Jimmy Carter on the farm in Plains, Georgia: NAJ screen shot-Dustin Chambers for The New York Times

“Death comes for us all… And every day he looks towards us and muses somewhat to himself whether that day or the next he will draw nigh. It is the law of nature, and the will of God.”
― Robert Bolt, “A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts”

The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –

ARGO, Ala. – If you hod the power to choose to live a life like Jimmy Carter, Mick Jagger or Stanley Booth, which would you choose?

Oh, you may not know who Stanley Booth is. Timing being what it is, the New York Times ran his obituary on the same day former President Jimmy Carter was eulogized by a number of authors.

Jimmy Carter, Peacemaking President Amid Crises, Is Dead at 100

Stanley Booth, Music Journalist Who Loved the Blues, Dies at 82

The journalist Stanley Booth, right, with Keith Richards during the Rolling Stones’ 1972 U.S. tour. When he published a book in 1984 about his time on the road with the Stones, one critic said he got “closer to the essence of the Rolling Stones and their world than any previous author.” NAJ screen shot: Jim Marshall Photography LLC

Booth never got as famous as Hunter S. Thompson in the late 1960s and early 1970s, even though he was practicing a similar kind of new journalism and his writing covering the early days of rock and roll has been compared to how Gay Talese covered the New York Times in The Kingdom and the Power.

No so long ago, covering politics and government was my choice and my passion, a passion that goes back 45 years. I regret never going out of my way to meet and write about Carter. Six months ago, after a final trip to the White House before leaving D.C., I considered putting together a canned obit on Carter, knowing he would die soon. But I never got around to it.

I left D.C. in September and vowed to ultimately spend time writing more about travel and music than politics.

That’s hard to do after so many years as a political news junkie. I will still engage in some commentary on U.S. politics, but I’m just not the least bit interested in writing about Donald Trump’s every move.

Carter was outspoken about Trump in his final years. He condemned the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of Trump’s supporters trying to overturn his election defeat to Biden. In an essay for The New York Times on the first anniversary of Jan. 6, he warned that “our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss” and called for changes to avoid “losing our precious democracy.”

Trump had been “a disaster.” In a speech in September 2018, Carter said that if he were president again “the first thing I would do would be to change all of the policies that President Trump has initiated.” He expressed concern about Trump’s trade war with China, opposed his border wall and supported an impeachment investigation against him.

At one point, Carter asserted that Trump “didn’t actually win the election in 2016” and that he had assumed office only with the help of Russia.

But as I sit here sipping coffee, looking out the window and trying to find the words to put the past into context, one recurring thought keeps popping back up in my mind and I’m trying to figure out what to do about it.

Booth was also a Georgia boy who had vowed at the age of 15 “to become a writer or die trying.”

Rock ‘n’ roll adventures of the Rolling Stones

Maybe I made a similar vow back in 1979 when I also discovered journalism as a career option in college. But after a few years of pursuing rock and roll as a career goal, events caused me to abandon my first idea to cover the music beat, since early experiments were about as bad as my sports writing. The Anniston Star once interviewed me for a job to write there, but the editor at the time was not very impressed with my interview with Greg Allman and story in The Crimson White. It was not all my fault. Greg had just been divorced by Cher, and he was pretty fucked up on drugs and didn’t have much to say.

My successes over the years came in writing about politics, government and the environment. But after 45 years, there is not much new to learn on those fronts. To remain motivated, a writer has to find things to write about where new things can be learned. I never lost a little spark for writing about rock and roll, or playing it from time to time when offered the chance. I just took me awhile in my life and career to find the voice and the right stories to tell.

An opportunity knocked back in February. I jumped on the bus and embraced it.

It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll But I Like It: Wayne Perkins, The Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd

After a stint in Arkansas and Missouri and an ominous election, returning to my roots in rock seemed like a natural bridge to cross over into what could be my final transition in this life.

Unless I decide to tackle sports writing next. That would be something else entirely, however, and I doubt it will happen, since my interest in sports continues to wane with each passing day. A football game on TV just can’t hold my attention anymore for long. Not a bad thing to have on while napping on a couch. But a little smooth music down low works better.

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