“In light of the tragic conflict rapidly unfolding in Ukraine, Oak View Group has pledged to not do business in or with Russia, nor will we serve Russian brands in any of our venues on a global basis, effective immediately. We stand with the people of Ukraine, we condemn the actions of Russia, and we hope our stance inspires others in our industry to take action where they can.”

The war in Ukraine has caused a giant, unanticipated reset:

1. Isolationism, America First, is history. Turns out we are all interconnected. A butterfly flaps its wings in Asia… This is something the Clintons and their trade polices had right. Unfortunately, those who worked with their hands lost their jobs with no reasonable replacements, but the derided elite intelligentsia knew that we lived in a global village. You think the rest of the world doesn’t affect you, but gas prices are going through the roof because of the war and the hottest social media platform is from China.

2. Billionaires are not the heroes we are looking for. We’ve got a Jewish comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is evidencing more integrity than those who avoided participation in Vietnam on bogus pretexts and when it comes down to the essence, corporations don’t run the world, but people. Zelensky is willing to die for the cause. He only wants to do what is right. He’s leading by example as opposed to polling. Furthermore, it turns out it’s easy to undercut the billionaire oligarchs, just freeze their assets and ability to move freely. Turns out money can’t buy you everything.

3. Credibility is key. Tucker Carlson sidelined himself overnight. I’m not saying he’s lost many acolytes, but the rest of the country, the rest of the world, has seen that he is not a serious person. That he’s got no grasp of world affairs. That he’s little more than a broadcaster, looking for ratings. Truth, not ratings. That’s what Zelensky has taught us. In one fell swoop you can undermine your career, especially in an era where nothing fades away and everything radiates.

4. You’re either on one side or the other. Americans don’t want to commit, for fear of being castigated. Studies have shown that essentially no one is independent. That if you check their voting history they consistently vote for one party or the other. They say they’re independent so they can be above the fray, holier-than-thou, but the truth is the world is not perfect and you’ve got to pick a side, one or the other.

5. Military strength is important, but it turns out the internet and business have heretofore unforeseen power. Turns out you can cripple a nation by cutting their access off to Swift and the international banking system. And Zelensky has called on hackers to disrupt the Russian government’s institutions.

6. Boots on the ground is everything. Which is why the “New York Times” is winning this war in terms of coverage. They’ve got the most people there. They didn’t cut back for the bottom line. And when the crisis hit, they were ready. So, the TV outlets, all of them, left and right, have been left flat-footed, dependent on independent sources, stringers and in truth…have defaulted to the big papers, primarily the “Times” and “Washington Post.” A picture is worth a thousand words, but the world is driven by print. Firsthand accounts are everything.

7. Tribes don’t only work in national politics, but international politics. Germany got off its duff to aid Ukraine once other countries took a side and got active. Furthermore, the EU is a tribe, an organization to rally around. If you’ve got no associations to begin with, you will never be taken seriously when the crisis comes, you will not have a seat at the table. You need to be a member of international groups, you must take responsibility for the world at large.

8. But one thing about pictures, they undercut all the lies being told by those who’ve been getting away with it for far too long.

And music is an international business too. Entertainment may be the most. But with no leaders, no examples, the brands-to-be with their endorsements and fealty to the Fortune 500 are frozen, they don’t know how to act. Except for Sean Penn. Who unfortunately is an unlikable guy, irrelevant of his political stands, but he seems to know how to do the right thing.

Turns out corporations have more power than individuals in the music business. Because we have no international stars that appeal to everybody. Except maybe Maneskin. Or possibly Ed Sheeran. For years we’ve been told the marginal is dominant. Turns out number one isn’t really number one if most people have never heard of it, never mind heard it. The recorded music business has capitulated its power in pursuit of profits. Finding a game-changing credible act and promoting it? That’s not done. Instead, the labels are marketing giants promoting that which has already been proven by individuals online. As for the film business… The tentpoles play around the world and mean nothing. Netflix has much more power than the studios, because it makes shows that speak to hearts and minds. Streaming TV is international. Who could predict the biggest show of the year would come from South Korea? In “Squid Game,” your life is on the line, which appeals to those lazing on the couch, high. Turns out people want to live on the edge, alive, but in America every entertainer is telling us dope is cool. IT’S NOT! BEING CLEAR-HEADED IS COOL! Being high takes you out of the game.

So when the crisis arrives…

Most Americans don’t know how to act. Told the bogus claim that America is the most powerful country in the world that can always dominate, the hoi polloi leave it to a government that they can’t stop deriding, on both the left and the right. Turns out we need tax money. And the billionaires telling us that they know how to spend it better, oh, come on.

