who is Bob Lefsetz?

I wish ILM weren’t in the middle of a “slow period” right now... I feel like having a good dust-up over something trivial.

morrisp, I keep meaning to mention this. it's 'Reba'.

👍, 🐸

Bob's favorite theme is that we no longer have shared cultural points of contact in which we all take pleasure and from which we're able to draw lessons that help us in our walk through life, but then every time this thread wakes up, our communal joy is palpable

Baseball is not only no longer the national pastime, it's certifiably NICHE!

Nothing catches fire anymore.

Unless it’s Notre Dame Cathedral.

Or to put it another way, we haven’t had that spirit here since 2012, with “Gangnam Style.”

It's always subtle at first. And then you know what's happening.

But they didn't. I said it. EARTHQUAKE!

What’s Bob’s take on the Swift/Braun thing? Didn’t he (semi-)famously dis Taylor back in the day?

I hope we never find out.

Bob was incredibly mad about Taylor Swift not having her music on streaming

She named her album Red after he told her about Joni’s Blue iirc

What the left doesn't realize is it's established a line, a third-rail, on so many subjects, that those not in the club of the offended are scratching their heads and saying HUH?

There are so many words, so many descriptions, that you cannot say.

There are so many protected minorities.

And this is how the left gets in trouble.

hmm

There are so many words, so many descriptions, that you cannot say.

i always wish statements like this could be met with a request that they plainly list the words and phrases that they wish to say but no longer can

the a word
the b word
the c word
etc.

old man yells, etc

there are so many clouds you can't yell at these days!

back in the 60s people cared about music, passion, authenticity and saying the n-word freely

Every time I see this thread revived I'm hoping its because he said something so obnoxious that he managed to cancel himself.

Just because someone's an African-American, does that mean they didn't do it?

Couldn't find that quote, but

And thereafter “Lay Your Hands On Me” was a success, but eventually Joe Leeway left, not that we were ever sure what he contributed, and Tom and Alannah Currie moved to Australia and transmogrified into Babble and…

Fuck off back to Jamaica, Bob.

Bob has seen the future and it’s electronic pop whatever act Odesza:

I can't go to see the oldsters anymore. I saw them when they were coming up, on the reunion tour and then the one after that...do I really want to relive the past that badly?

Of course there are exceptions, more than a few, but I just don't understand how the boomers can go year after year to see the same acts perform the same songs over and over again. I hunger for the new.

But what is hyped is crap and the rest of the scene is incomprehensible, loaded with wannabes crying for attention, to the point you give up.

But I stumbled on to ODESZA and last night I finally saw them.

It was an experience.

This is unfathomable to boomers. To them, it was all about the music, and only the music.

To Gen-X, music was a party, more about being a member of the club than what was happening on stage.

What is the appropriate music for today's generation, glued to its smartphones, with the world at its fingertips?

Something that cannot be replicated elsewhere, something that demands your attention, something that melds the past with the present, the analog with the digital in an amalgamation akin to a cyborg.

Now there were 18,000 people there. Sold out. And they're going to repeat the process tonight. And would do it again if they could get the venue.

And most people had no idea it was happening.

That's the modern world in a nutshell. Used to be you knew every act in town, there were never two stars on the same night, now you don't even know when a superstar is playing, even if you're a fan!

But somehow a coterie of people know, it's important to them and they go, even if you may be clueless.[/i ]

To Gen-X, music was a party, more about being a member of the club than what was happening on stage.

f you, Bob

I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member.

— I think Kurt Cobain said that. “I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours”; the guy from “Singles” said that.

do I really want to relive the past that badly?

Yes, yes you do, Bob.

Not to rag on Odesza, who never asked for Bob’s affections, but the “alternative” radio station that recently came to my market that’s basically the rock hits of the late 90’s + Imagine Dragons counts Odesza as one of the few EDM acts they’re willing to play and I find that pretty unsurprising. They’re not bad but they’re very, very Apple Commercial and Lefsetz counting them along his personal list of young turks feels very on-brand.

