#25. 12 June 2020

friends!

i hope you're all doing well. if you're not, that's ok, too. and totally understandable.

for my part i'm doing about as well as could be expected. i'm reading and listening more with the intention of becoming a better ally.

i'm struggling at the moment to square the fact that i'm a white man who has made his life and livelihood from black music. maybe struggle isn't the right word. but it's a challenge to figure out what, if anything, is worth sharing right now. so artistically i'm laying pretty low in hopes that voices that truly need to be heard can rise above the noise.

i have, however, come to at least one conclusion regarding positive action that i can take. after talking with a dear pal here in pittsburgh, i've decided to pledge the following:
i will donate at least 5% of every dollar i make playing music to organizations aimed at social justice, police and policy reform, and black arts initiatives.

this isn't me looking for a pat on the back. i'm sharing this because maybe you're a musician who owes as much to black music and black musicians as i do. and maybe you'll consider doing something similar.

ALL THIS BEING SAID, i've been listening and reading a lot lately. but not necessarily to music. here's some stuff that has felt especially educational:

Throughline Podcast :: American Police episode
Throughline hosts Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei state that their mission is to look at the past to help understand the present. some episodes do a better job than others in my opinion, but this one is especially poignant. their guest Khalil Gibran Muhammed does an incredible job of contextualizing why policing is what it is in the USA today by going waaaaaay back to the beginning.


The Daily Social Distancing Show :: What Does It Mean to Defund or Abolish the Police?
Trevor Noah talks to Patrisse Cullors, Josie Duffy Rice, Sam Sinyangwe, Mychal Denzel Smith and Alex S. Vitale about the phrase "defund the police" and a million other things in this jam packed 20 minute slip. it's incredibly eye-opening and makes defunding the police sound better and better. please watch and listen ESPECIALLY if the phrase "defund the police" makes you cringe or feel afraid. 

George Lewis :: Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives
this paper by musician / composer / improviser / scholar / educator George Lewis is dense and super worth reading. basically connects a lot of the stuff that Khalil Gibran Muhammed talks about in the Throughline podcast to improvised music. one of the heaviest parts of this paper is that it was published almost 25 years ago, and references stuff going all the way back to the 1950s.