Alec Baldwin finally got his comeuppance.

For years Alec has been telling us he’s better than us, that he’s unjustly persecuted, that he knows better, now we know that that’s all B.S.

Do I expect you to care about the Hilaria kerfuffle? OF COURSE NOT! But there are a lot of lessons to be learned here, and they involve everyone, including you.

The first decade of this century was about fact-checking, revealing the truth. The internet was still small, social media was not mature, but if the mainstream media got it wrong, there was a chorus of correctors online who pointed out the mistake.

But that was back when mainstream media ruled. Now there’s a cacophony of “news” sources. And the internet is overrun with so much crap that you can lie in plain sight and get away with it until you don’t. Like Donald Trump.

The “New York Times” bought Donald’s B.S., believed everything he was saying was true. But after becoming president, reporters dug deeper and discovered a treasure trove of lies, uncovering the fact that Trump was a terrible businessman, who squandered his father’s empire whilst ripping off his relatives, paying few taxes and telling us he was not only god’s gift to women, but god’s gift to the world.

But then the truth came out.

This is not about people who believe in conspiracy theories, this is about the United States turning into Canada and the U.K. Canada is a giant high school, everybody knows everybody else, you can’t get too uppity in the Great White North. The U.K. has a long tradition of building people up and then tearing them down. Because really, are these “stars” any better than us?

Well, in the U.K. there’s a heavy class system. Without the American Dream. As in born to poverty, live in poverty. Of course there are exceptions, but people know their place. No one knows their place in America, it’s open season, your dream can become true…only the odds of that are better in Canada and overseas, despite citizens of our broken country believing otherwise. You can read it in the “Wall Street Journal,” but facts are now secondary to beliefs, it’s beliefs that keep this country going, because if you concentrate on reality, it’s too scary, you can see that the income gap keeps widening and it’s almost unbridgeable.

Which is why those with money, who are intelligent, stay silent.

But today’s billionaires didn’t inherit the money, most of them earned it. And were working so hard that they’re unaware of their own blind spots. They believe they’re perfect deities, when odds are they’re less complete than those on the street. Sure, Elon Musk might have pushed forward Tesla, but everyone now agrees he’s positively crazy. Steve Jobs had a reputation as a tyrant, but no one thought he was living on Pluto, disconnected from reality.

So, we’ve got a cadre of boasting billionaires who are just ripe for denigration.

Meanwhile, the entertainment business has always been built on quicksand, truth is anathema. The film didn’t gross what they say it did nor did the gig sell out. But, people believe what you tell them, and mainstream media doesn’t have enough cash to pursue the truth in these minor league avenues. But if you rise above, beware of the public, the proletariat, the people who’ve been subjected to your lies forever.

Bottom line, in the early days of the internet you could not get away with lying. Now, the odds of escaping are higher. But if someone decides to investigate…

Hilaria Baldwin wasn’t born in Mallorca, she grew up privileged speaking English, but now she has a Spanish accent and doesn’t know the word for “cucumber” in English: https://bit.ly/3o1xFcl If she stayed home and shut up, no one would care. But she built an entire career on myths. We were subjected to her antics. Turns out she’s no better than the rest of us. Maybe more highly educated, but truly just another girl from Boston.

As for Alec himself, turns out his real name is ALEXANDER!

Hothead Alec constantly corrects people, with intensity, when they call him “Alex” instead of “Alec.” BUT THE TRUTH IS HE’S ALEX!

Baldwin has been getting away with this charade until…his wife, trading on his fame, took it too far. If she’d stayed home, or had been honest, the truth never would have come out. Yes, I believe “Alec” Baldwin is intelligent, he’s great on Howard Stern, but I no longer believe everything he says. It’s always somebody else’s fault, Kim Basinger, the person on the street, but now we know it’s him. Hilaria and Alec could have come clean, admitted the truth and moved on, but they’re still obfuscating and Alec is still defending his wife, doesn’t he realize HE’S LOSING ALL CREDIBILITY!

