But you guys are missing the point aren't you? Why do so many people eat at McDonalds?; because it's easy and it's in style. In Prague, Czech Rep (my second home), when they put in McDonalds after the Commies were out of style, people would pay relatively large sums of money to eat a Velky Mac when for the same price they could get a whole nice meal across the street. This was especially true of young men trying to impress young women (an ancient incentive). It was fashionable. And though it's hard for some social scientists to take, an awful lot of today's young people (like my former students at the prison) engage in very dangerous and tragic behavior in large part because it's fashionable, thanks (in part) to the popularity, and therefore fashionable nature, of extremely negative media. If you're an adolescent and looking for love, you maximize your chances by putting the popular music on the box. I guess to some extent that's always been true, and it gets to be a way of life. Play them some good music, and they'll look funny at you. Over 90% of the recorded music sold in this country, according to an article I read a while back, is whatever's in the top of the charts, and a year later the purchaser never listens to it again. That's why you have the mall record stores, useless to the likes of us, that only seem to have a few dozen titles in the store; they are maximizing their profits. Let's face it, if we support and take pleasure and fulfillment from music that is thoughtful, creative, soul-nurturing, and from the heart, we will always be in a minority. No need to get worked up over it. I used to, but it cut into my time for enjoying the things and people I do care about. A jolly gang are we, and few.

Chet