Saturday, October 31, 2020

3 Chords & the Truth: Save America


I’m guessing you might have expected a Halloween show on 3 Chords & the Truth this week, being this is Halloween day as we record the program. Sorry about that . . . frankly, I find life is scary enough without adding ghouls, ghosts, goblins and zombies to the mix.

I mean, c’mon, Tuesday is Election Day here in these Disunited States of America, and if the outside chance of four more years of Donald Trump doesn’t scare the hell out of you, you’re probably still shivering after the president’s freezing-cold superspreader event here a few days ago and are being told by medical authorities to quarantine yourself for 14 days.

Halloween, hell. Don’t know about you, but I’m scared you-know-whatless as we wait to see whether Uncle Joe wins and we earn an outside shot at putting America back together . . . or everything goes horribly-er wrong, and the country as we knew it ceases to exist, and democracy here dies the most deranged death the world has ever seen.



Come Tuesday, life will go on — maybe — in a fashion close to what used to be normal, or life as we knew it will end, and the untenable will be the new normal. And we who love the idea of the United States — who love the idea that is the United States — will have some awful choices to make.



The untenable — the unacceptable — is just that.

STILL, even if everything goes as right as rain this coming week — and would you really count on that, this being 2020 and all — those of us who love the messy, idealistic, not-yet-lived-up-to idea of the United States still have to internalize the reality that 40 percent or so of our fellow Americans have no idea about the American idea — our national creed. That all men — all people — were created equal, “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”



We still must grapple with the reality that 40 percent of Americans are OK with fascism. With ripping refugee children from the arms of refugee parents.

With putting refugees in cages. With putting children in cages.

 

We must wrap our minds around 40 percent of Americans being OK with the president’s blatant racism and bigotry. With his cuddling up to despots and sanctioning their interference in American public life.

With a shambolic and corrupt administration of our national affairs. With a thoroughly corrupt administration which subverts and corrupts everything that comes too close to it.

 

We have gone to war with countries over less. Now we are what we had professed to abhor. After all, we elected what we once professed to abhor . . . and we conceivably might do it again. 



And — conceivably — our present cold civil war well might turn hot in the coming days, weeks or months. As if our criminal mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t killed enough Americans — roughly 230,000 as I speak. And we’re not half done with the dying at this rate, with the pandemic going into a wintertime frenzy.

 

Some 40 percent of our fellow citizens are fine with that. Fine enough with it to vote for it. Don’t ask me why; I have no good answer.

 

MAYBE we who try to live — imperfectly, as it turns out — our American creed . . . and remember, America is a creed, not blood and soil . . . maybe someday we will be able to forgive our brothers and sisters. But we won’t — we can’t — forget.



Assuming we have the chance. 



If you can vote but haven’t voted yet . . . do it. Vote. The world as we know it depends on it.

Now that I’ve had my say, I’ll let the music have its say as we seek to save America.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, October 24, 2020

3 Chords & the Truth: Shine

Winter is here. Darkness is upon the land.

There is only one thing left to do.

Shine.

You shine your light as we rage against the darkness. And 3 Chords & the Truth will supply the soundtrack.

Now is the time to rise . . . and shine

That said, this week's show is going to blow your mind, man. Shine? Oh, about a megawatt's worth, I'm reckoning.

That is all.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.


Saturday, October 17, 2020

3 Chords & the Truth: The Warm Sound

Welcome to the Big Show, coming to you from a time and place somewhere near the end of the world.

We don't call the studios of 3 Chords & the Truth the Apocalypse Bunker for nothing, pally.

This week finds the 'rona raging more than ever, the president of the United States rage-retweeting a post from a satirical website, thinking it's real, and these Disunited States of America as disunited as ever with an election coming up in November. Stock up on the toilet paper and canned goods now, folks. It's gonna be a rough ride.

Too, stock up on the best music on the Internet, here on the Big Show. We all need all the consolation and distraction we can get, and this here program is just the ticket.

In other words, send lawyers, guns and music -- the shit has hit the fan. I kid. I think.

AS USUAL, we have a great playlist of music here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska, and there is the usual compliment of twists, turns and eclecticism scattered through it for your ears' listening pleasure. There's a reason it's called the Big Show, and this is it. Not many places feature this diverse a selection of music, and even fewer are on the radio . . . and probably not anywhere near you.

But here on the Internet, here we are. 

Bet you're glad you shelled out for that broadband connection, aren't you? Actually what you'll find here is worth the long, long download even if all you have is dial-up. Is that still a thing? 

The show is freeform. It's also a twist on freeform programming.

It's . . . the Warm Sound. Or something. 

AND JUST about now, I'm flashing back to high school all those decades ago and wondering whether I've hit 500 words yet. And, no, I'm not going to count them.

So, in conclusion ("in conclusion" gets me two more free words), I'll just say the following: 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.


Saturday, October 10, 2020

3 Chords & the Truth: Get the picture?

Comes a time when there's nothing more to say. The crazy has been identified and plumbed, the peril has been explored and expounded upon, the dismay has been expressed.

This is that time.

All that is left is for us to soldier on and overcome. Somehow.

The Big Show aims to help in that anyway we can -- primarily through good music to soothe the dismayed and beleaguered breast.

This is that: good music that maybe will help you get through the disease ravaging our health and the disease ravaging our political being.

Get the picture? I knew that you would.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, October 03, 2020

3 Chords & the Truth: BOOM!

If you think 2020 can't get any worse, you're underestimating this most putrid of years.

Chaos surrounds us. The 'rona is still raging. The president has it, and the White House seems to be one big superspreader event. Worse, it all was entirely predictable, despite how "shocking" everyone says this is.

The presidential debate was a disaster -- because Donald Trump. Again . . . entirely predictable.

Election shenanigans are in the air. White supremacists are riding high -- again, thanks to the president of the United States, which threaten to become entirely disunited.

And I know I'm missing something here.

THIS IS ALL the more reason we need refuge. Part of that is 3 Chords & the Truth. Part of it also might be your favorite adult beverage, and lots of it. (See: Debate. Presidential.)

I can't even, and I'll bet you can't either.

And we all know we won't catch a break from 2020.

What more is there to say? Probably not much, and probably nothing that the Big Show doesn't cover this week with another fine hour and a half or so of excellent tunes. And even if you don't like music much, you always can listen to hear your Mighty Favog tap dance to the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Because, once again, I can't even.

Because . . . BOOM!

By the way, if you like the show, you always can show your appreciation in . . . Jim Beam.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.