The switch flipped back in 1980, maybe the beginning of ’81, it coincided with the election of Reagan, but what really happened back then, what started in the late seventies, was a focus on money.

Baby boomers didn’t care about money. They’d grown up with enough of it. And those who hadn’t didn’t know any better. Flyover country was thus, assuming you ever got in an airplane to begin with. Unless you moved to New York or L.A. you were clueless as to how the other half lived. Sure, there were glamour-pusses on television, but you lived in an Archie/Betty world where the metaphor was high school. You graduated and grew up but everything remained the same, you were tarred with not only your moniker but the impression you made years before, this was you…a bumpkin in the greatest country on earth, where gasoline was cheap, sex was free and happiness reigned.

Until inflation hit double digits and the economy tanked and everybody was wondering what came next. They decided to put their faith in an old man with gravitas but little more behind the facade and then everything truly changed.

1981… An era of CNN and MTV, cable television ruled. We could now see what was going on everywhere else, and sitting at home in the hinterlands we decided we wanted some of that. Suddenly, having a tricked-out Chevy didn’t mean that much, you were now competing against everybody, and it didn’t feel good.

And since competition was now the norm, you might as well win. And we know that rules are just meant to be bent, not only by Michael Milken and his troops at Drexel Burnham Lambert, our first exposure to the riches of finance, but everyone, in order to become wealthy, in order to get ahead.

Taxes were lowered, inflation was under control, the bubble known as the baby boomers had obligations, they needed to feed and house their progeny and this required cash. The sixties went out the window instantly. It was no longer love your brother but screw your neighbor and sleep with one eye open, while you’re snorting Colombia’s finest and parading down the boulevard in German iron, which suddenly replaced Cadillac as the symbol of success.

And we know that ultimately we all prayed at the altar of Apple, except those needing to maintain a renegade identity, seen mostly as a rearguard identity, but it was in the eighties that the populace became stratified, that winners pulled away from the losers, and kicked dust in their eyes while they were at it.

And there was a war, but no draft, and the end result was a baby boomer President who reigned over a prosperity so glorious, we all felt entitled. The deficit got wiped out, Wall Street was burgeoning, and then it all went to hell.

Credit Napster.

Well, Napster was the harbinger. Wherein everything we thought we knew turned out to be wrong. That you got ahead by paying your dues and sure, sharp elbows helped, but you knew your place in the firmament, how did Shawn Fanning decide he was king, never mind take all that property that wasn’t his?

And Shawn had the backing of Silicon Valley. An entity heretofore unknown by the masses, who still didn’t have smartphones, but those who thought they were winning suddenly found out they weren’t, for story after story told them the new tech titans were rich!

Richer than ballplayers.

Richer than bankers.

Even richer than musicians.

And the seeds of desperation were sown.

Now he not busy moving forward was busy falling behind.

But we had an ace in the hole, the internet. It favored merit. If you had the right stuff you could go viral. Happened to PSY, right? He might have been Korean, but he muddled his way through Berklee and had the last laugh and if you were sitting at home with the new tools you too could win, right?

Wrong.

Internet cacophony came along and stole your chance. There was no way to get ahead. You could rant about income inequality, but those with the cash felt entitled to it, they worked hard, they were the job creators, and the fact that you were an honest bloke just didn’t matter in this new winner take all society, which so many titans of yore still don’t understand, the truth is one enterprise gets all the lucre online, it’s just a constant battle, a winnowing-down, until we learn who the victor is.

So children are either on the right track or wrong at age five. I’d say you have to go to the right kindergarten, but the truth is you have to go to the right pre-school. City parents understand this, the desperation starts early. As for those too ignorant to know the game, their fate is sealed soon. Elite colleges are need-blind, be smart enough and you get a free ride. But the valedictorians in the hinterlands don’t know this and go to the state school, where they’re left behind. Oh, you don’t get a better education at the Ivys, you just hang with a better class of PEOPLE! Harvard owns comedy. How do you think Conan O’Brien got there? Although he’s losing today, if you’re just part of the pack, you might as well not exist. And you want a degree from Kellogg, or you can get your MBA from Stanford, where you’ll make connections, establish relationships, which will make sure you don’t fall behind.

While everybody else struggles to impress.

