MySpace Is Interesting

Earlier this year, I set up a MySpace page for my musical endeavors and after 8 months I only have 55+ "friends." (Okay, so I've got better things to do). Last month I guy "friended" me and I complied. This month he offered me a gig at IOTA club and cafe. So I'm opening on a three act bill September 14. How about that!

Jail Guitar Doors Update: The Gig

We did the Jail Guitar Doors Gig this last Sunday! The performances by all the artists went off without a hitch and the crowd was enthusiastic. I wish I had done a better job at promotion because the crowd was smaller than I anticipated. I also think we just picked an inopportune time for the gig. August is a pretty dead month and we should have waited until September to do the gig. Even though we sent out press releases, made posters and invited our own friends, we all thought we'd have a bigger crowd. We still did a great job and raised over $300 towards the purchase of the guitars.

Jail Guitar Doors Is A Done Deal!

NEWS RELEASE

Billy Bragg's Jail Guitar Doors Project to Make United States Debut via sponsorship by the DC Acoustic Underground and Prisons Foundation

On August 19th at the 219 Restaurant, in Alexandria, VA, the DC Acoustic Underground and Prisons Foundation will cosponsor a benefit concert to raise funds to purchase acoustic guitars for the Montgomery County Corrections Facility.

July 18, 2007 (Washington, DC) - Inspired by the Jail Guitar Doors project founded by Singer/Songwriter Billy Bragg in the UK earlier this year, the Jail Guitar Doors Project aims to help in the rehabilitation of inmates through the transformative power of music. The benefit concert, to be held on Sunday, August 19 from 1 to 4 PM, will raise money to fund the purchase of guitars which will be used as part of a pilot program to be run in the Crisis Intervention Unit at the Montgomery County Corrections Facility in Boyds, MD.

Prisons Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, promotes the arts and education in prison and alternatives to incarceration and operates the Prison Art Gallery in downtown Washington, DC. The DC Acoustic Underground provides venues for musicians and poets to perform and perfect their craft. The two organizations have joined forces to use the power of music to enable change and to reduce the rate of recidivism in our country's penal institutions.

In remarks obviously directed to fellow musicians, Billy Bragg says on his web site dedicated to the Jail Guitar Doors Project,” How many of you have sat in your rooms playing guitar and been transported beyond the four walls to a place where you feel free?”

Featured performers at the event will be local singer/songwriters Lea, Jim Dugan, Dennis Sobin, Michael Yugo and Joe Shade.

Women's Rising Music magazine's review of Lea's recent CD stated: “Not since Tracy Chapman has a singer/songwriter come along whose magnetic voice and deep heartfelt appeal draws us in...” MusicMonthly.com in a review of Jim Dugan's CD “Marigold” said it was “Great music,great songs.” Dennis Sobin spent 10 years in prison learning classical and jazz guitar and will be appearing at the Kennedy Center in September. Michael Yugo founded the DC Acoustic Underground last year in response to the overwhelming need for more venues for acoustic players.

Musical instruments are being provided at cost for the project from Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Wheaton, MD. Admission will be $6 payable at the time of the event.

Contact:

Guitar Jail Doors Event Coordinator
Joe Shade
joeyshade@gmail.com
703-856-2411

Prisons Foundation
Dennis Sobin
Dennis@PrisonsFoundation.org
202-393-1511

DC Acoustic Underground
Michael Yugo
michaelyugo@yahoo.com
703-475-7636

Response From Billy Bragg

I sent to an email to Billy Bragg regarding my Jail Guitar Doors project and go this response:

Joe,

That is great news.

Just last week, a bunch of young bands from Reading, a large town to the
west of London organised their own fund raiser which you can find out
about here:

www.myspace.com/jailguitardoorsreadingsummerevent

Like you, following my suggestion, they made contact with their local
prison and made it happen. They raised over £2000, with my wholehearted
support but in reality completely autonomously. I feel strongly that this
is an idea that belongs to those who are inspired to take it upon
themselves to make it happen. Maybe you have a different name for your
campaign, maybe you want to use Jail Guitar Doors. Whichever it is, please
do keep me informed. We are comrades working together in the same cause.

