They finally got him.

Wanted, dead or alive? Maybe Bon Jovi, but no longer Michael Jackson.

They’ve already postponed the Chicago theatre run. The tracks will be played, but Michael Jackson is about to become a pariah.

Wrong place, wrong time, to reference the old Dr. John chestnut. It’s kind of like sexual harassment. You could get away with it in the last century, but not today. Furthermore, child molestation is the third rail of our society, there’s no explanation, no excuse, you’re branded persona non grata and that’s it.

And past is prologue, i.e. R. Kelly. Despite Jim DeRogatis’s dogged investigative journalism, conventional wisdom is Mr. Kelly skated for far too long. That the industry gave him a pass, especially his record company, which liked the profit but didn’t want to hear about the behavior. Labels have been hiding behind the independent contractor myth for far too long. If acts are independent, why does the label end up owning the masters? Movie and TV studios too. Disney canned John Lasseter, and now it turns out Emma Thompson won’t work for him at his new company, Skydance. This is one thing that oldsters don’t understand, the goal posts have moved. Behavior that was tolerated then, is not tolerated now.

Like Donald Trump, Michael Jackson’s behavior has been hiding in plain sight. Was his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley ever consummated, was it just a cover-up for his bad behavior? And who is the father of his kids with Debbie Rowe? And the way he shuttled his kids around hotel rooms, and hung Blanket over the balcony… Sure, there was a bit of blowback, but since he was rich and famous he got a pass. The “New York Times” was snookered by the Donald for decades. When it finally dove into his taxes it turned out much of what he said was untrue.

But that did not involve child abuse.

Oh, don’t tell me not to dig deep. That’s the society we now live in, sunshine lights up the world.

As for the boys flip-flopping in their testimony… Did you watch Michael Cohen? Only politicians never get to change their minds, the rest of us are more fluid. As for a star’s power…it makes you do what you otherwise wouldn’t, I wish it weren’t true, but it is. You’re gonna ruin Michael Jackson’s career or get paid millions, go broke while becoming Monica Lewinsky, unable to evade the spotlight, or take the money and run?

Never underestimate power, never underestimate fame. And our nation is run on loyalty, whether it be in Congress or your own little home, we’re positively tribal.

As for truth… That’s a fungible concept these days. And people deny factual evidence, even if there’s proof. They say a photograph or video has been doctored, they say someone is lying.

So for those saying it ain’t so…too bad, it only matters if the public believes it to be so.

As for fighting on a legal technicality that HBO shouldn’t air the documentary, this is like the Republicans talking about Cohen’s credibility, not his content.

We heard the content, this is not a court of law.

So, the tsunami begins.

The Vegas show closes, because the casino can’t handle the controversy, even if people still want to go, they’ve got to deal with the picketing and the hit to their good will.

And the theatrical show never makes it to Broadway, it’s never resuscitated.

And no corporation will do a sponsorship deal.

But the music is still listened to, we learned that with R. Kelly.

It takes a long time for these stories to develop and come out. Where there’s smoke there isn’t always fire, but when the smoke never dissipates, when it builds, you pay attention.

Michael Jackson is dead. He ain’t going back to court.

As for his legacy, Fatty Arbuckle is only remembered for what happened in that San Francisco hotel room, even though he denied it.

You can’t be a child molester, they’re even killed in prison.

And can you imagine Michael Jackson in prison? No way. Which is why he convinced these boys to testify the way they did, they didn’t want to kill their friend, did they? This was not titan against titan, superstar versus superstar, this was the world’s biggest recording artist versus kids.

From time immemorial the wealthy have paid for silence. Hell, look at all the Wall Street world-beaters who kick their lovers to the curb, even the trophy wives, and pay them off.

Being rich and famous does not entitle you to break society’s rules. You think it does, but eventually everybody is caught, if by no one else but themselves. Come on, Michael Jackson couldn’t sleep, died way before his time, you think he wasn’t tortured?