And experience counts. Sure, Zelensky rose from nothing to be everything, but he wasn’t using his newfound status to get rich, wasn’t minting NFTs, ripping off his own citizens with falsehoods. You can learn along the way, but it turns out government is a professional job, not a popularity contest. Do you want Biden and his team who’ve been through previous conflicts, or an inexperienced autocrat who doesn’t even know which side America is on? Who coddles dictators like those in North Korea and Russia, admires Xi’s job for life…could it be because he too strives to be a dictator?

And you can fight the petty internecine wars, but in truth that just dilutes your power. But in a world where truth is fungible, no one can agree what is happening. Sure, Covid knowledge is in flux, but vaccines do work and the latest report is the virus came from a food market, not a lab: https://nyti.ms/3K0p705 Isn’t this the point at which we turn our eyes and ears away from false prophets? Even social media outlets are doing this during the war, banning people. Turns out life and death depends on it.

So I was waiting for a music entity to take a stand on Russia. No one in music wants to take a stand because they might lose a potential fan or market. Forget what they believe, they keep it inside, hidden, so when the crisis comes…they don’t have a platform or a history to build upon. If you’ve never spoken up before if you suddenly do, late, you’re seen as glomming on, you’re ignored.

So all music is niche. So there’s not an act big enough to reach everybody.

And in the internet world, those without traction think they deserve it and constantly complain that they’re doing it right and no one is paying attention. Turns out to have a seat at the table you’ve got to build a base, which takes time, but no one wants to take the time.

I’d be stunned if the acts and the labels don’t start taking a stand on Ukraine. When it’s meaningless.

The labels control the music. I don’t see them telling streaming outlets to pull their tracks from Russia, imploring them to shut down operations in Russia.

I don’t see the streaming outlets taking a risk.

And I certainly don’t see the acts doing so.

But in truth the music world now runs on live. For far too long the labels have gotten the glory, but in truth it’s those on the performance end who have the power. They lay down the cash, to pay the acts and build the buildings.

So OVG makes this statement. It won’t be long before today’s media madness spreads the word. You’ll see it everywhere. Where they reprint the headline but have nothing to say about it, or at least nothing that affects hearts and minds.

Turns out WE’RE ALL INVOLVED! Each and every one of us. No one is immune. To higher prices, at both the pump and in the grocery store. You cannot live with your head in the sand, you might live in Podunk, but you’re a citizen of the world. And with cable television and the internet you’ve got the world at your fingertips. It’s your choice whether to educate yourself or not, it’s your choice whether to believe in false prophets or not. When you read something outrageous that you want to forward, how about googling its veracity first. And yes, we have to stop teaching to the test, moving people through the hoops while learning little. As for banned books…how can you know how the world truly works unless you’re exposed to it? China punishes the Uighurs but we have to protect our children from the truth, as they live in mono-color communities clueless to what is going on outside.

So, just like Zelensky, you have power. That’s right, one individual saying and doing the right thing, someone who has lived their life on credibility, can arise at any moment to change the course of history. But you must know that money isn’t everything, clothes aren’t either, and we all like a good time, but if you’re partying like it’s 1999 you’re left out of the equation today, twenty plus years later.

So maybe you’ve woken up, maybe you haven’t.

Turns out the world is changing every day. And we used to get our truth from music, but that was eons ago. Start looking inside not out. Stop trying to burnish a false image online in pursuit of money and fame. You’ll probably never get there, and you’re abdicating your power in the process.

And learn how to think independently. And realize your tribe might have it wrong.

Because when you’re in the foxhole… Who can you trust? And can the leaders trust you? At that point you’re like an athlete, running on instinct, what have you been taught, that the do-nothings are kings and those in the trenches trying to push the ball forward and improve this world are not?

Yes, the reset is both macro and micro. Worldwide and inside yourself.

Information is king. Truthful information. Learn how to parse the truth. Don’t be a knee-jerk loser. And know that you count. Everybody counts. You might try to take away their right to vote, but that does not mean you’ve silenced them.

Right now you’re seeing autocracy in action. Putin doing whatever he wants. Sending young boys to war, quashing protest. Is this what you’re looking for?

No, I didn’t think so.

Autocracy is at the doorstep of America. Systems are being undermined. Only you can change the future. Get informed and get involved. Because in truth no one is immune today. America is not above it all, separate. We learned this during the Second World War, and seventy five years later it’s even more clear.

