Bob Seger – Neon Sky – YouTube

I heard this yesterday on Deep Tracks.

I actually own “Back In ’72,” I bought it at Sam Goody on the Post Road in Westport. Right after I graduated from college, when I was lost, “The Graduate” gets it right, it was in the cut-out bin.

That’s something that’s been lost to the sands of time. When the labels overproduced records and jobbed them out and they ended up in bins for two bucks, you’d paw through a passel of dreck until you found a gem, but oftentimes you didn’t even know it was that good until later, you figured at this price you’d take a chance, and some you only spun once or twice, and then there were others…

On this same jaunt I bought the Kinks’ “Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One,” which has the original “Lola,” but contains so much more, it’s one of their best albums. But I purchased the Seger record because I’d read good things and knew about him but had never heard him, this was before “Live Bullet,” when regional hits like “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” did not make it to my neck of the woods.

And I immediately cottoned to “Turn The Page,” you rarely hear the studio original anymore, you might even hear the Metallica cover more.

But then I decamped from Connecticut and left my vinyl behind. I made two dozen cassettes, but Seger was not on any of them. I remembered the title track and “Turn The Page,” but not much more.

And when Napster brought the past up from the depths, I got into Seger’s covers of “Midnight Rider” and “The Stealer,” but “Neon Sky” eluded me.

And speaking of skies, last night around 7, the heavens opened, it started to pour, and you’ve got to know in Southern California it either comes down light or heavy, and this was so heavy I decided to wait until the storm passed to leave, since Dark Sky said it would be less than half an hour. And when I emerged onto the streets they were wet and there were a few sprinkles and when I joined the on-ramp for the 405 I heard this playing.

I saw the title on the readout, another Seger track that he refuses to release on CD, never mind streaming services, but then…

It was the keyboard. And the bass. I was immediately enraptured.

This isn’t supposed to happen, certainly not these days, where another song, another station is just a click away, just a click away, but I had no desire to push the button.

There’s the neon sky that I know so well
There’s the smoky room where I choose to dwell
Though I hear your heart many miles away
The neon sky tells me I must stay

Seger was a journeyman. Records just fueled the fire. He had to hit the road. Back when that was the land of darkness, you may have had easy access to dope and sex, but there was no DVD, no internet, no streaming, not even cable, never mind videocassettes. You did your show and then sat in silence as you drove to the next town, you had plenty of time to think. You weren’t posting to social media, weren’t broadcasting to the masses, it was positively internal.

Through the windy field of another land
I have seen your face girl, I have held your hand
Though I should be there, with you there today
The neon sky knows that I must stay

You can’t have it all. Not fame and fortune and a relationship. You make choices. And the life of a musician…comes with perks, but with so many sacrifices. Furthermore, most players don’t get rich. You do it…

Because you have to.

On a dusty stage many years ago
I chose my road, still I hope you know
That there’ll come a day with the neon sky
When we’ll walk into the sun, you and I

The light at the end of the tunnel, the smidge of hope in a sea of darkness, it’s what keeps you going. The dream that things will work out, even though all signs are pointing in the opposite direction. You make your choice, or maybe your choice chooses you, and you go down the rabbit hole, and it’s so hard to change direction, to reinvent yourself, do something different, you’ve got too much invested. Businessmen can pivot, not worry about sunk costs, but with artists…

It’s so much more difficult.

Yes, so he calls, beckons unto me
From the empty hall, from the galleries
And so I must go, leave you here today
‘Cause the neon sky orders me away

The devil he knows, whose money is green. The fans are right there in front of him, yet they might as well be a million miles away, but he keeps trying to close the gap.

And I couldn’t get “Neon Sky” out of my head. So today when I pulled it up on YouTube, the land of everything unauthorized, and I mean that in a good way, I decided to do some research. And even though I’ve done this before, the internet is long in the tooth, I was reminded of the Muscle Shoals connection.

