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Tune in today, August 11th, 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

Suburra | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix

There’s something wrong with this series.

They keep battling and killing and it doesn’t seem true. Then again, it’s based on real events, does that mean truth is stranger than fiction?

Everybody’s involved. From the local gangsters, to the government to the Vatican to the Mafia, with a capital “M.” We’ve all got to serve somebody, and “Suburra” is all about who we owe fealty to, and what price we pay for that.

Samurai is the local crook/gangster. But technically, he’s not in the Mafia. But he’s controlled by the Mafia. You see the Sicilians want to open a port in Ostia.

There wasn’t enough jeopardy for me, not enough at stake, and now I find out that said port was and still is the basis for a scandal in Italy?

I guess we’re all used to these movies where world peace hangs in the balance, where some force is going to take over an entire industry. So, the Mafia building a port just doesn’t seem that big a deal.

But then it is.

“Suburra” is beautifully shot. And beautifully acted. But, like I said above, they’re constantly at war, constantly negotiating new alliances, to the point where that’s almost all the show is about, along with the violence, which detracts from its believability. But maybe it is believable. Then again, it’s a prequel to a book, which was already the basis for a Netflix film and…

Who knows what is truly going on outside the United States?

Maybe that will change, as America descends. That’s one of the great lines, employed twice, that the party of the right doesn’t want to act like the Far West, i.e. the United States, that that’s beyond the pale. You see there are immigrants, and this creates anti-immigrant furor, and what can be done to make the anti-immigrant party, the right, win the election? What was and will be done by Trump and his cronies to stay in power? That’s what this is all about. You can read the facts in the paper, but if you want the feeling, if you want to know what is truly going on, you need to watch images, whether it be a movie or a streaming series, and read books.

So how come “Suburra” isn’t the talk of the town, isn’t a part of the American culture? Is it because it’s in Italian? They know our language, we don’t know theirs.

So, once you cross the line, once you sell out, once you’re compromised, you can never be clean again, you are always beholden.

That’s one of the lessons in “Suburra.” Not one that is absent from other movies/shows, but here it is reinforced again and again and again.

And what will you do to get ahead?

The system is rigged. It’s controlled and you might be able to get in the door, but you cannot ascend the ladder. Right now, in America, there’s no revolt against this. People seem happy with their flat screens. If they can party and have sex, that seems to be enough. But will that sustain? We’ve got the Black Lives Matter movement, but how much of that is based on income inequality?

You’re not even living in the same world. You can’t get into an elite institution, even though almost all of them are need-blind. Because your school system didn’t prepare you for it and you’re unaware of the opportunities. That’s for someone else.

Everything is for someone else in the U.S. today. Did you read Ginia Bellafante’s article in the “Times” yesterday?

“Lifestyles of the Rich and Reckless: Posh Pandemic Parties – Because money appears to be one of the best protections against the coronavirus, why not party like it’s 2019?”

You can’t get tested. And if you do, you can wait a week or more for the results. But the rich and connected get tested all the time, so they can interact with each other, party, live in their bubble like there’s no problem. David Solomon, the Goldman Sachs CEO, you know “DJ D-Sol,” made $27 million last year.

You think musicians make that kind of money? No way! The media always trumpets the gross. And you can be Bono, trying to save the world while you’re paying no tax as you park your money in the Netherlands, but if you’re a U.S. act you ain’t netting this kind of dough, and in truth neither is Bono! But now, the artists want to be bankers, corporate majordomos, and the bankers want to be musicians. Oh, what a world.

So, if you want to get ahead, just about your only choice is to be a gangster. As for owning politicians…in America it’s up front, elected officials are owned by their donors, corporations and bankers and…your money is irrelevant, unless you donated to Bernie Sanders, but the powers-that-be killed his candidacy. Because the billionaires and the bankers didn’t want it. Oh, the country wants Medicare-for-all, higher taxes on the rich, but the rich don’t want to play.

So, the bottom line…is America turning into “Suburra”?

At first the politician, Amedeo Cinaglia, is a milquetoast. An honest lawmaker stuck on the back bench. Hell, his first wife left him because he was going nowhere, but once he starts to ascend, she’s interested again. This is the truth, at the elite level women are drawn to power. Secondarily money. Thirdly looks. And, of course there are exceptions, but if you’re poor, powerless and unattractive you don’t get to date Charlize Theron or Bar Refaeli, never mind Gal Gadot. Those in power will deny all this, say it’s bad form to discuss, just like they’ll tell you taxes on the rich are class warfare. It’s gaslighting 24/7, to keep you down where you are, out of competition with them.

