That’s this week’s Sirius Show topic.

Tune in Tuesday September 25, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

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

Twitter: @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Everybody knows the prep school kids are the worst offenders.

You think we live in an homogeneous society, all starting from the same line, with the same information, with melting pot backgrounds with various pluses and minuses that balance out in the end.

You’re very wrong.

I went to a melting pot high school. There were only a handful of African-Americans, but no truly rich people. But some from the projects. I grew up fifty miles from New York City. Partook of New York media. I thought I knew what was going on.

Until I went to Middlebury College.

I went to Middlebury because it was in Vermont, had its own ski area, was coed and prestigious. It just seemed like another step in the endless road forward, of life.

But I was wrong.

I learned a lot at Middlebury. But almost none of it was in the classroom. You see 45% of Middlebury students came from prep school.

They were self-confident, they knew the game, and they were much better read than us, the public school denizens. That’s right, you get a much better education in a prep school. Forget DeVos and vouchers, that’s for the religious and poor, what’s left of the middle class. Those with money like DeVos, they send their kids to prep schools. And I’m not talking about the exclusive NY and L.A. institutions like Trinity and Dalton and Harvard-Westlake and Campbell Hall. No, I’m talking sleeping away miles from Mommy and Daddy, being formed by the wisdom of the crowd. That’s a reason breakthroughs are rarely from the preps. You see prep school teaches you how to get along. Sure, you want to excel, but you know first and foremost you want to be a member of the group. That life is long and relationships pay off. A public school valedictorian dreams of future opportunities, the prepsters are born to them.

They see education as a game.

The prep school kids taught me that you didn’t have to hand a paper in on time. You could always go to the teacher and get an extension. And it was true!

The prep school kids are the ones who lobbied for a bar on campus.

The prep school kids joined fraternities.

The prep school kids knew what an MBA was, I certainly didn’t.

And you can read on TMZ the inner-workings of seemingly every celebrity extant. But the prep school kids, the true insiders, know that it’s best to remain silent.

Let’s see… The prep school kids taught me how to rip off the Pepsi machine.

The prep school kids had names for all the girls in “New Faces,” the printed Facebook of its day. Don’t think you had one of those at your high school, never mind your college, right? It was the prep school kids who’d marked all the “attractive” women by move-in date.

So when I hear Kavanaugh and his cronies denying their behavior, I have to speak up, because it’s BAKED IN!

You see there are two Americas, the privileged and the not. And most people never encounter privilege. They watch “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,” but the truly rich try not to be famous and will never be on a show like this. And they can bury bad news, by hiring David Boies, as Harvey Weinstein did to try and keep stories out of the “New York Times,” which was also paying for Boies’ firm’s services. You see it’s a club, and you’re not in it. Even worse, you don’t know about it.

So you sit at home and judge shenanigans through the only lens you know, which cannot see bad behavior.

“Animal House” was based on Dartmouth. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to go there, back then there were still no women. Now a bunch of these legendary prep schools do have women. But the stories I heard…

Show weakness and you become a pariah. There’s no running to your parents, if they’re even paying attention. You learn not to snitch. You learn not to reveal bad behavior. You learn how to bend the rules.

Now I cannot tell you whether Kavanaugh behaved as alleged or not. But the only thing I know is this behavior is consistent with the prep school ethos.

And this is far beyond right and left, far beyond racism and abortion. Then again, the preps are overwhelmingly white, they let in a few anomalies, but listen to the testimony of those in endless books, they’re outsiders living a separate life. You’re stunned when you hear “educated” people utter anti-Semitic and racist comments? They’ve been exchanging them for years unsupervised in prep school.

That’s right, there’s no supervision. No accountability. No parental oversight. No one saying otherwise in your formative years.

I met rich and famous people in college, it’s helped me in my so-called career. I learned you never fawn, never talk about money, that first you sidle up and become friends, and that’s oh-so-hard to do, because the rich and famous are skittish, they are not open books, and they believe the system outweighs any momentary event.

