My History of the Doobie Brothers-Part 1 – Spotify Playlist

I made this in my bedroom.

Normally I go to the brand spanking new SiriusXM studio in Hollywood, but needless to say, we’re all sequestered at home. So, one week we did a rerun, and then we had a History of the Beatles episode in the can and now…

And now, I made it all myself on GarageBand on my Mac!

It was a learning curve, not a steep one, but there was definitely stuff to figure out.

Let’s start with a USB mic. I thought I had a couple in storage, and I blocked out a ton of time to look for them, but actually it took me less than ten minutes to find them. I’m using the Apogee HypeMic, which I highly recommend. It comes with a tripod and a pop filter, and you can check it out here:

Apogee HypeMiC

Unlike the usual $100 models, it comes with a ton of features that you can figure out quite easily.

So, I plugged it into my iMac.

First thing I had to learn was that it is not automatically selected. That you have to go into System Preferences and pick the external microphone.

And then I loaded GarageBand, which I’ve had for years but have never had a reason to use.

I couldn’t shut off the damn metronome, but then the Sirius engineer, who was on FaceTime, figured it out.

Recording is quite easy. The only issue is the levels. I’ve always heard you want to go occasionally in the red. Then again, we’re not using tape, so there’s not an issue of being so low that you get tape hiss. As for distortion? The Sirius engineer, Alex, wanted input set low. So I adjusted the levels of both the mic and the program to get it where he wanted it. There was a lot of experimentation, but it wasn’t hard once you put your mind to it.

Recording is damn easy.

Sharing, not so much.

First I thought it was like any other file, I always save to the desktop.

But then I found out you have to open the package to find the actual file. And then, with research, I found out you can share directly from GarageBand, it’s easy, like taking candy, from a baby! Only the default is a 192kbps file, and I needed a wav. Turns out there’s a drop down menu, and you can select “Wave.” Huh? Doesn’t everybody spell it wav, or .wav?

Sharing via Dropbox was not hard, but it turned out sharing via Apple’s Mail Drop was far superior, it was certainly easier for me, but Alex said he preferred it this way, I sent it all three ways, the foregoing two and as an attachment to an e-mail. For the PC crowd, Mail Drop allows you to send large files directly from the e-mail program, and this one was just under four hundred megabytes.

Now, back to the studio.

Like I said, I cut it in the bedroom, because my office is too noisy, there’s no sound absorption. First Alex told me to put on a hoodie and then a pillow on each side of my iMac, but then talking with Doug, the podcast engineer, it occurred to me I hadn’t told Alex I also had a laptop, and discussing sound reflection and such, Doug suggested my bedroom.

So, I’m kinda proud of myself, I learned something new, you get a great sense of accomplishment when you push your personal boundaries.

Anyway, it’s been well-established that I love the Doobie Brothers. I made a playlist for the uninitiated, even for those who think they know the Doobies, it’s at the top of this screed, but let me give a few notes, go song by song.

1. “Nobody”

This is from the very first album, which almost no one has heard, because back then you had to buy it to hear it, and without a hit or a big story, no one would buy an album. But “Nobody” is a hit, even though it was not.

2. “Listen To The Music”

This is the one that broke the Doobies big, it almost needs no introduction. But it was so perfect, one wondered if the band was a studio concoction, kinda like hearing the Eagles’ “Take It Easy”… It was so good, was it really a band or a bunch of studio cats?

3. “Jesus Is Just Alright With Me”

The other radio track from the second album, “Toulouse Street.” I always thought it was a cover of a Byrds song, but the truth is it was written by Art Reynolds, I’ve included his and the Byrds’ versions here.

4. “Rockin’ Down The Highway”

The thing about the Doobies, is they rocked, and they were mellow too. I vividly remember this coming out of Jimmy Kay’s 8-track in that condo at Mammoth where we spent the month of May ’75, where I was hammered daily by the Doobies and realized how great they truly were, and still are!

5. “Toulouse Street”

This is the title cut of the LP, and presently my favorite on the album. It’s a Pat Simmons number, quiet and ethereal, from back when albums were our best friends and we put them on and they set the mood, and let our minds drift away.

