This is how the sixties started.

We’ve been told to trust Big Brother, that the government and the corporations know more. That the rich are smart. That we should be thankful we’ve got flat screens.

Hogwash.

They’ve scared you. Frightened you into believing your life is at risk from external forces only they can protect you from. If the government doesn’t scan your phone calls and your e-mails, doesn’t break every law in the Constitution, our whole nation will go under and you with it. The truth is it has. We’ve lost our country and we’ve got to take it back.

There’s a fiction that musicians will lead the way. But they’re usually last. It’s the abused, those unjustly affected by the system, who revolt first. That’s right, the sixties began with civil rights demonstrations. Which is why high-paid NFL players protest the chokehold but no musician with millions of Twitter followers has written a song about it. Oh, you wannabes, don’t forward me your Ferguson song. You’re doing it for you, to get noticed. That’s what’s wrong with this nation, all the individuality, we’re only powerful when we come together.

Like with unions. Imperfect organizations, sure. But now the corporations have scared workers to the point where they refuse to organize. They’re just gonna move the plant elsewhere. To some state that will bend over backwards with tax incentives.

And I don’t want to hear any of this right wing Republican b.s. about downsizing the government, it was under your watch, under Bush and Cheney, that this torture took place. You’ll pay zillions for “safety,” for military equipment that ends up in your hometown, all the while bitching that somehow the government must be stopped from providing a safety net, I mean which way do you want it?

As for how long it’s taken…

One can argue strongly the sixties didn’t begin until 1966, when the antiwar movement took hold. It’s six years after the recession. How’s your job? How’s your lifestyle? Things improving for you?

And I’m gonna get tons of hate e-mail. But this too is no different from the sixties. When those drinking the kool-aid just couldn’t believe we were involved in an unwinnable war, that state governments were institutionalizing racism. Those who scream loudest wake up last, never forget that.

Artists have been marginalized in an economy that’s all about money. But those in Ferguson had no money, they were protesting based on what they felt, what they perceived. Why is it that only those with nothing to lose will stand up for what’s right?

Something is happening here and it’s sure not exactly clear.

But the truth is we haven’t seen protests like this since the sixties. Police abuse in Ferguson and NYC is emblematic of a police state wherein there’s a camera on every corner and you’re guilty until proven innocent. Just ask a black man, he’ll tell you.

And you’ll tell the black man that he’s not working hard enough, that he doesn’t have family values. But you’re clueless as to his plight.

As is the Supreme Court, which dismantles voting rights laws saying racism is dead. Rings a bit hollow now, doesn’t it?

As for Snowden… Someone’s got to break the law. Because sometimes the law protects the guilty. Because life is gray and when the institutions trump emotions you’re screwed.

So we’re fighting around the world to bring our lifestyle to them. It’s time we look in the mirror.

Oh wait. We are!

Just not anybody with a dime.

And the sixties taught us you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution. If your wealth is based on shipping jobs overseas, you’re part of the problem.

Right now the internet is driving the generation gap. Oldsters are all on Facebook when their progeny have moved on to Snapchat. As it always was. They were listening to Perry Como while we were listening to the Four Seasons.

And then the Four Seasons were trumped, overnight, by the Beatles.

And then the San Francisco bands raised money for causes as opposed to putting it in their coffers. Believing what’s right is most important. Knowing that music comes before money. And that personal expression is everything.

So while you’re sitting there in your cubicle, or at home dreaming up your app, ask yourself, what are you doing to improve our country, what are  you doing to help your brother, what are you doing to make tomorrow better than today?

We asked those questions every day in the sixties.

People are starting to ask them now.

If it’s just about money, why bother being an artist?

We have two worlds, the educated and the uneducated. Those willing to do the hard work and those who like to take it easy.

And in today’s world, artists like to take it easy.

Or else they’re all about the money. Witness Jeff Koons. Are his balloon animals really forever or are they just well-marketed objects the rich can trade while the lower classes argue over celebrities?

There is a story in today’s “New York Times” that is so horrifying and eye-opening that if everybody read it and understood it there’d be riots in the street.

Actually, there are riots in the street, at least protests, and I view this as a good thing. When have you heard of white kids being accidentally shot by the police? (Thanks to Chris Rock for this reference, read his interview with Frank Rich in “New York” magazine, it’s the best thing I’ve read all weekend.) Under the pretense of keeping ourselves safe, as if the terrorists are going to go to Missouri or Oklahoma, we’ve beefed up the police and eliminated privacy to the point where everybody’s guilty until proven innocent, at least if you’re a black man.

But the point is entertainers don’t understand money. Their handlers do, that’s why they’re all up the ass of Silicon Valley, investing in tech. But today’s entertainers come from the lower classes, believing that fame is its own currency, however fleeting, and that if you’re getting paid one cannot evaluate the work.

