If I read one more anti-internet screed I’m gonna EXPLODE!

We post to feel connected, it’s the same reason we surf, we want to feel part of a community, the human race, we have an urge to belong, to tell our stories, WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT?

I’m not condoning the use of our data, nor the tireless self-promoters trying to get rich. But I am saying all those people promoting disconnection, turning devices off so one can truly experience life, are Luddites trying to haul us all back to an era that wasn’t so perfect to begin with.

Like the fifties. When women didn’t work outside the home, but were also second-class citizens, like African-Americans.

The world has changed, and you’ve got to change with it.

Yes, prior to the invention of the automobile, THE RAILROAD, we lived in small communities and knew more people and our societies were tightly knit. But what if you didn’t like where you grew up, what if you were gay, what if you were different? GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!

Speaking of homosexuality, you used to have to move to San Francisco or Provincetown or West Hollywood to feel footloose and fancy free. Now you can just log on and find a plethora of people who feel just like you do, AIN’T THAT GRAND??

Furthermore, niches are not as narrow. Used to be I was the only person I knew who lived for skiing. Now I can log on and find endless information about the sport. To tell you the truth, I still crave more, but it’s so much better than it used to be.

Ergo the ability to connect with people. Sure, I might not want to interact with everybody I went to high school with, but to go on Twitter and send and receive a response from someone in the public eye? And you don’t have to be famous to achieve this, just someone of insight and wit. And social media leavens the landscape, now the only stars are not on stage or on screen. We used to know very little about these two-dimensional characters. Now not only are we exposed to their foibles, we see they are really no different from you or me. A star just ain’t what he or she used to be. And if someone rises above, assuming they don’t shoot someone or wreck the country, it’s because they’re intelligent and have something to say. Sure, the Kardashians come along with this, but they’ve also illustrated you don’t have to have a talent to be famous, unless your talent is creating a story millions are interested in.

Most YouTube stars will not survive. Most social media stars will not cross over. But that does not mean there’s nothing there to pay attention to. These are the innovators, these are the people testing limits, who knew unboxing was a thing, who knew the degree to which women were addicted to makeup.

And what would protest look like without social media? David Hogg might not be a household name. And you might resent Hogg, but you can go online and give your opinion and try to gain traction.

We check Facebook multiple times a day not because we’re looking to get rich so much as we want to feel part of the social fabric. Sure, there are some true loners out there, but the rest of us long to be involved, toss ideas, have a laugh, gossip, no different from an era sans modern communication techniques.

Come on, why do you think all those millions signed up for Facebook to begin with?

And then migrated to Instagram and Snapchat?

It’s not about the platform, it’s about the PEOPLE!

So when someone tells you to tune out…

Look what devices they use. Some of the loudest complainers don’t even have a smartphone, or haven’t upgraded since Windows XP. They resent the future, they don’t want to learn.

And then there are those who lie. Who say they’re disconnecting when they’re not.

Are we overwhelmed?

OF COURSE!

I can complain all day about the present, never mind the future. The music scene is incomprehensible and facts seem to be irrelevant in politics. Everybody’s deep in his or her niche, but at least there are niches that appeal to them. If you lived through the era of three TV stations you know today is a godsend, hell, it wasn’t that long ago that Bruce Springsteen complained there were 57 channels and nothing on, but no one complains about choices anymore, other than to say THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM!

And why is it the younger generation is not complaining?

God, I’d only love to grow up today, instead of being alone in my bedroom I’d be talking to my friends all day long on my device. Loneliness, the scourge of humanity, would be eradicated.

As for checking my phone multiple times a day, supposedly far in excess of a hundred, it’s because I want to be included, up-to-date, know what’s going on. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT?

Now I don’t have to go out to be involved. I can stay home and connect endlessly. Which is way better than going to a dark bar with loud music and being ignored. You can find a date online, connect with someone from the past you had a crush on, but all those holier-than-thou people who triumphed back then keep telling us we’re doing it wrong.

