We’ve seen this movie before. Back in the nineties, with Bob Morgado and the Warner Music Group. A man with no expertise in music single-handedly destroyed the company. But it was even worse, he ultimately fired his co-conspirator Doug Morris, who went on with Edgar Bronfman, Jr.’s money to create Universal Music, which still dominates the marketplace today. As for Warner? It was sold for bupkes in the wake of the AOL merger and it has never regained its market power or share, never mind its gravitas.

Mo Ostin was the most respected executive in the music business, the one acts wanted to work with. He spoke artist, CBS spoke money. CBS would squeeze every last dollar out of your album, sacrificing credibility and career longevity, whereas Mo would leave some money on the table, believing by not burning out your name, by not alienating core fans, you’d have a longer, and ultimately more lucrative, career.

So once Mo and Lenny were gone, who wanted to sign with Warner? And why? The company’s whole philosophy changed. From committing to artist development to throwing it against the wall for one album and seeing if it stuck, and if it did not, the act was dropped.

The Warner label is a shadow of itself. As for Atlantic, it was always about hits, that was Doug’s forte, checking retail action and capitalizing on it. But now… What, they went through Lyor, then his protégé Julie Greenwald and now another man who knows nothing about music, Robert Kyncl, brought Elliott Grainge on board to make the trains run on time, the SON of Lucian Grainge, who runs Universal, and someone with not much of a track record.

Kind of like Nick Bilton, but that’s even worse. At least Elliott’s been working in music, whereas Bilton has absolutely no experience in television news. Then again, anybody can do it, right?

All those dues paid by the “60 Minutes” staff, they’re worthless. You can’t plot experience on a spreadsheet, so it’s superfluous.

Let’s start with Bari Weiss.

No, let’s start with the Ellison’s Paramount Skydance/Warner Bros. Discovery merger. How do you get it approved?

Well, it’s a pay to play administration. And that’s what everybody’s been doing, from the lawyers to Tim Cook to… They say their hands are tied, if they don’t cozy up to Trump their businesses will take a hit. And one thing is for sure, in America it’s all about mazuma, i.e. the dollars. The stock market is king, isn’t that what Trump keeps telling us?

But the funny little thing is the law firms that didn’t settle, that fought the extortion, won in court. As for those who paid up…many of their star attorneys bolted, and it’s now much harder to recruit new associates. Who wants to work for an outfit with no backbone? It’s bad enough you’re doing drudge work, you need to believe in it.

So Bari Weiss…

Got to give her credit. She built an entire career on speaking truth to the “New York Times.” To what degree she was right is ultimately irrelevant, the key here is the “Times” did not see it coming, the “Times” was so busy bending over backwards to appease the woke, abiding by left wing ideology, that the Grey Lady was ripe for attack. The right wing had been attacking the “Times” for years, but now that one of the “Times”‘s own had revolted and bolted, that was red meat that could be grabbed on to.

As for Weiss…as depicted so accurately in the “New York” magazine piece, she leveraged the blowback to get money from all those with a buck who were afraid of their own disruption, by either Trump or the left. Weiss was a networker. She climbed the ladder. And the Ellisons are neophytes and they gave her the news gig, believing it would appease Trump.

But when you work in an organization…

Weiss never played nice, doesn’t seem to know how. There’s a skill in managing people, especially when they’re smart people with an audience. Morgado didn’t know how to manage Mo, who moved on. And the end result was those searching for a deal were less inclined to sign with Warner. Despite the rise of the techies, most business is not comprised of zeros and ones, soft skills are very important, and Weiss does not possess them.

And staying on the music tip…remember Andrew Lack and the rootkit crisis? I mean how hard could music be, someone in news could take over and triumph, right? No, Lack left with his tail between his legs, he couldn’t read public sentiment.

Nor can Weiss and Bilton.

One thing is for sure, “60 Minutes” is toast. Done. Kaput. It takes decades to build a brand, but it can be eviscerated overnight. “60 Minutes” was built on trust, and now that’s gone. As well as the talent.

As for Scott Pelley…Weiss and Bilton are saying that Pelley doesn’t know how to behave, that he didn’t comport himself with dignity, they expected him to roll over just like Putin did with Ukraine. But Zelensky and the public proved Putin wrong. Do they really think viewers are so brain dead as to overlook this crisis?

