Judy – Spotify

The song misses, the vocal is imperfect, BUT THE GUITAR PLAYING IS OUTSTANDING!

My best listening is done now. Long after midnight. When the rest of the world is asleep and I have room to move around, physically and mentally, when it’s my planet. I don’t get the competition to sleep little and get up early. First and foremost I can’t do this, i.e. write, unless I’ve had a good night’s sleep, and sometimes the highlight of my day is my dreams, and I find the sunrise creepy. The whole world waking up. I prefer the fade-out instead of the fade-in.

And to tell you the truth, my day was upsetting. But it started to turn a couple of hours ago when I heard myself referenced on the WrapUp Show. I’ve never had the experience of driving around and having my song come on the radio, never will, but when Howard or Gary mention me I’ve got to believe it’s somewhat similar.

And then I listened to Paul Schrader on the Bret Easton Ellis podcast. It’s intellectual in a world where every other show is middlebrow, or below. Ellis doesn’t pander, it’s all about concepts. And I preferred the episode with Peter Bogdanovich, who doesn’t seem to realize how smug he comes across, but Schrader said something absolutely brilliant. That films stopped mattering when they no longer gave us answers, told us how to live. That’s right, those of us who lived through the second golden era, from “Bonnie and Clyde” to “Heaven’s Gate,” learned how to behave from watching movies. Hell, everything I know about sex I learned at the cinema, truly. Same deal with the music. Used to be we listened for insight, that was the essence of the golden era, classic rock, we believed the acts were more experienced, knew more than we did, and by listening a path would open for us to walk down and live our lives. That’s why everybody went to Woodstock, not to graze and be seen like at today’s festivals, but to get closer to the music, to be with like-minded people on an adventure.

And in 1969, Crosby, Stills & Nash were burgeoning. They didn’t peak until they added Young and released “Deja Vu” the following March. And then the band imploded and some of the solo albums were stellar, but there was never that exquisite peak again. To the point where young ‘uns are completely unaware of the magic. And I’m not sure “Judy” will close them, but it will give them a glimpse of what once was, when being a skilled axeman was key, when arrangement still mattered, when music was sweet instead of sour.

But not too sweet.

I knew Stephen and Judy were on tour. But I didn’t know there was a record. Hell, I never know there’s a record anymore, not even a show. I just read a review of Willie Nelson at the Shrine, who knew he was in town?

But honestly, I didn’t need to go. The truth is there’s nothing new with these oldsters, if you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. Not that fans will tell you this, the same fans who go to every Dylan show, huh?

Now to tell you the truth, the track that blew my mind at this hour this week was the Barenaked Ladies and the Persuasions doing the latter’s “Good Times,” it was on my Discover Weekly playlist.

“Judy” was on my Release Radar playlist.

And I was gonna do a whole post on the Barenaked Ladies/Persuasions album, yes, that’s right, there’s an entire LP, quite appealing, did you know the Barenaked Ladies also have a live album from Red Rocks?

Like I said, we’re all out of the loop. We used to need to keep up. But then music stopped driving the culture and we lost the need, even though a great song still resonates so, but how do you find them?

I want to be pointed to them.

And this week’s Release Radar, fresh tonight, opened with a Yusuf song that I only had to hear once, not even all the way through.

And then the same thing with this London Grammar track. It was good, but did I ever need to hear it again?

And then Thomas Rhett’s “Grave” was close to spectacular, with production you rarely hear in country tracks, I’m not sure if it’s a hit, but I marveled, this guy has talent and range.

And then I got to “Judy.” And it was right in the pocket.

Maybe you’re not a rock fan. Maybe you’re into beats. But for those of you who grew up in the AOR era, who love a good change, who remember when music came before money, you’ll get it.

How can this be?

All the classic acts put out execrable LPs every couple of years. They overpolish crap. It’s creepy.

And then we get “Judy.”

And Stills’s voice is a bit creepy. Not as bad as it can be live, but nowhere near as good as it used to be.

But Judy Collins’s harmonies are exquisite, if buried.

But the PLAYING!

It’s one thing to have technique, it’s quite another to put the notes together with melodies and changes such that the end result is appealing.

Now fall is coming.

And if you went to college back in the seventies, you know the drill. The first thing you do when you move into the dorm is to set up your stereo. And then you put on a new record while you unpack. And then people come over and you sit around and get high in front of the speakers, nodding your noggins to songs that are not quite foreground yet not quite background, they’re integral to the experience, like oil in an engine. And you’re sitting there and all of a sudden you lock on to the sound, it’s like you can see into the speakers and see what the act is doing, you wonder how they do it, how they came up with this stuff.

