The mainstream media is always last.

No, wait a minute, even if you hate Elizabeth Warren you’ve got to hear what I say. Because it applies to you. The issue is how do you get famous and have your ideas heard in America today.

You’ve got to do the work and you must be selling substance.

Elizabeth Warren is on the road. Most of the audiences are relatively small. There’s not a ton of press coverage of each event. She’s just like a crack band bubbling under, that is not understood by the mainstream, is seen as an also-ran and then…THEY BLOW UP! Can you say Bruce Springsteen? His first LP was an anomaly, not representative of his sound, the band was there, but deep in the background, “Greetings From Asbury Park” was more New Dylan than the Springsteen we all now know. But the sound was there for everybody to hear on “The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle.” But now Springsteen was no longer the new thing. And the mix on the LP was a bit muted, it lacked edge. So the album didn’t sell and Bruce went on the road convincing consumers one by one. If you saw him, you talked about him. Until that famous moment when Jon Landau said he’d seen the future of rock and roll and the tide turned. The Landau article was in Boston’s “Real Paper,” the paper of record amongst the youth, devoured by everybody, Landau’s review wasn’t first, but it was the most important.

Same deal with Elizabeth Warren. She’s been around for years. Mostly in the background until the right started attacking her. And before you get your knickers in a twist you righties, know that she wanted to protect the populace, the rank and file, from the corporations. You can’t be against that unless you’re sucking at the tit of the corporation yourself, making seven figures, and that’s a very small number of people. You’re getting screwed and don’t even realize it. Those insane interest rates on your credit cards? Warren wanted to stop them.

But Warren was depicted as a schoolmarm and no one on the left ran to her side, to defend her, because they don’t want to get caught up in any war that doesn’t benefit them directly, they don’t want the potential stink upon them.

So Warren went her own way and ran for Senate and won.

This is the act that refuses to do what the A&R person says to. Who won’t cowrite, who won’t work with the producer du jour, who has a sound he or she wants to get down and doesn’t want any interference. But can you go on your own, do it your way, prove it yourself? We hear about the winners, but not the losers. The truth is most people are scared to do it by themselves, they’re convinced they won’t succeed, they tell themselves they need money, it’s undoable. But even today, if you’ve got the goods and you play live, or release an undeniable hit like Lorde, you can make it.

And then Warren got into the Senate and spoke English. Nobody speaks English in D.C., it doesn’t behoove you. You obfuscate, keep the lobbyists close, it’s all about raising money for your reelection campaign. Screw the people you’re representing, you give them lip service, but your true constituency is the corporations. And when someone comes along and blows the whistle on that, says she’s for the people, you blanch.
It comes down to big media too. You can’t make a ton of bucks writing stories for a newspaper or magazine, and the subjects you write about know this. So they lay on perks. And if you say you can’t take those, they work around it. Give you access they normally wouldn’t. Give you stuff that’s theoretically outside your beat. Or dangle a job when you’re ready, at a much better salary. Furthermore, mainstream media depends upon ads. The corporations are the customer, via their ad agencies, not the audience. So, “The New York Times” is not gonna be a hotbed of revolution. And Fox is gonna play to its base. Because otherwise, they’ll lose audience and lose ads, or the value thereof. So, the mainstream media is always last.

So now you get the voices in the wilderness. The small periodicals, the individuals. And in the old days, there was a clear line of demarcation. If you weren’t on the major label you were ignored, seen as inferior. If you couldn’t get your stuff published in a mainstream mag, you were a kook who should be stayed away from.

And that describes a lot of people online, but not all of them. This is what the internet has wrought, a whole bunch of interested citizens writing about news and analyzing it that the mainstream media just can’t fathom. They’re the kings, right? Well, maybe not. Like the major labels during Napster, like the major labels today. And all the emphasis is on recordings, but the truth is today it’s about the road, not only because of the economics, but because personal appearances bond you to the audience. Which is why the more it’s on hard drive, the less you connect. If you play it all yourself and don’t cover up the mistakes you’re seen as human and attendees have a true experience as opposed to watching a canned show and talking amongst themselves. That’s how you know when you’ve truly connected, when everybody’s put down their smartphone and is focusing on you. You don’t need rules banning devices you just have to be that good.

So the shadow news is where movements start, where stories break. And if you don’t think they have power, look at Steve Bannon and Breitbart.

