Where Did All The Great Music Go?

A few plaintive notes on harmonica, a tinkling piano, then that voice, “screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves. Just like that I knew “Thunder Road” was destined to be a classic. I’m sure most music fans have had that experience with a song regularly. Lately, however, I have noticed that euphoric feeling of discovery doesn’t seem to happen any more.

I started looking back at what I considered my all time favorite classic songs. I realized that all of the songs on my personal best of list were written before 1990. So have there really been no great songs, written in the past two decades? Has music changed that much? Or is it because as I grew older, music played a smaller part in my life?

From the day I bought my first good stereo system in the late 70’s through the 80’s where I spent most weekends as a wedding disc jockey, music was an important part of my life. I bought way too many records, then too many CD’s. Listening to music is what I did in my free time.

Much of the music I consider classic came from that time. Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, The Police, The Cars, U2 & Prince, all releasing album after album with many classic cuts. Maybe that was just an exceptional era of music. Perhaps, that is the explanation.

It was not just the music of that era, however, that resonated with me. I started to discover music, from earlier eras, rock songs that I had been to young to appreciate the first time around. Great soul music, Motown, blues and jazz all were finding a place in my heart and mind.

So if it wasn’t just that era of music being exceptional and dynamic, there must be another reason. Does time and place, essentially make the difference in what impact music has on you?


In our twenties, the road of life lies wide open ahead. Everything is new and exciting with different possibilities around every corner. As we get older, life settles into place. Other obligations and responsibilities grow and the opportunity to spend hours listening to music slips away. Changes happen less frequently and for many that is a good and natural thing.

As I listen again to classics, like “Born to Run”, The Cars first album, The Police, or Prince, memories rush my mind. I realize these memories are not so much of the music, but rather of lost youth. Of friends that shared the discoveries with you, of drinking too much and dancing into the night. Of spending days at Sam’s Jams, going through the cutout record bin in search of a bargain find. Hours spent reading liner notes and memorizing lyrics. From the perch of middle age these songs in many ways are a sound track to my life.

I know I start to sound like my Dad, as I wax nostalgic, with the “they don’t make music like that anymore” rant. That is not the case. There are many artists making good music today. From big bands like Coldplay, to artists in need of more airtime, such as Neko Case, there is good music. It is true that rap and hip-hop have pretty much destroyed R&B, but that is for another post.

That tingle, the goose bumps you get when a song just grabs you are just fewer and farther between. Maybe it is because you just can’t go back. Perhaps that is part of the disappointment with Springsteen’s last couple of albums. It seems he too is reaching back for some of his “glory days”. Yet instead of regaining the power and vitality of that era it seems more a pale imitation. Something we have all heard before.

I hope Bruce still has some great music in him. More importantly, I hope I still have the capacity to recognize it and appreciate it when I do hear that next classic track.

Another One Bites The Dust

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Governor Mark Sanford's Affair
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Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Jon Stewart, as usual nails it. "Just another politcian with a conservative mind and a
liberal penis".

THE REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE HORROR SHOW - HD Version

Just like a bad horror movie, and all of it's sequels

Terror Suspects Allowed to Buy Weapons

Feeling safer yet?

Over the past eight years, we Americans have given or had taken away many liberties we used to take for granted. In the name of protecting ourselves from another terrorist attack, we have allowed grandmothers to be practically strip searched at airports, given up any expectation that our phone calls are private, and had to be ashamed that we tortured prisoners like a third world banana republic. We have made crossing the border into neighboring Canada seem as threatening as getting to the other side of the Berlin Wall.

Yet for all those security restrictions, the abrogation of many civil rights, one right remains sacrosanct: guns.

As the New York Times reported in todays edition;

"People on the government’s terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them, according to a new government report."

Because of the power of the National Rifle Association, the government is unable to stop these people from buying a gun. Our lax regulations prohibit federal officials from prohibiting a gun purchase, unless the buyer is a felon, illegal immigrant, or a drug addict. So people on this watch list can't get on

a plane, but they may purchase guns and other weaponry. I guess it is safer to get on a plane. It's a good thing these prospective terrorists don't have another venue to utilize these weapons.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J), who requested the study, and had introduced legislation to fix this loophole in 2007 was quoted as saying that legislation failed because congress "knuckled under to the gun lobby".

