The DREAM album art

_
“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him… We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.” ~ John F. Kennedy


The DREAM is my latest album.

It is one of the hardest artistic projects I've ever pulled off. In my heart it was almost like giving birth ... painful, fearful, agonizing followed by shear exhilaration and pride when it was over.

It many ways. it was like giving birth to a rhino with the horn still attached.

The title song is about our earth at peace. It has four children's choirs singing in English, French, Spanish and Russian. The center piece of the song is when they all sing in their native languages but in unison. It is followed by the musical explosion of a 61-piece symphony orchestra. I wanted the song to be as majestic, powerful and universal as the concept of peace itself is.

Which brings me to the COVER ART on the album, but before I explain that you should really listen to the song first, click the link below:

http://michaeljohnathon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/TheDream.mp3

It is not my intention here to be political, but to speak as an artist. To me, the world is saturated with beige-minded, vanilla-thinking, boring, common, unadventurous "stay-

between-the-lines" art. As the marketplace of the music world shrinks and even disappears, songwriters and artists shrink back with it, careful not to take too much of a stand, careful not to rattle too many cages, careful not to alienate what is left of their little marketplace.

I mean, think about it: where are the songs against war? Where are the songs against terror? Where is the anthem that proclaims black lives do indeed matter? Where are the songs that decry violence against our police? Gone are the days of We Shall Oversome, Masters of War and Where Have All the Flowers Gone.

If they are out there, you don't hear them because even radio is hesitant to speak in that voice. Remember what happened to the Dixie Chicks? Silence condones the actions of the fearful.

Oh, I don't blame them, after all we have families to feed, rent to pay and as society restricts freedoms and rewards those who stand down instead, art will often "stand down" with it. But art shouldn't be that timid. Or shy.

"Art is a revolt against Fate." ~ Andre Mairaux, France

When the collection of the songs for The DREAM album were sequenced and I sat in the studio alone in the dark and listened for the first time to all the compositions in order, I began to envision the jacket art. It kept me up at night for days as it consumed the theatre in my mind.

The title song was about the earth at peace ... but the TRUTH is the earth is NOT at peace. Years ago, album art was a powerful part of music. I remember as a kid being consumed with Steppenwolf's cover of an army of mice, the smudged makeup on Don McLean's thumb on American Pie, all the faces on Sgt. Pepper. The cover sucked me deep into the music.

Then music shrunk down from an LP to a CD, print became so small you can't read it and artists began to lose their imagination. Now, everybody downloads and there is no more cover art at all. Most covers gives you the standard artist posing in front of a woodshed. Or posing in a field. Or posing wherever. Boring. Here's a news flash: I have never released an album with my picture on the cover.*

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” ~ Pablo Picasso

So I wanted this cover to be special, powerful, a statement. I created it to be an anti-statement to the song, so the song would have power. I wanted the jacket art to show visually what the song was hoping for musically. When I first showed the album jacket to Melissa, her reaction was to love it first followed by concern ... she didn't want to twins to ever see it.

That was good, actually. The DREAM is not for kids because they are the peacemakers. It is for grownups, the ones actually causing all the violence.

The OUTSIDE cover reflects the gentle hope of the song. The earth, majestic and beautiful, distant and close, incredible and mysterious. (click to enlarge)

But the INSIDE ... the inside is about the truth. It deploys the explosive anger that we destroy ourselves, our culture, yes, even our children with. It is graphic, brutal and, sadly, accurate. (click to enlarge)

Above is a response card we got from a radio DJ. This person saw the cover and made a judgement about the album and about me without even listening to the song. I love our community of radio friends but please notice this coward didn't even sign their name. MY name is on my album. It is MY statement, I am proud of it and I stand by it openly. This wanker is hiding behind anonymity like a fearful hatemonger.

Yes, the cover art has terrible things children are doing to each other, as taught by violent, horrible adults. The song has four children's choirs asking, pleading for this to stop. This DJ didn't get it. I bet they have no problem watching this kind of horror in their living room over cornflakes as they watch CNN in the morning. I bet they watched planes crash into buildings, burning thousands of people alive as the building fell. I bet they watched it over and over on their TV set. I bet they watched a woman get crushed to death followed by others dancing around her body as their children sat with them on the couch watching the Wizard of Oz.

I bet they have a golden murder weapon hanging around their neck and kiss it whenever they pray, too.

Some people think The Dream is a musical prayer for peace. It is not. It is actually a song about God asking US to stop it. It's God's prayer to mankind, not the other way around. It not a religious song, it is a song, a request, about protecting this wonderous creation by the one who created it to the ones he created.

"It takes an artist with heart to make beauty out of things that makes us weep.”~ Clive Barker

So ... the album has been released to almost 2000 DJs and radio stations. I wonder if they will play it, or will they reject this child I gave birth to. We shall see.

But to all my fellow artists, I implore you: start thinking like an artist. Don't think outside the box ... destroy the box. Don't write a few songs and slap them on a boring CD and expect people to be moved. The world is saturated with the mundane. We are drowning in an ocean of beige. Be brave instead. Shake and rattle and crush. Make people react, feel, object, laugh, weep and cry. Be bold and fearless. Take risks and jump into the deep end of your soul to see what lies at the bottom.

”Creativity takes courage.”~ Henri Matisse

Invest in yourself, take chances with yourself ... because if you won't no one else will, either. And if you ever get a burr up your britches and you send hate mail to someone, at least put your name and address on the ding-dang thing.

Folk on,
mj

For a copy of the album visit: MichaelJohnathon.com/thedream


* Postscript ... I remembered an out-of -print LP has my picture on it. Actually it's a picture of a photograph of me. Go figure ...

FEEDING THE PIG: an overview of the main problem with Careers, Bands, Music and Arts organizations.

 

Once upon a time there was a farmer ...

  ... and he had a wonderful, vibrant garden. His garden fed his family, his livestock, even his neighbors. It was so healthy and food so plentiful he had enough produce for his local market and so his garden even provided him with an income.

  The farmer loved his garden and he tended it, took care of it, cultivated it, watered it and gave it all of his attention. 

Then, one day, the farmer got himself a pig. 

  And oh my, how impressed he was with his pig, so new and different from the garden. The farmer became so enamoured with the pig that he began to give it more of his time. His pig grew and got fat and the farmer fed it more and more of the garden's produce.

  Soon, most of the harvest from his garden was gathered just to feed the pig. The pig demanded so much attention the farmer had less time to tend his garden ... and so the harvest began to whither and dry up. Weeds began to take over the garden but the farmer hardly noticed because his attention was so consumed by his pig.

  One day the farmer was so exhausted from caring for the pig that he asked himself, "How did this pig get so big, and what has happened to my beautiful garden?"

  But still the pig demanded more from the garden, more time and attention from the farmer. And the farmer couldn't escape the demands of the pig. He began to loose his joy - with the pig, with the garden and all the good things he once had as a loving farmer.

  Until finally, one day, there was nothing left of the garden. It was gone ... and the pig couldn't survive and the farmer had nothing for market and couldn't feed his family.

Thus is the state of many arts and music organizations.

