Stop depending on the rule of law.

We’re in an endless loop. The left keeps depending on the system, and the right rigs the system and then the left is positively STUNNED when things don’t work out its way. Were there any consequences for DeJoy slowing down the mail? Of course not, he just stonewalled, and ignored the government and judicial orders. He said removing sorting machines was de rigueur and there was no way to reinsert them and…HE GOT AWAY WITH IT! Yes folks, in plain sight Trump and his cronies put their finger on the scale with absolutely no consequences.

And then there was the voter suppression. Been happening for years. Trump even says if everybody votes Republicans can’t win. When are the Democrats and the media going to take what Trump says on face value? He only changes his take if it’s to his advantage, and it’s not to his advantage to leave office.

Sure, he may concede, or at least agree to go, even as I write this, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Meanwhile, with the support of his party apparatchiks Trump has succeeded in undermining the legitimacy of the election in the minds of 40% of the electorate, so even if Biden takes office, expect pushback, expect very little to get done.

Meanwhile, sorting the smoldering ashes all the Democrats can do is lament they didn’t move even FURTHER to the center. Yes, the reason people voted for Trump was the protests and “Defund the Police” and if we just shut up and obeyed orders and played the game properly, we’d win. That hasn’t worked for DECADES, if ever!

Meanwhile, AOC goes on record the DNC lives in the last century, focusing on TV and the mail as opposed to Facebook, and she’s excoriated by the same gang who keeps on losing, putting a stake in the heart of the Democratic Party, if not ultimately democracy itself. If things are going in the wrong direction, if you’re losing market share, that’s when you take big risks, that’s when you throw the long ball. You don’t get customers back by polishing up the old crap, you give them something new. We’ve seen this movie over and over again in tech, even sports are run on data, even GOLF, but when it comes to politics we must trust the old “experts,” as if the game never changes and they can’t possibly be wrong.

If you can find someone who is excited about Biden, you’ve found someone who is happy their nest egg will be protected. I’ve yet to find a single voter excited about Biden. Oh, they voted for him, anybody but Trump, but when you serve up a milquetoast like this and you expect people to follow you…

God, kids could not steal music, they needed to be told it was wrong and sued into submission. Did that work? NO! MySpace was huge, Friendster started the social network phenomenon, but did that keep them alive when a better mousetrap, i.e. Facebook, came along? Of course not. And Zuckerberg was smart enough to buy WhatsApp and Instagram to protect his mindshare, those in government woke up YEARS later! As for the public? It doesn’t care that Zuck owns and controls them all, it doesn’t even really care that’s it’s coughing up its privacy, the truth is the public hates to pay and that’s why Zuck proffers ads, and when Apple tries to hamper targeting, Zuck and the rest of the advertisers blow back and Apple postpones implementation. Do you know what I’m talking about? If not, maybe like AOC says you need to go online and follow the news, where it’s going. Yes, we’re never going back. As for Trump’s administration, there was almost no going back, even coal didn’t come back. DeVos emphasized private schools, the rich and powerful were taxed less and were unfettered and…

We are never going back. Hell, Joe Biden talked about bringing manufacturing back to America, HUH? You wanna pay 6k for a computer, or 3k for a flat screen, do you know anything about global economics? But if you speak the truth you’re seen as a joke, like Andrew Yang, or you’re just too dangerous, like Bernie Sanders, and then there’s Elizabeth Warren who blinked and lost all credibility, oh, she’s still pontificating, but it’s meaningless, everyone knows her backbone is flexible, if not nonexistent.

So, like a typical autocrat, Trump is on a disinformation campaign. His babes go on Bill Maher and even Fox and spew ridiculousness but he keeps on winning for himself. Pompeo talks about another Trump term and everybody laughs, huh?

Come on, rule of law, what did the police ever do for you? They won’t even come to a car accident anymore, and when you call for help they usually say there’s nothing they can do. But somehow the police keep being lauded, just like the military. Come on, the fighters are pawns who’ve been sent overseas by Bush and Cheney and why don’t we stop lauding those at the bottom and stop the bleeding by holding those at the top accountable?

Wall Street skates after ruining the economy twelve years ago and what’s the solution? GIVE THEM MORE MONEY! The news is littered with fat cats who gamed the system to get money from the government this spring, meanwhile, the hoi polloi, out of work, about to get kicked out of their dwellings, are getting no relief. McConnell says no relief before the election, which is still in play according to the Trumpians.

And, like an autocratic country, Republican elected officials are afraid of getting on the wrong side of Trump. Oh, we read in the left wing press, the same one that trumpeted inaccurate polls, that once Trump was defeated everybody would come back to their senses. HASN’T HAPPENED YET! And it’s not about to happen, because Trumpism is working for their constituents, as in they all voted for Trump and more, who wants to offend these people? And all the DNC will tell us is we must appease the Trumpers… That didn’t work and it will never work. You’ve got to start a fire on your side that draws people to you, you don’t hobble your message to try and be accepted by the other side.

