1

The lines were no longer straight on my computer.

I noticed it about five weeks ago. The right side of windows…there was a subtle curve in what I thought to be straight vertical lines.

I rebooted. That’s always the first resort, even on a Mac. But they remained.

I chalked it up to the age of my machine. My 27″ iMac 5k is vintage 2014. I waited for it to come out. I wanted that display. Which is superior to the HD display I purchased with my Mac Pro in 2006, which I now use as a second monitor.

And this iMac has served me well. You have no idea how much additional screen real estate helps. I don’t know how people work on small laptops, even my 15″ MacBook Pro…I miss stuff.

And I want to buy a new computer. I have to buy a new computer. Because Apple has stopped supporting this iMac. I’m stopped at Big Sur, there are no more security updates.

But damned if I’ll spend $4500 on an already obsolete Mac Studio.

When the Mac Studio was introduced in 2022 the complaint was the monitor, which costs $1500, was behind the times. That’s a lot of bread for an antique. But I didn’t need a new computer just then.

And by the following June, the cycle for this product, an introduction during the Worldwide Developers Conference, they’d certainly upgrade the monitor. They did put in new updated chips, M2s, but they didn’t do a thing to the monitor.

And then they stopped supporting my iMac in November 2023. And I decided to just hold on until the following June, and lay down my cash then. But during the WWDC this year they didn’t upgrade the Mac Studio and monitor at all, even the Mac Pro, which is overkill, is still running on an ancient chip.

No, I don’t want a MacBook Air. No I don’t want an external monitor for my laptop. MacBook Airs are good machines, but inherently hobbled, they’re for hobbyists, amateurs, you never know when you’re going to need more power. That app you never use, suddenly you do. I record on my MacBook Pro, thank god I maxed it out. And I even have 32 gigs of RAM in my iMac. Go for greatness, I say.

But then they introduced the M3 chip. And Mark Gurman, the Bloomberg guru who is the expert on Apple said they were going to jump all the way to the M4 for most products. New M4 MacBook Pros are supposed to be imminent. And they’re going to upgrade the iMac too, but the screen size is only 24″, and those three extra inches make a difference. Actually, Apple said they were never going to make another 27″ iMac, which is why I focused on the Mac Studio. But now Gurman says they’ve got one in development, for 2026!

As for the Mac Studio, that’s scheduled for an update in June.

I want to give Apple my money, can’t they give me a machine I can buy?

2

So this went on for a couple of weeks, and then I got on the plane to London and I noticed the exact same curve in the lines on my iPhone. Obviously it’s an Apple problem, I’d just never looked that closely before.

And that iPhone isn’t even a year old.

And my iPad Pro is pretty recent, and when I got back to the States I was lying on the couch reading the news and…

I saw that same damn curved line.

Obviously I had a problem.

Now I know you’re not supposed to Google your problem, but in truth I don’t agree with that. As long as you’re not a hypochondriac, as long as you’re not LOOKING for a problem, it’s incredibly useful.

And bingo, it came right up. Macular degeneration. There was a definitive test. You block one eye, look at a grid that’s the equivalent of graph paper, and if the lines curve…

Needless to say, mine did.

So now I’ve got to get in to see the doctor, who is notoriously booked. But if it’s a crisis, he’s always found time.

And I used to see an ophthalmologist, but now I see an optometrist, one of the best moves I’ve ever made. I ran into Robert Smith at the Troubadour and he didn’t recognize me and he blamed his eyes and I needed a new doctor and he recommended Dr. Silver.

What an experience.

Ophthalmologists don’t want to test your eyes, don’t want to prescribe glasses, they’re looking for serious problems, which few have. Silver works in both Santa Monica and Sherman Oaks and if you want a checkup, call now, you might have to wait a year.

Silver does contacts for the movies, but he’s not that guy, not a starf@cker, and those doctors are rampant in Los Angeles.

And he’s got all these machines, it’s totally up to date, stuff the ophthalmologist didn’t have.

But my schedule was hell. He wasn’t in the office on Monday and Tuesday I was booked solid and as a matter of fact, I couldn’t even make it in until 3:00 or later on Wednesday.

