I am so overwhelmed by the responses we have received from the BET 106 & Park Music Matters performance. This has been a milestone for so many reasons.  — In my first televised appearance we were able to bring the full band, keep our integrity, deliver our message and gain a ton of new friends in the process…… but it is the feedback that really sparked this blog.

Here in the US, we live in a land of segregation — economic, political, racial….. and even musical……DIVIDES. Imagine a musical apartheid where genres are separated by age/gender/class… you name it. –Where radio/tv stations are akin to restrooms and art is not allowed to “share facilities” -BUT isn’t harmony (which is intrinsic in music) the EXACT OPPOSITE?!  Music is too powerful to be constrained by number crunching, or the opinions of a select few that may lack imagination and/or courage. There are no fail-safe formulas…. people like what they like…. but if you offer them no options how can you truly know what THAT is? Give someone the choice between Pepsi and Coke and your research may tell you that an overwhelming majority prefer Coke…….. BUT offer them 7up, Mountain Dew etc…..  and you may be shocked at the results….. (unless you only WANT to sell Pepsi but that’s another blog entirely).

So please listen to my DEMO — as in my demographic —Radio, Labels, Corporations— because I am having conversations with the same people your spreadsheets tell you don’t want to hear anything positive.  I am sharing the joys of music with people — in, out, and around the age range of your projections.  Focus on the comments that lay outside of your focus groups and know, that they know, your boundaries are meaningless and will be crossed as we bring the underground – OVERGROUND —-OVERSTAND?

To all my new friends thank you for your messages.  This blog is to let you know you have inspired and recharged me as I move forward in the new year. You have also provided evidence to what we already suspected, which is that our “service providers” underestimate us all.

I would like to truly thank BET and 106 & Park for the opportunity, as well as commend the Music Matters campaign for not only exposing me to so many new people but expanding the program to include live music that is so desperately needed because Music Does Matter.  I hope that they open the stage to even more of my Soul Family, and cause a real Love Revolution……

“Revolution means we turn it around” — Darien