Warner and Atlantic have been permanently crippled, and Elektra is now an imprint at best. There’s been no coming back, over DECADES!

One more thing, Weiss has no public fans, and CBS is a public facing business. She can charm the fat cats, but not the hoi polloi. That’s just how out of touch she is.

As for Pelley… How far are you pushed before you revolt?

That’s not only the question at “60 Minutes,” but in America at large. Are we ripe for an Arab Spring moment?

But shy of that, even the Republicans revolted against Trump’s slush fund. You can push the people only so far.

As for the intermediaries, the fourth estate, the news industrial complex…

I used to rely on the L.A. “Times” recommendations to help me decide how to vote. They no longer publish them, for fear of pissing off Trump and other Republicans, leaving me with less information to make my decisions.

As for the “Washington Post,” the Op-Ed page is now bizarroland. The exact opposite of the previous viewpoint. You had some guy railing that California should lower the new automobile purchase tax rate to compete with Montana’s and…it was fascinating to read the comments. Almost no one agreed, they all said that the issue wasn’t California’s levy, but about closing the loophole. And I bet most of you don’t even know what I’m talking about, but the bottom line is the wealthy don’t want to pay taxes on their Ferraris, so they register them in Montana, even though they’re driving in Beverly Hills. As for closing loopholes…isn’t this what Trump said he was going to do? Yeah, right.

So, Scott Pelley is standing up for all of us. And unlike Tim Apple and the rest of the weasels, he’s calling it as he sees it:

“For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”

As for today’s firing, Pelley contradicted Weiss’s version:

“Bari Weiss knows what she said is not true. In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to ‘find a way back,’ as Weiss said in the editorial meeting.”

They call this speaking truth to power, something today’s musical acts are afraid to do, even though music’s explosion in the sixties was based on this. Pelley is willing to put it all on the line, i.e. HIS JOB!

Are you willing to put your job on the line? Seemingly no one in America is willing to put their job on the line. If anything, their job can’t be eliminated, things have to stay the same, technology schmechnology.

As for Weiss… She’s employing the Trump playbook, lie and stonewall. But he’s a protected President and Weiss serves at the will of the Ellisons. Just like Trump is only loyal to himself, everybody else is expendable, Weiss is too stupid to realize the buck does not stop with her, that she’s turning herself into a pariah, believing that the intelligentsia she has cottoned to has her back. Yeah, right, how unsophisticated can you be?

As for you and me…

We have power, it’s just a matter of whether we exercise it.

ABC took Kimmel off the air and people started canceling their Disney subscriptions and they brought him back. Now action is not as clear cut in this case, but people can definitely stop watching CBS, the only show that was necessary viewing was “60 Minutes.”

As for Pelley…

He could be toxic. If this was a year ago, probably no one would hire him, for fear of Trump blowback. I think he’ll wind up somewhere, but let’s be clear…

Pelley is Curt Flood. Who ruined his career to stand up for what was right.

We’ve been living in the land of money and expedience for so long that doing what is right is almost never considered, especially if there is a potential cost. You’ve just go to look at the Republicans in Congress. Cross Trump and you lose your job. But why are you entitled to that job anyway? You don’t serve at the will of Trump, but the PEOPLE!

The tide has turned in the last week. The removal of Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, the quashing of the slush fund, and what is Trump doing? He’s doubling down! He’s refusing to abide by the court’s decision and return tariff money, he’s now cracking down on Brazil, levying taxes on the country… What will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?

There may never be one. That’s how somnambulant and afraid people are. Which is why we depend on people like Scott Pelley to show the way.

How do you lose power?

Very slowly and then overnight.

Am I optimistic, no. But one thing is for sure, we need credible news outlets which operate at arm’s length from institutions, who are willing to call balls and strikes as they see them.

We just lost another one.

And there are very few left.

And it’s all playing out right in front of us.

Who thought it would come to this in America.

It was hard getting into another book after “London Falling.” We’re searching for excellence in a world of me-too. And even though we all use the same language, the same alphabet, certain artists rise above. Then again, how many people creating deserve the term “artist”?

That’s one thing that struck me in “So Old, So Young,” the musical references. Mindless tripe like Justin Timberlake. This is the music of the millennials. Oh, Timberlake is more talented than most, but compared to even the lowliest of the classic rockers… And don’t fault me for being myopic, that rock savant known as Barry Manilow had this to say in the “Los Angeles Times” after lamenting modern pop has no melody:

“But the way they’re writing songs these days is not the way I know how to write songs. They don’t do a verse, a chorus, a bridge, a chorus, a big ending. To me, when I listen, the songs feel like run-on sentences.”