But when the noise becomes big enough, when it’s loud enough, the mainstream media dives in, it wants to own the story. And this is a good thing if you’re the act/purveyor, it signals to everybody paying attention that you’ve made it. Whereas if you get the publicity first, it’s wasted, today you have to have something to back it up.

So the mainstream media wisdom was that Elizabeth Warren was unelectable. All the focus was on non-candidates like Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg. Yes, even Mayor Pete, he’s got no chance this time around. Maybe close, but no cigar.

And then there was the excoriation of Bernie and the wait for Biden to rescue the Party and put the Democrats on top.

But everybody in entertainment knows the best-laid plans often go awry. Hell, the big story in movies today is the failure of the latest “Men In Black” iteration. Everybody discounted the public’s opinion, the film grossed even less than already low projections.

This is just like in music. How many highly touted albums stiff? It happens all the time. Illustrating all the pre-hype is worthless…coming albums, coming books, reviews before you can hear or read… The public is addicted to the Tomatometer. People wait until it hits the street and then they put their finger to the wind and judge the mood, if it’s a stinker, they stay away.

But how come the public is more sophisticated than the purveyors, the mainstream media? That’s the story of the internet era, how those supposedly “in charge” get it wrong over and over again. They’re inured to the past, whereas it’s always about looking forward, not back.
So Elizabeth Warren percolates in the marketplace, is sometimes begrudgingly acknowledged, and then she goes way up in the polls and the mainstream media gloms on. Hell, if they weren’t so busy lunching and bloviating to their peers, and were surfing the web and were out on the street, they’d have felt it, just like I felt the Trump wave and everybody in the mainstream did not. Because I was on the front line. Anybody who was on the front line felt the blowback. But if you’re not… And everybody in the mainstream is not, the talking heads cashing their checks on TV, the reporters who don’t want to hang with THOSE people and…

“The New Yorker” feature is excellent. It’s mostly facts, not opinion.

But today’s “New York Times” feature is half a takedown. I’ll attribute it to woman on woman hate. Women criticize each other more than men criticize women. Oh, men commit many faux pas and hold women back, but the perception is that if you leave it to women, it’ll be all right. For an example to the contrary, look at the Women’s March, which was riddled with anti-Semitism.

So the author of the “New York Times” piece, Emily Bazelon, has got quite a CV, she went to undergrad and law school at Yale, her grandfather was a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Who is this interloper who went to run-of-the-mill colleges and Rutgers for law school think she is? Bazelon’s viewpoint is that of the insider, assessing the game she knows, and not the one she doesn’t, to her detriment. But, once again, the usual suspects have an investment in the past, these are the elites not only Trump fans abhor, but rank and file lefties too.

But this is Sheelah Kolhatkar’s beat. Business. And that’s the essence of Warren’s candidacy, economics.

That’s why Warren’s booming, she’s speaking English about income inequality, she’s got plans to decrease it.

And what do the usual suspects say…IT’S UNWORKABLE!

No one likes to snuff hope like someone already in power. They’re afraid of the new.

But not the public.

Meanwhile, Warren is playing the long game, with her plans. She’s so far ahead of the rest of the pack, they can’t catch up. Biden is afraid of offending someone, Sanders has the right viewpoint, but he’s nowhere near as specific as Warren, and everybody else is playing personality politics. Like we care about your dog and your smile and your likability.

Anybody becomes likable if they deliver what you want, the ugliest person. And right wingers know they got shafted by Trump, because he’s erratic and didn’t deliver on his promises. And the media no one pays attention to keeps talking about this, but who wants to listen to these self-righteous wankers? But they want to listen to Elizabeth Warren, who is not top-down, but grass roots.

Whether she wins the nomination or not, Warren has proven the game has changed. That she’s more in touch with a changed public than the “New York Times” and most of D.C.

As for the debates, assuming she gets the nomination, where is it written that substance doesn’t matter? Warren is the queen of the takedown, she’s famous for it, watch this video where she gives it back to John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo:

Senator Elizabeth Warren questions Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf at Banking Committee Hearing

All the attention is paid to the mob, not the individual. You get the feeling no one cares about you or me. Hell, I’ll talk about me. I was on the road and entered payments on two credit cards in my checkbook, but spaced it and didn’t pay them on my phone app. Fine, my fault. BUT THEN I HAD TO PAY NEARLY FIFTY BUCKS IN PENALTIES ON EACH CARD! AND THE BALANCE ON ONE OF THE CARDS WAS EVEN LESS THAN THAT!

