i just finished watching the don letts film punk: attitude. it's cool to see the history of the music you love told from knowledgeable sources. i sugget it to anyone who even considered themselves to be part of something punk at some time.
but the real point of this post is this: what am i doing about things?
on the way home from work today i had this idea. i'd look up the bands against bush coalition and see what they are up to. well, their old website is no longer active and i couldn't really find anything about anything. i read this old stranger article about how it was going to be this great thing. i remember signing up on their website but never actually doing anything. it is sad.
so, what am i doing? you see, i have this idea. what if there was a coalition of politically-minded musicians and fans of music? would that get something done?
it has to be musicians. essentially, music is the original protest. especially the roots of american rock music that exist in the folk songs of slaves and hillbillies. music is the original and, in my opinion, best means of sticking up for one's ideas. if it isn't, then we should quit as a band today, for our chosen method of making a difference is useless in comparison to others.
so what would such a coalition do? here's the ideas: shows, "teach-ins", movie nights, handbills, protests, compilations, publications, organization, etc., etc. why? because we're not doing anything now. it's like we're all asleep. we've exhausted all our snooze button presses and we're drifting off to infinite sleep. no one knows what is going on. we must educate each other. we must get involved to preserve our ability to be involved. this complacency is mind-boggling.
punk: attitude mentions only a few cities. london, new york, san francisco, DC, kansas city and seattle. the site of the WTO riots, the home of the reawakening of punk, a place with a history of progressive thought (the home of the first general strike, for example). this is the place where we could make a difference. this is the time when we must start doing something other than playing video games or posting random chain letter bulletins on myspace. i feel frustrated here with no noticeable progress and no noticeable group ambition. but could i start something like this and have it be successful? does anyone even care?
don
