SOMEONE TO LAY DOWN BESIDE ME

Linda Ronstadt was America’s sweetheart, the coolest rock chick who owned the airwaves, she released her third smash in a row, “Hasten Down The Wind” and the killer track, which finished the LP, was “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me.” The instrumentation was perfect, haunting, the sheen shone, and then we experienced the exquisite voice we all knew and loved.

Singing a song by someone we were completely unfamiliar with, one Karla Bonoff.

Still you know that may be what I need
Is someone to lay down beside me
And even though it’s not real
Just someone to lay down beside me
You’re the story of my life

A beautiful song sung by someone who seemed to own the world, the darkness was absent.

But when Karla sang the same song with the same arrangement…WHEW!

Well morning is breaking, the street lights are off
The sun will soon share all the cost
Of a world that can be sort of heartless
Not like love that you feel in your heart

Sung by an unknown, someone just like us, the words seemed so much more…BELIEVABLE! This was someone who was yearning for connection in a world that so rarely provides it, back before Match.com, never mind Tinder. When loneliness killed.

You heard Karla sing and you thought about yourself. And how the world really was kind of heartless, that’s the key word in the song, the one you remember.

I CAN’T HOLD ON

Oh baby, this time it’s good-bye
And you can be sure that I won’t cry
Our love is just a faded story
I’m walking down the road
And you’ve just got to let me go

Have you read the Franzen book? There are moments in “Purity” that will make your eyes bug out, the stories of young love, when we’re passionate and inexperienced and make choices we wince at years later. Back then we didn’t know whether to double-down or RUN!

“I Can’t Hold On” is upbeat as opposed to the dirgy “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me.” It evidences the freedom of one who’s thought about it a long time and has broken away and is now reveling in the power of her aloneness.

‘Cause I can’t hold on
I can’t hold on
I can’t hold on anymore

These are not the words of a fly-by-nighter. She tried, she’s not the one who jumps from relationship to relationship, but she’s finally reached her limit, she’s done.

And maybe next time you’ll cry
When someone like me says good-bye
You’ll wake up when she’s gone and wonder
How you could let her go
But look at me, I’m going under…

Come on, if you haven’t said this to yourself, maybe even made the mistake of saying it to your ex, you’re a leaver, not one of the left. You’ve given your all and it’s still not enough. You want to scream and shout, but they’re still playing games…

It’s all here. This is the best post breakup song I know, I’ve sung it to myself many a time.

LOSE AGAIN

The opener on that Linda Ronstadt album. Yes, there were three Karla Bonoff songs on “Hasten Down The Wind.”

When the heart calls, the mind obeys
Oh, it knows better than me, baby

Ain’t that the truth. You know you should end it, but your heart won’t let you, you go back for another go-round. I always thought this is the same person who was free in the previous song. She thought she was done and then…he pulled her back in.

But you’re keepin’ me goin’, I know it’s insane
Because I love you and lose again

Once again, I think you’ve lived this story…I certainly have.

HOME

Covered by Bonnie Raitt on her LP “Sweet Forgiveness.”

And home sings me of sweet things
My life there has its own wings

I sing this song every time I go away, just before I come back…home.

FACES IN THE WIND

The side-closer, written by Craig Safan, it’s the mood that gets you.

The remorse…

ISN’T IT ALWAYS LOVE

My favorite song on the album.

Isn’t it always love that makes you hang your head
And isn’t it always love that makes you cry
But isn’t it always love that takes the tears away
And you wouldn’t have it other way

That’s what we’re living for, money and status are a sideshow. And if you have those…how do you know your beloved is true? Life is a roller coaster, we’re looking for that thrill of connection, that pitter-patter in our heart.

When you find someone that’s true to you
Some days are up and oh some days are blue
Just don’t go and throw it all away
Wait a minute, you gotta hear what I say

The rewards are in staying together, enduring the ups and downs, deepening the bond, knowing you can put the pieces back together and march on. Boomers grew up in the era of divorce, if things weren’t right you were supposed to break up and find something better…but oftentimes that didn’t happen.

IF HE’S EVER NEAR

The third and final Karla Bonoff song on “Hasten Down The Wind.”

They say just once in life
You find someone that’s right
But the world looks so confused
I can’t tell false from true
And love’s so hard to find
In this state of mind
Oh, I hope I’ll know him
I hope I’ll know him
If he’s ever near

Definitive, the best words I know on this subject. In a country of 300 million, in a world of 3 billion…what does love look like, who is the right one for you?

