By Louie Ferrera

I listened to Jim Croce today and America and Seals and Crofts. Harry Chapin? You betcha! England Dan and John Ford Coley? Why not? Hell, I even sat through Bread’s syrupy confection Make It With You. You know what, I loved it all!

Sirius XM station #17 is called The Bridge, their tagline is “mellow classics,” or in other words “songs that were popular before 911, before Trump, before climate change, before the apocalyptic trio of fire, drought and hurricanes, which threaten the very survival of planet Earth and all living things that depend on her continued health”. Whew!

By the early 1970s America was wrung dry from the violence and social upheaval of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the horrific political assassinations of the 60s. The rise in popularity of the style of music featured on The Bridge was a direct result of our collective exhaustion back then. Music reflects the time in which it’s created so it’s no surprise that artists like James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Carole King rose to prominence beginning around 1971. The anger and strident political posturing of the previous decade had faded into the background and we needed a break. We were tired of being shouted at and wanted someone to tell us everything was going to be alright. So in stepped James, Cat, Carole and their ilk. Their music was gentle, its message one that focused on love, lost and found, interpersonal relationships and peaceful coexistence with our fellow humans. When I hear songs like Ventura Highway, Summer Breeze or Moonshadow I literally feel the tension drain from my body. This is the soundtrack of a gentler, simpler time, almost unimaginable now given the current state of the world. It’s easy to look back on this music and chuckle over some of its sappiness and naiveté (remember, this was also the era of The Carpenters and Captain and Tennille). But god knows, we could all use a healthy dose of Peace Train or You’ve Got A Friend right about now.

With the recent fires on Maui, the daily reports of climate chaos and the endless nightmare that is the monster Trump, I feel like I’m living in a constant state of existential dread, on pins and needles waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s hard to believe that it hasn’t always been like this, that there was actually a time in our history like the era popularized by The Bridge.

I wonder, will we ever stop shouting at one another? Are we so hopelessly polarized that it’s become impossible to ever reach the consensus that the world desperately needs in order to try and reverse or at least halt the effects of climate change? It’s all so overwhelming! I want to stay informed, to try and affect some small measure of positive change within my family and my community but every time I swipe right on my phone or pick up the newspaper from my driveway in the morning, I’m being told that we’re fucked. I try and cover my ears but the volume is often so loud that I sometimes wish I were deaf.

Lucky for me,  I refuse to believe that things are hopeless. There’s goodness everywhere, more than we realize; good people committing random acts of kindness every day, volunteering for community based organizations and working for political change. I’m one of those people. It’s this realization that gives me hope. Despite the current state of our planet, I still see the glass as half full.

If ever there was a time in our country when we needed a collective hug, this is it. Will the craziness of the past decade eventually subside? Is it possible to reach a state of political equilibrium? Could our fractured country somehow be healed? For heaven’s sake, could we just mix that red and blue together to make purple? If that time ever does come, will this generation’s version of James, Cat and Carole be there to help usher in a new era of harmony, acceptance and cooperation? Music reflects the times in which it’s created. Time will tell.

In the meantime, when the shouting gets to be too much, I punch up The Bridge. I can always count on artists like James, Cat and Carole, at least for the duration of a pop song, to help ease my troubled mind.