Talk about verbal…

I went to see Matty Matheson after eating some street tacos from a food truck adjacent to the hotel. AND THEY WERE EXQUSITE! What kind of crazy, f*cked up world do we live in where the food from a truck is better than that from any fast food joint, and sometimes restaurants?

One in which the palates of the public have been educated and chefs are set free to create to their vision as opposed to that of the boss.

There was cole slaw with the pork! And all kinds of chozzerai in the three tacos I purchased. But best of all, they were SPICY! If someone doesn’t like spicy food today, chances are they’re old.

Then again, I’ve been told that Toronto has the most ethnicities of any city on the planet, the most nationalities. And one thing is for sure, the conference is filled with many colors. There’s less racism in Canada. Then again I’m sure there’s some racism, there always is.

I went to see Matty Matheson because of “The Bear.” You know Matty, he plays Neil Fak, an overcharged doofus. He’s comic relief, then again everybody at the restaurant takes their job seriously.

And this may be the only job Matty can get, because of his neck tattoos.

So, in the mania attendant to “The Bear” we learned that unlike the rest of the cast, Matty does come from the food world, he’s a restaurateur… That sounds highfalutin’, and in some cases Matty’s restaurants are, but during Covid he opened Matty’s Pattys, a burger takeout joint in Toronto (and now Costa Mesa!) As a reward for sitting through the presentation, everybody got a burger, which was cold. It’s the little things that count, I was debating going to the location and getting a burger, now I won’t, you’ve got to keep up your standards 24/7.

So Matty left culinary college to go on the road with a metal band, but really, he’s a cook. And he says being a cook means he can always work, even if it means selling hot dogs in his driveway, and he loves feeding people.

But when you’re at a conference like this, people are looking for lessons, to learn how to make it.

There’s nothing you can learn from Matty Matheson, nothing you can learn from any of these stars, they’re unique individuals. And Matty even referenced this and emphasized this at the end of the interview… “You be you.” “Don’t follow trends.” “Trends come and go, but you don’t.”

What are the odds people will follow this?

Just about ZERO!

Furthermore, almost all people are not willing to work that hard and suffer. Which is why they go straight. You must have a vision and execute it. Matheson has had about seventy restaurants, but only thirteen are open today. He learned through failure, which I think is overrated. No, scratch that, just because you failed that does not mean you learned something. Failure only yields benefits if you tested the limits and learned along the way. Matty opened his early emporiums sans business plan. But not anymore.

So in real life Matty Matheson is not the doofus he is in “The Bear.” He’s intelligent. And…

You put a nickel in the jukebox and he goes and goes and goes.

But despite having such high energy, Matty told us he sometimes gets sad. Which was a shock to hear. Especially in this world of winners where everybody is up 24/7. And then he said that those in the audience were sad sometimes too, maybe even right now!

But you get the endless questions from people hyping themselves and asking stuff that most people are not interested in. As if by standing amongst others and testifying as to their greatness it will yield an opportunity. NO! That’s not how it works! Someone asked Matty how to get celebrities to come to a restaurant, to pay attention to what they’re doing. Matty said they had it all wrong, you just do the work and wait for people to find you. And that’s what I’ve experienced. Now more than ever, when everybody can promote themselves online. How do you get people to follow you? Be unique and great and never give up. Sounds simple, it’s not.

Or as they say, it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n roll.

Matty talked about putting all that effort into opening a restaurant only to open and find people online saying “meh.’

You can’t control the public, you can only do.

But most people are afraid.

Even worse, most people are not worth paying attention to. Just because you make it, that does not mean people will come. “Field of Dreams” is a MOVIE!

There was so much I wanted to ask Matty. It’s the personal stuff that’s at the root. However, he did talk about being overwhelmed at first on “The Bear.” Everybody else was an actor, and he didn’t know how to act, and that’s a skill too.

But I’ve seen a lot of these chefs speak, and I’ve never encountered one like Matty. Most are somewhat laid back, they put their energy into their work, i.e. food. Or they’re busy building and promoting their empires.

But this guy is a bundle of energy, he’s punk rock in a world where some reject anybody and anything that is not safe and familiar. But there are those who are yearning for, hungry for something unique and different, something that radiates vision, something they’ll experience that they won’t forget.

That’s the business Matty Matheson is in.

That’s the business you need to be in.

And it can’t be taught, it comes from the inside. A burning desire that can’t be extinguished. You walk into the wilderness, you play without a net and success comes long after failure, assuming it comes at all.

Sound good?

Probably not.