They finally got him. The cash cow is killed.

Believe in yourself, not the heroes they run up the chart.

King of Pop my ass.

I’m so depressed.

The emcee was Bob Eubanks. I asked him about promoting the Beatles. He was just a booker, for a club in North Hollywood that’s long since been gone. But the big promoter didn’t want the gig. So, Bob mortgaged his house for $25,000 and got them. He made $4500 at the Hollywood Bowl that first year. He told me he was the only person still alive who promoted all three years of shows.

That’s kind of my point. Not so much who is alive, but what has been gone. They say it’s the same as it always was, but it’s not.

John Frankenheimer stood up and told the story of meeting Larry at the Troubadour and taking him back to his house to play him a new track. While he was listening, Larry went up to the vinyl and started pulling out records, throwing them on the floor, saying YOU’VE GOT TO HEAR THIS! And they spent all night playing each other records. That’s the way it used to be, that’s not the way it is now.

And someone else stood up. Coulda been Steve Jensen, maybe it was Tom Ross. Not important, but they said they used to argue backstage over who the best vocalist was. Larry believed it was Burton Cummings. Whenever this person saw Larry backstage, he’d mention another vocalist, and Larry would say NOPE!

We had our opinions. We were deep into the canon. It’s all that mattered to us.

Jeff Greenberg told me about the death of Steve Wolf. No one has seen Jim Rissmiller in years. Most everybody was over sixty, a bunch over seventy, they remembered, and despite movies and books you’ll never understand how it was unless you were there and lived through it.

They made records before, and they’ve made records after. But during that window, especially from ’64 to ’80, music drove the culture, it was everything.

On the big screen were pictures of backstage passes. Shows at the Santa Monica Civic, which no longer hosts gigs. All those lineups at the Forum, in San Diego. It was a closed culture which excluded oldsters. You listened to the radio, you learned about the shows and in most cases no promotion was needed, the shows sold out without hype, because that’s just how into it the fans were, they needed to be there, not for the selfies, not for the social media, but the music.

Sure, you can call me an oldster, even a has-been. On the other hand, I lived through the greatest era of recorded and live music, one that may never ever return.

It was all we had. There were bands, not deejays. Every local bar had one. You dreamed of getting a deal. The highest achievement was to hear your song on the radio. And to meet the band? You died and went to heaven.

Cameron Crowe told the story of going to interview Wild Turkey at the San Diego Sports Arena, a venue Pete Townshend called a “trash can.”

Lester Bangs told him to just ask for Terry Ellis backstage.

But that didn’t work. The security guard told Cameron he was not on the list and should go hang with the girls.

But nearly an hour later, after trying and trying to get in, Larry appeared and gave Cameron his first backstage pass, and told him to look like he belonged.

Cameron interviewed not only Wild Turkey, but Yes too, but not the headliner, Black Sabbath. And when Larry asked him how it was going and Cameron said he’d been able to interview everybody but Sabbath, Larry told him to go right in and question Ozzy, and Cameron did.

That’s Larry, the nicest guy in rock and roll. At the end of his career, after fifty years.

It ends for all of us eventually.

But we didn’t think it would end for us.

My old school buddies, they’re all calling it a day, but not me, not so many in this business, we soldier on, still searching for that hit we once got.

I talked with Susan Rosenbluth about going on the road with BTS. The fans know the dances as well as the songs, it’s a secret society, kind of like music way back when.

But can anybody be as big as the Beatles once again? Can anybody make the entire universe take a left turn?

Doubtful.

But Cameron’s talking and my brain is going through the files, wasn’t Wild Turkey made up of Jethro Tull refugees?

I know all this stuff. There’s loads of us who do. Kinda like you knew what processor was in your computer at the turn of the century. But unlike machines, music has soul.

And everybody there got it.

Tom Ross told me about selling his vinyl. That one record, if he still had the poster, it was worth $20,000.

You see people want this stuff.