So, Amedeo, the politician, gets sucked in. But he knows if you’re not looking out for yourself, you’re gonna get bit. So he stands up to the boss.

Meanwhile, Amedeo’s wife says to do what is necessary…

That’s another theme in “Suburra,” not only the supportive spouse, but the spouse who is a partner. Who does the behind the scenes shuffling, who defends her man. Two are stronger than one. If you’re going it alone, life is gonna get hard. Best to marry once and have someone you can depend on.

Flipping over the page, Claudia Gerini is so beautiful, so intelligent, so cunning, that men cannot help but be attracted to her. And she refuses to lose. If she doesn’t have a chair anymore, she creates one.

And the money runs on dope. Which is another reason why drugs should be legalized. You thwart criminals, you keep the underclass out of jail and you gain tax revenue. Sure, it would be better if people didn’t do drugs, but the fact is they can’t refrain, people are not that pure, so acknowledge this. Just like all the people ignoring social distancing rules today… Who should we blame? OUR LEADERS, THE GOVERNMENT! We all stayed home and where did it get us…NOWHERE! And if you can’t party and screw, many people think life isn’t worth living. And they believe the law doesn’t apply to them anyway, that they can’t get infected, just like the people in “Suburra” believe they’ll never get snuffed, that they’ll remain in power forever.

And the criminals think on their feet, they adjust, they rule Rome, not the politicians. The politicians are so busy trying to stay in office that they’re beholden to this minor game, while those with the real money and power control them.

So, Felice opted out right away, “Suburra” was just too violent for her.

And, like I said above, the story was hollow, there was something missing and then…I got hooked.

We’re all human beings, but life is different around the world. It’s fascinating to peer into the lives of others. And some of the actors are so good, that it’s hard to separate them from their roles. And the good guys don’t always survive, everybody’s up for grabs, everybody COULD die, so it keeps you on the edge of your seat.

“Suburra” is not the best show on Netflix. But it is its own world, which you get sucked into, and despite my analogies to U.S. politics you’re completely engrossed, believing you’re living in Rome, not America.

I guess they could remake “Suburra” as an American series. EVERYBODY would be gorgeous, not that they’re so unattractive in this. (Then again, the Italians have style. Diet, put on the right clothing and you’d be surprised who is attractive.) And there would be more at stake, and it would be clearer, it would resemble a cartoon.

But since “Suburra” is a foreign series, it’s getting little traction in the U.S. when the truth is Americans love this stuff. Not that it dominates the theatre anymore, that’s for high concept dreck, superheroes.

Much of today’s entertainment leaves you with nothing to say. But watching “Suburra” you’re eager to discuss it with others. That’s what makes a society, that’s what makes successful art, the hangover, the inability to get something out of your mind.

So, I’m recommending “Suburra.” It’s imperfect, but you get hooked and it ends up a satisfying viewing experience. You want to know more about these people. How they got here, where they’re going, exactly what they’re willing to forgive, exactly what they want.

And kudos to Netflix for investing and making this series. Screw Paramount, Universal and Warner Brothers, they’re so busy pandering as to be irrelevant. Everybody knows who Ted Sarandos is, never mind Reed Hastings, almost no one knows who runs the movie studios today.

You’ve got the time. You’ve exhausted other viewing options, check out this series. I can complain about it, but the good outweighs the bad, by far, not that this is always true in people, especially the characters in “Suburra.”

Doesn’t follow trends.

Sets trends.

Doesn’t give the audience what it wants.

Gives the audience what it needs.

Has a sense of history. If there’s no context, there’s no art. Art is a reaction, a transmogrification…unless you know where you’ve been, you don’t know where you’re going.

Knows that money is secondary to art.

Knows that money, if it comes, usually does so last…it takes that long for people to catch up with you, and once they do you don’t rest on your laurels but keep innovating, which challenges the audience to stay bonded.

Knows that execution is secondary to conception. All art is based on conception. The light bulb going off. The idea. Then it’s a race to get it down in a comprehensible form as soon as possible. The more you think about it, the greater the chance of compromise, and art is never about compromise.

Knows that some of their best ideas come when they’re not working.

Realizes they’ll never fit in, otherwise they wouldn’t be an artist.

Must change and grow. Which is why Picasso is a legendary superstar and Braque is a moment in time.