I hate making mistakes, but I can afford it. But how about someone who is struggling to make ends meet, fifty bucks means a lot to them. And Warren has learned those who are poor are not lazy takers, many times they’re working two jobs and one blip and they’re on the road to bankruptcy. But it’s a better story if it’s the individual’s fault, no one wants to admit the system is broken and doesn’t serve the people but the corporations.

Everybody but the rich can identify with Warren’s statements.

And we’ve seen the Trump movie before, in Minnesota, with Jesse Ventura. Every action has a concomitant reaction. One thing’s for sure, Trump is not an expert on policy, international relations, so much. The public is now ready for someone experienced, which is why if they wanted to win the Republicans wouldn’t even run Trump, they’d find someone with experience to speak to the base he awoke.

But, like I said, institutions abhor change. Not only the newspapers, but the TV companies too, they can’t stop bitching about Netflix, which was seen as a joke until it started making its own hit programs and got 100 million subscribers. It might even be too late for competitors to get real traction.

And record labels are risk averse, now more than ever. They want a predictable hit, something that sounds similar to what’s already successful. This is why music is stagnant, a joke. But one thing’s for sure, someone in the trenches, outside the system, is gonna turn the table over, the audience demands it.

And the audience demands our country step forward and change, because it’s just not working for too many of us.

This is the road Elizabeth Warren is taking. This is the road the mainstream media couldn’t see in 2016 and can’t see today.

But they’re waking up.

Because you can’t keep a good woman down. You can’t muzzle a knowledgeable source whose views are based on substance. You see it’s the same as it ever was, America believes in truth, justice and the American way.

Is Elizabeth Warren Superwoman?

We’re about to find out.

Elizabeth Warren Is Completely Serious “The New York Times”

Can Elizabeth Warren Win It All? “The New Yorker”

This movie is made for tomorrow not today. Kind of like “Don’t Look Back,” a footnote when it was released, a legendary artifact from the past today, a rite for college students. Maybe because that era does not exist anymore. When performers could be mysterious, and stay that way. Today it’s all about self-revelation, documenting every detail of your life in order to bond an audience to you. But the truth is with nothing underneath, purveyors get no traction, or are instantly forgotten. Music, when done right, is the other. Something ethereal that you truly cannot describe accurately, something you’ve got to experience, something delivered for your mind, not for your wallet.

Parts of this movie are fake. I point you to this Vulture article for an explanation:

What Is Fact and What Is Fiction in Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue: a Bob Dylan Story?

But the thing is too much time has passed, there are few Dylanologists, most people believe the falsehoods, and therefor the trick falls flat. Kinda like that old question, “If a tree falls in a forest…”

But that’s not the way it was when Dylan broke, we hung on every word.

And although disco came along and killed corporate rock, and the music industry tanked at the end of ’79, it is kind of curious that Dylan survived in that era, because he wasn’t playing what anybody else was, although Mark Knopfler is all over ’79’s “Slow Train Coming.” Then again, as a “Christian” album, many people ignored it. I’m waiting for the renaissance in reputation, “Slow Train Coming,” with Knopfler and production by Barry Beckett and Jerry Wexler, is a monster, check it out.

Now I saw the Rolling Thunder Revue. I had to.

But not everybody did.

You see Dylan had come back the previous year, with the Band, documented in the “Before The Flood” double LP on Geffen. That’s a famous story, how Dylan screwed Geffen, how Dylan gave him two albums and then went back to Columbia. Sure, Geffen ended up a billionaire, but Dylan didn’t care.

That theme runs throughout the movie. Dylan just doesn’t care. About the audience’s expectations. About making money. This was an experience, and no amount of money would buy you a spot in the Rolling Thunder Revue. This was when there were no billionaires, and the corporation wasn’t trusted, especially by musicians. Hell, the footage at CBS, with Walter Yetnikoff, is so uncomfortable. Dylan’s out of place, the suits are trying to appease him, but you know that everybody just wants to get back to their own world.

But Walter has said that Bob Dylan introduced him to his mother.