Now I do understand there are problems with this watch list. Many innocent people have been flagged because they have the same name as a suspect. Still does it not make sense to use this list with care. We make some of these innocent people jump through hoops just to go on vacation. The least we could do is make sure legitimate terror suspects can't purchase weapons easily.

I realize that in this land of rednecks, I am not likely to get my way, and have guns go the way of the dodo bird. But this reflexive reaction of the NRA, to always oppose any restrictions on gun purchases has to be dealt with. We need a congress to stand up to these thugs, and say enough is enough. Common sense restrictions do not abolish the second amendment.

Another Day, Another Hypocrite

A virtuous Republican has once again been led into temptation. Senator John Ensign, a supposed rising star in the Republican ranks has admitted to an affair with a staffer, who happens to be the wife of another staff member.

Now I really don't care about who the Senator sleeps with. It is none of my business. The Senator, however, has over the years made a point of caring about others sex lives. He famously called fellow Republican Larry Craig a "disgrace" after his airport restroom incident. He also called for Bill Clinton's resignation or removal from office following his impeachment because of the Lewinsky scandal. He is also a member of The Promise Keepers the evangelical men's organization dedicated to championing the traditional family.

Senator Ensign has also been front and center pushing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. He has been vocal on the importance of this and said before the Senate:

"Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded," added Sen. Ensign, going on to add, "For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation.

"Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America has relied," Ensign went on to claim.

I wish these self-righteous moralizers would just be quiet. Live your lives and allow the rest of us to live our own. We will make mistakes, and have failings, just as you do. Stop trying to legislate your interpretation of what is moral and decent. In return we will stop enjoying every time one of you hypocrites is caught with his pants down.

Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"

The power of words, music and video. Thanks, Judy.

HBO's Bill Maher Takes On President Obama

His comments touch on the one nagging fear I had about Obama during the campaign season. I was hopeful that the measured responses, and the calls for bi-partisanship were just a campaign strategy.

I am not bailing on the President. Overall, I am still pleased with the direction he is moving. Like Bill Maher, however, I want a more agressive attitude. He needs to twist arms, among Democrats, and ignore the Republicans. There will be no better time to pass the changes he promised in the campaign.

We in the field, knew these battles were not going to be won easily. If they are going to be won, it is only going to happen if the President rolls up his sleeves, and puts his popularity to good use.

Bimbo Alert

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This idiotic woman could be Vice-President of the United States right now. We really dodged a bullet on that one.

Black, White or Gray?

Black and white, or are there shades of gray when the subject is abortion? That is the heart of the issue raised in columns by William Saletan in Slate and Ross Douthat in The New York Times earlier this week.

Both men magnanimously claim to understand that there are certain circumstances where a decision to have an abortion, while regrettable, is merited. The good abortion versus bad abortion appears pretty clear to Mr. Saletan in particular.

abortions are worse in the second trimester than in the first. Repeat abortions are worse than first-time abortions. Abortions for 20-year-olds are worse than abortions for 10-year-olds. Elective abortions are worse than abortions to protect the woman's health

Does Mr. Saletan have a similar scale for murder? Is murdering a 12-year-old child, worse than murdering an 82- year old man? Is murder less heinous if the victim is terminally ill? Is killing a priest more evil than killing a homeless person? Who determines what value we place on life?

Look at the distinctions Mr. Saletan makes. An abortion for a 20-year-old is worse than for a ten-year-old. Does Mr. Saletan assume that the child is a victim of rape or incest, and the 20-year-old is a slutty college student who had careless sex?

As often seems to be the case in these abortion arguments, the issue is usually a male choosing to judge the character of a woman. They often claim their only concern is the rights of an unborn child. In many cases, however, they are judging a woman guilty of immorality. Passing sentence, they order the woman to have this child. A living “Scarlet Letter”; which must be worn for the next eighteen years.

