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I wish I’d read this when I’d grown up, it would have answered so many questions!

I’m a big Curtis Sittenfeld fan. I started with “Prep.” I went to public school, but in college 45% of the students had come from prep schools. They were different. And you can’t explain them to people who didn’t experience them. The confidence, the laissez-faire attitude. They were polite on the outside and limit-testers on the inside. They seemed to be born to this station, whereas in public high school we grade-grubbed and competed and opened our college acceptance letters breathlessly.

But not every Sittenfeld book resonated. And I’ll be honest, the fact that she called herself “Curtis” bugged me. Her real name was “Elizabeth.” I had a hard time believing she’d grown up as “Curtis,” then again at Middlebury those prep school kids oftentimes had family names that were not their first, or first names that were not de rigueur, that in fact I’d never heard in the suburbs. Like “Tucker.” And “Brooke.” They’ve filtered down to the hoi polloi today, but they were nonexistent in the middle class of yore.

But I wasn’t interested in everything Sittenfeld wrote. Especially “American Wife,” the Laura Bush story without Laura Bush. As for her latest novel, “Rodham,” a reimagination of Hillary’s story…why? It seemed like an exercise to me. I mean Hillary had lived one life, wasn’t that enough?

But in the back of my mind I remembered “You Think It, I’ll Say It.” The best book I read in 2018, even though some of it had been published earlier, even though it was a short story collection.

I remember short stories from freshman English, in high school. There was a thick paperback, we read it first term. But short stories get a bad rap. Real writers write complete novels, right? And under the best of circumstances short stories end and you’re left hanging, you want more but there is none.

But “You Think It, I’ll Say It”… Sure, you might be left hanging, but you’d want to dive right into the next story, for the adventure.

As for her latest book, this year’s “Rodham,” it seemed like “American Wife II,” I had no need and no desire.

But then I got an e-mail from Deborah Holland.

She was the singer/songwriter of Animal Logic, a trio with Stewart Copeland and Stanley Clarke. This was after the Police broke up, as for Clarke he had a stellar reputation, Animal Logic struck you on the surface.

And then there was a track, “There’s a Spy (In the House of Love).” This was 1989. And the track got MTV play, more than lunar rotation. And the chorus was indelible, you heard it once and not only did you know it, you needed to hear it again.

But that was Animal Logic’s only success. After a second LP the band broke up and Deborah Holland disappeared, but she reappeared as part of the Refugees, a trio with Wendy Waldman and Cindy Bullens. She always seemed standoffish to me, but then the group’s efforts became sporadic and Deborah moved to Vancouver and I’d start to hear from her intermittently. Always about some aspect of art. Deborah told me to read “Rodham,” that she and her friends loved it.

Hmm… I trusted Deborah’s recommendation, based on prior e-mail, but like I said, I was not interested in this book. I downloaded the sample chapter and started but then I got sidetracked with something else and never went back.

Until last night.

I finished Sue Miller’s “Monogamy.” And it wasn’t good enough. Which made me crazy. Because reviews were stellar. I was hanging in there and if anything at the end I was disappointed, even though some of the plot twists were unexpected and made the book better.

Now I needed something new.

Oh, I could have buried myself in work, but what work would that be?

I’d been driving in my car for my annual physical and I’d heard Amy Coney Barrett and gotten depressed. They could have asked her if she was a woman and she would have said she did not have enough information and she’d have to wait until the legal question came up. I felt I needed to write something, I even had a title, “The Tyranny of the Minority,” but by time I emerged from Mitch’s office I wasn’t in the same mood, conversation with him and his staff had lit that inner flame, and it was growing, and I only write from the mood I’m in, I never fake it.

And then last night on Bill Maher he said everything I’d thought, and I chided myself, why had I been so afraid to lay my words down? Turns out I was not the only one who was depressed, not the only one lamenting the tyranny of the minority, then again I hadn’t been in the mood.

