This is exactly what happened in the music business. Fat cats inured to the old ways could not handle change and after a decade of turmoil they realized the only way to cope was to throw in with the disrupters.

Music has been the canary in the coal mine for disruption. It’s just that the rest of the media believe the rules don’t apply to them, that music is a second-class citizen with no gravitas and that they’re educated he and she-women of the universe who will continue to triumph.

Hogwash.

The people rebelled against one good track on an album. The usual suspects thought it was about theft, just like the news people believe it’s about fake news when the truth is it’s a wholesale rejection of what once was. Newspapers are too narrow a sieve beholden to the fat cats. The past fifteen years have been littered with stories that developed online and were then picked up by the mainstream, is it any wonder the public doesn’t trust the papers? As for television, there’s no reporting, just holier-than-thou anchors, the same old acts who were plowed under by Napster, et al, paying fealty to the old ways they want to jet the public back to the past, but this cannot be done.

The newspaper is a bad paradigm for the new world. It’s dependent upon advertisers, businesses and personal, which know their customers no longer read it. Classifieds moved to Craigslist. And we’re bombarded with targeted ads online, why would someone advertise in the newspaper? And the web is infinite and the paper is limited. If we want to go deeper the paper won’t let us. Turned out we wanted not only the outtakes, but the live versions too. All the stuff the labels used to keep in a vault customers wanted. But with the audience spread out over many verticals there was less money for so much, so costs were cut, the same computer tools that enabled file-trading enabled the cost of production to go way down. The truth is it’s never been cheaper to make music, it’s just become harder to get it heard, the same way it’s become harder for the truth in papers to spread and take hold. There’s just too much information. To believe that fake news will be eviscerated and the truth will be revealed is to believe that suing file-traders will get rid of piracy. The solution is to reach into the future and get ahead of the public, something that both print and television news refuse to do.

Maybe we don’t need newspapers at all, not in their present form. Of course we need people to collect and disseminate the news, but maybe it’s individuals with online empires of acolytes. Kill the newsroom. Get rid of layers of infrastructure, now it’s all about going directly from the writer to the reader. As for TV…with GoPros available for barely three figures, with iPhones having a 4K camera, why do we need expensive productions with expensive equipment? You can edit on your computer, even on the phone itself, do we really have to pay all the overcompensated people now working? NO!

Don’t tell me right or wrong, just face the truth.

It’s harder than ever to get your message across. Which is why major labels sign fewer and fewer acts, and do their best to record the best tracks and promote those heavily, they know how heavy the competition is, but the present news media believe the alternatives online should just roll over and let them do their jobs, ha!

And in music you have to prove yourself first.

Which is why papers should comb the web and find those who already have traction and sign them up. Maybe the old farts working at the paper today are out of touch and need to go. Online there’s somebody who lives for the subject, is reporting on one topic 24/7, whereas reporters at papers have a new beat constantly and are asking who, what, where, why and when and are clueless!

Polish is unnecessary. It’s about the song, and it’s about the news. Learn to tell a story differently, it’s about zing as opposed to building a pyramid with a headline and then a recitation of facts thereafter.

The album is dead and so is the paper. People don’t want general info, they want to go deep in the verticals that interest them.

As for needing to be informed…

You’d be surprised how much today’s young people know, because there’s news online 24/7, they rarely watched TV news but they do consume stories online. Maybe there’s no need for news on TV anyway. We tune in to video online when something happens, when nothing is going on we don’t pay attention. Whereas in the paper and on TV they have the same news hole every day, as if everything is equally important.

But it’s not.

The election is just the beginning of the revolution. The press, like the Democrats, want to maintain the status quo, they want us to trust them, when all they’ve done is demonstrate how out of touch they are, and they’re untrustworthy to boot. No one’s going to trust the mainstream news outlets ever again because they called the election so wrong, they can’t regain trust, they’ve got to revolutionize themselves.

All the old musical acts no longer bother making new music, no one cares. They make money on the road. Maybe all the columnists would be better off going on the road, they’d make money and get their message out. And they’ve got to get out of the way and allow new voices to speak.

As for distribution… News outlets should stop bitching about sustaining the paper and TV stations, they should be looking for new ways to get the message out, new distribution platforms. Sure, Facebook is one, but we need one news site akin to Spotify, something with everything, that we can delve into in depth. Apple tried with its News app, it’s just that execution was not stellar and it’s a secret whereas today execution must be seamless so the people can spread the word.

We live in the information age and people are consuming more than ever.

