Dear family, friends, and fellow travelers,
The tune this cycle is Anthem, which I wrote this morning and just recorded. Such times we are in. There seems to be such a penchant for cruelty and excessive force in the immigration policies currently being followed. I cannot see that what ICE is currently doing is law enforcement but something much darker. If you're interested in thoughts I recently shared with our Senators and tried to get into an op ed locally, read here.
There is much to be proud of and moved by these days as well. Crisis does, after all, present opportunity - in this case, strengthening community and helping us see our common humanity while challenging us to see the humanity in the militarized agents who are doing violence in our cities. It would help, of course, if they would take off their masks and put down the assault weapons and military packings and act as civil servants, not an occupying force; and it would help if we could bear witness without malice but with all our resolve, too. It is one of my saddest ponderings that so many nations and groups are arming to to the teeth and excluding so many from their folds. But the strong non-violent resistance in so many places of oppression gives me great hope.
If you're in the Downeast Maine area on February 8th, come on over to the Steuben Parish House/Library. I'll be doing a solo concert there at 2 P.M. as a benefit for the library. Just me and my guitar!
Love and Courage,
Brian
I recently started putting some songs up on music streaming platforms - all of them already published here. There's several now, organized as "albums" - Just a Little Rain, Late July and Crow. Take a listen there and add me to your playlist, if you so desire! I listen on Deezer.
I'm sending you a monthly offering from original music I've been writing over many years. I've been so bold as to add your email to my newsletter list. You can unsubscribe at any time (link at the bottom of the email).
Play your favorites!
I've also added a Favorites feature so that, as the playlists grow, you can mark those songs you particularly like and just listen to those, again from using the drop down filter at the top of the playlist. Right now it's a two-step process. You have to click on the song you want to mark on the playlist and then go to the side bar (bottom on phone) and click the gray heart so select; click again to deselect.
On the technical side, the favorites function relies on you not clearing your cookies, often the default setting. Favorites will be lost if cookies are cleared. I hope to add a login feature that would allow you to keep your selections without cookies.
Finally, realizing that many people no longer have a CD player, Leonore and I made our three albums available for free here on the site in playlists. There's a tab, Albums, on the top menu. Select the album you want to hear from the dropdown and enjoy. Songs are free to download as well. We will make some CDs for those who may want that medium - if that is your desire, feel free to contact me.
