Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach

“The Boys Of Summer”
Don Henley

Are you bored yet?

There was certainly no one on the road yesterday. The 405 south was a ghost land. However, on the way back up the hill there was traffic, because it’s raining. It hadn’t rained since January 1st, now we’re getting a week of wetness. Which is kind of weird, because the days are getting longer. We equate wetness with winter, darkness. What did George Harrison say, “Beware of darkness”?

So it started to feel like “Testament.” You remember that Jane Alexander movie from 1983, don’t you? The people are slowly dying after a nuclear bomb. It’s grim, but it’s not panicky. You’re just enduring…

I’m convinced I’m gonna get the virus. Yup, after Angela Merkel said 60-70% of the public would get it. And then there was that U.S. prognosticator who claimed 40-60% yesterday. It seems that we’re self-quarantining as to not overwhelm the health system, but how long is that gonna last?

My text and e-mail feeds yesterday were full of people at loose ends. Funny how you’re always looking for free time, but when you get it you don’t know what to do with it.

But I finished “The Underground Railway” by Colson Whitehead, you know, the book that won the Pulitzer and the National Book Award? The one wherein the underground railroad is really a railroad? I’d started it, but couldn’t finish it. But then I got hooked earlier this week. I’m trying to finish all the books I’ve purchased but haven’t read, but first I might have to read Erik Larson’s “The Splendid and the Vile,” his book about Churchill during the bombing. I swore I’d never read another Whitehead book after “Sag Harbor,” which is one of the first books I bought when I got my Kindle back in 2009, it was a slog. And at first I got really hooked on “The Underground Railroad,” then again, it’s not one of those books where you can concentrate on every word. I do not skim, but if you read “The Underground Railroad” word by word, you’re gonna get bogged down and still not fully understand what’s going on. And yesterday I almost fell asleep reading after partaking of the kokosh which Avi Ellman sent me. And earlier in the week Fiona Bloom sent me some babka from Breads Bakery. Actually, the cinnamon one was better than the chocolate one. And I’ve got insulin resistance so sweets put me to sleep and is that why I was having trouble reading “The Underground Railroad” or is it Colson’s style? I’d say both, although I will say there’s a good ending, not great, but good.

Let’s see, what else have I read…

I finished Jenny Offill’s “Dept. of Speculation.” I used to write in this style in college, it flummoxed the teacher. But I don’t recommend it.

“Strangers and Cousins” was better, but also not great. I don’t have a single new book I can recommend. I’ve read other stuff, but if you read those books you’ll never trust me again, just like we can no longer trust Trump.

Oh, a couple of days ago the story was how the governors usurped Trump’s power, but today…I kind of feel like I want to tune out the news, if something dramatic happens, I’ll hear about it. Like Vail and Alterra closing all their ski resorts, my text feed blew up about that.

As for Trump, there’s a “New York Times” article about all the lies he’s told in the past few days. But I’m still getting e-mail from his acolytes saying it’s Obama’s fault and there’s not really a problem. Proving, once again, if the Democrats are planning to win by swaying Trumpers, forget about it, like Bitecofer said, it’s about rousing their base. As for the election itself…it may not happen. Come on, if states can postpone primaries do you really think that Trump can’t postpone the election?

And I’ve heard a couple of cool tunes on the Spectrum. That’s Sirius XM’s adult rock station. If you pay attention to the media, we live in a hip-hop world 24/7, but that is not true. We need a new metric for success, streaming quantity is important, but it’s not everything.

Anyway, I thought I didn’t like the Black Keys, but then I heard the opening cut from their new album, “Shine A Little Light,” on the aforementioned Spectrum and I got into it, if you’re a rocker you will too. Also, the channel plays “Uneventful Days” from Beck’s last album, “Hyperspace.” We’ve been overhyped on both these acts, tried them and been disappointed, but these two cuts don’t fit today’s cookie-cutter world, they don’t pay attention to streaming rules, they evolve, as opposed to needing to grab you immediately, if only there were a way to bring music other than hip-hop to the forefront.

And we finished “Safe,” the first Harlan Coben Netflix show. The ending sucked, unpredictable and unsatisfying. The road was fun to follow, but don’t put it on the top of your list.

