Classic rock is dead.

Not only are the children of the baby boomers pushing thirty, in some cases exceeding that threshold, there’s a whole new generation of barely pubescent children who have never experienced free-form radio and sitting in front of the stereo listening to full length albums.

And nothing angers the children of the sixties more.

During the MTV era, at least different genres of music were entertained. It was not only Boy George and Duran Duran, but Bob Dylan and Tom Petty too. There was still a thread to the past. But now that thread has been broken.

Exhibit one. Paul McCartney’s new track “New.”

Paul McCartney ‘New’

It’s just not good enough. Sure, he worked with Mark Ronson, but someone was afraid to tell him to push it just a little bit farther, because just like the AM radio of the sixties, Top Forty only has time for the best. If your track is not positively great, it’s got no room for you.

Of course Top Forty is a shadow of its former self. The deejays are jive and the playlist is limited. But it’s the only radio format, other than country, that truly matters anymore. It’s where those truly interested in music, the young ‘uns, go to check acts out.

And what they consider a successful act is so different from what boomers revered in the seventies. In the seventies, who the act was was almost as important as the music they made. What their political values were, the eloquence with which they exhibited these ideas. Whereas today’s music is purely commercial, and those who make it are only interested in the money.

Lady Gaga’s got the same problem as Sir Paul. No one told her “Applause” was not good enough. When you play on a world stage, when everybody is watching, you’ve got to ace the test, which is why labels employ writing camps, why every record is massaged, there’s a ton of money at risk, and they don’t want to blow their chances.

Yes, you never hear those at the top of the food chain bitching about either piracy or diminished opportunities in the music business. Because if you’re winning at the Top Forty game, there’s so much money raining down you can barely spend it, because you’re working too hard!

Yes, despite all the paparazzi photos of these stars at the beach, today’s young artists work harder than their predecessors, they don’t have time for shenanigans, they know that if they don’t stay in the public eye, someone else will replace them, there’s an endless line of wannabes. All with desire and a modicum of talent. The key is to plug them into the system. Backstreet Boys might be an oldies act, but Max Martin is hotter than ever.

So put on your headphones, pull up Katy Perry’s “Roar.”

Katy Perry – Roar

Hold your nose. Close your mouth and listen.

And if you don’t hear catchiness, you don’t know what catchiness is!

Yes, that’s the problem with the wannabes and the whiners, they’ve got no idea what a hit is. It’s not something you need to play ten times to get, it’s something you want to hear again before it’s finished playing through.

And if you think Katy Perry could construct such ear candy alone, you probably think Alex Rodriguez can win the pennant without the rest of the Yankees. An entire team is involved. The aforementioned Max Martin and Bonnie McKee and Henry Walter and Dr. Luke. Mr. Gottwald and his right hand Cirkut produced. Sure, Katy gets a writing credit, but really she’s just the front of this monolithic enterprise. Sold like a new chewing gum, with online teasers, a tsunami of marketing. Yes, the major labels may still be bitching about piracy, but they truly do get the Internet, they’re chock full of marketing gurus who leave no stone unturned.

So where does this leave you?

The fiction is the means of production are in the hands of the proletariat, that people can rise above and take power. But the truth is it’s harder than ever to have a hit. First, you can’t write it. Second, you can’t record it. Third, you can’t get the mindshare.

Don’t equate this new hit business with credibility and careers, that’s got nothing to do with it. Sure, you go on the rocket ship ride and try to expand your personality, give a reason to like you, but Rihanna has evidenced nothing beyond her hits and her figure, and Adam Levine can certainly sing, but he employs third parties to have hits, and we really know nothing about him other than he dates beautiful women, furthermore, we don’t want to know more, we don’t expect more, we just want more of this ear candy.

Not that all the music has to be light. The sleeper hit of the summer is Lorde’s “Royals.”

LORDE – Royals

Sure, Top Forty radio may be last, needing proof that everybody else is on board, but “Royals” is an even more infectious track than “Roar.” If you don’t get it instantly, in second one or two, you’re never gonna get it. But that’s your competition. Something so instant and magical that you can’t sit there and criticize it whatsoever.

