It’s about breaking the formula.

Art is about risk, and in today’s era too few are approaching the edge, that’s the Michelle Wolf story, the inability of the status quo to recognize the soul of our society, which is not conformity, but uniqueness. The more you try to fit in, the blanker you become, the more irrelevant. Which is why art rules the world, artists test limits, even Steve Jobs, first and foremost he was an artist, never forget the original iMac was just the same old chip in a brand new box.

Obama on Letterman was a flop. Too much media training. Too guarded. That’s what was wrong with his Presidency, the reticence, the thinking before talking, the fear of scratching the surface, when the truth is underneath the waters were roiling, and when he was gone Trumpism surfaced, not surprising to those truly taking the pulse of America. As for Hillary, she allowed the right to define her and she didn’t ring true. You cannot lose your identity, you must stand up to critics, you must define the game, you must keep playing.

Or you lose.

As Hillary has.

It’s no surprise the only triumphs in late night TV have been by Kimmel and Colbert, speaking their truth, calling out Trump. Fallon has refused and his ratings have sunk, he’s being beaten by nearly a million viewers. Fallon’s doing the same old show in changed times.

And the rest of his late night compatriots are not that different. Suits and ties, monologues, skits, guests promoting projects. It’s so tired, I don’t watch, and most others don’t either. Same deal with SNL. A sketch show without a viewpoint, WHOOP-DE-DOO! That was what was so great about the original five years/cast, it was TV made for a generation, pushing edges the oldsters could not see. Now only oldsters think it’s funny, when they read about skits in the newspaper.

The truth is SNL should be YouTube only. A skit every day.

It needs to take a side.

It needs to be different.

Kinda like the writers’ room.

That was what Tina Fey said, you get women involved and the whole picture changes, people of color too. They find stuff funny that white males do not. But women make up half of society, actually, a little bit more.

The media does not know what to do with Netflix. It’s virtually ignoring the service, except on the business page. The media still pays fealty to movies, even though attendance is down, even though only a few are financially successful. It’s like covering curling. Great during the Olympics, interesting during awards season, other than that, no one cares.

They’ll review a movie the day of release.

But not a Netflix show.

You won’t see the media promoting Tina Fey on Letterman, for that you need a Netflix subscription, where it comes right up. Netflix is like free form radio of the sixties, the in-the-know know, and everybody else does not. Netflix is where all the action takes place, the experimentation, where there are albums instead of singles, where there’s a plethora of product we just cannot get enough of.

People e-mail me every day about cable shows. I’m not watching. We live in an on demand society. If I can’t have it all, right now… Isn’t this what Queen sang about so emphatically DECADES ago? Apple kills not only ports, but the CD drive and the iPod, yet studios are still propping up the movie theatre, WHY? And if you e-mail me and complain, you’re part of the problem. Once upon a time, in the late nineties, Apple was a joke, but when the company broke the rules it became the most valuable in the world, think about that.

So Letterman won’t shave his beard. And he’s not a puppet for writers. It’s all about his off the cuffs witticisms. Reminds me of high school, where puns ruled, where being quick and funny was everything. I don’t want to be a late night host, but I do want to be David Letterman. Did you see him at Oxford, with Malala Yousafzai? He was so inappropriate and obnoxious you could only love him, decorum is to be challenged, limits are to be tested, you don’t know where the line is unless you’re willing to cross it.

And I’ve got no interest in George Clooney, but damn if his episode wasn’t so good, especially the segments with his parents, and the Middle Eastern dude they were supporting in their town.

As for Tina Fey, she was sharp and quick and didn’t need to overact in a prepared way, just roll with the punches. Furthermore, she said she never smoked dope, that she was uncool. This isn’t today’s millennials all claiming to be nerds, this is a TRUE NERD!

And the nerds have inherited the earth. Because they refused to compromise, they endured the hate and continued to march forward.

And Letterman humanized Buddy Guy more than any awards show, he let Buddy talk, be himself.

Meanwhile, musicians are worried about everything but the music, sponsorship, cash… Hell, Tina Fey joked that she’d already spent all of the “Mean Girls” cash. Proving, even though it was a joke, that she ain’t a billionaire.

But she’s got more influence than one.

Usually, innovation comes from outside, because the established players are too afraid to take a risk. Kinda like today’s Apple. If you’re not confused whether you’re in your library or the streaming Apple Music service, you must work in Cupertino.

I’m looking for fulfillment, I’m looking to have my horizons expanded, I’m looking to be touched and titillated, taken places I cannot foresee.

And that’s what Letterman’s doing here. It’s just not endless hijinks, there’s substance along with the glaze.

All you’ve got to do is pick up the remote and click.

On your smart TV, via your Roku or Fire Stick or other streaming device. Hell, you can download episodes to your iPad for traveling. And multiple people can use the same log-in. Netflix isn’t limiting you, scolding you, telling you how to live, but allowing you to do it your way.

We want it all right now at our fingertips. Realize this quickly, or die, like the movie studios.

Meanwhile, a septuagenarian who doesn’t need the money puts his reputation and legacy at risk to try something new. Let that be a lesson to you. That’s why I’m reluctant to see the oldsters play their hits. And the youngsters execute formula. Music triumphed when it was about wowing us.

Letterman on Netflix has got me thinking.

And that’s exactly what I came for.

He’s playing by the Trump rulebook, in an attention economy, he who says the most outrageous things wins.

That’s right, the media covers your every move and everybody knows what you do and despite so many despising you, others are drawn to you, and you don’t need many acolytes to win in this country of 300+ million, never mind the rest of the world.

