MARY LYON FROM THE LEFT: Adventures on a Blue-Brick Road

[Tace]

With apologies to Tom Wolfe and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test."

By Mary "Prankster" Lyon -- World News Trust

Listen my children and you shall hear of the crazy ride of some rock mouseketeers... and this is no "beating around the Bush," either. On this adventure, there was quite a bit of unexpected beating up ON Bush. Certainly not in a literal sense, mind you, but it was still there, surprisingly enough, AND encouraging aplenty. In the months leading up to it, I'd read all kinds of news and commentary about the tide in this country supposedly turning, politically, but not being much of a traveler, I hadn't witnessed much of that, and certainly not in unfamiliar territory. Sure, living on the West Coast, I'm surrounded by others of like (progressive) mind. But I wasn't prepared to hear that mindset echoed outside of my own blue-state comfort zone. Believe me. It's there now. A lot. And in this case, it wasn't just music that soothed this particular savage beast. It was indeed the noticeable change in the political climate that we're hearing so much about.
As I write this, I'm finally recovered from serious jetlag and a rock 'n' roll tour on which I accompanied my 13-year-old son. About a year ago, he landed a job with a new rock group bankrolled by a substantial entertainment corporation, with the blessings and participation of an earlier rock group from which the new one took its name. This revival was a kid-friendly version of the original effort (of the pre-teens, by the pre-teens, and for the pre-teens, you might say), and all the young principals actually play their own instruments. They're really quite good, legitimate music professionals in every sense of the word. My kid's the bass player. The names have been changed to protect -- well -- uh -- me.

The concert tour spanned almost three weeks not counting all the rehearsal time beforehand, and schools in two different regions of the country -- the Northeast and upper Midwest. A couple of red states along with the blue ones. And politics had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, the fact that there were several avowed liberals packed into our "magic bus," I knew I'd have some congenial gossiping and commiserating pals with whom to while away the hours between sleeping, eating, schlepping, and performing. We were all kindred spirits, as it turns out. And we weren't alone, either, much to my delight. There were many more "on the bus" with us than we realized, figuratively speaking.

When I first saw the itinerary, I realized we'd be visiting a few Bush-friendly strongholds, at least if you believe the last couple of sets of presidential election results. I vowed to behave myself, come what may. But the anecdotes to be noted here are well-worth sharing. They describe random encounters and moments that offered me a temperature-taking opportunity in other parts of the country than my own, which I can comfortably count as being "true blue." California, after all, never did buy Bush, and isn't likely to have a statewide change-of-heart any time soon. But these episodes did more than afford me a sense of something. They also gave me hope. Lots of it.

On a cold morning in a Cleveland suburb, I found myself in a sporting goods store, buying long winter underwear for the kids. I took my place in the checkout line, and soon noticed that the young man standing behind me was wearing a button I couldn't help but admire. It was nice and round, bordered in red, with a large black "W" in the middle, slashed through with a diagonal red line. I struck up an appreciative conversation. True enough, the button guy wasn't terribly enamored of the Democratic Party, but he was even more certain of one thing -- George W. Bush was a disaster for America. Well, that's half the battle then and there! And I'll gladly accept this glass half-FULL. The guy at the cash register voiced some rather vehement agreement. These must be some of those folks who now repeatedly respond to public opinion polls by staunchly voting "Wrong Track" when asked into which direction they think our country's veered off. I didn't compromise the band or its mother company, and happily remained anonymous. But I also took great pleasure in the conversation, and in doing my very small part to poison the well against republi-CONS in the upcoming midterm elections. Yes, we certainly DO need to spread the wealth around in Congress, don't we? This one-party rule stuff has GOT to go! There's no accountability, no checks and balances, nothing but rubber-stamping a bunch of bad ideas that are getting a lot of our troops killed for a bunch of lies and not helping us OR making us safer here at home (yeah, ask the Katrina survivors about "homeland security"). All they seem interested in is keeping us scared to keep us in line while they break more laws, grab more power, and violate more of the Constitution. I faced no objection or counter-punch whatsoever.

more

http://worldnewstrust.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=3288

[calimary]

1. Yay!

Thanks, Tace!

[Neil Lisst]

5. No, thank you!!

[Neil Lisst]

2. Great report from the red states! Good luck on the business.

That's got to be grueling for kids and parents, alike.

I think there are a lot of voters who are really angry at Bush, but don't feel all that good about Democrats.

[ClassWarrior]

3. So Mary had the adventure of a lifetime, huh?

The spring of our discontent, indeed. And almost THE SUMMER OF IMPEACHMENT.

B-) (The future's so bright I gotta wear shades...)

Never Give Up, Mar.

[Neil Lisst]

4. Pretty strong bio at the bottom of the article. Did you see it?

I like her writing style. It has that radio commentary feel - halfway between editorial page prose and radio drama. Can't you hear the sound effects?

[calimary]

6. Thanks!

It was quite a ride. And my kid just took me on another one - WHEW!

:headbang:

[ktlyon]

8. yes she is good

Like her style.........

[calimary]

9. Thanks!

Hugs!

:toast:

:headbang:

[Neil Lisst]

10. I'm guessing it's too long for many DUers.

I get the sense many don't read anything over a paragraph.

I could be wrong.

[ClassWarrior]

11. She does paint pictures, doesn't she?

I consider myself blessed to call her my fellow DUer.

NGU.

[calimary]

7. And a long strange trip it's been...

It was something else!

Interesting, too, that the weekend before we left to start this thing, the kids rehearsed in Hollywood - all weekend long. Saturday, the streets there were all blocked off for the anti-war march that drew hundreds and hundreds of people. There was a lunch break and the kids headed out to the front of the studio to look out the windows and watch the march. They waved and flashed the peace sign and thumbs-ups at the passers by - all of whom waved back. Nicole, the 13-year-old lead singer, turned to me at one point, and said, somewhat absently, "I just don't like bush." I leaned over and replied "I don't, either." They spent almost the whole break watching the protesters. They had lots of comments about highlights that grabbed their attention - like all the dogs people in the march were walking - with a protest sign in one hand and a leash in the other. Had to be at least a dozen peace dogs. There were also kids, elderly people - a few of them couples, teenagers, straights, gays, people of every color, lots of interesting hair and dress - TONS of anti-bush signs and tons more of peace signs. Jackie, the 11-year-old keyboardist, was taken aback a little by a series of makeshift coffins wrapped in flags to symbolize the war dead we're not allowed to honor in public. It creeped her out a little. I tried to explain as gently as I could what the significance was, and she understood - she's very bright. My kid was there, pontificating (takes after me, I guess) about all the stuff he's heard discussed in our house whenever the topics of the war or of bushco come up. He always has a lot to say.

When the kids made a DVD to go with the CD, they were all interviewed for it, and four out of five of them, mine included, made very deliberate anti-war comments. The one who didn't still shared that sentiment, even while not expressing it directly. It WAS a buncha crazy liberals on that bus.

Here they are in a VH-1 segment:

http://www.vh1.com/vspot/player.jhtml?lnk=c&id=1529233&source=VS_CONTENT:undefined:VH1+News%3A+Devo#1529233&launchedFrom=/vspot/

Enjoy!