This won't end well

This is the artwork that ran with the Nov. 11, 2016 edition of 3 Chords & the Truth, after the election of Donald Trump as president.

Everyone of sound morals, sound judgment and sound mind knew that America would be left in tatters by the time he was done. And yet, we still underestimated the "American carnage."

But the thing about Trump, and his MAGA movement, is that he -- and it -- is the "gift" that keeps on taking. It corrupts everything it touches -- our institutions, our society, our democracy and even the church. Especially the church.

Now Roe v. Wade has been overturned, thanks to the lackeys Trump and the MAGAfied Senate GOP installed on the Supreme Court. And the United States, already roiled and disunited by the culture wars and partisan strife, surely will finish the job of self-immolation.

WE ALL have lost much over the last six or seven years, thanks to the twin plagues of COVID and Trumpism. I have lost my relationship with an increasingly Trumpified Catholic Church in the United States. I can live in this country, or I can be Catholic. The roiling ball of mortification and visceral disgust in my gut tells me I cannot do both.

Now, I am no enthusiast of abortion. I suspect not that many people are. In fact, I consider myself pro-life.

But I have come to the conclusion over the years that outlawing abortion will not end it. It may not even make a dent. It will just criminalize it -- and make criminals of desperate women.

It will work just about as well as Prohibition did, and probably worse. The carnage resulting from the war of the self-righteous against the hard-pressed likely will be worse than that of trying to make teetotalers of an entire nation, and that whole deal gave us Al Capone and a raft of lesser mobster lights . . . and the resulting wave of death, violence and public corruption.

Today, few babies will be saved, and more women will die. Even more will be hounded after suffering miscarriages, because the Unsatisfied Righteous will see illegal abortions around every corner. Especially where there are none.

We will see no increase in maternal health care, and it won't be more affordable. We will see no outbreak of affordable child care. We will see no expansion of paid parental leave. There will be no child tax credits, increased food aid or accessible mental-health care.

Babies will be precious -- and protected -- right up to the moment they exit the birth canal. Then it will be time to suck it up, Buttercup. Just like today, only worse.

Bullshit from the "pro-life movement"

ANY CELEBRATING "pro-lifer" who tells you differently almost assuredly is blowing smoke up your ass. I've already lost track of the times I've heard big, vague promises in the last 16 hours or so. When asked by television journalists for details on all this coming aid for mothers and children, the unfailing answer is "We're sorting that out."

And I'm the goddamn queen of France. They only had 49 years to figure this shit out . . . and now it's going to get done on the fly?

What we have now, people, is flat-out minority rule heading fast for full-bore tyranny. My 61 years of life experience, my observational skills as a one-time journalist and my increasingly accurate, increasingly fright-making gut instinct tells me that some form of civil war might be an optimistic outlook.

You thought things were bad before? Just wait, now that the "pro-life" dog has caught the speeding dump truck of history. And fate.

Ugly doesn't even begin to cover it. Forget fetuses, we're gonna kill one another now. We've been waiting for the spark to set off the powder keg. And here it is.

The possibility exists that we could get some leadership -- and pragmatic common sense -- from somewhere. On the other hand, our institutions have been corrupted or enfeebled, and our politicians are either malign or feckless.

I mean, do you trust them to fix anything today? Do you really think the average American is even capable of democracy anymore? Come on, man. Double-digit percentages of us think the Italians beamed shit from satellites to make voting machines gaga for Joe Biden and screw Trump out of re-election.

Confidence has not been inspired.

That said, there will be no 3 Chords & the Truth this week. And I even had everything ready to go.

But it isn't distraction -- or a salve -- that we need now. We need a little silence . . . and space. It may be the last we get for a long, long time.

Goodnight, America. You had a too-brief run.

3 Chords & the Truth: Ralph-tastic

If a clod like Ralph appreciates good music expertly curated . . . I expect that you'll be copacetic with everything, right? 

I said right? 

Now that we're clear on everything, we're good to go with another Big Show, which is a very very very fine show, with one dog in the yard, tunes used to be so hard . . . now everything is easy 'cause of you. And the 3 Chords & the Truth mascot, Ralph . . . who is  a clod, which isn't an insult but a fact, in the earthiest of manners. 