That’s what social media has become. It’s no longer about bonding but impressing. Surf Facebook and Instagram and you’ll feel inadequate. But the truth is those two-dimensional icons known as people are not winning, they’re just on the treadmill of desperation, they got screwed in ways they can’t comprehend and they now want a piece of the rock. And if they can’t get that, they don’t want to fall behind.

And you have so many opportunities to fall behind.

Used to be it was about finding yourself, taking some time off after college to enrich your experience and plot a new direction.

Now everybody starts climbing the ladder immediately. Because if you don’t, your resume has a hole in it. And your LinkedIn profile must be perfect, otherwise you won’t get a job. And a job is everything these days, it’s your entire identity. Unemployment is not only unenjoyment, you’re a pariah, invitations dry up, depression sets in, you grasp for a life preserver but no one’s throwing one, everybody’s too busy protecting their own interest, trying to get ahead.

And then there are those who deny the above. It’s a badge of honor, they’re good people with good values and that’s what it’s all about, right?

Wrong. You can’t get a seat at the restaurant, the winners buy all the tickets on StubHub and you’re left behind with like-minded people wondering how this all happened, how you got screwed without knowing it.

It permeates all walks of life. The internet is riddled with networking shenanigans. You’ve got to have a lot of friends, a lot of likes, if you don’t you’re a loser, you’re never going to get ahead. Everything is quantified, everything can be counted, data rules, if it’s fuzzy, we don’t care.

So complaining rules.

That’s the story in music. The enemy is Daniel Ek. Or maybe the public. Because it used to be you could survive but now you can’t. You’re living with your parents, you’re living off your spouse, you’re desperate.

As are those who bought the mantra that ownership was king. If you had your own home, you ruled. Until the banks failed, you lost your job and it was all taken away from you.

And the CEOs are desperate too. That’s why they insist on making so much dough. Because it could end at any time, and they want to be prepared. Or maybe we should blame the corporate boards, who desperately believe they have to have a winner at the helm, to promote from within is anathema. Better to poach talent and brag about compensation, then you’re immune to criticism.

We all believe paying top dollar generates a get out of jail free card. A BMW won’t break. Louis Vuitton is better than the no-name brands. And if you brandish an iPhone, you’re a winner.

Yup, that changed too. Used to be you were proud of your Galaxy, now it just illustrates you haven’t gotten the memo, Samsung is so 2013, before Apple ended up with all the profits and if you don’t iMessage you’re nobody.

We’re all hopping from island to island, as the Whac-A-Mole hammer comes down hard in pursuit. We look for someone to blame. The easiest target is the government, which wastes the money which would make us whole, that we worked so hard for. And the corporations are the enemy.

But the truth is the enemy is us. We’ve lost all perspective. We’ve thrown our values out the window. The baby boomers lost touch with everything they believed in, they no longer remember Jesse Colin Young, never mind getting together. And they imparted these dash for cash and status values to their progeny, who are throwing the tech long ball like an inner city denizen lobs a basketball in pursuit of an NBA career, despite odds being so low. I mean somebody wins, it might as well be me, right?

Wrong. The game is rigged. But you can’t stop playing. You’re addicted to free, not knowing that you’re the product, you’re being bought and sold to advertisers. And that few are paying attention to you.
And every couple of years they wipe the slate clean. MySpace gave way to Facebook. Twitter is fading. And it always happens the same way, when the old site is riddled with self-promotion, desperation in camouflage, people gravitate to a new platform believing it will be different.

But it’s not.

Snapchat is just a way for another twentysomething to become a billionaire.

Nothing lasts. Your BlackBerry sits in a drawer, with your iPods and maybe an old laptop or two. You’re desperate for something to hold on to, to believe in, so you pay for experiences, which don’t count unless you document them online. With selfies. Selfie stick? That’s right, another manufacturer profiting off your narcissism, which is just desperation in disguise.

Some have opted out. But since they’re not bragging about it, not employing the online microphone to tell you they’re right and you’re wrong, they garner little attention. Because the media is desperate too, it’s been disrupted by the same twentysomething techies and all it knows is gossip sells, isn’t Kim Kardashian rich?

Of course.

Used to be she was ridiculed for being famous for nothing. Now she’s seen as a phenomenal businessperson. Because that’s all the matters today, your business. Identity and values are irrelevant, unless they can be distilled to money and image, what we truly pay fealty to in America.

That’s right, religion is dying. Forget the blowhards yelling loudly, statistics tell us millennials don’t have a God complex, unless it involves themselves. Their parents told them they were deities and they’re entitled to win and if that means steamrolling over you, so be it, because it’s a dog eat dog world and no one likes to be eaten.