And when nothing came up, they told me to leave a phone message for Silver and he got right back to me, could I come in at 3:15 on Wednesday? ABSOLUTEY!

And that’s when I start feeling guilty. Is my problem big enough?

It was illegal to be sick in my house. You toughed it out. If you complained to my mother she told you to go to school and see how you felt. And this strategy has gotten me in trouble. I’m working on going to the doctor. AND THIS IS MY EYES!

3

So they run all these tests and then Silver gives me a heads-up on rods and cones, brings up the pictures and shows right below the dip of the cone, there’s a gray swath in the left eye. That’s a problem. He thinks it’s fluid, but he won’t go on record, he says I need to see the retina guy. WHO KNEW THERE WAS SUCH A THING!

So we go to the front desk where they call the office and ultimately I get an appointment eight days later, for today at 1:30.

Now Silver said it was a possibility I’d need an injection in my eyeball. That sounds like fun. And I’m strategizing when I could do this. You need a ride for this stuff, and they don’t let you use Uber.

And I was thinking they’d put me out if they had to do it, but what would the recovery be like?

So I got there early, even though most doctors notoriously run late. But I wanted to give respect. Which also came into my sartorial choices. Of course I showered, even though I’d done so the night before, to have B.O. at a doctor’s office…I just can’t imagine it. And I shaved. But could I wear my shorts?

It’s a club. Boomers in L.A. It’s a style. You wear your shorts. It’s a middle finger to the system.

Now I haven’t lived on the east coast for a long time, but back then there were restaurants that not only required a jacket, but a tie. If you were doing business, you had to look sharp. But L.A. is a laid back culture.

But it wasn’t really hot out. Actually, they said it might rain in the next few days, before the temperature soars on Sunday.

Okay, I’ll wear long pants. But what about shoes? I mean I’m going to wear “trainers,” but do I find my cleanest pair, one of the ones they sent me from Brooks? The New Balance Fresh Foams… I got the first edition for walking, in the second edition they changed the soles to black, but on mine they’re white, and they’re not dingy, but they’re not the cleanest.

I decided they were all right.

You see there’s a whole strategy in going to the doctor. One is to dress to the nines. Show that you’re a big swinging dick, have places to go and people to see, that time is tight. My plan is different. I try to appear educated, smart, show that I’m not the average bear. Also, give them more information than necessary. I hate when someone comes back from the doctor and gives you a report and when you quiz them about something that was bothering them on the way in, the person says I DIDN’T ASK!

You’ve got to ask. And the more you talk…

You want a relationship. Assuming they’ll have one with you. If they don’t take insurance, like most top-notch doctors in L.A., they give you time, use it, let them know who you are. Doctors are dealing with boring patients all day long. Get them to look forward to having you in, be a breath of fresh air.

But with some top-notch specialists… They only deal with crises, and therefore they take insurance. There aren’t enough patients to forgo insurance.

And speaking of insurance… Dr. Silver didn’t even charge me! I asked at the desk what I owed and they said nothing. I was there for forty five minutes, had tests on multiple machines, that’s testimony to a relationship right there. Not that a regular appointment with Silver is cheap. But, like everything in life, you get what you pay for. And when it comes to my health, I WANT THE BEST!

4

So I’m filling out the forms. Everybody’s uptight about privacy. But I wish there was a central database of what drugs I’m taking, what surgeries I’ve had. Now if you’re in the UCLA system, it can be accessed by their doctors. And actually, Cedars doctors can access this too. I once went for a second opinion at UCLA and when I went back to the Cedars doctor she started off by saying… “So you saw ___________.” Freaked me right out. But a good doctor doesn’t mind if you get a second opinion, they encourage it. And in truth, this Cedars doctor was more on the ball than the UCLA one. Actually, she left the Cedars system. They overwork you. She’s now independent and she charges…whatever she wants to. But she sees me for an hour. And I can get ahold of her right away in text or e-mail. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but get older and…

I felt like my grandmother. I remember my mother taking her to doctors, it was a full time job. I pooh-poohed it.

