It was a religious experience. The only song I clapped for was “California,” otherwise I sat there transfixed, driven deep into my own soul.

How often do you go to a show and know every word, literally?

Joni Mitchell was a known quantity because of “Both Sides Now” and “The Circle Game.” Actually, Joni’s songs were more famous than she was, until “Court and Spark.”

The David Crosby produced “Song To A Seagull” was an insider affair. As in music biz insiders were aware of Joni’s greatness, and this record made inroads into the public, but was not well-known, was not a hit, it’s something most people only bought in retrospect, after they were hooked by a later album and needed to be completists. But you should listen to it, because it’s so personal, it’s an excursion into someone else’s brain with the lights turned out, it’s just the two of you, it’s not made for the radio but your bedroom/living room. Listen to “Nathan LaFreneer,” about the drive to the airport. You know the experience, at least pre-smartphone, you’d be sitting in the backseat, reading the taxi driver’s info on the visor, your mind drifting, really neither here nor there, like so many situations in real life, you’re existing, but you’re alone in your own mind.

“Clouds” had a more professional producer in Paul Rothchild, and it began Joni’s long relationship with engineer Henry Lewy. The album had a cleaner, more immediate sound, and it too began with a quiet number, as opposed to the hit you’re supposed to lead with today. And “Clouds” included “Chelsea Morning” and “Both Sides Now,” but the essence of the LP was tracks like “I Don’t Know Where I Stand.”

Picked up a pencil and wrote ‘I love you’ in my finest hand
Wanted to send it, but I don’t know where I stand

That’s part of being human, wondering whether the other person feels like you do. You’re moving through life but they’re always on your mind. I was hung up on a woman for about a year, there were signs, connections, I wanted to just call her up and ask her if she felt the way I did.

I didn’t.

Then came “Ladies Of The Canyon.” The outside producers were gone, for the first time it was a fully Joni statement, and you felt it. This was the album with her recording of the well-known “The Circle Game,” but it also included “Big Yellow Taxi” with its lyric that superseded the song, as in…”they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”.

The funny thing about “Ladies Of The Canyon” is the truth it contains in retrospect, I got it when I was young, I really get it now.

Like “Conversation.”

Tomorrow he will come to me
And he’ll speak his sorrow endlessly and ask me why
Why can’t I leave her?

You’re their best friend, their confidante, you’re in love with them, but they cannot extract themselves from their relationship, they’re weak, they can’t handle the change, and if they do, they don’t want you. Yup, there’s that married woman who called me up and always wanted to hang, I’d go places her husband would not, I tried to push her away and when she finally left him, she didn’t want me. She called me from a cellphone in the nineties, she was in the hills, the connection was breaking up and in a moment of static…I told her I loved her.

And then the line dropped.

About a month later I ran into her at the all night electronics store, she was with her new boyfriend, I felt about an inch tall.

“The Arrangement” was about throwing your life away, settling instead of reaching for the brass ring.

You could have been more
Than a name on the door
On the thirty-third floor in the air
More than a credit card
Swimming pool in the backyard

“Rainy Night House”… Spending the evening with someone you’re not sure where you stand with and the falling droplets leave you in a cocoon, with only your thoughts.

And, of course, there’s “The Priest.” Just the sound of Joni’s guitar sets the scene.

But the song I always remember from “Ladies Of The Canyon” is “For Free,” I first heard it performed by James Taylor, when he was dating Joni, before “Ladies Of The Canyon” was released.

And I play if you have the money
Or if you’re a friend to me

Ask a musician, they always feel like they’re being ripped-off, everybody’s getting paid, everybody’s getting rich but them. They want to play, but they won’t unless you pay them. But if you’re a friend, they’ll play all night, for free, just like me.

Then came “Blue.”

There were no hits, it was not legendary at that time, more of an underground thing, for acolytes only.

“For The Roses” was her first album on Asylum, it showed her bare-assed in the gatefold, when that was a big risk for a serious artist.

“For The Roses” actually had something resembling a hit, “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio,” but the track was light, not as serious as what Joni’s fans were enamored of.

But the two tracks following the “hit” were more serious, they cut to the bone. Joni knew the stars, in “Blonde In The Bleachers” they were all following their dicks.

