jackson-browne

Please. Stop.

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I’ve written before about the “fun” of local “Letters to the Editor” in my local paper. It was fun for several months, but then…eh..it’s been awhile.

The problem is lack of growth, lack of progress. Read any comment section and you see this scene play out: Original, breathless statement filled with adverbs, adjectives, and snarkiness. Followed by breathless comments filled with adverbs, adjectives and snarkiness. Followed by more…snarkiness. (my grammar editor is “flagging” snarkiness as not spelled correctly. He/She/Them/It is wrong. Google it, yourself, and I’ve amended the grammar police’s dictionary. Oddballs.)

Maybe it is too much to expect immediate change in the tone and structure of public discourse, but is it that hard for people to see what I see? If you were asked for the sum of 2 plus 3 and answered 6, how many times would you do that before you wondered why people were correcting you, and gave a different, perhaps correct answer. (Hopefully, there is no undiscovered ethnic group/tribe where 2 pls 3 does equal 6.) Math is easy to see, isn’t it?

Past columns have talked about “Critical Thinking” (CT) and “Reading the Rome” (RR) and those expressed thoughts were not the work of a genius, or once-in-a-generation mind. (Unless you’d care to think of me that way. Your call.) They are the thoughts of an old man who paid attention. So, if all the writers and commentators are young, high school students, does the illogical repetitiveness of the stereotypical “Statement and Comments ad nauseum” (SCAN), indict our current educational systems? Yes. And the past systems. And the present systems. And commercial television. And contemporary music, And professional sports. And Capitalism. And the Free Market. Everything, Everywhere. All the time.

Huh. Finally. Nihilism explained. Maybe. Frederic Jacobi in the 18th century said Nihilism refuted the “belief in an unknowable true reality”. Uh-oh. No “true reality”? Sounds MAGAish but Nietzsche asked with God dead, where were we to find meaning in the world?

Okay, I’m off the google sidetrack, but it made clear the need for a True Reality. Trump and many others say January 6th was a kind of patriotic “celebration”. Others say it was an insurrection. All that is true, now, as the farther—in time—we get from 1/6/2021 the “less true” that day’s reality will be for both sides. Why?

As Americans we face constant MANIPULATION. Advertising. Politics. Societal norms. Rock stars have known thins for years and made a living singing about fighting it. “Another Brick in The Wall”, by Pink Floyd. “Monster” by Steppenwolf. “For What It’s Worth”, by Buffalo Springfield. In fact, find this song on YouTube from the late 60s. It clearly and precisely represents the entire point of this post. What does it say about us that a song from 1966 identifies our 2025 problems? I’m dropping the mic.

A nice thing about aging is the natural shedding of concerns for anything but our own medical and financial condition. It’s not up to the old people to save the world, we won’t be around long enough.

A bad thing about aging is the recognition nothing has changed. And sadly, may never change.

Music, again, and Jackson Browne in 1971:

“Oh, people, look around you the signs are everywhere. You’ve left it for somebody other than you to be the one to care.”

Another thing learned as an old man, the good we do and the things we learn in our youth fade with age, and there is no guarantee any following generation will feel the same. All empires decline and fall.

In reflection, this post reminds me of a recent medical test. The test is 90 per cent accurate reading negative results, but its positive results are only correct 50 per cent of the time.

Feels like symbolism for something, but it’s nap time, so…

Jackson Browne, a benefit of old age and progress

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From memory: music at age 10 (in 1960) was late night AM radio. At 13, it was a “box” record player for 45 rpm, two sided records, one song each side, A and B. At 15 it was a “monoaural” stereo placed next to the bed so sleep could be induced by listening to the big albums of Steppenwolf, The Troggs, The Kinks. The Kingsmen, and et.al. Age 17, a real stereo. At college, I learned how much sound ceiling-high, high-fidelity speakers could make, and how all my old favorites sounded “different”. Volume was important and if anyone complained, it was ignored and counted as an honor. 8 tracks, cassettes, Cds, MP3 and others followed, but I have no clue where the free music on Youtube comes from these days

The point I’m trying to get to (when not sidetracked by reminiscing), is music seemed to have evolved over time in partnership with the devices offering the sounds. Hmph. That’s not really the point but it helps to know because now—at this late stage in my life—I’ve been exposed to the wonderful world of ear buds. Good ear buds. They’re not new to me, but the ones I tried costing less than $300, never seemed to work good. (Well?) Same with headphones.

So I went back to listening as if in college: naked and close to the speaker with volume on 11. And I meant a “naked” ear, juveniles.

