In the era of cacophony.

It was not supposed to be this way. The internet was supposed to level the playing field. The future was to be a vast meritocracy. But we did not realize the internet would allow everyone to have a voice, and with this megaphone hypesters yelled for attention, so we gravitated to trusted sources, and those sources are manipulated by publicists.

I’m not saying you cannot get a foothold alone, using social media tools, I’m just saying the odds of breaking through big are de minimis unless you’re part of the system. Ignore the stories of the lone upstart breaking through, instead focus on the products promoted by the goliaths, the movie studios, major record labels, HBO and Netflix.

Used to be only a few could play. Now that everybody can play, there’s a new tier of success that sits above the broader landscape. Forget those who are already famous, look at those on the way up. When you hear about a new band, a new financier, a new star, the truth is media was not on the hunt for them, but they were promoted by the usual suspects, the PR infrastructure.

Not that good products must not be at the core of the endeavor. For once people pay attention, they want to be satiated, but how do you get yourself in front of everybody’s eyeballs?

Forget spamming. People ignore it. That’s right, e-mail every famous person you can find the address of, tweet them, but the gatekeepers, and believe me they still exist, will ignore you. You need relationships. And you need money, someone to invest in you and push the button.

And you especially need these tools if you want to graduate from the low ranks to the rarefied air. Just like graduating from the lower class to the upper class in an era where the middle class has been decimated, the journey is nearly impossible without help. Help is usually a college degree from a top university and working the relationships. Same in entertainment. You’ve got to pay your dues when no one is looking and then attach yourself to the equivalent of a mentor at P&G or Amazon.

Furthermore, we ignore those without portfolio. You believe you can make it without doing the work, without paying your dues. Which is why most teen phenoms expire, there’s no there there. And the fact that some enterprises boost these no-talents does not undercut the fact that those who last have something at their core.

So we’re ruled by publicity.

Sometimes you can buy it. That’s what Facebook ads are all about. Talk to a concert promoter, they buy them all the time. With data telling them exactly who to target and how frequently.

But that’s after the talent has been made a star.

It’s not about untold appearances, it’s not about carpet-bombing outlets so that every consumer will be touched. Rather it’s about a few placements that influencers take notice of and spread the word on.

Forget being on a late night talk show. But never underestimate the power of an appearance on SNL. Not because anybody will see you, but because everybody will read you were on! And that’s a hard gig to get, the hardest on television, so you must be worth paying attention to.

And a feature in the “Times” or the WaPo, you can decry these outlets as left wing echo chambers but the truth is all influencers pay attention to them. If something is anointed, they know it’s for real, that there’s money behind it, that it’s worth paying attention to. No one wants to invest in an amateur product. It’s like the stock market, it’s like IPOs, it’s like Wall Street. You see who else is involved. Sequoia? I’m in! Because too many ventures run out of cash, are undercapitalized, have good vision but don’t make it.

You want to make it.

And you can’t without the push of publicity. Which is paid for by the gatekeeper known as the major. Having money is not enough, you can hire your own PR person and gain no headway. Once again, outlets deal with the majors every damn day, there are relationships.

PR used to be a backwater. Now it’s the essence of success.

No one makes it alone. Even if they tell you they did. That’s another thing to be wary of, when you read these stories and someone says “it just happened,” ignore that. The truth is success is hard and people are striving for it all day long and they don’t want to appear the workaholic networker they truly are so they soft-pedal it.

You can read the stories, can follow them like sports, or you can make them.

But if you want to make them, you need powerful publicity people. Now, more than ever. If you truly want to be a star.

What kind of crazy fucked-up world do we live in where the only artist of stature standing up to President Trump is an ethnic college graduate who made his bones on Broadway?

One in which the “Hamilton” cast album is the 13th most consumed album of the first half of 2017, and #13 in sales too!

That’s right, “Hamilton” eclipses Harry Styles’s solo debut and Rihanna’s “Anti” and DJ Khaled’s “Grateful” and Khalid’s “American Teen” and Chris Stapleton’s “From A Room; Volume 1,” but it’s almost like it doesn’t exist in the musical discussion. And this is fascinating in a world where “Despacito” came from left field and triumphed. That’s right, the music press and radio are out of touch. “Hamilton” had 472,606,041 audio streams in the first half of the year, eclipsing those of numerous “stars,” but you can’t hear the songs on the radio…

But you will hear them in bedrooms.

“Hair” was a Broadway success in the sixties and cover versions dominated the Top Forty. But that paradigm isn’t happening today, despite Atlantic’s best efforts, because everybody in radio is too cool for school, but the public understands.

