“The Chain”

What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where Lindsey Buckingham gets kicked out of Fleetwood Mac and the band gets better?

The same one in which Glenn Frey passes and the Eagles improve.

Now we know the Mac can’t sustain without Stevie, but without Lindsey…NO PROBLEM!

No one doubts Mike Campbell’s guitarwork, he doesn’t emote quite like Lindsey, but he can pick just as well.

As for Neil Finn…HE’S A REVELATION!

Maybe you remember Crowded House, but you should really look back to Split Enz, which couldn’t get traction until Neil joined. Then he got us and sent a message to our girl and won our hearts and financial success to boot. But being a proud New Zealander, he tends not to be on our radar screen, but he is now!

It’s no secret Stevie Nicks can do arena business without the rest of the group, but this is something different, it takes Stevie’s skills and appeals, mixes in the temporarily gone crooning of Christine McVie and now the band has been reenergized, gone from an oldies act to a new one overnight, how did this happen?

Now we know there was a schism in the band’s history, multiple ones in fact. I doubt fans of the Peter Green iteration liked the Stevie/Lindsey concoction. Then again, there was the interim era with Bob Welch and this seems more like an evolution than a substitution of journeyman players. Who knew Vince Gill could add so much to the Eagles, who knew Neil Finn could add so much to Fleetwood Mac? And as “The Chain” ends and Mike Campbell starts to wail you don’t miss Lindsey Buckingham one bit. Used to be his band, no longer. If they paid to see the act without Christine, what is Lindsey gonna bring to the picture to share the cash…NOTHING!

Now the funny thing about this iteration is it makes you want to hear new material. McCartney was on Stern today and it made you realize how much he missed Lennon. Because John held his nose when McCartney delivered tripe, and vice versa, they pushed each other to excellence. You’ve got to believe Mike and Neil have reinvigorated the other four members of Fleetwood Mac, and one thing you know about Neil is he can write, and unlike his peers, having never reached superstar status, he can still do it, he still has the fire.

But does anybody really want new Fleetwood Mac music?

Today it’s all about the road. The modern music business has detached from classic rock, all rock in fact. It’s all hip-hop all the time. Did you read today’s “Wall Street Journal” about the huge payments by the majors for barely proven hip-hop talent? They don’t care about radio, they can make their bones online and cash too, it’s a whole new paradigm. And never underestimate the power of classic rock, it too is streamed now, but its acolytes are no longer hungry, they might have smartphones but they still don’t subscribe to streaming services.

But they’re fans.

That’s the difference between the oldsters of yesterday and today. THE FERVOR! Go to a Mac show and people are not sitting in their seats, rattling their jewelry, they’re standing and singing and dancing…

The oldsters lived through something. It’s hard for the youngsters to understand. Music was EVERYTHING! Everybody had a stereo, everybody bought albums, they were addicted! Let’s analogize it to movies. Neil Simon dies and you remember his flicks and how you used to go to the theatre. Now you no longer go to the theatre, they make movies but you don’t want to see ’em. Sure, you might hit a documentary, about Mr. Rogers or RBG, but they’re a zit on the financial ass of the theatrical business.

But the funny thing is the classic rockers still rule at the venues.

So modern music is like today’s movies. Two-dimensional characters, nothing you can believe in. Candy that’s eaten and forgotten. There’s a business, they trumpet the grosses, but does anybody care?

Of course a few do.

But when it comes to movies, the great stuff was all pre-blockbuster, pre “Jaws” and “Star Wars,” when there was not that much money in it and all the glamour and the impact was in films.

Even more in music. Because movies when done right are larger than life, music when done right is life itself.

And now television has taken over from movies by being what flicks used to be. About people as opposed to superheroes and monsters. Because we want to see our real lives reflected.

And you can say today’s pop music is just today’s kids’ flavor, but the truth is it was different. Stevie Nicks was not an overnight success… Nobody in today’s Fleetwood Mac was an overnight success. They paid their dues, starved in obscurity, toured, lived the hard life until breakthroughs came years later.

That is not the paradigm today. Today everything is instant and then fades away. Those with intellects and souls stay far away from entertainment, the odds are too long, they want a protected life, but…back then entertainment was ruled by the middle class, playing without a backup plan.

Then again, there was little income inequality.

And a bigger safety net.

You could survive.

And you’ll be rejuvenated and alive when the lights go down and the band implores you to…

LISTEN TO THE WIND BLOW!

“Gypsy”

From a majordomo at Swan Song, Led Zeppelin’s record label, to managing Bonnie Raitt and Nirvana in their heydays to label gigs at Atlantic, Warner and Mercury, Danny Goldberg has seen and done it all.

And much more.

Here is the story from beginning to now, from being a stoner and leaving college to managing Steve Earle.

Danny fought his way to the top without a parent in the business, when music drove the culture.

You think you want to follow in his footsteps, well here they are for you to see!