best,

Billy

Jail Guitar Doors Update

Jeez, has it really been two months since I last posted? Guess there's no use in posting unless you've got something to say and I believe this is the case today. On the way back from a recent trip to NYC (hmm, got to blog about that!) I stopped by the Maryland County Corrections Facility in Boyds, MD. I had a meeting with Mary Saxon-Clipper and Mark Levant. I was worried that due to a lack of response from Ms. Clipper, my original contact, that her interest in my project was waning. I couldn't have been further from the truth. Mr. Levant turned out to be a great guy who works with inmates in a crisis intervention center at the facility and was a guitar player himself. Their interest was sufficient for me to go ahead with my project after starting out back in April. The plan is procure 3 guitars for the center. I've spoken with Brian Meader from Chuck Levin's (after an email to Alan Levin requesting help). They've given me a great deal (45% off, which I guess is cost) for 3 Alvarez RD-8 acoustic guitars with hardshell cases for $175 each. I'm working with my good friend Michael Yugo, who's been inspirational in his trying to keep together a local acoustic music scene. He's got a running gig over at the 219 Restaurant in Alexandria, Va where we'll be holding the fundraiser, tentatively scheduled for August 5. I'll post the press release when I get it done.

Open Mic's I've Played Pt 2

One of the best rooms in Northern Virginia for an open mic is at the Folk Club of Reston/Herndon. This event is held every Tuesday in a room especially set aside for them at the Tortilla Factory, in Herndon, VA. The first time I played there the applause was so thunderous that I thought I was going to cry! First of all they really listen. I mean they really listen. Second, the entire membership has an interest in music of all types. I've heard covers, Irish Folk, Bluegrass, all types there. One of the great benefits of this venue is that you get 12 minutes to play. For me that's 3 songs. You must be careful regarding the time, though. The timer starts when you first stand behind the microphones and they've got a red light that goes on when you're time is up. The first time I played there, I tryied to squeeze in a fourth song and right around the third verse the light went on. Had to wrap it up fast!

Signup is at club on the night of the open mic. Just go up to the whiteboard next to microphones and write in your name. Generally you want to get there by at least 6:30 PM if you want to get a decent slot, since there is only about 4-5 slots available during each performance section. The evening is broken up into two sections with the first section finished off by a Folk Club Member doing a 25 minute set. The first section is usually over by 8:30PM. The second section begins at 9:00 and it's usually over by 10:00 PM. It's all lots of fun and the food is terrific. These are lovely people and every time I play there someone invites me back to play. That reminds me, it's been a few months since I played there last!

Open Mic's I've Played Pt 1

When I started playing out live a few years ago, I didn't know where to start. Initially I was playing with some guys from work: just an excuse to drink some beers and blow off a little steam once a week. But at some point, when my chops started to come back and I started to accumulate a fair number of newly minted originals, the idea of performing began to interest me. I had given up playing years ago when I decided that I had put enough of my life on hold in what was essentially a failed effort to become successful as a musical artist. Since then I've realized how important all facets of music have become to me, with performing right up there with writing and recording.

My first open mic was at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA. They run an open mic every Monday. The guy running it currently is David Cotton, a sweetheart of a guy. He's extremely supportive because he realizes what it's like to be up there. Unlike other open mic's David is actually getting paid for his efforts, so he's not really motivated to hog the spotlight, unlike a lot other open mic's who shall remain nameless here. (Just trying to keep it all positive!) You get two songs or 8 minutes to play and the crowd is usually pretty nice and well behaved. For the most part they are there to either perform or to listen. Unfortunately, after playing there off and on for the last 4 years, I've yet to get anything else going there other than the open mic thing. I've gone over well, played with a backing band once as a feature artist and brought plenty of folks into the place, but after all this time, it's still just two songs and see you later. I'd like to have a chance to open (even as the bottom of a three or four act bill), but that's not what the Brindley Brothers are all about. The best bet for getting a gig there is to just rent the place! Even though I don't play there much anymore, I'd still recommend it for first timers.

Open Source Resistance

Saw this posted on Slashdot and followed the ensuing links to this webpage. When I saw that they were taking submissions, I quickly shot them an email with links to my stuff. If this is where things are going, I'd like to be part of that.

Wake up and give a shit.

Now that's a message!

Performance

I consider performance a key part of being an all around musical artist. You can’t know what works musically without a response from a live audience. Sometimes a song may need a tweak such as a change in lyrics, change in order of verses, an addition of a bridge and so on. Playing the same songs out frequently improves them. Your approach to them gets familiar and so you sound more confident as a singer and as a player. Just as an ensemble can gel after repeated live performances, a solo artist can improve both the voice and accompaniment. I recently started recording some songs at a good friend’s home studio where he likes to record with minimal overdubs. Going for a more live sound in the studio can be beneficial to overall feel and timing. I found that my vocals, performed live while I was performing the guitar parts, were good enough to leave as the final lead vocal performance. That wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been performing out with increasing frequency recently.

