This site is to share music, video, communicate, not preach… but to share whatever might be on my mind on that day.  I care about the world.  I care about people.  I’m a thinker, probably an over-thinker at times, but studying people, body language, words chosen, media hypocrisy etc.  It’s what makes me a songwriter.  In any event, a thought for the day…

Knowing we’re all human and physically individual with different shapes and sizes, the result of a video capturing a hypothetical UFC fighter bullying and beating a young, scrawny male would evoke strong emotion in us.  We’re simple creatures.  We can clearly see the disadvantage of a 120 lb male vs. a 220 lb, all muscle fighter.  And if that scrawny young male happened to be gay, trans or queer, the results would be written.  The bully would be publicly doxxed, shamed, deplored, forced to apologize then seek counseling.  He’d lose his job wherever he worked and lawsuits would follow.

Yet, in this very same world of news, which really now means ‘shit we captured on video’…  if one man were to be of higher intelligence than another, it’s completely acceptable to call him a moron, shame him for his stupidity and publicly ridicule and humiliate him.

We can agree that nobody should be body-shamed or bullied, while we accept the relentless attack on someone who doesn’t see things the way we do, or is ‘slower’ than another.

I also see scores of memes featuring unknowing citizens, maybe in a Walmart or on the street, dressed in a way that might seem laughable to some, but reveals an out-of-step taste to society, maybe a poverty or drug addicted life, or possibly mental issues.  We laugh as though they’re not real, or as though they’ll never see it.

I sincerely hope we evolve from here.  Kids are growing up with serious challenges.  Anxiety, ADHD, OCD and 101 other disorders already named or unnamed.  Social media is not only a bathroom wall, but it’s become an integral part of our news cycle.  A news anchor sitting behind a desk reporting what someone else tweeted.  This is equivalent to stopping at a 76 station on highway 15 in Baker, California, reading lines written in a bathroom stall and claiming it reflects the town’s attitudes or somehow has some social significance.

Our world, witnessing almost everything in 2D from a television or computer screen has become a toxic and dangerous environment to live in.  A person filmed being rude to an employee is all it takes to go viral, the audience weighing in venemously, with no context as to what happened before the incident.  We’re monkeys flinging feces from the cheap seats.  Something’s gotta give before it breaks.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1148440722997100

In this clip on FB today, Ringo took the words right out of my mouth.  To save you the watch, he was asked by Dan Rather how he managed to stay grounded, being one of the most famous people in the world.  Ringo’s response was that they saw Elvis when they first started, and Elvis had no one.  On the other hand, they had the band at all times, and together would keep each other in line.  If one started acting like a big shot, another just needed to give them that look.  Growing up in Silvis/East Moline was like that.

In essence, this is one of the empty pockets of my life in music.  I grew up in a blue-collar town playing in bands, and had a lot of friends from the same social status who could give each other ‘that look’.  When I got to LA, I continued as a sideman for different artists.  Tried to get a few LA friends to join me in getting a record deal, but they wanted to be paid.  Since there was no money to pay them, it was time to get busy and make it happen on my own, solo.

My gear in a 500 SF single apartment in 1985- A Yamaha acoustic guitar, 1982 Fender Strat, 1968 Fender Bass, Roland TR-707 drum machine, Panasonic boom box and a stereo with cassette deck.

I’d record the electric guitar, drum machine and live vocal to the boom box.  Then take that cassette, slip it in the stereo deck, put a new one in the boom box and record bass and harmony, and/or acoustic gtr.  This is essentially how I was signed to Warner Bros.  There were other more professional tapes too of course, but the song that earned the contract was Walls That Bend, done precisely as above.

After signing, it became painfully aware this was a lonely job.  Decisions for photos, videos, you and a director/photographer.  What’s on the rider?  You decide.  What to wear?  Ask your girlfriend.  Flight to Dallas?  Alone.  Backstage?  Alone.  Meeting with record company where their ideas really don’t match your own?  Be diplomatic, it’s one against 10.  Great review?  Read it to your mom.  Bad review?  Crumble alone.

Today I can look at the past with little to no emotion.  I became a manager for 25 years, so it’s easy to look at my career with a different hat and healthy distance… but it’s plain to see I was never hungry for fame because frankly, it was a lonely gig.  I was born and raised a band guy.

Today I enjoy making records, end of story.  I’m loathe to go to a show.  I find older men walking around with bellies hanging over Les Paul’s unbearable.  If they start doing that 70’s dance-walk thing i’m liable to slit my wrist.  I think the rock & roll culture is antiquated and kind of sad, but much prefer pop artists, young artists, or if they are older, have modified their act with grace and a sound that matches their age.  I just never got in the business to see a bunch of grumpy old men.  McCartney, Clapton, Sting and a few others managed to do it right.  Very few though.  And they were superstars.  Much easier to be forgiven with solid hit songs that were a soundtrack to millions of lives.

Anyway, not to belabor the point but pop music is best right outta the oven.  And for sanity when you’re young, best to be in a band!  In the words of the great Ringo Starr, peace & love ❤️

I’m acquiring a new skillset.  I can often see in someone’s eyes that they are unable to compromise their belief system or indoctrination.  The type who will not only get angry at you for disagreeing, but wish you cancer or death for it.  This is a growing trend in America, and it’s coming more from the hard left than the hard right.  Who, in the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s would have ever believed this possible?

I had people so angry at me for not getting tested or vaxed for Covid, that I lost relationships.  More than one hand.

Now that the vax has been proven ineffective and worse, no one is stepping up or standing up admitting anything.  They’ve simply moved on to another thing to hate 🙂

Know you’re in a cult when corporate America agrees with you.  The conspiracy crowd has no such groupthink.  The only thing we have in common is knowing we’re being lied to.

Releasing a song in the digital world is a new foreign experience… but the fact is i’ve spent enough time in the futile world of developing artists.  Now i’ll invest in promoting my own music, whatever way it seems practical and appropriate.

Which brings me to promoting on YouTube.  We’ll see if it means anything tangible or if it’s just a course in unfulfilled promises and ‘thank you sir here’s your invoice’

I’m hopeful it’s like Spotify in that you’re promoted, even added to playlists in countries you invest in, and those impressions over time result in growing an audience.  I can’t honestly say that’s the case yet, but it’s certainly worth a few solid efforts.

Anyway the single is out, and the climb begins.  For what you say?  I have no idea… but I hope people like it.