You see Dylan’s a cipher. Who created a myth from day one, when he got to New York. And he was aided by his manager, Albert Grossman, and became so successful, he could do whatever he wanted to. Dylan would have never made it without Albert. All superstars owe their breakthrough to a manager, who opened doors, who pushed. In Dylan’s case, Grossman got covers, Bob was famous for his songwriting long before he penetrated the recorded music market.

So there was press. Rolling Thunder was a big story in the “New York Times,” it was covered by “Rolling Stone,” if you were interested, you found out. But the dirty little secret is although the Stones do boffo on the road, they’ve always sold few records, and although Dylan’s got a rep nonpareil, the audience for his shows is not that huge. Watch the film and you’ll see why. There’s a limited audience for this music. But never underestimate Dylan’s wisdom, his talent, his impact. The biggest stars don’t top the chart, they impact the culture. Sometimes they do both, but rarely.

So there are so many nuggets in this movie. Joan Baez dancing. Whew! Who ever knew she was that young. And skinny. Like Dylan, like everybody else in this movie.

And Joni Mitchell is as charismatic as they get. When everybody is dressed down, she’s dressed up, with her beret, she’s got her look on. And her artistic sensibility is intact. She won’t play her hits on stage. And when she plays “Coyote” backstage in the movie… If you’re a fan, your brain is brought back to then, when you just wanted to live with your favorite artist and experience their lifestyle.

And when the whole gang sings “Love Potion #9″… That was the sixties, when we all knew the same songs and we could sing them and did.

Now unlike most music documentaries, “Rolling Thunder” includes whole songs. Which makes for a less than perfect viewing experience, it slows the pic down, but in future years these performances will be studied.

And to hear today’s Dylan talk… He’s the same guy, the same voice, the one from XM, the one in the commercials. Was he born that way or is it affected? Has he been doing it so long this is the only way he can speak? Believe me, they don’t talk that way in Hibbing, Minnesota.

And you’re hanging on every word. As Bob drops nuggets. Mostly evading the question, sometimes humble and other times arrogant.

So what we’ve got here is more akin to a movie than a documentary. Documentaries are about facts, movies are about suspending disbelief, falling for the myth. We’ve been falling for the Bob Dylan myth for over fifty years. He’s bobbed and weaved more times than Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. He’s outlasted everybody at his record label. Been through vinyl, cassettes, CDs and streaming. Always following the road less traveled, always one or two steps ahead of the audience.

Kind of like changing the melodies to his songs. He was doing that back in ’75, watch this film. He wants the music to be interesting to him, not us. He’s not trying to fulfill our wants, but to make us contemplate, and think, ending up with more questions than answers.

You couldn’t do a tour like this today. Economically, if for no other reason. And no one would care, there wouldn’t be a ton of press. and we’ve got themed festivals, like Lockn’ and…

If you lived through the seventies, you will recognize your past in this movie. When you wore bell bottoms, when grooming was lax, when it was still more about what was inside as opposed to outside, your brain and personality more than your bank account.

If you didn’t live through the seventies, you’ll probably be bored, you won’t get it. After all, it’s not like these songs are classics to you, the only one you hear now is “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” a throwaway for the film “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” in which Dylan had a minor role.

And Dylan has a long history of failed film projects, artistically as well as economically.

But this is something different. Once you realize you’ve been had, you step back and question what is real, not only in the movie, but Dylan’s life, your life.

That’s what art is supposed to do, challenge you, push you, make you think.

That’s the problem with cinema today, movies make tons of money, but almost all of them are empty calories.

So you’re better off tuning in to Netflix, where you can see the “Rolling Thunder Revue.” If you read the newspapers, you think you can only see it in the theatre. Don’t bother. There’s no reason. Don’t waste the time. Hell, watch it up close and personal on your iPad.

And turn on the subtitles, otherwise you’ll miss too many lyrics and dialogue.

And at times you’ll be excited, and at times you’ll be bored, and when it’s all over you’ll yearn for those days of yore,

Most of those people are gone.

But not Bob Dylan, he keeps soldiering on.

Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone.