Another benefit to performing is the general creative energy boost it can give you. When I played my first open mike a few years ago, I was so excited afterwards that the very next day I wrote a song. Once I was preparing for a gig where I was supposed to play some Beatle songs. In the middle of listening to a bunch of Lennon/McCartney numbers as well as learning a few, I picked up my guitar and began playing a progression that I had been fooling around with for a year or two. Within minutes I had written three verses that nailed the whole idea of what the Beatles meant to me. It turned out to be a great song. If I hadn’t had the goal of a gig, I wouldn’t have let myself be open to these influences, which indirectly produced a song. BTW, I didn’t get the gig, but the new song was enough recompense!

Finally there’s the whole issue of motivation. In order to keep improving on your craft, you need the motivation of having a gig to look forward to. When you have an upcoming gig on your calendar, you need to prepare your set and practice it. In order to keep the excitement level high, it can be a good idea to include songs you haven’t played live before. Reording the songs in a set can also be an illuminating experience. So if you haven’t been playing live get going! Check this site to find out what venues in your area are opening up the stage to the general public.

G3: The Sausage Party

As a member of the "old school" of rock guitarists, I cut my teeth on players such as Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and of course Eric Clapton. Later, when I still cared, I favored guitarists such as Phil Manzanera, Mick Ronson and Chris Spedding. So when my buddy Srini won two tickets to see the latest incarnation of the G3 tour, I thought "what the heck, it's guitar playing, right?" and last Friday went to the show at the Warner Theater.

As someone who has written my fair share of tunes, the tension between the needs of the song and need of some lead guitarists to strut their stuff is a given. Taken to the extreme you get extended guitar noodling with little or no real musical content, i.e. melody, arrangement, dynamics, you know the drill. So in a nutshell the G3 deal was just that, 3 hours of nonstop guitar noodling. Play a few chords, lay out a mood over a few measures and then it's get down to business time. Solo, more solo, additional solo, final solo along with a guitar flourish ending. Rinse, repeat. Occasionaly you might think, "well this is sounding interesting," and then it was back to full blown solo time. Nonetheless, the event did spawn a few interesting ideas.

First, we know there are 32nd and 64th notes, but are there 128th, 256th or even a 512th note? And if there were a 512th note, could you even hear it? Srini was not willing to discount the existence of a 512th note, but admitted that actually hearing one may not be a provable theorem. Next there was the issue of the sausage party. For the most part the crowd was decidedly male. A sprinkling of a few girlfriends and wives here and there and the occasional girrl shred fan, but mostly a "guy thing." Overheard while standing in the mile long line for the men's room after the Paul Gilbert set: "Ya know in Europe all the guys like to play soccer for fun, but here in the USA we play guitar." You betcha!

And what is it with these tired guitar god moves, such as the one Petrucci used where he'd put one foot up on the stage monitor and throw his head back? This move was then followed by a serious look at the crowd, almost as if he was looking for an acknowledgement of his guitar playing prowness. Looked like a cry for help in a way. The whole "guitar as a penis" metaphor kept getting loaded in my mind as I gazed upon the stage. The strutting, the posturing, the constantly playing on the 12th fret or higher. (Another question, could you have a 26-fret guitar or could you approximate playing that high if you could intonate over the neck humbucker? I don't know, just a thought).

So I think we need to invent a new gesture for these times. We have over the course of history used the middle finger and it's meaning is well known and immutable. The V-sign, once meant victory but morphed during my childhood to mean peace. Then, later incarnations of the rock generation used the index and pinky finger to express, well I'm not sure: I think either the devil or "you are bad!" As in you are so good you are bad. I think after seeing the G3 show, we need a fourth hand gesture. Here's how it would work. Hold your thumb and forefinger as if you are grasping a wine cork (or something similar in length). That's it. It's the universal sign for: "YOUR DICK IS REALLY THIS SMALL!"

