There is a scene in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” in which the newly reanimated Powers says, “I can’t believe that Liberace was gay. I mean, women loved him. I never saw that one coming.”
I think that many of us baby boomers have experienced that feeling when one of our heroes — in entertainment or politics or some other walk of life — turns out not what we expected them to be. To be fair, it’s often just not what we wanted them to be.
One of the most persistent (and pernicious) Republican mantras is that all teachers are dangerously liberal. GOP shouters blame unions or Hollywood or the education departments at universities for brainwashing teachers into becoming liberal monsters who, in turn, indoctrinate their students into believing in things like equality and stuff.
I’ve always thought that it was just natural for someone with an open mind (and possibly, a liberal family background) to be drawn to teaching, as opposed to chasing after money on Wall Street. And then, after spending time in the classroom and learning about some of the crap that kids have to endure outside of the school just to be a student, how could they not become more empathetic and more liberal?
Every now and then, you get surprised. Like, who would expect a gay tech titan to be a Trump supporter? After watching the first season of “Silicon Valley,” who would expect any successful tech person to be anything but a post-modern hippie who wants to help create world peace? And yet, there is Peter Thiel.
The contradiction that has thrown me for the biggest loop is the growing emergence of baby boomer music legends turning out to be walking rectums, spewing bile, racism, disinformation, and dangerous kookiness. I never expected them to be Brian May, the guitarist from Queen who has a Ph.D. in astrophysics.
I sincerely was fine with their being brain-dead savants whom the Gods of Music had hit in the hands or the throat with a lightning bolt, enabling them to hear things that we couldn’t hear — and then share those things with us.
Then, after having done so, they could get a lot of money, a bunch of drugs, and fleeting female companionship. It seemed like a good deal. We could learn and explore and protest, while they could be the perfectly apolitical them.
But lately, some ugly cracks have appeared in what we assumed would be a lifetime of symbiosis. The examples range from bizarre to appalling. Roger Waters, the 80-year-old co-founder of the legendary British band Pink Floyd, has gone way around the bend. He is accused of making anti-Semitic remarks, and this was before the war broke out with Hamas. He has also said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “not unprovoked.”
Carlos Santana, who had been playing the Pima County Fairgrounds before the Music Gods gave him a second chance with the album “Supernatural” (one of the biggest-selling albums of all time), should have been spending the rest of his life basking in his twice-found glory. Instead, he has turned into Right Wing Get Off My Lawn Guy. At a recent concert, Santana stepped out of sweet guitar sounds to opine that “a woman is a woman, and a man is a man — that’s it.”
The two most egregious examples of this involve one guy whom I have always admired and another whom I just about worshiped. The former, Eric Clapton, has lived a professional and personal life with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. He anchored three legendary British bands (The Yardbirds, Cream and Blind Faith) before going out on his own. He has created a huge library of rock and blues classics that will live on for centuries. But in the present, he done lost his mind.
About a month ago, he hosted an all-star concert for The Crossroads, a drug rehab facility that Clapton founded on the island of Antigua. The concert brought together such musical luminaries as Stevie Wonder, Steven Stills, John Mayer and Sheryl Crow. They say that it was quite a show.
A few days earlier, Clapton had appeared at a private fundraiser for political crackpot Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the idiot who claims that the COVID-19 virus was created in a lab and was designed not to infect Chinese people or Ashkenazi Jews. Kennedy also falsely claims that vaccines cause autism. Helping that nutjob raise money to run for president is insane.
The one that really hurts me is Van Morrison. I’ve been a Morrison fan since he fronted Them and sang “Baby, Please Don’t Go” and “Gloria.” His album “Moondance” is one of my all-time favorites. I used to pride myself with owning every piece of music Morrison ever made.
And then, during the pandemic, he released a 28-track double album with songs complaining about welfare cheats, government mind control, and the possible Jewish control of the media. He and Clapton even collaborated on a song that blasted pandemic lockdowns with lyrics like, “Do you want to be a slave…?”
I can no longer say that I have everything Morrison made.
I’m not going to be like one of those rednecks who screamed at the Dixie Chicks to just “shut up and sing.” I’ll make it simpler.
Just shut up.
This article appears in Nov 16-23, 2023.
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It’s not news about Clapton or Morrison being anti-vaxxers and Covid-19 deniers.
