“Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story”: https://bit.ly/3nluv2q

There may not be any skiing this year, they’ve already closed down the ski areas in Austria, France and Italy, as for social distancing, I link you to these pics: https://bit.ly/3kzwUVw Sure, you can stay apart on the slopes, but in line…never mind the village, restaurants, hotels and..? That’s blind optimism for you.

In case you don’t know, ski areas were hotbeds of Covid, one of the biggest hotspots in the nation last March was in Ketchum, Idaho, home of Sun Valley. Yup, you get people from all over the world, never mind the country, and  you’ve got a Covidfest. Hell, I was in Vail the first week of March, I arrived there just after the U.S. Open snowboard competition, and in about two weeks…not only did they shut down the mountain, there were infections all over the world, just not the United States, especially amongst the elite in Mexico, Vail is their favorite skiing spot. We were ignorant, we escaped. But, everybody thinks they’re immune and two weeks later…BOOM! So, I’ve got my passes, but I ain’t going until it’s safe, which may be never this year, assuming the ski areas open and stay open. But although I have skied in October on a number of occasions, and certainly November many times, the fall ritual was always the new Warren Miller movie, when that was the only way to get your desire satisfied, you see most skiers are fickle, they stop going to the mountains in the spring, when conditions are excellent, Mammoth is often open to July, but in the fall they’re jonesing and will endure the white ribbon of death just to scratch their itch.

So, every fall you’d go to an auditorium, not a usual movie theatre, and sit amongst thousands as Warren Miller narrated his annual production, which continues to this day, albeit without Warren himself, however ski porn is available at one’s fingertips, just a click away online, and just like with music the barrier to entry is so low that the morass of product is overwhelming and it’s hard to discern what is good and what is bad, and although all skiing is good, some productions are much better than others, assuming you can find them.

But they’re all standing on the shoulders of Warren Miller. Who stood on the shoulders of John Jay, who created this paradigm, I was even briefly in a John Jay film, skiing at Squaw Valley at summer race camp, and I’ve even been shot for Warren Miller, but never made it into the final cut. And in the sixties Warren had a competitor, Dick Barrymore, who focused more on the narrative, his peak being “The Last of the Ski Bums,” but Barrymore burned out and left the scene, yet Warren soldiered on, but it was a grind.

But this is not really a ski movie. Sure, there’s a lot of skiing, but it’s a deep dive into Warren’s life. And a lot of it is covered in Warren’s book, “Freedom Found,” which is surprisingly readable, writing is a skill and most people don’t have it, irrelevant of how interesting a life they led, but “Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story” has the advantage of an outsider’s viewpoint, an outsider who misses a number of highlights, however it’s hard to fit a lifetime into ninety minutes, but the director does an excellent job of analyzing Miller the man, his life and…

The Boy Scouts kept him sane, because his parents were oblivious. And then his family betrayed him and…I don’t want to give too much away. But, Warren essentially raised himself, and didn’t really know how to raise a family, because he had no role model, his father was an alcoholic.

And sure, to some degree this flick is hagiography, but Warren was far from perfect, not a saint, but he had a vision and he pursued it, and it was DIFFICULT!

It always looks easier from the outside, outsiders only see the peaks, they’re unaware of the struggle to get there. To get there you’ve got to work 24/7, oftentimes alone and without compensation, it’s a grind, and most people give up. And if you do the work and make it, something has to suffer, in this case Warren’s family, there’s just not enough time in a day, a year.

Now it was a different era. Skiing was new, there was a boom in the sixties, and now it’s a mature sport, and despite season passes being rock bottom cheap, cheaper than ever, the overall cost of skiing is not, the equipment, the hotels, and therefore the business is stagnant, even though the equipment is now so advanced that it’s easier than ever to learn. Unlike in the sixties, the middle class has shrunk, few can afford to take their family skiing, and therefore they’re missing out on its essence, FREEDOM!

Yes, it’s a thrill to slide down the hill. But you can go wherever you want, and if you think about anything else you fall, skiing requires total attention, not that you have to tense up and focus, but there is no room for everyday problems. I don’t want to denigrate video games, but there is nothing like a breath of fresh air in the mountains, whether it be blue skies or dumping prodigiously, you feel so ALIVE!

