Catfish & the Bottlemen
One of Spotify’s predicted Stars of 2015
MONEY
We’re impressed when you make it, and continue to make it. The more zeros the better.
CONTINUITY
Momentary blips are not stars, they’re comets. If you don’t last, especially in today’s overloaded, evanescent world, you’re irrelevant.
DO IT YOURSELF
Screw the millennial teamwork/group construct. We want to see individuals triumph, it’s the American Way.
CHARISMA
Necessary in art. You must have that something extra that intrigues us.
ORIGINALITY
If you’re not pushing the envelope, you’re not interesting.
AURORA
Another Spotify 2015 Star
SMART
Is attractive. It’s the essence of the digital world. Dumb is unappealing.
CONFIDENCE
If you don’t believe in yourself, how can we believe in you?
ELUSIVENESS
There must be something we don’t know, that keeps us thinking, coming back, wondering who you really are.
Houndmouth
A Spotify 2015 Star
BEAUTY
Is not only external. It’s about being attractive, emanating an essence that is irresistible, that one cannot get anywhere else.
SKIN DEEP
Those who are only external are not stars. They call those people models. They might be famous, but don’t equate fame with stardom, sometimes the two go together, sometimes they don’t. The guy who shoots up the workplace is famous, but he’s not a star. Sorry for the metaphor, but you must realize it’s not about doing anything to make it, but the right thing.
Børns A Spotify 2015 Pick
HOT AIR
We live in a substance culture. If there’s no bedrock to what you’re saying, don’t talk.
MULTIPLE TIMES
Once is not enough. Stars do it again and again and again. And they do it different. What came before does not necessarily predict what will be next.
COMPETITION
There is none. Stars are sui generis. There’s no one like them. Which is why we’re drawn to them.
Pell
a 2015 Spotify Pick
BACKBONE
Stars say no, only amateurs always say yes. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. And don’t be afraid to let people know you won’t do it.
RULE BOOK
There is none. If you’re not creating your own rules, you’re not a star, you’re just a figment in someone else’s constellation, your light can be dimmed by them.
TALENT
You’ve got to have some, but what it is is up for grabs in today’s world. Then again, don’t equate momentary, no-talent performers with a modicum of fame to stars. Just because the media writes about some YouTube or Vine performer who kids are attracted to, don’t believe that person is a star. Chances are they’re on a lark and it won’t last. Stars walk off into the wilderness and keep going and we wake up at some point and start chasing/following them, astounded that they refuse to do it like everybody else and are dropping fascinating crumbs along the way.
hm… well… i know (and don’t care) that i’m showing my age, but after reading this the only band i know came to mind that embodied all of the above as defined by lefsetz: The Beatles.
oh, yeah, yeah, yeah… i know there are others, many others in fact. however, there is not one new artist that leaps to mind.
Radiohead.
Tiny Tim.
Seriously, Tiny Tim?
Roger Naber and I attended his funeral and partied with his fam in Minneapolis.
He did have his moments, but…
OK. The Shaggs.
noooo…..not them!!
the band jj walker started afte his comedy career hit rock bottom.
how can whoever this lefty dude write about stardom when no one knows who the
heck he is…
seriously …that’s like me writing about nuclear bombs.
and speaking of bombs hearne…this is another major bomb by one ofyour
writers.
wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwww.
does this guy maybe take steroids or hgh or want to be a woman. That’s
the only hope this dude has of being a star …maybe!
Get a clue, Harley…
Leftsetz is a HIGHLY respected entertainment lawyer and columnist.
Stars, they come and go, they come fast, they come slow
They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze
And all you see is glory
But those who’ve seen it all
Live all their lives in sad cafes and music halls
We always have a story
So if you don’t lose patience with my fumbling around
I’ll come up singing for you even when I’m down
John David Kalodner was writing concert reviews for The Philadelphia Inquirer when I first met him. He based most of his reviews of shows he saw at 874 Lancaster Ave. in Bryn Mawr, PA on whether the waitresses responded to his strange, philandering attempts to pick them up.
Which begs the Hunter Thompson quote, “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.
There’s also a negative side.”
HST never disappoints.