So, we keep on getting all this analysis. About lawsuits re the count. Oh, that’s another thing, you’re laughing that in some states Trump and his cronies want all the votes counted and in others they want votes excluded. Up is down and down is up and truth doesn’t matter, they just play with impunity. Meanwhile, the Fox opinion-mongers, like Hannity, Ingraham and Carlson, just double down, they haven’t accepted Biden, they’ve just riled up the right saying the election was rigged. But they’re even better than that, they take the left’s motto and remake it for themselves. They just want “every vote counted.” Just like Trump embraced the concept of “fake news.” These people are geniuses at marketing, and the DNC is run by wimps, who don’t know how to fight. You OWN your edges, that’s the rule of all art. Stop apologizing, the right never does, and embrace all the crap the right gives you crap for. As for political correctness and trigger warnings, et al, you know you’re in trouble when many members of your own party wince and don’t agree. Come on, we’re allowed to offend some in the pursuit of not only the greater good, but the right good. You can’t keep everybody happy, no way, that’s why people hate politicians, they pander. Meanwhile, Trump constantly offends and he’s winning, his minions see him as a tough guy who will fight for them. As for Joe Biden…

But Kamala Harris is VP, WHOOP-DE-DOO! Unless the Democrats win both Senate seats in Georgia, absolutely nothing will be accomplished in D.C. Oh yes, Biden has his executive orders, as for bipartisanship…the right hasn’t wanted it for thirty years, why should they want it now?

So you thought the game was over. The media waited FIVE DAYS to give Biden the election, you were dancing in the street, meanwhile, Trump keeps saying he won and Covid-19 is raging and it’s the same as it ever was.

But when they go low, we go high. HUH? Dirty for dirty is what Joni Mitchell sang, turns out she knows more than everybody in the DNC.

The right is not going to take Biden’s election lying down. No way. They don’t accept it in PRINCIPLE! Hell, their behavior is bad and they constantly get away with it, try to run a Biden bus off the highway and your party CONGRATULATES YOU, CHEERS YOU ON! Meanwhile, all we’ve got on the left is infighting.

They took to the streets in Belarus. But in America? WE’VE GOT TRUMPERS TAKING TO THE STREET! What is it gonna take to get Americans motivated, to show Trump and his cronies that they’re not playing fair, not according to the rules, and Trump should concede?

Trump breaks the law in plain sight in Ukraine, but he’s not convicted. What makes you so sure the RNC and its elected officials are gonna tell Trump to fly straight?

For a second there we thought it would be like Watergate, the Republican brass would go to the White House and tell Trump he’s cooked, he’s got to go, instead they keep adding gasoline to Trump’s bonfire.

As for information… Zuck placated the right, but not well enough, and now they’re going to Parler. Furthermore, Zuck was gonna encrypt communication, make discussions private on Facebook and now…IT CAN’T POLICE DISINFORMATION! Once again, the mad scientist has created something that’s come out of the lab and infected the populace. Zuckerberg is just as complicit in wrecking this country as Covid-19. But the stock market keeps putting billions in his pocket, and money is everything.

NO, HEARTS AND MINDS ARE EVERYTHING!

The Black Lives Matters protesters had it right, they were mad as hell and weren’t going to take it anymore. That’s what we need now, spontaneous demonstrations that evidence our power to Trump! Oh, you’re afraid, he controls the military, it’ll just add fuel to the fire. But are you winning? No, you keep depending on the system to make things right, but that hasn’t happened in four years, why should it happen now?

Yes the U.S. is not that different from Belarus. And most people are on the Democrats’ side. They demonstrated against involvement in Vietnam, Johnson declined to run for re-election, but we must lay down in the face of Trump, our worst nightmare, a threat to democracy itself, who has packed all the courts, including the Supreme, with his lackeys, oftentimes unqualified. So they lied. THEY’VE BEEN LYING FOR YEARS!

And forget the false equivalency. Blame the media for this. Afraid of expressing an opinion, all media, print and broadcast should lead with this story each and every day, TRUMP MUST GO! We must evidence our power, we must bring this to a head, otherwise we’re playing Trump’s game, and he keeps on winning.

And if you think even if Biden gets in office it’s going to solve all our problems, wait for 2022, never mind 2024. Zuck realized mobile was key and redesigned his entire platform for handsets almost overnight. Meanwhile, the Democrats are still using faxes and BlackBerrys, or their equivalent.

Innovation. Disruption. Trump won on those theories. He disrupted politics, own it, admit it. Why can’t we do this on the left?