Not everybody is a star. Especially if it requires talent. Which you don’t need on social media. But to truly make an impact on people you must possess it.

Furthermore, if you’re not questioning whether you should give up, you’re overconfident/in denial and you won’t make it either.

Now more than ever, success depends on humanity. Credibility is key. And it can be blown with one faux pas, one misstep. You’re managing your image all the time. You have to be just like everybody else but better.

Which is why very few rise above, to the point where they’re well-known.

Then again, food is now more popular than music. It was standing room only for Matty Matheson, unlike Tegan and Sara. And stunningly, no one left!

This is the essence musicians used to evidence. But today they’re too busy following trends and formulas to evidence this level of intrigue.

But Matty Matheson… I don’t think we could be friends, but I’d love to hang with the guy for a week to see how he does it.

Because he doesn’t do it like me or you.

And that’s what makes him interesting.

They’re so VERBAL!

That’s one thing Americans don’t understand about Canadians. Their gift of gab. I’ve never met a silent Canadian.

But you wouldn’t know that unless you came here.

It’s a cultural thing, maybe as a result of the long, cold winters. But everybody is talkative in a way all Americans are not. But I didn’t expect Tegan and Sara to be so, because they’re rock stars. You know, different from you and me. Up on a pedestal. Deigning us with their attention.

But not these women.

Not that I can say I was excited about the theme, which was “Beyond the Music: Tegan and Sara on Advocacy, Identity & Impact.”

You see Departure is the new CMW (i.e. “Canadian Music Week”), albeit with some comedy and cooking mixed in. And they have some Canadian stars speaking. And I got here last night and the app said these women were appearing and…

What else was I going to do? Stay in my hotel room? Watch more of “The Pitt” on my iPad? Finish my book?

I remember Neal Preston, Led Zeppelin’s tour photographer, telling me he’d been around the world and seen nothing, I try to make sure that’s not the case with me. However, the hotel where I’m staying/where the conference is is down by the lake, near the soccer stadium, so it’s not ambling adjacent, but…I like to feel I’m in the city I’m in, I like to participate.

But I didn’t expect to be intrigued, to be paying attention to Tegan and Sara.

You see you drop in late, sit in the back, scroll your phone…

That’s what most bigwigs do at these events, assuming they attend at all.

And what do I know about Tegan and Sara? NOT MUCH! I mean I’m aware they’re gay and were with Warner Brothers and have a career and…

They’re talking about their foundation. Sara says how everybody told them to focus on one issue, but that’s not how they saw it, they want to address needs in the LGBTQ community. And that could be as varied as bus passes for workers doing outreach in communities to sponsoring kids at gay summer camps.

I did not know it was a thing. I mean I assumed some existed, but now I know it’s more of a network. And one of the sisters remarked that she didn’t love summer camp, and one broke her arm there, but the biggest reward of going to gay summer camp was to be around gay adults, who you could model.

Not that all the talk was about gay issues…

Sara talked about the difference between conversations with men and women. The men always want to rank things, like the best Beatle albums. The women want to talk about more social issues.

And then, Tegan said…

You may not like our last record. You may not like everything we stand for.  But what I’m hoping for most is you like ME!

Wow, this is the essence of being not only a public figure, but influencer culture today. It really comes down to the identity. And if you don’t have one, it’s harder to ensnare fans.

But the truth is all performers are insecure. They need to be accepted and liked. It fills an inner need. Oftentimes this is why they do it.

Not that many will admit it.

But the best story was about appearing on the Oscars, singing their song from “The LEGO Movie,” and right thereafter meeting with agents and being shown a graph of their career, which saw pointing down, down, down…

You think you’re at the top, you’re having your best moment, you’re pinching yourself, and just after that you find out you’re struggling. It’s a wake up call and a reality check.

Now in the U.S. everything is groovy. The stars are media-trained. They say nothing controversial and shine their wares such that you’re starstruck.

But not these two.

How successful are they?

I’m not sure. They’ve been in the game twenty five years, which is an accomplishment unto itself, and on Spotify they’ve got a cut with a hundred million streams, but…

We live in a new world. Traditional media keeps telling us how big the stars are when they’ve never been smaller in the recording era. Just like you can avoid news you don’t like, only consuming curated media that fits your world view, the same is true for music. You’ve got the acts you’re a fan of and the rest…might as well not exist. It’s not a homogeneous world anymore. It’s every act for themselves. So Tegan and Sara aren’t in the music business, they’re in the TEGAN AND SARA BUSINESS!

