Late Capitalism in Song

It's 2020.08.01 on the lunar calendar today.

How's everyone hanging in there? I've been thinking a bit about what it means to be a musician, practically speaking, and finding it sometimes draining that much of it ends up being creating content (though my knack for video production works to my advantage) and being online. I kept going down this road because I wanted to work on my craft but I'm not sure that's entirely compatible with current market expectations of professional artists. Just some half-baked thoughts as I continue to procrastinate from the making-music portion of music ...

I'm hopeful and excited that I'll be able to make it outside for the first time in over a week since the Air Quality Index is lower, only "unhealthy for sensitive groups" today. If you need a gift of an air purifier or you want to give to those who can't afford it, a respected Bay-Area organizer is coordinating that.

Is it ridiculous that we have to raise money ourselves, put up a GoFundMe, etc. for the most basic of rights like being able to breathe, staying housed, staying alive with medical care? That we can neither be indoors with others nor outdoors?

It's life in the Animal City.

The only blue sky I've seen recently is in Animal Crossing. It features a musical celebrity named K.K. Slider who has a bunch of records out for purchase. "Animal City" is my favorite of his songs so I did a cover, writing lyrics about Animal Crossing life and late capitalism. I think you'll find it cheerily bleak. Or bleakly cheerful.

Watch it on YouTube.

Community Caretaking

Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) has compiled a Mutual Aid Legal Toolkit resource discussing things like taxation of crowdfunding donations to support mutual aid networks—groups of neighbors that have risen to the occasion to help each other. I'm sending it in case it's useful to anyone. SELC continues to inspire me with their work and educate with their informative stick figure videos.

Below's a photo of opening night at the AC Jazz Club where I performed June Christy and Jiminy Cricket. After the show, we had a raffle and fun hopping around on an art installation I made outdoors.

It'll be Chuseok (harvest festival)—one of the two biggest holidays in Korea—in two weeks' time. Celebrations will look different this year, of course. Wishing you a good one!