Now

We went to school for twenty years to make our parents proud.

Now they're stealing Medicare, what's happening for crying out loud.

We thought the rich were bluebloods who inherited their wares.

Now we find the rich earned it and think they deserve it and create the jobs and know better than you and me, whose crime is we just don't have enough money.

And our kids know the Beatles but believe in Beyonce, even more Jay Z, because when it comes to entertainment the African-Americans are king, but behind their backs everybody sneers, saying they're not entitled to a thing.

And Mr. Jones knew nothing about Dylan, but now Mr. Sulzberger knows nothing about Trump, meanwhile life goes on all around us.

Save the planet? Save yourself! That's what George Carlin said, after he told us not to bother voting, because the owners of this country weren't gonna let us in. And despite the disadvantaged no-future blue collars electing a businessman President, they're not gonna have a seat at the table. The Cabinet says just to trust them. But we've learned to sleep with one eye open.

And everything seems the same yet it's different. We've got the same spouse, the same car, the same house. But institutions are no longer to be trusted, facts are irrelevant and only money matters. After TV. Would the President-to-be be without TV?

I don't think so.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. We were supposed to do better than our parents, instead of them shtupping us cash while we broker their decline. Our fathers didn't have fantasies, they were raising families. We bought the future hook, line and sinker, but then the American Dream was extinguished, check the facts, er, we already established facts are irrelevant.

So it's everybody for themselves these days. And if you just trust the fat cats it'll all work out well, but they cut taxes and tried to stimulate business and then Kansas went to hell.

Used to be we had idols, musicians, who marched to a different drummer. But that was back when you wrote your own songs and being rich was a million and middle class values reigned. The poor will do what's expedient, that's the nature of those without, they're desperate, ethics go out the window, you're just trying to survive.

And those on top want to stay there.

And I'm stuck in the middle with you.

Meanwhile, the guy who sang that song is six feet under, along with the heroes who ruled for decades, as opposed to one day.

And since you can't make money, they dangle fame in front of your eyes. That's the nature of reality television, social sharing, admit it, you know how many Facebook friends you've got, you revel in lording your adventures and accomplishments over your minions. They promised us a forty hour work week and two cars in the driveway and all we got was a virtual home, a residence on networks run by billionaires, built on air, but don't you ever criticize the technologists, they deliver our craved constants, the mobile phone, the internet...without them we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves. Distractions all, that's the truth. We've sacrificed our privacy and our income for a life where we're connected but more distant. Explain again how that works to me?

But there's no there there.

Even our music is virtual. And as much as we're protesting, the players bitch more. Nobody's got any answers, they just like to complain, while they're not begging for attention, for money, can you explain GoFundMe to me please, is it really any different than lettering some cardboard and hanging out at the intersection?

We just took a wrong turn. We're headed in a bad direction. There's less acceptance and there will be fewer rights but at least the old lifer won't be in power, then again, what did Pete Townshend sing, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"? But that was back before he sold his songs to "CSI," when he still had creative juice, when he still had something to say, before he died inside because he got old.

And speaking of old, do you enjoy seeing the aged farts again and again and again? On the original album tour, the turn of the century comeback tour, then the cleanup tour and now the retirement tour? No mas for me, I'm living on my memories, I've seen them all and none of them are what they used to be, because they've got bills like you and me, and this is how they pay them, art isn't in the back seat, it's not even in the car.

But cable is a bastion of story. And in some ways life is better than it's ever been?

But with this wake-up call we're re-evaluating, have we been asleep at the wheel in an era where the only country left in the music is the fake twang of the vocal and groupthink rules?

You don't want to be an individual, you don't want to let your freak flag fly, you'll be excoriated, you may not go to jail but you'll be a social outcast, which is anathema to a millennial, baby boomers can handle it, but if baby boomers aren't running the operation they're gone, they're already in the rearview mirror.

We can't make it here, so we need someone to blame. The fat cats, the uneducated, the educated, the poor, we're pointing fingers at everyone, we used to be in it together, but that's before life got coarse and we went off course, steer while you still can, they're gonna take the wheel out of the car soon.


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