BECAUSE WE’RE PUSSIES!

P.S. I’m not supposed to use that word. And I know it. I could change it, but that’s what’s wrong with the left, it’s so busy trying to comfort everybody that its ultimate message has no edge and doesn’t resonate. They swear all over TV, and Arsenio Hall labeled computers porn machines over two decades ago, but those in charge keep talking about parental controls when you can Google porn and every kid knows how to get what they want online. It’s a new day. We are never going back to normalcy, our only hope is to create a new paradigm that works not only for the left, but ultimately everybody. THINK ABOUT IT!

Re: BOSTON

This was the most memorable musical encounter in my 12-year A&R career at Epic Records.
One late afternoon my friend and colleague Lennie Petze brought Paul Ahern to my office and asked if I would listen to a cassette Paul brought him.
We stepped into A&R head Steve Popovich’s office (Steve was out of town and had the best sound system), and played the first song, “More Than A Feeling” . Halfway through the next song I stopped the cassette and jokingly asked Paul and Lennie “Is this Candid Camera”?
I couldn’t believe something this good was being dropped in our lap.
No audition. No club showcase. No rehearsal room performance. We didn’t even have to leave the building.
I called Steve right away and asked if we could promise Paul a deal with the provision that Lennie and I first saw the band perform.
We saw them a few weeks later at Aerosmith’s rehearsal facility — I think it was in Waltham, a Boston suburb.
At that time I didn’t have sufficient producer credentials to be assigned the project, but we had recently hired a more experienced guy named John Boylan to be on the A&R staff.
And the rest, of course, is history.

Tom Werman

_______________________________

When I was at WMMS/Cleveland, Steve Popovich would occasionally call to get my opinion on a new rock act he had a hand in signing.

It might have been sometime in the summer of 1975, Pop called to say, “I really like this, man. Lemme send you this. It’s from your old neck of the woods. Tell me if you like it.” It was the Tom Scholz/Brad Delp Boston demo tape.

I listened. It blew me away. Especially “More than A Feeling” – all seven minutes of it.

I called Pop back and said it’s what album rock is looking for – and an edit of “More than A Feeling” would be a CHR crossover summertime hit. He replied that “More Than A Feeling” should be edited – even on the album (“Leave ‘em wanting more”) and he wanted to change the name an lyrics to “San Francisco Day,” since the band was named Boston (It became “Hitch A Ride” on the album). Then he asked me if I heard of Paul Ahern, who was managing them. I told him the “Horse with No Name” story and that he had “the ear.”

Later than year, the Boston album showed up in the mail at WMMS the weekend before it was to be released – with no return address. We threw it on the air immediately.

Popovich called the next day. “What da ya think?” I told him. replied, “I hope you said it was a ‘world premiere exclusive.’ You were the first station in the world to play it.”

John Gorman

_______________________________

I was road managing a popular regional band called Duke & the Drivers in Boston..we were playing the Cape Cod Coliseum and my great friend Charlie McKenzie who was the ABC/Dunhill promo rep at the
time made me listen to a demo called “More than A Feeling” .which of course blew me away..he could not stop raving about this guy Tom Scholz..Charlie partnered with former Asylum National Promo Director Paul Ahern and I specifically remember sitting with a group of friends in the living room of WBCN salesman Kenny Greenblatt’s apt. while the name “Boston” was being thrown around…eventually I went with Charlie to Tom’s basement studio in Watertown, MA to deliver him some equipment Charlie was planning on having me road manage the band..but after some small talk with Tom and my complete lack of knowledge of anything electronic.. he squashed that idea immediately..LOL..The audition for Epic’s Lenny Petze at Aerosmith’s Warehouse space was filled with BCN family and friends…I remember those early days so well Paul was in LA mostly and Charlie’s “office” was a phone in a small lake house that Kenny Greenblatt had in Littleton, MA..The period after the release of “More than a Feeling’ was amazing !!! It took off so fast and especially those first royalty checks that changed so many lives!!! The first gig was opening for the Drivers in Waltham Ma…then Black Sabbath tour and the rest is history…unfortunately there was a falling out with Tom and Paul and Charlie…and sadly we lost Charlie in 2002.What an amazing ride and I will always remember those amazing early days with the original band and Brad’s amazing voice…!!! And the 6x Platinum Record on Charlie’s wall !!!

Thanks,
Peter Wassyng

_______________________________

As a member of the Nils Lofgren Band we opened for Boston a few times. After our set we all waited and checked them out.
They killed, it was better then the record! Brad was like an angel. With a voice like his you would think he would be arrogant, he was not.
After the shows he would hang around and talk and compliment our band on how we sounded. He was a beautiful soul.
We opened for a lot of groups back then, but Boston lived up to their music hands down. Lucky to have saw them.