And then you go to the show and have the religious experience.

And it’s not about selfies, it’s not about being a member of the group, it’s solely about you, in your own mind, bonding with the music.

That’s the experience I’m having right now.

“Good Times” – Spotfy

They’ve got Ann Coulter and the bimbos on Fox.

But we’ve got Tina Fey.

I oftentimes wonder, do those people on Fox really believe what they’re saying? Like Tucker Carlson, interrupting guests like his predecessor Bill O’Reilly, if you got him alone, in the basement, after a game of pool, would he really be spewing this right wing hatred? Is that the world we really want, where it’s every person for themselves and the government is out of the equation? Government, and taxes are bad. And what is good? The winners of this world? Should we call them “Deacon Blues”?

Now I’m one of those who believe SNL hasn’t been good since the original cast left. And don’t criticize me for being an old fart, did they ever find a new Beatles, huh? It’s old wave media rallying around Lorne Michaels but the emperor has no clothes. A lot of set-up and no jokes. But Tina Fey…

She could have starred next to Belushi and Aykroyd, held her own.

And she never fails.

You’re watching this clip thinking it’s not that funny, and then you burst out laughing, about Donald JOHN Trump tearing down statues to build condos. And did you know those statues were built long after the Civil War? It’d kind of be like erecting Hitler statues in Germany today. Or Richard Nixon sculptures in Vietnam. They’re not antiquities, just reinforcements of white power.

Then again, did you see what Jon Stewart’s said?

“White supremacists, man. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a free market. If you guys feel like you’re losing out, fucking work harder. I don’t know what to tell you. If you’re a white supremacist, if you think you’re the master race, how come we’re all kicking your ass so easily? You’re the master race! How come you’re not winning everything? Why aren’t the Olympics dominated by you? You’re the master race. What do you have left? Golf and tennis, maybe, maybe. And even then, the first black people you came across, you’re like, ‘We can’t play this game anymore.’ Williams sisters, Tiger Woods. Okay”

They keep saying the left has no sense of humor. I beg to differ. We’ve got almost all of the comedians. Hell, Dennis Miller went right and now we never hear him anymore, he’s probably doing privates for the Koch Brothers. That’s the truth, if you want to go right there’s untold bucks in it. Whereas left wing comedians earn their money the old-fashioned way, on innovative yuks.

Fox girls bleach their hair, put on the pumps and primp and you can’t focus on what they say because you’re too busy ogling them. And if they had any self-respect, they’d rebel. But other than Megyn Kelly, none of them has. It’s like Roger Ailes is still alive. Is this the equality Gloria Steinem, et al, fought for forty years ago? And don’t decry Gloria and her Ms. followers, all women are following in their footsteps, taking advantage of the openings they created.

And there were women comedians on SNL prior to Tina Fey.

But none of them were quite this funny.

Tina can hold her own with the boys. She makes those two johnny-come-latelies on the set look like high school students.

First and foremost she comes out in a sweatshirt and glasses. No contacts, no blond hair. She’s gonna close us on her brain. And boy, does she. Only an insecure, inadequate man would prefer a Fox babe.

And she owns her truth! She admits being a virgin at UVA, if you read her book you know she didn’t have sex until 24. Has anybody made love to Ann Coulter? Unless it’s a hate ____?

Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist, humor’s supposed to be edgy. If you don’t occasionally go over the line, you’re not doing it right.

And Tina holds our attention for six minutes, you can’t take your eyes off her. In a short-attention span era she’s long-form.

Calling Trump “gorgeous,” that’s the cutting humor only a woman can get away with. Assuming she’s willing to go there, and the great thing about Fey is she is, she’s not holding back like the apolitical, non-swearing Seinfeld, she says Donald John Trump is a “jackass” name. That’s right, a woman who’s not afraid to get down in the gutter, be like the boys, is the one who wins our heart.

As for right wing rallies in New York City, unlike the Democratic elites, trying to apologize for their status, cowering, Tina talks about drag queens kicking the protesters’ ass. That’s a New Yorker! One who will take no shit! Who will stand up for what they believe in! That’s why New York is the greatest city in the world!

Although I prefer to live in Los Angeles. But with all the millennials moving to the metropolis, when can we stop paying fealty to those left behind in the hinterland, remember what Sam Kinison said about starving Africans? Don’t send them food, send them SUITCASES! They’ve got to MOVE! TO WHERE THE JOBS ARE!

Then they whip out the cake and Tina digs in and she’s channeling the physical comedy of Lucy, but there’s not only facial expressions, but continued quips. And like the right, and unlike too many on the left, she calls out the enemy, talking about Ann Coulter crawling out of her Roach Motel.