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2026-05-27/barry-manilow-cancer-las-vegas-new-album-bette-midler-dionne-warwick

And there you have it.

Anyway, “So Old, So Young” employs the classic formula of friends go to college together and then their lives are delineated as the years go by. The first book I read in this genre was actually nonfiction, 1977’s “Loose Change” by Sara Davidson. You get wrapped up in the women’s world and…

That’s why I reserved “So Old, So Young” at the library. The “New York Times” review said:

“Grant Ginder’s ‘So Old, So Young,’ about friends who met at the University of Pennsylvania navigating careers and families, while drifting apart over the course of almost two decades…”

I’m a sucker for this stuff. Maybe because as time goes by you change, or you don’t. But the truth is despite so many doing their best to hang on, we all evolve. And this is described so well in “So Old, So Young.”

“Things would change little by little, until they didn’t recognize each other at all.”

I reconnected with my best friend from high school a couple of years back, we hadn’t seen each other in decades, and although we still communicated, we couldn’t connect, we’d taken different paths, turned into different people.

“There was always the chance that they would both realize that the people they had turned into were totally incompatible with the versions of themselves that they remembered—that what they had been chasing wasn’t actually each other, but the way they used to feel when they were together.”

It was a time and place, and you have vivid memories, but that path reached an end, the feeling can never be recaptured.

“They were never going to stop growing up. Why was that so hard to accept?”

I see this constantly amongst my fellow baby boomers, who dress as teenagers to go see bands they loved when they were still in high school. They feel if they just believe nothing has changed, that will be the case. Yet that is delusional.

“They were going to lose parts of themselves that they had thought were irreplaceable, only to find that they didn’t miss them at all.”

This is what growing up looks like. You’re confronted with this when you run into people you used to know, or even your parents, who think your interests have remained the same, even though you’ve moved on. It’s okay to get old. It’s scary, but you get to learn new things, change your behavior, everybody says they want to stay young, not me, I think of all the mistakes I made back then…I know why I committed them, but with what I know now I can play the game of life so much better.

“Because staying young forever wasn’t just impossible—it was exhausting. No one was meant to shoulder that amount of possibility for very long.”

You’ve got to let go. Realize you’ve made your choices and you can’t go back to the beginning. That’s for young people. You can adjust, but you’ll never be twenty five again, thank god.

So what we’ve got in “So Old, So Young,” is a group of just graduated college buddies who are now living in apartments in New York, starting their careers.

One is rich enough to work at a gallery, but it’s funny, as time goes by, others make much more money, her standard of living is not as high as it was when she was supported by her automobile dealership owning father.

And then there is Richie, who is out, and Adam who is not. It’s still a struggle for many, even if your parents accept you, do they really? Do people now treat you differently?

And then there’s the romantic connection… This is extremely well done, especially from the viewpoint of a guy, when you realize the woman who is talking to you likes you, is maybe even infatuated with you. It’s rare, but it happens.

So they get jobs and lose them and are confronted with life choices. Can you leave the city for your boyfriend’s new job? And if you don’t, will you regret it, possibly forever? Most of the people from the past…if you actually connect with them, you don’t want to be with them, oftentimes it’s a fantasy, but not always.

So years go by and the group keeps reconnecting. There are weddings, birthday parties… Are you invited? Are you part of the core group? And if you’re not, can you weasel your way in?

And then there’s the issue of your significant other…you may love them, but will your longtime friends? And will said significant other read the tea leaves and adjust their behavior to fit in? So many can’t, and this ends up severing relationships.

And life evolves. You’re on a fast career path and then you get fired.

You like to imbibe and have fun, but does the liquor take over your life to your detriment?

And are children part of the plan?

The best sequence in the book is when the singles go into the suburbs for a birthday party for their friend’s new friends and children…

Even better is what is said which should not be.

The beginning of the book is confusing. Too many names and backstories to keep track of. But if you stay with it, you start to read the identities, but even better you get hooked into the behavior of the individuals.

And then there’s the big blow-up. Based on people saying what they should not, behaving as they should not. You’ve been there, you’re so frustrated with the behavior of your so-called best friend that you let loose with invective that puts a stake in the heart of the relationship. And this is no longer college, everybody can retreat into their lives with their new friends.