But they don’t need to get it the old way.

And what we’ve learned from music is…

Streaming has eradicated piracy but no act is as big as it was in the pre-internet era. Most people can’t sing two Taylor Swift songs, most people can ignore Drake, just like they can avoid the “New York Times,” CNN and Fox. The old institutions get smaller. Their reach declines. Everyone can find them online but fewer people partake.

Meanwhile everybody in news is bitching and pointing fingers like their predecessors in the music business. Where did it get the label execs? NOWHERE!

Music learned it was all about distribution and they’d lost control and the startups could do it better. The paper and TV station are obsolete, but news is not, what’s the best way to get it to the people, who do the established outlets need to get in bed with to get the story out?

You made fun of music.

Now we’re making fun of you.

You’re in denial, and what we learned in music is when we got to the other side other entities were in control, the majors still existed, but they were changed enterprises, the papers and TV need to change.

The irony is the public knows all this. Just like people knew Napster was better than anything the labels provided, despite the fat cats saying people should prefer the perfect CD!

Clayton Christensen teaches us that established enterprises are overthrown by imperfect enterprises that start off being laughed off but then get good enough that they topple the icons.

The news icons are falling. And their courtiers who keep telling us to support them…

FORGET IT!

Don’t buy the paper unless you want to. Don’t watch TV news unless you want to.

And most people don’t want either the paper or the TV news. The reach of both is anemic.

Of course we need reporting. And reporting is not free.

But you cannot fight the tide of disruption, your only option is to grab hold and try to get ahead of it, to put customers first instead of blaming them.

Come on, all the media keeps doing is blaming Trump voters for being ignorant.

How did that work out in the music business?

IT DIDN’T!

Turned out the public knew more than the business people.

Investigate why people abandoned the traditional news outlets and you’ll gain an inkling of insight, a starting point.

People want truth. They want to believe you’re listening to them. They want to be titillated and entertained.

And if their beliefs are wrong…IT’S YOUR FAULT! You didn’t do a good job of spreading your message!

We need music.

Just not from the usual suspects.

We need news.

Ditto.

Helpless – Spotify

Helpless – YouTube

Don’t email me with that self-righteous attitude telling me you thought this was about the Neil Young song.

It’s not. But if you’re interested in the Prairie crooner check out his new cut “My Pledge,” it’s surprisingly good, but not as good as Gordon Lightfoot’s “Plans Of My Own,” both of which were unearthed by my Spotify Release Radar playlist.

But this is about something truly new.

That’s what’s wrong with the oldsters, they hold tightly to what once was.

But it’s hard to blame them, with the present completely incomprehensible, new material overwhelming us like a tsunami to the point we check out nearly nothing, and I’m not gonna say today’s music is as good as that of the past, that would be untrue, despite what the young wankers and the industryites trying to look hip say, music does not drive the culture the way it once did, Bruno Mars puts out an album so tone-deaf there’s no wonder we’re in trouble, the point is our country is in turmoil and if you’re singing about partying and bumping asses you’re missing not only the point, but the cultural zeitgeist.

Unlike “Hamilton.”

That’s right, despite the plethora of crap there are some standouts, not that most people have heard ’em, because we’ve got a press pushing crap…ever wonder if these news outlets that got it so wrong on the election could get it equally wrong on music? I’d say so. They’re out of touch.

So, after the “Hamilton” brouhaha I went back to the cast album.

It’s almost indigestible, it’s 142 minutes long, nearly the entire play, and the dirty little secret is albums are passe, kinda like the charts, if you entered at number one I don’t care, I only care if you STAY THERE! To sell a minimum of product and get a certain number of streams to equal a CD…is a sideshow feat with little meaning. We live in a listening culture, how can you get people to check you out and continue to do so, that’s how you get paid!

And despite all the “Hamilton” accolades, few people have seen the show and not that many more have listened to the album, but that could change.

You see there’s now a Mixtape. They’re dribbling out tracks, in December you can listen to the whole thing, and I’d be lying if I told you it was better than the original, few things are, but these tracks could bring needed attention to the original, they could turn “Hamilton” into the new “Hair.”

That’s right, there were two “Hair” albums with little impact, Off-Broadway and Broadway iterations, but then popular artists covered tunes and suddenly we were all exclaiming good morning starshine in the age of Aquarius.

Okay, I know you can’t get a ticket to “Hamilton.” And you’ve got self-centered, thin-skinned idiots like the President-to-be who say it doesn’t live up to the hype, BUT IT DOES!

