Last night, I saw the Polyphonic Spree in the sanctuary of the Unitarian church in Philadelphia. It was a completely amazing and inspiring performance as their 20 or so members delivered a set of pure happiness. I’ve been a fan and have enjoyed both records, but the live performace was over an hour of pure frenetic energy.
I’ve been in Italy for a couple of weeks and am back now. This past weekend, I was at a festival in central PA and my instrumental band, Reels of White Softly Flow, played as part of the art gallery that I helped run. The gallery and performance were really enjoyable moments, getting to see a lot of old friends. I was totally blown away with some of the videos that Andy Bruntel brought with him from California, a new video he did for Riley Kiley as well as a collaborative animation. My friend Ethan made a really interesting interactive sound box that let listeners mix several pre-recorded loops in unlimited numbers of ways with old style hi-fi nobs.
I do have at least one major complaint. Someone at the festival thought it was funny to take a bumper sticker off my car that said “Bush Must Go.” Normally, I’m not very political on this web journal, but I’m going to get up on my soapbox for a paragraph or two. As Americans, whether you are an ultra-conservative or an ultra-liberal, the freedom of speech and expression is a core right that we all must believe in. If this bumper sticker bothered a W supporter, that’s all well and good, but it’s my car, stay away from it, get your own bumper sticker. This election, I am going to cast my vote for John Kerry. I don’t support his policies 100%, but feel that we need a new leader for this nation. When I travel to other countries, the imperalism of the United States has made us laughable in Europe’s eyes. Our president should not be leading unilateral invasions of sovereign nations, but should be committed to dialogue and coalition building when actions are deemed necessary by the international community. George Bush has greatly failed in this regard and my number one reason for not supporting him.
Many of my religious and family value supporting friends are committed Republicans, but supporting liberal and Democratic party candidates is not a vote against this morality. The issues are more buy accutane complicated than single issue politics that involve perceived moral hot issues of the day, such as abortion or gay marriage. These issues deserve serious debate politically, but also personally. I am disappointed by two factions from this weekend, namely a table passing out stickers at the Polyphonic Spree that said “I vote Pro-Choice” and a table at the festival sponsored by Rock for Life supporting single-issue pro-life politics. Let’s face it, Kerry and Bush are nearly the same on this issue and voting on a single issue is one of the most idiotic things you can do as a citizen. There is common ground on both sides of the issue that are outside of legal issues and we can build consensus here. The issue is far more complicated than my little rant can do justice, but hopefully my point makes some sense.
As Americans, we have the right for our leaders to tell the truth and our President has failed to do this with supposed weapons of mass destruction or Saddam links to Al Qaeda or that tax cuts for the rich will improve the economy. As outraged as conservatives were with perceived lies from Bill Clinton, we should all be even more outraged by these severe lies that wrongly took us to war and are undermining our country. In the end, we must look beyond single media outlets for our information and opinions and work to develop our own unique opinions based upon discussion and debate with our friends and family and interpretation from the unbiased facts.
Luckily, Jess had another “Bush Must Go” sticker and I quickly and happily replaced it. I am proud to keep is visible and will not be silenced by bigotry and ignorance. In the end, as a record label, Burnt Toast Vinyl is not motivated by politics, but by artistic intergrity and creativity. The political views of bands and musicians that I’ve worked with vary greatly.
Tomorrow, I am going to have surgery. One of my parathyroid glands needs to be removed. My calcium level is too high and occassionally I get very dizzy and am unable to get out of bed. This should fix the problem. Jess and my mom will be taking care of me for a few days when I get to come back home.
And today is also my birthday. I’m an old old 31 years old.
:::scott:::