TATANKA

  Editor’s Note: With an AI Gen shift away from genres toward artists, I wanted to emulate epitomes of ’70s Power Pop, Matthew Sweet , a fellow Husker, and Cheap Trick (specifically Tom Petersson’s 12-string bass ), Illinois’ very own. I missed the mark as usual, but the ’70s vibe somewhat remained and was the carrier wave for the messages. Per usual, pushing myself out of my comfort zone, I opted for love songs, but aligned to my M.O. in that I decided to offer no happy endings to these love stories, hence the title. Is love worth it? (rhetorical question) I rarely write about myself, but penned and plugged in a few autobiographical tunes as I am at a bittersweet inflection point myself, just as the protagonist always seems to be in our story-line. It’s good to vent. The narrative arc was mine, but the heavy literary lifting was courtesy of Meta AI, which took certain liberties, making this a richer and if you read closely, you might infer a deeper story worth telling, albeit bitte