  Let's use music to explain, but this is true of all artists, bands, charities and non-profits. In my universe of folk and roots music, our "garden" is the world of songs, poetry, community, instruments, the audience and all that is part of being a musician and songwriter. It is a beautiful amazing colorful vibrant garden.

  And there are many loving, attentive "farmers" for this world: the IBMA takes care of the bluegrass garden, the Folk Alliance International cares for the folk garden, South by Southwest in Austin and more.

  The "pig" is the corporate structure any arts entity ... whether a national organization, a local community group or a garage band ... creates to oversee their operations. Mind you, the garden existed long before the corporate/business structures, but once they were created they tend to take over the garden.

Here's what happens:

  When the pig is first brought into the garden, the expenses are low and all the attention is on the artform, the artists and the garden itself. The good intention is to make the garden bigger and better while feeding the pig. As the pig grows the need for money takes over. Executive Director salaries, offices, managers, agent and staff, marketing. Vacations and benefits. Travel budgets. All of this money gets sucked out of the garden. The bigger the pig gets the more unyielding the budgets become and the more attention the farmer gives the pig instead of tending the garden.

  Before you know it the garden begins to whither and dry up. The cost of being members of the organization get way too high. The cost of attending the conferences get way too high. The pig overtakes the garden to such a degree that all the beauty that was the garden begins to dry up and leave. Feeding the pig makes the cost of being in the garden too expensive for the average artist.

  FACT: It costs the average musician upwards of $1000 to be a member of most music trade groups, pay for conference fees, travel and get hotel rooms and meals. That is more than most musicians make in a year. Heck, it costs $80 just to park your ding-dang car in Austin during SxSW now.

  If it costs more to be part of the garden than the garden can provide, the farmer needs to make a choice:

  abandon the garden or get rid of the pig. 

  My whole argument here is that the corporate structure of the arts world ... the pig ... has gotten so out of hand that it is ruining the very garden of arts we love. As the business models change and the ability of artists to make a living becomes more difficult, farmers need to reduce the size of their pigs. That doesn't mean the people running arts organizations are "pigs." Be careful how you interpret this. Most are sincere, passionate folks that truly love the art form they are helping. It's the size of the corporate structure that becomes the pig.

  Recently the project that Pete Seeger started ran into this problem. When the Clearwater organization began it was a community driven, music loving group that protected the Hudson River. As time went on, the pig got so big and fat that most of their attention was spent on raising money to feed the pig and NOT to protect the garden they were part of. Finally, this year they cancelled the famous Clearwater Folk Festival to conserve funds to keep the pig fed.

  By contrast, the WoodSongs broadcast has a live event with artists from around the world 44 weeks a year in front of 500 people on a Monday night with a 30+ member crew, syndicated to hundreds of radio stations plus American Forces Radio in 173 nations, a 5-camera TV broadcast edited, closed captioned, satellite fed and viewable in 96M USA TV homes on public television, live online feed plus over 800 shows archived for free on our website ... all on a weekly budget of $619. 

  How is this possible, you ask?

 Because ... drum roll, please ... we have a teenie weenie pig.

WoodSongs Front Porch Association ... a teenie weenie pig.

Our commitment of the WFPA is to keep the pig on a damn diet. It costs a lousy $25 a year to belong and that is not just you but includes your whole band or family up to five members. On top of that, all members get FREE tickets to the WoodSongs Gathering this September. FREE. The proceeds of your membership does not go to feed the pig, it goes to nourish the garden by provided roots music education programs FREE to teachers and home school families.

  Join the WFPA, a pig-less organization that loves the garden. That's why we call our members SongFarmers. Check us out at SongFarmers.org

  My point is simple:  

  If the pig makes more money than the artists in the garden ... the pig must die. 

  Or at least go on a diet. 

  All arts careers, bands and groups need to take a close look at the condition of the garden you are part of. An organization with a flourishing garden and a little pig is doing it right. If you see your garden withering, struggling ... if the artists are frustrated and the audiences dwindling ... take a good close look at the pig.

... it might be time to trim some bacon.

mj

michael@woodsongs.com

LOVERS, HATERS, AWARDS ... and CRITICS

WARNING:

Anyone attempting to create outside of the box is a target for those incapable of the adventure.

"The music on WoodSongs is good, The host is an idiot ..."
Grey Brendle, Beaufort, SC

And so goes a recent public post on a Facebook page from someone I don't know, never met and who hasn't a clue about me at all. Every now and then, these little verbal spears appear amid the accolades, praises, applause, standing ovations, awards-with-my-name-completely-misspelled and other genuine kindnesses. And it makes you wonder:

Why?

Not "why am I an idiot." Heck, maybe I am and I just haven't realized it yet. But why would someone you don't know say something so public about someone they've never met?

Garrison Keillor is a fine man who has created an otherwise impossible broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion and, aside from all the praise he receives, he is constantly BLASTED by those who think he talks too much, can't sing, is a terrible writer, self inflated ego and on and on. All from folks who have never met the man.

Chris Thile is one of the finest musicians on earth. A sincere fellow of indescribable talent. He is stepping into the golden shoes of Garrison as the new host of A Prairie Home Companion and, amidst the great reviews of his effort, I have read some of the most scathing comments about his impending failure, his "Garrison Wanna-Be" status and bone-crippling negativity of his hosting skills.

Mainly, it seems, from the same people who hate Garrison.

Actually, they hate Garrison and hate Chris but evidently listen to the show every week for some reason in order to be qualified to make such horrid reviews regarding efforts they themselves are incapable of imagining no less accomplishing. Even on a small scale.

So, again I ask ... Why?

Garrison and Chris do great work. The difference between those two gentleman and myself, aside from the shear stature of their accomplishments, is they are paid, I am not. I created and work on WoodSongs for free. I get nothing. Not a cent, not a $ ever. The crew works for free and the artists who come on the show do so for free. The show goes free to public radio, free to public television and I was able to arrange hundreds of complete broadcasts to be archived online that anyone can watch ... for free.

Heck, my hometown newspaper, even after all these years, can't even spell my name right on those very rare occasions that I am included in a story about events that I create. Can't someone who volunteers to do something good catch a break?

Evidently not.

All artists, dreamers, risk takers, poets and performers have a deep love for their craft. And they have an even deeper love for their audience. But presenting their creations to the scathing opinions of others is like showing your nakedness to people you already know don't like you. "Michael is an idiot. He can't sing. He can't play. He's ... blah blah blah"  Especially considering the enormous amount of stress, responsibility and pressure a project like WoodSongs would place on someone. Can you imagine doing 44 of these productions a year ... with virtually no money to operate on? Harsh criticism, especially in public, is the most disheartening, demoralizing thing in life ... and it can wound deeply.

Until you realize a very simple, basic truth: haters are even more scared and more lonely than you are. They swim in a deep pool of insecurity and such low self esteem that their only salvation is the self elevating illusion that comes from looking down on those they perceive accomplish more than they can.

