Everybody has hobbies. I have this weakness for music autobiographies.

Many of them are not so good. Too often these famous musicians want to write about how they got screwed on contracts and royalties. To which I say “Who gives a shit, bring on the music.”

Two examples are John Fogerty and Pat Benatar, who drone on endlessly about getting business screwed.\

Anyway I just finished Kenny Loggins “Still Alright” memoir.

Kenny actually doesn’t dwell on getting screwed. The book was an enjoyable read.

I always look for moments of revelations and bursts of honesty and often don’t find them in these books.

But toward the end, before Kenny finishes as many of these books do with years of being forced to live with past glory and

touting songs we’ve never heard of in the fading years, he talks about his last hit “Conviction of the Heart.”

He found out about a new Garth Brooks song “Standing Outside the Fire.” And it sounds a lot like Conviction.

He called Garth. It began friendly. Garth even acknowledged the influence of Kenny’s song. Then Kenny asked

for a piece of the royalty action. Garth froze like ice and said talk to the lawyers. Loggins persisted and actually got

money in a settlement.

At least a business screwed story was entertaining this time.

The big takeaway from the book was how much Loggins and Messina did not get along. Good lord. He paints his

“partner” as an unbearable control freak. Brutal.

The funny part as this comes full circle is a few years back I went to see Jim Messina at a small theater in Loveland, which tells

you about his solo fortune vs. Loggins.

When we got there each seat had a printed sheet showing every song he would perform in the exact order.

I’d never seen anything like it. I assumed he wanted to avoid having morons shout out song requests.

I’m sure based on Loggins description of his partner that was part of it, but it also was an indication of precision and control that fit.

Messina was good by the way. I was always a fan of his Poco years, more so frankly than the Loggins and Messina matchup.

It was and is still fun to read these books