Only it doesn’t.

Steve Jobs died and we’ve been living in the dark ages ever since.

Never underestimate the power of an individual. He or she can move mountains, or destroy them, just ask Trump. Geniuses have vision. They deliver what we didn’t even know we wanted. And the rest of the purveyors…

Never got the memo.

I’m frustrated.

We arrived at the Colorado condo and they’d installed Wally. Who the hell is that, Beaver’s brother, damned if I know. Turns out it’s a Dish product. How does it work, with a dish, via the internet, cable?

And it does work, assuming you figure out how to turn on your damn TV, that you now do it with the Wally remote, which has so many buttons it’s almost a joke.

That’s what Steve Jobs got rid of, the buttons. Simultaneously providing service along the way, with AppleCare and the Genius Bar.

But you hate Apple, unless you love it. Welcome to the polarized United States. Where forty percent of the country think the Donald is doing a good job and the rest are going WTF?

So Apple was a company of breakthroughs. Hold your horses, you naysayers, yes, some were invented elsewhere, but Jobs knew how to synthesize them to get them right.

And the man is denigrated for pursuing excellence, insisting on it.

Unlike the bozos here at the Lodge At Vail. FOR TWO YEARS we’ve told them their internet is inadequate. They just don’t believe it. But my phone just did not get reception in the bedroom, unlike with Verizon LTE. Oh, you’re STILL not on Verizon? And you call yourself a BUSINESSPERSON??

This is like Trump, this is like Jobs, you’re convinced your cell service provider is the best. Hell, John Legere even lied direct to my face, well, via the internet, that T-Mobile’s coverage is as good. ONLY IT ISN’T! And Diarmuid was driving to a bike race in Arizona when his van broke down, in the middle of nowhere. His AT&T iPhone did not work. But his son’s friend’s Verizon phone? BINGO!

And now steam is coming out of your ears.

You see there is truth. There are facts. Even though everybody in the game lies. Trump, the liar in chief. And corporations that slice the data so they appear winners. You can discover the truth, if you care, but most people don’t want to put that much effort in, they want to live their lives, understandably, which is why we’re back to the Steve Jobs usability paradigm.

It should just work. Out of the box. Without a manual. It should be INTUITIVE! How hard IS THIS?

Unless you’re Snapchat, which made its bones on being difficult to use, and when they made it easier, its users complained, they didn’t want mom and dad on the service. And mom and dad are about the only ones left watching television in real time. That’s the story of today, after politics, how the cable bundle is getting frayed, how kids are not subscribing. Who needs a triple play when you’ve got a cellphone?

Anyway, I’m sitting with a handful of remotes trying to make the TV work.

Oh, there’s a universal one… NO!!!

They should ban universal remotes, because they just don’t work. You’re better off mastering the plethora of remotes that come with your devices, because at least they are paired to them. And the universal remote is always leaving out something you need and…

I ultimately discover Wally has On Demand.

And I find “The Americans,” we need to finish the series up, watch Season 6, which I can’t on the Time Warner/Spectrum service I pay $200 for at home, they’ve only got four of ten episodes, huh??

And last night we had success.

Tonight, we had endless buffering.

Where’s the problem?

Damned if I know.

Is it Dish, is it the hotel Wi-Fi?

The show was unwatchable, so I decided to tinker. I’ll make a long story short, you can’t use On Demand without an internet connection. But I couldn’t enter the password for the Lodge Wi-Fi. Furthermore, I think there might be a specific internet connection just for Wally.

So we can’t watch our show.

But I’m overwhelmed with the incompetence surrounding me.

First, the Dish idiots. Do they even use their product? Have them install one for their grandma and get back to me. She’ll disinherit her progeny. FEWER BUTTONS! UNDERSTANDABLE MENUS! It should be easy, like taking candy, from a baby!

Needless to say, we can’t watch our show.

And there’s no one to call. Just dingbats unaware of what’s going on.

At least with Apple you get someone who speaks English, who lives in the United States, if I’m paying for AppleCare, I deserve that.

Furthermore, there should be a NO IDIOT button. If I’m bothering to call you, I know how to plug my computer in, I know how to reset my PRAM, can’t I just be directly connected to a supervisor? A genius’s genius?

But you can’t say anything negative about Tim Cook, then you’re a hater.