But now we’re four episodes into “Giri/Haji,” which I picked because it was number five in some online list of the best Netflix shows ever. And it’s really damn good. I don’t know how it slipped under the public’s radar. Maybe it’s the title, maybe it’s the occasional subtitles, but “Giri/Haji” uses film production techniques, it’s visually interesting, and the story is intriguing too. Just watch the first episode, you’ll be hooked. Now I really want to go to Japan (although most of the series is set in London). More when I finish.

And speaking of streaming… Isn’t this the time when some studio should launch a new movie pay per view? I mean Disney is releasing “Frozen 2” on its streaming service Sunday, but I’m talking about a theatrical film that’s never been released. It’s not like God is gonna make new weekends, flicks will be dying on the vine. Sell them to Apple, they’ll pay and they need a hit. Better yet, Netflix. Or, you could go pay per view, as I said above, but the distributors are too anxious about pissing off the theatre owners, as if everyone’s gonna continue to go out to the movies in the future, like everyone is still buying CDs…

And now is the time to get your Kindle! Or use the Kindle app on your iPad or smartphone. No touching needed! Just go online and the book is whisked to you. Try it, you might like it.

And yesterday everybody was too freaked out to leave the house.

But after being in the house for days straight, I ventured out to Poquito Mas to get some grub. At first I was gonna sit there, but then Felice wanted me to bring her some takeout, but I was stunned that people were sitting in booths like they always do. And unlike yesterday, you could get a spot in the Gelson’s parking lot (that’s a market, for those not SoCal savvy).

As for the Shell station (you know, where the turtles go), I figured they’d be out of paper towels, but they had plenty, and I did use them to hold the pump, then again, my hand hit the side of the dispenser and…

I realized, this self-quarantine ain’t gonna stay on lockdown soon. Yesterday people were scared, today…it wasn’t like Italy out there, it was almost like a normal Saturday afternoon. Unless someone they know dies, expect people to come out of their houses. Sure, offices may not be open, primarily because of liability, but people are social animals, they can stay inside for a few days, but not much more than that unless there’s a grave danger.

Then again, I’m convinced I’m gonna get it. I mean that’s what Tom Petty said, right, “You’re gonna get it”, but I am anxious because of my compromised immune system. But yesterday I thought if I was vigilant, I just might escape, but now I’m thinking the only way to be that vigilant is to never leave your house, never accept any mail and grow your own food. I’m not saying you should go to a concert, but I am saying that people are gonna loosen the reins.

As for Trump?

No one is listening to him anymore except those that are.

But Trump has been successful in making science and facts irrelevant, unfortunately.

So I’m leaving you to your own judgment.

Until tomorrow…

The CEO of Nederlander Concerts, Alex Hodges started in Macon with his school buddy Phil Walden and ultimately went from day to day with Otis Redding to agent for the Capricorn bands to the manager for Gregg Allman and Stevie Ray Vaughan and…listen for the stories!

iheart

apple

spotify

stitcher

What are we supposed to do?

I went to the hospital today, UCLA, the waiting room was nearly empty, what normally takes three hours took seventy five minutes, what was going on? THE CORONAVIRUS!

The phlebotomist told me there’d been a patient in the hospital, that they’d closed the entire floor.

The hematologist just heard they were closing his kids’ school. But didn’t that expert in the “New York Times” say that young kids aren’t getting it and this makes no sense?

I’m getting e-mail from people holding tickets to canceled/postponed concerts.

Everybody thinks that by the fall we’ll be back to normal, BUT WHO KNOWS?

Should I fly or not?

Should I touch door handles or not?

Should I stay at home or not?

What places do I avoid?

Do I stop going to the doctor because I might get sick as a result of the visit?

This is the conversation, and no one has any facts, because facts have been discredited, by Trump and the right wing, by the anti-vaxxers, people who are convinced they’re right because it feels good to them or they find bogus, discredited info online or because they’re trying to manipulate the populace. Trump tells us to come together? IT’S EVERY PERSON FOR THEMSELVES!

This is where we’ve ended up.

We couldn’t be protected because it costs too much. And we no longer care about what happens outside our borders. Who cares if the rest of the world is sick, WE’RE THE UNITED STATES!

Trump laid the blame on Europe.

Yup, China and the rest of Asia may get a pass, but those bad people in Europe, they let the virus foster.

Meanwhile, I’ve heard from a source in Italy that the reason the numbers are so high there is because they’ve tested so many people. And they’re taking strict measures to prevent further infections. How many people have been tested in the U.S? How many people have got it? I mean if someone at CPAC had it, what are the odds I’ll encounter a patient at Ralphs?

