Writer, guitarist and member of the Patti Smith Group.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lenny-kaye/id1316200737?i=1000775153919

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/4a885996-3a5a-4ade-8af6-33c97a8648c7/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-lenny-kaye

This is not the way I expected it to go down.

I expected revolution first, not the system working.

But I still don’t believe in the system, not anymore. But one thing’s for sure, it’s definitely a case of winners and losers, income inequality has burgeoned, the American Dream is just that…as George Carlin said, you’ve got to be dreaming to believe it!

Now what flummoxes me completely is how the Democratic establishment is so out of touch. How they’re exactly what the Republicans describe, elites who think they know better who are looking out for themselves despite giving occasional lip service to the little people.

What did they expect, that this would go on forever?

That’s like believing a band from the sixties will dominate the charts in the twenty first century. That’s not the way it works, things change, people’s attitudes change. The only enterprise that had this right was MTV, which refused to age with its audience. It scrubbed the deck clean every few years, out with the old veejays, in with the new.

And the oldsters complained. Not only that their heroes were gone, but that the new hosts and programming weren’t as good…

We were used to hearing this from the Greatest Generation, the belief in the Big Band era, the dismissal of those pesky kids. But the bottom line is we never turned back, we only go forward, which is why the MAGA construct is so specious. Kinda like that best seller “Yesteryear,” you can’t do it, despite the trad wife influencers.

So if you don’t meet people where they are, hopefully get ahead of them, you will lose them. Politics is not a business of facts, but of hearts and minds. Give Trump credit for realizing this, while the Democrats just promised us more of what we had before. That’s how Trump won twice. First Hillary and then Kamala. They were afraid of offending their enablers, their predecessors, they were playing the game when the general public had stopped believing in the game.

The right wing trope right now is how there are more members of the upper middle class than ever before. It’s voodoo. Trying to get us to deny our own experience. But they’ve been doing this for years. We watched January 6th on our screens, but they keep saying what we saw wasn’t what happened, and the offenders were patriots who deserved freedom. Not only was this untrue, it divorced the general public from the system even more.

The story of the last twenty four hours is about Trump’s $2 billion income last year. Do I think this will make any difference, do I think this will result in him losing power?

Not a lick. I can’t even believe he’s flying that Qatar 747. Free, my ass. Everybody knows if you get something you owe something, it’s Life 101. And we’re supposed to believe Qatar just wanted to get rid of it, wanted Trump to take it off their hands?

Yeah, right.

But the specifics now have no impact, it’s a tsunami of B.S. And the public knows it.

So what we’ve got is talking heads, media inured to the establishment, who are positively shocked that Democratic socialists are winning elections.

And the way they deal with this is to laugh hysterically, talk about how uninformed the voters are, how the policies of these newly anointed candidates are out of touch with reality.

I’m not endorsing so many of their views. The anti-Israel positions scare me in a country where antisemitism is rampant, but emotionally, I get it.

They’re harnessing the sick and tired populace. Who want to throw a stick in the spokes.

Graham Platner… A prep school kid who doesn’t know what a Nazi symbol is?

Yeah, right.

But it no longer matters. That’s how much people want to get rid of the wishy-washy ultimately voting with Trump Susan Collins.

As far as running a usual suspect… Only the Democratic machine could think that this would work. People want anger, they want edges, they don’t want more of the same.

So will Democrats take power?

Well, the real story going forward is voter interference, taking people off the roles, throwing out ballots. But the funny thing is this time around, Trump is doing it all in public, out front. He does everything this way now. And people feel they have no way to counter him.

As far as believing in the Supreme Court… Not only do people no longer believe in politicians, they don’t believe in judges either. All those wannabes who refused to say Trump lost the election in 2020? That’s bizarroland.

And all the excuses. Originalism?  Yup, that’s what the general public wants to hear, let’s make our decisions by trying to look into the minds of two hundred and fifty year old people. Hell, why don’t we go back further, to Caesar, Aristotle… Why don’t we just text them!

In an era where Millennials and Gen-Z think their parents are out of touch, you want them to believe in this Ouija board process?

Gimme a break.

Yes, the government has lost the youngsters.

David Hogg injects a dose of reality into the DNC and he has to resign. His crime was planning to fund primary challenges against incumbent Democrats. But lo and behold, these challengers are winning anyway!