WE’RE NOT!

And if that’s not enough acronyms for you…

FOB stands for “Festival of Books,” the annual L.A. “Times” conclave of authors and…

This year podcasts. I am interviewing Moby for a live podcast this Saturday, April 21st, from noon to one in the Annenberg Auditorium at USC.

Details here:

LA Times Festival of Books 2018

Once again, this is FREE! Eventually it will be a podcast via TuneIn, but if you like the live experience and want a chance to connect, this is the place.

As well as Santa Barbara at the Music Media Summit.

That’s right, it’s coming up, like a flower as the old McCartney song goes, the one he reminded me succeeded on the hit parade as a live track. Details are here:

Music Media Summit

Now for those already planning on attending, I want to inform you that Troy Carter will appear on Sunday, April 29, from 4:30-6:00 PM, so get there early. Troy has jury duty the following week, so we wanted to make sure he could get his time in.

As you will recall, other speakers include:

Rob Glaser-RealNetworks

Daniel Glass-Glassnote Records

Ethiopia Habtemariam-Motown

Steve Boom-Amazon Music

And…a grand finale of podcast star John Boyle of Insomniac/Live Nation doing a wrap-up interview of yours truly, re what we learned in the preceding two days.

So, there is still room available.

As for what you will experience…

I will be interviewing the participants live, like you hear in the podcast every week, but in this case it will be up close and personal. And you’ll get a chance to interact with my guests and me and the attendees.

It’s a relationship business. And without friends, you will not triumph.

This is not the kind of conference where you have a booth or play your song and sell, rather it’s one where you connect and get to know people personally, and once you’re buddies, who knows what will happen.

A fun time is guaranteed for all.

Assuming you come.

SO SIGN UP!

She knows more about social media than anybody I know.

I met Kendall at the Summit Series, back in September 2014, in Eden, Utah. She told me she was gonna sell the first Snapchat series.

She did.

She’s the head of social media at UTA, she dives in and helps all their talent develop their social strategies.

She started out as an NBC Page, worked for “Ellen,” and all the while…touted the advantages of social media before the oldsters knew what it was, never mind the benefits.

If you want to hear the viewpoint of a young up and comer.

TUNE IN!

TuneIn

Apple

Google Play

Stitcher

Soundcloud

Overcast

It appears he’s irreplaceable.

Reach a certain age and you know the people in the newspaper. Like Mr. Sorrell, who ran WPP, not that I could exactly tell you what WPP was before I went to their Stream conference in Ojai last November. Turns out WPP stands for “Wire and Plastic Products.” Sorrell took control of that company that made grocery store baskets and transformed it into an advertising juggernaut, after working with the Saatchis, after getting an MBA.

But Saturday he resigned.

You see there was an investigation. Questions of impropriety. Although I mingled with the brass at the Oaks, I’ve got no idea of the truth of the accusations, but I will say Sorrell was both approachable and driven, it’s not often you’re up close and personal with the U.K.’s highest paid employee.

Now I don’t want to apologize for social and fiscal improprieties, especially at public companies during this #MeToo era, but it’s interesting how the builders usually cannot only not be superseded, but can’t be replaced.

The two most famous cases are…

Steve Jobs at Apple Computer.

And Jim Morrison in the Doors.

Sure, Janis Joplin died. Jimi Hendrix too. And while we’re at it, Buddy Holly and Otis Redding. But there was no group, they were individuals, you’d think that the Doors were more than Morrison and they’d be able to carry on.

But they weren’t.

Now you’ll tell me about Genesis and Van Halen and the interesting thing about Genesis, even though it went on to greater commercial success, it was definitely not the same act, Peter Gabriel tested limits conceptually and lyrically that the ones who were left did not. As for Van Halen…Sammy Hagar’s got a much better voice than David Lee Roth, but Sammy doesn’t have the irreverence, the skewed view that made Van Halen more than a meat and potatoes band.

Now we can focus on the uniqueness of these characters.

