AOC Gave The Most Important Feminist Speech In A Generation

What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where AOC is bigger than any rapper, rocker or country singer?

One in which there are a limited number of House seats and AOC knows truth resonates and if you’re not pushing the envelope, you’re getting no attention.

Virality. Doesn’t happen in music anymore. Maybe on TikTok, but TikTok is a fad. What I mean by that is people want to make videos of themselves, but they don’t necessarily need to do it on TikTok, and the story of the internet is once creators realize the attention is not worth the effort, they stop. In other words, everybody was gonna have a homepage, then everybody was gonna have a blog, then everybody was gonna live on Twitter and Facebook and…right now people are on Instagram and the aforementioned TikTok, but the views, unless you’re a star, a known quantity, are low, and there are better uses of your time than to cut down a tree in a forest no one even knows exists. Yes, most of the promises of the internet didn’t come true, or they exist with a twist. Single people believed by widening the pool, with internet dating, they’d be able to find the perfect person, not realizing the problem was within, that the reason they’re not coupled is because of their own flaws. And we heard all this hogwash about the long tail, but the truth is most of the action is at the head of the tail, because people want context, they want to belong, and if you’re a fan of somebody or something no one knows about, it’s very lonely. And sure, the best stuff doesn’t always gain attention, but generally speaking the quality at the head is much higher than it is at the tail.

So… In music, we’ve got no limit, everybody can play. The owners of the system profess otherwise, with their charts, organizing the game for consumption by…whom? The Top Forty of today is not like the Top Forty of yesteryear, when all genres existed side by side, rather today’s Top Forty is narrow, and a great percentage of the public has no idea who those at the top of the chart are, never mind their music. And therefore, the music business diminishes itself every damn day, just like the local newspapers, who cut the newshole down to the point where there was nothing left anymore. People don’t want the local newspaper, and they don’t want a lot of what is pushed down their throat by the major labels and the sycophantic media lining up to trumpet its wares, without evaluating the story.

So, if AOC was a local representative, in New York State government, she could say the same things and it would be heard by few. There are just too many representatives in state government, you can’t make sense of it. And many are ridiculed by John Oliver every week, they garner little respect, they’re lucky no one is paying attention.

But AOC is one of 535 congresspeople. There are no more slots. Membership is inherently limited. And you can’t get in via false hype. I’m not saying that everybody elected is worthy and trustworthy, I’m just saying there’s some scrutiny, and you can buy all the ads you want, but if you’re nobody from nowhere, good luck, even if you’re somebody from somewhere you’re gonna have trouble, like Mike Bloomberg.

Congress is a system. Where you pay your dues. Work your way up the ladder, to ultimately head committees, if you last that long. And if you upset the system, they don’t like it. AOC decided to upset the system, she didn’t worry about being labeled an upstart, she questioned the hierarchy, and although Congress pushed back, it turned out a big slice of the public was on her side, and elected people always pay attention to constituents, it’s how they get elected, they read the polls. Which is another reason why AOC is so attractive news-wise, she doesn’t seem to. She acts like she’s powerful and she’ll be there forever, like her endorsement counts.

AND SHE’S A WOMAN!

The music business argues how many women are on country radio, how many women run entities in the business. But, AOC won by taking charge, she knew she’d get blowback, but she didn’t care, she was speaking from the heart, what’s right. But the music business is one of a secret hierarchy, everybody is afraid they’ll be canceled. And therefore it’s not only women who are afraid to speak up, but men too. The boss doesn’t like uppity people, he, and it’s almost always a he, wants it his way. And if you don’t kiss butt, if you make waves, maybe radio won’t play your record. And you’ve got to kiss Spotify and Apple’s ass to get playlisted and by time you start…you’re already compromised. In an era where you can go directly to the public, our artists are hobbled by the insiders, they won’t fight the system unless they aren’t members of the system, like the same people with few followers who complain on Twitter…no one is seeing their tweets! Now I’m not saying women should “step up,” but I am saying change comes from those who question the status quo, who grab the flag and run with it. And the Grammys hires someone like that, and then they fired Deborah Dugan, because she wanted change too quickly, the men circled the wagons and…never gave a good reason why Dugan needed to be canned, and handled the PR horribly, and the end result is the Grammys will never recover, they’ve got a permanent stain, they thought they won when they lost, the same way the labels and publishers breathed a sigh of relief when they killed Napster, not knowing it was only the beginning, and it was going to get worse. So, we’re waiting for a few good men, and women, to challenge the system…but you could lose everything in the process. But AOC could lose everything, if she doesn’t get re-elected, she’ll be done in the public sector, the spotlight will not be upon her, but she continues to hang it all out there.

