I thought I would share some observations about travellin' in the northeast. It has been a few years since I travelled in America, i did a short trip from Olympia to SF during covid lockdown, so it's been a while since I have been out and about in America since then. One thing I've noticed is how few road dawgs and anarcho types there are these days. Like the movement has evaporated in the last ten years. but with more and more corporate control over society that seems like a normal response to activists graduating and going to work for the corporations, I can count many many activists that have disappeared this way. Whether one is being literally mind controlled directly or just by influence in general the lack of spontaneity in America compared to busking in Ireland (Europe) is very dramatic. I am struck at how rock like Americans seem compared to the people of Ireland, Germany, etc. other places I have busked, lacking any organic reactions or spontaneity, whereas in Galway people dance in the streets to buskers, form audiences to watch a good performance here in America it is as though most are completely numb to what is going on around themselves.
It was refreshing to attend the local Waltham FNB benefit which had some very good folk musicians and small number of punks dancing to said folk music. Nice to have a warm plate of food on the road. I continue to loathe being back in America, but this is where my legal rights are so here I am. Again the advantage to being an older road dawg anarcho type is I remember when there where many many more of us before 9/11 and hoping that some day we will have our own spaces again to flourish as free people. Yet, it is really easy to roam around a world full of robotic like people that stick to well trod pathways never exploring new vistas. I also continue to be amazed at the sickness that Americans cast out onto their streets to fend for themselves and well if they can't make it then it's either jail or death for them, you see things here no Irish or European would ever put up with for their own fellow citizens, just refugees are allowed to suffer this way in Europe.
I look forward to the NYC bookfair hopefully there will be some road dawg anarcho types there that I can relate to. However, we each are responsible for our own ability to pass on change, maybe playing music might wake up a few people for a second or two before they go back to staring at their phones, but I'll take those few seconds of tuning into a higher vibe through music anyday, it really feels good when it happens. Another advantage these days is that laptop batteries last so long these days, I can sit and write music on my laptop for hours at a time without needing to plug in regularly, if you can get the right gear, tech is definitely making the road dawg life easier while in the hands of those that are purely destructive it remains destructive. It is very empowering to play music on the dead streets of America, luckily i have a deep base djembe drum that can shock a person when they go by through its deep vibrations and cause them to look up once and a while.
