Everybody does not know your name.

No one is as big as they used to be in the pre-internet era. No one reaches everybody, no one is known by everybody, never have individual stars meant less. Platforms are the stars, from Spotify to Facebook to Amazon.

You can be famous and broke.

If you’re not polishing your star 24/7, it’s fading. Fans can never get enough of you, the only people complaining that you’re publishing too much are those who are jealous, not fans, and want to bring you down.

You build your own star. Sure, intermediaries help, but you record on a laptop and can distribute at no cost and the means of disseminating your message are at your fingertips. If you’re waiting for someone else to do it, you’re gonna be left behind.

Charts don’t count. They’re for insiders and looky-loos.

The money is on the road, so why are you spending so much time in the studio? Every time you hit a town media explodes, both traditional and online/social network, when your album comes out you’re lucky to get a local review, and after release date, you’re in the rearview mirror.

Hits mean less than ever. Lady Gaga toured for years without one. Then again, her ability to sell tickets was based on her previous hits.

Mystery is history. If you’re not airing your dirty laundry, no one can bond to you. Yes, they want to know what you ate for breakfast. Yes, they want to know if your significant other refused sex last night. The twenty first century is a digital age wherein the humans provide humanity, one thing a chip cannot do, let your freak flag fly.

TV works for old audiences. Same deal with print/magazine/major publications. If you do not appeal to oldsters, save your time and money.

True stars can say no. Most stars cannot.

Hate goes with the territory, don’t react. Unless getting into online battles is your thing, but then you become a brand, not a musician, and brands fade faster than music.

You know what’s going on in your own silo, but not anybody else’s.

Cash is king and don’t expect your handlers to say no and forgo their percentage, that’s your job.

Don’t listen to the stories of social media stars. Their fame and income does not last, they are of the moment, their acts do not translate to other media, they are fads. And what we know online is fads eventually fade away and do not radiate. Anybody e-mail you a joke recently?

The audience is online native, connected all the time, you should be too.

Ignore anti-tech screeds. Your career is based on tech.

Major labels are a smaller slice of the pie than ever. They control a lot of hits, but almost none of the penumbra, and the penumbra is where the action is, all the genres that don’t rain down immediate cash with brain-dead youngsters.

Data is everything. It tells you who and where your fans are. You should be able to reach all of them with an e-mail or a tweet or an Instagram post.

Musicians are about content. Posting on social media without it makes you two-dimensional in a three-dimensional world. You’re selling story. A picture needs an explanation. Your whole life is a narrative, surrounding around your music.

Be yourself, don’t worry about offending those who do not care. Most likely the ones with opposite political viewpoints just want to inhibit your creativity and shut you down.

I rarely practiced.

But I think Guy needed the money.

At first I took guitar lessons with my sister at some folkie’s house. That’s what you learned back then, Peter, Paul & Mary were kings, or queens. The teacher was a housewife, my mother heard about her through the grapevine. The smaller the community, the more people you know. But we burned out quickly, she wouldn’t teach us the hits.

And then the Beatles broke.

The folk guitar was no longer useful. You needed something with a narrow neck and metal strings. And I got one for Hanukkah, sans amplifier, not that I cared. And then a case, although its plastic handle ultimately broke, I think that’s one of the reasons I lost interest. And then I started taking lessons across town from this guy in a music store, with hair like Elvis and a big red semi-acoustic guitar, he scared me a bit, his interests seemed to be elsewhere, and one time when I showed up for my three dollar lesson and he’d cross-booked, since I’d been out of town a bunch, that was over.

And that’s when I found Guy Smith. Ensconced in one of those buildings in downtown Bridgeport that hadn’t yet been torn down. My father would drop me there every Monday night, I’d play what he’d given me the week before, then he’d write out something new, and then we’d play it and the lesson would be over. Guy was nice, and he always wrote down the hits. I remember doing the Turtles’ “You Showed Me,” I could tell it was one of his favorites, and one week I got him to write down “White Room.” Guy didn’t want to, maybe that’s why I remember it. He said it was too simple. But he did.