In 1970-something, Jackson Browne “dropped” an album we now refer to as “Saturate Before Using”, even though…long story for later. Let’s go with that title. Google it if you’re curious. The record had some good songs but nothing that made the record worth buying after hearing AM radio, and juke boxes. My disinterest did not stop Jackson and he continued to make records and two years later “For Everyman” hooked me. It got worn it out over the next 5 years or so.

 Then, I lost track of music, hearing it in the background, but not asking it to come forward and be the focal point of life. It was just there. Important note: there was all kinds of good music coming from good musicians (Eagles? Fleetwood Mac?) in the years between the late 1970s and when music reintroduced itself decades late, at my retirement. Not working gave me free time.

Let me end this because you’re drifting away…in 2023, while being treated for cancer, I accidentally purchased a pair of ear buds for $19, They were so fantastic they changed everything about music and life. No hyperbole.

Then, the ear buds got ahold of Jackson’s “Saturate Before Using”. The intricacy and flourishes, and backing sounds, and bass lines, the drums, and the shear musical craftsmanship coming from those ear buds brings me back to The Chair EVERY DAY, for at least an hour of music. And each time, there is something new and wonderful in songs I’ve listened to for many years but never really heard. Thank you, Ear Buds, and the company which finally decided to sell them at a decent price. (Not naming the company, but they know who they are. Call me?)

          Besides Jackson’s songs, find “Melissa” by Greg Allman with Jackson Brown. “Harvest Moon” by both Neil Young, (who wrote it) and a cover by The Brothers Comatose. And “River of Dreams” by Billy Joel. Find these songs, sit in your favorite chair, plug in your GOOD ear buds, and “Drift Away”…and find your own music.

Another Old Age Benefit: Jackson Browne

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Here is a great benefit–and even a reason–for getting older: art.

Specifically, music. At a young age, I was exposed (in a good way) to Jackson Browne’s (JB) “Saturate Before Using” album. (Side bar to readers: you can substitute any artist or singer who entered your life at the years between 13 and 25.)

The music became the soundtrack of a youth well-meant, but misspent. There were young people this age who knew exactly what they wanted to be when they left this age, and they became lawyers, doctors, politicians, and other educated professional. But most of us were dreamers, malcontents, hopers, losers, and rebels. (Not without “cause”, since there were lots of those in the 60s and 70s.)

“Saturate Before Using” and all the following albums from this magnificent songwriter (again: substitute your own) were works seemingly tracking my life. Titles tell it better: “Waiting For Everyman”, “Rock Me On The Water”, “These Days”, “After the Deluge”, “Late For The Sky”, and those were just the 70’s. In later decades: “I’m Alive”, “Sleep’s Dark and Silent Gate”, and “The Pretender”.

Through the years his songs have been on vinyl LP albums with full liner notes and photos as well as 8-track, cassette, CD, MP3 and now digital mediums making his music available everywhere, anytime. You don’t need your room and a record player, anymore. The progress of the music delivery, alone, is cause to celebrate being old enough to enjoy. And don’t get me started on ear buds delivering a wall of perfect sound far out performing even the biggest speakers we packed in our small apartments. Downside, I don’t irritate the neighbors, now. Boston’s 1976 hit “More Than A Feeling” was much more than a feeling to people accidentally listening within the 1 mile radius of our stereo. Hey, they got the music for free, why did they complain?

But the real benefit of getting old is…drum roll…the music and musicians get older, too! I ponder how much better I am at my advanced age, but it’s positively amazing the how much better old music and old performers are*. If they’re still alive. Better, yet, you can see it and hear it. A favorite song written by JB, “These Days”, can now, not only be heard in its original 1960’s form, but the many ways JB has performed it over the last 60 years! I’ve spent an hour listening to decades of one song. And each time my ear buds hear something different, and evoke a certain time in my life. An added bonus: as with most songwriters, (again, sub in your favorite) other performers made their versions. (Eg,: “My Opening Farewell”, from the early seventies JB, remixed and posted on you tube by Bonnie Raitt in 2008.) Listen and you’ll feel lucky to be old and alive. (Important note: most of the music is on youtube. For free.)

If you do take the time to track your favorite artist, keep some tissues handy. And don’t fret about how much your favorite no longer looks like how you remember them. Jackson kind of looks like me, now.

Enjoy the life you lived, the life your favorite artist lived, and then relive it all again. What a world.

Hm. How do movie actors feel when THEY get old and can watch themselves as young performers? Imagine seeing yourself at 19, 29, 39, 49, and later…got to stop…

*Not a preposition, in this case, Strunk and White aficionados. Also, I don’t care if it is.