But the Baldwins live in a bubble. Despite “Alec” talking about his hardscrabble upbringing, which is grossly overstated, he’s got no idea what’s going on in the real world. Sure, he’s a good actor, an entertainer, but he needed to be more than that, he needed to be seen as three-dimensional, a public intellectual, ain’t that a laugh.

Meanwhile, CAA and a host of entertainment outlets bought into the grift. Because you don’t want to alienate a star, you need them to make your money! Imagine if Hilaria was a reporter for the “New York Times”…she’d be fired immediately, her career would be ruined. But the court of public opinion can be just as harsh.

Sure, you can fake it, but don’t ask everybody to buy it.

Come on, do you think the people who grew up with “Hilary” accepted her name change and fake accent? They rolled their eyes. Down in the pit where most people live if you lie and act superior, you’re ostracized. In ass-kissing Hollywood it’s de rigueur, but Tinseltown and its denizens are no longer immune.

Be wary of lying if you’re a celebrity. Raise your head high enough and it’s going to be chopped off. In addition, none of us are perfect, none of us are free of skeletons in the closet.

Next “Hilary” will lose gigs and cry about it. Bemoan the personal persecution.

Then there’s noted racist Mel Gibson…if you can make them money, Hollywood will forgive ANYBODY!

Don’t confuse this with the faux pas of the hoi polloi, who lose their jobs after one misstep. These celebrities tend to be loaded and they can always work at the 7-11 or in the boiler room like the rest of us. We made them stars, we can eviscerate their shaky foundations and careers just as easily.

So I enjoy Alex and Hilary being cut down to size. They call it schadenfreude, I’ll own it. I know how hard it is to make it. But when you get to the top and you gain further success on falsehoods, it boils my blood. Even worse is the hangers-on, those born on third base, those adjacent to fame. It’s just like having rich parents…why should you get ahead of the rest of us in line, what did you do to earn this honor?

Celebrities are also into assets. They gain success and buy a slew of cars and a pad in the hills but…the world is changing, assets are now secondary to your identity, to experiences. To function in the new world, to sustain, you must have credibility, something that cannot be bought but only earned, something that is very fragile, that you can lose instantly. Yes, if you want a long life in today’s world, credibility is key. As for those going with the flow, the idiots on social media and reality TV…they don’t get it, the joke is on them, they’re fungible, people are lining up to replace them, credibility is not a factor, which is why their time in the spotlight doesn’t last. Yes, we need people to believe in.

Oh, don’t give me the exceptions. The point is, if you want to play in the major leagues of life today, your history is going to be investigated, what you said back in high school, what you posted on social media, that’s gonna surface. Be prepared. But the truth is, the young ‘uns know this. They scrub bad history from the internet. It’s only the self-satisfied old, who believe they’re entitled to their success, who are out of the loop. Furthermore, in the  modern world, it’s all about data, the lies of yore won’t work in today’s economy. The internet is about truth. I know that sounds phony, but when it comes to the big sites…you can buy a few listens, a few views, but you can’t make it to a billion. And those who keep telling us they’re that successful, we can just go online and find out that they’re not.

We should be excoriating the Administration for their screw-ups in rolling out the vaccine. There are so many important issues to be addressed in today’s society, many of them truly life and death. But in an era where the president lies and challenges the plain truth that he lost the election, the average citizen feels powerless when it comes to the big issues. But when it comes to the small?

You’re just like everybody else. You’re no better. And if you want to rise above, have your house in order, because there are millions waiting to tear you down, your life and career are a ticking time bomb, beware!

“But I hope and I pray that maybe someday

You’ll walk in the room with my heart”

ABC

Spotify – https://spoti.fi/38Mx1ZX

YouTube – https://bit.ly/3hvJipy

1

I’ve become addicted to Siggi’s coffee yogurt.

Those playing the home game know that for years, decades in fact, I was addicted to Dannon coffee yogurt. But in the race to Greekify all yogurt in the wake of the success of Chobani, Dannon, caught flat-footed, remade their entire yogurt line and the old standbys, like coffee, became either completely unavailable or rarely. I’d comb the shelves, hustling from supermarket to supermarket in search of my drug. Eventually I’d order it, by the caseload, twelve per flat. But then availability nearly flattened and I decided to break my addiction, especially since Dannon coffee yogurt contained so much sugar.