Disappearing Earth: A novel

I crowdsource my reading. It’s the same thing I do with my viewing. I’ve only got time for great, and when it requires a huge investment of my time…

I’m trying to make sense of the world. And I can’t. You see there’s too much input, too many stories. In the old days it was clear what was important and what wasn’t. Who was a star and who wasn’t. And most things weren’t important and most people weren’t stars. And you owned that. You didn’t have dreams, except for a few people, who moved to L.A. or New York and tried to make it. Some did, most didn’t. But most didn’t take the risk. They didn’t think they were talented enough, or they just didn’t want to make the effort. The people who win are rarely the most talented, it’s a weird elixir of talent, desire and luck that pushes you into the stratosphere, and it’s very hard to achieve.

But today everybody can play. Everybody is trying to be a star. And as a result, today’s stars have a fraction of the wattage they used to. You read about them, but it’s easy to ignore them. It’s easy to ignore everything these days, other than politics, because it comes and goes so quickly. Madonna and Bruce Springsteen released albums on Friday, you can listen to them for free, but you probably won’t. You’re busy doing something else, music is no longer the only thing in your life, there are so many options, and chances are these albums will be instantly forgotten. Almost everything is instantly forgotten. And the funny thing is, when you have easy access, when movies come to cable, you don’t watch then either, because there’s a whole slew of new stuff that you’re ignoring. You’re just trying to ride the wave. You’re so fearful of falling behind. And you think if you just hold on long enough, the beach will appear, the wave will crash and you’ll end up on dry land, to a bevy of applause. But the beach never appears and no one’s applauding other than your family and friends anyway, no one else is paying attention to you, they’re deep in their own hole. Hell, this even happens with Trump. On a regular basis the left, the media, is dumbfounded by his tweets or remarks. But no matter how much they’re outraged, life goes on and Trump’s behavior is forgotten.

What’s a poor boy to do in this situation?

Read.

Yes, we’re reading all day long, that’s what the internet is all about. But it’s mostly factoids, and it’s hard to go deep on a smartphone or computer screen anyway.

We’re addicted to story, which is why Netflix burgeons, why documentaries are at a peak, but most of the news we encounter, most of the experiences we have, are hit and run. That’s why the single triumphs, it’s enough. In order to be addicted to an album it must be great and we’ve got to care and those two rarely align, which is why modern day musicmakers focus on the track, they understand the new world, the oldsters are still waiting for the old world to come back, as if we’re gonna go back to three networks on television. Yes, we all watched “Laugh-In.” And then the aforementioned Springsteen claimed there were fifty seven channels and nothing on, and now there’s too much on.

So what we’re looking for is to be removed. Not exactly an escape, but a journey to an alternative universe.

I skim the book reviews. Read the first paragraph and the last to see if the book is any good. Otherwise, I’m gonna know the whole plot. And it’s rare that a review causes me to buy, to read, but if I keep on hearing the book mentioned elsewhere, I start to notice.

And then I dig deeper.

“Entertainment Weekly” declared “Disappearing Earth” to be one of the ten best books of the first half of 2019. So I dug deeper, it got four stars on Amazon. I won’t read anything with three stars or less, I’m always anxious when a book gets three and a half, but some great ones get that rating. And after a bit more research, I downloaded the sample chapter and got hooked.

I like to read when it’s dark out. When it’s only me and the book. When the world is asleep and there are no distractions.

It’s hard to tear ourselves away from the smartphone, like I said, we’re trying to keep up, be in the know, informed.

But after midnight I turn the ringer off, plug in the phone and do my best to ignore it. To go deep, into a book.

“Disappearing Earth” is about Kamchatka. I’m familiar with the vodka, but I couldn’t place it on a map of Russia. Turns out it’s the far-eastern peninsula, kinda near Alaska. It’s nine time zones from Moscow. To the point where it’s like another country, whenever you want to call and do business, you can’t. Not that Moscow cares about you anyway.

And Kamchatka has white people and natives. And the white people have contempt for the natives, who speak another language. But they’re all Russians. Except for the foreign construction workers, that’s a feature outside of the U.S., the temporary, sometimes permanent if the country is a member of the EU, workers from other nations, they’re always looked upon with suspicion, but they do the work the locals don’t want to.

And I’d say “Disappearing Earth” is linked short stories, but really they’re all tied together, by the plot and the intersecting characters.

Now that’s one of the downsides of this book. The Russian names, it’s hard to keep them straight. But life in Russia…I’m fascinated. What’s it like to live where it’s cold, you don’t have enough money and your future is limited? Where homosexuality has consequences and everybody’s a big drinker.