We keep hearing the Democratic party is a big tent. But not the DNC! You’ve got to pay dues, kiss ass, work your way up the system…. That’s how we got into this mess!

As for the Dems in Congress, they keep saying their hands are tied. Well, Trump’s hands are tied but he keeps acting with impunity. The Democrats are akin to Neville Chamberlain, just appease the threat, as long as it’s not right on your doorstep. Yup, the elected Democratic officials believe as long as they have their jobs and are getting paid, what’s the problem? Where’s Churchill when we need him!

A sports teams goes on a losing streak and they fire the coach. The Democrats want to run Biden for another term. A faux pas that is still costing them. At least Hillary has gone on record it was a mistake. Until the rest of the Democrats go on record and say this don’t expect the electorate to believe them, to go along with them.

Now the worst thing about Democratic socialists is the name. They should hire Frank Luntz, who changed the moniker of the estate tax to the death tax, to come up with a new designation. The bottom line is we already have socialism in America, it’s right in the name of Social Security!  This is not the USSR’s communism… Then again, these are the same bubble-dwellers who came up with the phrase “Defund the police.” No one wants this! They may want change, but everybody is in favor of law and order, especially those who live in poorer, more dangerous neighborhoods.

So what we’ve got is cable networks debating the meaning of these recent elections. The same ones who didn’t foresee these results. They specialize in creating noise, they’re rooting for the home team all the time and…

Most people don’t watch them.

And most people don’t read the paper.

And the younger generations are criticized for being online… Where do you expect them to get their information? If you think they’re going back to legacy outlets, you probably don’t have a TikTok account. Can these ancient bozos at least meet people where they are?

No, all we get is criticism, they know better.

Like I said, how could you know better if you’ve never been on social media? It’s like our parents opining about the Beatles, never mind Jimi Hendrix.

It’s more about feelings than facts. People feel they’ve been screwed over, they’re sick and tired and they don’t want to take it anymore, and the only ones promising change are these Democratic socialists, the electorate is willing to overlook so much just to get someone in power who they can relate to, who they think knows them and will speak for them.

So what happens going forward? Do these new Democratic socialists all win their seats or does the public think they’re too woke and they get decimated.

Or even if they get elected, will there be any change?

This is the story of today’s America. Nobody believes anybody else is thinking about them, caring about them. So they need to take matters into their own hands. What form it takes…

This time it’s a slate of Democratic socialists.

But this is not the last chapter of the story.

This illustrates why we play the game. We think we know the result, but we don’t know for real until it’s over, when we’re oftentimes surprised. The Knicks NBA champions? And do you see how the underdogs marshaled the power of not only New York City but so many other citizens of our country? They didn’t win with superstars, they just did the hard work and got some breaks.

But the Democrats proffer nobody like this. Everybody just says you’ve got to believe in the system, and we’re behind the 8-ball and there’s nothing we can do.

Want to be in touch with what’s coming down the pike?

Be on your phone MORE!

Get deep into social media. How come these ancient wankers think they know what is going on when they’re not even on the playing field. Would you expect to do well on the SAT if you skipped algebra? You’ve got to do your homework.

So what we’ve got is an establishment, both politicians and old school media, who have contempt for the public and think they know better.

When are they going to realize they’re out of touch and wrong?

Probably only when the younger generations with more compassion take over.

That’s what’s going to happen. Whether through elections or revolution.

It’s just a matter of when.

Unless, of course, Trump and his cronies rig the system to stay in power.

Be scared of that.

But Trump is not the only enemy. If we want change the old people must go. My generation has had its run.

NEXT!

There’s very little new information in this book, but that does not mean it’s not worth reading.

Unlike that new Stones book you see reviewed positively everywhere. The publisher asked me if I wanted a copy, I was intrigued from the very first page, but as I’m reading I’m wondering…HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT! Mick and Keith as late teenagers, on a train…

Then it occurs to me he got the information from previous writing, since the Glimmer Twins refused to talk to him.

WHO IS THIS GUY?

So I research and read he wrote a book about Led Zeppelin. How come I’ve never heard of it? Everybody knows “Hammer of the Gods,” people foam at the mouth for new Zeppelin material. But this author released his book to crickets and I’m supposed to read his compilation of previous Stones anecdotes?

Not me. Not for 700 pages, not while these guys are still alive and testifying.

