I just posted this on TheObamanation.com: theobamanation.com/wpblog/2008/08/12/isaac-hayes-and-posters-on-the-wall

A few years ago I'd just turned 21 and had this mulatto moment. I share it with you today on my birthday. I recorded this at Kulak's Woodshed in North Hollywood.



I'd like to encourage synergy with the Obama campaign, especially around the acceptance event in Denver on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech, so I thought I'd put this out. I have a vision that we can get Diana Ross to mash in "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" with my "Stir It Up"

Then I'd like to sing Daydream which was written hoping for a day like this 10 years ago, when hope seemed more distant.

Right click to download Daydream

Right click to download Miracle.

Also I'm thinking that it would be nice to have some supporters cut videos to Daydream and Miracle using clips highlighting the issues that we hope to move in positive ways. The lyric for Daydream talks about a day when Martin's dream is fulfilled. With all that's going on in the media and campaigns, we know that is not going to be unequivocally August 28, 2008. But there is hope!

--

daydream

carry me up to be received
we're drinking
coffee at 10am

newspaper deaths
thirty years, one day
a folk singer says i ain't scared

and tears fall as i daydream
of martin luther king fulfilled

(can you feel...?)

carry me up to receive
'cos despair as fate is nonsense to me
sun warms us through our windows
but my friend and i must go outside

with knowledge from these conversations
we must act at least in song

can you feel?
you're not alone!
can you feel?

carry me up to believe
that words of peace stir collective souls
that we'll be moved by nonviolent hands
that my passion's not nostalgic

and tears rise as i daydream
and i begin to smile

can you feel?
you're not alone!
can you feel
you're not alone!

can you feel...
can you feel...
you're not alone!
you're not alone!

(c) 1998/2002 Jason Luckett

So I just got home from tour in time to catch Jonathan Richman play in LA. Excuse the lack of tour blogging. I may do a recap soon but it was a long trip with many great moments, so the task seems a little big right now. But JoJo... He always seems to show up at the right time to inspire to keep going. Honestly, I was a little offended when he asked me if I was still playing when I saw him at Rockaway, but that's the weird part: I feel like I know him because he's been there at several critical junctures reminding me to keep on. Not that I wasn't inspired already after the successes of the past month, but seeing Jonathan play his flamenco guitar at the age of 57, un-amplified and with the joy that captured an entire record store reminded me of why I do this. I've been saying for ages (even though it sounds a little pretentious) that I'm in the "Engagement Business" rather than the "Entertainment Business." And that's what Jo Jo does. He engages this innocent part in all of us with his songs about the pleasant smell of bus diesel in cities, chewing gum wrappers, young lovers, the good and bad of a day at the beach. There's something about him that allows us to be elemental in our likes and dislikes like the curmudgeon that refuses to get a cell phone or loving the faded colors of twilight. There's something about him that gets to the root of our common impulses that can encourage the guy that was standing in front of me texting half the show to participate unironically in a call and response on the anti-mobile side.

So there's no grand point to this blog. I just love his music. I used to see him perform all the time when I was first starting to get into the idea of playing solo. Then when I finished college and went to busk in Europe, when my own songs failed to get the reaction I wanted, I turned to Jonathan songs and got the tips I needed to eat for the day. [To be fair there were also a few Little Richard songs I'd do and a mean version of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," but the Jonathan songs were the freshest. I couldn't bear to do any Eagles or Simon & Garfunkel, I was too punk rock in my head at that time. And you know JoJo invented punk rock. :-)] Check out Jonathan. And please visit me again soon.

Love,

J

Yes! This is the first time I've felt compelled to blog since starting the tour. I mean I've thought there were some funny stories along the way and some joyous experiences, but after tonight I just have to write. I just got back in from doing my first open mic night performance of the aughts at Eddie's Attic and it was so much fun. It's kind of a competition, so you could say this was my first ever American Idol moment since I was asked if I was Sanjaya on my morning hike... OK, now I know I'm getting tired... so here's the point: I'm just so grateful to the people I've met in this city! Teresa and I did a show at Trinity Episcopalian Church on Saturday night with Ashley Wells from Columbia, SC. The audience was small, but generous in sharing their stories and appreciation. One woman, told me while I was on stage that she was actually baptized as a baby in the room we played, which led to me telling the story of "Dreams" off Living Room, then being asked to play that song for 3 kids that were being baptized the next day in church. That was a blast and meant 2 Sundays in a row that I played church services (the first being where my mom preaches in New Hampshire). Everyone there kept telling me that I needed to play Eddie's and it so happened that Teresa had already figured in this open mic, so I called and at the last minute they fit me in, too. I didn't win...but I closed the show as one of the three finalists. Anyway, it was just one of those moments. Often as a singer/songwriter your friends tell you that it's so great that you go with the flow and live your dream, when you know that you're a hyper organized person that replies to emails at 3 in the morning to maintain relationships with "fans" after booking shows all day or doing some "day job work" to keep afloat, then playing a show. But this weekend has matched the sense of adventure that is projected on us "troubadours." I just feel so lucky to do what I do! Thank you Decatur. (And thanks to cousin Dave for putting me up! It's so lucky to be able to connect with family!)