But the piece-de-resistance is:

“And also, who drove the car into the crowd, HILLARY’S E-MAILS?”

If you don’t burst out laughing you still believe Hillary is single-handedly responsible for the deaths in Benghazi and that’s much worse than anything Trump has done. And there you’ve got the problem right there, false equivalencies.

And she’s really eating the cake, in our skinny-minnie culture wherein every woman is supposed to be full when they’re silently starving.

And then calling Paul Ryan a “pussy”… What is he gonna say, how is he gonna respond to a woman, she’s nailed him right there.

And she goes on and on, with a dig at Hollywood and audiences at the end.

And all you can do is marvel. Her six minutes are far superior to ANYTHING that’s aired on SNL this decade. And the two guys next to her look like real life Waynes and Garths, you just sit there and say WOW!

That’s the power of Tina Fey.

That’s the power of entertainers.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, we have to own our strengths, our positions, not pussyfoot around them, not give in. Hell, the one thing Clinton had right was too many of these people on the right ARE deplorables, she shouldn’t have apologized, she should have DOUBLED-DOWN!

Now screw those two guys. Tina Fey should have this spot every week. Maybe on HBO with Amy Poehler. A counterpart to John Oliver and Bill Maher. Because HBO stands for freedom, anything goes, there are no ads and no one blinks.

Or maybe even Netflix.

Or if Google truly wanted to win, YouTube.

But not Apple. Where mediocre crap sits behind a paywall as smug old men tell us they know better.

No, sometimes a woman knows better.

LIKE TINA FEY!

Spotify Suggestions

“Come”
Jain

This has 44,634,669 streams on Spotify and 66,937,245 on YouTube and you’ll think there’s nothing special until you hit the chorus/hook and then you’ll find you’re hooked. Two minutes and forty seconds of specialness. Maybe we’re returning to that era, a pullback from the seventies ethos where acts wanted to be able to stretch out to a full album side, as long as they cared to. But a lot of those extended plays were dreck, whereas today if you’ve got somebody’s attention you want to deliver, immediately, make your mark and leave.

This isn’t in French, but her accent is so heavy it’ll take you a few plays to realize she’s singing in English. (Or is she..?)

Furthermore, it was released originally nearly two years ago.

And there was a TV push, she was on Colbert earlier this year, but we’re no longer living in the nineties, when being on Letterman was a badge of honor and made a difference, it’s nearly irrelevant these days, grants you a video at most, no, you’ve got to make it on streaming services and Jain has, just not in America, but now since “Despacito”…

Granted there are a lot more Latinos then French people in the U.S., but have barriers been broken, has the definition of a hit single broadened? Put Bieber on this and it’s Top Five, guaranteed. You can’t listen without moving your head, it just makes you feel good, whatever it means.

Meanwhile, Jain is charismatic/adorable, check out the video, it’s French in a way that is entrancing, all about minimalist style. The video put “Despacito” over the top. Today, when tracks take so long to build could “Come” still make it?

I think so!

Jain – Come – YouTube

And she was excellent on Colbert:

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – Jain Performs ‘Come’

“Letra (feat. JC Ramirez)”
Sweet

That Sweet?

I have no idea, on both Spotify and iTunes they’re crediting the old English band, is this a sample, even though I don’t hear it, but I couldn’t find anything whatsoever on Google, it’s a black hole. But if you let this play in the background you’ll find yourself nodding your head, despite once again being unable to understand what they’re singing about, unless you speak Spanish.

This stood out in my Discover Weekly playlist.

“House of the White Rose Bouquet”
Ray Wylie Hubbard

As did this. I had to wake up my phone to see who it was. And I’ve always heard Ray’s name, but never been hooked.

But this time…

The production is superior to his voice, but Ray’s telling a story.

This is the essence of not only country, but music, it’s what truly bonds us to an act, when they leave a little blood on the saddle. You’ll either get this or you won’t, but if you do…

“Woulda Left Me Too”
Ryan Griffin

This is not a hit, but the song is. Yup, like in the days of Clive’s Arista, when he asked prospective A&R people what unrecognized/unheralded songs when covered could be hits.

This is a great line, “woulda left me too,” like the old days of country, it’s the twist that closes you.

A ready-made hit for a non-writer star in Nashville.

We underestimate talent.

Used to be we were looking for the unique voice, now me-tooism reigns. Maybe it’s the millennial ethos of fitting in, where boomers were all about being square pegs in a round hole, letting their freak flags fly.

And technically, David Letterman is a baby boomer.

