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 The antidotes to the new fascist poison emanating out of D.C. = Poetry, Music, Spirits, Love…

We packed up our instruments, motored over a few miles to a small wine shop Picnic Wine & Provisions, and played our songs in their fabulous back room. There was a small, wonderful, loving crowd. Three of us up front. Two guitars & drums/percussion. Two voices. Big chandelier dangling over us, an impressive fireplace raging behind us. It was cold and snowy outside, warm & cozy inside. A poet Cin Salach started the night with gorgeous lines of poetry. Then we did our thing. A small, but super-essential thing to do. We billed it as a night of Poetry, Spirits, Music & Love. It was all of that and more. I even took the mic and floated a few choice words in opposition to our new fascist terror dome regime. We are against it. Whole-heartedly. Anyway, a good way to celebrate and conjure up an alternative vision; manifesting a better day, a better way. Our beautful dream vs. their dreadful nightmare. And, yes, for sure, damn the torpedoes… – Jammer

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William Blake etching from the Book of Urizen

I think it was Nick Cave, front-man of the Bad Seeds, who said something about Hope being a “warrior spirit.” It resonates with me. Hoping against Hope. Sometimes I find myself hanging onto Hope as a life-raft. Even I am surprised how I can conjure up a lightening-flash of Hope in the lowest & darkest of times. Maybe it’s just an impulse, finding Hope for no good reason? Lately Hope comes with a little smile of incomprehension. It is sort of a bold “fuck you” to the tenor of the times. The idea of giving up Hope is just Hopeless, distasteful, anti-Life. Hope is just a tiny glimmer of an intention; a speck of light, a strange, little, zingy feeling shooting through my veins. Can’t explain it. I think it’s just embedded in me, it’s there with me, I suspect it will be with me as long as I can draw a breath, blink an eye. So yeah, the shit is coming down hard, things look quite dark & bleak. The evil-doers and assholes are ascendent, but I just can’t stop that funny little warrior spirit bubbling up, animating my being. You know it’s a gnarly, nasty, recalcitrant, rebellious, fuck-you, Bartelby the Scrivener: “I would prefer not to,” thing. Maybe it’s tough-minded, hard-wired discipline? An always rooting for the Underdog position. Losing is part of it. The losses come fast, hard and relentlessly, like a ravenous shark. Disagreeing with my fellow Humans? That’s cool. Being out-numbered, pushed around by the bully? Made to eat dirt?  Oh, well. The not giving in, the resistance to that shite, makes one stronger. “Fuck, everything didn’t go my way.” Ha. That’s life, buddy. That’s when you turn to the rebels like Joe Strummer, “The Future is Unwritten.” That’s when Hope really comes into play. Hope; spiky, gnarly, weezing, cursing, crusty, beat-up, you know, I think it’s true, Hope dies last, the dark is always contending with the light, it’s a battle moment to moment. Damn the torpedoes.- Jammer

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I knew it was going to be a good gig when Carla asked me to unstick a microphone stand, I carelessly slammed it on the floor, and metal on metal sliced thru my hand. A nice chunk of my picking hand offered up the gods.

What’s that fleshy part between your thumb and finger called? Thenar eminence. Well, I missed that part, the slice was just a flesh wound, the connecting tissue from thumb to finger. Lots of blood, and a sharp stinging. Carla wrapped the wound with band-aids and golden gaffer’s tape. That was tip-off. Start a gig with a blood sacrifice, it is gonna be a good one.

And yes, it was an extraordinarily great gig. Cary’s Lounge, on Devon in Chicago, a little music mecca. We jammed our big band into a small space and the energy was concentrated and expansive. It had been awhile since we all gathered together to play. A super-cool, gracious and enthusiastic crowd. A fabulous turn-out of a community of souls. We were all there to commune with the ancestors, their carved masks adorning the walls.

So, yeah, we blasted through our set, old songs, newer songs, just-hatched songs. It was exhilarating. I for one, totally lost myself in the moment. No pain, no fear, just love and music. You know, my hand will be fine, might have a little scar, that’s Life, a rememberance of an afternoon of mayhem, and wonder. A great way to start 2025… – Jammer

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Yes. It is funny, but true. The single from our New Album Love Without Fear is “blowing up” on Spotify! – Jammer…

Be sure to check it out and take it for a spin. Let the pennies flow:https://open.spotify.com/album/6NUM5tIB5wjkK4XnlaaU78

From the latest review of our single from Ava Radio Live: http://www.avaliveradio.com/new-single-child-of-the-revolution-is-a-thought-provoking-blend-of-historic-sensibilities/

