Fly on... Amy Whinehouse

Artists cannot hide behind the back stage curtain anymore. The Sinatra era is over. No more "knocks on the door" if you know something you're not supposed to know. The age of discretion is over. Artists, especially mainstream, are completely vulnerable, naked and wide open to the media hawks who reveal everything. The ugly truth that none of us want to deal with or admit. The dark side. And I guess some artists are just blessed with the right tone to say and/or sing it for us.

And like Amy Whinehouse, not all of us are able to function while attempting to do this. And while this truth is trending for its 4 or 5 day stint, I can't help but notice the familiar switch from, " That stupid crackwhore...to OMG, I'm so gonna miss her..." in all the twitter and facebook posts. Is this not the yin and yang side of humanity in a nutshell? I will admit that I had not thought of Amy Whinehouse for about a year until her recent passing. Or that I was tuned in to her spiraling life style in the last weeks of her death. In fact, yesterday, I just googled her last show on youtube. The one where she got boo'd off stage for being too wacked out of her mind to perform. Poor Amy. I don't feel sorry for her because she is an addict. I feel sorry for her because she is an addict and a person...in the limelight. In an era where folks at TMZ want to expose peoples misery and death to gain publicity and money for themselves. It's cruel, yes. And completely glossed over in one simple catch phrase: That's the biz.

And for people like Amy Whinehouse, it is a quick roller coaster ride up into the spotlight and down into her grave. It makes me really wonder about people. So impressed and grateful when someone can sing our woes and struggles and pain. And then so damn envious and jealous of the money they make while doing it. Never once thinking of her friends and family who had to bear the weight of her entire journey from rags to riches and now death. Her family. They feel the way your family would if you died for any reason. Any reason. And how would your family feel? Most of us won't even ask that question to our self. But anytime I see people on line chiming in about how " that crack whore dying was no shock" it makes me wonder, who the fuck asked you? And why are you saying that now? And how does that make you feel better about your self?

We artists are people who write and play music to bring joy and understanding. To vent pain and sorrow with the idea that it will heal us somehow. To let others know that they are not alone in this crazy world. And to get caught up in the volley of conversation and personal opinion wars over music is a waste of music writing time. Check out the haters in the youtube comment boxes if you wanna see for yourself.

So all I have to offer is my condolences to her friends and family. And that her songs will always be amazing to her fans. Rest in peace Amy Whinehouse. I feel that chill on the back of my neck like you are reading this and you are free.

Fly on...your friendly cyberhood

Uncle Samurai

Uncle Samurai Music Is Now Available On Line

Uncle Samurai music is now on line for sale/download!


Buddah blessings to all

your friendly cyberhood
Uncle Samurai

8-5-2011 It's coming...

August 5th 2011

In a world that is split into hell and heaven

Something for all in this internet nation

Some serious audio medication...

It's coming...

your friendly cyberhood

Uncle Samurai

The Music Slut Interview With Kokayi

Here is a great interview with an artist named Kokayi by The Music Slut, a veteran on line music blog site that I just discovered on the twitter.

It starts here...

TMS: The first thing I wanted to ask you about was the title of the album –Robots and Dinosaurs. Can you talk about where that title comes from, and did you set out to make the album with that theme in mind?

Kokayi: I asked my son what he wanted for Christmas last year, and he said, “Hey dad, I want robots and dinosaurs.” And I was like, oh, ok, because he was five at the time. And I went to work on some music, and it hit me – I was like, wow, robots and dinosaurs. You’re either a robot or a dinosaur. I was listening to a song I was working on, and the longer I sat there and thought about what he said, the longer it all started to play into it...

And continues here...

your friendly cyberhood
Uncle Samurai

It Is What It Is

It's not what your country can do for you...it's what your country is doing TO you.

The first step in change is to accept and understand what it is that we are changing.

Dear United Corporations Of America,

It Is What It Is by mooselethridge
If you're foolin' around with the laws of stability
And so many years of recorded anthropology
Don't act surprised with that look of stupidity
If I dismiss your financial possibilities
How many frauds in this continuum
Are holding a job to consistently ruin it
Making it hard to accept how you're doing it
Guilty as charged with the facts there proving it

As natural as the light from the midday sun
Shining in the sky since the summer of one
Inherent to us all as plain as can be
Your incessant need to change all that we see
But it is what it is, that's how it is
Even a scientist would have to admit that
All the deranged are rearranging everything
Into something so strange
But it is what is, that's how it is
And now we all get to deal with the mess
All the deranged are rearranging everything
Into something so strange and now it is...
That's how it is
The way that it is
Is what it is

If you're wondering how the whole world is gonna change again
Look at the proud corporations running everything
They won't stop and the people keep suffering
But some of us have a way to bring hope again
Balance the pain with a blow to the heart of it
Dividing the game that they play for the conquering
And just explain to their own kids living in it
Our whole futures on the line it's time to deal with it

As clear as the water in the deep blue sea
That brings all life to you and me
Inherent to us all as plain as can be
Your incessant need to change all that we see
But it is what it is, that's how it is
Even a scientist would have to admit that
All the deranged are rearranging everything
Into something so strange
But it is what is, that's how it is
And now we all get to deal with the mess
All the deranged are rearranging everything
Into something so strange and now it is...
That's how it is
The way that it is
Is what it is

Your Friendly Cyberhood

Uncle Samurai

All In Your Hands

To wind down your wheels...

All In Your Hands by mooselethridge

Don't think to give up on a dream
I know what it means to lose your expectations
I've seen people who achieve
What they want and need with their determination

If someone's in your way day after day
Trying to make you pay
Leading you astray controlling things in vain
And every word you say

No stranger than man to think that you can
Change the way of this natural plan
Try to understand the limit of the land
And remember it's all in your hands

Walk proud alone or in a crowd
Thieves are lurking round and hiding in the shadows
Stand tall everyone and all
Breaking down the walls to reveal what matters

If someone's in your way day after day
Trying to make you pay
Leading you astray controlling things in vain
And every word you say

No stranger than man to think that you can
Change the way of this natural plan
Try to understand the limit of the land
And remember it's all in your hands

Stay strong and it won't be long
Lessons that you've learned will be a moment in passing
Your mind adapting to the times
Keeping you in line shall be forever lasting

If someone's in your way day after day
Trying to make you pay
Leading you astray controlling things in vain
And every word you say

No stranger than man to think that you can
Change the way of this natural plan
Try to understand the limit of the land
And remember it's all in your hands

Words and music by Musashi Lethridge