The Boy in the Bubble

It was a slow day. And the sun was beating on the soldiers by the side of the road. There was a bright light, a shattering of shop windows- the bomb in the baby carriage was wired to the radio. Saves me the trouble of snapping off the dials and yanking it out of the dashboard, Paul, much obliged. Maybe we're nearing the decline and fall, though I haven't heard from Will in a while (since he stopped being the Fresh Prince but before he became Hancock) to read some of the things folks are writing about the upcoming Miley Cyrus tour (and her stop here in the Enchanted Forests of Southeastern CT).

I'm grateful my children are adults and beyond this kind of music probably in much the way my parents felt about what I listened to growing old (we didn't have cable, just plain old vanilla TV so all the narrowcasting that Nickelodeon, Sprout and Disney can do, didn't exist 'back in the day') and I think all of us are better off for it.

Cheap Trick sang in On Top of the World 'rock and roll deejays got their finger on the world. They play the music that makes you feel so good.' I know first hand sometimes it's the middle finger. Today's entertainment stores (don't call them 'record shops', they ain't) stock only what gets played on the radio, which plays only what sells in the shops and then my head spins and I get dizzy from the vicious circle. That Rick and the crew were the opening act on a triple bill in July at Mohegan Sun with Heart and Journey (with the Steve Perry soundalike vocalist-how much does God have to hate you to make you a soundalike of Steve Perry?) proves the world is upside down.

I spent three hours Saturday to no avail looking for the new Randy Newman album. It's on my list with Lyle Lovett and efforts by James McMurtry and Joan As Police Woman--all of which can be found in the 'good luck!' bin, I suspect. Listening to radio when I was a child (and as an adult, childish) was the most fun you could have with your clothes on.

Radio is now a commodity, available to the programming service that delivers the most consumers to advertisers as radio echoes with the sounds of salesmen (sorry, Neil!). If they stepped off a BOAC jet tomorrow, could there be a second BEATLES? (Don't even look for a hyper-link! If you don't know who The Beatles were, cash in your belly-button and get off this planet, now.) Probably not on today's sales charts and certainly not in today's radio playlists.

I don't want to sound like one of those conspiracy theorists, but you, too, must've noticed how things started going sideways when labels moved away from the big pieces of vinyl with the little holes. And though the holes were rather small, they had to count them all. Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
-bill kenny