Yesterday, I received an email from Tom Mara of KEXP in Seattle. For those of you who are not familiar with KEXP, it is a listener-powered public radio station whose unfettered DJs play a huge variety of music without restrictive playlists. It is truly music for the people. I have supported KEXP since back in the KCMU days when the station was a tiny little voice at the University of Washington. KEXP is now world wide thanks to streaming over the web.
I asked and received Tom's permission to reprint his email to me and my response. I know that this is a bit of a departure from my usual blog fodder, but I believe travel thoughts can take a day off. Tom's email and my response follow.
Thanks,
Marco
Dear Marco,
Amidst the horror of the recent shootings in Colorado Springs and San Bernardino, a song sprang to mind. One from a mix tape my older brother made in my youth. With its swelling strings and baroque piano, the beauty of the Boomtown Rats' 1979 UK chart-topper "I Don't Like Mondays" belies its subject matter: a schoolyard shooting that killed two and injured nine, many of them children.
"I Don't Like Mondays" doesn't sound hopeful. It isn’t. Yet it epitomizes one of music's greatest gifts: the ability to help us make sense of the incomprehensible.
Because the music on listener-powered KEXP doesn’t follow a closely prescribed playlist, our DJs can address current events with songs that inspire us, even in the worst of times. In the hours immediately after the San Bernardino tragedy, you heard selections ranging from “Melt the Guns” by XTC to the Motown classics “What’s Going On” and “Ball of Confusion” on KEXP. As music lovers like you suggest songs you’d like to hear in the wake of these horrifying episodes, our community draws together. That connection replaces fear and vulnerability with hope and strength.
Phoenix live on KEXP (photo: Christopher Nelson)The Friday following last month’s attacks in Paris, KEXP responded with a full twelve hours of live music. The songs and artists varied widely, from immortal performances by Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding, to KEXP in-studios with French artists M83 and Phoenix, but a single purpose unified them: reject the fear terrorists sought to sow when they attacked our fellow music lovers at that Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan Theatre.
Consider the flipside. After September 11, 2001, Clear Channel issued twelve hundred radio stations a long list of music that they were discouraged from playing. From Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" to the entire Rage Against the Machine catalog, this mass media giant suggested programmers silence some of the greatest music of the twentieth century. I can't fathom such an act. Can you imagine the look on John or Cheryl’s face if I marched into the booth and handed them a list of songs they can’t play?
Your support of commercial-free KEXP enables us to champion music that honestly reflects our ever-changing world. Amidst trusted favorites like Neil Young and Public Enemy, you discover emerging acts ranging from flagship bands in Seattle's feminist punk scene (Childbirth, Mommy Long Legs) to openly gay hip-hop artists (Le1f). You probably won't like everything you hear. That's okay! But if we're completely honest in our commitment to celebrating the best music from all walks of life, we can't discount any culture or experience.
To paraphrase Wo' Pop host Darek Mazzone, it’s hard to hate people when you enjoy the music they make. While I certainly didn’t hold hate in my heart for the people of Pakistan, my attitude about the Muslim world changed when I discovered Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, master of Qawwali (the devotional music of the Sufi). Curiosity replaced indifference. The emotions Nusrat's voice stirred in me opened a door onto an unfamiliar culture half a world away from Seattle.
Music can’t solve all of society’s problems, but the connection and community it creates provides essential ballast in a turbulent world. Even in our darkest hour, we can always harness its power to make lives better. Just ask Boomtown Rats front man Bob Geldof. The next time his name appeared on a #1 record, it was as co-author of Band Aid’s 1984 famine relief single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
What songs or artists do you turn to in times of fear or sorrow? I’m curious to know. I encourage you to email me at tom@kexp.org and share your thoughts.
Hello Tom
Thank you for your email. It resonated with me on many levels, so I am responding.
I am an old codger now, so I remember the Boom Town Rats well and I remember that shooting. I have lived to see so many of these tragic events. These days I travel the world, having left Seattle, my adopted home, behind for the most part. I now consider myself a citizen of the world and try to live as such.
I have just returned to Vienna after a month in Sri Lanka. In talking with the local folks, I learned a lot more about the terrible civil war that went on in Sri Lanka for almost 30 years. I was there when I heard about the Paris attacks and the recent shootings in the USA. During this same trip, I traveled through small towns and villages where there were Buddhist temples, Hindu Shrines, Mosques and Christian churches, all in the same area.
The more I travel, the more I realize that people are pretty much the same everywhere. We all want the same things: healthy families, clean water, food, shelter and a sense of community. The more I interact with different folks from different cultures, the greater the sense of commonality becomes.
Columbine, Nine-eleven, Iraq, Afghanistan, all tragedies. And senseless tragedies.
Isolation and dogma breed fear and aggression. The recognition of commonality with our Brothers and Sisters around the globe breeds hope and tolerance. Music is one of the bridges that bring people together.
In times of sorrow, as in times of joy, I turn to music for solace, understanding and calm. It could be the Avett Brothers "Brooklyn Brooklyn Take Me In" or Beethoven's Ninth, or my heart breaking for Nick Cave when he sings "Into My Arms" and I think of the recent tragic loss of his son. There are no degrees of separation in this world. We are, each of us, inextricably linked together as in Indra's Net. Touch one of jewel in the net and that touch reverberates though us all, for good or ill.
Keep playing all of the Music! That is what KEXP is all about, what it has been about since the KCMU days when those 4 huge watts of power made it to my old house in Walingford. I supported the music then and I continue to do so today. It is a small way to try and make the world a brighter place.
I would also ask you a favor if I might. I keep a travel blog as I move about the world. I would like to reprint your message and add my response if I have your permission to do so.