That’s what is so stunning. How good “Hamilton” is. And all the lauded stuff rarely is. Every week we’re exposed to new movies that disappoint. Every musician tells us his latest album is the best and if you say something is not great you’re excoriated and then you stumble onto something excellent and you want to stand on the mountaintop and yell and tell everyone.

That’s what seeing “Hamilton” is like.

You’re overwhelmed. And inspired. How could this show start this good and stay that way? How could one person write this?

But, as I said above, most people have no idea as to the magic.

Right now I’m gonna try and change this.

Throw off your preconceptions. Cast aside your hip-hop hate. I’m opening a door to a party you’re gonna love, that’s gonna be fun.

Now the most accessible “Hamilton” cut is “You’ll Be Back,” by Jonathan Groff, the King of England telling off the insurgents in a music hall style not radically different from the British Invasion.

But the best song of the play is “Helpless.”

“Helpless!
Look into your eyes and the sky’s the limit, I’m helpless!
Down for the count and I’m drownin’ in ’em”

Now I want you go to this page:

Helpless – Lin-Manuel Miranda

That’s right, this is the Genius page for “Helpless,” you can read along!

That’s the dirty little secret of not only rap, but “Hamilton,” it takes a while for your brain to tune in. You’ve got to hear about four “Hamilton” cuts in a row before your mind can pick out the lyrics, but Genius spells ’em out.

And above you’ve got the hook, and every hit track has got one, the one that goes through your brain over and over and OVER AGAIN! The so-called earworm.

I have never been the type to try and grab the spotlight
We were at a revel with the some rebels on a hot night

The hook is key, but it’s the groove that puts “Helpless” over the top, that gets your head shaking from side to side as the story is told…of Alexander meeting Eliza, but instead of trying to portray how it once was, the meeting is set in today’s milieu of the club, that’s “Hamilton”‘s magic, making modern what once was, illustrating the penumbra may change, but we’re all human underneath the trappings.

Then you walked in and my heart went BOOM!

It’s the accent drum that puts this seals the deal, that draws you closer.

The minimal instrumentation is key, unlike the hip-hop on the radio the lyrics sit on top and shine through, it’s all about the story.

If it takes fighting a war for us to meet it will have been worth it

That’s what Alexander says after meeting Eliza, he’s been introduced by Eliza’s sister Angelica, who’s not completely neutral, she tells Eliza:

I’m just sayin’, if you really loved me you would share him

OOOH! This is what makes “Hamilton” so great, the HUMANITY! This is how people talk, guys and girls, and in this case…there really is something between Angelica and Alexander, but…

After Alexander meets the sisters’ father, he goes into his rap, the key to the song…

Eliza, I don’t have a dollar to my name

Today the elites marry each other, they don’t start at zero, but before the billionaireification of our country America was about throwing in with your betrothed, it was all about dreams, which have been crushed, which is why Hillary lost and Donald won, she was a manager, people wanted a dreamer.

“An acre of land, a troop to command, a dollop of fame”

Never underestimate the power of fame. It can transcend not only money, but looks!

All I have’s my honor, a tolerance for pain
A couple of college credits and my top-notch brain

The self-confidence, in a society that’s all about self-deprecation, it’s endearing.

No stress, my love for you is never in doubt
We’ll get a little place in Harlem and we’ll figure it out

Figuring it out. Today, read the press and it’s about the elites failing at entrepreneurship and then dusting themselves off to spend more VC money. But the truth is most start off with next to nothing, they’ve got to truly live by their wits, like Hamilton.

So Alexander is an immigrant sans family and now he’s hooked up with one of America’s finest and the end result, the message is…

In New York you can be a new man…
In New York you can be a new man…
IN NEW YORK YOU CAN BE A NEW MAN!

We want to reinvent ourselves, believe location makes a difference, that given a chance we can triumph.

Now Lin-Manuel Miranda did not write “Hamilton” in a vacuum… Rather he was influenced by the great rappers of the past. Marvin Gaye’s heirs might call it theft, but in truth we all come from somewhere and nothing is brand new.

Which is why you’re now going to watch the video, “9 Classic Rap References In Hamilton.”

It’s in the upper right hand corner of the Genius page.

But if you want a direct YouTube link, it’s:

9 Classic Rap References In Hamilton

You’ll be stunned. “Hamilton” did not come from thin air. Lin-Manuel was LISTENING! Like you did to rock. That medium you’ve been putting down for years, hip-hop, it’s got fans, acolytes, who know every word, they’re the building blocks of “Hamilton.”

