It’s very simple, it’s all about testing.

You start with the necessary workers, you know, those at the grocery store, the infrastructure that keeps America going. You test them on a regular basis. Then you open the spigot just a bit, and test those at retail and office locations. And you keep testing. And when you find someone who is infected, you isolate them until their infection runs its course.

But we can’t do that in America, because it’s going to impact our FREEDOM!

Let’s start with the tests. We ain’t got them. No one has covered this better than John Oliver last night:

Coronavirus VI: Testing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

We live in an era of disinformation. Trump has employed Putin’s playbook. You beat up on the press, you put so many theories out there that the truth is in question. Even if someone in an official capacity is spewing facts, those are questionable too.

But to stay with testing, we haven’t got enough. Jared Kushner says we do, Trump says everybody who wants one can get one, but our testing today is unbelievably low and so is our capacity, experts say we need 5-35 million tests a day, at a minimum 500,000, but presently we’re testing close to 200,000 people a day.

But, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Isn’t that what Bush 2 said?

It was only the beginning.

And Brownie was doing a HELLUVA JOB saving New Orleans, and the end result was that the Republicans got wiped out in the next election.

But it’s even worse now, Trump is getting in a fight with Bush 2! Trump only has loyalists, essentially on the payroll, he’s got no allies. And you cannot win a war that way.

But let’s get back to freedom why don’t we, that’s the bedrock of America, as well as the right to carry an assault rifle and have no health insurance. They have an assault rifle massacre in Canada, and Trudeau outlaws the weapon, institutes a buyback program for those in existence, but we can’t do that in America, because those who possess them need them to fight America, if the government gets out of control.

Ever hear of a drone? Ever hear of cyberspace?

That’s where war is fought today. You might have read the story about ex-Googler Eric Schmidt being the new military expert, telling the generals to get behind machine learning, but these are the same overtrained bozos who believe the war will be fought on the ground.

So, the weather got warm and you want to go to the beach.

SO DO WE!

Do you think anybody wants to stay home? That they don’t want to go out and get a burger, watch a movie…

But we get everybody in the country on the same page, staying home, that’s quite an accomplishment, but then Trump and the anti-vaxxers start protesting, in small numbers, and it’s all over, we’ve got to open the country whether we’re ready or not.

But the big news today is even TRUMP expects Covid-19 deaths to rise prodigiously.

That’s right, it’s been the headline story all day in the aforementioned lacking credibility “failing” “New York Times”:

“Coronavirus Live Updates: As States Move to Reopen, 2 Projections Show Deaths Rising”

To 3,000 a day by June 1 from 1,750 today. Infections are going to go to 200,000 a day from 25,000 now.

THIS IS TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION SAYING THIS!

It’s the headline in the “New York Times,” it’s finally made it to the “Washington Post,” but it’s not near the top at the “Wall Street Journal,” as for Fox News…the headline is all about Michael Flynn, isn’t this the equivalent of Hillary’s e-mails, but in reverse?

But the problem is all China’s. Trump wants China to pay for our losses.

Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen.

But even worse, this is like looking for the person who set the fire while it still rages. PUT OUT THE FIRE FIRST!

So what we are looking for is leadership, someone to tell us what to do.

What the past six weeks have proven is we WILL do what someone tells us to do, the government leaders do have power.

But Trump kept saying it was the states’ obligation, and then occasionally took power from them. This is like the NFL letting every team set its own rules, and then Roger Goodell coming along every once in a while to change them.

So, people sit at home and run by their feelings, as if their feelings are worth anything.

Hmm… I can’t see the cliff, there is a warning sign but the drop is not visible, so I’m gonna keep going at top speed.

Meanwhile, all we keep hearing about is SWEDEN!

Well, it turns out it isn’t working in Sweden. Suddenly, deaths have skyrocketed! I could provide the link, I could provide links for all of this, but you’re not gonna believe them, so why bother.

And now we’ve got the insane Tara Reade story.

Only the Democrats can shoot themselves in the foot.