And that’s when I realized…

The magic of “Neon Sky” was the players. Barry Beckett’s subtle keyboard work. You know, the same thing that made Paul Simon’s “One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor” so magical. If you’ve got it right, if you’ve got the chops, you know not to overplay, you just lay down what’s right, that’s the difference between a TV competitor and a musician.

And David Hood’s chugging bass.

And the wailing guitar… It could be one of a few.

Hell, it’s not even guaranteed the above played these notes, I’m just interpreting, based on the minimal credits and history. But I know their sound, that magic.

And the funny thing is classic rock is fading into the sunset, the aforementioned neon sky. So much will not be remembered, so much has already been forgotten. But then you hear something like “Neon Sky” and it makes an impression upon you, it’s not dated, it’s positively now, it’s positively all time, and you know this music is forever.

Bird Scooters

I saw two on my walk to the grocery store. All I had to do was scan the QR code and away I’d go.

But I didn’t.

They say that California is passe. That it’s too expensive to live here. That we have Blue Stateitis. Used to be California was a paradise, a Garden of Eden, the final destination. Now, if you pay attention to the media, it’s a disaster.

But it’s not.

Everything cool still starts in California. Can you say TESLA? Can you say APPLE? Can you say BIRD?

Huh, what’s a Bird?

It’s a motorized scooter.

But it’s not one of those RAZRs, it’s not for kids, it’s for adults, and a couple of months ago everywhere you were in Santa Monica you started to see people riding down the sidewalks, as if they were getting their trips for free, as if the sidewalk was the new Disneyland, WHAT WAS GOING ON?

First and foremost, Bird didn’t ask permission. You cannot ask permission in today’s world. You do your business and then you pay the penalty, assuming you’ve got any traction at all. We learned this from Napster. And the funny thing is the violators are the enemy until they’re embraced. They’ll sue you and then befriend you. Kinda strange, but that’s the way it is.

So they litter Bird scooters everywhere. And you can pull up the app and find one, or bump into one, and when you’re ready to ride, you scan the code with your phone and pay a buck plus 15 cents a minute. But this is not a monetary proposition, this is about pushing your own personal envelope, are you ready to take a risk?

Now the one thing you’ll notice is helmets are required but no one ever wears one, even though Bird will send you one for free, FOR FREE I TELL YOU! Because people think they’re immune, it’s the same kind of thinking that has folks refusing to buckle up when they’re close to home, as if that protects them from being injured. You don’t want a brain injury, it’s worse than any broken bone, but since the scooters only go 15 MPH, people somehow think they won’t fall, or that drivers will act responsibly.

Yes, you’re supposed to stay in the road or on the bike lane, but no one ever does, everybody’s on the sidewalk.

And it seems like a novelty until you think… It’s about the last mile. Getting from public transportation to your front door.

Now the new Metro is on the other side of the freeway. And in between it and me is the worst neighborhood in Santa Monica. I’m not gonna walk through it long after dark. But if I could ride a Bird… Of course, I could call an Uber, but if the Bird is just sitting there, waiting, I wouldn’t have to stand alone in the shadows.

Now after launching without permission Bird ultimately paid a six figure fine, but I’d say it was worth it, because of the publicity. Suddenly, those out of the loop are paying attention.

But really, the greatest sales pitch is the scooters themselves.

Now they started a bike rental program in Santa Monica, but the bikes are heavy, they look like industrial products no one would want to ride. Whereas the scooter is incredibly light. And you don’t have to pedal.

So maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s right, trends start in California, and the irony is tech is moving down south from Silicon Valley.

But living is expensive.

And traffic is horrendous.

Yet there’s no place I’d rather be. Where no one’s in your business and you feel like you’re on the cutting edge in a land where you can ski and surf on the very same day.

But you don’t believe that.

Carrie Underwood – The Champion ft. Ludacris – YouTube

Carrie Underwood – The Champion ft. Ludacris – Spotify

Sometimes you can overthink it.