Wornell Jones

_______________________________

Great article on Boston. My band Boulevard had The pleasure of opening for them in 1989 across canada and one date in Seattle. What amazing experience that was to tour with your heroes! As you pointed out Brad Delp was probably one of the most amazing human beings you’ll ever meet and of course possibly the Premier rock singer of all time!

Tom was certainly the obvious genius but also not entirely a social creature. He pretty much played hoops backstage all day while the ever humble brad chatted with us between sound checks and Tried to secure a better golden eagle bus for our band seeing as the heat had gone out on ours and it was -40 in Winnipeg! Yikes.

They brought a pipe organ !!

They had not played in years and brad was so excited to just get out and will that he almost blew his voice the first night back. He calmed down after that but still sang like a bird.
Could probably write a whole pile more but the biggest memory was really how amazingly down to earth these guys were. Humble and kind and NOT rock stars. Just happy to be out playing some of the best rock songs ever written!

I was glad to have had that opportunity in my lifetime!
To hear what happened to brad broke my heart. He was the best
Cheers.

Andrew Johns.

_______________________________

Of course I threw the album on having not heard it in a while. My 4yr old walked in to the kitchen as I was making him breakfast, Foreplay / Long Time was on.

He listened intently for about 6 seconds and said “Dad, please add this song to my Spotify playlist.”

Love witnessing that instantaneous connection when the song and the sound makes you know you need more of it.

Cheers,
Steve Andrews

_______________________________

Love your rants, Bob. Almost as much fun are the memories posted in your “mailbag”.So if you don’t mind….
In ’76 I was 20, running a popular surf shop in Ocean City, MD For some reason EVERYBODY wanted to look like a surfer and had to have a Sunshine House t-shirt, so we were mobbed all summer. We were also known for always having great music playing on good equipment (Marantz, Bose, etc.) Every night at closing/clean-up time, we’d crank up the tunes for one last hurrah. One night I have the new Boston album playing (loud!), and a friend walks in smiling and grooving and says “who’s this?” and I launch into my own rant about how the Rolling Stones are no longer the greatest rock and roll band on the planet….. Well, I guess that was only true for one album, but what an album! 44 years later, it still resonates, and when you hear it, you automatically reach for the volume.. If that’s not the mark of a HOF recording….

Thanks for all your writing,
All the best,

Jay Maher

_______________________________

Tom Scholz cares about people like few realize, you just have to be on the right side of the line and then he’s a mensch proper – now of course, that may exempt a few band mates (but that’s a thing musicians hold to themselves) and a lot of industry folk (not Harvey) (Hey Harvey!)

Outside the industry, Tom is as big hearted and keen to help and assist expecting nothing in return, I’ve been there as he donated to save endangered wildlife, never seeking attention for it, and keeping in touch with the front line, there

Brad Delp, as friendly and folksy as Robert Plant, sad story, yet no one looked after the tour crew family more than Brad and if you had it in you, he was always game to go see sunrise with his beloved camera gear. Had an eye for architecture, too.

Smart guys, as Boston Mass tends to spit out

Dennis Pelowski

_______________________________

Thank you for reminding me about Boston!
I love it!

Richard Griffiths

_______________________________

Those first 3 albums were majestic. I only got into Boston on Third Stage and then went back to discover the beauty. There was nothing fake about the songs. Long live Boston!!!!

fernando tavares

_______________________________

Bob, my wife & some friends caught Brad’s Beatlejuice band in a lounge outside of Boston. His ability to do both John & Paul was jawdropping & at the break, he made the rounds & said hello to every table. Just seemed like a genuine nice guy (with enormous talent). It was such a shock to hear about his passing. Truly missed & a timeless LP. Best, Jeff/Maine

Jeff Hayward

_______________________________

Not sure if you ever watched, or cared about, the show “Scrubs”, but they had an amazing episode where they auditioned members of a lip sync/air guitar band, and the end of the episode features Donald Faison and the staff of the hospital lip syncing to “More Than a Feeling”. It’s one of my favorite moments of TV in the last 20 years.

youtu.be/I0jxRwp3V5Q

Jonnie Bock

_______________________________

It was early September 1976 when I first heard “More Than A Feeling” on WAAF in Worcester and owned it 12 hour later. A morning trip to Strawberries downtown (skipped school) because I just had to have it. I honestly wore the album out over the next year.

Just last week I pulled out Tom’s remaster to vet a rehabbed Marantz 2270 and Bose 901’s. I nearly cried it was so damn good. Tom and Brad created something just this side of magic in that Watertown basement. So original and visionary. Not a bad moment on the entire record.