Now most people leave TV and are instantly forgotten. Did Jay Leno really host the “Tonight Show”? And does anybody under forty even know who Johnny Carson was? And to tell you the truth, I was addicted to Dave at 12:35, but ultimately lost interest at 11:35, the show was slicker, less wacky and more formulaic, but then Dave retired.

And grew a hillbilly beard and morphed into a cantankerous grandpa that we just cannot get enough of, even though we know so little.

And I’ve stopped watching late night TV all together, except for Bill Maher and John Oliver on HBO, the former because he’ll speak the truth, the latter because he goes so deep, and Maher’s “New Rules” is far superior to “Weekend Update” and Oliver created a new formula and that’s what late night talk shows have become, a formula.

But they weren’t when Dave took over. Or at least he shook them up. He turned late night into a comedy show, with bits, but now he’s into interviewing like his predecessor and mentor Johnny.

But I don’t need to repeat Dave’s CV, his history, other than to say he’s signed a deal for six shows with Netflix. Netflix stole comedy from HBO and Disney is delusional if it believes we’re gonna pay a separate fee to view their wares. In music we have everything in one place for one small monthly fee, in TV/movies it’s like being pecked to death by ducks. Hell, I’d cut the cord if Spectrum didn’t charge me almost as much just for internet, it’s a racket I tell you.

And Howard gets overeager with these big celebrities, he wants to get all his questions in, but Dave hung back, didn’t interrupt, waited for calm to appear, and then cracked one funny joke after another.

Well, not that quickly. It wasn’t Rodney Dangerfield rat-a-tat-tat. He waited for his moments, and then without set-up, without announcing he was gonna drop one, he came out with lines so funny I burst out laughing, even though I was listening on headphones and no one else was there.

Howard brought up Dave’s mother Dorothy’s death. Letterman said she died at 96. That she was playing racquet ball just the day before.

You almost believed him. After all, she seemed so young and healthy on his show.

But of course it wasn’t true. And the way Dave revealed this was both self-deprecatory and hysterical at the same time. As if you were in the basement with your teenage buddies and your friend had gotten you with a joke.

This was not brief.

That’s why Dave said he wouldn’t go on talk shows. Because the producer would say he had to fill eight minutes, with previously delineated stories, there could be no holes. Whereas on satellite, which I listened to via the app, when I wanted to, on demand, Letterman could stretch out.

He didn’t want to leave.

A pro knows when to go. After eighty minutes Dave took his exit. But you could tell this was the highlight of his day. Performers like to perform. And we like to be with people, even if we are famous.

And being famous…

Friends come to visit the Lettermans in Montana. And at the end of the day, Dave, his wife Regina and son Harry do a post mortem, oftentimes asking each other of recalcitrant guests…WHEN ARE THEY GONNA LEAVE?

That’s family, those intimate moments, when you share truth, when you’re all on the same page.

And yes, Dave denigrated guests. Talked about taking up skiing at 63. And the changes in his personality.

Which Howard seconded, talking about himself. One learned more about Howard in this one interview than we do in a year’s worth of shows.

Jerry Seinfeld comes over regularly. Billy Joel too. Howard’s part of the club, and you didn’t lament your loss of status in the gutter with him as much as want to be included in this group.

Howard and Dave both testified about Jerry. How he’s always doing something, breaking the mold. And this was inspirational.

And Howard and Dave talked about Dave’s dinner with Steve. You had no idea who they were talking about, and then Dave said his wife enjoyed it, but didn’t think she could do it again, she felt inadequate, because Steve was so ESTEEMED!

It was Steve Martin.

And there was this great story about going to Jack Paar’s house and realizing the host had gone to bed when Dave and his producer Hal Gurnee were still at the dinner table.

It was old Hollywood. As in an era when our entertainers were much more interesting than our business people. When it was less about wealth than access. When you believed if you could just gain status you too could be graced by the words and jokes of these household names.

Howard and Dave earned their status. And neither of them partake of this access that often. They feel uncomfortable. That’s right, if guests come to your house do you have to entertain them? Do you have to contribute comedy at the dinner table? These guys were just as anxious in social situations as you and me.

But they were talking about it.

You won’t learn how to be famous. There are not a plethora of anecdotes. Dave is a bit hoarse from just flying back from India. But in these days where we’re connected but isolated, typing to each other in front of a screen, it’s a revelation to just hear two people talk.

Especially when one is so skewed and so experienced that he can throw off punch lines that get you squealing.

Yes, these are maladjusted people. You come away believing that Dave really hates himself that much.

But on some level, DON’T WE ALL?