public.

These are not good numbers.

Then again, if you check the U.S. Spotify Top 50, Kanye is all over it. It’s literally half of the chart, 25 out of 50. Internationally not so much, where “Donda” has only 11 of the 50 spots. Proving that it’s a great big world out there, and in the myopic USA we oftentimes don’t see what is happening overseas. But the bottom line is this is amazing penetration. Not seen since the release of Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous,” which has a 72 out of 100 critics score on Metacritic, and a 6.4 out of 10 from the public. Then again, country music fans don’t tend to post on Metacritic, in the eight months since the release of “Dangerous” only 8 people have reviewed it, whereas 2,333 users have already reviewed “Donda” in less than a week.

So, looking at recent history, there’s mania after initial release, but Kanye’s new albums fall out of the Spotify Top 50 quite quickly. Make no mistake, Kanye’s going to make bank from “Donda,” at least for a while, but looking at recent history, it won’t sustain.

But interestingly, Kanye is not bothering to play today’s insider game that renders the “Billboard” Top Ten inaccurate and ultimately worthless, where #1 is manipulated by selling high-priced vinyl and other packages. Kanye is actually selling a Stem Player on his website, but this doesn’t count on the chart. In other words, Kanye knows the truth, he’s bigger than the chart. If you’re playing the chart game you’ve already lost, you’re not as big as you think you are, you’re actually working against yourself, you’re marginalizing yourself, you may be appealing to the media but the music business is driven first and foremost by fans, from the bottom up, as opposed to yesteryear when majors anointed albums, manipulated all important radio and determined stars from the top down.

Kanye has got a huge fan base.

But just imagine if he’d never released “Donda” publicly, to streaming services, at all. Then we’d have true mania, you’d have to go to the show to hear it. And Kanye is constantly changing it, so every night is different!

To play a record costs much less than putting on a complete show/stage performance. But people were paying beaucoup bucks to be inside the stadium, it was an event, they did not want to be left out, one could brag they’d gone. This is radically different from the prominent paradigm today, where acts rehearse, get the show down, align it with triggers for production as well as music and it’s the same in each and every burg. Most shows are just an advertisement for the underlying record(s), whereas with Kanye it’s all about him and once again, he’s creating an event.

This is how it used to be, primarily before production and the feeling that one must replicate one’s MTV video on stage. Shows lived and breathed, set lists were not always identical, each gig was special.

The jam bands have continued this tradition. People go to multiple shows, they’re completists, they don’t want to miss a thing. Which is another reason why the Dead & Company tour is so huge. Better to get this coverage in the “New York Times” Style section than be number one in some lame article reproducing the chart:

“When the Parking Lot Is Its Own Strange Trip – Outside Dead & Company shows, a tradition started by the Grateful Dead lives on, vivid uniforms and all.”: https://nyti.ms/38JiHBG

There’s no new recorded music at all. Everything’s an oldie, but no performance is identical. There’s a culture, a scene, which is what the photos in the above article represent. By going you become a member of a club. And believe me, those who went to Kanye’s listening party felt the same way. Never mind all the Phish fans.

All the money is on the road anyway.

So Kanye plays his record and…

Videos and audio recordings don’t come close to replicating the sound, never mind finding it impossible to capture the vibe of the event. And if professional “tapers” get involved, you generate a huge cadre of traders, needing to hear last night’s show, needing to hear everything!

Kanye can’t go on the road and do listening parties anymore, the album is out. Now he has to tour with a complete show. But if he never released the album to the public…

All this bitching about recorded music revenues is missing the point. The script has been flipped, the truly valuable acts, the ones that sustain and make all the money…the recordings are ancillary, they’re just the kindling. In most cases these acts don’t even need new music to tour! And the music is primary, absolutely. This is completely different from videos with product placement, endorsements…it’s all about the music.

And the event.

Kanye took a risk.

Maybe someone else will too.

It’s the left you have to worry about.

For years, we’ve been told to fear the right. They’ve got the guns. They’ve got an echo chamber of Fox News and right wing radio. They even believe in QAnon. You don’t want to anger them because they’re gonna show up at your house, they’re gonna camp on the statehouse steps, they’re going to invade the Capitol.

