Category: 2020 Election

First Caturday Of A New Era

What an amazing week. I am in awe of many things. There’s a wonderful moment at the end of Free Solo (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it), when Alex Honnold stands atop El Capitan and calls his girlfriend (now wife) Sanni McCandless and says he is “so delighted.” So delighted. He free soloed El Cap which is impossible – don’t attempt it because you will die – he spent a lifetime training and climbing and doing pull-ups with his freaking fingers, then years practicing El Cap with ropes and his friends the top climbing partners you can have in the world, and he tries it once and blows it off cos he’s not feeling it (he is, I emphasize, so definitely not a crazy person), comes back a season or so later and one fine morning glides up that sheer wall with the grace and precision of a dancer and ENJOYS it, he’s smiling, grooving on it, loving it, one small misstep would mean certain death and he’s completely focused yet not worried in the least, he’s got this and he knows it, and it’s a beautiful day, he summits and he is alive and tells his lovely lady he is so delighted, so delighted, so delighted. I just love that. I find myself saying it sometimes and no, I have never done or will do anything of that sort! But I can be so delighted sometimes, yes I can.

I watched some classic Ray Charles concert footage this evening, down a rabbit hole that started with Georgia. I had to hear again Brother Ray’s classic take on Hoagy Carmichael’s beautiful lament which became, after a decades-long saga that included the Civil Rights Movement – the Georgia state song. Because Georgia this month turned the senate Blue. Thank you, Georgia. So delighted. Down the rabbit hole from there I watched more Ray Charles – his concert footage is magnificent and I have never really checked it out before. What a great performer in every way, and his bands, so top notch. Watching Ray Charles at the piano dancing seated-ishly and just knowing from a lifetime of doing, where the keys are, where the mic is, flawlessly, gesturing cues to the band with a nod to the left, projecting love to the audience on his right and just shining, uniting everyone and uplifting them, delivering these gifts night after night for so many years, these incredible pieces I watched constituting but a small part of his work. Excellence is so fun to watch. Whether in sport or music or anything else.

I remind myself today that this pandemic is out of control, made so largely because the 45 “administration” was incompetent and malicious. They’re gone but the stink remains, and it will for a while. So I remind myself to mask up, social distance as much as possible, wash hands etc. do the things, don’t let up til this is over and it’s going to take time. I see posts from friends who have COVID, whose friends and family members do, some are having a very bad time of it and some are dead or dying. The freakish reality that so many, many Americans have somehow chosen to deny that this is happening, is so disheartening and maddening. Hopefully now, their imbecile lord banished and facing prosecution, some will resurface from the ocean of bile they’ve been swimming underwater in and see the light.

I’m proud of the millions of people who made our struggling, aspiring, baby democracy work, against terrible, dishonest, hateful, ugly, criminal, and finally seditious opposition, in these recent months at the end of four calamitous years. Made it work. Caused it to work. By showing up. Many in my little corner of FB really showed up. Tens of millions of other folks, most of whom will never meet each other directly, worked with a unity of purpose to prevent the end of our democracy, and the unimaginable disasters which that would have brought. We did it. We have to keep at it, obviously, this ain’t done, but we did it. I think after such a harrowing experience, less people will be apathetic or complacent about their responsibilities as citizens and voters. I hope so.

Much work to be done. And now, we can do it. We won’t be fighting upstream against an evil GOP in power, for now. The future looks brighter to these eyes again suddenly. The air smelled fresh today. Rain forecast in Cali, and the grown-ups are in charge in DC.

So delighted!

2020 Visions, Revisions, and Revelations

In the middle of all this craziness, I’ve somehow had a rather productive year. One big milestone – the early Uptones album! Been wanting to do that for a long time, and the pieces finally fell into place to make it possible. I wrote some posts about it on the Uptones blog. Out now on Liberation Hall records.

Cover art by Peter Montgomery. Liner notes from Sarah Cain. Have at it!

I’ve produced some more songs of my own. The most recent one, Jupiter Girls, I finished this weekend and shared right away on my Bandcamp page. It’s so fun, and in a way, it’s the most Uptones-y thing I’ve done on my own. The brass section, arranged and performed by the mighty Steven Bernstein, launches the track in a way that reminds me of Uptones arrangements. We’d often do these huge, triumphant horn lines as intros and bridges and whatnot, and when Jupiter Girls was all done and mixed the way I wanted it, I laughed and said, hmm, we kinda Uptone’d that! Thank you Steve, and drummer Jay Lane (speaking of Uptones!), and Shannon Wheeler (who drew the cover art), for joining me on this long-distance collaboration. It brought me some real joy, and I see it is doing the same for some folks out there listening to it already. And that of course means the world to me. Humble thanks and love, all!

We defeated the orange apparition of death, and saved American democracy. I have many friends who volunteered, donated, posted and participated so actively in this election. Starting during the primary we had at it, working hard for our preferred candidates (for me it was Bernie). Then in the general election, many of us got behind the Democratic Party ticket hard and strong, and helped put them over the top. We did that. We. It was a WE thing.

