Occupation

Among other things, an occupation is what you do to make a living. I've had many, but my true occupation is Artist. It has always been challenging to find a way to get by with this occupation, but there is nothing else that seems worthwhile to me.

In my years here in California, I've reached out a lot with free efforts to lend a hand and many times I've felt taken advantage of and under-appreciated. I've tried for decades to organize musicians and work together for support in a variety of ways. My most successful efforts in that vein have been Open Mic nights. I started, or helped start and maintain long-lasting open mics in San Diego, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo (that one was short-lived), and Santa Cruz. Twice I tried to put together record companies with a combination of volunteer and paid help. Neither of those came close to anything vaguely resembling a viable entity.

When I started traveling around the USA as a full-time musician, I finally found the support I needed to sustain myself as an artist. I've been full-time since September of 1997 and it has never been easy, but always better than previous employments. Somehow there's always been a way to make it work.

I've always found things easier in Europe, but also feel the pull of family, friends, the land and unfinished business back here in the fucked up United States of Generica. I first played professionally in Europe in 1985. It was on the island of Eivissa, or Ibiza in the off-season (they still had one) playing in bars and restaurants doing mostly covers. That was the last place I worked playing covers. I had been making half my living in California previous to that from 1980-1985 playing covers in restaurants and bars. I also washed windows, which started with me going door-to-door to get customers.

Oddly, I've never had more satisfying connections with people than as a vagabond roaming the North American continent playing music and hawking cds. I'm open to the world and a lot of it is open right back. Maybe people find me less threatening when I'm passing through. Maybe I find them less threatening.

I've always objected to blogging to build an audience for my musical work. I do some shuck and jive, but I try to steer clear of it as much as I can. I hope this blog's different. At least this blog has other purposes. I'm writing about stuff that has been important to me for 37 years. Leralee and I have received two grants to pay most of the production costs of a multimedia show we're creating for performance in early February. It's called, Occupied and is concerned with the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the occupation of American minds by forces that manufacture consent to atrocities perpetrated by the US military and government in general. The performance is Friday and Saturday nights, Feb. 6 & 7 at 418 Front Street in downtown Santa Cruz, CA, 95060.

Disguised Influence - Blatant Oppression

Occupied, busy, taken - like a table at a restaurant, or a sky full of clouds. Some things have cycles of being free and then busy. No one objects to the sky being occupied by clouds. The clouds blow in and later they are gone. No problems.

Other occupations are objected to because they cause suffering and unfairly benefit the few at the expense of the many. Identities, lifestyles, and values can be dictated to individuals strongly pressured to accept them without question. Abraham Maslow refers to the "authentic" person as one who has considered and chosen their own values and identity. Socrates suggested that the unexamined life is not worth living.

In a more obvious way, the military invasion of a sovereign nation and its subsequent occupation, disallow autonomous functioning of that government to choose for itself. Inevitably, military invasions are intended to benefit those affiliated with the invaders. They create suffering and oppression for those on the other side.

In the case of my own country, the USA, there are strong pressures on individuals that circumvent the authentic decision making of free people. These pressures create oprresion and suffering here and a citizenry that supports the take-over of other nations in the name of freedom and democracy.