I think, in the end, the words of harshness become irrelevant to the work at hand. Like any worthy endeavor the artist, creator or dreamer only achieves their goal by keeping their head down, their spirits up ... and band aids handy for the wounds that come from those critical of what they themselves are incapable of doing. Sometimes a critic can make you better, they can sharpen you like a blade against a stone. They can also so rip into your spirit so deeply it makes you feel like quitting.

The point is nothing we do should be for any other reason than for the love of it. Love is the greatest transaction of the arts, and haters have no place in that world. They are, at best, jealous onlookers.

Recently a very good friend of mine, David McLean, came up with an idea of an award show that he himself couldn't be part of. I watched him get blasted from all onlookers ... at first. But he kept his chin up and didn't stop and now he is a hero. I'm proud of David. His heart proved more powerful than those who denied his efforts.

I'm sure Mr. Brendle is a fine fellow and I can sort of imagine him sitting in front of a TV watching WoodSongs muttering and throwing his popcorn at the TV set every time "that idiot" comes on the screen. And that's ok, because his harsh review means he is watching the show, the very thing we all work so hard ... and for free ... to accomplish.

It's just a shame the only thing I know of the gentleman is his public unkindness. Maybe, someday, Mr. Brendle will accomplish something so wonderful they will place a star along Main Street in his honor with both his names misspelled, too.

But in the meantime, back in 1937, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius said it best:

"Fear not the words of a critic, for no one ever erected a statue in honor of one."


Michael
Folksinger, TreeHugger, SongFarmer and Idiot
michael@woodsongs.com

The BRONZE STAR

Several folks have written and asked me about the bronze star I wear the lower part of my jacket.

Let me explain:

My father died about five days before I was born. My step father was a very fine man, but when I found out about my real dad when I was 12 years old, he became a striking mystery to me. As I grew up, I found that I missed him greatly, wished he was nearby, longed to know what the sound of his voice was like when he called my name.

The very first male relative I met of my father's was my son, MichaelB. When he was born and finally opened his eyes, I saw ... for the very first time ... a reflection of my own father.

Eventually I went on a search for my dad's past and his family and finally found them. My cousin, Laddie, became very proactive in seeking out belongings and artifacts of my dads.

One of them was my father's bronze star.

I do not wear it on my chest as the star is not mine. I put it on my lower jacket as a tribute to my father. I wear it, not as a military or political statement, not as a pro or con statement of any kind. I wear it in honor of my father who earned it. It let's him be with me when I am on stage ... and I find it comforting.

I always wondered what our relationship would be like. Would he like me? Would he be proud of me? Would we be close as a father and son should be?

All I know is this: if I was to leave this life I would hope my son would love me enough to publicly remember me and be proud of me. This I am doing for my father.

Michael

KENTUCKY CUTTING THE ARTS?

REALLY???

I do understand, with respect, that our Governor is trying to balance the books. I'm sure the waste in spending equals or surpasses what we spend to encourage the arts, and in turn I'm sure the arts council could do a better, more fair, job at spreading the grants. Having said that, I would hope our good government officials would consider the possible words of Winston Churchill, when considering cutting money for the arts in order to fund the war effort:

"Then what are we fighting for?"

Whether Churchill actually said this or not is irrelevant. The point is simple, you can not provide a good place to live when the quality of life is not inspiring. Kentucky will not attract the lucrative "creative class" (I always hated that phrase, anyway*) if the creative atmosphere of Kentucky is desolate. The arts are in fact an investment to attract families, tourism and entrepreneurs to the Commonwealth. It pays for itself many times over.

Re-directing HOW arts money is spent may be a wiser and more lucrative course, instead of cutting it. But that's a whole-nuther issue and nobody has yet asked my opinion :)

I hope everyone reading this would consider becoming a member of the WoodSongs Front Porch Association as we send massive roots music education into classrooms and home school families. Free. We call our members SongFarmers. I think the government and arts council might study what we are doing just to see how much good can be accomplished on so very little. Visit us at WoodSongs.com/WFPA (SongFarmers.org is being rebuilt so it may not be ready when you read this)

READ THE NEWS STORY: http://www.kentucky.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/copious-notes/article56182380.html

* Why I hate the term "creative class."
Simple, artists should never be separated from the spirit of their audience. Being an artist, making a living as one, comes from the grace and good heart of the audience. "Creative Class" somehow implies the artist is special, more blessed, more important than the audience that provides for them. Bull-dinkies, I say. An artist is best positioned as a servant, a laborer of heart and spirit underwritten by the audience that accepts their work. I'll give you an example of why this class structure doesn't work: Michael Jackson, arguably an impressive talent, jumped the shark when he floated a statue of himself down the Themes River. Michael Jackson wasn't god-like because he was famous, rich or had a massive audience. He was a fragile, flawed, mortal person EXACTLY like his audience. He would have been less lonely and a lot more stable if he viewed his position in a humble manner.

To quote Pete Seeger: "It is better to have friends than fans."

'nuff said.
mj


michael@woodsongs.com
SongFarmer.org

BMI and ASCAP should upgrade thier business model

BMI, ASCAP and SESAC must change their business model because Artists are no longer free to be artists.


“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture,
society must set the artist free.”
John F. Kennedy


    ONCE UPON A TIME, music was everywhere. It wasn't just entertainment. It was community, family, friends, fun and a sense of humanity. But what happened?
    Music went from the Front Porch into stores and bins. Now the "bins" are gone, and so is the sense of community. Part of the loss has been the closing of thousands of music venues ... stages for artists to meet their audience.
    Part of the destruction of the music business has been the over-use, the over-reach of licensing music. This is a delicate subject, easily misunderstood. So let’s start with this thought:

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer,
it sings because it has a song."
Maya Angelou

    You have a song ... but you are not free to sing it anymore.
    In the early days, before corporate America figured out how to sell vibrating air on round vinyl discs, people were free to sing wherever they wanted. Cafes and street corners, sidewalks and theatres, schools and bars ... anywhere.
    This was the musical garden that gave birth to great art. Music “birds” like Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Judy Collins all began their careers by meeting their audience on simple, common stages.

"Music is over-regulated vibrating air and the current licensing structure makes it virtually impossible for new artists to vibrate the air legally in front of an audience who want to buy the vibrating air." mj
 
    Maya Angelou’s little birds are not so free to sing anymore. Those birds are only allowed to sing on government approved stages licensed by BMI, ASCAP or SESAC.

Any fee that prevents an artist from
reaching the audience has no value.

    The world of the arts has changed, my friends. America has become a venue starved nation. The business model of music has changed. Arts venues can thrive, flourish and make a living for many good folks ... when it's done right.
    But the world of arts needs to stop focusing on money because the audience, the source of the money, could care less. They want heart, passion and spirit. Whenever an arts endeavor launches as a "money enterprise" it is doomed for failure.
    That sounds anti-capitalistic and I don't mean it that way. My point is the business plans most are using are outdated, poorly executed and all wrong.

    Many great venues across America have closed the past couple years because of poor business plans, an over focus on money ... or because of outdated licensing practices.
    In my area alone venues like the Rudyard Kipling, Jim Porters and several others have shuttered their doors leaving the music public and the artist community in their wake. I bet you know of many in your area that have disappeared as well.