So now I’m coursing through all the sample chapters I’ve downloaded, and nothing is resonating. It’s close to midnight and I’m looking for that writing that cuts like butter, that requires no effort, that is not laden with description, that is not written for critics, for a literary judge and jury, and I’m not finding it.

And after exhausting all the possibilities, I find that sample of “Rodham” on my Kindle, and I wonder…IS IT AVAILABLE ON LIBBY?

I’ve got no crusade. Used to be to have all the music available to all for one low price per month, that came to be. Now what? Well, the evolution from physical to digital books. But persuading a reader of physical that digital is superior is like trying to convert a Trump voter to Biden.

I recently read a physical book. The type was infinitesimal. This is not an issue on a Kindle, I’d have blown it up, changed the setting.

And in this Covid-19 era why would you want to go to a library, why would you want to go anywhere unless it was necessary?

Which led me to Libby, the public library app. I was a naysayer, now I’m not. That’s where I got “Mrs. Everything,” but the newest Jennifer Weiner books were not available for months. But I’d reserved “Monogamy” and it ultimately was free, what about “Rodham”?

I could get it for seven days. Right now. I downloaded it to my Kindle, just that fast. Isn’t this what we’re trying to do, isn’t this the essence of the last two and a half decades, reducing friction?

And then I started to read it.

I’m not a student of Hillary, nor Bill. I know the highlights, but their story is in black and white, not color, at least until Bill runs for president.

But in “Rodham”…

Now I don’t know how much of “Rodham” is true. I mean were these really Hillary’s friends, did she have any of these experiences in real life?

But it does not matter.

Because this isn’t so much about Hillary the person, but Hillary the character.

What’s it like to be the smartest girl in the school? What’s it like to stand up for yourself? What’s it like to poke the bear?

Most people don’t. Now, more than ever, people want to fit in. But even back then, you stood out at your peril. You were labeled. You were just being yourself, but you were laughed at.

So, Hillary stands up to sexism and this is at the bleeding edge of the women’s movement. We’ve still got a long way to go, today men are aware of the issue, but in many cases they just remain silent, there’s a hidden code that we still do it but we just don’t talk about it publicly. But back then? Men assumed that women should be seen, not heard.

There were very few women at Yale Law School.

But what intrigued me most about “Rodham” was the relationships, the dreamed-to-be and those that were real.

Hillary has a rapport with Bruce. They talk every Monday. She finally decides to take a chance, she gives him a note, saying she’d like to be his girlfriend.

And then she hears nothing.

Mostly I laugh when I think back at high school. It’s a cliché, what you thought was important was not. But then reading “Rodham” I’m brought back and…these were truly serious moments.

There’s a school vacation. Hillary hears nothing. And when she finally encounters Bruce back in school, he says nothing. She’s dying inside, she finally brings it up. No, it turns out Bruce is into somebody else, WHO HE’S ONLY TALKED TO ONCE!!

And Hillary continues to have rapport with men who reject her. They’ve got a mind meld. She broaches the relationship issue and time and time again they just don’t see her that way, sometimes they just see her as one of the guys.

SO WHAT’S A GIRL TO DO?

Her Wellesley roommates tell her to show some skin, to shut up.

But Hillary wants someone who loves her for her brain. But then she realizes this just doesn’t happen, men go for the physical first, and she’s not high enough on the food chain, she’s not desirable enough for the men she’s interested in to be interested in her. She’s not good-looking enough to be involved with a good-looking man.

And then Bill Clinton comes along.

She sees him across the way, months before they ultimately interact.

You know… Maybe you locked eyes once. And to you it means everything, but did it really mean anything?

And when Bill ultimately approaches Hillary she’s not quite sure how to handle it. Is he just another friend? She’s not in his league, she’s gun-shy. But then Bill says she’s the smartest girl at Yale Law School and he just had to meet her. And a love relationship ensues.

Bill is comfortable in his body.

But Hillary… Actually, she’s had sex, she’s not a complete nerd, but she’s completely flummoxed, why would Bill be interested in HER?

And Bill has big appetites and big desires.

