How Really Free Are You?

Let’s break it down. I may be wrong but let’s see.

1. Are you burdened by student loans that force you to work jobs you really do not like so that you can pay it back?

2. Are you underneath a mortgage on a home?

3. Do you pay loans are your car?

4. Are you able to get up and go anywhere you want?

5. Do you bring your work home with you? (If you enjoy your work, then that’s a different story).

6. Are you so obsessed with the latest gadgets and things?

7. Do you have a lot of credit card debt?

8. Are you happy and satisfied or at least moving towards what you perceive to get you there?

9. Would you keep working your job for free because you like it?

10. Are you doing overtime just to stay afloat and not go into the tank?

11. Do you have free time to do the things you enjoy?

12. When was the last time you got up and felt you were really making a difference?

13. Are you burdened down with fear?

14. Are you too busy?

Solutions:

Don’t watch T.V.
Rent or share a home with someone.
Stop buying things.
Quit your job and do something worthwhile.
Turn on, tune in and drop out.
Take some risks.
Do your part.
Become self-reliant.
Create yourself, do not let others create you.
Resist greed, anxiety, depression and fear.
Help others.

Now if you’re buried under debt and such, I wouldn’t suggest turning on tuning in and dropping out but I’d suggest really finding out what makes you happy and to move in that direction at least. It has been a long road for me and I’m still working on it and I’m rather on the debt free side but just looking for my niche that is helpful to society and to me.

I told my uncle once that if it takes me 50 years to get there, then it takes me 50 years to get there.

Turn On Tune In and Rise Up!

Music and art can change our World for the good. You already know how chaotic it is these days if you are awake: Swine Flu hype, G20 Riots, Vaccinations, Nuclear Standoffs, RFID chips, health care arguments, economy, Iraq War, terrorism, the New World Order, 1st amendment violations, unemployment, and the list can go on and on.

Now if we all rise up together we can push the oppressive things out of the way. I have compiled a Jamendo only playlist of artists I really like because of their honesty and musical quality. Please download at the link below and pass around. We can do this. It isn’t over and as long as we are breathing we can do something.

And here is another idea: If you can play guitar or piano, sing or write, get going and make a song about whatever you are going through. No matter what. Flood the internet with your viewpoint. Let’s not give in to the elite bullies in charge who want to manipulate, con and destroy us with their fear-mongering. These are all distractions.

if you paint or draw do that, too. Flood the internet with your world. We have more numbers behind us than those elite. They hide behind their power and wealth. Come and get going.

Make youtube videos, too and post. Do it!

Here’s where you can play or download the playlist for free:

Turn On, Tune In, and Rise Up Playlist

1. Rancho Relaxo – From The Hip
2. Rancho Relaxo – Quebec
3. The Zombie Drivers – There Is No Law
4. The Zombie Drivers – Shine in the Rain
5. The Henry Chinaski’s Ashtray – A Girl Got A Car Accident
6. The Henry Chinaski’s Ashtray – One-eyed-woman’s dream
7. The Ragas – Blues Raga 2
8. The Ragas – What Ya Say
9. The Dada Weatherman – What Gandhi Said
10. The Dada Weatherman – Flying On A Cloud
11. Timado – True Blue
12. Timado – Turning
13. THE GOLDEN DAWN – Enjoy the Nature
14. The Golden Dawn – Let the Sunshine In
15. I Am Not Lefthanded – Falling
16. I Am Not Lefthanded – Long Goodbyes
17. Jamison Young – Live On A Moon
18. Jamison Young – Cold World
19. Blancheneige Bazaar Orchestra – Monkey Boy
20. Blancheneige Bazaar Orchestra – Meshugge
21. Jim Guittard – BJM-Like Song
22. Jim Guittard – The Sun Shines Today
23. Ben’s Imaginary Band – Connectiveness
24. Ben’s Imaginary Band – My Self-Centered World
25. Charline Lucie – Crimes de compagnie
26. Brad Sucks – Overreacting
27. Brad Sucks – Gasoline
28. Waterfalls – The Dandy Bell
29. Waterfalls – Get Tight And Loose
30. alterlabel -Optimystic
31. Blood Ruby – Midsummer Fires
32. Blood Ruby – Babel Babel
33. Illusion of Art – Machines
34. Illusion of Art – La Plano
35. The Heavens – Echo Serena
36. The Heavens – This Beautiful Machine
37. The Wagner Logic – Conflicting Sound
38. The Wagner Logic – So Hard
39. Glass Waves – Hey Nuclear
40. Glass Waves – Virginia Tech
41. FATHER JOHNSON – Treat Ya Kind
42. FATHER JOHNSON – Transcending
43. ARTSomerville – Are You Sleeping?
44. ARTSomerville – I know, I know
45. Chapter 9 – In the Universe
46. Chapter 9 – Small Apocalypse Song
47. The Verandas – Rescue Me
48. The Verandas – Anemone
49. Charlie Gibson – Eu Só Posso Cantar
50. Charlie Gibson – Porto ou Faxinal

Jim Guittard Music Publicity Animation Video

I came across xtranormal.com and made this little piece. At Xtranormal.com you can write little scripts and make animation figures act them out. The site is cool. I had to pass it on.