Bernie Sanders’ 2020 slogan, “Not me, US” is one of my favorite political slogans ever. I didn’t like his earlier “Join the Political Revolution” slogan at all, though I strongly supported him then. I didn’t like the Obama campaign’s “HOPE” thing, though I understood its appeal, and vigorously supported his run in 2008 and 2012. Did Hillary Clinton’s campaign have a slogan in 2016? Jeez I can’t remember – what was it – (googling..) oh right, “Hillary for America.” Again, I voted for Clinton, and in hindsight after this unspeakable disaster, I WISH I had campaigned for her, donated, volunteered, done something more than vote, but that’s water under the bridge and.. “Hillary for America?” Hoo boy. Dem’s, we have to do better! Forgive me for this tangent, but I’m a songwriter, and I think lyrics matter. 45’s slogan, which I shall not repeat, is a political masterpiece. In the endless autopsy of the 2016 election I will repeat, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a comfortable margin, and we need to revise or remove the Electoral College, so maybe her slogan worked fine for some folks too. I just thought it said nothing. I couldn’t even remember it. Popular songs, you can remember. But enough complaining.

We WON the 2020 presidential election, decisively. And every one of us has our own inner dialog about what that means, and the dark horror of what another 4 years of this bullshit would mean. Me, in my little corner of the universe, what were some of my anxieties? Oh they’re almost embarrassing, so small are they compared to the concerns of people in real peril due to this monstrosity, but I’ll share, why not? You know what? I produced a really joyous, celebratory song, the above Jupiter Girls. I honestly didn’t know if I’d have the creative energy and will to finish the track properly if our fellow men and women put 45 back in office again. No. I would have lost a piece of my faith in humanity, I might have snapped, I would have bailed out and gone to live in a monastery or something, I don’t know. And the Uptones early recordings album, what would that be, in the context of the election, if it had gone the other way? We waited 35 plus years to put it out (the reasons for that far too lengthy to address here) and boom, the release date was… November 6th! I laughed and cried when I saw that date announced just a few months ago, knowing election day is the 3rd. Fun. I doubled down on my support for Biden/Harris and helped them win.

When I look at the results from state to state, I can easily conclude that WITHOUT the massive efforts of so many of us, this would have gone south. Pun accepted. But we won. We won and government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Not this week. Not on our watch. Not this time. Take a breath and let’s see what we can do to help the Democratic senate candidates in Georgia and mute the evil turtle from Kentucky, shall we? What’s the best approach? I’m looking into this.

At the same time as all of the above, I released some great new music from Russ Ellis and friends, Matte Martin, The Recyclists, Comeback Pete and others on my new label, Berkeley Cat Records. And I’ve been working with a wonderful team at Pandora, remotely, all of this remotely, from the same desk, in my COVID outpost. Without keeping busy, I don’t know how I’d cope. I’m very grateful. What a year!

When I was 17 and the Uptones were starting out, a friend of a friend asked me at a party, “Dude, why do you mix politics with music?” “Dude,” I replied, “they’re already mixed.”

My Journey With Bernie

I started supporting Bernie Sanders for president on the day he announced his run in 2015. My friends here may remember I ran a fundraising page thru ActBlue called the Bernie Bus. (I updated the link here, to a current Bernie campaign donation page.)

To my amazement, my small corner of the larger fundraising effort ended up raising over $3500, mostly from donations from my friends on FB! I was disappointed when he didn’t win the nomination, but I got over it quickly and voted for Hillary Clinton in the general election. (Which she won, absent the awful outdated Electoral College, which we should abolish.)

For the 2020 election, I support Bernie Sanders again, and now, our volunteer organization and small-donor base is huge, unique and unprecedented.

Today, I attended the Bernie rally in Richmond, CA, and it was everything I hoped for and more. Absolutely giant turnout. The line went on forever it seemed, and the beautiful Craneway Pavilion at Richmond Harbor filled to capacity. I got there early so I was not very far from the stage. Photos below. It was great to hear Bernie speak and see him in person, finally. He’s a fantastic orator, something more easily appreciated up close.

The speakers and musicians who preceded him were also marvelous, and after the room could hold no more, the still very long lines of folks were directed to an outdoor area where they could see (maybe!) and hear the speeches. It was downright inspiring. Completely peaceful, empowering, diverse, inclusive, and massive.

My dad and I agreed on Bernie. My father, John Dinwiddie, died in 2015, but I feel he’s with me on this journey, hocus-pocus though that may sound. We’re on the Bernie Bus, more than ever. I feel Sanders is the candidate to win, and, small detail, he’s winning!

I support Bernie Sanders because I agree with him. On basically everything. Other candidates, I agree with much, especially Elizabeth Warren, to whom I had signed numerous petitions urging her to run in 2015, before Bernie declared. Warren didn’t run, Bernie did. And in the years since then, the Bernie volunteer organization has grown into something extraordinary.

All of the other candidates have taken some verses from Bernie’s song book. And that’s great. I’m glad to see it. But Bernie has been singing these songs consistently through his entire life and career of public service. Now that he’s winning, there’s an inevitable backlash and hand-wringing from (for lack of a better word) “mainstream” Democrats. Their notion seems to be, “Oh no! Bernie’s winning! That can’t be! He can’t win!” Which seems absurd to me, due in small part, to the fact that, he’s winning.

Rather than try and second-guess other voters, the fabled “swing-voters” for example, I choose to support the candidate I most strongly agree with. And I urge progressives and moderates and liberals and others to do the same, and increase the momentum of Bernie’s campaign, all the way to the nomination and the presidency.

Elections are not a spectator sport. Pundits’ predictions are historically, consistently unreliable and so often wrong. Either by our action, or inaction, we decide the outcome. Let’s be pro-active and vote our conscience, vote inclusively, vote our best interests, and elect Bernie Sanders president, and a Blue majority in the House and Senate, and put our nation on a better course, for all our benefit, and the benefit of our unique and beautiful and only world.

Democracy is not something that happens to us, it is something that we do.
Bernie Sanders for president. Thank you.