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Coming down to the wire...

Donate to a great cause and make what is sure to end up being a yearly celebration of indie LGBT music a fabulous affair.

Donate here:
Kickstart Page

Read about the event here:
Out In The Woods on Facebook

and here:
Out In the Woods at Easton Mountain

If you're up for a mini-Woodstock experience with a lot of talented indie-musicians in a pristine, beautiful setting, check out Out in the Woods, the first annual LGTB Music festival at Easton Mountain. (August 13 and 14th, Easton Mountain, near Greenwich, NY, events starting at noon on the 13th. Check the website for details). I'm going to be there, along with some of my best buds and fellow musicians: Dan Manjovi, Roger Kuhn, Terry Christopher, Norine Braun, John Small, and Susan Souza, to name a few. Should be a great event. Easton Mountain is one of the most beautiful places east of the Mississippi, and coming from a Montana boy who grew up in the Rockies, that's saying something. I hit the stage at 5:45 on Saturday.

If you want to contribute to a great cause, you can support the festival with a little cash infusion, and you get some cool prizes if you donate. More bootie the more you contribute. Check it out here. Hope to see you under the open skies in the mountains.

This is a particularly unsettling piece of video. In it, the chairman of the spiteful "Yes on 1" question that eventually passed and decimated protections for same sex couples in Maine, basically admitted that they won using lies and falsehoods to scare the voting public.

If you have to make up lies and half- or total falsehoods to get your way, maybe you should give it up. Please give it up. What a waste of tax-payer money and time! You want to have a Christian influence on your community? Do something for the poor. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Get involved in community service. Don't fight to take away other's civil rights.

Yeah, it may date me, but I think Annie Lennox is still one of the most amazing voices in popular music (hence my designation of "goddess"). And she's also an activist for women's issues. Below is a post that Ms. Lennox penned and is posted on Huffington Post. It's a sobering read. And deserving of attention.

Annie's words start below. Clicking the link will take you to the original article.

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It shocks, disappoints and angers me that in a world where man has traveled to the moon and where we can connect to people anywhere on earth instantly online, men and women are still not equal.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

As America's middle class battles for its survival on the Wisconsin barricades -- against various Koch Oil surrogates and the corporate toadies at Fox News -- fans of enlightenment, democracy and just...

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Lying on the air waves is illegal in Canada. Who knew?

I know this is supposed to be a music blog, but I've strayed a bit now and then in the past, and I'm about to stray again. If you really think marriage is under assault, then click through because I have a challenge for you. If you say, "Morry, you must be nuts!  Marriage is not under assault, how silly of you to say so!" then skip this one. It's really not about music and music is what you came here for.

Marriage is under assault? No, it's not. It really isn't. In fact, this is one of the crazier tidbits that get bandied about in the so-called culture wars. "We have to save Marriage. Marriage is under assault." How, exactly? And from whom? Those nasty gays? Are they going to ruin your marriage? How, exactly, are they going to do that? If gay marriage becomes legal, does that mean all the married men will want a divorce so they can marry a man instead? Is this the big fear? I really want to understand here. Is that what it is? Is it the fear that gay marriage will become so popular, that no one will want a heterosexual marriage anymore?

Work with me here. I've wracked my brain, and I can't come up with a single way my ability to marry my partner of 24 years would have any effect at all on, say, my  sister's marriage. How do I endanger my sister's marriage by wanting the same legal rights she enjoys with her husband? I invite a Catholic Bishop or two, if they want to chime in. How does legalizing Same Sex Marriage "endanger" heterosexual marriage? And where do you point for evidence? Not to Massachusetts, where Gay marriage has been legal for more than six years now (since May, 2004), and not a single one of the predicted horrible things have happened there. You'd think if Gay Marriage destroyed society, some signs of the disintegration would have started cropping up after almost seven years. But Massachusetts is still alive and kicking, and reportedly one of the healthiest, wealthiest, and best-educated states in the Union.