    One thing that most groups can change for the better is the size of their Pig. Remember the Pig?

    Another change that is needed desperately is regarding BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, called "Performing Rights Organizations" or "PROs." These agencies do wonderful work to collect royalties for artists from radio airplay, live performance of songs and more
    The PROs have a great history of being a huge help to artists, big and small, new and established. I remember when I was just starting out, Clay Bradley at BMI in Nashville went through a great effort to explain how things worked in the music world when I knew absolutely nothing. Clay was very kind, helpful and spent all the time that was needed until I was able to get things through my thick little noggin'.

Let me make this clear:
I like BMI, ASCAP and SESAC

    I just want them to change the way they are licensing music venues. It is outdated and no longer helpful to the artists they claim to be helping. The system they are using now began in the 1940’s and worked ok for awhile. Then about 1995 the music business began its slide downward. The internet and free downloads reared its head and the financial structure of the music world collapsed with it.
    Everyone is changing with the times ... except the PROs. They continue to use the antiquated formulas of music licensing, once a great help to artists. Today it acts like a gun to their head.

    It works like this:
    PROs charge the venue a licensing fee to present music in their establishments and, in turn, pay royalties to the artists who have their songs performed in those clubs

    In theory, anyway.

    Fact: Most artists who play 700 seat-or-less venues don't see a penny from the PROs. I'm not picking on the PROs here, just stating a brutal truth.
    Fact: Venues are the gateways between artists and the audience, the venue operators are the soldiers in the war to find that audience ... and the current business model is killing them off.
    Fact: unless a venue has a license it is illegal for them to let any artist perform in their room.

How Hard Can It Be?

    Artists are no longer free to be artists so BMI, ASCAP and SESAC should either help them or get out of their way.

    Little clubs, farmer's markets, schools and coffeehouses are like the farm system of a sports team. The smaller clubs and venues are where an artist learns to perform, gather their fans, sell their CDs and T-Shirts and struggle to make a living.
    Small stages are where small artists meet small audiences.             Eventually, small audiences turn into big ones. As I said, very few of the artists who perform in places 1,000 seats or less see a nickel royalties from the PROs. So why interfere? Why charge a small venue anything at all? Even tiny 30-40 seat living room concerts are charged hefty fees by BMI and ASCAP just to let artists pass the hat to play their own ding-dang songs.

    Fact: For the venues, these fees are often too high when weighed against the income potential of the room, so they shut down or cancel their music presentations.

    Fact: Venues are responsible for reporting the artists playlist so royalties can be paid. Guess how many venues do this: try none. The PROs are collecting royalties for songs performed but not reported.

   Making any sense yet? me either.

    Here’s another reality check: it is hard enough to compete with TV, Netflix and the internet. Getting people to come to small concerts is a huge job. The presenters get tired, frustrated and, in many cases, go broke.  

    Here’s where it gets really sticky:

    As the market changes, as the music business declines, BMI, ASCAP and SESAC have to struggle to feed the pig. Remember the Pig? Instead of cultivating the fertile garden of music, they start squeezing the little venues for every dime they can get.
    The licensing model makes presenting music cumbersome, expensive, unprofitable and, in many cases, scary. Who on earth wants to go to jail because you let a folksinger play the banjo at a farmers market?  They feel at risk, so they shut down.

"When I hear music, I fear no danger.
I am invulnerable. I see no foe."
Henry David Thoreau

    By interfering with the possibility of artists to meet their own audience, the PRO’s have become foes of the very community of musicians and songwriters they are charged to help.
    This leaves the artists, the very ones BMI and ASCAP are trying to help, with no place to work. No place to test new music. No place to sell their CDs. No place to earn a living. No way to meet the audience ... the ultimate underwriter of all the arts.


BMI and ASCAP should change their business model

    Here's our reality: Only until an artist can find their audience and draw 1000 people into a theatre can they register on the royalty richter scale.
    BMI and ASCAP are using an old, antiquated business model that no longer works. As that model fails, they try harder to enforce and collect fees from venues, forcing even more clubs to shut down or stop presenting live music.
  
    We need both the PROs and music venues to be healthy and productive. We need to change the business model they are using so everyone ... and especially the artists ... can make more money.

My PROPOSAL:

    I urge everyone consider a new business model, one that will not only keep venues open but encourage more venues to open, more stages to open, more producers to start presenting music, giving more artists a place to play and find their audiences.
    The current model is nothing short of ridiculous.  I think it's unreasonable to charge the venue for the songs an artist chooses to play, anyway.

    So, I propose changing from VENUE licensing to ARTIST licensing. No more harassing small venues for fees just because they are willing to create a stage for musicians to play on.

The ARTIST PERFORMING LICENSE:

    With an Artist Performing License all songwriters, musicians and performers are clear to perform anywhere they want. Just show your card and jump onstage. Done.
    It's like a drivers license: I can drive on any highway in America so long as I have a valid drivers license. Same with music, I should be able to perform anywhere I want if I have a valid performing license.
    If an artist plays mostly small rooms, coffeehouses or non-ticketed events like farmer's markets, they pay $55 a year for a performance license. Done.
    When applying for the license, they list all their original songs plus up to seven cover tunes (the PROs now have an accurate list of who to send royalties to) Most artists play their own material, however if an artist plays mostly cover songs, then it's $75 a year.
  
The ONLINE LICENSE EXCHANGE

    To get the license, the artist goes to an online exchange, kinda like getting insurance. Here BMI, ASCAP and SESAC receive the accurate song list the artist is playing and their license fee is now pro-rated among the PRO’s as needed. This also gives our songwriters a fighting chance to get a check from the PRO’s for their songs that are getting performed ... something that is not happening now.

No more VENUE LICENSE:

    If a non-alcohol venue of 600 seats or less, or a farmers market, school, house concert, or benefit wants to present music ... no fee. NO FEE. Done. That's it. Artists simply need to show their current license to play and that venue is in the clear. The venue simply goes to the online exchange, register the venue and what kind of music they present and that’s it.
    If the venue serves beer and wine: $200 a year.
    Full bar: $350.
    Done.

Here's why ARTIST LICENSING works:

    Where there is an audience, there is money.
    End of story.
    Any artist would gladly, gladly without hesitation pay the fee knowing that - instead of three clubs in town - there are now 25 or 30 places to play. They have increased their business 10 fold.
    Because the business model works for the venue, more operators would register. More stages will open.
    You want to play a stage somewhere? Show your license and boom, no problem. Artists will have more places to perform and find their audience. And the venue will be more likely to actually PAY the ding-dang artists.
    And, if you do simple math, the PRO’s would be rolling in cash. A revamping of the current model based on the realities of the new business environment will work in their favor. For every one venue there are 200-400 artists in that region that would stand in line ready to get their performing license.
    If the PROs do this they will be encouraging and stimulating the farm system nature of small venues. They need to do this. How on earth can any artist find their audience and play bigger, better paying venues when you are part of the reason so many of the venues they need to find that audience shut down?

The "ANTI" Argument

    A common objection to this idea is:
     "... you really want the artists to in effect pay their own royalties?"
    To which I say:
     "WHAT royalties???"

