This evening I was watching Woodstock. Flower Power baby! The clothes, the people, the attitude… all so familiar to me. Ah yes… eating organic, skinny dipping and records! We had Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. We had change in the air and we had Vietnam. An ugly war. A War that the American people turned their backs on in shame, and to the men and women that served over there. I remember our next door neighbor coming home from Vietnam. He was a Marine. A tunnel rat. They always picked the little guy for that job. I’ve often wondered if I would be mentally stable after doing a job like that. Crazy really. Well… he was. He scared me and fascinated me. Probably another reason I joined the Marines myself. Being on the edge of fear made me feel alive. Maybe it’s because of the era I grew up in? Not sure… all I know is that the music touched my soul. It was dangerous music. Hendrix, The Stones, The Doors, Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Zappa, Marvin Gaye, etc. The music was dangerous because it asked us to wake up. It asked us to get off of our asses and to think for ourselves. Yes, there was pop music… the superficial crap. But who remembers that? Nobody. We remember the music that had the balls to say something.
I grew up in Western Massachusetts. Not far from where Woodstock was performed. The rolling countryside of the Berkshires and the Pioneer Valley. Amongst all of that beautiful land were Colleges. We had UMass, Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire College all in my back yard. Back in the late 60’s – early 70’s College kids were living on the edge. Most keeping their grades up so they wouldn’t be drafted to go to Vietnam. Some burning their draft cards and most of them protesting. It was an extremely volatile time. I would hitch-hike to the Amherst Commons.. it was only about 5 or so miles away, but at the age of 12 or so it seemed like it was a world away. I loved hitch-hiking. It wasn’t like today, it was just another way to get around. Very rarely would I run into any weirdos. Most of the people I could get a good story out of. One day soon I’ll make it a point to write about those adventures, but this is a different journey I want to take you on. You see… the early 70’s we had the opportunity to change everything. We had the music, the message, the right politicians, activists to make it happen, but it didn’t. It’s something I’ve questioned most of my life.
What happened?
There were many variables but I think it all came down to money. The powers that be didn’t want change. They knew that if things changed then they would lose their grip so their only option was to tighten that grip. Buy the politicians. You buy the politicians, spin a believable story and you can control the masses. They did it with tobacco, then the food industry, then with oil. How do you make people believe a good story? Get them scared. Put the fear of God into them and keep them preoccupied with, as Chuck D said in the 80’s, “13 Channels of Shit”. A little joke there, but unfortunately it worked. It still works. I won’t name circumstances but we all know the big one that completely changed our way of living here in the United States. Regardless if you’re a so called conspiracy theorist or just a regular joe… shit changed. Drastically.
What’s different today from the late 60’s? People don’t fight for what is right anymore. They put on their blinders and go to Walmart. Today we are so quick to point the finger at somebody else instead of looking in the mirror.
So what is my point of this whole conversation? I don’t know, maybe its just the ramblings of a pissed off Marine that hates to see that the country that he served and was willing to lay his life down for really isn’t worth a damn anymore. What happened to the pride that we once had? I don’t mean the hatred… I mean the Pride. The people of this country that worked together because we are Americans. The people who didn’t lock their doors because we knew our neighbors. When did we get so greedy? When did we decide that more was better? When I was a kid we had one house phone. One. If I wanted something I would save my money to eventually get it. It wasn’t instantaneous. Now if we don’t answer a text within a few seconds people think we’re mad at them. So… is having everything NOW working? Hell No. We’re more miserable than ever and….
We’re quick to point the finger in the wrong direction. Turn that finger around. Yes. Point it at yourself. Once you change then the world around you will change.
In closing… I’m not an angry person… quite the contrary, I’m like a little kid. I’m still that kid that hitch-hikes to the Amherst Commons and talks to people.. I know what it takes to change the world and I know deep down inside somewhere in you, you know as well. Lets make some dangerous music together. What do you say?
Peace,
David
P.S.
Please listen and share my music and my words if you like what you hear. I have a new album coming out on Scarlet Records, September 18th with my band Kill Ritual. I hope to see you on the road.
