It seems that three wealthy people bought a $1 power ball ticket together and won $254,000,000.00.  Wow, if you can think of a faster way to take money from the poor and give it to the rich please let me know.  I am in awe of the efficiency of this machine.

By the way, what in the heck are three rich guys splitting a $1 ticket for anyway?!?!?

“Hey Greg, have the maid go to the store and pick up some more caviar for us please.”
“Alright Tim, but I have a devilish idea that has just overtaken me!”
“Do tell, old chap.”
“What say you all that we each put in 33 cents towards buying a lottery ticket that all those poor people keep talking about.”
“Oh, Greg you are quite the scamp!  But if all three of us put in 33 cents we will be a penny short!”
“Well I have thought of that Brandon… we simply won’t tell the maid!!!”
“hahahahahahhahahaha”

puke

Link to the article… for your own puking pleasure.

Lately I have been hitting the old sketch book.  I remember when I was little, laying down on the carpet and drawing comics for hours on end.  As I got older I started thinking of it as a waste of time… what was I thinking?  Drawing comics is totally awesome and not at all a waste of time… here is a little one.  For those of you who are a bit less nerdy than myself, all of those little cells look a bit like what I drew there… I need to get a microscope so I can draw more single cell comics. #punning

Inside my body right now there is a war going on.  There are tiny little oddly shaped cold virus cells attacking me.  I hate them.  They are stupid and nobody likes them… not even their own little virus cell mothers.  I have ordered my body to go to war with them.  As I type this millions of brave well trained white blood cells are in a fight to the death with these disgusting invaders.  I have been amassing this army for some time for just such an occasion, but the decision to enter a war can never be taken lightly.

These barbarous invaders have already taken ground in my lungs and upper respiratory system.  They began their invasion on Thursday with a feint attack on my throat, which I must woefully admit, I fell for.  My over reaching attempt to defend that attack with two slightly chilled bottles of Champagne won me the battle, but it seems that the godless viruses had planned to take root in my chest all along.  When my defenses were down the evil little bastards moved in and they have set up a virtual war factory in there.  This is why I have enlisted the help of my very own little Napoleon.

I have visited my internal Elba and called upon a great hero of past viral wars.  I know that this decision comes with a cost, but I know that it is for the good of the Tom that we release this tiny Golem.  Set loose your dogs of war and sound the trumpets of victory soon my little warriors, because I have a show on Friday that I don’t want to be sick for.

I am really excited about playing at Bazaar Cafe at 7:00 on Friday with The Plastic Arts, and with my little Napoleon’s help I will be at full stride when the hour is here.

I try to keep my politics out of my music and professional life.  I don’t do this because I am ashamed of my beliefs, but because I respect views from all over the spectrum.  I often find that something that I held very close to my heart one year gets beaten down or proven false the next.  It’s hard to know which way is up in today’s political climate and I am a musician, I do not claim to be a political scientist.  I know what works for me but I don’t want to tell anyone else what their views “should” be.  With that said, I feel like I have to address something which I have waited far too long to weigh in on.

I fully and wholeheartedly support the OWS movement and it’s core ideals.  I have been disgusted with the way that the protesters have been treated by both the media and police.  I am outraged.

Right now there is something amazing happening on the streets of our major cities (and some smaller ones.)   Everyday people (I hear you Sly Stone) are standing up for the little guy.  There are teachers, war veterans, store clerks, bartenders and waiters, small business owners, and students.  This is a grass roots movement that includes the amazing spectrum that is America.  They are calling for something that should be universally evident, but apparently is not.  I will do my best to sum up the OWS movement’s message here.

Corporate greed, and the political corruption that goes with it, are choking the citizens of the America, and we the people are handing that power to them.  Let’s all take a moment to realize the truth of our current situation and then start working towards correcting it.

That’s it.  They are not a defined group of people with a defined political agenda because the problem that they are raising awareness for,  is one that effects 99% of the world.  It doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum, you are being squeezed and cheated by the 1% of people running the show.  Red State, Blue State, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Tea Party – everyone is affected.  What the OWS protesters are doing (and doing well, I might add) is saying:
“We are all in this together, and we are all getting screwed.”  By not pushing a political platform, they are remaining inclusive.

“Is it valid to bring up a problem if you don’t voice a solution?”

I say that it is.  I think that to solve a problem we must first get everyone to realize that the problem exists.  That first step is what I am seeing in OWS.