Well I know that in my time
I’ll have it sweet and fine
But it won’t add up to much
Unless I feel his touch
‘Cause love’s so hard to find
And I guess I’ll just give up tryin’

Don’t. Those of you broke and busted on the side of the road, keep at it. Look inside yourself, work on your issues, because there’s someone out there for you and you’ll feel so much happier when you find them.

That’s right. Those of you who just can’t win at the game. That’s because you don’t know how to play. You can change, you can make it work, I know it.

FLYING HIGH

The other song on the album not written by Karla.

She said now you’re flying high
Tomorrow you might be low
The same thing that makes your baby cry
Might make him get up and go

Happiness is followed by despair, and it seems inexplicable. You want to avoid the turmoil, but ups and downs are the story of life. Grab hold and don’t let go!

Credit Steve Ferguson for the wisdom.

FALLING STAR

Positively creepy, positively brilliant.

Oh, my heart aches deep inside me
Oh, how I miss you
Will you come back, oh, why’d you leave me
Oh, what can I do

Inexplicable. They rarely tell you why they’re gone. Was it something you did, something you can change? And if you’re everything they say they want you to be…will it make any difference?

‘Cause every night I sit here by the phone
You know it rings a lot inside my head
I daydream you’re home

Oh, the telephone. Especially before answering machines. You’d stay home and wait, believing they’d call, but they didn’t. Eventually they did but to assuage their own guilt, not because they’d reconsidered and wanted to come back. It’s over and you don’t want to believe it.

But now I know that love can leave a scar

Oh, to be young and inexperienced once again, to have a do-over and try other options. It’s amazing how one person can have such an impact upon your life.

ROSE IN THE GARDEN

And now it’s over.

So different from today’s music, where the singers are winners and kick their significant others to the curb. You can tell Karla Bonoff’s been hurt, she’s been on the losing end of love, but now she’s resigned to the loss, she’s gonna let him go.

I’m not telling any lies now
I need  you
You know how
I think I can see how to let you grow
I’ve got to let you go

EEGADS! This is the last thing you want to do!

Though that’s my face in the mirror
It’s sometimes you that I see
‘Cause we’ve been here for so long now
I see your soul in me

You’ve merged. You’ve even started to look alike. The person closest to you, who knows all your secrets, is no longer there, and will ultimately be with someone else. It’s soul-crushing.

“Karla Bonoff” was produced by Kenny Edwards. Bonoff’s significant other, once. He’s now gone. Bonoff is still here. You can hear her sing these songs live, she goes on the road. You’ll be sitting in the audience reflecting upon what once was, all the turmoil when most of your life was still ahead of you instead of behind.

Or maybe you’re in your twenties and eating life up.

Well, Karla’s got some insight for you.

Seems like a long time ago, the seventies are deep in the rearview mirror, but life hasn’t really changed, if you nailed it then the lessons still apply. And if you made great music it still satiates.

I plucked Karla Bonoff’s debut from the promo bin, and then went back and bought every copy they had, so I could gift it to people. They needed to hear it. Back when we got our truth from music. When we were all conflicted and concerned about love, when communicating meant more than a text, when you had to be vulnerable to connect and it hurt so much to be rejected.

Actually, that last part is still true. Hook-up culture is more of a media fiction than reality. You’ve got to be yourself to get ahead, open your heart for someone to reach inside, but who’s gonna help you, soothe you when you lose?

Karla Bonoff.

Rhinofy-Karla Bonoff

“Jimmy Iovine wants Apple to save the world from free music”

It’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

Or one can just say that every time Jimmy Iovine opens his mouth he digs his hole deeper.

Let’s rewind the clock all the way back to 2004, January of that year, when Jimmy Iovine stumbled through a speech at CES, as he shilled for HP and its soon to be disgraced CEO Carly Fiorina, and complained, as he did yesterday, that free was killing the music business.

“HP Declares War On Sharing Culture”

Jimmy references 50 Cent. If you know your history, Fitty took his newfound fame and ended up with a serious slice of Vitamin Water, generating more riches than any recording contract ever could.

As for Carly Fiorina extolling the virtues of digital rights management (DRM), this was already after the iTunes Music Store had launched and lock free files were swimming all over the web.

This was also the CES wherein Carly launched the HP iPod. And if you want to know how that turned out, how Jobs snookered Fiorina, read this:

“How Steve Jobs Fleeced Carly Fiorina”

And this is the woman we want running our country?

