Live On Air, Lost In One Last, Very Stable Thought - THE ESPO EXPERIENCE (Episodes 11 & 12: The Joker / The Thief)

There will be no more talk of games, thrones, or empires.
Episode 11/12 will be the last entry of the weekly Espo Experience column as you know it. This Espologue of sorts, will somehow attempt to cover a wide range of topics, from Music to MAGA. While I can promise you now that I won't intertwine the two again, like all great politicians, successful campaigns are built on a foundation of lies, half-truths, and preying upon the weak. Just like Arnold, I'll be back.
For those worried about the future of the Espo Experience radio show...fear not!!! I'll still be bumping great tunes every Tuesday night from 9-11pm, on the airwaves of the one and only 88.7 WRSU-FM. Every Wednesday morning, I'll be dropping setlists from my shows on this website, as well as the digital doldrums of ye old gram.

_

Why am I stopping these weekly entries?
Well, as much as I hope you've enjoyed them (or at the very least, clicked on my website to get the traffic up), they have come at a great cost - I've been suffering from severe writer's block on other topics as a result of the energy I've put into this column. So it's time I take a step back for a while.

Sometimes you've got to take a step back to see the bigger picture, and it is my hope that this move will benefit the "Espo" brand in the long run. "Building the brand" is certainly a corny phrase, but I guess there's a kernel of truth to it. ANYWAYS. I don't want to half-ass my writing. I want to full-ass it (and in the process, I fully expect to make an ass out of myself)

Whether or not I'm able to make a living out of this writing thing, it doesn't really matter to me at the end of the day. I do it because I love it, and it brings me satisfaction. Hitting that publish button is the greatest high there is. So I will keep chasing that satisfaction, and that high, no matter the cost.

Or, as a true agent of chaos more succinctly put it:


On the topic of prices worth paying...more on that later.
But for now, I have no more words,
no more thoughts on losers, cheaters, scandals, or six-time users...
...so let the vandals take the handles and let the Music play:

Episode 11 Setlist

TRACK: Subterranean Homesick Blues
ARTIST: Bob Dylan
["keep a clean nose...watch the plainclothes" always]

TRACK: Hunger of the Pine
ARTIST: alt-J

TRACK: Give Me Just a Little More Time
ARTIST: Chairmen of the Board

TRACK: Welcome to the Machine
ARTIST: Pink Floyd

TRACK: Mango Walk
ARTIST: The In Crowd

TRACK: For the Love of Money
ARTIST: The O'Jays

TRACK: Black Ice
ARTIST: AC/DC

TRACK: Monk's Dream
ARTIST: Thelonious Monk

TRACK: Heart of Glass
ARTIST: Blondie

TRACK: All Right Now
ARTIST: Free

TRACK: Headcracker Suite
ARTIST: Sam Spence

TRACK: Them Changes
ARTIST: Thundercat

TRACK: So Far Away
ARTIST: Carole King

TRACK: Breaking the Law
ARTIST: Judas Priest

TRACK: Hercules
ARTIST: Aaron Neville

TRACK: Way Down in the Hole
ARTIST: The Blind Boys of Alabama

TRACK: Snowblind
ARTIST: Black Sabbath

TRACK: New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down
ARTIST: LCD Soundsystem

TRACK: Spill The Beans
ARTIST: Fila Brazillia

TRACK: Wanted Dead or Alive
ARTIST: Bon Jovi

TRACK: Move On Up
ARTIST: Curtis Mayfield

TRACK: Live and Let Die
ARTIST: Paul McCartney and Wings

TRACK: Starman
ARTIST: David Bowie

TRACK: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
ARTIST: Gil Scott-Heron
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"You will not be able to stay home, brother

You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out

You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and

Skip out for beer during commercials

Because the revolution will not be televised"

Is the revolution brought to you by Free Enterprise? Fascism? Communism? Capitalism? Algorithms? High fructose corn syrup? High interest rates? High-speed internet access? Pro-choice? Pro-football? Same-game-parlays? The healthcare freemarketplace? Calvinism? Hobbesism? Pro-life? Pro-death? Ticketmaster's stranglehold on the live event industry? Police strangleholds on live humans? The live humans industry/prison industrial complex? Complex Media? Complicated Media? Simple Media? Media for Simpletons? Simp for free stuff? Simp for genocide? Free speech? Paid speech? Regulated speech? Deregulated speech? None at all? Open-air concert venues, sponsored by Live Nation? Open-air hells on earth, sponsored by This Nation? Ben & Jerry's discounts? The thin blue line? The 49ers' defensive line? Pro-forced-birth? Mandatory summer camps? Mandatory internships? Mandatory internment? Mandatory minimum sentencing? A national high-speed rail system? A national league pennant in New York? President Taylor Swift and First Gentleman Travis Kelce? Presidents Swiftly Banning Reproductive Rights In Favor of Gentlemen, First?