And then there are those who believe they’re immune. They don’t need no stinking doctors! You may feel fine, you may look fine, you may even have plastic surgery to try and look younger, but your insides don’t know that. I know too many people who’ve avoided the doctor and dropped dead. I know too many people who have a history of disease in their family, don’t go to the specialist, and die of the same damn thing. Truly.

But this getting old thing… Everybody tells you that life goes by in the blink of an eye, that they feel young. But that’s not even close to describing it.

You’re just wandering through life. And believe me, even though I’ve had more than a few surgeries, I feel young and alive, I skied 89 days last year, I hike regularly in the mountains, but nobody lives forever. I mean just J.D! And Christine McVie didn’t even make it to eighty. You reach a point where not only are their fewer years in front of you, BUT YOU CAN SEE THE END!

And you don’t want to live to a hundred, because all your friends are dead.

It’s a conundrum.

And most of my civilian contemporaries have retired. Many counting their dollars. On the cusp of the early bird special. I’m still working, I want to work, but how much runway do I have left?

But if I eat right, exercise, see the doctors, take the pills…it’ll all work out, RIGHT?

Wrong.

I see friends who eat KFC. Onion rings. Sure, in our teens and twenties we ate everything, but have you had a scan recently? No one’s arteries are clean. Then again, you can avoid the scan and live in ignorance.

Of course there are smokers who live to a hundred, but the odds are against you. I don’t want to be dumb. My models are David Letterman and Bill Clinton, they had heart issues and wised right up. They eat healthy, they’re thin, they want to LIVE! DO YOU?

5

Now looking at the printout before I left the house it said to schedule two hours, and have someone drive you.

Well they didn’t say anything about driving in the text messages… Don’t you love texts and e-mails? My goal is to talk to no one. It’s never wrong in text. But when you’re spelling your name over the phone, or giving your address, GOOD LUCK!

And since these jobs pay so poorly, they’re not staffed by the brightest people. Be glad you’re dealing with a machine.

So I enter the office and… I won’t say it’s empty, but close, which is a good sign.

And after filling out the forms, which I print on, I’m afraid to use script, my handwriting is so bad, no one could read it, even though I think no one’s reading it anyway. I mean does an eye doctor need to know about a hernia operation?

And then they call me into a room where they ask me more questions and start giving me eye tests.

Eye tests, hearing tests… Are you doing well or poorly? And are the results accurate?

And I’m feeling unentitled. I mean my problems aren’t that bad.

And then the tech puts in numbing drops and checks me for glaucoma and puts in dilation drops and then brings me to another waiting room.

Now I realized I really did need two hours.

Then they took me in another room to take pictures. Actually, the two machines they used Silver had too, but…

The tech at Silver… She’d tell me when to keep my eye open. This woman did not. I figured it didn’t matter. But then I asked her and she said…GOOD QUESTION!

Whoa! This usually spikes my anxiety sky high. I’m taking this seriously, I need more than competence, I need THE EXPERT!

But she says the pictures are good…everything’s digital and instant these days.

And then another tech comes along and hovers… At first I thought she wanted to ask a question. But she didn’t interrupt and didn’t leave, that’s when I realized she was supervising. And the original tech was screwing stuff up and when we were finished, another tech came in and said to stop using the trainee, the waiting room was backed up!

So I went with the trainer to the next machine and it turned out the first tech didn’t even enter my name, but it got worked out, I was brought to another room, and then there was a new tech to interact with! The doctor’s direct tech.

And then he came in.

He was in his thirties. Which is not what you expect, but Silver handpicked this guy. And he’s wearing scrubs and his Nikes…which are far more dirty and worn out than mine.

And he’s studying all the pictures and he says I don’t have macular degeneration. Whew, great!

And then he starts looking into my eyes. With the regular contraption and then this headgear he wears. And when he’s got the headgear on he’s telling me how to move my eyes. In forty five degree increments. And I feel good that I can immediately tell left from right, because you’d be surprised how many people cannot. I did not want him to judge me negatively.

And when it’s all done..

I have macular degeneration.

Wait a second, I thought at the advent you said I did not!

He said he was responding to the note Silver sent, to check for wet macular degeneration, I’ve got dry.

Okay…

And then he says “This is now your baseline.”

I’ve heard that before. That means they’re not going to do anything.