You don’t take the bait. You get out ahead of the story.

So, at first the left wing press buried the story and Biden stayed silent. And then the right harped on it so much that Biden had to respond. And he denied it. And that’s usually enough in today’s world, that kills a story in today’s fast-moving news cycle. But Biden waited too long, you jump on the accusation immediately. As for the press, it can see the truth in the right wing position, and now is self-flagellating, can you say JUDITH MILLER!

Yes, the “Times” printed an editorial over the weekend calling for a further investigation.

Today there’s an opinion piece in the Gray Lady saying Biden has to go.

So, once again the right defines the debate and laughs as the left trips over its sneakers.

It’s very simple lefties… JUST MOVE ON! And if questioned, say for the good of the country they’re not going to attack Biden.

Of course, the press and the DNC anointed the lame Biden and now they’re paying the price, proving once again that the handlers and the prognosticators are clueless. They’re so busy saving their status that they hurt the country.

So no wonder you feel alone, no wonder you feel stuck in the middle with me.

Facts have become irrelevant.

The economy is being trashed and those damn lefties made us shut down the country, so we’ll show them, WE’LL REOPEN IT!

And like those coronavirus deniers we read about in the past six weeks, new ones will die. It’s kinda like Lee Atwater, the dirty trickster working for Reagan and Bush, on his premature deathbed he recanted, tried to take it all back. That’s what happens when you die, you’ve got remorse.

But people die all day long, so what’s the difference now?

Well, the deaths far outpace those for the flu, but people still don’t believe it.

Bill Gates is knowledgeable on pandemics and has a profile, but the truth is he started the whole thing for personal gain. Yup, that’s what the anti-vaxxers and right wing believe. Gates is gonna ride in on a white horse with a vaccine, so why should he be believed?

As for Trump… He feels like there will be a vaccine by the end of the year. Just like he felt Covid-19 was an irrelevant issue in America.

And speaking of America, the supposed greatest country in the world, it turns out South Korea had a better plan. It’s kinda like 9/11, who could foresee terrorists flying into skyscrapers? OUR OWN DAMN GOVERNMENT! But you can’t listen to experts on the payroll, because they’re part of the deep state that is ruining this great country of ours, rogue entities that are now allowing Trump to rule as he sees fit!

Back to Tara Reade… The DNC didn’t foresee this? If Trump and his cronies were gonna employ a quid pro quo, dollars for dirt, with Ukraine for Biden info, and then Trump skates on impeachment, do you really think the Donald and the RNC are gonna be afraid and stop going on the attack?

So, you’ve got to go to the beach. You can’t get sick in the sunshine, it inoculates you!

But the data has come out saying exactly the opposite!

But data is manipulated, don’t believe it.

You’ve got the right to go to the office and go shopping. After all, you know plenty of people who go to the grocery store who are fine.

Meanwhile, they’re now wearing masks when Pence does not. And his reasoning? HE’S TESTED ALL THE TIME!

The goal is to limit the number of infected and isolate them, so fewer people can be infected by them, so infections die in the general population, but now the government itself is saying we’re going in the opposite direction by opening up the country, that deaths will double!

And it’s not even six degrees of separation. You or someone you know will die. You think you’re immune, but you’re not. And when it’s you…haven’t we learned that in today’s America no one can suffer, no one can take one for the team? Oh, people say this, but when it’s them, they want someone to pay, it’s unjust and unfair!

And who the hell is gonna go for a test if you’ve got to pay for it. Even if it’s free, many people don’t believe this, after getting ER and other medical bills. As for the illegals doing a lot of the grunt work, they’re never gonna be tested, they’d rather risk dying than being kicked back to Central America where they truly will die.

We’ve been skating for decades, saying the worst can never happen, that there will never be a rainy day. And it’s at all levels. People have no savings and corporations don’t either, if they’ve got any cash they kick it back to their stockholders, as for the government…it’s inefficient so it must be starved!

