Driving the Herd

 It's the small things that matter.  At the ripe age of 62, I reinforce to myself that adolescent love is not an option.  There is zero chance that another human being will ever consider me a love interest.  There are several reasons, and these reasons are reasonable.  We get old.  Our bodies go through a transformation, and we turn into different people.  I may be the same inside, but the stark changes and challenges to our bodies are inescapable.  It is more wise to understand from a younger person's vantage point.  You are a fat old man.  Without being both sexist and discriminatory, I can say without a doubt that women are not attracted to the inner man.  They are not attracted to your intellect, your wit, your humor, or your talent.  These can contribute to the overall package, but when it comes to love or lust animal desire driven by a visual image is what stirs women.  Women are not interested in fat men.  They require the beef.  It is the way you look to which women are attracted.  The gym should be your friend, because if you are looking for love a geometrically balanced physique is your ticket.  In my experience the only thing that can counteract this primal urge of Freud's ID is money.  If you have money, and you are willing to spend it on women they will manipulate you.  It seems to be what they do, at least around here.  Before they will consent to let you express a carnal thought about them, they will require a life long commitment of financial support.  They want your house, your car, and your money.  The sex will disappear quickly, and if you resign yourself to marry a man-eater, you will be stuck in a loveless marriage with no physical release.  It is not worth it.  It is best to move on, and the world outside  America understands this.  More intelligent countries would not let their political leaders by toppled by simple infidelity.  Everyone needs love and sex, but to make it paramount in life is ridiculous.  In most European countries you visit legal houses of ill repute and purchase what you need.  It is a mature and satisfying experience, because the parties involved are mature enough not to trip on love.  America uses sex and love for control and monetary success, and the strip club is the perfect metaphor.  Why would any man choose to spend hundreds of dollars in a strip club, when in any other country simply you purchase exactly what you want and need.  It is a callous, shallow, unfulfilling exploitation of human desire.  Trying to earn the affection of someone is a complete waste of time.  You fare better ignoring them.  Better yet your hold them in contempt and build self esteem by excelling in the other areas of American life.  Otherwise you will sit around crying in your own beer lonely and forlorn.  Recent circumstances in human existence make this more difficult.  We were assaulted by a deadly virus that wreaked havoc on the human race.  Not since the Black Plague have we seen a more disruptive pathogen.  Multiple infections and organ failures.  Covid was devastating and the world has not recovered.  Human health is the most challenged in our own lifetimes.  It would seem there is a tangible force trying to thin out the human race.  We must fight for our existence, and it is a huge challenge.  When we rise each day we confront an unbalanced playing field.  Things have become stacked against us.  Almost everything is more difficult than it once was.  Perhaps Covid caused this, a weakening of the world's food supply.  In my point of view a shift away from humanity is the answer.  The digital age or our new reliance upon streaming digital images and information has undermined human accomplishment.  The things that a human can do no longer are important.  The economy has shifted to this technology driven dynamic, but average humans have little to contribute.  We cannot build and launch satellites and rockets.  We cannot build weapons.  We cannot form networks of wireless information.  While digital visual imaging is becoming more accessible to the common man via AI and smart phones, these concepts are icing.  The substance of art representing the human condition largely is absent, because we have forgotten how to achieve it.  You can't use AI.  The human element is what is necessary to achieve art, and the process is as old as this earth.  Humanity has been reduced to a herd of cattle, and Donald Trump is driving this herd. 

The Midnight Special

As I listen to Leadbelly sing the "Midnight Special," I realize that song writing once was a valued commodity in America.  Songs were the voice of the people, and the styles varied according to the cultures they represented.  This is what makes the history of American popular music interesting and complex.  Harry Belafonte sings "Midnight Special."  It was a hit album for him, and interestingly the songs on it represented the pirating of Roots Music in America.  The chord progressions of the songs he sings are exact replicas of traditional Old Timey, Gospel, and Country songs in the public domain.  Good composers borrow, great composers steal!  Imitation is the highest form of flattery!  As you listen to Harry Belafonte sing, you are singing along with him; you all ready know the melodies from having heard and sung them in your youth.  It was the era of Stephen Foster and his song "Old Folks at Home."  The Black Church had a strong influence on American popular songs, and that has continued through the decades.  Khruanbin's guitarist and drummer played at Beyonce's church in Houston, Texas.  The Black Church has been a cornerstone of American music.  Black influences on American popular music are syncopation, improvisation, and The Blues.  Pundits suggest the The Blues spawned in the American South during and after slavery are the sole source of this emotionally moving music.  If suffering and sorrow are the overt traits expressed in The Blues, then everyone will understand all cultures throughout time have faced equal adversity.  It is not just enslaved and trafficked African-Americans.  Scot-Irish, German, Italian, and Jewish cultures all are infused with The Blues.  The Ballads in particular of the Appalachians not only express hardship, but impart wisdom to their offspring.  Any music in minor mode going back to Gregorian Chant expressed piety and sorrow at the crucifying of Jesus.  Sadness and hardship are nothing new, but perhaps the prospect of riches in the Wild West of America usurped these trials and tribulations.  All cultures have vehicles to express grief and sadness, and they are important.  One listen to aria and recitative by George Frederick Handel, and you will hear bereavement personified.  What America did do was exploit The Blues, and that is okay.  The vehicle of The Blues, its chord progression in varied forms, was a worthy foundation for the creation of American Rock 'n' Roll.  Early Rock 'n' Roll was race music or Rhythm and Blues, and largely its chord progressions were from The Blues.  This feeling of The Blues is what is appealing, and always it does not have to be lamenting.  Quickly Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, and many others discovered you could superimpose overt sexuality onto the vehicle of The Blues.  The tempos went up, and energy, vitality, and physical showmanship became paramount.  I concur.  If you want to end a party early, have the band play, "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone."  With no disrespect to Bill Withers, that song will depress anyone.  Baby's love it.  It is common to exploit the poor and down and out.  "Them that's got shall get.  Them that not shall lose."