AND SHE SEIZED THE MOMENT!

This is what musicians do so poorly today. They wait for consensus. They don’t take action immediately, they don’t want to go first, they’re like teens needing to be a member of the group. And if someone does lead, they won’t follow, they don’t want to hurt their “career.” How did we get to this point? Where the most fluid and immediate art form takes a back seat?

AOC calls members of Congress to testify to abuse, and the record business wants everybody to post a black square online, come on.

But this is not AOC’s only play. Nothing lasts today, you’ve got to take a stand each and every day, be in the public eye always. But then you get musicians making albums because THEY need to make a statement, but the public no longer consumes music this way. Artists tell me media won’t review their work unless it’s an album…so, you’re placating media instead of the customer? And your album comes out and…then what? Unless you’re in the Spotify Top 50, your effort is over in a week, it’s like your work didn’t come out at all. Quick, anybody talk to you about John Bolton’s book this week? No, that’s already old news, just like the album you spent years working on.

BUT PEOPLE HATE AOC!

Not everyone. If you’re not willing to alienate some to bond to others, you’ve got no credibility, no sticking power.

And AOC is not in it for the money, but the message. But in music all we get is people bitching they can’t make enough. It’s about the message, the identity, it’s about being uncompromised!

So now AOC’s endorsement means more than that of senior congresspeople. She did this herself. She didn’t ask, she took, because she knew she was right. If you’re not acting from the heart, you’re gonna get busted.

AND AOC IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY!

That’s how it works in the U.S. It seems impossible, the issue has been raised for decades, and then seemingly overnight, the screw turns. Can you say gay marriage and legal marijuana? Polls say most people do believe black lives matter, they sympathize with the protesters. Of course not all citizens do, but if you want to placate everybody that means you can’t play at all, you remove yourself from the discussion.

And the last I checked, more than half of the population is female. We’ve all got a mother, maybe sisters too. Abuse of women is something we encounter every day. So, what are we gonna do, mutter anti-woman epithets sotto voce? Well, Yoho tried this, even though he’s trying to rewrite history, AOC heard his utterance. Yoho has been emboldened by Trump, believing you can say anything with no lasting effect, and that people are against AOC. But only SOME people. And in today’s internet world, if you say the wrong thing, everybody, at least everybody who cares, soon knows.

So, in a world of cacophony, everybody knows who AOC is, when I guarantee you most people don’t know who is #1 at Spotify, and don’t care!

And AOC is not selling herself out, becoming a brand for the man.

Once again, the playbook AOC is employing is the one musicians used to own. The one Grace Slick used to make herself a star. But no, today you don’t want to hurt your image.

This is about the message, not the woman. Don’t make this about AOC, I don’t care if you dislike her. But the truth is she is harnessing the zeitgeist and hammering it over and over again, not backing down, she’s showing backbone…AND THAT’S WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR, IN 2020 MORE THAN EVER!

The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma

These books always suck. A friend, or the writer himself, believes someone with a foothold in the music business once upon a time, even a household name, deserves to have their story written and the result is…unreadable. First and foremost because the author can’t write. And they don’t understand one of the great rules of writing, that sometimes you have to leave the best stuff out, because it doesn’t serve the story you’re telling. The authors are so busy cramming their tomes with stories and facts that the end result is unreadable, and readability is the key. You want readers, and if they’re turned off, your project is a failure. But at least once a week someone begs to send me their book, oftentimes self-published, believing if they just get a little publicity they’ll have a best-seller, and they can smile in satisfaction while they make a bit of money.

But these books always fail.

