Joe Walsh for President - 30 Years and Worth The Wait

By Michael Monasky

Sometimes people ooze from the past just to jolt us into the present. I'd thought rocker Joe Walsh had dried up and blown away like most of his cranium ages ago. He had a lot of promise as a brilliant guitarist and songwriter but fell addicted to alcohol and cocaine. Then he released Analog Man.

His guitar bursts as expected. His lyrics complement with classic comic humor. “When something goes wrong I don't have a clue; some 10-year-old smart ass has to show me what to do...I'm an analog man in a digital world, I'm gonna get me an analog girl.” Hilarious.

Joe Walsh is an American's American. Steve Miller's Livin' in the USA might demand that “somebody get me a cheeseburger!”, but Walsh's Wrecking Ball gets it right: “You live your life like a wrecking ball, just get carried away; then you bounce back from another close call.” Joe is living life kicking out complex chord progressions, great melodies, tight lyrics, on the edge, pushing the Monroe Doctrine, taking no prisoners.

Joe Walsh ran for POTUS in 1980 as a prank. But two months ago, on July 1, he was in concert at Schaumberg, a Chicago suburb, raising funds for Illinois congressional candidate and Iraq war veteran/helicopter pilot Tammy Duckworth against her opponent. That opponent, a Tea Party incumbent coincidentally named Joe Walsh, crudely declared that Duckworth's loss of both legs doesn't qualify her for congress.

Walsh (the rocker) has been around, joining The James Gang in Cleveland and playing Kent State University in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Kent exploded in violence May 1970 when Ohio National Guard troops shot students at random on the campus. Walsh received an honorary degree in music from Kent in 2001.

“OK, so it's a guy thing. But for those of you who still have turntables, Analog Man is available on vinyl. Rock on.”