Hillary Clinton was 18 in ’65. By ’75 she and the baby boom generation had their grips on the power class of America. Of course good ol’ boys from the oil rich south, or prim & proper Penelope’s from upper east side Manhattan hadn’t moved on yet. They didn’t know their time was up. In fact, they didn’t believe it ever could be.  But…

The educated and entitled (for the times) youth, came.  With cries of freedom, protest songs & riots, hippy love-ins and new ideas for a better life.  A unique inability to see anyone’s side but their own… but it was hard to deny them their anger.  Vietnam was looming like an enemy cloud for anyone to point at and say ‘yeah?  who are you f”ing kidding?’.

The French Film revolution of ’64 influencing the American Film revolution of ’68… Hopper, Peckinpah, Scorsese, Coppola… making Rock Hudson & Doris Day films feel like Kip Winger and Jon Bon Jovi at a Nirvana concert.

Lorne Michaels taking over late night TV after secret threats from Carson and Milton Berle… Johnny went on for some years still, but there are always outliers. Talents, chameleon enough to make it work. The Milty’s and Red Skeltons, well… they were reduced to variety shows the old timers watched. Running on fumes, but it’s really all that was left for them.

The counterculture captured the love and imaginations of the youth and the world. In politics, film, music, TV, fashion and more. They grew their hair, grew their beards, burned draft cards, burned bras, smoked weed, had intellectual arguments… hell one could say they even influenced The Beatles, and they did!

It was a permanent change of the guard. America had been the way it was from post prohibition until this new groovy period, or should I say 35 years to be exact. To hang on any longer to the traditions of their fathers just made no sense. They saw thru it. It had become creepy, glossy, phony, and ‘on the take’. This culture had to go – Bring in the new!

And here we are now. 2025. Hopper directed ‘Easy Rider’ in ’69. Lorne started SNL in ’75. Easy Rider was 56 years ago. SNL, 50.

Is it any wonder we are experiencing change? If then were now, or should I say if now were then, Lorne Michaels and Martin Scorsese would have been red-faced ranting into bullhorns for us to heed the call of the pork-pie hat politics of the 20’s. Rob Reiner would have proclaimed that ‘life was better with real gangsters like Capone, not slick Hollywood mogul types’.  (and he would have been right!) Gloria Steinem would have insisted we hold onto those corsets and undergarments, and never ever let a man see you without your hair in place!

So life is changing. You can feel it. For some, all the better, and others whole-heartedly committed to making it the worst possible experience ever. Nevermind the young girls and women/mothers slain by coyotes and cartels when they had dreamed to have a new life in the promised land of Joe Biden, with torn-down walls and open doors, yet left to survive the run to freedom on their own.  Nevermind the hard working American tax dollars funding one side of the political spectrum under the guise of a thousand different ‘inclusive’ notions.  Forget money laundering to buy homes like jellybeans for our political elite.  The blatant and down right shameful photo-ops at the border.  The pretense that our media was in some ways fair.  The pretense that Hollywood has been in some ways fair.  The notion that any one of these industries produce an ‘artist’ that would ever give up their careers and give it to a non-binary person of color.  No, no… only your job.  Mine takes intelligence and talent that only “I” possess…

Yes, here we are.  Counterculture, give yourself a round of applause, you’ve had a great run.

Now sit down and shut the fuck up.

🙂

In December of ’24 I decided to take my own advice and just remain mostly quiet, listen to others, watch behaviors and try not to judge… and of course enjoy the beauty of each day.  Lots of hour-long walks, dog on leash, railroad tracks and squashed coins for an innocent and free 15 minutes of the day. It’s been a gift to get to know myself these last few years.

Of course I’ve been writing music and recording new records as well.  I’ll be releasing some things very soon.

Many changes in friendships, family, and acquaintances too.  It’s not something I chose, really.  More a choice that was impossible not to make given the circumstances.  To walk away is a healthy step when you respect yourself more than some around you, regardless of how many years, blood ties etc.  To be pulled into a game of accepting bad behavior, codependency, manipulation and being used… if our fears prevent us from walking from this, then we’re willing to accept their definition of us over our own.

That coupled with all the research done about how the world really works has led to, first, a lot more questions… but also a kind of dark night of the soul, meaning a complete displacement of the planet earth, the people in it, and possibly even the God we pray to.

On the other side however, is a room you can’t see from the matrix.  A kind of rebirth.  A new awakening.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a boastful statement about how I’ve arrived!  I doubt we ever actually do achieve this, but the reward in seeing the other side of ‘dark night’ is a new lack of need for much.  The lack of fucks to give, acceptance, the need to win, the embarrassment of defeat, to shine, to be praised, to be right or wrong. It’s fleeting and ego driven.  It’s actually quite meaningless unless it brings joy.  Of course there are pragmatics, like food, accommodations etc.  But beyond the obvious, most of it’s for display.

I notice conversations differently.  ‘So what do you do?…  Oh really, wow … where do you live… amazing!’

Ha.  We interview people to see if they can be of any use to us.  It’s not a horrible thing, just maybe in LA it’s a bit more blatant and obvious.

Politically speaking, everyone has an opinion.  Most of these opinions are formed from a voice coming out of a screen, sharing ‘news’ with you that you generally believe.  Then you go spitting nails into your little social media platform and ‘damn right i guess all my peoples feel served now!’

No, actually you just lost 20% of your friends.