6. “Cotton Mouth”

Another Tom Johnston rocker, but the truth is it’s a Seals & Crofts song! I’m also including the original.

7. “White Sun”

Quieter, but it’s Johnston, not Simmons. Once again, this is not in your face, maybe not your idea of the Doobies. It’s quiet, with great harmonies and great playing.

8. “Disciple”

This is the longest cut on the album, nearly seven minutes, and not a second is wasted, it’s a rocker, but it evolves, another must-listen.

9. “Long Train Runnin'”

And now we get to the third album, “The Captain And Me.” This was the gigantic hit, the one that broke the band through, that got them on all the late night music shows, like “In Concert.”

10. “China Grove”

The other big hit from this album, I preferred this to “Long Train Runnin’,” you can’t listen without nodding your head, getting into the groove.

11. “Natural Thing”

The opening cut, and for a long, long time my favorite on the LP, it’s now been superseded, but “Natural Thing” is still great. The singing, the changes, they’re all great, but the synthesizer sounds created by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff put it over the top. The two made records under the moniker Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, but they’re most famous for the sounds they created for Stevie Wonder’s legendary breakthrough, “Talking Book.”

12. “Dark Eyed Cajun Woman”

Sets the mood immediately, and is supposedly a tribute to B.B. King, it’s got that feel.

13. “Without You”

Another Tom Johnston rocker that might seem generic to you, at least generic Doobie Brothers, but hang in for the breakdown at 2:25, it’s magical. “Baby, baby, I can’t live without you…”

14. “South City Midnight Lady”

A leavening of the rock by Pat Simmons. The chorus is what makes it.

15. “The Captain And Me”

The title track, this is now my favorite on the album. Never made to be a hit, the picking is irresistible, as is Tom Johnston’s vocal, he doesn’t get enough respect for it, nor the creation of the magical Doobies chunka-chunka guitar sound.

Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday March 31st, 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

There’s an amazing story on the “New York Times” app:

“Trump Won the Internet. Democrats Are Scrambling to Take It Back. – In the era of big data, memes and disinformation, the Democrats are trying to regain their digital edge as the president and his loyalists dictate the term of the debate”

Bottom line? There’s a war between the DNC/old guard and the technologists, between those who want to stay in the past and those whose feet are firmly planted in the digital world.

My favorite quote is from Biden:

“‘I’m still getting used to this virtual world we’re campaigning in…”

That’d be like your Subaru mechanic talking about fixing a Tesla. You’re either digitally native, or you’re in the rearview mirror.

I’ll give you one more quote:

“(Biden is) A party mainstay who rose in politics when the platforms to master were ‘The Wilmington Evening Journal,’ WPVI-TV and the U.S. Postal Service.”

And there are a bunch of old boomers who still pay attention to these outlets, think that the physical paper and MSNBC move the needle when the truth is the needle is moved online, that today’s digital citizen sees news as coming from a free-flowing pipe, not once a day, when it’s already dated.

I could go on about this, but I really want to talk about the book and movie businesses.

The book business abhorred the digital book. It did everything in its power to kill it. It was afraid of losing control. Amazon wanted to build the book business, sell more books, the publishing industry wanted no change, it wanted to work the same way it ever did.

And now it’s screwed.

The book business raised prices on digital titles to the point they made no sense. And then placed articles everywhere (especially in the physical newspaper!) about the joy of physical books, the feeling, the lack of distractions, the tradition, the building of a library and then…

Covid-19.

This is when people are reading most. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THEY CAN’T BUY BOOKS!

The physical bookstores have all closed.

No big deal you say, people can just buy through Amazon, they control fifty percent of the marketplace anyway.

WRONG!

Amazon is prioritizing necessary products, this news has been everywhere. When it comes to life and death. books don’t make it, despite protestations. Bottom line? Best-sellers are on backorder FOR WEEKS!

That’s right, if you want to buy and read what everybody else is, you can’t, because you just can’t get the book. But if you want it digitally, you can get it in an INSTANT! But the book business refused to jump into the future, it insisted on living in the past, and then disruption happened and it was not prepared.

