Being like Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga in a modern world.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga sing "The Lady is a tramp."

Call me a futurist, if a futurist is defined as being someone who sees the future decline of everything. Except Tony Bennett of course. Bennett seems to be one of the greatest role models in the world of entertainment the world has seen this century. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPAmDULCVrU

Maybe we are still a decade away from the end of traditional publishing. Maybe the world has gone to hell in a lot of ways, but when you hear a guy as old as Bennett doing a duet with a lady like Lady Gaga, suddenly tramps can look endearing. Because, I don't know about you, but esprit de corps is the best pick-me-up in the medicine cabinet.

Books may be the last remnant of literature to disappear from modern society. But newspapers and magazines are having their swan songs. The publishing industry is only one of many things that are changing at dizzying rates.

The packaging of products in stores with printed cardboard, paper, and plastic, will go on forever. There will probably always be a need for printing presses, whether the presses are run by robots or human beings. Beyond technology, not much has changed in the concept of printing since the 15^th Century. Ink is still put on a substrate. People generally are into the tactile aspect of books, but the junk mail that clogs mailboxes is going the way of the dinosaurs. Why print or mail an ad, when a banner ad can be designed for nothing and sent worldwide in two seconds to everyone who uses, for example, your rubber ducky? Ad agencies quickly adapted to the new digital age, but lots of people lost their jobs during the transition of the late 1990s.

Plastic is where the future lies. Your clothes are made of it, you drink mostly from plastic containers. The trick is to not become plastic. We are a throw-away society, but we are trying to keep from making ourselves, and a few other living creatures, from going extinct. Less newsprint paper is good. It will spare a few more trees. But what will the world look like without major newspapers on newsstands or newspapers lying on the front lawns, or porches of America? Newspapers are, after all, as American as corn-dogs. The answer: Not so different, and certainly more instantaneous. 

The shift to digital should not scare us; it has been going on for twenty years. If we were iguanas we'd have moved to Galapagos by now and learned to swim, or if we were Galapagos finches we'd have grown a new beak for cracking seeds. Older reporters are a lot like these creatures. Reporters, or anyone in their forties, fifties, or even early sixties, will find new niches to fill. It may get bloody, because the competition is extreme, but there is a plethora of online publications, or traditional book publishers to investigate for jobs. It's a dog eat dog world, complaining isn't going to slow technology. But don't let me stop you if you. Text your complaints to Bill Gates. Use the bling app you downloaded to decorate your text.

Losing a job feels like death to a lot of older workers. If you are one of them, don't reach for the cyanide capsule. Yeah, there is age bias in the world. Western society is not as appreciative of the wisdom of older workers as Japan or China. So move there if you want. Musicians and sports heroes get older too; everyone gets older. But grow some, you know what, and get on with your life. Tony Bennett got older, and he didn't let that stop him. Think how tired that man's prostate is. That's chutzpah! We have to adapt, and readjust our point of views and goals. We have to become chameleons. We have to find ourselves and be content with what is inevitable. Giving up is not an option.

The technological publishing shift came close to home this past week. My elder brother was laid off from the Oregonian. In total, the Oregonian laid off over 100 workers, as a sort of exclamation point from 2012’s layoffs that cleared half the newsroom. My brother was among thirty-five reporters, photographers and other staff members, according to the Willamette Week, which obtained a letter sent to employees from publisher N. Christian Anderson III. Strangers and friends donated $3,500 to a bar tab at a Portland restaurant where many of those who lost their jobs gathered Thursday evening.

But can we blame the Oregonian management? No; what they did is simply react to seeing a bowling ball rolling down the lane, about to knock down their pins. They adapted; they wanted to survive. It’s Darwin’s Law.

People in the know who study the reasons for things going asunder, have prognosticated about the decline of newspapers for several years. The loss of income, due to falling advertising revenues, is the cause of the decline. Why then have other advertising driven publication, such as high and low end fashion and gossip magazines, continued to thrive? 

http://bradleywilsononline.net/from-bradley/newspapers-will-cease-to-exist-by-2050-data-shows

It is due to our gladiator culture. We demand entertainment. There is nothing juicier than gossip, and seemingly no end to the appetite of the voyeuristic public.  In the future, will we  carry around giant flat screens mounted on our necks? Will the screens be called NewsPad or GossipPads? Will Apple's iPads disappear along with the company? Who knows? Life is a gamble. Hold on. Get your techno implants if you want. I'm not going to, but I'm a rebel with a cause. I didn't think the world would still be here when I got older, but I was wrong.

The manufacturers of the ultra-thin screens run a lot of ads on TV. They know what is going on, and they’ve invested billions in being ready when things go awry in the publishing world. Well, maybe ‘awry’ is too strong a term. Let’s say, when things change. When things get more mucked up with gadgetry. I will not be hypnotized! I just want to be an old singer like Tony Bennett. is that asking too much? Will you sing a duet with me when I am old?

http://www.phonearena.com/news/The-Daily-iPad-newspaper-ceases-to-exist_id37244

But let's get back to Tony Bennett for a minute. Here is a man who has declared he will never retire. For his 85^th birthday, in 2011, he decided to do duets with singers he likes. Released in September of that year, it included many well-known singers, including Sheryl Crow, Lady Gaga, Marc Anthony, John Mayer, and a host of others.  Bennett loves singing, and music loves company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVQEysBM404 

Crow's advice is to “Be present, in the moment.” That is good advice for everyone who has something they love to do. You give it your best shot. Being true to yourself is what this new brave world should be all about. That’s an old school value that has endured humanity’s technology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duets_II_(Tony_Bennett_album)

And there is this one too. OMG, there are so many people he's sung with. I'm agog.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/tony-bennett-duets-ii/about-the-program/1223/

So get out there and be present, and in the moment, and who knows, you may find the path you were meant to be on. I am sure my brother and his wife will find their footing somehow, because, whatever happens because of the changes in the world, if you stop and think about it, you will be right where you belong. You just have to be willing to adapt.