And then there are the people you couldn’t tolerate who ultimately become your besties.

It’s all in “So Old, So Young.”

This is not highbrow work, but it is ultimately fulfilling, because when it all starts to gel about forty percent through you get hooked because you’ve been there, you have old friends and new ones, you’ve been growing up, how do you handle it?

I won’t quite call “So Old, So Young” a beach read, it’s more than that. But you might want to crack it out in the sun this summer.

Then again, you become involved in its world. You can discuss what happens with your fellow readers thereafter, but it’s what you feel when you’re reading it…

Growing up is the same for every generation, it’s only the details that change. The methods of communication, i.e. today’s constant connection via the smartphone, and Uber and…everybody’s so networked today, which is why when you fall out with someone it’s so glaring.

Not everybody is going to like this book, not everybody is going to get past the beginning, but you know if this is the kind of book that appeals to you. Ultimately, it’s only people and how they navigate life that is interesting. This is what fiction does best. We’re flooded with headlines of the antics of people both famous and not, but what we are almost never exposed to is the inner dialogue of these people, and everybody has one. Then again, so many deny it, it’s too painful to accept their faux pas and the fact that they’ve grown up and are now different.

I had to stay up late last night to finish “So Old, So Young,” and I know some of you will have to too.

ROGER DALTREY

“Say It Ain’t So Joe”

Daltrey’s debut was famous for its Leo Sayer songs (co-written with David Courtney), before Leo was a solo act, never mind switching gears to being a popster with Richard Perry. It opens jauntily with “One Man Band,” but the highlight from that initial solo LP is “Giving It All Away,” which was great, but I prefer Sayer’s ultimate rendition a year later on his second LP, “Just a Boy,” which contained the hit “Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance).” Remember when Leo used to take the stage as a clown? That was a big story way back when, no one has mentioned it to me in decades.

Anyway…

This was a tough one for me…

You’ll remember after the “Tommy” movie, Daltrey had a career as an actor, first in “Lisztomania,” memorably in “McVicar.” Daltrey was the frontman, he got the attention, but all these years later it’s clear that Townshend is the genius, that without him there is no Who.

“McVicar” was actually a decent movie, but it sported a spectacular song on the soundtrack, “Free Me.” Daltrey belts right out of 1969 and the Woodstock movie. But the production is bombastic, in a good way, as film music is wont to be. But even more interesting is “Free Me” was composed by Russ Ballard, who was the singer in Argent, but also has an arm’s long list of songwriter credits, yet no one ever mentions him as a great songwriter. Of course he wrote Argent’s “Liar,” one of my most played downloads ever, made into a hit by Three Dog Night, but besides those Argent songs, Ballard wrote:

“I Know There’s Something Going On,” Frida of ABBA’s Phil Collins produced MTV hit.

“Winning,” whose version by Santana, sung by the recently departed Alex Ligertwood, brought the band back to the forefront.

“You Can Do Magic” for America.

Ace Frehley’s “New York Groove.”

And many more.

But as great as “Free Me” is, my favorite Daltrey solo song is his cover of Murray Head’s “Say It Ain’t So, Joe,” the original recording of which I don’t think I’d even heard until the days of Napster.

I believe Murray’s rock career was hampered by his first name, then again, it gave him notoriety. I first encountered Head on the original studio version of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” in which he played Judas Iscariot, he was all over the album.

And then, seemingly out of the blue, in 1984 he came back with “One Night In Bangkok,” from the musical “Chess,” which hadn’t been produced, never mind have a soundtrack LP, when this single was released. And the song was so unique, so whacked, that FM played it, it sounded like nothing that had come down the pike previously, and whenever it comes up in conversation everybody expresses warm feelings about it.

But in between, Murray wrote and performed “Say It Ain’t So, Joe,” which yes…was partially inspired by Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox scandal.

And after Murray recorded his original, intimate version, Roger blew it up into a radio track, with a rich, emphatic vocal. And you may not know that the song was also overed by Gary Brooker and the Hollies.

The Daltrey album “One of the Boys,” which contains “Say It Ain’t So, Joe” is not on Spotify, et al, but it is available on YouTube.

