Holy Crap!

So I thought this thing in the Chronicle was going to be in some tiny little corner of the paper where only a few people would see it, and as it turns out, my picture is not only on the top of the front page, but it also takes up half a page in the entertainment section. And it looks a lot like this:



Now it isn’t bad enough that almost a whole page of the paper is about me, but also Monday is the first day of the new quarter at school. I am never going to live this down

Again I say, holy crap.

Got MLK?

I wrote the song "What Will You Do?" last year on MLK day when it occurred to me that the freedoms that we enjoy here in America are mostly and grossly taken for granted by the vast majority of the population. So many lives are fully spent in the pursuit of personal gains rising high above the level of simple creature comfort to soar into the realm of excess and frivolity. While in the depths below, children born in lesser straights become tainted by envy for those luxuries that seem to be the cornucopia of success and grow up with a hunger for those bounties that feed the ego and lead the spirit towards starvation. This, I believe, is the natural evolution and legacy of the economic culture in which so many Americans take so much pride.

But the human race has stepped far beyond its natural boundaries and could, if it chooses, walk a more compassionate path that values not the elevation of a few as if they have some special qualities other than the blind luck of a fortunate birth or an over-inflated greed that grows from a distorted sense of self, but rather promotes the equanimity of every person regardless of those imposed labels that we use to separate ourselves.

In order to heal this sickness of greed that infests the culture, we must first look towards treating ours own ills. The cure for greed is its opposite state of mind, namely generosity. And the cure for hatred is love. Generating and fostering these beneficial mental states is the only way to change the world; it must be done internally to have an effect externally.

Imagine a pond as smooth as glass. Toss a pebble into that pond and the ripples will radiate and produce change over the entire surface of the water. Even when the pond is agitated and the tiny waves from the thrown stone seem to disappear into the chaos, they still have an effect. These are our thoughts and actions that appear to be overwhelmed by the wind-blown bedlam of a world that feels beyond our influence. But our mental and physical intent leaves their wake even across the universe. And those jagged boulders of greed and intolerance will erode and be washed away when enough altruistic waves break against the shore.

So in the spirit and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. I would encourage you to begin the process. In the darkness of greed, be the lamp of generosity. In the gale winds of intolerance, be the shelter of acceptance. And in the frigid winter of hatred, be the warmth of love.

Peace be with you.

To Everything Turn, Turn Turn...

Okay. So I just got back from the Chronicle where I did an interview for an article on local musicians. I find it amazing that now when I am not a working musician but rather a part-time musician as a hobby kind of guy, I get press. Now that my livelihood is not dependant upon music, I'm getting some attention (albeit small time local attention) from people and venues. And now that I am in no real position to market a CD, I have a CD to market. Just proves that you cannot force things to happen. They will happen when they happen.

It just seems screwed up to me that when you try the hardest you gain the least, and when you don't try at all you make headway. Twenty years I tried to get people's attention and sold myself as a musician. But it always seemed like climbing up a muddy hillside in the rain. Always a constant struggle to been seen and heard.

Now people are listening to my songs and enjoying them. Now people tell me to market my material. Now people tell me to get out and be heard. Now I have a decent catalog of songs. Now I have a CD.

Now I do not have time to pursue it.

Geez.