So they pile up in my house until there’s a day when I course through them, quickly, and put them in the discard pile. And today I had five. I allotted twenty minutes, that was more than enough, but I saved Ben Sidran’s book on Tommy LiPuma for last, because Ben had written me a personal note and Ralph Simon had told me about it on the phone. I just had to convince myself it sucked, and then toss it, justified in my non-read, no matter how close a friend Ralph is. We’re all overscheduled, we all have no time – to listen to someone’s album, to read their book, to watch their movie or TV show is a huge commitment. Usually their friends do and say how great it is, so you can read the few reviews online, and the creator can believe they were a victim of the system, when nothing could be further from the truth.

So, I’ve scheduled this twenty minutes because I’m expecting a delivery, and there’s not enough time to accomplish anything else.

So I started Ben Sidran’s Tommy LiPuma book at 1:15 in the afternoon, and I just finished it at 7:30 tonight. I could not put it down. I blew off everything else, I watched the day fade away, I was engrossed.

I used to hear from Tommy LiPuma all the time, and unlike most of the oldsters, he did not e-mail me to correct me, or to tell me I did not have the complete story, as if I can write an encyclopedia on every subject. Tommy was always friendly and accessible, and informative at the same time. He dealt with me like an equal, which is rare, the music business is one of hierarchy, people look down on you, even if their success happened long ago, they want to send the message that you do not deserve entrance into their club.

And Tommy lived longer than so many of his compatriots. He would weigh in with tidbits when they passed. And then, suddenly, Tommy passed too. He wasn’t supposed to. The longer you live, the longer you live. Statistically that’s true. Think about it. And I have honestly felt his absence in my inbox for the past couple of years, but not so much I was gonna read a bad book about him.

“The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma” is different from all the dreck. You see it’s a compendium of stories. That’s the essence of the entertainment business. Sure, there are some stars, but they can only be on stage an hour or two every night. And it’s a business of grifters and criminals…you need no CV to get into the music business, usually it’s a hindrance, it comes down to who you are.

And Tommy LiPuma was the son of an immigrant barber. Living in Cleveland, cutting hair himself, eventually going on the road to play with a band and getting burned out by the one nighters, deciding to go straight. But he could only cut hair one day, and then he got a job schlepping boxes in the warehouse of a record distributor. How did he get this job? Via the contacts he made as a barber. Right place, right time. Tommy cut hair at the epicenter of radio in Cleveland. And Tommy’s dad could not fathom this choice, making less than a barber shipping boxes, what kind of future was that?

Not the kind you get going to an Ivy League school, getting a graduate degree. you believe that education allows you to start…at least in the middle. But not in the music business, you’ve got to start at the bottom, pay your dues and earn your ascension. Working in the entertainment business is not a right, but a privilege, and to succeed you need to get along, know people and work your network, being good is not good enough.

So, eventually Tommy becomes a radio promotion man, first in L.A., then in New York, and then goes into publishing. You’ve got to do what’s in your heart, what you’re good at. Tommy tried to sell records, he was bad at it. He could do the promo gig, it’s just that he wanted to be closer to the music. And from publishing Tommy went into record production and there begins a storied career.

So, when you get together with music people, it’s all about their stories. Some are famous for it. Donald Tarlton has had me in stitches multiple times, talking about the night the Who got locked up in jail after a Montreal show. Donald got money from the mob, and when he went to bail them out, the members of the band had their hands on the bars and were singing “Don’t Fence Me In.” I’m not sure if that reads funny, but if you heard Donald tell it, the same way he told the story of his thirty minute disco at Expo 67, you’d never forget it. You see there are some facts, which you embellish, which you rearrange, and then you puff yourself up, pump the adrenaline, and do your best to be a great raconteur. Hell, Joe Smith was more famous as a toastmaster than as a record executive. Sure, I’m stretching the truth, but I can remember Joe telling me the story of “Workingman’s Dead”…he signed the band, he kept begging them to make one for ME, and they finally did.

So, the intro to this book says it’s based on stories Tommy told Ben. Oh, there are biographical elements, but then every event, recording the Sandpipers (who knew they were originally the “Grads”?), forming Blue Thumb with Bob Krasnow, cutting “Breezin'” is told as if you were sitting at Martoni’s and Tommy sauntered in and sat down and told you what just happened. Most people are not famous, it’s these stories that are the highlight of their lives.