At this point Cream was gigantic, and it wasn’t that long thereafter that they said they were gonna break up. I’d bought “Disraeli Gears,” I loved “Tales Of Brave Ulysses.” And “SWLABR” and “Dance The Night Away.” And nearly a year after it was released, “Sunshine Of Your Love” crossed over from FM to AM and the band became ubiquitous. That’s what changed music, almost as much as the Beatles, FM. Kinda like Spotify, et al, today, they’re making short songs de rigueur, but the streaming services have only amplified the power of hip-hop so far, no new musical strand has emerged. And once something was on AM, the cat was out of the bag, singles and albums sold prodigiously. Acts could sell more tickets. Everybody knew who they were, in an era where AM radio reached everybody. Just like network TV, if it was on, it was known.

And in the fall of ’68, right after “Sunshine Of Your Love” was fading, Cream released “Wheels Of Fire.”

Now if you got in early, and I most certainly did, the album came with a silver foil cover. This was back when we were all collectors, when our albums meant something to us, when we thought they were forever. And on some level, they still are, what with the vinyl revival, but now on eBay you can find everything and life is all about access. If you find a collector, you find someone lost in the twentieth century.

Now at this point, “Wheels Of Fire” is most famous for the tear through “Crossroads,” with its Clapton vocal and searing fretmanship.

But back then, the two highlights were “Spoonful” and “Toad.” This was back when most bands were lousy live, long before tapes/hard drives, during the era of poor PAs. But these three tracks were all recorded live, “Wheels Of Fire” had one studio disc and one live disc.

This is when Clapton became God in America.

And this time, unlike the year before, no time was necessary for the track to percolate on FM before it crossed over to AM, “White Room” hit the airwaves immediately.

Did you know you could talk to the Amazon Music app? Yup, Alexa is there for you. Spotify has copied this feature, but to be honest I’ve never utilized it. And the other night, long after dark, I called out to Alexa on my phone to play the rock hits of 1968, since Amazon Music can create playlists on the fly.

I got way too much “White Album.” And for some reason, I got “Fire And Rain,” twice, even though that wasn’t released until 1970, but I also got “White Room.”

It was a revelation. The majestic full-throttle intro, how were all those sounds created, and then a Ginger Baker drum hit and Jack Bruce vocalizing, everybody involved considered the pinnacle in their world, a true supergroup, they made that movie about Ginger but today everybody talks about Neil Peart and people rarely mention bass players, even though students know Jaco Pastorius was best, as for Clapton….the past few decades have been about pulling him down from his perch, one he never seemed to want.

But Jack Bruce could sing too, his mellifluous voice was an indispensable part of Cream’s success.

I’ll wait in this place where the sun never shines
Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves

And if I could tell you what that exactly means, I would, but I can’t, but I know this couplet by heart, the way Jack loses all harshness and goes for honesty, becomes almost sentimental, and touches your heart.

Now there was privilege in owning the album, the single version lasted barely longer than three minutes, whereas the five minute album take had Clapton wailing on and on, inspiring wannabe axemen around the world.

Funny how music can bring you back. It’s not a memory of, you’re right in the moment, you’re a teenager once again, when the goal was to be a guitar hero, when we only talked about music, when radio was our religion and music drove the culture.

Jack is gone. Stunningly, Ginger is still here. And now Clapton plays occasionally to fans, seemingly more interested in fishing. Live long enough and you see the whole arc, from nobody to star and back again. You can even book a hotel room under your own name.

But those records…

They’re locked in amber, they’re FOREVER!

Now we know how long it takes for our country’s infrastructure to crumble. You know, like in a disaster movie, after the nuclear holocaust, when they run out of bread and water…but in this case it was the flights. Flying is bad enough, now Frontier wants you to tip your flight attendant, but if you show up and can’t get where you want to go you’re beyond frustrated, and you don’t know who to complain to.

So Trump ended the shutdown, temporarily anyway. Proving that nonsense doesn’t go on forever, or as they say, something’s gotta give.

And it did.