So what you’ve got in “Disappearing Earth” is a bunch of families, and some single adults, trying to get along. They’re not trying to be famous, they’re just looking for a little happiness.

But as Depeche Mode sang, people are people. We’re united by our humanity. Really, we’re the same all over the world. So, you resonate with the truth in this book, like “A person needs company.” You can’t live your life alone, you need other people, believe me, I was so broke I tried to hold on by myself, but I couldn’t.

And there’s wisdom too, “Masha looked sophisticated enough to have skipped childhood altogether.” You know people like this.

And when I tried to finish “Disappearing Earth” during daylight, I started to fall asleep, I wondered if it was getting worse or whether it needed to be dark. I’m one of those people who might be sleepy during the day, but is wide awake at night.

So at first I was gonna highly recommend “Disappearing Earth.” Now I’m not so sure.

So this book is not for the casual reader, the person who reads a book a year. But if you’re hungry for connection, if you don’t limit yourself to genres, like thrillers, mysteries, biographies and romance, if you’re more interested in people than plot…

You might want to check out “Disappearing Earth.”

This was the week Elizabeth Warren’s candidacy was taken seriously and Donald Trump lost all credibility.

And “Old Town Road” continued to triumph in the music sphere, because it’s a fad driven by social media and that’s how far we’ve sunk these days.

It comes down to substance. And experience. The entertainment business believes it’s all about marketing, and it happens instantly, you throw it all up against the wall and see if it sticks. And if it doesn’t, you throw your hands in the air and move on to the next project. Meanwhile, the person whose work you threw against the wall, which failed, is usually lost in the shuffle, forgotten, like an autoworker whose plant has closed.

Backstory matters. Sure, be an OG if you really are one. But if it’s an act, the truth outs. We live in an era of authenticity.

Meanwhile, if you can’t play your instrument and can’t write a song, you’re going to be outed too. Of course you’ll push back, crying about all the haters, but once you’re in a Twitter war, once it becomes about the battle as opposed to the issue, you’ve lost. Real players know you only respond to haters if it will move your agenda. You never try to correct people. Hell, there isn’t even one agreed upon news source, people believe different “truths,” what are the odds you’re going to set someone straight on Twitter…NONE! But if the perp has enough followers and you nail them the story might be picked up elsewhere, it could go viral, your cause could be helped.

But you can’t analyze it that much, you can’t map out a definitive plan. Actually, you’ve got to live outside the system, hewing to your own tuning fork and hope that it resonates. If it doesn’t resonate… You’re toast.

The story in America today is income inequality.

Forget all the minimum wage earners who can’t make ends meet. I mean don’t truly forget them, but chances are you aren’t one of them. Chances are you’re middle class, wondering how in hell your dreams didn’t come true. There’s a whole class of people with more money than you, and there’s no legal way you can penetrate, ascend to their level.

Of course techies and entrepreneurs and basketball players can get there. But not graduates of good colleges, professionals, intelligent, hard-working people.

And the country is controlled by the wealthy, with their dollars. What cash buys you is influence. And you’d be surprised what a ride on a private jet can get you. Then again, chances are you’ve never been on a private jet. That’s another thing the rich don’t want you to know, how grand their lifestyles truly are. While you’re waiting in line, dealing with TSA, getting to the airport two hours in advance to fight your way onto the plane and find storage for your carry-on, the elite are showing up on the tarmac five minutes before takeoff, with no TSA hassle, it’s wheels-up and they’re at the destination before the hoi polloi has gotten in the air.

Not that some haven’t earned it. That’s one of the reasons you wanted to become a rock star, so you could live the lifestyle. Now rock stars make a pittance, relatively speaking. So managers are investing in startups. And WME is going public. Everybody in Hollywood is trying to get rich, and usually it’s not even on the backs of talent, TALENT DOESN’T YIELD ENOUGH CASH!

But chances are you don’t know how the real world works. Because they don’t want to let you know. But one thing’s for sure, you know you got a raw deal, and your opportunity is limited.

The Democratic National Committee doesn’t want to lose control. So they’re on a disinformation campaign, anointing Joe Biden, which is like saying a second-string player on the Bulls teams of yore is your best bet. At least give us Michael Jordan, even better, STEPH CURRY!