    Remember, most artists don't see a penny in royalties. They want to work. They want to play. They want to grow their audience. They want to sell their CDs and T-shirts. They don't want to sit around waiting 14 months for their next 22-cent royalty check. So, for the love of Pete, get the heck out of their way.

    To be clear, BMI and ASCAP are not the reason most clubs shut down. But they are, unintentionally, part of the old system that is discouraging so many venues from letting artists meet their own audience.
    We need venues.
    We need BMI, SESAC and ASCAP.
    We need them to do well.
    We need the audience to be served.
    Even more, we need artists to thrive in this harsh, two dimentional digital age. Artist Licensing opens up the floodgates for performers to meet their audience, increases the number of stages to perform on, in turn creates long term careers for performers and develop a genuine royalty stream for songwriters.

    To be clear:  
Converting to artist licensing will create an explosion of clubs, coffeehouses and other stages, generating an audience big enough to employ thousands of performing artists.

    So ... take that to the bank, peeps.
mj   SongFarmers.org

___


REFERENCES:

http://www.kentucky.com/2015/10/30/4113064/natashas-bistro-will-suspend-operations.html

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2014/10/29/ascap-bmi-sesac-force-local-coffee-shop-shut-live-music/

http://www.wlky.com/news/two-louisville-music-venues-shut-doors/33342336

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2015/10/15/north-star-bar-fairmount-closing-poplar.html

http://www.phoenixhill.com/

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/06/16/rudyard-kipling-closing/28814321/

http://www.kcra.com/news/folsoms-toby-keith-restaurant-music-venue-closing/30495246

https://www.yahoo.com/music/s/brooklyn-booms-famed-music-scene-under-gun-170014855.html?nf=1

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/05/06/2629466_eddie-montgomerys-steakhouse-in.html?rh=1

The SongFarmer Album

So, I decided I want to record another album. It's time. And I have a passel of songs that are ready. I'm simply in a puzzlement as to HOW to do it.

Years ago it was the norm for an artist to spend $20,000 or more in a studio with great musicians, carefully laboring over each song, making each note and inflection perfect, making each song mix the best possible. Then taking the finished work to a mastering studio, refining every audio wave and EQ so the album will stand the test of time ...

... only to have most of your fans listen to the thing on a $9 set of earbuds while on a treadmill in a gym. Or in a car going 70 MPH down the interstate.

It is part of the demise of the record industry. Records are, essentially, gone. Record stores are gone. Record companies are folding. For the most part artists sell the bulk of their CDs at their own concerts and live events, not stores. So, if we look at the situation honestly, record labels sign the biggest customer of their own CD when signing an artist. So why be part of a record label and give away all your equity? It makes no sense.

Even worse: we are living among the first generation of human beings that hear music as a flat screen, digital two-dimensional experience. They don't even get to hold a ding-dang album jacket anymore (that's why, if you are fortunate to have a hometown, indie record store, support them. Don't get your music from websites when you are one of the precious few with an actual record store).

HERE'S A PAINFUL FACT: nobody listens to albums on stereo systems anymore (this is not a reference to LPs but to the entire recorded project, whatever format). Oh sure there are exceptions, but the truth is most folks listen to music as crushed low res MP3 files on smartphones in crappy ear buds with little or no sonic quality to them while jogging. In short, we have learned to listen to mostly crappy music on crappy playback systems in crappy environments.

HERE'S A SECOND FACT: the public is not only getting used to the lower quality playback of music, they are being conditioned to hear only singles from a project. The MP3s are loaded into their phone and are played on shuffle ... one song at a time. Kind of a personal Pandora playback. It leaves visionary artists in a quandary as the presentation of a concept album - a full musical cycle like Pink Floyd's The Wall or the Beatles Sergeant Pepper - has become extinct.

HERE'S A THIRD FACT: music is as much visual as it is audible. As the idea of physical records die, so dies the majesty of the album cover. Holding the album jacket in your hand, reading the lyrics as the album played drew fans deep into the magical world being presented to them. The current two-dimensional music world is shallow by comparison. The problem is folks only know it if they knew it from before. Fans today don't have a clue of this because there is an entire generation of humanity who have grown up experiencing only the flat digital experience of music.

Think of what is really happening: they are emailed a MP3 of a band from a friend, Google the band, YouTube the band, iTunes the band then download the band. They've never even seen the band live. Who could have predicted just five short years ago that record store chains would collapse nationwide and Cracker Barrel would become one of the biggest retailers of CDs in America? And to make matters worse, fans have gotten used to getting music as free MP3s.

It's gotten so wacky that new cars don't even have CD players in them anymore, just a USB port.

So here's what I'm doing: the SongFarmer album is being recorded in the same format the public is being trained to listen on: an iPhone.

Which, oddly enough, isn't all that bad.

The iPhone is a recording platform that far surpasses what the Beatles recorded Abby Road on. I'm using a special hi-end mic made for iPhones and iPads by Apoge, a special recording app for iPhones (no, not Garage Band) and using my artists cabin as the studio, which has very beautiful acoustics and a warm, natural reverb. Wood tends to help with that.

And heck ... since most folks will end up hearing the ding-dang thing for free I might as well record the ding-dang thing for free. 

The SongFarmer album is a folk album, performed in single takes with just my Martin 0000-28s guitar and long neck Vega banjo. New original songs like Hippy Luv, The Coin, Rainbow Wife and traditional banjo songs like Little Maggie are included. There is little-to-no editing involved.

I like the songs a lot and will be including the long story song Pamper Creek. I wrote the lyrics while living in Mousie KY after seeing the big Sandy River flood between Prestonsburg and Pikeville. I asked a fellow how high the flood waters got and he said I would be able to see myself by wherever the Pampers where hanging from the tree limbs. It's sort of a modern day Appalachian Alice's Restaurant.

The album has a more important use, though. It will introduce the fine efforts of the WoodSongs Front Porch Association to media and radio stations around the world. We call our WFPA members "Song Farmers," thus the album title, and members will get a free copy of the physical CD when they come to the big WoodSongs Gathering Sept 23 and 24, 2016 at SHAKER VILLAGE near Lexington, KY.

The album should be finished and ready for release to radio early spring 2016. In the meantime, join the WFPA, get free tickets to the Gathering ... and a free SongFarmer CD. Visit SongFarmers.org or call 859-255-5700 to sign up.

The mission statement is: To gather the global community of front porch minded musicians, bring roots music education into school free of charge, and enhance communities by redirecting the energies of local musicians.

Keep visiting the MichaelJohnathon.com SongFarmer page for updates, pics and a diary of the album progress. When it's ready the first single from the album Pamper Creek will be, drum roll please, downloadable as an MP3 for free.

Then you can listen to it on your smart phone with crappy ear buds while jogging :)

Michael Johnathon
Folksinger - SongFarmer

SongFarmer

SongFarmer ...

It's a great word. Much better than "folksinger" or songwriter or performer. It is a poetic way to describe someone who uses their music to plant artistic seeds in their communities, their families, their careers.

We call the members of the WFPA "SongFarmers."