Have you seen any of the Mick Jagger clips on TikTok? He’s promoting the new album and to pique our interest he’s testifying about all kinds of stuff we want to know more about. Like Nicky Hopkins. He finally reveals that Nicky composed and played the intro to “She’s a Rainbow,” talks about working with the piano player, his creative process, Mick says that prior to meeting Nicky he didn’t even know there was such a thing as an electric piano.

Now at this late date, there’s reams of writing on the Beatles, Dylan and the Stones. And there might be some people who’ve read all of it, but I haven’t. I’m not that much of a completist.

Which means there is info in this Dylan/Beatles book that I did not know. As for original material? There’s a short interview with Paul McCartney at the end, but this is a cut and paste job too. Almost an academic treatise. However, unlike the Stones book, there’s an underlying thesis, the ways in which Dylan and the Beatles interacted with each other and influenced each other.

And I’ll say the author makes his point, there were more points of connection than I thought. And he made me think…he posits that “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” was Dylan-influenced. He says that it was Dylan who got the boys to veer away from love songs and write about life.

And you’ll learn a bit about the Beatles. Most interesting was John’s peccadillos, especially with actress/singer Alma Cogan, who I’d never even heard of! He hated her, but when he became successful and met her… He was married and living with Cynthia, but he was stepping out.

And there’s an affair at a party, sex behind closed doors that initiates the Lost Weekend… That may be common knowledge, but I did not know it. This casts that period in a new light, for me anyway. Yoko was pissed about this dalliance! Then again, Lennon had a long history of making pronouncements and going against them vociferously just a few years later. Pledging fealty to Yoko, and then stepping out. Paying fealty to Jesus and then retracting it. And with it all laid out here, you can see how many potholes John hit in his solo career, makes you think he needed the other three. Also, the author gained credibility by saying the true solo debut, “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,” might have gotten good reviews, but it was a commercial stiff. Unlike “All Things Must Pass,” it was released after Thanksgiving, and never quite recovered from that late launch. People were overwhelmed with George’s work and Stephen Stills’s solo debut and the breakthrough of Elton John, a naked album sans single had a rough time in the marketplace.

As for George… In retrospect, he had the closest connection with Dylan. Stayed at his house in Bearsville, they were buddies, the groundwork for the Traveling Wilburys is laid out quite well here.

But really, you want to read this book to discover the derivation of so many of Dylan’s legendary songs. They may have been new to you, but they had history, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was based on the Chuck Berry song, “Too Much Monkey Business.” Dylan just didn’t come up with this stuff out of thin air.

And all these guys had egos. Which were easily bruised, they were competing, it was not kumbaya.

And they were definitely paying attention to each other. And then there’s  Dylan’s “Fourth Time Around,” a direct lift of “Norwegian Wood” as payback for John ripping him off, or so Bob thought.

And they’re all young renegades, pushing for success, but when they get it they become thinkers and they’re questioning their paths, contemplating where they’re going and what effect it will have.

So you will certainly be informed of the connections and influences, but still some of the details, which are cobbled together from other writings, detailed in the notes at the back of the book, are fascinating. Dylan making his way to the Beatles’ hotel, dealing with the throngs.

And the 1966 tour…the Beatles didn’t go clean. Once again, the myth is that the Beatles did boffo at the b.o. until they retired from the stage, this was not true. There were ups and downs, but they soldiered on in the studio.

And Paul McCartney sends Dylan a note about an episode of his XM “Theme Time Radio” show…

These guys were paying attention to each other. And even Paul is anxious about leaning on Bob, knowing him, but how well exactly?

There are all these little scenes, that have obviously been portrayed previously, but I didn’t know the details. About Bob recovering from the motorcycle accident at a doctor friend’s house…

And the more time goes by, the more mortal these guys appear. Dylan wonders if his hold on the hit parade is over. Jeff Lynne modernizes George’s sound for the eighties.

So, once again, this book is really not breaking new ground except in the delineation of the author’s concept. Showing how the two acts crossed paths and influenced each other.

But I did not know that Bob Dylan joined a public tour group to go to John Lennon’s house. There are all these little tidbits that if you’re a Dylanologist, a reader of the Lewisohn books, you might know, but if you haven’t made that deep a dive, you’ll learn things.

