hopelesshappiness.com

I am writing a Cookbook, and in recent weeks that is where my creative / learning energies have been directed, thus another list below.

(Second revision of) Top Forty Albums:

1. Queen - Night at the Opera
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
3. Led Zeppelin - IV
4. Leonard Cohen - The Essential Leonard Cohen
5. Jimmy Buffett - You Had To Be There
6. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
7. Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
8. The Band - The Last Waltz
9. Three Dog Night - Seven Separate Fools
10. Elton John - Madman Across the Water
11. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
12. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
13. Johnny Cash - American IV
14. Collective Soul - Collective Soul
15. Neville Brothers - Live on Planet Earth
16. Rusted Root - Live
17. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle
18. Steve Earle - I Ain't Ever Satisfied
19. Tom Waits - The Early Years Vol. 1
20. Sonia Dada - Sonia Dada
21. The Eagles - Greatest Hits
22. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced
23. James McMurtry - Complicated Game
24. Old Crow Medicine Show - Old Crow Medicine Show
25. Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
26. Rusted Root -Remember
27. Finn Brothers - Finn
28. The Badlees - River Songs
29. The Who - Greatest Hits
30. Doobie Brothers - Best of the Doobies
31. Soul Asylum - Let Your Dim Light Shine
32. Lyle Lovett - The Road to Ensenada
33. Zac Brown Band - Pass the Jar
34. Eric Clapton - Time Pieces
35. The Clumsy Lovers - Smart Kid
36. Frente! - Marvin the Album
37. The Rolling Stones - Some Girls
38. Billy Joel - Piano Man
39. James McMurtry - Saint Mary of the Woods
40. Michael Franti - All Rebel Rockers

• 8/2/25 Cookbook
• 3/15/25 Structured Chaos
• 7/5/25 Head Heart Hips
• 5/31/25 Food and Music
• 3/22/25 How to Ignore the World
• 5/24/25 White Flag
• 7/19/25 Soggy
• 8/9/25 Touchstones
• 10/12/24 Touching Reality
• 2/22/25 Upside the Head
• 9/21/24 Conversations
• 2/15/25 Move 37
• 10/19/24 entitled justice
• 11/16/24 Humanitarian… Citizen… Pretender…
• 10/01/11 Recipe for Happiness

(First revision of) Top Forty Albums:

1. Queen - Night at the Opera
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
3. Led Zeppelin - IV
4. Leonard Cohen - The Essential Leonard Cohen
5. Jimmy Buffett - You Had To Be There
6. Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
7. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
8. The Band - The Last Waltz
9. Three Dog Night - Seven Separate Fools
10. Deep Purple - Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple
11. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
12. Elton John - Madman Across the Water
13. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
14. Johnny Cash - American IV
15. Collective Soul - Collective Soul
16. Neville Brothers - Live on Planet Earth
17. Rusted Root - Live
18. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle
19. Steve Earle - I Ain't Ever Satisfied
20. Sonia Dada - Sonia Dada
21. The Eagles - Greatest Hits
22. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced
23. James McMurtry - Complicated Game
24. Old Crow Medicine Show - Old Crow Medicine Show
25. Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
26. Rusted Root -Remember
27. Finn Brothers - Finn
28. The Badlees - River Songs
29. Tom Waits - The Early Years Vol. 1
30. The Who - Greatest Hits
31. Doobie Brothers - Best of the Doobies
32. Zac Brown Band - Pass the Jar
33. Eric Clapton - Time Pieces
34. Lyle Lovett - The Road to Ensenada
35. The Clumsy Lovers - Smart Kid
36. Frente! - Marvin the Album
37. The Bottle Rockets - The Brooklyn Side
38. Billy Joel - Piano Man
39. America - History: America's Greatest Hits
40. Michael Franti - All Rebel Rockers

(First draft of) Top Forty Albums:

1. Queen - Night at the Opera
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
3. Led Zeppelin - IV
4. Leonard Cohen - The Essential Leonard Cohen
5. Jimmy Buffett - You Had To Be There
6. The Band - The Last Waltz
7. Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
8. Three Dog Night - Seven Separate Fools
9. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
10. Deep Purple - Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple
11. The Who - Greatest Hits
12. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
13. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
14. Elton John - Madman Across the Water
15. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced
16. Steve Earle - I Ain't Ever Satisfied
17. Tom Waits - The Early Years Vol. 1
18. Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night
19. Johnny Cash - American IV
20. Collective Soul - Collective Soul
21. Neville Brothers - Live on Planet Earth
22. Rusted Root - Live
23. Rusted Root -Remember
24. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle
25. Sonia Dada - Sonia Dada
26. The Eagles - Greatest Hits
27. Finn Brothers - Finn
28. The Badlees - River Songs
29. Doobie Brothers - Best of the Doobies
30. James McMurtry - Complicated Game
31. James McMurtry - Saint Mary of the Woods
32. Zac Brown Band - Pass the Jar
33. Eric Clapton - Time Pieces
34. Lyle Lovett - The Road to Ensenada
35. The Clumsy Lovers - Smart Kid
36. Frente! - Marvin the Album
37. The Bottle Rockets - The Brooklyn Side
38. Billy Joel - Piano Man
39. America - History: America's Greatest Hits
40. Michael Franti - All Rebel Rockers

We learn at a very young age how a small number of people (often less than 10%) can redirect energy and stymie progress with noisy disruption and irrelevant distraction. And when there is no accountability and there are no consequences for misbehavior, a true leader is no longer a leader, he or she becomes a hostage along with the majority. On occasion a disruptor acquires a position of leadership; a disruptor is never a true leader. Progress requires change. A disruptor acquires leadership when change is scary, cumbersome or merely inconvenient. It seems a majority of us would prefer convenient ignorance over scary (necessary) progress. And we learn this at a very young age.