And at this point, the Joni Mitchell song I play most is “Woman Of Heart And Mind,” where she lays it all out honestly.

I’m looking for affection and respect
A little passion
And you want stimulation, nothing more

He’s on TMZ, she’s nowhere to be found in the tabloids.

Then came “Court And Spark.” Suddenly “Help Me” and “Free Man In Paris” were all over the radio, suddenly Joni was the hero of every girl in the dorm, “Twisted” had the quality of a Bette Midler song, the illusion was that Joni Mitchell had come down from the mountaintop and was hanging with the hoi polloi. “Court And Spark” was the only LP that evidenced this quality. Joni then took a left turn, went further and further out, she did what she wanted to, not what we wanted her to.

Tonight’s concert began with a film, celebrities testifying as to Joni Mitchell’s excellence. At points it was excruciating. Who cares what Tom Hanks and his wife have to say about Joni Mitchell? And why was Marilyn Manson included, as a joke? But the highlight for me was Sheryl Crow sitting on her bed singing “Amelia.” “Hejira” contains Joni Mitchell’s deepest lyrics, but by this time the mainstream audience was gone, only the hard core remained, but “Song For Sharon” contains more wisdom than anything on the hit parade, possibly forever.

A woman I knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction

Have you ever contemplated suicide? I certainly have. It’s these records that have kept me alive, stuff like “Song For Sharon” and “Blue.”

My college roommate Lyndon bought “Blue” over the summer. I always had a record on, we even went to sleep to a record, I had a timer to turn the stereo off, but I rarely played “Blue,” it was his, not mine, and if you don’t own it…you don’t own it.

But when I did…

After the movie came an execrable organ solo. It appeared the production just wanted to use the pipe organ…

But the assembled multitude clapped riotously nonetheless.

Then Brandi took the stage.

The audience made me wince. They were busy celebrating Joni Mitchell, giving her a standing ovation when she entered Disney Hall, it was creepy, almost like a living wake, it’s like the crowd was there to say they were, kinda like Desert Trip.

But this was no dash for cash, this was a musical event, down to the core.

Yes, the show was an event. It was downtown in a city that plays in the suburbs. There were no kids. And Disney Hall has gravitas. It’s an underplay, and it’s not a barn. The axiom in music is that fans will show up for their favorite acts anywhere, and this is true, but certain venues add to the performance, are an artistic element unto themselves, like Frank Gehry’s legendary creation.

And Brandi was wearing a blue suit. And she was upbeat, she was not solemn, she was treating the audience like her friend, but when she began to sing…

Now what we usually get is people covering others’ songs badly. You know, those terrible cover/tribute albums.

And then there are the “artists” who insist on remaking, rearranging the number, making it their own and making the song lose its essence.

Brandi was faithful. Same arrangements. She was singing Joni Mitchell. But first and foremost Brandi Carlile can SING! Early in the show she wowed us with her vocal workings and there was spontaneous applause in the middle of a number. This was not someone saying lyrics cover a mediocre voice, this was not a melisma-master proving to us that they can sing louder and higher than anybody else, this was an artist, doing her work, someone who had a skill and developed it.

I can’t sing that way.

But I did sing along with “California.”

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I played “All I Want” after my first date with Felice. I was home in my house with the stereo turned up loud, dancing. I was finally belonging to the living, after sixteen years in the wilderness after my ex left.

And during “My Old Man” I heard the lyrics I’ve quoted my entire life:

We don’t need no piece of paper
From the city hall
Keeping us tied and true

This has been my mantra since I heard this song. I quoted it to my ex, who insisted on getting married, to my detriment, and to Felice, whom I’m still not married to fifteen plus years later. She’s got more money than I have, neither of us have kids, we’re already too old, why do we need a piece of paper? Furthermore, divorce was so painful, I don’t want to go through it again.

And then come “Little Green,” “Carey” and “Blue.”

Now it’s clear, I’m on a trip, I can see where I once was and where I now am. I’m back in college, disaffected and disconnected. I’m in Disney Hall right now. I’m fully alive, everything outside the building no longer matters. All those bozos spewing fake facts…Joni Mitchell’s truth supersedes them. Then again, she triumphed in a different era, when being a musician was enough, and you weren’t a brand, when you didn’t sell your soul, when the adulation of your fans was enough when you got it right.