Chris Herrmann

PS – Check out Rich Beato’s take on “More Than A Feeling.” youtu.be/ynFNt4tgBJ0

_______________________________

You nailed it. More Than A Feeling, a song I’d press the station buttons in the car hoping catch it, which wasn’t hard for a long while, it was ubiquitous. Couldn’t buy the LP fast enough. The soundtrack of junior year of high school ski club in Buffalo, 45 minute bus ride from school to Kissing Bridge, might hear a Boston tune 2-3 times. They were the first concert I ever saw, The Aud in Buffalo, Cheap Trick opened, and was nearly booed from the stage. No one had heard them yet, and too much excitement for Boston. Don’t Look Back was a really good record but seemed like outtakes from the debut. But the debut, whew!

It’s A Long Way There was a terrific tune by LRB, their debut record was excellent.

Jack Powers

_______________________________

Rundgren admitted to trying to cop Boston on this song. Truth be told I like it better than anything Boston ever did. I never bought into their sound. Too slick for me. Different strokes.

youtu.be/Yff2w8P3tQw

Peter Kuehl

_______________________________

I want to pick up on something a writer mentioned. After Boston, Brad formed a Beatles cover band called Beatlemania that played mostly in the Eastern New England area. But their home club was Johnny D’s in Somerville, MA. I hate cover bands, but my wife dragged me to see them.

No Beatle costumes – just a bunch of regular guys up there warming up.

When Brad started to sing, John Lennon’s voice came out of his mouth. It was uncanny. After a few songs, I said to my wife: Brad is perfect as Lennon, but what is he gonna do when they do songs featuring the others. A couple of songs later, it was like George Harrison was on stage. It was a perfect imitation. I was awestruck. As you can guess he went on to do a perfect McCartney voice in the next set and even sprinkled in a few Ringo songs.

Unbelievable performance, that speaks to the pure talent of Brad Delp. We all thought he would keep performing at Johnny D’s for years to come. RIP, Brad.

Dam Delurey

_______________________________

When the album first broke I was driving south on Hwy 101 in Marin County and held to pull over

Years later I find out my college roommate, an MIT grad in EE and also a musician was hired by Tom to help design the Rockman, the little Walkman like device that you used to plug your guitar in to practice to with headphones. They had a sound option built in that allowed you to sound like the thousand guitar sound Tom created on the records. They would only learn later that kids across the country were buying them, then rewiring them to play through their amplifiers live on stage

Because everyone wanted that sound.

they ended up developing a whole line of amps with that sound option built in to it to capture that market Tom knew a thing or two

Barry Schneier

_______________________________

A Boston cover by an incredible cover band from Australia

youtu.be/KLR1B1rO790

Hindley Street Country Club is a band from Australia that has been releasing a great cover song every Friday since Coronavirus started.

This is the best version of a Boston song I’ve ever heard.

They are exploding all over the world. People are surfing the internet and found this band.

They are the world’s best cover band and am looking forward to seeing them to the US when this crazy Corona is done.

Best,
Mike Flanagin

_______________________________

—The Brazilians have a word (saudade) that expresses a simultaneous happy/sad which so captures much of that country’s great music. This quality is apparent in MORE THAN A FEELING…who cannot relate to its sentiment of the joy of music alongside “and dream of a girl I used to know….She slipped away”

Harold Love is entitled to his opinion, though clearly he has not heard the lyrics. Methinks he is confusing polished production with lack of soul.

sofu_gan

_______________________________

Every reason punk rock happened was Boston!

Vince Bannon

_______________________________

A little late on the reply – But, the irony of Boston be labeled “corporate rock” when the project was about as Indie/DIY as it could possibly be! One guy, with a day gig, cobbling together tracks in his basemen home studio Essentially, just him with Brad on the singing. That’s indie. Then there’s the whole story of Epic insisting it needed to be re-recored (classic major label wisdom) and John Boylan running interference with the label to keep Scholz working primarily in his own basement (vs. a “real” studio).

Also, I remember reading that Cobain said was going for a “More Than A Feeling” type riff gone wrong approach on “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – kinda sounds like it.

Boston debut might be one of the greatest “indie” albums of all time – Also, it was totally a game changer sonically.

Cheers : )

G. DaPonte
Joshua Tree C

_______________________________

The first Boston album is truly a masterpiece and still sounds as fresh and exciting as it did when it was released some 44 years ago.
Tom Scholz knocked it out of the park!
Great songs, flawless performances, completely innovative guitar sounds and Brad Delp’s incredible lead and background vocals.

I had the distinct honor of playing drums for Boston on their single “God Rest Ye Metal Gentlemen”.
I also played drums for Boston on a live radio broadcast concert when they were promoting the fifth Boston studio album “Corporate America”.
It was truly amazing getting to perform songs off that debut album like “Peace Of Mind” “More Than A Feeling” & “Smokin’’ with the great Tom Scholz and Brad Delp. I get chills thinking about it.