Of course we don’t. This is the woman selling newspapers and TV advertising, media loves her challenge to Trump. And I’ll cede Carly her intelligence, but her business history is superseded by Andy Lack’s tenure at Sony Music, wherein he put the rootkit on CDs and not only killed Neil Diamond’s album, but helped put the CD business in its grave, all by alienating customers.

Now Jimmy is targeting Spotify and YouTube at “Vanity Fair,” but really he’s pointing his finger at you, the consumer. You don’t pay for music. But you do overpay to see your favorites live who are “forced” to go on tour and make millions. How could he and Carly get it so wrong?

By having no experience.

Carly Fiorina knew little about tech and little about running a major tech corporation. It would be like putting a fantasy football champ in charge of the Patriots, because really Belichick is doing the job of an amateur, his wins are accidental.

Jimmy knows loads about signing talent and selling music.

Digital distribution of goods? HE’S CLUELESS!

What do we know about tech…

Excellence is key, the price goes down and scale is everything.

Is most of the music deserving of our attention?

OF COURSE NOT!

But now that everything’s available people are gravitating to the few anointed artists. And that means that both the good and the marginal are left out. It’s about listens. And all the listens are going to the hit artists. You’re broke because of your content, not because Spotify and YouTube are screwing you.

As for YouTube…

It garnered most of the viewing/listening because Warner Music refused to license Spotify and therefore the service didn’t launch in the U.S. until 2011. YouTube is much less of a factor in nations where Spotify launched earlier, like in Scandinavia in 2009. Timing is key. Hell, if Apple Music predated Spotify it might be in a triumphant position today.

As for the freemium tier… It was enabled to kill piracy. Does Jimmy really believe if freemium goes away that everybody will pay? He doesn’t think it will just drive piracy underground again, via P2P and sneakernet? The book business declared war on Amazon, Bezos capitulated, prices were raised and sales went down. Or is Jimmy just out for himself, and if Apple Music can make money he doesn’t really care about piracy… That’d be the self-centered music business way.

We’ve learned for the past fifteen years that the only way you win is by getting on the customer’s side. If you’re trying to shame people into compliance, corral them into seeing it your way, you’re doomed. Remember when the RIAA sued file traders?

Furthermore, Jimmy is now playing defense. He doth protest too much. He got his ninety days free, he’s responsible for a botched product. But suddenly it’s Spotify and YouTube’s fault?

And Jimmy tried to tilt the playing field. By making rightsholders end their Spotify freemium deal, by making them eradicate free music from YouTube. The end result? GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION! This is hilarious because back in 2004 Jimmy was begging for the government to get involved. Karma’s a bitch. And everybody in tech knows you keep the government at bay, because D.C. is backwards and incompetent, and when you finally fly on the radar you hire lobbyists to educate and implore elected officials.

Ranting and raving just makes Jimmy laughable, marginalizes him.

He’s making these statements at a fat cat confab. Try saying the same things in front of the public, rotten tomatoes would be flying, boos would drown him out. Can Jimmy really be that out of touch?

Yes.

We’ve hit bottom. Recorded music revenues are only going to go up. Streaming has won and will continue to rule, because we live in an on demand culture and that’s what streaming is…you don’t own it, you have the ability to access it. If you hate Spotify, you hate Netflix, you’d rather own DVDs. But good luck finding someplace to buy them, your brethren have moved on.

But the marginal, like Jimmy, yell loudest.

Ten percent are never going to pay. Forget about them.

As for the other ninety percent, they’re looking for convenience, and advantages.

Did AT&T and Verizon put a gun to consumers’ heads and force them to buy expensive data plans?

No, people wanted them, so they could play!

They paid for AOL.

They paid for broadband connections.

And now some have stopped paying for cable.

Cablevision got out. But before Dolan made the deal, he said how the value of cable in the future would be the internet, not TV.

If Jimmy wants Apple Music to win, he’s got to provide a better experience. And he’s got to realize we’re in a transitional period. Music has been free for so long that most people have fallen out of the habit of paying for it, if they ever paid at all. But history is littered with stories of people adopting new habits, expensive ones at that.

But you’ve got the artists saying they’re being screwed.

Billionaire Jimmy Iovine saying it’s all unfair.

And everybody at home is struggling just to survive.

Jimmy can’t rewrite the rules of business, of human behavior. How come he knows so much about selling good records and so little about selling streaming music?

Can you stream on Sonos without paying?

OF COURSE NOT! But Jimmy launched Apple Music without Sonos compatibility, not realizing these upscale sneezers would spread the word.

