Everyday People

1

There’s a joy in playing music.

We were inspired to buy electric guitars after seeing the Beatles on “Ed Sullivan,” but we’d been struggling with acoustics for a long time before that.

In an era where music was not plentiful, just a click away, you had to make your own.

A piano was a status symbol in the house. And certainly in Jewish families, you had to take lessons. But it’s an uphill climb. First you had to learn how to read the notes, then how to play them. You started with “Hot Cross Buns,” and then you moved on to classical numbers that you really didn’t care for. You yearned to play what was on the radio. And the teachers were from our parents’ generation, they didn’t understand our desires, they taught piano in the same fashion it had been taught for hundreds of years. Whereas we were interested in the now. This was the generation gap, we did not accept the precepts of our forefathers without examination, and we did not need to pay fealty to their heroes, we had our own, we were breaking new ground, we had no idea if our music would last, but it made us feel so damn good!

So concurrent with the hits on the radio, there was a folk scene. Sometimes those songs made it to the airwaves, but really it was a separate world with two titans at the fore, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, and when you went to camp you sang “500 Miles” and “Blowin’ In The Wind,” they were our classics. And there was always a counselor, or a contemporary virtuoso, with an acoustic guitar, usually with nylon strings, playing and singing along.

Now many houses had such a guitar. They cost thirty to thirty five bucks. The strings were so high off the neck and so far apart that these instruments were hard to play, especially for young ‘uns. But we wanted to.

The people who taught guitar were different from those who taught piano. They might not have been younger, but they were definitely hipper, they lived in the now. And they taught you a few chords and…VOILA! You were singing a song!

You didn’t have to know how to read music, you just had to know some basic chords, and then you could feel the joy of making music.

And when you went to friends’ houses, the guitar came out, and you all sang along.

And then the Beatles came along and blew the whole scene wide open.

You see not everybody went to camp, not everybody was addicted to the radio, but when the Beatles broke the table was flipped right over. That’s when everybody got the memo. It was not only the music, but the opinions, the look, the lifestyle. They thought differently, so so did we.

But the first thing we did was buy electric guitars, so we could play along.

And when you knew a few chords and had an axe and an amp, you schlepped them over to someone’s basement or rec room and you all played along. Usually at the house of the guy who had the drums.

Bands were formed…they were the mobile apps of their day. And everywhere you went there was some band playing. The hits of the day. They didn’t think they were gonna be rich and famous, they didn’t dun you for likes, they just reveled in the joy of the music, being part of the scene.

Now one amazing thing is you could play these songs. Amateurs bought songbooks, or fakebooks, others just figured out the chords by themselves. That’s another experience we all had, sitting in front of the turntable, dropping the needle again and again. The key was to have a turntable with adjustable speed, so you could tune the record to your guitar, the other way…was not so easy for amateurs. As for tuners…at best, we had pitch pipes.

2

The only American acts who survived the Beatles were the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons. Everything that was a hit before, was suddenly not. Fabian, Bobby Rydell, even Bobby Darin…that sound was passé. The British Invasion ruled.

Until the San Francisco sound. That’s what came next. And it wasn’t the Grateful Dead, they didn’t really get any traction until “American Beauty” in the fall of ’70. First it was Jefferson Airplane. Even Country Joe and the Fish. But those were all white acts. There was also a black guy, a deejay who was familiar with the rock sound. Who soon formed his own band and shot to the top of the charts with his second single.

Sly Stone.

Forget the burned-out legend of today. This was the first time most of us learned that “Sly” was short for “Sylvester.” As for Sylvester Stallone, he was a decade away from success.

And the radio played both black and white music. But Sly, and his Family Stone, didn’t sound like what came out of Detroit. Its music had more to do with rock than soul, even though it was infused with soul.

We all danced to the music. That track was an explosion coming out of the radio. It was made for the tiny speakers we employed back then. It shook the cardboard cones. It was almost too hot for the radio.

And then came “Everyday People.”

Today’s hit acts are not everyday people. They tell you in their song lyrics that they’re better than you. They’re mirroring society at large. There are the rich and the poor and the goal is to hop over the fence, to the side of privilege. Forget that music can’t make you a billionaire (with a couple of exceptions, of course, but only one billion, not many), it does speak to the culture in a way that the techies do not. The techies make tools. The musicians build houses.

But the houses they build today are in segregated neighborhoods. Both white and black. Verticals that rarely cross.

