How did they do this?

We haven’t had this spirit here since 2001, when Jimmy Iovine used his network of superstars to present a televised concert that was roadblocked on all channels and evidenced the gravitas and grief we were all feeling while at the same time giving us hope.

But that was sixteen years ago.

A lot has happened in the interim. The internet was supposed to kill the music business, disincentivize anybody to produce, little did we know just the opposite would come true, that everybody would produce and we’d be overloaded with music and that streaming/on demand would win and the sound everybody would want to hear is hip-hop and pop, in that order. Not that the old farts like it. They’re still clinging to their CDs and their downloads, still carping that the album is the thing and they want to jet back to yesteryear but a generation even younger than the millennials doesn’t care. I’m not saying that music drives the culture the same way it did way back when, but I am saying it touches today’s fans dramatically and they go nowhere without it, it’s always in the background.

But the scene is fractured. There’s the youth market and chaos.

And believe me, the youth know the game. They’re the anti-oldsters, they’re producing all the time, uploading to YouTube, making Snapchat Stories, and putting out singles, knowing that you live and die on the track.

And showing up and putting on this amazing concert in Manchester seemingly minutes since the tragedy, just a night after another tragedy. America was staying home, scared witless back in 2001, like a terrorist was gonna come knock on their front door, but in Manchester the same people who went to the ill-fated show showed up again. Because they know life is for the living. And once you kowtow to the forces, once you run scared, you’ve already lost.

I winced when I heard Bieber invoke the name of God. Isn’t that how we got into this mess? Have we learned nothing in hundreds of years? Can we leave the deity out of it? But no one ever accused pop stars of being smart.

But you’ve got to give credit to Scooter Braun, he’s very smart, he pulled this thing off.

Oldsters say no. Oldsters are about the money. Oldsters are scared.

But Scooter and his team made it happen, just that fast.

Oldsters would have canceled after last night’s shenanigans. Oldsters wouldn’t have even committed. But no one flaked, everybody did their duty and the crowd loved it, what an INSPIRATION!

Not that everybody in America was aware, because we were praying to our true deity, sports, the NBA Finals took precedence. This show should have been roadblocked on every channel, just like in 2001, because contrary to our nitwit President we live in the age of globalization. Our pop stars are their pop stars and vice versa, we’re all in it together, but somehow America thinks it can go it alone.

It can’t.

Just like cities, states and corporations have committed to meeting the Paris climate standards on their own, these pop stars stood up for not only their art, but the American Way. You know what the American Way is? FREEDOM! Freedom to make your music and sing it and perform it and have others enjoy it, unfettered by hatred. And they might have terrorists in the U.K., but it’s America that is the land of hatred, where we cannot accept our brother, where we keep pointing our finger at perceived enemies, the immigrant, the person of color, the one with the different faith and I’m not saying the U.K. is completely absent these elements but we here are a couple of years and a couple of changes behind their society, they’ve been dealing with immigration and terrorism for years, but they soldier on.

If only we could have a concert like this in the U.S.

If only we could have a nationally televised event like Glastonbury.

If only we could rally around our music instead of arguing that others have the wrong taste. We’re a nation of exclusion instead of inclusion, and One Love was just that, about LOVE!

It’s the only way to keep us together.

And I could criticize the acts and the performances but that would be missing the point.

The point is these people showed up. They were unafraid, both onstage and off. They showed that nothing can stop our music, our love of the arts, our need to celebrate our unity.

This was not an old wave enterprise with a multi-month lead-up, with hype in every publication and faux interviews and all the detritus that detracts. No, there was an announcement just days before, the excitement never died down, it percolated and then built. No one was out of the loop. Because the word was spread online, those who truly cared found out, that’s how it is in the new game, marketing is ineffective. Which is why young stars release their work unannounced. Which is why young stars are accessible online. Which is why young stars resonate with their audience, they’re AVAILABLE!

You could learn something from today’s extravaganza.

Like where there’s a will there’s a way.

And people will step up for a cause.

And it’s not the baby boomers’ business anymore, the millennials have taken over, with a different ethos, one of honesty instead of duplicity, one of can-do as opposed to can-not, one of knowing when to charge and when not to, knowing that money is not everything, but image, credibility and the MUSIC are key!

There was no victory lap, only music.

Well done.

Kudos.

Is based on revealing your personal information, being an open book, detailing not only your wins, but your losses, your imperfections, this is what bonds people to you.

But just like the internet flipped the script for music, turning a model of scarcity into plentitude, the makers cannot see this distinct change.

