ARE WE EVER GOING TO LEARN
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SONG INFORMATION Produced and Mixed by: Michael Foster Engineered by: Mark Easton Recorded at: ROUGH CUT STUDIO...Eastford, Conn. in June, 2005. Music and Lyrics by: Michael Foster Copyright 1984 by Crystal Magic Music (ASCAP) "Are We Ever Going To Learn" is a song that I wrote in late 1984, nearly five years after the original incarnation of Avalanche had broken up in 1980. It was performed "live" only a few times in 1985...with a short-lived, three piece version of Avalanche. Since then, I have performed it privately in select circumstances as an acoustic solo piece...most recently on my March, 2005 "Live" SP Radio performance on Mike K's Saturday Night Rocks Show...which was "streamed" worldwide...as it happened. It really got me curious to hear the song recorded as it was always intended to be heard...as a hard rock tune...and with the original surviving Avalanche members recording again since 2004...it became a logical choice for the May-June, 2005 recording sessions in Connecticut at ROUGH CUT STUDIO. New bassist Michael Corsini did an unbelievable job of interpreting the essence of this song...and putting his own distinctive stamp on the bass parts...and Barry Easton...Avalanche's drummer...put in an outstanding performance, as well. Since the band had never "heard" this song before...it has all the freshness of a brand new tune...and the relevance of the lyrics...is even more true today than when the song was written. Mark and I always seem to play together as if we "finish each other's sentences" (musically) and this song clearly reflects that as well. The playing by the entire group on this song was flawless, really (if only I could sing!)....and ended up being one of the strongest of the new tracks from those 2005 sessions. When I wrote this song...the "rain" that I was referring to was (literally) about "Acid Rain"...and (figuratively) about..."the approaching storm". The "rivers churning" was about the mindless pollution of our environment...and "atomic thunder" and "the sky is burning" really require no explanations. We seem to be going through life with blinders on....and just because it seems easier to pretend these problems are not really that important...well, that is pure madness...plain and simple. Denial of the evidence that is all around us...doesn't make any of that evidence false. It simply means that we are lying to ourselves...and "racing to the finish". As Mark Easton so eloquently states on "Medicine Man" (one of his tunes from The Easton Brothers Band)..."the people who can really change things...are just too blind to see". Any rational person can recognize the necessity to leave the planet in at least as good condition as it was in when we "got here"...unfortunately selfishness, greed, and short-sightedness seem to rule the day...and the future is fading for the natural world. It is really up to US. If we don't learn from history...and the mistakes made by civilizations that came before...and are gone...then THIS time...with the capabilities we have to permanently destroy the natural world...something that, in the past, would always survive the folly of man...we are in truly dangerous and precarious territory. I sure hope we wake up...before "waking up"...is no longer an option. Mike (NAV)