A good lesson to learn. America hasn’t completely gone off the rails.

But with the arrest of Roger Stone and the reference to Frank Pentangeli… I thought the Mafia was eradicated, but it turns out it’s still here, now it is the government, and the only person who needs to survive is Trump. Don Jr., aka Fredo, will be sacrificed, maybe Jared Kushner too, they’re taking one for the team, illustrating “character”…but I thought character was about morality and doing the right thing, boy am I living in a bubble.

And it turns out while Hollywood continues to debate #MeToo, and the “New York Times” keeps adding female opinion writers, the truth is the two most powerful people in America are women, Ann Coulter and Nancy Pelosi. One shut down the government, the other refused to cave. What a movie to watch.

And speaking of watching, did you see Coulter on Bill Maher tonight? She should win an Academy Award, what a great acting job, as you watch her you start to believe that she doesn’t, believe that is, i.e. she’s an entertainer, just like our President, and we’ve been snookered by both.

And if you pitched this as a movie script to a studio they wouldn’t make it, they’d say it’s unbelievable, that it couldn’t happen.

Actually, today I’m kinda glad that Trump got elected. Oh, not really, especially with the Supreme Court, never mind the ability to name other judges and break the economy… But Trump has defined the new reality in today’s America. He’s Napster. He’s disruptive. Just like file-traders were sick of paying $15 for a CD with one good song, racists and the downtrodden were sick of getting lip service from the establishment in D.C., they turned over the table. But now it’s righting itself.

It woke up our somnambulant country. Look at the number of people who voted in the midterms.

And it immediately put the baby boomers in the rearview mirror. Sure, oldsters vote, but it’s the youngsters’ country now, and they’re pissed… Everybody keeps calling millennials crybabies, oldsters have contempt for them, and now AOC gets elected and the whole country moves left.

The oldsters in the Op-Ed pages of the WSJ are flipping out.

But, like I said, they’re old and out of touch, and suddenly the world is run by the “Post” and not the “Times.” begging the question of whether Dean Baquet has a clue, he doesn’t, the paper is lost in a world of upper middle class New York elites, if I read one more anti-technology story I’m gonna…laugh.

As for Fox News, I just listened on the satellite, and they’re flipping out, there’s no way they can see this as good. And meanwhile, the era of the TEA Party and Trump is eroding and they don’t realize it. Sure, Mitch McConnell is old, but younger Republicans in Congress are screwed, especially if the Supreme Court gets rid of gerrymandering, they’re out of touch with the population.

It’s just like the record companies, fighting Napster, refusing to license Spotify to the point that YouTube got traction. And now, of course, Spotify and streaming are their financial savior.

But the landscape looks different, most acts get no purchase, it’s like America at large, winners and losers.

And how can you pay attention to music when the news is so damn fascinating. Unlike old musicians, Trump and AOC and Elizabeth Warren are up-to-date, they’re tweeting, using social media.

And AOC proffers a 70% tax rate and then Elizabeth Warren comes up with a 2% tax on wealth, all of it, and one wonders…WHY NOT?

Just ask a millennial, do you think they have sympathy for corporations and billionaires?

No way.

And they’re much more savvy than oldsters, they know the odds of striking it rich are low, so they’re all about jobs, 24/7, getting their piece of the pie, screw “Shark Tank,” that paradigm is history, dreamers without portfolio asking for bucks, little different from a GoFundMe campaign.

And politics is understandable, whereas media is not. If I read one more story about the Oscars…who in hell, especially under the age of fifty, has seen all these pictures? Talk about being out of touch.

It’s like a silent revolution, not only did the media miss Trump, who got elected, it missed the dissatisfaction of his constituents and now has no clue of the millennial mind-set. That’s what you’ve got to concern yourself with. Millennials don’t care about coal mines, they’re against CAFE rules, if they even know what they are. They may not own cars, they Uber/Lyft and they’re all about global warming, but no one in D.C. other than aged Bernie Sanders seems to think this is our number one problem.