I switched to Siggi’s skyr, after dabbling in the aforementioned Chobani, and Fage. But Siggi’s was occasionally bitter. But then I discovered the previously mentioned triple cream (https://bit.ly/38GyeBS)  and I’d possibly found nirvana, yogurt akin to ice cream, but triple cream is more of a snack, for later in the day. Then I discovered the flat containers of Siggi’s whole milk yogurt. I know, I know, dieters prefer non-fat or low-fat, but that’s like eating cardboard, you’ve got to live a little, and I’ll never forget the dearly departed Continental whole milk yogurt available in Southern California grocery stores in the seventies, scrumptious.

There weren’t that many flavors available, but I was down with mixed berries, strawberry and rhubarb, and blueberry. And when I had too much of those, I switched to vanilla. And then, after years, they introduced coffee.

Now I’ve tried every coffee yogurt out there, they’re pale imitations of the Dannon original, mostly inedible. So I was wary of Siggi’s coffee. And I must admit, upon initial consumption, I was disappointed. It was not sweet, it tasted more like coffee. I am not a coffee drinker, never was, however I like coffee flavored products, so I was on the fence with Siggi’s. I ordered it intermittently. And then I got hooked.

How many can you get at one time? I’d order fourteen from Instacart, but they’d deliver four, maybe six. And sometimes none. And today, it was completely unavailable, I’ve only got one left in the fridge, I anticipate jonesing, but I need something to get me started in the morning so I switched the order to mixed berries, strawberry and rhubarb, and vanilla, four of each, and now I’m waiting to see if the shopper can even find those. And in the throes of my anxiety about availability, Felice said “she’d pray on it.”

2

Disco died and took corporate rock with it. At the turn of the decade, from the seventies to the eighties, the music industry was in the dumper.

And then came MTV.

It wasn’t widely available at first. And upon its advent it was filled mostly with clips by classic acts made for the Continent, when European radio stations were locked up with local repertoire and it was hard to break through via the aural airwaves and the best way to reach your audience was via TV play of clips.

Americans were caught flat-footed. Sure, Blondie had made an album of videos, but the U.S. was still running on the old paradigm. Meanwhile, MTV was gaining traction, expanding its footprint, and in 1982 a slew of new English groups arrived to fill the vacuum of programming. And they were HUGE! Some were one hit wonders, some, like Culture Club, became legends, but one thing is for sure, the music scene was completely reinvigorated. And then came the CD and the modern music business was born, the one with so much dough, the one that the powers-that-be tried to protect from Napster, the one old cronies from the last century are still trying to bring back, decrying streaming all the while.

We don’t have a concomitant sound in the streaming era. Usually new technology changes the art, but if that’s so, we’re still waiting for it. What we have right now is cacophony. The last gasp of what used to be, pop and the evolution of eighties hip-hop, and sure, Latin is growing, but there’s no new sound capturing the hearts of the entire western world. We do have niches applauded greatly, but when you check them out… Phoebe Bridgers, this is all we can come up with? There’s something there, but it’s not even close to Suzanne Vega, who was blown up by MTV, having made her mark on the landscape before that, with a haunting debut album, but where is something universal?

Like “Thriller.”

Michael Jackson’s breakthrough was “Off the Wall.” Many around in those days still prefer that first Quincy Jones LP. But “Off the Wall” came out in 1979, as disco was dying, so not enough people heard the incredible “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Rock With You.” Those who did not reject the dance floor, African-Americans, they embraced “Off the Wall,” but it took years to seep into the ears of mainstream America. But then came “Thriller.” And along with the Motown 25th anniversary special and the moonwalk Michael Jackson threw off his boy band history and became the world’s biggest star. Because of MTV. But the English new wave bands came first.

