No songwriter in history ever had to compete with Brahms, The Beatles, James Brown, and Beyoncé all at the same time until now. Because we all have easy, instant access to every song ever recorded, and that also means every new song released now walks into a room already packed with all the best and worst music ever, and has to earn its place right next to it.All this is new. Every new song used to enter a world with a short memory. Now it enters a world with a perfect one. That’s why new music doesn’t hit the way it used to. The competition has never been harsher. What do you think about new music? Do you connect to it as well as you do to older songs? The Daily Note with James A. Brown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Recent editions:Yogurt‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesOne Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

Nobody budgets for a long emergency. You budget for gas at roughly what it was last month, and you’ve got a number in your head for what a week or month costs. And then the president goes to war, and that plan goes out the window.And you adjust. Quietly, without telling anyone. Because you’re not the kind of person who complains about gas prices. You just don’t do one or two or three things this month that you did last month. That’s thirty or forty extra dollars a month or week. Manageable, maybe.And that’s if you’re fortunate. But if your margins were already thin, you can’t just tweak a thing or two. Each cut hurts, especially now. Yes, gas is up, and a lot. But so is food and car insurance, blow after blow after blow. Because the thing about living on the margins, and I know a thing or two about living on the margins, is that it’s always a multi-front war, one that you can’t budget for. So America, welcome to life on the margins. Here’s hoping we won’t be there long.The Daily Note with James A. Brown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Recent editions:Yogurt‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesOne Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

 Every May, someone stands at a podium and tells 22-year-olds to “follow their passions,” and everyone cheers, and nobody mentions the tens or hundreds of thousands in debt waiting for them in the parking lot. The Daily Note with James A. Brown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.“Follow your passion” is beautiful advice if you can afford it. But most graduates can’t, and they’re walking into a market that wants experience they don’t have and knows AI doesn’t want vacations or health insurance. So these kids take the first job they can get, and that passion talk becomes a nice memory from a day when they wore a funny hat. Now, I’m not against passion. The Daily Note is a passion project. I just prefer honesty. Something like, “Find something you’re good at that someone will pay you for,” would suffice.Recent editions:Yogurt‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesOne Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

 Steven Wright is a stand-up comedian who has spent more than five decades mastering the deadpan one-liner.He’s told thousands of jokes, but there’s one I can’t stop thinking about. He once said, “I intend to live forever. So far, so good.” And recently, I realized why this one sticks with me. I think it’s because it describes how most people approach their lives. The Daily Note with James A. Brown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.We’re just out here, planning to keep going, with good intentions. So far, so good. Or at least I do, most of the time. What about you, and what do you think about this? And do you wanna live forever, too?Recent editions:Yogurt‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesOne Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

 I went to Wegmans. It's one of the grocery stores in my neck of the woods. I found myself stopping and staring at the checkout lines and the aisles. I always find them curious. But this time, I had a moment of clarity about it all, or about us. I realized that we don't just shop, we compete. The Daily Note with James A. Brown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.We scan the aisles for slow walkers, estimating the number of items in the carts ahead of us, watching the cashier's hands while we decide which lane to pick, or at least I do.Shopping isn't just an activity. It's a weird, common, stressful sport. I wish there were trophies. What do you think? Am I wrong here? And what's your shopping strategy?Recent editions:Recent editions:Yogurt‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesOne Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

Hi everybody,First of all, my apologies, I haven’t sent as many emails as normal. I’ve been very busy working on the next iterations of this program and on a brand-new project that will premiere on this site on Monday. It’s called a short, daily history program called American Rewind. I could write it all down, but I think this one you oughta listen to if you can. In just a little over a week, we’ve been cleared on 17 stations with about five or six others who say they’re considering adding us in the coming weeks. That’s a strong sign. That audio trailer is above and below.The Daily Note in the morning, American Rewind in the afternoon. I’ve also been working on a video version of the Daily Note: I’m rolling out video soon! I’m hoping to be back on a regular schedule on Monday. Thanks for your patience!JamesThe Daily Note with James A. Brown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

There's a chart making the rounds that just feels like common sense.It's census data saying that red states grew their child population by 7% since the year 2000.The obvious read here is tribal, and yes, we're extremely polarized.But that's only part of the picture.Even the conservative think tank that made the chart agrees with that.The Institute for Family Studies says this is more about affordability and housing than politics.And of course, they're right.When a starter home costs half as much in Nashville as it does in San Francisco, a young family starts googling and eventually loads a U-Haul, no matter what their politics are.And if blue states don't fix housing and affordability, they won't fix their population drain anytime soon.Recent editions:Advice I’d Give My Kids SomedayYogurtThe Wrong Four Things‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesHow often do you eat alone?One Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

So apparently, ChatGPT picked up a verbal tic after an update. Mentions of goblins jumped 175%.The company traced it back to a personality option called "nerdy" that rewarded the bot for being playful.They eventually retired the nerdy setting, but the goblins kept coming.So they had to write code telling the bot to never bring up creatures unless somebody asked for them—which I find pretty funny.Here's the smartest people on the planet—or so they think—telling a machine to stop talking about made-up creatures unless we ask for them. Which we won't.Recent editions:Advice I’d Give My Kids SomedayYogurtThe Wrong Four Things‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesHow often do you eat alone?One Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available.Source: Where the goblins came from This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

Walk down any street where potholes are patched, graffiti gets painted over, and streetlights work.Then walk down a street where none of that happens.You feel the difference immediately because a maintained street says someone cares about this place, and a rough street says no one's looking here.Order signals competence, and disorder signals abandonment.The message you send with neglect is louder than any single policy.It says we gave up on this place, and anyone who comes through there feels it, whether they want to or not.Recent editions:Advice I’d Give My Kids SomedayYogurtThe Wrong Four Things‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesHow often do you eat alone?One Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe

Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most successful comedians in history, and I once heard a story about him that I rely on to keep doing this show every day.A young comedian approached him and asked him his secret to his success.Seinfeld said, " Get a big wall calendar and a red marker.Write material each day,” he said, “And then put a big X on that day.And after a few days, you’ve got a chain.And then your only job is to not break that chain.That’s it. No inspiration required. No waiting on the right mood.Just put another X on the wall next to the other X’s.It’s the most boring advice in the world. It’s also the most useful.What’s the most boring piece of advice you’ve received?Recent editions:Advice I’d Give My Kids SomedayYogurtThe Wrong Four Things‘No Elon’ Sticker at Costco and What It Says About How We Buy Things NowMichael B. Jordan and a sea of phonesHow often do you eat alone?One Canceled Dinner at a TimeWhat Happens When America’s Small-Business Owners Retire?Americans Are Buying Half the Movie Tickets They Used ToAre We Surrounded by Bad People?The Politicians Never PayThe best conversations are two-way streets. I want to hear from you.* Email: [email protected]* Call or Text: (585) 371-8865* Leave a Voice Memo: thedailynote.net/contactP.S. I tell stories on radio stations and online five days a week. You can find them on Substack, Apple, Spotify, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and wherever podcasts are available. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com/subscribe