No more elevator music

The title "Professional musician" seems to many people the biggest oxymoron contained in the English language.

However, I have tried. I shower. I show up on time. I brush my teeth, I learn the songs, and I'm in tune and warmed up when I show up on the gig.

One of the biggest challenges of maintaining this blog has been to keep it strictly musical. As I'm (hopefully) speaking to an audience with a wide range of viewpoints and opinions, it is foremost in my mind to keep a certain level of professionalism in my writing.

Sure, I'll offer crazy ideas, insane advice, and zany thoughts - but careful ones.

However, I feel that in trying to maintain an image, I'm inadvertently becoming strictly an entertainer, and not a force of positive change.

Us entertainers have an important job. We're in the center of attention, and in a world where it's hard to get people to focus, the stage, blog, or video is a powerful tool. We shouldn't throw away the opportunity to better the world around us.

I feel that I've become too neutral, to head-in-the-sand ostrich like, and well, it's stopping now.

(I'm sure you won't be surprised when I tell you that I used to be a fiery grassroots activist.)

I will be occasionally posting links to stories and websites that I consider important, such as Amnesty International petitions, etc. They'll just be a link at the bottom of the post, so they won't be in your face. But they will be there.

Please click on 'em, and think about 'em, and if you agree, take action.

By the way, in order to keep this blog from leaning too far the other way, don't bother posting any comments about the links and/or the issues. They won't be posted.

Bands who speak out for the world are brave souls, indeed. It's very easy to just sing soft love songs, or angry hate songs.

But it's not quite as simple to sing about stuff that matters. You might just wake people up.

Take a look at Troy Davis' story.