So Warren didn’t want a straight job. He pursued the “other” his entire life, he lived by his own rules, and therefore had to make his own money, and it wasn’t always easy, he got his big break with network TV and desiring to get it so right lost a ton of bread and there was no aftermath, it was one and done, you get your big break and then it…isn’t.

And unlike Bruce Brown, with his “Endless Summer,” Miller could never make it theatrically. Turns out he could only do what he did, which he did better than everybody else.

And then the generations changed. His humor was out of style, it became about marketing…

Yes, there is an arc to this film, like with all lives, but most people don’t focus on one pursuit so long that they become an icon and can profit off their status alone.

Amazon has a unique philosophy. ANYONE can get their project streamed on Amazon, therefore you see endless unknown films that require payment to view and are therefore dead in the water from the get-go, but “Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story” is free with Prime, and if you’re a skier, you must see it, and if you’re not a skier, you’ll still get it, because of the human story, but you’ll also be infected by the scenery, the daredevil antics, the pure joy of those doing it, and…those who chose to take the path less taken, who devoted their lives to skiing. It’s a sickness, you catch the bug and the only way to cure the pain is to keep trekking to the mountains and skiing, to the point where you have to live in the mountains so you can ski every day, that’s why I went to Middlebury  College, it had its own ski area, and was located near Mad River Glen, and Stowe and Sugarbush, even Killington, were not far away. And ultimately I spent two years in Little Cottonwood Canyon, in Utah, but then I realized if I didn’t leave soon, I never would, so I did, and it was so painful I rarely skied thereafter, there’s a fine edge you get skiing every day and when you don’t it hurts, mentally. But the infection is just dormant, and now I’m as into it as I ever was, I cannot read enough about it, I cannot go enough, usually fifty days a year, with a laptop and smartphone you can be anywhere, even overseas.

You just can’t get it unless you do it. But Warren did it, he dedicated his entire life to skiing, one time was enough to turn him into a lifer. And I know people who’ve “thrown away” their entire lives to skiing, they’ve woken up, especially today, and realized they’ve got no 401k, little cash, but they couldn’t help themselves, it’s akin to an opioid addiction. Watch this movie, you’ll understand.

https://spoti.fi/2IHupDJ

“Blue” is the best,” “Court and Spark” was the breakthrough, and in between lies “For the Roses.”

I didn’t hear most of “Song to a Seagull” until the advent of Napster. Oh, I knew “Michael From Mountains,” not that I can remember exactly why. Must’ve been underground FM radio, for I knew no one who owned the LP. And, of course, I knew “Cactus Tree” from “Miles of Aisles,” but “Night in the City,” “Nathan La Franeer,” “Sistowbell Lane” and “The Dawntreader,” the best other cuts on Joni Mitchell’s debut, were new to me, even though it was the turn of the century. The best is “Nathan La Franeer.”

“I hired a coach to take me 

From confusion to the plane

And though we shared a common space

I know I’ll never meet again

The driver with his eyebrows furrowed in the rearview mirror

I read his name and it was plainly written ‘Nathan La Freneer'”

The mood of the song is reflective, you feel like you too are riding in the backseat of the car worried if you’re going to make it to the airport on time and…that was Joni’s magic, by being utterly personal, she ended up universal, but at this point only true insiders knew her and her music.

That was March of ’68, “Clouds” came out in May of ’69, it contained her versions of “Chelsea Morning” and “Both Sides Now,” but the reason I had to purchase it, after the fact, was to hear the original version of “That Song About the Midway,” which exquisitely opened Bonnie Raitt’s disappointing album “Streetlights,” the one that contained one of her signature recordings, a cover of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery,” but producer Jerry Ragavoy smoothed off all the rough edges of Raitt’s sound, possibly her signature element, Raitt was a woman of the soil speaking to the people, not a crooner. But the best song on “Clouds” is “I Don’t Know Where I Stand.”

“Telephone, even the sound of your voice is still new

All alone in California and talking to you

And feeling too foolish and strange to say the words that I had planned

I guess it’s too early, ’cause I don’t know where I stand”

If you haven’t been here, you’ve never been in love, in a relationship. You’re wondering, do they feel the way you do, can you express your feelings honestly or will they be overwhelmed and run?