But he has a nice smile. Don't you think Ralph has a nice smile? 

And Ralph thinks this week's edition of the program is especially mud-tacular. (We're pretty sure that's a good thing.) 

So be like Ralph. Listen to the Big Show. 

And, yes, we've had a lot of rain here recently.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Under the table

These are the times that try men's livers. Because the safest place to be in America today just might be under the table. 

Can I get a "Hic!"?

In that totally practical spirit, we're gonna be drankin' this week on 3 Chords & the Truth. Thus, we're going to have some good drankin' music. 

We'll have some other good music, too, on this here soused edition of the Big Show, but let's just start with the drinking songs. 

OK? (thud)

I mean, what's the use of getting sober when the news comes on every day?

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Deviants all

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a . . . well, shit. 

America, America, God took thy brains from thee. Don't get me started on your soul. 

That, sadly, is where we seem to be as a nation as we somewhat reluctantly offer up another episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. If it's not one thing, it's another.

And sometimes, it's everything at once. Well, shit.

You will have to forgive your Mighty Favog this week for a program done amid a haze of depression and, frankly, not-so-suppressed rage. Because this shit never ends.

We keep doing the same thing -- which is not doing anything -- and expecting different results. Well, the bodies keep piling up. Republicans seem to be good with that.

I am not. Maybe you aren't, either. I don't know. 

And that's where we are for this go-round of the Big Show. I may have more to say about that -- give it a listen. There's some damned fine music, too.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: And it blew right up in our face

Crazy.

Mean.

Cruel.

Hate.

Crying.

Help.

WELL, that pretty much sums up America these days, and it sums up what we're dealing with on 3 Chords & the Truth this week.

You know, it gets harder and harder to try and do the Big Show with even something of a smile on one's face. At some point -- with a million dead of COVID and a fascist political party egging on murderous white supremacists -- a smile starts to feel like a delusion.

Still, you try. Still, you seek out joy -- and music.

Such is life in these Disunited States of Dystopia . . . er, America.

"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" And it blew right up in our face.

Heaven help us.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Illegal in seven states

This edition of 3 Chords & the Truth is illegal in Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Listen at your own risk.

Legal notices aside, it's a damn fine show this week. Lots of great music -- as always.  

Plus, you'll learn things and hear songs you had no idea about. About which you had no idea? Damn you, awkward yet correct grammar! 

Well, this show must be special; I've already used the word "damn" twice. Damn! 

Three times. 

I'd better wrap this up and let you get to the Big Show before I get banned in a couple more states. Given Tuesday's primary results in Nebraska, I may even get banned here. too. 

Uh, yeah. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: More ump-ff!

3 Chords & the Truth -- it's the show with more ump-ff. 

And your mileage won't vary. Everybody gets maximum ump-ff when listening to the Big Show.

But you don't have to believe me; prove it to yourself. Try an episode and see just how much ump-ff can be packed into 90 minutes of a music podcast. 

You'll be glad you did. 

IN FACT, you'll probably think 3 Chords & the Truth invented ump-ff. We did not, but we do appropriate it heavily. That's why we have more ump-ff than Brand X. Or Brand Y. Or even Brand Z. 

Once you try the exquisite musical mix we present, it's safe to say that you'll never go anywhere else for your weekly measure of ump-ff. Because the Big Show just has more. More music, more ump-ff, more satisfaction at the low, low price of . . . zip.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Noise annoys

Noise annoys. So we don't do that here.

Instead, the Big Show goes with music -- the best music. We wouldn't want you all annoyed and stuff.

So, as usual, you can be assured this week's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth is not annoying. No, it's down right entertaining and stuff. 

Apart from that, I'm not sure what to say about the show. Music . . . good . . . not annoying. That pretty much covers it. 

Yep. Ima just shut up now. The subject matter has been covered. All that's left to do is for you to listen. 

Uh huh. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Reality does not inspire

As one of the selections on the Big Show says, "Reality does not inspire."

Really? I'll alert the media. Wait, 3 Chords & the Truth IS the media -- I consider myself alerted.

There are several approaches to dealing with this reality. One is falling into stupid nostalgia, where everything was better and everyone got along way back there then. I grew up in the South "way back there then," so I am immune to this approach.

