Banks

We've always known that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Machiavelli, Hitler and George Bush II are good examples, for different reasons.

So why do we give the financial industry the same types of unregulated power we used to grant to kings and lords?

In a kingdom, peasants payed a fee to the king, not a tax, but rent to use the land for business. In banking, you pay banking fees for the right to keep your money in a safe institution.

It's easy to see how the first situation seems mob-like and unfair, if I'm contributing to a kingdom's success, why should I pay additional fees?

But with banks, conceiving of our money as property might help us see that it's the same thing.

A bank is allowed to use your money to lend out to other consumers or businesses. They make money on the deal but take a far-bigger percentage than you see in interest. Also, the aforementioned fees can be used to invest in things like stocks and bonds, money which is used to strengthen the kingdom. Strength gained on the back of your hard work, of which you share no benefit.

The deregulation of banks made this worse.

One thing that has always existed at banks is the greed and non-compassion associated with turning a customer's money into more money, while shutting them out of the benefits. The lack of humanity in dishing out lucrative housing loans to those who couldn't pay them resulted in a full blown crisis in 2008.

But the bankers continue receiving bonuses that make a doctor or lawyer's salary look dismal, not to mention a working mother of two who is by necessity, forced to bank at her local branch. When I worked in special education it would break my heart to see teachers paying for school supplies out of there own pockets.

Have you ever tried to get on a lease without a bank, or put gas in your tank at midnight when there is no attendant?

We need banks. We don't need to choose the ones who put us on with shiny blue storefronts and "low fees". We need to find a way to inject some compassion into our capitalism.

Or we're all done for. You. Me. The environment. All of it will suffer because we have given the power of billions of dollars to a handful of individuals. You think history would have taught us differently.

Nuts

Things have been nuts lately. Last week I played with two groups, The Sessh and Frogs Gone Fishin', in Aspen for over 250 people... on a Monday! This was all after headlining gorgeous State Bridge Amphitheater for our good friends and fans near Vail on Sunday.

Frogs have acquired a wonderful booking agent, Ryan Williams, and are making headway in new Colorado markets like during night's show at the Belly Up and an upcoming bill on 9/11 at the venerable Mishiwaka Amphitheater in northern Colorado. We'll open up for Bill Kruetzman's (drums, Grateful Dead) new project at the Gothic Theater with a favorite bass player of mine, George Porter Jr. (Meters) outta New Orleans. After that we'll head toward Joplin, MO to play a benefit for the victims of the tornado disaster there. Having evacuated New Orleans for Katrina in 2005, I'm acutely aware of the struggle and sadness that natural disaster can bring. Music not only helped, but saved New Orleans after Katrina and I'm positive it will help Joplin. In October we'll head out on our most ambitious tour in almost half a decade, all the way to New York City to tour the region and rock out on Halloween in a city full of year-round characters. My electronic-funk group The Sessh will be releasing recorded music soon and will tour Europe in 2012.

All of this booking requires a commitment to risk and entrepreneurship that is comforting during a time when corporations seem to be reluctant to hire, the unemployment rate is relatively speaking, very high, and the financial markets are struggling. Factors outside of my control have a tougher time influencing the outcome of our business. There is no market or instrument attached to music, only a quotient of people's desire for entertainment (high during times of financial strain) and our desire to succeed (high when you're a [literally] starving artist).

Now now, I'm not really starving. I had salmon for dinner tonight. It was delicious. And we aren't in some doomsday scenario where people go to the bar and drink and dance because the financial excrement is hitting the global fan and all they want to do is forget their lives. We still control our destiny. I am my own boss, as are many people, and that feels great. But you have to watch any stagnation. Getting comfortable isn't an option. Calcification in any moving system is the beginning of the end. I'm planning on taking a break from music for a month in December and traveling to India to gain perspective about my life and station here in the US, study the beautiful, holy and ancient tonal relationships in the music of the sitar and walk the path that my personal spiritual leader, Buddha, did in during his lifetime in the northeastern part of the country.

I know what you're thinking. How unremarkable and cliche: 25 year old, bearded American rock musician goes to India seeking enlightenment and musical guru. But I'm going because I know it will have an impact on me whether I like it or not, whether I want to let India in or not, all I've heard and read is that it will assault your senses. Pretty nuts.

The Indian system and way of thinking is foreign, if not unnecessary for America, but I wouldn't stop short of saying we need an attitude adjustment. We need to stop pinning our newfound waning hegemony on our leaders and start businesses, make some money and create jobs ourselves instead of waiting around for the job market to get better. I think the media plays poorly into this, reporting ever increasing joblessness, as if we are to take a rise of .3 percentage points as cause to stop looking for jobs altogether. Income can come from different sources and the idea that our white-collar-with-benefits world would last forever, while giving illegal immigrants the jobs white America didn't want, was ludicrous. We are all taught that it's better to make a living with your skill set in Microsoft Office when there are roads to be built, bridges to be fixed and a new "green" infrastructure to create for a sustainable world. But green business isn't yet profitable and so the seemingly obvious pairing of joblessness with new green jobs is shattered by the very thing shattering our perceived hegemony: greed.

When we start looking at a sustainability index instead of a consumer confidence index, we'll be living in a better world. Life is a zero-sum game on Earth. Our quest for "growth" every year as an index of economic health is bringing about our demise quicker than we can ever predict. There is a beautiful alignment between saving our world financially and environmentally, if only we could get our leaders to do what us entrepreneurs do daily: take risks.