24/7 Waffle Houses, 24/7 Workdays, 24/7 Headaches, 24/7 Sicknesses, 24/7 Prescriptions, 24/7 Clients 24/7/365 Growth

Please keep all checks and balances inside of the democracy at all times

YoY, YoY, YoY, YoY, YoY, YoY
Infinite GROWTH! 
_

Episode 12 Setlist

TRACK: Where Is My Mind?
ARTIST: Pixies

TRACK: Karma Police
ARTIST: Radiohead

TRACK: Give Me the Night
ARTIST: George Benson

TRACK: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
ARTIST: Bauhaus

TRACK: Showdown
ARTIST: Electric Light Orchestra


"Sometimes a bowler just has to face the music" - Big Ern

TRACK: Needle in the Hay
ARTIST: Elliott Smith

TRACK: Lawyers, Guns and Money
ARTIST: Warren Zevon

TRACK: Teardrop
ARTIST: Massive Attack

TRACK: The Look of Love
ARTIST: Dusty Springfield

TRACK: Nothing from Nothing
ARTIST: Billy Preston

TRACK: Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
ARTIST: AC/DC

TRACK: Everybody Plays the Fool
ARTIST: Main Ingredient

TRACK: Detroit Rock City
ARTIST: Kiss
[The Cardiac Cats are +7 this weekend in San Fran. Dare I call it the lock of the century?]

TRACK: Can't You See
ARTIST: The Marshall Tucker Band

TRACK: Chain of Fools
ARTIST: Aretha Franklin

TRACK: Everloving
ARTIST: Moby

TRACK: Far from Any Road
ARTIST: The Handsome Family

TRACK: Acknowledgement
ARTIST: John Coltrane

TRACK: Harvest Moon
ARTIST: Neil Young

TRACK: Machine Gun
ARTIST: Commodores

TRACK: I'm Not a Hero
ARTIST: Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard

TRACK: Use Me
ARTIST: Bill Withers

TRACK: Breaking the Habit
ARTIST: Linkin Park

TRACK: Something in the Way
ARTIST: Nirvana

TRACK: Sweet Dreams
ARTIST: Roy Buchanan

TRACK: Joker and the Thief
ARTIST: Wolfmother
_

I recall saying something earlier, about prices worth paying - so let's talk about money. Does it make the world go round? Is it the root of all evil? Or, might it be somewhere in the middle? The middle ground is a safe place to be. It's a place of certainty, of stability, of comfort. But in this writer's opinion, there is no middle ground when it comes to the case of the future of our country, and its potential leadership. So you know damn well what I am going to talk about next...the curious case of one Donald J. Trump. I fear these next few paragraphs will fall on deaf ears, as this country finds itself locked in an ideological stalemate of sorts; alas, the show must go on.

How can over a third of the American populace still think he is capable of leading anyone but himself? His family? His company? Let alone an entire country? How does anyone with a working frontal lobe believe he is the right man for the job? The answer is perfectly clear, just as it has been from day one for this autocratic asshole, he's in it for one thing and one thing only: himself. A crook, a cheat, and a swindler, he was, is, and forever will be.

From day one of his presidency, and up until January 6th, 2021, he was merely one of the worst occupants of the Oval Office in our nation's history, but after that day, in my eyes, he became a traitor to this nation. To still support him is no longer to support a political candidate - it's to swear fealty to a king. And presidents are not kings. But 70+ million and counting might say otherwise this fall...though I'm sure they're all very fine people!

Sorry, I shouldn't make this personal - despite these strong opinions of mine, I vow to keep them to myself from now on, because it doesn't seem to be making a difference anymore. I won't force these radical thoughts upon anyone else - I'll take the high road. As he and some great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long did on a chilly January afternoon three years ago. I'm sure they won't try such shenanigans again, but hey, sometimes all it takes is a little putsch...

While I dream of a time for a new generation of leaders, ones that are not beholden to money and corporate interest, that time is, unfortunately, yet to come. It's hard to do it, but we have to wake up and live in reality. This election is about keeping this country moving in the right direction - forward. Not trying to relive the past. Not trying to rewrite history - with lies and propaganda.

There is one Big Lie, or rather, approximately 7,059,547 little ones, but no matter how you slice it, this election is not just the best chance to hold our country's foremost fibber accountable, it is our last chance. I expect the anti-democratic diarrhea to be slung like never before, so when all is said and done, I hope the "Constitution" of Lady Liberty is still left intact.

But then again - might he be the president this country deserves after all? After all, what could be more American than obsessing over fame, wealth, and power, and trampling over everything and everyone in your way to hold on to it? At any cost? Without any regards for norms or laws? Is there a single individual that embodies that mindset in this country more than old Donny Boy? He's not trying to be a Commander-in-Chief, he's trying to be a Messiah-in-Chief


And this sure as hell ain't a messiah, chief.
_

"You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”
    - Malcolm X

"But, then again, it is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." 
    - Voltaire