We saw this in the music business. Labels and acts said everybody should be satisfied with CDs. They were kicking and screaming about digital piracy. And sure, the iTunes Store was an interim step, you could buy tracks one by one, but album purchase prices still didn’t make sense, they were too high, and revenues didn’t turn around, didn’t go back up until SPOTIFY! Spotify and the rest of the streaming giants put a nail in the heart of piracy. Oh, don’t tell me piracy still exists, as Michael Eisner once said, ten percent of the people will never pay, forget them.

Where is the concomitant offering in publishing?

Forget subscription, where are the lower prices? Book prices keep going up, while digital costs are de minimis. Meanwhile, digital book lending at libraries has become a big deal, Libby rules.

You can’t hold back the future.

Kind of like the movie business.

The studios were so busy protecting the theatre owners that they would not go day and date on the flat screen. They kept protecting the old model. When the revenue from smaller pictures tanked, they just made tentpole blockbusters. And except for a few comic book movies, they didn’t realize the attraction was a night out as opposed to the desire to see the specific picture.

And then the theatres closed.

So, the studios put some present pictures on VOD. Heard about anybody buying them? I haven’t, it’s dated product, and the studios don’t know how to promote for VOD, their paradigm is to frontload everything, get their money in a week or two and then move on. But it doesn’t work that way in the streaming world. Once again, just ask the music business. Sure, you can hype it at first, but you only make money if the project has legs. No one is concerned about legs in the movie business anymore, but they should be. It’s all about what is going to spread by word of mouth and live long.

Like “The Tiger King.”

The movie business doesn’t make fare like this. It’s not based on a graphic novel, it’s not an animated story. They miss the opportunity.

And “The Tiger King” is not highbrow entertainment, but it appeals to all demos, because of its whacked story and its characters and its essence…which is people want to be rich and famous and they’ll do almost anything to achieve their goals.

Could “The Tiger King” story have been told in ninety minutes? NO WAY! Sure, you can only sit for two hours in a movie theatre, but at home you have endless time, despite all the hoopla about short attention spans, people want to dig in deep and pay attention.

And then there’s the pricing issue.

Today people want to pay one price and get everything. To the point where filmmakers are better off making a deal with a streaming service for their pic. This was the essence of “The Irishman.” Netflix could authorize a budget as big as a studio and more people would see the flick. What’s not to like? The studios would say the distributors have control. But that’s what happens when you pooh-pooh Netflix, revel in the payments and then wake up one day and realize you’ve lost the power.

In other words, maybe VOD does not work for movies.

Now the truth is these same movie studios also make TV shows, so they’re not completely screwed. But they did refuse to see the future, to their detriment. Will is no match for technology, which the public embraces.

At least part of the public.

The problem is the boomers did not grow up with the internet, and although they’ve got smartphones and computers, they don’t really know how they work, they do not harness their power.

Yet they continue to bloviate in their verticals of choice, newspapers, TV and cable, not realizing the world has passed them by. It’s okay to live in the past, just as long as your income does not depend upon the whims of the public, and the last time I checked, the only people who can get away with this are retired.

So, this lockdown has engendered hyperchange, all we’ve been hearing about for years has happened overnight. Turns out you can work from home quite easily. Turns out food delivery is superior to going to the market. It’s true that when the lockdown ends we are not returning to business as usual.

Will Biden win?

According to the WaPo, he’s only ahead by two points.

But I wouldn’t expect Trump’s approval ratings to sustain, then again, how was this survey really done?

But one thing is for sure, Biden will never make a dent in cyberspace, because he’s lacking the elements that go viral.

If you want to be big online, you’ve got to have charisma.

Joe’s got none.

And you’ve got to produce content constantly.

It took Joe too long to respond to the Ukraine situation and when Covid-19 was blowing up he was in the bunker, trying to get his studio (i.e. technology) right.

As for his failure to read the Teleprompter, anyone will tell you in the internet age it’s all about off-the-cuff. You do it down and dirty, and then you fix it down the line. Calculate and plan too long and you miss your window.

So all those who are arguing politics through the lens of the past are gonna be left in the past. Trump was evidence of a sea change. It would have happened even if he did not come on the scene. Read about the history of breakthroughs, they’re in the air, one person may get credit for the invention, but it turns out others were right there with them.

