How to be a musician in the time of Trump

I don't like it either.

I suppose the first step is to continue being a human, since the bottom few layers in Maslow's Hierarchy haven't changed since our malignant narcissist-in-chief took office. We still have to put on our own oxygen masks before we can grapple with the overt malice and ugliness of our political climate. However, it often feels like there's no overlap between our safe little haven of middle-class phosphor-bronze-and-rosewood coffeehouse banter and the two thousand migrant children separated from their parents in detention centers, Amazon rainforest fires, Trump fanning the flames of domestic terrorism, and the public health crisis of mass shootings. Beyond our pocket of plucky privilege (3x fast, GO!), voting is fundamental. All hands on deck. That's how we make course corrections.

There's a rich history of protest singers--Dylan, Marley, Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, and Billy Holiday. For instrumentalists, the task of confronting ugly political movements with music is more nebulous. Jazz bassist Charles Mingus did it with his big band piece "Fables of Faubus", a scathing caricature of the Arkansas governor who stood on the wrong side of history during the integration of Little Rock Central High School. Mingus actually wrote lyrics to the tune, but Columbia Records only initially allowed him to record an instrumental version. "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" by Penderecki is a justly nightmarish composition, but I doubt any negotiators of the Iran nuclear deal have even heard of Penderecki. That's why I'm often skeptical when instrumental guitarists publish tunes as musical, abstract donations to a cause. The intent is good, and I've done it, and it's also not enough. 
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That said, we all have that deeply-rooted human need to make and enjoy music. I think it's an error to only describe music-making as a luxury item, or evaluate it only based on how much $ it contributes to the economy. We all consume and enjoy music (okay, 99% of us, and that 1% has two thumbs and sits in the Oval Office. Seriously, google it. It's weird). A large number of us create music. Seems like a pretty clear-cut human value that's not going away anytime soon. So keep swigging those lattes and posting pictures of your pedalboards to instagram. Maybe during the set break, we can get together and brainstorm an epic soundtrack to play behind the voters walking to the polls in 2020. Who wouldn't want that?

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