And they do go to Yale and both of them are working the connections, connections the average person is unaware of, never mind able to utilize.

And now I’m feeling inadequate.

But then Hillary is working for Legal Aid and she’s drafting and I’m telling myself there’s no way I want to do that, I’m not interested, and there are things I’m interested in.

I never got higher education. I mean was there anyone who was truly interested in what they studied? Not me. The best part of college was hanging out, and going skiing.

Skiing. That’s why I went to Middlebury, it had its own ski area, I could ski every day, talk about a thrill! And I did. Well, at least during January term, in the spring it was more difficult sometimes, I did have to do some school work.

And the truth is that is what I still do today, ski, so maybe that was the right path.

But I never fit in, I never took the path, it never seemed reasonable to me. I don’t know whether it seemed reasonable to everyone else, or they were indoctrinated into doing what they were told.

And unlike Yale Law, unlike Wellesley, the people I went to college with did not set the world on fire. Sure, it was a different era, pre-tech, pre-entrepreneurship, but what if I’d decided to go to an Ivy instead, I had the chance, would it have played out differently?

But then I wouldn’t have been able to ski every day.

And I couldn’t go to concerts at Middlebury, although we did venture to New York and Boston every once in a while for a big show, like Bowie and Dylan, but I could listen to the same records as those who went to UCLA.

So, on one hand I feel different, certainly from all the people I went to college with. On the other, I’ve found like-minded people in music, but although there’s still a music business, it resembles the pre-Beatle era, all pop all the time, it’s business, it’s not driving the soul of the country.

And even the biggest artists don’t make a difference. Demi Lovato and the Lincoln Project? Here today, gone tomorrow. And are we really ready to listen to Demi Lovato tell us what to do, of all the people, all the artists in the world?

So on one hand I’m lost.

And then I read “Rodham” and I’m found.

I’m only ten percent in, but I’m stunned, that someone is on my page, someone has had my experiences, Sittenfeld must have to have written this book.

WHERE WERE THESE PEOPLE WHEN I WAS GROWING UP?

It’s not like my father taught me how to be a man, at least not sexually.

And today you can find like-minded people on the internet, but back then you were locked up in your own little world, dreaming, holding on for something better. Talk about depressing…

Knowing Sittenfeld “Rodham” will never get off course, it will ultimately deliver. Will it be as good as this initial 10%? Possibly not.

But I don’t want to keep on reading, I want to savor every page. It’s like finding the Dead Sea Scrolls. It’s like listening to Supertramp’s “Crime of the Century.” You think you’re the only one, and then you’re not.

“There’s a Spy (In the House of Love)”:

Spotify: spoti.fi/2H7fvFS

YouTube: bit.ly/3nYeRLv

Letterman: bit.ly/3dFePn1

They’re selling merch.
You need to read this story, even if you hate BTS:

“BTS’s Loyal Army of Fans Is the Secret Weapon Behind a $4 Billion Valuation – What investors are really paying for is not necessarily the K-pop group or its management company, but its huge, highly connected ecosystem of followers.”: nyti.ms/3iZMclz

Ignore the headline, I don’t agree with it, but be sure to read the article.

There are many music businesses today. Many ways to skin a cat. And despite triumphing over pirates, as a result of Spotify, the ecosystem of the major labels and their attendant infrastructure, i.e. radio and press, is woefully out of date.

Yes, we’ve been hearing about TikTok stars, we’re all aware of the story of Lil Nas X, but now what? Guy had a huge hit, he’s got name recognition but that’s about it.

Unlike BTS.

BTS is mobilizing its fan base. That’s what the above article is all about. The fans are spreading the word, buying the merchandise, buying the stock. They’re heavily involved in an alienated world where oftentimes it’s hard to find something to believe in, to live for.

And how are they doing it?

By making the act three-dimensional.

The traditional arc in today’s Top Forty world is to carpet bomb all media to the point where the most people are aware and then leverage that awareness in the straight business world, licensing your name/likeness/efforts to others, or starting a business yourself. It’s like everybody in the American music business has watched “Shark Tank” and the music is just a vehicle to get rich. How can fans identify with that?