Now wait a second, what is going on here?

Well, wet macular degeneration is a blood bleed, they address that. But dry macular degeneration? THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO!

It’s going to get worse and…

The yin is I don’t have to have surgery. But the yang is I’m going to see this damn curve in lines every day for the rest of my life! And once I noticed it, I see it on the TV, on the edges of walls, it’s EVERYWHERE!

Mostly in the left eye, but the right eye was not spared.

And what caused this?

AGE!

And I’m thinking about that “Twilight Zone” episode. You know, it’s the end of the world and the old guy is thrilled that he can go to the library and read…and then his glasses fall off his nose and break on the concrete and…Rod Serling comes back in.

I’m doing everything right. I’m going for annual checkups. Isn’t there anything you can do?

NO!

So I don’t have to endure surgery. I’ve just got to monitor it, they gave me a grid to look at every day, and take this over the counter pill that’s supposed to slow down the process.

Oh, don’t give me sh*t, if you’ve even gotten this far. The real story is everybody’s got something, they’re just not talking about it. Because if they did, you might judge them. See them as old. Like the people who lie about their age. Who do you think you’re kidding? And really, you’re lying to yourself.

But I was convinced there’d be some treatment, that eyeball injection, and it would be scary, but I’d be back to normal.

No way.

This is my new life.

Now let’s be clear, it’s subtle. But it’s there.

Is this the way this is going to go? Am I slowly going to start falling apart?

Once again, my contemporaries won’t admit it. But I’m telling you now, and Freddie Garrity himself died back in 2006, he was 79. He took ill on vacation and…that was all she wrote.

Now in terms of perspective, this really isn’t that big a thing.

But this is ME! I like everything to run at 100%. My car may be nineteen years old, but other than the cruise control, it runs like a champ, just like the day it came off the assembly line. Regular maintenance, baby.

And when it comes to skis…

I ain’t putting a hundred days on them. They start going downhill after about fifteen or twenty. Sometime after fifty, they’re not the same. And then, as they get up in age…

Why sacrifice? Just buy a new pair! Why have your enjoyment reduced by a pair of skis that don’t hold that well on the ice.

I like things to work right. And I’ve always paid for them, but now I’m trying not to think twice. Compared to my dental bills, a new pair of skis is NOTHING!

I didn’t expect an implant to get infected and need to be redone. I didn’t think I’d need a root canal. I didn’t think another tooth would break in half. And I’m worried about the price of ski equipment?

I mean I’m all in. And if I told you how many pairs of skis I have… And other than two pairs, none are more than two years old.

But skiing is important to me. One of the most important things to me.

But there will be a time when they’ll no longer see me in the shop.

Everybody dies.

But I thought it would happen all at once, or not until I was eighty five or so.

But it’s starting.

Rob Baker and Johnny Fay are members of the Tragically Hip, who have a new four part documentary on Amazon Prime. Whether you’re a fan of the band or not, you’ll like this.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rob-baker-johnny-fay/id1316200737?i=1000670035076

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/9174d9be-9d85-4397-8184-2e7e79b256a4/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-rob-baker-johnny-fay

Spotify playlist: https://t.ly/OL2Jm

1

Word was he was an as*hole, self-satisfied, difficult to work with.

But when I met him he was anything but.

The rep was spread in the press in the wake of the combustion of the Souther—Hillman—Furay Band. But Richie Furay told me he was responsible for the breakup. It was either the band or his marriage, and he chose his marriage. Richie said he was checked out during the recording of the second LP, “Trouble in Paradise,” and that’s why it suffered. It sank like a stone. But the debut…

“Life ain’t so easy in this border town

Too much dope and too much running around”

I think that’s when I first heard from J.D., after writing about “Border Town,” his song that finished out the first side of “The Souther—Hillman—Furay Band.” J.D. didn’t just paint pictures, his songs were three-dimensional, you could see inside them, and if you couldn’t identify, you wish you could.

And awareness of J.D. jumped when the Eagles broke big, which was really on their third album, “On the Border,” “Desperado” was a masterpiece, but despite the iconic status of the title cut, the album stalled in the marketplace. It was when the band jettisoned Glyn Johns, an English engineer-producer, for the American mind-set of Bill Szymczyk, who opened up the sound, let it loose, that the Eagles became the biggest band in the land.