If you’re interested, though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGdn_UzdF5A

Apropos of not much, here's a Lefsetzism popping up on Twitter via Chris Stein:

Bob Lefsetz @Lefsetz:
"Pelosi and her pals are like a Silicon Valley outfit that never releases its product. It's so busy getting it right that it can never come out."

— chris stein (@chrissteinplays) July 28, 2019

leftsetz ...otm

What’s that supposed to mean? The 116th Congress has passed a lot of bills, you can see them here.

— I think Kurt Cobain said that. “I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours”; the guy from “Singles” said that.

― the last Berry La Croix in the work fridge (morrisp), Saturday, July 27, 2019 8:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i don’t know but i been told
odesza records are going gold.
i ask you how things could get much worse:
if you hear about them from lefsetz first.
wowee
pretty scary

Talk to any big time music exec. Talent is abundant, but is the act a STAR? Don't forget they call it show BUSINESS, which means it's all about selling, and if people don't buy, you're toast.

To progressives, Obama was a disappointment. He was a centrist in an era of tribalism, one could even call it extremism. On his watch, Democrats lost tons of governorships and state legislatures. Sure, he's a dignified man, sure, he's an African-American, BUT THAT'S NOT ENOUGH!

Lionizing Obama is like saying the Backstreet Boys are inviolate, can't be criticized, because the era they triumphed in was good financially. Hell, let's add in 'N Sync while we're at it, didn't they sell in excess of two million CDs in a week? That's right, let's go back to not only CDs, but Nickelodeon, Hummers, all the "great" stuff that existed at the turn of the century.

Are you listening to this new Tool album?

I can't turn it off!

I started listening to the Lefsetz Podcast again, having only made it through a couple episodes previously. Listened to Waddy Wachtel and it was pretty great, although I was a little creeped out that Wachtel had a deep, gravely voice when he looks like he should have a nasal, nerdy one. So I went on to George Drakoulias and it was likewise a great interview! So I moved on to Grace Slick.

...

I didn't count the number of creepy lines of inquiry about her sex life and relationships, but believe me we really didn't get any of that with Drakoulias. She seemed happy to answer them, but come on.

Then I moved on to Linda Perry. About 15 minutes into Linda's interview she asks something like "wait - what are you doing here?" Meaning, Hollywood/the music business. And Lefsetz launches into a 10 minute spiel about his entire life story. He did this during one of the guys' interviews too, but it was deep into the interview, like well over the hour mark and it felt natural in the flow of conversation. So I've had to take a little breather on the Perry episode

This hoser gets guests like Grace Slick and Linda Perry on his podcast?

He's had a ton of guests on who I really want to hear interviews with. It's quite a mix of old studio musicians, producers, songwriters, execs, managers, and artists. People from Shirley Manson to Seymour Stein to Aerosmith's producer Jack Douglas to Gilberto Gil.

At this moment, the highest charting Taylor Swift song is "Lover," with a downward arrow, at #28. On the Spotify chart, of course. Forget "Billboard," it's just a way for the ancients to feel good about themselves. That's right, "Billboard" is like D.C., seen as behind the times, irrelevant and powerless. The chartmakers check with the labels before they make any changes, meanwhile, life goes on all around without them.

lover sold 679,000 in its first week--you don't think maybe that some people are listening to their purchased copy as opposed to listening to the same album on spotify? and in the industry's fucked-up calculus, 1 sale is as valuable as 1,500 streams.

Is he still creeping on Taylor after all this time?

There was a bin right in front of the store, and therein one day I saw the Cars' debut LP.

It turned me off. If you don't put yourself on the cover...

And I wasn't turned on by the woman in the picture, maybe she just wasn't my type, this did not look like a serious band, and then I heard them.

That's the stuff.

ugh

"Artist Andy Warhol is credited with saying that in the future, everyone would be world-famous for 15 minutes. The world has changed considerably in the 50 years since he allegedly made this prediction. Hockney, who has outlived his contemporary by more than three decades, has surveyed today’s cultural landscape and has arrived at a different conclusion.

‘In the future, probably nobody is going to be famous,’ he asserts. The mass media has become atomized, he says; information sources are becoming niche. Celebrity was, he says, a creation of the once-omnipotent mass media. Now global fame of the Warholian vision will elude most limelight seekers, he predicts: ‘People will become famous locally.'”

