Free the Internet

First of all, I think it's fun to stay home and write a blog on Saturday night. That's what playing live music does to you. Home becomes so valuable, so many options present that normally are unavailable, it's like this personal playground. Sweatpants. Netflix. Our couch which is admittedly more comfortable than my bed. It's all there.

BOOYAKASHA!*

*Popularized by Ali G (who's creator went on to Borat fame) Booyakasha is a word derived from the Irish word "buíochas" (pronounced bwee ah kuss) which means "glory to" "or praise be". Oliver Cromwell sent 1,000's of Irish to the plantations in Jamaica, and a lot of Irish words made it into Jamaican patois.

Second, the internet is freakin' awesome. Are you kidding me? I can write to our Welsh buddy, Richard the Lizard, far away in Wales, without waiting days for a letter to return his pragmatic and dignified response. I can find out how far I need to drive to the nearest late-night doughnut dispensary, compare doughnut prices, and maybe even email a buddies' BlackBerry to pick up a whole sack-full on the way over. I can bank, buy, blog, bide my time and generally buck around on websites full of information I don't need to know, but get off on learning about.

This is big news for humankind in general. From a psychological standpoint, I'm somewhat surprised people's heads don't spontaneously explode more often from the shock of information overload, or their withdrawal from such. We are nowhere near equipped to deal with the amount of information coming directly at us from screens, screens and more screens. Screens that are increasingly connected to the internet. Phones, game consoles, the back seat of taxi cabs are all wired. Sometimes I find myself checking my Blackberry as if it were another tab on my internet browser, while I'm working in front of my computer itself! Que Ridiculo, NO?

But beyond that anxious feeling (followed by overwhelming relief) I get when I'm temporarily disconnected from the information super-highway, the most important part of the internet revolution lies in the fact that the world-wide-web brings information onto a level playing field, for everyone with access to an internet connection. Beyond that, the content is largely free, baby! For now...

Take it from a musician... people find a way to make anything you put on the internet free to others. As I've discussed in previous posts, I'm nothing close to opposing the phenomena. I can think of no better way, no better third-party endorsement, than having a fan put our music on the internet for others to share in. I'm pretty sure Lars Ulrich is the only musician rich enough or greedy enough to ever truthfully get all bent about file-sharing.

The big picture is that people in Benin, Belarus, and Boise, Idaho can access the same information and we all know that information is power. Information is power to raise a healthy family, prevent disease, grow food more efficiently and eventually, create a world where hate and ignorance have no place to hide from knowledge and tolerance. If all those 2012 conspirators have one thing that might be close to reality, it's the unifying force of the internet that could lead to some harmonious new world order. I can foresee some technological breakthrough that gave EVERYONE internet access to be a global game-changer, a golden age of communication and cooperation amongst humans never seen before in history.

However, some governments, like China's, would rather their citizens not even read this blog. They might realize the prohibitive nature of their laws and rise up against a regime not praised for its human rights record to begin with, while their government tries to leave citizens in the informational dust.

It's something I didn't think about a lot growing up with the internet constantly at my fingertips. How does this massive, diverse system of information and entertainment perpetuate itself? How did it come to be and how does it continue to be search-able in a coherent and easy way? It's the like the universe has some sort of secret librarian that wants to set this knowledge out for your taking or leaving. It's beautiful. It's incredible. And it may not stay this way forever.

For the first time since its creation, the United Nations is debating the future of what most in the West regard as a rightfully unregulated sphere. The news was shocking to yours truly. There will be no more mysterious librarian-of-the-universe to send me info over the internet wavelength once the burly, ineffective, slow-moving body of the UN gets involved. What's more, there's talk of removing the one aspect of the internet so crucial to it's magic, the fact that it's free.

This was at issue as Google and Verizon held talks this fall about whether "tiers" of internet service are a good idea or not. This would mean some people would be able to pay for a faster "tier" of internet than other consumers. While such a service would inevitably be profitable for companies like Google, the online giant has maintained that anything but an "open" internet would be a bad idea. This sentiment carried over into criticism of meetings held last week at the UN, designed to propose the idea that the world's governments should have a greater role in regulating the internet.