And sure, Lorde did it without a team, but she’s got one of the three best tracks of the year. And so far everybody else who has made it has not been an unknown.

So, like electronics, like so many other avenues, the level of quality has gone up. We expect the TV to work right out of the box and to be perfect thereafter. And if it breaks, we just buy a new one. This is so different from before. Where imperfect could get a toehold. That’s what the Internet and technology have bequeathed, a higher standard of quality.

And I know many of you do not believe this. But the truth is if you don’t cut a track that affects us as quickly as “Roar” and “Royals” do you’re inherently niche. Most people are not interested, no matter how many hours you’ve put in.

But it’s even worse than that. Because if you’re basing your career on live performance, there’s nowhere to play. Lorde didn’t break on the road, but on radio.

Well, actually, the Web.

But the point is people only want these excellent songs and if you string enough of them together you can sell out an arena. Sure, the classic rock acts are still plying the boards, but look at the performers at the festivals, they’re not sixty to seventy, but twenty to thirty. Just because the boomers control the media, don’t think a revolution has not taken place. Yes, we’re fourteen years into the twenty first century and we still don’t call it the “teens” but the change in the music business has been staggering. And it’s got little to do with piracy and more to do with a whole new generation coming into power, who are not beholden to hundred plus dollar an hour recording studios and the construction of album long listening experiences. They grew up in this megahit era.

However, what’s truly interesting is it’s now about the song more than ever. Despite all the hype about online video, how it’s the new MTV, most of these performers have such a thin personality and so little credibility that it does not work when you see them, which is why they surround themselves with trappings when you see them live. Just put them on the stage alone and there’s virtually no charisma. Which is why Katy Perry’s version of “Roar” at the VMAs fell so flat:

Katy Perry – “Roar (Live)”

Look at the crowd. You’ve been at shows. There’s little of the excitement of life and performance because it’s not about music but show. But music is something that goes in your ears, not your eyes, so listening to “Roar” is a much better experience.

And that’s a good thing. First and foremost it starts with the song, the record. Same as it ever was only more so!

P.S. Although his track misses, give McCartney credit for understanding, unlike all his classic rock brethren. He’s trying to play the young person’s game, he’s close.

It should have started a subscription streaming service sooner.

Once upon a time, Apple was the beacon in the consumer’s eye. Not only did it possess a leader more charismatic than any rock star, it positively dominated complete swaths of consumer culture. It had the iPod, the iTunes Store, the iPhone and the iPad.

But those were the heady days of yesteryear. Before Android, Amazon, Samsung and the cratering of its stock.

Students of the game are familiar with Clayton Christensen’s “Innovator’s Dilemma,” wherein the professor says you prepare for disruption by creating your competitor across the street, and when your new business reaches critical mass, you close the old and inflate the new. What starts out poor ultimately becomes good enough and the public embraces it while the cognoscenti pooh-pooh it and before long you’re at the end of a revolution, with those entrenched in the old ways having missed the war.

We’ve seen this in terms of audio quality. Oldsters and artists and purveyors wondered who would want a lo-res file when you could acquire a pristine CD?

Everybody, it turned out.

As for the vinyl revolution… Have you noticed that it’s been propped up by a dying print press, and that there are Civil War reenactors too? If your dander rises from reading this paragraph you’re a hobbyist living in the past, have fun, but you’re no longer a card-carrying member of the mainstream.

So in the early days of streaming the services, like Rhapsody, were clunky with a bad interface. Kind of like the mislabeled MP3s in the early days of Napster. Furthermore, few people had broadband connections, no one had a smartphone and wireless 3G was not prevalent, never mind 4G

But over time systems improved, and YouTube came to dominate, it became the world’s number one music service. Ask anybody under the age of 21, they don’t buy, they stream. Yes, while you were busy bitching about Spotify, YouTube won. And it won because the record labels were reluctant to authorize Spotify, especially in the U.S., and YouTube snuck in the window. And online, he who’s first usually wins. Bing couldn’t compete with Google and Beats probably cannot compete with Spotify.