Is YouTube a good listening experience on the handset?

OF COURSE NOT!

Can you pick and choose the songs you want to hear on Spotify’s mobile freemium tier?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

It pays to pay.

People just don’t know it yet.

But do you get a date by insulting someone?

Don’t we hook drug addicts by giving dope away for free?

Everybody needs to STFU. Streaming services just have to improve, become an indispensable business proposition, then people will pay.

And they will.

But never forget…

One service will have the lion’s share of the paying customers, you go where your friends are, we live in a social world.

And just because you can play, that does not mean you can win.

And that goes for both wannabe artists and Jimmy Iovine.

Excellence rules. Word of mouth counts.

And if you’re over fifty you’re probably clueless.

Unless this is your area of expertise to begin with.

Kids don’t own televisions, if they watch on their computers or handsets at all.

Jimmy would tell them to sit down in front of the big screen.

I’m saying we’re in a good place. We’ve beaten back piracy and you can get all the goods in one place. Take that television, take that movies.

Happy days are here again, just you wait and see.

Hi Bob,

I love John Boylan.

His blog about the recording of “Roll With The Changes” and our ‘Tuna Fish’ album, and the genius of Paul Grupp, and the enduring support of Epic Records during those golden years of the music industry, and his complimentary comments about the REO band members were all cool, but he left out a huge part of the story: John Boylan.

He didn’t mention the meeting that Gary Richrath and I had with him and some other Epic Brass up at the Black Rock in early 1978. Gary and I came in strong on the heels of our first gold album, ‘Live, You Get What You Play For’, and demanded, or begged depending on your outlook, that we self produce our next studio album. We felt we had the songs, and we didn’t want to take any chances that an another outside producer would fail to understand us.

To our surprise Ron Alexemburg, the president of Epic at the time, actually said yes…with one condition: A member of the Epic A&R staff would sit in with us and make sure that with the inmates running the asylum things would stay relatively sane. We knew of John Boylan’s artist friendly reputation and were big time hoping he was our guy.

After three weeks of recording at Sound City I was not thrilled with what I was hearing and felt like we needed to scrap those masters and go back to SIR for more rehearsal. This was a crazy fucking idea. Our first shot at producing and we are totally blowing it. This could not possibly be happening.

That is when I started to really get to know John Boylan. He had been sitting quietly in the control room, reading, watching, listening, observing our process, answering our occasional questions, and getting to know us. When I got up the nerve to share my doubts about the tracks I totally expected Boylan to tell me I was out of my mind.  But instead something strange and wonderful happened…

John Boylan understood me. He saw my passion and devotion to those songs and he got how important it was to me that we get it right. It was do or die time, and his advice was a resounding: Do. That support emboldened me. It changed me forever. Up until then I had been developing a sense of faith in my instincts, but in that moment I locked into a firm trust in my gut and in letting the songs be my guide. Everything I have done musically since that day has been in total service of The Song. For me, that is the secret to producing records, and I learned it from John Boylan.

There is a post script/fairy tale ending to this story which adds to John’s oxymoronic status as a legendary music business good guy. I feel compelled to share it…

A few months into our sessions at Sound City, John ran into a scheduling issue. Since pressing the figurative reset button, we had fallen horribly behind in our recording. Meanwhile, John had a overlapping commitment to produce Little River Band in Australia. By that time I guess he felt reasonably confident that with Grupp running the board and us getting into the flow of making the record, he could give us our wings. It was a huge vote of confidence, and off he flew to the land down under. But here is the amazing part..

John had been charged by Epic to be part of our production team, and be compensated accordingly. We understood there was a pie to be split up fairly among Gary, our drummer Alan Gratzer, John, and myself. Okay, the amazing part…

When John told me he had to leave for Australia, and that he trusted us to take charge, he also told me that he was giving us his production points…yes, you heard me right. John Boylan voluntarily gave us back his production points! ‘You Can Tuna Piano, But You Can’t Tune A Fish’ went on to sell four million plus world wide and still counting, so those points have added up to some pretty groovy mailbox money.

Do any of you know anyone who on their own gives up points on a record which they spent months of their life involved in? To this day I know of only one…John Boylan.

I recently heard that John is healthy, nurturing young artists, and making new music…as it should be. My warmest, fuzziest thoughts go out through cyberspace and hopefully reach you John. Please say hi to our mad genius friend The Grupper, and thank you for all you have taught me.

Kevin Cronin, REO Speedwagon

PS. The songs from the Tuna Album continue to be “lighter/iPhone in the air” moments of every REO show, so you and Grupp are with us in spirit every night.