But the first time Joni was fully realized, banged the gong, truly established her place in the firmament, was with April ’70’s “Ladies of the Canyon.” It seems to have been forgotten, no one ever talks about it, but listen to the trio of “The Arrangement,” “Rainy Night House” and “The Priest” and you’ll find all the questions we used to ask ourselves that no one ever does anymore, used to be selling out was anathema, now it’s de rigueur, you don’t do what’s in your heart, but what’s expedient, you tamp down your inner flame, for fear it will steer you off track.

And then came “Blue,” in June of ’71. “Blue” was different, despite the title it was at times upbeat, full of exuberance that emanated from the disc right into your heart, if you weren’t already headed to the Golden State as a result of the Beach Boys, “California” sealed the deal…that’s where you could be free, where all your problems would be solved, and despite all the denigration, it’s still true, California is the land of freedom, three hours behind New York, no one’s in your business, you can be you. And unlike what came previously, there were no originals that had become famous via covers, “Blue” was brand new, yet you had to be on the trip to appreciate it, and there weren’t that many on the ride, dedicated followers of fashion knew who Joni Mitchell was but we were still licking our wounds from protests against the Vietnam War, we were just starting to become introspective, therefore possibly the best introspective album of all time took years to take hold, to the point when Prince covered “A Case of You” I was stunned he knew it, and appreciated it, then again, once again, you were either on the bus or off the bus, and obviously Prince was on, but not everybody was. Until, of course, “Court and Spark.”

It was slicker than had what come before, smoother, there were fewer rough edges, but who knew it would connect not only with Top Forty radio but seemingly every woman in America.

By this time the hype machine was firing on all cylinders, the press was focused on “Raised on Robbery,” which stiffed in the marketplace, and “Twisted” turned out to be a curio, who knew “Help Me” would become a monster? Even more of a surprise was “Free Man in Paris,” which cemented David Geffen’s image in the populace, before he dated Cher. But, once again, it was the darker, unheralded tracks, like “People’s Parties” and “The Same Situation” that truly resonated.

If “People’s Parties” doesn’t go through your brain every time you go to a Hollywood party… Then again, maybe you never have. In Los Angeles, image is everything, that’s the currency, your bank account is secondary, even today, it’s about fame and how good you look, and most people don’t look that good, but they do in L.A., because it’s one of the few places where you can build a whole career purely on your punim. And you walk through the door and you get anxious, you scan the room for someone you know and you make a beeline to them and get deep into conversation, trying to make it sustain as long as possible, for you know it won’t be long until you’re sipping your drink alone by the wall, wondering if you can hang in there, whether you have to leave, or whether serendipity will deliver what you came for, what you want, but what you too rarely get.

What happened after “Court and Spark” is an entirely different discussion. Of course there was the aforementioned cleanup double live album “Miles of Aisles,” but thereafter there was experimentation, at least in the minds of the audience, Joni kept moving and for a while the audience stood by her, but ultimately it peeled off, even though ’76’s “Hejira” is one of her best, with some of her most insightful lyrics.

But, once again, “For the Roses” came between the twin peaks of “Blue” and “Court and Spark,” and except for the single, it was dark, as if California hadn’t solved all Joni’s problems, she’d retreated to Canada, to lick her wounds, soothe her soul, to plumb her insides to make sense of where she’d been. “For the Roses” was an LP a fan immediately got, but also one that revealed more and more insight as you peeled the layers back. The best track is “Woman of Heart and Mind,” which you can listen to many times before its message truly penetrates, whereas “Barangrill” was more lighthearted, those three waitresses wearing black diamond earrings…Joni was caught up in the starmaker machinery, the waitresses were not self-conscious, they had hopes and dreams like us all. And “Blonde in the Bleachers” jumped out of the speakers, because of the viewpoint, insight into the male rock mind by someone who played in that world, who was doing her best to stay true to herself as opposed to being caught up in the maelstrom.

And then there was the single, “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio.”