Not that anything I write here will change your mind. Because if you don’t agree, you’ve probably been subjected to DECADES of disinformation, you’d have to rewrite your entire history, better to go down with the ship.

As for the ship…

The Navy says Crozier can come back, but the secretary appointed by Trump is so afraid of angering the Donald that he’s kicked it back for another review. And when institutions fail, you’re screwed. This was a rubber stamp situation. But what we’ve got here is the lifetime employees saying get over it, it’s fine, Crozier should go back to being the captain, but the temporary employee with less experience says no. So, do you want to subject yourself to the system? OF COURSE NOT! You’re either muzzled or fired, you’ve got to take the company line or you’re history! So, it all comes down to keeping your job, is that what work should be about? Is truth irrelevant?

I always laughed when George Carlin said voting was irrelevant.

Oh, I know, I know, better Biden than Trump. There is a difference, but it’s gonna benefit the big people more than the little.

As for Biden…

Covid-19 is de rigueur, it’s part of the fabric, it’s the daily condition, if people are no longer scared of the virus today what are the odds they’ll remember in November?

All the statistics said Biden should emerge victorious, but now the right is ramping up, attacking Biden 24/7, who is so lame he can’t even FIGHT BACK! It’d be like someone dropping a nuclear bomb on your house and you waiting weeks to retaliate. It shows weakness, and aren’t we looking for strength in a leader? That’s one place Trump has got Biden beat.

And there will be debates, because Trump will cream Biden, that’s a given.

And what will the issues be?

THE PENUMBRA!

We’ve seen this movie over and over again. The Democrats nominate a reasonable person with experience and they lose over trivial matters that have nothing to do with governing. How about Kerry? He famously got Swiftboated. He went to fight and Bush 2 did not, but somehow it’s Kerry’s fault?

So, the Democrats could stop nominating the safe candidate, who always loses, and throw a longer ball. Someone who fights back, someone who sets the agenda.

But they’re scared of this. Trump breaks the paradigm and the DNC wants to re-establish it. What next, typewriters?

As for the Postal Service…

Of course it should be propped up. And it would be fine if the Republicans didn’t insist that pensions be paid way in advance. But Trump keeps saying the problem is Jeff Bezos, when in truth Amazon does not get favorable rates, and no one is explaining to the hoi polloi how the Postal Service benefits them. People believe they live in a purely digital world, so screw the mail carriers. They’re all on the dole anyway.

Meanwhile, everybody with a dime gets more. Your CEO is paid millions? Well, you need government assistance, the individual has no relationship with their bank, the business of America is business, and since we’ve stripped down the IRS and the overseers, you’re never gonna get caught anyway. Do you really think the Lakers would be taking this money if they were afraid of getting caught? Of course not, but today no one gets caught, except for the little person.

But the IRS is bad, as are the taxes it collects.

But it’s your taxes that pay the CDC, and you keep saying you want to be safe…

I give up. I’m just one voice in a million. I’m not convincing anybody to change their opinion. As for the bloviators on the flat screen and in opinion pages… That’s their business, they paid their dues, they aren’t letting in those who did not. It’d be like walking out of law school and demanding to be made partner at the law firm, doesn’t happen.

So, should you stay home, wear a mask and observe social distancing when everybody else is not?

Already people are standing closer, the data tells us this, the cellphone data. And you can just look at the pictures.

And I was just at a gas station, for every person with a mask and rubber gloves, there’s another in flip-flops living free and easy, and isn’t it funny that the richer people are, the more they believe they’re immune. And, in fact they are. They’ve don’t go to the grocery store and they certainly don’t have to work there. And if they think they’re infected, they’re connected and get a test instantly. And then our leader says this is the way life is in these United States.

It most certainly is.

But it shouldn’t be.

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right, here I am
Stuck in the middle with you

Stealers Wheel was one of those rare bands with success on AM that caused you to buy the disappointing album, substandard not because it was too light, but because the songs were not quite as good as the ones Gerry Rafferty would write as a solo act thereafter. Unfortunately, by that time A&M had lost Gerry Rafferty and his gigantic hit “Baker Street” was released on United Artists.

