One track can build a reputation and cement a career.

Chris Whitley’s “Living With The Law” was released in 1991, almost a decade before the Napster era, when if radio didn’t play it most people didn’t know it. There was no YouTube clip to click, no free Spotify tier, you had to buy it to know it, or know someone who played it for you, otherwise it’s like it didn’t even exist.

As great as Chris Whitley was, what made that debut so haunting and striking was Malcolm Burn’s production, it was like the record was cut in the next room over, but there was no door, you could hear it, feel it, you wanted to get closer but there was no access, only mystery, who cut this? And, this also being the pre-internet era we didn’t know much about Chris Whitley, we were in the dark, all we had were these songs.

And “Big Sky Country” is not the only great track on “Living With The Law,” I point you especially to “Poison Girl,” and be sure to listen to the opening, title cut, “Living With The Law,” which is anything but a single, what balls to start the record with something other than a hit.

But next up was the killer, “Big Sky Country.”

Kind of like “Royals,” you’re enraptured by “Big Sky Country” from the very first note. It’s a missive from another world that you just want to inhabit, something music used to strive for before everybody was looking for endorsements and was more interested in being a celebrity than being a musician.

Now when this is over, over and through
When all the changes have come and passed

Mmm… He’s talking about the future, in a world that’s positively focused on the present. And what is it that’s going to happen in the interim? Is he in trouble, is it law trouble or love trouble or… We just don’t know.

I want to meet you in the Big Sky Country

Montana owns that moniker, but Whitley seems to be referencing a state of mind more than a particular place. Well, somewhere where the law doesn’t interfere, where you can stretch out and be yourself.

I wanna prove, mama, love can last, yes

Can it? I don’t know. But there was that article in the “New York Times” that said women look forward, but men are all about regret, they concentrate on the one that got away. The love burns on in their heart.

Like hallelujah in the Big Sky Country

This is the line you remember. The expression of exuberance.

And there are more words, but there’s also guitar-playing, ethereal slide while the title is sung over and over again, allowing you to ponder…the song, the place, the playing… You can do nothing but queue this track up again.

And it’s stuck in your head. It certainly plays whenever you think of Montana.

And it’s private, it’s yours, but you’re also a member of a club. Those who know “Big Sky Country” and those who don’t.

And if you don’t, WELCOME TO YOUR INITIATION!

Rhinofy-Big Sky Country

1. Opportunities come from relationships.

It’s who you know. And who you know doesn’t have to be the top dog. And the people you know today might climb the ladder tomorrow, or be gone just as quickly. Which is why your relationships must be varied and…you must continue to invest, meeting new people. Doesn’t matter how smart you are, if you don’t know people, you’re never gonna get ahead, you’re gonna have trouble paying the bills, or you’re going to be a drone at the corporation bitching about your boss.

2. Winners take risks.

J. couldn’t get a loan to start his skate shop. He asked everybody he knew and raised a bit of capital, dropped out of college and started. J. believed in himself. He felt he could sell, and you sell by nurturing relationships and spending money, investing in good will.

3. You make your own opportunities.

Japan ordered pants J. wasn’t making. They saw a patch from his shop on the leg of a famous snowboarder and assumed they were available. J. said yes, then figured it out.

4. Connections will get you in the door, but they won’t get you much further.

S.’s father knew a famous Wall Street titan. This delivered him a job in the basement, wiring funds around the world.

5. Your c.v. means something on Wall Street.

S. asked for a promotion to trader. The boss said he didn’t go to Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth or Princeton so he should forget about it.

6. Spin is everything.

S. hated his job in his basement, but rather than bitch he spun the story as one of hunger, a huge desire to move on up. The boss said no.

7. Be persistent.

S. asked again, soon thereafter. The boss gave him some numbers. S. acted on them.

8. Sales skills count.

P. talks to some of his financial customers five times a day. If you’ve got social anxiety, the Street is no place for you to reside.

9. Nothing is forever.

The other J. had to make a career switch when the internet destroyed his business.

10. Margins are everything.

You can’t make it in physical retail if the internet sellers collapse your margins. Passion will only get you so far, at the end of the day you’ve got to make money.

11. The hinterlands may deliver a great lifestyle, but little cash.

The third J. was told he’d be a millionaire if only he moved his business to the city.

12. Winners get opportunities out of the blue.

A&M called the first J. with an offer, that he actually turned down. But J. nurtured the relationship and it paid dividends down the road.

13. All fathers are the same.

M. wants his daughter to have a good career after college, he helps open doors for her.

14. The music business looks easy to outsiders, but the truth is you’re working 24/7 and can be fired any time.

15. He who goes the extra mile gets the benefit of the doubt.

S. went above and beyond the call of duty, therefore he not only got kudos, but little crap. S. did it not for the dividend, but because that’s his personality. People know when you’re working it, when you expect a payoff.