Here’s my first little thing I did:

and of course to download my music go here:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/Jim_Guittard

Never Leaving The Back Yard

What is so great about familiar things? Doesn’t it just keep us in a stagnant state of being? There are those who sit in their back yard and gaze at the birds feeding. Some people live through the experiences of what others do. They are too afraid to leave their back yard or the painfully comfort surroundings they live in. Or they are too tied down to obligation. Obligations to American Idol, the latest gossip, etc. Whatever.

For me, I’ve got to get out of my back yard. I can’t stand it maybe. I feel as if my life is a waste if I stick with the familiar. What is the point really in sitting around and not having adventures? I don’t know. I make up my life as I go. It has always been like this. Am I a freak for wanting adventure or change? Is it a crime to be idealistic? Is it stupid to rise above the brainwashing skepticism of the World?

The world is what I make it. It’s about self-reliance, independence, and faith. Have we lost all this? Must we rely on Government or Obama to solve our problems?

Suggestion: Get out of your back yard. There’s a whole world out there.

Mockery Driven Purpose

Have you ever thought that our real enemy is ourselves?  America is falling from the inside not because of terrorists or other outside forces.  Americans need to get up from their deep sleep and take our country back.

What was America built and founded on?  Why did our ancestors come here?  Have we lost our roots?

Now alot of us are all driven by a purpose of mockery:  money at all costs, prestige, sex, fame, notoriety, wealth and fortune.  I don’t think our founding fathers would want to be a part of our current culture. 

What can we do?  Demand better, resist fear, greed, anxiety, and  mockery driven purposes.  Everybody is wondering.  What next?   Must I stay in this never-ending situation?  What should I do?  What does it all mean?  Does God care?  Why should I care anymore? 

Get up.

Crying Over Devaluation Of Stocks

Is our only source of comfort our stocks and money? Where do we get our comfort? The Almighty Dollar right? I’ll keep praying to my money. I know that the dollar can hear me. I just know it. Let’s all go down to our local bank and set up a little praying booth and we’ll be heard. We must!

A veteran Hong Kong stock commentator burst into tears during a live television broadcast as she saw HSBC’s shares plunge dramatically seconds before the end of Monday’s trading.

Let’s all have our “19th nervous breakdown”. I caught this guy on tape around 2001. You know what? We all have bad days. We’re never alone.

source:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.d72dee6b34ee20d4e72e635602e707b3.691&show_article=1

Frogs In A Pot

You know what? I think a lot of us are like frogs in a pot that are slowly being boiled alive. Why?

Because we get so used to the stuff around us that we don’t even know we are being cooked alive. You can put a frog in cold water in a pot and then put him on the stovetop and turn up the heat. The frog won’t jump out. The frog will get desensitized and wait patiently for death to come without even knowing it.

The bottom line is for us to wake the hell up! What are we here for? To do stupid stuff day after day after day after day? Get up from your mat and walk. Life is too short to compromise and waste away to nothing. Get up! Do something.

I don’t know who this is directed to but maybe myself. I’m sure a lot of people can relate.

Wake Up Now Americans!!!

A lot of stuff is going on right now that is more than mind-boggling.  There are a lot of folks out there that have been negligent, ignorant, selfish and greedy.  This I believe is why all this bailout, stimulus package has come about.

Do you think that throwing money at these people will help?  No!  Because it is an internal problem of the mind.  It is bad habits and total disregard for doing the right thing.  Yeah, in the old days people worked hard to get somethere.  There are a lot of Americans still today that do work hard to get somewhere. 

My Great Great Grandfather immigrated from France in 1846 to Ohio.  He didn’t know English.  He learned it and struggled his way to become a country doctor in New Bedford, Ohio.  He struggled through hard winters and cared after people with pneumonia and other diseases of the day.  There were no cars and he went around by horseback making calls on patients and would be gone from home days at a time.  THIS IS AMERICA!

Many people have the “lottery” mentality wishing for everything under the sun to come there way without any lifting of fingers.  It is sickening.  I believe America will fight the good fight.  There is something higher at play, here.  Will we exist as a nation of hard workers or a nation of “lottery” lovers.  The time is now to wake up and not settle for the mediocre, “I can’t” mentality.  Get up, stand up, rise up!  For God, For Country, For Honor!