So build that resume, post away. Count your likes. Buy your followers. Be a denizen of the twenty first century, wherein we all desperately play online roulette but the game is rigged, only a tiny core of usual suspects can win, oftentimes by putting their thumb on the wheel.

We want out, we want someone to believe in, but everywhere we turn we find false idols. Musicians selling out to corporations who can’t be trusted. If Volkswagen cheats on emissions tests why should you walk the line? No one got arrested after the banks crashed and no one’s giving back their salary at VW.

So it’s back to the salt mines. Where you toil away on your mobile, playing the game of life, wherein you constantly seek status.

Desperately.

They’re doing God’s work.

While the rest of America is dashing for cash, while wannabe musicians keep complaining about Spotify, as if they could hold back the future, as if they were owed a living in music, a ragtag band of musicians and entrepreneurs is birthing the next generation of rock and rollers for the sheer joy of it. I’m not saying they’re not getting paid, I’m just saying they’re not getting rich. In cash, that is.

Greetings from Las Vegas, where it’s gray and the season is turning but it’s always the same. A place where people come to let loose and forget who they are, served by an underclass happy to have a job. When it’s 24 hour everything you can get a gig working the graveyard shift, it may not pay well, but no one’s paying attention. That’s the luxury of Vegas, what happens here no one cares about. Except if you’re rich and famous.

But most people are not.

The dynamo of the School of Rock is a dentist. Who’s not a player. He got infected when he saw the people his daughter was interacting with, so different from the usual suspects at her private Philadelphia school. Musicians have been the same since the dawn of time. They’re outsiders, who are about sharing and caring as opposed to dividing lines. When society pooh-poohs you, you come together.

And there’s a surgeon who owns a couple of franchises. He may save lives on the operating table, but what really gets him off is the smiles of the young ‘uns who get up on stage and wail on the classics that soothed his youth.

That’s right, music used to be different. Before the whole world changed, before it was us versus them and those with the money didn’t want to part with it and those left behind kept complaining that someone stole their cheese. We were all in it together, and what kept us together, was the music.

A rock nation. Under Gods like Jimi Hendrix and Alice Cooper and even Gene Simmons. All of whom filled up your bedroom with a sound so glorious you couldn’t help but smile. Their music made life worth living. And it’s making life worth living for a whole new generation.

Sure, some of the students want to play the modern stuff.

But the School of Rock says you start with the basics. Kinda like regular school. But the Who is so much more enticing than Camus, never mind algebra.

So you’ve got housewives and retirees and barely twentysomethings all opening emporia to teach rock. And sure, there are lessons, but the essence is performance. It’s when the kids get on stage with others and crank it that they smile. And it’s these smiles that keep the owners going. They’re doing it for the naches. Look it up, it’s Yiddish. In our narcissistic culture it’s all about pride in the self, puffing yourself up, on Instagram, showing what you’ve got. But the truth is you feel best when you midwife the happiness of others, that’s what the School of Rock does.

And either you know about it or you don’t.

It was started by Paul Green. But thereafter, franchises were sold and every year or so the troops get together to learn.

Especially from the CEO Dzana, who immigrated from war-torn Sarajevo. It’s people like this who make our country great. How did we get so screwed up that we believed the immigrants were here to steal our jobs. Yes, they want what we’ve got, an opportunity to be their best selves, to have a family, to excel. You too have that right as an American, better to stop complaining that someone stole your chance and make the most of yours.

Dzana had such great insight. That the bane of the School of Rock was laziness and fear. The belief that you just can’t get there so you’re better off not trying. Her solution is to hook up the top 10% with the bottom 10%. The winners help lift up those who are challenged. Why do the winners do it? BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM FEEL SO GOOD! You know, like when someone gives you tech help, when they solve your problem. People love to demonstrate their expertise, they love to help others. You think it’s about ME, ME, ME, when the truth is it’s about YOU, YOU, YOU!

And you buy a franchise and then you become part of this wonderful crazy family, that’s what an owner said on stage last night. As she belted…

Yes, after learning all day, they cleared the stage for performances.

First were the All Stars. Teenagers who’d earned the right to not only perform in Vegas, but go on tour. They caravan to such places as Chicago, to grace the stage at Lollapalooza. And even Bridgeport, Connecticut, for the Gathering of the Vibes. They even send a contingent to the Zappanale, over in Europe, to not only soak up Frank’s music, but play it.