I have been appalled by the media coverage of the OWS movement.  The funny thing about that is now I have sympathy for the first Tea Party protesters who came out to voice their opinions only to be made fools of by traditional media.  It is true that in that movement, as in OWS, there is a fringe element that is completely ridiculous.  The racist and xenophobic parts of the Tea Party that were highlighted by TV coverage were a total joke, ( just as the extreme leftist fringe of the OWS are a joke) but those are the people that the media focuses on.  I’m going to let you all in on a little secret:

TV news is not in the business of disseminating unbiased accounts of events.  They are in the business of entertaining you enough that you will sit there and watch advertisements and hopefully buy enough stuff to keep the advertisers buying ads.

That is not to say that TV news is lying to you (although there are plenty of cases of that as well), it is to say that if you see something on TV, you have to understand that its entire point is to ENTERTAIN, not to inform.  If there is a camera crew at a protest, they are looking for the most ENTERTAINING people to film, not the most representative.  Try this out the next time you are watching an onsite news broadcast:  picture the camera crew and the reporter filming.  Think about the decisions they made to pick out what it is that you are seeing.  Think about what they may have left out, or how the camera itself has affected the environment.  When was the last time that a well adjusted, intelligent person has run behind a reporter and started screaming??  Yet how often is a scene defined by the people in the background?  Are they showing one small area in a much larger picture?  And, if so why?

I have had people tell me that they discount the OWS because “it is a bunch of hippies trying to bring back the 60′s” and  that “they are camping out and smoking pot and having drum circles and waiting for a hand out.”  These people are obviously getting their information from a source that is pushing that message because the vast majority of the people that I see locally (in Oakland) are not “pot smoking hippies looking for a hand out“.  The vast majority are people who work 50 hours a week and are barely scraping by.  They come out on their days off and after work to show support.

I read an article in the Oakland Tribune that made me sick to my stomach.  It was addressing the OWS Oakland protester’s interaction with the mayor who authorized the raids that turned violent.  90% of the article was well put together, but at the very end they added a quote from a 19 year old kid saying “The mayor should just come down here and smoke a bowl with us.”  I have since recycled the paper so I don’t have the authors name here, but the point is that the 19 year old that was quoted has NOTHING to do with the meeting between the mayor and the protesters.  This 19 year old is in no way indicative of the vast majority of the protesters.  Why would someone include this random, ridiculous quote?  Oh yeah… because it makes it ENTERTAINING.  Well, I am not entertained.  I am informed and I can see through the attempts to distract and redirect me.  I only hope that you can too.

(Wow this post is much longer than I meant for it to be…)

I will sum up and close it out here.

I am in support of the OWS idea of spreading the message “Things are screwed up, let’s talk about it so that we can start to fix it.”  I hope that if you are reading this you would take a few minutes to look into the message that they are sending out into the world.  If you agree with what you learn, I ask that you take 30 seconds and post something on Facebook, Twitter, or that you just talk about it with a friend.  The most amazing part of this movement is that it is simply starting a conversation.  Feel free to pitch in by starting one yourself.

-Tom Rhodes

I was asked by a close friend today to chime in on a discussion about the fees that are charged to venues by ASCAP and BMI if they have live shows with cover songs. It is an issue that I have dealt with first hand and have been on both sides of the coin. I am going to copy the question and my response onto here and let you decide how you feel. The names have been redacted.

On 10/19/11, XXXXXX wrote:

I have a friend back in Ohio that has made his living playing blues music and one of the venues he plays at is being sued by BMI music for playing both recorded and live music without paying royalties. Seems pretty crazy to me but as of today they have basically shut down any music being played at this place and for god’s sake this is a friggin winery.

Does this look like a place setup to steal music royalties?

<insert innocuous looking venue here>

Executive Summary From XXX:
XXXX will end up settling out of court (hopefully) They owe for 6 years of non payment on their license ($6,400.00 per year) PLUS $150,000.00 per song for 12 songs under the BMI umbrella that were played by bands!!!! Huge fines and lawsuit. Totally scam. Will be interesting to see what the final net result is. Scary that entities can so wantonly strong arm money from honest, hard working business owners.

He also found his ASCAP card from 2004 and his now wondering where his airplay royalties are coming from his songs on the radio such as “<song I’ve never heard of>” and everybody’s favorite “<why would you name a song that?>”

Today XXXX cancelled any and all live gigs for fear of additional fines, not word on how they are handling recorded music. Are you guys playing any BMI songs this weekend?????