“The Champion” was so busy tying into media, being the anthem for both the Super Bowl and the Olympics, that it missed the mark. The track is nowhere in the Mediabase country chart and although it has 8 million and change Spotify streams, it’s an also-ran on that service.

So what happened?

First and foremost, “The Champion” is a stone cold smash. Very today. A great follow-up to Katy Perry’s “Roar.” But today that’s not enough, you need a push, you need a spotlight.

Country is still driven by radio. Unlike hip-hop, which is driven by the internet. And although Ludacris is featured, he’s long in the tooth in an era where Migos triumphs and Eminem sinks like a stone. And radio is a gatekeeper, it reacts to the label, wanting to know if a track is a priority. It looks for reaction, totes up all the data and THEN adds a cut.

But “The Champion” is not only a country smash, it’s a crossover hit. It should be on Top Forty. But Top Forty is more moribund than a pack of baby boomers, it doesn’t want to mess with the formula, but he not reinventing himself is being left behind. Which is kind of the story of this track, it’s not what you expect, it’s not beholden to country precepts, it’s positively now, with hip-hop influences, but if you’re playing to traditional media like print and TV it’s a long hard slog to the top.

But that push just started.

Now the original video, that opened the Super Bowl, resonates not at all. You can see it here: http://bit.ly/2GSQ5XG Carrie’s all glitzy, there’s an emphasis on football and the essence of the cut is sacrificed, you don’t want to be beholden to the game, you don’t want to be supporting the sport, hell, look at Justin Timberlake, is anybody talking about him since? It’s a fine line doing tie-ins, you think you’re gaining a new audience, but chances are it doesn’t care, you want active users, not looky-loos, you look like you sold out, you look like a joke.

So in this Super Bowl video Carrie looks like the “Idol” winner she is, overdressed and overprimped, a vehicle for a song. I’m not sure who she is appealing to, certainly not the younger generation that drives tracks like this.

But in the clip that dropped today…

Now the Super Bowl video has 550,151 views.

And the lyric video, which was released even earlier, on January 11th, has 6,622,126, not bad if you’re a nobody, a stiff if you’re somebody.

It’s the same song, the one hasn’t even cracked the country Top 40, but now…

In this new clip Carrie is positively down home, dressed in jeans, like you and me, you get to see Ludacris, maybe this is the start of the phenomenon.

However, they broke the cardinal rule of video, YOU NEED TO SEE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN!

And really, once is enough for this clip.

But the song.

It jumped out of the Spotify Hot Country playlist, that’s how I discovered it.

This is not art, this is closer to commerce, but they NAILED IT! If you don’t think this is a hit, you don’t know what a hit IS!

Meanwhile, she drops a video and the word is out, that’s the internet world we now live in, an echo chamber where everybody touts the same facts sans analysis. But this does create awareness.

I’ll be the last one standing
Two hands in the air, I’m a champion
You’ll be looking up at me when it’s over
I live for the battle, I’m a soldier, yeah

Never forget Queen rode this same concept to immortality. Sure, with a touch of irony, but that was back when musicians were still seen as outsiders, before they’d sold out to corporations.

I’ve been working my whole life
And now it’s do or die

That’s how we all feel before we get in the ring, whether it be the test, the gym, the board room… We psyche ourselves up, and nothing inspires us as much as music.

They say that every champion is all about his principles

Inspirational. That’s the essence, the honesty music used to rest upon.

Then again, in this paint-by-number song that doesn’t wholly ring true.

Then again, this is our present world.

So, is Capitol gonna make this a hit?

WE’LL SEE!

P.S. We live in a world of cross-pollination, this is one thing the musical artists have right, country tracks have no problem featuring rappers. Music is bringing us together, it’s leading that way.