The division of opinion with regard to whether political bodies should regulate things like commerce and communication on the internet is interesting. Developing nations, who are not so focused on free speech as we might be here in the US (China or Iran), want to have a big say in what is available to their average citizen online. Industrialized countries like Brazil and India also want to regulate the internet for the vast commercial benefit inherent in controlling the biggest social invention since the neighborhood block party.

I find it admirable that countries with much to gain in controlling internet service delivery, the US and its allies, called the UN talks "offensive" because they represent an attempt to gain control of something that derives its vitality from its freedom, not its regulation. In the words of a very famous movie featuring puppet mannequins: "America, fuck yeah!".

But this carte blanche opposition to paying for internet service isn't all gummy-worms and sprinkles on the ice cream called technology. There needs to be well regulated ways to collect money for services involving intellectual property (listening to the songs I write or the books you read) because like it or not, artists have to get paid too. There are some pretty pretentious peeved-off penmen over in Hollywood right now who are getting the royal shaft on royalties for shows they've written on, shows that later end up online, for free, for anyone to download, leaving Gary the Writer penniless on the corner of Sunset Ave. and Desperation Blvd...

And don't we want to pay comedic writers, or songwriters, or all the cameramen, gaffers, grips, gapers and goombas in Hollywood and elsewhere, wherever creative art is distributed to the masses? Won't it make sit-coms funnier (please God), songs better, movies deeper (again, Lord help us please...)???

The bottom line is that the regulation of intellectual property (ie; figuring out how creative people get paid for their work online) in a society who virtually expects (and fights on a political level for) free internet content will be an area to watch in the coming years. Hulu and Grooveshark are always there for you while you wait...

Fear

You hear a lot of fear flying around, mostly in advertising and often in religious institutions. I almost wrote "fear flying around these days", but this tactic is nothing new. Since we started roasting those first chestnuts on an open fire in the forest, we as humans have used the potentiality of negative results to deter, or motivate, others to do the way we'd like. Try it with a toddler, it works. With most, anyway. In fact, you can tell a lot about the basic nature of that toddler through this interaction. Tell him or her the stove is hot and hurts, and watch if they obey the fear in their mind or not.

This kind of fear is good. I have all my limbs and basic facial features intact because my parents did a good job of instilling in me a healthy fear of hot stoves or busy intersections. Religion and modern media take what they would also label "healthy" fear to new heights.

Take Exodus 20:18 from the Bible for example:

"When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."


That's pretty heavy, man. But check out that nice convenient veil the Bible puts between God and men. The men are too busy shaking in their boots to question who they should be listening too.

Take the media. Not to mention any names here; Glenn Beck you stupid-fucking-idiot soul-succubus, but the media will use terms like "Nazi", "terror", or "blood-shed", over and over until poor Grandma who doesn't realize the 24-hour news cycle will rot your brain thinks the world is only full of danger and gosh darnit', she better get her nightly news to know where the bad guys are! For the record, my grandmas are way cooler than that.

Here's a headline from CNN.com this morning:

"One Business Growing in Haiti -- Coffins"

Are you kidding me? Instead of mentioning that cholera deaths in Haiti are rising, CNN conjures up an image of a bustling coffin and grave industry, bursting at the seams 'cause there just so many of them Haitians dying all the time, they're piling up down there!

Send me a comment about Fox News, Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh and you'll find out how a blog explodes. I don't know technically how, yet, but it can't be fun. But notice I loped those liberals at CNN in the group too, nobody is above it, because fear tactics simply work too well. So then it goes without mention that everybody out there has to wade through the B.S. and find their news and information from a scientific and an unbiased (as possible) media outlet.

But there's another kind of fear, conditioned by the constant barrage of the above factors, which plays out in our minds all day. Since we've just shown that we live in a culture of fear, it follows that our personal worlds might be filled with the same kind of thinking.

