Polarity, Symmetry, Dichotomy

She is so beautiful, two sides equal one, like a butterfly.
She reflects herself perfectly and yet is the same on both sides.
What about the sun and moon, the night and day, the yes and no?
So often we find her, our love, our truth, our joy and happiness and everything,
Only to run in fear from her embrace.
Why do we push and pull?
Why do we grab her and then drop her?
If I embrace her beauty, can I then also embrace her ugliness?
Sometimes it is easier to deal with her ugliness because that way I can accept my own.
I can bask effortlessly in my own ugliness using it as a scapegoat for all my misgivings.
Yes but ...
Its OK because that's just my luck ...
Yeah Well ...
Enough!
May I simply reflect the light and the darkness?
May I be in equal parts whole and empty?
May I walk the treacherous in between?
I am laughing and crying, silently shouting, letting go of letting go.

The Independent Musician

Today - the music industry has gone completely insane. There is so much music being made in this country that nowadays, there are companies that make money off of artists that want to make a living. Everyone's trying to make it big, and companies like A&R Select, GoDIY Records, Sonicbids, uPlaya Radio, and Jango are now making their relatively good income off of artists themselves who are looking to make it big. Look out! These are huge money vultures that just want to suck you dry and only in the end help the occasional artist succeed momentarily, mostly so that they can put that artist on their list of "success stories."

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of meeting Jason Mraz and he gave me some advice which I think every independent musician in the world, especially songwriters like myself, needs to hear. He said, "One day about ten years ago I packed everything in my car and decided that I would do nothing else but music. Since then, I have felt like a success."

It is really a desicion that we make as individuals. It is what really selects the artists from the overwhelming industry music crap out there! If you are truly an artist of music, if you truly love your music with all your heart, if you truly believe that you can mak a living off of your music, then you are ready to make that commitment.

I decided about a year ago that I would make that commitment. Now only a year later, I have already had the opportunity to play at some large festivals, sharing the stage with awesome bands, and even played at a Jason Mraz concert in Austin, Texas. The more I put my music out there, the more I receive abundance of energy, love, creativity, and money. If you or someone you know is willing to make that commitment, I intend to write a series here that can help them with online marketing tools.

Let's begin with the basics:

WEBSITE - Get your own domain name right away that is the closest thing to your musician or band name. If the name alone is taken, consider adding music t the end of the name. I strongly recommend getting a .com site as many times people forget if your site is .net or .org or .info or something like that.

DESIGNING THE WEBSITE - This can be easier than most people think. I designed my webpage with wordpress. There are thousands of themes to choose from and plugins that will help you play and sell your music on your site. With a little perserverance and determination, anyone can learn how to build a site on the wordpress page just checking out how it is done in all the help menus and readme files. If you feel totally not computer savy, there is also the option of using the CDBaby.net sites which are geared specifically for musicians. These sites are very easy to design and are hosted by CDBaby and even include an email list service and other helpful tools. The downside is that this service can cost almost $30 a month. I only really recommend working with CDBaby if you already have an album or two to sell that is fully printed and packaged with a barcode.

MYSPACE - EVERY MUSICIAN NEEDS A MYSPACE PAGE - This is really no longer an option these days. Everyone from venue to fan to major record label is looking at you myspace page if they are interested in you. Look into pimpmyprofile.com or some similar site to give your myspace page unique flair. This is pretty crucial as you really want to make this page look awesome. Also, get into the habit of writing blogs as often as possible, posting all your calendar dates, new songs, new pictures, and news updates there.Keep this page active and alive. Also you can use a program like SPYDER to help you maintain your contacts and import new potential friends, etc. This is a great tool which costs a little extra - a onetime $30 - but it is worth it.

FACEBOOK - Facebook is exploding - get in now - get a good name. Use iLike.com or ReverbNation.com or both to integrate your music into facebook. There is information on both of those sites to help you figure out how to do it. iLike is an especially cool online software system because it allows you to link up a song to any message that you send on facebook. I try to get into the habit of attaching a song to most every message I send. Its really a great tool.

That is only the beginning - there are hundreds of websites, online magazines, and platforms to sell your music to choose from. In upcoming issues I will tell you which ones to work with and which ones to avoid.