You’re a citizen of the world, act like one.

Sometimes there is right and wrong and you’ve got to choose a side.

This is one of those times.

“Throughline: Vladimir Putin”: https://n.pr/3veNyCS

(Also available on podcast platforms, it’s the February 13, 2022 edition of NPR’s “Up First”.)

This podcast contains a rebroadcast of an episode from a couple of years previous. There’s a new introduction, but a couple of minutes in the old episode begins and you get the history of Vladimir Putin. You MUST listen to this. It explains who Putin is and how he got to the top. I thought I knew a lot about the man, but I did not know all this. It’s utterly fascinating, and will give you insight into not only Putin, but Yeltsin. Really, you’ve got to listen to this. It gives invaluable perspective on Putin and Russia. I know people are sending you links all day, my goal is not to overwhelm you, but this is the one you should actually pay attention to and listen to. It’s got nothing to do with politics in the U.S., right versus left, Biden versus Trump, it’s just history.

_____________________________________

Hi Bob,

I am a Canadian, living and working in Budapest, Hungary. Been here since October, due to leave in June.

On the day of the Russian invasion into Ukraine,  whilst on a walk, I saw a middle aged couple struggling with the parking meters.  They are impossible to use if you are not Hungarian.

I offered to help.  They explained they were from Russia. OH! How very interesting to meet on that particular day.

They explained that had driven to Budapest that day  and they were [in Budapest] looking to buy a home and get the hell out of Russia with that “crazy man leading the country”.  They have twenty something kids, one a male and they were not prepared to risk their son going to war for something that shouldn’t happen.  He went on to say no one he knew supported Putin, and you don’t want to be in Russia if you don’t support Putin.  Their entire life plan changed with this invasion.

It was a surreal conversation, being had in Hungary, between strangers.
My comment is mostly to the suggestions that Russians support Putin.  Don’t think so… they fear him.

Colleen Mitchell

_____________________________________

I’m currently in Russia (bad timing…); my friends and professional contacts in the music business are not representative of the population as a whole but probably the percentage of Putin supporters come out quite similarly to those for Trump supporters in the USA; the big difference is that in Russia if you protest, the consequences can easily be a beating from the police and jail, so only the immensely courageous are protesting on the streets – several thousand of them across the country

but the internet is a double-edged sword and currently at least it’s not censored so people are freely sharing Tweets etc. and people can freely access international media – mostly not in Russian of course, but everyone with an education has good English; so many people know exactly what’s going on – if they choose to know, and many do, and they are not Putin supporters, but what can they do about him? Russia is an actual, functioning dictatorship and a military state

perhaps the saddest thing is that what’s happening now in Ukraine has been flagged for years – the wars and suppressions of revolts in Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea, the Donbas in 2014, Belarus and Kazakhstan recently said it all; what’s happening now is simply the next step which Putin in his derangement feels he can take because no-one stopped him earlier

Nick Hobbs

_____________________________________

Hi Bob,

Greetings from Warsaw. My Polish wife and I have been living here since 2014. Been visiting since mid-90s. We live in the center of the city. The news media is much like elsewhere regarding Ukraine. But, go stand in line at the bank…..you hear some things.

There are long queues at the banks. Many of them are running out of cash. They have withdrawal limits in Polish currency equal to $1500. We already took some dollars, but found a short wait at our branch today and took some more. At about 2pm, the cashier told us she would very shortly run out of money for today. *The Russian and Ukrainian currencies are no longer tradeable.

There are also queues with long waits to buy petrol across the country, especially to the east of Warsaw. But stations are not going dry yet.

Our cashier’s son is a career soldier. They will be given instructions on where to deploy within the next 24 hours. The Russians are heading for Lviv. That’s less than 50 miles from the Polish border. You can see the heavy border traffic in Ukraine on Google Maps.

In contrast to Trump, Bannon and the Republican traitors who like spending July 4th in Russia, the Poles know a thing or two about the Russians and have never trusted them (as my mother would say) ‘as far as they could throw them’. With good reason, obviously. When I first came here in the 90s, post-USSR, the Russian mafia was everywhere. You could not park on the street without having your car stolen. On the two-lane roads, we would ease over to the shoulder when one of their black Mercedes with blackened windows would pull out onto the middle line and just floor it. Everyone knew what to do. It was like Poland couldn’t get rid of them after they had already totally wrecked the place for decades. I’ll take the Poles’ opinion on Putin before Trump’s and Pompeo’s, thank you. They have the experience.