DAVID LEE ROTH

“Just Like Paradise”

So after his initial EP with “California Girls,” Roth made a solo album with Ted Templeman that contained the hit “Yankee Rose” that was all over MTV, but lacked melody, was substandard, but got airplay because Roth was still a star.

And then there was another solo LP, “Skyscraper” in 1988, when Roth had been eclipsed by the now Sammy Hagar fronted Van Halen. But still, there was this track…

This was during Dave’s adventurous phase, he was always testing limits. and we read about it in the rock press. And in the video for “Just Like Paradise,” you remember the video, Dave was rock climbing.

You also had Dave and Steve Vai strutting, veritably trucking towards the camera. Funny, this paradigm has been completely extinguished, over the top spandex triumphant posturing.

However…

“Just Like Paradise” is a fantastic record.

It had an intro, setting up the story, with keys and guitar and I won’t say it was quite magical, but it was close.

And then Dave took off on his tear of a verse.

But really the essence of “Just Like Paradise” is the chorus:

“This must be just like livin’ in paradise (just like paradise)

And I don’t want to go home (and I never wanna go)

This must be just like livin’ in paradise

And I don’t wanna go home”

And there was a great pre-chorus, but…

This was music made for the eighties, in that everybody had a crankable stereo and you could turn the music up and sing along at the top of your lungs and not hear a word you were singing. I love that experience.

And there’s a great break, and Steve Vai exercises, but as talented as Steve is, Eddie Van Halen was on another level.

That’s the eighties. The world was driven by MTV and there was plenty of money and there was a level of hedonism…

It was fun.

As is the a cappella outro to this song.

LOU GRAMM

“Just Between You and Me”

I remember Bud Prager telling me that “I Want to Know What Love Is” was the crowning achievement of Foreigner, the highlight. I disagreed and still do. If you want go for a ballad, you’ve got to go for “Waiting for a Girl Like You” from the Mutt Lange produced “4.” “I Want to Know What Love Is” was exploitative, not quite lowest common denominator, but close, whereas “Waiting for a Girl Like You” was ethereal, yet wholly believable. And you discovered it on the LP before it hit the radio, which was focused on the initial single, “Urgent.” “Waiting for a Girl Like You” was one step beyond what Foreigner had done before.

Then again, I’d still have to say that the band’s initial track, “Feels Like the First Time,” is the best, talk about a one listen smash…

And after that…I didn’t buy the next two LPs, but when I hear those hits now I smile, I love hearing them…”Head Games,” Dirty White Boy” and “Hot Blooded.”

So Lou Gramm goes solo and puts out an album with his best work, “Midnight Blue,” but that’s not my favorite, no, my favorite is “Just Between You and Me” from 1989’s follow-up, “Long Hard Look.” This was the last gasp of this kind of music, it was soon to be eclipsed by Nirvana and grunge, but…this is a great exponent of what once was…

Once again, it’s the chorus that contains the magic:

“Even if heaven and earth collide tonight

We’ll be all alone in a different light

I don’t care what the world can’t see

It’s just between you and me”

It’s the way Gramm sings, and you sang along with him…

And there’s a great bridge…

“If we don’t work this out we won’t recover

We’ll lose this soulful love for one another

But with all I’ve heard and all I’ve seen

I’m still lost in your mystery”

And then Lou was replaced in Foreigner and became seriously ill and disappeared, and then reappeared looking beefy, but with his pipes intact. But Foreigner could sell tickets with a faux lead singer, and at this late date Gramm occasionally appears with the band, then again…there was that replacement singer not wanting Lou to sing “his,” i.e. the replacement’s, signature songs…which, of course, Lou sang originally. And now Mick Jones is ill and the Foreigner you see on the road is totally faux.

GREGG ALLMAN

“Anything Goes”

From the comeback album, “I’m No Angel,” a complete return to form.

So, Steve Massarsky invites me to the Greek, he represented Dickey Betts, got him some money. And I spoke with Dickey, however…

I’m engaging with Gregg and I tell him how much I love this song, how he hits that high note after the break, singing “ANYTHING GOES!”

Now Gregg was tall and skinny and wearing heeled-boots and he leaned down, very close, very intimately, almost scarily close, and he’s whispering in my ear and he’s telling me this story and he  says…

“I can’t hit that note every night, but sometimes I lean over the keyboard and my left nut gets caught under my leg and I sing “ANYTHING GOES!!”

