I really hate talking about this stuff and I'm sad as hell that I have to point out the obvious.

14TH AMMENDMENT:
SECTION 1: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Plain and simple. It's IN the Constitution.

If the Republicans or Democrats or any mixed block of folks in Congress want to strike / repeal this part of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, the rules are set out earlier in the same document. But the Executive Branch is not given the power to cut out or disregard the parts they don't like. The oath of office does not say "I will will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States except the parts I don't like."

Of course, Mr. Trump did NOT place his hand on the Bible during his inauguration, so maybe his swearing in wasn't legal. Or maybe that's why he feels he is not bound by any oath he "swore" to. Like having his fingers crossed.

Here's the video:
https://youtu.be/iqyYqY95QZY?si=V5GQ_30RtxKmyzrh


If you think that no birthright citizenship would only apply to the children of non-citizens, you might need to think again. If you're not automatically a citizen upon birth, then how do "They" decide who is or is not a citizen? What if the party in power suddenly decide that people born in "Blue" states are no longer citizens? Think they wouldn't? They're threatening to withhold California's federal money even though California pays in more than they get back. How do you think Oklahoma and Alabama survive if California decides to stop sending that $ 80 Billion [pays about 690 Billion / receives 610?

What if we must all swear a loyalty oath upon [or in the case of us over 18, retroactive to] our 18th birthday and must now carry our citizenship papers at all times? One the one hand I'm glad to have a "National ID" number other than my "not to be used for identification" Social Security number but the downside far outweighs that benefit.

What if they want to "chip" all citizens so that we can just hold our palm up to the ID scanners we use for everything now. We're suddenly in the cashless society but you have a chip in you like you might put in your dog or cat...

Am I being a little over the top? Sure. Maybe.

But the sudden idea that birthright citizenship does not exist opens the door to all kinds of things. Be careful what you think you want.

What I really don't understand why this "by the Constitution" Supreme Court wants to let the Executive bypass the Constitution and reign by executive fiat. Well, I do but I'm holding out hope that they will still uphold the Constitution in the end.

But I am damn disappointed in them right now.

 

The Real Twilight of the Gods and the End of the Rock Era

 

   On June 11, 2025, we began the real slide into the end of the Rock Era.

   The passing of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson is going to begin a long run of obituaries and tributes to the ladies and gentlemen who shaped The Rock Era. And I say The Rock Era, not the Rock & Roll Era because there truly is a demarcation line of the Rock & Roll Era and the Rock Era. Partially thanks to Brian Wilson but mostly because of the Beatles. And a little bit of Bob Dylan.

   1966 is [to me] the year that Rock broke away from Rock & Roll. One might consider 1965 being that late in the year we had the release of Dylan’s masterwork Highway 61 Revisited [8/30/65] and the Beatles’ Rubber Soul [12/3/65] and I will have to admit that it’s a fine, fine line and a good argument. Personally, I feel Dylan’s more major influence of the direction of rock & roll was introducing the Beatles to pot but Highway 61 is a true 5-star perfect album.

   But the line in the sand is truly drawn in 1966. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds [5/16/66] and the Beatles Revolver [8/5/66] are so far and away from what anyone else was doing that they pushed little ol’ Rock & Roll into something new. Something way beyond little three chord I love you and I want to hold your hand ditties. Now personally, I am not a big Pet Sounds guy. Yes I can appreciate the Beach Boys magical harmonies [in bits] and I get that Brian Wilson was pushing the boundaries of rock, rock & roll and music in general with that he was laying down. But it’s just not what I like.

   But I’ve gotten a little side tracked here.

   The fact of the matter is that the great musical artists who built the music industry into the mighty machine that it was late in the 1960s and through the 1970s and mid 1980s [when giant multinational corporations began buying up record companies and parts of mixed media empires ala Time-Warner] are starting to die. And it will be several years of opening up the paper – excuse me, logging onto the Wikipedia recent deaths page – and gasping about another favorite passing on from this plane.

   Despite our going jokes about what kind of world we are going to leave the prime examples of “what don’t kill ya just makes ya stronger,” [Keith Richards, Willie Nelson and Iggy Pop – who the hell had Iggy Pop making it to 50, let alone 78!!!] all of these people who have graced our ears with their output are going to return to the dust from which we have all sprung.

