Goodbye, Darkness (2010)

Goodbye, Darkness: January 17, 2009, Java Cat, Madison. Photo by Jeff Paine

A few days before Barack Obama’s first inaugural, a bunch of us got together for a night of musical celebrating as I presented my fifth musical monologue at Java Cat coffeeshop in Madison.  Or, as the CD cover that accompanied the live version of the songs that came from the night stated:

 

January 17^th, 2009 was a remarkable evening—50 or so of us gathered in the cosy warmth of Java Cat in Madison to purge ourselves of the toxicity induced by 8 years (28 years?) (48 years?) of horrific misgovernment.  Young and old from near and far (and I mean really far!) hooted, howled and hollered out the bad craziness while hopefully ushering in a an new era in which folks are not deemed unfit for office merely because they exhibit critical thinking skills.   Generous donations led to a serious haul for Community Groundworks at Troy Gardens, too…thanks for that, folks!  And thanks for your past few years of generously helping me through a very difficult era dominated by epic quantities of greed, denial and lies.  Now that the political machinery and the laws of physics are pretty much pulling in the same direction, I think I’ll be able to rest a little easier…

Sigh…it was easier to be hopeful back then.

1)   Introduction

2)  49/He’s Gone

3)  One Dick Named Cheney

4)  Get Dick First

5)  A Not Unimportant Distinction

6)  Goodbye, Darkness

7)  WWDS

8)  The Times They Are A’Changing/Mud on Mud

9)  The Uniter

10)  Make the Pie Higher

11)  Swearing Out

12)  Random Hollow Diesel Train

13) Jim’s Parallel Universe

14)  Falling Apart

15) Trilogy

16)  Hard Times/This Land

 17) Reagan

18) Conservative Christian

19)  You Got Away With It

20)  Waiting for a Miracle

21)  Highway to Perfect Bliss

And here’s the scribblings that accompanied the second disc of the live set:

Thanks to Marcia for putting up with way too many hours of my working on this project; Mom and Dad for all the interest they showed and support they offered; Trish, Marsh and Meg for driving up for the shows so often; Jim for his remarkable words; Mike for introducing me to Dylan lo those many years ago (and a few decades of great camping since); Al and Clark for keeping me playing these last 20 years when other voices were calling;  Seth and Calvin for driving all that way; Clay, for the always excellent advice; and especially, best wishes and highest hopes to Oscar and William, Sonia and Cole, Lily and Marah and Josie and all the other ones born in this year of great change.  This project is dedicated to Anne Nixon Cooper who, when asked the secret of her longevity, replied, “I ain’t got time to die.”

 Ω ΩΩΩΩ ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ ΩΩΩΩ Ω ΩΩΩΩ ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ Ω ΩΩΩΩ Ω