(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Music is my sanctuary. It’s where I go regardless of how I’m feeling.

Music makes me feel better when I’m down, helps me celebrate good times, allows me to channel rage, moves me to tears, and all points in between. Music is the ultimate elixir.

Yet now and then, someone finds a way to ruin music for me, if only for a moment or two. Usually, I can shake it off in short order. But sometimes someone says or does something that sticks in my craw, and I can’t get it out without speaking out. That list of people is short.

Congratulations, Jann Wenner. You’ve made my list.

Wenner is a co-founder of both Rolling Stone magazine and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now, he’s no longer involved with either.

Recently, Wenner did an interview for the New York Times as part of his promotion for an upcoming book of his called The Masters. The book focuses on interviews Wenner conducted while he was with the magazine. Artists like Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger are among those featured.

The Times, however, noticed the absence of women and people of color as part of Wenner’s collection. Wenner’s justification was, at best, completely ignorant. More realistically, Wenner’s rationale was unbelievably sexist and racist.

In the Times interview, Wenner said the book’s absence of women and minorities came from his belief that women and minorities didn’t “articulate at (the same) level” as the white male artists he chose to focus on. (Note: Unfortunately, I am unable to provide the entire article here. The piece is currently behind the Times paywall, and I am unable to get to it. CNN provided the full quote in their piece on the repercussions Wenner is facing. You can find that piece here. I’ll also include a longer piece from the Hollywood Reporter, which you can read here.)

Once the backlash began, Wenner made a half-hearted attempt to walk his statement back, calling his words “badly chosen.” That much is true. But it’s also true that Wenner anticipated said backlash when he made the initial statement. in other words, Wenner meant exactly what he said.

Now, before I go any further, let me say this: I have not been an avid reader of Rolling Stone since the mid-eighties. The magazine was founded as part of the counter-culture of the late sixties and early seventies. For me, it provided a chance to learn about underground bands not getting much commercial airplay. Once Madonna, Michael Jackson, and other artists in the Top 40 began to dominate the magazine’s pages, I checked out.

I also don’t think a great deal of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Far too many great artists and bands have been left out, primarily because the selection committee doesn’t care much for a particular musical genre. (King Crimson is always my first example. The RRHOF just doesn’t care for progressive rock.) I always notice the inductees, but I don’t make a fuss over them, whether I agree or not.

With that being said, I NEVER thought of the magazine or the Hall as bigoted or sexist in any way. I still don’t. Wenner, on the other hand, no longer gets the benefit of the doubt. Rolling Stone has disavowed Wenner and his comments on X, aka Twitter. Not everyone is buying into that statement, either. But again, I haven’t gone through the magazine thoroughly in almost forty years, save for the one time Rush made their cover.

If anything, I would think someone from a magazine like Rolling Stone would go out of his way to feature women and people of color to show the world just how valuable their contributions have been to the creation and development of rock music since the fifties. Wenner, it would seem, chose to go in the other direction.

You literally cannot discuss the history of rock and roll without including women and people of color. Big Mama Thornton, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix … the list is practically endless. And Wenner chose to completely ignore them. And that’s a damn shame.

Wenner’s statements could be easily dismissed as an old (77) guy showing a lack of enlightenment or big-picture thinking. But this is something else. Wenner has lived the culture he is speaking of. He’s no casual observer. He helped set the tone for the way millions upon millions of people have looked at and listened to music. And now he says something like this.

Shock doesn’t begin to describe it.

Since his statement, Wenner has also been removed as an executive with the RRHOF. But the damage has been done. He is what he is, and it would appear that Wenner is a sexist and a bigot. And that’s just sad.

What can I say about all this? Well, I’ve always prided myself on my ability to err on the side of diplomacy. My filter is strong and almost always prevents me from talking without thinking first. Because of that, I’m able to be constructively critical.

A placard left on my new desk when I joined my first Air Force unit in 1988 read, “Diplomacy is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that he actually looks forward to the trip.” I’ve never forgotten that. I consider it a guiding principle.

I’ve also made it a standing policy to NEVER say something online that my late mother would’ve been ashamed to read. I take all of that into consideration when I say the only thing that comes to mind after giving this incident long and thoughtful consideration. And I say it from the bottom of my heart.

FUCK YOU, JANN WENNER.

#cirdecsongs

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I am currently at work on my second book The Wizard of WOO: The Life and Music of Bernie Worrell

Would you like to have your album reviewed? Please contact me at cirdecsongs@gmail.com