We all make moral judgments, in situations like these. I know I do. I agree that in some instances, I would be more likely to approve of a woman’s decision to have an abortion than in others. Where I differ with these columnists, is that I do not seek to codify my moral judgments into law. The only one with the absolute right to make a decision is the woman whose life we are talking about. Hopefully, the decision is made in consultation with her family, and ideally the father. In the end, however, it is the woman’s decision. The rest of us need to respect that, and mind our own business.

Beginnings and Endings

Beginnings and endings. This week has had a bit of both. Sharing the excitement with my daughter at her college orientation. Being around hundreds of kids beginning a new chapter in their lives. A future full of hope and endless possibilities. It was hard not to feel a bit wistful about paths taken in ones own life, and feeling a bit jealous of the opportunity before her and her fellow students.

Upon returning home, the other end of the spectrum slapped me in the face. The husband of one of my wifes' closest friends, who has been battling cancer over the last eighteen months, found out that it is essentially over. The throat cancer which has caused him to spend more time in the hospital than at home over these past several months, and is not going to respond to further treatment. he can choose more chemotherapy, and prolong the pain and suffering, or go into hospice care for the time that remains. Not much of a choice. He has decided to pass on further treatment, and now at most, a couple months remain.

What does one say? How do you give encouragement in a time like this? I am more aware than ever now, that we were fortunate, that our daughters course of treatment went in a different direction. Just four short years ago, when we heard the words "brain tumor", we feared we would be faced with this type of impossible situation.

So as Emily faced the future, a cancer survivor with hope and endless possibilities, a good man faced an unfair early end to his possibilities. Children and a wife left behind struggling to make sense of it all. If there is a plan in this world, times like these make it difficult to comprehend.

In addition, there is the nagging reminder that is never too far from a cancer survivors mind. What if it comes back? I know Emily is thinking about it, as are her mother and I. All we can do is push that as far out of our mind as it will go. Concentrate on the future. Encourage her to look forward to the learning, both educationally and personally that is to come.

We will do what we can to support our friends. I will also hope that one of those bright, fresh young faces at orientation , is on a path to help us all. Perhaps, a path to be the Jonas Salk of cancer. Among those facing a new beginning, there may be one who can stop the premature endings that too many must now face.

Health Care Battle Underway

Ezra Klein succinctly analyzes the various health care options. The Harvard poll at the top of his piece gives me some hope that we will achieve some type of health care reform. The fact that 45% of respondents thought "socialized" medicine would be better than what we now have is amazing.

That is a significant attitude adjustment. If a poll using the big bogeyman word socialized, still shows that type of support, we have made progress. Or more, likely it proves how screwed up our current health care system is.

As Ezra points out no one in this country is seriously advocating a socialized program. I would prefer a single payer system. That not being likely, however, we must fight to insure that any program which passes has to provide a public option. If there is no public option to keep private insurers in check, we will be no better off than we are today.

As Paul Krugman pointed out rules 1 & 2 are "Don't trust the insurance industry". The industry lobbyists are hard at work on moderate and weak Democrats. Make your voice heard over the insurance and pharmaceutical lobby. This is our best chance to fix this system.

The Union Label

I spent a couple hours on Friday lurking in the hallway of the United Auto Workers Local 600 office in Dearborn. While my wife was taking a test for a job with the Census Bureau, I looked at the many historic photos which lined the halls. There were the usual photos of presidents, governors, and mayors, shaking hands and greeting union members. The more powerful pictures, however, were those depicting the difficult and violent struggle which brought the UAW to power.

I knew some of the history, at least in a casual way. Seeing the photos of people dead in the streets of Detroit, union leaders with black eyes and bruised lips. Confrontations between Ford "security", and the union protesters. Tens of thousands marching in a funeral procession for five slain men, who died fighting for their right to organize. Henry Ford vowed that workers would unionize over his dead body.

It made me realize how much my generation and those that follow have taken for granted. We expect a standard work week, fair wages, benefits, and a safe work place. Many of us have forgotten that those were not provided by employers out of the goodness of their hearts. Blood was shed for those rights. People fought for those rights. Their sacrifice and struggle, provided the greatest growth of the middle class this country, and probably the world has known.

