It has been suggested that if William Shatner ever made a blues album it would lead to an apocalypse. My question is, what if William Shatner released a blues album during an apocalypse? It happened last year and that pretty much sums up 2020.

Yet, 2020 and a good deal of the unpleasantness and horror is behind us now. A new year dawned on 1/20/21. It took thirteen months for us to come up with a happy ending.

1/20/21 was Inauguration Day in the U.S. It felt like New Year’s Day. It was in fact a new day which signaled a new era. We had a new President. The first full day of our new year was the 21^st day of the month in the 21^st year of the Century in the 21^st Century in the Millennium.

It signaled the official first day of our democracy surviving near fatal wounds, but survive we did. We dodged a bullet which came very close to our hearts. Yet, our institutions, which had been beaten and bruised by the Trump regime for four years, had just enough support from enough people to weather the storm. It was a close call.

We were very lucky that Trump, an authoritarian with fascist tendencies, was so phenomenally inept and quite frankly, profoundly lazy. Someday we might be faced with a fascist with half a brain. Based on this experience, that could mean real trouble.

But for now, the country exhaled. Then we caught up on our sleep. Everybody I have been in contact with has told me the same thing; they are getting better sleep. We can relax a little. Adults have seized control of our government. For that, I am very grateful.

2020 started out normal enough, if that is possible, with a delusional, incompetent criminal in the White House.

There was news of some kind of novel virus with which we should be concerned. Having been born after the polio vaccine was introduced, the notion of a pandemic was just vague historical reference. We took shots for measles, mumps and small pox. We didn’t worry about such things. We were more than a hundred years removed from the 1918 influenza epidemic, which few (including myself) knew much about.

Then the unthinkable happened. During the second week in March everything shut down. The U.S. was participating in this world-wide pandemic. Two large oceans and our big beautiful new wall couldn’t keep us safe. Epidemiologists became well known national figures, the foremost being Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Social distancing, masks and washing our hands were our main lines of defense.

I suppose that predictably, despite near universal understanding what scientists, doctors and these epidemiologists had recommended that we do as a society, Trump politicized these efforts. He turned what might have been a unifying battle cry to defeat this virus into cheap political stunts. He mocked people who wore masks.

I don’t know anything about Trump supporters' social habits. I have always tried very hard to personally social distance from these people long before that became the thing to do. Trust me, it’s easy. As to their objections to washing their hands, I don’t even want to think about it. Yikes…I can practically see them marching and shouting. “No government can make me wash my hands.” While they pick their noses with the free hand while tightly clutching one of their beloved assault rifles with the other.

The gross incompetence, callousness and cruelty of the Trump administration was now killing people in the hundreds of thousands. There is nothing remotely funny about that. It was revealed in an interview he conducted with writer and journalist Bob Woodward in February that he had been briefed on the virus and understood the severity of its wrath. He did nothing. His rather lame excuse was that he didn’t want to cause a panic. His public posture on this subject was not unlike President Wilson in 1918 who refused to acknowledge existence of the so called “Spanish Flu.” He thought by discussing it openly and honestly, he would hurt the economy. Since Trump doesn’t know anything (zero/zilch/nada) about American history, we were destined to repeat these mistakes. I guess the obvious difference was that Wilson was in the middle of fighting a World War in Europe and Trump was at war with America. 

In the blues world, we lost live music. Nightclubs and bars had to close and shutter their doors to prevent the spread of what was now being referred to as Covid-19. Isolation and what became known as sheltering in place became our “new normal.” “New normal” became my favorite oxymoron.

Despite the live aspect of the blues music biz being on hiatus, the recording aspect of this art form was alive, if not completely well. Things were slow here, as one would expect. Yet, there were some real stellar recordings from some expected sources. Kim Wilson, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones and Duke Robillard made simply great albums. There were some great recordings from Europe from the likes of Britain’s Chris Corcoran and the Ukraine’s Konstantin Kolesnichenko. What was encouraging was the newcomers such as Andrew Alli whose debut album, Hard Working Man, finished in the number eight slot on the BLUES JUNCTION list of top albums of 2020.

Despite these musical highlights the fact remained that with live music being on hiatus, blues musicians couldn’t connect with their fans. This of course meant they couldn’t sell their product “off the stage,” which for these artists is a large percentage of their album (CD) sales. Many found very creative ways to stay connected with an audience via podcasts and other social media outlets. But it’s just not the same.

I truly feel for those many musicians who have spent their life on the “road” visiting with friends and fans as they share their art with us. For me, this pandemic gave me a chance to catch up on some reading, to continue writing and bring you BLUES JUNCTION each and every month (well almost).

With fewer new recordings to listen to this past year, I have been given the time to explore some deep, dark corners of my library. One of the great things about vintage music is that, at its very best, it is timeless. A great song which was recorded 80 years ago can still bring joy in 2020 and beyond. With such hardships all around us, at no time has the sheer fun and enjoyment music brought me more tangible happiness than the past year.

We had a Presidential campaign which played itself out in a very predictable manner. Trump of course lost and lost big. He told us he would lose way back in July of 2020. He said that if (when) he lost that that it could only be a result of having nefarious forces steal the election from him. He let us know that like the rest of us already knew, he didn’t have a chance. He had never polled much over 40% in the four years he had been President. Then came the pandemic and the crashing of our economy.

Senator Biden was his opponent and he seemed like a very likeable, capable, experienced fellow. For the most part he let Trump just lose on his own. Trump’s main campaign strategy was to simply refer to the (then) former Vice President as “Sleepy Joe” and to mispronounce (then) Senator Harris’ first name. He continued to downplay the effects of the corona virus on Americans until it turned up in his own workplace. He turned the White House into the “Covid Castle.” Trump himself caught the Corona Virus, as did other staffers of the West Wing.

In the most anticipated, participated in, scrutinized, transparent and analyzed Presidential election in our history, Joe Biden won of course and won big as I mentioned. While not the landslide some had predicted, he won by a decisive seven million vote margin. Since Trump knew he would lose, he was ready to implement his plan…lie.

Of course, his supporters believed the lie. If you can believe that you are a member of a superior race, you are predisposed to believe anything.

I am cautiously optimistic, as it would appear that we have the Corona Virus on the run. However, it would also appear that with four percent of the world’s population and twenty percent of deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic we will continue to be killed by the Trump/QAnon cult members at an alarming rate.

I just want to go to a blues festival and a baseball game. I’ll have to wait. In the meantime, I have plenty of great music to which I can listen. Thank goodness blues music is a healer.

I hope all of our readers stay safe and out of harm’s way. I hope to see you soon.

- David Mac