"You Can't Handle The Truth!"

GRAMMY RECAP: I really kind of dug the GRAMMYs last night. I LOVED Annie Lennox (one of my favorites), AC/DC was wreckin’ it, LOVED the Brandi Clark - Dwight Yoakum song! (Sturgill Simpson got NOTHING?!?), Buddy Guy got props (though not on TV…)The interesting thing was the conversations the next day; Kanye, Kanye, Kanye! (yes it’s a Brady Bunch reference)First, I should say that my personal opinion is that Kanye did what he did to create the controversy, conversation and press that he’s getting. “Good press, Bad press, as long as they spell your name right!” Kanye is the Rush Limbaugh of Rock & Roll; even he doesn’t believe EVERYTHING he says.

 Now the internet is lit up with Artists and fans responding in the negative. “Kick him in the …” well, you get the idea. My take, for what it’s worth, is that Kanye is (like most artists) insecure and desperate. I’m not jumping on the bandwagon to beat him up, I’m just trying to express my opinion of what he said. (Although he is married to a Kardashian, they can make a man want to be a woman!) To say that Beck, a multi-instrumentalist, who writes, records and produces his own work, who according to allmusic.com is credited as the sole composer of all 13 tracks of his GRAMMY winning record, should “respect artistry and give his award to Beyonce” who’s last album, according to allmusic.com credits 30 composers and producers, is like saying Derek Jeter should respect athletic talent and give his World Series ring to Hulk Hogan. The argument is ludicrous in and of itself so let’s take it off the table and analyze the underlying truth.  Kanye has released 8 records, (6 of which, I’d not heard of), Beck has released 12 records ( 9 of which I haven’t heard of). In their individual milieux, they are both valid. Kanye is a tremendous force in Rap/Hip-Hop and Beck is an incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer. Kanye taking a verbal swing at Beck is like me talking smack about Mike Tyson; I can play guitar better than Mike Tyson but he can also kick my a**! (I can also play guitar better than Kanye, Beyonce, Jay-Z AND Beck but that’s beside the point:))…I’M JUST JOKING! 

 My point is; life is short, love is long, true art will survive and flourish, pretenders will fall by the wayside and whoever turned off Sir Paul McCartney’s mic and reduced him to being a rhythm guitarist for Rhianna and Kanye should be dipped in peanut butter and dropped in a pack of hungry, horny dogs!

 In closing, I’d like to paraphrase Col. Nathan R. Jessup USMC; “ Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Ryan Seacrest? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Beck, and you curse Kanye West. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Beck’s win, while awesome, probably saved lives. And Kanye’s existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want Kanye on that stage, you need Kanye on that stage. We use words like art, integrity, musicianship. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent creating something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to someone who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very art that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up an instrument, and write a song. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.” #loudisgood