It’s not that Kim Kardashian is famous for nothing, she may have no talent in the traditional sense, but she’s got a life, she’s got a story, and she keeps telling it again and and again, the public has not been able to get enough of it, until recently, when ratings for “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” started to fade, but she struck when the iron was hot, with a videogame, with brand extensions, she’s the new model.

Of course if you’re Adele, this model does not apply.

But how many Adeles are there? ONE!

And it’s not so different for the movie business, where the actors were two-dimensional to begin with. Movies, when done right, are larger than life, music, when done right, is life itself, but neither have been doing it right recently. And for years, publicists in the film business have kept publications at bay, negotiated for covers, kept certain topics out of print. But that’s anathema now, when performers go on Howard Stern and talk about their sex life and then the word is spread all over the internet.

This is a sea change. We no longer want to look up to you, we want to know you’re just like us, but with a bit more success!

Who can relate to the faceless acts populating the hit parade? Of course prepubescent girls align, but they’re a limited population, and if you can make bank appealing to them, good for you, but you’re leaving so much money on the table. What we want are artists we can all relate to, who are revealing their warts.

Now don’t confuse this with a “Parade” magazine profile. We don’t want to know now that you have a new project you’re pushing that you have two kids who are doing great in school and you love everybody, that don’t play no more. You’ve got to say you take Ambien to go to sleep. Because you’re up all night helping your kid with their homework that is beyond your limits. That you cheated at math to get through high school and your child has ADD. Suddenly, you’re a media star. And all this is unnecessary if you’re great, but almost no one is anymore. Before, it was enough to run the gauntlet to get a record deal, with limited product you got exposure on radio and in print, you got a leg up. But now you’re not only competing with hundreds of thousands of projects, you’re competing with the history of recorded music, all available online!

And don’t pooh-pooh this approach, it’s really no different than it was in the old days, when you were a bar band, a regional act. You weren’t good enough to make it on the national stage, but you had fans, who schlepped your equipment, who gossiped about you, who thought you were the beez kneez. Now it’s the middling acts who fulfill this role, own who you are! You’re not a superstar, you’re a vehicle for your fans’ fulfillment, give them what they want, YOUR LIFE!

TV has figured this out. With endless dramas about real life. Tons of reality shows. Sure, the movie studios are trying to appeal to kids and those who don’t speak English by making high concept superhero films, but the joke is on them, those franchises are stumbling, people want something they can sink their teeth into.

So when you read about the YouTube stars, the winners on Snapchat and Instagram, don’t laugh at them, THEY’RE SMARTER THAN YOU! THEY’VE FIGURED IT ALL OUT! You watch these clips, look at these pictures and don’t get it, you don’t see their talent.

But you do see their humanity! You get a peek into their lives.

EMULATE THEM!

P.S. This is why fans are addicted to the Taylor Swift/Katy Perry feud. Hell, Katy’s decision to tell the truth about it, the genesis on Carpool Karaoke, was far more interesting than her new track, although it does make you want to listen to hear the diss (don’t bother, it’s not worth it). But when the public sees squeaky clean Taylor Swift on the losing end of battle, they can’t get enough. Funnily enough, this is how TS won to begin with, by opening up her heart in her country songs, before she decided she was Teflon and only barked back. But she’s got it wrong, you own your flaws, you fall on your own sword, and then people embrace you MORE!

Forgotten Songs Playlist

“Don and Dewey”
It’s A Beautiful Day

Most famous for “White Bird” off their initial LP, the second album, “Marrying Maiden,” has been lost to the sands of time. It’s A Beautiful Day played my college and my friend ran into guitarist Hal Wagenet, who he took up to his dorm room and we all hung with. Hal was sipping from a bottle of apricot brandy, which my friend saved, but alas, has that Rhinoceros song, which accompanied so many racetrack ads on FM radio, been forgotten? I don’t think so.

“Tattler”
Ry Cooder

A reworking of the Washington Phillips song “You Can’t Stop A Tattler,” this is from Ry’s 1974 LP “Paradise and Lunch,” a complete return to form after the moribund “Boomer’s Story.” I prefer “Into The Purple Valley,” but it and “Paradise And Lunch” are Ry’s two best LPs. The irony is Ry is a twenty first century artist. Of course we knew his name back then, I bought the LPs, but he never broke through, today nobody breaks through and if he started now he’d be embraced by a coterie who would not stop testifying about him. Strange world we live in, where if you stop clamoring for worldwide success, if you do what you do best and play small ball, you can succeed.

P.S. Of course Linda Ronstadt covered this on her 1976 LP “Hasten Down The Wind,” but you only seem to hear her upbeat remakes of classic tracks on the radio anymore.