The Poles know, Putin and the Russians are cruel and insane…and maybe drunk. They know there is a possibility he could be over that border in a minute. When Putin threatens nuclear weapons, he probably means it. If western leaders do not show some backbone, all bets are off. But Americans will never see Russians bombing and murdering in Ukraine, or the EU, as an external threat.

Six years ago, I went back to school for a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Warsaw. We studied from a European perspective. Interesting. We also had an entire class on Ukraine. I recalled Brzezinski’s book ‘The Grand Chessboard’ from ’97 (His son recently became the US Ambassador to Poland). He named Ukraine as one of five geopolitical pivots with Azerbaijan, South Korea, Turkey, and Iran. Ukraine “is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire. Russia without Ukraine can still strive for imperial status, but it would then become a predominantly Asian imperial state…” Hence Putin’s rantings of national grandeur.

My greatest fear is that the US and western powers have grown so mentally soft over the past 20 years that they are not up to it. Obama gave away Syria and Crimea to Putin. Then Trump was elected president (!!), Fox News turned into RT, a former National Security Advisor (Flynn) was convicted of lying about Russian communications and pardoned by the POTUS, and the US Capitol was successfully attacked while barely guarded, with little punishment/investigation to show for over a year. And Merkel made significant strategic missteps and ignored her weakened military. Then there was Brexit.

Imagine what the cruel and insane Putin sees. A chilling thought. As a Realist in IR terms, he believes states act only in their own interests and the world is in a constant state of anarchy…and he is a player, having the capacity to exercise power beyond his borders.

Putin’s final piece of “luck” was: the Fed having incompetently pumped so much money into the financial system since the Great Recession that inflation is finally accelerating out of control. The credit cycle is turning. Therefore, when both the conflict itself and sanctions drive up oil prices, western consumers are hurting and the stock market may well be retracing. But it wasn’t luck was it? We handed it to him through weakness, greed and incompetence. Why would he stop now?

Someone here said to me this morning, “Either someone kills him or it’s a world war.”

Best regards,

Robert Bond

_____________________________________

Hello Bob,

Another great post.

You have nailed it once again. Seems we never learn and are just concerned with our own destiny and welfare. The ominous future is an event that will only happen to others.

Great to see once again how well informed you are about the situation in Europe and the state of the different countries like UK and Italy. Instead of a committed union it keeps falling apart in their own preferred agenda’s.

This war in the Ukraine is another big test. The odds are not looking bright.

Best regards from the Netherlands, where we like to talk from a moral high-ground, but mostly not act accordingly.

Luc Begas

_____________________________________

Bob,

Have spent a lot of time in Poland as you may remember, working with some of its greatest musicians, the brilliant Mietek Szcześniak and his colleagues—all of whom grew up under communism, required to speak Russian, unable to obtain passports, standing in lines for whatever was being offered and finding their way through the new democracy which is exactly the same age as my son, 32 years. The Poles were the first to bring down the Soviet Union, thanks to Solidarity and Pope John Paul II—every one else followed. Poland is not closer to Russia in construct, and historically never has been. If you read history, it’s clear that Poland has been at odds with Russia for hundreds of years: the Poles never go quietly, even during the 132 years when all the surrounding nations partitioned Poland, until 1918. The Poles have the same issues as we do: they had the brilliant Donald Tusk as the head of their government  when we had Obama, and in the same approximate time that we had Trump, they pivoted to Duda and his current stupid presidency.-which is as stupid as ours was under Trump.

But they are very different in every way from Russia-culturally, linguistically, technologically,  and especially in the citizenry’s willingness to march and protest. Now, they are in NATO. We still treat our Eastern European NATO partners as second class citizens, but at least they’re there now. We of course are the ones who sold them out in 1945, but I don’t think we will this time.

It’s a nation with a remarkably high per capita IQ as well as a sizable backwards village population: in other words, a schizophrenic but fascinating place. No one knows better than Mietek’s generation what it’s like to have Russia breathing down your neck and to live under that boot. He warned me years ago that this would happen—common observation among Poles, “nothing new here.”

Poland already has a very close relationship with Ukraine, all of my pals there have family, friends, colleagues, in Ukraine, and all of them have been there many times. As you said, it’s like going from California to Oregon for them. They will have a huge influx of refugees from Ukraine, I expect.

Putin, I hope, will be shut down. He wants the USSR back. As Biden said today, if we don’t sanction them, they will be in Poland next, which is of course a plum prize with its enormous agricultural and labor resources.
Parenthetically, we were in the USSR and Estonia in 1988 before the wall came down.