So this leads us to a nation wherein a country artist famous for speaking her truth in song hooks up with the producer do jour to make disposable mainstream music and after drumming up interest on social media the press lauds her for selling a miniscule number of albums, because our nation is all about the digits.

But how about Relational making $188 million in two years?

That’s real money. The kind entertainers barely score. The kind they can make once and not again. Notice that U2 isn’t doing stadiums this time around? They’re afraid they can’t fill them.

But back to Relational… They split up a profitable steel and ball bearing company in order to fill their coffers. Those in control now want to add debt to a company with little previously. They want short term returns.

So the rich get richer and the rest have no idea what is happening. Meanwhile, Carl Icahn buys a scrapyard and gets rid of worker health insurance. Huh?

And all this has me pondering my own path.

When I graduated from college, where I was immersed in the liberal arts, where there was no business track, it was all about the journey, one of self-exploration and expression. That’s how we got that great music and art. It was made by those with a safety net who believed they could make a difference.

No one wants to make a difference anymore, they just want to get paid. And can you blame them when the truly fat cats live a lifestyle you can only dream of?

So if I graduated from college today I’d get on the career path, immediately. Those matriculating from elite universities all do this, out of fear that they’ll be left behind. If you don’t start today, you won’t even have a chance tomorrow. You can’t make it as a social worker or a teacher, and if you didn’t go to college you can’t make it at all. Unless you win the lottery.

And that’s what art has become, the lottery. A way for the poor and uneducated to win a payment they’ll fritter away nearly instantly.

Believe me, if you needed an advanced degree to make it as a pop star the landscape would look vastly different.

Instead we’re told if you’ve got no wrinkles and can gain an audience on YouTube you’re a king. No one can argue with millions of views. Say the content sucks and the joke is upon you.

Meanwhile, Dave Grohl, our patron saint of credibility, makes a marvelous documentary on recording history and then bores us to death with new music you never even have to hear once. That’s right, “Sonic Highways” is stupendous until the Foo Fighters start to play, then you want to turn it off.

But to criticize Mr. Grohl is to antagonize his fans. Who only have his fame to hang on to. They don’t know the people running this country. They might go see the classic acts live who once impacted the culture, but those acts are running on fumes, creatively bankrupt.

So I’m flummoxed. I don’t want to encourage the great unwashed to pursue their musical dreams, because they’re too young and too uneducated to have anything to say.

And I’m angry that the faceless rich get all the good seats and opportunities and I’m closed out of a world I’m only vaguely familiar with.

This is not a music business problem. This is an American problem. One in which we venerate the rich and tell the poor they’re just not working hard enough. Whereas the truth is the poor never had opportunities and we’re all beholden to the corporations who want short term results.

Come on. Did you ever find an artist who could create a lasting hit from scratch in two years? Research and development is everything. But that’s been gone in music since MTV minted instant stars based on looks, a paradigm that continues to this day on reality television.

Scott Borchetta should be home in Nashville, developing talent, as opposed to mentoring wannabes working for advertisers on television. Has any great talent emerged from TV shows? Carrie Underwood’s hits are written by others. But Scott can’t turn down the money and the fame.

No one can turn down the money and the fame. Those are the currencies of our culture. And neither one will keep you warm at night.

So I’m angry. Label me mad as hell.

If only those not privileged were aligned with me, if only those not winning would agitate for change. But if they complain, the corporation won’t endorse them, won’t give them a leg up. And none of them understand that art is more powerful than money, every day of the week.

But you need to be educated to know that.

You need to live in a culture where what is exalted is the great, not the profitable.

That’s right, they ruined movies and they ruined music too.

And they’re laughing all the while. Because they’re all getting paid, they’re all living the lifestyle the rockers used to. The nerds running these companies are getting their revenge.

But remember, nerds were never cool.

These are drones.

We need intelligent anti-thinkers who believe hard work is shredding in their basement as opposed to promoting themselves on social media. Who realize not everything they do is great. Who understand the spoils go to those who go their own way.

But we live in a nation of sheep.

Might as well be a shearer.

That’s what the bankers and corporate titans are.

You’re the product.

Wake up.

“How Wall Street Bent Steel”

“In Conversation With Chris Rock”

“Brown Sugar”
Rolling Stones

Because it’s his most famous track.

Although legendary and still heard with frequency today you’ve got no idea how big this was in 1971, when it was released. And one of its main features was Bobby’s sax solo. His work lives on, even if he does not.

“Live With Me”
Rolling Stones

Because it was his initial work with the Stones.

