It’s not 2005 anymore, certainly not 2010, virality is dead, bubbling up from the bottom doesn’t exist, and the big get bigger.

For a while there it looked like Madison Avenue was faltering. And if you follow the ad biz, you’ll see that the agencies are challenged, fearful of being cut out by the middlemen, i.e. Facebook and Google, but the truth is advertising power is having a resurgence.

In a sea of cacophony he who yells loudest wins.

I know this sounds contrary, I know word of mouth is king, I know Google and Yelp and RottenTomatoes are just a click away, just a click away, but sometimes you just want to belong, you don’t want to miss the event. In a Tower of Babel society we yearn to belong, and it’s those who saturate us with advertising who win, at least temporarily.

That’s another thing, nothing has legs, not even music. It hits and then it’s done. Except for that which builds slowly, and the funny thing is outsiders can take a long time to bubble up from streaming to terrestrial radio, but if you’re a star, you get a look and are either listened to or ignored and then the audience moves on, unless they go to see you live. I know this is contrary to everything you learned in the past, but the world changes, consolidation is not only happening in tech. So, you feed your fan base and hope to get lucky and reach more people or…

You’re the beneficiary of a huge advertising campaign that gets everybody to partake immediately.

Like with last week’s “Mission Impossible” movie.

Sure, the reviews were good, But no one reads the reviews you say, and that’s true, but they SEE THEM! It’s the presence of the reviews that counts so much, when tied in with the billboards and the TV and web ads, if you’ve got something good, you can hook people.

Because they don’t know where to turn, they’re lost.

For every self-styled expert, there are a zillion who are completely flummoxed and are looking to be led from the wilderness.

And they follow the trends. The big get bigger and the rest…

Are lost.

Which is why streaming services are fighting to provide saturation ads for new releases, like Spotify with Drake, they want to keep superstars happy, and it’s a virtuous circle, with all the views, with all the hype, outsiders look in and check it out.

How do you get the word out?

Well, start with your little circle. Don’t fall prey to the hypesters that don’t deliver. A lone review in the paper, one feature on TV, they mean nothing. Unless you have a whole campaign, with tons of mentions/views, you’re wasting your money and your time. But you want to do something, you want to feel powerful, you want to get ahead.

Well, that’s why you sign with tastemakers. Sure, streaming may undercut the majors, but then the streaming companies will be the powerful advertisers. And for now, the labels have relationships that they utilize to get the word out if they believe in your project. That’s another thing, if they don’t think you can hit, they don’t want to spend another cent, they’re willing to walk away from sunk costs.

So I’m in the airport and see endless ads for “Beautiful,” the Carole King musical. Now it too got good reviews, but it’s been playing forever. But now the show is partnered with American Airlines…

Used to be these partnerships were hogwash, brand burnishing that didn’t matter. But that was when there were a limited number of options, when you could fathom the world. Now if you’re big you want to leverage your brand everywhere.

Online it’s about seeing something everywhere. Especially on Facebook and other social networks. And it doesn’t work for everything, but it does for an impulse buy, if the perception is what’s being sold is a hit, worth paying attention to.

The days of promoting and selling a stiff are done.

But the days of a hit making it by its lonesome are also done.

You’ve got to match quality with saturation advertising.

On some level we’re back to the seventies, when bands had billboards on the Sunset Strip, it gave the impression that they were BIG! As well as the ubiquitous congratulation ads for selling out you saw in Sunday sections.

You can sway public perception. Lady Gaga hasn’t had a hit in eons, but she’s constantly in the news such that people believe she’s happening and they need to see her.

You can’t go away anymore. If anything, you’ve got to be in play constantly.

And failure is instantly forgotten.

But if you’ve got something big, something great, you’ve got to TELL people in order for it to succeed.

But there are very few things this good and very few people with the money, time and commitment to spread the word.

Think about this.

I just came back from lunch with Steve.

L.A. is a giant suburb, that’s why I’m comfortable there, I grew up in the suburbs! You can own a house, have a yard and drive your car. Although I must admit as the years have gone by the traffic has gotten even worse. I’m now one of those people who will say no to things based on the traffic. But most modern business is done via computer/phone, you only leave the office to go to lunch or the occasional meeting. Hell, I can work anywhere, I could be anywhere, oftentimes I am and you don’t know it!

But there’s nothing like New York City.

I grew up in the dark ages, when New York was still dangerous. Even my mother had a chain ripped right off her neck. There were certain places you didn’t go. It was dirty, and Times Square was filled with arcades. That’s right, when you turned fourteen you took the train into the city and went to guitar shops and pinball palaces, that’s what freedom looked like in the old days.

But now, New York City is a theme park.

To the tourist.