There are some things you cannot learn unless you experience them.

Talk to a prep school graduate.

Then again, they won’t tell you.

Tyler was an itinerant drummer from Alaska, switching genres from punk to metal to country to survive. But his wife had rheumatoid arthritis and was suffering in the cold so they moved to Vegas whereupon Tyler’s wife told him she met with someone who was talking about Zappos and she thought it would be a great fit for him, since he was burned out on the road.

But he couldn’t get in, acceptance rate is in the single digits. So he made a video where he played all the instruments to a song he wrote why he wanted to work at Zappos, and he got in.

He started in the call center.

It was FUN!

Does not compute, I know. But he loved blowing people’s minds. They’d call all huffed and puffed and he’d send a replacement and give a credit and a fifty dollar coupon to boot. That’s the essence of Zappos, it’s a customer service outfit, not a shoe store.

And Tyler, a redhead with a long beard, pitched in on events. With parade floats, parties, things like that, and word got around, he was called into HR, they asked him what he wanted to DO!

They’d already been calling him the “Chief Fungineer.” He said that’s what he wanted to be. So HR said to go home and write up a job description and come up with how much he wanted to be paid and when he turned it all in, they said YES!

So Tyler built built events and everybody was having so much fun and he was doing so well that Tony asked him to fly to L.A., with him and by the end of the trip made him head of “Brand Aura.” You know, enhancing the brand, the image, what everybody tries to do while ripping you off all the while.

And now that’s his gig. It’s Tyler who coordinated with Jason to build and execute the activities at the Church of Rock & Roll. And he wants to proceed further, and don’t think Zappos is handing out money, Jason is a force of nature, when dedicated he can infect you and convince you.

So, I’m here at Fergusons meeting so many people. It’s like summer camp. I have to come back, when it’s quieter, when I can relax. But what I like most is the people. I work alone. I don’t have kids and I don’t go to an office. So it’s moments like this I lust for, and lament the passing of, I could be crying tomorrow.

And this music business is a giant party, where everybody’s working 24/7 yet not complaining. I had a long conversation with Greg Perloff last night where we discussed where we came from and where we are now. We bonded over Laura Nyro, he said the greatest rock band was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and it was like we’d known each other forever, even though we’d only met in passing before.

That’s the power of rock and roll.

And Florence and her Machine were quite good last night. She’s got the music in her, albeit very differently from Kiki Dee. And the band was tight and honest. But she still lost half her audience by the end of the show. Then again, it was late. If I was a headliner I’d want to go on EARLIER!

And walking back to my trailer, everybody was mouthing the words of Travis Scott, who was prowling the stage sans musicians. Never underestimate the power of a hit.

And Foster The People sounded like music, which can be a relief. And their finale with Cirque du Soleil on “Hey Jude” was quite the spectacular.

And long after midnight, you could still not get into the EDM tent.

And they say the bill drew all the females.

But I still have questions. I’m still looking for answers.

Then again, talking to Tyler my belief in the American spirit was rekindled. We’re a can do people. We see a target and we go there. How did our politicians become all about the negative.

And if I had to start all over would I work at Zappos?

Maybe.

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MUSIC

In today’s everybody is a star world you show up to parade and have your own experience, shoot photographs and laugh with your friends. The longest line I saw all day was to take your picture in front of the “Life Is Beautiful” sign.

