Segarini: Music or Nostalgia…Which is It? Part 3 – Goodbye 2014, Hello Sons, Bones, and Loops

We look at the past through rose coloured glasses.

Somehow, over a period of time, our perception of the past mellows. The bad things tend to fade until they are out of focus, disappearing in our rear view mirrors like the T Rex in Jurassic Park.

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Nostalgia …

2014 is too fresh in our memories to have softened and blurred and faded to the point where we can look back with a fondness free of fear and pain. Because we are still too close to it, 2014 remains the present, not the past, and yet we are all thankful that it is over and we get another fresh start, at least according to the calendar, which we made up to give ourselves a sense of order.

It will be awhile before we get what is commonly referred to as “The Perspective of Distance”, the ability to look back and see the Big Picture from a more informed viewpoint…which, unfortunately, is often contaminated by the aforementioned Rose Coloured Glasses. In other words, instead of insight and knowledge gained from what has gone before, we…the vast majority of us…tend to discard the educational mistakes that were made, and embrace that great party, that awesome vacation, those surprising quotes from the Pope, and the movie/TV show/concert that held our attention for a couple of hours.

Maybe the information we should retain and learn from is just too painful to ingest and acknowledge.

If we remove the racist and terrorist labels from the recent unfortunate events in Paris, we are left with a group of angry, humourless people who have been conditioned against that which is different from them and given to violently acting out against that which they do not condone, or understand. They feel threatened by people and philosophies that are no threat to them, but perceived as threats to them and blamed for whatever problems they have. This is taught behavior, not genetic or inherited. This kind of hate is passed down from generation to generation, or by environment, and information that has been presented as fact and not as opinion. This is not only tragic, it is preventable. Over time. With patience.

It isn’t what you hate that is the real problem…it is hate itself.

When are we ever going to address that?

I posted this yesterday on my Timeline in an effort to cast a different light on the event…

“The cartoonists at MAD Magazine have been cowering under their desks all day, waiting for the white middle class to barge in and open fire….”

I’m not sure if anyone saw the connection.

My point is and was, that as long as we continue to blame race, and religion, and greed, and guns, and the rest of it, these things will continue to happen.

It’s time to focus on the people who do these things. The individuals. …and all of us should ask the powers that be to focus on education and common sense. Identify the people who do or want to do damage, and act accordingly. Leave their religion, race, and whatever else out of it. Otherwise, they are just teaching people to hate that race or that religion…even if they don’t mean to.

We have to quit assuming the miniscule minority speak for the vast majority.

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Thanks to Facebook and the whole of the Internet, the reality of what took place in 2014 is as cloudy and murky as the Mississippi River. We are distracted by every rumour, hoax, and falsified fact we are exposed to, to the point of riding everywhere in God’s Short Bus, obese not on fast food and sugar, but on erroneous information posing as fact, and out and out lies credited to trusted people and news sources, (usually also falsified), or taken out of context or slightly altered to make the poster’s point.

We have become bloated on Bullshit.

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2014: The Year of the Tin Foil Hat

The disinformation and misdirection we are inundated with every day comes from two different sources….

Organized groups who have an agenda and skew the news and information we receive to further those agendas.

And…

Those of us who believe, propagate, and support the word of these people on a more personal level using social media and word of mouth.

The true horror of this one-two punch of manipulative reportage and rampant gullibility is even worse than the information being disseminated.

Why?

Because it conceals the actual truth and confuses everyone further, and once recognized for what it is, so much of it could be eliminated with just a little tiny bit of common sense.

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Since 9-11 we have lived in fear, and there are those who feed that fear daily. Those of us who spread that fear either willingly or unknowingly, are as big a problem as the sources who instigate our continued insecurity. Mistrust, paranoia, doubt, ignorance and anger…all tools of those who wish to keep the public confused, distracted, and occupied while they continue to push their agenda(s) forward.

The only way to free yourself from this manipulation is simple beyond all measure.

Pay attention.

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Verifying What You Read or See or Hear

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Whereas 2014 wallowed in this particular plot of quicksand, let 2015 be The Year We Called Bullshit and did our homework.

Here’s the thing; All you have to do is read the WHOLE of what is printed.

For example…

There are a LOT of parody and satire sites that post ridiculous stories that just aren’t true. Before you get your knickers in a knot and re-post or share them or make a serious comment and embarrass yourself, or worse, spread untruths, check the name of the site, and if you’re still not sure, for heaven’s sake…

Google!

All the known information in the entire world is easily accessed by every computer, laptop, tablet, and smart phone on Earth. No need to wonder, guess, or ask your roommate any questions ever again. Failure to use search engines and a little patience only proves these things…

We are lazy

We have blind faith in our opinions and cognitive skills

We do not want to know the truth.

Just remember that when we pass on rumours, hoaxes, and untruths, that we are part of the clutter that keeps us from identifying and solving the real problems that exist. Dialing down all the conjecture and overcoming the fear of everything we are led to believe is ‘out to get us’, would go a long way toward making us less prone to shouting “The sky is falling!” every 15 minutes.

I, for one, would welcome less drama and more enlightenment.  Check your facts using multiple sources. Please.

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Sometimes, the most insane story, the one you just KNOW is a joke…isn’t. …but why did it take almost 5 years to become Internet fodder?

Dublin Evening Herald, 23 June 2010

“Woman in sumo wrestler suit assaulted her ex-girlfriend in gay pub after she waved at man dressed as a Snickers bar

A REVELLER at a fancy dress party in one of Dublin’s best known gay bars attacked her ex-girlfriend in a row over a novelty wrestler’s suit.