The reality of the time was not so inspiring. Were some things better than now? Sure. And a lot of things were a flat-out horror show.

Another approach is to fall into a bottle. First, I no longer fit. Second, liquor ain't cheap. Third, I am cheap.

OK . . . I thought of why I do want to go back in time -- as an adult -- to the year of my birth in Baton Rouge, La. I want to go back and surreptitiously change all the "White" signs on public restrooms and drinking fountains to "White Homo sapiens."

I'd just want to see fine, upstandin' Christian white people afraid to drink water and crapping themselves in public because they wouldn't want anybody to think they were one a them queers. Still, I would be careful about complimenting aspiring young actresses by saying they had the makings of a true thespian. 

The struggle was real. Even today, that kind of compliment might get you labeled a "groomer" by the Republican booboisie.

But I've come off the tracks with my musings here.

The point here is that while reality may not inspire -- at least most of it, anyway -- the Big Show always does . . . musically, at least. Check it out. 

If you disagree, you can go around telling people I'm a Homo sapien.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Going all the way

 

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.

 

Let's do it. Let's listen to 3 Chords & the Truth.

What the hell did you think your Mighty Favog was talking about?

After all, the Big Show IS everybody's favorite freeform musical phantasmagoria. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnall's, skipper.

But first, listen to the show. You'll be glad you did.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: I fall to pieces

I turned on the Internet stream of my high-school radio station this morning just in time to hear the DJ mention that this spring, they're kicking off WBRH's 45th anniversary celebration.

Wut?

I was there then. I can tell you what the first record was. I was a junior in Radio I.

In 1977.

Forty-five years ago.

S***.  

IT ALSO HAPPENS that I have a birthday coming up in a few days. It would appear that I'm no longer 18, much less 16.

It would appear that I'm 45 years older than 16.

S***.

That would explain that when I walk by, I fall to pieces. A little help here . . . I've fallen, and I can't get up.

Well,  that kind of sets the scene for this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Expect some music from when I was 61 years younger than I am now . . . and 39 years younger . . . and 47 years younger . . . and 51 years younger . . . and you get the gist here.

IT'S MY PARTY, and I'll play what the hell I want to. Fortunately for you, it's all good. Every bit of it. That's what we've all come to expect of the Big Show. 

And that's a very good thing. It was a very good year. All of 'em. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?

Do we go forward or backward?

This, I do know, however. Any time is the right time for a little 3 Chords & the Truth. Or a lot, for that matter. 

Personally, I'd go with a lot. It's that good.

And that's good enough, because it's the Big Show. It's as simple as that.

Period.

I said period.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Dropping the needle

Well, it's time to drop the needle on another stack of hot wax on the Big Show, Daddio.

That used to mean something, and it says nothing young about me that I know what it used to mean. Man.

That incomprehensibly said, it's another episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. As per the norm, it's another good one. 

Right on. 

I am copacetic with the lingo, for I am a groovy dude. Get it? Groovy, as in hot wax on the record machine. 

Forget it.  Let's just drop the needle and get on with it. The times are too dark to go on without some music to get us through. 

Find joy where you can -- the message of the day on the Big Show. 

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

Be there. Aloha. (Click.)

Be there. Aloha. (Click.)

Be there. Aloha. (Click.)

Be there. Aloha. (Click.)

Be there. Aloha.

3 Chords & the Truth: Russia . . . go #@&! yourself

The other day, a Russian warship demanded the surrender of a tiny Ukrainian outpost on a small island off the coast of Odessa. Or else. 

The radio response of the 13 soldiers stationed there? “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.” Those were the last known words of the soldiers before the shelling began and their lives ended.

We live in a chaotic world, and malefactors abound. Fascism and tyranny are ascendant, particularly in the United States, which has many Vladimir Putin wannabes. Thus, those last words of the Ukrainian martyrs are, today, a rallying cry for those of us who love freedom, seek decency and hate authoritarianism. 

AND THAT'S where we are, both mentally and emotionally, this week on 3 Chords & the Truth.

Vladimir Putin, go f*** yourself. Donald Trump, go f*** yourself. Tucker Carlson, go f*** yourself. American Nazis, go f*** yourself. MAGA nation, go f*** yourself.

