I just had the best chocolate souffle of my life. McGuinness recommended the restaurant, Chapter One, it has a Michelin star, not that that was the reason we went there.

I’m all wired up. After said souffle, and some additional chocolate, which doesn’t sit so well with the aged, and I’m one of them, I journeyed to do hype for my Geldof appearance with Tom Dunne at Newstalk radio, I thought it was a fish out of water story, you know, Californian in Ireland, pick out your favorite Irish tracks, put you on the spot kind of thing, but instead it turned out Tom was a fan and wanted to know about ME! No one ever asks me about me, so I riffed with my greatest hits and gave away a few secrets.

First it must be entertaining. That’s the first rule of show business, ignored by so many.

Kinda like all those articles forwarded to me all day long. Maybe a good topic, but dreadful writing, and therefore I don’t read, I CAN’T READ!

And I was hotter when I walked in the door of the hotel room, but I was giving Felice a post mortem and the inspiration started to drift away. Ah, being an artist, you’ve got to strike when the iron is hot, capture the moment, the zeitgeist, otherwise you miss the mark. I know, I know, some people do it the other way, but not me! “Satisfaction” came to Keith Richards in a dream! If I hear one more person tell me writing is rewriting I’m gonna puke. That means they go over it so many times it no longer resembles normal speech, they’re trying to impress cognoscenti who don’t care. Remember this, who were the biggest acts of the last twenty years? Adele, *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. All with good vocals and singable songs. That’s the music business for you, so up its own ass that it takes an outsider like Lou Pearlman to teach it some lessons. We’ve gotten so far from the garden we don’t even know how to grow things anymore. All we keep hearing is disinformation, you don’t get it, it’s not for you, you’ve got to listen to it a dozen times, IT’S MUSIC, when done right it resonates, with almost everybody, when done wrong…oh, we specialize in doing it wrong.

So today we went up the country. Or down the country. To the mountains, to the moors, to see peat. Pretty cool actually. Although I must say I got sleepy on the ride home, the Irish music blasting through the speakers, the tour done. The coach was driven by John who also narrated. He grew up in a family of nine, after dropping out of school at 13 he drove “articulated” trucks all over the U.K. and Europe until he found this gig, his favorite of all time. Made me wonder, how does everybody survive. How you choose a path without realizing it. Like those people in college who needed to get good grades to get into a good graduate school, I couldn’t do that anymore. But at least I’m in a field where education is irrelevant, in music it’s who you are, it’s unquantifiable, it’s a free-for-all, which is why it never gets any respect, which is fine with me.

So this was where they filmed “Braveheart.” The driver kept on going on about this flick “P.S. I Love You,” which neither Felice nor myself had ever viewed, but that’s modern society, where there are no points of reference.

And the tour guides at the prison and the Little Museum of Dublin, they were good, but what is it like doing the same thing every day? That’s the funny thing about life, you can choose to be happy or choose to be rich, and usually those are not the same thing/path. I keep vacillating, I know what rich is, but I want to be happy. Right now happy is winning, but I vacillate. Then again, tech and finance are interesting from the outside, but on the inside, they’re drudgery, I can never imagine doing them all day, and right now I’m at the peak of my career, but I endured so many hardships, not that anybody believes that, but that’s America, where the goal is to prove you’re poorer than the next. If that’s your goal, you’re missing the plot.

And Chapter One was not cheap. Actually, it’s the extras that made it expensive. And of the four courses, the two in the middle were nothing to write home about. But the starter and the dessert, whew!

I began with “Japanese tapioca, St. Tola, Ballyhoura mushroom, leek.”
Don’t ask me to explain it, but the texture was incredible. Like eating soft-boiled ball bearings floating in gelatin. And uber tasty.

As for that souffle…

It was billed as “64% chocolate souffle, tobacco & lime ice cream.”

And I can’t tell you I could truly taste the tobacco. But this is the first souffle I’ve ever had that wasn’t runny. Sure, the inside was molten lava, but the exterior was firm, I ate the whole damn thing, as you do when you’re on vacation.

As for Paul McGuinness, he’s in the South of France producing season two of “Riviera,” he just told me you can see season one on Sundance Now. But the point is, McGuinness parted ways with U2 and continues to be successful, he’s doing something new whereas U2 retreated into the past. That’s what a successful manager does, no act ever made it without a good one. They usher projects to fruition, they make it happen, and they don’t teach that in school.