PPS. Yo Bob, I appreciated the straight shooting in your recent blog in the wake of my friend Gary Richrath’s passing. I am totally cool with fair criticism balanced with credit where it is due. Keep telling it like it is bro.

 

From: John Boylan
Subject: RE: Rhinofy-Roll With The Changes

Hi Bob,

“Roll With the Changes” was on REO’s breakthrough studio album, “You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish.” Some background: the album was recorded mostly at the legendary Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, engineered and co-produced by my longtime friend and frequent collaborator, Paul Grupp. “PG,” as we called him, was a superior engineer noted for scrupulous attention to detail, and he should get lots of kudos for the sound of the record. Paul is still active today despite three bouts of cancer, all of which he beat with the same tenacity he brought to his studio work.

REO was a classic rock band, working their asses off on the road, building a fan base, and constantly improving their art and their craft. The combination of Kevin’s writing, singing, and leadership, together with Gary’s guitar and the masterful playing of Neal, Bruce, and Alan was one of those happy combinations that added up to wonderful rock and roll experience – blue-collar, Midwestern music at its best.

The REO story could never happen today. I was in the A&R Department at Epic Records during this time, and we nurtured this band through several albums before they finally broke through. No current record company would keep the faith for anywhere near that long, and that is the real tragedy of the 21st century music industry (or what’s left of it).

Best,
John Boylan

Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution

Music was our tech.

The only difference was the older generation pooh-poohed it, our parents were not our friends, and you had to leave your house to experience it. But over the course of a decade the entire younger generation was infected by the sounds made by a bunch of renegade players who weren’t interested in getting rich so much as making a statement, living life as opposed to checking off boxes in some life equivalency test.

I almost didn’t go. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t get around to it. The above exhibit closes this weekend, go if you can, if you’re not in L.A. it’ll come near you eventually, I think.

Not that it’s about what you see so much as what you feel.

The sixties were fifty years ago. And walking through the exhibit it feels like it. A strange time in a faraway place…wait, it happened right here! On the Sunset Strip and up north in the Haight. Back when California was the epicenter of everything new and different, the Golden State was where limits were tested and culture was developed. Actually, it still is. Taxes might be high, but the economy is humming. The Texas Miracle has been revealed to be a sham, Florida is the home of crazies and revelers, and in California the bleeding edge is being explored. Not only in Silicon Valley, but Silicon Beach. California is where you come to make a difference. In D.C. you kowtow to the powers that be and do what’s expedient, in California you ignore the rules as you invent a new game, it’s not only the ancestral home of Steve Jobs, but the adopted home of Elon Musk.

But it’s different. The exhibit blames Reagan, the legitimization of greed and the cutback of cash for social programs, the Gipper ripped apart the social fabric of our nation and we’re still paying the price. Clinton may have erased the national debt, but income inequality soared. But when the Fillmore East ruled tickets were three, four and five dollars.

The Fillmore East. They had one of the green football jerseys the staff wore. I’ve neither seen one nor thought of one in…half a century!

Some of the artifacts are positively mind-blowing.

They’ve got Bill’s watch, you know, the one with two faces, for east coast and west coast time. It’s legendary, but I’ve never even seen a picture of it, and here it is!

Grace Slick’s Woodstock dress. It’s not threadbare, but it’s aged. It seems an ancient relic.

Kind of like Janis Joplin’s stage outfit. Up close and personal not exotic, but from a distance… This was back when things were handmade and looked like it. When electric windows in automobiles were rare and broke, when you could still work on your own car, when there was a business in repair, before the replacement society took hold.

And Duane Allman’s guitar from “Fillmore East.”

And Pete Townshend’s Gibson from the Metropolitan Opera House. It’s just staggering, you’ve seen all the pictures…AND THERE IT IS!

The exhibit starts with history, like a typical museum, ancient stories told in black and white, Bill emigrating from Europe and ending up in America. Becoming infatuated with Latin dance, working in the Catskills. Talk about something else that’s history, Grossinger’s ruled, now it’s been completely forgotten.

And then artifacts from the Mime Troupe era and…

The Mime Troupe. Kinda like the Occupy movement, but with an edge. Protest, questioning authority, they were de rigueur in the sixties. Today we argue over politically correct speech, worried about triggering bad thoughts of college students, all of us bending the rules so we can take our support animals on the plane. But back then we weren’t out for ourselves, but EVERYBODY! And we tackled the big issues, racial inequality, war… Today everybody’s supposed to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and no one can question the direction of the government…USA, USA!