Then came “California.”

I sat still, like I said above, I didn’t even clap, I couldn’t. For me, this is how it used to be, I went to the show not to shoot selfies, not to pat myself on my back, but to be alone, engaging with the music. When done right, the music spoke my life and kept me going. Nothing does this better than “Blue.”

When “California” came out I was still living on the east coast.

But I wanted to move to the Golden State since I was in single digits, I used to beg my mother. It’s better out here, always has been, you’re free, where you went to college, who your parents are, that’s all b.s., society is level, everybody’s got a story, oftentimes untrue, and after a while we see who is real and makes it.

California will take you as you are, that’s why everybody hates the state except for its residents. Outsiders want you to kowtow to their system, they don’t want you to be free, but out here you are.

I know you disagree, I don’t care, you don’t live here.

But I do. And hearing “California” tonight summed up my life. My dreams, now fulfilled, how great is that? I had to stand and applaud vociferously, even though no one else got up.

And artists are never in step with the straight and narrow, in “California” Joni wants to kiss a Sunset pig. You know what that is? THE POLICE! Today everything’s flipped over, yet this music, this truth remains.

Oh, I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I’m frightened by the devil
And…

I’m comfortable in front of the computer screen, put me in front of people…

I was one of the few invited to the backstage party, I wanted to finally meet Brandi in the flesh. I know Elton, I’ve even hung, however briefly, with Joni Mitchell a number of times, but what am I gonna say back there, who am I gonna be? I’m really the guy in these songs, lonely, kept alive by these records, I want to be inside but I’m outside, I know, it’s a conundrum, but talk to artists and you’ll find…

Most feel the same way.

The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in ’68
And he told me all romantics meet the same fate someday
Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe

The hit parade is niche. Yup, the Spotify Top Fifty, the songs in the “Billboard” charts mean less than ever, today it’s about being a musician, that’s one of the reasons why tonight’s show was so great, it was all about the playing, there was no live transmission, you can’t even make any money at Disney Hall, it was for the music and only the music, and those who grew up with “Blue” in their hip pocket know this.

But it’s not 1971 anymore. There’s war, but most people are not against it. You can have sex, but you might die from it. You can follow your dream, but you can’t even pay for a roof over your head and you’ll find yourself years behind if you ever want to get on the escalator.

Joni made it, deservedly so. But many more did not. They starved, lived off the kindness of friends and strangers, died from the lack of good health care, but we know their songs even if most people do not.

After the Beatles the goal was to become rich and famous.

Now, even if you make it, you’re not that rich, as for being famous…most people have no idea who you are, or if they do, you’re only a face, a name, they don’t know your work, and it used to be all about the work.

I could tell you who was in the band. Russ Kunkel was behind the kit. I think Brandi said one of the string players was Scarlet Rivera.

But that’s not the kind of evening it was. We were all in thrall to the almighty sound, these songs.

Too often in life, I’ve been alone, blue. I’ll tell you the truth, it gets better as you get older, but then you get to a point where it all becomes meaningless, you realize everyone’s gonna die and almost no one will be remembered, so what exactly are you living for, what exactly are you trying to achieve.

It’s like I tell my shrink, I was heading for the target but then they blew up the target. I wanted to reach everybody, an antidote to the b.s., but now no one can reach everybody, and as a result of cacophony, it’s hard to reach anybody, you’re lucky if you have an audience at all.

But it used to be different. Like tonight. We had to stick our smartphones in Yondr cases. No one could interrupt the show with their phones because they were locked up.

But this made you bored. Before the show, I read nearly every word in the L.A. Phil’s program, even though I was not interested in most of it. Then again, the more I read, the more I got perspective, Disney Hall is spectacular, maybe it would be cool to come to some of these classical shows and set my mind free.

And word was they were going to start promptly at eight. So I was in my seat about ten minutes before. But the show didn’t begin until 8:15, what was I gonna do with the time?

And when the show began there were no distractions, only the sound and yourself, that’s all. And with everybody there, I became more isolated, I guess it’s my personality, I’ve never been a member of the group.

But I do feel the power of the music. And that’s why people resonate with my writing, when I get it right. Most people will tell you what happened, but they won’t tell you how it FELT!

How did it feel?

