The People That You Meet (a Bluesfest follow up)

Do you have an opinion on Coal Seam Gas? Chances are, unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've developed one over the last week. And even if you have been hiding you might be wondering about the toxic concoction bubbling to the surface under your rock...

A recent episode of '4 Corners' on ABC TV entitled Gas Leak! has created an tide of media scrutiny over the processes and effects of coal seam gas on the environment. The '4 Corners' story, and much of the subsequent media, has focussed on the lack of any truly independent research into the environmental fallout from the coal seam gas industry. This lack of transparency by the industry is exacerbated by claims that environmental impact reports were fast tracked, with approvals being granted before all the information was known.

Meeting the Stop CSG team at Bluesfest

Only a few days before the program screened I was at Bluesfest talking with the volunteers and activists involved with the Lock The Gate Alliance. Lock the Gate are a group involved in protecting Australia's environmental, cultural and agricultural resources and they are particularly interested in the potential harm of coal seam gas extraction.  It was a fascinating conversation, especially considering I spend perhaps too much of my time engaging on the wrong side of this keyboard in front of me.

Prior to meeting the group at Bluesfest I had read a little about Coal Seam Gas and found myself generally confused by the wealth of contradictory information available. When I'm uncertain or feel ill-informed on an issue I tend to shy away from getting involved until I know more.

Getting information is not always easy though. Especially when your average Google search returns hits in the millions (21,800,000 when I searched 'coal seam gas') That's where talking to people who are passionate and involved can really help. Here's a little of the information and perspectives I was offered by Melissa & Elly whom I chatted with:

• Only a small percentage of Australia's land is used for crops - One of the big reasons Lock the Gate are locking their gates is because of concern for the viability of agricultural land. Coal seam gas extraction has the potential to contaminate bore water and significantly decrease the available ground water. This may have devastating effects on the 6.5% of agricultural land used for crops

• The effects are being seen on the ground (literally) - while we talked I heard about farmers in the Northern Rivers region who had seen bubbling in rivers and other previously unknown phenomenon. Now I can't report my personal experience of these events, but as a bystander with a vested interest in food production (we all need to eat!) I believe there is reason to be concerned.

• Alternate energy sources are being explored - the team at Lock the Gate are actively involved with groups researching solar energy production. Put simply, they are not blind to the fact that Australians consume energy. They just believe that coal seam gas and the hydraulic fracturing that assists it's extraction are dangerous, environmentally irresponsible ways to meet our energy needs.

Those three short points I've discussed are in no way the full story of coal seam gas and the Lock the Gate Aliance's work. I would encourage anyone interested to click on the links I've provided and gather information for yourself. When I chatted with the group though these three points of information were the ones that tipped my opinion in their favour and convinced me to sign their petition. 

Now I write often on social justice issues and the need for average people to be involved. Increasingly the most accessible and efficient way for people to engage is via the internet. My experience up at Bluesfest has reignited for me the power and potential face-to-face engagement. The Lock the Gate Alliance are real people working, fighting and winning battles in their communities for the right to a safe, sustainable future.

It's been a few days now since the end of Bluesfest and the good vibes and music are still running high. I'll continue to write and sign petitions online. But I'll also be wandering up to people with clipboards more often and asking them the hard questions. If they answer as eloquently as Melissa and Elly, they'll get my support too...

Everyone deserves music...

I think the first big crowd singalong I ever took part in was at a Crowded House gig. I might be romanticising this but I'm pretty sure it was 'Weather With You'...

"Walking round the room singing stormy weather,

At 57 mount pleasant street..."

And for that beautiful moment the crowd was in perfect voice. Having no confidence in my own singing I still joined in and it was like I was in a choir.

Crowd singing had auto-tuned our voices.

Music is the language of us all...

Now I've been in many a crowd singalong this weekend at Bluesfest. One of my favourites has to have been The Cat Empire. These guys always make me dance, make me laugh and of course make sing. I sing so loud I get hoarse and yet the crowd always sounds in perfect voice. When Harry Angus hits the high notes I drop out but others in the crowd take over, when Felix is singing smooth I kick in a little. We become the best of ourselves.