They don’t want CDs, they’re useless. I paid for them, I built a collection, I don’t want to trash ’em, I don’t want to sell them for ten cents on the dollar, but will I ever play them?

Kinda like my Nakamichi 582. I worked for months to afford it. It’s still on the rack. But I haven’t turned it on in years, I bet the belts are stretched out or cracked. But what it represents…PRISTINE SOUND!

We needed to get closer. Music wasn’t background, it was foreground. Every day would be a listening party. Your friends would stop by and…

That’s why I’m so depressed. It’s sad Larry’s leaving, but he’s getting out in time, for whatever he got into it for is now gone.

I’m not saying I don’t hear good records. But music is back to being a business, when for a while there it was life itself. Tickets were cheap, but you couldn’t get them, but if you scored, you were inside, you were privileged, it was the only way to hear the band, there were no videos, rarely films, scratch a boomer and they’ll tell you about their favorite shows and wax rhapsodic.

I couldn’t play the radio on the way home. I left the Roxy and my spirits sank. I’m typing to you on my computer, but in the old days, I would have broken out a record, placed it on the turntable, put on the headphones, dropped the needle and turned out the lights. It would just be me in that bubble, with the music.

It was all we needed.

pic.twitter.com/ZQ461eoDE5

— Bob Lefsetz (@Lefsetz) February 26, 2019

Marc Reiter will be returning for one of his parlor games.

I’ll let him describe it:

Best Second Albums EVER (or, No Sophomore Slumps!): Those Artists Whose Second Albums Topped Their Strong Debuts (or at least gave it a run for its money!).

As the cliche goes, “You have your whole life to write your first album, and only eighteen months to write your second one!”, so the pressure’s on when it comes time to follow up that strong debut release. We’re going to explore some of the best one-two punches in the history of popular music. You may agree; you may disagree; and maybe you have a few that we haven’t thought of! Remember, the artist must have a good first AND second album…we’re not looking at One Hit Wonders, or Strong Growers (those who grew dramatically between their first and second albums)…Those are different themes altogether!

Some Examples:

Police
“Outlandos D’Amour” vs “Regatta De Blanc”

Elvis Costello
“My Aim Is True” vs “This Year’s Model”

(I don’t agree with this, I much prefer the first with Clover as opposed to the second with the Attractions.)

Led Zeppelin
“Led Zeppelin I” vs “Led Zeppelin II”

(“II” was more popular, but “I” was darker and I still prefer it.)

Radiohead
“Pablo Honey” vs “The Bends”

Beastie Boys
“Licensed To Ill” vs “Paul’s Boutique”

You get the idea.

Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday February 26th, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: LefsetzLive

And the winner is…

MUSIC!

Come on. The Grammys are over-debated, the performances not only leaked, but promoted. But when Queen came on the stage to rock us…

THEY DID!

Generations have passed. Our parents are either deceased or in the old folks’ home. We rockers, who grew up with the Beatles, we remember, this is our history, it’s non only classic rock, IT’S OUR CLASSICAL MUSIC!

And sure, Adam Lambert is no Freddie Mercury, BUT WHO COULD BE?

So we’ve got septuagenarian Brian May with his Einstein hair and his tiny guitar wailing and taking us on a ride where the music transcends the ceremony. The only problem with the whole affair was that they didn’t end the show with “Bohemian Rhapsody.” That would have been fitting, with the audience yelling SCARAMOUCH, SCARAMOUCH…

Can you do the fandango?

No one would have left, because music infects your soul, and once bitten you can’t let go.

And then you had Lady Gaga’s impassioned speech. In an era where everybody thinks they can do it, it’s still about hard work. Or as that seer Bon Scott once sang, “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n roll.”

It most certainly is. You’ve got to practice in obscurity, you’ve got to waver in the dream, and one of the great things about Gaga was she had no airs, not even any charisma, she was just another girl who wanted to make it, and having her dream come true brought tears to her eyes. Yes, very few of us get there, most of us get sidetracked, by work, family, obligations. But some who are single-minded arrive, and they’re a beacon to the rest of us, that with the same hard work…just maybe.