Jail Guitar Doors

Yesterday I started the process of trying to pull something together that would synthesize my love of music with my need to do something to create change. I've been thinking about this project for a couple of weeks ever since I came across this in Andy Zipf's blog. Although I never was a huge fan of The Clash, I've since come to terms with the ideas surrounding their music. I guess what I'm trying to say is I once thought that politics and music did not mix. This was before 20 years of Reagan/Bush I/Bush II. Now I get it. Anyway, after doing some research, I sent out a couple of emails to some contacts hoping that this would get the ball rolling. I figure if I can find the people who can get the guitars to the prisoners, then the rest would be easy. There's plenty of music stores in the area who would probably jump at the chance for some free publicity for a good cause and after playing music out for the last 4 years, it should be no problem to pull together enough musicians to do a benefit concert. Lot's of details for sure, but I'm hoping to get some traction. I've already gotten a response back from one contact with a name, number and email address. I've sent the email and will followup soon with a call.

Wish me luck!

2007 SXSW Trip Report

SXSW In A Nutshell

SXSW is a cross between a music festival and music business conference. You know those conferences where they have seminars with panelists and powerpoint presentations? Well it's sort of like that only dumbed down. Unlike those technical conferences that we all know, there's no guarantee that you'll get anything constructive out of the panel sessions. Primarily it's because it's the music business and of course we all know about the "guarantees" on that end! The music festival part is interesting because it's not centered around a single theme, like folk or blues. It's basically 1000+ acts all converging on Austin for the single purpose of showcasing to music business types. Every imaginable genre is there, so I won't go into the details of listing those genres. For that, I suggest you open any mp3 labeling utility and check out the drop down dialog. Yep, rock, pop and folk are finished. If you call you yourself that, you are not with it. I'm not making that last part up. I learned that in one of the seminars. Actually from one of the few "good guys" (if there are any like that left). And that's my point here. As much talk as there is regarding the current state of the music business, it's still a pretty crummy business: open to everyone, but be careful, success is parceled out to the few lucky ones. So keep your day jobs boys!

As you have already figured out by reading my first paragraph, I'm somewhat cynical regarding the music biz. The biz (as I shall heretofore reference it) is basically a three layer cake. The top layer is the business types, the lawyers, managers, publishers, record company execs that are making the bucks. The middle layer are those artists and professionals that are actually making enough money to pay for their health care, mortgage on a house and retirement savings. At the bottom is the rest of 'em: the scrappy types on the road playing one night stands trying to eke out a living. It's the age-old model and it's been going on forever. Everybody's done it. The Beatles did it for years before they became stars.

The Seminars

Here's a brief synopsis of each seminar I went to:

A Field Guide to Indie Labels was interesting because these guys are hurting. It's sad because they actually offer the musician the most care and feeding, yet song sharing is killing them. Plus the economics of the business make it hard for them to make a decent profit. Like anything else in the biz, it helps if you have a hit. If you don't, welcome to the bottom layer.

Demo Listening was an oxymoron. First of all, these weren't demos. Demos are rough mixes of a song idea, perhaps not fully fleshed out, but there to give the listener a taste perhaps of what a live performance would be like. What I heard were masters. Every single one of them. The artists, managers, etc put their CD's into a box and they are drawn out like a lottery and played while everyone in the room listens to them. Then they are critiqued by a couple of industry insiders, either producers, execs, etc. The session lasts only an hour so you don't hear much of the songs but I broke it down like this: 75% of the stuff was completely unoriginal, songs and styles of songs and singing that you've heard a million times before. 25% was actually interesting. Nothing new here. Evidently some artists rely completely on loops to do their songwriting. That's so you can instantly sound like hundreds of other artist. I heard criticisms regarding "no hook" or "hook not soon enough in song". Yikes! I haven't heard phrases like that since the days when radio play actually mattered. My CD did not get picked. I was relieved.

Record Companies, Who Needs Them? would seem to be a good idea for a seminar, especially since it was lead by David Byrne. I have to admit it was interesting to see him up there, powerpoint at the ready. In the end though, it seems you still need record companies, as Mr. Byrne was about to ink a deal with a label while he was there (forgot which one). This seminar was jam packed. BTW, future artists must have the following skills to succeed (I gleaned this from reading in between the lines of his talk): compelling live performance, huge existing fan base, original songwriting skills, great recording chops (you need to be your own engineer and producer) and the ability to write HTML. Seems these days you just can't be perfect enough to succeed!

There's more, but I think you get the point.