And the Sydney school flies over for performances too. Not everyone, just the greats. And the kids are incentivized to be great, because they want to go on tour. And sure, some make it to the big time, graduates pepper the professional ranks, Colbert has got a School of Rock alumnus in his band, but most don’t. But they have an experience of a lifetime.

As did the owners and the general managers and the instructors, who got up and played the legendary hits for hours last night.

I heard a brilliant version of “Highway to Hell,” it had me standing up, thrusting my arms in the air.

Jaw-dropping was the rendition of “Cosmik Debris,” you know, the Zappa track. I certainly do, I played it as an alienated youth, I felt that Frank understood me, that’s the power of music.

And “Under Pressure” and “Baba O’Riley” and “Rock of Ages”…

All right
I got something to say
Yeah, it’s better to burn out
Yeah, than fade away

They give musicians a second chance. When they’re between gigs, when their touring and live careers have dried up. They teach at the School of Rock. Which doesn’t start until 2, so they can get there on time. And they can still perform on weekends.

Rise up, gather ’round
Rock this place to the ground
Burn it up let’s go for broke
Watch the night go up in smoke

Actually, it is Vegas, one of the few places you can still puff away indoors. But long after midnight, when most people are tuckered out and trundle for bed, this crowd was out in full-force. Cheering on their brethren, slaying the axe, tickling the ivories, pounding the skins. They danced, they sang along, they cheered. You know, like at a rock and roll show.

What do you want, what do you want
I want rock ‘n’ roll, yes I do
Long live rock ‘n’ roll

I’m over sixty. I own no real estate. My future is uncertain. But I’ve got this sound, that I studied like the Bible. I know who played what and have followed the tree of life known as music all over the globe, and as I was standing in the Lounge last night I realized these were my people, these players, these instructors, these owners, who know that rock and roll can save your life, if you just let it.

Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rollin’, keep a-rollin’
We got the power, got the glory
Just say you need it and if you need it
Say yeah

YEAH!

Ain’t that the truth.

NATHAN LA FRANEER

If you bought “Joni Mitchell,” aka “Song To A Seagull,” when it came out, you’re a member of a very exclusive club or you’re lying. There were no famous covers, no big media campaign, the record barely made a noise. Yet, when you discovered it sometime thereafter, which you did if you were a big Joni Mitchell fan, you became enraptured, because of the sound. This is my favorite cut on the LP, the story of a ride to the airport. Exquisitely recorded by Art Cryst and produced by David Crosby this is the sound of enough money to get it right, it’s evidence of a lost art. Hearing the album is akin to viewing ancient relics of the Mayans and the Greeks.

MICHAEL FROM MOUNTAINS

Probably the most well-known song from the first album, you’ll get this on the very first listen.

CACTUS TREE

Oh, that guitar!

You can’t help but get hooked by the lyrics, I’ll let you listen…

CHELSEA MORNING

By this time many knew who Joni Mitchell was, she was the woman who’d written Judy Collins’s big hit “Both Sides Now.”

This song, the second on Joni’s second album, “Clouds,” is the reason Chelsea Clinton sports that moniker, although the Clintons knew the tune from Collins’s cover.

TIN ANGEL

This is the opener of “Clouds,” from back when you didn’t have to hit them right between the eyes to get their attention, when an album was a relatively brief statement we devoured. This was produced by Paul Rothchild, of Doors fame.

I found someone to love today

It sounds like she did.

Love is private, you smile on the inside, “Tin Angel” sounds like that inner glow.

I DON’T KNOW WHERE I STAND

My second favorite cut on “Clouds”…

This is the opposite of today’s paradigm, wherein everybody evidences an indomitable confidence, even women. But if you’ve ever risked love, you know…that sometimes you don’t know.

Whew!

THAT SONG ABOUT THE MIDWAY

My favorite cut on “Clouds,” I completely missed it until I heard Bonnie Raitt’s cover years later. Bonnie’s rendition is better, but there’s something haunting about Joni’s original, like she’s sitting in your living room singing, but not to you, but to a distant rogue you’ve never encountered that she’s obsessing over.

SONGS TO AGING CHILDREN COME

Featured in the 1969 film of Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant,” it’s in the funeral/cemetery scene, in the snow. I saw it and never forgot it.