But it was different back then, rock coexisted not only with soul but country too, and occasionally oddball tracks from the likes of Louis Armstrong. We were all in it together. And we took our instructions from the musicians, via the radio. Many people had no records at all, nobody had all of them, radio was the heartbeat of America, at least of the younger generation.

3

Sometimes I’m right and I can be wrong

That’s positively revolutionary in 2020. People have an opinion and they will not change it, no matter how much evidence to the contrary is provided.

The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I’m in

The bankers used to coexist with the rest of us. Now they’re on a separate plane, and the butcher gets no respect, unless he’s a tattooed millennial into grass-fed beef and…

I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do

Also out the window in 2020. Even the musicians constantly remind the listeners that they’re superior to them. And there are gated communities, and private jets and private islands, never mind private schools, and those on the winning side believe they deserve the spoils and while they do their best to keep us out, they tell us to be just like they are, despite being born with a silver spoon in their mouth, or being the beneficiary of elite education, never mind enrichment programs. These are the people who work for free, building a resumé, putting food on the table isn’t even a consideration.

There is a yellow one that won’t accept the black one
That won’t accept the red one that won’t accept the white one

Of course there was racism back in ’68. But it was the musicians who were preaching integration. Not only black acts like Sly and the Family Stone, but white ones too, like the Rascals with “People Got to Be Free.”

Despite the racism, people were optimistic. Today, that’s a dead concept. Seems the corporations and the entrenched players win again and again and again. And the truth doesn’t matter. Hell, the president was caught red-handed in Ukraine, even admitted it, but he skates. What are the odds you on the ground, with a camera everywhere, can get away with breaking the law? Miniscule.

I am everyday people

White acts were seen as album makers. Black acts were relegated to singles. Until…

Woodstock. The movie.

Everybody says the star of “Woodstock” was Jimi Hendrix, playing the national anthem. Huh? When most people had left and the place was a mess and the sun had already come up? No way! Sly and the Family Stone stole “Woodstock,” instantly Sly and his troupe were an arena act. The album “Stand!” sold over three million copies. And it was filled with messages. Not only did you have to “Stand!,” in an era where protests made a difference, but you were told “You Can Make It If You Try.” And music was not only cerebral, it was an aural lubricant for sex machines. And one thing for sure, music, along with marijuana, took you higher. And in 1970, when Sly still showed up on time, audiences of all races got together to bask in the sound, you see we were everyday people.

4

Quite quickly the Covid-19 era devolved into self-promotion. I’m doing a livestream, pay attention to me! It was all about ascending the ladder in an era where to a great degree, the ladder has been kicked away. There is no coherent scene. Chances are the radio doesn’t play your kind of music, at least not radio that matters. Assuming people are listening to the radio at all!

Then there are others who just see it as having fun, on a lark, and satiating those who do care, like Glenn Tilbrook.

What do I know about Glenn Tilbrook… He was a member of Squeeze. And KROQ played “Pulling Mussels From a Shell” ad infinitum, and I still don’t dig it. But I did like “Black Coffee in Bed,” I bought that album, but really it was about the one before, “East Side Story,” when Paul Carrack was a member of the band.

To this day, most people don’t know Paul Carrack was the vocalist in Ace, with its positively legendary “How Long.” But when Carrack was in Squeeze the result was “Tempted,” an undeniable gem, benefited by Carrack’s lead vocal, never mind co-producer Elvis Costello’s indelible background vocals.

That’s how I think of Squeeze. Great songwriters, not great vocalists.

Until today.

I got an e-mail telling me Glenn Tilbrook was doing covers on Instagram. It seems the whole world lives on Instagram today, even Ramy’s mother…that’s how you check people out, on Instagram.

Now the writer told me he was hooked by the Steve Nieve cover. But before even listening to that, I was interested in all the songs Tilbrook did.

And that’s when I saw “Everyday People.”

Now this ain’t gonna work. The whitest of guys from across the pond singing an American classic, originally sung by an African-American? When Sly emoted, the hairs on your arms stood at attention.

So it’s obviously a homemade production, with Glenn’s son counting off the song. And then the organ comes in, played by a kid still wet behind the ears and then the camera pans to Mr. Tilbrook himself, who looks like the hip teacher in your school, all gray-haired and over the hill.

AND THEN HE SINGS!