You’ve got to forget the klieg lights, all the trappings of yore are gone. There is no MTV making your hit universally known. Sure, there are people surviving on streaming royalties alone, but the fact that you can’t has nothing to do with Spotify but the niche-ification of the scene. Hell, look at it this way. Your newspaper, assuming you get one, doesn’t even print all the sports scores. And if you go to “The Athletic,” you’ve got to click through to find the standings. They used to be up front and center, now they’re for fans only. I used to peruse the standings in the major sports in the newspaper, I wanted to get a snapshot of how things were going, now it takes an effort, and I have other priorities.

Now Tegan and Sara are twins, but they’re not identical in personality. Sara is a bit more edgy, Tegan is a bit softer. These are nuances, and not definitive, but…

That’s what we’re looking for, PEOPLE, not STARS!

And that requires an adjustment across the board. From the acts to the media.

But the public already knows. To be a true fan of someone there must be more than the hit.

As for Canada… Jake was telling me last night that Karen sent him a picture of her ankle, she was icing it and he said to go get x-rays, ultimately she did, and it was broken. And this triggered a thought in my brain. If medical was free, covered by my taxes, I would have gone to the emergency room back in 1991 instead of toughing it out and ultimately losing a body part.

Trying to think of a downside…

Canada has one tenth the population of the United States. And as a result, everybody knows everybody, it’s a giant high school, if you get too big for your britches, they tear you down, cut you down to size.

But maybe that’s good. Because it results in more well-rounded people who focus on the work, on their lives as opposed to pure stardom.

And ultimately that’s what turns people into stars anyway. The work, the identity, not the airs.

Which is why Canadian acts outpunch their weight in the music business. Along with government support, that is.

But we don’t need no stinking support for the arts in America. That’s SOCIALIST!

Well, people live for screwing, eating and the arts. Period. The arts make life worth living. They reflect our lives back upon us.

It’s key to get your priorities straight.

And they do an excellent job of that in Canada.

Eh?

Wants it all and wants it now.

Needs to be hooked immediately. Unless their friends tell them to stick with something, they won’t.

Spend in excess of an hour a day on social media. Even if they’re in college. Especially on TikTok.

Are extremely practical. Life is hard and they know it. They are not the dreamers the boomers were. Sure, they want fulfillment, but not at the cost of remuneration.

Treasure experiences over totems.

Prefer access to ownership.

A photo is a souvenir. That’s all they need to remember an event/experience. Sure, they also buy tchotchkes…but less than their predecessors. They prefer to fly light and easy.

Are not comprehensive. They don’t read every news site. They’re hit and run. They know more news than their forebears, but it might not be accurate.

Gen-X thought the boomers stole their thunder, Gen Z thinks the boomers and Gen-X sold out their future.

Fantasize about flying there rather than driving there.

Can discard much more quickly than their predecessors. They’re not amazed a meme is evanescent.

Never lose touch with anybody they know, everybody is at their fingertips, it’s not a surprise or revelation to them.

Don’t trust most people over 60, ironically the same people who didn’t trust anybody over 30.

Believe no one has their best interests at heart other than themselves.

Are digitally native. Don’t believe in cash, Venmo their debts and never want to speak to an operator/person on the phone. They know that if they type in the data online accuracy is assured.

Don’t expect tech help.

Don’t expect anything to last. Everything is disposable/replaceable. And they’re not satisfied with old tech. They want the newest. The features their parents and boomers are unaware of or that they believe are too complicated to use the youngsters employ and depend upon. They are not afraid of their devices, they explore.

View videogames the same way oldsters view television and Little League. Playing is a phase of growing up and they still might play.

Do not need a television set and do not need cable.

Are constantly checking out new things whilst knowing that they cannot know everything. That is their normal.

May consider people they’ve never met in person that they only know online as close friends.

Love to go deep, love to be invested. Yes, it’s hard to hook a youngster, but once they’re in they love to go down the rabbit hole.

Believe the best way to watch TV is to binge. They can’t be bothered to know when the next episode will be released.

Don’t hate Apple as much as some of their parents, everybody they know is on an iPhone and the dreaded green bubble is anathema.

Are conscious of tomorrow. Climate change, environmental issues…they care. But just don’t pay lip service and expect to be rewarded, you must be effecting true change to get their attention.

Know that some resources are in short supply and you have to pay dearly to get them. They expect concert tickets to be expensive, but they want to get one.

Consider influencers celebrities, they’re stars if for no other reason than they’re available and creating all the time. There is no wall between them and the influencers. If you’re aloof or present yourself as being better than they are they’re turned off.