But if you live here…

There’s a vibrancy, as soon as you walk outside your building. Just like there are cars on L.A.’s freeways all night there are people walking the streets at all hours, and 24 hour shops, everything just a block or two away. I wonder what it would be like to live here. Oh, I know it would get oppressive, I’d need to get out, but to be able to walk to the store, to have everything at your fingertips, to be able to take the train across town, that would be a revelation.

That’s city living.

And the rain! Although it poured for five minutes three weeks ago in Los Angeles, it normally doesn’t rain from April until October, which is great, you can make plans, nothing’s ever canceled for weather, but the rain quiets the city down, makes you realize you’re not in control, Mother Nature is, it washes our sins away. Oh, not really, I don’t believe in sin, but the truth is it washes away the oil from the highway, in L.A. when it finally rains the water mixes with the oil and it’s like driving in the snow, truly, the first time it happened I was stunned. And since it rains so rarely the city comes to a crawl, people are overwhelmed, they stay home, drive 20 MPH on the highway, whereas it’s weird for it to be coming down and be zipping along at 60 on the Merritt as we were the other day.

When I went to see “Dear Evan Hansen.”

Now in this era of experiences, live theatre is the ultimate. There’s something so personal, something so human, something so exquisitely TOUCHING that it’s palpable. But too many musical are oldies, but “Evan Hansen” is an original.

It’s about a nerd with no friends who accidentally becomes popular.

And funny how all the cast albums are now on Atlantic, while everybody else is chasing hip-hop, Atlantic has the “Greatest Showman” and this, along, of course, with “Hamilton.” “Evan Hansen” is not yet a phenomenon, but maybe when it tours the country it will become one. People, especially young ones, need something that speaks to them.

And I was supposed to meet Steve for lunch before “Evan Hansen” but we were running late and I had to make do with a Sabrett before the show. But now since my departure was delayed we decided to go to lunch today, at Nusr-Et.

Huh?

I didn’t know either. You see restaurants are localized, but if you live in New York!

“You still eating meat?”

That’s what Steve iMessaged me last night, and I still am, I need the protein, my hemoglobin is low as a result of the Gleevec.

And he said we had to go to Nusr-Et, that the sides were nothing to speak of but the meat was and the whole thing was theatre, THEATRE OF MEAT!

So I did a little research.

It’s run by Salt Bae, who’ll even come slice your steak at your table.

It’s a Turkish steakhouse, who even knew there was such a thing!

And it’s uber-expensive and famous for upselling you.

And the servers wear rubber gloves and…

Of course I said yes!

It’s all meat, all the time, if you order a cheeseburger, YOU wear the gloves!

We ordered too much, they pushed us into a steak we ultimately canceled.

But after our salad, after eating something green and healthy, the server prepared our steak tartare tableside.

WHAT A PRODUCTION! Took about ten minutes. He sliced the steak, over and over again. And mixed in ingredients, and then bammed some salt on the whole concoction like Emeril and then gassed, i.e. dry-iced, some herbs which added mood and nose candy but had nothing to do with the meat.

Which was great. My little sister always loved steak tartare, especially when she was in her single digits, she thought it made her look sophisticated. She’d eat raw hamburger from the butcher, before everything was prepackaged, and I learned to too.

And the tomahawk was a ten too.

And the sides were nothing to write home about.

But the tomahawk was juicy and the whole experience was such a crackup…

But that’s life in New York City.

So at four, MOMA is free, and it’s across the street from Ginny’s apartment, so I’ll probably amble over before my flight.

Yes, I am leaving tonight, God willing.

I’VE GOT TO GET BACK TO WORK!

Salt Bae

Nusr-Et

New York City, JUST LIKE I PICTURED IT!

I made it back to Fun City babe, and I’m gonna be up all night.

Remember when Stevie Wonder was on his hot streak, when he could do no wrong? I still think “Talking Book” is the best, and I seem to be one of the few people who still love “Fulfillingness’ First Finale,” come on, “Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away”? If a young ‘un heard that it would not compute, because they’d have no frame of reference, no stereo to hear the sublime sound, and “They Won’t Go When I Go,” WHEW! No one even works with this quietude and subtlety anymore, and this is the album that contains “Boogie On Reggae Woman,” although it’s not one of my favorites, but all the accolades go to “Songs In The Key Of Life,” the finale, the double album with bonus that I think is very good, but overrated, and then there’s…

INNERVISIONS!

For a long time my favorite on the LP was the closer, “He’s Misstra Know-It-All,” but there’s no denying the power, the build, of LIVING IN THE CITY!

A boy is born in hard times Mississippi

Can’t you just hear that intro in your head?

And in the middle, of the long version, the album version, with the dearly-departed Johanan Vigoda playing the judge, the arrested says the above line…NEW YORK CITY, JUST LIKE I PICTURED IT! And the great thing about music is the references, how you can quote a line to a friend and they know exactly what you’re talking about, it’s a secret society.