Like I was listening to one of the greatest albums of all time by someone who could do a faithful rendition, a loving rendition, when the original will never ever do this again, this was my only chance.

And the thing about “Blue,” despite its title, is it’s not all downbeat, it’s all over the emotional map, like real life, like me. How is it you can be down in the dumps and feel like king of the universe a second later? I wish I could tell you, but I haven’t got any answers, other than to tell you that life is worth living for.

But the truth is in this narcissistic world, if you’re lucky you can count on one or two people.

And the records. Set in amber. That’s why you shouldn’t remix them. They’re cultural artifacts, as important as the Dead Sea Scrolls. You wouldn’t clean up those documents, saying the writers would have wanted them better, if only they had the time and new technology…huh?

But “Blue” is perfect, it does not need to be redone. All we have is the record, we can sing the songs, but the essence is on that vinyl, the way it was originally cut, we’re lucky we’ve still got it, that “Blue” wasn’t on Universal and burned up by executives who believe they’re bigger than the artists and the music is just made for consumption and then is worthless, used up, and might as well be discarded.

I knew Joni Mitchell penetrated when Prince covered “A Case Of You.” A great song is a great song, and the truth is they’re damn hard to write, almost impossible. Very few have the skill. They worked hard to achieve it and then they reach the pinnacle and then…

Then what?

I could have told you who I saw, make you feel envious of my insider status, but the truth is I don’t feel like an insider and I’m no better than you.

But I was privileged to be there for Brandi Carlile’s knockout performance tonight, nailing one of the most meaningful albums of all time.

That was the flight tonight. The winds were in from Santa Ana. We were drinking the sweet champagne of music, we had the headphones up high, we numbed out the world, we got it out of our mind, all we had left was “Blue.”

And that’s enough.

The Democrats are so dumb. They let the Republicans define the debate.

Now the offender is California. It’s an uninhabitable wasteland filled with homeless that has no affordable housing. Taxes are high and the state is about to crater. THEN WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE LIVING HERE?

The homeless problem is a national one. Tracing back to Carter deinstitutionalizing the mentally ill and Reagan cutting the support for those released. Furthermore, as a result of the evisceration of social services (did you read the article in today’s WSJ that Arkansas cut the Medicaid of those not working and 18,000 now have no insurance even if they’re chronically ill?) people can’t make it here, never mind going bankrupt as a result of health issues.

Screw ’em. That’s what the right says.

But these are in Republican states, not California.

Why are rents so high in San Francisco? Because everybody wants to move there for the opportunity, you can make so much money in tech. They’re not moving to the hinterlands.

Is it tough to make it in the city today?

OF COURSE! It’s like making it in Hollywood, it’s always been this way.

Or, should I say try finding an apartment for $500 in Manhattan. No can do. Why? Because the rich got richer because of low/no taxes.

As for the homeless in Los Angeles…THEY MOVED HERE FOR THE WEATHER! They’re smarter than those living in dying areas as their income goes down, but as a result of predatory lending they now owe more than their house is worth and they can’t afford to move. But you need to blame the Democrats for that…they didn’t lower taxes enough on the rich so jobs could trickle down to the poor. HUH?

But the right has proffered this canard for decades.

They’ve just got a better infrastructure, better game than the Democrats. The Democrats excoriate each other, the Republicans, although fewer in number, team up and fight against the Democrats, oftentimes with falsehoods, and what do the Democrats do? Cringe and cry!

Look at today’s NYT. With the definitive statement on pollution. Emissions went up everywhere, but in Los Angeles, they went down 2% per person since 1990. The vaunted Texas, the home of the so-called “miracle”? Dallas-Fort Worth went up 27% per person, San Antonio 39% and Houston 22%. But the bozo in chief says we can’t have strict emission standards in California, it’s illegal, we must relax our emission standards, what…SO THAT PEOPLE CAN DIE?

Yup, you can’t drink the water because of the politicians… Did it ever occur to you that you might pay the price of auto emissions and lead in water?

It’s like we need a secret Democratic committee to counteract the bias/b.s spewed by the Republicans. I know, because I hear it every damn day! The Republicans train their acolytes to bite back, to work the refs, the Democrats train their acolytes to be silent, to believe the system is fair and will work for them and we should all get along while we argue about trigger warnings in elite institutions…don’t want to offend little Oliver and Mackenzie.

