JCHRants

We’re back. And it’s all thanks to you, AI!

03.5.2023

Roger CortonIt’s been forever. They said you was hung!

JCHAnd they was right! (laughs)

RCWe should start with an explanation.

JCHWe should. It’s all your fault.

RCFair. Readers won’t know this, but COVID was rough on my family and I’d mostly like to leave it there. I wish someone else could have taken up the slack.

JCHI’m sorry. Truly. And I struggled with that here as well. Aside from having some scary moments with my own family, I kept having friends, I mean people I really know, dying. But it just did not resonate with most people. Not really.

RCI think it comes down to kin.

JCHExactly! The ironic thing is that, here, most people got vaxxed, the infections were pretty low and most people had no personal experience with it. Which made them think it was unreal. It became performative. But you’re right. Someone else could have stepped in and kept things moving with JCHMusic, but no one did. And because you weren’t nagging me, I started dropping away from ‘music’ and it just kept going. And then you called.

RCI did.

JCHDon’t take this the wrong way, but. How come?

RCAI! If you recall, in our last fun-filled discussion we were talking about the magic of live performance. And…

JCHAnd you started getting yer hopes up?

RCMaybe just a little bit. We spoke by phone after that, which was supposed to be our next rant and…

JCHAnd I stomped on that dream of yours like Mitch McConnell at a planned parenthood meeting. (laughs)

RCI have to admit, that was pretty good.

JCHYou like that? I got a million of ’em!

RCI know you do. But you were just about ready to put out this album…

JCHAbout the end of the world?

RCAbout the end of the world. And then…

JCHIt looked like the world was ending. (laughs)

RCPrecisely. That’s kind of what brought me back. I ran across that last post and it felt like you kinda nailed it, son.

JCHActually, what I was going on about with It’s All Downhill From Here was more of a glide slope into hell. Not so much a swan dive into the great pandemic.

RCIt’s doubly ironic because you were so excited to be on schedule for once.

JCHThe interesting thing? I did have a bunch of energy. But for some reason, I diverted it into our local politics.

RCAnd how’s that been workin’ for you?

JCH(laughs) It just occurred to me. And I swear to God, I never thought about this before. I never wondered ‘why’ I made that decision.

RCMaybe you didn’t feel like promoting a record at that time was possible. Would it even be worth the bother? Maybe politics seemed like the only choice.

JCHI honestly never thought about it. And I want to thank you. Seriously. Because I should. That was an interesting blind spot. The thing about local politics is, you see just how fixable a lot of things are. But you also see how they’ll never get fixed. Um, Everything is so focused on the now. At the local level you really can fix things. But, everything. Every decision is about meeting people’s needs today. They’re not interested in five years, 10 years, 20 years. Most of that discussion happens that a higher level And those people are not thinking about stuff in your town. There’s just this huge disconnect right now.

RCSo, are you saying that you’re feeling more optimistic or more pessimistic?

JCHWell, if anything, I probably sound more depressed. I’ve been given a vision of how things could work? But it’s that out of reach thing.

RCThat sounds like the album cover Progress really captured that. Pushing the rock up the hill?

JCHI suppose. I actually was thinking more like Sisyphus. Progress was more about how the rock gets harder to push. Sisyphus is more like how you just get so close. And it’s the fact that you do get so close that keeps you at it.

RCLike gambling. Just one more pull on the one arm bandit.

JCHRight. Actually that’s exactly it. You can’t get people on board. The moment they hear that some program won’t help them, it’s over. That’s what makes politicians cynical. The lack of incentives for the future.

RCWell, it’s funny that you say that because you wrote the opera The Boats which ends on a faintly optimistic note.

JCHWell, that’s right. I Thought there was something that I could talk about some lessons learned for the future. You know. See the good thing about Ireland? There was this devastating thing. But, they were able to clear the decks, sort of declare bankruptcy, almost. Shutting down the fishing industry and all and then come back stronger than ever. You could never have made that comeback without clearing the decks like that. We had that opportunity here in a sense with COVID. And i’m not seeing the same opportunity come out of this. I’m not seeing any lessons learned.

RCI want to mention something about the website. You know that your first several albums they were in bright colors. And then they got progressively…

JCHProgressively, i like what you did there.

RCThey got progressively darker.

JCHOh, wow. I never thought of that. You’re right!

RCYou were going along, all the colors of the rainbow and then….

JCHI mean, if you believe in psychology i guess i’ve been sending these signals. Like i said, if If I’ve learned nothing else in the past few years, it’s that the potential is fantastic. It really is. Um, But, I don’t know how you get to where you need to go without doing something different.

RCBut point taken. Most of the time, it really does require that clearing of the decks. So anyway, so how did you decide to get back?

JCHUh, I got a couple of complaints about the website and oh yeah, it has been broken. That’s a funny thing. You know, we sold records. Even with the thing being broken, i just completely blew it off.