3

Now despite the overstated footprint of the evangelicals, the pandering to religious zealots by politicians, there are many of us who joke about religion. As a matter of fact, atheism is on the rise, especially amongst the young ‘uns, the Jesus freak wave that began nearly half a century ago is dying, not that most people are aware of this, getting info from their own biased silos. If America knew the truth we’d live in a whole different country. But one of the staples of the believers is the phrase “I’ll pray on it.” Ripe for mockery, right? Well, at least in my world. And when Felice declared her intention to pray for my Siggi’s ABC’s “All of My Heart” immediately took over my brain…yes, I hoped and I prayed, that maybe someday, there’d be enough Siggi’s coffee for me and those who desired it. And I could not get this ABC song out of my head.

MTV was akin to the internet. In that everybody was fascinated by it. Oldsters and youngsters. You could go to somebody’s house and spend an entire evening watching the channel. Can you imagine that today? Especially in 1982, when MTV was not yet available everywhere and the English new wave was pitching fastballs again and again and again. Amongst the successes were  Eurythmics, Modern English, Kajagoogoo, Madness, A Flock of Seagulls, Tears For Fears…and ABC.

ABC had already broken in the U.K. by time Americans were exposed to the band on MTV. “Tears Are Not Enough” was a hit and the act’s initial LP, “The Lexicon of Love,” entered the U.K. chart at number one. But the first exposure most Americans got was with “Poison Arrow.”

“Shoot that poison arrow

Shoot that poison arrow to my heart”

One listen told you this was not Jefferson Starship, not even Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Poison Arrow” was not seventies, it was purely EIGHTIES!

The eighties. In retrospect, it was the beginning of the end, the lowering of taxes and the start of income inequality, not that we knew that at the time. Instead, the seventies were done, with their hangover from the sixties, Iran…we were optimistic, we were happy, even if 1984 was looming.

“No rhythm in cymbals, no tempo in drums

Love on arrival, she comes when she comes”

Where were the guitars? Instead we got synths. And not only was the music shiny, so were the clothes. America was still ruled by bell bottoms, everybody was dressing down, but all these English acts had a look, clothing was part of the sell, it helped define the image, and so many of the acts dressed UP! Albeit with a twist. This is when fashion truly fused with music, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

Now we were lucky in Los Angeles to have KROQ, which featured all these numbers when not only the rest of the FM band in the city, but throughout the country, was still invested in classic rock. KROQ was a clubhouse and what kept you inside, tuned-in, was all this “experimental” stuff that came from the U.K.

And if you were a dedicated follower of music, and fashion, you divined who was real and who was not, who was a one hit wonder and who was not, and if word was the band was worthwhile, had cred, you purchased the album. And since you paid, you went deep. And you became hooked on songs that never got airplay, at least in the U.S., like “All of My Heart.”

This was back when there were still two sides. Oftentimes not even forty minutes of music total. Whereas once CDs truly went big nearly a decade later, albums only had one side and could be as long as seventy minutes, in most cases they were unfathomable. But with the old two-sided albums… You played one side and then the other, and the one you cottoned to first, the one that impressed you most, you’d play over and over again waiting for it to reveal itself, and when it ultimately did, you flipped the record, or the cassette, to the other side.

4

I’m not sure why I liked the second side of “Lexicon of Love” more, maybe it was its opening cut, “The Look of Love.” But the second side is the one I played most, and that’s how I discovered “All of My Heart.”

The intro was magical, ethereal, more akin to classical music than rock. But then the track took a swift turn into a jaunt.

“Once upon a time when we were friends

I gave you my heart, the story ends

No happy ever after, now we’re friends”

This was the beginning of the modern paradigm, where boys and girls are friends, hang in groups. The seventies were more solitary, you stayed at home, you smoked dope, but in the eighties you wanted to go OUT!

“Wish upon a star if that might help

The stars collide if you decide

Wish upon a star if that might help”

What is this…PETER PAN? There was no wishing upon a star in classic rock, just like there’s no crying in baseball. But it was not only the lyrics that were different, but Martin Fry’s delivery too, he was going up and down the scale, emoting.