BOTH SIDES NOW

Yes, Joni includes her most famous song on her second album. It’s the same, yet different, sans the production and the twinkly, hooky riff.

FOR FREE

The debut was good, the follow-up was excellent, but “Ladies Of The Canyon” was TRANSCENDENT! This level of greatness was not infrequent back then, we didn’t expect it to become so elusive in the future.

And I play if you have the money
Or if you’re a friend to me

Ditto. I’ll do loads of favors for friends, I’ll put my fingers to keyboard for you, everybody else pays…always.

CONVERSATION

The best track on “Ladies Of The Canyon,” it’s the story of having a better relationship with someone than they do with their significant other, at least in your eyes.

Conversation is everything. Doesn’t matter how you look, how rich you might be, if you’ve got the gift of gab, if you can not only persuade but empathize, you’re gonna win in the lottery of life.

She removes him like a ring
To wash her hands
She only brings him out to show her friends
I want to free him

But you can’t, he’s got to free himself.

THE ARRANGEMENT

You could have been more
Than a name on the door
On the thirty-third floor in the air

Do you wonder whether all those Ivy League graduates in finance are gonna wake up and realize they’ve taken the wrong path?

OF COURSE!

Life was different in the boomer era, personal fulfillment superseded remuneration, it wasn’t until Reagan took office that we all started to dash for cash. And we counted on artists like Joni Mitchell to keep us honest.

RAINY NIGHT HOUSE

Supposedly about Leonard Cohen, this does not affect your appreciation of the track, which sounds like a rainy night, you know, just the two of you in the house, finding out who each other are.

THE PRIEST

A magical elixir of words and sounds, it’ll penetrate your soul.

BIG YELLOW TAXI

I only include it because it’s one of Joni’s most famous tracks. It’s been overplayed and over-covered, but her take still sounds fresh, it has not suffered from the passage of time.

Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone

Every baby boomer knows this lyric and verbalizes it and plays it through his brain constantly. Is change good or bad? Should you hold on or let go? I DON’T KNOW!

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

This was just at the advent of the Back To The Land movement, when we realized America’s unchecked development might have a cost. Now we know it does.

WOODSTOCK

Released subsequent to the famous Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young version, it doesn’t sport the iconic riff, but it does evidence loads more meaning.

THE CIRCLE GAME

Already a famous song, Joni put her personal stamp upon it.

ALL I WANT

The piece-de-resistance, “Blue” is one of the best albums ever cut. Not huge upon its release, it has stood the test of time, it’s there waiting to be discovered by future generations. Taylor Swift was clueless as to its existence until I told her about it on the phone, she listened and subsequently titled her next album “Red.”

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling

That’s what we used to do, go on road trips. Before flights were cheap and we traveled to distant locations on a whim.

I want to be strong I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the living

My credo. I sing “All I Want” whenever I’m extremely happy, when I’m newly in love, after meeting Felice.

CALIFORNIA

I’m going to see the folks I dig
I’ll even kiss a Sunset pig
California I’m coming home

Either you get it or you don’t, either you need to live in the Golden State or you don’t.

There are many tracks about my adopted homeland, but this one is definitive.

A CASE OF YOU

My favorite song on “Blue,” “A Case Of You” was an album track buried on the second side which has been plucked free by generations, covered by everyone from Tori Amos to Prince, it evidences humanity and truth and has got that astounding metaphor.

Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I’d be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet

THE LAST TIME I SAW RICHARD

Exes. You were in love once, the memory fades, but never ever goes away, you’re bonded forever, you share something personal that no one else does, but you can never ever recreate what you once had.

What a conundrum.

YOU TURN ME ON I’M A RADIO

Joni finally had a hit! You could hear her on the radio!

There’s a bit of pandering to the format, the track is slick, but it’s so infectious!

I know you don’t like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don’t like strong women
‘Cause they’re hip to your tricks

I feel for the other sex, we make it tough. We want to be understood and coddled, we want to be treated just right, we keep sending messages that you’re overbearing or inadequate. Joni understands.

Meanwhile, I’ve used the below lines in romantic encounters numerous times, they always seem to kill the deal, the opposite of my desire.

Call me at the station
The lines are open

BLONDE IN THE BLEACHERS

Male rock stars are pursuing something that can’t be found, they believe if they become rich and famous their lives will work. Alas, this is not true.