As I was growing up in the late 60's through most of the 70's, it was a given that our generation would be better off than our parents. A big part of the "American Dream" was rooted in that belief. The growth of the middle class fueled that economic expansion. The middle class grew in large part because of the success of unions in general, and the UAW in particular. Growing up in Detroit, I witnessed this first hand.

Auto workers, were able to buy nice homes, send their children to college, and even have small cottages up north as weekend getaways. The union pay and benefit package impacted workplaces throughout the region. Even in non union employers, higher wages, better benefits, time and a half pay on Sundays, were all offered because in a union market they were expected.

Every time I hear a talking head on television prattle on about the overpaid auto worker, I want to scream. When we have a healthy middle class, we have a healthy economy. Certainly unions are not perfect. They have created safety nets in some cases for those who were not deserving. I grew up surrounded by auto workers. The overwhelming majority worked at exhausting, demanding jobs. They worked in unbearable heat during the summer. Long hours were common for many. Were they paid well for people without education? Absolutely.

The slide of the auto industry is not due to the fact that we paid the workers too much. The auto industry in America for years simply did not engineer innovative or dynamic product. Instead of researching and innovating, they followed the path of least resistance and kept building big SUV's. Mostly because they were highly profitable in the short term. Higher profit, led to higher stock prices, which led to big bonuses to the CEO.

The other elephant in the room so to speak, is our abysmal health care system. The erroneous astronomical hourly rates that one often hears the auto workers make includes the company investment in health care benefits. Of course, it is difficult for American companies to compete with foreign competition, when every other advanced nation provides health care for it's citizens.
Until we remove the burden of heath care from employers, and develop a government program, we will always be at a competitive disadvantage.

The shrinking buying power of the middle class, I believe is in great part responsible for the economic mess we are in today. That shrinkage began with the weakening of the union movement. Through much of the Bush administration, poll after poll showed Americans were not satisfied, or confident in the state of the economy. I remember economists being puzzled, because all their indicators and measures showed growth. That growth we now know was a mirage. A mirage created by low interest rates, and increasing real estate values which created an illusion of wealth. This was no more real than a waterfall in the Sahara. We were refinancing our homes, taking "equity" out, and going on vacations, buying plasma televisions, and new cars using profit that had not in reality been earned.

We were playing with the houses money, but the house was broke. Some of us could see the problem looming, even if we did not have a p.h.d in economics. Incomes were stagnant or dropping, except for the top one percent. I kept thinking about the "value" of my home and thinking how out of line that was. Especially as everyone insisted that the value could only go up. My house, is essentially a "starter" home and I thought no way could this be worth $250k in a few years. It makes me wonder how the p.h.d crowd failed to see this.

Republican senators say we must lower the pay of the American worker, to compete with the world. How about this for an idea. Let's try to make the rest of the world pay a decent wage to it's workers. Put a health care system into place that removes the burden from our industry. Most of all make sure that wealth grows in all segments of the economy. Trickle down has been utterly discredited. It is time we realize that prosperity spreads from the bottom up. The union isthe greatest tool that the American worker possesses to achievie a decent living. We should never discredit that or take it for granted.

The T-Mobile Dance

Just for a little fun. So proud that I figured out how to put a you tube on the blog. :)

Tropfest NY 2008 winner, "Mankind Is No Island" by Jason van Genderen

Beautifully done, and moving three minutes of film.

Time Passages

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As I have been doing every Friday for almost eight years, I had breakfast at McDonald's with my daughter. This time it was a little bittersweet as, I realized that this was our last breakfast together while she is a high school student. Tomorrow she graduates, and in the fall it is off to college. How the hell did that happen. :)

We began this little tradition, when Emily was a 10 year old beginning the fifth grade. The week after I married her mom, we started settling into a routine. Because my work schedule matched her school start time, I was the one to take her to school. The very first week she suggested that we go to breakfast at the nearby McDonald's every Friday. I have to admit I was a little nervous about becoming a Dad for the first time when I was in my early 40's. Emily and I got along well before the marriage, but being a Dad was a whole new ballgame. I agreed with her suggestion thinking it would be a good way to get to know each other better. So a tradition was born.