Kind of like America at large. I was born here. I’m a patriot. I just want our country to be BETTER!

And the way it’s going to be better is to pave the way for geniuses.

I’m not talking about those preying off the financial system, putting Toys-R-Us out of business. Do you know how this works? Hedge funds buy corporations, load them up with debt, and maybe they survive. If they do, the fund and its holders get rich. If it doesn’t, the corporation craps out, goes bankrupt.

That should be the rule of payment…ARE YOU ADDING ANYTHING??

Unlike the corporations who brought money back from overseas and just gave dividends to their shareholders.

Geniuses are not likable. They’ve got no patience for the rank and file. They don’t want to explain it, they don’t want to be held back. They just want to deliver.

Jim Morrison dies, and there are no more Doors, not any ones you want to listen to. Because he was the secret glue, the genius in residence.

Is there a new Prince? OF COURSE NOT! We’ve been waiting half a century for a NEW BEATLES!

And it certainly wasn’t Bruce Springsteen. You know you’re in trouble when workingmen are being lauded. He gave great shows, serviceable music, but where is the TRANSCENDENCE? There’s more genius in “She Loves You” than any Springsteen track.

And Dylan. How did he write “Highway 61”? And he retired to Woodstock for years because he was sick of a public that could not understand him.

So, Steve Jobs said to keep it simple, to make it easy. Which is one of the reasons Amazon triumphs, but not in video. Ever try to use their service? First and foremost it’s SLOW! How can that be, when they’re making most of their money on Amazon Web Services? That’s why they’re a failure in the sphere, not because they lack a hit.

So Steve Jobs made the Graphical User Interface, i.e. GUI, standard. All those PC users said their PCs were better, but in ’95, they all imitated the Mac.

And Jobs got music players so right, HE OWNED THE SPHERE!

Kinda like Netflix, I never have a buffering problem, but I do on Amazon!

And I know you speak my language.

And sure, you no longer need to know how your computer works, they’re relatively idiot-proof. And your car too. But it was a long journey to the destination.

Meanwhile, people think Android is better because it’s more customizable. Don’t you get it? Most people don’t want to customize their products, they just want them to work!

And now I’ve pissed off everybody. But I’m sick of a world that just doesn’t work. When so easily it could.

It’s gonna be 107 in L.A. when I get back, but there’s no global warming!

You can’t have a fire, never mind fireworks, in Vail because they had a piss-poor snow year.

And you either agree with me or you don’t.

And the truth is we laud money as opposed to culture. We don’t want solutions, we just want capitalism.

Some people change the world, make it a better place to live in.

But they’ve got to be smart and altruistic.

Remind you of anyone in D.C?

Meanwhile, Jack Welch was considered the best businessman of all time when the truth is he cooked the books at GE. He just kept selling financial assets to make the quarterly numbers continue to go up.

Until it all crashed.

America is crashing.

And it’s complicated, which is why the bozo in the White House is failing. We need experts.

And don’t go all Ayn Rand on me, don’t give me the “Atlas Shrugged” B.S.

Point is, Steve Jobs was a man of the liberal arts.. He was willing to work for a single dollar because he believed in himself.

We need more leaders!

Meanwhile, watch the parking meters.

He’s got the top 23 tracks in the U.S. on Spotify.

Globally he’s got the top 17 of 18, only the deceased XXXTENTACION sneaks in and breaks up the hegemony.

The future is here. We’ve heard endlessly about the long tail, but the concomitant reaction is DOMINATION! In a world of unrelenting choice, the big get bigger, they dominate.

Don’t get your knickers in a twist. The “Scorpion” tracks will fade soon enough. That’s another futuristic result. With everything available for streaming, with spoon-feeding by radio out of step, people consume and move on. As for labels concerned that one act dominates the chart, trying to institute mathematical barriers to disallow this, FUGGETABOUTIT! This is what the people are listening to, acknowledge it. Ed Sheeran really is that dominant, he’s the only act consistently selling out big shows in the U.K. right now. Taylor Swift papers, Sheeran sells. Why you want to keep him off the charts?

Actually, he’s off the charts now. People are going to see him because they haven’t forgotten, they want some of that action live.

