When I was a teenager I befriended a couple brothers who were draft dodgers from America. They must have been about 30 and me 17. They sold pot, hash, hash oil and cocaine and one also was a musician. He gave me a key to the house he rented. Inside was a grand piano and books scattered around by Aleister Crowley, the Order of the Golden Dawn, Numerology, Lao Tsu and Pramahansa Yogananda whose photo is among the many faces on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club. I never realized it until decades later when you encounter Facebook headlines like “who are the faces on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s.” Those guys had lots of stories and rules about the world. I was fascinated. One of them had his home raided by the police but they didn’t get busted, not that time. When I asked about it he said it’s always best to hide things under the carpet because narcs are overweight and don’t like bending down. He also told me B was the best key to compose in because it was underutilized. I have no idea what empirical evidence he had but I assumed he knew and often started new things in B because the idea got stuck in my head. I was just about to write it is a good thing that I can’t think of anyone in my life currently influences me that way and then remembered how I’ve sometimes absorbed opinions just from headlines on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and not realized it until long after.