There's so much going on in my head I could rant for days.  I seriously realized earlier today that the last time I was this enthusiastic and full of energy about anything - with all love and respect to my friends from the theatre - it was when I was involved with SCW/Omega.  You could just *smell* the talent (no locker room jokes please) around back then - I'm sure you remember my sycophantic posts to RSPW telling people how great various 'members' of the Omega Powers were while most went "lolyaritenutjob." 

Ten years later...I can't even count the titles that group of folks has held, and that's before you start counting their friends like Corino and Lodi and onandoonandon who weren't part of that group of 13 I was always pimping, but were nonetheless an integral part of that scene.  Not everyone went on to fame and fortune, but out of 13 people I'm the *only* one who didn't get at least a couple of jobber matches on a syndie show or Shotgun (was that the saturday night show?) or something.

And the great thing is I remember ranting *then* about how much that scene reminded me of the music scene back home, just where the Carolinas scene in the 90's was about a pretty small group of folks and they weren't all from or home in the area, the scene here seems to be as much about HERE as about "us."  It's not just about the fact that there was a great music scene, but that the gibson guitar was *invented* here, the pharmaceutical pill was *invented* here, from W.E. Upjohn to Matt Giraud there's just always been this odd little concentration of artistic and intellectual talent here, and 99% of the time we're blind to it because we're immersed in it. 

There's a lot of other stuff going on as well and plenty of time to discuss it and work it, I hope, but...yeah.  I honestly don't remember the last time I was on a natural high like this.  Chances are it won’t stay like this, and it shouldn’t – if I was always happy I’d never possibly appreciate it – but I’ve definitely turned a corner in my life these last few months, and the new years really makes for a great place to say “okay, Mr. Genius, now DO something.”

So I’m doing something.  I’m not doing it quickly.  I’m not making any promises.  I’m not asking anyone for any money.  I’m not asking anyone to change their genre or style at their establishment, or in their band.  I’m just asking for enough of people’s time and attention for me to bring them together, get them all pointed in the same direction, and let them make their magic while I make mine and hopefully we can all help each other make some and make some together as well.   If some king of ‘thing’ comes out of it, great.  I’m broke, I won’t TURN AWAY money or any other resource that’s offered…but I’m not asking anyone for any cash or other asset.

I’m also not working with any arts councils or chambers of commerce or committees or what have you.  There is nothing I loathe more than “art” as something to be peered at down one’s nose through pince-nez whilst one contemplates something witty or insightful to say about something one knows nothing about.  Then we all pay for dinner and my aren’t we progressive and forward-thinking patrons of the arts!  There’s nothing wrong with happy safe art – after surviving “Annie” and “Oliver” a couple of times, among other things, I’m well aware it’s no easier to create, and can be every bit as passionate and heartfelt as the things I like to see and hear – but there is something wrong when you have a fathoms-deep pool of talent that is being ignored – worse, crushed and broken – because they are not, in large part, safe and comfortable artists or thinkers.  Screw that – around here, art comes from basements and garages and january bonfires in wooded lots miles from anywhere surrounded by a bunch of drunk people who are risking hypothermia and alcohol poisoning to hear ONE MORE encore of “Red Barchetta” ala Oberlin/Donaldson/Lee/Spaeth/Enzio/et. al. and frankly a whole lot of things that folks would rather not admit in public that they do, or wish they’d done, or would like to do again some time.  This reticence toward detail may be related to several statutes of limitation, but I’m just guessing…

There’s nothing wrong with safe art.  But by and large, art here – creativity here – tends to rip your face off.  We don’t just make guitars, we redefine them to the point of being a critical part of music history.  We don’t just make medicine; we reinvent the way you take it and revolutionize the drug industry.  Lake effect snow and green tornado skies and white sand beaches and the taste of maple sap straight from the tree and running through it all a little kernel of “my way,” all over the place.  How many towns have you been in when you can honestly say there are dozens of great bassists, and one of the three best only has ONE F$#&^&! HAND?!  I don’t mean to get all Jason Robards in ‘Johnny Got His Gun’ (“MEET THE ARMLESS…LEGLESS….WONDER!  OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY!”) with a guy I have huge respect for personally and musically, but seriously Bill Clements is just one example of hundreds of the kind of unique and mind-blowing talent to be found here occurring as naturally as dandelions and mosquitos.  That’s how we roll here. 

Not that we *don’t* produce anything safe – after all, the sappy bastard who wrote “Marley and Me” was a reporter at the Gazette for a while – but that we’re capable of greatness when we stop living one step back from the edge and try taking that one step over once in a while.

Thirty and twenty five and twenty and fifteen years ago there was a lot of resistance to that, because…well, frankly because this down didn’t need “us,” and it would be easy to be bitter about how the whole thing worked out, and just sit here and get an job in desktop support or accounting or tending bar somewhere and write off anything resembling a dream or a hope as the wild-eyed rock star dreams of a failed never-was who can’t deal with the notion that age happens to everyone.  It’s always easy to find a reason to not do something.  ALWAYS.  Too old.  Not enough money.  Not good enough technically.  Not attractive enough.  Not enough time.  Not enough help.  What did those bastards ever do for ME?

There is always a reason to not try…but that’s not how you make great art, and that’s not how a bunch of disaffected kids in southwest nowhere managed to cobble together what was by far one of the most vital and talented music “scenes” in the history of such things.  They did it by accident in between trying new partners and substances and keys and time signatures because it needed doing.

Because it was what they – we - FELT like doing.

And it was beautiful.

And it can be done again.

And people will resist, like they did before.  And people will laugh and chortle like they did before and they will say nobody wants to hear local music get off our dance floor longhair. 

But there’s a difference this time; this time there is no fortress of condescension to hide behind, no ivory tower of Fords and Rogaine to peer down from and exclaim “we can do without, thanks.”  It’s easy to dismiss a couple thousand people spending money when there’s plenty of money.  Not so easy when the local unemployment rate is near 15%, and in some parts of the state (like most of Detroit) it’s close to or above *thirty* percent.  When 80% of your major industry disappears, it becomes much harder to just write off an idea that involves bringing people here and bringing positive attention to the area.

Putting 2300 asses in seats for a bill of local bands in 1987 was impressive.  Doing it in 2010 would be a major event.

I’m exhausted and rambling and by this point the only person any of this probably makes sense to is me…but you know, I hope it doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings, but that’s WHY I write:  to set up and knock down my own arguments in an attempt to find what I need underneath it all, to sharpen and test my words and phrases and positions, to get my thoughts articulated so that they can be reviewed and reconsidered and refined until they are ready to become actions.

Sorry for being so rambly.  In spite of everything that’s happened over the last year or so, emotionally right now I’m probably at my highest point in twenty years.