WOMAN OF HEART AND MIND

Shocking because of the inclusion of the f-word, a no-no back in ’72, “Woman Of Heart And Mind” is the best track on “For The Roses,” it’s the one I play most today.

You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don’t try
When you don’t even try

Heed this. The harder you work it, the more you turn us off. You appear desperate, you need to be loved, and that’s unappealing to everybody. Just try to be yourself, it will work…with some.

LESSON IN SURVIVAL

I get so damn timid
Not at all the spirit
That’s inside of me
Oh baby I can’t seem to make it
With you socially

We want to be our best selves, but somehow we cannot. Even though we might have been able to once.

This is just a smidge of the plethora of truth in this track.

BARANGRILL

Hooky. I used to hear this in my head before the mallization of America, before you saw the same restaurants everywhere.

THE SAME SITUATION

Despite a mild radio hit, “For The Roses” underperformed, it was darker than “Blue,” it ended up being for fans only, which is why it was such a surprise that “Court And Spark” was so gigantic.

Caught in my struggle for higher achievements
And my search for love
That don’t seem to cease

I’d rather listen to Joni Mitchell on women’s issues than Sheryl Sandberg any day of the week. Joni delineates the issues more clearly, she evidences the frustration, the questions, she makes males understand.

This is my favorite track on the album. Laden with insecurity, which everyone can identify with.

FREE MAN IN PARIS

There’s a lot of people asking for my time
They’re trying to get ahead
They’re trying to be a good friend of mine

The best description of business I’ve ever encountered, it’s the story of my life, it’s why I no longer talk on the phone, they want to chew up my time just to serve themselves.

Supposedly about David Geffen, this was a hit despite being so personal, proving that platitudes are not necessary for mainstream success.

HELP ME

Seemingly every woman got the message that spring of ’74, they all went out and bought “Court And Spark,” they wanted to be escorted on their journey to love, “Help Me” was ubiquitous, played by everyone who’d fallen…in love that is.

PEOPLE’S PARTIES

Genius. This is Hollywood. Still. I sing this in my head all the time, especially when I’m at an affair which everybody would die to be at while I’m wondering what I’m doing there.

Saying laughing and crying
You know it’s the same release

Where this expression became famous. Truly.

DOWN TO YOU

Intimate, quiet, more like what came before as opposed to the rest of “Court And Spark,” “Down To You” would fit perfectly on “Ladies Of The Canyon.”

Everything comes and goes
Marked by lovers and styles of clothes

I knew it then, I know it more now, that’s the power of the artist, making truth self-evident.

TWISTED

A cover, Joni rescued the song from obscurity, made it famous for the ages.

COLD BLUE STEEL AND SWEET FIRE

1974’s double live album was a bit too slick, but some songs shone, like this.

WOMAN OF HEARD AND MIND

A bit slower, this live iteration has even more meaning than the original, if that’s possible.

IN FRANCE THEY KISS ON MAIN STREET

I’d be lying if I told you I loved 1975’s jazz-influenced “The Hissing Of Summer Lawns.” This track is the most famous and most palatable to old fans.

SONG FOR SHARON

“Hejira” is a revelation. It did not restore Joni Mitchell’s sales success, casual fans moved on, but the hard core who bought and digested the LP were absolutely stunned, there was a new level of insight, the album is incredible.

This eight and a half minute epic is the centerpiece. Just listen.

However, I must point out the words I hear in my head too much, when those frustrated by modern life can no longer endure it:

A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction

When “Hejira” came out I was close to that line, I’m much further away today, I’ve got to give credit to “Song For Sharon” for keeping me here.

REFUGE OF THE ROADS

With the legendary Jaco Pastorius on bass, “Refuge Of The Roads” was about a road trip, it closed the LP, it set your mind free.

The road used to set you free, before modern technology, before cell phones, before Instagram, when life was interior as opposed to exterior, when you were so often alone, in your own mind, with the tunes as your only companion.

FURRY SINGS THE BLUES

Handy is cast in bronze, I saw him when I went to Beale Street, I looked for him, I couldn’t leave Memphis without seeing him. Joni brought W.C. back from the dead, he’s fading into the woodwork again.

AMELIA

An incredible sound, the track is about Amelia Earhart, from back before most baby boomers knew who she was.

THE THREE GREAT STIMULANTS

I saw Joni at the Troubadour, a special guest, she was unannounced, there were few in the venue, she played this accompanied only by herself, the performance was indelible, as great as anything I’ve ever seen.

