Did you hear?  Another institution is breaking under the economy's free fall.  Not going under per say, but selling out and sacrificing something that has become iconic throughout it's history.  Something Big.  Big thoughts and a big magazine.  It was announced this week, The Rolling Stone is literally about to shrink.  Starting with it's October 30th release, the magazine (in my opinion) will lose more than just size; it will lose it's 'cutting edge' identity.....and I fear some of its content.

Go ahead & play this song while you read down....it will make you smile -
But do Read on Gabsters, Read on!

The Rolling Stone is an institution.  But not just any institution - it's the institution that has successfully and poetically blended music & politics for decades.  Kids all over this nation have saved their paper route and babysitting money, immediately surrendering their bounty for a chance to flip through the oversized pages and make their journey into adulthood.  It's articles have given millions of young minds a reason to care about things outside their own neighborhoods and beyond their borders.  And let's not forget that adults all over the country have kept reading the Rolling Stone as a way to keep both their ideas and their ideals fresh, while staying on top of music trends now considered a new generation's point of view. 

The Rolling Stone has always been downright cool.  It's where you can count on reading articles that cut into our minds and challenge our social and economic mores.  It's where I first read the F word in a legitimate news article.  I can't even remember who said it, but it was framed around the insanity of apartheid in South Africa (possibly Little Steven during his Sun  City days?).  Anways, the word lept off the page and the emotional and intellectual injustice of it all clicked within me.  Even your Lutheran mother would agree it was an appropriate use of the f-bomb. 

But the Rolling Stone magazine isn't just a launching pad for musicians.  Politicians and great thinkers have found their way on to the cover with their profound ideas and their ability to articulate thoughts into action.  On occasion even pure evil has made it on the cover (see above).  This says more about a readership's desire to push past the veil and understand a mind and culture veering dangerously off track.  Those who have died senseless deaths have also made their way to a cover, harkening a collective 'what if' about their drug-induced demises.  But over the years, it's generally been artists that have 'thrown it down' on the pages of the magazine,  either suffering the consequences of their interviews or become a part of this iconic 'above ground' underground magazine.  Musicians, actors, poets and songwriters.  The content of the Rolling Stone magazine has evolved as our American and global societies have blended and evolved.  When you made it to the cover, man - you had it all: Coolness & Something to Say!   

The Rolling Stone has legitimized many along the way and given voice to those deserving.  It is befitting that Barack Obama will grace the first edition of the changed magazine....but I think the suits in the mahoganey board room have under-estimated our appreciation for this change.  Clever as the parallels may appear, Change with Obama is what we crave, yet  shrinking the Rolling Stone means other changes must be on the horizon.  Let's hope the bold size of  the magazine, now reduced, will not equate to content lost.

And let's be frank, the Rolling Stone magazine of the 1970's was more anti-establishment than it is today.  Those that were young, hungry and willing to thumb their nose at the corporate suits are now all wearing the suits and watching their dollars shrink.  They are us and they have become the establishment.  Woefully, with age comes a certain sense of vulnerability that softens the ability to push buttons that should be pushed and challenge ideas.  We need a Rolling Stone magazine to reach out to the upcoming generation and give them a voice, politely relegating the youth of the 70's to now sit back and really listen to their words. 

I gave a copy of the Rolling Stone to my youngest son and told him to read.  A clever way for a parent to encourage literarcy?  Sure.  But I couldn't think of a better way to start a conversation about things that matter to the both of us.  I want to understand his music because within its words are the voices of his generation.  

The Rolling Stone magazine has passed the torch in my house, but I still keep the flame for its content burning within me.  A music lover's beat bible; now I truly believe it's the end of the world when they mess with "The Rolling Stone" magazine.  Time will only tell.