there's a fire....
Mood:  caffeinated
After some serious contemplation, I've realised that since moving to TN, I have become quite sedentary in my former life of activist and loud mouth. Maybe it is the air here. Maybe it is the fear of gun toting folks with a budweiser in one hand and a bible in the other. I'm not sure. But, meeting Steve Earle lit a fire under my ass. It just reminded me of the weekend protests and the letters to politicians and all the joys of thinking you can change the world. Somewhere over the past few years, I lost that idea. I became jaded and stopped believing in the power of the people, and I gave into the idea that we are but a Pavlovian experiment and nothing was going to change. I became one of the lemmings. Sure, I never stopped watching CNN, MSNBC, and the FOX news channels every morning, but I did stop doing anything about what I saw. I stopped singing music that reflected free thought and choice. I stopped demonstrating my free will. And, now that I realise it, I am pissed off with myself for giving up the idealism and the fight.

So, thanks Steve for reminding me.
I think that there are many ways we can change the world for the better. The key is actually doing something about it and not just yelling at the TV. It's in our actions and our examples. it is by the lives we lead, the things we say, the choices we make. It all affects the universal consciousness, so from now on, I am going to let the fire burn and dance in the flames. I can't ignore it. It's time to change the world. The vacation from concern was nice, and perhaps after years of protests and volunteering to canvass city neighbourhoods and envelope stuffing, I was burned out. But, I realised that what we do as musicians puts us in a position where we can help people to listen and think. We just have to put the issues on the table. So... watch out.