Yes, the debut had “Take It Easy,” but you’ve got to know that that broke first on AM, instantly, unlike most of the credible acts, who started on FM and crossed over. The album was slick and perfect, and the connoisseurs, still baked in the ethos of the sixties, labeled it a trifle, something akin to the Starland Vocal Band. Boy were they wrong.

It was the “On the Border” number “Best of My Love” that made the Eagles iconic. They’d been in the game for three LPs, so there was no backlash, and this time they went all the way to number one.

And that song was cowritten by J.D. Souther, along with Don Henley and Glenn Frey.

So J.D.’s name was starting to permeate the public consciousness. If for no other reason than he was Linda Ronstadt’s boyfriend, who was not yet America’s sweetheart, but if you were in the know…

Expectations were high. David Geffen had negotiated her off Capitol, put her on his juggernaut of a label, Asylum. And J.D. co-produced her first record for the company, “Don’t Cry Now,” the title track of which he wrote.

J.D. was all over the album. Which stiffed in the marketplace. It was only when Linda went back in with Peter Asher and recorded “Heart Like a Wheel” that she exploded, on Capitol, which was owed one new album of their choice, and when they heard “Heart Like a Wheel” they selected it.

But this smash was followed up by 1975’s “Prisoner in Disguise” on Asylum, whose title track J.D. wrote.

I’d say he was a mystery man, but J.D. put out his own album on Asylum, in 1972, just after the label launched, and it was a complete stiff. You’d see it in the bins, but no one I knew bought it, and in truth the sound just wasn’t right, too thin, not rich enough.

But my point here is if you were scoring at home, you knew who J.D. Souther was, but if you were an average music fan, you did not.

Unless you read the credits on “Heart Like a Wheel,” because J.D. wrote one of the most meaningful cuts on the entire album, “Faithless Love.”

Faithless love like a river might flow, but it was the bridge that was indelible.

“Well I guess I’m standing in the hall of broken dreams

That’s the way it sometimes goes

Whenever a new love never turns out like it seems

I guess the feeling comes and goes”

And then in the spring of 1974, came “The Souther—Hillman—Furay Band.”

2

This was Richie Furay’s last shot, his best shot. He’d been the frontman on the delicious debut by Poco, but despite stellar reviews and love from everybody who purchased it, the album didn’t succeed commercially. And Poco continued to put out albums, people knew who they were, but Jim Messina left and it was a long hard slog.

So Richie jumped for this supergroup concocted by David Geffen.

Chris Hillman was the overlooked Byrd.

And then there was J.D. Souther, who was not a household name, who had not had commercial success equal to the other two (don’t forget Richie was in Buffalo Springfield). And the album came out and…

It opened with “Fallin’ in Love,” a classic Furay cut ready for airplay and acceptance, but it wasn’t a hit single.

And then came Chris Hillman’s number, “Heavenly Fire,” which showed us Hillman was more than a sideman in the Byrds.

And after that J.D. shined, with “The Heartbreaker.”

“He’s Mr. Deliver

He never lets you down

And now the life wrecker

Is comin’ to town”

People today have no idea of the iconic status of rock stars in the sixties and seventies. It was much more than image, it was about lifestyle. They inhabited a world we could never enter, because we just were not cool enough. Sure, money mattered, but not as much as charisma. These guys were not playing by society’s rules, and they were winning. Got all the girls… And you wonder why people moved to Los Angeles?

And after Richie’s “Believe Me,” came J.D.s aforementioned “Border Town.” And just like with “The Heartbreaker,” for the first time J.D.’s numbers got the production they deserved, that elevated them out of the woodwork to shine. This was more than coffee shop singer-songwriter.

Life sure wasn’t easy in that border town, but you couldn’t wait to go there.

And many did, at least in their minds. Despite being decried in the rock press as a fake group, this time the public caught on, “The Souther—Hillman—Furay Band” went gold, you heard it on the radio, suddenly J.D.’s performances were not living in obscurity.

And then the band broke up.

3

But then came “Black Rose.”