When I stumble up the stairs in the morning, looking for breakfast, and choose between an apple and a pair of Twinkies I make a couple hundred or thousand minute, sub-conscious choices. One that I let surface to my groggy morning ego (something very hard to control in the morning) is that apple's help prevent lung cancer. My grandfather died of lung cancer, boy am I afraid of and fear cancer, and therefore should eat an apple.

Again this is good fear playing out and ultimately helps me make a healthy choice. The trouble comes when we try and apply this direct logic to our big life choices, choices significantly larger than apples v. Twinkies. When thinking about leaving your job right before a promotion to start a business, does fear play in? You bet. Fear about losing financial security, your mortgage, a failing entrepreneurial business...

The truth is that there is no truthful, objective way to account for what will happen in the future, and in reality, only you can work hard to augment the potential outcome. In other words, if I'm thinking of leaving the Corporation Corp. to start a company that designs beer-bottle-cap-cabinets then fear might highly dissuade me from doing so. But this fear is unfounded. It shouldn't deter you and given that this is our ONE life, our one chance, a secure pension plan won't ease regrets about unfulfilled life dreams.

Fear plays into music in two ways. First, when playing live improvisational music... you must forget it exists! Fear has no place in life or music. The micro-second you begin to second guess yourself because of fear about whether what you're about to play will sound "good" or not, ruins the note before it even leaves your fingers or lips.

Second, when pursuing a career in music, you have to be fearless. It's the only way. Fearing an outcome is tantamount to failure. A close relative of mine, very close, who I love, recently told me I need to "rethink my situation" or something to the effect that playing music full time isn't a real job. It makes my mind want to explode. Makes me mental. Drives me bananas down bat-shit crazy-street backwards!

WHEN DID WE MOVE FROM A WORLD WHERE MUSIC WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF SOCIETY TO PASSABLE DIGITAL NUMBERS, ITEMS AS USABLE AND DISPOSABLE AS HANDBAGS???

We are in love with artists one minute, unable to stay interested because they only release a limited amount of pre-fab music and then Justin Beiber's voice changes, Britney goes to jail for nose candy and teenagers are apt (or forced for lack of options) to fall in love with their parent's music. Why don't they have their own music, music they can grow old along WITH?

The answer is as complex as explaining away any post-recession industry, but fear played into it, big time. Major labels feared investment in new talent, feared new technologies like Napster and now we have a system where those without fear, the heavy hitters starting technology companies, control the money game. Take Twitter, Pandora, Spotify or Grooveshark. These are the new DJ's of the current century, controlling the game.

So until I plan my technology start-up (we did get in pretty balls-deep with Mountain Side Mardi Gras ) I have to maintain that mindset of an artist which has guided and shielded us since troubadours traveled around France in the 13th century. We do what we do not for the money, but for love, which is the opposite of fear. We don't fear the outcomes of existing in an industry long forsaken for it's profitability. Playing music in the name of love is not some hipster, hippy, or beatnik expression but a protection from the fear in the world. Silence is ignorance, leading to fear and even hate in the worst case. But music, those first few notes you hear at a concert, penetrate that emptiness with light and love and substance. Fear has no room.

Maybe I have with music the same relationship some people feel they have with God, a protectionist sense of love, like that with a father, which can obliterate fear.

I sat next to a very, very wise man on a flight to New York a couple weeks ago. He's a leading cancer researcher at CSU and a Hindu-born Christian. If a preacher tries to preach to me, I will not listen, just like no one wants to hear a car mechanic go on about transmissions in their spare time. But if a scientist wants to take a crack at explaining, logically, to me his way of seeing religion in the world, I'm all ears.

He had one phrase which he kept repeating throughout his vast descriptions of religion (Eastern and Western) and how it relates to everyday life: "Live a simple and sincere life, and you will be like a humble lion."