   Oh yes, there have been victims of accidents and “live fast, die young” lifestyle choices and a few like John Lennon caught out in the wild by the unbalanced and silenced in terribly tragic ways. Some of the great and nearly great have already passed. Tom Petty [2017] accidentally overdosing at 66. Charlie Watts [2021] rocked for over 60 years to the age of 80. Ric Ocasek [2019] at 75. Jon Lord [2012] of Deep Purple was 71. Robbie Robertson of the Band [2023] was 80.

   We mourned David Bowie at the “tender” age of 69. But the tributes and accolades and memories that poured out for Elvis himself in 1977, Lennon back in 1980 and Bowie in 2016 [2016! ALMOST ten years now!] will seem miniscule the days and weeks following Paul McCartney’s passing.

   Ah, now I think you understand.

 

   Let’s look at it this way. I’m now 58. Ringo Starr is 84. Paul McCartney is 83. The Glimmer Twins / Rolling Stones Jagger and Richards are 81. That’s the original British Invasion bands. Robbie Krieger and John Densmore of the Doors are 80 and 79. Grace Slick [Jefferson Airplane / Jefferson Starship] is 85. That’s the Summer Of Love. Sly Stone just passed at 82. John Fogerty of CCR is 80. Carlos Santana is 77. That’s Woodstock. Jimmy Page is 81. Robert Plant and Ozzy Osbourne are ‘only’ 76.  Aerosmith’s Toxic Twins Steven Tyler is 77 and Joe Perry is 74. Bruce Springsteen is 75. The Eagles Don Henley and Joe Walsh are 77.  Heart’s Ann Wilson is 75, sister Nancy is 71. Peter Frampton is 75. That covers Classic Rock. Punk icons John Lydon / Johnny Rotten and Mick Jones [the Clash] are 69. Elvis Costello is 70. How about MTV bands? The average age of Def Leppard is 63. Duran Duran: 64. Pat Benatar is 72. R.E.M.: 64. U2: 65. Billy Idol is 69.  Metalheads! The metal god Rob Halford is 73… but Judas Priest stared in 1969! Nikki Sixx is 66. James Hetfield is 62. Dave Mustaine is 63. Scott Ian of Anthrax is 61. Axl Rose is 65 and Slash is 59.

   You know what else? A LOT of these people / bands are still out there doing it. Maybe some are even doing it well. The Rolling Stones, Mick and Keith and Ronnie still worked a crowd and sounded as good as they did when we saw them in 1994 – when they were ‘old’ at 50. Which “Really This Is It the FINAL Final Tour, We Mean It This Time” is the Who on now?

   It’s what they do. Maybe some do it for money. I assume part of it is that once you feel the energy of an adoring crowd, that’s a high you continue to need. But mostly, it’s what they do. And some of them die out there, found in hotel rooms unresponsive. A few may go out right on the boards – it has happened. Col. Bruce Hampton, Johnny “Guitar” Watson.

   Of course, my point is that all of them are going to pass away – although some may outlive some of us. There will always be photographs. There [likely] will always be records or CDs or whatever the next physical media the remaining Big 3 can talk us into replacing our Zeppelin, Stones, Dead and Beatles catalogs with the latest and greatest new thing.

  

   For myself and the likeminded people blessed [or cursed] by a heightened love of vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion [music], little atoms of our soul will turn black with mourning as our “heroes” pass into the ether. Or perhaps they will become brighter luminations. Who knows?

   What I do know is that the passing of each one will place one more mote of the nostalgia for the better, carefree days of youth more firmly into the past. Of course I will always have the music – I have a substantial library from which to draw even as I move away from the physical media of records and CDs. And should those libraries be corrupted and lost, burned or buried I have the little MP3s deep inside my own grey matter. Those little memories that have me drumming Superchunk drum patterns on my desk late into evenings at work, Those hidden corners from which The Earworm throws the most unexpected things like Summer Nights [yes, from Grease], Fish Heads, Clint Holmes’ gawdawful Playground In My Mind or Tom T. Hall’s The Year That Clayton Delaney Died.

   In those same corners rest memories of summer days in state parks in West Virginia or my grandparents basement. Memories of the first time a song made a connection in my mildew smelling first bomb of a car. The first time I saw MTV, first concert and many more nights after that. All the times music has helped me work through teen angst, or a bruised heart. All the times a song represents a night with someone special or something special happened. All the times I have the words of a song to try and express what I am really feeling. All the times I have been cruising aimlessly to or from work and a good song helped me put the work day behind me.