It was clear the Estonians were over Soviet domination and they told us so openly. And seeing Russia, you could only feel sorry for the poor citizens of that country. Same with Belarus; people under the domination of thugs.
May it pass quickly.

Wendy Waldman

“Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark”: https://amzn.to/33Quj7d

She’s a rock chick!

The first, and in truth maybe the only, time I saw Elvira’s TV program was back in 1981, she had just gone on the air, and this woman I’d spent the night with turned it on and testified. I didn’t take it too seriously, I didn’t even own a TV, and this kind of programming was taboo in my house growing up, cheesy movies on television during the day. Watching TV during the day was illegal in my house. Soap operas? Old movies? My mother would freak out and insist we go outside, assuming we were home to begin with, not at the JCC for Biddy basketball or the swim team. Everybody competed, didn’t matter if you weren’t good. Which was sometimes obvious, like in swimming, Michael Jacob was seconds faster than everybody else.

But the non-Jews… They’d talk about lazing on the couch, watching the tripe. There was barely a free moment in my growing up.

Now I have some vivid memories of that relatively brief relationship, not all good, but seeing Elvira was one of them. Not that I expected her to go anywhere. These off-network TV hosts never did. At best they were regional stars.

But when I saw Cassandra Peterson’s book on the Libby app…

That’s her real name. Once she got traction, we learned this. And that in truth her hair was far from black. And didn’t I hear that she ultimately came out as a lesbian? Maybe I’m confusing her with somebody else. But you know how when they hype these books they always focus on the supposedly salacious moments.

So I’d run out of worthwhile things to read. And I found this area of the Libby app that allowed you to borrow desirable books immediately, but just for a week. And not only did I find Elvira’s, but Dave Grohl’s and Colin Jost’s. So I took them all. I used to live a block from the library. This was de rigueur. I’d take home seven or nine books, and skim them all but really only read one.

I started with Grohl’s. I wish he’d go away for a while. But he’s anything but a traditional rock star. He’s nice and far from dangerous, whereas the performers of the sixties and seventies… The intro was interesting, with Dave in the bowels of Madison Square Garden with two classic rockers, one all pumped, in a tight t-shirt, with plastic surgery and hair dye, the other old and grizzled. Dave decides right then and there he’s going to do nothing to his appearance, he’s not going to fix his teeth chipped on microphones, he’s going to age, if not gracefully, realistically. But then I couldn’t read anymore. I know too much about Dave already.

As for Colin Jost’s… I only made it about a page and a half. I realized I probably heard all the juicy parts in his extended Howard Stern interview. Traveling to Manhattan for school, going to Harvard and being initially rejected by the Lampoon. And despite living with a movie star, Jost is normal and likable, but did I really want to spend the time?

No. So then I cracked Cassandra Peterson’s book and immediately got hooked.

The story starts with her on her honeymoon. Her friend called to tell her to return to L.A. for a gig that was perfect for her, i.e. Elvira. And unlike in seemingly every memoir, Peterson does not come back. But when she ultimately does it turns out they still haven’t filled the role, she goes in and immediately gets the job. It’s her sense of humor. Everybody else took it seriously.

And it’s Peterson’s sense of humor that carries the book.

My Kindle opened to it. I was planning to move on. I’d finally gotten some books worth reading. But she was talking about go-go dancing, and…I just couldn’t put it down. I would have stayed up all night reading it if I hadn’t had an appointment this morning. Ditto on writing this last night. But ultimately I believed I should finish the book first. I haven’t. I’m only 23% in. But I can’t hold back.

So she has a hardscrabble background, well, her parents did, but when she was young the family moved from Kansas to Colorado Springs and… Her parents stayed together and strived, an anomaly in these stories, and Cassandra now called “Soni,” her name was pronounced with a soft “a,” not a hard one, was living the life of a suburban on the edge of the wild, even riding a horse, and then her boobs arrived, and they were big.

And then she went boy crazy.

Well, really musician crazy. She became a local groupie.

Now talking about boobs and using the pejorative “groupie,” the word police are gonna come after me. But those are Peterson’s words. Funny how she’s honest, but there are so many men sticking up for women who don’t feel that way. Yes, if I write anything that can be perceived as sexist, I hear from the men much more than the women. Kind of like Latinx. I don’t know a single Latino, and I know many, I live in Southern California, who thinks this is a reasonable descriptor. But the white people, looking to be proper, have foisted this moniker upon them. Crazy.