Glenn’s singing the verse and his voice is mellifluous, you tell yourself this works, and then he reaches down deep, leans back from the microphone and screams…I AM EVERYDAY PEOPLE!

I was completely caught off guard. I was expecting a pale facsimile, you know, poor production with weak vocals, but this rendition illustrates how music is truly a unifying force.

Everybody’s wearing their street clothes, Covid attire, not the fancy outfits of today’s “winning” musicians. Glenn’s wife is even contributing background vocals, he smiles at her at the end, with the joy of a job well done.

Now the amazing thing is Glenn Tilbrook, et al’s, rendition of “Everyday People” only has 2,026 views. That’s a lot of effort for very little result. But that’s not why Tilbrook is doing it, HE’S HAVING FUN!

Remember when music, never mind the music business, was all about fun, not money? When the music was just the music, with its message, making you feel good, as opposed to a stepping stone to building a brand?

Glenn Tilbrook lived the same life I did. He picked up a guitar, he played in bands, he remembers the joy.

And when you watch his production of “Everyday People,” you will too.

Once again: Everyday People

In part one of my conversation with legendary record producer Bob Ezrin we discuss his upbringing in Toronto, his journey into record production with Jack Richardson, and his meeting, signing and producing Alice Cooper as well as producing Lou Reed’s “Berlin.”

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The verdict is in. They’re gonna reopen the country and let people get infected and die.

Don’t just blame Trump and the red state rulers, Governor Newsom of California says the same thing:

“Newsom says no turning back on reopening plans, even as coronavirus cases climb”

In case you doubt the facts (then again, if it’s in the “New York Times” it can’t be true, right?):

“Coronavirus Live Updates: With Cases Rising in 21 States, Washington turns to Other Business”

As for the updates in the past 24 hours re Covid-19 infections, Laura Ingraham says it’s a plot, she tweeted today at 3:36 AM:

“Notice the ‘reporting’ on COVID, which disappeared to give Antifa and BLM ‘their space,’ is back now that President Trump is planning on rallies again?”

And it makes no difference that she was called out in the “Washington Post,” Ingraham doubled-down, she later tweeted:

“With protests are mostly over, the press is desperately trying to return to pushing the lockdown. Too late. We know they are liars, and that they will break any lockdown rule whenever they want.”

And if you think this kind of rhetoric has no impact, you missed today’s “Los Angeles Times” story:

“Who gets the blame if California sees major new coronavirus outbreaks with reopening?”

Orange County California’s health officer, Dr. Nichole Quick, said masks were required in public places and at businesses and…

The anti-maskers went wild. They revealed Quick’s address. She needed security. And then she resigned.

This is over wearing a mask.

You see Americans can’t wear masks, it inhibits their FREEDOM!

As for protecting you from their germs…fuggedaboutit. It’s all narcissism all the time. Health? That’s no big deal. After all, we don’t crack down on school shootings, or even red-heavy country concert shootings. There are just a few bad apples out there, after all, guns don’t kill people, people kill people!

“Even With 10-Day Waiting Period, Suicide by Gun Risk Surges After Purchase”

Now let me get this straight… If these people didn’t buy a gun they’d still commit suicide? I don’t buy it. Then again, I don’t have a gun, so the joke is on me.

You see the business of America is business. And it can’t be hobbled.

Oh, there have been tons of stories that the lockdown worked:

“Lockdowns worked, new research finds. Scientists estimate coronavirus measures stopped at least 60 million infections in the US and 3 million deaths in Europe.”

But now everybody’s sick of being cooped up inside, they want to party!

It’s like the doctor saying you broke your leg and you need to wear a cast for six weeks, but you’re sick of the itch and you remove it after four. Huh? Then again, who is to trust doctors, they’re all about the money, it’s best to trust web research and your friends, after all the medical industrial complex is out to get you.

As for concerts?

They’re coming, you betcha.

All that hogwash about America being shut down into 2021, maybe even 2022? Young people just don’t care, they’re already associating. Not only at the protests, but at beaches, bars and restaurants. Not that it’s only young people, old people believe they’re immune too, statistics be damned.

“Officials fear protests are ‘super-spreader’ events for coronavirus. Marchers say worth the risk.”

As for super-spreader events, I point you to the “Wall Street Journal,” the right wing paper of record:

“Superspreader Events Offer a Clue on Curbing Coronavirus – Some scientists think banning mass gatherings may be enough to keep the pandemic in check”

And if you don’t subscribe to the “Journal,” you can read the equivalent in the “New York Times”:

“Just Stop the Superspreading – In one study, 20 percent of Covid-19 cases accounted for 80 percent of transmissions.