It was a hit. Joni’s first. But she was on a lark, she was going to show the bigwigs who demanded one that she could deliver one, and it was, a hit, not that it was the best song on “For the Roses,” far from it, but you needed something light to break through on Top Forty in those days when it was a backwater, all the action being on FM, but some people still didn’t have FM in the car, or were completely out of the loop.

“If you’re driving into town

With a dark cloud above you

Dial in the number

Who’s bound to love you”

It sounds like a radio commercial. Self-congratulatory, even though at this point radio was the heartbeat of America, TV only had a few channels, radio had a cornucopia of them, you could find something that aligned with your identity, or at least close thereto.

“Oh honey you turn me on

I’m a radio

I’m a country station

I’m a little bit corny

I’m a wildwood flower

Waving for you

Broadcasting tower

Waving for you”

It sounds like the bottom of the barrel scrapings purveyed on today’s country radio, bland, giving everybody what they want, with absolutely no soul, we’re all good here, isn’t life loverly.

But then…

“And I’m sending you out

This signal here

I hope you can pick it up

Loud and clear

I know you don’t like weak women

You get bored so quick

And you don’t like strong women

‘Cause they’re hip to your tracks”

Wise words, known by all boomers as a result of airplay, exacting wisdom is contained in what heretofore seemed like a mindless ditty. That’s what men want, especially as they become more powerful, a woman who gets all the jokes, who knows what they talk about, but who will be submissive and obedient, but they’re almost impossible to find, it’s a fruitless search, so they settle for the photo beauty, but they don’t want to marry her, and if you’re not good-looking enough you’ve got no chance and the guy thinks he will always be on top of the world but in most cases after his brief window of power and fame he finds himself kicked out of the game. Must be tough to be a woman. Your sisters berate you if you employ your feminine wiles, but if you act just like a man that serves no one. And it still is a patriarchy, we’ve got a long way to go.

“It’s been dirty for dirty

Down the line

But you know

I come when you whistle

When you’re loving and kind”

Women can hear a song once and digest and understand the lyrics, whereas many men think they know a song by heart but…if they even remember the lyrics, they’ve got no idea what they mean.

So I was upstairs, in the club above the Rainbow, it was the fall of ’74, I’d sold a punching bag to the doorman so I had free access, and this was before I was worn down by rejection, I was still game, so I struck up a conversation with this blonde-haired woman, there was no physical intimacy, but I figured if we started with intellectual intimacy I had a chance, and in the middle of our banter she slips in…”dirty for dirty.” I was wowed, speechless, there was a deeper point of connection than I believed, this woman was sharper than I’d previously thought, we shared the same reference points, but we never shared the same bed.

“But if you’ve got too may doubts

If there’s no good reception for me

Then tune me out, ’cause honey

Who needs the static

It hurts the head

And you wind up cracking and the day goes dismal”

Wait a second, in this seeming ditty, all over the airwaves, is buried insight, gravitas and darkness. Then again, if you don’t like a strong woman, sending you a strong signal that they’re game, they’re going to move on, they don’t have the time.

On “Court and Spark” Joni would be more direct, she didn’t have to speak in metaphor, she succeeded on her own terms, not that it was foreseen, but it’s hard to keep this level of talent down, after all it rarely comes along, we’ve never had a new Beatles and we’ve never had a new Joni Mitchell.

That’s where our wisdom used to come from, songs, made by artists. That was enough. There was no penumbra of perfumes and privates, no branding. And it’s funny how it’s these acts that have survived and those who played the game did not. You see credibility is everything, but you’ve got to have the goods to get in the arena.

So Joni Mitchell dropped pearls of wisdom so profound that her words and music never go out of style, they’re continually picked up by subsequent generations, because where else are you gonna get this honesty and depth.

“If you’re lying on the beach

With the transistor going

Kick off the sandflies honey

The love’s still flowing

If your head says forget it

But your heart’s still smoking

Call me at the station

The lines are open”

Follow your heart, not your head. This is what true artists do, which is why we resonate with them and their work, they channel truth, and no one has ever done it better than Joni Mitchell.

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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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

Richard Griffiths

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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—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

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Every reason punk rock happened was Boston!

Vince Bannon

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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

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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