16. Misinformation reigns.

Despite living in the information society, more people know less and those who control the talking points win. I don’t mind if you’re a Republican, but I do mind when everything you’re basing your opinion on is wrong.

17. Not every millennial lives for technology.

A. got an iPhone reluctantly, only because he can iMessage from his no cell service household. His goal is to be the last person to upgrade it.

18. The lowliest workers are the nicest.

The house-cleaning lady hopped in her car and picked up D. after the lifts were closed, not begrudgingly, but eagerly. Why is it those at the bottom are the least cynical and the most compassionate?

19. Gourmet food is everywhere.

20. Most college campuses look the same.

21. The locals look different.

22. I want to go back.

Eating breakfast I perused the brochures for Montana. Turns out there’s this road from Jellystone to Red Lodge that scales the mountains and hugs their edges that scares me to drive but I want to experience.

Flathead Lake is the largest fresh body of water…well, somewhere out west.

Sitting in the waiting room at the Bozeman Yellowstone airport the big screens played this documentary on the building of the Fort Peck Dam during the Depression. I was so fascinated I was bummed when my flight took off.

We know so little but want to know so much.

At least I do.

P.S. Turns out you can watch the Fort Peck Dam documentary on YouTube:

Fort Peck Dam: Taming the Mighty Missouri

But the funny thing is I probably won’t finish it at home, because in the big city it’s all hustle and bustle, you’re time-challenged, whereas in the Big Sky Country you can lay back and experience life, and isn’t life for the living?

P.P.S. The Beartooth Highway

The Beartooth Highway, from Yellowstone to Red Lodge

It’s the same song. And once you go to a jury…

You’ve got to understand the law is not about common sense. It’s not about deciding who is right. It’s about laws, both statutes and cases, and even though someone or something might smell guilty, that does not mean they are under the law. Which is a good thing. Because it makes life predictable.

So, the judge didn’t allow the recording of Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” to be played in court, at least at first, and it came down to the sheet music and you could see why Pharrell and Thicke thought they had a chance, at least their lawyers thought they had a chance, but juries are notorious for going on feeling/running on emotions.

This should have been settled out of court.

Then again, you’ve got to come up with a number, you’ve got to make an agreement. For every case like Sam Smith’s where the parties are amenable, there are others where one party is entrenched and unreasonable, sometimes even both!

That’s what they don’t tell you about the law. It’s not about the courtroom, it’s about settlement, negotiation, and the key is to have an attorney who knows how to get an agreement, who is also willing to go to court if one cannot be reached.

So…

It’s the same damn song. Everybody knows that.

Where is the line?

WHO KNOWS!!

Sure, there are a limited number of notes, but the truth is most people don’t have enough money to sue, so stuff never gets to court, never mind settlement.

And then there are those who let it ride.

But when you have heirs who didn’t write the music to begin with and are living off the proceeds…it’s hard to let things go.

As for the amount of money made by the track, revealed in the courtroom, THAT’S A GOOD THING! For over a decade we’ve had to hear how the music business is challenged, how you just can’t make any money. Then you’ve got these guys rolling in dough. It’ll encourage people to make music. To the degree the numbers are even remembered.

That’s right, Pharrell and Thicke’s checks are an antidote to the Wall Street/financial money. Who wouldn’t rather be a musician? Everything they’ve been telling us is wrong. There’s tons of dough if you’re great and successful. It’s just that most people aren’t. And it’s these losers who are complaining the loudest. As are those inured to recording monies. But if you can make this much on recordings, and you’ve got live income too? WHOOPEE!

So if you rip off someone else’s track, consciously or subconsciously, and you have a hit with it, chances are you’re gonna be sued.

Hell, the truth is you’re gonna be sued even if there is no similarity! The old axiom applies, that’s right, “Where there’s a hit, there’s a writ!” Talk to the superstars, they’ve all been harassed and sued for no good reason, it goes with the territory.

But if it’s too close…

As for a rash of these lawsuits, give me a break. Were the courts littered with cases after the George Harrison “My Sweet Lord”/”He’s So Fine” case? NO!

So the only story here is people might think a bit harder as to whether they copied and if they did, and the song makes bank, they’re gonna get a phone call.

Once upon a time, rappers sampled hit records willy-nilly, that’s history.

And if you copy, you’re probably gonna be busted.

Once again, where’s the line?

1. No one cares about a track that doesn’t make money. You don’t spend all that money suing to make nothing.

2. If there is similarity, you may or may not be sued, and if you are, you’re usually better off settling.

3. Juries are unpredictable. And they tend to run on emotion. The songs were so similar that the jurors felt the injustice and found for the plaintiffs. Judges can frequently separate emotions from facts, but not juries.

