Smoke Signals

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A More Perfect Union
A Citizen’s Reflection on Music, Memory, and the Making of a Better America
May 8, 2025 • Mark McInerney
Standing on Thawing Ice
“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both.”
16 hrs ago • Mark McInerney
When the Tape Was Rolling
The first time most people heard Auto-Tune, they knew exactly what it was.
Jan 15 • Mark McInerney
The Line That Never Goes Quiet
On Memory, Partnerships, and the Greatest Song of All Time
Jan 14 • Mark McInerney
This Is Fascism, Happening, In Real Time
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
Jan 13 • Mark McInerney

music

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The Spaceman Has Left the Stage
Ace Frehley (1951-2025)
Oct 17, 2025 • Mark McInerney
Kindness Costs Nothing
“I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.” — John Steinbeck
Oct 10, 2025 • Mark McInerney
Cathedrals Without Walls: Joni Mitchell’s Masterpiece
Songs are like tattoos...
Oct 8, 2025 • Mark McInerney

Recent posts

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The Golden Globes and the Cost of Silence
CBS once called itself the Tiffany Network.
Jan 12 • Mark McInerney
The Bulletproof Ballroom: The Renovation of American Citizenship
On the January NYT interview, the death of Renee Nicole Good, and the missing pause that once held power to account.
Jan 12 • Mark McInerney
Playing In The Band: Remembering Bobby Weir
I don’t have all my ticket stubs from back then, but I still love the old mail-order Dead tickets.
Jan 11 • Mark McInerney
Smoke Signals
Smoke Signals
Essays on power, culture, memory, and the country we’re becoming. Politics, history, and music written with spine, not slogans. For readers who want context instead of outrage and arguments instead of noise.
Recommendations
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The Haake Take
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The Red Letter
The Red Letter
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