Tragedy

                              Tragedy

For the past hour I have been listening to the Eagles, Hotel California. There are worse ways to spend time but I was interested especially in the song The Last Resort. There are more fantastic lines in this song than can be imagined! I am a product of this generation. I feel all the wrongs, the poetry, the marches and have lived this life. I have been to the mud baths of Santa Rosa. Back then, there were only a few cows, lots of dust and miles of unspoiled country, filled with grapes. I hung in Haight Ashbury and listened to the Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick, one incredible talent, one that Stevie Nicks will never be. We listened to the likes of Abby Hoffman, he even wrote a book called “Steal This Book”. We watched some of the greatest musical talents in the world and pretty much for free.  This song by the Eagles saddens me greatly. What they describe in this song was going on at that time and we never saw it. I doubt I would enjoy Santa Rosa today, hotels, condos and all kinds of self absorbed routines given to self pleasure. I skied, Heavenly Valley on the south shore and enjoyed the fifteen foot fireplace at Victoria Station, just feet from Lake Tahoe. I gambled at Cal Neva which was Frank Sinatra’s place on the north shore of the lake. The place was a dump but perfectly acceptable at that time. I would pretty much guarantee these no longer exist at least as simple as they were. I played blackjack next to Tom T Hall and was lucky enough to meet Lucille Ball and Lee Remick. I met the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley and was never impressed as they were not. I have seen smog and clean air, government interference and the limits no more to be placed on it. I am glad I will be dead before we meet Orwell’s 1984.I have spent the last hour listening to the Eagles, Hotel California. I imagine they have well described the story to come.