Sometimes things don’t work out.

I can’t watch TV once a week anymore. Can’t make an appointment, can’t set the DVR, can’t even fast-forward through the commercials. I know, I know, there are some great shows on network and cable, but I don’t watch them, they don’t fit my schedule, which is overbooked, but there are times I want to go deep and I fire up Netflix and go for a marathon.

I was late to “Breaking Bad,” I’ve already acknowledged that. And to tell you the truth, I’m late to “Better Call Saul.” But after finishing “Breaking Bad” I fired it up on Netflix and watched two seasons and stopped there. The new episodes weren’t even on On Demand on my Spectrum system, and I certainly wasn’t going to buy them. Ownership is passe. Whenever you hear about someone building a collection, tune them out. They’re inured to the old ways. They believe a person is judged by what they possess. Then again, the future is so confounding, I get why people cling to the past. But the past is history.

And in the past I was addicted to the movies. I can’t say I was addicted to television, my mother wouldn’t let us watch during the day, we had to go out and play. And we couldn’t watch at night without finishing our homework first and she judged what we watched to boot, she didn’t stop giving me a hard time about “My Mother The Car,” but when you’re young and impressionable, everything hits your funny bone.

But my mother got deep into the movies in the late sixties and there was unlimited money if you wanted to go to the flicks. It wasn’t seen as escapism, but character building. These were the humanities that are pooh-poohed today. But math and science won’t tell you how people feel.

And I felt lonely and misunderstood but when the theatre darkened and the image came up…I was whole.

Almost didn’t matter what was on screen, it was about the experience.

But then there were some greats. Like “The Godfather.” Which I saw at an 11 PM screening at the new multiplex in Orange. I didn’t know there’d been lines, it had opened weeks before, I was in college, experiencing a media blackout, there was no television other than one snowy network channel, no DVDs, one movie theatre and…

When I got back to Connecticut I went to the movies every night. Literally. It was part of my schedule, I caught up. I’m a completist. That’s what I hate about media today, you can’t grasp it, you can’t see all of it, you don’t know what’s going on, nobody knows what’s going on, we’re all living in our little verticals being sold a bill of goods.

And I stopped reading reviews. Because the writers believe their essence is to reveal all the plot lines and then judge them. I want it to be fresh, and unexpected, and I almost never see a movie twice, just like Pauline Kael, that’s not the experience I’m looking for, and there’s so much I haven’t seen, so much you haven’t seen, and especially now that the moving image is not scarce.

So I marinate in the story. I fall in love with the characters. I think if I can just concentrate and bond with the flick, my life will work out. Kinda like with music, but music’s different, film is about story, music is about life. When you get the right record it penetrates you in some bizarre way to the point where you think if you ever met the person who made it not only would you fit in, all your problems would be solved. But this was back when musicians admitted to having problems.

Like Jimmy McGill.

I read that the third season of “Better Call Saul” was finally on Netflix. I’d read that it was one of the best shows of last year. And to tell you the truth, you’ve got to get into the rhythm of Vince Gilligan. It’s slow, and sometimes there’s no buildup, no peak, but it’s the little things in between that make all the difference.

And when Jimmy, spoiler alert!, loses his license to practice law…

Nothing works out.

I know people who read self-help books. Please stop. You can’t learn lessons from somebody else because you’re not them, your only hope is to be you. And our entire society is based on winners when the truth is we all lose, each and every one of us, some constantly, some unexpectedly, some are their own worst enemies, but it’ll happen to you, I guarantee.

Sure, it looks like some get the breaks, but then they don’t make partner, they get squeezed out, their spouse leaves them, their kids have physical or mental problems, no one escapes, and this is what we look for in art, a vibration, a connection, we need to recognize ourselves, no lesson is necessary.

But we keep being told we’re inadequate.

Have you ever tried to get a job and been unable to?

I certainly have.

My driver in Rio sent 130 resumes, he didn’t even get a response.

You think everybody’s got it easy, that if you jump through enough hoops the gates open. And maybe that’s true, but it never happened for me.

And now I don’t see myself on the silver screen. Everybody’s more fabulous, or much worse, or a superhero. No one is broke down and busted on the side of the road wondering how they’ll go forward, even though they eventually do.

And what exactly is the relationship with Jimmy and Kim? Are they friends with benefits or more than that? And how come they can’t pool their money?