And Stevie Wonder started this streak opening for the Stones in ’72, touring “Music Of My Life” as the exiles from the U.K. promoted their masterpiece which went straight to number one and then fell of the charts when the tour was done. Come on, what band on Active Rock is gonna record “I Just Wanna See His Face” today? All subtlety, all nuance, is out the window.

And there wasn’t as much nuance and subtlety on the follow-up to “Exile On Main Street,” “Goats Head Soup.” “Dancing With Mr. D” is serviceable, but not the best Stones opener. And I always loved “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker),” for Mick’s enunciation of “POlice” if nothing else, and at this point Johnny Winter’s version of “Silver Train” is more famous than the original and “Hide Your Love” has grown on me, but the song we read about for months before the album came out came at the very end, but when it hit the streets they had to change the name…

It was called “Star Star” instead of “Starf***er,” that’s right, I can’t use the F-word in an e-mail, not because I’m afraid of offending you, but because spam filters will make it so you will never even see this e-mail.

Baby, baby, I’ve been so sad since you’ve been gone
Way back to New York City
Where you do belong

Back when this kind of person was still allowed to live and roam the streets in Manhattan, before all the leather-clad late to the party financial fakes bought all the good seats on the aftermarket.

So maybe you caught the reference…

If I ever get back to Fun City, girl
I’m gonna make you scream all night

That’s what they called it, when it was still dangerous, FUN CITY!

And I ain’t gonna make anybody scream tonight, I’m here in Ginny’s apartment alone.

That’s Felice’s mother, they’ve always called her by her first name, SHE LIKES IT THAT WAY!

I was supposed to go back to CT, but my driver pooped-out and then the substitute pooped-out, saying he could not even replace himself, and I decided to take Felice up on her offer.

And…to be honest, I wasn’t looking at the skyline as we drove in, and it takes almost as much time as it does to get to CT, but, when you hit the island the Indians sold for twenty four bucks…

You can feel the vibe, the excitement, not like L.A., not like any other city in the world, IT’S ALIVE!

And I’m gonna go out to Halal Guys momentarily, like I told you, I’m a man of tradition, but…

I wanted to talk about my Uber ride here.

Why does Uber get such a bad rap, IT JUST WORKS!

That’s right, forget Lyft, it won’t show up at the house in time. Lyft delivered my Sunsoaked tickets to the wrong address, miles away, one that isn’t even on the map, I know, I went by after midnight and it didn’t exist!

And the Uber drivers, who also drive for Lyft, everybody does now, tell me that Uber has better promotions.

Yes, there was that sexual harassment thingy.

But the truth is, we’re all caught up in the penumbra in America, I’m not saying policy should not be fixed, that it’s all right to run a company the way Travis Kalanick did, but the fact is UBER JUST WORKS!

It’s magic. A great combo of tech and life.

You pull up the app. It’s all there. You know the price in advance.

And everybody treats each other nice.

Is a society where we rate each other a good one?

Ultimately no, but for now it’s a great improvement.

Imagine if we rated the airlines.

Then again, we’ve got no choice, they don’t care, they’ve divvied-up the country and you put up and shut up.

But I’m afraid to get a bad rating, I’m always polite to the Uber driver, always where I say I’m gonna be and on time. And the driver calls me by my name and helps me out with my luggage and the car is clean and oftentimes brand new and…

I feel like a human being.

And did I tell you it was cheaper than a cab?

So after being just a number at American Airlines it was great to be soothed by my Uber ride.

And now that I’m in New York, I wonder…

Should I just stay here all weekend?

Playlist

The problem is you can’t get out!

Now if you’re following your airline history, you know it’s a legendarily bad business. The runway is littered with bankrupted airlines, Pan Am, Braniff, Eastern…the list is endless.

But now, but NOW, airlines are incredibly profitable, because they’ve figured out YIELD!

Bottom line? Flights fly full.

So I’m inured to the procedure. The endless wait at security, at the gate, the reason executives (AND DEEJAYS!) fly private is TIME, they’re not making any more of it and if yours is precious the two plus hours you waste before your flight is now productive time. Then again, the have-nots will keep telling anybody with a life that we have it good, that they were born in a field and crapped in an outhouse and the rest of us are abusing them and therefore Trump got elected. There you have it folks!

And the truth is my non-flight experience is everybody’s experience. Our infrastructure has gone to hell, because no one wants to pay anymore, taxes are bad, you’re entitled to your income without deductions, and the truth is we live in a society and what affects one of us affects us all…when a butterfly flaps his wings in Japan…

So I’m on the plane. Sans upgrade. Yup, that’s another scam, they tie you to an airline so you have status, so you don’t have to pay for baggage, so maybe you can get an upgrade. And the hoi polloi take their entire belongings with them on the plane, so there’s no luggage space, because they don’t want to pay and nobody wants to wait for their baggage, but…

I can’t travel that light. I’m willing to wait. But for how long?