But the DNC won’t acknowledge the game has changed, doesn’t even know the game has changed. Curry revolutionized play in the NBA, with the 3-pointer. America is far different from what it was even in the Obama era. We live in an era of cacophony where everybody believes in their own truth and those with power are on massive disinformation campaigns. If you think the number one problem in America is immigration, you don’t understand the economy. But Trump is diverting you, so you won’t see the real issues.

But Trump made a deal with Mexico and then reneged.

This is his pattern, and now foreign governments don’t trust him. What do they say, you’re only as good as your word? Well Trump’s word ain’t worth much. This fact was buried before there was national scrutiny, but now we know.

As for Warren, the DNC said she couldn’t win, she was another strident woman only this time with left field, progressive views they didn’t cotton to.

The rule in America today is no one can lose their job, no one can lose power, you’re entitled to keep everything you earned and never lose your station. Only that’s B.S. That’s like saying Madonna should still sell out stadiums. But she can’t. Oh, we could argue that one… That’s like saying Alanis Morissette can still go clean at every arena, along with Miley Cyrus. Times change, the heat dissipates, stars lose their light. But not in business, in business you’re entitled to keep your job, just like the coal miners and autoworkers and the post office people. Only you’re making a lot more money and have a lot more power.

So the establishment, those with money and power, HATE Elizabeth Warren, because they’ve got something to lose and they don’t want to lose ANYTHING!

Now Warren has paid her dues. And is organized. She’s been pounding policies, plans, ad infinitum while Joe Biden isn’t sure whether he’s for the government paying for abortions or not.

And this work, along with Warren’s truth, is making people cling to her, believe in her, and the press is only noticing now.

This is just like a band. You practice, pay your dues, work in the trenches and WAIT for your moment. And if it doesn’t come, it often means you just weren’t good enough. People recognize excellence, they’re wowed by excellence, they can’t get enough of it, opportunity comes to those who deliver stellar performances.

But of course those on the right, still on the Trump train, decry everything I just said. But elections are like the music business. NO ONE LIKES EVERY ACT! For every Drake lover, there are tons of haters. You just need enough to make it work economically, you just need enough votes to win.

If you think it’s business as usual in America, you’re either rich or delusional.

As for the Pocahontas thing…epithets never triumph over substance. And America is all about redemption. And name-calling has no chance against hope, which is what Warren delivers. Hell, even George Will thought she’d be the right person to run, that’s what he said on “Real Time” tonight, that Warren would be FUN, and that politics should be fun.

And politics is no different from music. We’re always looking for something new, something outside, something different. We get sick of the same old thing. The landscape keeps changing, we want new faces that understand it.

So what you’ve got is a disconnect between those with power and the rest of the world, the internet world, the connected world, the cacophonous world. Used to be you could get away with being out of touch, but no longer, it just makes you look dumb. Like Congressman Steve King bitching to the CEO of Google Sundar Pichai about his iPhone…GOOGLE MAKES ANDROID!

Conventional wisdom is just that. And in today’s overloaded world there’s a belief that he or she who yells loudest triumphs. But that’s B.S. You can yell, but that does not mean anybody is listening. What you’re hyping can be forgotten in a minute, heard anybody talk about Steve Perry’s solo album recently? But if you’ve got the goods, if what you’re working is great, you’ve got a chance that the people will glom on to it and spread the word. The press is always last. It’s just the cherry on top, like radio. But when a track gets on radio, IT BLOWS UP!

This week Elizabeth Warren blew up.

And Trump blew himself up.

And Nancy Pelosi and the old farts are afraid of impeachment, even though daily telecasts will inform those on the right what is really going on, will pierce the Fox bubble.

But never expect change from the entrenched. It always comes from outside. It’s always supported by the people. It’s all about connection and resonance. Trump resonated with people the RNC denigrated. And the DNC was too stupid to see that Hillary Clinton resonated with almost nobody. She was like a great session guitarist, no one pays to see that.

We’re looking for superstars. And now, more than ever, the penumbra is irrelevant, it all comes down to substance.

And that’s how Elizabeth Warren got traction.

P.S. If you’re interested in the Warren phenomenon, whether you love her or hate her or just want more information, please read the “New Yorker” story on her, it’s balanced and thorough and after you read it, you can talk like an expert, which everybody wants to be these days:

Can Elizabeth Warren Win It All?