Jesus Christ, but 2016 was a tough year! The musicians (and people) we lost! The impending doom of a Trump-inspired government! The division of what was in some ways a country, a world even. Ideals crushed beneath the boot heels of hate, news warped beyond any rational thought, a world based upon a semblance of logic now an anarchy of thought and emotion.
Goddamn Jim of Seattle… I no sooner put last week’s column to bed and here he comes along with an album which has had me up nights and all weekend with “We are the Elders… We Are the Elders… We are the Elders…” running through my head on a constant loop. I can’t stop it and it would drive me crazy if I didn’t love it so much. See, ol’ Jim came up with this idea… well, maybe I should tell you about his last album because sure as shootin’ you either have not heard it or have forgotten.
There was probably a time when one release would not have meant as much to me as it does today. I worked in the record business for so many years I became jaded, the major labels releasing numerous albums each month and the independents trying to squeeze the few that they had through the stampede. I never really cared about the really big ones— it is a part of me I have had since I was very young, this aversion to the stars— and have learned only within the past ten to fifteen years to really appreciate the significance of the lesser-knowns. I get tired of all the pissing and moaning about how the “new” music biz has watered down the quality of music and allowed the less talented to record massive amounts of lesser works. As if they were lesser.
I’m not going to blow smoke up your skirts about what a legend is Terry Manning. Manning is just a man like other men but one who has been at the right places at the right times often enough to have had legend grow around him. He is a musician, recording engineer, music producer and label owner all-in-one, and now adds photographer to the list, though that might have been there and I just missed it. He has worked with unknowns and superstars and businessmen of various character. What he has had and done is a simple matter of longevity. That’s not to say he isn’t a genius, of sorts (after all, he produced and played on one of my all-time favorite albums, Cargoe), but that he has lived long enough to make his past history in a real historical sense.
Pardon me while I get serious for a moment. My country seems intent upon flushing itself down the toilet and before it does I would like to share a few words with you about– Alistair Cooke? But he is (or was) not even American! True, but he is (or was) more American than many of the people who portray themselves as “patriots” (I put it in quotes to point out that the word has been cheapened and no longer holds value to me). I too think it strange that I would look to a “foreigner” to make my case about The Unites States, but it seems natural.
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Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 