Anyway, fearful of giving up MP3/AAC profits, Apple refused to enter the streaming sphere. And now they’re competing with a Pandora-like service years later. Apple is so far behind the curve, you’d think it’s a record company. Apple built its cachet and profits on leading and dominating, now it’s doing neither.

Meanwhile, Spotify suffered from not having everything. But now the Eagles and Metallica are on the service and if you’re bitching about what’s not there, you’re probably complaining you can’t buy 100 octane gas for your ’64 GTO.

And Spotify had streaming hiccups, caused by a lack of server power, now history as a result of a west coast farm.

And Spotify had horrible search, which is no longer a problem since the company jettisoned its service for the one Apple uses at iTunes.

In other words, Spotify got better. iTunes got worse. Hell, if you think iTunes 11 is good, you enjoyed reading Microsoft manuals, when they still existed! (As for their online help…it might as well be written in Chinese.)

In other words, if you stay where you are to maximize profits, you’re a day away from losing your business.

This is what happened to Lady Gaga. She released a middling album, both in terms of sales and reviews/perception, and then she went on an endless cleanup tour, raking in the momentary dough. Meanwhile, Katy Perry stole her thunder. Katy’s new track is killing Gaga’s. Odds are Gaga’s past her peak, because she didn’t realize the eighties are history, that you can’t spend years between releases, cleaning up in every market, you’ve got to play and risk and reinvent constantly.

But not Apple. Back when the iPhone ruled smartphones, if Apple had introduced a streaming service they could have ensured the iPhone’s dominance. It would be a reason to stick with Apple. But now Spotify’s available everywhere and even Amazon sells a healthy percentage of MP3s, while testing the streaming waters with its Prime service.

In tech, if you don’t dominate, if you don’t have almost all of the market share, you’re on your way to marginalization. Which is why Apple is faltering and YouTube is dominating in music. If I’ve got YouTube, why do I need Spotify?

That’s what the Swedish company has to convince people. That they need to pay for the service.

As for the musicians complaining about payouts, ignore them completely, they’re wasting their breath, the battle has been fought and the war is over, streaming already won.

Ain’t that typical. Ignorant old school purveyors bitching about something they know nothing about. To rail against streaming services on any level is to complain that you can’t buy a car without a catalytic converter, to insist that Tesla must not exist because it hurts Chevron and Exxon. Change happens, your best bet is to see the future and to glom on, not to try and jet everyone back to the past.

The public has voted. It prefers streaming.

And we learned during the Napster crisis that denying the public’s preference is a recipe for death.

But we did not expect Apple to become a victim of this same hollowing out disease. We expected Apple to lead, to creatively destroy its core in order to win in the future. The company that eradicated the floppy drive and tossed over ADB for USB and put wi-fi in laptops before most people knew what it was became inured to profits, and ensured its musical death.

Don’t let this happen to you.

It’s the culture.

Oh, I know it was a long show. And the audience was mostly white. And that Chappelle has a history of being prickly, being nobody’s “boy.”

But that’s exactly the point. In a culture where everybody’s doing what’s expected of them, trying to climb the economic ladder, those who question and say no, who listen to themselves as opposed to everybody else, not only triumph but are excoriated.

You see that’s not how we like it. We’re playing the game, and you should too.

Huh?

You know the game. Overpay for an education that’s not focused on making you a better citizen but training you for a job you can’t get. Bitching all the while that the system is stacked against you and if you can’t pay lower taxes and ensure that no one gets in line ahead of you, you’re gonna make a ruckus and vote some no-name nitwit into office to gum up the works.

And those who truly have money pay for influence. Via lobbyists. They make sure that they continue to win. If you think you can emerge victorious in America, go from the log cabin to the White House, you probably dream you can play in the NBA despite only being 5’6″.

So, since the game is unwinnable, everybody in America has decided that they are a star. Whether it be those producing music in GarageBand and spamming everybody with an e-mail address or those who make YouTube videos for the ad revenue, despite being talent-free, everybody in America thinks they’re not only equal to everybody else, but better!

You’ve got your look. Fashion is a bigger and more influential business than music. And you’ve got your piercings and tattoos, making yourself outre and unique. So when you go to the show, the concept of respecting and revering talent is completely out the window.