Listens to advice, listens to feedback, but is not bound by it. If you don’t read the reviews, if you don’t listen to what people say, then you’ve got no context. This does not mean you have to take blowback to heart, it just means you can’t create art that has impact unless you understand the populace that reacts. Today everybody reacts. How do you deal with that? Do you create art that makes people post, that offends them, that makes them jump for joy? You are in control of the journey but not the destination. But that does not mean you should not have a map.

Speaks truth to power.

Is not a member of the group, is not a member of the club.

Knows that awards are meaningless. Or at best meaningful for a day. Talk to any true star who’s won, the glow blows off very quickly.

Doesn’t have to tell people they’re great, their work speaks for itself. Unless telling people you’re great, braggadocio, is part of your art.

Doesn’t complain. The game is rigged, the odds are stacked against you, deal with it. Sure, you can be frustrated, but complaining about it just aligns you with the whiners who are not artists, and you don’t want to be dragged down into the hole they’re in.

Affects society, but is separate from it.

Knows that the power of their art supersedes the power of their pocketbook.

Doesn’t bitch about the value of their work. The value is established by the audience. Or, you have your own metric, but then you can’t bitch about the reaction or lack of acceptance.

Frequently creates alone, but oftentimes is inspired by interaction with others. And the closer they are to these others, the more contempt they have for them. You want to do it your way, they want to do it their way, and oftentimes this tension results in work that is better than either of you could do individually. Don’t confuse this with tracks built by twenty “songwriters.” There’s too much thinking involved in that, and art runs on instinct.

Let me repeat that, an artist runs on instinct, on their gut, on what feels right, and as soon as they go against that, they’re toast…their art is compromised.

An artist knows when they do great work. Which comes only occasionally. No one can ring the bell every time out. But when you’re channeling the gods, you know it. Actually, once you become aware that you’re walking on the tightrope, that you’re in the league of greatness, once you become self-conscious, you often fall. The key is to stay in the mood, the groove, for the duration of creation.

An artist is willing to fail. Not that they’re willing to share all their failures. But if you don’t play, you cannot win, you must be willing to fail in the eyes of the public.

Believes they’re God on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and a piece of crap the rest of the week.

Art is a Sisyphean task. Once you make it to the top, you roll right down to the bottom and have to start all over again.

Video

Lyrics

Maybe you should read the lyrics first.

“Wet Ass Pussy.” There, I said it, do you need to stop reading now? Does it offend your sense of propriety? Should little girls be seen but not heard? Has culture gone to hell in a handbasket? Can you handle the shenanigans of our president but not the words of some female rappers?’

Welcome to America, which has never forgotten its Puritan roots. Where sex is taboo. Even though the last time I checked that’s how you got here.

Do you think that Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion didn’t know they were pushing buttons, that they didn’t know they were going to get a rise (pun intended) out of staid society? Can you say Alice Cooper? Can you say Frank Zappa? Can you say PMRC?

Yes, every generation has its offenders and those up in arms. No one is complaining about the sex in Prince’s lyrics now that he’s dead. And what Lenny Bruce said seems tame today. Then again, how many people are truly offended by “WAP”? How many are offended who are not old boomers or religious zealots? Is it anti-feminism to embrace your sexuality?

So on one hand, same as it ever was. On the other, a great leap forward.

The goal wasn’t to have to continue to complain about differences between the sexes, but to be able to behave the same as men without consequences.

In other words, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are not doing anything the men haven’t done before. Rock was built on sex (and sexism). We even had a band called “Whitesnake,” which released an album whose title track was “Slide It In” (which was quite good, in fact).

And then there are those who are complaining about the inclusion of Kylie Jenner, that she is appropriating black culture. But how can this be when the producers decided to include her, and not vice versa. Furthermore, Jenner had a baby at the ripe young age of 20, with Travis Scott, do those qualify as bona fides? But, African-Americans should not be complaining about Jenner’s inclusion, it demonstrates that they’ve won, that despite politics, culture is run by black people, certainly music. Actually, scrap that. The music business is not run by black people, but it’s African-Americans who dominate the end product, the music, who influence not only Americans but people around the world. That’s right, they don’t only rap in English these days.

We live in a bizarre world where all the kids want to be rappers. Just look at how the whites in backward burgs adopt the clothing and swagger of rappers. African-Americans should be laughing, that the oldsters may be up in arms, but they own the youngsters. And the last time I checked, people age and are ultimately thrown off the conveyor belt. And, as a result, we have gay marriage and legal marijuana and…how come the president can get away with his heinous activities and comments, certainly re women, but black entertainers cannot?

