#jeffwecan

What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where a TV show takes on brands and scumbag musicians cozy up to them?

That's the fight we're in people. It's us versus the corporations. And you've got to decide which side you're on.

Are you someone sans backbone who will do anything for money, not realizing there's always someone with more, and that as high as you climb the totem pole you're never going to be truly rich as a musician?

Or are you gonna stand up to power, speak truth and try to change this insane country we live in?

That's right, we live in Duplicity City. Where those in search of cash speak falsehoods. Let's start with politicians, denying evolution and global warming. And then focus on the record labels which sued their own customers because the corporations hate change. Imagine that. Then again, corporations are people, didn't you know? That never age, never get old or fat or bald and live forever, or at least until we're on to their game or their product is superseded.

We all need something to believe in. And lo and behold I pull up John Oliver on the telly and I'm riveted by a guy who is unafraid to take on the powers that be, unafraid to speak the truth.

That's right, in a nation where Judith Miller preferred access to reality, it's startling when someone with an audience decides not to suck up to the power people.

You know the power people... The Kochs. The other richies on both sides of the fence who want us to feel good about them because they donate a few shekels to charity, insisting they get their names on the results, the job creators who pay less taxes because they've paid off their congressmen and get most of their income passively.

Great country we live in. Where we're all so nationalistic we can't see that the immigrants are doing the labor we're not and health care should be a national right.

Oh, that's right, they didn't work for it. If everybody stopped bitching that others weren't working, that they were sucking on the tit of America, and looked at the real culprits, those with all the money and power, the brands, the corporations, then maybe we might have some change.

And it used to be that artists stood up for change. Speaking the truth, beholden to nobody.

But now visual artists are captives of the wealthy.

And musicians have been convinced that the system is holding them back, that recorded revenues are down, forgetting insane concert fees, both public and private, and they need to go to deep pockets to feed their families.

Hogwash.

Wanna make some real fans? Wanna make some real money?

Then stop taking the corporate dough. Get down into the pit with the public. Speak their truth. Instead of boasting about your lifestyle, making deals with Target and cosmetic companies, forming rip-off tequila companies, doing anything but making riveting music.

And just like every corporation is not a winner, I don't want to hear from the wannabes. I'm not listening. If you don't have an audience, it's your fault. Either struggle and make it or give up. There's no guarantee in art. But you've got nincompoops bitching about Spotify payments when "Uptown Funk" makes a hundred grand a week on the streaming service, proving that delusion and deception are as alive in music as they are in the corporate world.

But I don't need to put you down, because no one is listening anyway.

But those with an audience... Can you please stop seeking sponsorship and start pointing out the heinous activities of these enterprises? First and foremost, they don't pay taxes, while your constituency does, every damn day, sales taxes if not income taxes.

Musical artists spoke the truth about the Vietnam War, that's how we got out, they incited the young people and the oldsters in charge couldn't take the heat. And if you don't believe that, you weren't alive or you're part of the brainwashing police, like Fox News, insisting if you utter falsehoods enough times, they'll be true.

The same way MTV helped reduce racism and gay-bashing. Suddenly, you could see a rainbow of colors on the tube, everybody didn't look so different.

And now it appears pay cable is the only place you can find truth.

Used to be just cartoons. Only the "Simpsons" and "South Park" could poke fun, expose the seamy underside.

But now we've got truth from real people on HBO. And no one's bitching they can't make enough money. Their power is enough.

Remember the power of artistry? Remember the power of music?

Probably not, not unless you're a baby boomer. That's right, it was different.

So tweet #jeffwecan. Try to expose the shenanigans of Philip Morris International.

And while you're at it, beat up the artists for scalping and endless tiers of on sale dates such that you can't get a ticket.

That's right, it's the audience that's gonna force artists to be truthful, or ultimately irrelevant.

You know why music lost its power as the driver of culture?

The endless search for money, the refusal to leave any cash on the table.

If you take their money you're them, there's a chilling effect.

But no one is sponsoring Joe Schmo and the rest of your fans. They're mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore.

Legal marijuana? Gay marriage? Unthinkable only a few years back.

And suddenly the income inequality drum is beating so hard it's deafening.

That's right, the news media laughed at Occupy Wall Street.

But we'll see if Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie and the rest of the bought and sold will be laughing when what's left of the middle class and the lower class revolt.

If you can't see this coming, you're blind.

If you want to make money, your customers have to have some.

Think of your fans, not the corporations.

Your fans have more money.

Everybody knows the truth.

It's just that they want to deny it to get rich.

I thought players were different.

Let's see.

P.S. HBO charges, but knows its image is burnished and its content grows when it's given away for free, so you can watch this John Oliver segment on YouTube for free but Taylor Swift wants you to pay for her inane music so she can impress a brain dead media by being number one on an anemic sales chart. Truth pays. Try speaking it.

"?Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Tobacco (HBO)?": http://bit.ly/1DBeLgX?


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