“What’s it like to have loved and to lose her touch

What’s it like to have loved and to lose that much”

A PRE-CHORUS! Never mind melody. This is the antithesis of today’s rhythm-based music. Today’s music roots you to the ground, ABC lifted you into the stratosphere.

But then comes the piece-de-resistance:

“Well I hope and I pray that maybe someday

You’ll walk in the room with my heart”

The music changes, there’s a new hook, the “strings” swoop in the background and Fry pleads like he’s in a forties movie. It’s a clean break from what we’d heard before, the Brits were changing the paradigm.

“Add and subtract but as a matter of fact

Now that you’re gone I still want you back”

This is the opposite of the macho of what came before and established itself after. The singer was subservient! He was on the losing end. The woman was in control, it was her choice, she had the power, he’s PLEADING!

“Remembering, surrendering

Remembering that part

All of my heart”

The lead is taken over by the background singers, but then Martin comes back, with all of his heart.

And then, after the aural denouement, we’re back into the jaunty verse.

And then the formula is repeated for over five minutes, you luxuriate in this sound. It’s akin to Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music, but less affected, more rooted in reality. “All of My Heart” looks forward and backward at the same time. It’s a new sound, with modern instrumentation, but it hearkens back to the pre-Beatle era, to the pre-rock era, to the forties, but it was the eighties.

I liked “All of My Heart” so much I bought the second album, “Beauty Stab,” without hearing it first. It was a disappointment, both in my ears and commercially. I stopped buying but ABC kept playing. The third LP, “How to Be a…Zillionaire,” had success with “Be Near Me” and “Vanity Kills,” and I liked them, but neither was “All of My Heart.” The big surprise was 1987’s “When Smokey Sings,” from the fourth album “Alphabet City.” A huge smash, it was out of time, not just in sound, but the scene had moved on, MTV had become somewhat calcified, now it was about seeing the dollars on screen, dancing, whereas in 1982 it was more DIY, conception ruled, the rest of the world had caught up with the English new wave. And although Guns N’ Roses were breaking, it was also the heyday of the hair bands and ultimately their ballads, which would be wiped from the map by grunge and then hip-hop and pop, but back in ’82, it was all very cutting edge and exciting.

5

No one’s going out to a club. We’re all watching different shows, on demand, on streaming television. And it’s TV that’s the cutting edge medium, music has become a diversion, a second-class citizen, at least recorded music, all the innovation and excitement is happening live. But never underestimate the magic of a perfectly executed track. And the ones we remember most are the breakthroughs, that take what came before and twist those elements along with new ones into a new appealing concoction. Like ABC and “All of My Heart.”

The Eighties were the last hurrah, the last heyday, when all eyes were focused on the sounds made by musicians. After all, Live Aid was in ’85, can you name an equivalent event subsequently?

Not that there are not great records thereafter. Of course we had Nirvana, and then Alanis Morissette gained the world’s attention with her music and personal, direct lyrics. But Kurt Cobain killed himself. And Alanis could never follow up “Jagged Little Pill.” And then came the internet, and even though distribution has been figured out, streaming won, there are still pockets of performers who refuse to accept this, and the scene is run as if it were still the pre-internet era.

Of course, one cannot discount the rise of hip-hop. But once the era of sampling ended, when you could no longer steal without consequence, when artists no longer wanted to share publishing revenue, it evolved into an era of beats, melody was mostly gone. And at this point, hip-hop has had a lifespan almost as long as rock. So it’s no longer new. That’s what we’re awaiting, innovators. And occasionally we get someone, like Lil Nas X, but then he sold out to the majors and the audience no longer owned “Old Town Road” and Sony couldn’t stop pushing it and its success down our throats to the point that we’ve got a sour taste in our mouths. Then again something is definitely happening on TikTok, music is the core of that service, and the great thing is it’s out of the control of the usual suspects, so innovation can take place, not a moment too soon.

That is the battle of today, the establishment versus the upstarts. Unfortunately, upstarts like Facebook and Google have become the establishment. Remember when Google’s motto was to do no harm? Ain’t that a laugh. But, the tools of creation are in the hands of the proletariat, and people are intertwining what once was and what still is into new forms. The establishment doesn’t like this, but this is where creativity is happening. Sure, there’s too much of a money mentality amongst creators online, but not all of them are in it for the bucks.