So, when you read those articles in “The New York Times” about people who don’t update their operating systems, people who go on digital vacations, people who talk about the evils of screen time…

Shake your head and ignore them.

We are here, in the digital world. Either adapt or get out of the way.

This is important.

To tell you the truth, I did not plan to send any more Covid-19 missives, at least not for a while, but then today people started dying and then I got this video from Amy:

“How to Significantly Slow Coronavirus? (featuring Minister of Health of the Czech Rep.) #Masks4All”

You should watch it, immediately.
And if you doubt it, then read this article in the “Washington Post”:

“Simple DIY masks could help flatten the curve. We should all wear them in public. Got a T-shirt? You can make a mask at home.”

And yes, this article appears to be behind a paywall, but you’ll get the gist just by watching the video.

But let me just quote the first paragraph:

“When historians tally up the many missteps policymakers have made in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the senseless and unscientific push for the general public to avoid wearing masks should be near the top.”

Makes total sense, right?

Once again, watch the video.

So, this has been an off-putting day. First my younger sister Wendy texted me that Joe Diffie died of Covid-19, and then Alex Sax, my engineer at SiriusXM. texted to tell me that Alan Merrill, who co-wrote “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll,” passed of Covid-19, and then came the kicker, that John Prine had it too and was in critical condition.

I expected people I knew personally to die first, I didn’t think it would hit famous artists. And no matter what anybody says, this number of artists does not die in such a short period of time. Should we expect more?

Now I’m gonna dance lightly here. Because if I wade into politics people will sign off, they’ve been doing so in droves, asking me to get back to music, they want to hear no more, but…

We’ve got to get over this concept that the United States is the best country in the world and no one else has anything to offer. And that we cannot examine ourselves and make change. I heard that we’ve rejected Chinese ventilators, is that true?

That’s the problem, we’re all inundated with messages all day long. We’re sending each other videos, imploring each other to watch them when most are redundant or inaccurate or just plain biased. To the point where I thought this Czech video Amy was sending me had to be bogus, until I clicked through, watched and then Googled and learned it was very real.

This makes total sense, I won’t even bother to elaborate. The video is under four minutes long, you can make the time, it’s not onerous.

But, if you’d like to make a bigger investment, my shrink recommended this video that has been sent to me many times recently:

“NYC FRONT LINES DOCTOR EXPLAINS HOW EASY IT IS TO NOT GET INFECTED AND STOP THE SPREAD OF COVID-19”

If you’ve got an hour, and you’re anxious about the virus, watch this, it’s extremely informative. In terms of behavior, it’s the best thing I’ve seen.

Are you scared yet?

Tonight I am.

I’ve been very diligent. I haven’t seen a person face to face since I went to the drugstore on Monday the 16th. You see I don’t want to get it, and I’m fearful if I do I’m not gonna make it through.

Did you see that video from Spain? Of the guy sitting at a desk crying because they’re just leaving everybody over 65 to die? I’m over 65. And I have an underlying condition. It has to do with my immune system. No one really knows what is going on, it’s what caused my pemphigus. But both my doctors, my internist and my hematologist, are worried about it.

I’m not the kind to worry about health. Unless I freak out about it.

It was illegal to be sick when I was growing up. My older sister posits it was because my mother’s mother was a hypochondriac. If you were sick, unless you were literally dying, puking, writhing on the floor, you had to go to school. We also never ever got breakfast. My mother slept in. I didn’t think much of it, but then they said breakfast was the most important meal of the day. And now they’re saying it’s not, to fast as long as you can before you eat. Illustrating that science is a fluid subject, whereas Covid-19 is not. Sure, the doctors have some tools in their arsenal, but there is no silver bullet and the world doesn’t need any one of us, it can go on just fine without us.

My father died at 70, of cancer. He was shocked that he made it to that age, because his dad didn’t. As I’ve approached that marker…nobody lives forever, even Sumner Redstone has gone into hiding, and he was sure his regimen would keep him sentient and alive forever. But it didn’t. He’s compromised. Kind of like my mother, the dementia is creeping in, it was only a week ago that she could even wrap her head around the virus, and she told me this afternoon she was planning to go out to dinner. But didn’t the governor of Connecticut shut all the restaurants down?