And they’re uncontrollable, they can never work for the man, THEY ARE THE MAN!

That’s what made the music business great, the outsiders.

That’s why tech is hobbled, you can start it, but either the FANG brothers will buy you or compete with you and put you out of business, unlike Fleetwood Mac you cannot go your own way. And it’s tough to go your own way in music, the labels are all run by people with no skin in the game, they’re managers, not entrepreneurs, and they wield their catalogs to carve out their pound of flesh, maybe two pounds. And some people sit at home and cry that the game is rigged and the odds are stacked against them. But you can win, it’s getting better for you. Terrestrial radio is fading, you can sign directly to Spotify. Assuming you want to jump off the cliff and do it your own way, without whining.

Maybe something is coming.

Then again, maybe not.

That’s right, Mr. 10cc. The man who also wrote “For Your Love,” “Heart Full Of Soul,” Look Through Any Window,” “Bus Stop,” “No Milk Today,” “Listen People”…

He’s on the road with Ringo, actually, he just finished, and when in L.A., we sat down at the mic and I got his story. An only child, writing songs with his dad, being a songwriter for hire and then ultimately joining the gang at Strawberry Studios and becoming a member of the aforementioned 10cc.

“Wall Street Shuffle” is just as accurate as the day it was written.

“I’m Not In Love” is legendary.

And “The Things We Do For Love” is the definition of ear candy, with an indelible bridge.

Graham is a mensch who revealed his history. TUNE IN!

7 PM East, 4 PM West, Volume 106

RORY GALLAGHER CORNER

What do you think of that
I’m sleeping down at the laundromat

“Laundromat”

He’s been forgotten, but maybe if kids listen to “Laundromat” they’ll be inspired to pick up a Stratocaster and make a glorious noise.

I was late to the Rory Gallagher party, or maybe I was early. I saw his group Taste open for Blind Faith in the summer of ’69, but I had no idea who Rory was. And then I was turned on to him by my friend John Hughes in college, back in the day when an act could break out regionally, they never played this cut in New York, but it was on the airwaves in K.C.

I wasn’t gonna go to the corner, the pictures didn’t seem that impressive, but then I started getting e-mail about going and I just sauntered down there. On one hand it’s easy to ignore, just a sign high on a wall, but underneath that is a bronze Stratocaster, actual size, and that struck my heart, even though no one else was looking up. Because that’s the essence, the axe. What you could do with one, even the punk bands used one, but in the hands of true players you’d hear this mellifluous sound, sometimes edgy, always different, a far cry from the repetitious 808 heard on endless tracks back in ’82, and now today.

My favorite Rory Gallagher cut is “Walkin’ Wounded,” because of the groove, because of the majesty, try not nodding your head to this, it’s like he’s breaking ice with his guitar and the drums pound and Rory emotes like he cares, cool is not what he’s going for, then again, that’s what he ends up with.

The blues. We’ve all got ’em. They blew up because people could identify. Never underestimate the power of connection, it’s what holds the world together.

“Walkin’ Wounded”

TEMPLE BAR

It’s a neighborhood, it’s an actual bar, and it’s where Rory’s corner is.

Now if I were still in college, if I still drank, I’d spend my evenings there. Reminds me of the Alibi back in Middlebury, all wood, rough edges, not sharp. Where it’s about your personality as opposed to your look. And the guitarist was playing Ewan MacColl’s “Dirty Old Town” and it was like the internet era never existed. It was just a guy with a Martin, strumming and singing, how did it become about beats? But that’s only on streaming services, seems like songs sustain, not that they get any press, but they are the oral tradition that will survive, they penetrate your heart, that’s humanity, when you get rid of the tricks and just start playing and singing.

“Dirty Old Town”

THE BOOK OF KELLS

Kind of a disappointment actually. There are endless exhibits of build-up that supersede the ultimate book itself. Then again, it is old, and it is colorful and it’s amazing how they made it, but…

The library on the floor above is positively JAW-DROPPING!

They stocked every book published in England and Ireland. It’s overwhelming, you get the feeling that all the knowledge is RIGHT HERE!