NO ONE HAS TIME FOR SECOND-RATE ACTS

Every band has fans, but not many of them. Forget the developing acts, even those with established names like the Cold War Kids draw very thin crowds, which may be passionate and singing along, but the rest of the attendees ignore them. This is significant. We live in a winner-take-all society. And we only want the best. Sure, there are left field acts with little traction who have fans, but most acts just aren’t good enough. That’s the story of America, we were taught anyone could make it and found out it was nearly impossible to make it. We live in a country of over 300 million people, walk the festival grounds and be amazed, the thought of gaining everybody’s attention is mind-boggling, it’s astounding anyone achieves it. You used to be able to go viral, now you cannot do it alone. You need to float on the coattails of those who already have a fan base or the people who run the game to begin with. Sure, there are exceptions, but expect fewer and fewer. And these exceptions will be speaking the truth with little agenda, like David Hogg. The right wing did its best to marginalize him, but since he wasn’t selling merch, not trying to get rich, only spreading a message, they couldn’t. So ask yourself, what’s more important, message or money, and therein you will have the answer as to the path of your life. If it’s about message, you might make money in the end, but there’s a good chance you never will. Forget all that hogwash about do what you love and the money will follow. Money’s hard to get. You need enough money to live. People don’t want to sacrifice. Artists do nothing but sacrifice.

HIGH POINT OF MY DAY

I entered the comedy venue for a good seat for Michelle Wolf. There was a singalong going on. To the Backstreet Boys’ song “Everybody.” There were endless rehearsals and then a broadcast on Facebook Live, not that anybody saw it. You can make it and it can go totally ignored, there are so many messages. But it was so much fun to participate, to sing along. And then I realized… This song was twenty years old, and it was the bedrock of those in attendance. This is what the baby boomers used to do, grab a guitar and sing folk songs, Beatle songs, the hits…nobody does that anymore.

THE WEEKND WAS FAKE

As in there was no way this act was fully live. The man had fans. They knew the tunes. But as a veteran of shows the whole thing seemed canned, with tracks on hard drive, I’m not sure if Abel was singing to track or there were too many effects on his vocals…then again, every now and again he spoke and it was crystal clear, making me wonder what the rest was. If this is today’s live music, I want no part of it.

MICHELLE WOLF WAS DIRTY

Like the comics playing Vegas in the old days, saying all that cannot be said on TV, not even YouTube I don’t think. But the best part of her show was when she remarked how she constantly heard how ugly she was and then said this means she must be A REALLY GOOD COMEDIAN!
We love it when people have a sense of self.

WOMEN OUTNUMBER MEN

I’m still trying to figure this out. No one has an answer. My thought is that women know how to socialize better, hang with their friends and have a good time. Men go to hear the music and meet women. But they’re clueless at meeting women. So for an event like this, there’s not that much of a draw. They’re at the Rush show, or the metal concert. If only men learned how to talk to women.

THE ONLY VENUE CONSTANTLY FULL

Was the dance tent, from opening to closing. It’s part of the participatory culture.

PEOPLE LOVE FREE FOOD

In the artist compound, which seemed to be populated by everyone but artists, people lined up for free chicken sandwiches. We were taught not to waste food, then we learn they’re not starving in Europe anymore, not really starving much of anywhere anymore according to “Factfulness,” but I still find it impossible to throw out food.

YOU CAN HAVE ENOUGH INFRASTRUCTURE

The lack of lines at Life Is Beautiful is astounding. They’ve got enough port-a-potties, enough bars. This is not your daddy’s rock festival, not even a music festival of a decade ago. Everybody hates lines, eliminate them and people will be your friend.

THE ART INSTALLATIONS

Are truly a selling point. Lying on the grass under the dome of lights as the classical music plays is soothing.

PEOPLE DON’T COME ALL DAY

It’s too much, most people come when it’s dark.

CONCLUSION

So what we’ve learned is there is a demand for festivals. As long as they’re well-planned and well-executed. You can’t abuse your customers, no way. But if your draw is music, you’re in trouble. There’s just not enough consensus for three days. As for discovering acts at festivals, forget about it. Not enough people see you. Actually, the biggest festival buzz this year is for David Byrne, an antique. Everybody, pros and amateurs, agree it’s a must-see. The man hasn’t had a hit in decades, but he’s delivering a choreographed show. Proving you can always reinvent the wheel if you’re a genius. But very few people are, despite them and their press agents and the press itself telling us so. Am I gonna stand in this parking lot on the hot tar listening to a band whose music is not grabbing me or go in search of artisan food or just walk the streets looking at the endless parade of people. The latter.