And when Rami Malek won Best Actor, and you saw the footage, you felt the electricity, the power of rock and roll. That’s what’s been missing, that essence, that takes over your body, that focuses your attention, that makes you want to get up and DANCE!

And when it was all over, at the Elton John party the auctioneer took the stage.

Yes, I was privileged enough to go. Pay your dues, maybe you can too.

And what was astounding was how much money these people had. No one recognizable, not that there were not some famous faces right in front of us, Jane Seymour and Peter Fonda flanking Bernie Taupin… It’s hard to get the image of Peter on that hog out of my mind, surfing the zeitgeist. But “Easy Rider” was before “Jaws” and “Star Wars” and blockbusters, when if a film made a statement, it might be heard, it might even become a phenomenon.

But these unknowns are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. The woman who won Elton’s autographed piano said she was gonna sell one of her seven luxury cars to pay for it. And if the average Trump voter were there, their head would have exploded. It’s one thing to debate whether you want something, it’s quite another to find out the price is more than your annual salary.

And the last item up for auction was…

Attendance at the “Rocketman” premiere in London on May 21st.

Will history repeat? Split Enz told us no, but now Neil Finn is on tour with Fleetwood Mac, so maybe lightning does strike twice.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” was quite the surprise. And we’re not sure exactly why it was successful. I think it’s the music, the story, the fantasy… That’s how it used to be, you dreamed of becoming a rock star, you felt if you met your musical hero your life would be complete.

But after getting to 30k, the auctioneer halted the proceedings. He said he was breaking protocol. He called Taron Egerton to the stage, to goose the bids.

Taron is the star of “Rocketman.” I don’t think he looks exactly like Elton but…

Then the auctioneer asked Taron to sing. And then I realized, this is probably why Taron got the gig.

But Taron begged off. Said his piano playing was rusty.

And then…

EJ ambles on stage. He moves slowly from the right to the left, sits down at the piano and then…

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady

The audience stands up at attention, like we’re automatons controlled by an outside force. And in this case we are, by music.

You can see Elton’s fingers upon the keys. I’m sure someone else could play the notes, but not like the man who wrote him. His digits are rolling and the jet takes off and…

We’re suddenly in Never Never Land.

I’m grinning from ear to ear. You know the experience, you’ve been at the gig, when they’re playing your favorite song, the one that you played at home, on the road, that got you through, and for this moment…

This is the only place you want to be.

And “Tiny Dancer” is a long song, with many verses and changes. And Taron’s doing a good job, but Elton is holding back, mouthing the words, and then…

EJ comes in on harmonies. I could pinch myself. Obviously this was a rehearsed moment, but still… No Oscar winning film can take you to this place.

And they ended up selling three of these premiere trips for 200k apiece.

But it’s a very good cause. David Furnish was reciting the numbers, especially in the African-American community, where males don’t want to admit they’ve got the virus, submit to treatment.

But ain’t that guys in general. We buck up, but when the music plays, we melt. Hell, it’s no different with Black Sabbath, the music will set you free if you surrender to it.

And we want to surrender, we want to be infected.

And it turns out that in the seventies we all were and have not forgotten, these tunes are in our bones, in our DNA.

And the internet is keeping them alive. Younger generations realize their power. Which is why Elton John sells out every gig and the Eagles play stadiums. Sure, it could be the last time around, but where else are you gonna get that hit?

So, despite the debacle of the Grammys…the infighting, the arguing, the show that appeals to nobody…the truth is music itself is alive and kicking, very healthy, not on life support. It’s got a power that will shake your limbs and shiver your soul. And the public knows. Nobody in Hollywood predicted “Bohemian Rhapsody”‘s success.

But in the immortal words of Eric Carmen…

THAT’S ROCK AND ROLL!