A Beautiful Noise

I have a voice.

When I am lost, I turn to music. Sometimes, it’s the music I know and love. Often, I must search to find what I need. Today, my searching revealed this song and I am grateful. We are so overwhelmed with content, news, music, tv, films, etc. that truly amazing things slip beneath the radar. I have idolized both Alicia and Brandi for years.

From Wikipedia

"A Beautiful Noise" is a song recorded by American recording artists Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile. The song was written by Keys, Carlile, Brandy Clark, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Hailey Whitters, Linda Perry and Ruby Amanfu.^[2] It was released as a single on October 29, 2020, through RCA Records. The song was performed live on Every Vote Counts: A Celebration of Democracy, and they released the single immediately following the song's premiere on CBS.^[3] The song was also included on the digital reissue of Keys' seventh studio album Alicia (2020), released on December 18, 2020.^[4] The song received a nomination for Song of the Year at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.

The women that wrote this song are all icons of the craft. You may not know all their names, but I do. I encourage you to look into them if you’re not familiar. Eight women teamed up to write a song about the importance of voting, 100 years after the passage of the 19th amendment to the constitution. Why eight? They wanted to make sure they were representing a diversity of perspectives. A lot was going on in the world while they were working on this remotely. There is an excellent article that appeared in The Tennessean that provides the details.

Honestly, can we imagine CBS airing this today? Can we imagine any mainstream media airing this today?

I saw a very touching post on Substack today from a Jeff McFadden, apologizing because he cannot attend the protests. Jeff has a voice.

I have also been carefully following the posts of J.S. Park - a hospital chaplain. He has been documenting all of the people that have been killed, not just Renee Good and Alex Pretti. J.S. has a voice.

Three days ago, Americana legend Mary Gauthier released this on YouTube:

Mary has always had a voice and is not afraid to use it. Mary is fearless. Mary is a fighter. Mary has an entire album of songs written with veterans and their families called Riffles and Rosary Beads, which helped others find their voice.

I am a big fan of Robert L Arnold. As far as I am concerned, he should win a Nobel Prize. Robert has a voice and knows the power of history and language. His work, to me, is just as important as that of Heather Cox Richardson.

On Liberty in Minnesota

My beloved substack subscribers and colleagues have been using their voices too. Kevin Alexander, Dan Epstein, Thea Wood, Jason Thompson, Ellen from Endwell and many others have all been using their voices to talk about what’s happening, connections to music that meets the moment, and more. Musicstack has a voice.

My own voice has been weak, small, and ineffective lately. Like Jeff, I feel guilty, like I need to apologize. I feel like I have been hiding behind the voices of others. Others that are more eloquent, more influential, and better suited to meet the moment than I am.

Today I watched the videos of Denmark protesting us. Denmark. I am heartsick watching the destruction of decades of alliances. I am awed by the Ukrainians. Follow Viktor Kravchuk if you want to know what determination looks like.

I have seen posts saying that we have to stay positive, take care of ourselves and our neighbors, help however we can.

The people marching in the streets, they are the best of us. The historians, writers, poets, songwriters, and all the others who remind us of who we are and just as importantly, who we are not, are real heroes. The people of Minneapolis deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. They have been officially nominated now. That’s good.

America is our home. Screwed up as we are right now, there is still good, light, resistance, and hope. Let’s face it, we have always been screwed up. What defines us, I believe, is our ability to recognize it and do something about it. It should not have taken the deaths of US citizens to awaken our fury, but it did. We are awake.

Veterans, elders, independent journalists, photographers, a few politicians that still have souls, whistleblowers, former DOJ, judges, even children are all speaking out. Crying out. The chorus is growing.

We cannot let assholes steal our patriotism, our love of our neighbors and communities, our rights, our alliances, our faith, hope and charity, our peace. For God’s sake, Lady Gaga is singing the Mr. Rogers’ song. If that is not a sign of the times, I don’t know what is.

We often only quote part of Emma Lazarus’ New Colossus…but here is the whole thing.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Let that fully sink in. Read it again.

We cannot let Lady Liberty sail away to sea. We cannot.

Whether it’s the history of our nation’s founding, the stain of slavery or internment camps, the fight for voting rights, civil rights, LQBTQ+ rights, amendments to the constitution, the wars we fought (some righteous, some not so much) we have always pulled ourselves back from the brink. “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.”

I have not lost my faith. Yes, “I’m just weary to my bones.” I have a voice. I can use it to uplift the voices of others, in my songs, essays, in the voting booth, in what I purchase (or more importantly, don’t) and that is what I will do. “Do or do not, there is no try.” - Yoda

A few final thoughts as Black History Month starts. I found this clip a while ago. It’s Whitney doing an encore at a show for service members in Norfolk, Virginia, back in 1991. She sounded so optimistic. Look at the faces in the crowd, all those beautiful veterans, friends and families. Let’s remember that we could all once come together and enjoy moments like this. We will again.

And finally, from the film Selma. Another amazing collaboration, this time from John Legend and Common. Honoring the work of the great American patriots that fought for Civil Rights. We must “fight on to the finish.”

Peace be with you,

Taz