At the time I thought that the tradition might last through middle school. I was sure that there was no way a high school girl was going to want to risk being seen with her "old Man" in a public place. I was wrong. Our little routine became very important for both of us. It was the best decision I ever ever made. Not only did we make it through High School, she insisted we have breakfast together even during her summer vacations. She would get up early during the summer so we could still go to breakfast. Over the years we missed a week here and there. Occasionally, I would be out of town on business. There were also days during her chemotherapy treatments, that she did not feel up to going. Those misses were few and far between.

So today, when we walked in and one of the ladies working, was someone who has been there for the whole time. Emily told her she was graduating. She smiled, and reminded Emily how little she was, and how much less gray hair I had when we started coming in. We had our usual, chatted about the boy she already met on her first campus activity. Shared some of life's small details and reminisced a little about our little tradition.

I think this breakfast tradition was very important in our relationship. I was so proud when she first asked me if it would be alright to call me Dad (Even when her biological Dad was still alive).
I am proud of this young lady as she prepares to go off to college. I am proud that she was able to finish in the top 10% of her class, despite all the adversity she faced, just as high school began. I am proud that she has grown into a responsible young adult. I am proud to call her my daughter.

I know we have a few more Friday breakfasts together before she heads off to Central. The last one is really going to be hard. We joked that we should set up a web cam, and have breakfast long distance, but this McDonald's does not have WI-FI yet. I have a hunch, if they do add WI-FI, Emily will be serious about the long distance breakfasts, and I will be happy to join her.

A Real President

I don't intend to provide a deep analysis of President Obamas' speech in the Middle East today. I just want to say that it is nice to see a President who can go overseas and not embarrass himself or his country.
The headline on this post article sums it up. The new language he used was English. Quite a change from W all by itself.

Field of dreams no more

Very soon Tiger Stadium will be no more. Of course, it has been gone for some time. Closed since the end of the 1999 season, the old ballpark has sat unoccupied and decaying on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull for almost a decade.

Last fall, demolition began on the stadium. The entire outfield and much of the first and third baselines have already met the wreckers ball. So for the past six months what's left of the stadium has been standing there like a death row inmate awaiting an executioner who is running late.

On Wednesday it was announced that the attempts of the Tiger Stadium Conservancy, to raise sufficient money to preserve the stadium had failed, and that demolition would begin shortly.
As expected some did not take the news easily. A small group of protesters lined up outside the last remnants of Tiger Stadium.

80 preservationists, historians and fans had gathered at the landmark. Holding signs that read “This place matters” and singing “Take me out to the ballgame,” some planned to stand guard at the stadium all night, afraid it would be knocked down or damaged after dark.

As a lifelong Detroiter, and a huge Tiger fan with an appreciation of history, I understand and share many of the feelings of the protesters. No viable plan, however, has come forth over the past decade. So I say, let it go.

I loved Tiger Stadium. For the last decade though it has existed only in my memories. Those never go away. I will always remember my first game. Not the game itself, but the feeling of walking in to that stadium for the first time. The thrill of all those people milling about in the dark, damp concourses. I remember emerging from that concourse, the field opening up before my nine year old eyes, and seeing the greenest grass I could ever imagine. The uniforms looked so white, the field so large, it was exhilarating.

I will not forget. There was the doubleheader we went to. Mom made burgers, because back then you could still bring your own food. Great times, going down to the stadium with my high school buddies, watching Mark "The Bird" Fidrych with 50,ooo raucous fans. Beach balls bouncing all over the centerfield bleachers. I will remember the players. Lolich, Kaline, Morris, Trammel, and Whitaker. Kirk Gibson jumping up and down rounding the bases after the homer in the '84 series. Those will always be with me, as they will for all of us who lived them. That's the joy baseball.

So raise a glass, and a bid a fond final farewell to the old gal. Just remeber that she has only been a memory for a while now. Detroit does not need more abandoned buildings in the city.