Better Side Of Life – Spotify

Better Side Of Life – YouTube

You don’t have to be alone to feel alone
You can have someone and still feel alone

Ain’t that the truth.

I discovered Emitt Rhodes freshman year of college. I know, I know, some people were there before me, with the Merry-Go-Round, but despite seeing that work in the bins, I never bought it, the band had no traction on the east coast.

And neither did Emitt Rhodes’s debut album. It was a press-driven thing, back when press still mattered, when it wasn’t about being holier-than-thou, hipsters with no life reviewing records because it makes them feel important.

No, you’d subscribe to all the rock magazines, dedicated fans could not get enough, “Rolling Stone,” “Crawdaddy,” “Fusion”… We were hungry for information in an era where there was very little of it.

Now we’ve got too much of it. To the point where if you’re into something, you might be the only one.

But in every burg there was an addict, checking out albums that never got airplay, and when you finally connected, you found you had commonality in these songs.

The rap on Emitt Rhodes was he was imitating the Beatles, and therefore he was dismissed. Even worse, he was on Dunhill Records, distributed by ABC, which at that time was barely considered a major.

But unlike Greta Van Fleet, Rhodes was (and still is!) an incredible writer. The changes were endearing, and the lyrics were insightful.

But after the first LP stiffed, most people moved on.

I did not, I bought the follow-up, “Mirror,” even though almost no one I’ve ever run into did. And “Mirror” is less Beatle-like, Emitt is testing his personal limits and…

I’m picking the most Beatle-like track from “Mirror” anyway.

“Better Side Of Life” could fit perfectly on the White Album, if it was cut in ’72. You can imagine Paul sitting alone with an acoustic singing from his heart.

But once the band split up, John was no longer around to tell his old partner when he was creating tripe.

Not that McCartney has not done some great work, but other than “Maybe I’m Amazed,” maybe, the tracks don’t feature insightful lyrics, like “Better Side Of Life.”

This is the difference between the music of yesterday as opposed to today. Back then you ignored AM radio, that was pop, with a limited construct, the key was to test your limits, SAY SOMETHING!

And at first hip-hop said plenty.

But today it seems to be a way to make bank in the penumbra, i.e. sponsorships and cosmetic lines and…

As for pure pop, it’s cheerleading crap, ballad b.s., if you gain wisdom from today’s pop music you haven’t yet hit puberty.

Everything that ever was will never be again
We’re only lonely people now wondering where we’ve been

They’re still together, but they’ve broken up, it’s over.

And then the loneliness sets in. Being with someone is different. The floor is higher, the moments of despair are less frequent,.

Rarely does it take you more than once or twice to learn
That love is so much deeper when you let the fever burn

Commitment. It’s everything. If your significant other is beating you up, hooked on drugs, break up. But if you’ve had that ceremony in front of your family and friends, give it a good shot, stick it out, it’s amazing how you can get over the humps and have a deeper, more satisfying relationship.

And there’s a strong possibility
That we might often fail to see the better side of life

In other words, you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.

Loneliness will capture you in moments of despair

Did you see that story in the news today, how this town in the U.K. built chat benches? Yup, with plaques saying if you want to talk, sit right down.

Loneliness is the scourge of oldsters. The internet helps keep us together, despite the negativity coming from the intelligentsia, but we all crave, need, the human touch.

And it’s illegal to stop by unannounced. So you need to make plans when the truth is you need comfort right now! You’re lucky if you’ve got any close friends at all.

The key remains inside yourself and will forever more

It’s not them, it’s you. All those people who think they can find their perfect person online…I hate to tell them, there is no such thing as perfect, and until you look inside yourself you will never have a good relationship. You might have a slave, addicted to you, a yes-person, but relationships need to be two-way and honest.

So what we’ve got is the desperate, categorically unable to be alone, bouncing from relationship to relationship, not knowing that when the going gets rough, the clued-in hang in there and try to work it out, which never happens quickly, instead of trading their spouse in for a replacement.

That first relationship after the long term one? You think you’ve found a match, you’re excited, this person delivers what your ex did not…and then you find when you tote it all up, your ex was better. Sure, they were flawed in this or that way, but everybody is, even if the flaws are different.

Furthermore, you break up and lose the shared experience, the references, the deep history.

So if you have someone and you still feel alone…make an effort, or cut it off. Don’t stay in stasis, don’t tolerate it, dig deeper, be honest, be open to criticism and insight…if you’re never hurt, if you have no arguments, your relationship is time-stamped.