Here's why:

When I was creating the WoodSongs Front Porch Association (WFPA) I was trying to provide an alternative to other great efforts like the Folk Alliance, the IBMA or the Americana Music Association. These are music business trade groups that try to help musicians, record labels and agents connect to enhance the artist's careers. The WFPA doesn't complete in any way with those very fine folks. Heck, I'm a member.

Problem is, if I can speak plainly here without sounding like I'm pointing fingers ... there is no music "business" anymore. Not for the tens of thousands of small artists playing at farmers markets, retirement homes, small noisy clubs, schools and front porches across the land. Records stores are essentially gone. Record labels rarely sign artists, if they exist anymore at all. Booking agents don't take on many new artists because so many venues have shut down they can hardly keep the artists they have working no less a new act.

Small, talented, sincere songwriters, performers and artists are then asked to pay for association memberships, conference fees, travel, hotels and meals ... often $1000 or more total ... to attend a trade organization event where they, if they are lucky, end up showcasing in front of other anxious artists who wish they had your time slot. And instead of being helped to understand what to do with a garage full of unsold CDs in a world with no more record stores, you might be treated to a two hour speech that have nothing to do with music or the issues at hand.

To a SongFarmer, the front porch is as an important a stage as a concert hall. Their banjo is a community plow, their songs are like seeds, their guitar is a hammer and saw. Music is an issue of the heart, not their wallet. They don't make fans, they make friends.

With the WFPA I wanted a new way to reach out to artists in a way that will REALLY help them, REALLY explain the new music world, REALLY point to a brand new direction for their music and careers. I wanted the WFPA to be very cheap (just $25 a year) And to attend our yearly conference, called The Gathering, they get to come FREE. The WFPA needs to be very effective and have a solid, realistic goal.

And indeed it does. Not only does the WFPA offer realistic help to the community of SongFarmers, but we are sending roots music into thousands of schools and home school families with lesson plans. All for Free.

And before all you finger-waggers get started, I'm not putting down the FA, IBMA or AMA. I don't think they are lying to anyone. I do, however, think they are lost in an old business model that no longer exists.

Heck, new cars don't even have CD players in them anymore. The music world is upside down and inside out. Who would have guessed just five years ago that today one of the biggest retailers of CDs in America would end up being a restaurant chain? And, no, it's not Starbucks ...

Artists need to have a brand new outlook on music. They have to have a truthful, painful look at what is really happening out there. They need a spectacular new direction for their music. And they HAVE to learn, as brutal as it may seem at first, how FREE works.

So, this weekend, we will have our first WoodSongs Gathering, a music festival and member conference of the WFPA. We call our members SongFarmers, and it will be at the amazing log cabin village of the Museum of Appalachia near Knoxville, TN. We have a spectacular creative board like Art Menius, Kari Estrin, Josh Dunson, Raymond McLain, Doug Oines, Steve Martin (IBMA) Reggie Harris and others helping guide the event, the members and intent of the WFPA. It's the real deal.

SongFarmers are taught the most important rule of the new music world: LOVE is the most important transaction of the arts. It isn't marketing, management, what record label you're on or who your investor is. All of that is irrelevant without LOVE. "Love" makes the world of art work. Think of it millions of people spent a billion dollars on an album, not because it said RCA ... it's because they LOVED Elvis. It's love that makes the audience buy a CD, buy a concert ticket, buy a T-Shirt.

Nashville has virtually lost it's entire music middle class because the bean counters focused on marketing and money ... not love. The only thing ... THE ONLY THING ... the audience responds to is their love for a song, love for an artist, love for an idea.

SongFarmers learn to direct that love in a way that does not focus on money. They focus on their families, their hometowns, their audiences. SongFarmers resurrect the emotional front porch in everyone who hears them.

Just about a year ago, I performed a concert in Winnsboro Texas and two wonderful songwriter friends opened the show, Lynn Adler and Lindy Hearne and they gave me a little bumper sticker that proclaimed their lakeside cabin home in Texas an "organic song farm." That little sticker sat on my desk for months and then one day, as I was organizing the WoodSongs Front Porch Association it occurred to me that "song farming" is exactly what we are trying to do. Our members would be called SongFarmers.

I called them up and said would you mind if we stole your word? lol. They said, go ahead, we stole it from someone else. It was so Woody Guthrie:

"Aw he just stole from me. But I steal from everybody. Why, I'm the biggest song stealer there ever was."

I think Woody was a SongFarmer. So was Jean Ritchie and Pete Seeger. So is Rik Palieri, Raymond McLain and most of the music world filled with artists who love playing more than anything else.

So join the WFPA. Become a SongFarmer.
Change your thinking about the music business for the better.
And see the amazing work our members are doing.

The mission statement is:
To gather the global community of front porch minded musicians, bring roots music education into school free of charge, and enhance communities by redirecting the energies of local musicians

Visit WoodSongs.com/WFPA or SongFarmers.org and come to the WoodSongs Gathering Sept 25 and 26 at the Museum of Appalachia exit 122 off I-75 ... sing with new friends among the autumn leaves near Knoxville TN.

Michael Johnathon
Folksinger - SongFarmer
michael@woodsongs.com

Don McLean, American Pie and the $1.2M sale of the song lyrics

_
A long, long 
time ago ...

... a young teenage boy, struggling with events of the day and a relationship with his father, found solice in the music of Buddy Holly. Delivering newspapers for his hometown paper, the Standard Star, he cut open the string holding a stack together. As the papers spilled over he saw, in the right hand column, the headline of his hero dying in a tragic plane crash.

Buddy Holly was only 22 years old.

Years later, as he began his fledgling folk music career, he was living in a quaint, small gate house in Cold Spring, NY. It was there he began sketching out the musical ideas for an epic journey through his own past and into America's future. But it didn't all happen right away. Two months after dabbling with some lyrics, a chorus appeared, almost out of nowhere:

Bye bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry
Them good ol' boys are drinking whiskey and rye
singing 'this'll be the day that I die,
this'll be the day that I die ..."

As the thunder of the song grew louder, Don found himself performing in more cities. He already had one record out and it was time to record his  next. As he was preparing for his second album session, the record label folded and he lost his deal. Believing all will eventually work out, he kept on writing songs for this next album. Then, while in Philadelphia, lightening struck ...

... one of the final songs for this new album was the completion of the song he started in Gate house in Cold Spring: American Pie.

It was an epic rock'n'roll, folk song history lesson that was as much literature as it was music ... and it was over 8-minutes long.


Six weeks at #1, several world tours and many decades later, the news hit this week that Don decided to sell, not the "song," but the original 16 pages of lyrics and notes to American Pie ... and somebody bid an astounding $1.2 million dollars for the honor.

Since then, I've read a couple of critical stories about Don's decision to sell, most offensive was an article in the Washington Post by Justin Moyer. It was uncalled for,  no matter how well meaning he might be as a fellow writer. Heck, the headline referred to Don as "gloomy."

Dude, he just scored $1.2 million bucks. How "gloomy" could he be?

To Justin and any other critic of what any artist does with their property: please be more respectful. I'm sure you're a nice fellow and just trying to be interesting. But you are criticizing someone who has achieved an unbelievable accomplishment. They created something of value far beyond anything you can dream of or do yourself. Why do people feel they need to put down anyone for doing what they themselves can not?