As for the origin story…

I guess people today don’t understand how those of yesteryear fell into the business. They loved music and they got an opportunity and they kept following that opportunity. Most got spit out, but some kept going and stayed in.

You can’t quantify music. No way. Just because a track reaches #1 we all know that does not mean it’s great. How do you create a great record, how do you capture that magic?

There are some tricks in this book, but I would not read it for that, in reality it’s history. Anybody who survives from the golden years, who is still working at a label today, will tell you it’s the same as it ever was, that today’s acts are just as good, and if you don’t think that way you’re an old fart. But that’s not what it says in this book. Tommy says when the bean counters came in, it was all over. Now it’s all about priorities, there is no artist development. People tell me all the time of the story of artist development on an act, and it’s always about ONE ALBUM! On Warner Brothers, they’d give you a chance to make four or five, to find yourself, to establish a base. Today, if you don’t hit right away, you’re done. And did you read Neil Shah’s story in the “Wall Street Journal” today?

“From Rihanna to Kanye West: Why Music’s Biggest Stars Aren’t Focused on Actual Music – Between fashion collabs, music-competition shows and selling rosé, artists are choosing to follow the money – and the money isn’t in albums”

Everybody on the inside knows this, they’ve known it for years, but when it’s printed in the financial paper of record…the investors know it, the same people who fund the music business (all three major labels are publicly traded, if not alone, as part of a larger conglomerate), and suddenly it’s common knowledge. Yes, we’ve been selling the emperor’s new clothes. Accept it.

And as this article proves, it’s all about the money. Acts will do anything for money, even play for dictators. Credibility is secondary to income and lifestyle. So, if you’re Tommy LiPuma who got into the business for the music, your stomach turns and you retire.

Actually, I think this article in the “Wall Street Journal” is a good thing. Maybe it can represent a turning point, getting back to the garden, making it about music, the most powerful elixir in life other than sex.

So, if you want to know how it used to be, read this book.

But the truth is most youngsters today don’t care, the only thing they want to know about the past is what to sample.

But if you were there, these stories will resonate, and you’ll learn new things. And unlike Clive’s book and movie and…this is not hagiography, it’s just the story of a life (and Tommy takes a swing at Clive too, he doesn’t respect the music “Mr. Music” is responsible for, other than Whitney Houston, he thinks it’s evanescent junk. But Clive is a master of promotion, and the dumb media plays along and we end up where we are today. Clive goes to the studio and his behavior makes Tommy wince.)

So “The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma” is readable. I can’t believe Ben remembered all these stories, but in the intro he says they were good friends. And it demonstrates how nobody from nowhere can make it in music by sheer will and desire…and a passion for the music. And the truth is all those high-paying jobs, especially on Wall Street, they’re essentially empty, there’s no nourishment of the soul, workers just take this cash to buy front row seats, to use their connections to get screeners, because it’s entertainment that rules this world.

And Tommy LiPuma knew how to create it. For every project he had a vision. And he cast his players accordingly. And he learned from Phil Spector to respect his players, and some of the best records were cut very quickly. Today they hammer these tracks trying to make them perfect, when the truth is you either catch lightning in a bottle, or you don’t, it’s just that simple.

My favorite story in the book is the recording of “Only You Know and I Know,” the opening cut on Dave Mason’s legendary “Alone Together.”

“But what really made the song happen was Jim Gordon’s drum part. ‘The rhythm pattern he came up with,’ says Tommy, “which was like a march, just opened the door to the song. When I heard it, even though it was just bass and drums (the initial recording), I knew I had the goods.'”

VOILA!

The record is fresh, timeless. Whenever I write about it people e-mail about the Delaney & Bonnie version, which came out first, which of course I own, demonstrating their “knowledge.” But it’s not about knowledge, it’s about FEEL, it’s something elusive, which is why even though you know the stats, you cannot work in the music business, why trained musicians usually fail in popular music.

I could never put my finger on it. Why I could never burn out on “Only You Know and I Know,” what made it so endearing, to the point every time I hear it it seems brand new, today I found the missing link, now I can see the whole picture, it’s the DRUMS! And Tommy goes on to say the drums are the one thing you’ve got to get right, you can wipe everything else, replace it, but if the drum track is not right, your recording will never be right.