You see the auto-tune effect everywhere you go at Bluesfest.

Sit down on the grass and listen to music in the afternoon sun. If you're there long enough someone will sit next to you and start chatting. Go for a wander through the markets and while you're checking out some shorts end up chatting with the sales assistant about the difference between Aussie and European men.

Sitting in the festival cafe listening to Trombone Shorty we were joined at the table by Eirin. We chatted music, politics, travel and almost forgot to listen to the music! We made a new friend and when his band 'Gait' comes to Sydney in a few months time, we'll go check them out. Later on that night I got asked for a lighter. I don't smoke but we still ended up talking politics and fashion.

All over the festival this was happening: food halls and bus lines, in the dry or torrential rain. It seemed like nothing was too much trouble and everyone was stoked to be sharing moments with the people around them. Wouldn't it be great if everyday was like this?

The sun also rises...

As the sun sets on another Bluesfest and I'm still wistfully humming along to the music in my head, I'm wondering how to spread this feeling through the year. If only it were as simple as taking everyone in my life to a festival!

Instead I'm going to focus on the diversity, the openness and the tolerance that the festival brings to me. Most of the shit that brings us down in life begins with a simple failure to stop and look at things from another point of view. Music lubricates the gears in that respect; as we dance along the ideas infect us and we see the world a little differently.

So how can I auto-tune the world; do we all just need good music?

That's probably too simple an answer. I mean it's not like we can pitch-correct people's opinions, nor should we. But what if we do consciously what the music does to our unconscious, helping us listen to different ideas? What if we stop ourselves from saying no straight away and ask ourselves what if? We'll never agree with everyone but we'll have a lot less arguments and when we do they'll be more constructive.

"Everyone deserves music". So says another of my Bluesfest favourites, Michael Franti. We deserve it because of all the good things that it brings and we deserve it because we help spread those good things around.

Musical Chairs...

Day three of Bluesfest. This will be a two parter...

Plant vs. Pop

I want to talk about the choices we make because tonight I am faced with a big one:

Deciding between Robert Plant and Iggy Pop at the festival.

Some of you will say "Ha! Zepplin all the way man!".

Others "Iggy and the Stooges! Keeping it real!".

More of you might perhaps invoke that horribly ubiquitous phrase 'first world problems'. And let's face it there's nothing particularly dire about which rock legend I choose to listen to tonight. Except that there is...

Our choices large or small are the sum of ourselves. Robert Frost illustrates the importance of our decisions in his immortal lines:

"I took the one less travelled by,

and that has made all the difference."* 

When we invoke the mantra of 'first world problems' we feel perhaps that we are honouring those people in the world less fortunate than ourselves. But our narcissistic navel gazing does nothing to improve the lot of anyone; first, third (or second) world. Acknowledging the developing/developed divide does nothing to address it.

Perhaps instead of seeking a self-pitying ego boost, we could consider how our decisions impact on others and the world around us. Robert Plant actively supports charities involved in cancer research, animal welfare and supporting the education of underprivileged kids. Iggy Pop is involved with charities supporting at-risk kids, breast cancer research and music.

Which one do I go see? I'll let you know when I finish the blog tonight...
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Part Two...

So I cheated; checking out a little of Plant then a little of Pop before finally settling on Robert Cray. But after listening to Allen Toussaint in the afternoon I realised I was already getting more than my fair share of musical genius. It was easy in the end and I loved finishing of the night with some blues.

There was never going to be a big dilemma. I got a little preachy up there because I hate it when people trivialize an issue. Making something out of nothing (first world problems man!) then ignoring the hard stuff disrespects us all.

While I'm up here at the festival I'm going to check out some awesome tunes, talk to some people and check out some causes. Like the Orangutan Project, or Playing For Change. These guys take the opportunity of a gathering like Bluesfest and spread a little awareness of social justice issues to people who might otherwise miss them. See this was never just about the music; it was about how the music always connects to the bigger stuff in our lives...

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* Robert Frost, 'The Road Not Taken'

Tribes...