As someone who is surrounded by lots of public attention as part of what they do for a living, that advice is immeasurably valuable. A lion fears nothing in the jungle.


*A few days after I started this post, WikiLeaks.org caused fear to ripple through the world's powerful and elite, posting their personal comments about adversaries and allies alike as if they were Facebook comments about your best friend's boyfriend. You didn't want him to find out you think he's a sleaze-ball and now damage control is the name of the game. Although Julian Assange is most likely a meglo-maniac, harmful to US interest, the story is just so novel, so massive in scope, the media has embraced his image and mission.

Tour Time and Time Warner

This week, the Frogs are headed to Texas. Things have stabilized in the FGF camp since moving into a new house and getting robbed several months back. The Denver police found one item (the largest and most expensive) and Steve and I were more than happy to sit at the cop-shop, haggard and anxious for hours, in order to tow our PA back to it's rightful pad. We have an awesome new roommate moving in, Calvin, who works in finance and can probably provide some perspective to us about what life in the corporate world might be like. The first time he came over we bonded over his "existential breakdown" in NYC, where I had just returned from a wild trip, running back and forth between Brooklyn and Manhattan, recording two full songs and playing two shows. Producer Will (Will E. Beats) and Engineer Klem should be sending me some tracks this week and I will post the new tunes as soon as they are in my eager paws, or Frog toes to be more specific.

On that note, the amount of Frog memorabilia we've obtained over time, a relatively short time, is astounding. From where I sit at my computer in our living room I can see:

- A giant stuffed Frog from one of our youngest fans, a kick-ass little girl name Willa

- Posters from over a dozen shows, We've only begun to put them up. our buddy Kevin in the mountains has stacks and stacks in the archive.

- A wall-sized, sewn blanket of our South Park-style caricatures, replete with our Frogs Gone Fishin' logo. If Trey and Matt came in the door we might have a lawsuit on our hands.*

Any number of amphibian-related books, holiday-cards, painted Mexican leaping Frogs and hygiene accouterments like candles or soap decorate our house, bathrooms, Suburban (Leslie) and RV (Bertha). I am a Frog. It's not a question if I want to present myself that way. People refer to the group as "The Frogs", individuals as "a Frog", and make checks out to us as simply "Frogs".

These are physical indications of the world that your band becomes. It is much more than a physical world, however. Your world as a musician is defined by concentric circles around which are your band and it's family. Family goes way beyond the conventional definition at this point. And just like you love your real family, as it's the only one you've got, you love your fan base and business associates, even the annoying step-brothers or creepy uncles in the bunch. From the moment you wake up to when you go to sleep, you take stock of this family, figure out how to make it work together for a greater experience than any fan or band could achieve by themselves. Most often this happens in the form of live concerts and your job as musician is to make fans feel like you are watching them, as much as they are watching you.

It's so cliche to discuss, but that reciprocality between band and fan is the ONLY thing keeping you as musician from disintegrating into some sort of repetitive, guitar-playing robot. And when fans come to multiple shows in a row, your art becomes more comprehensive because you have the arch of time to work with, days in between shows, as a new factor to manipulate. Active fans will guess rabidly about which songs will be played in what order, which songs will open and close the next show. Some bands have whole archives, dedicated to information about those very statistics.

That is the source from which your world as a band should emanate, the catalogue of songs you maintain to play at the moment that is just right for band energy and audience atmosphere. In fact, that is where you can draw the line between real musical artists, and corporately created pop-stars. Real artists operate on a catalogue built-up over time, pop-stars are ushered into the public domain on a cascade of dollars, not musical aptitude or hard work. It's also pretty cliche for artists like me to bitch about said pop-stars but none of it is relevant anymore, anyway. Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift sell a fraction of the CD's Britney or N'Sync did, the model has gone out the window.

