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 I worked in the music industry for more than 25 years, and in 1997 I decided to turn my attention to the completion of my long unfinished BA. While studying at Fairfield University in Connecticut, and based on my 25 years in the music business, I was asked by the head of the music department if I’d be interested in teaching other undergrads about the business of music as an adjunct professor. I wrote and submitted a syllabus, tweaked it and, once approved, began teaching.

     After graduating from Fairfield in 2001, I continued teaching two courses there. That fall I enrolled in the Masters Degree program at New York University and coincidentally, the director of NYU’s Music Business program asked me to teach a couple of courses for grad students. I thought, “hey, I’m commuting to Greenwich Village for classes, why not teach a class as well.”

NYU Campus in Greenwich Village

     In the fall of 2002 (and borrowing a phrase from Bob Dylan and Rick Danko,) “If my memory serves me well”, one evening  I came out of my teaching class at NYU and I found myself at the corner of Mercer and 4th. Walking along 4th Street I noticed a sign that said “Tonight: Pete Seeger”. Yes, Pete Seeger was still doing some gigs in his 80s.

     I reflected on Seeger’s music and his life. The confluence of those minor events—the location in Greenwich Village and Seeger—made me reflect on Seeger’s music and his life. This is the guy, born in 1919 who, as one writer put it, “touched millions of lives with ballads rich in history, humor and a sense of social justice.” He was praised for his musical and political voice, and he was also vilified for his politics. With the criticisms, Seeger lost tour dates and recording opportunities, having been branded, among other things, a communist. Nevertheless he emerged from the attacks and name-calling and in the 1960s stayed true to his beliefs. And his legend grew. 

     In 1959, the songwriter in Seeger had been inspired to transform a biblical thread from an old testament bible verse into what would become one of the most memorable songs of the 1960s. Most of us ‘of a certain age’ know the song “Turn, Turn, Turn”; and the recording by the Byrds was so successful (and so often played on the radio), that many, still today, can easily sing along in the car or at home.

     A close listen to the lyrics made some listeners pause, because this beautiful and haunting song was true to its inspiration, drawn from the first three verses of Ecclesiastes:

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)

There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn), and

 a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant, a time to reap

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to laugh, a time to weep

A time to build up, a time to break down

A time to dance, a time to mourn

A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

A time to gain, a time to lose

A time to rend, a time to sew

A time for love, a time for hate

A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late

     Seeger put together a lyric of life: birth, death and everything in between. And the Byrds single of “Turn, Turn, Turn” hit number one in 1965. More to the point, thinking about the song more than five decades later both Seeger and that biblical inspiration were correct: To every thing there is a season.

     The Mendocino Coast is a fascinating, beautiful place. We have lived here for more than 15 years. We bought a home on the Gualala Ridge in 2005, and moved here a year later. We both spent time working for local businesses owned and/or operated by great people. Whether reflecting on my years working for public radio station KZYX, Dolly’s years working for Cafe LaLa and Bed & Bone, or my four years at Gualala Arts, we’ve loved it here. In 2016 we took on the additional work of editing and publishing the monthly newspaper, The Lighthouse Peddler, an experience we’ve embraced and loved; and we’re hopeful that we can hand it off to a new team, just as our predecessors Madeline and Mitch did with us seven years ago. 

     Turn turn turn. Our daughter, Caitie, lived here on the coast for awhile before going to college at the University of San Francisco. She graduated with honors and has worked hard to accomplish what’s important to her.  She got married last year and is expecting the birth of a baby girl in February. Needless to say we’re ecstatic. Caitie has suggested, that now is the time for us to retire and live closer to her in the east Bay. And we agree.

     Returning to Mr. Seeger, I can look out and see the wisdom in at least half of those “Turn” lyrics, and agree that there is a time to every purpose, under the heavens. I tend to prefer the ‘glass half full’ view and, for the moment, ignore the half-empty. For me I can see it’s a time to laugh more, to dance occasionally (not necessarily a pretty sight,) to paint if I feel like it, to build up where I can make that possible, to heal where I might be needed, and to love. 

     So here I go. You may recall that 30 years ago, the producers of the Star Trek franchise released the 1991 film “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country”. Whether it was the British Empire or the Klingon Empire that gave us William Shakespeare—you have to be a Trek fan to get the nuanced humor—the fact is the future, for all of us is the undiscovered country. And so is the next chapter in my life.

     I’ve worked in Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles (Hollywood), New York (by way of Connecticut), St. Paul, and Mendocino County. In each migration I thought it possible that “this will be the one. This will be the last time we move.” And once again, this next move, I believe, will be the last one. But wherever the future takes us, it is always, and truly, the undiscovered country. I will miss Mendocino County, the beautiful California Coast, and all of the friends I’ve made in 15 years. And the north Bay of San Francisco, where we will likely settle, is simply another adventure.

     I will be speaking with many of you over the next few months, and I trust we will all find ways to stay in touch. I hope that we do. Until then, raise a glass of wine or a glass of water, if you prefer. Embrace this beautiful place and stay in touch. With everyone.

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Working in the music industry at the dawn of the 1980s I remember having mixed emotions about the state of popular music. My memory is that the best seller charts were beginning to reflect two concurrent trends.