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Carla & I traversed the streets last night in a Lyft ride. Heading over to a radio studio to play, and to talk about our music and our band. Carla had decided we must do something we love to do on the last evening of the last day of 2024. It was quite a nice experience. Strangely, the streets were empty all the way there, a cross-town drive, and all the way back too. It was a little bit of an eerie backdrop to a cool thing. We wondered, “Is everyone laying low?” You know, hunkered down in their living rooms watching the clock tick down? We knew there must be some epic parties and celebrations going down somewhere, but you couldn’t tell out on the streets. We never clicked on a TV, so we didn’t see other people having fun & frolic. We were sure the “ball was dropping,” somewhere, this is the era of “out of bounds,” wealth & excess, the young rich & beautiful must be getting to it, big time, but none of that was in evidence around us. Everyone we talked to was still in a bit of shock about the latest developments in the USA, and where things were heading. Talk of the new year, and of the future, were guarded and low-key. Yes. Hope and optimism seems kind of out of tune, out of touch, and distinctly passe at the moment. I had to reach for my two go-to phrases: Joe Strummer’s line – “The Future is Unwritten,” and Tom Petty’s – “Damn the Torpedoes.” Oh yeah, might as well dig down and resurrect the old coach, Vince Lombardi’s line – “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Ha. Welcome to 2025, wonder WTF is gonna happen now!? – Jammer

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We watched “The Beatles 64,” yesterday. Amazing, exciting. Surprising. It features newly unearthed, never before seen footage of the Beatles when they visited the USA, played the Ed Sullivan Show, Carnegie Hall, and chilled out in Harlem with Ronnie Spector and the Ronnettes. Who knew!?

Gil-Scott Heron famously told us: “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” but he didn’t mention that Albert and David Maysles were most likely filming it while it was happening. The brothers had cameras rolling for many significant events of that decade, including Monterey Pop and Gimmee Shelter.

A case can be made the 60’s didn’t really start until that fateful night on the Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles played their music for 70 million Americans, many of them screaming and crying in joy and ecstasy. The nation was still reeling and mourning the murder of JFK. This little group of mop-tops captivated and electrified the youth of the world, and yes, changed the world as it changed them too.  

Turns out the 60’s, and the optimism and good vibes of that decade, seemed to die right around the time (1970), the Beatles broke up. The Rolling Stones at Altamont, and the Manson family murder spree also kind of put the nail in the coffin of that hippie credo: What’s so funny about Peace, Love & Understanding, indeed?!

Hindsight is revealing & deceiving, nothing is all that neat and simple. But it’s clear that you can’t understand the 1960’s if you don’t include the improbably brilliant journey of the Beatles. It is all still sort of astonishing even now. Right time, right place, magic happens. They were one of the few bands that just got better, more creative, and genre-busting with each recording.  Their explorations with fashion, drugs, mysticism, meditation, avant garde art, and world music, became our explorations too. The Beatles became the example, the myth, and the template for everyone else who ever tried to  follow or emulate them.

The craziness of Beatlemania is still pretty unfathomable, unexplainable. As John Lennon says, they experienced it as a sort of ride in the eye of a hurricane. We get an insider’s glimpse of those four lads birthing Pop Culture into being; a magnificent, thrilling, tsunami & joy-ride of new energy.

To see it all now? Another world. Did all really happen? Was it just a dream? A blast of enthusiasm, innocence, good vibes, humor & fun. As Paul said: it was all “A bit of a laugh.” Of course, it was much more than that, but that was close to the heart of the beginning. – Jammer

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Comment from Bob Smith, who came to the Electric Medicine and whitewolfsonicprincess show on Saturday. Doesn’t get any better than this…

“For all the music I get out to listen to, last night was unique and spiritual in a rare and beautiful way. The environment was peaceful, the people were positive and welcoming, the musicians were warm and inviting. This was one of those intimate gems of a night.”

It was quite the night… – Jammer

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The New Manifesto…

Yes. Something clicked for me over the weekend. Saturday, we plunged into other things. Playing music with our band. Sinking into the process of songwriting, and then bringing those songs to a small group of accomplished musicians. We all needed to do it. Desperately. We lost ourselves in the creating.

Then, later that evening we rode our bikes to a little storefront place, and plunged into the good vibes of a ramshackle collection of souls, a loose community of seekers of good vibes, good music, and moments of glimmering transcendence. 

It dawned on me that yes, of course, we live in a Blue Bubble, a place very different from other parts of the country, but we wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I truly believe we are on the right track. This is our America. It is the right place, the right time, the right stance, the way to live. It’s a welcoming, open-armed and open-hearted place; a multi-cultural stew of Humanity. It’s a beautiful thing, indeed.

Over here the policies are inclusion, non-discrimination, good cheer, smart conversation, a compassion and an empathy that rides inside everyone’s hearts. We do have it figured out. Our side may have lost the election  by the slimmest of threads to the forces of unreason, hatred, division, BUT WE ARE NOT WRONG. Our instincts, our policies, our politics, are correct. 

We are on the path of soul. 

So, yeah, you know, a new Manifesto. It’s a Manifesto of Love & Creativity. We have to navigate around the coming Tyranny. Do our best to tune that evil, death-generating shite out, to keep our heads and hearts in the game. There is no place for despondency, there is no giving up. We are on the right side of history. No doubt. There may be dark times ahead, but we will gather together, and bring & bathe in, the Light.

This is just a little detour, a setback, a wake-up call. – Jammer