So here's the deal: I want one tangible way in which my marriage to my male partner would have any impact on your heterosexual marriage. See, I'm not even asking for a list of 10, or 20, or whatever. One tangible way, though. Has to have a real impact on your marriage. It should, just to match the rhetoric, have the potential to destroy your marriage. But only one. One way, one tangible and troubling way that my marriage impacts your heterosexual marriage.

I challenge the Pope himself, who recently said this: And I quote, ""Projects aimed at granting improper legal recognition to forms of unions other (than marriage) appear dangerous and counterproductive as they inevitably weaken and destabilize the legitimate family based on matrimony." Very profound Mr. Pontiff, but how? That's quite a dramatic statement. Gay marriage "weakens and destabilizes the legitimate family based on matrimony." That's a pretty condemning statement. And if it could be backed up by empirical evidence, such as mayhem befalling those states that have already legalized same sex marriage, it might hold some weight. Massachusetts seems to be doing quite well. No demon attacks there yet. Marriage, however, must really be in trouble there, if the homos have come in and had their destabilizing influence, right? Hmmm, no, it appears that Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country, and it also appears that it has gone lower since they let the homos marry. Is this an indication that if states legalize same sex marriage the divorce rate will fall, and marriage will be saved?

My premise is this: Marriage is not under assault, it never was, and the people who say it is are either misinformed, crazy, or so married to their own agenda that they don't care how many people they hurt to pursue it. Of course, there's another more cynical part of me that believes that anti-Gay has become big business, and the way some people make their money is to misinform and rile up good people, and "Please send us some more money, DIG DEEP, so we can fight these terrible, terrible people trying to take your rights away!" Gay acceptance to them means they have to find another line of work, so they fight hard to keep their fellow citizens disenfranchised. I know, that's cynical, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's probably true in a lot of cases.

I'm tired of it. So next one says to me "your gay rights are hurting my marriage," I want to know. Specifically. What hardships have you had to endure because someone in Massachusetts married a member of their own sex? And "It's against God's laws" isn't good enough. So is eating shellfish against God's laws (Leviticus 11:9-12). And besides, how does that affect your daily life? I need tangible ways that my marriage to my partner (can't call him a husband yet) would impact your heterosexual marriage for the worse.

Any takers?

Okay, so a good friend of mine suggested I put the Tea Party mini-dance number to a video, so here it is. Thanks to Mr. Keith Olbermann for the quote and the vocal. So, without further ado, Here's the Tea Party Ramble, with vocals by yours truly, and Keith Olbermann. NOTE: If you're sympathetic to the Tea Party and their goings-on, you may want to skip this one...

]]>Okay, so a good friend of mine suggested I put the Tea Party mini-dance number to a video, so here it is. Thanks to Mr. Keith Olbermann for the quote and the vocal. So, without further ado, Here's the Tea...http://www.songtalk.net/song_talk_with_morry_camp/2011/02/tea-party-the-video.htmlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/songtalkpodcast/~3/QavPjj_H6js/a-tribute-to-keith-olbermann-and-a-musical-tidbit.htmlCreativityMusicSongtalk Newsmorry@morryc.com (Morry Campbell)Sat, 29 Jan 2011 07:38:34 PSTtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e550203f2288340148c82260e4970c

I don't know about you, but I'm saddened by the loss of Keith Olbermann from the airwaves. Whatever your political leanings, you must admit that Keith was a force to be reckoned with, an important counter voice to the behemoth that is the Right Wing Media machine. We had Keith, they have Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Beck - basically anything on Fox "News." So yes, Keith was sometimes "over the top," but I think he probably felt he had to be to counter all the "over-the-topness"  happening on the other side. And I notice none of the Right's most over-the-toppers have been let go by Fox. They seem to like that kind of rhetoric over there.

Anyway, I've been working on some vocoder stuff (a kind of synthesizer that uses a vocal to color the sound), and I decided I would use something Keith said in his last show to use in a vocoder song. The phrase that jumped out at me was this: "Get your dirty government hands off my government-issued Medicare."  Keith started a segment with these words, to point out the cognitive dissonance between what the Tea Partiers were saying about the healthcare bill (government-run healthcare is bad), with what they were saying about the government-run healthcare program we know as "Medicare." (Keep your dirty government hands off my Medicare!)