“Beggars Banquet” is the best, “Sticky Fingers” the most famous, but “Let It Bleed” is my favorite, for its bookends of “Gimmie Shelter” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” if nothing else. When “Let It Bleed” was big, it was not gigantic, it was only after its release that the Stones took their initial victory lap as the “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.”

“Live With Me” was in the middle of side one, and back when we used to play our albums throughout, we knew it by heart, still do.

“Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”
Rolling Stones

Few are mentioning this in the obits, but it’s the first one that went through my brain when I heard the news of his passing. The song changes groove in the middle and Keys is featured, it’s a tour-de-force.

“Happy”
Rolling Stones

On Keith’s signature tune, Bobby rips.

“Casino Boogie”
Rolling Stones

A personal favorite.

That’s the problem with history, that which was not mainstream then is nearly forgotten today.

People forget that “Exile On Main Street” was a dud upon release. It went straight to number one and then faded almost instantly. But knowing I was going to see the tour I stayed up all night listening to the double album and was enraptured by “Casino Boogie,” talk about a GROOVE!

“Emotional Rescue”
Rolling Stones

Nearly a novelty song, Jagger’s falsetto gives one that impression. But it was so much fun hearing it come out of the car radio speaker. And Bobby trades licks with Keith after Mick’s spoken word/rapping part.

“The Letter”
Mad Dogs & Englishmen

One of the greatest tours in rock and roll history, it made Leon Russell a star and left Joe Cocker drunk on the sidelines. Bobby Keys was on the tour, and is featured on this reworking of the Box Tops’ classic “The Letter.”

“The Wanderer”
Dion & The Belmonts

Even Keys wasn’t sure if it was him, but he was definitely at the session.

“Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”
John Lennon

From Lennon’s “comeback” album, “Walls and Bridges.”

By this time McCartney had put out the deservedly monstrous “Band On The Run” and was the Beatle carrying the torch, but this ran right up the chart and peaked at number one, the only time John hit that position solo in his lifetime. Sure, the track features Elton, but even Bobby more.

“What Is Life”
George Harrison

John wasn’t the only Beatle Keys knew, Bobby played on this, the second single from “All Things Must Pass,” Harrison’s three record set released right around this time forty four years ago.

P.S. Keys played with Ringo too!

“There Goes The Neighborhood”
Sheryl Crow

Her best album and undeservedly forgotten. “Globe Sessions” is where she proved all her naysayers wrong, she created something that would top the charts if released today, and Keys is featured on this, the second single from the LP.

“Down”
Harry Nilsson

Talk about forgotten… “Nilsson Schmillson” was monstrous, mostly on the back of the cover of Badfinger’s “Without You,” which at this late date seems to be owned in the public consciousness by Mariah Carey, but the truth is this album was playable throughout, and all the cuts sounded different, Harry crooned, he rocked, he even did the novelty thing with “Coconut,” the “All About That Bass,” of its day. Either you know “Nilsson Schmillson” or you don’t, if you don’t, pull it up and marvel. “Down,” with Bobby, closes side one.

“Edward”
Nicky Hopkins

Talk about forgotten…

Nicky was the superstar sideman of his day, even bigger than Keys, but the sands of time have buried his name, if not his work. I bought “The Tin Man Was A Dreamer,” Nicky’s solo album, which was quite playable, and its best track, “Edward.” features Keys.

“Let’s Get It On”
Marvin Gaye

Talk about iconic… Marvin does not get enough credit, this was when he was finally doing it his way, this cut was monstrous, and Bobby was part of the allure.

“Call Me The Breeze”
Lynyrd Skynyrd

The definitive cover of J.J. Cale’s composition featured Keys.

“Don’t Ask Me No Questions”
Lynyrd Skynyrd

I actually prefer this trackmate from “Second Helping,” even though I recognize “Call Me The Breeze”‘s magic. Once again, Bobby is featured.

“City Drops Into The Night”
Jim Carroll

All the hype was about “People Who Died,” but this is the best cut on “Catholic Boy,” it’s one I quote seemingly every day…

I’m just a constant warning to take the other direction

It wouldn’t be the same without Bobby Keys’s sax playing.

“Had Me A Real Good Time”
Faces

From “Long Player,” featuring Ian McLagan, who also departed this mortal coil this week, December is a rough month, do your best to make it through.
Bobby’s on it.

“Slunky”
Eric Clapton

From God’s first solo album which curiously was not a huge success, even though it’s one of his absolute best, he had to wait for the follow-up, “Layla,” for further adulation. This is the opening cut, with Bobby playing a big part.

“Only You Know And I Know”
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends

Once upon a time, this was the famous iteration, not the one from Dave Mason’s superb initial solo LP “Alone Together.” Bobby’s all over this album featuring Eric Clapton, Mr. Mason and so many more.