Forget about Chappelle. If you haven’t been brought to your knees by people talking during the performance of anybody and everybody, you’ve never left your house. People believe if they bought a ticket, they’re entitled to do whatever they want. Talk at the movies. Block your view. And if you ask them, even politely, to respect the rest of those in attendance, the blowback is deafening.

So are you surprised those who paid in Hartford considered themselves part of the show? The Governor of Arizona slights the President, do you really think some comedian is gonna get respect?

Sure, there’s a history of heckling in comedy. But this is something different. Heckling used to be by drunks in clubs. Now it’s way of life. I’m better than the person on stage. I’ve got a Facebook page!

Yup, there you have it.

But everybody is not equal, especially when it comes to the talent department. But the audience won’t believe this. Because that would mean they’re less than, and they can’t fathom it. Everybody wants to be rich and famous and nobody wants to do the work. So even if you make it to the top, you’re torn down.

If you haven’t gotten hate mail/tweets online, you don’t have an account. And I see no reason why celebrities should get their knickers in a twist about this, but what is interesting is it’s always nobodies in their underwear who perpetrate these attacks. It makes them feel powerful.

And I’m not saying that everybody who is not rich, talented and beautiful should just STFU, but I am saying we pay to see these people because they’ve demonstrated that they are better than us at certain skills. And the only way the culture of respect is gonna grow is if the performers themselves take a stand.

It can’t be about money. Don’t photograph me so I can sell photos myself!

But it can be about the raw performance/experience.

Now I’m not saying I see tweeting and e-mailing disappearing from shows. But I will say before all this technology entered the venue the experience was completely different. Maybe cell signals should be banned at arenas.

Nah, that’ll never happen.

But if artists are truly leaders, they’re the only ones who can change behavior.

We’ve seen musical artists quit performing to stop fights in the audience… By refusing to do his act, on demand, for this unruly crowd, Dave Chappelle took a stand for the artistic community and the arts themselves.

Meanwhile, all you’ve got is the click-hungry media saying otherwise. But these reporters are part of the problem. They too want to be famous. Remember Judith Miller?

So yes, we can comb the history of Chappelle and we can see his “performance” was not completely out of character.

But I will say my greatest live experiences were never about the people I went with, or the stories I told afterward, but the bond between performer and myself, the sheer electricity of the connection. That’s what it’s all about, not being at some big party where the artist is incidental.

So Dave Chappelle is a beacon. But I’ve yet to see another artist stand up for him. You know artists, they’re sheep. They’re afraid to lead. They must make sure they’re part of a team before they take a stand, and it absolutely positively cannot risk their relationship with their audience or their pocketbook.

Which is why art is in such sad shape these days.

Used to be artists were willing to live on the edge and test limits. We followed them because of who they were and what they said, not because of what they wore and how rich they had become.

If selling out to Samsung is the height of artistic success, count me out.

And I’m not selling out to Apple either.

Not a single faceless corporation where the CEO gets overpaid and is then squeezed out while the products fade away.

Used your 2001 Nokia cell phone recently?

How about that Sony CRT?

But great music lasts forever, people are still listening to the Beatles and the Stones and Stevie Wonder and…

Play for tomorrow, not for today.

And if you’re in the arts for the money, you’ve got your head up your rear end.

You’re in the arts to exact change, to make a difference. To take people on a journey wherein they not only enjoy themselves, but question themselves too.

Where was the questioning in Hartford? You had a boorish audience which wanted its expectations fulfilled. More than a challenging good time, they wanted to go home and tell everybody they were there, the same way the super-rich brag about their private jets and exotic vacations and upfront and personal overpriced scalper tickets at the gig.

Come on people, LET HIM DO HIS ACT!

P.S. I don’t need to analyze the video footage like the Zapruder film to know I’m right. There’s a vibe at a show that can never be captured on tape. Otherwise, we’d all watch concerts at home.

P.P.S. Evidence of the above is the tweet by Mack Mama, who gave Chappelle her book, which he read ironically: “Show was the best He read an excerpt of my book on stage in front of 8000 people Free Plug from my fav comedian.”