   That’s what the music means to me. And as the names of the people who made the music that I have connected to slowly disappear to memory and history, I will be saddened a little by each one from the mightiest singer to the lowliest backup singer. They all contributed something which is more than I can ever say for myself.

 

   You know I make these car CDs for two reasons. One, most radio sticks to narrow playlists of a couple hundred songs and the time frame they chose from has shifted from “My Era” [1967 – 1996] to the late 90s and early aughts. The music I didn’t get then and I still don’t get today. The second reason is that I’m trying to recreate the radio of the 70s and 80s as I half remember, half wish that it was. Did I ever hear Crack the Sky, the Joe Perry Project, Johnny Winter, Terry Reid, Michael Nesmith, Utopia or Delaney and Bonnie on the radio? I really don’t think so. But on my car CDs where I am the D.J. [and “I am what I play…”], they do. Alongside the lesser know cuts of Jefferson Airplane, Deep Purple [all 4 eras], the Steve Miller Band, Queen, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Cheap Trick, et al.

   I'm hanging onto a past that may not have really existed. I am nostalgic for a past that never really was but I shape it the way I wished it was. I think a lot of us look back to the past through some sort of rose-colored lenses. But a wise woman once told me that "Rose colored glasses do not come in bifocals because no one wants to read the fine print in dreams."

   And even though I don’t drive as long or far as I used to, it’s nice to still have my music with me. It’s comfort food for my soul.

   “A full cup of coffee, a full tank of gas, an open road and a real good idea is all you’ll ever need. So tip you bartenders, tip your friends, tip your mom and remember, life if too cheap to drink short wine.”  - Kevin Kinney

 

I started this a few weeks back and it just kind of ground to a halt, but with todays news of Sly’s passing, I wrapped it up. As a side note, tonight the Florida Panthers are killing the Edmonton Oilers 5 – 1 in t game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, so I would be again searching for something interesting to watch…

Sly Lives!

   The Florida / Carolina hockey game is over before it’s even begun. After the Panthers scored their third just shy of 16 minutes in, I just said “well that’s done. Now what am I gonna do?” So I go to the Hulu home page looking for something. No. No. No. Ugh, no. No. No. Mmmmmmnnnnnn, no I don’t think so. Oh!

   I had been seeing the box cover or whatever you call that… icon for Sly Lives! It’s Questlove’s movie. I mistakenly thought he did the We Want the Funk PBS Independent Lens documentary. [It was Stanley Nelson and Nicole London.] It’s Thursday, it’s re-runs season, let’s take a look.

   The story is the story – talented young man rises up seemingly out of nowhere, is on top of the world for a split second then it all comes crashing down. Is it an inspiring tale? In some ways, yes. You have to be who you are and do what you want to do and that’s how you make it. Is it a cautionary tale? Yes. When you get to the top, is it going to be what you think it is? If it’s not, how do you deal with that? Then there’s the subtext: as a black man is there more pressure on you when you succeed and do “They” cheer louder or laugh harder when you fall?”

   It’s a good show. It was worth the two hours to take it in.

   But what hit me – I was listening, really hearing the music again for the first time in a while.

   It took me back. I’m 10, maybe 11. Somehow I came across Sly & the Family Stone’s Greatest Hits [1970] in mom and dad’s records. And it just knocks my socks off. Pound for pound 12 absolutely stunning Sly & the Family Stone tracks. All time party album, right? There’s a lotta funk, a buncha movers and groovers and a couple slow burners for getting close to your honey. Even if you don’t dance [and I do not], how can you not be knocked out by the tightness and the groove when I Want to Take You Higher comes boiling out of your speakers. Greg Errico’s drums are right on, [at the time I wanted to be a drummer and I was just knocked sideways by Errico’s drumming, especially when Stand! goes from the main part into the breakdown 2:15 in. Rufus Thomas copied that breakdown for 1971’s The Breakdown.]. Larry Graham’s fuzz bass rolls along like the muddy Mississippi. Someone comes in: “Beat is getting stronger…” [it’s hard to tell the difference between Sly and his brother, guitarist Freddie]. Then those horns start throwing out those short little lines as the chorus kicks in. Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini are absolutely key to the Family Stone sound. Is it any accident that Joe Cocker’s Mad Doggs and Englishmen had that horn section of Jim Price on trumpet and Bobby Keys on sax? It is no accident that the Stones brought those two in to punch up Exile On Main Street. If you’re gonna borrow ideas, borrow from the best!

