Tuesday, February 23, 2010

For The People, By The People and Of The People

I’ve always been a huge fan of Rock’N’Roll music. I love the sounds of a hard hitting drum. I pulse with the droning rhythms of a deep bass. I become electric with the currents of a guitar. Toss all of this together with a powerful voice singing about relevant agendas and I’m hooked!!!


One band that captivated me throughout my youth was The Alarm. There music was like an alarm: pounding, driving, striving to wake up the world to a knew way of thinking. In 1986 they released there second full length album entitled ‘Strength’ and it spoke of finding truth and courage in a world that is coming into a new age. I think that this album made me think about things like ‘world resources’ for the first time in my life…

Absolute Reality (excerpt)

You may affect the truth
You may be seen as false
You may be a king or a vagabond
You may be up, you may be down
You may sit in judgement with the rest of the clowns
You may have love
You may have hate
You may be the president of the United States
But even you, you can’t sit and hide
While the world’s resources die


I’ve always tried to share my love for empowering Rock’N’Roll in all things that I do. I spent many years spinning tunes in clubs across Canada. While living in British Columbia, I had my own one-hour radio show, “Kickin’ At The Darkness”. I brought my voice, thoughts and favourite tunes to the airwaves for a three-hour show while visiting Rankin Inlet in the Nunavut territory in 2006 and to this day I still mix cassette tapes to share with my friends and co-workers.

When I think about Rock’N’Roll I always think about a special live recording by The Alarm, from the late 80’s. In this performance Mike Peters (lead singer) quotes Arlo Guthrie by saying that, “Music should be by the people, for the people and of the people” before he screams out, “I want to hear the future of Rock’N’Roll sing with me!” This story stems from these important words.

Since joining Facebook I’ve been introduced to so many interesting people from around the world. I’ve enjoyed the opportunities to share my songs with these friends and as well, I’ve enjoyed receiving links to videos created by others. For today’s blog I just simply want to share a few of my favourite links that have been sent to me by my Facebook friends.


Hem Advani is from Toronto and he plays the electric guitar. This fun and energetic tune is entitled “Rockin’ Til Heaven” - http://www.youtube.com/kaiandtheula.



Tom Gray’s instrumental ‘Blue Moon’ comes to us all the way from Trecwn, United Kingdom - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZIwEtdkDGg.


Darcy Good is a friend of mine who I went to high school with. She is the daughter of a musician from one of North America’s favourite Country bands, The Good Brothers. This link is a bit of a tease as only a portion of the song is available - http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&ContributorID=41147278. Darcy plays the violin for this Bluesgrass band ‘Badly Bent’, but I believe that she is working on other projects at the present time.


Babz Hewlett-Beech is into a jazz-fusion style of music and this link was sent to me from Plymouth, United Kingdom - http://www.youtube.com/user/ba6babe#p/a/u/0/4TuJWIE4YTQ. This is a song about “Tomorrow’s World”.


Peter Jam has had a few interesting successes in his life - I’ve seen videos of him performing on MTV! This song is entitled, “If You Want…” and it’s about the joys of bringing peace into this world - http://www.youtube.com/urVibrations#p/a/u/2/Uh_s4PbcQks


Just after New Years I found this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X5T3op9cB8 link posted on my Facebook wall, with a short note. It said something like “Jim, I know that you are very passionate about sharing inspiration with the world through your love of art and the environment. I’ve recently posted one of my songs on Youtube and I would love to hear any comments you may have.” Well… I watched the video and I loved it!!!! Jasmin Adams may not be in a rock band and we may never see her on MTV but her spirit and creativity is a true embodiment of Arlo Guthrie’s beliefs about music and the people that create it!

It was just a moment after Jasmin’s video had ended when the idea for this blog entered my mind. Thanks Jasmin!!!!

I don’t think that it’s an accident that all of these musicians, from so many different backgrounds, cultures and experiences, are linked with one common theme. The last twenty years have seen such an uprising in social and environmental consciousness that it is no wonder that thoughts towards peace, unity and love should be dominating our societies thought patterns… as we embark on a journey into the future!

Jim

Ha! Would anybody mind if I used this opportunity to plug one of my own videos?

Good – I’m glad no one objected!!!


So, now, I will leave you with these final words…

“We’ll open all our doors to let the good spirits in and then we’ll dance and sing as we rise above the din!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVcQiXq9qhI

1 comment:

jasminveronica said...

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for including me in this wonderful project:) I didn't know what you had in mind, but this is better than anything that had crossed my mind! What an amazing way to connect people and ideas with such a positive force:) Thank you and i am looking forward to watching everyone's videos:)