Now if you’ve got no name recognition, everything happens slowly, unless you’re a rapper tied into a household name. It could take a year for your track to break through. But if you’re a star? You’re here and you’re GONE! This is the new normal. The big acts get bigger and seemingly everybody else is ignored. That’s right, you can play, but you cannot get attention. And you can bitch all you want about it, but you can’t beat the system. And now that Spotify allows everybody to see the statistics, see what is truly going on, in an unmodified, unmanipulated chart, can you hear me Soundscan, can you hear me Grammys, we know what people are truly listening to, and that’s a good thing! Streaming has eliminated obfuscation, we want to know what’s really happening. You can paper, like Ms. Swift, lying about how many tickets you’ve sold, or you can go to Spotify to see what’s really happening.

Not Jay Z and Beyonce, they’re not in the Top 50. That’s right, publicity never meant less. The Carters are darlings of the press, they’ve been around long enough for the alta kachers at newspapers to be clued-in, but they’re not. Because the public doesn’t want them. Are they too old? Are their tracks not hits? Furthermore, they don’t go clean. Then again, they have high ticket prices.

Now as other genres grow, they will populate the Top 50. But for now it’s mostly hip-hop, a little electronic and a smidge of pop. Hip-hop rules streaming like the NBA runs on Twitter. The NFL is bludgeoning the players, telling them how to live, and the NBA lets the players rule. As a result the footballers are mostly faceless and the hoopsters have identities. Think about that. That’s good management. And hell, the 76ers GM lost his gig because of his wife’s tweets. The NBA is positively living in the present. Live in the past at your peril.

As for electronic…it’s a scene that never dies. As for pop, it’s on life support, because it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Now pop is hip-hop with a bit of melody, which the public rejects. Hip-hop is built on credibility, identity, listeners bond to you. Pop is always about the song first, without a hit, you’re dead in the water.

And if you’re a rocker… Your fans are old and railing at the system and the sound is derivative instead of innovative.

So music is just like the rest of the world, the land of haves and have-nots. Get used to it.

And the modern release paradigm is no advance publicity…then again, Drake’s minions all got the word online. That’s the power of technology. If your fans are not spreading the word about you online, you’re going nowhere. Harness the technology.

And isn’t it funny that a mixed-race Jewish rapper from Toronto is the world’s biggest star. This is anti-Trumpism at its core. Close the borders at your peril. We live in an homogenized, global world. You cannot go backward, if you do beware of falling behind. Toronto has the most ethnicities of any city in the world. This melting pot delivers artist after artist, always innovative, supported by the government. Think about that. Our greatest export in America used to be our culture. But by closing our borders we will fall behind. As for tech, with visa problems Indians are now staying home. Don’t believe me if you want, just read, there are facts in this world. And you’re worried about immigrants taking your job… We need these immigrants to create, and to do the manual labor we won’t. Rail against the death of your system, your economy, your middle class status, but point to the real culprits, not the false ones. Lower taxes on corporations and everybody wins… NO! And I’m only getting political to show you that not only does the rest of the world not agree with us, but neither does our rank and file, our young people, who listen to Drake to the exclusion of so many. We gonna put a tax on him?

So expect it to come in waves. Forget sales, that’s irrelevant, focus on listening. We’re gonna have new domination every month or so. Some will come out of nowhere, others will be established players. And if an established player doesn’t deliver, they’ve got the stink upon them. And if this happens to you, get right back in the game, people forget a failure, they’re only looking for the hit. Cancel your tour and create. Or create on the road. Your fans cannot get enough new stuff, which you can load on streaming services immediately. And just maybe, one of your cuts will be picked up by the masses and you’ll have a juggernaut.

And just maybe you’ll take an advance from Spotify, go without a major label, making in excess of 50% on every stream.

But that’s another e-mail.

Caliphate

I was killing time waiting for lunch.

I needed cash, so I went into the bank, which has been turned into an investment center, with armchairs and couches, so I decided to sit down and read the newspaper.

Now if you’re reading the “New York Times,” you know they’ve got this new feature, where they ask their writers about their jobs, and the tech they’re using. And speaking of the “New York Times,” you should read the weekly Q&A with their former employee, Frank Rich, who was excoriated as a theatre critic but has incredible insight. This week he took the “Times” to task for ignoring the local story until it happened, i.e. 28 year old Alexandria Ocasio Cortez beating 56 year old established player Joseph Crowley in the local Democratic primary, and focusing on Trump voters and missing the future. Ain’t that the “Times,” when it gets it wrong it self-flagellates. The Trump win was two years ago, what about now? So read Rich here:

Rot on the Right, Green Shoots on the Left

Anyway, the writer they were profiling in the “Times” on Thursday was Steve Lohr, who instantly gained cred with me for reading on a Kindle, but he also listens to the podcast “Caliphate,” he said to “do yourself a favor” and check it out.