“Baker Street” is one of those smash hits that you only hear once but have to hear again, the kind you never quite burn out on, that fires on all cylinders, that works melodically, lyrically and instrumentally. As for the last point, Raphael Ravenscroft’s sax was so indelible on the airwaves that he was rewarded with his own solo album, that stiffed.

You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you’re trying, you’re trying now

Gerry Rafferty would not have won on a TV show, because those competitions are looking for generic, whereas what succeeds in music is the unique. You know it’s Rafferty, the understated softness, yet with emotion, his voice is rich and you do not need to be beaten over the head to get its soul.

So, “Baker Street” is one of those cuts that never leaves the airwaves, you hear it on oldie stations, but it’s almost fifty years old, and now they have oldie stations that focus on classic hip-hop.

But “Stuck in the Middle with You” got a renaissance, just like “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Journey was a band of its era, the eighties, and it was fading in the rearview mirror until David Chase employed the aforementioned track in the finale of “The Sopranos” and now it’s a national staple.

Same deal with “Stuck in the Middle with You,” albeit with not quite as much fame. However, Quentin Tarantino is considered to be the foremost filmmaker of the last three decades, and unlike his predecessors, he pushes the envelope. Spielberg is a technician, Scorsese is about feel, but it’s Tarantino that jumbles it all up, who is unworried about linearity, and somehow leaves you with an encapsulation of an era or a feeling or… You see we remember the phenomena.

And “Pulp Fiction” was a phenomenon, but if you were hip to QT before that, you saw “Reservoir Dogs,” and if you became hip to him thereafter, you went back to “Reservoir Dogs,” which had the rare marriage of violence and humor, embodied foremost in the scene wherein Mr. Blonde, aka Michael Madsen, proceeds to slash a prisoner to “Stuck in the Middle with You.” Mr. Blonde turns on the radio, whips out a straight edge razor, starts dancing around, joyously, in the groove, and then attacks. Is Mr. Blonde a sociopath? Or is it about the lyric? Or does it illustrate the thin line between normalcy and violence? I’ll leave it to you. But one thing is for sure, once you’ve seen it you’ll never forget it.

Which is why “Stuck in the Middle with You” is now a cultural staple.

(If for some reason you’re out of the loop, you can see it here:

Stuck in the Middle With You – Reservoir Dogs)

So, what started out as a period piece, about a party, became the national condition, trotted out whenever you feel part of a group, but that group feels lost, and powerless.

Like now.

I’m stuck in the middle with you.

It’s fantastic.

Too bad it’s on Apple TV+. Like I always tell you, distribution is king, and if you want someone to experience your art, you want it to have the widest distribution possible. Sure, you can be the Wu-Tang Clan, and sell your album for millions to Martin Shkreli, but that’s not about art, but money. And ultimately the Beastie Boys were about art.

I know, I know, sounds ridiculous, especially if you know them from their “Fight For Your Right” days, but this flick shows the full oeuvre, without trying to be self-aggrandizing it ends up making the band look pretty damn good. You see they ended up hating themselves and the audience they brought. They didn’t want to be those “Fight For Your Right” guys anymore. So, they broke up with their label and management (the dirty details are glossed over here), and reunited in Los Angeles to make the legendary “Paul’s Boutique” which was released to crickets. And they felt the impact. Not only did no one care, not only were they not on MTV, when they finally went back on the road they had to play clubs, not Madison Square Garden, whose boards they’d plied in the wake of “Licensed to Ill.”

So there’s an arc. They were bratty kids. And now they’re grown-up men, well, at least the two who’ve survived.

They’re city kids. And if you’re lucky enough to know some, you know they’re different. They grow up fast in Manhattan. And you might be afraid to ride the subway, but they aren’t. And the world is at their fingertips, this is not the suburbs where you can only dream, you can take action, assuming you’ve got the motivation. And they all wanted to play, but it was Adam Yauch who pushed them, you can see what a huge role he played, why the band could never continue without him.