So I lifted that phrase from the show and ran it through the vocoder, added a beat, wrote a little verse, and voila! A little mini-dance hit. And my songwriting comrades liked it so much, I'll be developing it into a full-length dance song. I hope you enjoy it too.

This is in honor of Keith Olbermann. Keith, we will miss you terribly. You were an outspoken ally in a world that has gone slightly mad. Keep the faith, thanks for the vocal, and I hope to see you back on the air somewhere soon.

Click here to listen to the Tea Party Rumble.

Click here for a great article comparing Keith with Fox News commentators.

Black and white is easy; nuance is hard. Which is why it's much easier to just lump media outlets and personalities into simple boxes: left v. right, or partisan v. objective, for example.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

I'm saddened by Keith Olbermann's departure from our air waves. This tribute by Mitchell Bard sort of sums up my feelings about losing one of the lions for the common person on a news channel.

Late Monday, a majority of the FCC's commissioners indicated that they're going to vote with Chairman Julius Genachowski for a toothless Net Neutrality rule.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Sad news.

I'm a big fan of both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. We ditched our cable about a year ago, but The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were two of the reasons I we took so long to cancel the service. And I still miss their shows more than any other cable show that is not easily viewed on the internet. (Yeah, I know you can watch on Comedy Central's website, but not nearly as easily or as slickly as you used to be able to watch them on Hulu. What's up with that, Comedy Central?).

Anyway, the point is, I have a lot of respect for both of these men and I generally agree with their points of view. However, Bill Maher had some good comments about their recent event in Wash, DC, and I think they are worth repeating. So I'm embedding the video here, without further comment.

Because it's election day, and because I've been mulling it over in my head for a few days, I'm going to get up on my soap box and put my 2 cents in on the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear.

I say, with one caveat, hoo-rah for you, Mr. Stewart. You said a lot of things that needed to be said. And yes, both the left and the right are guilty of demonizing the other side, gross exaggeration, and in trying to spin everything so that it makes "them" look bad and "us" look good.

Now for the caveat: Mr. Stewart, you talk like the guilt is equally shared across the board. It is not. You make comparisons between Fox News and MSNBC as if they are mirror images of each other, polar opposites, different only in the slant of the politics. The implication is, the right may have Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, etc., but the left has Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. And while this is true in the sense that Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hanity, Malkin, etc are on the right, and Olbermann and Maddow are on the left, that is where the accuracy of that comparison ends.

First of all, to compare Rachel Maddow to any of the talking heads on Fox or to Limbaugh is kind of crazy. Ms. Maddow always conducts herself with grace, humor and aplomb, treating even guests with whom she vehemently disagrees with respect and dignity. Even the unsavory "pray away the gay" Richard Cohen was treated with respect as Ms. Maddow called him out on some of the more outlandish statements he has made in the press and in his writings, and pointed out to her viewers that he has been disbarred from the APA and is not licensed to practice psychological therapy by any American or other licensing body.

Admittedly, with Keith Olbermann, the comparison may be a bit more fair. A bit.

So yes, Mr. Stewart. There is room on both sides to heed your call for Sanity. Apparently Mr. Olbermann has heard, and has responded by suspending the popular Worst Persons In The World segment. So far I have not seen any acknowledgement that the message has gotten through over at Fox, but it's still early. Perhaps it's coming soon. But until it does, I'm personally glad that Keith Olbermann is there. The mea culpa away from heated rhetoric has to work on both sides, and somehow I don't see Fox News or the Rush Limbaughs of the world backing off anytime soon.

Every year around Christmas time I find myself wondering what new Christmas music is going to come out so I don't have to listen to the same old songs over and over again. Luckily for you and me, my good friend Roger Kuhn has finished his own holiday CD, Every Year Around Xmas Time. Full disclosure, I recorded and/or produced or co-produced four of the 7 cuts on the CD. But setting that aside, Roger has written 7 original Christmas/Holiday songs, and every one of them is an enjoyable listen.

