Independent Music 101

Marian Call is a talented musician who, after years of studying music, found the music industry lacking. She's one of the first of many musicians raised in a world of technology and entitlement who do not easily buy into existing business models of earning a living. She's wise for her years in that she suspects (I think rightly) that being sponsored and supported by an industry comes at a cost. She is also savvy enough to cultivate her own fanbase through the internet. A tremendous amount of focus and work goes into this on her behalf. Her fans are financing her next album.

There are many singer/songwriters who do this already and many, it seems, where initially forced into learning how to do it for the sake of survival. I find Marian unique (but my no means alone) in that her embracing technology grew alongside her cultivation of her talents. In this short video Marian talks about that process and how it fits her values.

I found as I listened that we have much to learn from those who come after us wanting the same things that we want: freedom, independence and choice. They deserve our interest and support. I'm not so sure that they are not born to bring us greater understanding in how to live large in freedom and prosperity. I think they may be hard-wired for nothing less and I think we should pay attention to what they are doing and saying.




Thanks to "Alaska Dispatch" for posting this video.

For the Man Who Has Everything: Throwing Grandma Out with the Bathwater

It seems like too much of my life is spent trying to identify the good guys from the bad guys lately. I wonder how it is that this line became so blurred...but it has. My current conundrum involves the debate about Social Security. I have always heard that the program was in trouble and there would not be enough money to help my children and grandchildren. Everyone has heard this so much that it has become fact even though it is a myth. Now I understand upon further investigation that there is an strong element of grandstanding and posturing for private agendas involved in cultivating that rumor. What to do?

There is currently a bill: Senate Bill 2853 that appeals strongly to everyone's sense of responsible fiscal action in government. It proposes a shortcut to expediting policies. Behind this bill is a fellow with a LOT of money by the name of Peter G. Peterson who has decided, I understand, that his legacy to the American Public will be to dismantle what he deems as a worthless program: Social Security. (He has his eye on Medicare and Medicaid as well but that is an addendum to this issue). You might recall in 2004 when then President Bush was rallying to reform Social Security by investing all that secure money into the stock market, Mr. Peterson was all for that idea...

( ....I will stop here for a minute to allow your imagination to work with your hindsight a moment. Imagine the current scenario that would have been the result of that action, should it have been enacted by the American people....).

It was the democratic process of open debate that saved all those elders from having to loose everything (often little anyway) when everything tumbled in winter of 2008. You think it is a crime to see dead bodies piled up roadside in Haiti due to a poor infrastructure and political philandering and think that disasters such as this could never happen here? Put America's financing on a "fast-track" so we can "get 'er done" and you will see things worse than New Orleans post Katrina. You will see your own Grandma and Grandpa denied care and funding that they paid into by working all of their lives. What's more you will have the opportunity to help them directly perhaps with the funding that was earmarked for your child's eduction.

Yes there are things to be done to improve Social Security and you can read about those things in simple language here at Ronni Bennett's Blog, Time Goes By. The Senate Bill 2853 that reads at the the onset to be so practical is really a way to circumvent the system to act swiftly on making financial cuts that could eviscerate the stable existing lifestyles of millions. We are talking cuts made by politicians with minimal debate done behind closed doors.

(...again let me pause a moment while the imagination has a chance to confer with hindsight regarding unchecked politicians, policy makers and lobbyists...)

Venture capitalists are very wily people. That is how they became so wealthy. When you get powerful and affluent people wanting to make a name for themselves like Mr. Peterson things can become very scary very quickly. Certainly that is the case here. Money talks in American politics and too often all it REALLY wants to talk about is itself. Be careful of this bill working it's way into our lives.
There is a recourse strategy. Tomorrow, 19 January, is Call-In-Day. The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, who are, understandably, all over this bill, are joining with other elder advocacy groups to inundate the Senate with telephone calls against this bill. There is more about this in Time Goes By with links and explanations. To cut to the chase, the number to call is 800-998-0180 and the details of the bill can be found here . I encourage you to join me in making sure that reform does not spell deconstruction of programs that are, fundamentally honorable and sound and are simply in need of some compassionate attention.