Laugh when oldsters can’t read the room. I.e. Blue Origin.

Are not all alike. The separations are economic more than ever before. And they know that contrary to what oldster media is telling them you need a college degree, assuming you’re on the college track at all. They know it’s a ticket and that tickets and relationships are needed for entry. They see college as a glorified trade school. When they’re not partying.

Love cheap fashion and fads. They might pay for a luxury item, but they expect clothing to be cheap and they feel entitled to change their look constantly. How you look/present yourself/fashion is key to them.

See movies as Marvel.

Are not stunned by high prices and inflation, it’s all they know.

Insist on quality food. Bland pizza and hot dogs won’t satiate them.

Would rather drink water than soda.

Don’t believe in the system, they believe it’s every person for themselves.

Accept if you participate online you’re dissed.

Are very aware of their reputation online, they realize that it’s there forever.

Are not invested in the past, but the new and exciting.

Don’t understand why you would want to buy a car when you can Uber/Waymo.

Know that sex can kill, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to have it.

Learn more in school than you ever did, certainly prior to college.

Are looking out for bullies, not that they can always conquer them, but they can out them.

Expect their parents to stick up for them when they get into trouble with the system, any trouble at all.

Are in constant contact with their parents. Many consider their parents their best friends.

Can laugh at the people on TV instead of admiring them.

Have no investment in physical media period. They don’t want a physical book or a CD… Of course there are exceptions, there always are, but why carry around all these totems? You want to be footloose and fancy free.

Netflix trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onO_Vakcf1Q

I didn’t trust the “Los Angeles Times” review, which was mostly thumbs-up, but Felice wanted to watch this. Do I regret it? No, not like the eight hours I invested in “Paradise” which not only petered out, but left us hanging for a second season. We’d just finished the final “Bosch”… Titus Welliver is so good he carries the whole show. And we’d seen an episode of “The Pitt,” which I dug and Felice was so-so about, so I agreed to watch this Netflix series helmed by Tina Fey and her buddies that’s a remake of a film from 1981 and…

They used to make movies like this. But then adults stopped going to the theatre. Last I checked box office was off by 33% from 2019, and today it’s only event pictures that draw people to the theatre, and…if this were a movie, it would have stiffed. But as a TV series?

There’s a hunger for adult content. But because it doesn’t gross well at the multiplex belief is the audience aged out and is uninterested. This could not be more wrong.

But this is not the best TV series you’ve ever seen. It varies from sincere and realistic to cheesy but…it kept me watching. Maybe because of the scenery, maybe because Erika Henningsen played her role as Steve Carell’s love interest so well. But one thing is for sure, I luxuriated in the portrayal of adult issues, a lot of which I didn’t understand when I saw the original film but that I have insight into now.

Tina Fey is not only a great writer, she’s a natural actress. She holds the film together. She’s realistic, playing a fiftysomething who accepts her age, which is almost unheard of in Hollywood portrayals. She wants to look sharp, but she’s under no illusion that she’s a young ‘un. Actually, that’s one thing that struck me when the crew goes to a yurt-based eco-hotel. Other than Henningsen’s 32 year old dental hygienist Ginny, everybody feels that not only are they too old to rough it, they’ve earned luxury. Those are the passages of life. You backpack through Europe in your twenties, a couple of decades later you want a comfortable bed with room service.

Now Fey as Kate does devolve into SNL quip-style now and again. You can see the writers in the room, throwing in these zingers, but she’s three-dimensional and not always lovable. She feels burdened by doing all the heavy lifting as her husband Jack, played by Will Forte, floats through life. And when she ultimately becomes insecure and jealous… That’s how relationships turn…one day you’re up, next day you’re down, that’s love, as Jim Capaldi sang.

But Mr. Forte… Bad casting. Or maybe just bad acting. He never settles into the role and seems real. He’s the opposite of three-dimensional. You can’t stop seeing him in SNL or “MacGruber.” He just never seems genuine.

Colman Domingo as Danny rings more true, especially when he angsts about surgery and isn’t scared straight health-wise thereafter, but his husband Claude, played by Marco Calvani, is portrayed so broadly as to be a cartoon, he sets back the cause of gay marriage decades. This is the broad portrayal we saw in the “Boys In the Band” in the seventies, but even that was more realistic.