On Oct 19, 2011, YYYYYY wrote:

While it is pretty shitty to do stuff like that, if a bar is charging at the door, they’re using the music as a revenue stream and should at least get a stern talking to. This kind of stuff is over the top though and they’re only doing it to make a point. Point taken: never give money to BMI again.

adding Tom to the thread, so we can get a professional’s point of view….

Here is my response

There is a culture in our country of everything should be free, except for what you are selling. It is amazingly pervasive. As an artist you make your living by creating things with your mind… a songwriter is selling ideas or thought patterns is one way to think about it. It is impossible to regulate the sale of ideas but there needs to be some financial transaction or the “business” of music cannot happen.  At some point in our society we decided that music does have a value, it is a service or product that can be monetized, and we created governing bodies to ensure a fair trade of the product. We created groups whos purpose it is to make sure that these intangible things, these ideas and thought patterns, maintain a cash value. That is the job of ASCAP,BMI ,SESAC, and the RIAA… They are imperfect bureaucratic systems to say the least, but they have a monumental task of trying to convince a population of people, who think that everything should be free except what they are selling, that these songs and music have an intrinsic and real monetary value.

I made a living for a number of years by playing other artist’s songs in bars, it never crossed my mind once in that time that I was stealing… it didn’t feel wrong, I was making people happy by giving them what they wanted. I had no idea if the bar paid ASCAP, or BMI, or anyone… it wasn’t even a blip on my radar. I started to learn about ASCAP when I became a member as a songwriter and publisher by putting out records. I really didn’t get very much money from them at all, and it seemed like more of a formality, but then again no one was using my music on TV, and only small local radio stations were carrying it. My first interaction with an ASCAP official was when I was running a bar in North Carolina. They came to the owners and said that if they were going to have live cover bands and play music over the speakers in the bar they would have to pay a yearly fee of about $1,000. (BMI came with the same request shortly afterwards.) When the guy told me this I launched into him with demands for my royalties that I hadn’t seen from ASCAP and really scared the crap out of the poor guy. He left, and the owners called his bluff and ASCAP never sued, it is pretty hard for them to prove that you played cover music unless they have it recorded.

The reality of it is this though. If you are playing (read selling if you are getting paid to do it) someone’s music that they sell without their permission you are stealing from them. If you change out “music” to anything tangible and make the same case it looks much clearer.

Joe had a show at his bar last night of Lead Zeppelin songs and made $2000 because of it.  None of the money went to the original artist.

Joe made photo copies of Dr. Seuss books and sold them at his book store for $2000. None of the money went to the original artist.

It is the same thing, but in one case you have an idea transfer that is ephemeral and the other physical.

The real argument behind this is not that it isn’t stealing to play other peoples songs for money, it plainly is, but that it’s on such a small scale that it doesn’t matter. I don’t know if it hurting the original artist financially or not, that would be up to them to decide. I do know that it is profiting off of someone else’s work and there is something about it that doesn’t sit right with me. If a venue does have cover songs to make money then I think that they should pay the fees to use those songs. If they want to have live music but not pay the fees then they should have artists play their own music, there is no shortage of original artists right now. Unfortunately this is a hard sell in today’s culture, I think that the music that you hear on the radio is the result of that.

-Tom

As a post script I would like to note that the onus for the a fore mentioned fees in currently on the venues.  Bands who play cover songs are not in the wrong in the eyes of the law, and personally I hold no judgements over them.  I learned how to write songs through years of learning how to play other peoples music.  It is in fact the only way to learn art, by repeating art that has come before, the problem we are discussing is with the question of should it be free to use cover songs in a venue as a way for that venue to make money.  I say no it shouldn’t.

I have long held that music should not be a competition, rather it should be an expression of a person and a community. I think that by coming together with other artist and passionate people that music and art is uplifted. Too often we see songwriters in competition with their songs and shows. It is true that there are people of varying skills, ability, and needs, but that does not mean that we can not come together as a community and help each other. I am calling for a “meet-up” of musicians, songwriters, visual artist, venues, and promoters this Monday. I think that the first step in forming a community is meeting one another, beginning a conversation that will hopefully carry on to collaboration. Please come with your Demo/CDs/business cards… please come with an open mind and meet people who are working in parallel to you right now… please come to lend a hand and ask for help… please come to share your awesome gifts and come to see others.