For more info and resources check out my online free resource and open forum for independent musicians at alwaysbemusic.com also Singing Bear is at singingbearmusic.com

Through the Journey

I do not take this thing lightly, although maybe I should. I guess I'm a little hard on myself, but I feel like I am supposed to be doing so much better. Then again, I guess I am married to the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen and living in Maui. I don't have very much room to complain. But, nonetheless, I think I am developing an ulcer with my anxiety and stress. I suppose most of it is built on the fear of money, or rather lack of money. I am doing my best, at least in my mind, to harness the funds that I need to support a family and live my dreams, but I always feel like I am not enough, or that I do not have enough to give. Man, I am such an oxymoron. I mean, all the answers to my questions are already written inside my own songs, and still I am searching. Why do I block myself from accepting my own treasure. If I can't see it as a treasure, then I suppose it will be overlooked by the rest of the world as well.
So I suppose the only stress is not saying yes.
I suppose the only loss is not to notice.
I suppose the only lacking is not to receive it.
It is here, I am here, She is here. . .
"Where do I have to go? What do I have to do? Nothing more important than being right here with you."

Good from Bad?

The day, the wind, the sky, the journey
Why do I need to search for things to be grateful for, to be joyful of
And I
Feeling alone with my thoughts
Am humbled from skin to bone of the chilling notion, that,
Oh, there are lives so much more difficult, so much more trying
And yet why do we find our joyous gratitude in others suffering
As if their arms fixed in constant reaching towards hell have become our wings heavenward?
What if it was I trapped in the tumult of inglorious decent?
What if it was I strapped to the dynamite or trapped in a dead end job?
What if it was I crapped on by high society, poor and hungry, beyond needy?
But I am not!
And somehow it is in this notion of others pain that we may again find our liberation.
I saw a vision today.
The world was swept with a giant shift.
And though every thought and question beckons
"What will happen? Will the waters rise? Will it be a nuclear bomb? Will it be a giant comet?"
In my vision, it mattered not what had caused the trauma, but what our reaction was.
All over the earth there was fighting for resources that suddenly felt meaningless.
It was as if we had been digging for centuries only to find the buried treasure was dirt itself.
Or as if we had spent our whole lives accumulating wealth and possessions only to finally, in the end die of starvation.
Now here we were, stuck together on a planet, with piles of useless money and machines of war feeling like total idiots for wasting our time all those years.
As buildings collapsed before our eyes, as bridged tumbled and land masses shifted, as waters crashed over the levies that we had so unwittingly built to control the tides, we could do nothing but float around the waves like hollow porcelain dolls with painted smiles.
But in that precious moment, when all the structures that we had built became meaningless, when all the fences could do was entangle us and keep us trapped down in the water, bound to our old ways, when all the banks flooded like fish tanks, and all the lights flickered and were gone, in that dramatic silence when engines and sirens were suddenly replaced by swooshing wind, rattling earth, and thunderous water, we were finally free.
Freedom came first like a sinking stomach, like a pierced heart, like a lost life, like a dying caterpillar, like a victim, tossed into the melee of confusion and inhibition.
Freedom kicked our asses back to Noah and we were all looking for the great boat that was not there.
The great day of Judgement had come, and it was only us judging ourselves for wasting every precious moment that the world teetered on a fragile needle with pointless ambitions.
The wake up call was so dramatic and worldwide that it completely fractured every skull and every heart and every relationship on the planet.
In my vision, humanity triumphed.
In our evolutionary resilience we saw what we had been missing.
Heroes emerged from the slums and designed makeshift rafted and began dragging people aboard.
They were not selective.
Male, Female, Black, White, Deaf, Dumb, Elder, Child, Rich, Poor, Whoever.
Sure there were some who blamed the rich.
There were some who wanted to see them suffer.
But those with vile thoughts in that thick and strenuous thunder seemed to attract only pain and misery in the forms of signposts smacking them in the head, or a lost child, or a lungful of burning water.
In the end, judgement was placed on everyone from each one self unto itself.
All were forced into purity, were forced into cooperation, were forced into selfless community.
It was our only hope of survival.
And finally, as the walls crumbled and divisions of rich and poor disintegrated, there was nothing left but connection.
But then again, this vision, this apparition, pulls on the same paradoxical paradigm as before.
Why does it take so much pain and suffering to make the pearl?
How come we have to lose everything to gain our freedom?
Why can't we just be that selfless community now?
Must we continue to build war machines and money factories until it is too late?
Will we do it up until the very last day?
And when the Judgement comes, how will you see yourself?
And when that timeless swell stills the clocks of the world, how will your precious moments have been spent?