Once again, David Geffen has eclipsed the fame of the talent he midwived into the public consciousness.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe because he’s more of a rock star than all of the singers, songwriters, movie directors and screenwriters he’s given a helping hand to.\u00c2\u00a0 This guy made all the money himself, his way, and he’s beholden to no one.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S a rock star.\u00c2\u00a0 Not some chump who does what his handlers tell him to, never mind sells his soul to Madison Avenue.<\/p>\n
David Geffen started out with very little.\u00c2\u00a0 His mother made bras and his father barely worked.\u00c2\u00a0 He wanted to make something of himself.\u00c2\u00a0 And how did he do this?\u00c2\u00a0 By LYING!<\/p>\n
Yes, he said he graduated from UCLA so he could get a talent agency job, but it was a fabrication.\u00c2\u00a0 But what do you learn in school anyway?\u00c2\u00a0 The street is where lessons come to life.\u00c2\u00a0 Doubt me?\u00c2\u00a0 Then ask for financial advice from a doctor.\u00c2\u00a0 Or relationship insight from a corporate lawyer.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas David Geffen, the ultimate confidante, is skilled in both of these spheres, and is legendary for prescient, reasonable advice with regard thereto.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s a lonely life, always serving others.<\/p>\n
Really.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’ve got an ego, it’s hard to remain the faceless man behind the star, the little woman behind the successful man.\u00c2\u00a0 Take a look at Clive Davis, for example.\u00c2\u00a0 He’d have you believing there wouldn’t BE a record business without him.\u00c2\u00a0 Casual music fans might actually think he writes and produces the music himself!<\/p>\n
But Mr. Davis plays on a small stage.\u00c2\u00a0 And his efforts have no lasting appeal.\u00c2\u00a0 Whitney Houston?\u00c2\u00a0 Her records have about as much of a chance of being remembered a hundred years from now as those of the 1910 Fruitgum Company.<\/p>\n
Mr. Geffen’s charges have a better chance at longevity than those of Mr. Davis’.\u00c2\u00a0 They probably WILL be playing Eagles songs in the twenty second century.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Geffen won’t be around to hear them.\u00c2\u00a0 No, David Geffen isn’t about legacy, but now.\u00c2\u00a0 He wants a hand in the inner workings of SOCIETY today.\u00c2\u00a0 Art is one thing.\u00c2\u00a0 Real estate another.\u00c2\u00a0 But the big kahuna for those wanting to leave their imprint is politics.\u00c2\u00a0 David Geffen wanted to play in the political world.<\/p>\n
They say that politics is show business for ugly people.\u00c2\u00a0 And it is.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you’re ugly, you have to develop all your other talents, your skills, in order to triumph.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, politicians are more duplicitous, and sleazier, than ANY entertainer, never mind the kingmakers who put them in the public eye.\u00c2\u00a0 And politicians truly answer to the public.\u00c2\u00a0 There are elections.\u00c2\u00a0 If the next Justin Timberlake CD fails, Sony BMG does not go out of business.\u00c2\u00a0 Get bounced from your Senate seat, and suddenly you’re irrelevant, like Tom Daschle.<\/p>\n
Now if Geffen had a sense of history he’d see that not only the Allman Brothers, but their manager Phil Walden was forgotten by Jimmy Carter once he took office.\u00c2\u00a0 They were a means to an end.\u00c2\u00a0 A necessary means.\u00c2\u00a0 One can argue strongly that without the help of these two entities, Carter’s Presidential campaign would not have gotten off the ground.\u00c2\u00a0 But once you’re President, do you want to hang out with drug-addicted musicians?\u00c2\u00a0 Never mind their shady manager?<\/p>\n
But Geffen believed he was different.\u00c2\u00a0 He was no cracker from the south.\u00c2\u00a0 He was brilliant.\u00c2\u00a0 And in the end, he got his way.\u00c2\u00a0 So when David Geffen threw his weight behind the Clinton campaign, he felt he’d ride the Arkansan’s victory all the way from Malibu to D.C.\u00c2\u00a0 And he did.\u00c2\u00a0 But in a very minor way.\u00c2\u00a0 He got to sleep in the White House.\u00c2\u00a0 But David Geffen, for all his money, for all his support, got almost nothing.\u00c2\u00a0 He got the President’s ear, but he received no power.\u00c2\u00a0 He was a Friend Of Bill.\u00c2\u00a0 And one can argue that David Geffen has no friends, he’s not about friends, he’s about POWER!<\/p>\n
So David Geffen seethed.\u00c2\u00a0 Privately.\u00c2\u00a0 Waiting for his chance to pounce again.\u00c2\u00a0 And last week he got it.<\/p>\n
I’m not sure if David Geffen has derailed Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean really, who reads the "New York Times"?\u00c2\u00a0 The country only cares about Anna Nicole Smith, all the time.\u00c2\u00a0 But he truly has created the political brouhaha of the year.\u00c2\u00a0 Within which Maureen Dowd was complicit.<\/p>\n