Meanwhile, the government says we should stop subsidizing electric cars while we continue to subsidize gas and oil companies. Huh? Ever hear about looking towards the future? Fewer emissions, fewer health problems. As for the production of that electricity…yes, that might be polluting, but electric cars are so much more efficient. That’s science, I could explain it to you but you don’t want to believe it, you believe emotions trump facts, like that doofus in the White House who sacrificed the Kurds. Know-nothings yield bad results. Are their smart people who take advantage? OF COURSE! But does that mean we have to demonize the educated, that we should all drop out of high school to be on the same level? Education pays dividends. But Republicans say college can’t be free, because we’re gonna have to pay more taxes. SO WHAT? It’s for the good of the country, and those who take advantage and go to college. I’ve been paying for schools for decades and I’ve got no kids, but you don’t hear me saying I want my money back. I want a better society, I don’t want to build an electric fence around my house so those without won’t rob me.

But the Republicans have it all down. As in upside down. If this was a sporting contest, the Republicans would say despite being behind 3-2, they won, isn’t that what gerrymandering is about?

And the right knows people are too dumb to look ahead, so they start the Federalist Society and populate our courts with right-wingers.

It’s every person for themselves in the U.S., the self-professed “greatest country in the world.” I don’t hate America, I want it to be BETTER! Imagine if Steve Jobs couldn’t criticize his engineers, couldn’t inspire them to improve their products… Out goes the iPod, the iPhone… As for BlackBerry, the company was too dumb to realize that people would want to do more than send messages on their hand-held device, the company was superseded and is now on life support.

Make America Great Again, by going back to the past? The world goes forward, not backward. There are innovations, not holdbacks.

But no one will say all this. They’ll just ignore the taunting until it’s perceived to be true.

Hillary Clinton? A crook responsible for our soldiers getting killed! She’s a pariah I say, we need someone squeaky clean and upfront who will run our country in an open, honest way, like Trump. HUH?

As for the impeachment road…

The right has its talking point, that the left is sore about losing the election and has been trying to get rid of Trump since day one. Does the left fight back about this? OF COURSE NOT!

And then there’s the canard that the Democratic House is holding back legislation? Huh? That’s like saying a battered wife deserved it.

Everywhere you go, you’ve got righties with these talking points.

As for the left, the rank and file are oftentimes uneducated on the issues and can’t answer these obvious falsehoods.

WHAT A COUNTRY!

You can’t fight your battles alone.

The Donald is making a major mistake making news every day, refusing to cooperate with Congress, he’s hanging it out for everybody to see. In other words, press can work for or against you.

In this case it’s against.

Who is on Trump’s team?

His base.

Fox News.

And Republican Representatives and Senators.

His base does best when it lives in a bubble. But the more Trump drags his issues to the forefront, the more his base is aware of them.

As for Fox News… Shepard Smith resigning did more to cement the viewpoint that the channel is biased than any rantings and ravings by the left.

As for those in Congress… Trump is so busy saving himself, that he’s forgotten about them.

Now most people don’t pay attention to the nitty-gritty of politics, they’d rather live their lives. Ask them who their Representative is, ask them who represents them in state politics and many people will draw a blank. They count on elected officials to do their bidding for them, they’re getting paid, why should I pay attention?

But Trump has made politics the story of the day. He’s trumped not only movies, TV and music, but even tech. No, the story today is all Trump all the time.

To his detriment.

Take this Kurds/Turkey/Syria/Iran/Russia story. Not only is there no way he looks good, acting on impulse without preparation, his own party was against removing U.S. troops. These same Congresspeople who were afraid of Trump. How long until they flip?

It’s going to happen instantly.

The media is always fighting the last war. Yes, 2016 illustrated that there was anger with the elites, against globalization, that the downtrodden and racist wanted to return to what theoretically once was and never will be.

Shocked by the results in 2016, positively shocked I tell you, the media is now bending over backward to pay fealty to these people. Warren is too far left! What they don’t understand is America is looking for LEADERS!

Trump is a leader. Whether he’s going in the right direction is debatable. And over fifty percent of Americans now favor impeachment and removal, and what does the Donald do? Pour gasoline on the fire! Do you think those already convinced to get rid of him like being insulted by the Donald day after day? Furthermore, those people talk to others and the number favoring him gone increases.