Now the insurrection…people told them to do it. It’s not like it was a secret. Almost no one expected them to breach the Capitol, but everybody knew a rally was planned, to support the inane belief that Trump had been cheated, that he’d actually won the election.

And since the election, southern states have clamped down on voting rights. The Republicans changed their strategy, they realized they couldn’t win on the national level, and therefore they focused on the states. And now we’ve got the Texas six week abortion law. And open carry. And voter suppression, under the guise of voter security.

So if you’re inside the bubble, you’re smiling, pinching yourself, it hasn’t been this good in eons, maybe forever!

But it’s not only the rank and file, it’s the news institutions. “The New York Times” has been neutered. As has been Fauci. If it’s run by the left, it’s no good. Ergo supporting Trump in his deal with the Taliban to pull out of Afghanistan, but excoriating Biden when he actually does so. And we can debate the smoothness of the extraction all day long, but these flip-flopping officials and pundits wanted the U.S. to stay there! And there are foreign policy hawks on both the left and the right. Afraid of the bogeyman, they never say no. Communism was not only going to come to Vietnam, further dominoes were going to fall thereafter. They say our exit from Afghanistan sets the table for Chinese influence. Then again, if the Russians and the United States couldn’t make lasting progress in Afghanistan, maybe no one can. The territory has been fought over for centuries.

And McCarthy is telling corporations not to cough up data on the January 6th insurrection. It’s a full court press. If I write anything political, it’s the right I hear from, they’re working the refs 24/7, trying to make you doubt yourself, about speaking up. The right sets the agenda and the left cowers. Hell, look at supposed Democrat Joe Manchin, he’s more afraid of the Republicans than he is of those in his own damn party!

As for the legal system…

People have little faith in it anymore. The richest, most prominent people, lie on the stand, and the appointment of judges has become completely political. Ergo the Supreme Court. Which resulted in yesterday’s decision not to stay the enforcement of the Texas abortion law.

But the Democrats are mostly silent. Unsure exactly who their constituency is, afraid of pissing off the progressives and at the same time afraid of pissing off a theoretical middle. If you’re looking for leadership, you’re not going to get it from a Democratic politician.

But then we had that pesky little event last spring. A policeman kneels on a black man in Minnesota who then dies…AND ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!

What do we know, George Floyd was no picnic, he didn’t have a clean record. Then again, did you read about Beverly Hills’ crackdown on crime? They arrested 106 people, 105 black and 1 Latino. It’s hard to be a person of color and not have a record.

Anyway, George Floyd dies and there are protests not only in Minnesota, not only in the United States, BUT ALL OVER THE WORLD!

We can argue all day long about the ultimate results of said protest, but one thing is for sure, the world came out in force, far in excess of any protest on a right wing issue. Because this one man died.

Remind you of the Arab Spring?

One college educated fruit vendor in Tunisia gets pissed about harassment and lack of opportunity and he sets himself on fire and the whole region is destabilized. After decades of in many cases iron fist rule. Unfortunately, after brief democratic experiments authoritarians moved in, but I’m talking here about the conflagration. It’s not like there was a build-up, it’s not like anybody could see this coming, just like no one could see the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Which is a talking point for the right. Look at the destruction! That was their response re the Capitol invasion on 1/6. It’s always a false equivalency, they start talking and won’t shut up and hope to tire you out. But were the George Floyd protests really like 1/6? Let me see, was there damage to infrastructure last spring? Absolutely! Did anybody demand that the entire system of government be thrown overboard, invade the Capitol and threaten to kill elected officials? Of course not. It’s not even the same conversation. But on the right…

But the right is now self-satisfied. Hell, McConnell stacked the Supreme Court. But soon they’re going to stack one too many things on the edifice and the left will awaken and tear down the entire enterprise. I can’t tell you when it’s going to happen, but between the ridiculous recall in California, with so much money spent by a minority in what appears to be a completely fruitless effort, and the endless push of their agenda, the right never sleeps, if you think the left is completely somnambulant and will suffer any indignity, you’re just plain wrong.