And then Gregg leans back and looks me in the eye.

And I look back at him.

And that was the end of the conversation.

JOE WALSH

“Rivers (of the Hidden Funk)”

This is not my favorite Joe Walsh track, I’d have to go with “Meadows” or “Welcome to the Club” or “County Fair” or “Take a Look Around” from the first James Gang album, but I play this one so much and it’s been completely forgotten…

I had it on a compilation cassette with the Clash’s “The Call Up,” there was a distinct mood…

And the Eagles had broken up and Joe was opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Forum, touring this album.

Now of the post-Eagles breakup albums, the best is 1985’s “The Confessor,” and “There Goes the Neighborhood” was uneven, yet it did contain the hit “A Life of Illusion,” but “Rivers (of the Hidden Funk)” is a subtle not quite masterpiece, certainly something that penetrates you and stays there.

I’m not exactly sure what the song is about, even though certain lines create memorable images, but….

There’s a hooky chorus.

And a changing groove.

And the sounds of the guitars and other instruments. I love this, I want to shine a light on it.

JOHN LENNON

“Steel and Glass”

Lennon had an uneven solo career. Despite all the latter-day hosannas, 1970’s “Plastic Ono Band” did not sell prodigiously, nor was there much airplay. But then he followed this up with the “Imagine” album, whose title song has become a standard, even though I thought it was too obvious, even back then. But “Imagine” also has “Jealous Guy,” which Bryan Ferry covers so well, and “Gimme Some Truth” and the McCartney put-down “How Do You Sleep.”

And then Lennon steps in it with “Some Time in New York City,” made with the now forgotten Elephant’s Memory. But at the end of 1973, John had another big hit with “Mind Games,’ however at this point McCartney was on a tear, with “Red Rose Speedway” and “My Love” and then “Band on the Run.” Lennon responded in the fall of ’74 with the uneven “Walls and Bridges,” and then stopped recording for six years, returning in 1980 with “Double Fantasy,” which was a veritable stiff before the tragedy powered it into ubiquity.

But going back to “Walls and Bridges”…

I’d just moved to L.A. and made a pilgrimage to the legendary Tower on Sunset whose most salient feature was the stacking of records in piles on the floor just inside the door. The stacks were endless, a hundred copies of an album that you thought only you knew. And one of those albums was “Walls and Bridges,” and over the in-store stereo was playing “Steel and Glass.”

Now the funny thing about “Steel and Glass” is it’s not that different from “How Do You Sleep,” and Lennon acknowledged this, but in this case his target was Allen Klein… Imagine if John had not been hoodwinked by this shyster and had gone with Paul’s relatives the Eastmans in the first place…

Anyway, one of the defining features of “Steel and Glass” is the treatment on John’s voice. Just like Howard Stern has his voice tweaked for radio. And if anybody else did this track you’d say it was bombastic, but in this case the music has a transcendent quality, this was definitely a Beatle, no one else could create this exact sound.

DARYL HALL

“Foolish Pride”

The first solo LP, 1980’s “Sacred Songs,” produced by Robert Fripp, was perceived to be experimental, and it was also released before Hall and Oates’s comeback.

Yes, Hall and Oates moved from Atlantic to RCA and suddenly had gigantic hits, first with “Sara Smile” and then “Rich Girl” and Atlantic re-released “She’s Gone” and the band was everywhere, but then they ran out of steam, to the point where they were even playing clubs, I saw them at the Roxy, but then…

Mere months after the release of “Sacred Songs” came “Voices,” whose success was pinned on a cover of “You Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” That’s how low the band had fallen, they were scrounging for something that would be easy for radio programmers to add, but then came…

“Kiss on My List” and “You Make My Dreams,” never mind “Everytime You Go Away,” which Paul Young built a career upon.

And then the juggernaut continued. With “Private Eyes” and “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” and “Maneater,” and who’da thunk of all the seventies bands to survive and thrive in the MTV era it would be Hall and Oates? And they’d have had a slew more hits if they hadn’t made the mistake of leaving RCA for Arista and manipulative Clive Davis, who meddled to the point that there was no new music.

But during the height of the band’s renaissance, in 1986, Daryl released his second solo LP. “Foolish Pride” is the best song on it. It got some video airplay, yet it was never ubiquitous, but it should have been.

