This morning I awoke and resolved to do anything I could to follow articles that take cheap shots at American songwriters. I logged on, and I am starting with the first lame article I read on my feed: David Rozycki of the Houston Press vying against Carlos Santana and Counting Crows with hostile and negative comments about their Saturday, 17 August, 2024, show held inside the Toyota Center, in Houston, Texas.

I won’t repeat a word of Rozycki’s negativity. I don’t want to help that cause.

However, I will say that making any comparison between the headliner of a major arena show, to his own bass player, would be off (to say the least). It comes across that David Rozycki hopes to push two friends and work partners into a lesser world of bantering and friendless competition.

Another subtle but telling jab is David Rozycki’s use of drummer Cindy Blackman Santana. Rozycki’s article includes a quotation of something quipped by Santana while standing on stage in front of the massive audience—but shouldn’t bear repeating anywhere else. It just sounded off, that’s all.

Finally, to say anything other than THANKS! to an artist such as Carlos Santana sounds strange to at least 75% of the United States. After all, Santana basically was the heart and soul of the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival which meant he put his life at risk by stepping on the stage at all. That he continues to grace the stage at all, and with whom, and why, are the only things Rozycki really should be delving into much.

There is a comment by Rozycki about the high attendance of women at the show for Counting Crows. In the Nineties and later there was a very harmless but much too overplayed joke about men turning on Counting Crows music in order to entice women into their beds. I feel Rozycki’s addition of this aspect in 2024 promotes something better left far in the past due to the increased awareness in America concerning the severe nature of assault and date rape. I happen to be a lifelong Counting Crows fan due to a stunning and incredible collection of musicians in the band, all played against a somewhat Shakesperean style artist, their vocals expert as well as lyricist Adam Duritz.

I believe we must ask magazines, newspapers, and news reels and shows, to stop publishing anything negative. Musical pieces and shows from our country’s songwriters and musical performance-givers are more the subject of rapture and delight. These people mustn’t be heavily dealt with as they are seeking to elevate one and all into a musical realm. Music is not, by its very nature, meant to be taken in a serious manner. Music is disarming.

At the beginning of summer this year, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster for operating together as a monopoly. Devious methods of control have been documented as being used. The work by the Department of Justice is saving the lives of some of the country’s venue owners and their staffs, as well as the lives of some of the artists who tour all over the country. One of the negative methods of control has been publicly sliming artists’ and venues in newspapers and on the internet.  

There’s an article from 8 July, 2024, up on www.iwantmydiploma.com entitled, “Why Teens Hate School.” A United States survey, completed in 2020, showed us how 75% of all children in the country hate their high school. This fact could have been guessed at by, say, about 75% of America. But the regularly issued survey from officialdom tells us the way we individually feel is happening to other people, too.

I often write about an incredibly poor show in the legal arena of this country when it applies to human rights protection for any American songwriter. Songwriters, as well as musical performance-givers such as Miley Cyrus and Madonna, get pushed and pushed at by scoundrels who want to steal their image and persona, as well as cash out on their life’s work. I wrote a book entitled Twenty-Seven: The Human Right The Music Industry Forgot for the purpose of giving my argument on this subject.

A lot more could be done to publicly document the abuses received by America’s artists in music.

Most companies and politicians do not truly understand how paid-for media is run. These people print what they are paid to say. And they have gangs of people in the media whom they trust, and they have gangs of people they are up against when it comes to stealing this person or that for their covers. The paid-for media are not a group of historic comedians, nor will they ever be brave rebels who go to war to protect the American cause. No, any country or company can buy them. These newspapers and magazines ask for a price-per-page. Therefore, one of the biggest assets promised to an artist inside any business deal is the cost of paying for articles and stories that tell their fans about their work. These costs run sky-high when it comes to publicity across a nation.