Remember the Al Pacino film and true story ‘Serpico’?  The entire NYPD precinct was on the take and took no prisoners.  They’d perform shakedowns, gun drops, whatever it took to frame and punish anyone not willing to go along, even another cop.  Frank Serpico, a rookie, joins the force as an undercover officer, learns of the corruption and has a moment of self debate.  His conclusion was to fight.  He took a bullet and almost lost his life, but he couldn’t live with himself to go along with the mob.

I think this is the moment we realize… The world can’t work like this.

I recently wrote something about P. Diddy on FB and took it down.  I understand that a certain percentage of people are living in the 2 dimensional world of cable and mainstream news.  Rachel, Sean, Joe & Mika, all the late night hosts.  There’s really no debating with it.  You either wake from it or you don’t.  It’s like having a choice of eating homemade pie and ice cream with organic and fresh ingredients, but seeing half the public choose Skittles, because the wrapper.  To some it means professional and not poison- when in truth it’s just the opposite.

Julian Assange recently spoke at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.  In his speech, he reveals crimes, intimidations, political corruption and attempts on his life and family… and he names names.  After 10 years of imprisonment and torture, this is a kind of tenacious and mental ferocity most of us aren’t comfortable with.  It’s not Skittles.  He spoke about Mike Pompeo and the CIA.  I strongly suggest you listen to or read his speech.  He’s not only the bravest of the brave, but he’s an honest man.  He understands the world can’t work like this.  His life is but a mere blip compared to the billions who will follow him and what they may have to endure if life keeps on this way.

So when I hear about the latest findings in the house of P. Diddy, followed by things like ‘Hollywood is going down!’ or ‘This house of cards is going to fall’ … that’s not names.  It’s like saying ‘It’s the globalists!’.   Yes, it is… but who?  If you don’t know who, then you might as well say ‘It’s the boogeymen!’.  Assange tried to warn us of a code these creeps were using, but it included the beloved Barack Obama and the public just wouldn’t have it.

After decades of this Oz, I’ve grown literally nauseous of words like ‘investigation’, ‘special council’, ‘congressional hearing’ etc.  It’s a straight up dog & pony show.  We get to hear a duplicitous politician like Lindsay Graham go before TV cameras and sound off, like he’s really doing something about it.  Elliot Spitzer I think it was… he grilled the wireless network executives about 5G towers years ago, and had they done any research at all as to the harmful effects of these radioactive devices located now on every other city block.  The answer was no, and that was that.  Nothing. Poof. Over.

So excuse me if I’ve lost my patience for hearing about things like baby oil and dildos, J Lo and Ben etc.  I want criminals to pay for their crimes.  Hey let’s start with Mike Pompeo!

My father was pretty religious.  A Catholic.  I was raised that way and give a lot of credit to Catholic teachings for a lot of reasons.  Yet honestly if there were a saint with a scroll at the end of my life, judging if I were a good Catholic or a bad one, uh…

In the early 80’s, my girlfriend introduced me to Scientology, and so I went with that for a few years.  Turns out they wanted me to hit up my parents to mortgage their home to pay them for auditing.  That was the end of Scientology.  But what I did glean out of the many books and courses in 3 years proved to shape my stronger side today.

Buddhism is not something I’ve ever really practiced, but have flirted with reading about.  Learning some of it’s teachings as well as the Tao.  So much wisdom and things to use in daily life here.

Hinduism same.  I love what they teach about Reincarnation, Karma, Sanskars.  It’s helped me heal from betrayal and so many other negative acts, where honestly other faiths failed.

Eckhart Tolle and practicing the Power Of Now has been invaluable for 18 years now.  Learning how to be present is finding joy.  You can honestly be happier in silence, sitting among trees and wildlife than any fancy car or home in the world.  Not easy, but with practice it comes into view, much like an autostereogram, if you remember those.

Anyway, my dad had a saying.  When things weren’t going my way he’d often say ‘well Jude, sometimes God says no’.  And that always stuck with me.  Sometimes God says no, or he’s like an usher that holds you back from entering a club about to go up in flames.  In my older age it’s been key to listen to that subtle voice.  Some call it God, some the universe, premonition, instinct, gut feeling, whatever.  We all have it, but the lower the vibration we are, the farther from it we become, thus hardest to act on.

So in the past there’ve been many things said about my music career like ‘the man was cheated’.  ‘most underrated and under appreciated’… things like that.  And while I honestly do appreciate the sentiments and know they come from the best place, the truth is that my life couldn’t have worked out better on the professional front.  I feel like the hand of God, universe, all the above put an arm out and prevented me from entering that rock star velvet rope club that today is literally up in flames.  It’s never really been attractive to me, but now less than ever.  The things one has to do, especially as a female to ‘make it’ are appalling.  Katy Perry’s latest VMA performance is a perfect example.  She’s not coming up with these concepts on her own.  She’s answering to someone.  She’s being handled.  Like many before her have said, the top stars have handlers.  MK Ultra is all about this.  No thank you.