But it gets even better, or worse, depending on your viewpoint. The experts? They’re really scared and cautious, if you click through to only one story, let it be this:

“When 511 Epidemiologists Expect to Fly, Hug and Do 18 Other Everyday Activities Again”

But experts?

We don’t need no stinking experts! My opinion is just as good as anybody’s, and see what a great job Trump is doing for us with no previous government experience, as he says, he’s got a natural ability for this stuff. He loves his uneducated, they can be led blindly by his viewpoint. And his viewpoint is the country must reopen so he can get reelected! Hell, did you see the latest?

“Trump campaign demands CNN apologize for poll that shows Biden leading”

Talk about making up your own facts…

So, the ship has left port, what are you supposed to do?

Everybody else is resuming their life, you’re being ribbed for being cautious.

They were partying in the Hamptons and friends knew Howard Stern wouldn’t attend, but why not his wife Beth?

Howard replied that Beth can go, but she can’t come back!

Oh, you’re laughing?

The partiers said they were observing social distancing. But then how did they serve drinks?

Trust no one. Everybody says they’re really strict and then when you quiz them they are not.

What are the odds of you getting it from your friends?

Not insanely high, but then again, you must ask yourself “‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”

Yup, tough guys like Clint Eastwood can fight off the coronavirus with a sneer. What did Muhammad Ali claim, that he made medicine sick? Good line, but then he got Parkinson’s and died.

But we must have football, it’s the American Way!

“More universities report coronavirus cases in athletic programs”

But since that article was published just after midnight, the numbers have gone up. The “Miami Herald” now says four Florida players have tested positive”:

Four football players test positive for COVID-19 at these Florida universities

They’re dropping like flies I tell you.

There’s been improvement in treatment techniques, deaths per infection have gone down, but once you’ve got it, it’s personal, it’s just you and the virus, along with a bit of medical treatment. If you’re overweight, or have high blood pressure or diabetes, the odds are not with you, you’re a candidate for the Grim Reaper. And I don’t care how necessary you think you are, life will go on without you just fine. Your family may never recover, but everybody else will say it’s sad and move on, after all, isn’t life for the living?

Now this problem could be solved, if we had any leadership.

You see it’s about testing and contact tracing.

Bottom line, if you’ve got it we notify everybody you had contact with and you isolate and…

No, that can’t happen, you’ll be sacrificing your FREEDOM! The government can’t tell you what to do, no way. It’s kinda like kids today, they talk back to their parents, do it fifty years ago and you wouldn’t be here right now.

And people will say the young don’t die and we’ve lived through other flu pandemics and we didn’t lock down the country.

Yes, but some young do die, and they most certainly spread the virus to the rest of the population.

It’s just raw insanity. People were tired of being cooped up, a bunch of them protested at statehouses, and government officials blinked and started opening up their cities and states. You saw those pics from Memorial Day, well now the results are in…PEOPLE GOT INFECTED!

It’s science.

But we no longer believe in science. There’s no global warming, nothing is definitive so let’s not take any action. Can you PROVE vaccinations are harmless? Can you PROVE there’s no God? Well, until you can, I’m taking my own counsel. Because you know big business is against the people. But we must reopen the country for big business. Huh?

And many get paid more in unemployment insurance than they do when they work. Contemplate that, no further discussion necessary.

And I have a friend whose dead mother got a $1200 stimulus check. With Donald Trump’s name printed right on it, as well as the fact that his mother was DECEASED! He cashed it. His accountant told him there was no clawback provision in the legislation. And do you think they’re gonna find him when they keep on dismantling the IRS so rich people don’t get audited? That’s the law and order we need more of, not the kind done by people in blue uniforms.

It’s positively flabbergasting. We’re driving towards doom with no brakes. We gave it a good college try, but we’re done, let the virus have its way.

I’m not going out, even though I’m sick of being in.

But I seem to be one of only a handful. And can I really restrict Felice? Talk about being controlling in a relationship.

And odds are I won’t get infected.

But if I do, I’ve got a compromised immune system, my skin is covered in huge blotches and I’m itching up a storm as I write this. But everyone keeps suggesting topical solutions, or CBD, as if western medicine is not to be trusted. It’d be like getting your car washed to deal with a thrown rod.