So he’ll get us to listen to his music. We want to know what’s going on, we want to watch the train-wreck, and Kanye’s laughing all the way to the bank.

But what bugs me most is the opioid addiction as a result of liposuction, proving that Kanye didn’t change the Kardashians, but vice versa, he was sucked into their vision, which is as false as they come. When image is everything, you’ve lost the plot, aging is inevitable, and the only major figure who has figured this out is Bob Dylan, who continues to tour with his ragged voice, reinterpreting his material, confounding us with his choices, whether they be covers or whiskeys.

Then again, it’s all about money, Dylan likes it and Kanye can’t stop complaining he doesn’t have enough, while he alienates his allies and proclaims he’s the world’s greatest, didn’t Muhammad Ali already do that act?

And to tell you the truth, I believe some of this nonsense is calculated, but a lot of it is evidence of mental illness. Meanwhile, his mother dies as a result of plastic surgery and he gets it? Isn’t that like a heroin addict believing if dope killed someone else it can’t kill him? Both are unnecessary, if unequal, what kind of lesson are we teaching our youth?

Then again, Kanye is a black icon for both getting this much attention and living the life of a rich person, buying land, increasing his empire, that appeals to the oppressed. But I do believe there are better messages to send.

Not that Kanye is truly concerned with those. Not that I can truly understand the African-American experience. But I can see that Kanye is playing everybody from TMZ to the “New York Times.” They’re taking what he’s saying seriously, they’re repeating it, in a world where most people cannot name the number one song, never mind sing it, Kanye is the biggest star of the week, maybe even the month!

Maybe a sad reflection on today’s music business, but there’s truth here, the biz thinks so SMALL! Believing its own data. That if a track is number one it makes a difference and everybody cares. ALMOST NO ONE CARES! HOW DO YOU RISE ABOVE?

Kanye figured it out.

P.S. As for firing his handlers, Scooter and Paterno, this is a bad move all around. Nobody’s an expert in everything, everybody needs help, everybody needs a team, I don’t know what coach Kris J. and her daughters are telling Yeezus, but the more he rants, the more he appears to need help. Then again, this is a world where we love to see our heroes spiral into the abyss, from Elvis to Avicii. We like the movie too much to stop them. We don’t want to help. Or maybe Kanye’s the victim of the Trump administration he is lauding, it’s everybody for themselves baby, compassion is history, if you want to flame out, that’s fine. Or is it?

Yes, Supermensch himself!

You’ve seen the movie, read the book, but we get into nooks and crannies previously unexplored and if you want to go deep into the mind-set of the genius behind Alice Cooper, Emeril Lagasse and even Groucho Marx, this is the place!

One thing Shep said that stuck out to me was that a manager must be needed. If the act thinks they need the manager, he’ll never be fired. Think about that. Also, Shep said he was an idea man, he let the attorneys work on the deals, but his ideas propelled his acts to the top.

It’s an amazing journey, and you’ll want to follow along.

So, fire up your device!

Listen to a snippet here:

Shep Gordon on managing talent and fear of failure: pic.twitter.com/gvvZfEYksz

— Bob Lefsetz (@Lefsetz) May 2, 2018

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He was broke before Gaga, his wife pawned her ring, he was struggling, and then…

This was after going to Job Corps for a year and getting his GED, working for DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince after getting a record deal and failing. He was a concert promoter, he met Puffy, he interned for the Bad Boy, and what was his one big break…HE DIDN’T HAVE ONE!

You think it’s about getting that job, meeting that person, that your life will work if you do, but usually…

It does not, you just have to keep on keepin’ on.

Being Lassiter’s assistant and listening in on his phone calls gave Troy an education, he learned that it’s not all business, that you’ve got to be a person first, and be liked.

And after managing Eve and selling out to Sanctuary and going independent once again, Troy met Gaga and won.

But it wasn’t easy, cowriters and the label wouldn’t let her keep her best songs, he had to fight for that. And they had to prove to radio she was a hit via socials. But once it started to happen…

Troy was called up to Silicon Valley where he met the truly rich. Where no one would look him in the eye in a sea of Asperger’s, and it was not a zero sum game, but one where everybody could win, and then he came back to L.A. and started working at Spotify.

Well, that’s a fast overview of an almost twenty year career, and he was only spending two days a week in the Valley, but Troy believes the good times are just beginning, there’s a lot more people to reach with music, and the data doesn’t lie, it’s all about personalization, making people feel the site is a club they want to belong to, and helping artists along the way. By paying them every month and…

That’s right, artists need cash, and Spotify can provide it, providing an intermediary doesn’t get in the way. Times are changing. Labels, managers and streaming companies will not look the same in ten years. Spotify is connecting tours and superfans to sell tickets. Radio is fading, the majors still play to it, but is it to their advantage?

It’s all about where we are going, not where we’ve been, one must not think with the old mind-set, with the old metrics, the first week means nothing and a million streams is nowhere. But Spotify editors are finding unsigned acts to trumpet constantly, and Troy’s phone is ringing with labels that want to sign them.

And…

Troy sat there for two hours, answered not only my questions, but those of the audience, he was open and honest, and if you think that Spotify is the devil…

You shoulda been here.

P.S. Troy got the biggest response when he said that Netflix was kicking the music industry’s butt. He meets with labels who keep telling him about acts they’ve broken. And then Troy tells them to get a car and drop said act in front of a school and see what happens when another car pulls up with a cast member of “Stranger Things,” all the students are gonna rush to the actor. That’s right, those kids are ubiquitous, known by everybody, the supposed new hit acts…not so much.