Hola, Loved Ones!
It was pretty crazy waking up this morning and realizing that we are half-way to having Healthcare for all citizens of the United States. Well, actually a third of the way cause after the bill goes through the House of Representatives and the Senate it still has to be signed by the President. Anyways, those of you who are in countries where universal healthcare is a given have to bear with the excitement I'm feeling. We are the richest country in the world(on paper) and yet many of us are one hospital visit away from living outside on the street. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats FINALLY pushed some legislation through that carries the weight of their majority. Essentially, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for coverage. In the bill's most problematic provision, the government would sell insurance, although the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that premiums for it would be more expensive than for policies sold by private companies. We'll see.
What is certain is that the bill received thumbs-up votes from 219 Democrats and Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. Obviously dude's political survival was at stake so he broke ranks with the GOP. Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats(who were these knuckleheads?). So now the ball goes over to John McCain's court. Let's hope that the Senate Bluedogs and Republicans cave to public pressure and get out of the way of this historic legislation. One thing really rankles me though about how pre-existing conditions were finally dealt with in the bill. Yes, no one can be turned down for it anymore, however, citizens over 65 can be charged premiums twice that of younger insured folks. If age obviously makes one more susceptible to illness shouldn't age be considered a pre-existing condition and seniors not be penalized for it? Hmm.
I had a pretty intense weekend of writing for the book I’m looking to drop during the 5th Anniversary of the URB ALT Festival next summer. Doing this and working on the artwork for the MuthaWit albums puts me in a very reflective mood. So many people involved. So many old friendships and new friendships. I've had a chance to reconnect with some of the first people I performed with in NYC. So many great happenings and revelations. No regrets as Moon might say. At some point I want to get as many people in the community involved with this book as possible. It’s one of those by us and for us type of deals. Y’all know what I mean.
We have really been cranking out the record reviews this last week. Thanks to Kambui, John and Fresh Nancy for getting the ball rolling. We've covered records by Kyp Malone(Rain Machine). Leila Adu, The Very Best, Art Terry, Tyondai Braxton and more. Thanks also to those of you who are working on material now. Can’t wait to check out the thoughtful opinions that you guys put forth. We’re still very interested in reviewing the work of members of the community. If we can’t help each other generate intelligent and valuable press coverage what’s the point, y’know? We’re in an age where mainstream news comes to US for what’s hip so let's take full advantage. RAWK!
MuthaWit had a rehearsal tonight for our upcoming show as part of Nona Hendryx’s Hopestock event. I’d said we wouldn’t be doing anymore MuthaWit shows until we had albums, tshirts and contracts in hand but when a legend like Nona calls you really can’t say no for too long. Much respect!
Hopestock is going down this weekend, Sunday 11/15, at the beautiful Galapagos Artspace in Dumbo, Brooklyn. It’ll be MuthaWit’s first group show since late June. I’m pretty excited about the set we’re putting together. It was good to see ol’ Lou Rossi again.
We’re krunk to be working with Fiya(he’s on the site with cool music and hot photos) and Nicole Camacho who y’all know has been working her butt off with me in studio for two weeks. Both of these new playas are bringing a freshness to our sound from their two primary poles of musical expression in electronics(Fiya) and acoustic instrumentation(Nicole). What Lou and I do tends to fall somewhere down the middle so I think we’re going to really get into working with these cats. I’ll let y’all know how our next rehearsal this coming Wednesday goes. We should have badass Lisa Dowling in the spot for that. Hopefully V. Jeffrey Smith too if you’re reading this, dude? LOL
I’ll holla.
Love,
Boston
Comment by Moon on November 9, 2009 at 11:49am 
You need to be a member of URB ALT to add comments!
Join this Ning Network