Some might say you’ve got to be fluent in Destiny’s Child.

I don’t think so. I think “Helpless” stands on its own two feet.

But now it’s getting a little bit of help. You see on the Mixtape it’s remade by Ashanti and Ja Rule. And I’ll maintain it’s not as magical as the original, the extra production undercuts the essence, but…these are people the public knows. Will they get traction where Lin-Manuel Miranda and Phillipa Soo have not?

Quite possibly.

Actually, of the seven already released Mixtape tracks the best is “Immigrants (We Get The Job Done),” by K’NAAN, Snow The Product, Riz MC and Residente. The extra production works, they make something new out of what once was.

So let’s go back to the top.

There’s so much new music most people give up and even the best stuff goes unheard by most. And sure, a lot of it is lowest common denominator tripe, but not all. We need people to cherry-pick what’s worth hearing and serve it up to us, which is what the deejay used to do before he was superseded by research, which is what the newspaper did before it fired so many people and lost touch with America.

In this case the cherry-picking has been done by the “Hamilton Mixtape.”

The only way out of this is forward. We can lament the loss of guitars, we can listen to the oldies, or we can exalt what works today.

Like “Helpless.”

This is what artists do. They speak truth to power. They make people uncomfortable. And when there’s a reaction, they know they’ve done their job.

Something musicians have failed to do, fearful of alienating a potential customer, a corporation that might sponsor their show. But the truth is the interests of corporations and artists are not aligned. Artists are tuning forks, saying what’s right as opposed to what’s expedient. They have the people on their side. And corporations are no match for the public, no way.

So we’ve got a President-elect who uses social media to get his message across… Isn’t it funny that a contrary opinion is now being spread through the same platforms? My inbox and Twitter were ablaze last night after the “Hamilton” kerfuffle. Word spreads fast these days, and the last ones on it are the mainstream media, who go to bed at 11 when we live in a 24/7 world.

Lin-Manuel Miranda clapped, supported his troupe.

Little Steven Van Zandt said there was no place for this at the theatre.

So where is the right place?

Give Trump credit for this, now EVERYWHERE is the right place! Decorum is out the window. Four letter words are de rigueur. You can say what you feel right up front and what the cast of “Hamilton” felt was…

God may be on their side, but Mike Pence is not.

Save me your defenses. That’s not the point. If you voted for the Trump team you won, wallow in it.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t blow back. That doesn’t mean the majority of voters who supported the other side cannot keep you honest.

There’s not that much money in theatre. Not only can you not make as much as a techie or a banker, you can’t make as much as a pop star. You do it for the love of it. Sure, “Hamilton”‘s gonna rake in millions, but the costs involved are staggering. A huge cast and a giant overhead, the unions in New York City charge beaucoup bucks. But at least they’ve still got a union, organized labor seems to have disappeared throughout the rest of the land.

So, when you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.

You don’t want to sue a Broadway actor. You might get a few old “Playbill”s, some photographs from their high school production, but you won’t find hard assets. And it’s those who don’t have to protect anything, who are outside the system, who can speak up for what’s right.

Everybody with a toehold in America is staying quiet. They’re afraid of what they’re gonna lose.

Lin-Manuel Miranda started writing “In The Heights” when he was at Wesleyan. He spend more time writing “Hamilton” than Trump spent preparing for the Presidency. But he and his team have no right to speak up?

Hogwash.

So now, not only is “Hamilton” the greatest artwork of the past two years, it’s on the bleeding edge of politics and culture. Funny how a moribund medium can be transformed overnight. Meaning that one act with something to say who can say it well can have an impact in music too. But so far we have no outliers, none with talent.

And believe me, Lin-Manuel Miranda is talented.

Mike Pence wanted to be in the room where it happened. And when you are it’s a rough and tumble environment. Unlike the “New York Times” reporters who didn’t leave Manhattan, Pence ventured into alien territory and saw what people really felt. Good!

“Hamilton” is hip-hop. Not only the sound of the streets, but the sound of the country. Just check the Spotify Top 50 if you doubt me.

And Lin-Manuel Miranda legitimized hip-hop for the haters, the last holdouts, those too good for the urban sound, the lovers of Broadway.

It’s cognitive dissonance. While Disney and the rest of the corporations are bringing their flaccid movies to the Great White Way, Lin-Manuel made something brand new, AND IT RESONATED!

This should give you hope, all you square pegs out there. You don’t have to do it their way, you just have to get it right. And that’s very hard to do, but when you succeed, we’re all ears.