Maureen Dowd.\u00c2\u00a0 She knocks one out of the park every once in a while.\u00c2\u00a0 But she loves to go girly, speaking of her friends and clothing.\u00c2\u00a0 But worse, she likes to do an east coast take on west coast business.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, Maureen Dowd fancies herself a TV authority.\u00c2\u00a0 She comes out to Pasadena for the introduction of new shows.\u00c2\u00a0 She figures since she watches TV, she’s an expert!<\/p>\n
Well, five year olds watch TV, are THEY experts?<\/p>\n
In other words, Maureen Dowd doesn’t know how the game is played, she’s got no EXPERTISE!\u00c2\u00a0 She gave David Geffen an open forum, not realizing where he was coming from and what he wanted to accomplish.\u00c2\u00a0 David Geffen charmed and manipulated Maureen Dowd and she had NO IDEA!\u00c2\u00a0 She just thought she had a scoop, and was thrilled to evidence her access.<\/p>\n
They don’t give you access unless they want something.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s Entertainment Business 101.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not really your friend, they’re not doing you a favor, they’re serving THEIR OWN NEEDS!<\/p>\n
Why in hell was Maureen Dowd unaware of Geffen’s goals?\u00c2\u00a0 Which were not so much about the political landscape but RETRIBUTION!\u00c2\u00a0 For the Clintons’, pardon my French, fucking him in the ass.<\/p>\n
Oh, don’t make a gay joke.\u00c2\u00a0 Nobody wants to get laid by anybody not of their choosing, and they don’t want the act to take place unless they’ve given their permission.\u00c2\u00a0 The Clintons screwed David Geffen just like they screwed a million people on the way to the top.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like Madonna screwed so many people, literally and figuratively, on her way to the top.\u00c2\u00a0 JUST LIKE DAVID GEFFEN SCREWED SO MANY PEOPLE ON HIS WAY TO THE TOP!<\/p>\n
But despite all appearances, David Geffen never wanted to retire.\u00c2\u00a0 He always wanted to have a hand in the game.\u00c2\u00a0 He kept up relationships.\u00c2\u00a0 NO ONE had fucked him this badly since Universal sold out to Matsushita and kept him out of the loop.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t fuck with David Geffen.\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t know this, you just don’t know the man.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s a kingmaker, you need his permission, or else you incur his wrath.\u00c2\u00a0 And with his network of friends, and favors owed, he can block your progress, your career, your life, in a way that’s WORSE than Hollywood legend.<\/p>\n
But the Clintons didn’t care.\u00c2\u00a0 Politics is a blood sport.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about the end result.\u00c2\u00a0 Geffen lorded nothing over them in the future, so they didn’t have to deliver for him after Bill got elected the second time.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, they paid lip service to David, but that’s all.\u00c2\u00a0 So Geffen FUMED!<\/p>\n
But is this story in the media?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you read this story in the "New York Times"?\u00c2\u00a0 See it analyzed on TV?\u00c2\u00a0 OF COURSE NOT!\u00c2\u00a0 Because those reporting are just not savvy enough, nor informed enough, to know what’s really going on.\u00c2\u00a0 They pontificate, but with no knowledge of history.\u00c2\u00a0 And everything they know about David Geffen they read, they don’t share mutual friends, they don’t call up Irving Azoff for insight, WHICH IRVING WON’T GIVE THEM ANYWAY!<\/p>\n
Chalk one up for David Geffen.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s back.<\/p>\n
Oh, Clive Calder might have eclipsed his success in the record business.\u00c2\u00a0 And Paramount may own DreamWorks.\u00c2\u00a0 But it was never about the business entities, but HIM!\u00c2\u00a0 Geffen has manipulated the press and they don’t even realize it!<\/p>\n
But can Geffen beat the Clintons?<\/p>\n
Highly doubtful.\u00c2\u00a0 Because although Hillary can come across as brusque, Bill is a charmer whose skills trump Geffen’s.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’re playing in their arena, not David’s.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s politics.\u00c2\u00a0 And no matter how well you read the papers, you can’t make up for experience.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’ve got it, not Barack Obama.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, they’re every bit as smart as Geffen, and educated to boot.<\/p>\n
Yes, it’s a war between the east coast intellectuals and the west coast entertainment nabobs.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s being fought on the home field of the east coasters.\u00c2\u00a0 Can Geffen win?\u00c2\u00a0 Of course not.\u00c2\u00a0 Can he create enough trouble, enough diversion, to impact the outcome?<\/p>\n
Well, a streaker never changed the outcome of a football game.<\/p>\n
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