Here in Nebraska . . . Gov. Pete Ricketts, go f*** yourself. Gubernatorial candidates Charles Herbster and Jim Pillen, race-baiting fascists both, go f*** yourselves. No retreat, no surrender. 

Like Russian missiles slamming into apartment buildings in Kyiv, such American fascists represent high explosives aimed square at American civil society. At our very soul. That these charlatans call themselves "Christian" makes the offense all the more grievous. 

The brave defenders of Ukraine, outgunned though they are, show us all how to respond to tyrants and their evil doings. We fight. That's the underlying spirit of the Big Show this week. It, really, is the underlying spirit every week.

It's just that we do what we can . . . with music. Good music. A diversity of music. And we all know what the fascists think about diversity. 

Well, they can go f*** themselves. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: America on the hoof

You know how your parents told you that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all? 

Today's subject on 3 Chords & the Truth is American corporate capitalism.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OTHERWISE, we have a lot of great music on the show today -- which is typical for the Big Show. 

I think you'll like it.

That pretty much covers everything, so you can get to listening now.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Mahvelous

You have your normal, baseline self. Then you have yourself on 3 Chords & the Truth.

See the difference? To the world, the humdrum world, you seem a bit off-kilter -- a blur, perhaps. But to you . . . you look mahvelous. You feel mahvelous. You are mahvelous. 

Crucially, the music is mahvelous. It doesn't matter if you can't spell marvelous. That's because you, on the Big Show, are mahvelous. And the world just can't keep up. 

MAHVELOUS. 

That is the world of 3 Chords & the Truth. 

It's the world of infinite variety, great music you can't hear just anywhere . . . and a host celebrating yet another day he's not in the federal penal system. What's more mahvelous than that? 

I'll wait while you decide. It shouldn't take long. 

Now go listen to the show. It's . . . well, you know. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Legitimate musical discourse

Classic form. Classic sound. Now, pass me some heavy weaponry and a couple of clips. 

We're gonna have us some legitimate musical discourse. 

NOTE: We have ways of making you like this episode of 3 Chords & the Truth.

Uhhhh . . . we're all patriots here, right? 

As usual, the musical mix here on the Big Show runs from soup to nuts. and there is a high degree of confidence that you will love the program this week. Right? 

I said . . . riiiight? Excellent.

See, discourse is good. 

Yeah, it's a great show. The best show. You wouldn't believe how good the show is this week. 

It is some serious musical discourse. Or else. 

As a matter of fact, I have a peaceful, easy feeling about the whole shootin' match. 

NOTE: No Mike Pences were hanged during the course of the Big Show. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The long and shorts of it

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . . yeah.

I've been known to not wear pants -- and for all you know, I'm not wearing pants now -- but you don't need to see that. This is why some of us are in radio. 

Well, this is another edition of 3 Chords & the Truth, and it's as good as usual.

And, as per the norm, the river of sound runs broad and deep. I guess that's one reason why it's called the Big Show. After all, we have more than 30,000 songs to pick from, and the music library grows by the week.

For true. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: That old feeling

The internet is out. Again. So, I'll be brief here on the cell connection.

This week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth takes a musical journey spanning almost a century and covering the gamut of style and content. In other words, not that big a departure from what we do every week.

And, boy, is it good. 

WHICH, again, is no departure at all from the usual here on the Big Show.

For example, the program features . . . nah, I'm not going to tell you. That would just completely remove the mystery from your listening experience. 

And, after all, what's the fun if you really and truly know what's coming next? That's our trademark. 

Well, the missus informs me the Internet is back on. Bully for Cox, he says sarcastically. Now, I'd better wrap this up before the damn thing goes out. Again. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Dial 'M' for music

Want music? Just dial "M." 

Dialing "M" will connect you with 3 Chords & the Truth and all the great music you want . . . . . . and need these days. These days. Boy, that's a loaded phrase, isn't it.

Thus, the need for all the best tunes we can get our ears on. 

As usual, you won't know what's coming next, but you'll be glad when it hits your speakers. That's kind of the nature of the Big Show. 

And that's da name of dat tune. 

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