MAD LOVE

The album seen as a sell-out back then and completely forgotten today is Ronstadt stripped raw and gone punk and if you don’t like it I don’t care. And if you don’t know it, you should.

“Justine”

Written by Mark Goldenberg and ultimately done better by his band the Cretones

not on Spotify, but you can listen here: The Cretones- Justine

that does not mean Ronstadt’s version is not top-notch and special in its own way. Goldenberg emotes from deep down in his soul, he’s got something to say and damn you’re gonna listen, whereas Ronstadt is manipulating you! She’s doing little tricks with her voice and making the lyrics come alive. Not long hereafter she morphed into a Broadway star, the oldsters’ favorite, but this is pure rock and roll, everything Grace Potter is trying to do but is unable to achieve. Yes, Ronstadt looked like a dish, but not only did she have a pure instrument, she knew how to use it!

“Look Out For My Love”

Yes, the Neil Young song from his comeback album “Comes A Time” that really didn’t achieve its goal, which was to recapture the magic of “Harvest.” You can never go back, you can only go forward. Which Mr. Young did right thereafter, with “Rust Never Sleeps,” ensuring he truly never faded away. Yup, one album, with a sound no one expects, can do that for you.

But unlike with “Justine” above, “Look Out For My Love” rocks harder than the writer’s version. I learned to love “Look Out For My Love” via Ronstadt, even though I heard Neil’s version first.

“Girls Talk”

Yes, the Elvis Costello song. One of three on “Mad Love.” And Linda’s rendition is far from sacrilegious. You hear the song, the performance does not dominate, like it did on so many early Costello records.

And there’s not a bum note on “Mad Love,” I love it. It’s probably the Ronstadt album I spin most.

GET CLOSER

A return to the classic sound after the punk/new wave “Mad Love,” “Get Closer” was seen as a disappointment and is, but there are two cuts so special that you’ll be thrilled if you don’t know them.

“Easy For You To Say”

A Jimmy Webb original long after his heyday as the songwriter of Top Forty hits, this track is so intimate and meaningful it almost creeps you out.

Well that’s easy for you to say
That I don’t know what I’m doing
When you’ve thrown our love away
Left my life in ruin
That’s easy for you to say

Easy for you to say? Left my life in ruin? These are the lyrics of a great songwriter. It’s not about complicated, but right. Because when they leave your life is in ruin in a way you never could have contemplated previously. And it’s easy for the cavalier to say so much, as we sit on the sidelines so devastated we’re unable to lick our wounds.

“Mr. Radio”

Listen to the original, by Roderick Taylor Falconer, which I’ve never ever heard before but discovered on Spotify, it’s a completely different record! Good in its own right, but the feel is serious, whereas Ronstadt’s take is haunting.

Ronstadt’s version is a movie! You can see them taking the radio off the truck, the only entertainment in a world off the grid, long before the Internet, when the only people you came in contact with lived in your village.

HASTEN DOWN THE WIND

The Karla Bonoff album. And if you don’t have Karla’s Columbia debut with these three songs and so much more your life is not complete, certainly if you’re a sensitive girl or boy with more questions than answers.

And at some point when I’m in the right, reflective mood I’m gonna write about that album, but it’s so special I want to do it justice, which means I may never get the opportunity.

So, I’m not gonna write about “Lose Again,” “If He’s Ever Near” and “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me.”

“The Tattler”

Once upon a time Ry Cooder had a sense of humor, was not crippled by the expectations of his audience and released album after album of stuff so far from the radar screen that if you bought it and enjoyed it you couldn’t stop talking about it. Start with “Into The Purple Valley” and buy the self-titled, slickly produced first, just to hear “One Meat Ball.” Then after misfiring with “Boomer’s Story,” Cooder came back with what is probably his best album, “Paradise and Lunch.” After you spin it a few times, you’ll find yourself singing “Married Man’s A Fool” while walking to the bathroom and “Jesus on the Mainline,” with its refrain to “call him up,” at odd moments throughout the day, and even though “Tamp ‘Em Up Solid” is so solid and “Mexican Divorce” is exquisite, the absolute killer on “Paradise and Lunch” is “Tattler.”