JIM MESSINA

“It’s All Right Here”

He reined Loggins in. And when released Kenny may have had solo hits, but they were unmemorable pop fodder, whereas the music he made with Messina… Forget “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” the initial LP is in the same league as the initial Poco LP, if not better.

And Jim had a sound, heard with Loggins on “Changes” from “Mother Lode,” the duo’s brilliant 1974 album.

Messina’s solo debut was not memorable, except for this…with a great sound, exquisite playing and…this is just a great track. It deserves to be heard.

DEBBIE HARRY

“Rush, Rush”

From the soundtrack to “Scarface,” the movie which became a blueprint for dealers and…

Blondie was done and Debbie worked with Giorgio Moroder, whom everybody pooh-poohed unjustifiably, wasn’t he just a disco producer?

But then Moroder did the soundtrack for “Midnight Express” and he was embraced by the rockers… And then, as years went by, they realized how good the “Bad Girls” album was. “Hot Stuff” was ROCK!

So the white boys in charge of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are bending over backwards to not appear racist, inducting rappers, and now even popsters, but somehow Giorgio Moroder has been overlooked?

But these were the guys who hated “Love to Love You Baby,” all disco records. They cheered Steve Dahl on with his Disco Demolition, but…

The funny thing is all these years later, disco has survived and it’s rock that’s on life support. Oh, they don’t call it disco, but if you listen to the roots…

Even the most dyed-in-the-wool rocker will find his body moving while listening to “Rush Rush.”

Debbie Harry’s breathy delivery of her lyrics is important, but what puts the track over the top is Giorgio Moroder’s music.

There’s strength in numbers.

We’ve been waiting for a universal protest song. But after twenty five years can we admit that we’re never going to get one, just like we’re never going to get a new Beatles?

The market is too fragmented.

But when you band together, that’s where strength lies today.

Who’da thunk Bret Michaels, willing to appear anywhere for a check, whoring his life out on reality TV, would back down from appearing?

It’s just a bad look, he’s afraid it’s going to taint his brand.

You might ask exactly what that brand is, but the fact that Michaels is afraid of it taking a hit…

As for Morris Day… Does he even go on the road?

The lineup was one of ancient hitmakers, has-beens, who seemingly will show up anywhere for a buck. And now they’re balking at the opportunity for universal publicity and a check?

We can debate all day long whether we’re at a turning point in Trump’s tenure…Iran, the slush fund, it goes on…

But to say that music has no power…

Turns out all you’ve got to do is shame people and they toe the line.

Of course there are those like Kid Rock and Jason Aldean on the other side, but look at all the acts who dropped off Kid Rock’s tour, Never mind now that it’s actually playing there is no press whatsoever, if you weren’t there, it doesn’t exist.

And then you’ve got Bruce’s protest song, “Streets of Minneapolis.”

I guess like with Kid Rock’s tour, and the cancellation of appearances at Freedom 250, the music is secondary to the press. The song itself has a whopping 5,769,175 streams on Spotify, which won’t even pay his trucking bill.

And that’s the point, unlike Kid Rock’s tour, the press on Bruce’s tour is outsized, he’s playing arenas but the tour is bigger than stadiums in mindshare.

And this is where press counts. Not the one little thing, but the mass.

Now let’s be clear, the individual can move mountains, has unlimited power, it’s just that right now you can’t do that with a single song, except for maybe a “We Are the World”-type number…then again, how big can it be without constant MTV exposure?

But Bruce’s Power to the People Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion on October 3rd? That’s more like it. Especially if there will be a simulcast, which is de rigueur.

But I’d be lying if I told you I thought that the Power to the People Festival would be enough.

No, what we need is a WEEK of festivals! In markets all over the country. Such that all genres are covered.

A hip-hop-heavy New York festival. A country-heavy Nashville festival.

Hell, one in Texas, there’s an electoral battle there.

Yes, seven markets with contested races.

As for who will perform…

You know how it goes… One superstar commits, and then everybody falls in line, is begging to perform. Isn’t that what happened with Freedom 250? As soon as one act canceled, then the dominoes fell.

As for right wing Trumper acts…

Let them have their own festival, be my guest. What has been proven over and over again is they talk a big game and ultimately deliver something puny that no one cares about.

Individual acts are afraid to speak up, but if a core commits, then the rest come calling, that’s just the nature of the business.

There is political power in music, but it’s in the group, not the individual, a collection of acts, not a single one.

This can be done.