I’m surprised you are only now tuning in to that madness, Tom. I’m sad about Brian May, he once was my idol.
I just try to enjoy their old music for music’s sake. Nothing any one of them has released lately is worth listening to, anyway.
Roger Waters is not incorrect in his understanding that “Russia was not unprovoked.” The bloody neocon/CIA sponsored regime change operation in Ukraine in 2014 and the relentless push of NATO, with its short and medium range nuclear weapons to the very borders of Russia was provocation enough to bring the war the neocons (Victoria Nuland) wanted. As for the allegations of “antisemitic remarks,” this is a tactic long used by Israeli political Zionists to smear any prominent critics of the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine. You know what, Tom? Sometimes you should just shut up.
So you don’t like your music idols giving political opinions? You’re advice is “just shut up”. Well la de dah, conservatives have been pommeled with Left wing lectures from a multitude of poorly educated movie stars, musicians and athletes on the Left for years and has trumpeted their opinions far and wide. So perhaps you should just shut up.
Gonzo,
I dont believe Mr Danehy was including Dr Brian May among the logorrheic rock stars who disgust him with their ignorance. I believe he is referring to Dr May as a paragon of intelligence compared to the reprobates on his list. Yes. Clapton and Morrisons ignorance and bigotry are old news. Danehys inclusion of Mr Waters with the others is inappropriate.
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Just shut up is a 2 way street, same advice should be given to all the politcal liberals who bask in the glory of stardom, oh and you too Tom.
Here is a link to a list of some of the accomplishments of the man you refer to as a political crackpot: https://www.kennedy24.com/about.
It seems we are talking about two different people! Of course, as is the case with many journalists today, contempt prior to investigation would explain the disconnect. We need to do better, to rise above and hear the message of this once-in-a-lifetime candidate.
Well written, horrendously researched. Articles like this are why your media platform is dying.
Under the Biden administration we have seen war, censorship, and forced medical injections. RFK, Jr. opposes all of these things. Are you really a leftie/ liberal?
Some people, like this reporter, can simply not handle those who rise above the boxing ring of conflict. They are stuck in Tribalism and can never see the solution. It is time to lay down the gloves. Bobby Kennedy is the greatest candidate of this generation, hands down. His knowledge, experience, humanity and spiritual principals trounce every other candidate and are EXACTLY what this country needs.
The irony is, RFK is the one candidate who will stand up for this author’s right to free speech and the First amendment. Other candidates, including Biden, are turning media into White House stenographers and using Section 230 as a weapon. Please, get a clue! Journalism is giving way to tyranny!!
The Eric Clapton comments that bothered me were the ones about the vaccine. After he had a bad physical reaction to receiving his first dose, he then went on about how awful it is and advised people to question it and even avoid it. So, my comment for Mr. Clapton is: You ravage your body by injecting and subjecting it to multiple illicit and harmful substancesfor decades. Cocaine, heroine, alcohol and then are surprised and upset when a powerful vaccine causes the cellular structure in your body to have a strong reaction. Just shut up, indeed.
Lying Tom Danehy wrote: “Instead, he has turned into Right Wing Get Off My Lawn Guy. At a recent concert, Santana stepped out of sweet guitar sounds to opine that “a woman is a woman, and a man is a man — that’s it.””
Since you disagree with Santana why do you want to keep women from playing women’s sports?
Lying Hypocrite Tom wrote: “But, in my opinion (formed by decades in believing in the fairness of sport), they (transgender women) do not automatically deserve to compete against ciswomen. They just don’t.” (second parenthesis added)
Why do you want to discriminate against them and turn them into second class women? If they are truly women they have the right as women to compete in women’s’ sports.
Tom wants everyone to know he is down with the cause of Transgenderism, but when the rubber meets the road, it is a different story.
Typical Virtue Signaling Lying Tom. Just like is proud that he won’t let his girls’ basketball teams listen to Chris Brown, but he loves, loves, loves him some notorious wife beater, incestuous pedophile Marvin Gaye music.
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Its called free speech man.
Musicians losing fans after expressing their political views, instead of sticking to music, isn’t new.
I don’t remember the date but it was a long time ago when I saw a (then) favorite, Lou Rawls in concert, at the Music Hall. (He died in 2006) It was great until near the end when he offered up commercials for Coca Cola and the United Negro College Fund.
That was the end of my interest in him or his music.