Not that I know everything, not that I have the answers. But everything I learned about life and love I discovered in music and movies.

But that was back when musicians strove to make music like “Better Side Of Life,” which might have left Emitt Rhodes broke, but a legend.

Live like it’s 1969, die like it’s 1969.

Forget that Woodstock ’99 was a disaster, so was the original edition. Sure, there was great music, over-attendance and peace, but the systems were in no way capable of handling the crowd. From ingress and egress on the roads, to food, to porta-potties.

And financially, it took the movie to put it in the black.

Who wanted this formula replicated?

Certainly not the rural burgs that were inundated with festivals thereafter. Can you say “Powder Ridge”? No one wanted a festival in their backyard. They saw it as a nuisance. Ironically, the children of these elders feel the same way. The baby boomers who wanted to show up, camp and smoke dope, now don’t want their children and their children to be able to do this themselves.

Which is one of the reasons promoters buy the land their festivals run on. Like AEG with Coachella, and Live Nation with Bonnaroo. Sure, there are financial considerations, but you don’t want to be beholden to anyone, you just want to do your show.

But it’s even worse. You’ve got the town elders.

But what about all the cash a festival generates?

Well, at this point it’s mostly within the confines of the gig, and the rest of the town is overrun for the better part of a week, with “undesirables” camping and pissing everywhere and if food and merchandise is sold, there’s none for the locals, who can’t leave their houses, no wonder it’s so hard to get permission.

As for a gig at a racetrack… The only one that works is the Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas, but Insomniac invests in so much infrastructure, its attendees don’t mind. But just plunking down a show in some venue not prepared for it? That’s not enticing to the audience.

And that’s the unspoken issue with this iteration of Woodstock. If the show actually happened would anybody want to come?

The modern festival is more than the acts, people go to shoot selfies and hang, so the environment must be enticing.

And there’s only a thin layer of acts that will draw people irrelevant of the location, and they weren’t on the bill for Woodstock. You’d need to have Ariana Grande and Drake and maybe Lil Nas X to generate the excitement to get kids out of their abodes, and believe me, festivals are about youngsters. The oldsters can’t tolerate the discomfort. They want to pay for elbow room and access, can you say VIP?

And the business has consolidated and become professional. Michael Lang and his minions staging an independent Woodstock is like Gateway or Kaypro trying to compete with today’s Dell or HP. Sure, there’s equity in the brand name, but not much, never mind a lack of knowledge re today’s systems.

Why did Tim Cook become so successful? Because he’s a logistics expert, sourcing materials, getting product delivered in time to meet customer demand. It’s not sexy, but that’s a key element in today’s festival production. Nowhere has it been demonstrated that Michael Lang has this skill, he just keeps saying since he did it once, he can do it again, like an aging athlete who can’t compete in the new game, and the truth is we haven’t had that spirit here since 1969.

And music doesn’t play the same role in the national psyche. Today the cutting edge is the internet and influencers. Have a festival where attendees can meet the influencers and learn how to become one…that would be more exciting and draw more people than this Woodstock.

And the reason this saga has played out at all, is because Virgin came up with the bucks. And why was Virgin willing to pay?? BECAUSE THE ACTS HAD ALREADY BEEN PAID BY DENTSU! It’s like a new builder taking over a bankrupt, half-built edifice for free. The costs are much less than starting from zero.

But now even Virgin is out.

So the only interesting thing about the fiftieth anniversary of Woodstock is the story of the promotion and failure thereof.

I hope Michael Lang was shooting film.

What kind of crazy, fucked-up country do we live in where Republicans can’t even admit Trump’s tweets were racist?

One in which the right is functioning like a Mafia family, where it’s not about right or wrong, but protecting its members. This is like asking a parent or sibling to turn in a family member for criminal behavior. The Unabomber’s brother turned Ted Kaczynski in, but I don’t think you’re gonna see that altruistic behavior these days.

And today Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens died. 99, that’s a pretty good ride. But despite being labeled a liberal, Stevens said he was consistently a conservative, he didn’t move left, the country moved right. By today’s standards, Nixon was a Democrat, and Clinton verged on being a Republican.

And there will be a day of reckoning. You don’t want a formal record of egregious behavior. Today everything’s tracked, there’s evidence everywhere, so heinous choices will surface, to your detriment. You know the old saying, “It wasn’t my fault, the boss made me do it!” And the truth is today many bosses do require shady behavior, or else you get fired, but if you’re a Congressperson aren’t you held to a higher standard? Shouldn’t you be guided by morality?