And for all of this America First b.s… It’s a conundrum. People on the right don’t want to spend money on others, but they do want America to be perceived as the greatest country in the world. The irony, of course, is that that takes money. There’s no way to look at the Turkey situation other than as a great gift to Putin. Irrelevant of interference in our elections, only Trump is positive about the dictator. People are still scared of Russia, they don’t want the nation to have more power, they don’t want the balance of power to shift from the U.S./Europe to Russia/China/Mideast. So on one hand they want to ignore them, but on the other they don’t want them to have more power than us.

Now other nations don’t believe us, don’t trust us, and everything Trump keeps saying is the reverse. America is not great again, with its tariffs and tax giveaways, and now it’s losing its power. All those people chanting USA!, USA!, used to laugh at other nations, not so much now.

So the media keeps saying the tail is wagging the dog. That every elected official is subservient to the voter. Nothing could be further from the truth. The voters don’t know what they want, they vote against their interests and can be more easily swayed than perceived. An elected official cannot change their mind, but a voter certainly can.

Voters want the impossible. They want all the services, all the safety, and they want it for free. They can see that Trump can’t deliver this. As for the Democrats…only Warren and Sanders can get the messaging right. We want someone to pull us out of this mess so we don’t have to think about it anymore.

That’s the prevailing sentiment in the country…let’s get back to regular business. Kinda like England re Brexit, talk to inhabitants of the U.K., they just don’t want to live in limbo anymore. But they all still have complaints. They want to put the reins in the hands of someone who cannot only fix the mess, but lead into the future. As for “trust me”… No one trusts anyone anymore.

So Trump is making news every damn day. And he supports people until he hangs them out to dry. Giuliani?? If he’s indicted, the Donald will say how bad Rudy is, that he was a rogue actor and Trump had no idea, positively no idea.

Politics was always about the team. But Trump blew that paradigm apart. Because those in charge of the team refused to change. It’s like the MLB sitting by raising prices while the NBA captured hearts and minds.

So the Democrats hamstrung Bernie in 2016. So what does Warren do this time around? SHE SAYS SHE’S GONNA PLAY NICE! She’s gonna work for the party and its candidates. That’s right you co-opt them before they co-opt you.

Donald’s strategy didn’t work. He pointed out the flaws of his competitors in 2016. He employed an internet/Twitter campaign when others were still using fax. Trump is a signpost that the game has changed, but he’s playing it very badly.

This was one of the problems with Obama, he was in the right position but he played the game poorly. He tried to make peace with people who wanted no peace, i.e. the Republicans. He should have negotiated behind closed doors like Johnson, or shamed his opponents, as Trump has done. Instead, Barack was living in a bygone era, that’s how we got into this mess. No one acknowledged the pitfalls of globalization, no one fought back against the rise of Republicans in state legislatures, it was positively kumbaya until Bernie challenged Hillary. End result? The Democrats nominated Hillary and she lost. She campaigned for business as usual when people didn’t want this. And you just couldn’t relate to her, she was neither fish nor fowl. You couldn’t connect with Trump either, but at least he spoke English (however poorly) as opposed to gobbledygook and he said he was rich, and in today’s America, rich people rule.

But now it’s 2019.

People are pissed.

But we keep hearing no one will abandon Trump.

Look at sports. People love a player until he does not deliver in the clutch, then they’re in the doghouse and have to redeem themselves.

What has Trump delivered? Forget those who say he’s on the right path, they just want to make you go crazy, deep down inside they know he’s a buffoon balloon with the gas billowing out. Very few will admit they’re wrong in public, but in private…

So you capture the flag and run with it. That’s what the Democrats should be doing.

As for Trump, he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and instead of fielding the controversy, he’s stonewalling and attacking, he’s every bully you ever hated caught red-handed.

As for Adam Schiff and his compatriots, they’re afraid of right wing blowback and as a result they don’t say or do anything, allowing the right to define them anyway. We’re looking for strength. Stand up for your opinion, get in their face. This was what was so great about Anthony Weiner before he blew himself up.

So no one wants to get close to the fireworks. They just want to watch the show. And it’s greater than one in any big top.

