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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 ❤️

It’s God’s planet, but the devil’s matrix.

I believe making it through the matrix requires a respect and understanding of both. To just classify one as good and the other evil is simplifying things to a level of hypocrisy. This might offend the most religious, but it’s not intended that way.  If it does it kind of proves you’ve been brainwashed into thinking questions are sins.  I’m not saying to worship, but to respect a formidable force.

On one hand, God, creator of heaven and earth, also created a place where it’s kill or be killed. Survival of the fittest. Circle of life. We love the rabbit and torture the mouse. We detest those that would use horse meat in their meal, but kill cows by the millions and suck them down with ne’er a thought about the animal’s sacrifice.  Which one displays our love of God?  Which makes us evil?

Satanists, Freemasons, Jesuits (yes I would argue the Catholic Church has been overtaken by Satanists)… long list here.  The light bearer… many scientists, physicists, mathematicians, doctors etc. … they have an incredible work ethic, help many people with aches and pains, even bring some back to life, and also do not believe in God… or should I say their higher power is Lucifer. Some aren’t aware the groups they belong to have a hierarchy that do worship him, i.e. Freemasons (low level), Shriners Club etc.  Look at the emblems.  Satanic symbolism is everywhere.  Even your favorite pop star Taylor Swift pays homage to the serpent in some part of her uniform at most concerts.

Who devised the world and grid we live in? Was it Khazars? Mayans? Inca Empire?  Maybe it was The Nephilim or Anunnaki.  Should we thank them or despise them? Can you even imagine a different life on the planet? We have nothing to compare it to. We’ve been indoctrinated into this living. Life might be wonderful without cities, governments, taxes, regulations, pop songs, movies, sports… the ‘System’. Who really knows?
Is the earth a perfectly round sphere traveling at light speed or a somewhat flatter, still planet? It’s an argument that’s gone on for centuries, yet the argument according to NASA is now closed.  You think there’s proof, but you really only know what NASA tells you.  Are they even to be trusted anymore?  I don’t know.

You’ve never been in space to witness it for yourself. I’m not saying this to instigate an argument, but to open the thought process about what we truly know first-hand, and what’s taught to us since childhood. What’s a real photograph and what’s a painting?  Why would our own significance matter to people who want to see us disappear, eat bugs and stop wasting ’their’ resources.  Are we less than a grain of sand, or is God giving us a chance at eternal life in a one-of-a-kind heaven called Earth?  Once you realize how much we’ve been lied to, you begin to question everything.
So without a real way to find absolutes, we just do the best we can. We need to stop pointing the finger at other citizens who are making decisions and developing beliefs based on shitty multiple choice questions designed to keep the winners winning and losers begging.

I choose God. It’s not a knowing, it’s a faith. This is why I don’t preach. I honestly don’t know what’s on the other side of life, or for that matter what’s literal and what’s parable in the Bible, but I choose the path that led to the magic of classical music, giant beautiful and inexplicable structures called cathedrals crafted in God’s name, and so much more.  We walk amongst these creations and think we’re more enlightened than those who built it all.  We suffer from a toxic level of ignorance and arrogance.  This, too is by design.

Also, in my opinion, those who’ve openly sworn to Satan and have hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to show for it… they just never look happy.  There’s almost never that true life light in their eyes.  They worship the dollar, and the dollar has no spirit at all.  Nothing to give them back but more ‘stuff.

All we think we know our TV’s and internet taught us.  Some school books that were taken over by The Rockefeller’s long ago.  Same with the AMA, big Pharma and a hundred other institutions.  We know what they want us to know.  We believe what they want us to believe.  I hope we can find some humility and begin to ask questions of everyone and everything. Without a willingness to admit we could be wrong, we’re doomed.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

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.