   It is not exaggeration to say that the bands medley of Dance To the Music, I Want To Take You Higher and Music Lover is THE highlight of the Woodstock movie. Sly in purple wrap around shades and that white jump suit with the purple vest and white fringe flying everywhere when he moves is just a visual that has to be seen and of course the music can get a dead man moving. As a band, this is as high as it’s going to get and it’s captured for eternity.

   We go from the boiling funk of Higher down to the low key single Everybody Is A Star. Everybody is the proof of the pudding. Each line is sung by a different vocalist. [I do not believe drummer Errico or sax player Martini were vocalists.] It’s just a low key reminder that we are all individuals and we all have our talents and skills that make us unique and to celebrate that. Next is Stand!, another reminder that there are things we all have to do if we’re going to make it – as a person or as a society. [“Stand /There's a cross for you to bear / Things to go through if you're going anywhere / Stand / For the things you know are right / It s the truth that the truth makes them so uptight”] Fun is just that… a fun little funky number. No muss, no fuss, just “put a smile on your face, leave that bummer behind.” Life has a purely circus / carnival feel that belie the serious lyrics. You Can Make It If You Try channels James Brown so well I’m sure James said “When did I write that one? Am I getting royalties on that?”

   Side 2 opens with PROBABLY Sly’s best known song Dance To the Music. The irony is that it was crafted more at the instance of record company president Clive Davis for something more commercial than their first album A Whole New Thing had been. It really is a prefect representation of their mixing rock, psychedelic and funk and it certainly caught the ear of the public. Even now, almost 60 years later, as soon as it comes on it just demands your ear. It’s followed by Everyday People. Everyday People owes as much to the Stax sound as Dance owes to Motown. Dig Larry Graham’s pulsing but amazingly simple bass line pushing the whole thing. Again, simple message – we are all in this together so let’s get past all the hang ups. [“I am no better and neither are you / We are the same, whatever we do”] Next is the amazing single Hot Fun In the Summertime. Again, amazing interplay between Greg Errico’s drums and Graham’s amazing walking bass lines under some amazing harmonies by the band. M’Lady … M’Lady is really hard to explain. Sing A Simple Song the opposite of Life - a very complex riff with some very simple lyrics. The album closes with Thank You [Faletinme Be Mice Elf Agin]. This may be the finest example of Larry Graham’s slapping bass [where the bass pops instead of holding notes]. I must have just found this record because I used on of the verses of this song for something they were discussing in music class, which is how I remember it was 5^th grade - my only full year at Foster Elementary.

   Whoever sequenced this record took care to make it flow. It was not pieced together in chronological order not just slapped together, someone really thought about this, which is pretty unusual for a Greatest Hits package.

 

   CAUTION: The Essential Sly & the Family Stone uses a different mixes for Thank You [Faletinme Be Mice Elf Agin] and Hot Fun In the Summertime. The Thank You mix adds horns in all the “wrong” places and there’s extraneous vocals and the bridge is not ‘”phased”… obviously, I do not dig it. I actually found the original Greatest Hits mix on Amazon and that’s the mix I use for my CDs. If one is only going to own one Sly and the Family Stone album, I obviously suggest this one with the full knowledge that because it was released in 1970 it misses 2 GREAT songs, Family Affair and If You Want Me To Stay. They can be found on the 1981’s Anthology set [2 PL / 1 CD] but I don’t think that set flows as well as Greatest Hits does.

 

   News came down today [6/9/25] that Sly has passed. It’s just a coincidence that I  happened to see the documentary so shortly before his death but I am glad I had a couple of days just digging those hits that are so well loved. I hope in those years he was out of the public spotlight from  1983 to 2011 that Sly found the peace of mind to reconcile that for one moment he and his band were one of the hottest and best bands in the world and found a way to deal with The Legacy of being both Sylvester Stewart and Sly Stone.

   I was not aware that Sly put out his memoirs back in 2023 but I will be keeping an eye open for that in the library, as well as former DJ and J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf’s.

    Anyway, thanks for the music Sly. Rest In Peace.