Andy Rooney
If you have liked even one single thing that I have written in the past year and a half of this blog, I
almost certainly stole it from Andy Rooney.
Andy has been my writing mentor for decades now; not officially of
course; Mr. Rooney doesn’t do that type of thing. His take on the whole idea would be something
to the effect of "I’d never mentor any one so ignorant as to want me as a
mentor". Rooney has taught by example. I,
like generations of Americans, grew up mesmerized by his ability
to distill big concepts down to a few flawlessly chosen words ... small words, at
that. I own every book he’s authored,
but I especially love his short pieces on the television show 60 Minutes. Last night was Rooney’s last regular
contribution to the 60 Minutes television program. I love how Rooney made it clear that he was
not retiring "writers never retire".
Amen brother, that’s part of what fuels this writers flame. Call it what you like, I call it a huge
journalistic void. An expanse where
complex and courageous men use simple, direct words to effectively convey confusing
and complex subject material. There is no "spin" or "political correctness" in the world of folks like Andy Rooney; right is right and wrong is wrong, plain and simple. I pray I
can fill just a little nook in that void.
Generally speaking, Rooney wrote about the stuff of daily life; I do too ...
if you are a guitar player, that is.
Just recently, however, Rooney crossed over into "our" world when he took
on "pop" music. I wonder how many of us
agree with Rooney’s dismal take on the current state of mainstream music. Quite a few, I’d wager. One of my audio students mentioned in class
today that 1994 was "music’s worst year ever", when asked why, he replied "That’s
the year Kurt Cobain died, and Justin Bieber was born".
A couple of notes: first, I’ll be back to the "pic" topic next
week as promised, and second, I’m giving our three t-shirt winners another week
before we announce a winner ... since our last winner is just now getting his
shirt. Be sure to check the facebook
page and vote (like) your fav. Pic. The
winner gets a free speaker! And now, a
few minutes with Andy Rooney:
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