What we are left with are hard working bands (we're now on hour seven of the 15-hours to Texas, in the middle of Kansas, as I finish this post) and independent-minded labels who might get their cash from the big boys, but certainly make their own decisions, sometimes for the worse. One of the more famous examples of this twisted carnival-industry came when alt-rock band Wilco was released by their label, only to be picked up by another owned by the same parent company, Time Warner. Not only had Time Warner financed Wilco's record, they had to essentially buy it back from themselves when the band was let go due to poor management.

Many years ago... OK maybe 6 or so, when I was (hopefully) less wise to the ways of this world, I thought being signed to a major label would be the best, the balls, the brass ring and not knowing what that would mean (large-scale debt to a corporation) I was probably disappointed when my amateurish emails to Sony or Disney Records or who knows where weren't returned promising studio time and world tour. Now, after seeing what happens to bands who are signed to contracts they can't fulfill, oftentimes because a major won't market them correctly, I realize that there's nothing better in the world than being able to call my producer Brad, or lawyer Eric with a problem and have an advocate on the other line, rather than some money hungry scum-bag whose utterly disinterested in music or art.

After returning from TX, Frogs will spend some quality family time for Thanksgiving at home and tour around Colorado during the winter. NYE will take place in Telluride for two nights straight of celebration with the FGF band. Everyone who attends will receive a live CD of the show. Also, check out a pair of new music videos, produced by L.A.-based filmmaker Travis Milloy:

"Never or Now" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYB1thJbVHA

"Herb" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8y0clvIako&feature=related

Enjoy!

*Trey Parker and Matt Stone must have some ballsy lawyers. The creators of South Park are also from Colorado... must be something in the water.

WTF Politics?!

This is a music blog. Actually it's my blog, so it can be about unicorns and red wine and you'll like it! But one thing that grinds my gears, torques my chain and downright gets my goat is politics. The only real reason I care about national politics is the fact that the world is watching, too. Terrorists use our policy ideals to recruit more terrorists. Conversely, people around the world look to America's policy and politicians as examples. Why? I'm increasingly not sure but it's true and if you don't think so, ask yourself why Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize. He won largely on the fact that he stands for an America that has at least moved toward tolerance or the idea of such. George Bush talked about the war on terror as a "crusade". We saw how violent and irrational a perceived non-tolerant Pres could be and the Nobel Prize was the world's relief, expressed to a man who hadn't really done anything on the world stage, yet.

But this pendulum of relief is only temporary and always swings back toward anxiety and fear again. This is especially true within the United States. We live in somewhat of a culture of fear. We choose our diets because we fear high cholesterol, choose safe cars or safe neighborhoods because of fear, all we get from talking heads on TV is information about what is to be feared. We were so afraid in 2001 that George Bush pulled the biggest one on us yet. He managed to convince us, or our representatives at least, that we needed to waste billions of dollars and thousands of lives, invading a country that had nothing, NOTHING, to do with 9/11. All to finish daddy's business.

We caught up to wily W's plan around the time he was to leave office and the ills of the GOP galvanized Obama's massive movement of youth to the polls. Now, I believe, we are experiencing yet another shift, a pendulum swing back to the right. Look at the highly fragmented Tea Party movement. In the 90's they wouldn't have stood a chance. Newt and his Contract with America solidified the GOP's personality such that plat-formless, libertarian-minded groups could do little to penetrate the Grand Old Party. But the lines are creeping to the right. People are scared and reacting to the huge, but necessary, financial bailouts.

Now it's like a free for all. Democrats are anxious to support their president, while fearful of opponents who spew off ridiculous claims regarding taxes and the deficit. Listening to economists you realize this whole deficit situation is pretty simple. We have three major sources of spending: Medicare, Social Security and the Military and one major source of revenue, taxes.

SO...GUESS WHAT'S GOOD IN THE HOOD PEOPLE? If we clean up unnecessary spending for programs that don't make people healthier in Medicare and stop considering the notion that rich people shouldn't pay taxes, we could maybe get ourselves out of this hole. Oh yeah, that multi-billion dollar, needless war that Bush and Dick started didn't help either. Let's neutralize Osama bin Laden and the Al-Queda sects in both Afgani/Pakistan AND Yemen. Yemen is where that lowly sack came from who tried to blow up the Christmas party plane last year over Detroit.