Yup, they tried to take down Bernie with #MeToo, which is a kerfuffle in a bubble. No one outside of the Beltway believes Bernie is responsible and the truth is Bernie resonates with youngsters because he speaks his truth.

As for Michael Bloomberg, the hidden front-runner, Maher went on that he’s anti the legalization of marijuana. In theory, I am too, but if you listen to Gavin Newsom, who pushed it through in California, it’s about keeping people out of jail, eliminating the illegality, he convinced me, maybe Bloomberg is too old.

And the truth is we are living in the sixties, an era the right wing is still trying to eradicate, fifty years later. But we’re in maybe ’66. We haven’t gotten to our ’69 protest moment at the monument, never mind Kent State. That’s right, the entire country has lost touch with millennials. Not only D.C., but the media… Videogames outgross movies, but they still don’t get no respect. Oldsters grew up in an era of opportunity, that’s history. As the aged and the right circle the wagons, want no integration with immigrants, youngsters believe in social welfare and kumbaya. Yup.

But you wouldn’t know that watching the news, whether it be CNN, Fox or MSNBC.

Meanwhile, all those stations keep quoting the “Post” and the “Times,” they don’t do any reporting.

They’re just looking for clicks. They’re as bad as Zuckerberg, and they still haven’t gotten the memo that it’s Instagram, not Facebook.

And rich people don’t want the poor to take their kids’ place at the elite educational institutions, and the end result is those left out are dumber with fewer skills than ever, that’s one of the reasons they voted for Trump, it’s the left that left them behind, and the left still won’t acknowledge it, they just say every Trump supporter is a racist, but that’s not true.

So we’ve come back from the brink folks. Not that we won’t go there again real soon, but we now know there’s a correction factor. The youth and septuagenarian Nancy Pelosi, who proves every day that experience counts.

And we’ve just learned from this experience that our nation can go off the rails pretty quickly, but having seen this movie we’re getting back on track.

You can’t take your eyes away from the screen, TV and the internet, not movie theatres.

It’s the most riveting entertainment of the twenty first century.

Generational change happens while you’re busy arguing about disruption.

Happened in the music business. For over a decade, we heard about piracy, after the advent of Spotify, we heard about streaming payouts, meanwhile the bitchers got older and the users got younger and the paradigm shifted. In music the oldsters have no chance, because they have not learned how to harness the power of the internet. Never mind e-mail lists, which oldsters still do not have, not knowing that you are the one in charge of reaching your audience, but social media.

Sure, Atlantic Records gave Cardi B a platform, but it’s her Instagram account that is keeping her career front and center. Not waiting years to tweak albums that go ignored, Cardi B is in your face constantly with messages not only about Trump, but hygiene and sex and…it’s a train-wreck you can’t keep your eyes from. Oldsters pooh-pooh this behavior, they don’t understand the concept of a hit has changed. That you break on streaming services, if you’re lucky radio will amplify your track thereafter, and you keep yourself in the public eye by yourself.

Cardi B’s audience does not get the physical newspaper. It is well-informed, there’s news all over their connected devices all day, but their interests vary from those of the oldsters who’ve made it and want to preserve it. They’re worried about the environment, left and right, and paying their student loans and making it and life is so hard that they turn to Cardi B for mindless entertainment, while oldsters keep decrying that it’s mindless. Meanwhile, Cardi B takes a stand against the President and everybody with a career prior to 2010 thinks it’s anathema, they don’t want to antagonize any potential fan, not realizing most people are not paying attention to them anyway and if they had a backbone this would appeal to people.

And now we have the curious case of the Oscars, an aged institution propped up by those who don’t know how to surf the web on their smartphone. First and foremost, the younger generation doesn’t go. And if it does, it’s to the movies that the Academy does not nominate. So while the film industry is up in arms about #MeToo, whether John Lasseter should be entitled to work, what protests will be like during the telecast, on the red carpet, youngsters have no interest in watching and are more worried about what Chappelle has to say about the sexes on Netflix.