If you watch the lyric video for ‘New Universe’ you’ll notice there’s an extra eye at the bottom of the screen every time there’s a single eye in the center.  That’s because the ‘one eye’ sign is a huge symbolic devotion to the cult.  You can look these things up for yourself.  This is not me spitballing.  There’s a cool site called vigilantcitizen.com where music and entertainment are the main focus, and how indoctrinated into satanic and illuminati symbolism the creators, artists and video directors are to this cult, and how the line forms around the block… meaning millions want in, but only a handful are chosen.  It’s a Studio 54 in it’s heyday, where the bouncer cherry picks the look that fits the agenda of the club.

In most cases, you show early signs of success with your art, then the club comes knocking, almost never the other way around.  And I know this sounds crazy.  I honestly don’t even want to believe it.  But after many years of digging, research, and being enough involved to have a panoramic view, all roads lead to a spiritual crossroads.  Robert Johnson pun intended.

So this last week I had a kind of major computer problem and had to buy a new machine.  A tech friend who helps me with these matters said it’s best not to do a migration as you may end up transferring the problem over to the new guy.  Consequently I’ve spent each day trying to get every app, instrument and plugin installed from the distributor website to my new studio computer.  !!! 

I honestly wouldn’t wish this on anyone.  For this A.D.D. brain i’m ready to punch the sky when I walk out of here each evening.

I hope to be back soon, and congrats to… drumroll… of all people Dr. Tom Ebalo for winning a signed “View” vinyl on YouTube!

Next contest will be a Start The Car poster, rolled and signed.

Best to all-

Much Love,
Jude

From the opening piano, stumbling gently down the stairs of time like a sad old barfly… “Funny How Time Slips Away”, the George Jones 2005 masterpiece encapsulates everything signature about the old, authentic Nashville.

Ever love a song for years then realize you have no idea what they’re singing about?

Some songs can bring us to tears.  Some make us want to fight, get romantic, or maybe tell a story.  A lot of lyrics these days are like a dox.  He cheated on me!  She’s a gold digger!  Personal, universal, gender power, inner struggles, outer struggles… lots of angles.

Then there’s Donald Fagen.  He’s in his own sandbox at the far corner of the playground.  Nobody can really tell what he’s building over there, but with black rimmed glasses taped on one side, button up shirt with pencil in pocket,  topping his creation off with a 1/2 pint of milk and pyramid made of cheese slices from the cafeteria… tada!  pure gold!

“I.G.Y.” stands for International Geophysical Year, and is the first track from his 1982 LP “The Nightfly”.

A four chord Fender Rhodes beginning with swirling electric piano notes and 2& plucks, like a cheap sci-fi alien aircraft cruising in from another planet to an immediately infectious jazzy/reggae influenced groove… enter the horn section to a down modulation and first verse.  One thing is clear with Steely Dan and Fagen alike, they sound like no one else, ever.

Even McCartney, likely the greatest songwriter of our time shows influence.  We can hear a mixture of 50’s rock & roll & British skiffle music with even more musical references to the 20’s.  I’m not a theologian of Beatle bibles, but would bet young Paul had exposure to much 20’s era music growing up.

With Fagen you just can’t tell.  We know he loves Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles… and it’s evident his jazz influences are greater than his pop… but what pop did he listen to?  There’s no Beatles, no Stones here.  No Hendrix or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  There’s R&B, but how rare for a jazz/R&B lover to have this much pop success when it appears he didn’t really listen to or even care for the genre?

His drum and percussion tracks are always perfectly recorded, perfectly in the pocket, even isolated.  Ringo’s like that.  Check out a solo Beatle track sometime and you can feel the song even before all the bells and whistles.  This is the foundation of a hit song, and Fagen/Becker know when they have it.

Probably why Steely Dan would cast sessions with all different players to get a panoramic soundscape of the best direction to go.  Genius if you’ve got the budget.  Few do.

‘You’ve got to admit it, at this point in time it’s clear‘.  So much predictive programming on the subject made people think we must already have the technology.  Certainly in 30 years time (the 80’s) we’ll be real life Jetsons.

‘On that train all graphite and glitter – Undersea by rail’.  -Such cool imagery, and scores a kind of futuristic ‘Virgin Railway’.  We’ve had the concept for high speed rails that could move us under oceans for years.  They’ve yet to appear, but still fun to think about.  And what an image, “all graphite and glitter.. undersea by rail”.

‘Ninety minutes from New York to Paris, well by ’76 we’ll be A-ok’ -He’s truly marching to the beat of his own drum.  I’m so happy to read lyrics that don’t need to explain themself.  This is a totally random inspiration you can read about in an interview or make your own interpretation… anything goes.

Why does it work?  Because the chorus.

“What a beautiful world this will be   What a glorious time to be free”

That’s universality.  That’s driving a convertible to summer beach.  Flying to Costa Rica or parasailing over Hawaiian shores.  Skiing down powder slopes in the California sun. Fine Columbian (Hey Nineteen) at the Hollywood Bowl with your friends before the lights go down.  The crowd cheers, and Fagen’s chorus is what everyone hears no matter the band, no matter the song.  This groove with these words are everyone’s best time.  It’s part of his genius.  It doesn’t matter what he’s talking about in the verse because yeah, what a beautiful world it will be.  Let’s make it now!