The hottest producer of singer-songwriters was Peter Asher. He turned James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt into superstars. And now J.D. surrendered the reins to him.

There were no hit singles. But “Black Rose” was a masterpiece. It contained J.D.’s versions of songs made big by Linda Ronstadt, and although it started with the upbeat, jaunty, “Banging My Head Against the Moon” and then the quiet dirge of “If You Have Crying Eyes,” the album truly came alive with the song in the middle of the first side, “Your Turn Now.”

“The moon was yellow

And the sky was cool

The night can make a promise of love

Or it can make you a fool”

I sing these lines in my head more than any other. Maybe it’s because they exude optimism, they’re upbeat, if you just play the game, you could lose, but you could also win!

“Would anybody know it

If the real thing shined

You’ve seen so many movies

You’d probably think it was a line”

I was in love with the movie stars. Maybe I wasn’t the only one. But ultimately you have to enter the real world, and it’s so confusing. You could find someone real and never know.

“Well maybe it’s your turn now

You’d be falling in love but you wouldn’t know how”

All we hear about are the winners, the school champions, with girlfriends since puberty. But the rest of us?

We were not experienced, not that we would admit it.

“Let me tell you I can fight like a man

And cry like a little boy”

This is a vulnerability you don’t hear in today’s Top Forty material, certainly not in hip-hop. So much of today’s music slides off the listener, but in the past, it went straight to the heart.

“If passion is always kind

How can love be cruel”

So many people my age no longer want to risk getting into relationships, they don’t want to experience the pain of disconnection, a breakup.

“Maybe it’s your turn

And you’ll never know

If you’re afraid to hold on tighter

And you’re afraid to let go”

That’s what love requires, hanging on tighter. You’d be surprised who is unable to do this. I guess they call it fear of commitment. But it’s more than that, it’s not wanting to journey into the unknown. And then there’s the opposite, sometimes you need to let go but you can’t, you don’t want to lose whatever good you’ve still got.

4

Now the other stellar, iconic track on “Black Rose” was also new, having appeared nowhere previously, “Baby Come Home.”

This is a song for anybody who’s ever been left, anybody who’s broken up and regrets it. Every word is brilliant, but there’s one passage…

“If you could trust me, try to believe me

Listen to me when I say

When I say that love, is a burning fire

And it will not fade away

No, it will not fade away”

Whew!

And then two and a half minutes in, the chorus sings “Baby come home” as J.D. expresses regret and desire and it’s just amazing.

5

And there’s a quiet version of “Faithless Love” that I prefer to Ronstadt’s.

Ditto on “Silver Blue.”

And without Ronstadt’s powerful lung capacity “Simple Man, Simple Dream” gains gravitas. The meaning shines through.

And the title track, “Black Rose,” is the finale.

“I see you carry a black rose

Carry a  black rose”

Tom Petty may have sung that the A&R man didn’t hear a single, but that was in 1991. This was 1976. You could go quite far without ever appearing on AM radio. You could have fans. You didn’t live in obscurity like those who don’t make the Spotify Top 50 today. You could tour and…

J.D. wasn’t on the road. But those records existed.

6

But then J.D. switched labels from Asylum to Columbia, after all David Geffen was long gone, and had a hit! “You’re Only Lonely” had a retro, fifties feel, and it resonated with the public.

And the label also included his version of another number Ronstadt had covered, “White Rhythm and Blues.”

“You say that somebody really loves you

You’d find her if you just knew how”

No one else wrote lyrics quite the same way.

And, once again, J.D.’s understated vocals let the words shine through, more than in Linda’s version.

But even bigger than 1979’s “You’re Only Lonely” was J.D.’s unexpected duet with James Taylor, “Her Town Too.”

“But now he’s gone and life goes on”

That’s J.D.’s line. A distinct contrast to James’s mellifluous vocal.

And then he comes back with:

“Yes, and everyone can see you fall”

And:

“Somebody still loves you”

J.D. injects gravitas. He specialized in that. He could make any number just a bit more serious with his participation.

Unlike the “You’re Only Lonely” album, “Her Town Too” was produced by Peter Asher, and sounded like it. Rich. And meaningful, without being overbearing. By this time most baby boomers had experienced breakups, they could identify, and aren’t the the songs that resonate the ones you hold closest to your chest?