Or we can focus on how when they’re gone the enterprise is done.

But we live in a world where we’re told everybody is replaceable, everybody is just a cog in the system, that you don’t matter.

But you do.

But everything they teach you in school is wrong.

In school they teach you how to get along, be a member of society. But the Van Halen brothers couldn’t tolerate Mr. Roth, and Steve Jobs was notoriously mercurial… Have we been sold a bill of goods?

Kinda like those Ivy League graduates who go into consulting. Or those with MBAs who go to work for the man. They make money, they move their way up the management ladder, but they don’t impact society, they don’t change anything.

It’s about risk and vision and you’re either born with them or you’re not, and the ability to execute on them is another step, the world is riddled with people with ideas without the willingness or courage to execute them.

Now the funny thing about these creators is they have rough edges, they’re not warm and fuzzy. I won’t say they’re not friendly, sometimes they are, but they don’t suffer fools and they don’t want their time wasted. And if you’re ignorant, they’ll dismiss you. And they won’t be afraid of offending you.

Furthermore, they won’t worry about being PC, about being nice, about saying something unfavorable or challenging preconceptions.

Now some of these people are damaged beyond repair. Someone like Travis Kalanick, you could tell he was a prick during the days of Scour. He seemed to have no remorse and evidenced an aura that he knew better and didn’t have time for you, despite the topic not being that hard to fathom. And it appears that Uber is on the rebound, latest research says that Lyft may have peaked, but I’m not betting on the new CEO, he’s not Kalanick.

Kinda like Daniel Ek and Spotify. Dynamic and charming Daniel is not, but dogged he is. He was not always a billionaire, he flew in the back of the plane and waited all day for meetings. And it’s not about the investment of time so much as the willingness to stay the course, not because someone told you to, but because you can’t do it any other way.

This is what bugs me about business books, about self-help, you think if you read them you can get answers, but you can’t because you’re not that person, your only hope is to be your best self, not that you can’t learn lessons, but they’re probably social ones as opposed to business ones.

But what bugs me most is the change in the picture of an American.

An American was someone who knew no limits, who pushed the edge of the envelope, who was can-do, who was not worried about formalities, but results. And that spearheaded innovation and success for two centuries, but now…

Those with the power and money have grouped together to keep those without down. That’s right, used to be everybody had the tools at their fingertips, but with governments challenged schools are ill and underequipped and you can’t get into the Ivies without a legacy and cash. Of course there are exceptions, but not many.

And it was always hard to get a bank to fund your idea. But you could scrape by on a minimum. Now if you’re working for the minimum wage you might still be on welfare.

But this isn’t so much about helping those on the bottom than recognizing those on the bleeding edge, the stars of our society, who amaze us and inspire us.

Not the me-too musicians. Not the me-too superhero movies.

Kinda like Reed Hastings, who doubled-down on Netflix production which caused subscriptions to go to the roof while movie studios cut the number of flicks they made and record companies dropped the number of releases and genres. Just imagine if a major label signed and promoted something different not radio-friendly… Then we might have a change in the system, that company would make beaucoup bucks. But no one at a major label has skin in the game anymore, they’re protecting what once was as opposed to what will be.

You have Elon Musk arguing with the government. Mark Cuban before him. I was always taught to be scared of the system, but looking at them I wonder if I’m wrong.

And Martin Sorrell was open to me, available, but he didn’t want to make nice, he could contradict…

Whilst proffering his easy to remember e-mail address, saying how simple it was to reach him, any time.

Not that he knew who I was, but he knew I was there, and he was open to those who were.

That’s where you want to be, just like “Hamilton” says, “the room where it happens.”

But just being inside delivers a story no better than saying you did coke in the bathroom with somebody famous.

No, the truth is you’ve got to make it on your own. You’ve got to have confidence. You must take your inspiration to the limit. You must let your freak flag fly. You must be yourself.

And that’s different from everybody else.

The greats are irreplaceable.