Did you see that article in the “New York Times”?

Probably not. Everybody’s reading their own stuff, watching their own shows, it’s a full time job keeping up, but I’m doing it, I’m interested and I think I’m protecting myself with knowledge. Most people don’t know much. They’re just confident that they won’t get it and if they do they’ll pull through. WRONG!

Getting back to Connecticut… I grew up in Fairfield, on one side of the town was downtrodden Bridgeport, on the other upscale Westport, where Paul Newman and Bette Davis lived. So there’s this article in the “Times”…

“Party Zero: How a Soiree in Connecticut Became a ‘Super Spreader’ – About 50 people gathered this month in the upscale suburb of Westport, then scattered across the region and the world, taking the coronavirus with them.”

I’ve been thinking about this, now is the time you want to stay away from upscale people. Everybody’s social climbing, especially in Los Angeles, but it’s the upper class that does the most traveling, that intersects with the most people, that are carriers, that will infect you, better to live in a house with poor people, or lower middle class people, I don’t think there are any real middle class people left.

And sure, Tom and Rita came back to the U.S., they’re doing well. But did you ever wonder how they got back here? I assume they flew private, I could be wrong, but I know they want to avoid the risk, once bitten, twice shy. You can’t afford to fly private, you can’t even be seen in the emergency room, never mind get good treatment. There’s an ICU and a ventilator for Tom and Rita. You? Good luck.

And then there’s that article I just read in the “New York Times” app:

“As a generally healthy 45-year-old, I didn’t seem like a probable Covid-19 candidate.”

That’s another thing you find out, how painful the experience of being infected is. You’re uber-tired, and you’re struggling to breathe. Sounds horrible, and it is. But like every other illness, you have sympathy for the patient but then you move on, saying to yourself “I’m just glad it isn’t me.” But this time, there’s a good chance it will be. No matter how much money you have, whether you take supplements, whether you’re in good health today, Covid-19 doesn’t care.

And at this point in time, if it’s in the “New York Times,” a great portion of America ignores it, it just can’t be true, the paper is biased, with an agenda, it’s FAKE NEWS! No, it’s the most real news you can get. But this is where we are, the President has made it so there are no authoritative voices but his, and if you trust his…there’s a good chance you’re going to get infected.

But right now I’m not worried about politics, I’m not even worried about the insane states still in business with no self-quarantining of the population, no tonight I’m worried about human nature.

It’s kind of like sex without protection, you get caught up in the moment and the regrets come after that. Does a baby result? A good percentage of the time no, but I know someone who got a girl pregnant when he lost his virginity…it screwed his mind up so much he could barely function, and he got mononucleosis in the process, whether it was related, who knows.

And speaking of mononucleosis, I had the world’s worst case, at an age when most people don’t get it, 21, verging on 22.

Let’s see, it was 1976. And I was at this freestyle skiing competition at Keystone, in Colorado. And my friend injured himself severely trying to do a double flip but somehow he made his way back to Aspen. I went to visit him thereafter, he and two other guys lived in the basement of a house on Cemetery Lane. They had a party, everybody was in their early twenties, we shared a joint, even though I told myself I was never gonna smoke dope again…that’s where I got the mononucleosis, I tested at the limit for nine months, I kid you not. Was I thinking about this when I took a hit, of course not, have I thought about it since…of course!

I was in a down mood, it was a party, why not.

This is coming down to character, and I know you don’t want to hear that. Yes, the nerds did inherit the earth. Why? Because while you were out partying, losing your virginity, they were studying hard, so they could get into a good college and advance their lives. Of course you can become rich and famous without going to college at all, but that’s not my point. My point is these people applied themselves, and never went off course, they knew one bad grade could be the difference between getting into an Ivy or not.

Do you have the strength to stay on the course? Can you say no to the enticements? Can you do everything in your power not to be face to face with another human being until the end of May?

That’s what Bill Gates said it would take. It’s already been two weeks, you can make it. But if we don’t do this, Covid-19 will hang around until the end of the year. You either do it right now, or you pay the price.

I don’t want to pay the price.