And you’ve got to serve somebody, every does, that’s what Bob Dylan told us, and Nacho is under the thumb of Salamanca, and he can’t say no.

That’s modern life. I run mine differently, to my detriment. Everybody thinks I have stock in Spotify, that I’m paid by them, but then how could I be trusted? Sure, maybe you don’t trust me anyway, especially in a world where everybody’s sold out.

Except the artist. The artist must be free.

But our world is one of favors. And if you take one, you’ve got to give one. That’s the essence of the #MeToo movement, it’s not just a boys’ club, no one wants to blow the whistle on their boss, because not only will the boss fire them, will his hand-picked board defend him, but none of your coworkers will fall in line behind you. The artist always walks alone, never forget it.

So I can’t handle the frustration of getting hooked and waiting a week. Especially in our on demand culture. I’d rather not watch at all. But if you give me all the episodes at once, I want to dig down deep, turn out the lights and watch.

And movies aren’t long enough, even though they think you’re paying by the minute, like musicians they need to fill up the CD, keep us sitting there for two plus hours.

But television can go on forever, except when it doesn’t. They stop in the U.K., if it’s making money over here it continues, even though the kids have beards and babies and the thrill is long gone.

I’ve been to Albuquerque. I’ve known people who’ve dealt drugs.

But “Better Call Saul” is really about the personal relationships, brothers who can’t get along and big swinging dicks who are suddenly challenged and the truth is we live in a society where unless you’re working by the hour, for a wage, on a contract, everybody’s duplicitous, shaving points, working the edges. Come on, believe me. When you go to buy a car they want to sell you one that’s there, and they want you to pay as much as possible. Everybody’s a mark, now more than ever, when life is tough and you need a lot to get by.

And sure, there’s humor in this series. And revenge too. Just like life, it’s not one long flat line. But you return to the norm. Just when things are flying high they crash, it’s the human condition.

And it’s in “Better Call Saul.”

He was so damn SMART!

I know, I know, I’m supposed to resent him, he ruined the fabric of America, THE WORLD, but I’ve got to say I’m impressed with his performance today, the brilliant student schooling his inept teachers.

I grew up knowing I was going to college. Never a doubt in my mind. I remember standing on the steps, ready to walk into the first day of kindergarten, telling the other kids I was gonna be a lawyer, that’s how heavy the Jewish programming is. Hate us, like you now hate the Asians. But after the Holocaust, after wandering through the world for millennia, our parents were establishing themselves and their goal was for us to have a better life than they did, back before anyone knew who a Palestinian was, when anti-Semitism was rampant, before it became de rigueur as anti-Israel disparagement. If you can’t separate Judaism from Zionism you’re uneducated. Then again, everybody hates the Jews.

So you had to get good grades to get into a good college. Pepper your resume with all kinds of extracurricular activities. Jews inventing do-gooding for college, now everybody does it. Back when legacies meant that the Christians could go straight from prep school to the nation’s finest universities.

We were judged by what we got on our SATs. We ran for office whether we wanted to or not. We were told to try. And our parents were right. They reinforced that the popular kids from high school would be forgotten. That there was a big life ahead of us if we’d just hew the line.

Then the joke was on us. All us baby boomers who became professionals. We wanted to color outside the lines, but our parents taught us not to, to keep our heads down and stay the course.

And the truth is it does matter which college you go to. Not because the classes are any better, they could even be worse! But because of the people you hang with. The better the school, the more intelligent your classmates, it illustrates the POSSIBILITIES!

Critical thinking. Analysis. Questioning perception. That’s what the elite institutions teach. It’s a hothouse from which you emerge scorched but ready.

Especially if you’re the sons and daughters of our generation.

That’s right, we did not know about big money. Driving a Cadillac and having a vacation house was rich. Flying private was unheard of, we wouldn’t even pay to sit in the front of the plane. But our children…

I think it would have been better off if Zuckerberg stayed in college. Hell, I think EVERYBODY should stay in college, to show you can complete something, that’s what life is all about, completing stuff, kinda like playing HQ Trivia to go all the way. It’s the essence of marriage. If your significant other is a drug addict, or is physically harming you, get out, that’s cool. But even if they’re having an affair, WHY DID THEY? It takes two to make a situation, it’s best to dig deep and solve it. But no one wants to dig deep anymore.

