I said last week that I’d probably be back on track with music stuff this week, and yes, sorta. You see, I have an unfortunate divide in my life. I love music. I love making music. I love artists. I love artistic people. I love people who have free and interesting minds. I love making music with artistic people with free and interesting minds. I DON’T love the belief system that seems to have a solid grip on many of the musicians I know.

There’s a generation of people from about my age (46) through 60ish that grew up on arena rock and came of age in the Reagan era. The youngest boomers and oldest Gen-Xers. Most of the people that populate the jam sessions I like to attend up north fit this category. And sadly most of them are mindlessly conservative and reactionary in their beliefs. These are the “all lives matter” crowd. These are the idiots that shared “Plandemic” as though it had a shred of credibility (and still insist it makes good points when it’s been thoroughly debunked). These are the people posting “blue lives matter” all over the place as police escalate situations and beat, tear gas, pepper spray, and shoot peaceful protesters in the streets for merely being present. These are the brainless fucks that think people should be shot for looting. Like theft deserves a death sentence. Many are still saying COVID-19 is all a hoax Democrats created to hurt Trump. They buy all the bullshit conspiracies and lies from Trump’s GOP and their enablers at OAN and Fox. They sincerely believe “Black Lives Matter” meant “ONLY Black Lives Matter”, and refuse to accept that it actually meant “Black Lives Matter, too!” They’re probably not wearing a mask out in public.

I bring up all their moronic beliefs because I’m in a tough spot. I sincerely LIKE the majority of these people who hold these idiotic beliefs. I am a person who sees people for their goodness, I traffic in love and empathy. I do my best to look past their blindness to their white privilege, their ignorant hatred and fear-based reactions to everything.

But that’s getting really hard.

It’s a very good thing that we’re all physically distancing and not going to bars and clubs right now. Because I’d probably be in their face ripping them new ones for their thoughtless comments on Facebook. I can’t let it go anymore. I’ve unfollowed pretty much all of them, and that is actually quite nice. But it’s just a band-aid. I’m so disappointed in them as people, because their core isn’t necessarily rotten. Many of them are kind, at least in “real life”. But too many of them are too stupid and proud to be educated at this point. I think it’s time to let it go. To take my time and figure out ways to be strong in my belief, shit on them hard if they’re being stupid or racist, but love them anyway. Like I do with my relatives. Good people, believe in reactionary conservative bullshit and can’t see past their privilege and lack the empathy to consider how it might be for someone lacking their skin tone or upbringing.

So we’ll see how things go. I don’t generally go after people or post politically on social media anymore, because it’s just exhausting. No one wants to hear it. No one wants to be corrected. No one is really like me. I don’t mind having my ideas ripped to shreds if it means I’m learning something. People of the “Boomer/X” group (the conservative ones, anyway), lack the intellectual curiosity to actually challenge their beliefs when new ideas render them questionable. They just believe what they believe, and expect people to honor that, which is utter madness. And everything is taken so personally when they’re IDEAS not PERSONALITY TRAITS. Except when they are, I guess.

Living in this stupid society founded on greed and aspirational greed has taught me a few things: 1. Greedy people will continue to amass everything. 2. They will do anything in their power to tweak the rules to ensure they can keep amassing things. 3. They don’t care what that means for anyone but themselves.

So being calm and composed and maintaining my kindness in the face of all this idiocy is my goal. Equanimity.

On the music front – Chandler and The Bings’ new single is VERY CLOSE to being complete – one last mix tweak and then sent off to mastering. Its release will be accompanied with a performance video from our respective studio spaces.

I may be posting the audio from our 5/29 livestream concert here soon. I like my mix of it…and the band is kicking, even with no audience!

Last thing: NEW FRIDAY FLUSH WAS POSTED FRIDAY (finally). Okay it’s not new, it’s from March of 2011, but it is still pretty cool, in my opinion:

And that’s all for today. That should be my last word on anything political for a while. Black Lives Matter. Oh, and HUMAN LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE THAN PROPERTY OR A BUSINESS.

Stay safe, stay strong, stay curious, and peace be the journey!

TMS