4. Appeal. Juries get it wrong all the time. And judgments are reduced or cases are sent back for retrial and… Frequently, settlement is achieved and the number you see in the news is never paid.

So…

How many of these lawsuits do we hear about? How many go to trial?

Almost none.

So, sleep tight and know that music still rains down money, no matter what everybody in it keeps saying…

Dan and I skied Marx. A double diamond on the side of Lone Peak…I haven’t skied anything that steep in eons.

But it wasn’t the steepness, but the bumps on top that were challenging.

Let me put it this way…this is the kind of slope where if you fall, you slide all the way to the bottom. And if you’re lucky, you’ll miss the rocks. And the rest of the posse hit it the morning of the very first day.

Needless to say I’ve got more experience than they do. Forget the past, even this year I’ve skied ten times as much. And the thing about testing yourself, challenging yourself…you want to be at one with your body, you want to know where all the moving parts are, you want to be so prepared that if you make a mistake, you can recover.

But guys on vacation don’t think this way. They’ve got something to prove. And the testosterone makes it so no one can back out. Hell, it took all my inner strength to say no the very first day. And now having skied Marx, I’m glad I held back. My calf was still killing me. Psychologically it would have been tough.

Which is all to say when today’s lunch discussion turned to the tram and the snowboarders’ desire to do Marx again this afternoon, I said I was out.

So greetings from Big Sky, on the top of the country, so far out of the way it feels it. As for the skiing, they might as well call it “Big Rock.” I’m gonna have to buy a new pair of boards after this trip. But better the boards than my body, my salesman taught me that, sure he wants to move more product, but he was right. Stuff you can buy can be replaced. People? Not so much.

So I’ve got to tell you about this place we had dinner at in Bozeman, the Desert Rose.

Actually, it was in Belgrade, that’s what the owner told us. She’s a refugee from Minnesota. She teaches reading in addition. It’s hard to make it in the hinterlands and everybody’s trying to get ahead.

That’s right, most people I’ve run into are immigrants. They were sick of the city, they wanted some space to spread out, where no one was gonna interfere. And at Big Sky, no one does. The Headwaters lift is open despite most of the runs consisting of rocks.

Anyway, I remember the last time I was in this neck of the woods. Right after I’d graduated from college. I stopped in a roadside restaurant and had a slice of roast beef so tough I’ve never forgotten it. But hipster food has now made it to Montana. The Desert Rose had four types of vinaigrette dressing. And no door for the crapper.

You don’t see that in the city.

I’m taking a pee and right next to me is a guy on the throne. Well, he was behind a small wall, but there was no door in sight. And this was not a one person bathroom, there were multiple urinals.

So some things in the country still remain.

As for the hang…

These guys all know each other, from snowboarding, from New Jersey, I’m a latecomer and they are welcoming but I wonder to what degree I fit in. I can talk sports, cars and music. But at this point in my life I’d prefer to read a book.

Not that I’m judging. I don’t know what life is about anymore. These guys talk about going to the club, dropping in on each other to play music and hang, and I wonder if I made a wrong turn somewhere and missed my life.

Life. I was told it’s about achievement.

I’m learning I may be wrong.

Turns out if you’ve got a job that pays the bills and a house and a family you’ve made it in America. It’s about the good times.

Not that these guys are poor. Wall Street pays well. But they work hard. One guy has to be in the office at 7:05 and doesn’t leave until 5. Well, that was at the name brand firm that he just left behind. And another one who doesn’t have to work told me has no passion for the job he does, but he’s got to do something.

And that makes me feel good about the path I’ve taken. When it comes to work. But all that sacrificing, was it worth it?

I’m not sure.

So I’m getting a glimpse into other people’s lives. And instead of feeling superior, I’m feeling inferior.

But not when it comes to skiing.

It takes about twenty days to get that edge. In a row. When you can ski the double diamonds and survive. And the funny thing is you know when to go, you’re spontaneously motivated to challenge yourself.

But until I get that feeling, I try to hold back.

But it’s so hard.

Because of the pressure.

Because of the testosterone.

“Skiing Big Sky – Marx with GoPro 2012”
This video was shot three years ago when they actually had snow. If I had a GoPro you’d have seen tons of rocks and a traverse so hairy it deserves its own double diamonds.  Furthermore, today the bumps were bigger. But you’ll get the idea…

Marx Run (not me, not today, but it’ll give you an idea of the steepness)

Marx is the slope just to the left of all those rocks at the top in the pic. Once again, it looks like nothing today. Today there are…ROCKS!

“Big Sky’s Scariest Slopes”

“Top 5 Ski Runs At Big Sky Resort”

Desert Rose Restaurant & Catering