Now the song has three writers. Cooder and his producer Russ Titelman and Washington Phillips, whose original is the blueprint.

But very few people knew either of these versions, Phillips’s or Cooder’s. And then Ronstadt blew the song into the stratosphere. That was her power, taking the unknown and revealing it to the masses, she was that big a star, one of the absolute biggest.

And Linda’s take is smoother but just as intimate as the other two.

“Give One Heart”

A white reggae track written by John and Johanna Hall for the band Orleans, it appeared on their giant smash album “Still The One.” And that rendition is good, but Linda’s is spectacular! Orleans’s is a bit overwrought, Linda’s take is a bit lighter, with a bigger emphasis on the reggae beat and a magical chorus. It’s the sleeper on “Hasten Down The Wind,” you start to love it the sixth or tenth time through and then it’s the one you wait for.

PRISONER IN DISGUISE

The second Geffen album, the one after the Capitol smash “Heart Like A Wheel,” “Prisoner In Disguise” was a sales and artistic disappointment, it was just a bit too intimate when the audience was expecting something more upfront. You listen to “Prisoner In Disguise,” whereas you feel part of “Heart Like A Wheel.” You could play the latter at a party, you wouldn’t do that with “Prisoner In Disguise,” it was more for you alone, at home, in your bedroom.

“Prisoner In Disguise”

Yes, the title track, it’s truly the best on the album, because of the harmony vocal of its writer, J.D. Souther. It brings tears to your eyes. The side would end, the tonearm would return to its resting place and you’d be sitting there in the darkness, contemplating your life. You just wished you had someone there to sing harmony with you.

And the song choices are amazing. Everything from the certified hit “Heat Wave” to “Hey Mister, That’s Me Up On The Jukebox” to “Many Rivers To Cross,” but although all are good, none are up to the standard set by the original. Although Ronstadt does make “Tracks Of My Tears” her own. It’s my favorite of the famous covers.

As for the less famous… Lowell George might not have had the power or range of Ronstadt, but he was every bit the singer, and it’s great that Linda cut “Roll Um Easy,” but the original is far superior.

Then again, “You Tell Me That I’m Falling Down” only suffers from being inferior to the previous record’s McGarrigle sisters’ “Heart Like A Wheel.”

“Love Is A Rose” preceded Neil Young’s recording of his own song, unfortunately it’s minor Young, and is a disappointment as an opener.

SIMPLE DREAMS

“Hasten Down The Wind” put Ronstadt back on top, and “Simple Dreams” maintained the momentum, it was every bit as big as its predecessor, it had even greater cultural impact.

If “Hasten Down The Wind” is her Bonoff album, “Simple Dreams” is her Warren Zevon record. And even though Zevon evidenced a personality absent from Ronstadt’s take of “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” and a sense of humor, Ronstadt’s is a far superior record, with the syndrums and Ronstadt’s powerful vocal making an insider track positively powerful and mainstream.

And the track everybody remembers from “Simple Dreams” is “Blue Bayou,” which honestly never penetrated me. I just don’t love the song that much. And it seemed too much a showcase for her vocal abilities.

Once again, it’s the J.D. Souther title track that’s most memorable to me, it’s the opposite of “Blue Bayou,” totally heartfelt and meaningful, with a stunning instrumental coda. It’s a keeper.

LIVING IN THE USA

I didn’t buy this when it came out, I was burned out, I was pleasantly surprised by the follow-up, “Mad Love,” this just seemed a repetition of the formula, with an inferior to Bonnie Raitt cover of “Blowing Away,” a superfluous cover of Elvis Costello’s “Alison” and a too obvious rendition of “Just One Look.”

Still… Little Feat’s original “All That You Dream” is superior, but Ronstadt’s version has its own merit.

Meanwhile, nobody writes stuff like this anymore, never mind being able to sing it… Lowell George wasn’t afraid to write from underneath as opposed to on top. And that’s when we’re truly interested, when you lose. But it was Paul Barrere and Billy Payne who wrote “All That You Dream,” yet you’d never know it by listening to Lowell George sing it. Listen to it and know why even though he never really broke through himself, he was revered by all the L.A. insiders.