Oh, you right wingers, don’t parse the language, that’s what’s wrong with our nation, Bill Clinton saying he didn’t have sex with that woman. He should have just admitted it and gone on. Hell, that’s Trump style, and it’s been working for him, but it seems he finally stepped over the line.

How do I know this?

His tweets are headline news on Fox and the “Wall Street Journal.” Most of the time Trump’s bad behavior is buried in these right wing outlets, if it appears at all, but this is too big a story to ignore.

Then again, if you’re racist, you take Trump’s side.

Meanwhile, the above news is eclipsed by the efforts of Al Green.

No, not the singer/preacher, rather a House member, who filed articles of impeachment Tuesday night.

Who do we blame? NANCY PELOSI! Because she’s lost control of the narrative. I don’t see how we impeach Trump for his racist tweets, but this is what happens when you don’t impeach him for his law-breaking evidenced in the Mueller Report.

Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist you righties, don’t you know the left isn’t listening to you? Well, that’s not completely true, the left is AFRAID of Republicans, that’s why Pelosi has held back on the “I” word. Supposedly if Trump’s impeached, the Democrats will lose all elections going forward. But that’s a misreading of the tea leaves, one thing’s for sure, the left’s base wants action, ergo the high flying campaigns of Sanders, Warren and Harris. You win through action, not inaction. Defense is important, but only with a good offense can you emerge victorious.

Pelosi’s been in D.C. for so long that she’s become myopic, she’s got no idea how the rank and file feel. She’s a good politician, her heart is in the right place, it’s just that she’s rolling like it’s the last century, and it’s not.

Pelosi needed to lead, keep her constituents in line. But she waffled so much on impeachment, she lost control of the narrative.

And as far as hating on the Squad with Maureen Dowd, this is like Connie Chung telling Newt Gingrich’s mother that it was just between the two of them, even though the whole country was watching on television. Pelosi thought she was playing inside baseball and no one was watching, but today every statement is parsed, and if it’s got an edge, the ball is batted back and forth online, in a virtual pinball machine.

That’s the problem with Pelosi. She knows Congress, but she doesn’t know Twitter, she doesn’t know online, which Trump has used to great effect and the Squad has too. Nancy thought she could keep the Squad in line by saying no one else was on their side, she was too old and out of it to realize she was starting a Twitter war. And those with high profiles rarely do this, you end up blowing up the opinion of your opponent. Yup, the story has been about the Squad, not Pelosi.

She doesn’t know how to play in the modern world.

The pace of the Mueller investigation is so slow, it feels like “Heaven’s Gate,” which failed at the box office. Expectations were high, but the film was so caught up in the look it sacrificed story.

You can’t let Trump continue willy-nilly, saying we’ll get our chance in 2020. No, this gives the executive branch too much power, Stevens feared that. He said no one was above the law.

But somehow Trump is.

He’s as crazy as his buddy Kim Jong Un.

Meanwhile, Trump’s base is lovin’ it, his poll numbers have gone up!

And the Dems just keep complaining to no effect.

It’s not about convincing Trump’s base not to be racist, it’s about seizing control and taking action. Trump keeps saying his team can’t testify. And almost no one has. They’re afraid of being blown up if they do.

So what do the Democrats do? They just yell. That someone took their ball away and won’t give it back.

We can argue all day whether Trump is a racist.

But one thing’s for sure, those were racist tweets. Anybody who denies this doesn’t understand English.

But so far, this is just another instance where Trump controls the debate and the Democrats end up on the losing side. They keep saying their hearts are in the right place, but that doesn’t deliver any change.

You fight fire with fire. When they go low, you go low. Michelle Obama might have a best-selling book, but she knows little about today’s politics, Hillary either. Hillary thought no one was paying attention, when the aforementioned digital record means that you’re liable for everything you ever said or did in your life, big or small. It’s war.

And the DNC killed Bernie Sanders, saying he was too far left and unelectable. But Bernie is singing the song of the public. The rank and file. Who believe their elected officials don’t understand them and don’t deliver for them, despite their impassioned pleas.

Bernie may be too old.

But he certainly knows what he’s talking about.

Medicare for all? Until you’re on Medicare, you don’t realize how great it is. As for the cost…we always hear about this from the right, which keeps giving tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy and increase the national debt, but when they’re not in power they complain about it.