“Hamilton” is a phenomenon. I’ve heard more talk about it than any act. And it’s been going on in excess of two years. The artist development story of the past few years is “Hamilton,” not some boy band or rapper.

But “Hamilton” is rap. But since it’s on Broadway the educated whites against Trump who normally pooh-pooh the urban sound can embrace it. And you would too, if you just saw the show.

But you can’t get a ticket.

Katy Perry doesn’t sell out, U2 tickets are far below face value on StubHub, but good luck getting a “Hamilton” ticket at a discount, it doesn’t exist!

So Lin-Manuel Miranda has Puerto Rican roots. And he’s no pussy, he tweeted that Trump Is “going straight to hell,” quite amazing when scores of country music fans are shot in Vegas and the Nashville denizens are all hiding under the couch, silent.

But Lin-Manuel Miranda is educated, unlike most of today’s chart-toppers. He can actually think and analyze issues, and knows he who refuses to stand up for what is right is trampled in the witch-hunt to follow. That’s right, it’s only a matter of time before they come for you.

And Miranda got instant press. That’s the power of a musician. They stand up and people take notice, but most are silent, concerned first and foremost about their pocketbook, unaware that when you lay down your personal truth people can relate most to you. That’s what’s wrong with most of today’s music, it’s spectacle, it’s hollow, it’s the equivalent of junk food.

And here’s where you protest, say that description doesn’t fit you!

But Miranda knows the first rule of music, if you want an audience your music must be palatable. You’re whining in your bad voice sans catchy chorus and you expect people to pay attention? NO WAY!

Now the amazing thing about the technology revolution is you can write and record and distribute nearly instantly, but we haven’t had an instant protest record since Neil Young’s “Ohio” back in the spring of 1970. That’s art, not calculating what will be successful on the chart, but reacting, bouncing off input and laying down your thoughts, creating art without thinking about it. That’s what separates music from movies, the latter are contemplated, the former, when done right, is INSTANT! UNFILTERED!

Now “Almost Like Praying” is catchy and close. It’s not quite “Despacito,” but more people would like this than most of the stuff that dominates the Spotify chart, the only one that matters. Apple’s behind a paywall and YouTube is for kids and fading while we’re at it, ignore “Billboard,” go straight to Spotify, it illustrates what people are really listening to. And will they listen to “Almost Like Praying”?

I don’t know.

But it almost doesn’t matter. A major star, one of the biggest if not THE biggest, believe me, “Hamilton” outgrosses every act on the road with multiple companies working six nights a week, takes a risk but the rest of the industry is too scared to stand up?

Make me puke.

But I’m thrilled Miranda took a stand, he’s a beacon, word passes, that’s how it works, someone leads the way and the rest follow. Kind of like Fallon was anointed king and was unbeatable until Colbert switched up the formula, took a stand, ignored the haters and spoke the truth.

That’s the eternal elixir. What we’re drawn to.

Hell, watch the clip on YouTube, which I just denigrated as a music service but is good for video, “Almost Like Praying” is #3 On Trending, deservedly so, I dare you to watch it without having your heart pitter-patter, without getting excited. You think we have no options. Wrong! Artists can lead the way. Lin-Manuel Miranda just did!

(Note: statistics courtesy of BuzzAngle, view them here:

Mid Year 2017 U.S. Music Industry Report)

It’s far better than Pandora, and most people don’t even know it exists!

And the point of this article is machines are better than humans, for all of Apple’s human curation I far prefer Spotify’s algorithms, as for Pandora, the tuneouts are excruciating, why in hell do they think I like x if I like y? Furthermore, Pandora is limited in scope, not every track is included, so you can’t build a station on an obscure act, never mind an obscure song.

That’s right, you can build a station on Spotify with a song. And what is played…

Will warm your heart.

New music discovery is complicated, especially if you’re already old. The truth is you’d rather hear what’s familiar than what’s unknown, unless it’s an instant get, which it rarely is, but I did hear a pretty good David Crosby cut from his last album on Spotify radio, as a matter of fact, it’s playing right now, it’s called “Sell Me A Diamond,” I’m not sure it bears twenty repeats, but it sounds like Crosby, and it’s not dated, it’s new, at least it’s new to me!