Thank you for writing about Boston and this amazing album.

Tom Hambridge

I am the mayor of Prince Edward County (PEC), a small municipality in eastern Ontario with a permanent population of 25,000. Our community is blessed with a vibrant winery and ecotourism economy as well as a rich historical and agricultural heritage, and 800 KM of Lake Ontario shoreline that includes some of the most notable fresh water beaches in Canada if not the world. We are situated generally equidistant from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa and their cumulative population of about 8 million people. We have a significant reliance on that population to drive our economy, particularly during the summer.

The pandemic resulted in multiple closures of various attractions and amenities in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal – COVID hotspots this summer – forcing people to look elsewhere for at least some semblance of a vacation this summer. The result was an influx of visitors to PEC unlike we have ever seen before – estimates range from 1 million to 1.5 million people.

Recognizing early in May the threat “hotspot” outsiders posed to our community, we lobbied hard with the provincial health officials and were successful in passing a mandatory municipal mask bylaw that applied to any member of the public entering any businesses or open public spaces; fines for violation are in the neighborhood of $750 per person.

Appropriate and consistent media/social media messaging, signage and other PR conveyed the importance of wearing a face covering to keep case counts low. The net effect is that we have one of the lowest numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario.

Our residents, businesses and visitors demonstrated that masks work. To any naysayers – and there are a few – please suck it up and put on a mask for the sake of your friends, family and the community.

And Bob, if you are in nearby Toronto or Montreal, come visit. We are also very rich with a vibrant music community that includes many people – now residents – you have met or know by reputation.

Steve Ferguson, Mayor, Prince Edward County, Ontario

_______________________________________

Bob, I’m late but had to share. Three of my adult children have been running around like normal. In groups up to 30 or so. Pictures at parties, no mask, all up on each other smiling laughing. Having a good damn time. A couple of them came to Cali for work and wanted to stop by and visit. I had to think hard and long about it and finally had to say “sorry we’ve been sheltering in place since this began. You’re not on a vacation. You’re going to be here for work mad around even more people that you don’t know what they’ve been doing” well I can tell you that didn’t go over well at all. BUT I guess they still don’t get it as their Grandmother died in a nursing home recently…from Covid. Now nursing home patient don’t go outside. So how does the virus get to them? From employees who bring it into the facility. I have it on good authority that some (low level and low pay) caregivers are partying their asses off when off duty.

Kenneth Williams

_______________________________________

My husband, a retired musician & I have been staying home. We get our groceries delivered and might have gone to an outdoor restaurant where the staff all wear masks perhaps a few times over these past months however we are in the minority in SW Florida. I think our acquaintances in this area think we are crazy. It’s not necessary to tell you who they supported in the election.

We lost a local musician friend to complications to COVID and my cousin in a nursing home. COVID-19 is very real but try to explain to the locals here? I still have hope for the future!

Iona Elliott

_______________________________________

Thank you Bob and Mr. Punaway for sharing that real life Covid19 experience. Everyone I see here in CT is wearing masks and avoiding mass gatherings. Hard to believe about a year ago, I was at a big song circle in this back room at a pub in Danbury/Bethel CT with like, 25 guitar strummers, wannabe vocalists, and other assorted local musicians, and we were all singing out, shouting out, spitting out fumes…etc. We’d done it for five years in various places that would have us…

The last pub quickly closed as Covid hit, and most of us went into hermit mode. It was great while it lasted, but I get this feeling that those days are gone forever…but me, “have guitar won’t travel.” As the old musician joke goes, “I’ll just play with myself.” But again, thanks for spreading the good words.

Chip Lovitt

_______________________________________

We are infected by dumbfucks who then infect innocents.

Stay away from dumbfucks.

Greg DeMammos

_______________________________________

Jillian Michaels, (from the Biggest Loser) has a podcast. She got covid from a friend at a small get together. There’s an episode about it in her podcast. It’s full of great information. I highly recommend that you check it out.

Tracy Lipp

Apple Podcast Link: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/too-famous-for-covid/id418368811?i=1000489612339

_______________________________________

Went in to pick up take out Mexican last nite & there was a 20 something in the waiting area without a mask – my mind started racing as much as if he had a gun! Stupid is gonna kill

Wallace Collins

_______________________________________

I see masks as a sort of A-hole indicator.
Normally, we’d be walking around in the midst of such people, and the only time you’d know they were blinkered and selfish would be quite late in an interaction.
Now you can see them a mile off, because they’re not wearing a mask!