Wyclef, Politik Artist

I recently heard that Wyclef Jean is running for President of Haiti. While he won't have the powers of the PM, the move is interesting for a musician. You can follow him on Twitter here:

http://twitter.com/wyclef/

And if you haven't caught on to the whole Twitter thing, realize that this web page is an instant announcement to 1.5 million people whole follow Wyclef, a large percentage of which are presumably fans who know about the man for his rhymes more than his rhetoric. They might not be in Haiti, but it's hard not to imagine Haitians of all ages voting for the native-born, international superstar.

What Haiti needs now is a symbolic fundraiser as President, while their PM picks up the ministerial pieces after the January 12 earthquake rocked the developing, fragile nation.

That makes Wyclef seem perfect for the job, although his detractor on NPR the other day was quick to point out that he's had trouble here in the US with the IRS and his own non-profit, Yele Haiti. The following was taken from uprisingradio.org:

While some question whether Jean is qualified for Haiti’s highest office, others are critical of his politics. His familial ties to the coup government and his implicit support for it have caused concern. Wyclef Jean, who has remained a Haitian citizen, described his decision to run for Haiti’s highest office saying, “I always say that Wyclef Jean is not running for the Presidency of Haiti, I’m being drafted by the people of Haiti.”

While Wyclef's main problem is his severe inability to speak in the first person tense, I support what he's trying to do. Extreme times do call for extreme measures and while electing actors has proved fateful in American politics recently, I do think a distinction can be made there.

Actors are masters of empathy, but that's where the politicians get ya in the first place! Our voting decisions are oftentimes made on emotional criteria (think abortion or immigration), when in reality logic should rule the voting process. The immigration issue is a prime example. Conservatives have argued to repeal the very amendment in our constitution that makes it such that anyone born on US soil is a US citizen. It's easy for them to stir the emotions of a nation who, in reality, keep 90% of illegal immigrants here and for a reason. This reason is economic and we've all heard the "they do they jobs we don't want" spiel.

Artists, by comparison, and I mean real artists (not Pink or Brittany or Justin Beib... what's that kids' name???) are masters of individuality. An artist finds her place in the world by personal observation, not interpersonal empathy.

I'm not saying actors can't have strong opinions, or artists can't selflessly promote their work. What I am saying is that Wyclef was passionate about Haiti and it's politics before the earthquake. That makes me think he is less of an opportunistic snake-in-the-grass and really cares about the country as a whole, not just the part that will vote for him.

But ultimately he's got the best attribute of a politician his party could ask for. He can win.

Oil Spill

I can't really fathom the oil spill. For several reasons, I can't wrap my mind around it. I think part of that is some sort of emotional response my immune system impinges on me to keep my literal cranium from exploding into a fine pink, brain-colored mist, or from flying over to BP headquarters in jolly-old and raising the issue personally.

Part of it is not being able to comprehend the literal physics and physical size of the disaster. I understand that a methane pocket caused the Deepwater Horizon to explode and sink and that there have been half a dozen methods to stop the poisonous sludge from gushing into our ocean waters. By far the worst part of this disaster were the hard working guys who perished as generators and rigging exploded around them like the materialization of hell itself.

The ocean and its immensity have always frightened me on a primal level. Have you ever looked at a ship-wreck in dim, under-water light while scuba diving and not had the immediate urge to be topside? Throw in some barracuda and I'm officially soiling my wet suit during my hasty ascent. Not to mention we haven't explored more than about five percent of the ocean, one percent when talking about the sea floor itself (where I hear only the most terrible sea monsters prefer to spend their days). The National Ocean Service says that the vast majority of the ocean is dark, no light can penetrate below 3,000 feet. Dark AND unknown? No thanks.

The ocean's getting even darker, with oil. It's all I can think about, trying to comprehend how it happened, and more importantly, how the hell it will be stopped before the August relief-well dig completion. The worst part? There is not much I can do sitting here, high in the rockies, except send hair clippings for oil-absorbent buoys (done the day after I got my customary post-tour hair cut).

This sense of helplessness led to great satisfaction when I read this morning that the feds will be investigating both civil and criminal cases against BP. And while we are talking about the current administration (isn't this a music blog?) I'd like to say, unabashedly, that Obama is doing a good job. He's pragmatic, responsive, doesn't make America sound like a bunch of red-necks, and has pushed legislation through which will make Americans healthier and prevent bankers from getting too much wealthier. Bush sat on his ass while domestic issues like Katrina ate at the soul of our country, while lying to the public on the premise of starting wars of aggression, a war which has gone on to be the longest engagement in our history, unless you count the pointless, counterproductive money waste we call the "war on drugs".

As it turns out, nature herself might be the saving grace of this whole situation. While BP rejects inventors and scientists, the ideas of those who've known something like this was going to happen and put their dollars into stopping it, there is a multitude of thought and innovation being put into how to fix this. You can find it all over YouTube. But the real fix might be nature's built-in protections against oil which is, after all a naturally occuring substance itself. Scientists say plant-matter can recover from one good oiling, although the second or third will kill it off. Microscopic organisms in the ocean can eat oil particles. Warm sea water facilitates the evaporation of the oil off the surface.

In the interim BP needs to stop using environmentally harmful dispersants, keep the oil off the coastline and let nature do what she does with the thousands of naturally occurring oil leaks on the seabed floor all over the world.

If it is found that BP management was criminally negligent in their safety precautions, precautions protecting the very world which allows them to breath air, taste their caviar or feel the wind in their hair while riding in the Rolls, all while blindly preparing to decimate a region already embattled with nature, then heads should roll as an example that the Earth, our Mother, is not to be fucked with.