Whereas BTS starts with the music, but it’s the penumbra that seals the deal. The group members reveal all their warts, their hopes and dreams. Note, this does not pay direct cash. We learned this years ago in internet world, you have to know when to monetize. If you’re trying to get paid for every effort you’ve lost the plot. Make someone a fan, bond them to you, and then they’ll give you all their money. BTS is owned by its fans, not by radio, not by streaming services, those are nearly irrelevant. It all happens elsewhere, on social media, places where fans can congregate. Which is why One Direction could sell out stadiums with only one radio hit in America. The fan base was rabid, they didn’t even listen to terrestrial radio, why?, what they needed to hear was on demand, at their fingertips, whenever they wanted it.

You’re in business for yourself these days. Sure, you can feature a famous rapper to gain attention to your track, but that’s all you’ve got, attention for one track, that does not make someone a fan, especially where there’s so much to pay attention to and be interested in 24/7.

Also, bonding fans takes a long time, it does not happen overnight.

You just don’t want to go to the show, you want to feel connected, you want ownership, which is what Big Hit has done with its IPO!

The values are staggering. A company with one hit act, that generates almost all of its revenue, is worth billions of dollars, doubling in value from the initial IPO price. What is driving the stock price? THE FANS! If you’re an investor following the fundamentals this investment makes no sense, unless you’re planning to get out soon. Shares are merch. You buy them to demonstrate your alignment, your belief in BTS. It’s kind of like owning a piece of the Green Bay Packers, but with much more involvement and many more perks. Once again, U.S. business is always looking up as opposed to down, but all the money is in looking down. Hell, how do you think Biden raised all that money? ONLINE! There are so many people in the world, many more than corporations, and when you group the people you end up with more money and more power than when you sell out to the corporations. Even worse, if you sell out to the corporations they own you, you’ve got to watch your step, whereas if you sell out to your fans, they approve of your behavior!

This is where the money is. I’m surprised no one in America has tried it. Taylor Swift complains that her catalog was sold out from under her. She should have just gone public and raised the money to buy her tracks.

And fans are not looking to buy shares to get rich. They won’t even really care if they go to zero in value. They got to go along for the ride, they were involved, they got to root for somebody. And, they were instantly part of a group with the same feelings and goals.

Yes, in the twentieth century you marketed to everybody. Today, you market to your niche, your dedicated customers.

Think of terrestrial radio and the Spotify Top 50. They appeal to a narrow slice of the public. Most people just don’t care. Whereas the money is generated elsewhere, where acts are in it for themselves. Sure, sometimes the two cross, but then again, so much falls out of the purview of the aforementioned charts/playlists.

You don’t need to beg for an add, you’ve got to micromanage your career, appealing to those who care, who will spread the word, do all the work for you. Come on, I read about music in the newspaper and I laugh. The stories are all placed there by publicists, it’s all hype. But if I hear about it from a friend, a trusted individual, I’m all ears.

And it’s kind of like Tesla. Other cutting edge companies in green technology and other tech verticals. People invest in them irrelevant of the initial return, they believe in the mission, which is why the Street and the short-sellers got Tesla so wrong. Furthermore, the public likes to lay down its cash for that which it believes in. You can rant all day about the build quality of a Tesla, but that’s not dissuading buyers. Hell, there’s a huge group of buyers who will be shamed by their friends if they don’t buy a Tesla. Forget D.C., the Fox News blather about the desire to have a zillion children and burn fossil fuels schlepping them around in a Suburban, if not two, today’s younger generation is incredibly ecologically knowledgeable, this is what they care about, climate change, the future of our nation, and if you play to them they’ve got unlimited money and time to give you.

That’s the lesson of yore. A fan will give you all their money, even if it means they cannot eat. I know people who ate hot dogs just so they could buy albums. Now they buy BTS stock and devote their time to the band, they’re not worried about how much they’re getting paid an hour, IT FEELS GOOD!