Cheers
Crispin Herrod-Taylor

_______________________________________

This Wired article yesterday changed 2 of my family members minds about traveling to gather on thanksgiving. The interactive map showing how likely they were to interact with someone with COVID stopped them in their tracks. Of course others will say this is fake news.

www.wired.com/story/thinking-about-a-holiday-gathering-look-at-this-map/

This Sam Harris podcast about the response is a great listen for us industry folks.

open.spotify.com/episode/7EYgfJ0ukcq1f1Rp7AfFMV?si=NiXoffjVRRCk7rW8nLw6Vg

Gigante

_______________________________________

To Dave Machanick, one of your responders.
Fauci said very early on not to wear a when masks were scarce or not available to
healthcare workers, he didn’t want the general public hoarding masks.
As soon as masks became available Fauci said to wear them.
People are so pro Trump, they love to make up shit and blame anyone but there cult leader.
Thanks
Bob

Robert Pisaneschi

_______________________________________

I too expected more in terms of people wearing a mask, but then remembered that our country had to make laws (and recently at that) to make people wear seatbelts, wear motorcycle helmets, and not smoke in restaurants while families are eating. And folks still complain about those laws.
Apex predators indeed.

Thank you for being responsible and as always, speaking your mind.

Adam Keller

_______________________________________

Thank you for sharing this ‘reality check’ of these tragic stories from many talented musicians.
Perhaps this will hit home and help others to realize the seriousness of this Pandemic. This is not a party issue. It is life and death. It is global. It is personal.
Kathleen

_______________________________________

I am haunted by the thought that we built ships, planes, trains, trucks, jeeps, and a relentless stream of armaments when
we needed to, to win a World War, but the simple act of wearing a mask to protect our families, our coworkers
and other people we care about is just too much to ask.

The very idea is despicable.

Onward.

Rich Binell

_______________________________________

I have a friend over 60, obese, high blood pressure and diabetes. I’m 62 in good shape, but vulnerable due to my age. I’ve known my friend since the 8th grade. He keeps telling me I won’t get COVID. I’ve quit speaking with him. What a jackass!!!!

Tim Pringle

_______________________________________

Jourdian – Really? You are going to pimp your tour during a pandemic as a response to an email about how you will probably get COVID from your friends and family.

Steigman – We can debate all you want about Rogan being a comedian, or if he is the most important voice in media for most of America, but he still can’t tell a “the building is on fire” joke in a crowded theatre just as it was wrong for him to say “masks are for pussies” when he knows his “theatre” of 100 million people listens intently to what he has to say and most won’t realize it is a joke.

Also, all you had to do in Feb was look at Twitter to know something bad was headed this way. China welding people into 20 story buildings so they would not spread it to each other was enough for me to tell most of the people I knew to start getting a few weeks of food stored up.

Michael Patterson

_______________________________________

How about the idiots that wear a mask, to cover their mouth, but not their nose? What are they thinking?
Are they too lazy to do the right thing, or just stupid?
Lin in Honolulu

_______________________________________

Here’s a good one: I started a health plan with a coach during CoVid. Dropped about 50 pounds so far, but that’s not the story here….

The coach is a millennial – I know her aunt very well. She’s a millennial and she’s also an Orthodox Jew – married at 20 (she’s about 32 now) with three kids. She doesn’t read the news (or watch tv) but gets her news off of TikTok and whatever social media sites she can find. Trump supporter and conspiracy believer.

I started coaching (still producing virtual content at NJPAC as my day job)- and she tells me she’s having this event for coaches – small and in a hotel ballroom.

Well, turns out it’s not in a ballroom but a home they rented, and there will be 80 people there. No real space between chairs, and didn’t see a whole lot of masks (from photos, since I passed on attending a super spreader event). Should I have turned them in – don’t know. But god knows how many people there will be passing along this virus and where it could go.

Seriously … what the fuck is wrong with people..?!!!?

Simma Levine

_______________________________________

I have been holed up in my upper West side apartment with my 97-year-old jazz composer mom has offers from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. I don’t go out nobody comes in it’s been like this since well before Covid even happened. My mother and I are probably the only two people in Manhattan who have never been tested for Covid. And I plan to keep it that way.

I left Los Angeles and have not seen my husband my cat my dog or my parakeets since Feb 2019.

I went home for two weeks to play a gig at Nam for Sennheiser pick up a couple of T-shirts one of my parrots and come back to New York to hunker down with my mom.

Her birthday was November 7 she just turned 97. The best present in the world was the fact that the reign of terror is over and she lived to see it end. Even better it was official on her birthday.

Cheers.

