Episode 277 - Running a Losing Race

About this Episode

Tyrone Davis sort of says it all in the title track to this cast. He's "Running a Losing Race", and it sounds to me a lot like life.

As a person ages, they have to watch out not to 'diss' the legitimate aspirations and engagements of people who are still, by necessity shall we say, "in the world". It's way too easy from a retired perspective to pour cold water on the hopes and dreams of younger people.

The secret of wisdom, as you get older, would be to bring a perspective that embodies an accurate disillusionment with false hopes and inevitably disappointing projects while at the same offering hope in "the things that remain" (Dylan, 'When You Gonna Wake Up', 1981). To do that -- to portray life in its "True Colors" (C. Lauper, 1986) while at the same providing a better Palette -- well, such is the ambition of this podcast.

I like Greg Townson a lot. A brilliant musician on his own terms, he now plays with Los Straitjackets in the persona 'Gregorio El Grande'. He is a mature adult, much younger than I; but his playlist, which seems to get richer by the week, reveals a well of inspiration that could give hope to any artist previously unrecognized or unfulfilled. Greg Townson gives me hope, which is why I talk about him at the end of the cast. Oh, and Cicely Tyson, too. LUV U