That’s right, up is down and down is up.

And I’m not writing this for Republicans. They’re part of the family. They’re not gonna change their minds. And they think if they just work the refs I’ll change my mind.

But that ain’t never gonna happen.
I’m speaking to the Democrats, all Democrats, in Congress and on the street. Unless we articulate our positions, unless we explain them, unless we stop fighting with each other while we’re busy protecting every individual, we will lose sight of the big issues and lose the next election.

The big issue right now is not the racist tweets, but impeachment.

It’s your ball Nancy.

Beginnings – Spotify

Beginnings – YouTube

I was driving on Mulholland Drive after my SiriusXM show. The highway is a strange combination of inspiration and creepiness. After all, this is where those reporters found the discarded Manson murder clothing. That’s right, long after the killings they read the reports and timed how long they thought it would take to change clothes and they re-enacted the route, stopped the car, climbed down the cliff, AND THERE THEY WERE!

Did you read about the new Manson book, saying Bugliosi’s theory was wrong? I guess it’s like the Kennedy assassination, now that Charlie is dead, there are those with more questions than answers, who don’t buy the party line.

And speaking of questions, that’s the song that follows “Beginnings” on Chicago Transit Authority’s debut double album, a package you had to buy to hear.

1969 was before AOR. We had underground FM which specialized in playing the new and different and lengthy. And CTA’s songs were certainly lengthy, but after the breakthrough of the David Clayton Thomas incarnation of Blood, Sweat & Tears this sound seemed too mainstream. And eventually Chicago would go mainstream, but that wasn’t until the second LP, with “Make Me Smile” and “25 or 6 to 4,” and then the band became known for wimpy ballads and was discarded by hipsters, but…there was that 1974 track, “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long,” which started slowly and quietly, and then transitioned to a horn flourish, evidencing the humanity lost in today’s machine music, and then a sing-songy vocal that’s somewhat endearing…

Then the track starts to march.

And it slows down a bit and goes back into the verse.

Yet, then, more than halfway through, the track starts to gallop, it accelerates and…

Searchin’
For an answer

And suddenly it’s an anthem! With even a guitar solo, but what truly pulls it over the transom and jets it into the stratosphere is the backup vocals. And then it quietly exits and…you can’t wait to hear it again. This was the pre-Napster era, you had limited cash, did you really want to drop it on this double album, “Chicago VII”?

But this isn’t about that era.

This is when the band was finding its way, thrilled just to have a deal, which was gotten by James William Guercio, a legend who got no respect back then and is completely forgotten today. Have you listened to those Buckinghams hits recently? Especially “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” which also featured brass figures, maybe an inspiration for Guercio’s work with Chicago. (And never forget, Guercio ultimately directed a film, “Electra Glide In Blue,” which could possibly be Robert Blake’s best work and was almost great, better than the work of any other person who tried to switch sides from music to movies.)

The initial double album was a special deal, less than a dollar more than a single LP, not the cost of two records. And it grew slowly in the marketplace, via word of mouth, real word of mouth, not the internet kind, and real word of mouth moves much more slowly.

And there was a nearly eight minute cover of the Spencer Davis Group’s “I’m A Man,” written by Steve Winwood and producer Jimmy Miller, another forgotten man, he was there when the Stones did their best album work.

So you could dig into CTA, and it delivered. Some people consider it to be the best debut album ever, that’s what callers into my radio show said.

But I hadn’t listened to it in so so long.

And then I heard “Beginnings” on the radio.

It’s bright and sunny, but not so sunny as to be saccharine.

And one thing’s for sure, the band is functioning on all cylinders, it’s plowing ahead confidently, you cannot help but get on the train.

And I’m twisting and turning through the curves, nodding my head and singing along.

And “Beginnings” is nearly eight minutes long, closer to classical music than pop fodder. It goes through movements. Sure, the horns are prominent, but then there’s Terry Kath’s guitar, a man who would be revered as one of the best if his career wasn’t cut short by a game of Russian roulette.

And there are dynamics and…

You’re listening, and fifty year old music should sound dated, like a period piece, good only for nostalgia, but the truth is “Beginnings” was still fresh.

But somehow horns got a bad name, and got replicated by synthesizers, and instead of having big bands acts play to hard drive, and the inner mounting flame, the sheer joy and exuberance of music, has been lost along the way.

But unlike the lost civilizations of Mexico, this music is hiding in plain sight, waiting to be rediscovered and inspire.