My blogosphere days

My first post on Blogger was not in 1997, which is what you might think if you look at the dates in my Blog Archive. 

However, the posts you see listed from 1997 through 1999 were from the period right after I was laid off by The Arizona Republic in one of that newspaper's first downsizings. 

I was anxious to get back to working on my occupational passion, which was writing about popular music: rock, jazz, blues, world music and other forms. 

I decided that I needed to work freelance because, for a variety of reasons, I didn't want to move my family from town to town looking for opportunities in the news business.

Unpleasant random thoughts

Every now and then, I think about the geopolitical situations that face us, and I draw some conclusions that aren't necessarily commonplace

1. World War I never ended, but if you think it did end, then you can label the current conflicts in the world as World War III. 

2. If the Union had let the Confederacy secede, the Confederacy would have failed a few years afterwards and we'd be free of the stupid North vs. South conflict in the U.S. (i.e., "the South shall rise again" and all of its surrounding iconography) that fuels so much of the rancor in today's political scene. 

3. Jobs shipped overseas from the United States have less to do with trade imbalances that can be remedied by tariffs and more to do with the blind pursuit of profit over any social good. 

I guess each one of these could use a little explanation about why I come to these conclusions:

Fragility of memory

I was at a Maria Muldaur concert here in Phoenix last night. It was the first time I'd seen her live in performance, even though I'd first encountered her voice in Jim Kweskin Jug Band records in about 1968. For one reason or another, I simply missed her whenever she was doing a show anywhere near where I was living. 

Anyway, last night was lovely, she was in good voice, singing a little lower maybe than in her youth, but still able to provide sinuous frills in her vocals as she did in the days of "Midnight at the Oasis," which was a hit 50 years ago. (Yes, the '70s are turning 50.) My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I've seen this movie before - Part 2

If  you notice that news commentators are mentioning 1968 a whole lot as they cover the U.S. presidential race, I want to point out that wasn't happening (as far I can tell) back in March when I first mentioned the way that history doesn't quite repeat itself.