Kinda like these Senators. So busy primping for the camera and appealing to their constituents that they are inauthentic, Ted Cruz scrolling his phone while others talk, after trying to box Mark into saying Republicans are abused on Facebook. Making inane jokes. Not understanding the essence of the social network.

Zuckerberg ran rings around them.

Of course he was media-trained. He started every response with “Senator,” and never lost his cool and…

Couldn’t stop talking.

He was fleet on his feet. Knew the answer to nearly everything. Didn’t even want a break when offered one. It was like he’d prepared his whole life to do this, knowing it was b.s., like the SATs, like all those tests, he couldn’t wait to get back to his real work.

And all the reporters are looking for gotchas, for headlines that will immediately be forgotten. And the truth is all these Silicon Valley institutions know the lesson of Microsoft, if you heel to the government you blink and are toast, which is why Facebook isn’t gonna listen, ain’t gonna change unless forced to, because it’s too exciting doing what they are doing. Sure, they’re all rich, but they haven’t got time for the trappings.

How often do you see a techie on TMZ? Almost never. They might go out to dinner, but mostly they’re working. They’re the antithesis of the Kardashians, even though mom Kris can hold her own, she’s truly brilliant. But entertainment is fake, now more than ever, the people can’t handle the truth, they’re fed pabulum, while the real movers and shakers, the truly brilliant, run the country.

Kinda like Robert Mercer, the hedge fund king.

But he’s an old fogey nerd, not a young’ un like Zuckerberg. His parents protested with long hair and jeans, Zuckerberg protests with code, which his elders can’t understand like ours couldn’t fathom rock and roll. As for all the venerated entertainment stars of today, they look like dummies unaware of the universe next to Zuckerberg. Sure, we need poetry, but we’re getting too little of that in the world today, who do we look up to?

Do I trust Zuckerberg will heed the warning?

HELL NO!

Do I even think he’s aware of the holes which can be manipulated in Facebook’s systems?

HELL NO!

Did you read the story in “Businessweek” about the spammers triumphing with ads on Facebook? If you haven’t, dedicate yourself, which no one seems to do these days, they’re too busy posting how great they are on Instagram, but the truth is all that data works…it gets the vulnerable to buy what they shouldn’t, in volume.

So Zuckerberg’s appearance makes me feel good about humanity. That there are people who can answer the question before having to pause and think first. Come on, speaking is instinct, just like sex, let it out there.

But you’re judged by what you have to say. And too many are uneducated and far from brilliant.

Brilliant Zuck is. Leaves you feeling both inadequate and wanting to go to Harvard, to get some of that juice.

I used to read “Rolling Stone” from cover to cover, I just couldn’t get enough of my generation, the musicians speaking truth to power.

But when I tuned into NPR on the satellite today I couldn’t turn it off, I watched for hours at home, even though the last time I viewed this extensively was during Watergate. Just to see Zuckerberg eat up these bozos.

It was a better show than you’ll see at the arena. There was little artifice, Zuckerberg came across as honest and genuine. And convincing too, even though there were holes in his story.

Furthermore, he didn’t get impatient and talk down to his audience, which Steve Jobs was famous for doing. And when Elon Musk talks he sounds like an alien.

But Mark Zuckerberg sounded like one of the top kids in your high school, who you grew up with, played basketball with, played tricks with, who stayed the course and…

Ended up ruling the world.

That’s right, Facebook is more powerful than any media institution. One could say it’s more powerful than the government, because it can reach more people.

And it’s scary to think one man is in control.

But watching him today you thought that Zuck earned it, the Winklevosses could never do this, he kept control of his company, he continues to innovate, even if it’s through acquisition.

And if you ask me you should delete your Facebook account. Instagram too.

But you can’t resist that hit of dopamine. Zuckerberg has created a hit record that never leaves the chart, that keeps on spinning, give him credit for that.

At the same time you’re excoriating him.

“How Facebook Helps Shady Advertisers Pollute the Internet-‘They go out and find the morons for me.'”

She was not who I expected her to be.

