The Big Idea

I watched Selma tonight, the film about Martin Luther King. It solidified so many of the ideas I hear from Reverend Billy and other incredible leaders about our quest for justice: that the fight must take place nonviolently with each other and with the oppressor present in public space.  

It has been very gratifying to make music for activist movements. To turn the words of the Declaration of the Occupy Wall St into lyrics of a song that my friend’s children sing to at home and will be the opening number at the Jone's Beach show. 

I keep wondering what it is I will do with my music.  What purpose it will serve?  It has to be more than making money, more than selling it to film and TV outlets.  Money is not primary but it is secondary; an essential part of the encouragement and well-being of artistic people who make such a monumental contribution to society.  

A part of the continued fight for economic justice in the world, is fair pay for artists. So, I've been thinking a lot about what you said when you came over to my house; that you have demanded that your management take you off of iTunes and Amazon.

Amazon in particular is becoming a super power in its own right.  The more investigations are done of its power, the more abuses are found. The American factories where they box products up are non-union subcontractors, most of whom do not provide stable work for their employment force, nor health care. They have been hailed as worse that Wal-Mart, sustained by an American workforce who are abused almost as badly as the people who are making many of the products that are shipped in those boxes from overseas.

And then there are the content makers with wildly fluctuating pay scales and many left counting pennies. Amazon is the largest seller of books, the largest online retailer and I think it will soon be the top distributor of movies, TV and music. 

We must target these giant companies and hold them accountable, make an example of them. A few years ago we targeted Victoria's Secret who is the largest producer of catalogs in the world.  The Reverend Billy group worked with Rain Forest Action Network and other environmental justice coalitions to urge them to use 100% recycled paper. It took a year and lots of stunts and meetings but they finally did it. Huge forests in Canada have been saved. 

I think you are wise to escape these large corporate systems but what about the rest of our brothers and sisters who are systemically being abused for the sake of profits?  We have to get them to leave or we have to reform the big box.  In most successful movements, you do both.  :)

I always thought in the back of my mind that Trade Winds was an opportunity to connect with musicians, to create community and help each other achieve a better future.  What do they want?  They want exposure, audiences and they want to live fruitful lives.  Perhaps we are meant to shine light on the issues we are all facing and create new systems, like crowd-funding and independent distribution.  

Somehow it seems so trivial to write love songs that I hope people will dance to it but then I think: people dancing and falling in love is the best thing we can do in this life and we can only really love freely and dance freely when people are free around us.  And look at the power of music in our history and in the current culture to help us gather, all of us, different races, sexes, nationalities, occupations and religions together. It is the easiest way in which modern society get together in public space.  

You are never gonna feel like doing it

irREVERENT LIFE... what does that mean?

My mother said that my favorite phrase as a kid was "You know what!?" I would say this, and then share whatever thoughts, or information I had learned that day. It's my hard wiring and I love sharing.

Here is my first share, an amazing lecture for TED San Francisco about having everything you want why you are never gonna "feel like" doing it.

TEDxSF - Mel Robbins - F--- YOU - How To Stop Screwing Yourself Over