Here are some highlights of those seminars more geared toward the fan rather than the wannabes: Interview with Rickie Lee Jones, was quite impressive. She came on stage with a guitar and sang her responses to a few questions with some impromptu songwriting. Guts and talent. Always an impressive combination. Seems the woman has been through some serious down times in her career. That's the bad part of having a hit: following it up. Learned a lot from her talk: perseverance, grace and love. She'd been through a lot of shit but wasn't bitter and was able to continue. Her latest work is based upon the words of Jesus put to music. Seems the guy's words take on a whole new meaning when removed from the context of the Bible. Keynote by Pete Townsend. This event was held in a large hall in a hotel next door. Townsend's always been a bit of a curmudgeon, and now that he's pushing 60-something, he seems even more so. Nonetheless no one can deny his cred. He announced as part of his talk a website called "The Method" which gives subscribers an opportunity to create their own unique musical composition by 'sitting' for the Method software composer. It's getting launched 4/25. I'll need to check that out. Finally I went to The Stooges Interview. Found out a couple of things I never knew. The first Stooges record was produced by John Cale who wouldn't you know produced the Sic F-cks EP back in '77. That's cool. (I was one of the formative members of that band, in case you didn't know. Hey, I've got a little cred!) Great stories and reminisces. I've got the interview recorded if anyone wants a copy.

Anyway, the moral of this story is that if you want to learn something about the biz, ask an artist. They've got the most to share.

The Music

Isn't that what it's really all about? The heck with the biz. It's a downer. It's reality, but we can ignore it when we are seeing the music being performed in front of our eyes. With 1000+ artists performing, it can be daunting deciding who to see and when (and where!) Luckily my buddy Chris, who put me up for the week was also gracious enough to steer us around for the duration with minimal input. Until the last night, he batted 1000!

Idgy Vaughn: A local artist from Austin. I would have called her folk or country folk, but these days it's called Americana. Got it? Anyway a beautiful voice, great songs plus the bonus was also two very pretty ladies on lead and rhythm and back up. The drummer sat on this beat box of a thing with a drum pedal attached playing snare and hi-hat. Worked out nicely.

KTU: I'm not much of a prog rock guy, however these guys created some amazing sounds. The guitarist and drummer had played with King Crimson and the third member used voice and an electrified accordion. The guitar player played a Warr guitar. Sort of a Chapman stick/guitar combination. Ain't never heard nuthin' like that afore.

Sondre Leche: This was a band of Norwegian kids who played their asses off and had a great time, all the while presenting some very sophisticated pop tunes. I was really impressed. Nice to hear great songs (ya know, verses, chorus, bridge, etc) They played at the famous Antone's on 6th Street.

Rachel Fuller and Pete Townsend: Was held at La Zona Rosa a really big club that had an enormous stage. Pete Townsend, who has some romantic relationship with Ms Fuller played at least one song with every act. There were at least four acts: Americana, to Pop (or was that Glam Pop?). Martha Wainwright was one of the artists that performed. I remember her from when she opened for Neko Case at the Towne Hall in NYC last year. Townsend played a song he claimed he never played live before a crowd ever. Cool.

On Friday night we went to The Parish. I saw the following bands. Buffalo Tom. A Boston band. Evidently big in the 90's and still working the machine. They were good. Not exactly my cup of tea. I don't really remember much about them. They were loud. The Drams. A local Texas band. I liked their setup: guitars, drums and bass plus keys. Nice organ and key sounds. Songs were okay. Nothing that blew my socks off. Only had one volume level: loud. Lead singer kept switching guitars but always had the same crappy guitar sound. Steve Earle. Really why I was there. Steve Earle gets a lot of flack these days for being vocal against the war. Fans want him to play his "non-political" stuff. I say (and so did he) give a listen to "Copperhead Road" and tell me he wasn't political back in the day. Did an acoustic set with minimal patter. One exception was a yarn he spun regarding Townes Van Zandt. I did not know that the two of them were buddies. According to Earle, Townes "was the best he ever saw." Coming from Earle, I'd say that was a pretty good compliment. Guess I'll need to pick up a couple of his CD's one of these days. Seems his name keeps popping up. Wanted to stay to see Rickie Lee Jones, but my body just gave out. Four and a half hours on your feet ain't something a 53 year old man can do.