There’s a lot of unplowed ground here.

And funny how the innovation came from Korea.

You’re gonna get a new phone.

The last time there was a great leap forward was back in 2012, with the iPhone 5, with LTE.

This was before most people were surfing the web on their phones. Sure, via WiFi, but on the network? Speeds were slow. Also, not everybody had a smartphone at this time. But with LTE, web-surfing on the go was enabled, it was nearly seamless, the experience was rewarding, and that’s where you’ve been living until…

Today.

5G. It’s not as simple as it looks. Because there are multiple flavors. Depending upon which spectrum a carrier purchased. So, T-Mobile has nationwide 5G but it’s slow, a mere blip of a speed increase. Whereas Verizon has the high speed 5G you’ve been reading about, but it’s not everywhere, as a matter of fact until today it was almost nowhere. And still, now, it’s only in the metropolis. Even worse, not everywhere in the metropolis. Because for this flavor of 5G you need numerous small antennas, its range is short, and its ability to go through walls is…challenged.

Complicated, right?

But don’t expect the marketers to make it clear to you. America is the land of obfuscation, not only in politics. AT&T is famous for having their phones indicate a speed they do not provide. 4G before true 4G was available, and now 5G. It’s become a marketing term.

Then again, how much money have you got, how much money are you willing to spend?

Today Apple introduced it’s HomePod Mini. It’s vastly overpriced. Its capabilities supersede other offerings, but you’re paying for the privilege. It’s like Apple said you’ve got to pay to be a part of its ecosystem. That it’s only for the elite, or the wealthy.

That was not Steve Jobs’s philosophy.

Remember the iPod? When competitors started to make noise, Jobs kept lowering the price, so it made no sense to switch.

And, just like with smart speakers, Jobs often took existing technology and then blasted it into the stratosphere, not everything was invented at Apple, maybe just polished. But when Jobs did this, he leapt ahead of the competition and pushed the envelope of power and usability. And he also made it for everybody. iTunes was an acquired program that was free to users. FireWire enabled the iPod to transfer files faster than the competition. And, at first the iPod was high-priced, at $400, but it quickly dropped in price.

Apple is way late to the smart speaker race. Alexa is everywhere. And Google Home has a footprint too. Today you can get an Echo Dot for under twenty bucks. If you want the latest iteration, the 4th generation, you’ll pay $59.99. That’s a whopping forty dollars cheaper than the HomePod Mini. And the new HomePod Mini doesn’t even work with Spotify. Apple did not need a HomePod Mini, it need a HomePod Micro, at $29.99. But this is what happens when you focus on margins as opposed to market share. Smart speakers are an ecosystem. And yes, Siri is in all those iPhones and iPads, but conventional wisdom is it sucks, that the Amazon and Google products are superior, if for no other reason than they’re used more, which increases accuracy. Apple needed a great leap forward. Instead they introduced a Ferrari. Sleek and high performance. But not for the average joe.

But, the features of the HomePod Mini, its intercom, the handoff from your phone, those are very cool. That’s Apple’s future, locking you into its ecosystem, and now it’s not as simple as switching from a Mac to a PC, or vice versa, you’ve got a decades-long investment in a platform, switching is like going from English to Japanese, and you don’t want to do this.

But in phones?

Apple is killing it. Because it creates its own hardware.

Are you following the hubbub around Nikola? First and foremost, it was started by a scam artist, who convinced companies like GM to invest. An analyst blew the roof off the enterprise, Nikola may never recover. Nikola’s worst offense? It invented nothing, it was dependent upon suppliers, to provide in some cases stuff that was not yet invented.

Apple is in control of the entire process. As for suppliers, it’s such a big customer, usually the biggest, that suppliers kowtow to it.

But, it’s all about the chips.