It’s easy to die young and become and stay a legend. But how do you continue to live, in the public eye all the time, knowing that the odds of equaling your commercial peak are probably behind you? That is addressed too.

So if you have an interest in this topic, the comparing and contrasting of these two acts, you’ll like this book. Then again, there’s more reportage of chance meetings than pure analysis, then again, maybe i’s’ better that way, you can draw your own inferences and conclusions.

It’s not a hard read and you can put it down and pick it back up, but what makes it fun is that you know all these songs, they play in your head as you read…

And therefore the experience is fulfilling.

We got a new cornhole set. The last one was left in Monica’s backyard and the boards got warped and…

It was time for a new one, we got the itch after throwing the bags at Blake’s wedding.

Cornhole… That’s the name, kinda funny, don’t you think? Especially after Cornholio on “Beavis and Butt-head.” Let’s just say when I hear the name a sexual connotation comes to mind, but I think they originally filled the bags with corn… I should probably go to Wikipedia…

So we first played in Vail. And then Felice surprised me by buying a set. Kind of funny to be able to play on a whim, right at home. Kinda like having a built-in swimming pool, then again, those are no longer rare, like in the sixties, but…

You see cornhole boards in the strangest places. But frequently at bars. Cornhole and alcohol mix well.

So, let’s be clear, there are rules. Very easy, but so many people don’t know them. Bottom line, your points cancel out their points. So if you both get it through the hole, there are no points assigned to either of you. A hole is worth three points, getting it on the board is only one.

So, Felice purchased a new set and when it arrived…

I didn’t want to disappoint her, I didn’t want to be a naysayer after she made the effort, but this set was not regulation size, it was not 2′ by 4′, but about one-third smaller. And if we’re going to play…

So Amazon picked that one up, and Felice ordered a new set, a GoSports Tournament Edition. And the box was HEAVY!

It came on Saturday and I’ve been running ever since, but I promised Felice I’d break it out tonight. However, just now I was looking out the window from my office and I saw Felice in the backyard, getting some rays I believed, but no, she was setting up the boards!

So then I went down, ready to play.

Now you may have no idea what I’m talking about. But the bottom line is there are two angular boards, twenty seven feet apart, with a hole towards the top.

Now I’ve got to tell you, throwing it directly through the hole is akin to the crack of the bat, the satisfaction when you meet the pitch with a solid hit.

But that ain’t so easy to do.

For us anyway.

But if you go on YouTube…

They’re not even playing the same game! The way they throw the bag, kinda like a frisbee, they twirl it and…they get it in the hole regularly. It becomes a game of strategy, can you knock your opponent’s bag off the board, can you block the hole so they can’t slide it in?

Yes, throwing it straight through the hole is a thrill, but really, it’s about sliding the bag towards the hole.

But unlike our previous set, this is a PROFESSIONAL set. Which means the wood is shiny, and more slippery and…

I’m reading the instructions and it says the bags have two sides, shiny and smooth and woven and rough.

Now to be honest, neither of us can throw so we’re sure which side lands first, but you think about it, and…

It was damn hard to keep the bags on the board!

But it got even worse, you could throw a bag, have it land and stay on the board, and then slowly it would slide off. I was convinced that this was the effect of the shiny side, but then Felice figured out it was the rough side that slid, which was counterintuitive. So, you can have a point, and the bag can slide right off and you’re left with nothing. You can still get a point if a bag is only partially on the board, but it has to be supported by the board, not the ground.

So you play like ping-pong, you’ve got to win by two. Then again, it can be tied and one 3-bagger can end the game. Which just happened with us.

God, we were rusty. At times we weren’t even hitting the board. But then we got a bit in the groove. Felice was ahead six zip, but then I slowly came back, until it was six six, and then I got ahead seven six. Ultimately we evened it up at eight eight, but then Felice threw one right through the hole and beat me, eleven eight.

I can handle it.

But you’d be surprised how competitive people get. Doesn’t take long before they want to win, before they start berating themselves for bad shots.

So we only played one game, after all, it took a while, we weren’t getting many points, and every time we did, it seemed the other person canceled them out. But then we stopped, got to work our bodies into condition. You twist and use muscles and you don’t want to overdo it.

Now in truth I need to go back to YouTube and study up, get some tips. I don’t want to take it too seriously, I’m never going to go pro, but I could improve…

And now we’ve got our summer entertainment!