And the news media features what’s sexy. It reports about Covid-19, but it’s no longer the lead story, the public is burned out. So it’s back to the shenanigans of celebrities and political nitpicking.

As for Trump getting elected in November…

If I told you five months ago that we’d shut down the country and there would be mass protests all over the nation you would have laughed me off. But now, with the election five months away, you believe the vibe today will sustain until November?

I wouldn’t be so sure. The economy is gonna be on an upswing, Trump will take credit and they’ll print the obituaries but…don’t people die every day anyway?

We’re not getting any change.

Everybody’s on a high as a result of the last two weeks of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

But was it even murder?

A wide swath of Americans don’t believe it was so.

You think the only white nationalists, the only Republicans, the only deluded are out there protesting at statehouses for the reopening of America and the right not to wear masks. But there are tens of millions more sitting at home, a great number of them wealthy, who like things just the way they are and despite not going on the record, always refusing to talk politics, are gonna vote for Trump.

Because it’s good for them. Lower taxes. Unrestricted business dealings. Few consequences. What’s not to like?

And the money is important. Joe Biden can’t raise any cash from individuals, they’re just not inspired by him. So, Joe is raising funds from the usual suspects, the corporations and the fat cats, who are not giving money out of charity, they expect a quid pro quo. Remember that legal term from impeachment?

And what’s important about impeachment is the only Republican who broke ranks was Mitt Romney. And you can break out all the polling you want, about his approval rate in Utah, but the truth is he’s been written off by the Republicans in the Senate, he’s not to be trusted, and they’re gonna hammer him ad infinitum until he fades away and does not radiate.

You may have been protesting in the street, but Iowa just passed a law saying you can’t vote by mail unless you request a ballot in writing.

And yesterday we saw the insanity of the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act in Georgia. Plenty of polling stations in white neighborhoods, no lines, and hours-long waits at the few polling sites left in black neighborhoods. This evidence was in plain sight. But it’s not the lead story in today’s news. Oh, it got reported, but today everybody shrugs, this is now business as usual, remember Milwaukee?

Voting has been rigged. If you live in a blue state, like California, more power to you. But in red and purple states the lines have been redrawn to keep Republicans in power. And their response when challenged is to say that Democrats would do the same thing if they were in power, but they aren’t, and may never be.

So, you’ve got the young and angry protesting in the street, and the professional watchers, the professional pundits, they’re all saying it’s about the election.

Hogwash. This just like the NFL and Kaepernick. Goodell only wakes up when there’s riots. That’s what it takes to foment change in America, and it works slowly, if at all.

You’re expecting a radical remaking of corporate America.

Despite all the statements and the self-congratulatory advertisements, this ain’t gonna happen, not in a significant way. They’ll appoint an African-American to the board, but he’ll be less like Cornel West and more like Michael Steele. They’re looking for someone just like them, who talks just like them. Not someone from the street, but from the Ivys. As for employees…they’ll throw their hands in the air and say there just aren’t enough qualified candidates. We can debate the veracity of this all day long, but one thing is for sure, they’re not giving blacks opportunities, they’re shutting them out of colleges, they’re not giving them jobs at the base level, they’ll say it will take time to create a pool, and then the people running the corporation will change and the idea will be back-burnered because it’s all about profits, about Wall Street, correct? The only company that seems to put people over profits, that truly cares about the environment, is Patagonia. That’s one. In a sea of thousands.

And if you think Congress is gonna raise the minimum wage, you’ve ignored the past decade of debate. They’ll whip out the “fact” this will hurt small business, say the nation runs on small business, which is factually untrue, and there will be a lot of talk and no action. Kinda like gun control. Come on, they shoot schoolkids all over the country and what we’ve got is less gun control. You see you can’t take away people’s freedom!

Their freedom, they don’t care about yours.

And their freedom means their kids must not be edged out in competition for educational slots and job slots.

And their freedom means that there need to be fewer regulations, come on, do you think Trump has been railing about the economy because it’s irrelevant to him and his constituents? Never mind that the improved economy didn’t help you. They’ve got manipulated statistics to show you you’re wrong. Everybody’s got a job! And if you can’t put food on the table it’s your fault.

And they’re sick and tired of affirmative action. They’ll say they tried it and it was unfair and didn’t work, even though it did. They don’t want to suffer for you to improve your quality of life, no way. That ship sailed in the sixties and seventies and was sunk and is never going to be rebuilt.