I'm a bearded man. Just putting it out there for those of you who haven't glanced up at the profile picture, or those who did and just assumed I'd lifted a shot from a serial killer fan-site. Bearded men in Australia, perhaps world wide, seem to own membership of a covert society made up exclusively of the facially hirsute. I like to call it the fraternity of bearded men.

As I ordered my coffee this morning at 'Fundamentals' in Byron Bay the magnificently bearded man serving me enthusiastically embraced my company. This brother from another mother saw in my beard a kindred spirit and I felt included. Then on the bus out to Bluesfest day two Rory from Brisbane complemented my beard as he enthusiastically related his struggles to grow and integrate a beard into his own life.

Beards everywhere and I felt myself in the eye of a bearded storm!

Now many people would acknowledge football fandom as the Australian tribe most identified with. Walk into a pub within a team's geographical footprint and you'd better be fan of the wherever lions or the hereabouts crows. Failure to be a local fan or worse to support the opposition will at least garner disapprobation, at worst a swift blow to the head.

'The Beards' with me right of stage!

But I'm not sure football fandom is really tribal in the same sense as beardom. Once a week football fans don the colours and go a little mad. The rest of the time they resume their lives and pass through life unobserved. But communities do not rest, tribes do not disperse to offices come Monday and the bearded wear their tribal brand everywhere they go.

Australian band 'The Beards' epitomise the tribal camaraderie that is beardom. They sing of triumph and desire in 'I'm in the mood, for beards!' but also of the discrimination faced by bearded men and women in 'This beard stays'. And really that is the essence of any tribe.  

You may have your society of secret handshakes, winks and nods but have you spent even a fortnight growing a decent beard? Tribes require an initiation. You will know when you are welcomed; women or men you've never met will smile, stop you and chat because you are kin. 

But never forget your beardless past! We all long to belong, crave the acceptance of our peers. No one deserves to stand, chin bare, against the cold alone. Because belonging is a privilege, and one we should extend to all our beardless brethren. Fully one half of the planet's population can't grow beards and yet without them no beard would ever exist!

Having a beard gives us a responsibility; to extend the warmth we feel with everyone we meet. Let no one miss the warmth of our embrace, or the rash of our pash!

Music, Philosophy & why A.C. Grayling could play bass in Frank Turner's band...

Hi all, I'm up in Byron Bay for Bluesfest. It's made me a little tardy in writing and truthfully I wondered if I'd find the time to research and get anything done...

But it's after one in the morning, I've just come back from some amazing bands and started thinking. It's funny how the music can do that to you. Even if you're dancing or drinking with a friend some songs will always draw you in to their reality and have you musing even as you sing along.

A band called Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls started all this, but first let's rewind a day for some context...

Driving up the coast yesterday we were gifted with extraordinarily heavy traffic and plenty of time for some radio. We tuned in to Radio National (basically the BBC with Aussie accents) and came across an interview with English philosopher A.C. Grayling. He discussed atheism, agnosticism, humanism, rationality and generally how we might all be a little better if we focussed on the common thread of our humanity. Important, heavy stuff.

Then tonight I saw Frank Turner rocking out at Bluesfest. In my head I compare Turner's music with Billy Bragg so I knew he had substance but then he threw into a song called 'Glory Hallelujah'. As he sang "there is no god, so clap your hands together" I thought of A.C. Grayling. Turner continued by singing about our shared responsibility to each other, about an end to religious violence, about shared understanding and peace all while people clapped and sang!

Later on I was listening as Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite did a song about war and the violence of masculinity. Earlier Rodriguez sang bittersweetly about drug use and it's effects. These guys are singing about our world; politics, religion, social and foreign policy. They're singing our philosophy and helping us make sense of it.

There's really no good reason why the stereotype of a philosopher is an old, white guy with a snowy beard. Philosophy is all of us, in our everyday lives and philosophers should look like everyone. For these ideas to be relevant they must be accessible to all people. Music does this, and for the most part it does it without preaching. This isn't anything new but I wanted to point it out because I don't hear guys like Frank Turner on the radio too much.

Between them, Grayling and Turner have Humanist philosophy well covered. But only Turner has a crowd of people clapping and singing along to it and that's what keeps it relevant...