A snippet:

Danny Goldberg on this week’s podcast: https://t.co/dTSlgQYWzo Danny on meeting Bonnie Raitt: pic.twitter.com/T1zwoaJFsH

— Bob Lefsetz (@Lefsetz) September 4, 2018

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No one in America likes to sacrifice. Their idea of risk is creating a new business. Just as long as they stay out of the mainstream, never move back on the game board, present a bland face so as not to get caught in the undertow. You know who you are, the people who are unwilling to go on the record, who send me e-mail with “name withheld.” You’ll only speak your truth anonymously. Online fake identities are rampant. Everybody feels immune.

But they’re not.

If you’ve been scoring at home, you’re aware that Nike was caught up in the #MeToo movement. So one can say this campaign burnishes its image with women. Then again, not all women voted for Hillary, not all women are concerned with the rights of minorities.

Furthermore, some brands are beyond reproach. Switching athletic gear is like telling people not to eat at In-N-Out, it’s not gonna work.

Meanwhile, these billboards are going to permeate the country for eons. Well, at least weeks, unlike the latest musical projects. Maybe it’s only corporations who can gain sustained mindshare in today’s marketplace. Maybe it’s beyond the power of any individual, other than maybe David Hogg, who’s taking a gap year to extend his anti-gun/Parkland reach.

Everyone’s afraid. Especially corporations. The mea culpas are rampant. They’re afraid of repercussions. Just ask Harley-Davidson, they move production overseas to save the company and they don’t stop being excoriated. You don’t want to get caught in the crosshairs, you go along.

Kinda like the tariff situation in general. We don’t see giant corporations standing up to Agent Orange for fear of backlash. But if you’ve got no backbone, we lose trust in you. Just like Google and its own employees. Google wants to work in China, at what cost?

We’re looking for leaders, we’re looking for inspiration, and what we find is celebrities hawking goods, getting caught in shenanigans by TMZ. And then we have Colin Kaepernick standing up for what he believes, not getting caught in any faux pas and risking his career, never mind his salary. Meanwhile, his collusion lawsuit goes forward. The NFL should be afraid, very afraid, it’s losing its hold as the sport of America. Not only with the CTE issue but the fact that the owners are reinforcing racism with their plantation mind-set. That’s right, most of the players are black. Who cares if they’re paid a lot. First and foremost they’re people.

And you can sit at home and say you’re not gonna watch. But ironically the most racist people are the ones who cannot give football up, it’s a religion.

And now Nike weighs in.

Field and track never got any respect. That’s how Nike got started.

Sure, Kanye is selling sneakers, but that’s fashion, not performance. Nike is all about performance, a shoe for every event. That’s the company’s image. Remember the concept of standing for something, other than ripping the people off?

And Nike’s record is not perfect, but they’ve done a very good job of protecting athletes, standing by them, The record label may drop you and forget you, but Nike soldiers on, even after Michael Jordan leaves the basketball court.

So where does this leave us?

Nike is not only calling the NFL’s bluff, but Donald Trump’s too. Standing up to the big bad bully. Isn’t that what sports are all about? Aren’t sports high school on steroids?

You’ve been cowering, but someone’s got to say NO MAS!

Nike just did. People follow leaders. Expect more corporations to follow. And note that change starts with the individual. Curt Flood sat out and changed the face of baseball. Colin Kaepernick’s story is not about football, but the football mentality. The players are fungible, it’s only the coach and the owner that matter. You’ve got to sacrifice your identity for the team. It’s all about the team.

How’s the team been treating you?

It’s been taking away your health insurance.

Cutting taxes on the rich.

Letting citizens die in Puerto Rico.

It’s a long, hard way to the top, to change, but we’re getting there. Because one guy and one company decided they’d refuse to bend.

Are you bending?

Are you willing to give up your gas guzzler?

What are you willing to sacrifice for the greater good?

It feels like the sixties all over again.

Ex-UFC Owner Frank Fertitta Father of the Bride Delivers Mars, Mayer & Seal Play Wedding Singer

It all comes down to the crash. The winners paid no penalty, the losers are still paying.

That’s right, 2008 seems so long ago, but the new theory is we’re paying the bill today, politically, socially. Timothy Geithner saved the banks and corporations, but people lost their houses and they still have not regained their opportunities. Trump has made it even worse. The corporations were given a tax break, they gave the cash back to their shareholders, the market is booming, but the rank and file, the workers? They’re no better off.

It’s not your daddy’s music business anymore. It’s not your daddy’s country either. The days of the Doors refusing to sell out to corporations are long gone. Let’s see, I’m Bruno Mars, should I play the Super Bowl or a private? In sheer dollars, there’s more cash at the private. Then again, for those who’ve attended private events, they’re oftentimes bizarre, because the assembled multitude just doesn’t care, you’re getting paid, but you’re getting ignored. But it’s a paycheck. And you’re not rich enough to turn it down.