I saw a little lawyer on the tube
He said ‘It’s so easy now anyone can sue’

It was 1985, lawyers were in love, yuppies ruled, what once was was now gone.

But the music remains.

Rhinofy-Joni Mitchell Playlist

What if after a long bout of writer’s block you put out an album nearly as good as your debut, but most people ignored it?

Then you’d have Karla Bonoff’s 1988 LP “New World.”

Produced by Mark Goldenberg of Cretones fame and released on Danny Goldberg’s Gold Castle Records this gem sank like a stone…what chance do you have of your less than stellar work breaking through today’s internet cacophony?

Not much.

Therefore people become disheartened and give up. Sometimes you need to stay the course, sometimes the public just hasn’t caught up with you yet. And at least twenty-odd years later “New World” lives on online.

THE BEST PART OF YOU

My favorite track on the album, the one that went through my head as I just walked through the front door.

Friday has been my record shopping day for time immemorial. It’s when life slowed down, obligations receded, and I could do what I wanted to. I’d get in my ’63 Chevy and drive to Burlington to stock up at Artec, I’d drive to Westwood in my 2002 and shop at Grammy ‘n Granny…the hipsters preferred Rhino, and I went there too, but the promo selection was better at the former, and the clerks didn’t insult you.

But now music comes to you, in a tsunami. Scarceness is history, as is anticipation and the breaking of the shrinkwrap.

I’ve got a CD of “New World” at arm’s length, I used to play it a lot, but now I can just click and hear it on Spotify, and you should too.

I know they’ll never fade
These memories we made
Sad times slip away
And I hold on to the best part of you

We do. Look in the rearview mirror and reminisce about the good times that is.

“The Best Part Of You” evidences the synthesizer so prevalent on this LP, marking not only the era, but the fact this record was made on the cheap. Yet on “The Best Part Of You” the synth texture is part of the magic, it sets the mood.

Sure, there were hard times, “the hurt we thought we’d never face,” but “The Best Part Of You” feels like that old Simon & Garfunkel song from “Bookends,” “America.” There’s travel, there’s a reference to this great country of ours, to youth, when we were full of drive, when opportunity was prevalent.

Pull this up late at night. You’ll be set at ease and haunted at the same time.

If your mind ever drifts back to what once was and never more will be.

STILL GETTING OVER YOU

When I finally find
I finally find
My love, I’ll still be getting over  you

Whew!

We live in an instant culture, where we’re supposed to instantly forget the past, the good times as well as the hurts. Society tells us no one wants to hear it, you’ve got to keep it to yourself, especially if you’re a guy, you’re supposed to buck up, put a smile on your face and be optimistic.

Hogwash. Breakups hurt. Live long enough and you know it’s mutual, on both sides, both the leaver and the left feel bad. As for the breakup itself being mutual? Decided on by both? Anybody who tells you this is lying, someone always wants it more, the leaver feels guilty and the left doesn’t want to be perceived to be a loser so neither tells the truth. But what goes on in your head cannot be suppressed.

They stay in our brain forever. The memories fade, but they never go completely away. The new person is not identical. They’re better overall, but they don’t have that certain something the old person did, which still haunts you.

Who’s singing about all this?

Karla Bonoff!

ALL MY LIFE

We don’t know how to love. If we’re lucky, someone gives us some hints. But truly we learn through experience. Sometimes you’re the teacher, sometimes you’re the student.

And I never really knew how to love
I just hoped somehow I’d see
Oh I asked for a little help from above
Send an angel down to me

The beautiful might not understand, they may be overwhelmed with offers, from people who see the exterior but not the interior, but the rest of us…we pray, maybe not to God, but to someone above to help us, to deliver them to us and allow us to behave reasonably.

I never thought I could feel a love so tender
I never thought I could let those feelings show
But now my heart is on my sleeve
And this love will never leave
I know I know

This is the warmth, this is the essence of a relationship, not the sex, not the physical intimacy, but the sharing of information, it’s what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. We have a unique desire to be known, to share our thoughts, not only our victories, but our dilemmas, our inadequacies. And when you’re deep in love you feel safe opening up, you feel someone is finally open to you. That’s what bonds you together.

Some people never take the risk.

Then there are others who overshare, who are so busy talking they don’t listen.

And then there are those whose best self is drawn out by the other.