The “New Yorker” did a whole story about the silent majority of rich in Greenwich who support Trump. I’d link to it, but you’re either aware of it or don’t have the time or inclination to check it out. You’ve got no time, and the waters have been muddied to the point where nothing is true, absolutely nothing.

And today the “Washington Post” published a video illustrating the falsehoods spread by Tucker Carlson, and how it’s an organized plan, but that’s behind a paywall, because unless you’re rich the only news you get is what filters down to social media.

“Opinion-Tucker Carlson’s guide to injustice”

(Actually, the video appears to be free to all, but since most of the WaPo is behind a wall, you don’t check out the site.)

But let’s say we believe in the system, will the same youngsters who didn’t come out to vote for Bernie Sanders come out to vote for Joe Biden and defeat Trump? Very questionable.

Meanwhile, all the talking heads say it’s about bringing back those Trump voters who used to be Democrats. Forget the fact that Rachel Bitecofer has gone on and on how this is a false paradigm, what have the Democrats done to win the support of blue collar workers who’ve switched parties? I don’t see Joe Biden agitating for the institution of unions. I don’t see significant rule changes in Amazon warehouses. The Democrats are just like Trump in 2016, they say they’re your only choice, and what can you lose?

And the Republicans will say taxes, i.e. your money. They’ll say if the Democrats win, your taxes will go up, spending will be through the roof.

Even Democrats believe that! That’s what a forty year plan of disinformation has achieved. Reagan said the government was the enemy. Rich and poor believe this, as for the middle…it keeps getting squeezed and demonized. Poor people pay no taxes! They may pay no income taxes, but they’re taxed up the yin-yang every damn day, at the gas station, the supermarket…and they’re spending all of their income to stay alive.

I know I’m painting a bleak picture. But you optimists cannot handle the truth.

And the truth is we need systemic change. And you only get that via something akin to revolution.

Boomers protested against the Vietnam war in the sixties and they got rid of Johnson, who was replaced by Nixon and it was business as usual.

As for Trump… Did you see that Bolsonaro is on the brink of bringing out the military? That’s right, Brazil is devolving into autocracy. That’s the pattern all over the world. You see when people feel threatened, when they can’t make ends meet, they elect a “savior” who ends up turning on them. Happened in Venezuela, happened in Eastern Europe, but for some reason Americans think they’re immune, that it can’t happen here. They still believe the United States is the land of social mobility, that if you work hard you can get rich, even though statistics tell us otherwise, that this paradigm exists in western Europe more than here.

And that’s an element of the disinformation campaign. You don’t want socialism, you don’t want a safety net, because that will eviscerate your freedom! And it won’t allow the job-creators, i.e. the rich and corporations, to run willy-nilly and the end loser will be you. Huh?

And it does come down to income inequality. Because it is all about money. Hell, the candidate who can flood social media with ads tends to win.

And then there are the left wing canards that make informed heads rotate upon their necks. If I hear one more person say to save local newspapers… Any student of history will tell you propping up old paradigms based on emotion never works. The problem is the business model, not the news. There’s got to be another way to deliver news.

And sometimes you’ve got to reach your limit before there is change. Facebook and Google profit on the efforts of news collectors, but now the ship is turning, after decades, to the point where they’re coughing up dough. Maybe they need to pay for local news. Maybe there’s another way to get reportage. But talk to the techies, who don’t live in D.C. and don’t populate the DNC, and you’ll hear the truth, but techies are now evil, everything they say is wrong, talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater…

And if he loses, Trump isn’t gonna leave. And there’s a good chance he’s not losing. What are the aftereffects of yesterday in Georgia? I don’t see any. And now with electronic voting and hacking the results are inherently questionable. So Trump just ain’t gonna bring out the Army and lock us all down, he’s gonna claim the vote was inaccurate and he won, just like he had the largest attendance at an inauguration ever!

He lies and…

The media reports his lies.

The most important story you’ll read this week was by Ben Smith in the “New York Times,” about how youngsters are changing news media. They’re sick and tired of the outlets staying above the fray, reporting and not speaking truth and agitating for change. The reporters broke the rules, they protested, and the end result…the papers didn’t win, the reporters did.

“Inside the Revolts Erupting in America’s Big Newsrooms”

So, we’re sick and angry about the death of George Floyd and all those who preceded him. One thing about riots, they demonstrate how angry people are. Oh, the right and the rich blame it on outside agitators who just want to wreak havoc. But unless we challenge the precepts of these entrenched players change is doomed.