RCWell, as I said I went to the website. In addition to the colors, I came back to that last rant where you talked about AI, and that image of the “person who does not exist”. That was over two years ago, before anyone was talking about that mainstream. I mean, you got it, right! ChatGPT and DALL-E are all over the news. You can’t go a day without hearing about AI. AI. It just hit me. You’ve hit the nail on the head. Several times. So I felt compelled to try to check in and see about getting this thing going again. I went back and looked at your catalog and there are all of these times where you’ve been prescient about a lot of things. I don’t know where we go from here. But, I wanted to have a talk to see how you feel about that.

JCHWell, i appreciate that. I don’t know where to go from here. I did have these health problems. I had a bunch of teeth replaced. If you recall, there was no way, i was going to go out and try to sing. Um, so i’m Getting back to it now. Um, But this is the little spark. I actually have been working on music.

RCYou have? Do tell?

JCHYou’ll notice, over the past few records I’d been spending more time on the music and less on the singing.

RCThat’s right. It’s All Downhill From Here. It’s about two-thirds music and far less lyrics.

JCHWell, so far, that’s where i’m at. I don’t like things to ramble. I was never that. Jam Band kind of a thing.

RCWhich we’ve talked about.

JCHBut I’ve actually have managed to keep some chops up just by playing. I still enjoy playing enough to work on things that are hard. You’re a guitar player so you understand that.

RCYou’re not just noodling for pleasure. That does not make you play better. You do have to work on things that push you.

JCHExactly. But i’m really gonna have to practice that’s for sure.

RCGood. Then let’s make this a fresh start. Check back every so often and see where we’re at.

JCHWell, to end on a good note, as you said, the site was broken a lot of the time. But even so, It’s All Downhill From Here still sold a surprising number of records. You know, at least for what I do. And i wasn’t even trying. I assumed that during COVID people were just maxing out their credit cards on anything. (laughs)

RCRandom spending. Just because we were all cooped up. I did my share of that.

JCHBut who knows. Maybe it’s still worth doing something. We’ll find out.

RCWe’ll find out. But, I think it’s worth continuing this. And what brought me back to this was that notion of AI.

JCHWell, I want to push back on the optimism a little bit because where we left off, was me, sort of throwing up my hands that and wondering whether there was any point to live performance. My concern was that people would no longer be impressed by any amount of shredding. (laughs) They’re not going to be gobsmacked anymore.

RCWell, i don’t know if that’s the case, but I’d like to think that there is still something worth seeing with someone who can really do it. Without it just being

JCHCar Show is the phrase you’re looking for, I think.

RCCar show?

JCHYeah, you know like where you see old guys, chugging along in their ’69 Camaro Z-28.

RCNo. That’s not what I meant but I do know what you mean.

JCHIt’s too easy to look like a joke at our age. No longer relevant.

RCWell, the fact that you keep pushing these things, like, AI, ahead of the curve, that seems relevant. Today. I won’t say young, but relevant. So let’s keep at it, okay?

JCHOkay! You’re so inspiring. So I’ll really try to end on an upbeat note. Sex!

RCI thought that maybe we’d get through one of these, after all the death and suffering…

JCHBut noooooooooooo. So back to the sex. You know the biggest problem for me with sex these days?

RCGetting any?

JCHTouché! Getting interested. Same thing with music making.

RCInterested?

JCHSure. You recall being 25. Sex was this all-encompassing deal. Was there ever a bad time for sex?

RCTwenty five? Hell, forty five, son. (laughs) But I take your point. Somewhere along the line I became…

JCHA woman. You can say it, Rog…

RCA person who has to be in the mood.

JCHLike I said. But that’s not exactly what I meant. Until recently, there were never enough hours in the day for music. Even ten years ago, I never had to talk myself into doing it.

RCNow that sounds like a woman. (laughs)

JCHIf you didn’t know before, these are two old guys talking. Forgive us. But what I meant was that I still enjoy music making as much as ever. Once I get started, that is. But I have to make myself get into it. I’m not automatically drawn to it. Once I get going, I get just as lost in it as ever.

RCWhat’s that country song? The engine still runs, but you have to get her heated up in the morning?

JCHThat’s right. I have to get out there and hook up the engine warmer, which is a right pain in the arse some mornings. But, once she gets going, haw haw haw.

RCOkay, I think we’ve indulged that part of your personality enough for one day.

JCHWait, before I forget, I want to express my gratitude to you, sir. I never do that enough and it actually has a lot to do with my darker feelings about politics. We lie to ourselves all the time about our spirit of volunteerism in my town.

RCI think every town does.

JCHWell, it’s total bullshit. COVID finally sealed the deal on that myth. And bringing it back to moi…

RCYour favorite topic…

JCHYou have 1,000 Likes on Facebook, and maybe 100 people buy yer album. A few people help when you want to book a tour. All fantastic. But there’s only one Rog. Literally. I may have been dabbling a little bit, but if you hadn’t called, I’m not sure when or how I would get this party re-started. Not just with what I do. I mean in every situation, it almost always come down to just a handful of people at most.

RCYou’re welcome. And the crazy part is that it took me running across that AI image from the last rant we did. Which isn’t even a person! (laughs) But however we got here, we got here. And now that we’re here, let’s get back to what we were talking about in December of 2020.

JCHIt must be said. You are one motivational speaking son of a bitch! I’m ready, coach. Let’s get out there and make a difference!