So where do we go from here?

I’ve never seen this kind of pushback right after an election. It demonstrates unrest, the fact that people are pissed. They just want us to lie down and take it?

No way.

Jefferson Airplane said up against the wall.

Country Joe used the F-word.

Seemingly every act was against the Vietnam war, which the administration supported.

We have power folks. We need to speak up. And the fact that the President-elect has his knickers in a twist…

We’re taking one out of the Republicans’ playbook. We won’t back down, we’re working the refs. Every time you do something heinous, we’re gonna call you out. How does it feel?

Trump went to the finest school, Wharton, and it seems he only got juiced in it.

He never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for him. He stiffed contractors. Didn’t look out for the little people. Is it any wonder that those on stage have turned the tables?

Nobody ever taught Mike Pence how to live out in the street and now he’s gonna have to get used to it! See how people really feel about a woman’s right to choose, never mind immigration. That gets the biggest applause during “Hamilton,” the line about immigrants. In case you haven’t seen the play, it goes…”Immigrants, WE GET THE JOB DONE!”

Everybody came from somewhere.

I came from the sixties. When money was secondary to identity. when if you didn’t stand for something you stood for nothing at all.

Stand in support of the “Hamilton” cast. Let your freak flag fly. This is our land too, from California to the New York island. We own it and control and are entitled to an opinion about it just like everybody else. Get used to us speaking up. And know that your blowback slides right off us, because sticks and stones may break our bones but words will never hurt us.

But when you’re on the wrong side, words sting.

Sharpen your pencils. Plug in your keyboards. It’s your turn now. To be inspired by “Hamilton,” to reach down deep and reveal your truth so others will resonate.

I can’t wait.

The revolution is finally here.

The Waiting – Spotify

The Waiting – YouTube

How do you follow up a hit album?

That’s the dilemma Bruno Mars is facing and it appears he’s failing the test. Music is frequently best when it’s a Rorschach test, when you think less and just react. Imagine what music would sound like if it was done quickly, on inspiration as opposed to contemplation, once you’re worried about getting it right, you often get it wrong.

And when Tom Petty put out “Damn The Torpedoes” most people had no idea who the man was, or considered him to be a minor artist with a cult hit, “Breakdown,” and a mild, more poppy one, “Listen To Her Heart,” they were unprepared for what came next, the delayed third LP, after the bankruptcy proceedings, the one that started off with a bang, from the moment “Refugee” emanated from the dashboard you were hooked, it reached out and grabbed you without caring at the same time, what a conundrum, but that’s Petty’s genius, the ability to be so personal yet distant, it’s like we’re watching his life through a hole in the wall.

Actually, my favorite cut on “Damn The Torpedoes” is “Here Comes My Girl,” and if I’m completely honest, I prefer the debut, produced by Denny Cordell, it’s darker, like a hot, steamy Florida night. It feels like a blacker Richard Linklater film, a whole world you’re peeking at while the sweat is dripping down your neck.

But once “Damn The Torpedoes” went big, then what?

Now interestingly, Petty had more peaks, but they didn’t come soon. In 1985, “Don’t Come Around Here No More” was a surprise hit, bolstered by MTV. And then when the band was cold, Petty went solo and became a superstar with “Full Moon Fever,” come on, who doesn’t feel good when they hear “Free Fallin'”?

But now it was 1981, two years after “Damn The Torpedoes,” and Petty had to measure up, prove himself again.

And he didn’t.

The irony is he gave the best track away, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” was a gigantic hit for Stevie Nicks, it made her solo career, and TP and his Heartbreakers ultimately released their demo on 1995’s “Playback” and it was just as good but “Hard Promises” suffered without it.

Not that “Hard Promises” wasn’t good, it just wasn’t as good as “Damn The Torpedoes.”

It’s really about side one. The highlight is “A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)” which is about as good as Petty gets, and the following tracks, “Nightwatchman,” “Something Big” and “Kings Road” carried through, but it was the opener that got all the airplay…

Oh baby don’t it feel like heaven right now
Don’t it feel like something from a dream

With a Byrds-like intro setting you up, the above words cut right to the chase, telling a love story we all live at least once, when we’re infatuated, when romance is new. And I’ve got nothing bad to say about the track, I love it, BUT LINDA RONSTADT KILLS IT!

That’s right, Petty is the outsider, the loner, it’s a peek into his little world, whereas Ronstadt makes it for everyone, she belts and blows the top off and the darkness is eviscerated and you end up with a celebration that is not solely male, but one that’s inclusive, that resonates for everyone!