That’s what Karla is singing about here.

GOODBYE MY FRIEND

The track I listened to on 9/11.

Oh we never know where life will take us
We know it’s just a ride on the wheel
And we never know when death will shake us
And we wonder how it will feel

Ain’t that the truth. You think you have it figured out, that you know where you’re going, but that’s patently untrue. Life is a pinball machine. Some become so frightened they take themselves out of the game and live lives of quiet desperation, the rest of us keep getting banged around, ending up in places we could never conceive. Are you doing the work you thought you’d be? You might have envisioned being married once with three biological children yet your second or third spouse who fits you like a glove comes with two adolescents you come to know and love as your own.

Life’s a mystery.

And then it ends.

It most certainly will.

This is what I admire in the young, their belief that they’re gonna live forever, healthily. But when the first person around you passes away you experience a loss so deep you could not previously fathom it. And then you get older and realize you’re gonna go too, and except for those around you, no one’s gonna care, that so much of what you’ve spent your time achieving is a waste.

TELL ME WHY

You can’t break up. You know you should, but you can’t.

So won’t you tell me why
I can’t say goodbye
Won’t you tell me why

And then something happens. They two-time you, you find out something so horrifying you’re stopped in your tracks.

I’m walking on a real thin line
A fool in love with a fool that never cared

This is a hard lesson to learn, that you’re best off with people in love with you. You might be attracted to him or her, but if it’s not mutual, you’re headed for a plethora of pain.

Certain people are not relationship material, others just don’t want you. The sooner you find out, the sooner you can escape and find someone who’s right.

OH MARY

The rush is incredible.

But it fades.

Some become addicted to the high and jump from person to person.

Oh Mary he takes my hand
He tells me that he understands
Oh I wanna know
Did that happen to you

You don’t broadcast it, yet some people can see it in your countenance, but you’re eager to share the information, like the cat that ate the canary, you’ve fallen in love. Is yours unique, is this what everybody’s been talking about, is it real?

Love, or is it just a passing thing
Does time take away the gift it brings
Oh no Mary tell me will this love be true

What they don’t tell you is time pays dividends, the longer you stay together the better it gets. The rush is long gone, but the interconnectedness and the dependency endure. You can count on this person, and nothing feels so good.

WAY OF THE HEART

We just fight all day
Not meaning anything we say
And now we’re frozen
Afraid to let go

I’ve been there, have you? It started out good, you dreamily looked into each other’s eyes, and then…you never saw eye to eye again. Oh, you’d have a good night, but then it’d devolve into arguing and hard stares. You can’t live with ’em and you can’t live without ’em. How do you cope, what do you do?

When you find out, let me know.

HOW LONG

You say you need someone to love
But when will you learn?
Whatever’s done in this world
It’s still gonna turn

This is what we depend on our artists for, truth. Honest insight, delivered with emotion.

It’s why music’s in the crapper. Whatever truth is revealed is delivered with bluster. Most times the words are either tossed off indiscriminately or written by cynical old men who know more about craft than art.

But in the heyday of yore, when music blew up because the same people who wrote it performed it, we looked for something more, beneath the sheen we were looking for those nuggets of truth.

Yet “How Long” is a cover, it was written by David and Andrew Williams. Proving there are no rules, that a great song is a great song, if it’s delivered well it will reach you.

How long til you see that we’re in this together?
How long?
How long?

That’s the key. An understanding that you’re more than a couple, you’re a team. That you look out for each other, that you can be counted on.

Which reminds me of my favorite movie of the twenty first century, “You Can Count On Me.”

No one could count on Mark Ruffalo, which is why his life was so hard. The more you’re there for people, the richer your life becomes.

But how are you gonna learn how to behave, who’s gonna help you through?

Hopefully your parents gave you a good start. After that… My generation looked to records.

I’d like to tell you that we’re in this together. But even though we can communicate with the push of a button, I still feel alone so much of the time, while my brethren post about their fabulous lives on Instagram. But I know they’re lying, it’s the nature of being human, you’ve got ups and downs. How do you cope?

For my generation it’s music. It not only crowded out the noise, it spoke to us, personally.

I’m thinking about all this on a Friday afternoon, which feels so much just as it did in the decades of yore, because as much as I’ve changed, I really haven’t, I’m still the same person. I loved the thrill of not only buying the records, but the listening.

I’m listening to one now.

“New World” – Karla Bonoff on Spotify