Most people heard about the trio when they opened for Madonna. To a terrible reception. Well, the truth is they weren’t that big at the time, Freddy DeMann wanted Run-DMC, but that was 20k, and the Beastie Boys did it for $500, a show that is. And when they come back, they’re nowhere. Oh, they’ve got Russell Simmons as a manager, and Rick Rubin as a producer, but they can’t sell any tickets, their twelve inches get club play, but if you think club play translates to huge fandom and riches, you’ve probably never been to a club.

So, these kids are unsupervised, skipping school, having fun.

That’s one-half of the paradigm. They’re doing it to hang with their friends and have fun. And they continue to have fun, but they don’t really get serious until after the failure of “Paul’s Boutique.”

Most people are not willing to reinvent themselves, they want to play with a net, they want a guarantee, which is why you went to college and the Beastie Boys did not. Why you want to be behind the scenes instead of on stage. You want an income and a family, you don’t want to put it all on the line.

But that’s what an artist does.

So, they’re experimenting. Their talent is their brains, not their musical chops. How can they push the envelope. And after having no control with “Licensed to Ill,” then they want all the control, down to imaging and videos, never mind the recording process. They’re growing.

And when a reporter calls Yauch a hypocrite, for supporting women after his partying days, he says he’d rather be called a hypocrite than to be stuck in the same beliefs, being the same person ad infinitum.

Now that’s funny, because in politics you’ve got to be the same person, you can’t change your mind, it’s gotcha all the time. And music journalism is either fawning or gotcha, and usually those giving answers can barely speak and spell, but Adam had thought about it, he’d grown. Isn’t that what life is about?

Now they just want you to repeat yourself, to make that money. Maybe you just want to repeat yourself to make that money.

And “Paul’s Boutique” is just before the Tommy Mottola era, when everything changed. Capitol gave the Beasties money, then they waited for the album. This was the seventies ethos, the label made its bet and the artist was in control. But starting with Mottola…the whole business became Clive Davis 24/7. The exec was king. The exec told you what to record. The exec decided whether to put out your album. And the execs know something, but they’re not artists, and if I want to bet on something resonating with the public, I’ll put my money on artists all day long. And to make a point, much of the dreck that Tommy and Clive released was commerce, not art.

So maybe you hate the Beastie Boys’ music. Maybe you hate the Beastie Boys. Maybe you know next to nothing about the Beastie Boys. But you should still watch this film. Because the music is secondary. Oh, they tell how they created it, but the driving force is creativity and life in the creative land. Turns out you’ve got to be different to create. Which is why if you’re working at the law firm, or as a doctor or an accountant, chances are you’re never going to make it in music. The Beasties were living on nothing, hanging out on the street, in Rick’s dorm room, in Russell’s office, the clubs. It was a 24/7 job getting inspired. And some of their greatest ideas came when they weren’t trying, when they were just walking down the street and spontaneous combustion created a song.

Like the riff of “Sabotage.” Adam Yauch was just jamming. You’ve got to be living the life for happy accidents to happen.

And you have to be willing to put it all on the line, you have to be willing to go broke, you have to be willing to tumble down the ladder, something professionals are loath to do. Yes, professionals use their years to get more bucks, a bigger office and more status. It’s a game. The truth is art is not a game, but a life. Which is why artists run through the money, they’re not thinking about it.

But don’t think everybody with a hit record is an artist.

And, once again, pop music is about inspiration, not skill. Who cares if you went to Berklee, does the lightning strike and can you bottle it, can you lay it down on wax?

The Beasties are in their fifties now. “Licensed to Ill” was thirty four years ago. There’s history here. Watching the footage of MTV you’ll remember how famous the VJs were. How important getting your video played was. And if you were on the team, if you’d made it, they’d fly you down for spring break and…

All those people, all that on screen infrastructure of MTV, is history. Because they only had one note, that’s all they could do. They could go back to radio, but no one is crushing on Martha Quinn anymore, hanging on the words of Kurt Loder. These people are stuck in the past.