(I'll tell you more about the great people I met in SC and NH soon, I hope.) Good night.

Maybe it's not the best idea to send an email announcing the tour. I sent it with the subject line from shows two weeks ago. The interesting thing is that no one else seemed to notice. I always know my peeps were more about the strength of the verses than the chorus or title.

Hope to see you all on the road soon.

First order of business...I started a new blog that will hopefully be a group effort. It's hosted at theobamanation.com. I bought the domain a couple years ago, but you can check it out that story there. (I'll cross post this, too.) Anyway...

If you were there last night in Aliso Viejo, thank you so much! And if you were there, you witnessed this thought process going on while I was playing. I was realizing how the wish of so many of my songs is being manifested by this candidacy and its success. My mission when I was 9 years old was to make sense of my world, the integration of the North and South, new and old, and speak the truth in an engaging way that filled me with a sense of love...and made me giggle a bit.

What the heck? Here it is, my first song:

"Way down south where the cotton grows
Way up north where the cold wind blows
Eastside, Westside, Northside, South
I love all the world around my house

Something old, something new
I love everything if it's true
I loved singing this song for you
And I think you've enjoyed it too..."

So, yep, I was cocky back then. And I didn't really understand that South and North probably represented "White" and "Black" for me. But I knew that I wanted to embrace the differences around me, within me, in a spirit of truth. And the commonality in those differences is truth united in a spirit of love. I feel pretty lucky for my parents, because this stuff was definitely encouraged. There were definitely discouraging moments, too, but that's not this blog or this moment.

Singing last night in Orange County, close to the ground of much of my youthful angst, I sang 13 (or Seventh Grade, as I called it...which would've been 11...long story...), a song about all the grief and ambition I had growing up brown in the O.C. And again, not Brown in the "I had a community nearby in Santa Ana" way, but in the sometimes I'm Black, sometimes I'm White, but really my skin is this ambiguous beige that says nothing about the music or films I like, but separates me from the majority and even a lot of the minority in my safe suburban hometown. And that song is also about the drugs I used to escape... (OK so I tried to push the age up to seem slightly more responsible... but the majority of that stuff was all done by 13. Kids, don't try this at home or talk to your parents about it before you even think about it!)

Of course the thought is, will this angst be alleviated for the post ObamaNation generation.

Then I was singing Stir it Up, Daydream, Miracle, All I Love and closed the show with Celebration. I didn't consciously plan it this way, but all these songs were framed in such a different light looking at the end of Bush and Cheney, and the real possibility that a biracial "Black" man will be the next President of the United States.

There are so many discussions to have about what this all means, but for now I'm just excited that a dialogue that I've been engaging for years is gaining more and more participants in a real spirit of hope.

Go Barack!

Maybe it was Andy Rooney that said only pretentious people use the word Autumn. But I like that word. The only song my pops could sing almost all the way through was "Autumn Leaves." It was also one of my mom's mom's favorite, too. So maybe it's one of my first experiences of music crossing cultural, regional and generational divides. Blogging itself is highly pretentious, so if you're blogging and using the term "Fall" you're a fake prole! Ha! (It's been so long since I've written anything here, so I thought I'd free associate.)

So, yes, I'm getting back on the horse. Last time I wrote it was with a feeling of new found support from my community of friends. Now I'm starting to feel my own strength. For you who want the details, I'm still in Culver City, no real changes yet. The film, "68 and Clear" is just awaiting the title sequence and it will be ready, but the website is up. Carolyn's moving to Nashville for a new groovy gig on Tuesday, so the video for "All I Love" is on hold.

But what's making me feel so good is ... Wait, before I get into this. Like I said, I realize this is a pretentious act on its face. And I'm thrilled if you're reading, and I also feel like if you are I have to acknowledge some of the world's madness at the moment. The problem is that sometimes we get so bombarded with our personal challenges that it's difficult to find the energy to see the connections to the larger unease in the world and how to heal that along with ourselves. Sometimes I feel like I want to "carry the world upon my shoulders" to paraphrase my hero Paul. (I was having this internal debate the other day on who really was my favorite Beatle... I know Paul has the reputation as the sappy one, and deservedly so at times. But I know I wouldn't be who I was without All My Lovin', Can't Buy Me Love, and Hey Jude. That said, John moves me the most as a true believer, speaking truth to power and all that.)

Anyway, the point is that my shoulders have been in need of strengthening. So, I've been practicing. It's such a joy! I feel like I'm in school again. Now I've been sort meandering here for a too long on a school night, so I'm going to hit the sack without saying much at all. But I'm just happy to be here with talent, a voice and you guys that support it. I'm really grateful!

Love to you all.