“‘Cause you know, that I mean what I say”

And what I say is if you’re the audience for this book, you’ll dig it.
I’ll let you decide whether it was written for you.

Harlan Coben’s latest book, “The Boy From The Woods,” entered the “New York Times” best seller chart at #1 in April. His breakthrough, “Tell No One,” was made into a Top Ten-listed film, and presently Coben has four successful series on Netflix: “The Five,” “Safe,” “The Stranger” and “The Woods.” Listen as Coben lays down the truth of the writing life, and the long hard road to getting film and television projects into production. Despite spending his days writing, Coben is a great conversationalist whose words are laden with insight. Listen.

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What a show!

I screamed so loud Felice was more scared by me than what was on the screen!

Like I said, I base my viewing on recommendations. In this case Jim Urie recommended “The Twelve,” and then just a couple of days later, so did Bob Pfeifer. Did I trust them?

I wasn’t sure, so I went on RottenTomatoes and found…nothing.

This is kinda like the worldwide #1s, especially the hits in the U.K., not crossing over to the U.S. They’re hiding in plain sight, there’s even a playlist on Spotify, but so many records don’t make the transition. It’s curious. If anything it proves there’s no longer any spontaneous combustion, nothing is so good that it blows itself up. It needs focus. Maybe by a label, with its publicity, marketing and promotion departments, maybe social media, with communities spreading the word.

But I heard nothing about “The Twelve.”

It’s Belgian. For all I know there could be a dubbed version, but I always employ subtitles, dubbing makes a show unbelievable, and you soon start to believe the actors are speaking in English anyway. Don’t ask me to explain it, they’re obviously speaking a foreign language, but you’d expect to run into them on the street and have them speak perfect English, with no accent.

So, the “Twelve” are the jury. Yup, it’s one of those shows, what will the jury decide.

But that’s not what makes it so interesting, it’s the characters.

Of course we want to know who committed the crimes. And you’re constantly changing your opinion, but…

For me the star was Arnold. A juror. His wife died and he can’t get over it. He tries to be nice to people and they reject him. His coworkers make fun of him, as do his neighbors. You feel so bad for him. There are so many people like this in real life, especially elders. What they don’t tell you is as you age you will have fewer friends. You won’t hang out at bars, you’ll find it’s hard to get somebody out of their house. And if you’re single, or your significant other dies, or you break up, you’re totally screwed. If you’re lucky, you’ll have people who will allow you to be the fifth wheel, if not…you’re alone, with only words and pictures to keep you company. Of course you can go online and try to find someone new, but even if you have the gumption, to get rejected at this age, to relive high school, to relive your adolescent anxieties, you’ll too often find people just like you…hurt, damaged, looking for someone to save them. I know from experience, in the nineties I had a free subscription to AOL, I lived online, it consumed my life the rest of the decade. And you could meet people in chat rooms, or on Love@AOL, or when the web gained momentum, Match.com, to which I still have a free lifetime subscription, if I could ever remember the login and password. It’s bad enough navigating these issues when you’re young, you’ve got context, you see people every day in school, you’ve got commitments, your whole day is scheduled, but when you get old, you’re lucky if you even have a job, and you can join the social groups but what you’ll find is…members are much younger than you are, and you get sick of being labeled the oldster, or they’re the same age or older than you, and half-dead already.

And then there’s Delphine. With her jealous husband. Is it them, or is it you? I had a possessive girlfriend. I’ve never cheated on anybody in my life, I’m loyal, I’m committed, but she was not only jealous of other women, but my time. But there were positives, and you’re always weighing whether it’s worth the sacrifice, you’ve been together so long, they know all about you, can you handle the breakup?

That’s another thing they don’t tell you, how hard breakups are. The only person who really gets you you can’t talk to anymore. And even if your friends listen at first, they burn out, they don’t want to hear it anymore.