I only watched Trump’s “speech” because I wanted to see him go off-script, like he always does, exhibit emotions, ramble, but they wrote a script and he stuck to it, reading it like a hostage, as Frank Rich said on Twitter.

It was a political speech. We have the greatest economy, even though the stock market is in bear territory. We’ve got the greatest health system, even though the uninsured infected are wary of seeking care because of the cost. Did you hear that? Insurers will wave copays, but what about the uninsured?

And the focus on small businesses. As if they’re the only ones in America. Trump was preaching to his base, and telling us it’ll be all right, as believable as that guy in the Isuzu commercials.

And my point is not to beat up on Trump, even though it’s so damn easy, but to point out that Trump did not assess the situation for us, did not tell us what to do, he didn’t make us feel at ease.

Read some of the stories. They don’t know the percentage of deaths because they don’t know the percentage of infected. One expert postulated the death rate could be TEN TIMES what has been bandied about.

And, if the virus is already here…sure, keeping foreigners out might help, but how much quarantining should we do in America?

And the quarantining makes no sense. College after college is closing, like my alma mater in Vermont, but I’d posit the students would be safer isolated in Middlebury than they will be in their own hometowns, almost all with a greater population, never mind the flights/trips home.

But it’s about liability. No one wants to be on the hook. And if you shut down, you’re cool.

And businesses… I work at home, but then I realized I go to the SiriusXM studios every week, do you know how many people pass through there, from all over the world?

I’m not paranoid, I’m not gonna stop going unless they tell everybody not to, but…

You could have a plan, like Italy, shut everything down and wait for the cases to burn out.

But in America we have no plan, to discover who has got the virus and how to contain it. Americans are very willing to get together for the greater good if a leader convinces them so, but tonight I’m just convinced that I need to take my own counsel.

But then there are those who get their news from Fox. My friend John Dick at Civic Science did a poll and found out that Fox viewers were less concerned with the coronavirus, less worried about it…BECAUSE THEY’RE PRIVY TO DISINFORMATION!

I don’t care if you’re left or right. I just need to know, do we go into the bunker or not?

And in Italy, it can take six days for food to be delivered from the grocery store. Forget people being a month away from bankruptcy, how much food do you have in the house, were the survivalists right?

And this is a crisis unlike any we’ve experienced. None of the traditional solutions work. It’s not about money, it’s not about partisan politics and it’s not about Wall Street.

As sophisticated as we’ve become, it’s no different from primitive times.

And isn’t it funny that the anti-vaxxers believe a coronavirus vaccine will appear soon but they won’t let their kids get measles shots, so measles is rampant while smallpox has been eviscerated.

Ain’t that America, the land of disinformation.

It’s uncontrollable, but almost no one is taking responsibility.

Margaret Sullivan in the WaPo told Murdoch to tell his troops at Fox to lay off the falsehoods, for the good of the country. This is a guy who needs to be shamed.

As for the anti-vaxxers… They’re like anti-abortion advocates when their kids get pregnant, then an abortion is all right. When it happens to you, it’s different.

But the coronavirus is not threatened by military attack, all that money poured into the Pentagon is useless.

Only two things can combat it, science and leadership.

Meanwhile, science is out the window, we’re all running on feel. There are cold days, so climate change cannot be happening. The elites are always the problem, and to a degree they deserve this reputation, so we can’t hand the reins to a qualified person. Mike Pence? You can’t fight the coronavirus with religion!

America is a dumb nation. With smart people in it. We fight over everything but the real thing. Mexican immigrants did not deliver the coronavirus. Gay people did not deliver the coronavirus. Everybody’s waiting for a bogeyman when the truth is we only have ourselves to blame.

You got it. Those who voted for Trump. (Oh, don’t shake your fist at me, he got rid of the pandemic response team.)

Those who believe if they just accumulate enough money they’ll be immune.

Those who believe taxes are bad and the government wastes money so it must be drowned.

If everybody needs to stay home for a month TELL US, WE’LL DO IT!

But we don’t want to live our lives normally only to find out in thirty days it’s worse.

But it looks like that’s what’s gonna happen.

That’s how much people hate Trump.

This reminds me of the record companies suing Napster. Of course music shouldn’t be free, it took a while, but they shut Napster down. And then KaZaA and lockers appeared and harmony did not reign until the advent of Spotify. Once again, music is the canary in the coal mine for disruption, how come others can’t see and learn the lessons?