Whose in charge here?  We have forgotten what the country was made of.  Overseas we get trashed for how America is now.  They expect us to lead!  How can we lead if we can’t even see through the confusion and chaos?  I lived overseas for two and a half years and I was confronted on few occasions about American Politics.  Let’s put it aside and go back to our roots.  It’s burning within each of us.  And by the way, Mr. Attorney General, Americans are not cowards.  Shame on you!  They stand for what is right.

Dr. Francis Joseph Guittard

You’ve Arrived To Nowhere When…

1. You love to watch the birds feeding in the back yard for hours.
2. You get furious when you see the squirrels running around in the back.
3. Your only friend is your stockbroker.
4. You cuss at the drive thru bank teller b/c you’re in a hurry to get home and watch the birds.
5. You can’t stand to give up your country club membership b/c of what others might think.
6. You believe Dr. Phil is God.
7. Your only dinner conversation is, “Can you pass the salt?”
8. You believe your health insurance will cover everything.
9. You believe a pill will solve your problems.
10. You believe that no one cares.

You have arrived when…

1. You believe in yourself.
2. You fight the “good fight.”
3. You forgive others.
4. You do what it takes.
5. You remain strong and flexible.
6. You listen to your voice.
7. You don’t blame others.
8. You place higher importance in people.
9. You turn the noise off.
10. You begin to love others.

The BJM Philosophy: Not Giving Up

I got into the BJM in late 1999. It was well before Dig but after the Viper Room and other events made “famous” in the movie. Put aside all the fistfights, verbal attacks or whatever, the music of the Brian Jonestown Massacre stands the test of time. Forget all the hype of Anton Newcombe being some crazy guy. Who cares? It’s about music right?

Starting in late 1999, I was lucky enough to see the band in person while living in Los Angeles. Anton was a cool dude to me. I never saw any of the abuse the movie is so based upon. In fact, he’s quite intelligent and courteous.

But the mark left with me from experiencing the BJM firsthand is tremendous. If I could sum up what I have gotten out of it. For me it left me with the feeling that I can have numerous chances to do “my thing.”

It’s about going for it no matter what, not giving up. Striving through all the hype. One does not have to be near famous to have hype about them. It seems that most families have hype. They have opinions on how one’s career should be or when they should marry, etc.

With the BJM, it’s about showing the press or mainstream or others that they are wrong with their close-minded routine thinking. It is a wake up call to society to think more positively and courageously with vision. A Beatles’ song comes to mind: “Think For Yourself.” Words are “Do what you want to do and go where you’re going to. Think for yourself ‘Cause I won’t be there with you.” It’s about standing on you own feet. Making your own history.

It is funny how when I read news stories about this famous person or that. The articles always bring up the past. Writers say nothing new. They write about what they’ve been told and don’t give people the chance to better themselves. Writers go along with the status quo, maybe for what is entertaining or controversial. I think the BJM evokes courage.

In America, we talk about free speech and everything but I think, in general, it is slanted toward the controversial, trashy, and rubbish category. Why do Americans like to read about controversy? I don’t but maybe most people do. I’m 33. Not that old. I’m among the Generation X, which have been written about to be cynical or the children of divorce families. I am from a divorced family and some of my family’s past is chaotic with fistfights and verbal attacks.

Here’s an excerpt from a news article I was mentioned in concerning “Generation X” finding their place in the world.¹

Jim Guittard of Dallas, who will be 32 in October, lives with his grandparents, shelves books part-time at a branch of the Dallas Public Library and hopes to head to Eastern Europe or Central Asia for the Peace Corps this fall.

Armed with a degree in American history from Colorado’s Western State College, Guittard started out working as an automobile-insurance-claims adjuster but grew tired of the constant bickering over money.

To pursue his passion for playing the guitar, he moved to Hollywood, Calif., where he found gigs playing in clubs. But the money wasn’t enough to provide a steady living. To survive, he worked a series of low-paying jobs at a talent agency, a rental-car office and an apartment-locator firm.

The experiences left him disillusioned about working in corporate America, and he moved back to Dallas a little more than two years ago.

“I don’t want to settle,” he says of his decision to seek happiness rather than money. “Do what your heart says.”

That’s why I take comfort in the BJM. The BJM, I think, looks past the obvious. The obvious is, yes, you may have a disfunctional past but you can be somebody. It’s about not labelling others. Labels can be bad.

So what else can I say? Well, if you’ve read this far then, thank you. The BJM is cool.

Back in 2001, I recorded an instrumental in tribute to the BJM.

BJM-Like Song by Jim Guittard

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up¹Katherine Yung, “As Generation X begins to hit 40, it’s finding its place in the world,” The Dallas Morning News, 8 July 2005.