I’m friendly with her publicist, Brian Bumbery, who’s always got a smile and a story and when they arrived at the studio I ignored her, maybe out of my fear of women, but mostly because you’ve got to be wary of leaving the best stuff in the green room. I wish you could have heard my conversation with John Dick BEFORE we got on the air. Which is why I don’t want to waste time, but I felt I was being unkind so I apologized to her, telling her just that, my green room theory, and she casually told me it was no problem but still… Do I know enough about Garbage? I bought the first album, was caught up the mania, but Shirley Manson was a cool ice queen, right?

WRONG!

She’s sassy and opinionated and smart…

That’s one of the problems with the war between the sexes, too often you don’t go down the pike far enough to find out who these people really are. You’re intimidated, they’re uncomfortable, hell, you often don’t even exchange words, you just imbue them with your preconceptions and go on your merry way.

So no one is less Hollywood than Shirley Manson. And although her hair color and cut would give you the impression she’s out there, she’s more rooted than most. She goes with the flow, is fearful of consequences, but at the same time tests limits. And when she was on the cover of all those fashion magazines she was sitting in her hotel room alone, perfectly fine, but if you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be a star in the eye of the hurricane, in the midst of the maelstrom…

Listen in.

A snippet

P.S. This is long and meandering but the studio people think this is the best podcast yet.

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It’s about the songs, not the band.

It started with Journey. The voice of the act, Steve Perry, didn’t want to work, he needed an operation, so the rest of the act went on the road without him, with a bunch of faceless singers, doing reasonable business. Then they found a replica of Steve’s voice online, and then business started to increase to the point where they’re playing stadiums this summer, with Def Leppard.

Foreigner not only goes on the road without Lou Gramm, but sans Mick Jones sometimes too.

And then Glenn Frey dies and the Eagles not only reunite, their grosses are bigger than ever!

What’s going on?

When your hits are behind you, it’s all about the money. No one’s got enough. And touring gives purpose to your life. And there’s nowhere you can get that kind of adulation, that hit of adrenaline, other than on stage.

But shouldn’t the audience balk?

They did not when all the fifties acts toured with a group of faceless performers not in the original incarnation.

It’s an oldies phenomenon, after the thrill is gone, the cult of personality, the adoration, the laughter and the tears, all that is left is the songs and the memories. And it turns out many can’t get enough of them.

Ergo the tribute acts. Doing a bang-up imitation of Led Zeppelin and so many more.

As long as it sounds close enough to what once was, and it includes some patina of originality, people are in. After all, the Mac toured without Christine McVie for years and played arenas. They’ve proven in the past the act has a hard time surviving without Stevie Nicks, but if god forbid she passed and Grace Potter took her spot, or Lorde…

Queen tours with Adam Lambert.

We could speculate on the cause of this. Then again, it’s been Lindsey’s band from day one, and he’s been irascible. Of course, of course, it was Fleetwood and McVie’s band, but they could play theatres without Lindsey and Stevie and therefore they let Lindsey control the act. And when the noose gets too tight and there are alternatives…

The truth is these acts are riddled with personality problems, all that bonds the members is the music. Would you want to hang forever with your high school buddies? That’s what it’s like. Furthermore, artists are uncompromised, it’s their edges that made them successful, and they don’t know how to trim them. You’d tell them just to get along, but then again, you could never be in the act.

And the act does include Lindsey’s soloing. But the seventies are over, the audience doesn’t want to hear virtuosos extend, they just want the songs, they just want to nod their heads and sing along. And Lindsey’s vocals have oftentimes been…

Rough.

So now you’ve got Mike Campbell, whose ability rivals Lindsey’s, although his sound is different, and Neil Finn comes back from the dead, in this case New Zealand, to demonstrate the chops which never fully got the praise they deserved.

And if you don’t think Vince Gill brought the Eagles to new heights…

You haven’t seen them.

This news would have been revolutionary in the seventies, even the eighties, but today it’s another blip on the radar screen. Fleetwood Mac has long since surrendered the zeitgeist to the younger generation. Hell, the McVie/Buckingham album got no traction. That’s what it’s like being an aged act doing new music in today’s cacophonous world.

So now YOU’RE Fleetwood Mac. When you go to the show and sing along with your head in the air it’s about you, not the people on stage. You’re long in the tooth, remembering when, feeling good for the moment, that’s what you pays your money for and if you want to see these people in the flesh, go soon, because they’re not gonna be around much longer.

But the songs remain the same.