Curiously, the Beastie Boys were not. They laid it all on the line, they risked, they changed, they followed their muse, they got inspired, they played without a net.

It doesn’t always work. It’s hard to make it and stay there, there are always ups and downs.

But who thought the best film to learn these lessons would be one about the Beastie Boys?

Certainly not me.

Green Blade

I spent an hour today watching a recording of last night’s Public Theatre play on YouTube:

“What Do We Need To Talk About”

This is the latest chapter of the Apple Family. Previous stories have been performed over the past ten years.

But this is the first one to make its debut live on YouTube.

Broadway is now seen as a place for the out-of-towners to experience an overblown musical that has been running for years. And some of them are good, but most are not that different from the blockbusters shown on the big screen, all effects, a spectacular with little protein.

A play is something different. It’s the ultimate presentation of a story. And if you go to the theatre…

It’s so weird, everybody’s really on stage, it’s alive, and it’s being done just for the few people in the room. This is why Springsteen’s show on the Great White Way was such a hit, and the recorded version for Netflix was not. You see, you had to be there.

But when it’s done for the first time live online, without a net…

“What Do We Need To Talk About” is not a ten. But it captures a lot about life in these United States today. Especially the family Zoom calls. What is covered, people leaving the conversation… If you’re a fan of theatre, you should check this out. If not, know that the Public Theatre is pushing the envelope when music, the most immediate medium, is not. In music, we get live renditions of oldies, in fact, everyone’s holding back new stuff for fear of losing money. Meanwhile, that’s one of the great things about legitimate theatre, you can’t make that much money, so it’s first and foremost about the art.

But then I was just e-mailed this Steve Winwood video.

Winwood tried pushing the limits back in 2003. When most of his contemporaries had given up on releasing new music, Winwood released the LP “About Time” that was not only new, it was different from what came before, it was jazzy. But it started out on an independent label and it’s hard to get traction on radio if you’re old and it didn’t quite fit the rock format and…

Winwood toured the LP for years, it was astounding if you went to the shows.

And then he signed with Epic and made an album like he used to. The envelope was no longer being pushed.

This happens all the time. You see artists live in the eye of the hurricane. They get feedback from sycophantic friends and business associates, and they read the reviews, but they’ve got no idea how the public really feels, so they change directions when they should stay the course, they don’t know people are behind them and the only change necessary is the amplification of the story.

Now Winwood does oldies shows. But the strange thing is he hasn’t lost a step. He’s usually better than everybody he plays with. He blew Eric Clapton off the stage on their joint tour. You see Winwood still has the pipes, and he’s a vastly underrated player.

So yesterday, Winwood put out a new live video. You probably don’t know, even if you’re a Winwood fan, because it’s nearly impossible to get the message out, but a reader e-mailed me and…

I was enthralled.

Winwood is so good, you’ll think this is prerecorded, but it’s not. I went through that with Steve when he posted a version of “Can’t Find My Way Home” recorded in front of his crackling fire.

Now through the magic of the internet, you’re transported to a field in the U.K., your mind is immediately set free.

And then Steve starts to pick.

This is not fake, this is not treated, this is just acoustic music, no different from how it’s been for eons.

And then Steve starts to sing, and so does your heart. It reminds me of seeing him perform “John Barleycorn” at the Fillmore East, back in 1970.

It’s an old hymn, and being Jewish, I don’t know it. And I’m waiting for the chorus, for Steve to bust out with that vibrant emotion he’s famous for.

But that’s not the song.

But in this world of duplicity, humanity can still reign, even if it’s conveyed by digits.

You’ll feel like you’re sitting in that field alone, right in front of Steve, taking it all in. You’ll be transported in a way only music can do.

Plays can show you life.

When done right, music is life itself.

“Green Blade” will touch your soul, and isn’t that what you’re looking for?