And the girl next to me is skinny, but she’s got B.O. Really? Isn’t this part of the social contract, that you shower before you go into public?

But that depends upon parents. That’s where we learn this stuff. And too many of today’s parents are dingbats. It’s the basics that count, table manners, cleanliness… But these are the same parents who go blast the principal when their kid is sent home with a note.

But I grew up in a different era, where your parents weren’t your best friends, you were AFRAID OF THEM! And sure, my dad hit me with a belt and a brush and I’m probably traumatized forever but I knew if I screwed up in school I wouldn’t get into a good college and my future would be sacrificed… Life is all about delayed gratification, and I’m aiming this at you baby boomers, taking social security early. Do you really want to make that bet? What if you outlive your money? Happened to some friends of mine, they had to get a reverse mortgage to get by, but at least they owned real property. As for me dying before I hit the crossover point, I’m willing to make that bet, the government can have my money, I just don’t want to be without when I need it. As for working in your late eighties… GOOD LUCK! No one wants to hire you, you’re too old, and probably too infirm to boot.

So we sat on the tarmac for three hours. Even though there was bright sunshine outside. The pilot said there was weather somewhere. But at the three hour mark you’ve got to go back to the gate where we sat for another hour before they canceled the flight.

But this is the kicker, since they book the flights so full, I CAN’T GET OUT UNTIL TOMORROW NIGHT!

That’s right, despite flights on the hour, there are no seats. You’d think they’d build this potential problem into the system, but NO! Capitalism rules, stockholders must get their due, screw the customers!

I’m on the phone with my travel agent, you probably don’t have one. They took away the full-serve gas stations, there’s no help anywhere in America unless you’re willing to pay for it, and most people aren’t, so there is no option, but since I paid $65 extra for my ticket I got through immediately to find out I could fly business on Jet Blue for $1499.

I didn’t want to pay that.

As for getting out on the Jet Blue 10:50…I’d need approval from American, and they wouldn’t give it.

So, the FIRST flight I can get out on is 9:30 TOMORROW NIGHT!

I’ve got to go back to Connecticut, and come back here, and I didn’t realize I was so pissed off about it until I started writing this.

No one knows what’s going on. The pilot, who has been with American for 23 years, after 7 in the Air Force, said it was air traffic control, the system is too antiquated, it couldn’t handle the rerouting after the weather dissipated. Furthermore, there was the issue of him timing out. BLAME THE UNIONS!

No. I’d rather have an alert pilot behind the wheel.

Are you catching this? This isn’t about my personal disappointment, I’ll live, but our whole screwed-up country, where money rules and people are irrelevant to the point where we’re no longer humans, just numbers on a spreadsheet.

But you want to be able to fly cheap.

Then again, smartphones are ruining the world.

Thank god I had my iPhone, so I could see that Jet Blue flight was delayed three hours and probably won’t get out tonight either.

But no, I’ve got to shut it down, stare into space, because some wanker parents and intellectuals think technology is bad and we must be protected. Huh? Technology is what is gonna get me to Los Angeles in the first place!

And this screed won’t make a bit of difference. Tweet the airline, think you’re special!

But none of us is special, the joke is on us. While we’re busy fighting amongst ourselves the corporations are divvying up this world and they don’t care about us, but without customers they’re HISTORY!

But you’re too busy e-mailing fake news to prove you’re right. That’s right, my inbox is filled up with people who refuse to go to Google or Snopes to see what they’re saying is false. Don’t you get it, we’re all on the same side!

The immigrants are doing jobs you don’t want to.

The addicted are scarfing opioids so Purdue Pharma can get rich.

But the problem is the TAKERS!

How many takers are there?

I’m not a taker, you’re not a taker, we fight amongst ourselves when we are the problem.

We’ve got to pay folks.

For better infrastructure, for a better society. We all can’t live behind gates, we all can’t fly private. Just because your wheel wasn’t broken in a pothole that does not mean the next person’s won’t be.

And if you think you can get the attention of the CEO, if you think he’s gonna see my tweet, take my phone call, solve my problem, you’re dreaming.

I pay for AppleCare so my computers and phones are protected.

I pay for insurance so if I get sick I won’t have to pay for my ski pass. Yup, that’s another story today, someone got cancer and wants their money back but they didn’t buy the INSURANCE! Is Vail supposed to give them their money back so the world at large can feel good?

Protect yourself. Know that we’re all brothers and sisters, in this together.

And now I just got a text that my driver can’t pick me up.

There you have it!