Don McLean owns American Pie. He is the artist who created it. The man has a wife, home and children he wants to take care of and secure their future. I wonder what creation of value Justin Moyer or any other critic has that would come within a tenth of America Pie's value?

American Pie was born out of great heartache and loss, it's birth was staggered and painful. It is viewed as one of the most important songs of the 20th century and deservedly so. If Don chooses to sell the pieces of paper the ding-dang thing was written on, all power to him. He is the envy of every songwriter.

And most of America, while singing American Pie, will never know who Justin Moyer is.

Don McLean did more than the right thing.
He did the thing that was his right to do.
'nuff said.

To all the critics out there, I want to paraphrase Finnish composer Johan Sibelius:

 "Fear not the words of a critic; 
for no one has ever erected a statue in honor of one ..."

Folk on, 
mj

michael@woodsongs.com

_

Selma, Seeger and a Song

SELMA 50 years ago. 

I think it is great that President Obama is speaking at the Selma bridge today. That is not a political view, but a human one. Fifty years ago, those marching over that bridge, those who embraced that struggle, would never ... NEVER ... have dreamed such a day as today was possible.

What will often go unnoticed was the banjo player marching along with Dr. King that day. Pete Seeger heard the song WE SHALL OVER COME at the Highlander Folk School and taught it to Dr. King, who in turn began having it sung at rallies. It was sung at Selma as the marchers were beaten and hosed down on that bridge. And it was sung by millions as the struggle for equal rights continued. It's been sung in schools and festivals and front porches around the world.

It was never a hit song. It was never on the charts. It was never on MTV. It was simply good.

I don't think we have "equal rights" today. We are more equal-er than we were, but still there is more to do. I don't personally believe the human race is in the emotional or spiritual shape to embrace that kind of freedom. 

Someday. But not today.
mj

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/remembering-pete-seeger-selma-civil-rights-movement

Chris Thile subs for Garrison Keillor on APHC

"I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it." - Garrison Keillor

As we come up on WoodSongs 800th broadcast I can get a small idea of why Garrison Keillor would want to take a break, step back and listen to A Prairie Home Companion like any fan would ... sitting at home with the radio on while doing other things.

It gives you a whole new perspective of what, why and how you are doing something. Sometimes, your brain needs a ding dang break from doing something so well for so long. Garrison is the king and he deserves it.

And what better sub-host could he pick than Chris Thile? Chris has been on WoodSongs nine times in various musical incarnations. He's creative, personable, fun, happy and fearless. And APHC is about the art form, not the ratings. Because of that, they have great ratings because good art is all this audience cares about. Having  a seasoned "pro" host wouldn't serve the art form as well as having a genuine, respected artist at the helm like Chris. Garrison has done his fans and his show well. And I hope everyone tunes in, it will be a special night indeed.

I'll probably add more to this later. For now, I'm getting ready to relax and tune in A Prairie Home Companion with the wifey and the twins here at the log cabin.

We'll be listening while doing other things, too :)

 mj
_______


So the weekend has past and we are getting ready for a WoodSongs broadcast tonight. I got to listen to most of the first hour of Chris Thile's premier as guest host ... and then the last 15 minutes or so.

Chris did a great job. Actually, he did a fantastic job. He was fun, he sounded relaxed. The music was impeccable as expected, Sarah sang like an angel ( I liked the jokes about their last names), the poet was entertaining and brilliant. Garrison's staff did a bang-up job helping Chris navigate from segment to segment ... and the guy ended exactly on time.

I think Garrison picked well asking Chris to to guest host. I understand Garrison called Thile and left a message on his cell phone about it. Considering Chris' touring schedule, Garrison got lucky.

I'm not a big fan of critics. These are folks who are often incapable of doing what they are criticizing who are given a media forum to tear down. Or build up. And I'm sure somewhere out there a reviewer will have something harsh to say. No one is ever 100% approved by the media, no matter how great or sincere.

But Chris reached well beyond his comfort zone. Garrison entrusted his legacy and years of creative sweat and placed them all on a "rookies" shoulders.

Bottom of the ninth. Based loaded. Mandolin player at bat.
Grand slam.

'nuff said.
mj

MOUSIE HIWAY: The Adventures of BANJO MOUSE in Appalachia

It was a fun, exciting goal ... put on hold for a while. MOUSIE HIWAY: The Adventures of BANJO MOUSE in Appalachia is the first in a series of children's books that involve music, a good story, a fun character and a valid lesson.

Alas, life, schedules and energy are not my friend at the moment so the project is on hold. MOUSIE HIWAY, the first of the series is about a banjo playing mouse that travels Appalachia, meeting other musicians and forming the Mousie HiWay Band. I hope to pick up the project again soon. This feels funny because I never stop anything. Ever.

The story and accompanying CD (I would read the story and have the music going on behind me until the end when the whole bluegrass band plays the song "Mousie HiWay") would introduce the sound of the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, dobro and bass to young ears in a fun way.

I'm not aware of another bluegrass-related children's book like this.

Anyway, I like the story. And the rhymes. And it's based somewhat on fact. It's true: I did live in Mousie Kentucky and Blue Moon Mountain separated the little hamlet from Hindman, KY, the county seat and yes, I traveled the hollers with my banjo.

So, here is it, read it with a tempo, find the phrasing. I'm including an early sketch of the Banjo Mouse character. You have my permission to read it to your kids if you want, but not to reprint this in anyway. Actually, it would be great if you created your own pictures to go with the story. Make your own children's book. Heck, why not? How hard can it be?

Send me pics if you do: michael@woodsongs.com

If all goes well, I hope to have a book and hold my twins in my lap someday, reading this to them.

MOUSIE HIWAY

The Adventures of Banjo Mouse in the Appalachian Mountains

words and characters by Michael Johnathon

c2015 Rachel Aubrey Music, INC/BMI

Banjo Mouse

Fiddle Fox

Doggy Dobro

Mando Mouse

Little Bitty Beaver

This is the adventures of Banjo Mouse

He didn’t have a bed and he didn’t have a house

But he had a lot friends where ever he’d go

'cause he knew a bunch of songs on the ol’ banjo

Then one night in the Appalachian hills

He heard a lonesome sound and everything got still

In the silvery moon just sittin’ on a rock

He found a new friend named Fiddle Fox

Well, he and Fiddle Fox played all night long

They played a lot of tunes, sang a lot of songs

But when the sun came up they had no place to go

till they met a new friend named Doggy Dobro

When Doggy played the dobro he could bend those notes

He would bend them up high and bend them down low

with the fiddle and the banjo they would laugh and shout

It was a dream come true for Banjo Mouse

But now, the whole band knew there was something still a-missin’

You could hear it so plain, you could hear it if you listen

So they mumbled and they grumbled till they figured it out

When up from a holler came Mando Mouse

Mando Mouse was Banjo’s cousin

He could play his mandolin, even when he’s runnin’

He could play it so fast he had everyone a-shoutin’

And it echoed through the hollers of Blue Moon Mountain

Now, Banjo Mouse knew they wouldn’t get far

They had a real fine band but they needed one more.