Saturday turned out to be a mixed bag. First I caught only a few songs of what was probably one of the best songwriters I had heard in a long time. I little bit of a woman, from New Zealand and wouldn't you know she had to be at least 7 months pregnant. Bic Runga was her name. I'll definitely need to give some of her stuff a listen. Sophisticated lyrics and interesting melodies. We were really there to check out Andy Pratt. He had a couple of LP's out in the early 70's produced by Arif Mardin. He had a hit too. So I was really looking forward to see what 35 years had done to this guy. Ruined him I'd say. This guy did not practice. He f'ed up every song he played. They could've been good songs, but with all the mistakes it was more pathetic than anything. Kept changing the key because he couldn't sing the notes. At one point I went up to him and gave him one of my guitar picks as he had forgotten to bring one and was struggling to play the guitar without it. Oh well.

Did wander over to see The Stooges at midnight over at Stubbs. A great concert, viewed from the safety of 200 yards from the stage. No sir, no mosh pit for me. At the end he invited up all the "toughest punks in the crowd" to get up on stage with him. Quite hilarious to see 50-60 Iggy impersonators dancing around all at once. This was a graduate course in rock 'n roll for all the young' uns.

My Biography, My Street Cred

Where to begin?

One thousand years ago I migrated to the Lower East Side of NYC in pursuit of a career in the music business on the artist side of the desk. Given the odds of success for such a peculiar choice of vocation, I am happy to report that I was able to climb up several rungs on the ladder of success before falling off. Herewith is a brief synopsis of my career highlights. Warning, excessive name dropping to follow!

What brought me to the big bad city was a production contract with Instant Records which was headed up by Richard Gottehrer, Marty Thau and Craig Leon. Don't recognize the names? Well does Blondie ring a bell? They were also artists signed to Instant Records. We recorded a quirky demo and after a $1000 lawyer fee for the contract negotiation, we found ourselves back on the street. Soon after that splendid experience I became one of the founding members of the storied punk band, the "Sic F-cks" where I filled the role of lead guitarist and songwriter. We eventually signed a deal with Polish Records (John Cale and Genya Ravan) where we recorded a 10 song EP produced by John Cale. Yep, the tunes were loud and fast, but mostly they were short. It was never released, but we got smart and skipped the lawyers this time around. The ultimate triumph was a single produced by John Jansen (engineer on the famous record "Bat Out Of Hell"), Peter Wood (co-writer of "Year Of The Cat") and Marshall Chess (does Chess Records ring a bell?) with a group called "The Pin-Ups," a sort of Americanized version of ABBA with Snooky and Tish from the "Sic F-cks." This little piece of plastic with hole in the middle was on the now defunct Chiswick record label, distributed by EMI. The critics loved it. The public ignored it.

When my future as a rock star began to fade, I decided to return to college and get my ticket punched figuring that at least I could make my parents happy. For the past several hundred years I've had my shoulder pressed firmly against the corporate wheel which has at times been exhilarating but mostly depressing. Recently I decided to test the waters again as a songwriter and performer, but with my expectations adjusted thusly: for financial success they are to be kept low and for the level of pure fun and enjoyment they must be maximized. As a result, I have written over 40 songs which I am happy to perform as a solo singer/songwriter. I hate that label, but it has its uses. I have been making the rounds of the local open mic scene, gradually building up to hour long performances. It's decidedly more scary to get up there all lonely on stage without your buds on drums 'n bass, but let me tell you it does build some serious performance chops. I may be old, but I'm better than ever!

A Sane Revolution

I originally came upon this poem when I saw it on the album cover of the "Mott" album by Mott The Hoople. That was over thirty years ago and it has been stuck in my brain ever since. It is a terrific way to view the work of making change.

A Sane Revolution

If you make a revolution, make it for fun,
Don't make it in ghastly seriousness,
Don't do it in deadly earnest,
Do it for fun.

Don't do it because you hate people,
Do it just to spit in their eye.
Don't do it for the money,
Do it and be damned to the money.

Don't do it for equality,
Do it because we've got too much equality
And it would be fun to upset the apple-cart
And see which way the apples would go a-rolling.

Don't do it for the working-classes.
Do it so that we can
all of us be little aristocracys on our own
And kick our heels like jolly escaped asses.

Don't do it, anyhow, for international Labour.
Labour is one thing a man has had too much of.
Let's abolish Labour, let's have done with Labouring!
Work can be fun, and
men can enjoy it; then it's not Labour.
Let's have it so! Let's make a revolution for fun!

- D. H. LAWRENCE