Vinod Khosla can afford to fight the California Coastal Commission, but musicians are not that rich. Khosla is a billionaire, one of many in America today. Billionaire musicians, are there really any of them? Maybe Dre, maybe Paul McCartney, do you see them wasting money standing on principle? No. You see musicians are the hired help, the court jesters, they perform for the entertainment of those much richer and more powerful than they are. As for standing on principles, the politicians don’t, and neither do the techies. What you do is…

Take the money.

No one listens to what Bruno Mars has to say. He’s all about good times. The only people with principles these days are those without the notoriety. Only the poor, the rank and file, have principles and morals these days, but…

I just came home from a party where a millennial was pissed. His career was hobbled by the recession, he wants his piece of the pie, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get it, and he’s a left winger. But the Democrats are whored out to the same people the Republicans are, and bucking the system…voting for a third party only means you’re muddying the water and the lesser of two evils loses and the worst possible candidate wins. There’s no room for dreamers in America these days.

But these are the only days most people know. Competition music shows, they’re all imitating Mariah Carey, but she broke nearly thirty years ago. People have no idea what happened in the sixties and seventies. It’s like trying to analogize Trump to Nixon, Tricky Dick’s resignation is something they learned in history books, and if it’s like my education, the recent past was never covered, because it was assumed you knew it, since the teachers had lived through it and did.

And the medium changes the message. The reason we had the music revolution of the late sixties and early seventies was FM radio, the corporations could no longer simulcast what they broadcasted on AM. The stations didn’t really care if they made any money, just as long as they protected their licenses. So deejays played weird stuff, whole album sides, and after a few years, the laggards followed the hipsters and AM became irrelevant. You can read the “Billboard” charts, but the hit tracks back then were meaningless. Never forget, “Stairway To Heaven” was never a single.

And then came MTV. And we shifted into a monoculture. A very few tracks and acts became extremely popular. And if you were not part of this clan, you were nobody. And then it became so much about video, that the acts turned pop, and then the internet happened.

We’re still trying to future that one out. The oldsters want to go back to ownership and albums but now it’s about the no-hype release, the secret drop, and if it doesn’t have double, triple digit million streams, it doesn’t count. You can play, but that does not mean you can get paid. But rather than accept the new system and utilize it we keep hearing that it’s rigged, and must be changed, adjusted for the outsiders. Yeah, like America at large.

Then again, these musicians are not leaders, they’re not telling us anything we need to know. Prior to the going private fiasco the average youngster believed in Elon Musk more than any entertainer, they still might.

I mean if you take a stand against commerce, against the system today, the funny thing is nobody knows, of if they do, it makes news for a day and is instantly forgotten. Might as well take the money.

Is there a day of reckoning coming? Bernie Sanders asked that question, it’s being repeated in New York, Florida and Texas as we speak, but the party in power has already realized the change, Trump got elected because people were mad. No one saw it coming.

No one ever sees it coming until it happens.

And even if you predicted the change, where were people gonna see it? Newspapers and magazines have less traction than any time in history and TV is for provocateurs and arguments.

So where is it all going?

Maybe we’re destined to be serfs. Olivers grateful if we can have a little more. They’ve already taken away the American Dream, you can’t even rent an apartment working retail and chances are you’re living with your parents who just might have enough money to make it to the end, but maybe not.

So, if you’ve been around a while, this billionairedom is a new thing. There were always rich people, but not this rich, and they hid their activities. Now the rich brag about their hedonistic ways, and even if they didn’t, they’d make it to TMZ or another online outlet.

And there never was a new Beatles and the truth is Bob Dylan never sold that many records, the Rolling Stones either, today if these latter two launched they’d have little impact.

And what members of the middle class still exist are certainly not going into music, they’re trying to ensure their future. They don’t want to take the risk of an entertainment career.

So the question is whether there will ever be a revolution, and if so, when?

People emulate Kim Kardashian, they think she’s the way out. They have YouTube channels with makeup tutorials and are trying to polish their personal “brand.” But not everybody gets their product into the store and people only buy a shiny exterior for so long before they wake up and move on.

So the Fertittas earned their money, via the sale of the UFC. Should they not be billionaires? Well, I’d say they should pay more taxes, but the rich are now crying poor, saying they prop up the country, and need a break. I say they may pay the lion’s share of INCOME taxes, but when it comes down to the other taxes, on food and products, etc., they don’t. But we live in a world where you cannot denigrate the rich because deep down you believe you too will be rich someday, however long the odds.

When I grew up only one parent worked. Divorce was rare. You could afford not only education, but vacation. They had paper for the mimeograph machine and music education too. But now the most successful music producer is Swedish, from the dreaded “socialist” country, where they have music schools, which he attended.

And there was no doubt the United States was the greatest country in the world. Now we’re no longer a leader, just someone asking for a bigger piece of the pie. It’d be like your parents constantly dunning you for payback for the cost of raising you.

Making America great again is not returning to the past, you’ve got to go forward.

Then again, morality transcends time. A sense of right and wrong transcends time. A belief in fairness transcends time.

Bankers did not go to jail. Wall Street is booming. If I can’t have the big piece of chicken someone’s got to pay.

The irony is it’s me.