Americans like things. In a world where so much has become a service, where you own so little, what you want is pulled on demand, there are very few items that you still own, that burnish your image, that make you feel good. And one of these is a smartphone. And there’s always some top-line Samsung Galaxy, but the truth is the iPhone is the king of image. It’s Louis Vuitton and BMW wrapped into one. You want one. This is another advantage Apple has…selling hardware. Most of the tech companies are purely software, or mostly. Many depend upon advertising, which invades your privacy, Apple can afford to reject that.

So, by designing its own chips, Apple can tweak them for their devices, for power consumption and so much more, no other manufacturer can compete, not a single one!

Oh, it’s not always invented first on the Apple platform, as referenced above. But it’s integrated seamlessly, and there’s no excess baggage, the crapware that comes on all the Android devices.

Android. This war has been fought. You’re on one team or the other. The one true advantage of Android is that it’s more flexible, if you’re skilled you can adjust it to the nth degree. But very few are that skilled.

And the iPhone is more powerful. It will continue to be more powerful. Just like Tesla…which is winning because its battery performance is superior to its competitors, who despite investment are nowhere close in range.

So, you’re gonna want a 5G phone. The hype, the pressure will get to you if nothing else.

And which one are you gonna buy?

The iPhone is not a throwaway, it does more than get the job done. But if you’re willing to lay down, the only limit will be your imagination, not the power. Shooting movies in 4G, employing RAW photography, you’re probably not gonna do either. But one thing is for sure, iPhone photography is state of the art.

And everything just works.

And it’s faster than the competition.

Once again, specs can be manipulated, but the truth is an integrated product will always be superior to one built from off the shelf components, especially when you control the chip, the brain, the engine itself.

As for which phone you need…

If you’re not buying a 12, you’re just cheap. Sure, you can buy a less expensive model, but you’re just hobbling your capabilities. You want to future-proof your purchase. And the truth is your smartphone is your most used device, more than your car, your computer, your flat screen…yes, it might be small, but this is not where you should cut financial corners.

Do you need a Pro?

Why not go all the way?

As for the Pro Max…what you’re getting are photography improvements. If those are important to you, buy one. But, you’ll also want to buy one if you want the size. And the truth is, like with flat screen TVs, you want the largest you can afford. Believe me. The more screen you’ve got the more you can see, the more you’ll use the device.

And despite all the criticism of addiction by the older generation, the truth is the smartphone is a tool we all depend upon. We’re only going to be more connected in the future, not less.

So, if you’re an investor, the future of iPhone sales looks very bright. Everybody’s gonna get a 5G phone. Maybe they can’t afford one today, during the Covid era, but they’ll want one soon, and they’ll prioritize this purchase. The upgrade cycle is about to begin.

As for the penumbra?

Only Apple can spin giving you less as a benefit. That’s right, by not including a charger and earbuds there will be less environmental impact. Hell, if we don’t buy one at all there will be no environmental impact!

But one thing you’ve got to know, despite the oldsters in D.C., everybody who runs a company today knows that youngsters prioritize the environment and human equality, if you’re not focusing on these topics you’ll lose the minds of consumers coming of age, and you don’t want to do that.

As for the presentation?

Once again, it was a rainbow of personalities. Do you really need the most powerful execs to read off a teleprompter? It seems overdone, but someone has to lead the way, and Apple is doing so.

As for the production itself…

Building an entire home? That’s what car companies, traditional Fortune 500 companies do. What did they do with the home set after, burn it? Yes, it seemed like a waste.

But one thing’s for sure, we’re never going back to the Steve Jobs presentations of yore, all on one stage.

Covid is changing our world in unexpected ways. It turns out Apple can do much more with a canned presentation than a traditional live one. They will not go back to the live ones unless they throw it to different locations therein.

The truth is Apple is the world’s wealthiest company. But it always presented itself as the other, the outsider, the cool, the hip. Today’s presentation undercut that, but unlike the one last month, it was brief, it contained the relevant information and if you actually watched it you were wowed.

Get ready to spend. 5G is here. And you’re best off buying an iPhone.

Case closed.

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Tune in today, October 13th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: LefsetzLive