Musings from Middle Age #2
March 31, 2025
Musings from Middle Age #2
Culture
Deloitte published its 2025 Digital Media Trends annual report. The report highlights that social video platforms and content creators are becoming increasingly relevant, surpassing high-quality streaming and traditional media providers. On average, consumers spend six hours a day engaging in media and entertainment activities (streaming, music, podcasts, TV, gaming, social media, and user-generated content), and ads on social media influence younger consumers (Gen Z and millennials) twice as much as ads on streaming services. Less than half of consumers have a cable or satellite subscription, down from two-thirds just three years ago. Younger consumers have more affinity with content creators and influencers than with Hollywood actors. All of this is leading to an oncoming disruption in digital media and a battle between Hollywood studios and social media creators.
Sports
MotoGP
I’m not a rabid MotoGP fan, but ever since it came to Austin in 2013 at the Circuit of the Americas, I’ve attended at least one day of the race weekend every year. The crowds are distinctly European as most riders are from Spain, France, or Italy. Since it's not a major sport in the United States, it appears that many Europeans travel to Austin for a more intimate experience. What’s remarkable to me about MotoGP is that the riders are driving motorcycles on a Formula One track at speeds up to 210 MPH, wearing essentially just a padded jacket and overalls over their slight builds. They literally will ride on their elbows at incredible speeds. In my humble opinion, MotoGP riders, second only to Professional Bull Riders, are the toughest athletes in the world. Marc Marquez, the Spanish rider for Ducati, is the unquestionably most popular rider today, with large crowds around him at the paddock. He has won the COTA race seven times and the World Championship six times. When Valentino Rossi –the GOAT of motorcycle racing with seven World Championships- used to ride at COTA, the crowds around his paddock were enormous, often with very aggressive Italian fans trying to get a photo. This year, Marc was leading the race by a wide margin but ultimately crashed out. His younger brother Alex pulled ahead and won and now leads in overall championship points.
Globe Life Field
One of my life goals has been to visit every major league baseball stadium – which I have now completed, thanks to my visit to Globe Life Field this past weekend. I’d give Globe Life mixed reviews. The exterior resembles an office complex. Where we were sitting above the visitors’ bullpen felt like being in the basement of the building.
I’ve now attended an MLB game in forty-six different stadiums plus visited nearly every spring training stadium. I’ve a couple of years before a new stadium in Las Vegas opens, and I may try to make a trip to Sacramento sometime in the next three years to see the A’s in their temporary home. Even though the Rays are playing this year at Steinbrenner Field, their stadium undergoing repairs due to Hurricane Milton, I’ve already been to a game there.
Here, in order, are my top five stadiums: Fenway Park (admittedly biased), Wrigley Field, Oracle Park, PNC Park, and Camden Yards. The worst three are Tropicana Field, Oakland Coliseum, and the new Yankee Stadium (no bias there).
Entertainment
Bill Murray
I didn’t know what to expect when I bought tickets for the Bill Murray and his Blood Brothers show at the historic Paramount Theater on March 25th. I initially thought the band was comprised of Bill and his five brothers, but it turns out the Blood Brothers are actually Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia, two award-winning Blues musicians. The show was quite entertaining. I was half expecting Bill to reenact Nick the Lounge Singer singing the Star Wars theme, but the group is essentially a cover band, playing their blues versions of songs like Little Red Corvette and Austin legend Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Pride and Joy. At times, Bill was relegated to playing the bongos or tambourines while the Blood Brothers took the lead vocalist position. But Bill’s talent really came to the forefront as he led the theatre in a rendition of Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone and then the encore of Stephen Still’s Love the One You're With. Before the show, I had a meet and greet with Bill and the band, which was one of the most efficient VIP experiences I’ve participated in – on time and fast. When I met Bill, I told him we had met on my birthday in 2024 at an event held at Star Hill Ranch, which has been used as a set for some TV shows, replicating a small Texas town. The event was sponsored by some NFT company called Project Venkman, and each of the buildings was set up to honor Bill in some way. Bill came in riding on a horse, and when he dismounted, I had a chance to speak to him briefly. Bill sang a verse of Happy Birthday to me, as did the Spazmatics who provided entertainment for the event.
Business
Ok, I don’t know about you, but I had no idea Napster still existed. The peer-to-peer music file-sharing service was shut down in 2001 following lawsuits from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Metallica over allegations of copyright infringement. Apparently, the brand name and some intellectual property still survived and were passed through various ownership groups, including a period when Best Buy owned it. Tech commerce startup Infinite Reality acquired Napster last week for $ 207 million. According to the AP, Infinite Reality “said it will create virtual 3D spaces that will allow fans to attend concerts and give musicians or labels the ability to sell digital and physical merchandise…Artists will also receive a wider range of metrics and analytics to better understand the behavior of platform users.” Might Infinite Reality be on to something, especially with the Digital Media trends data shared above?
https://www.theinfinitereality.com/news/infinite-reality-acquires-iconic-music-service-napster
Politics
Democratic consulting firm Blue Rose Research released its 2024 election postmortem, revealing some remarkably positive results. First, if everyone eligible in 2024 had voted, Trump would have won by 4.8% instead of the 1.4% of actual voters – a certifiable blowout on the order of 400 electoral votes. Dems have said for years that turnout is their friend; they would have been devastated this past year if everyone voted. Further analysis of the data reveals that the electorate defied Democratic assumptions about its composition. Separating by race and gender, voters under 26 years old voted for Trump by more than 50% in every group (white men, white women, POC men) except one (POC women) -- People who didn’t vote in 2020 but voted in 2024 moved red by 14% (that’s huge). Finally, the #1 issue for voters by stunningly large margins was the cost of living/inflation. When comparing the cost of living to student debt, LGBTQ issues, race relations, income inequality, and other issues, voters chose the cost of living as their #1 concern more than 80% of the time.
Random Musings
I never appreciated how much an actual athlete the singer Alicia Moore AKA P!nk is until I went to a couple of her live shows. Layer on her songwriting and singing and what a unique performer she is. How different would social media be if anonymous posts were not allowed and you had to provide some proof of identity to have an account? I really like the team aspect of LIV Golf (Fireballs and Smash GC are my two top clubs). It's quite similar to Formula One. I’ve spent more time listening to podcasts. The Smartless podcast is always a lot of fun, and I learn something new about the guest each week. This week’s guest was John Lithgow. I did not know he was playing Dumbledore in a reboot of the Harry Potter franchise but for streaming. I’ll highlight other podcasts in the future.
Here's me and Bill:
Great photo of you with your old pal Bill!