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?

Broken

This is Don Winslow’s best book.

Winslow is most famous for his drug cartel trilogy. You should check it out. “The Power of the Dog” is excellent, “The Cartel” is even better, however last year’s finale, “The Border,” is a disappointment.

You see Winslow has a couple of writing styles. One dense, another minimalist. To read something in the latter style, check out “Savages,” or “The Gentlemen’s Hour.” They’re easily read, and the former was made into a substandard Oliver Stone movie, but watcha gonna do.

And although I liked Winslow’s 2017 book, “The Force,” about New York City cops, in retrospect it was not completely satisfying, it was almost like an abstract expressionist novel, not everything was clear, not everything was comprehensible, and ultimately you got the final story, but I do not want to recommend it.

But, once again, I want to recommend the drug cartel series.

You see Winslow seems to know more about the dope scene than any other writer. Sure, there might be some people in the government, some students of the game who know more, but they don’t write, certainly not in a readable way. If you want to understand all about the Sinaloans, the distribution of heroin today, just read the trilogy.

Not that it’s didactic. There’s a story, involving people, it’s not dry, it’s not only facts and figures, like “Midnight in Chernobyl,” which I finished recently.

I needed more about Russia and the nuclear disaster. “Midnight in Chernobyl” has a five star rating on Amazon, it was one of the “New York Times” best books of the year, but it’s not as good as the HBO series, it’s dry, the people don’t come alive, it’s a tome, good luck getting through it. I did, as I’ve said previously, if I buy it I finish it. It’s less about getting my money’s worth, and more about completion. Because if I don’t complete this book, what else won’t I finish? It’s kinda like listening to playlists. You’re into it, and then then it flows into a track you’d rather not hear, but if you skip that one, you end up skipping a bunch thereafter, and your good mood is broken. So I try to endure what I’m not dying to hear, at least in my self-created playlists, as for those curated by others, all bets are off.

If you’re interested in getting a taste of Don Winslow’s drug knowledge, I point you to these two magazine articles. Even if you’re not going to read the trilogy, check these out, you’ll learn so much.

“El Chapo and the Secret History of the Heroin Crisis”

“The Dirty Little Secret of El Chapo’s Downfall”

So, Winslow’s new book, “Broken,” is comprised of short stories.

These books are almost always unsatisfying, you get into a story and then it ends, I was reluctant. But Steve Martin bought me a copy and I had to check it out.

I’m glad I did.

The first story was a bit dense and then…

I got hooked.

Yes, this is crime fiction. People get murdered. So, if you can’t handle that, maybe this book isn’t for you.

But Winslow has an amazing way of detailing characters, they come alive, you know them, especially if you live in Southern California, where most of these stories take place. We resonate when a writer lays down what we see, when they encapsulate and add to our vision, and Winslow has got a skill for this, raising him above too much two-dimensional crime fare.

And living in internet, celebrity culture, we lose track with daily life, ordinary people, who may not be broke, but may not be famous, who are just doing their job. Normally, these people are not three-dimensional in either the news or on television, but in writing…that’s where you can do it, which is one of the reasons the written word will never be supplanted by video.

And Winslow has incredible skill when it comes to love. That warm feeling you have that you wonder if someone else has. And how do you respond? Do you say something or not, do you double-down, do you ask for a date. Two people have feelings for each other, but that does not mean the other one knows, nor does it mean they’re going to end up together, nor does it mean they know how to follow those feelings into a sustained relationship.

And laws have consequences. Change ’em, and you might be out of business.

Enforce them and you might end up with a result you do not want.

I’ve got to admit, I didn’t really feel the sin of the incarceration of those illegally crossing the border until I read the final story in this collection. You’ve got a right wing Fox viewer, confronted with reality. And it’s not black and white, nothing ever is. And that’s why the story is so good.

And the silent suffering.

And the struggle of life. We think everybody is paid attention to, everybody’s got their place, but the truth is many fall through the cracks. You can be damn smart and end up nowhere. Is anybody looking out for you? Do you have the wherewithal to make good choices and stick with them?

This is not difficult reading. “Broken” is the kind of book you will enjoy even if you only crack one book a year. Not to say that it’s lowbrow, but that it nails the essence of life with a lot of plot, it makes you think and you reach a point where…

You cannot put it down.

Is this the number one diversion for Covid-19?

I’m not sure.

But it’s definitely one I recommend. It’ll make you think about more than what is in the news today without being a total fantasy. It’ll root you in life, making you feel like an outsider at the same time you feel connected.

That’s right. Few care about you. Maybe your family, maybe a couple of friends. The media doesn’t care. So how do you navigate life?

The characters in “Broken” are trying and not always succeeding. These are real people. You’ll dig this.