For
those of you who know me, you are aware that I am
a muzishun musishun muzition ....
Awe, HELL! I'm a music maker! Okay?
For
as many years as there have been musicians, the world has held a
general opinion that musicians are a lazy, alcohol drinking, drug
using, violent bunch of narcissistic illiterates who can't even
remember their way home after a gig. I’d like to take just a few
moments to dispel at least some of your opinions.
Let
me begin by educating those of you who have similar opinions.
There are a great number of musicians proliferating the general
aforementioned opinions so I can see where the opinions might develop.
Most people tend to make derogatory comments about musicians as a
whole based on the actions of only a portion of our group of Artists.
Allow me to make an effort here to sway your opinions.
The
musicians you never hear about are the ones such as the late Philip
Taylor Kramer, former Iron Butterfly bassist. He worked on the MX
Missile project for the Government, facial recognition software as well as numerous other projects and had claimed to have discovered a mathematical equation that would
make “faster-than-light-speed” communications possible. He disappeared, however, before his equation
was published and his work verified. Many believe his disappearance
to be a suicide. Most believe his work for the Government might have
been the reason for his death. To put it in a nut shell, Taylor was
a genius. For your information, Randy Jackson (Michael Jackson’s
Brother) was Mr. Kramer’s business partner for some years before
their company was swallowed up by another corporation following
Bankruptcy. Randy is also a musician. Go figure!
This
brings me to a point. I have several friends who are quite intelligent and
share similar interests with me. They are also, you guessed it, musicians. Sober, giving, intelligent musicians. I have no clue
what their respective Intelligence Quotients (IQs) are but they can all find their ways home
after a gig!
Take
me. I was teaching guitar at age nine. I also began to study
Theoretical Physics on my own at that age. I was invited to join
Mensa twice but never did. One drink or one beer puts me at my
limit. The last time I took a toke (just one toke from a joint) was six or more
years ago. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve tried what must be every
thing else under the sun that was available when I was growing up and
I used to drink straight, room temperature tequila by the quart when
I was in college. All that stuff stopped before I turned twenty. (I
have to confide one thing here. If they ever truly legalize ‘the
herb’ I’ll be saying, “High!” quite often.) Guess what? I
can find my way home after a gig, too! AND I’M A FREAKIN’
MUSICIAN!
The
moral of this story? Not all of us may be lumped into your opinion
of musicians. Get out and have some good conversations with a
musician! Give a musician a hug! Take time to go see them perform
at what ever venue they play then give them another hug! Trust me.
The conversations as well as the hugs are appreciated.
Mahalo!
And until next time, aloha!