“Memo From Turner”
Mick Jagger

From the “Performance” soundtrack, I include this because it features Ry’s exquisite slide playing. But not being on a Stones LP, this track has been lost to the sands of time. This is when Jagger used to manipulate each and every word, before he started shouting verses to the back row of the stadium, this is about as understated as he gets, except for ballads, which is why it’s so magical.

True fans still wonder if you were at the Coke convention back in ’65.

“Family Affair”
Sly & The Family Stone

Of course this was a monster hit, and people trumpet the importance of “There’s A Riot Goin’ On” all the time, but not being a hit in the sixties and being so dark it’s somehow slipped through the cracks.

“One Toke Over The Line”
Brewer & Shipley

And speaking of tracks that were hits that seem to have been forgotten… This was an anthem when marijuana was illegal, stunning that it hasn’t been resuscitated since dope has come above ground.

“If You Wanna Get To Heaven”
Ozark Mountain Daredevils

And since we’re talking about forgotten midwest rockers, I might as well include this, which is a great driving song, a great track when you’re stoned and want to lock into a groove. The rest of the LP was nowhere near as good as this, I know, I bought it, but this is in the pocket, great.

“Rubber Bullets”
10cc

The best Brian Wilson track of the seventies, AND HE DIDN’T WRITE IT!

This is the cut that built 10cc’s reputation, but it was not a hit here, only across the pond, but word was spread throughout the rock press and if you purchased the initial LP you were mesmerized by the hooks and the humor.

“It’s A Long Way There”
The Little River Band

I still remember where I heard this track for the very first time. I’d just gotten on the 405 at Wilshire, was gridlocked in traffic waiting to switch to the 10 to drive for a 9 am class at law school and it emanated through the speakers of my 2002 via KLOS. This is a masterpiece, completely different from the hits the band ultimately had, when they were seen as being closer to Air Supply than rock. If you’re a fan of seventies rock, and that era is now pooh-poohed, you’ll be stunned by this nearly nine minute cut that lags not a bit, that sets your mind free and makes you feel good all at the same time.

“Day Of Change”
Lee Michaels

Did you see that Frosty passed?

Yes, it was a two man act, Lee Michaels on keyboards and Frosty on drums, until Frosty was canned and Michaels went on to have a hit and decide he wanted to play the guitar and ultimately ended up a restaurateur.

Now this track was never famous. I was gonna include “What Now America,” the most known track from the album “Barrel,” his best, my favorite, but whenever I go back to that LP, which I do on a regular basis, “Day Of Change” is the song that resonates.

Yesterday I saw her
Now she won’t see me
Yesterday I helped her
Now she won’t help me

So I think I’ll call it a day of change
Think I’ll call it a day of change
Think I’ll call it a day…
Of change

Women move on, guys are lost. They mope in their beer about what they lost, how great she is, even though they bitched about her when they were together, they burn their friends out on the story and then they end up alone, at home, staring at all four walls until they realize, it’s time to accept their fate, it’s time to move on, it’s time to change.

Michaels’s vocal is impassioned, more optimistic than resigned, but somehow both, but it’s the changes and the organ overflows that seal the deal, I LOVE THIS!

“Angel Come Home”
The Beach Boys

From their best seventies LP, “L.A. (Light Album),” which is most famous for its dreadful disco remake of “Here Comes The Night” and the opening winner “Good Timin’,” this is the best track on the LP, the one that still resonates, it’s not written by Dennis Wilson, but it features everything his legend is built upon, the rough-edged vocal of someone who’s lived… This will get under your skin and will never leave your body.

“Move Over”
Janis Joplin

From her posthumous album, “Pearl,” which sounds dated because of the dry production, but Joplin’s impassioned vocal sustains. Funny how Janis was ripped for oversinging but by today’s standards she’s positively restrained.

“Life Goes On”
The Kinks

From before they became an arena act, from the first Arista album, when they still played the Santa Monica Civic every year but put aside the musical plays. Now and again you still hear “Jukebox Music” from “Sleepwalker,” but it’s this closer that resonates lyrically. Only Ray Davies could make a song about suicide optimistic. From a different era, when we were troubled by our problems, before everybody exuded success. Can you imagine going on Instagram and saying this is a photo of me depressed and I’m looking for a sponsorship from Lexapro? And I love that Ray didn’t anglicize the lyrics, he hadn’t SETTLED his bill!