So he wondered and he pondered and he wished upon a star

And from a cabin on a hill came Kitty Guitar

She was a six-string Kitty she could pick and sing

Banjo Mouse could made the banjo ring

No one played the fiddle like Fiddle Fox could

and Dobro Doggie made the song sound good

But Banjo Mouse stopped and said “hey wait a minute...”

we have a real fine band but there’s something not in it

We all want to play a real big show

but the show won’t go unless we play it down low

And then though the bushes came a rumblin’ sound

it shook all the trees and it ratted the ground

and down from the mountain with a smile on his face

came a little bitty beaver with a great big bass

Well, from Blue Moon Mountain to the hollers all around

the people all gathered for that bluegrass sound

and they sang and they cheered again and again

Everybody loves the Mousie HiWay Band!

Love

I had a friend ... smart, musical, artistic, brutally intelligent, gentle, healthy, married to a man who adored her, young at 41. She went to St Johns for a vacation this past weekend, a place she loved to visit with her husband and friends, and looking over the sands and the ocean the after her birthday on Saturday ... and succumbing to the aching sadness she hid deep inside her heart, she killed herself.

And she's gone.

It occurred to me how precious the commodity of Love is. And Time. It's a priceless currency we often spend unwisely and wasted without even realizing it. I think Love should become important again. We must look at others though a kinder prism accepting imperfection and realizing that, often those who carry themselves with confidence and beauty, are most often hiding a great pain we can not see.

I will miss the scathing banter over songs with my friend and wish her family well.

Perhaps we all need to revisit this idea of Love especially as the music business collapses around us.  Years ago, folks gathered on the their front porches and livings rooms to sing and play together. It helped them love each other, know each other, enjoy time with each other. People played for free because they loved it ... folks listened for free because the loved it. After air conditioning and TV was invented, we retreated into a community-endorsed silence, waiting for the commercial before we dare interrupt.

About that time, business-y people figured out how to sell vibrating air on plastic discs with holes in it, and the Star system was invented as a way to sell as many of these discs as possible. The idea was to separate you from your front porch ... your own music ... as far as possible so that you can be sold on the insane idea that only the "star" was truly qualified to make good music.

What a bunch of ding-danged baloney.

WoodSongs was created as a test of this Love. It is the currency we spend with passion. The crew works for free. I work for free. The artists are not paid. Local hotels put them up for free and local restaurants donate meals. The show goes from to radio, free to public television and free to American Forces Radio.

More can be accomplished in life when fueled by passion than by payment. Love is the most powerful currency in history. It's time for artists to re-embrace this idea, to love their music and their audiences and not be so concerned with money. Bean counters ruined the music industry. Passionate visionaries with bring life back into it.

But only if we notice. Love makes us listen more than speak. I wish I had noticed the pain my friend was in. I wish I knew that she needed more people to listen to her. I can't imagine how hard this is for her husband and family, they must feel the same but amplified a thousand times more than me.

Pete

Been having a lot of thoughts about Pete's passing. Expected but never expected, you know? It's taken me a few days to let it all settle in, but here it goes:

Pete was my musical template and career exemplar, as he was to many. He was our our wood chopping, maple syrup making, protest singing, banjo playing, ship building, song writing, book authoring, album making, concert performing, boat sailing and community involvement friend. 

He was America's connection to its own musical legacy. He traveled with Woody Guthrie, archived America's music with John Lomax, helped introduce Dylan and Joan Baez to the world and introduced Martin Luther King to a reworded old song called "We Shall Overcome." He sang in Madison Square Garden, concert halls around the world and grammar schools. He would think of nothing, even at 94 years old, to grab his banjo and stand on a cold street corner with protesters for any cause he agreed with.


Pete was banned from American television because of his stand on free speech and affiliations. So in the 1960s he and his wife Toshi took their meager savings ... even famous folkies don't make much ... and convinced a New Jersey PBS stations to let him try out a TV series called Rainbow Quest. Pete would sit around a picnic table, play a song with one of his friends like Doc Watson or Ralph Stanley, then chat a while. Then play another song. I added a live audience to his idea and it became WoodSongs.

He had some defined habits ... he preferred to respond to folks letters on small, reused pieces of paper or a post card. He would draw a little banjo next to his name, a tribute to his wife's Japanese heritage. He would also glue a small oak or maple leaf to his letters and cards, "my connection to the earth" he would claim. 

Then of course there was that statement he scrolled on his famous banjo. 

Pete had this habit of lifting his head upward when he sang. It's an iconic photo of him, chin raised high and urging the audience to sing. That habit put so much pressure on his vocal chords that, as he aged, his voice began to leave him and made it hard for him to sing at all.

I first encountered Pete at the old Grand Union grocery store in Beacon NY. I knew of this neighbor, we all though he was nuts. Anytime there was a thunderstorm this old guy who claimed to be a musician but played the banjo would show up at our school with an ax ... an AX .. and chop up the fallen limbs. After high school a friend invited me to travel to Laredo Texas and try being a DJ on KLAR AM. They gave me the 12-6am time slot, that's where they stick you when you really suck. One night it was time to play an oldies song so I by chance pulled "Turn, Turn, Turn" by The Byrds off the shelf. As it played I looked at the song information and noticed it was written by my crazy neighbor. 

"Ohhhhh," says I. "That's who Pete Seeger is."

Right now there are many misguided efforts to "honor" him. Some want to change the name of the Hudson River to the Seeger River. Pete would rise from the grave and whack those folks over the head with his banjo on that one. Others want to rename a bridge in NYC after him. Same reaction, no doubt. Other are already laying claim to who will carry his torch or who his so called heir-apparent might be. He deserved to own his legacy without others handing it off or even suggesting someone comes close to his passion, music and work. No one does. So let's stop. He deserves better than those with no stage creating a stage by clamoring to rename the Hudson River or a NYC bridge in his "honor." It may be well intentioned but god-awful disgraceful at best. 
 
I'm sure everyone misses Pete and express these ideas with good intentions. If you really want to honor Pete, go sing a free concert in a school. Pick up trash along your neighbors yard. Gather your friends for a front porch sing along. Organize a music festival in a pumpkin patch for a good cause. Volunteer at a homeless shelter and bring your banjo for an after supper sing.

My thought: I think his eyes would twinkle to have have a sloop with his name on it, the Pete sailing alongside the Woody on the Hudson River he loved. Or to rename the park in Beacon where the Beacon Sloop Club stands the Pete & Toshi Memorial Gardens. 

One of his greatest regrets as he grew older was not spending enough time during his younger years with his wife. She gave up many of her own dreams and wants to support his. "I was just being a good wife," she would tell me. Not many of those around, I would respond. All of Pete's envelopes were return addressed to "Pete & Toshi Seeger" and he was always thrilled to tell her that some reviewer or artist was including her by name in something.

Gonna miss that fellow. A lot. I just got a note from him two days before he passed ... can you believe that? Pete was so proud he made it to 94, he missed his wife Toshi.

Folk on and on,
mj