But it’s the old cuts that are revelatory. I just heard Jimmy Buffett’s “Son Of A Son Of A Sailor,” which is not his best cut, that’s “A Pirate Looks At Forty,” but it followed up his breakthrough “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes,” with “Margaritaville,” but my Tallahassee lassie turned me on to Jimmy and “Son Of A Son Of A Sailor” was the first album I bought and I immediately became enraptured with the title cut, the opening cut on side one, and there’s this one part that closes me:

Haul the sheet in as we ride on the wind that our
Forefathers harnessed before us
Hear the bells ring as the tight rigging sings
It’s a son of a gun of a chorus

And on the subsequent live album, 1978’s “You Had To Be There,” which also opens with this same song, Jimmy references his broken leg and it’s these strayings from the norm that stay in your head.

And I’ve got a bit of sailing under my belt, nothing like Jimmy’s, I’ve never even been overnight, but what I love about being out on the ocean is you’re out of cell range. Last night I went to see Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings and while they were playing their acoustic music it reminded me of the seventies, when this was the only place you could get this experience, live in concert, when the whole world wasn’t networked, when you never really miss anything, since it’s on YouTube, when you’re never really lonely since you can connect with your friends instantly on your mobile device, and I don’t want to give up the future but something is always lost in advancement, in this case that solitary existence away from the fray, when it was just you and the experience, undocumented, you bask in it and I miss it.

And last night on Spotify radio I heard Traffic’s “Rainmaker,” which brought me back to when I bought the album, when Traffic was cruising the hit parade.

And I heard my favorite Lyle Lovett song “Bears,” and this is how you do it:

Fire up the Spotify app on your mobile.

Click the “Radio” button on the bottom, it’s the second from the right.

And when you do this you’ll find “Your Daily Mix” and previous stations and “Recommended Stations,” but skip all those. Click on that + icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen/app, and in the search box that comes up type in a band or a song and when the results come up click on the + button to the right of one and voila, you’ve built a station, which then starts to play, and what’s marvelous, if you’re a Premium customer you can skip as much as you want, even go back, and there’s a list of what’s going to be played next but I try not to look at that so I can be surprised.

Don’t you get it, he wanted to be a rock star!

They suck up to the high school football star, all the untouchable cheerleaders, you tread the halls feeling like a nobody, scoring well in math and science, absolutely invisible on the social scene.

Then you go to college. You smoke a little dope, you drink a bit of alcohol, maybe you even get laid, not that you reveal your insecurities to anyone, college is all about image, you want to look like a big swinging dick, even if you’re not.

And then you find someone who loves you, who cares for you, and you get married, while you play your role at the corporation, while you’re a cog in the system.

Or, you’ve got bigger dreams, you want to triumph. You gain money, and power…

And then you want to get laid. You want all the perks you missed out on for decades.

I’m not talking about serial abusers. They exist. According to statistics they commit the lion’s share of rapes. They need to be dealt with. But they’re a different species.

No, I’m talking about nerds. Who flew straight forever and then wanted the payoff.

And the thing is if you’re a rock star, the women throw themselves at you. Not necessarily the ones you want, but the parade is endless. That’s not exactly why musicians enter the field, but they’re socially awkward, certainly the greats, and they believe if they get this music thing right their whole lives will work. And when they find out it doesn’t, that they achieve success and still have the same problems, they can’t write another hit tune, they’re done, they’re lucky if they’ve got enough hits to ply the boards until they die. But even late in their days, they can get laid. You see a rock star speaks through his music, and when done right music is life itself. And we’re all drawn to it, men and women, we want to feel the buzz. And I’m not apologizing for the sometimes crude and over the line behavior of rock stars, hell, just Google “Led Zeppelin mud shark,” but the truth is the women come to you.

They don’t come to businessmen.

Oh, some do. But some are transparent, and the businessmen are sophisticated, they’re wary of getting involved with a gold digger. And they believe they’ve earned the best and the brightest. A rock star is satisfied with getting his dick sucked by any woman, a businessman needs a supermodel, someone elite and beautiful, because this is the currency in their world, all the trappings of wealth and success, a fancy car, a fancy house, if you’re truly rich a private jet, and a beautiful woman on your arm. True, rock stars marry gorgeous women too, but they’re compromised, whereas the businessmen are fully-formed, they know what they’re getting into, they need it even more, to show off.

So there you have the culture of the executive suite. I’m not condoning it, just detailing it.

What did Harvey Weinstein possess, other than power? He was far from beautiful, he didn’t create art, he was just a powerbroker, and never underestimate power, it’s more important than money, although oftentimes they go hand in hand.

Money will pay your bills. But power will get you noticed, will allow you to pull levers and get respect, be feared, and will deliver the trappings.

