Total Freedom In Art Is A Dangerous Mirage

 February 25 , 2026

   If you are like me, you find wisdom in the strangest places.

Daily Revised Whip Out:

"Old Vaquero In Dust II"

"I can understand your anger at me, but what could you possibly have against the horse I rode in on?"

—Old Vaquero Saying

Radio Heads Break Bread

   Thanks to Jeanne Sedello, I had lunch today with a radio legend.

Knives Out

Bob Pugh and BBB at The Capital Grille 

(with Barry Goldwater looking on)

We were on opposite sides of the table as KSLX (he was management and I was "talent") but we both survived and prospered and it was fun to catch up with him.

Hitting The Road This Summer On Route 66

According to the nationwide survey, 41% of U.S. adults plan to visit some part of Route 66, with another 15% expressing interest after learning about the centennial. I'll see you in Seligman on April 30. Art Vs. Commerce    Perhaps you have heard of the films The Godfather and Dances With Wolves?    Both were made under duress with stressful contraints put upon the artists who made them and according to insiders they were constantly battling "the suits." Everyone wondered what Francis Ford Coppala and Kevin Costner could do if they had total freedom to make art. Well, eventually, They both got their wish.  Costner reportedly spent $38 million of his own money on Horizon and Francis Ford spent a staggering $120 million of his own dough (he owns a winery) on Megalopolis and both projects bombed horribly. Audiences claim they were both laughably awful, with a rambling narrative, no center, just half-baked subplots and a ton of mega hubris. And they both lost a boatload of money.

   So, what is the lesson?

"Art lives by constraint and dies from freedom."

—Andre Gide