No one likes Joe Biden. He’s just the least offensive of those who are left. Furthermore, he couldn’t win one damn debate amongst his peers, imagine how well he’ll do against Trump…awful!

But it gets worse. Biden has baggage. Let’s start with Ukraine. Joe let the Republicans lambaste him for days before he mounted an aggressive defense. Illustrating he does not know how to fight, despite all the malarkey tying himself to Obama, who didn’t do so well fighting either. Obama kept wanting the Republicans to be reasonable, to play by the rules, but they refused to. The Republicans had their finger on the pulse of America. Times were hard, people were pissed about paying for others, they wanted someone to stand up for them, and they got him, Donald Trump.

Trump was the beneficiary of all those years on television. But in his campaign he went straight to the public, via Twitter, while the political class and their pundit lackeys kept complaining he just wasn’t being decent. Been online recently? Decency is nowhere to be found. Because people are ANGRY! The reason they bitch at you is because they believe you’ve got their job, you’ve won and they’ve lost. And with social media they get a chance to hit back.

Which is what Tik Tok is all about. The hoi polloi get to be stars!

But not in politics.

The DNC and the media won, they needed Bernie to fail so they got candidates to drop out and scared the public into believing Sanders was a commie who loved dictators who was gonna take your money and your health care and leave you in a worse position. Who wants that? NOBODY!

This is why the younger generation hates traditional media, because it’s biased. I’m not talking about Trump’s fake news, but viewpoint, this Biden/Bernie fiasco has shown that in many ways the left wing press is just as bad as Fox News, only in this case the left is fighting against itself, as opposed to the right wing enemy.

So, “The New York Times” prints a story saying Bernie tied in with a Soviet city but it was all a ruse for spying. Immediately “The New Yorker” says it’s not true, days later the “Times” prints a letter from the government official responsible for the program, saying the “Times” had it wrong and there was no spying involved.

They were out to get Bernie.

Never forget these bozos work for corporations, they are not individual hustlers building their own companies. They’re beholden to their bosses, they’re part of the elite and they don’t want to sacrifice.

But the rank and file are part time contractors, they work at the company but are paid by third parties, they’ve got no recourse, they just want someone to stand up for them.

Joe Biden?

He wants a lower taxes on the rich than Bloomberg! Think about that!

Of course I want to wipe out Trump and have a return to…

We’re never going back to normalcy, because the right hates the left just that much, and they’re far more organized.

So, the right is hijacked by Donald Trump, and lo and behold, HE WINS! Because Trump was more in touch with the proletariat than the party and the pundits. Think about that. Sure, you might abhor his policies, but Trump is always serving his base. Who is the DNC serving? The elites, they’re so far out of touch with their base that they’re ripe for the picking, and they will be, it’s just a matter of when.

I’m getting older by the minute but I must say I’ve about given up. I’ll vote for Old Joe, but the only difference it will make is getting rid of the Donald.

Are you watching TV, are you reading the news? The broadcasters and writers are GLOATING! They pulled victory from the jaws of defeat! This illustrates their power, it’s still there baby, as opposed to the Republicans, who realized Trump was in charge and rallied around him.

So, we’ve rallied around an aging man who can barely get it out. Just because the DNC and the media decided he was the safest bet against Trump. EVERYBODY knows that safe never works. It oftentimes loses, and at best it stands for the status quo, and the target keeps on moving, you’ve got to be prepared.

Talk to a professional athlete. Safe is anathema. Safe you’re self-conscious, safe you make mistakes, safe you lose. The DNC and the media are overthinking, winners run on instinct. Trump does, but he’s got no preparation. Without experience, instinct is worthless.

As far as taking the temperature of the public…the DNC and the media refused to do this, they just made the public’s blood boil, to the point people threw in the towel and cried uncle. If you think this is a victory, you probably think everything’s kumbaya in Guantanamo.

When I grew up blue bloods had the money, they inherited it.

Today, it’s all new money, people worked very hard to make it.

When I grew up, it was all about albums, AM was a joke starting with “Sgt. Pepper.”

Today it’s all about the single, but the old farts keep crying about the album, as the youngsters ignore them and forge their own way.

When I grew up the enemy was television.

Today the enemy is smartphones. There’s never acceptance of the new, it’s always flawed with consequences, you’ve got to do it the old way.

Kinda like print books. You’re reading this on a screen. Without screens, I wouldn’t be able to reach all of you at once!