“Mike Huckabee Resigns From CMA Foundation Board Following Outcry in Nashville”

If only the Grammys reacted this swiftly to the abomination of their awards show, with the secret committee refusing to nominate the past year’s most successful act, Ed Sheeran and voters refusing to acknowledge hip-hop in the big categories and Neil Portnow’s dis of women.

In a single day, the CMA Foundation backed down.

Illustrating the power of protest in 2018. Illustrating that in many ways Nashville is hipper, more au courant, more in touch with the country than Hollywood.

That’s right, country music is seen as backward, with red-leaning fans. But instantly, the bigwigs of Music City, with everything to lose, stood up to the appointment of Mike Huckabee to the CMA Foundation board.

Huh?

Isn’t this the same guy the right lauds? Who is all over Fox News? Whose daughter is the spokesperson for the President?

This is astounding, from beginning to end.

What we’re seeing here is a silent majority, left-leaning citizens, who are sick and tired of their country being hijacked by right wing fanatics inured to money and power. Used to be no one was paying attention, people thought they could have no impact, but since #MeToo and Parkland the game has been changed. The downtrodden feel power.

Meanwhile, those in power are CLUELESS!

Donald Trump ain’t gonna serve out his term.

Want edification?

Watch the Netflix show:

“Dirty Money” Episode 6 “The Confidence Man”

In it you’ll find the financial trail. After the debacle in Atlantic City, Trump couldn’t raise a dollar from a traditional bank. So he got in bed with nogoodniks, people with shady backgrounds, Russians. Forget Putin’s interference in the election process, turns out Trump has so many skeletons in his closet he could form the Crypt Kicker Five. And when this becomes the main debate, and it will, he’s gonna cave, say he’s sick of the blowback and resign or Republican Congresspeople will say he has to go, that’s how it happened with Nixon.

And who is leading the charge?

THE MEDIA!

Primarily traditional newspapers like the “New York Times” and the “Washington Post,” denigrated by the right wing, ignored by so many, but their stories are defining the dialogue, it’d be like being a hip-hop hater in today’s society, you are the fringe element, not everybody else.

The wheels of justice move slowly. The wheels of D.C. even slower than that.

But in the past two weeks everything is moving ever more quickly.

And it’s all coming from the bottom up instead of the top down.

The CMA Foundation saw it as coup. Right wing politico with a background in music education…

It’s like hiring a rich and powerful abuser. Homey don’t play that no more.

So, you had a backroom appointment that the relatively unknown board thought would pass without scrutiny.

But those days are through.

But at least give the CMA Foundation kudos for backing down.

And I don’t want to hear it’s a witch hunt, and I don’t want to hear it’s McCarthyism, let’s just call it a CORRECTION! Akin to equal rights. Then again, those have been chipped away under the rubric of the whites being penalized. But last I checked we lived in a society, made up of all ethnicities and colors. And the truth, as that comedian once said, we’ve all got an LGBTQ member of our family, sometimes we don’t even know it, but they’re there, and they’re in our schools and our government and they cannot be penalized.

No, you do not have the right to buy an assault rifle at a young age and go shooting willy-nilly. Just like you don’t have the right to get in your car and start smashing into people. But at least you need a license to get behind the wheel.

But the truth here is there’s a moving of the needle.

People are no longer afraid to speak their truth.

That’s what’s great about America, that freedom.

Used to be people were afraid of consequences. But no longer.

And they’re standing up for what the majority believe in. Forget finance, forget government, I’m talking the rank and file, you and me. Sure, some are Trump supporters, some want AR-15s, some love Huckabee…BUT MOST DON’T!

So now music organizations will think twice before backroom dealings that penalize members.

And for one small moment, music is leading again.

Now all we need is one of the acts these protesters manage to take what has heretofore been seen as an uncomfortable, unpopular stand that might hurt their brand but is really truth that most people resonate with.

That’s right, too many acts have played it safe.

But now it’s time for music to catch up. Women and children are leading. WHERE ARE THEIR ANTHEMS?