The reporters won by breaking the rules. Unfortunately, that’s the only way we’re gonna get change in the country at large. When the game is rigged, you flip over the table, you don’t continue to play it and complain you’re losing. You’ve got to challenge the fat cats at their core.

And the reason Bernie Sanders lost the nomination comes down to his demonization by the press and entrenched players. They don’t want change, don’t you get it! They want you to believe the safe candidate is the only one who can get elected, and to just trust the experts. Yeah, the same experts who said a file was not as good as a CD, the same experts who said no one would buy an electric car, these same experts who keep demonizing smartphones because they give you the instant ability to communicate and organize and gain power, which is the last thing they want you to have.

Want to have more black people at the record company?

Hit acts have to refuse to release new music and to promote the old.

But this was the ethos of the sixties, today it’s all about brand-building and money, no one will sacrifice for the greater good. They’ll throw out some dollars, make a statement, but you can’t challenge their business enterprise.

As for line workers… I’m not telling them to sabotage the product, but believe me that gets results. As do slowdowns. But unfortunately Democrats have gone along with Republicans in killing unions and making the moniker a dirty name. Come on, who is protecting the working man? Nobody in power.

And the rich have convinced us CEOs deserve their outrageous salaries, that if we don’t pay them they’ll jump to another company. Once again, it’s a club and you’re not in it. They pass the gigs amongst the cabal the same way Grammy committees pass the trophy amongst insiders.

And then they tell you to believe the organization is transparent and worthwhile. But what did they say about Deborah Dugan…change was happening too fast! And that’s in music, with plenty of African-American players. Do you really expect big corporations to be goaded into instant change?

Once again, this comes down to revolution. It looks like we’re not gonna get any change until there’s one. Hell, let’s even say Biden gets elected, do you really think the man from Delaware is gonna lower your credit card interest rate? Keep dreaming.

You see the owners of this country pushed it too far. They could have maintained most of their power and lifestyles but they got too greedy. They wanted everything, at the cost of the living standards of everybody else. And if you tell them they’re the problem they tell you how much they pay in taxes, and they hire lawyers and lobbyists to make sure there’s no change. Here in California, the beach is open to the public. But for decades the rich have locked the gates, they just keep on litigating, and they just keep on defying orders. Meanwhile, if you defy orders you go to jail.

We’ve gotten too far off course. Business as usual is not going to continue. Either Trump and his cronies are going to hoist the authoritarian flag or the public is gonna sink the ship.

Happens all over the globe. You just believe since you live in the United States, the self-professed greatest country in the world, it can’t happen here.

Trump was built on television by Mark Burnett. Who won’t come out and tell us the truth, who won’t release outtakes.

Trump went bankrupt again and again, and in a real head-twister he said it was smart!

Meanwhile, the government changed the law so you can go bankrupt, but can’t write off all of your debts. You must pay, the rich do not.

Once again, the ship can’t be turned around, it’s got to be sunk.

But the rich and powerful like it the way it is, and then there are those scared to take action and then there are those afraid of action, afraid of the chaos, which frequently results in authoritarians in power.

Come on, are we gonna get black NFL owners? Of course not, not enough blacks have that kind of money, never mind want to put it there.

Meanwhile, Roget Goodell makes $40 million a year. Your whole neighborhood doesn’t even make $40 million a year!

I’m just pointing out the gap, between those who have and those who do not. Those who want change and those who do not.

Look at the changes tech wrought. They were not gradual, the companies did not get permission from entrenched players… Change happened nearly instantly, and new entities gained power.

That’s the only way it’s gonna happen in the country at large.

I’m gonna vote, like George Carlin said, do it if it makes you feel good. But just like he said it makes no difference, I’m starting to believe the same thing. Of course Biden will be better than Trump. But do you really think the country is gonna change under this structure? Hell, if women got the vote, why can’t we get rid of the electoral college? Why is everything inviolate, claiming the Constitution says otherwise when the truth is the framers of said document were revolutionaries themselves looking to create a better nation, who did not want to institutionalize the past, i.e. top-down government by a monarchy. Hell, if the framers were alive today most would be to the left of everybody in D.C!

But the Supreme Court is ruled by people who say otherwise.

It’s a sad state of affairs and peaceful demonstration in the streets is a start, but far from a solution.

We need further action.