I’ve been down, but not like this before!

And Linda does sing backup vocals on the Little Feat original, but even better on “Living In The USA” is her cover of Warren Zevon’s “Mohammed’s Radio,” unfortunately Zevon’s original is a killer.

But my favorite song on “Living In The USA” is J.D. Souther’s “White Rhythm & Blues.” That’s what we’re all truly looking for, someone who cares when you lose.

DON’T CRY NOW

Wherein David Geffen liberates Linda and gives her creative control and she misfires. This was right before Peter Asher and Andrew Gold moved in and perfected the formula. “Sail Away” is truly laughable, like singing the phone book, it’s got none of the humor of the Randy Newman original, it was excoriated at the time, but very few people ever heard it. But Ronstadt does cover “Desperado” before it became a national anthem. And there’s a good cover of Rick Roberts’s “Colorado” and a good rendition of Neil Young’s “I Believe In You,” but “Don’t Cry Now” is for fans only, and even they can live without it.

AND now I’m running out of gas.

Yes, you’ve got to have “Different Drum” and “Long Long Time” from the initial Capitol albums, and there’s a cover of Paul Siebel’s “Louise” on “Silk Purse,” but I never listened to those albums back then, didn’t even own them, and few other people did either.

And the Nelson Riddle stuff was not my cup of tea and the Trio albums lacked superior material and…there’s so much material that I can’t cover it all.

And I already Rhinofied “Heart Like A Wheel.”

But, I do want to point out there’s a good cover of Karla Bonoff’s “Goodbye My Friend” on “Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind,” but the Linda Ronstadt track I play most, which I’ve also written about before, comes from her 1995 return to her classic sound, “Feels Like Home.”

“The Waiting”

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

That’s what it’s like, coming home from the record store with the vinyl record of your favorite artist under your arm. You break the shrinkwrap, pull out the inner sleeve, drop the record on the platter, lift the needle and…

Well yeah I might have chased a couple women around

That was what was special about Linda Ronstadt. She was both a girl’s girl and a guy’s girl. In an era where people were still questioning whether to have premarital sex, she not only flaunted her sexuality, but went through an endless series of desirable boyfriends, truly living the rock star life when that was more about attitude and everyday living than cash. If you were a star, you had a golden ticket to the smorgasbord of the entire world, and Linda Ronstadt partook.

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card

Ain’t that the truth. You think you know the future, but you don’t. You’re just humming along and then you fall into an unforeseen ditch, you get cancer, you get Parkinson’s. But the amazing thing about the ride is despite all the negatives, there’s always a silver lining.

Oh don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to you
Don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to you
I’ll be your bleedin’ heart, I’ll be your cryin’ fool
Don’t let this go too far

That’s right, don’t let this go too far. It’s sad that Linda Ronstadt can’t sing anymore, but she’s not dead. Don’t put her six feet under yet, like that old Broadway chestnut says, she’s got a lot of livin’ to do.

But the truth is a small fraction of the world ever saw her sing live. But the records, they are not buried treasures, but living artifacts that are not only in our memories but are spun on a regular basis.

And the truth is what was evidenced in every Linda Ronstadt track was life. The pure joy of being alive. Of course there was introspection, downers, but isn’t that how it really is?

That’s art. The full panoply of life.

And it’s embodied in Linda Ronstadt’s canon.

And now she’s gonna get a victory lap in which everybody who decried her is going to try and glom on and glorify her. She’ll be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there are already tons of tributes.

But it’s never about awards. It’s about every day, it’s about life.

So I say Linda, give Jann Wenner and his cronies the middle finger! Keep spouting your left wing positions! Keep evidencing that three-dimensional personality that got the conservative in both political position and emotional condition so tied up in knots.

You are truly a rock star.

SCREW ‘EM!

We always loved you and still do. You were our Jane Russell, our Ava Gardner, you were every boy’s heart’s desire and a role model for all females. But unlike those two dimensional movie stars, you had a full-bodied personality, you were everything we wanted to be.

And still are.

Rhinofy-Linda Ronstadt