Friday, October 12, 2007

Dear Al,

You are welcome. Congratulations!

It can equally be said that the American leadership crisis is also a moral and spiritual challenge and that the Presidency of the United States is your greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.

You have already worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years, but we do face a true planetary emergency that perhaps only you could lead us through. You are the only leader with sufficient political capital, resoorces, support base, connections, moral decency, intellectual acumen, and spiritual insight to do this last great task.

Al please take what is already yours and consider your own words. The very Earth itself needs you, let alone your country.

Millions upon millions of us are ready to assist you and follow your lead.

Thank You,

Colie Brice

On Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:10 -0400, "Al Gore" <AlGore@algore.com> wrote:> Dear Colie,> > I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even> more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--the world's pre-eminent> scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate> crisis--a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for> many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is> not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of> humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global> consciousness to a higher level. > > My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the> award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit> organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and> around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.> > Thank you,> > Al Gore> > To unsubscribe, please visit:> http://www.algore.com/unsubscribe.html?key=wm5EzVIFlH&x=U2FsdGVkX18g5D*XhVylPfDmY7Gk2ZhwNgZWz59DrxQ=

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Last night I watched Democracy now and was informed about the rape crisis currently being endured in Congo, Africa. How as a world commubnity can we let this continue?

George W. preaches about freedom and democracy and the nobility of our mission in Iraq and then turns a blind eye to this horrendous atrocity?

Our men and woman in uniform are heroes, now let them fight for something worth fighting for and do something that is legitimately heroic!

Give me a fucking gun, I'll go to the Congo and fight these inhuman bastards using rape as a weapon of war. This utter atrocity is as bad as the holocaust or anything else and its happening now.

We're idly pssing away time gossiping over Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears when shit like this is going on?

What the fuck is wrong with us?

Laurent Nkunda you are no man, you are no warrior, and you are no leader. There are no words to describe the nothingness that you are..

Monday, October 08, 2007

A new report released to day by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), reveals that theft of copyright-protected products, including motion pictures, video games, sound recordings and business and entertainment software, has cost the U.S. $58 billion in annual economic output, 373,375 jobs, $16.3 billion in lost wages annually and $2.6 billion in tax revenue annually.

Perhaps the only thing I can hope to do as an individual artist is produce works of sufficient substance, merit or appeal that inspire patronage. Music is everywhere and is an essential component to many for a life worth living, but it is all too often taken for granted by many people - like fresh air or water. I believe that the government should be making educational and vocational training available to music business professionals who have been utterly displaced by these profound changes that have occured.

A lot of people express such contempt for labels without ever even knowing the full score or reality of life at a record label. Major labels employ more than fat cat lawyers and accountants. There are engineers, archivists, shipping clerks, warehouse pickers, etc. - all good, regular people who are also suffering from this radical transformation. There will always be people willing to pay for live music, but not all studio work or composition is intended for live performance. These people deserve compensation for their efforts too. Its endemic of a contemporary society that frequently values style over substance and is ruled by selfish greed and apathy towards the plight of others.

I'm 39 years old, I support a wife and two children. I have been in the music business for over twenty years. I have been a major label artist and I have swept studio floors - most of the time I've been somewhere in between. I have often worked twice as hard for half as much as people in comparable positions in other industries because I know I have been fortunate to work in the area of my heart's desire.

Now as I approach my fortieth birthday I am eeking out a living in the fragments and scraps of an industry where at this stage of the game I should have been enjoying some of the fruits of my labor. I earned the right to health care and financial security just as much as anyone else in another field. In its stead, survival has become the new success in my area of expertise.

I hope people at least think about people in my position the next time they visit lime wire.

Granted I'm not a young kid in Iraq dodging bulletts over a bullshit war, and I know its all a relative matter of perspective and that I have much more to be grateful for than bitter about.

Yet all the same I believe working artists and musicians deserve to make a living too..