“Chili Dog”
One Man Dog

From the last album produced by Peter Asher, it had a hit track in “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” but the LP was so much more than that, especially the second side, where the songs all ran together in a suite like the second side of “Abbey Road,” and you can’t overlook the duet with Linda Ronstadt on “One Morning In May” and “Mescalito” into “Dance,” but the song I want to hear most is the one I wrote off as more of a novelty back then.

You get old, and if you survive, only your hits remain. And JT can still sell a lot of tickets, but it would be so great if he did complete albums on tour, I don’t think it would work, unless it was “Sweet Baby James,” people pays their money to hear the hits and are impatient, but I’d love to hear all of “One Man Dog,” but there are a number of live takes of “Chili Dog” out there, albeit not on Spotify, and there’s even more humor in those iterations, this’ll put a smile upon your face.

“Carolina Day”
Livingston Taylor

People clamored for everything Taylor, they eventually got both Kate and Alex, but Livingston had the most success, especially with this, the opening cut on side two of his debut.

“King Harvest (Has Surely Come)”
The Band

The buzz was about the initial LP, with “The Weight,” but the follow-up had the big radio track “Up On Cripple Creek,” and it’s even better, the best the band ever did. But it was the album cuts that sealed the deal, none no more than this, the closer, which I was turned on to in Brad Weston’s playroom, I had to buy the album after that, from an era where getting it right was more important than getting it to the top of the chart.

“Spring Is Here”
Wendy Waldman

Yes, it finally is. We’ve been experiencing June gloom for weeks in L.A., where summer is delayed, where it’s hot in the fall when the leaves are turning and the temperature is dropping elsewhere, and it still is spring, it won’t really be summer until the end of the month. Through the magic of Spotify you can hear this instantly today, but for years Wendy Waldman’s third album was out of print and unavailable, you could only sing the songs in your head, the disc I listened to was lost in a divorce, and then through the magic of Napster, everything from the past was unearthed, it all reappeared, I downloaded this and put it on my Rio and literally danced in my front yard.

“Liar”
Argent

And I think this was the first track I downloaded from Napster, you occasionally hear the Three Dog Night cover, but you never hear this, never ever, it’s dark and penetrating, with Russ Ballard’s vocal and Rod Argent’s stylings and if you don’t think this is an understated classic you were never a rock fan, you’re a popster, and if so, that’s all right, but sometimes the two merge, find common ground, you get a brief ditty that’s so good it’s undeniable.

Like this.

Like all of the above tracks.

It’s terrible.

Robin Wright is superb, Kevin Spacey is believable in every role he plays, he’s America’s greatest actor, not Meryl Streep, but they can only do so much with the material, which is underwritten and confusing and concerns a plot point that we’re not interested in.

How did this HAPPEN?

The loss of showrunner Beau Willimon.

It’s like when your favorite act stops working with their hit producer, but even worse, because Willimon wrote, HOC was his baby, and now I don’t even know if I can finish the season.

The point being one individual makes a difference.

Willimon launched the franchise, and no one cares about it as much as he does. No one else has the vision. No one else is willing to push for clarity and excellence. Kinda like the endless sequels in the movie theatre, the franchise is not enough. Hell, how many sequels are better than the original? I can only count one, “Godfather II,” after that…

And you may disagree, but that’s not the point, I don’t want to get into an argument over movie trivia, I just want to say we live in a world of individuals, and individuals make a difference. Kind of like Aziz Ansari and “Master Of None.” It’s his vision, his voice, he cares, which is what makes the series so good. Sure, he occasionally fails, but everybody who reaches for the brass ring does. But when he succeeds, the episode wherein he delineates multiple Thanksgivings at his gay friend’s house, from her revelation that she is gay to her family’s ultimate acceptance of this fact (and her girlfriend!), is pure genius. We’re all imperfect, most even have prejudices, but we overcome them.

At least that’s what art tells us. And art rules the universe.

You might think it’s corporations, zeros and ones. But isn’t it interesting that with all its money Silicon Valley can’t get content right. Oh, they can buy it, and they can steal it, they just can’t make it. How many bucks has YouTube blown trying to create compelling television…

Some people have it and some people don’t.

And even though those without it, and the mediocrities and the sellouts, the compromisers, are constantly clamoring for attention, we know the real thing when we experience it, it touches our heart, titillates our brain, and we hope it never ends and we tell everybody about it, because it’s rare and we live for these moments.

I can live without “House Of Cards.”

But I can’t wait for Beau Willimon’s next production.

Close me once, prove your genius once, or over four seasons in Willimon’s case, and I’m a believer, I’ll give you many chances to fail, because when you ring my bell I never forget it.

And I’m looking to have my bell rung.

We all are.