I have seen it do amazing things in the past and I would like to see it again here where I now live. When artist come together as a community amazing things start to happen.

All are welcome, but please RSVP so that I can tell the cafe how many people to expect.

There is a free bus that stops directly in front of the Black Diamond cafe called EmeryGoRound. It is on the Powell line. There is also an AC Transit bus stop for the 26, J, and Z buses.

East Bay Songwriter/Musician Meet-Up Poster

I have booked a show for Oct. 11th at Bec’s Bar & Bistro in Berkeley.  There are three of us on the bill for the night.  John Nash, The Plastic Arts, and myself.  I am really looking forward to getting a full set in.  There is no cover charge and it is a lovely place to hear some music.

8:00 – John Nash
9:00 – Tom Rhodes
10:00 – The Plastic Arts

Poster art by Tom Rhodes

Hey man what kind of music do you play?

I do not have an answer for you. I am going to do a bit of an experiment here. I am going to post three songs on here (I wrote or released all if them within a two week period) and I would like to get suggestions from anyone out there as to what “genre” of music I play, I am stumped.

I write songs, I can’t help what kind of songs they turn out to be.

Music is music, genre is something created to bind it, package it, and sell it. Hmmm… I could go for a bit more of the latter.

Feel free to post suggestions, the best one will win a free digital copy of all three songs.

They Don’t Care About Us – Original by Tom Rhodes

Embrace the Judas by Tom Rhodes

Moses Come For Me – Original by Tom Rhodes

First and foremost, I have moved to Northern California. It is amazing here. I live in the East Bay area in between Berkeley and Oakland and it all seems like some kind of amazing dream. I miss North Carolina and its warm inviting waters, but I am proud to call this my new home. To my East Coast family, friends, and fans, you are in no way forgotten and you have made my life there one for the story books. My wife and I made this move to try to go for the brass ring while we are still young and strong enough to reach it.

Secondly I am well aware that it has been a long time since my last blog post. Blogging is something that doesn’t come naturally to me. I don’t think that I have (as of yet) had an idea and said to myself, “You know what? That’ll make a great blog post!” I find that generally I am too busy doing things to stop and write down my ideas in long form for a public forum. I have Twitter and my personal Facebook for most of my little witticisms and the things that would take longer to explain just don’t seem worth the time. With that said, I am trying to get back into the swing of it. I submit this as the defense’s evidence A.

I have been a busy little beaver over the last few months. I feel like I am writing some of the best music of my life. Some of it I have been releasing online one song at a time. I have been making videos as well which I have been releasing on YouTube. It is hard to find the right balance of how much music I should put out into the world. I am constantly sitting on a backlog of songs but I feel like I have just been inundating my current fans, which brings me to my third point. I want to figure out a way to get my music in front of new people online. I don’t have a budget to pay one of the online advertisers to blast my stuff out there, so I am trying to do a bit of crowd-sourcing here. I would like to ask you (you being anyone who has cared enough to read this far into my missive) to help me by sharing my Facebook page with your friends. I know that it sounds silly but there are many venues that check your fan page on Facebook and decide based on that if they will book you or not so a little help there would go quite a long way for me. By tweeting it, or just by posting it on your status from time to time you can make a big difference.

Finally I want to take a moment to thank all of my new friends and fans here in California. I am trying to grow something here from nothing but a tiny seed that I am bringing from the East Coast. My mission is to spread a message of love and connectivity to the world and I see the love growing here already. Thank you for your help so far and I can’t wait to show you all how much I have to give.

Well blogging is not my strong suit, but we do what we can when can. Here is a link to my YouTube channel. There are quite a few new videos up there. Here is a link to my SoundCloud page. I have been putting every song on there… even the ones that don’t make it to video. Here is one more link, it is to my BandCamp site. It will allow you to download any of the original songs that I have posted.

I have spent the last month or so learning how to do video editing and working on putting together some higher quality videos. I am only now feeling like I am getting a handle on how to make it work, but even now it it time consuming work as video renders can sometimes take hours for just a few minutes of video.

If you would like to keep updated on all of my new music and videos you can click the like button on my Facebook Fan Page.

Thank You for listening,

Tom

P.S. Big news is coming soon. I am eager to publish it now, but I will wait a few days for all of the dust to settle.