But back in ’82, MTV reinvigorated a moribund music business. Suddenly you could market worldwide and sell overpriced CDs all over the globe and no one wants change. But only by going forward, with everything up for grabs, can we recapture the cultural zeitgeist.

I remember when ABC had all of my heart.

Songs about the future: beginnings, starting over, looking forward…

Tune in today, December 29th, 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

https://amzn.to/3n46JHX

1

This is the best book of the year.

But it’s not that easy to read.

Readability. It’s the number one criterion for a good book. Oftentimes that which is lauded is all about style, plot is secondary, it’s like the self-congratulatory publishing industry, and the graduates of the writing factories, can only anoint something that aligns with their values, not those of the public. It’s a self-reinforcing game, keeping people away from books, when we need them more than ever before, not only are they a respite from our overloaded, tedious lives, when done right they’re instructional, like “Homeland Elegies.”

But if you’re not employing a dictionary when you read the book…you’re lying, or you’re skipping over words you do not know. You wonder, does the writer, Ayad Akhtar, really know these words or is he searching the thesaurus to insert a ten dollar word when a dime one would suffice? This is the peril of rewriting. I don’t think anybody would use half of these out there words in regular conversation. I looked most of them up, but then I didn’t bother, the meaning was clear enough from the context, and the constant journey to the dictionary was hurting my reading flow.

And the flow is another thing that you might find off-putting. The paragraphs are endless. The sentences therein are oftentimes long. However, the sentences are not jam-packed with too many meanings. This is another flaw of the circle jerk of the publishing industry and its acolytes noted above. They believe that writing is about the aforementioned rewriting, and they add so many qualifiers and concepts in each sentence that they ultimately resemble nothing you’ve ever come across previously. As if you built your pigpen with Brazilian wood and gold nails spaced every inch, when every six will do. It’s a goddamn pigpen, WE GET IT!

The foregoing are qualifiers. I don’t want you to buy “Homeland Elegies,” give up reading it and then inundate my inbox with hate. First and foremost I treasure my credibility. Once you sacrifice that you’ve got nothing left. Actually, our entire nation is in a crisis of credibility, further hastened by Trump and his antics. What next, declaring that the Rays really won the World Series? Numbers don’t matter, facts don’t matter, there was some cheating behind the scenes that tilted the tables. And if the Dodgers defend their victory they’re seen as monsters who won’t acknowledge the will of the people!

But I did not buy “Homeland Elegies,” I borrowed it from the library, via the Libby app.

Hmm… This is the disadvantage of physical. One of the many. You cannot go to the library, at least I wouldn’t in these Covid days. But with Libby, you can search the inventory, and if you cannot instantly get the book you want, you can reserve it. I pooh-poohed Libby until I used it. I was thrown off by the long wait times, but then I found out frequently they let you jump the line. You can have the hot book for seven instead of twenty one days and…most of the old books are instantly available. So, if I want it now, I buy it from the Kindle store. But if I’m not sure, I reserve it. Actually, I reserve stuff I don’t end up reading. I download the book and find out I’m not interested. But I also reserve/download books that my research tells me are good, but don’t appeal to me on the surface, like “Homeland Elegies.”

Seemingly every publication lists the book in their year’s best. But on the surface, it seemed like another of those minority/foreign jobs… Yes, some African books are tremendous, like “Americanah,” but too often the cognoscenti embrace books from the oppressed, as if the fact they wrote it is reason enough to focus on it, when oftentimes it is not.

Are you getting the feeling that my reading is exclusive?