Be well and keep the tunes rolling and, of course, never ask John or Cheryl to edit their playlists!
Best regards,
Marco Etheridge
Currently in Vienna, Austria
Sent from the Lair of the Flying Monkeys
I asked and received Tom's permission to reprint his email to me and my response. I know that this is a bit of a departure from my usual blog fodder, but I believe travel thoughts can take a day off. Tom's email and my response follow.
Thanks,
Marco
Dear Marco,
Amidst the horror of the recent shootings in Colorado Springs and San Bernardino, a song sprang to mind. One from a mix tape my older brother made in my youth. With its swelling strings and baroque piano, the beauty of the Boomtown Rats' 1979 UK chart-topper "I Don't Like Mondays" belies its subject matter: a schoolyard shooting that killed two and injured nine, many of them children.
"I Don't Like Mondays" doesn't sound hopeful. It isn’t. Yet it epitomizes one of music's greatest gifts: the ability to help us make sense of the incomprehensible.
Because the music on listener-powered KEXP doesn’t follow a closely prescribed playlist, our DJs can address current events with songs that inspire us, even in the worst of times. In the hours immediately after the San Bernardino tragedy, you heard selections ranging from “Melt the Guns” by XTC to the Motown classics “What’s Going On” and “Ball of Confusion” on KEXP. As music lovers like you suggest songs you’d like to hear in the wake of these horrifying episodes, our community draws together. That connection replaces fear and vulnerability with hope and strength.
Phoenix live on KEXP (photo: Christopher Nelson)The Friday following last month’s attacks in Paris, KEXP responded with a full twelve hours of live music. The songs and artists varied widely, from immortal performances by Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding, to KEXP in-studios with French artists M83 and Phoenix, but a single purpose unified them: reject the fear terrorists sought to sow when they attacked our fellow music lovers at that Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan Theatre.
Consider the flipside. After September 11, 2001, Clear Channel issued twelve hundred radio stations a long list of music that they were discouraged from playing. From Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" to the entire Rage Against the Machine catalog, this mass media giant suggested programmers silence some of the greatest music of the twentieth century. I can't fathom such an act. Can you imagine the look on John or Cheryl’s face if I marched into the booth and handed them a list of songs they can’t play?
Your support of commercial-free KEXP enables us to champion music that honestly reflects our ever-changing world. Amidst trusted favorites like Neil Young and Public Enemy, you discover emerging acts ranging from flagship bands in Seattle's feminist punk scene (Childbirth, Mommy Long Legs) to openly gay hip-hop artists (Le1f). You probably won't like everything you hear. That's okay! But if we're completely honest in our commitment to celebrating the best music from all walks of life, we can't discount any culture or experience.
To paraphrase Wo' Pop host Darek Mazzone, it’s hard to hate people when you enjoy the music they make. While I certainly didn’t hold hate in my heart for the people of Pakistan, my attitude about the Muslim world changed when I discovered Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, master of Qawwali (the devotional music of the Sufi). Curiosity replaced indifference. The emotions Nusrat's voice stirred in me opened a door onto an unfamiliar culture half a world away from Seattle.
Music can’t solve all of society’s problems, but the connection and community it creates provides essential ballast in a turbulent world. Even in our darkest hour, we can always harness its power to make lives better. Just ask Boomtown Rats front man Bob Geldof. The next time his name appeared on a #1 record, it was as co-author of Band Aid’s 1984 famine relief single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
What songs or artists do you turn to in times of fear or sorrow? I’m curious to know. I encourage you to email me at tom@kexp.org and share your thoughts.
Hello Tom
Thank you for your email. It resonated with me on many levels, so I am responding.
I am an old codger now, so I remember the Boom Town Rats well and I remember that shooting. I have lived to see so many of these tragic events. These days I travel the world, having left Seattle, my adopted home, behind for the most part. I now consider myself a citizen of the world and try to live as such.
I have just returned to Vienna after a month in Sri Lanka. In talking with the local folks, I learned a lot more about the terrible civil war that went on in Sri Lanka for almost 30 years. I was there when I heard about the Paris attacks and the recent shootings in the USA. During this same trip, I traveled through small towns and villages where there were Buddhist temples, Hindu Shrines, Mosques and Christian churches, all in the same area.
The more I travel, the more I realize that people are pretty much the same everywhere. We all want the same things: healthy families, clean water, food, shelter and a sense of community. The more I interact with different folks from different cultures, the greater the sense of commonality becomes.
Columbine, Nine-eleven, Iraq, Afghanistan, all tragedies. And senseless tragedies.
Isolation and dogma breed fear and aggression. The recognition of commonality with our Brothers and Sisters around the globe breeds hope and tolerance. Music is one of the bridges that bring people together.
In times of sorrow, as in times of joy, I turn to music for solace, understanding and calm. It could be the Avett Brothers "Brooklyn Brooklyn Take Me In" or Beethoven's Ninth, or my heart breaking for Nick Cave when he sings "Into My Arms" and I think of the recent tragic loss of his son. There are no degrees of separation in this world. We are, each of us, inextricably linked together as in Indra's Net. Touch one of jewel in the net and that touch reverberates though us all, for good or ill.
Keep playing all of the Music! That is what KEXP is all about, what it has been about since the KCMU days when those 4 huge watts of power made it to my old house in Walingford. I supported the music then and I continue to do so today. It is a small way to try and make the world a brighter place.
I would also ask you a favor if I might. I keep a travel blog as I move about the world. I would like to reprint your message and add my response if I have your permission to do so.
Be well and keep the tunes rolling and, of course, never ask John or Cheryl to edit their playlists!
Best regards,
Marco Etheridge
Currently in Vienna, Austria
Sent from the Lair of the Flying Monkeys
Amen
ReplyDeleteAmen
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