Music, food, folks & fun.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Veseliyka played at our neighborhood farmer's market. We didn't make any money to speak of, but it was a good time. I like the sense of community our little market has. After all, what can be better than knowing the people who grow your food, seeing neighbors and friends and having the chance to either play some music or listen to music (and dance!) while you shop for locally grown organic food? And, due to the fact that in this group I play a relatively portable instrument and the market is so close to home, I can bike there!

Here are some pictures taken by our friend Paula White. The background is unimpressive since we are facing the market from its perimeter, so just imagine a bunch of stalls with people milling about, kids underfoot (literally - I almost stepped on a couple) and a beautiful, sunny, although rather windy, day. Sorry, no pictures of Dave playing his inflatable goat.

Veseliyka

Dave.
Playing a wind instrument can be a challenge on a windy day.

Flora

Yuliyan

Me (again...). Recognize the hat?

This is the kind of thing that happens when you play on a windy day. Music on the ground.

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I wish I lived in San Francisco so I could vote for her.

Where Have All The Musicians Gone?

During the Vietnam War, there was a great deal of public opposition by musicians to the war. So far, during this war, it seems that musical personalities as voices for peace have been strangely absent. I find myself wondering if this is because there isn't opposition to the war in the musical community, people are scared to speak up or maybe they are speaking up but they're being ignored by the media. I suspect it could be all of the above to varying degrees, but I have a feeling that the last reason may well be the biggest factor. There have been a few blips here and there: The Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Neil Young are a few that come to mind, although Mr. Young said in an interview that he only objects to the Iraq war, not the war in Afghanistan and only The Dixie Chicks seemed to attract any attention, mostly negative, from the media. For the record, I wrote and recorded the song "Impeach the Moron" [go to my sidebar if you want to listen to it] before Neil Young released "Let's Impeach The President."

As I see it, the lack of media attention to almost all forms of opposition to the war has been very deliberate and the anti-war movement of the 60s proved that music in particular is capable of being inspirational. It can bring people together, energize them and sometimes get people to think about events in a different way, but only if people can hear it. Thus, someone like Bruce Springsteen, as popular as he is, can only truly reach people in person. It's quite a dilemma.

I was thinking about that the other day when I came across this YouTube video of Brian Eno, who, in my opinion, is the most influential yet relatively unknown musician in the history of recorded music, speaking at a demonstration in the UK.



There is another video of Brian Eno (see it here, it's a bit longer and he's mostly reading pieces by other people) addressing a different demonstration that was declared illegal by the British government. It pleased me to find that Mr. Eno, who strikes me as something of a recluse, is speaking out in spite of the potential legal consequences, but where is the media coverage? One of the most influential musicians in the world speaks at a demonstration and no one knows about it? Times have certainly changed. It's no wonder that people feel discouraged.

Bomb Iran? No, thank you!

I haven't put much of a political nature on this blog, mostly because other people do it so much better than I can. If I attempted to post about things political, you'd be seeing things such as "Bush is evil. Cheney is a crinimal." I just find it very difficult to organize my thoughts when it comes to world events, politics, etc.

It's looking more and more like BushCo, regardless of what most of us think, are going to take "military action" against Iran. This administration has already shown a complete disregard for the opinions of the citizens as well a complete disregard for actual facts. Despite the helplessness I feel surrounding this situation, I think it's important for all of us to do whatever we can to remind people that "military action" means killing innocent civilians, environmental disasters, destroying historic treasures and spending mountains of money that should be going toward helping people (health care, schools, housing, alternative energy - the list is practically endless.) Most citizens of the US probably couldn't find Iran on a map, much less conjure up an image of that country, and, guess what? Iranians don't really seem all that different from you or me. From what I can tell from pictures I've seen, it's also a beautiful country and Bush and his buddies want to blow it up. I can't believe that they can get away with even talking about it. They'll do it anyway and convince enough of us it's what we want. And the f***ing democrats will go right along with it. When do we get to impeach them?

I'd like to thank all you people who, day after day, remind us of what is happening both in this country and in the rest of the world. Keep it up.

Here's a little slide show I found on YouTube. I would guess there are lots of others out there.