So the boobs arrive, and like I said they were big, actually they helped cement Peterson in her ultimate career, and music was everything so she and her buddy decided to chase down musicians. They found out what hotel they were staying at. Knocked on doors. They needed to get closer to the music. And if you weren’t a musician, they weren’t interested.

So Soni and her buddy find the Yardbirds in the local hotel. And it’s not long before Jimmy Page has her back in his room and as they get close to doing the do, she exclaims she’s a virgin and runs out into the hall, wearing just her bra above her waist.

You see Soni is living the life of the wild fast girl, but she’s a good girl underneath.

She gives Eric Burdon a ride back to his hotel, and he wants what he believes is promised, and she runs out again, but this time realizes she left her car keys behind and has to return and…

Then there’s the time she’s in a backstage trailer with Jimi Hendrix. The last time the Experience performed together. They’re having an honest conversation, he kisses her on the lips and gives her his phone number, telling her to call after the show. Which she does, but he’s so messed up on drugs he doesn’t make sense on the phone, never mind another girl picking up the handset after the ring.

This was par for the course back in the sixties and seventies.

That is not how it is today.

Maybe this ran through grunge. But then the groupie paradigm died.

You’ve got to understand, back in the sixties and seventies, music was EVERYTHING! And if you were an attractive woman, looking to make headway, the doors were open.

But it wasn’t only at rock concerts. And with musicians. This was rampant throughout America. Girls reached puberty and went boy crazy and their Depression-era parents didn’t know how to handle it, if they were even aware of it. And the goal was to go on your adventures and do your best not to be caught. And don’t forget, when you’re a teenager you have no fear.

But all that’s been killed by the internet. And social media. And smartphone cameras.

That’s one of the reasons the boys became musicians. To get laid, after all they couldn’t talk to these girls. And they really weren’t interested in talking, they wanted sex, and in most cases they got it. Hell, Grand Funk Railroad even wrote their best song about it, with the dearly departed Sweet Connie’s act in the opening verse. And she was in LITTLE ROCK! At that point, long before Bill Clinton’s ascendance, Little Rock was seen as a backwater, most people had no idea where Arkansas was, never mind Little Rock, but the music message even made it there. And even in Omaha, as the song said.

Yes, the music was everywhere. And there was a distinct dividing line. Our parents were clueless. And they were not interested, our music was crap. And don’t equate this with rap, the belief that every generation listens to music their parents hate is just plain wrong. There’s always been music. But with electric guitars, and amplifiers, and jet travel, and transistor radios, and the baby boom, the stage was set for those who could now pay their dues to spread their sound. We all glommed on. We had nothing else to do, other than to watch dud TV. We were glued to the Top Forty countdown, and then FM. We spent all of our allowance on records. And the musicians? They didn’t want to become brands, they were anti-establishment, they didn’t do anything that didn’t feel right, selling out was anathema. Furthermore, the musicians were rich! And ultimately behaved however they wanted, destroyed hotel rooms…there were no billionaires.

It was exciting. The ultimate goal was to get backstage. Forget that it’s usually boring, we all wanted ACCESS! We just had to get closer, to these gods. Who made this MUSIC!

Yes, the music came first.

And Cassandra Peterson had access.

Meanwhile, she was dancing in clubs as an underage teenager. Living a life so deep and rich, despite being far from the beaten path. It wasn’t like today, where life is hard, where you have to start a career right after college, where you have to go to college, you could exist on a minimum wage, and live quite nicely on not much beyond that.

So ultimately Peterson becomes a member of the Groundlings, forget college, and when she’s just about to give up, at age 30, she gets the Elvira gig.

I haven’t gotten to that part of the book yet. I mean after she becomes Elvira. But I just can’t get over how Peterson nails the sixties. Which have been forgotten by all those who weren’t there, and believe me, everybody who was remembers, no matter how many drugs they took.

But today, the hoi polloi are influencers trying to build a business, and the musical stars put merch above music, never mind with so much information available they’ve been pulled down from their pedestals. Sure, prepubescent people still pledge fealty and adore “musicians,” but back in the sixties there were twentysomethings who were just that dedicated to the music and its makers. In truth, the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. And this was years before every famous musician testified about doing it with the Lord’s help. Hell, no one in their right mind would watch the Grammy telecast, that was for out of touch old people.