And Trump is on the wrong side of almost everything and everyone. In the Middle East, with Russia, with farmers…he’s alienating everyone. Sure, he’s got his seconds, blowhards like Hannity, Ingraham and Tucker, but there are mothers who defend children who have raped and killed. Some people are never gonna change.

We’re fighting for the heart and soul of our country. Are we gonna let Trump get away with it?

Of course not!

Which is why the impeachment and removal numbers keep going up. As for Republican Congresspeople… Ever read Shakespeare? Are you aware of plots to bring the king down? Do you think Moscow Mitch and his cronies are gonna sit by and refuse to take action?

When it’s clear that the boss doesn’t care about you, is willing to cut you loose, you look out for yourself. First we had Cohen. Then we had Scaramucci. They played the game and lost, they realized they got screwed, now the knife has turned around.

Gonna happen in Congress too, just you wait.

As for the media?

It’ll be serving false equivalencies, deep down in the weeds until the action happens. Sometimes you can be so busy fighting the battle that you don’t see the war.

Trump is toast. Over. Done. It’s just a matter of when.

It’s going to happen very quickly. He’s stuck in quicksand, and the only way you can get out is with help.

No one wants to help him.

Not enough to keep him in office.

They want to watch him sink and then say how they never supported him to begin with, that he was a liar who pulled the wool over their eyes.

And then they’ll go back to attacking Democrats.

It’ll be business as usual until someone more sane takes charge and leads.

But the Democrats want to shoot their leaders.

But the little girls (and boys!) understand.

There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief…

There’s more bottom, more clarity on Amazon Music HD.

I thought the guy was gonna come and repair/finish the file cabinet today. They shipped me a replacement part, but it turns out he’s coming on Monday.

So I decided to set up my Playbar.

I got one for hosting a panel for Sonos a few years back, about music piracy and the future, remember that? But it sat in a box and when I went to plug it in it wouldn’t update, the software was just too old, even though it was perfectly capable otherwise.

They shipped me a replacement unit and today I hooked it up.

After I recabled my stereo system. Audioquest sent me new cables. The only problem is they’re for either professional or better stereos than the one I have, the cable was too thick. And I spent hours twisting wire, scraping back plastic, wondering if when I was all done whether the stereo would work.

It did. Which stunned me. Truly.

Then I had to hook up the Playbar. It went splendidly until I tried to get rid of the message on the TV, saying the sound was off. I followed the instructions on the Sonos site, but they just wouldn’t work, but then I figured it out. I wasn’t able to control the volume from the remote, but then I was, ah, the feeling of accomplishment! Does anybody do this stuff anymore, or do they just call somebody? Then again, the way the average person lives, there’s no necessity for this stuff. But if you’ve actually got a home stereo…

I want to know how things work. That’s what I loved about computers. I bought my Mac Plus in ’86 to do the “Lefsetz Letter” and I became as intrigued with tech as music. You’d hit a problem and sit in front of the screen, pondering a solution, which would eventually come to you, although sometimes I wasted an entire day and night unable to fix the problem only to call the publisher the following day for them to tell me it was a bug. I mean once I start, I want to finish. I can’t leave things undone.

And Felice was explaining to me how to enter the code for the new zone on the alarm and I couldn’t get it right. I told her I didn’t want to know the steps, that wouldn’t help me, I wanted to know how it WORKED! I guess it’s kinda like that old cliche about giving someone a fish and they can eat for one day, but teach them how to fish and they can eat forever.

Then again, are these skills even necessary anymore? I mean it was the same way a hundred years ago, you had to know how to fix your car, but no one does that anymore unless their car is old or it’s basic maintenance, like changing the oil, everything’s computerized and what’s even better, the cars don’t break regularly like they used to. Try using that excuse sometime, no one will believe it…MY CAR BROKE DOWN! But for decades you heard that, at least in my life.

Now Amazon HD is a sleeper. Spotify and Apple get all the press. And if people think high quality, they think Tidal, maybe Deezer. But Amazon has Alexa. Then again, I find the voice integration works a bit better with Apple Music. Maybe because I don’t have to wake the app up, my iPhone is always ready for Siri, especially in my car, with my new Alpine I call out “Hey Siri!” and she comes alive on screen and I can ask for anything in the pantheon, it’s really cool, really satisfying, makes me smile, you’re not limited to playlists, what you’ve thought of earlier. Sure, I could wake up the Amazon app and click on “Alexa,” but I might have an accident in the process.