 

     First, rhythm was more than a backbeat with disco and dance music taking an increasing share of the record-buying audience. Nothing necessarily bad about that but, frankly, A&M wasn’t a cutting edge dance/disco music label. Having ended the ‘70s with breakthroughs by artists like Supertramp and Peter Frampton, our artists tended to be more traditional pop/rock. However, in 1979 A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert came roaring back on the charts with a huge instrumental dance hit record titled “Rise”. The tempo of “Rise” was noticeably slower than disco. Herb told us that he wanted  to “make a dance record, not a disco record.” He defined the difference as much in BPM—beats per minute—as musicality.

 

     The second trend was an influence of more synthesized recordings, many coming from the U.K. Think groups like Culture Club, Thompson Twins or Human League. Added to the evolving style of music was an obvious and open approach to fashion and sexuality. There was a more obvious use of makeup—for male and female performers—and a greater flair in wardrobe and hair. Along with a renewed influence in music, UK/European musicians (many of them with their 1970’s mullet hairstyle) brought their music and fashion to America in the ’80s.

 

     Songwriters have long incorprated social change into songs including issues of war, civil rights, and feminism. For example, there’s Pete Seeger (“Where Have All The Flowers Gone”), Bob Dylan (The Times They Are a’ Changing”), Helen Reddy (I Am Woman”) and Peter Gabriel (“Biko”). And another interesting topic was starting to rise to the consciousness of the public through the news, although not necessarily in song. To be honest, the size of the audience actually hearing this news was almost microscopic compared to the general population.

     A television listing appeared in Britain’s ITV Network’s evening programming on December 8, 1981. Scheduled to follow “Brideshead Revisited” at 9:00pm and the local news at 10:00pm was a program titled “Warming Warning”. Here’s how it was described in the newspaper listing:

 

     “A documentary about the serious effects our polluting of the atmosphere with carbon dioxide will have on the climate. Scientists are worried that at the present rate the Earth will be two degrees warmer by the middle of the next century with disastrous consequences for the polar regions. It is estimated that if the Ross Ice Shelf were to break up it could lead to an ice surge which would raise sea levels by up to twenty feet thus putting two million people, in London alone, at risk.”

     Produced in Britain by (the now defunct) Thames Television, it’s highly unlikely you or anyone you know ever saw “Warming Warning” in 1981.

 

     Most people, understandably, believe “climate change” is a recent topic, perhaps in the lexicon for 10-20 years. And millions continue to deny climate change is real, with many of those believing it’s a hoax.

 

     British journalist and writer Leo Hickman wrote about the documentary in 2017. In part he said that the broadcast of “Warming Warning” in 1981 “was among the earliest occasions—possibly the earliest—anywhere in the world where a major broadcaster aired a documentary dedicated solely to the topic of human-caused climate change. The documentary was broadcast seven years before Dr. James Hansen’s famous ‘it is already happening now’ Senate testimony in 1988, nine years before the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report was published, and 25 years before Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was released. . . .”

 

     A decade after Dr. Hansen’s warning, and almost two decades after “Warming Warning” first aired in the U.K., the topic had reached the American congress. That is not to suggest United States senators were sitting around a campfire, arms locked, singing “Kumbaya”. The world was, in fact, talking about climate change and discussing the need to address the issue. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol—so named for having been adopted at a conference in Kyoto, Japan—was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, committing signatory states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

 

     President Bill Clinton never got the United States Senate to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and President George W. Bush had no interest in raising the issue, much less push for ratification. While Clinton failed, in part, due to a minor distraction known as the Clinton Impeachment, Bush could easily have gotten this through the senate had he wished. But, Bush decided to allow the most conservative (i.e., anti-climate change) members of his administration to influence the GOP writ large, and by the time the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act came up for a vote in 2005, it was defeated on a bipartisan basis, 60-38. To be fair, the American government did  not stand alone. We bravely and  boldly stood with Kazakhstan; the only two nations to ignore the Kyoto Accord and formally deny Climate Change.

     By the time President Obama had secured a second term, maybe people believed the United States could now join the world in an effort to fight climate change. The new opportunity was for America to be a party to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate. President Obama committed the U.S. to joining almost 200 other nations of the world and work toward change. Obama’s good intentions—again, a treaty that was never ratified—was a casualty of the 2016 presidential election. It took the current occupant of the Oval Office less than six months to decide that America would, indeed, withdraw from the Paris Accord. And here we are.

     This past week an estimated 4 million people marched to draw attention to climate change as part of the September 2019 Climate Strike. And one can assume the estimate of 4 million is all about big cities and ignores the dozens, hundreds or even thousands of small towns and rural enclaves where people also stood for the Climate Strike. 16-year old Greta Thunberg’s dramatic call to action (and the Swedish teen’s authentic passion) were virtually impossible to dismiss. Some did, but Thunberg spoke for many. (Watch her on YouTube).

 

And on a more personal note, the Climate Strike was clearly front and center on Mendocino’s south coast. As I walked and talked with fellow climate-strikers, and with representatives of organizations, I was struck by how many of my friends and neighbors were on the green. Smiles were everywhere. This wasn’t a group of angry people. But that is not to say they aren’t serious, concerned or committed. They are. And we should be too. I live on the coast. I see the Pacific Ocean every day. You can’t live in Gualala, Sea Ranch, Anchor Bay, Point Arena, Manchester, Elk, Stewart’s Point or in any other town and not be thinking about our ocean, our planet, and climate change. I’m happy we’re aware, active, and thinking. But we need more. The world needs to seize the moment.

David Steffen

© 2019 David Steffen