It’s Napster.

What do we know about Napster?

It happened as a result of technological change. Same deal here, but instead of high speed connections, it’s smartphone cameras.

In the late nineties and early 2000s, only college students had high speed connections. The public came along later. Same deal with smartphones. Sure, some had them in Ferguson, but now everybody has one. Come on, go on YouTube, whenever there’s a newsworthy event, there’s footage. A rock falls onto the freeway and hits a car? There’s video! Almost nothing is undocumented.

And the people trading files were pissed at the record companies. They did studies back then. Labels were some of the most hated entities extant, down there with cable companies. People were sick and tired of paying ten plus bucks for a CD with one good track. The labels thought they were winning, by eliminating the single, but they were wrong.

Today the rank and file don’t believe the government works for them. That the game is rigged, that it’s run by a professional cabal and corporations and they have no say.

So they protest.

So what does Trump do? CALL OUT THE NATIONAL GUARD! Push back, employ tear gas.

This is exactly what the labels did in the early 2000s, to support their business model, they sued their customers. Nobody agreed with this philosophy other than the labels themselves. This just made customers angrier and even the press questioned the tactic.

Meanwhile, revenue went up. This file-trading thing needed to be eradicated, but CDs were still flying out of the bins and the iTunes Store came along and proved…what, I’m not sure. That people without technological skills would pay for music while the rest of the customer base continued to steal? And now the labels’ great fear was reality, in other words, the single was broken out of the album. Oh, you could still buy an album, but why?

And then revenue cratered. To the point where half of recorded music income was lost, and it only bounced back with streaming services, most notably Spotify, which offered a free tier.

You still hear insiders saying they want to get rid of the free tier. And they keep bitching about music on YouTube. But the truth is the free tier, supported by advertising, was a disincentive to steal. Same deal with YouTube. These days, streaming numbers on paid services oftentimes outstrip those on YouTube. If Spotify had been able to launch earlier, music on YouTube wouldn’t have been such a big deal. But not all labels would sign on, and therefore Spotify’s launch in the U.S. was delayed.

And let’s be clear, it is about Spotify. Sure, you read the Apple numbers, but the truth is subscribers on Spotify are much more active, they listen to more music, and that’s what drives the business, active customers. As for Amazon…it’s got a unique strategy. The Echo is a Trojan Horse and unlike Spotify or Apple Amazon has a hi-res tier. To gain a foothold you must be different, which Amazon is. Try out their high quality tier. It’s not as expensive as Tidal’s. And Tidal is a joke, a gnat on the ass of paid music consumption.

So, the Democrats and Republicans have been acting in a vacuum for decades now. It’s a closed game, and you’re affected by who wins and loses. Disruption was impossible, because of the Constitution! There was no way around it.

So, taxes were lowered for the rich. Republicans thought no one would notice. But today news is everywhere, and many people noticed.

And the Republicans have been focusing on social issues to win elections. Anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage…but these don’t put food on the plate. Of course there’s a hard core of constituents who continue to vote Republican, but there are people who buy CDs TO THIS DAY! Furthermore, you’ll find people who won’t sign up for a paid streaming service. They’ve got all the answers. What if there’s no cell signal? They’re too ignorant to know that you can download the tracks to the device, so as long as it has juice, you’ve got tunes. They say they need to own it. When the format they possess won’t even last. Come on, when was the last time you saw a VCR in somebody’s house, never mind a LaserDisc player. As for DVDs… My computers don’t have drives. My last DVD player didn’t have an HDMI port…so what did I do? I tossed it, and didn’t bother to replace it.

We live in a world of on demand. And one of the great things about on demand is the product can always be improved and your gear is never obsolete. Even the car companies went to on demand. They outsourced manufacturing to third parties and they only want delivery when they need it, oftentimes just hours before car construction. And I know I’m mixing virtual with physical. But like the hoi polloi, who are constantly denigrated, the car companies had no savings and look to the government to be saved during times of crisis. So, the government rescues corporations and banks, and you’re plum out of luck. Maybe you got $1200. See how long that lasts. It’s socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the poor.

But it gets worse! The rich constantly brag about their lifestyle and believe since they’re wealthy they know better, fomenting anger in the lower classes, who are the overwhelming majority in numbers, if not bucks.

But big time media, in bed with those in the government, say politics is all about the money, even the Supreme Court endorses this, and gets rid of the Voting Rights Act to boot.