Come on, Harvey Weinstein invented the modern day Oscar campaign, before him it was civilized, you didn’t want to lobby too hard.

And Harvey didn’t only do his business, he socialized, he wanted the accolades, he had a need deep inside, as most successful businessmen have, one that usually cannot be filled. But businessmen are at their peak longer than rock stars, and they’ve got more money.

And the conundrum is women are attracted to power. They say they want a soft, sensitive guy, but this is untrue, they prefer someone rough around the edges, someone different from them, evidencing testosterone. And you can argue with me all you want, but the relationship expert Esther Perel agrees with me, it’s hard to say the politically incorrect thing.

But now the businessmen complain there’s been an overcorrection. You cannot read the “New York Times” without finding a woman complaining the system has kept her down. And I don’t doubt the veracity of these claims, it’s just that men feel beaten down by this, and impotent. I’m referring to the rank and file. The ones doing good. And the right wing wingnuts, who have contempt for females and successful people.

But the elite… They cannot be contained, just like rock stars. Rock stars don’t stop trashing hotel rooms, their road manager just continues to whip off hundreds. As Harvey Weinstein just continued to whip off settlements. They believe they’re untouchable, and to a certain degree they are, they’ve got PR teams to spin the truth and high-priced lawyers to aid them in escaping liability. They don’t read the news, THEY MAKE THE NEWS! That’s their perspective.

And the weird thing is we oftentimes like their work. We love Miramax films, we swear by Uber. That’s the culture we live in, we venerate the successes until the truth is revealed, that personally these people are scumbags making immoral choices. Kinda like that politician who is pro-life but urged his mistress to get an abortion. When it comes to them, the rules don’t apply. Politics is show business for ugly people. But still, Judith Miller helped get us into a war, being dazzled with access to the Bush team.

We all want access, we wall want to get backstage, we all want more.

We’re just not prepared for the cost.

I’m not saying those women abused by Harvey were asking for it, I’m just saying there’s a dichotomy between the powerful and the powerless. And if you sit on the sidelines, hewing to your morality, you get nowhere, and if you take a risk, you may get bit.

But this is America. A contradiction. We love our guns and look the other way when they’re used in crimes. And there’s a code, you protect your family and the elite powerbrokers protect each other, until the gotcha event occurs, but the weirdest thing is Donald Trump was caught again and again and won anyway, and then turned on his accusers, calling them fake news.

Rehab ain’t gonna fix Harvey Weinstein. This is why he’s competing, it’s baked into his DNA, he wants the rich and famous perks, otherwise why do it? Like all the wanker financiers who trade in their first spouse for a trophy wife, they feel they’re entitled to it!

What are we entitled to in America? A job, a roof over our head, food on the table?

Actually, none of that. More and more it’s every man for himself.

So you’re surprised when Harvey Weinstein climbs the ladder and takes liberties?

I’m not.

From: Laura DiMichele
Subject: Re: Harvey Weinstein

Not sure “taking liberties” is the proper description of sexual harassment. Of course I’m not surprised. I’m a 51 year old woman who has worked in legal profession since age 16; and 15 years in entertainment business and legal. I’ve been working with men. Powerful rich men too. All my mentors are men. I’ve seen it all. Sure things are better than 1984 but not too much different than when I was a 22 year old legal secretary in a small firm dealing with inappropriate old men.

The powerful men may get away with it but the problem of sexism is much deeper. Like office mail room dude sending Dick pics. Or opposing counsel stalking me after meeting me in deposition. Or the highway patrolman pulling me over on the way to work 4 times for no reason but to tell me of his boat, motorcycle and try to get in my pants. When I went to my boss to ask for help, I was told that I stuck out like a sore thumb; cute blonde in a red sports car, so just don’t drive on that freeway in the morning. Nice!’ Going to take a few more generations to work it out.

I have no sympathy for the good guys who are now uncomfortable because women are standing up to this shit. Booo hoo because what hurt me the most was when the good guys stood by and permitted their business partners to get away with it. The cowards who acknowledged what asshole pig did was wrong to my face but proposed solutions like maybe it’s better if I lay low and not talk during dept meetings. They felt like that was protecting me. I’d point out that essentially telling me to shut up was sexist and demeaning as well.

Some of the greatest men I worked for and with treated me with respect but rarely did I bear witness to one of those men standing up against the serial abuser in the office. Cowards. I’m not complaining because I learned from the best attorneys and by age 25, I was rolling the old horny assholes. Men are at a disadvantage because their dicks rule them.