Like the musicians who bitch about the decline of major label record deals when today they can make, distribute and hype FOR FREE! The truth is the channel is cluttered, even worse is people don’t want to hear their music.

So Elizabeth Warren was the frontrunner, but she caved to the cabal. She thinks the insiders run the game, when the truth is now, more than ever, outsiders rule, insiders find out last, they try to deal with the consequences.

And this election was never about Medicare for all, it was always about Trump, but arguing about health care and commies made good television, no one put the kibosh on it, because no one is in charge.

We need people in charge. This is what Trump has got right. When things are confusing you want an all-knowing seer to take charge and lead the way. Trump promised this, even though he can’t deliver it. What do the Democrats do? Endorse an aged guy whose votes are all over the map who can’t even fight his way out of a paper bag. Joe Biden someone to believe in? NO WAY!

And the reason Obama won is because he offered hope, a new beginning, to the point where the fact that he was African-American didn’t matter. Biden isn’t offering hope, and hope is what gets people energized, they want to believe in a better future. As for 2008-2016, income inequality still reigned. Corporations gained even more power. If those are the glory days Springsteen’s song is meaningless.

It’s not about Bernie, it’s about a vision, a viewpoint, the future.

It wasn’t supposed to be Bernie, it was supposed to be Elizabeth, but she blew it. And these same media wankers can’t stop saying it’s criminal that the voters didn’t choose a woman, or a person of color. I watched the debates…THEY DIDN’T DESERVE IT! Being a woman or a person of color had nothing to do with it. It’d be like letting Buttigieg start for the Lakers, not everybody can do everything.

So, do I think that income inequality will wane?

It certainly didn’t under Obama.

Do I think the corporations will be corralled?

Not by a guy who comes from Delaware.

I think Biden will win, the DNC and the media will breathe a sigh of relief and try and convince the public that everything is okay.

But it’s not!

The underlying problems of this country will not be addressed. And this rally around a loser doesn’t engender confidence amongst the public. But the DNC doesn’t like risk, it learned lessons from 2016 and the RNC, BUT THE WRONG LESSONS!

It’s not about ganging up on the insurgent, but examining why the insurgent is doing so well and tapping into that. The DNC has lost the younger generation in one fell swoop. And young people get older every day, what makes you think they’ll remain Democrats? What is the party doing for them? Just fighting the evil bully Trump is not enough, you’ve got to move the needle and deliver something positive. There are losses in change. That doesn’t mean you should stay with the status quo!

I’m disgusted. I’m sick of groupthink. In tech, it’s one leader with a vision. Elon Musk showed the practicality of electric cars, with more performance than a Porsche. What did the media do? EXCORIATE HIM!

We’ve seen this movie before. Once again in music. We’re going to go electric, someone is gonna win, it might not be Tesla, but it will be somebody. And never forget, Tower Records did not survive and Spotify was not in existence at the turn of the century.

D.C. is like the coronavirus. You can’t go there without being infected. The big bitch about Sanders is he wouldn’t compromise, wouldn’t make sausage. Ever hear of Neil Young compromising? Doesn’t happen, he’s got a vision, and Neil keeps trying to adjust for the future as his contemporaries play their oldies to the aged.

The familiar is comfortable, but the familiar does not sustain, it’s the new that sustains.

Sure, a lot of the public is made up of nitwits. But not all of the populace are idiots, just looking to be entertained. Chance the Rapper did it by himself, do you think the young ‘uns won’t do it by themselves when it comes to news, do you think the youngsters will just glom on to the institutions of their parents?

Watching the coverage today reminds me of going to school.

You remember school, don’t you?

There were rules. Sometimes insensible. But you had to obey them.

The administration was king and you couldn’t wait to graduate.

And isn’t it funny that those who loved school, who stayed in, did not change the world. The dropouts changed it! Because school was antiquated and couldn’t teach them what they needed to know, never mind quickly enough.

Rule-breakers always win in the end. Those who play the game are surprised when the rules no longer apply. But as they whine how they want a return to what once was they become less and less relevant.

Maybe the Orange Menace was just that bad.

Or, maybe the Democrats could have sold a comprehensive plan for the future. The people without medical coverage want Medicare for all. The media could have scared the rich by saying the poor are not being tested for the coronavirus. But instead, it just vilified Bernie’s vision of the future by focusing on the past.

This dream will not die. People will not forget. But next time, they will not bother to exercise their power via the system.

Be ready.