Oh, I’m not saying that African-Americans still don’t have a way to go in America. Economically, no doubt. And too many citizens of the United States are racists, and act accordingly. But the only way Trump can win the presidency is by rigging the game. But you can’t rig art. Rap has won. It has certainly replaced rock.

Why did rock die?

Let me count the ways. A refusal to embrace the internet, rockers still believe streaming is the devil, while rappers saw the future and posted on Soundcloud and gave away mixtapes and ultimately dominated streaming services. You embrace the future, you don’t complain about it. And rock became a caricature of itself. It’s no longer even “rock.” There’s Active Rock, where a harder edge is employed to demonstrate that it’s just not the same old thing, even though many old rock listeners don’t cotton to this aggressive, often atonal sound, never mind youngsters not even bothering to listen. Rock has become a backwater. You’ve got the Americanas and the Triple-A’s, but they don’t understand that the world is built on stars, and shoegazing is not that attractive. You need something undeniable. And one way to achieve that is through a train-wreck. And that’s what “WAP” is, you cannot help but pay attention.

And then it garners discussion. It’s a big story online. Isn’t this the same playbook Trump employs every damn day? To say the unsayable? Meanwhile, it worked for him, he got elected and the afraid Democrats, who cringed in horror, lost. Or, as Leonard Cohen sang, “Everybody Knows.” And everybody swears and those who do not have sex desire it and sexuality is built into the workplace. Sure, sexual bullying, sexual aggression, sexual power should have no place in the office. As for relationships? THAT’S WHERE YOU MEET PEOPLE! If you haven’t had a relationship with someone at work, you haven’t had a job. You will soon. Unless you’re already married.

So, “WAP” is better conceptually than it is as music. A swamp Zappa got stuck in once he decided he had to be the lead singer. It’s made to offend, it’s made for controversy more than it is for listening. But that’s okay. And, if you want to come back from a layoff you’ve got to make a splash, you’ve got to make news, in a world filled with a zillion messages that rarely last. Come on, “WAP” has been up front and center, part of the discussion for two days now. And do you expect people will be streaming and talking about it a month from now? Probably not. Which is why you need a steady stream of these events, i.e. singles, to keep the public’s attention.

So, the girls have stolen the mantle from the boys. They took their game, twisted it, improved it, and owned it. Despite all their swagger, men never owned sex, women did. They had to say yes. As for saying no…we call that rape, and anybody who boasts about that is a pariah.

And for years we’ve had feminists pooh-poohing the embrace of sexuality by younger women. How they dress, how they talk, how they dance, how they handle themselves. But by owning your sexual power…don’t you gain power? And how come we constantly deny the world runs on sex, especially when the richest man in the world throws over the mother of his children to run off with his best friend’s spouse? Yes, Jeff Bezos is beholden to the little head. Like all men. Money without sex means you won the game but got no trophy, none of the spoils.

There’s a lot to debate in all I’ve written above. Not all of it is black and white (pardon the pun). What is appropriate clothing, what is the right place to act sexually, do too many women adopt the cloak of sexuality and leave all their other power behind… But that is not what “WAP” is about. In a world where most feel powerless, both men and women, in the face of the government, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion have embraced their inner strength, which is what art is all about, and spoken truth to power. Yes, Trump may put on a tie, but he’s a certified horndog (as is Clinton), the women can’t be the same way either, they can’t embrace the power of the pussy, they can’t be active, not passive, they cannot rally their troops and make those on the fence question their beliefs?

This is Dada. “WAP” is in a long tradition of art. From the Impressionists on, it was about pushing the envelope. Yes, the Impressionists offended by painting everyday life, a taboo! Picasso and Braque threw representation right off the canvas, the result was abstract, something Jackson Pollock took to the limits. Duchamp declared a urinal an art piece, and Warhol did the same with soup cans. Not that fine art is driving the culture today, it’s akin to rock music, a self-referential backwater. But hip-hop dominates the culture, trends. For now, anyway. And rather than ask for permission, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion barged right in. That’s how you take power. If you ask, they never say yes.

But the audience, the culture, America, the world, has said yes to “WAP.” Google shows 79,400,000 results on the rapper and the song. And the official video already has 38 million views as I write this. But somehow, you believe with a fraction of this impact you should be paid the same. You call yourself an artist when nothing could be further from the truth. Artists take life, twist it and make us look at ourselves, make us think. Art raises questions. Art challenges taboos. Art hits you in both the head and the heart.

“WAP” is art.