As for said media… This was the same media that beat up the record business for being unprepared and ignorant, meanwhile, it was just a matter of time until the internet came for them, and most of them were wiped out. And even the big ones today are essentially begging. It’s a glorified GoFundMe campaign. Keep local news alive! Why? You charged us more for less and it gotten to the point where your newshole is so small, I don’t need to subscribe. Instead of investing, you cut in order to maintain your profit margin. So, the only publications which survive are the “Wall Street Journal,” owned by Rupert Murdoch, who uses the paper as a right wing mouthpiece, irrelevant of income, the “Washington Post,” owned by the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, and the “New York Times,” which is so self-congratulatory while at the same time being self-flagellating that it seems removed from what is happening on the street. Furthermore, these outlets just report, as the country’s government turns to the right, as authoritarianism raises its ugly head. These reporters are tied into the system, they’re friends with the bigwigs, they want to get rich too, so the consumer is left out.

Yes, the consumer has been taking it up the yin-yang for years.

But now the consumer has the tools, the aforesaid smartphone and social media distribution, to get its message heard.

And then George Floyd gets killed in Minneapolis…

They’ve been killing African-Americans willy-nilly for years, but there were no cameras, there was always an excuse. Hell, until there was footage in Georgia the jogger was at fault, he was breaking into houses, you’ve got to take the white man’s word.

So, after being sick of overpaying for one good track on a CD, being labeled lazy, the African-American community revolted.

But it turned out they were not the only ones who were pissed. The white people came out too. Other people of color. There were demonstrations in 750 cities in America. You see it’s no longer an African-American problem, it’s an underclass problem. And compared to the wealthy, almost all of us are members of the underclass.

So, what do the insiders and fat cats tell us to do? VOTE! As if that’s gonna make a difference. They believe in the system, after all, it’s working for them! You know, buy CDs!

And then there are the people afraid to steal. But when they see everybody surrounding them doing it, they jump on board.

You see disruption doesn’t only happen in technology. And right now, we’re seeing politics disrupted.

The Republicans sold their souls to Trump, to keep their jobs. Just like the execs at the labels, they were thinking about themselves first.

And the Democrats said we had to return to the past, we could not venture into the future. The people couldn’t handle it, they didn’t want it, they needed to feel safe, they abhorred chaos, so the DNC nominated Joe Biden, someone no one is excited about. The Democrats are rock in an era of hip-hop. And let’s be clear, most rockers HATE hip-hop! They give it no respect, they say it isn’t music, they vilify streaming services, meanwhile hip-hop keeps getting bigger.

And AOC comes on the scene, a young ‘un, part of the demo, who understands the plight of those disadvantaged by the system, and she is EXCORIATED! Shut up you loud mouth, you’re too big for your britches, get in line and be quiet.

But she was on to something.

And then you’ve got septuagenarian Bernie Sanders, who suddenly seems like a seer. In light of Covid-19, Medicare-for-all seems necessary, to protect the health of the country’s citizens from those who are too poor to get medical treatment if nothing else. And as the big get bigger, Amazon and Google rule and we suffer, Biden is in bed with them.

You might think I’m a party of one, you might ignore my call, just like you ignored it in the days of Napster. But yesterday on the “Washington Post” app I saw this:

“New generation of activists, deeply skeptical of Democratic Party, resists calls to channel energy into the 2020 campaign”

Why trust the Democrats? They’re disconnected from the voting public. They’re just the party of the elite, the entrenched, who want to maintain what they’ve got. At least the Republicans are more honest about it.
You see both parties have lost the confidence of the rank and file. And we’re not going back to what once was. A return to normal Biden proffers? Well, normal wasn’t that good for most people to begin with!

As for gradual change, trusting the system, it didn’t benefit the African-Americans.

We are only going forward.

Change always comes from outside, insiders don’t want it, we saw this with Shawn Fanning and Napster. Insiders can’t see the future.

And the new leaders follow at best, the labels are no longer in control of recording. If nothing else, everybody can record at home essentially for free on their computer and promote themselves on the internet/social media. As for the labels, they don’t develop, they just skim the cream and promote as they continue to lose market share.

Adapt or die.

Hell, we’re dying on the street, and we’re sick and tired of it!

Everyday People

1

There’s a joy in playing music.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2

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

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

Sly Stone.

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

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

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

And then came “Everyday People.”

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

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

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

3

Sometimes I’m right and I can be wrong

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am everyday people

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

Woodstock. The movie.

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

4

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

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

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

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

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

Until today.

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

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

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

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

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

AND THEN HE SINGS!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Once again: Everyday People

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

iheart

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is over wearing a mask.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As for concerts?

They’re coming, you betcha.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But experts?

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

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

Talk about making up your own facts…

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

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

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

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

Oh, you’re laughing?

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

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

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

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

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

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

“More universities report coronavirus cases in athletic programs”

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

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

They’re dropping like flies I tell you.

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

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

You see it’s about testing and contact tracing.

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

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

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

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

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

It’s science.

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

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

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

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

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

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

And odds are I won’t get infected.

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

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

As for Trump getting elected in November…

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

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