Once more with feeling...

I am starting this blog entry with a happy, and love-inspired video. Mainly to show you that I am:

A) NOT a pessimistic, whiny bitch

B) NOT a complete cynic

C) NOT unhappy with my life.

To the point:

I am a musician.

A starving artist.

Twenty five years of hoping and praying for a break.

I moved to Ann Arbor, MI with the mentality that the grass is greener here. For quite some time I had been living at home with my Mother and four younger siblings, helping them along and going through a horrible grieving process from the death of my Grandfather. He [my Grandfather] inspired me in so many ways to pursue acting, modeling, photography, and most of all music. When I was gifted my first guitar from him at the age of fifteen. I was beside myself, and quite unsure of what the hell I was supposed to do. I had been playing piano from the age of nine, and didn't have ANY idea what the stringed contraption could do. So, like any ambitious and bullheaded teenager, I taught myself to play it. Breaking in your fingertips to play chords and notes on a guitar for the first time is NOT fun. You get used to it. You get used to your wrist hurting. Getting a cramp in your hand. Having your fingers smell like copper and nickel..

I got used to the whole process of being a guitar player, and writing my own songs to strum along with.

NOW- at this point in my life, in 2011. What I am NOT used to is being told "No". Or- "You can't" and even "we just aren't interested anymore" and my favorite "We cannot afford to continue paying you" Remember the part where I said I am a starving artist? Well, I wasn't fucking around..Since October of 2010 I began hosting an open mic night at a local restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor. For the sake of privacy, and not to name bash, we will call it "Yuppies". I have been hosting, performing, and coordinating a very diverse open mic night at YUPPIES for over a year. I have also been an employee waiting tables, training staff, and bar tending at YUPPIES for three years.

There is a sense of security, and stability at YUPPIES that I haven't felt with other employers. At least, there was... I also host another open mic night at a place called (for privacy sake) YAWNERS. YUPPIES and YAWNERS are owned by the same financing and service company. So of course it was easy for me to get my foot in the door since I knew all of the management. YAWNERS open mic night started in October of 2010. The one year anniversary of the open mic at YUPPIES. I was just told yesterday on the phone that YAWNERS can no longer continue to afford to pay me, or keep me there to host an open mic night.

The entire company that owns YUPPIES, YAWNERS, and other places like YOELLA, and YARMINS... These are fictional names... Is being harassed by licensing and copyright companies.'non profit' BMI- broadcast music inc.http://www.bmi.com/about/?link=navbar  Wants an astronomical fee in order for artists/musicians to perform cover songs at both venues. Not only do they want money for music, but people are not even permitted to DANCE at certain restaurants and bars, because they do not have a DANCE LICENSE. I can understand some of these licensing and zoning issues, but WHAT THE HELL? Are they going to tell me I can't use my left hand when I take a piss too? I was told an exact amount of what they want, and I will tell you it is over $10,000 dollars. When I was given this information, I was astounded, not only at the sheer NUMBER of what they are asking, but the audacity to press for this kind of money, when really no one had a clue that it was illegal in any way to do another artist's music at a live venue. We are not distributing DVDs, Cd's, or making money by copying these artists. Merely taking a song that we love, and giving it our own inspiration.

Michigan has the worst economy in the entire United States, at least it did four years ago According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan our unemployment rate is still over 11% as of November 2010... When things like this happen, I can only wonder WHY would anyone attack local venues. We are struggling to rebuild our sense of community. We are fighting to keep our heads above the water. Now the only thing holding us back is a license to give music to the masses? ART is FREE. Expression is FREE. Love and laughter for something you enjoy is FREE. Who the fuck has a right to tell me I cannot express myself in song, and do it in a restaurant in front of people? Oh- that's right... BMI. Sorry sir, you can't dance here. It's not allowed.

Quite recently in Detroit, a huge venue called Theater Bizarre (this is the true name) was attacked by the city for local ordinance and zoning laws. Theater Bizarre has been putting on 'one of a kind' shows for YEARS. http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/10/detroit_shuts_down_theatre_biz.html 

Now someone wants a piece of the cake. So, people complained, made a phone call, harassed a republican, and made it obvious that the city of Detroit has NO RIGHT to put on free shows. Artists have NO RIGHT to be artists without upholding zoning and licensing laws that have never been an issue before. Laws that are so minuscule compared to the people getting held up at gunpoint right down the street from the area. Compared to young women getting raped behind abandoned houses. Compared to Prostitutes coming up to my car and asking me if I want some love tonight... Detroit is dying. Michigan is dying. Ann Arbor is a lucrative college town, but there is no spirit here. People are afraid to really go out and start something that creates a change. When did the music business for local artists become such a monopoly? When did this town become so pretentious?

I travel outside of Michigan quite frequently, and when people ask me about Detroit, they sound afraid. They say that it's dangerous, they say that it's full of crime and murder. Have they been there? NO. So shut the fuck up!! Quit giving my city a bad reputation! If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time in ANY major city, you might get mugged. We have Wayne State University, and so may amazing historic buildings. Casinos. Riverwalks. Festivals. The Tigers! The Damned RED WINGS!! It's like saying to someone from Pittsburgh that all they're good for is men that beat their wives, and kids that kill their parents in the middle of the night... Detroit is full of amazingly talented people. youtube.com/detroitfireguild - Full of circus and sideshow acts galore! Bands and singers like Mike Posner http://www.mikeposner.com/ . There are several painters, poets, and civil rights movement LEGENDS here. Do you think that Rosa Parks would be sitting on her ass letting people tell her what to do with her voice? When did this state become such a crumbling enterprise? What happened to FREE ENTERPRISE?! Are we comfortable being told what to do with our creativity? Are we really that miserable that all it takes is a slap on the wrist, and a threat of being fined by the state to just throw in the towel?

So yes. I am angry. I am outraged.

Being told that something you created can no longer exist is like getting an unwanted abortion.

This is my income.

This is my lifestyle.

I need music to survive.

     YUPPIES and YAWNERS have been quite an experience...

I hope that this blog inspires you to stand up for yourself and what you are passionate about.

Be proud of where you come from and what you are capable of.

The future is yours.

-z-