I tell my shrink this all the time.

the pacing of mundanities here reminded me of stephen king a lil

So I woke up early and went to the ArcLight for the 11:15 show.

Now I left my parking ticket in the car. I realized this as I got out of the elevator on the first floor. You see I’d been scrounging for my energy bars in my automobile and forgot all about the parking ticket, which you need, otherwise you’re going to get charged up the yin-yang.

And on the way back up I got off on the wrong floor. You see the stairs were closed for repairs. And I started to get antsy, was I gonna miss part of the movie? I’m like Woody Allen, I’ve got to start at the beginning, otherwise I’m convinced I’ve missed something.

Then I see people who are obviously going to the ArcLight. So I put it in high gear, I don’t want to wait in line for a ticket. I pass people on the escalators, and I ran up to the counter just before a woman and her two little kids and purchased my ducat and immediately went to the bathroom. That’s right, I’m old, what are the odds I can sit through a three hour picture without peeing? Pretty low.

Actually, I’d had nothing to drink in the morning, I was prepared.

And when I entered the theatre, a big one, #1, I saw the usual beshirted usher ready to give the ArcLight rap. But she didn’t, because I was the only person in the theatre. She said when big movies open, sometimes they start ’em at 9 AM and nobody is there, so this wasn’t the biggest surprise to her, but it was to me.

So I’d picked one seat from center, so I moved over.

And then I realized I was looking up ever so slightly, so I went to the row behind, and then the sound was a bit softer, so I went back to the prior row. I know, it’s OCD, but really, the lower row was better. And I’m constantly checking my pockets to make sure I’ve got all my gear. And it’s then that I realize…

I’ve lost my wallet.

Oh boy. You mean I killed myself to get here on time and now I’m gonna miss some of the movie to look? Hell, maybe I’ll just wait until the end, someone will turn it in, but will I be calm during the show?

No.

There are only two trailers at the ArcLight. At least that used to be the pitch, I haven’t been in a long time, I haven’t been in eons, because it’s just too much of a hassle. I plan, and then when I’m there I wish I wasn’t, my mind can’t slow down.

So I’m standing by the exit, waiting to see… AND THERE’S A THIRD TRAILER!

I rush out to the ticket-taker, has anybody turned in a wallet?

No. But he said lost and found was handled by the concession.

So I walked over and interrupted a man pulling popcorn, but he didn’t have it either.

I went to the bathroom.

Gone.

And now I’m starting to flip. Forget the money, it’s the credit cards and IDs I’m worried about.

And the trailer is still going, so I whip out the flashlight on my iPhone and look for said wallet beneath the seats in my row and the row behind.

No go, it’s not there.

Now I’m starting to freak, this doesn’t add up, so I retrace my steps from the first of my rows to the second, and on the edge of the concrete, in the row behind, there it is.

So, I could be calm during the film.

There are only two trailers at the ArcLight. At least that used to be the pitch, I haven’t been in a long time, I haven’t been in eons,

I’ve never known this to be the case, at least not in the ~15 yrs. that I’ve been going to the Arclight.

a tour de force

(There are no commercials and other extraneous junk before the actual trailers; that’s the “pitch.”)

skipping over the contemplation of gender politics triggered by once upon a time in hollywood, i found this endearing

So I came home and fired up my browser and went to services online, at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple. I’d like to tell you I didn’t surf the web while I was watching, but I’d be lying, and the truth is I rarely paid attention at the temple anyway.

But you’ve got to see this.

Fire up your browser and go to:

Wilshire Boulevard Temple

And then fast-forward to 1:38, that’s one hour and thirty eight minutes. And hang in there until…THEY START TO BLOW THE SHOFAR!

It’ll blow your mind. We just used to have little horns akin to Daniel Boone’s gunpowder carrier. But these rams horns…

Check it out.

That movie theater story is positively Knausgaard-ian.

I saw the usual beshirted usher

shirtless usher pretty common actually

https://media.tmz.com/2013/10/09/1009-usher-landsacpe-1200x630.jpg