Then we can return to making policy decisions that don't help terrorists recruit more terrorists. Right now, all they have to do is turn on the news.

NYC - Fall Update

I'm cruising out to NYC on the 18th of this month record some new music with producer Will Boyle in Brooklyn and a good friend from college, Jason, who works way too hard and plays too well to be out of the industry itself. I also had lunch with DJ Logic and his girlfriend Diane, a friend from Vail, so maybe we can convince to come over from his joint in Brooklyn to do a track.. wink, wink, nudge, nudge...

Side projects are really important. While I'm in Brooklyn, holed up in a warehouse studio, Mark and Steve (drums/bass in Frogs) will be touring the West Coast with their side project Oak Creek, making it as far as LA. Beyond being a sort of blow-off valve for creative energy, side projects are expanding our horizons coast-to-coast, something that will inevitably benefit Frogs Gone Fishin' down the road.

The Indian summer in Colorado this year kept the leaves on the Aspen trees yellow for a longer period than normal. Driving around the state playing shows from Ft. Collins to Telluride has been memorable all summer long, and we've had some out-of-control shows involving lake houses, crazy club owners, hippies and their dogs and lots of dancing people.

Along with the heavy energy that autumn always brings, bands start planning some important shows in their yearly cycle. This time around we'll bring a Wizard of Oz theme to our three Halloween shows in Boulder, Denver, and the Vail Valley. I suppose I won't say exactly who I'm going to be, but I need a blue dress, soon...

It's been almost six month since Actual Natural was released on our dedicated independent label, Mountain Size Records. We have a great relationship with our larger family in MSR and we face lots of challenges together. Today's music market in a word, sucks. CD's used to sell hundreds of thousands of physical copies. Because of music piracy and also some pretty greedy lending practices on the behalf of labels, the industry fell apart in the 2000's. Combined with a larger economic collapse, not too many people are shelling out $10 for a whole album anymore. Labels are forced to rely on creative marketing methods and persistence, where they used to be rely on throwing lots of cash at the problem. I'm still of the opinion that a little cash can go a long way, not in terms of ad space, but creative ideas that engage the consumer. I've tried to get our label to see this and I hope they understand but given their busy lives and day jobs, I have a strong feeling the entrepreneurial burden will consistently fall with the band. In fact I don't think that will ever change and I don't think it's a bad thing.

In that respect, we gotta keep it movin'. We gotta raise the roof, kick the tires and light the fires. We have to be social net-workers, performers, salesmen and somehow maintain some sanity and a friend or two. And forget dating. Or a part-time job. If it doesn't have to do with music, chances are your boss will see the disconnect in a hot, quick minute and quietly ask you to resign. This means you better be booking your side project, duo and solo gigs months in advance and then spend all day on the computer and phone promoting them. A big budget would help, but virtually no one has that these days, save for the one or two major promotion players (Live Nation and AEG). It's time to buckle down and focus.

Dorothy and touring musicians both know there's no place like home. Back in August I enjoyed a sublet, courtesy of the gracious Tim Dixon and his two distinguished brothers. I was in my bed at home a total of three nights out of 31 days that month. Thanks guys, I hope I didn't overstay my welcome.

Now that Frog's have moved into our house north of Denver, life is settling down a bit. It's good to finally get to know the town I grew up in. My experience in live clubs and bars didn't really begin until I grew up musically in that wonderful, energetic town of New Orleans and so seeing Denver for what it is in terms of the live music scene is eye-opening. I'm going to start blogging about the scene here in Denver, my travels to NYC, and a topic I can't help but write about, politics. Things have gotten so weird in that last realm, I'll reserve future posts for the topic.

The dudes up at Mountain Size Records are running a promotion on Actual Natural right now. Check out the store and type in FGF1OFF to get a discount on the disc. Go getcha some!