Today the world is much smaller. Nowhere is off the grid, not even the summit of Mt. Everest. We’re all connected, light has been shined into every nook and cranny. Mystery is history. And everyone is striving for an audience and a hit. A hit? That was the last thing on the mind of these artists. It was about honest expression, and that’s what resonated. And hype didn’t sell these records, but word of mouth. Most people bought “Are You Experienced” without ever hearing the music on the radio. At a time when free-form underground FM was only in San Francisco and New York anyway. But when they were at their friend’s house, and they heard that opening riff of “Purple Haze” coming out of the speakers, they needed to have their own copy.

We were all music crazy. And the straight world didn’t catch on until years later. 400,000 at Woodstock? This was stunning to the older generation, you mean the music meant that much to these people?

It absolutely did.

And over years the rules became codified, the business was tightened up. Led Zeppelin instituted the 90/10 split. Labels did their best to cross hits over to AM, and then promoted them on the now ubiquitous FM. And although the entire empire collapsed because of cynical manipulation in 1979, MTV revived the power, by pushing the envelope. Which lasted at least through the time the first veejays were canned.

But then the music television outlet had non-music programming. And although grunge killed the hair bands and their lowest common denominator ballads, rock died thereafter, it became about uber-expensive videos, authenticity was out the window. Hip-hop blew up, based on its truth, and then…

Well, you probably know the rest.

But before that, it was radically different. And if you want to know how it was, read Cassandra Peterson’s book, she delineates it perfectly!

This is surreal.

I mean I remember the Iraq war. The first one, the Bush I one. Where you turned on the TV and saw the SCUD missiles and the explosions. But that was before America took its right turn, before the multiple truths, when we still believed that the U.S. was an unbeatable paradise/power.

And before that we had Tiananmen Square. But this was before they built MacBooks in China. We still saw China as being backward, thought most of the country was still working in rice paddies. Today China is on course to supersede the U.S., by virtue of the number of people if nothing else. That’s a huge market. And those people have money.

But war…

We didn’t used to start them. But then Bush II went into Iraq, to change the regime, and now regime change is an issue in the United States.

I’ve got to ask. Would Tucker Carlson be for Ukraine if Biden was not? Is that what it’s come down to, you say black, so I say white?

As for truth…

That is the story here. Disinformation. If you’re living in Russia you’re getting a completely different story. And Putin is seen as a hero, because life under his reign is better than it was under Yeltsin. And then there’s national pride…

But really, truth is up for grabs. Many people believe Brexit happened because of Russian disinformation online. Hell, I won’t call Putin a genius, but you’ve got to give him credit for fighting in the arena that really counts, the internet. We’ve got a bunch of U.S. citizens who believe that if they hoard enough guns they can stand up to the government. Er, no. Because the first thing the government is going to do is shut down the internet. And the cell towers. And then you won’t be able to organize, speak with others, you’ll be on your own.

Now have you ever been to these countries? Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Germany..? You’d be stunned how close they are. It’s like Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. Right next door. America is separated from its enemies by oceans, but not in Eastern Europe. So the question arises, what should we do?

Now if you’re a child of the sixties, which I most certainly am, you think back to Vietnam. We shouldn’t have been there. Turns out the Domino Theory wasn’t true. It was just about Vietnam. We also learned you can’t beat hearts and minds, in that case the Northern Vietnamese. So should we stay out of Ukraine?

Now Biden already said he’s not sending troops. And there’s all this discussion of NATO. Well, in truth Hungary and Poland are closer in construct to Russia than Western Europe at this point.

So the question is, can we save democracy?

That’s it. We were brought up thinking democracy’s forever. But that’s not true. And autocracy is appealing to people, because the autocrat establishes order, which they believe is preferable to chaos.

But the autocrat…

Trump praising Putin? It’s like a “Superman” comic, we’re living in Bizarroland. So many of the people on Fox, on the right, saying the Russians aren’t affecting your life, they’re not insisting your children be taught critical race theory, which isn’t in any of these schools anyway. I mean you cozy up to Russia before the U.S? And somehow all of this is Biden’s fault?

So the U.K. is out to lunch. Killed by Brexit. They can’t even get the touring rules right, never mind the big issues. That’s right, you could travel freely from the U.K. to anywhere in Europe. Now you need a carnet and…it’s painful. Time-consuming and expensive. And no relief is in sight.

Germany blinked, they weren’t immediately up in arms re Russia and Ukraine.

And France has a strong right wing autocratic element, as does Italy. And Italy can barely stand up for itself financially, never mind militarily.

As for Switzerland? Never really neutral. They side with the enemy, hide their money, trade with them, and escape bombing. Took decades for the truth to come out, but it’s clear now.