Liane Curtis. 16 candles and other stuff

_______________________________________

America has been lying to itself about what it is and how it functions since it’s creation. The virus has lifted the vail to the international community only dumb Ass Americans believe that this country is great. It’s good In some ways but overall this country lies steals and cheats it’s own people each and every day. Ultimately I think america will be rome and self destruct implode if you will. Income inequality homelessness lack of a living wage lack of healthcare subpar educational systems and a love affair with money power and greed and celebrity. If that isn’t a description of Rome at the end I don’t know what is!!

Mazi Ray

P.S. Funny how men always take the macho rout and everything else is pussy. Trump is perfect example of this. Manhood is not defined by macho behavior but in America acting tough is an example of manhood. I will take the environment I grew up in as an example. In the so called “hood” you run into this shit all the time with gang bangers and the like. A bunch of dudes trying to act tough as a way to prove their manhood. It is this toxic masculinity that gets innocent people called all over the place.

Manhood starts with self respect and self awareness. If you can’t respect yourself how do you respect anybody else. Trump got COVID because he was too “tough” to do the things to protect himself. That is a lack of respect for himself, why, because he knows he is old and has pre existing conditions. He said fuck that to himself and risked death all to appear manly and tough. He lost the election because he has no awareness of who he is. He projects what he wants to be. That’s not being a grown man that’s little boy shit.

Males need to grow up and be men and stop running around beating in their chests liked Neanderthals. It’s 2020 got damn it, it’s time for true men and adults of good will to have our turn at making the world a better place!

_______________________________________

You might find this interesting…

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30462-4/fulltext

people.com/health/study-finds-link-to-mental-health-problems-after-contracting-coronavirus/

As a health care worker (Clinical Services Manager, Perioperative Services, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles), I thank you for covering this issue.

Ally Fell

_______________________________________

Well, first Mr Grahame: When you say “like everyone in my age category without any underlying health conditions I came through unscathed” – that is simply 100% incorrect. Plenty of otherwise healthy people under 60 have died from COVID-19, including well-known physically active professional athletes and performers. You can always find countries to compare the USA with, there are nearly 200 other countries, but…the percentage rates of confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths are significantly lower in so many countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, ROC/Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, etc) that you can’t say otherwise. You can, of course, try to go “shopping” for countries that tried mask mandates and it didn’t work, but that doesn’t mean “there are no differences in the infection rate” in all countries. “Whether the cure is worth the disease.” Really? This is a DEADLY INFECTIOUS VIRUS. Any cure is better than potentially dying and/or being responsible for the death of friends and family.

And as for Leah Haxhi, perhaps we should take you up on your offer to stay in your house for the rest of your life and spare us from your presence. You’ve fallen prey to conspiracy theories and think you’re too smart to have done so. The whole “vaccines cause autism” is a conspiracy theory hoax that has been repeatedly disproven and yet lives on. I’m not even sure the increase in autism has anything to do with diet and processed foods, though I don’t disagree that for many people the regular American diet is unhealthy and processed foods do seem to be far less healthy than unprocessed foods. I’m no expert, but I’m thinking that the rise in autism is more about improved diagnosis. As for Jeffrey Epstein, there absolutely WERE legitimate news sources, primarily in South Florida (The New Times and the Miami Herald, for example) as well as national publications, that were reporting on him all along. If you don’t trust your doctors, change doctors. Your doctors are telling you that vaccines are safe and effective because they are. Again, I won’t disagree that some doctors are too quick to prescribe medications instead of trying alternatives (especially with pain killers, muscle relaxers, etc), but not all. Vaccines have effectively ended polio, smallpox and many other scourges, and those vaccinations were essentially government-mandated to protect ALL of us (I remember getting them in elementary school en masse with nobody opting out). The flu vaccines prevent 50-70% of the flu every year, and I like those odds. They aren’t 100% effective because the flu is a moving target, changing every year and with multiple strains. And birth control pills work. Yes, there are known side effect that impact a small percentage of women, but they are remarkably effective. You can always rely on condoms used by your partner, but those aren’t 100% guaranteed either, or you can try abstinence, or other preventive measures. But your doctor is right. Doctors go to school for years, and then do residencies, and finally become qualified to diagnose and treat patients, and modern medicine is AMAZING.

And Dave Machanik actually wrote “Trump was a mixed bag of good and bad.” Really? There was, unless you are part of highest 1% of wage earners or CEO of huge company both reaping tax benefits that the rest of us are paying for, good?

And, one more: Jonathan Steigman, Joe Rogan was not joking. If he’s a purported comedian, he might want to work on actually being funny occasionally.

Toby Mamis

BTO, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Michael Buble and more…Bruce Allen is a legendary manager who started out booking clubs in Vancouver and fifty years later is just as vital and integral to his acts’ careers as ever. Listen to hear how Bruce made it, and about his love of Elvis!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bruce-allen/id1316200737?i=1000498307345

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast