I can’t help but notice that Journey’s extended farewell tour is coming to Chicago in October. Even though there’s only one original member left, and two members from their most successful lineup.

Seeing the ads reminded me of the only time I saw Journey live. They were performing in Oklahoma City in support of Frontiers, and a friend of mine was able to get tickets for one of the three sold-out shows. The seats were in the nosebleed section off to the side of the stage. Fortunately, there were projection screens and a camera crew that allowed us to see what was going on, if we weren’t fortunate enough to be on the floor.

Looking back, the show was arena rock at its peak. Singer Steve Perry knew how to work the crowd. No one protested whenever he asked the crowd to sing the next verse. Not that he needed the audience to sing along. His voice was in full form that night. The set list was packed with the hits. The band seemed to effortlessly move from high-energy songs to moving ballads. For teenage me, this wasn’t just a concert, it was an event.

Turns out, that was the last tour with the lineup that recorded Escape and Frontiers. The drummer and bassist were fired during the recording of Raised on Radio. Steve Perry left the band after that tour. Since I didn’t go to many shows as a teenager, I was fortunate enough to see them at their commercial peak.

Since then, I’ve diversified my tastes in musical genres. After college, I got drawn into the “Alternative” music scene and wrote about it for a zine and a twice-a-month publication. I would have been called a poser if I’d mentioned enjoying a Journey concert. But now, I can listen to and enjoy any kind of music.

Journey wasn’t innovative as the performers I would hear later in life. But for an arena rock band, they were excellent. I don’t know about the current incarnation, but I don’t need to see them in concert again. I’m happy with the memories I already have.

This performance of “Wheel in the Sky”  is from their Escape tour in 1981. It seemed like an appropriate song while to reminisce about the band.

Inside Bolingbrook’s Barber’s Corners Media, six Muslims, three men and three women, were in a focus group to judge a proposed social media campaign. The owner of the firm, Charlene Spencer, introduced herself, asked for honest opinions, then started then started playing a video.

The Claymation-style video opened with a woman, wearing an Iranian flag headscarf, standing in the middle of the bombed ruins of Tehran. The woman cries clay tears and says she lost because Iran’s leaders are dead. Suddenly, two female soldiers, US Army and Israeli Defense Forces, parachute from the sky and land next to the woman. The panelists’ jaws drop as the IDF soldier puts her arm around the Iranian woman’s shoulders. The IDF soldier says she’s here to lead Iran towards freedom and points towards a pillar of light. A hip-hop-style song starts, and the Prophet Muhammad appears, wearing gold chains and leather clothes. The hip-hop Muhammad starts rapping his praise for President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The panelists erupted in anger.

“You can’t show an image of the Prophet!” One of the panelists shouts.

“Why?” Spencer asked.

“Koran Chapter 21, verses 52-54! Images of the divine lead to idolatry!”

“We’re not asking you to worship this video,” Spencer responded. “We’re just trying to improve Bibi’s and Trump’s reputations in Iran.” The panelists screamed in disgust. “So rapper Muhammad doesn’t work. What if we replaced the Prophet with the ghost of the Shah? He could perform ‘Guess Who’s Back’?”

The panelists left the conference room in disgust.

“Don’t forget your coupons for a free meal at Naf Naf Grill!” Spencer yelled down the hallway. One of the panelists shouted an unprintable comment about Zionism as she left. Spencer shook her head. “This is much harder than we anticipated.”

Barber’s Corner Media is one of several covert social media firms attempting to counter Iran’s AI Lego propaganda videos with pro-US and Israel videos. To date, none of their videos have resonated with test audiences. Other firms have tried making their own AI Lego videos, AI-generated vertical dramas, and cartoon animation. While Spencer respected Explosive Media, the group behind the videos, for “making a murderous theocracy look cool to Western progressives,“ she insists BCM is on the right track with their Claymation-style videos.

“If Claymation can make dehydrated grapes cool, it can make Trump’s aggressive ceasefire look cool too!”