And you see pics of the Charlatans and the Warlocks. I recognized Dan Hicks, you probably don’t know who he is. But with his Hot Licks on Blue Thumb Records he cut a track entitled “I Scare Myself” with a violin solo by Sid Page that was transcendent. And then… There was nothing. I ran into Dan twenty years back, he was still good, but his dreams of returning to even greater success were dashed. You see it was a moment of opportunity, that was seized by outsiders, true artists, who looked at the world a different way. Today artists have been overrun by wannabes, believing their desire is enough for success, ain’t that a laugh.

And there’s the document declaring 1967 the “Summer of Love.” I didn’t even know it existed! For decades most people thought the Summer of Love was ’68, after the assassinations, when most people knew who these bands were. But the truth is San Francisco was on the cutting edge and there was no internet to amplify the message, it took a long time for word to spread.

And then…

It was all about going to the show. Sure, you wanted to hang with the throng, but even more you wanted to connect with the music. The musicians were gods, who emanated seemingly from nowhere, who we followed to…Monterey, Woodstock and beyond. The last place you wanted to be was home, inside. Today, that’s where all the action is. We commune online, used to be in person. And there was a lot of wasted time, and there was no delusion that everyone could be a leader, only the anointed few. But we wanted to participate, we joined the movement…against the war, instructed by music and those who played it.

Music was the culture.

It’s not the culture today.

Grace Slick is a grandmother. She’s got white hair and hasn’t performed in eons. She’s been replaced by two-dimensional queens whose sole desire is to be admired and become wealthy. Whereas Ms. Slick couldn’t stop being a spanner in the works, making trouble. As for her band…Graham was pissed that whenever they got some cash they wanted to stay home and smoke dope, work went out the window.

And Pigpen was still alive, but if you weren’t from San Francisco you had no idea who Ron McKernan was. The Deadhead phenomenon didn’t arrive until the seventies. When the Fillmores were closed and rock went on a giant victory lap that lasted decades.

But now it’s done.

We’ve got the trappings, but none of the soul.

And those times are not coming back.

But the truth is only the baby boomers lived through it. Young ‘uns have no idea that festivals were a new thing, and security was so bad they all ended up being free, FOR YEARS!

We knew not only the tunes, but the players and the equipment. I saw a Kustom cabinet on stage.

And in the process, we lost not only Bill, but Janis, Jimi, Tim Buckley and so many more. Drugs were killers, but old age has taken so many more. Buddy Miles, John Cipollina, Scott McKenzie…

Dust in the wind.

There are so many things I like about 2015. I’m never bored and never lonely. And I endured extreme angst and aloneness for decades. The only time I felt connected was when I was at the gig with my tribe. We were all mesmerized by the musicians and the music.

Bill Graham facilitated that.

The way Andy Grove facilitated the computer revolution with Intel.

But chips are machines.

And rock depended on machines to make its point, but the truth is it emanated from human beings, imperfect, with ranging thoughts. We lionize Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos but they’ve got no soul. We’re the heart of America, but we’ve punted, forgone all of our power, so busy paying fealty to the device and app makers.

It was a moment in time. We were all so young. Everybody went to the show the way everybody owns a smartphone. The introduction of the new iPhone is nothing compared to the release of a new Beatles album. Radio told us it was coming out, we bought it and spun it for months, everywhere, you could hear the sound coming out of windows across this great country of ours.

And if you went to San Francisco you put some flowers in your hair. You threw off convention and let the music flow through your brain. You set your mind free.

In the Golden State.

It all happened here.

Will it happen again?

If so, look for it to begin where you’re so many time zones behind you can barely communicate with outsiders, where the populace is a rainbow of colors and we accept people of different ethnicities just like we embraced Carlos Santana. When he and his music were still dangerous.

I know so much of this stuff. I went to the Fillmore East, mere months after it opened, even though it seemed like years back then. I bought more albums than anybody I knew, the music saved my life.

But I’m stunned at what a long strange trip it’s been.

And how far behind the past really is.

When record execs were faceless and sold the music as opposed to created it.

When radio was the tribal drum and the deejays were on our side.

When seemingly every week my generation was starting something new and testing limits.

When life was about opportunity.

When we gave without worrying so much about receiving.

When we all bought guitars so we could play along.

When we defeated a President, Johnson didn’t run again and we thought we’d won.

What happened?

I’m still pondering it.

But one thing I know for sure…I WAS THERE!