As for Steve Carell…

I don’t buy him in the role one bit. As a hedge-funder? And we can never quite see what drew him to his wife Anne, played by Kerri Kenney-Silver, nor completely why he wants to divorce her. We know people like this, and they don’t look or act like Steve Carell. They’re Wall Street big swinging dicks who think their sh*t doesn’t stink. They exude false gravitas, whereas Carell is the forty year old virgin.

As for Kerri Kenney-Silver… Sometimes you buy her in the role, sometimes you don’t. She’s hapless as the divorcée, that rings true, but the rest of the time…I might think about divorcing her too.

So as you can see I’m not enamored of most of the portrayals.

But the situations? Marital discord? That’s familiar.

It’s amazing that two people can live together at all, never mind for decades. What does it take? Do you just stew in your anger or stand up for yourself or…how do you get through?

And the premise… That these three couples whose relationships germinate from college constantly go on vacation together… I mean once a year isn’t enough?

However, compared to the rest of what’s purveyed…

“White Lotus” fantasy. Light crap overhyped by the system that you forget about as soon as it’s over.

“Adolescence” so heavy that some people won’t watch it on principle.

And now even Netflix has dating shows.

But Netflix has a whole hell of a lot else. Such that they can release this mediocre series and it doesn’t hurt their bottom line, quite the contrary, it satiates paying customers.

And Netflix respects its customers. It’s not worth tuning in week by week unless something is truly great, which “Four Seasons” is not. You want to revel in the mood for four hours and then move on to something else.

Would I like more original content based on adult themes?

Actually, I prefer this stuff, I watch it all the time, but it’s made overseas. It’s like too much stuff made in the U.S. is paint by numbers. Let’s get famous people and remake a successful movie and…

Once again, the media is out of touch with the public and movie studios buy it. To take the pulse of the public you must go deeply online. And stay there. That’s the only place you can feel it. A story in the Style section of the “New York Times”? Essentially worthless, placed there by a high-priced publicist and forgotten shortly thereafter.

Now if you shoot high, you can fail.

But if you roll the dice continuously, something succeeds, and that’s what you hang your hat on.

That’s the record label model of yore.

But today’s record labels and movie studios are so busy massaging the product for success that it loses its essence. You’ve got to set the artists free, give them creative control, and that’s anathema to the bean counters, who have somehow convinced themselves that they are the talent.

Sure there are duds on Netflix, but next week there’s always new product. Furthermore, the crappy made for Netflix movies that would stiff in general theatrical release do astoundingly well on the streaming service. Many more people see your production streaming than they do in the theatre.

It’s a different paradigm. You don’t debate deeply what you’re going to stream. You see a reference online, a friend mentions a show, and then you check it out. And if you don’t like it, you abandon ship.

Or else you just go to Netflix’s homepage and see what’s shaking.

Right now “The Four Seasons” is number one. Do I expect it to remain there? No way. Essentially nothing does, just like the movies in theatres. They come for a few weekends at best, then they go.

And I will never stop beating the drum for the complete drop. Purveyors don’t get it, they think conversation and viewership will increase. Yeah, maybe for a few shows, but the rest will just be ignored.

As Ted Sarandos said:

“”We’re in a period of transition. Folks grew up thinking, “I want to make movies on a gigantic screen and have strangers watch them (and to have them) play in the theater for two months and people cry and sold-out shows” … It’s an outdated concept.'”

“Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos Says Movie Theater Model Is ‘Outdated’: Most of the Country Cannot ‘Walk to a Multiplex.'”

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/netflix-ceo-ted-sarandos-movie-theaters-outdated-1236376565/

And now I’ll get a ton of e-mail arguing with me, defending movie theatres and the week by week series.

They’re entitled to their opinion, but they’re missing the point. The point is the trend, the point is disruption. 

For nearly thirty years we’ve seen the past disrupted. The unthinkable happened, film was replace by digital, physical music was eclipsed by streaming music, yet there are still people stuck in the past invested in what they once did and still do. Fine, but can we get these people out of the seats of power? They’ve drunk their own kool-aid, they’re in a clusterf*ck of group agreement. Notice how tech disruption never comes from a group, almost always an individual is the driver. Try for consensus and you miss the mark.

Today’s movie business would never have delivered “The Four Seasons.” They believe it’s not what the people want.

But they’re wrong! It’s exactly what the public wants. Something that speaks to their minds that they can marinate in, that’s double the length of a movie, that raises topics with no easy answers.

“The Four Seasons” is light entertainment.

But underneath the gloss is life. And we’re all living it. And it’s very complicated. And sure, we like escape. But even more we want insight. We want to recognize the people and situations on screen.

“The Four Seasons” is a start.

More like this please.