J.D. released another solo LP in 1984, but it didn’t even break the Top 200. The eras had changed. Now it was about MTV and flash. Immediacy. And J.D. specialized in something more cerebral.

And then he showed up in “thirtysomething.” As cool as ever.

J.D. was also in “Postcards from the Edge,”  but his acting career never blossomed into something bigger.

7

And then it was 2007, hell had already frozen over, back in 1994, and there’d been a few new tracks, but now the Eagles took the long road out of Eden and decided to lead with… “How Long”? A J.D. Souther song? From his very first album?

J.D. was back on the radio. The double album was sold exclusively by Walmart and the single made a dent, unlike the work by oldsters today. This was not the new Billy Joel single, the new work of Steve Perry. “How Long” did not sink like a stone, it was actually a radio hit.

And then J.D. came out of the woodwork.

It was a new century, with new rules. He hired a young management team and put out the jazzy live album “If the World Was You,” and hit the road. Suddenly, J.D. was ACCESSIBLE!

Friendly, talkative and open.

What he was most proud of was his daughter, whom most people were unaware existed. She was in school in Paris and… Whenever I spoke with J.D. she came up.

Along with his Volvo.

And then he left NashVegas for New Mexico, tripped and…

“Hey Bob

I’d love to do your podcast. I missed a lot of emails this year I apologize, something I’ve had to become skilled at in the last few months.  I moved to New Mexico, which was interesting enough with two young frisky dogs but then tripped on a marble step in my new house (1ST MORNING!!) broke a rib and punctured a lung so my first week in The Land of Enchantment was spent at Presbyterian Hospital with a chest drain in my right side and the next few weeks spent trying to settle into the new place with various visiting friends to help and a great TM who stepped up and made it possible.

It’s been a zoo but things are beginning to settle down at last.

Let’s do it!

JD”

We never did do that podcast.

But there was another e-mail:

RE: The Model Is Broken.

Bob, you’re killing it, mate. Superbly reasoned piece and within it lies the awful truth…or is it that awful? Yes, in many ways, but change is always a new pair of boots that need breaking in.

The message at the heart of even this sea change is the same; write a great song and sing it well. It might not make you rich but then again, it just might and you can probably sleep a little better knowing you don’t suck. Then get up and try to do it again.

 

Keep firing

JD Souther”

8

Sure I knew him, but I would have written all of the above even if I hadn’t. Man, he wrote all those songs, he made that music, and he was cool and never sold out, never lost his identity.

Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Jews are kvelling.

But they can’t tell anybody.

This is like Trump and the shooters. All the stories covered in the mainstream. They don’t go to the essence of the story, because they’re afraid people are going to FREAK OUT!

The backlash has not begun, but it’s coming. Those nasty Jews, how could they do this?

Well, in truth the idea is in the latest season of “Trigger Point,” the Vicky McClure vehicle created by the same person who’s responsible for “Line of Duty,” one of the most beloved shows in England, and those who have viewed it worldwide. BENT COPPERS!

So in “Trigger Point” McClure is an EXPO. A bomb expert. She learned her skill in the military, and goes around London defusing bombs. Although unlike in American TV series, people die. Everybody’s fair game, like in “The Sopranos.” Beloved or not, they may go. Which keeps you on your toes.

So it’s a cat and mouse game in the second season. The domestic terrorists, with an anti-capitalist agenda, keep amping up the ante. Sometimes with hoax bombs, that freak people out but will never blow up.

Then there’s a tip. There’s going to be an explosion in a business area, using drones, which were employed once before. The cops arrive, they’re freaking out. They try to get the people off the sidewalks, they debate emptying the buildings, but that’s a bridge too far.

And then they start hearing explosions.

Where are they coming from?

THE SCOOTERS!

Yes, you know, Bird, Lime, available in almost all major cities. The bombs are inside them. And McClure as Lana Washington runs after a woman on a scooter, trying to warn her, but she’s wearing headphones and can’t hear and…

She’s blown up.

So it’s kind of like Bush after 9/11. Who could come up with these ideas, who could think of this?