And twelve step programs… What does it take for people to jump the rails? I just read a fantastic book. On one hand I’m loath to recommend it, because it’s short stories, and they leave you hanging, as if the typesetter forgot the ending. You turn the page and…there’s a new story, how could this be? But the writing is great. Reading it made me aware that anybody can publish a book, but very few can write. Yes, people can lay out facts, even plot, but to have the words cut like butter, to create images in the reader’s mind, to make the reader eager to read, to forget everything else in their life while they’re consuming, that’s really difficult. The book is called “Cool for America”:

Cool for America: Stories

It’s very easy to read, but it’s not for casual readers. If you just want information, this book is not for you. If you need everything tied up in a bow, this book is not for you. But if you’ve got more questions than answers, if you think about your choices, read it. The stories are about millennials. Not all of them are bankers, techies, living life in the fast lane, at least financially. Many went to college and are drifting, waiting for the world to reveal itself. And a lot of moral issues come up in “Cool for America,” if the person is married…and do you stay clean and do you take a flyer?

And you think you know people by their exterior, even by what they say and do, but the truth is you don’t really know them at all.

And people can be mean. And their priorities can be screwed up. And as a parent, to what degree should you get involved in your children’s choices. When I was growing up, our parents knew little, but if you crossed the line there’d be hell to pay. Today, parents know everything about their kids, they’re their best friends, make me puke, but they want to control them all the while. I went to college and my parents didn’t care what I took, if I passed it was cool, same deal with law school. As far as telling me what courses to take, I was on my own.

And then there are the people who just cannot accept the inherent flaws of others, the baked-in stuff, that cannot be changed. It’s screwing up their life. But if you can’t accept others…

And then there’s the issue of borderline personality disorder. Where they put you on a pedestal, and then tear you down and leave you when you least expect it. That’s an element of this show, and I lived it in my real life, I’m not sure if I’ve recovered yet, it messes up your sense of trust.

And does everybody lie on the stand these days? Do the police manipulate evidence? It seems the richer you are, the less you’re beholden to the rules. The regular folk have a sense of honor, at least more of them.

And then there’s the tell-tale heart, yup, right out of Edgar Allan Poe. Can you commit a crime and get away with it and live with yourself? Can you cope, can you put one foot in front of another? Maybe only psychopaths and sociopaths can do this.

But at first “The Twelve” was not a recommendable show. It just seemed like a genre series. But as the episodes unspooled, the characters became three-dimensional, their identities came clear. The defense attorney bugged me, but over time I came to love him.

And very little is definitive, certainly when it comes to legal issues. The truth may just not be revealed, you’re gonna have to live with the fact that…you might get it wrong. I’m not eager to put someone in jail for thirty years without the evidence being perfectly clear, and as I just said, it’s usually not.

So, as the episodes unfold, you see people’s flaws, their situations come clear to the point where you switch sympathies. And I don’t think every jury would have this many issues, but maybe I just haven’t lived enough, maybe I just don’t know people.

And in this Covid-19 era… It’s like “Groundhog Day,” every day is the same. I’m lucky enough to be busy business-wise, but there are no concerts, no meetings, no get-togethers, and it can become oppressive. And people my age fall into two categories. One, those on complete lockdown, who don’t want to see anybody. Two, those who say they’re quarantining, but really are not, you question them and you find they’ve been to restaurants, they flew on planes, they took vacations, but they’re healthy and they can’t understand why you won’t loosen up. Then you read about people, even young people, who feel this way and then…Covid-19 bites them in the ass.

So, when I find a show I can get into, and most I cannot, it’s the highlight of my night. I don’t see it as entertainment, but life. It’s always strange when you see the same characters playing different roles, you thought you had them nailed and then you do not, like Thierry Godard, who is radically different in “Spiral” than “A French Village.”

And “The Twelve” is not as good as either of them, it’s not in the same league. But the more I watched it, the more I realized it was a cut above most of the dreck people tell me to watch.

So…kinda like with “Cool for America,” you’re on your own. If you’re not willing to commit to “The Twelve,” don’t even bother, because unless you watch it to the end, you probably won’t respect it.

I’m just pissed it’s over.

The Twelve

The trailer at the above link is DUBBED! It horrified me, because the Flemish voices sound nothing like this. If you don’t know how to turn on subtitles, watch this video:

How To | Subtitles & Audio | Netflix