I have one thing to say about politics.  Whoever ends chemtrails gets my belief they have our best interest and health in mind.  Until then, I’m going to like some things a lot, dislike other things, and keep one eye open.

For now I just wanted to greet those of you kind enough to subscribe, and let you know in the next week or so we’re going to pick 5 winners for a signed EP of ‘In Plain Sight’, and a small satchel with 3 coins that I personally flattened on California railroad tracks.  It’s my way of sharing some of my joy, both in music and in personal times.

Very best to all,

Love, Jude

Collecting guitars is overrated.

I fell into the trap of this collector mentality about 25 years ago.  My old assistant Jenn penned a phrase.  Whenever we got a new guitar she’d say ‘you boys and your Hot Wheels’…

For me it began in the early days of having a dream to possess all the instruments I ever wanted.  This is back when I had a single electric, single acoustic, single drum machine, in a single apartment… and oh yeah, I was single!

But all this time later, I wish I’d have made a single guitar my own.  Like f’ing SRV.  Like BB.  Jimi, Jimmy, Keith, Bruce, Bo Diddley, Alvin Lee, i’m just thinking off the top of my head, but there are more.  Rory!  ha.

Collecting things like cars and guitars, you gotta house ’em.  You gotta care for them too.  Keep them strung, tuned, in temperature controlled environments.  But beyond all that, they become a little like jelly beans.  All of them are good, but not one stands out.

I bet cars are this way too.  Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld have hundreds of cars.  They all need to be started, gassed, oiled, replacement gassed after 6 months, driven, stored… I mean if you’re rich enough I guess, but it still sounds like one major pain in the ass to me.  I’d rather just go and enjoy a car show at the local park on any given Sunday.  Even go to a dealer’s showroom and test drive it.  That’s about how long you will enjoy one of your 100 cars.

Anyway, the signature you create by becoming one with your main axe, a tool, but one you have perfected… is meaningful!

And it’s like Jeff Porcaro used to say about all the new digital toys coming out one after the other… he’d pause with comedic timing and go “… so… got any tunes?”

We have 2 winners! 

Winner of the autographed ‘A View From 3rd Street’ LP is: RocknWalkn

Winner of ‘Start The Car’ CD in long box: Rockfan

Congratulations to you both! Please PM this website with your address so we can get these out right away.  Rockfan, please let us know if you want the long box autographed or sealed.  Sealed has it’s own merits and to autograph would would mean is has to be opened.

Until the next one… Cheers all!

Let’s face it, it’s an eyesore.  Not to mention, it represents a lazy, ‘Wall-E’ kind of society and should come with it’s very own sleep pod so you can nestle in, watch your binge-worthy streams and eat a half pound of potato chips and dip.

Flat screen TV’s were once the rage.  They sold mounts that connected to studs and got larger and heavier and larger and more vivid, to the point now where it’s like… what do you want a drive-in?  Get a VR headset for cryin’ out loud!

Much like digital synthesis and recording, we were so proud of ourselves that it was even possible that we abandoned all that was glorious about the greatness of analog music.

Then the bit-rate wars began, and what started with analog 5 and 8 bit samples eventually got to a place where it’s so digitally good it’s actually kind of not good…or should I say so good that now everyone prefers 8 bit analog samples again, or a dithered simulation of this.  The highest quality digital sample available today is 3072, and the only thing I can imagine using that kind of sampling for is if you’re trying to duplicate an old analog recording, hoping to capture the essence of a better era for sound!

Mostly, we don’t need to hear a laboratory clean record.  We don’t need every bit of noise removed from music.  There’s generally so much racket going on in a live or studio performance from the drum kit shaking, drummer grunting to time, amp hisses & hums and a plethora of other things… it makes a nice kind of soup our ears understand.  We’re not cyborgs.

A Helmet Newton photo is so much more pleasing on the eyes from his innate skill and 35mm camera than one of the mega-pixel images that come in every phone that show the close-up pores of your skin, nose hair, even magnifying parts of your face and body you didn’t know was a problem.

After visiting many open houses and spending at least a half hour each evening on sites like realtor.com and zillow, that ominous black rectangle hanging on the wall not only ruins the picture, but represents a lazy, spoiled society of large, overweight children.

A few years ago when I had a Jeep I stumbled onto something that really cheered up my drive.  It was an AM station that played 60’s and 70’s music in LA called K-Surf.  Turning down the bass a bit, turning the fade up to front-only speakers, and listening to The Beatles in mono was magnificent, and the way it was intended.  It’s the appropriate amount of volume for that small a space.  It even got to where I looked forward to my drives just to experience music this way again.  Then of course they turned the station into an all classical format and like… well of course LA, because you must destroy everything I like!

I think TV’s are the same.  We had it right in the 60’s and 70’s.  It should take up a proper amount of space in your room, like a bread basket.  It should be a device we use, not one we live for.  Personally I watch shows on my laptop now and that screen suits me to the point where I don’t have TV’s in any of the bedrooms anymore.

Furthermore, my son talked me into buying an 85″ Samsung smart TV.  I bought it, had them place it in my living room, got the sound bar to enjoy a more cinema-type experience, and was set.  For the next year I’d walk into the living room and curse the ugliness of that albatross against the wall.

Last week I got rid of it and have replaced it with a very portable 32″ model that can be set on a stand and rolled around for viewing convenience.  It feels 1000 percent better in this room now.  There’s something more serene about the room as well.  A certain peace.

This is just an opinion/observation based on my own taste… but I believe a backtracking in the arena of brainwashing is necessary!
Cheers- Jude