Sure, kids go to the movie theatre for event pictures and to get out of the house, but even more they watch streaming video, they’re the ones who made “Bird Box” a hit on Netflix, with its 45 million viewers right after its launch, begging the question of whether you’re better off going into the theatre and enduring theatrical windows or going straight to streaming.

HUH?

This is exactly like the music business. While trying to preserve the old, those in charge don’t realize that the younger generation has rejected it, and moved on to the new.

Just check the numbers. You’re gonna be viewed more on Netflix.

So what’s important, views or grosses?

First and foremost, right now Netflix pays pretty well. And it’s guaranteed. But if you don’t know that views are more important than cash, you’ve missed the hip-hop memo, where being noteworthy leads to riches and if you’re not willing to give it away for free, you can’t get paid. Fans have no problem coughing up cash, when there’s a transactional moment offered. But going to the theatre for fifteen bucks on a whim, and enduring the commercials and the b.s., that’s not appealing.

Like in music, the war has already been waged, and Netflix won.

The story today is that Netflix joined the MPAA. So they’re winning both ways, they’re in both markets. But people watched “Roma” as part of their monthly subscription, even though it played in theatres previously, those that didn’t ban it.

So to survive you have to jump to the future, it’s the only way.

Our idiotic President lowers fuel economy rules at the instigation of the Kochs and energy companies, but the carmakers don’t want this reduction. Did you see that Sweden is gonna halt the sale of gas and diesel in 2030, and Norway plans 2025? That’s right, your internal combustion engine will be worth nothing, but Trump and the Republicans are ignorant of this, influenced by those left behind.

But disruption never stops, if you’re not entering the future, you’re already being left behind. Like in Silicon Valley. Steve Jobs gets rid of legacy ports and the Academy focuses on the Oscars. If the Academy were smart, and it’s not, it would join forces with the Emmys and rule in the future. Consolidation is inevitable. Because filmed/taped/chipped entertainment is the same whether it’s on your mobile phone or on your flat screen or in a theatre.

As for advertising…

The studios spend all that money to reach people who don’t care.

Meanwhile, if you make a deal with Netflix they promote it on their site to people who’ve tuned in to watch. That’s what they call targeted advertising. If you leave behind the behemoth of old, you can still be a star, like Adam Sandler, whose movies get viewed by millions on Netflix but are not covered in the mainstream media where the audience for these films never plays.

It’s kinda like going to number one in music. You’re not satiating the fans, they don’t care! If they want to know what number one is, they just go to the streaming chart on Spotify, or their service of choice, they don’t need no middleman fudging the numbers so those who top the chart can wave their flag in the industry.

Then again, the music business hates truthful data. Except when it uses it to promote acts.

And movies are worse than music. One film a week goes to number one and the rest fail. Wouldn’t these flicks be better off on Netflix?

Look at “Vice.” A small conversation playing in theatres…would have been the talk of Christmas if it was released on Netflix. Hell, the only thing people really want to see in theatres are cartoons anyway, both superhero and digital animation.

But the industry and the media are wrapped up in an old paradigm that is eroding away. Ads on Thursday night broadcast television and billboards. Is anybody watching Thursday night live TV really gonna be motivated to go see this crap, aren’t they the truly out of it couch potatoes?

And the film industry, like the music industry, is looking for scapegoats. It was Rotten Tomatoes, until flicks with bad ratings on the Tomatometer did well at the box office anyway.

But there is no failure on Netflix, they’re paying you up front. So you minimize your losses. But no, the theatre must be preserved.

Meanwhile, comedian Sebastian Maniscalco got almost no mainstream press, but he just sold out four Madison Square Gardens and where does his new special air? NETFLIX!

Sure, the studios are heavily involved in TV.

But the Academy, the Oscars, are so busy being unforgiving and politically correct that they’ve lost their audience. The only people still watching are those who bitch about anything edgy. And that’s what Netflix and YouTube are all about, edginess!

Not that we should ignore sexual harassment/abuse and homophobia, but you must realize the world has changed, and if you don’t change with it, you end up frozen in amber, history.

They’re making new people every day. Who are not burdened by said history. They embrace the new. Look to where they’re going.

They’re the customers.