Sandra Talbot (32) assaulted her ex-partner with a bottle she had hidden under her costume in a fit of rage at the George pub, after more than a year of acrimony following their break-up.

A court heard she lashed out at victim Adrienne Martin in a row that started over a novelty sumo wrestler’s suit that Talbot was wearing. The row developed as the victim tried to wave at a man dressed as a Snickers bar, the court heard.

She had been in an on-off relationship with Talbot for three years which had ended in March 2007. During the evening Talbot, who was wearing an inflatable sumo suit, bumped into her. When she turned around, the accused said to her: “Keep smiling, c**t.”

Later, a man dressed as a Snickers bar began waving at her and when she went to wave back, Talbot pushed her arm from behind. When she asked what the problem was, Talbot said: “Your arm’s in my way.” […]

Ms Martin said she saw a Smirnoff Ice bottle fly from the defendant’s sleeve. The State solicitor said the prosecution had no evidence that a bottle was used in the assault other than Ms Martin’s word.

The accused was escorted out and had to be asked to partially deflate her costume so she could get out the door.

Talbot’s barrister Diarmuid Collins argued that it would have been impossible for the bottle to have been in her costume and fallen out as described because the suit worked on an airtight seal.”

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This was posted a week ago. The accident occurred in 2013. Please check your dates before posting. It was a cargo plane. 7 people lost their lives.

Plane crash January 2^nd 2013 Bagram, Afghanistan

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Fun Facts

Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney are not as cartoonishly stupid as the Bleeding Heart Liberal Left has made them out to be.

President Obama is, in fact, one of the best Presidents of the last 100 years, contrary to the ranting’s of the Conservative Right Wing moustache twirlers.

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2014 in Review

In No Particular Order….

A great deal of Colorado’s financial and crime problems went up in smoke.

Betty and Veronica could finally blow off that Idiot Archie, get married, and start their life together.

Marvin Gaye took vengeance from the grave on those who robbed his musical tomb.

Long a thing of revulsion, gigantic, barely covered asses left Wal-Mart and entered the mainstream to much applause.

A very comedic man died very tragically.

Conservative wars Liberally continued.

A Host became Toast.

A Mayor who did nothing except dumb stuff in his private life was anointed the most famous Canadian since Wayne Gretzky by the people who just plain hated him.

The Ontario Government made drinking and smoking more difficult, and raised taxes on liquor and cigarettes to make up for lost revenue. Overkill.

A Bieber got booed.

Unfriendly Skies 3, Malaysian Airlines 0

A Movie studio marketing plan almost started an international incident. In a related story, two comedians hurt a dictator’s feelings.

Twerking. Your daughter’s first step to a career on a pole.

Frozen melted hearts.

I want to build a snowman.

Ferguson Missouri

Cheney IS his first name.

We are threatened with yet another Bush.

Elon Musk.

Achy Breaky Heart not Billy’s worst creation.

Wolverine will be dead for a while.

If I didn’t know better, I’d swear The Pope Smokes Dope

More Beats. No Cowbell.

Really bad hockey continues to make really good money.

Young People leave Facebook in droves.

And to be honest, I’m not sure if anything I have shared in this column is true, or important, either.

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Music

“Not bad, fellas. Let’s do one more take, with more emphasis on tone, harmony, melody, rhythm, composition, lyrics, musicianship, tempo, and originality.”

Surprisingly enough, there are a few great songs in here. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which ones. You owe it to yourself to check this out. I have never heard of more than half of these artists. I also wonder if we will ever hear of them again.

Top 100 Biggest Selling Popular Songs Of 2014 According to Billboard Magazine

With that in mind, some wonderful music was made in 2014. Music has slowly been making a recovery for the last few years, and 2014 proved to be a  turning point in several ways.

First of all, radio, record sales, and hype continued to become less and less important to break an act. Word of mouth and live performance returned in a big way, and seems to be gaining momentum.

Local music scenes are also proliferating, and the one here in Toronto continues to showcase artists who are ready for prime time.

One of the most interesting tracks to cross my path lately is this hypnotic piece and its accompanying video. It is mesmerizing. Give credit to musician/drummer Jim Casson, whose website. Dark Orchard, will provide more of this ethereal, ambient, and unique aural landscape. Watch and listen to this first. Unusual, and strangely compelling. I find myself watching Casson walk through the landscape, part of it, yet completely disconnected. I have felt like that myself….

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Just in case you think the world is going to hell in a handcart and all is lost and yadda, yadda, yadda, fear not. We have been idiots for-ever.

We don’t learn anything because we think we know everything.

We look to blame instead of fix.

We do not learn from the past except to long for it.

These quotes are as true today as they were when first uttered…

…well over 2000 years ago.

Plato 428 – 348 BC

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.

“Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them.”

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.

People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die.

Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.

Socrates 470 – 399 BC

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.

Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.

“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”

So…relax. 

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This Friday….

Segarini: Music or Nostalgia…Which is It?  Part 4 – Going Back to the Future

This series concludes with a look back to see what’s coming …and how nostalgia can sometimes jump-start the future.

Be prepared for more from these gentlemen, and lots of good news.

Rival Sons

Saint Paul and the Broken Bones

Dirty Loops

..and some artists you may not have heard of …yet.

Gabrielle Walter-Clay & Common Thread

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Your Comments Are Welcome

Segarini’s regular columns appears here eventually.

Contact us at dbawis@rogers.com

Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, and The Segarini Band and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now publishes, edits, and writes for DBAWIS, continues to write music, make music, and record.