I did a book podcast last week. Everything I said seemed to be contrary to what the host was proffering. Like about recommendations. Isn’t that why we need indie bookstores? Isn’t it all about personal recommendations? I NEVER USE PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS! I DON’T TRUST THEM! People rarely have any idea what another will truly like. And reading a book is a significant investment of time. So I do my own research. I read book reviews, I google lists, I’m trying to find consensus, along with what appeals to me. Kinda like my streaming TV choices. I ask people what they are watching and they almost always say what’s on HBO and the big Netflix hits. But there’s so much great stuff out there if you’d just do a little research. And so much crap too. I know people who watch shows with ratings far below 50% on RottenTomatoes. What do they expect? Of course it sucks! Why buy into the advertising? That’s so last century.

But I did get “Homeland Elegies” on a recommendation. I certainly didn’t buy it, no way, I trust essentially nobody. But I got e-mail from this guy David Moody, who told me: “I often agree with your views on fiction, and wanted to share this with you – it’s the best book I’ve read this year.” So I reserved it. Well, I got on the waiting list. I believe it was gonna be 13 weeks before I’d be able to get it, which was just fine with me, because based on what I’d read, I didn’t think I’d like it anyway.

But at the end of a hike on Friday night, I checked the Libby app on my phone, and they were allowing me to jump in front of the line, if I wanted “Homeland Elegies,” I could have it RIGHT NOW for seven days!

So I downloaded it to my Kindle.

I don’t know the formula Libby employs that allows you to jump ahead, but it happens every once in a while, and it doesn’t last, if you don’t click to download it when you see it, it often disappears.

Seven days… Enough time to read the book if you start it right away. Which I always do. Because I hate the pressure to complete. Then again, I pressure myself, I do not want the book to disappear before I finish it, no way.

And, the fact I’ve only got it for seven days is an incentive to jump in. If you pay, you read, at least I do. If you borrow? But if you’re gifted the desirable for a brief period? You want to check it out, see what all the fuss is about.

2

It’s a fish out of water book. But not really. What it really is is the Muslim experience in America. Until it turns into a spot on analysis of America, better articulated than anywhere I’ve previously read, and I read a lot. Unfortunately, some of the worst writing is in newspapers. However the absolute worst is that made for internet consumption. On the internet it’s just the facts, with maybe a tiny bit of spin. In the newspaper…there’s a formula, you lay the facts down drily, from most important to least. Style is…the one employed by the newspaper. The worst is “The New Yorker.” Everything’s in the same style, dry, over-researched, they could drain the passion from an orgy. What resonates most is when a writer employs their own style to convey the message such that it resonates with, informs the reader. It’s often about context. And Ayad Akhtar nails it over and over again.

Racism. What does it feel like to be brown in America?

Well, first and foremost you don’t belong. You’re told to go back to your own country, even if you were born in the United States. And you have to be on guard 24/7, for fear of saying the wrong thing, playing into someone’s biases to your ultimate disadvantage. White people don’t think about this. Well, long-haired northerners did back in the sixties, when they journeyed to the redneck south, but the truth is whites rule in America.

But life ain’t so good for so many whites either.

When you start “Homeland Elegies,” you’re convinced it’s nonfiction. But right there on the cover it says “A Novel.” The truth lies somewhere in between.

So…

Can you ask for money from your parents to keep your passion alive?

Generally speaking, this is taboo in our society. Rich parents might pay for endless schooling, but at some point you’ve got to jump ship and get a real job, preferably one that will keep you living in the style you grew up in, like at the bank. But if you’re an artist? Well-to-do people don’t want their children to be artists, which is why so many artists come from the lower classes…when you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. But if you take the artistic path, rewards come very slowly, if at all. Can you live on so little money waiting to see if you connect in the marketplace, while your compatriots are buying homes, having families, vacationing on islands?

And it’s not about the mind in America, it’s about the MONEY!

You may not like this book if you believe Reagan is a saint. Akhtar writes about the schism at that time, when regulations were eliminated and wealth lionized, when shareholder value became everything and the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The elite on the left won’t accept this, these “winners” keep saying it’s about racism. But is every Trump supporter a racist? OF COURSE NOT! And forget those with money, who just don’t want to pay taxes, it’s the blue collar people, the workers who the Democrats gave up on. Trump gave them hope! False hope, but hope nonetheless. Do you have hope in Biden’s America? I’d like to say I do, but politics is all about money, and if you ain’t got none, you’re irrelevant. And there are poor people, some fine, on both sides of the fence, and they’re disillusioned.