And it’s the left that’s got the numbers on its side. Forget the electoral college, Democrats won the Presidential election popular vote handily in both 2016 and 2020. Gerrymandering and an antique system wherein North Dakota gets as many Senators as California has resulted in the tyranny of the minority. And history is laden with revolts upon said paradigm. When the majority of the public is on the side of the government, not so much. But when an authoritarian is clamping down on the majority, blowback happens not only in Tunisia, but in France, remember the famous phrase “let them eat cake”? It’s hard to even get unemployment in many red states, including Florida. As for the canard that unemployment checks were keeping people from getting jobs…turns out in states where government payments were not stricken, the jobs numbers were nearly identical to where they were, and this is not only the “New York Times” speaking, but the “Wall Street Journal” too.

And then there are the states that refuse to take federal money for Medicaid. Now the truth is people are hurt by this, individuals, you can stand on principle all day long, but these policies have effects. Just like wars kill people, done deal. You want to go over there, you want to die? I didn’t think so.

So what is going to break the left’s back?

Sotomayor went ballistic on her fellow Supremes. Let’s not forget, supposed right winger Roberts voted with the Dems. And if the playing field had been level, Kavanaugh and Barrett never would have been appointed, it would be two Democrats, and the Texas laws would be stopped. Don’t think those on the left aren’t aware of the weaseling of McConnell. You think people are ignorant, but they’re not that ignorant when it affects them personally, and if you’ve never been worried your girlfriend is pregnant, you’ve never had sex.

But the same party that says their bodies are inviolate want to have dominion over yours. Forget the logic, it hasn’t worked up to now, they don’t see the hypocrisy, because that’s not what it’s about, truth and justice, it’s just about getting what they want.

And they’re afraid that vaccine passports will be akin to giving Hitler power over them, but then they turn the entire populace of Texas into government agents, tattling on others, sounds exactly like East Germany to me.

But the left sits here and takes it, over and over and over again. To the point that the right is patting itself on the back. It’s working! Fight every point of the left’s agenda, manipulate the game so you win.

But this isn’t sports, it’s people’s lives.

So am I worried about living in an authoritarian country run by the Trumpers? ABSOLUTELY! But after the enactment of the new Texas laws I know we’ll never get that far, not at first. The right believes the left are pushovers, that they can do anything and get away with it. But now the metaphorical battered women are dying. And those in a similar position are agitated and on guard, they know what they’ve got to lose, and they’re ready to rise up when just the lightest feather is added to the right wing pile. It won’t be a major event that wakes up the left, it’ll be the smallest thing, which will have major consequences.

In the south one Black woman didn’t want to sit in the back of the bus and the entire region erupted, they came from the north in support.

And these new laws affect everybody. If you don’t know a Catholic family with an abortion, you know no Catholics. Because when push comes to shove, they know the baby will ruin the person’s life. As for rape and incest? Almost no one is anti-abortion re those. As for open carry? Statistics tell us even in Texas they’re against it. But the right keeps pushing and pushing and when they get away with it they push a little more. It’s a scorched earth policy, every issue is black or white. You’re on their side or you don’t count. They’re organized, the left is disorganized, but there’s a lot of disgruntlement on the left.

The arts are secondary to politics in today’s world. If I write anything political I get light years more e-mails in response. And isn’t it interesting that the right always says to stay in your lane, when they’re certainly not staying in theirs.

If there’s not an adjustment, there’s going to be a realignment. It’ll be something relatively trivial that is going to wake up the beast, it’ll be like the George Floyd protests on steroids. And they’ll far outweigh the numbers on the right, who won’t even see it coming.

But it is.

Suzi Quatro is a trip! You’re gonna dig this podcast even if you’ve never heard any of her hit singles or seen her on “Happy Days” or read any of her books or seen her on stage or listened to her radio show… Suzi is open and honest about everything, displaying her Detroit roots despite living in the U.K. for decades. Suzi needed to make it, and she’s still out there doing it. It was a blast talking to her!

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

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

_________________________________

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.

_________________________________

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

_________________________________

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

_________________________________

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

_________________________________

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

_________________________________

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

_________________________________

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