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You know, I am generally a pretty optimistic guy. I mean, I don't think I'm Pollyanna about it, but I do tend to look for the bright spot in things or at least the light at the end of the tunnel (that is hopefully not an on-coming train.)
Lately though, it is not easy to maintain optimism. It's not just the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue... I actually think he is more of a symptom (although a potentially fatal symptom) of a large problem. I often hear the suggestion that we are part of an empire in decline. And maybe we are... maybe we have been for some time. There were certainly warning signs at various points of my life.
As someone who is deeply passionate about music (and art and creativity of all kinds), it is very hard to see incredibly talented people - who pour their souls into their art and who make vital and beautiful things - struggle to find an adequate platform for their work. And then to read about a junk culture flash-in-the-pan figure getting signed to a record label... I just don't know. It's easy to lay blame on the record companies... or on Spotify or whatever... but I think this all goes to a deeper problem in our society - where as a whole, we don't value truth or beauty or substance...
For the most part, I try to focus upon the communities of which I am a part that do value those things... and I do my part to put truth and beauty and substance into the world...
To that end... it is Wednesday... I call it Wild Wednesday... but really it's like classic E2TG day... from the beginning, I hoped to place new and under-heard music alongside some of my all-time favorites and recent discoveries (of older music) and oddball choices that stretch and challenge genre boundaries... Eventually, things got so big that I needed to create specialized playlists for new music or Nashville music or whatever... but I am glad that I can have one day a week to shuffle all of the music I have on my phone and see what madness ensues....
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