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The year of the Springsteen video for “Dancing in the Dark” was actually 1984 (fitting year, eh?) and it strikes me that the lyrics are apt: “This gun’s for hire/Even if we’re just dancing in the dark”. You know the “even if” bit is REALLY saying, “Yes we ARE just dancing in the dark!” And that seems to me to be an astute description of what pop culture is all about – or, at least, what it has resulted in.

(I don’t think that Bruce is aware of any of this. He never struck me as the brightest. I mean – who, with the slightest feel for the absurd, would agree to “co-authoring” a book with Obama called “Renegades”?)

Isn’t there a theory of fascism that posits it to be a phenomenon that stems from the middle class? And that it’s the slide from a moderately affluent life style into an uncertain state that produces that fear and rage that leads to support for the rising führer figure? That prompts me to muse on the celeb class. Springsteen, Baez, etc.

One thing I was going to say – though it might be just as well that I didn’t! – is that there is a story about how Elvis Costello was visiting America and had a few drinks in a bar with some of those West Coast ageing hippies (probably Crosby, Stills etc.) and was so riled by their sanctimonious self-satisfaction (priding themselves on their rebel credentials whilst living the good life etc.) that he turned around and vented that infamous racist diatribe against Ray Charles. You wouldn’t side with him on that matter but you could see why he felt provoked. Charles himself (who wasn’t present!) was wonderful about it, saying that nobody should pay any attention to what a guy says in a bar after a few beers. I cite this merely to illustrate that sickly descent into reactionary smugness demonstrated by those old “protestors”.

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The American group was Stephen Stills' band, and they were in Ohio. Although I never heard that Costello was provoked. He was just being an asshole and anti-American. He admitted so later in his memoirs. Where did you read that he was responding to the old guard bragging about their rebelliousness while reveling in bourgeois lifestyles? Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie was there and she knocked Costello off his bar stool to the floor and leaked the slurs to the press.

As for the old protesters now being smug, I posted a song about how all the protest rebel bands went along and even shilled for Big Pharma during the pandemic.

Responding to what you said about fascism being attractive to middle classes on the decline – I think Germany was in the midst of a depression when the Nazis came to power with financing from elite industrialists who saw an opportunity. I think they were afraid of the Soviet Union and another Russian-style revolution.

Fear is a great motivator.

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crosby is hated by just about everyone who ever met him.

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that's what I've heard, he's a total a-hole, but he was not in Stephen Stills' eponymous band, so likely was not in Ohio with them during this incident. He played with Nash without Stills, however.

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The Costello tale was something I picked up from “The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll” – one of those tomes I tended to stack up on. I still have it in the attic somewhere but can’t be arsed trying to find it. And unfortunately I can’t seem to find the text reproduced anywhere on the net. As far as I can remember it said something like:

“At one point incautious of his vanity and provoked by the self-love of some West Coast musicians ....”

“Self-love” wasn’t the term but I can’t recall what it was. And as that snippet shows, the writer certainly wasn’t “on Costello’s side”. But I may have misinterpreted the whole thing and riffed on my own prejudices. In any case here is an interesting account of the matter:

https://thjkoc.net/2013/03/18/the-wrong-way-around/

For the record, I never much cared for Costello though I appreciate his first three albums. He is undoubtedly an “asshole” – though to be fair I think that most of those famous chappies are. Beethoven and Wagner were assholes too. (Not that I’d compare EC with them!)

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Thanks, George. That was a good piece. People are always making more of incidents. "What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding" and Allison are the only songs I remember from Costello...and the only song I can remember and like from Stephen Stills is Treetop Flyer, about a former flyer during the American war in Vietnam turned mercenary smuggler. I do love that song. Bramlett was a great back-up singer and front woman in her own right and went on tour with Leon Russell's Mad dogs and Englishmen, with her husband. I am not sure how ratting on Costello to the media boosted her career, but she must have been really angry to destroy someone's career like that.

As far as musicians who are not assholes, I would have to put Leon Russell in that category. He is a genuinely nice person who I have met on a few occasions. here he is, performing one of his songs with Ray Charles and Willie Nelson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UW4ELmVD9M

and here is Leon in 1964 on Shindig! a TV show that showcased the latest pop....when he was straight-laced and had played piano for Sinatra..before he became known as the master of space and time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwccfu3EDSI

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"Green Shirt" and "Goon Squad" are two great Costello tracks. Both from "Armed Forces" which is well worth a listen. It's just a pity he has such a high opinion of himself.

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Thanks, I will check them out.

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Jack Littman. You're welcome.

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Who is the singer and what is the song at closing?

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all right guys, this is where I live. my neighbor who has a farm/ranch about 20 miles from me just made this music video and has started a movement ro exonerate on teh federal level all those who redoing time or have had their lives ruined over cannabis laws. It's kind of hokey and someone accused him of cultural appropriation, but the video will give you a feel for what our area has to offer. Shaenah lives in a beautiful area too....I know the area around Eugene, Oregon...used to live 15 miles outside Roseburg and Winston in 1979. And you can still find a home here for semi-reasonable price, even in California. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1CdiRIHdvI. and on the idea of rock and roll being sold out there is this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z42pqeCicIY. keep up he good work with the podcast..

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