“Night Owl”
Carly Simon

Her cover of her beau JT’s song on her biggest LP, “No Secrets.” Bobby’s on it.

“There’s Only One”
Graham Nash

From “Songs For Beginners,” my favorite of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s initial solo LPs. At this late date “Stephen Stills” gets all the credit, but listen to the lyrics on this and the rest of the album, and to Keys’s sax.

“Poor Poor Pitiful Me”
Warren Zevon

Obscure until Linda Ronstadt changed the lyrics, included it on one of her albums and made it ubiquitous. Bobby’s an integral part of the original.

“Take It Or Leave It”
Eric Carmen

From “Boats Against The Current,” Eric Carmen’s follow-up to his solo debut with its multiple hit tracks, most specifically “All By Myself.” It sank like a stone, but “Boats Against The Current” is one of my favorites.

And many more…

Yes, Bobby Keys is all over the history of rock and roll. He may not be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but even better he’s all over the hits, the songs we know by heart.

Rhinofy-Bobby Keys Primer

I’m sick and fucking tired of all you musicians and musos who believe your viewpoint is the only one that counts, who live in a bubble of your own device, loyal to the past and mad at anybody who strays from your viewpoint. Furthermore, you just keep digging your hole deeper, especially with your hour plus albums.

What the internet has allowed is for the consumer to gain control of the music experience. And it turns out these listeners and fans don’t want to do it your way, and you just can’t fathom that.

You want them to listen to albums.

You want them to pay a lot.

You want them to be concerned with your concerns even though you’re not concerned with theirs. That’s right, the consumer has his own bills, his own challenges, but yours are so much more important, because you’re an artist with the weight of the world upon your shoulders, HORSESHIT!

I didn’t make streaming the default, the fans did. They embraced YouTube as the definitive music service. To deny this is equivalent to denying P2P in 2000. The labels did that, to their great disadvantage. But now the labels are trying to live in the future, investing in these new services, and all you can do is bitch that they’re making bank. Meanwhile, you complain that your royalties for streaming are a pittance when the truth is you can go independent and you don’t, you want Big Daddy to take care of you, you’re forever living in your parents’ basement.

And we’ve got to be soft on Jack Conte because his heart is in the right place.

BULLSHIT!

If that were the determining factor we’d have to support terrorists, hell, they believe in what they have to say!

But the truth is online ideas are dissected, torn apart and put back together again. But somehow artists see themselves as immune. No one can say shit about their stuff. Hell, people give me shit all day long, it goes with the territory. There’s no crying in baseball and there’s no crying on the internet.

So please rid yourself of your loyalty. Please stop the knee-jerk defense of your musician brethren. Please start looking outward as opposed to inward.

Well, inward when you’re creating, but when it comes to business…

You’re not entitled to earn a living.

You’re not entitled to attention.

The public determines the price of goods, not you.

Don’t tell me the value of something, it’s irrelevant if no one wants to pay that. Jimmy Iovine agitates for lower streaming subscription prices, to enhance adoption, and you keep stating they should be higher because of all the work you put in. You know nothing of scale, I wonder if you even know how milk and bread get to your counter.

But Jimmy won’t talk to you. Everything he does is behind closed doors with people who count.

Because that’s the modern America. Where those with education and power want nothing to do with the rabble-rousers, because the public is ignorant. Leave it to the musicians and there’d be no recorded music business. They’d be too busy arguing amongst themselves. That’s why business people are needed, to add order.

So rant all you want. About the inequities of music.

But somehow those who succeed are making more money than ever before. And if you think you were screwed you’re unaware your music isn’t good enough or your personality sucks. Getting along is paramount, no one wants to deal with a prick.

Labels are scouring the world for that which they can sell. They’d sign you if they thought they could make money.

And if you make niche music, too bad. People have been talking about the death of classical for eons, orchestras are challenged, but somehow you need to survive. At least write a symphony as good as Mozart, okay?

And stop clinging to the way it used to be.

Albums were cardboard collections of 78s.

The Beatles created the modern album paradigm. Because all the songs hung together. And their albums were way under an hour.

And music was cheap.

As were concert tickets.

But MTV blew up acts and the CD rained down coin and somehow you expect it be the same as it ever was. Sprint lowers prices for switchers but you want to raise them. T-Mobile changes the paradigm, having people buy their handsets, but you want everybody to jet back to the past.

Get out of the echo chamber. Stop talking to your fellow musicians and start talking to the fans. And know if you want to be rich you’ve got to appeal to casual fans.

And that most musicians are not gonna make it.

And that the way you see it is not the way most people do.

But if something contradicts with your world view you can’t handle it. Whoop-de-doo! Have a good ride on the rails to irrelevance!