So I did.

Now most projects don’t hook me. That’s Netflix’s criterion re renewal, not how many people watch a program, but whether they stick with it! Many podcasts are amateurish. If you’ve got my attention, speak, be dynamic, or I’ll tune out. And to be honest, I was half-listening to “Caliphate” until Rukmini said she made contact with ISIS via Instagram and LinkedIn.

You don’t want to be left behind. You’ve got to forget about satiating those in the rearview mirror and focus on those in the headlights. Then again, the carmakers finally got the message, including Bluetooth and getting rid of CD players, even though the music industry is still manufacturing discs. But even more this reminded me of Netflix, which is pushing the envelope while film studios still haven’t gone to day and date.

And that’s Rukmini Callimachi. She’s the ISIS reporter for the “Times.” Of Romanian heritage, she went to Dartmouth, then Asia and she ended up here. She’s middle class, she makes that point, in a world wherein everybody wants to be rich. But…

She likes to pick up the trash.

You’ve got to be on the ground, otherwise you don’t really know what’s going on. All the bloviators on cable news, they’re familiar with the studio, they do no reporting. But Rukmini follows the artillery and scours the landscape for what’s been left behind after ISIS retreats. She picks up hard drives, lists, and she rationalizes it by saying how much you learn, that if someone came to her apartment they’d see her Bank of America statement, see she likes rice milk, would get a pretty good idea of who she is, which she labels middle class.

And then she makes contact with that ISIS member online, he agrees to meet, she flies to Canada, where he’s working a day gig, and…

As if that’s not horrifying enough.

She’s waiting for him and she tells a story.

About fear. About the FBI coming to her office.

They told her her life was in danger.

That’s right, ISIS knows who she is. They badmouth her online, fat-shame her, impersonate her. And one night at ten o’clock there’s a buzz at the door. A persistent one. Her husband is at work. She turns off the light and…

Worries that this is it.

And the FBI said to dial 911 if she was in trouble, immediately, she was on a list. So she does, and it’s not like the lady who picks up is in-the-know, on guard, but she says she’ll send the police to the door and…

I’ll let you listen to find out what happens.

In any event, Rukmini says ISIS wins. Because we’re afraid, of what might happen.

And Rukmini could get killed. I don’t want to get killed. Hell, this does not only happen in the Middle East, go deep into the rap world and…

The government won’t protect you or can’t protect you.

And I’m wondering why Rukmini does this.

And that’s when it dawns on me, it’s the cause.

We all need a cause.

Our country’s values are so screwed up that we think a cause is getting rich. Now I don’t think you should aspire to starve, but is that gig really gonna fulfill you? As humans we need to be fulfilled. Which is why lottery winners lead a lousy life, if they even survive. Whereas Rukmini doesn’t have time to think about the little things, she’s caught up in the big things.

Think about this.

I certainly am.

And check out “Caliphate.” The production is not stellar, but the story is. And Rukmini is too. She’s not holier-than-thou, like not only our entertainers, but our CEOs, if you’re rich you think you earned it, you deserved it, that you’re better than the rest. And everybody else is so interested in getting wealthy that they pay fealty. But back before Reagan legitimized greed, when CEOs earned a salary closer to that of the rank and file, your life was about adventure and fulfillment, not your bank account.

But you get to be who you want to be. If you don’t like what I have to say, go your own way.

But I’m telling you, listening to Rukmini on “Caliphate” was INSPIRING!

P.S. You can skip the “Prologue” and dive right into “Chapter One: The Reporter,” it doesn’t start strong, but then wow! Give it the twenty four minutes and then decide. I’m in.

Spotify (23,755,910 streams)
YouTube (18,933,707 views)

Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty cool to be on TV
So all the folks back home can see me

Podcast or music?

I was hiking in the mountains listening to my library, all the tracks I ripped and stole at the turn of the century. Funny how our collections are becoming superseded. But every once in a while I want to listen to the oldies to be comforted, to be wrapped up in a warm blanket, especially when they’re on shuffle, when I don’t know what will come next.