That’s how you learn most, the written word. It supersedes the spoken word, which is kind of funny if you think about it. But book lovers would just like to sit there and marinate in the vibe of the Trinity Library. And it’s not only the feel, but the look… The vaulted ceiling, the ladders…

We ain’t got nothing like this in the New Land.

KILMAINHAM GAOL

It’s the hottest ticket in Dublin. It’s the PRISON!

And you wouldn’t want to be there. One tiny room, with only a blanket to keep you warm, the candle needing to last two weeks. And it’s amazing the people they executed, and the people who were locked up and let out and are now seen as heroes. It was illegal to beg during the potato famine, and if you got locked up you were better fed than you were on the street, so cells built for one were inhabited by nearly ten!

But mostly it’s about revolution. The Irish wanted self-rule. They eventually got it, after a long hard fight. We are no longer warding off the English in America, but somehow the majority is no longer ruling. Is it in our destiny to fight?

Taylor Takes A Side

You play offense, not defense.

Ever since Kavanaugh was confirmed the spin is Republicans have benefited, the Democrats have been pointing fingers, will it become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Republicans are spinmasters, they understand the game, the Democrats are wimps who believe in their hearts they’re on the right side and should win and when they don’t they whine. GROW A PAIR!

Oh, can I say that?

Now that’s one place the Democrats have lost the plot, with the political correctness, the trigger warnings, the decision to offend no one. Get over it, go on the playground, your mommy and daddy cannot defend you there, you’ve got to fight for your right to party, and the Democrats keep laying down arms until…

Taylor Swift takes a side.

Now you can be cynical and ask where she was during the last election cycle. But never criticize someone for becoming woke too late. At least Taylor Swift woke up. Now if she’d only write a song!

History told her not too. My inbox is filling up with messages about the Dixie Chicks. Are you too afraid to take a side? Don’t be. You too can make a difference. Hell, why is it in Tennessee you can’t register to vote election day to begin with! You’ve got to push back and…

Ignore the news.

Don’t you get it, THE MEDIA IS LOVING THIS! THEY’VE SUDDENLY GOT A HORSE RACE! They love telling stories about the Republican resurgence.

As for the pollsters… Are they reaching millennials on landlines? If you trust the polls today, you probably trust the news, and never in our history has the fourth estate been more wrong.

This is the sixties all over again, in other words, WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

And what we learn is the inequitable side stuck in the past always loses in the end. That’s right, we’ve got abortion, we’ve got gay marriage, the Republicans are on the wrong side of history, don’t default to them, SPEAK UP!

Hell, the Republicans have their ducks in a row, their talking points set up. Protests are funded by Soros. Innocent until proven guilty. Ignore your past statements as you double down on your new. And what do the Democrats do? BLAME AVENATTI!

As if the confirmation of Kavanaugh was the World Series, but it’s just a playoff game, the real contest takes place in November. As for Kavanaugh…there’s always another season.

I’m not saying I’m optimistic. But I am saying I’m willing to take a side and stick with it, and point fingers at their team, not ours.

Wake up! Supporting women is a GOOD THING! A WINNING STRATEGY! Everybody has a mother, you don’t want to stop pushing on this. Furthermore, this is what Republicans do best, agitate and define the debate. It’s about time the Democrats defined the debate. Sure, I’m temporarily demoralized, we lost the game, but we did a hell of a job. We revealed the temperament of Kavanaugh, we exposed the duplicity of Susan Collins, who always says she feels one way but goes the other. This is to our BENEFIT!

All those professors coming down on Kavanaugh, the ex-justice, wow, I’d say we’re on a WINNING STREAK!

But the Republicans keep telling us we’re not and we’re buying it, blaming ourselves, and they’re laughing as we cripple our message.

Let your freak flag fly. Now is the time to be yourself, to stand up for something. They keep telling us we’re breaking America, when THEY DID! They marched on Charlottesville or endorsed it. They are the ones who didn’t put all of Kavanaugh’s past in evidence. But like good prosecutors, they keep blaming it on us. WE’RE BLAMELESS! We just want fairness for ALL! Is that a bad thing? OF COURSE NOT!

P.S. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift reaches many more voters than Fox. That’s the power of our side. When they say entertainers aren’t entitled to a voice tell them politics is show business for ugly people and that it’s all the same game.