“There is a culture here, for sure, and it has nothing to do with all the well-meaning nonsense. It’s about racism and money worship – and when you’re on the correct side of both those things? That’s when you really belong. Because that’s when you start to represent the best of what they think they are…”

It’s a club. And most are not in it. And despite lip service to the contrary, it’s about keeping the status quo. Liberals don’t want the underprivileged living in their neighborhoods, taking the place of their progeny at Ivy League institutions…those at the top CANNOT SUFFER! It’s a self-reinforcing paradigm, but it gets worse.

3

There’s this story about a Black talent agent, whose father was a law clerk at the D.C. Court of Appeals, who ultimately punts and moves back to Alabama, where he has less power than he imagined, but this is after he is wooed by the right. Yes, every team needs its token Black person, someone with values just like the organization, who will make no waves and fill the diversity slot. And they need all the minorities this way, Arab Americans too…to get them off the hook, so those seeking change will focus on another organization.

So, this guy’s father, the lawyer, is working in D.C. during the Bork years, when those on the left were fearful that if the judge got on the Supreme Court, we’d return to the days of back-alley abortions, and separate lunch counters and…

But Ayad details how Bork did not get the seat, but ultimately had more influence on America than if he did:

“It was as an antitrust ideologue – who believed that the only meaningful check on corporate power should be the competitive threat of other corporations and that the consumer’s benefit should be the only metric to gauge whether the government had cause to intervene – that Bork and his ideas would fundamentally reshape our country.”

You can buy it cheap at Walmart, but not only was downtown eviscerated, so were those jobs. That was the start, in Reagan’s 80s.

So…

“Homeland Elegies” is not a polemic. Akhtar does a brilliant job of weaving these viewpoints into real life situations.

Never mind the racism…

Never mind the sex. Akthar does a better job of describing coitus than any I’ve read this year, maybe ever, because sex takes place in the head, what is going on in the noggin of the participant?

So, Akhtar becomes a successful writer, the son of two doctors who immigrated from Pakistan. But is today’s America actually worse than Pakistan? That’s a question throughout this book.

4

I don’t want to tell you any more, because I don’t want to ruin it. But “Homeland Elegies” nails today’s America better than any of the bloviating on cable television, on any website. You see politics, government, choices, affect us all, even if we say we’re not interested, what does that look like?

Everybody in America should read “Homeland Elegies.” Yet, as a result of reduced tax bases as a result of the corporatization, the Walmarting of America, there is less money for schools, and the evangelical and rich want private ones anyway, so how many Americans could even read this book? Not most of ’em, no way. But Akhtar makes today’s America come alive. It’s peopled by average citizens, being bumped around in the pinball machine of life. Essentially faceless, almost always powerless, beholden to the bean counters squeezing every last penny out of the system for the owners of this country.

Art is the only way out of this mess.

“Mary and I conversed for an hour, mostly about capitalism, the collapse of our national politics, and what part (if any) an artist could play in helping shape the world anew.”

He’s not talking about BRANDS! And he’s not talking about world domination. Akhtar is talking about message. Baked into story. That’s what we live for. The music, the movies, the television. But there’s no money for the arts in America, it’s going to the oil companies instead, art has no value, even though it’s America’s most influential export.

5

I don’t think I convinced you to read “Homeland Elegies.” I’m pretty sure most people didn’t even make it this far.

It’d be easier for me to recommend some readable junk, the kind this country consumes and spits out, empty calories, like superhero movies. That would move me up the ladder of influencers, which I could brag about on social media to the point I garner enough followers to monetize my reach. Message is secondary, getting rich is everything. But very few can become rich, while the rest of us work 24/7, have trouble making ends meet, and are supposed to be happy playing the online lottery of social media, or Powerball.

Once I got into “Homeland Elegies” I could not put it down. It drew me into a world, more interesting than the one I’m living in during this Covid era. Check it out.