Sorry we’ve been kind of quiet. It’s not that there’s nothing to write about. There’s actually a lot going on all of it good.
We’ve got some serious interest in our business plan for the college tour of The Nature of Man, our climate change/water crisis rock opera. We’re very excited about this and are meeting with interested investors. So far, so good.
In the meanwhile, we’ve been getting ready. I’ve been relearning and practicing the keyboard parts I recorded. This is no small task. It’s a lot of material and some of it very complex and difficult to play. Good thing I like a challenge.
Along with practicing my parts, there’s also quite a bit of programming that must be done so I’m playing the right part and keyboard patch at the right time. We call this switching if you’re unfamiliar with music tech geek speak. It’s actually fun but sometimes leaves you scratching your head and muttering; “how did that happen?”
Another process that is taking place at the same time is making sure all of the charts and lead sheets are accurate. We’ll be asking very talented people to learn a lot of material. We have to make sure we give them what they need to do the job. This is part and parcel to producing a show (producing/managing anything really). You have to make sure your people have what they need to do their jobs. You have to take care of them. They are taking are of you.
Our recent work with the Yes Men has been really interesting. We attended (virtually) their first-ever Incubator web-class and found it fascinating. They did a great job focusing people’s ideas and goals so that those who attended had realistic schemes (what they call their actions) to execute.
We are talking with the Yes-folk–as well as the Sane Energy Project–about organizing the kids at the colleges we play so they can get going defending their future. It can feel pretty futile at times but if you have an organized group to work with, real change is possible.
And real change–far more aggressive than that underway now–is desperately needed.
The climate related events of the last few weeks did not escape us. With all of the recent press the climate has been getting, it would be nice to think that the problem is being solved and that we are on our way to a safe future. While these events are certainly welcome and even amazing, there’s still a lot to do and there will be plenty of push-back from the people and groups making a lot of money by killing the climate (and our collective future). In fact, it doesn’t take very long to find evidence of this in the news. I tweeted one or two around lunch time the other day.
Unfortunately, we still have the only conservative political party on the planet who can’t wrap their heads around climate change. We were first to the moon and have launched probes that have opened up our solar system and the larger universe to us in a way never before possible, but we are the home of Trump, Cruz, Carson and Bush. Oh, and Rubio. Forgot about him. The catholic who says (along with Bush) that the pope isn’t a scientist when it comes to climate change and he should stay out if it.
News flash: The pope has a degree in chemistry, genius.
The race of the twits. We think The Pythons would approve of the use.
Every scientist on the face of the planet understands what is happening and how breathtakingly frightening it is and how stupid it is to prevaricate. But these twits don’t get it. Heads in the sand and asses in the air for their fossil-fueled donors.
I’m gratified that the world community seems to be finally moving in the right direction by submitting pledges for carbon reductions to the UN. I’m also very pleased that the UN has sort of released a draft of it’s climate accord which requires that each country reduce it’s carbon emissions by a percentage that increases every so many years.
These are all very positive things but in the meantime we must keep up the pressure. There will be resistance. There will be lawsuits and attempted acts of congress to maintain business as usual. Even in loss they will be nibbling at the edges and chipping away at the underpinnings of it all.
Why? Profit. These people and groups are addicted to it. For them it’s a drug and like any junkie, anything that gets between them and a fix has got to go. Anything; including reason. Anyone; including their own children and grandchildren.
It’s hard for me to wrap my head around that: the idea that someone could willingly endanger the lives of their own descendants boggles the mind. Maybe they think that their children and their children’s children will be somehow exempt from the havoc they have created.
Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with making money, but doing so at such a cost is sociopathic. It’s madness.
I didn’t get to see the Democratic debate tonight because I was in the studio. I intend to read up on it in the morning to see what the (somewhat) sane candidates and Bernie (the sane) had to do. At least with Bernie, we know that a hundred and change families making up the richest 1% aren’t paying his bills. We are. Gladly.
God Speed.
MAD