The feeling of the first note that strikes your soul - that first chord that smashes your body, with an undertow powerful enough to drown you. It is a chorus of first light, of
charis, of the alighted.
It changed me, from a lonely science geek into a lonely music geek. It changed me from a rigid thinker into one that would consider any possibility. [Not to equate science and rigidity... but that's a long story].
It is was the same feeling I had when I found out the truth of the Chilean coup at around 12. It was the same feeling I had when I started to learn the true history of this country with respect to both African Americans and Native Americans around age 7 or 8. It is that same death shudder of truth that now awakens me every day.
The feeling of the first note that strikes your soul...
That note, or chord, or tenor of voice that evokes reality,
Tells reality
Reshapes the edge that our own filters whittle down.
Our own edges are always whittled down. That's precisely why we need music. It tells our history without the carving knife. From the music of those indigenous here to blues, to jazz, to bluegrass, to rock `n roll, to Gospel, to the whole history of "folk" music in this country - and that's all the music is here, folk music - music tells a history as, if not more, raw than Zinn.
We are in an historic time in our country, a time in which every idea upon which our country is grounded has been dug up and trashed like some rotting turnip. Our ideas, our ideals have transformed into pig slop, much like our popular music
With a few notable exceptions, our actblue candidates are usually the unknown among us. Like those musicians who aren't on the radio, who aren't on the tele, those musicians who are laboring in obscurity because they don't fit the prevailing media memes, our friends running for congress suffer antipathy. They need some of the door to door, Woody Guthrie charm to get them by - and they need their fans... us, their fans.
We all need our fans in every venue. Whatever thing hit you first, knocking the air out of you like nothing before, be it a guitar, a voice, a sax, a snare hit - let your rebound be a work for justice. Let your inspiration be for justice. Let your work be for democracy.