So now we’ve got the Mossad of the past, back in action.

Yes, the Israelis developed an incredible intelligence and military reputation. They were the envy of the world. America couldn’t rescue hostages, but the Israelis could.

And then came 10/7.

But the johnny-come-latelies to the Middle East don’t know the history. Israel’s existence has been in danger from the moment the country was founded. The Palestinians were offered their own country, but they refused, they wanted all the land, no Israel at all.

So Israel is fighting battles all the time, on high alert. The country can only lose once.

And the mind-set is completely different from the U.S. In the U.S., the war always happens over there. We skated during WWII, other than Pearl Harbor, the end result of which was the dropping of nuclear bombs to finish the war. That’s why 9/11 was so unfathomable, it happened HERE! And if it happens once, it could happen again. But it’s funny to see people in the hinterlands who are deathly afraid of foreign terrorists. Do you really think they’re going to bomb Kansas or Wyoming? They’re way down the list.

So the average American does not pay attention to the Mideast conflict. I’m not even sure the average American knows where any of these countries are, never mind that those which surround Israel won’t accept Palestinian refugees.

There have been constant battles with Hezbollah. Which we’ll just call the Hamas of the north. Sure, the fit isn’t perfect, but it’s not completely wrong either.

So it turns out the Israelis could monitor cell phones, so Hezbollah decided to go with old school technology, pagers. And…

Notice that Israel has not yet accepted responsibility. Why? What’s the advantage? In war it’s all about stealth, surprise. Don’t take a victory lap until it’s all done, if at all.

Does Israel want Lebanon’s land? Does it want to own Beirut?

Absolutely not, it just wants to be able to live in peace, which Hezbollah will not allow.

Now modern warfare is confusing. Because everybody refrains from using atomic weapons. Which are truly the final solution, pardon the term. So what are the rules of modern war? I don’t know. What can Ukraine do without Russia pushing back. Russia’s army may be inept, but Russia’s got a much deeper pocket. But if Ukraine gets just a bit more weaponry, they can attack Russia’s big cities. What is the population going to say then? Statistically, most Russians support Putin, because they’ve been the victims of disinformation. They don’t know the score. Kinda like so many in America, if you think about it.

So what happens now on the Israel/Lebanon front?

And it’s not like the pagers that exploded were only in Lebanon, explosions were in Syria too! The Arabs are organized. The Israelis are fighting on all fronts.

So all the news has been bad. Before the war Netanyahu wanted to neutralize the Supreme Court, and then there’s the settlements. It’s hard to be a Jew in America and support Israel.

But when the entire country is threatened…

This pager story is too new for the anti-Israel protesters to get organized. But if past is prologue, it’s coming. Because the Jews can’t be aggressors. Arabs can be terrorists, but not the Jews!

And, once again, Israel is ahead of Hezbollah technologically. In case you didn’t know, Israel is a hotbed of technological innovation. Do you use WAZE? That’s an Israeli product.

So if you’re a Jew…

You’re smiling on the inside today. You can’t tell anybody. Because then you’ll be ostracized, set yourself up for blowback.

But after ’67 and Munich and ’73… Isn’t Israel allowed to take the initiative? It’s not like 10/7 where the Israelis were living in peace before Hamas attacked. Hezbollah has been provoking, missiles have been fired.

Never underestimate the power of antisemitism. It’s coming re this pager story. And doesn’t this fit the stereotype? The advanced, intelligent conniving Jew/Israeli?

This is what Israel is up against. This is what Jews are up against. Play nice all you want, but they don’t hate you less.

If you haven’t had someone say something antisemitic in front of you, you’re probably wearing a kippah.

The Jews aren’t able to play offense. Even though one could argue today’s pager explosions were actually defense. They’ve got no right. They should just be happy they can coexist. Then again, this is not what the Arabs in the Middle East want, they want Israel GONE!

So Israel fights back and…

People die. That’s the nature of war.

And it’s not only Hamas, the active soldiers. Much of the populace is anti-Israel, whether they’ve been sold a bill of goods or not. Which is why women and children were carrying Hezbollah pagers.

So what does the world say now?

We’re waiting to see.