And then came the above issue, podcast or music?

Podcasts deliver, music rarely does.

Funny music scene we live in, insiders will pooh-pooh your taste, tell you how good today’s music is and what an idiot you are, but it’s hard to find an entry point, there’s just so much stuff.

Whereas you discover a podcast you like and you can go deep. Kinda like being a fan of a musical artist in the old days.

But there’s nothing like that hit of adrenaline when you discover new music. I remember hearing those Justin Bieber cuts on that Spotify playlist two years back… Now you’re mocking my taste, but you’re wrong, those tracks are GENIUS!

Which proves the point it’s almost worthless to write about music anymore. Everybody’s deep into their own niche. But listening to the country station on Sirius I was reminded that country has melody and tells stories, so I decided to pull up Spotify’s Hot Country playlist. And it depressed me. Everybody’s playing within a narrow stricture. It’s retread pabulum. As Tom Petty said, it’s the rock music of the seventies, only in this case with a twang.

And then I heard “Famous.”

Yes, you read the above lyrics. All about having the spotlight upon you.

And that I’m livin’ it out
All the things I used to dream about
Yeah, it’s pretty great, singin’ on a stage
Proud ’cause there ain’t an empty seat in the place

I get it. The music is melodic, but the lyric is too self-satisfied, until…

If I’m gonna be famous for somethin’
I wanna be famous for lovin’ you

THERE’S A TWIST! The bit about TV and live shows is just a setup, for the punch line, which resonates. This is the country of yore, a cut that would make Tom Petty chuckle.

Yeah, I hope the first question people ask me
Is ‘How’s your girl and how’s your family’
I could go on and on and on
Talkin’ ’bout you for days

You can just picture it!

You can bet when I hear ‘Congratulations’
Want it to be because we made it
Another five years
Best thing I got is right here

And I’m thinking how this is a great song. A cut above. But why is this twangy girl getting to sing it? I’m thinking if someone else sang it, with less of a country inflection, it would be a monster.

And then I’m further confused, all this talk about being in love with a girl, is this an out lesbian track? If so, great!

But then I pull out my phone and look at the pic.

IT’S A LITTLE BOY!

Now funny how the biz is in the backwater. The standard on the phone is vertical, not horizontal, that’s what you should make your artwork for, no one is listening to Spotify and turning their handset sideways. Which means the artwork is cut off. Then again, it’s great to see the artwork the size of the phone and then…

I can’t stop playing the song. You can sing it. The message resonates. The opposite of so much popular music, which is I’m a star, adore me, I’m better than you. The truth is most life moments are private, and this song captures that, love supersedes any fame.

And today I researched and found out this was the Coachella yodeling boy. Funny how the hype didn’t reach me, I’m hyped all day, but the song…

It’s always about the song.

That’s how the Beatles hit.

Aretha failed on Columbia, but when she went to Atlantic and was matched with hit material…

And my new buddy Sarah Buxton, of “Stupid Girl” (“Stupid Boy” by Keith Urban) fame is a cowriter. And Keith Urban’s song on this playlist, “Parallel Line,” is crap, because ever since he failed by going his own way he’s been playing by the rules, and that’s not interesting.

“Famous” is.

And I don’t know why I’m writing about it. My inbox will be full of the words of self-satisfied rockers in black hurling daggers, and the hip-hoppers will say it’s junk and I’ll say…

We’re all just people on the planet.

Your hip tattoo, your outsider statement, ain’t gonna look so good when you’re sixty.

And you might be smoking as rebellion today, but when you’re old you’ll be dying to live, regretting your choice.

That’s right, there’s nothing more laughable than an oldster trying to look hip.

None of us are hip. All of us are human.

All of us care about relationships and love first and foremost.

As for Mason Ramsey being eleven, maybe that’s better than the barely teenagers acting adult trying to have a hit. The truth is he’s doing Taylor Swift’s act. Sincerity. Innocence. From the perspective of someone acting their age. I think Mason is old enough to have a girlfriend, I had my first at eleven.

I’m a sucker for truth and justice, that’s the American Way.

So I’m writing this so everybody involved will know they’re on the right path, so they won’t give up, MORE OF THIS PLEASE!