one from the barn

The key thing today in music is relevancy. Strangely, considering all that's going on, there are few artists, or bands that stand out, especially new artists.Are they all afraid to rock the boat, or is this just a cycle where the spark of creative genius is low. There should be plenty of opportunity to see new talent, and/or new ideas in raw form, but the question is are people utilizing the resources on the net. I think they are, this is just a lousy time to expect to hear the next Bob Dylan, or Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Joplin, Miles Davis, or even Muddy Waters for that matter. Technically, the talent is out there. There are musicians now who can play almost any song from any period, in any key, with any instrument, and do it well. But something is missing. You've got to live it , be part of it, somehow absorb what is going on around you, and put it back out for all of us to understand, and say hey, thats it!! Thats the one!! I don't see this now, but I do see a lot of fear and ignorance which amazingly is still part of our collective culture. The whole idea that dumb is cool, and joe 6-pack is supposed to represent this country is like a bad acid trip i never came down off of. Dum is not cool, and if you don;t know something, get off your ass and find out about it, and stop listening to your ignorant neighbor, or the guy you talk to on Facebook, or whatever. Find out the facts for yourself. I call this ignorance social incest. Its an inbreeding and captivity of stale ideas that keep getting tossed back and forth amoung the same old crowd. I dont' understand it , anybody who survives past 30 should know better, just from life experience itself, what is real, and what is full of shit. But, thats where the strangeness comes in. These people seem to know, but they stay with the shit, giving you that smarmy, I know better than you smile. Ahh, i just pray the internet stays free, because folks, this is all we have left to make democracy work. The reason the media sucks now is very simple. They are mostly part of the old way, and they are in the midst of a long slow death dance. The old dinosaur mediums of Television, and to a lesser degree (and something I hope we dont lose actually) print (as in newspapers) are dying. But after controlling our minds, and our hearts, and our wants, and even our thoughts for the last 60 years, TV has finally met its match, and is still in shock that anything could come along and defeat it. TV is going through the classic death grip, but because its such a huge beast, it will take quite a few years to slowly smolder away. This is the first time in a generation that our minds are free again!! Free to choose what information we want and when. We can hold people accountable for their bullshit now, we dont have to rely on our big brother the tv networks to keep us complacent or entertained. Of course the news media is so tied into television, and the smart ones can see the end coming as they know it. The others try to fight it, and that is what you see now. that is why there is no quality journalism, everything is a 10 second sound or video bite, there are more commercials every hour than programming, and its all the same shit they try to shove down our throats. Someone got that theory wrong because when i see a goddamn viagra ad for the 34th time in one fucking night, i'm ready to go find the factory and burn it to the ground. You will never ever see me get anywhere near that product, or all the other assholes who cram it down my throat. So, tv has become irrelevant, and all that goes with it, such as mass media. The music business is going thru its own crap the last decade over how to deal with peoples new freedoms. This somehow has distracted or subjugated, or just squashed that feeling that something is going on. A lot of music has been corporatized and refined and polished so much that even the rough edges are planned to look rough, but not really be rough. Whomever comes up again, is going to be someone that suffered, someone that felt genuine pain, someone that doesnt even write, but just lets the stuff come out, it will be someone like us maybe, someone that can touch upon our deepest feelings, or bring out that anger that we , as good people try to hold back, or just someone that makes it all clear whats going on. Not with answers, but with questions, because without questions, we have nothing, without hopes, we are left with fear, fear and ignorance, and as you can see around us, this is still out there, right beneath the surface, looking for any chance to proudly display itself. Thank god for the internet, and thank god Obama was brilliant in how he used that medium to bring it all together. You can teach an ignorant perosn how to read and write, and even drive a car, and donate every sunday to his or her church, but you cant teach an ignoramus how to think for themselves, but there is always hope. Sorry, but I've got better dreams and hopes, and aspirations for myself and my children , and everyone that tries to better themselves. I'm not quite sure who, or what joe 6 pack is supposed to represent, but it vaguely reminds me of something like, "just make sure the boys get their beer , that'll keep em happy and obedient.Just tell em God Bless America. I'm looking forward to next year, despite all the bad news lately, at least we will have a competent person at the helm , who will appoint competent people to various positions of responsibilty throughout the world and here. Maybe not what we all wanted, maybe we wanted a little more, but this is a great start. Looking at the whole picture, I believe we couldnt have asked for a better person to lead us. Its what restores my faith in this country, and makes me realize that this big melting pot of people and cultures and societies and religions and non religions is the only one of its kind in the world. We bumble, and sometimes joe 6 pack gets a shot at the wheel, but it always comes back around, and in the strangest, most ironic way, it seems to work out. Honestly, who would have said, or even thought 30 years ago that we would , or even could elect someone like Barack Obama to lead us. I love it!! I love how it all works out. Almost makes me believe there is something else going on out there, lol, i said almost.