In a focus group of progressive influencers, Spencer showed a video of thousands of Claymation protesters being executed by the Iranian government. Spencer then asked if the video would make them more likely to support Trump’s “Not a war war” against Iran and the US’s blockade of the Iranian ports.

User Southernpunk on Substack said, “There’s no truth in your video, while there’s a truth trapped inside the AI Lego video. Just like the truth of (the University of Oklahoma’s) awesome football team is trapped inside Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium, and if you’ve ever read the Daily Oklahoman, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“What?” asked Spencer.

“You should join us on the porch, where we talk about these things without the tomfoolery of the Epstein Class keeping our noses buried in the red dirt. And if you’ve ever put your nose in red dirt, you’ll know what I mean.”

Political influencer Andra Berghoff nodded and pointed at the ceiling.

“What are you pointing at?” Spencer asked.

Berghoff replied, “Oh, I just do that whenever I’m listening to someone I agree with. It’s a habit I developed from inserting myself into other people’s clips.”

Berghoff later said she wasn’t persuaded by Spencer’s video. Specifically, she found fault in the argument that Iran should be bombed because it is a theocracy. “Just because Iran is bad doesn’t give us the right to bomb them. All men on the Internet are bad, but I don’t think we should bomb all of them.”

Reporter/Commentator Aaron Parnas added, “We have breaking news. The problem with your videos is that the producers don’t seem to understand Iranian society. Say what you will about Iran, but Explosive Media understands the fault lines of our US society and knows how to exploit them. What are the fault lines in Iranian society? Do you know who their controversial celebrities are? Do you even know how many political parties Iran has? Until your company does basic research, your videos will just be offensive and unpersuasive. Spread the word and follow along for all the latest news.”

Spencer rolled her eyes. “When did I get old?”

Also in the Bolingbrook Babbler:

Richard Dawkins flirts with Brookie, Bolingbrook’s chatbot
Clow UFO Base ban betting on Starship launches
Editorial: Epstein files a distraction from Trump’s authoritarian takeover of USA
God to smite Bolingbrook on 5/13/26

 

Two of my books are on sale for $0.99 each until the end of May: A Fire in the Shadows and The Rift.

They’re both part of my Bolingbrook Babbler Stories series, an Urban Fantasy series with an ensemble of main characters. Think of them as taking place in an alternate universe from the web stories I post here.

Lydia, a vampire who regains her empathy and compassion, is the main character in A Fire in the Shadows. Hunted by traditionalist vampires, ridiculed by her blood family for her feelings, and required to hide from human society, Lydia desperately seeks someone to love and end her loneliness. When she turns her attention to towards Sara, the editor of Babbler, she thinks she’s found the perfect person. But another group of vampires is interested in Sara. Can Lydia protect Sara and overcome a vampire’s greatest enemy: Love?

Action-packed, entertaining, and haunting in its delivery, author William Brinkman’s “A Fire in the Shadows” is a great entry into the Bolingbrook Babbler Story series (Goodreads Reviewer)

The Rift is Elevatorgate with an Urban Fantasy/Sci-Fi twist. Tom Larsen is a skeptic blogger who sees himself as a defender of truth against the

feminist invasion of the skeptical movement. When he finds out that his rival, Jamie Kyle will be in Bolingbrook to address a gathering of feminist skeptics, Tom forms an unholy alliance with the Bolingbrook Babbler tabloid to infiltrate the gathering.

But when he discovers that the Babbler’s stories about monsters and aliens are real, his world view is shattered. The truth Tom thought he was fighting for is no longer clear. Jamie might not be the enemy after all. The skeptical movement he devoted himself to has a hidden agenda for the future of humanity.

And the rift in the skeptical movement that Tom helped start, could tear Bolingbrook apart. Can Tom face the unbelievable truth and save his hometown?

Four stars. Engaging and well written. (Nonstop Reader)

If you want to catch up before reading my latest book, Revenge of the Phantom Press, this month is a good time to get the eBook editions of The Rift and A Fire in the Shadows.  Plus, Lydia and Tom will get together in the next book.