But since I’ve got Verizon Unlimited, I’ve been streaming Amazon HD on my hikes, I can hear the difference, but not like on the big rig.

You can take me to paradise
And then again you can be cold as ice

We weren’t expecting much, Fleetwood Mac had been around forever. They’d been through Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Bob Welch, they were a blues/rock outfit, part of the firmament, but almost equivalent to Savoy Brown.

But then we heard the above lyrics on the radio.

We were addicted to the radio, FM was part of our DNA like social networks today, only we listened, we did not participate, we knew who the stars were.

And when “Rhiannon” broke from that same LP, Fleetwood Mac became stars. Took quite a while in fact, the better part of six months, but the band went from sideshow to the main stage.

And then came “Rumours.”

Most acts can’t follow up their big hit albums.

But the Eagles did with “Hotel California,” and then Fleetwood Mac did with “Rumours.”

The single was “Go Your Own Way,” which I didn’t come to love until about ten years later, I was looking for the more soulful stuff, the stuff that set your mind free, that allowed you to rattle around inside your own brain.

But I bought “Rumours” the day it came out, I needed it that much, we needed that much.

And the standout track was “Dreams,” you heard it immediately. And sure, Bill Clinton liked “Don’t Stop,” but that was upbeat, and like I said, it’s the mid-tempo stuff that I like, that Fleetwood Mac made its bones on.

Now the first track I had to play over and over again was “Gold Dust Woman.”

But now I’d rather hear “The Chain,” which opens side two. It’s the kind of cut that does not fit the formula, that’s not made for AM radio, it wasn’t until about fifteen years later that people truly acknowledged its specialness and started to talk about it and cover it. Sure, Lindsey’s twinkling, but it’s John McVie’s bass that locks the track down.

Still, if you asked me the best track on “Rumours,” it would be “Gold Dust Woman.” You never heard it on the radio, no one talked about it, but it truly set my mind free, took me away from humdrum life to that place only music can take you, I’m not talking the in-your-face assault which obliterates you, but the kind that expresses humanity.

Did she make you cry
Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love
And is it over now, do you know how
Pick up the pieces and go home

Oh, it’s so hard to pick up the pieces and go home, you want to stay connected, you’ll work to make it work, like a drug addict who can’t go without, even though after you go cold turkey, you can go someplace better, but it does not feel like that at the time. And some people just cannot be held, they always keep you guessing, are you together or not, are they committed or not, sometimes they’re so troubled by their own challenges that you’re a second class citizen, you can’t fix them.

Now when I used to buy stereo, when I used to evaluate it, decide on which products were superior, my go-to LP was Supertramp’s “Crime Of The Century.” I just pulled it up and I was brought right back, this was long before the band had hits, when you were either part of the club or you weren’t. This was deep and meaningful, this was not about eating kippers and taking the long way home, it was about the indoctrination of young people to their detriment, that’s what people forget about rock music, it was a signpost, a guidebook to an alternative lifestyle, it was different from an AM ditty, it was deeper, the musicians were religious figures, that’s why you had to go to the show, not to hang out with your buds and shoot selfies but to communicate with the gods, to bathe in their wisdom.

I had a half-speed mastered version of “Crime Of The Century,” still do, but now my go-to stereo evaluation track is “Gold Dust Woman,” can the stereo reproduce Mick Fleetwood’s bass drum after the lyrics end, can it pick up John McVie’s descending bass notes? Can it sear my soul?

We wanted to get closer to the music, it just wasn’t sauce, something you worked out to…actually, we didn’t work out and our music wasn’t portable, you bought the best stereo you could afford to luxuriate in the essence, to be taken away.

So it’s kinda funny. If you’re interested in statistics, this essence doesn’t appear, it can’t be quantified and these stellar cuts are not cookie-cutter and don’t fit the hit radio paradigm.

So I’ve got a Sonos box hooked up to my stereo. I can stream from my phone, from my desktop, and after spending hours getting everything connected, that’s what I did.

And I immediately pulled up “Gold Dust Woman.”

It sounds so sweet.