Luxembourg? Belgium? The Netherlands? Who is going to stand up to the Russian threat?

As for the U.S…citizens are struggling so much that they won’t endorse fighting until they are personally threatened, even though the macroeconomic effects are already hurting them, with higher prices, never mind the market crashing. Everything affects everybody in today’s world, you cannot live with your head in the sand.

As for Putin himself… I mean no one lives forever. I just can’t imagine someone could be that greedy and power-hungry. But maybe that’s what the tech titans are like. And the tech titans don’t hew to any government, they’re multinational, believing they’re above it, skating on paying taxes. And they’ve got to make their margins, to keep their investors happy. Screw the hoi polloi.

I read a good book last weekend:

“The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future”: https://amzn.to/3peZ3WV

What author Stephen Marche does is present hypotheticals, to illustrate the differences in America.

That’s right, there are two sides and neither one is budging, You cannot convince any team member to jump sides, not a single one! So if you’re writing to change minds…it’s a worthless enterprise.

So the first hypothetical is the closing of a bridge in the south because it is structurally unsound. But it can’t be instantly replaced, there must be an environmental impact report. Time is going by. And the detour is time-consuming. So, the citizens commandeer the bridge, open it, and the sheriff says there’s nothing he can do, the protesters are exercising their freedom. And then this message is echoed in the right wing blogosphere, and on Fox News.

Meanwhile, if you send the military down to create order…that’s never a good look.

Then there’s the hypothetical about New York City. A Category 3 hurricane is coming. People aren’t too worried, until the very last minute, when some leave town. After Sandy, sea walls were supposed to be built, but they haven’t been. So New York ends up flooded and the question arises, do you pay to rebuild it? This is the climate crisis issue.

We’ve got gridlock in these United States. We can’t get anything done. Not even a bullet train to nowhere in California. Meanwhile, Xi keeps throwing up buildings and highways in seeming instants, never mind fast trains. Sure, he’s ruling with an iron fist, and the Uighurs’ rights are being trampled. But those trains are running on time!

What can be sacrificed in America to move forward? Jews? Asians? Latinos?

And Marche says how the founding fathers expected the Constitution would be rewritten every couple of decades. Meanwhile, we’ve got Supreme Court justices believing issues must be decided based on the intention of the framers. Come on, could even you have foreseen the internet? We foresaw flying cars, but they never even arrived!

And then there’s the issue of the minority ruling in the Senate and sometimes in the White House. We’re heading for disaster.

Meanwhile, the “New York Times” runs an opinion piece by some highfalutin’ wanker saying there will be no civil war. Well, if he read my inbox he’d think differently. These are the same people who thought if Trump lost, he’d walk from the White House no problem.

Things are bad out there.

And once again, Putin has delivered an Olympic Surprise. In 2014, it was Crimea, now it’s all of Ukraine. But he kept saying he wasn’t gonna do it!

This does involve you. Especially if you’re young and/or have kids. Democracy is hanging by a thread, all over the world. Autocrats are on the rise. I mean what is going to happen to Putin? In truth, he’s been preparing for this for years, anticipating the sanctions, bulking up his reserves. And you know if there’s any hardship it won’t be endured by him, but the Russian people.

So we’re just going to let him take it?

Well, Trump said he wanted Greenland. But he didn’t discuss it with Denmark first.

That’s right, the bizarre and insane has come true.

Meanwhile, if you’re living in Ukraine…

That’s the weird thing about war. Everything is on the line and nothing. Some people were hiding, vacating the premises, yet schoolchildren were out on the playground.

Meanwhile, the newspapers print what is happening and most everyone in America shrugs. They’re not in the line of fire yet.

It’s like life is an endless marshmallow test. Everybody wants instant gratification. Sacrificing for the future? Let’s live for today!

Now we know the Ukrainian army won’t be effective, just like the Iraq and Afghani forces were not.

So Putin takes Ukraine, and we do…

Essentially nothing.

He’s already got Belarus, effectively.

As for protest… It takes a lot to topple an autocrat. And the leader has got the military, never mind the money.

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. And probably neither are you.

But I’ve never seen this before. Supposedly World War II was the war to end all wars. In the sixties Laura Nyro said she didn’t want to study war no more. Edwin Starr told us war was good for absolutely nothing. Now it’s everyday life, no big deal.

Live long enough and everything you accepted as bedrock is up for grabs. The Russians good guys?

We used to all be in it together.

Now I feel like I’m in it all by myself.