6.264/365: she would have been 46

I’m not one for marking the anniversary date of a past loved one’s birthday on social media or here because that’s not me, but I will say if you or someone close to you struggles with mental illness of any kind, there is help out there. If a loved one struggles with addiction, there is help. People love you and want you around for years to come. You’re not alone.

You can message me if you don’t know where to start. No judgement.

6.260/365: Jann Wenner

So, Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone magazine, write a book titled The Masters, a compilation of his interviews over the years with music greats Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, and U2’s Bono — all of whom are White and male. That doesn’t seem biased and asshole-ish at all.

The New York Times interviewed him about it and when asked by Times reporter, David Marchese, why he did not include female artists or people or color on his list of rock legends, Wenner responded, “Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.”

“Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.”

He started that female artists such as Joni Mitchell did not meet his criteria to be considered a “philosopher of rock ’n’ roll.”

Yeah, he said that.

Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell — not “philosophers of rock ’n’ roll”? Exactly how is that? Aretha Franklin, Prince, Carly Simon, Carole King, Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Diane Warren, Smokey Robinson — I could go on. If they aren’t philosophers of rock ‘n’ roll, then I don’t know what rock ‘n’ roll is.

And so, the day after Marchese’s article ran, Mr. Wenner was been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.

Presumably because he doesn’t know what rock ‘n’ roll is anymore.

6.259/365: losing to a pigeon

R.E.M. Is my favorite band. For me, it’s The Beatles and R.E.M. Both are very different, but also similar in lots of ways. My personal difference is I hate R.E.M.’s most popular, or well-known song. I don’t have that with The Beatles, but I don’t know what would be considered their most popular song. R.E.M.’s would be “Losing My Religion.”

I hate that song. It got so popular and the video was everywhere. But it grated on my ears. It’s the combination of Stipe’s “ooooooooh” and Buck’s mandolin at the end that does it. I know a lot of people love that song and I love that for them, I really do. A ton of people became R.E.M. Fans because of that song, but I’d been a fan since I was eleven when I bought Lifes Rich Pageant after hearing “Fall on Me” on Centenary College’s radio station. Most of my love for New Wave music came from that radio station. Man, it was great. Anyway.

The song is forever changed with this:

6.257/365: Johnson & Johnson

Well, this makes me ill. Johnson and Johnson is changing its logo to a generic sans-serif one like everybody else.

In a release, the company said that the new logo “delivers both a sense of unexpectedness and humanity” with the ampersand demonstrating “a caring, human nature.” Red, however, will remain a key color for the company because it’s a “contemporary color that speaks to the ability to urgently respond to health challenges, evolve with the times and set the pace,” it said.

CNN

No. Just no. Sans-serif never conveys caring. Why not just say “we don’t want to look old fashioned, despite our 120 year-old logo shows that we are tried and true and here for your family to trust”?