You’ve probably never heard her rendition. After all, this was the nineties, after the experimentation, Broadway and the standards and Mexican excursions. 1995’s “Feels Likes Home” was a return to what once was when people no longer cared. Released in the seventies it would be a smash, but twenty years later it’s a curio.

Linda Ronstadt, a much-maligned superstar seemingly unknown by the younger generation who paid her dues and triumphed and became so big that the only thing she could do was to sidestep into new genres.

We had no idea who she was when she cut those hits with the Stone Poneys.

And then she had a solo career sans traction, until David Geffen rescued her, she worked with Peter Asher, and in one fell swoop she was everywhere, with “You’re No Good” and the album “Heart Like A Wheel.”

But the rap on Ronstadt was she was sans nuance, that it was like singing the telephone book, who knew what was to come, with Mariah Carey and the television divas. And I get the point, her take on Randy Newman’s “Sail Away” is laughable, with no sense of irony, no humor, eww…

But she self-corrected pretty fast, yet the critics wouldn’t cut her a break, because she was so good-looking and so successful.

But the public didn’t care what the critics thought, they embraced Linda, and never completely let go until she called it quits herself.

Then again, she deserves credit for not playing the game. For speaking her mind on politics, for being unconcerned with body image. Think about that, Linda Ronstadt, seen as pure pop way back when has more of a backbone than anybody working today, when the big breakthrough is Alicia Keys not wearing makeup, when no one will take a stand for fear of alienating a potential customer.

So, Ronstadt’s version of “The Waiting” does not start off rockin’ and rollin’, it’s all acoustic…

But then Ronstadt begins to sing.

Oh baby don’t it feel like heaven right now
Don’t it feel like something from a dream

This is not an alienated guy finally revealing his truth, rather this is the well-known high school student, maybe even a cheerleader or school President, who is stepping up to the mic…AND BLOWING US AWAY!

Hey, I’ve never known nothing quite like this

Most of the rockers are male, the women tend to be balladeers, what to do about the person singing this song?  EMBRACE HER!

It’s a boy’s dream. The girl who can play baseball and get dolled up for the prom all at the same time, “The Waiting” is a roller coaster ride on a Saturday afternoon with your dream date, you’re pinching yourself, this is as good as it gets!

She’s still singing about chasing a couple of women around, but that makes no difference, you want to chase HER!

Can I bring you back? To an era where fashion was de minimis? Where it was all about blue jeans and a nice top? When beauty was more than skin-deep? Then you’d be in the seventies, when Linda Ronstadt ruled.

And whereas Petty’s take is dense and dark, the light is shining on Ronstadt’s, she’s right there in the open, she’s hiding NOTHING!

Yeah, then there were those that made me feel good
But never as good as I feel right now

She feels it too. She’s not an ice queen, not a wannabe in a porn video, not one of the social media nitwits, she’s a human being AND SHE’S IN LOVE!

Maybe with you.

Of course not, but listening to Linda Ronstadt sing “The Waiting” you feel…it’s exactly what you’ve been waiting for, someone you can fall in love with just like this!

And that’s what made Linda Ronstadt a star.

The waiting IS the hardest part, for what once was to come back.

It will, eventually, just a little bit different.

Boy bands are cyclical, and so are those who value talent, the ability to write, play and SING!

Never underestimate ability. We live in a world where everybody thinks they can fake it. Use auto-tune, get plastic surgery. But it’s authenticity we crave, not perfection. And when you’ve got the pipes, the skill, the look, and you evidence it, we cannot get enough of it!

So, what have we learned?

That it starts with the song, and they’re damn hard to write and we must revere those who come up with them.

And a great song can be sung by many, they can make it their own if they’ve got something to bring to it.

And what Linda Ronstadt brings to “The Waiting” is not only her raw talent, but the way she exhibits it, rides the throttle, decides to give us all she’s got without banging us over the head with it.

Don’t let it kill you babe, don’t let it get to you

She’s SHOUTING!

She’s employing all the tools in her box. She knows the fakers are no challenge to those on the right side.

Once upon a time, we were all there on the right side of rock, led by people who thought getting it down on wax was the most important part. That everything else was just the trappings.

Come along for the ride. Listen to the picking, the pounding and the wailing. It’ll squeeze out the noise in your head. It’ll make you feel…

That the good times are coming if you can just wait long enough.

And she can do it live:

Linda Ronstadt – The Waiting (Letterman 3-21-95)