 Roger's take on the holidays is at once rooted deeply in tradition of what has come before him (Under the Mistletoe, Xmas Joys), while at the same time pushing the boundaries of what we expect to hear on a holiday album (December, Oh What a World).

My favorite cut on the CD changes as I listen, but my favorite cut right now is the deeply moving Oh What A World, which chronicles the story of a homeless gay boy beaten to death on Christmas Eve (sadly based on true events).

I'm singling out one song in a whole collection of terrific songs. You can download Roger's Holiday album through iTunes by clicking on this link.

Also contributing to the musical and production talent on the CD are James Erickson (December), Robert Urban (Every Year Around Xmas Time, Under the Mistletoe, Xmas Joys), and my good friend and masterful musician Dan Manjovi (I Heard There Was A Star).

And now, drum roll please:  rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!  Here's my very first posting to YouTube. This is an excerpt from Terry Christopher's now annual (for the last three years) United For the Ride Concert, benefitting the NYC LGBT Center's Braking the Cycle Event, the annual fund-raising bike ride from Boston to New York City. We raised a lot of cash that night, and it was a great concert, as I hope this little bootleg video testifies. Many thanks to Terry for filming the event, and for the magical, mystical Barry Childs for operating the camera for us. And it's still possible to donate to the cause. All proceeds go to HIV and AIDS services for the NYC LGBT Center. Click here to donate to this very worthy cause.

The Westchester Pride Coalition is holding its first ever Gay Pride event, and I've been asked to be a part of it. There's actually a great lineup of indie musicians performing all day long.  I'm up at 5:15PM sharp. The event itself begins at 1:30 and goes until 7:00PM. Come up, ride the rollercoaster, take in the splendor that is Rye Playland Amusement Park, and enjoy some great indie music. Directions are here. 

If you want to ride the rides all day, tickets are $25. If you just want to hang, check out the vendors, take part in the health fair, and enjoy the entertainment, tickets are $5. ($3 for Westchester residents).

I'm sort of trying to document this sleepless recovery, and so I'd better update. I'm in "Sleep Bootcamp."  It's a sleep deprivation regimen where I go to bed at 1:00AM, and get up at 6:00AM. If I don't fall asleep in 20 minutes, I get up and do something quiet.  I've been doing scales on an unplugged electric guitar so as not to disturb the neighbors. Or my partner, fast asleep in our bed. (hint of jealousy). After a bit, I go back to bed. No matter what, even if I don't sleep for most of that time block, I must get up at 6:00AM. It's a very harsh, disciplined attempt, I  guess, at resetting my internal clock so my body starts to sleep again.

I just started. All I can say is, "Ouch." It's a little harsh. But I'll keep you posted.

If you rally your troops and manage to topple the democratic majority in the fall, then congratulations. More power to you. But I'm saying this one more time. You are not currently the majority. You have representation. You are not being persecuted.

And why am I putting this up on the internet? A few reasons. To be perfectly honest, I hope anyone reading and wondering why my posts kind of dried up will be understanding and come back, and keep reading.

Second, I think there's a lot of guilt and shame around not being able to sleep. Somehow it's my fault, or I'm a bad person so I can't sleep, or whatever. I know I've felt like that sometimes. And like everything that is surrounded by guilt and shame, it kind of loses its power a bit when it's pulled out into the sunlight.

And third, because I'm frustrated that even the medical community seems not to take sleeping problems seriously. I can usually function fairly well on very little sleep, so often I can pass for a normal-sleeping person in day-to-day interactions. But recently, the sleeping pill of choice has seemed to stop working, and I've been getting 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night, not much better than taking nothing at all, and the past few days I've been positively dragging through the day.

 I finally broke down and made an appointment with a sleep clinic. I met with the doctor, he gave me "homework" in the form of a Sleep Log, that I'm supposed to keep for two weeks, and gave me a prescription for a different kind of sleeping pill.

As the appointment was in the evening, I did not have time to get the prescription to my pharmacist until the next day. I bring it down to my pharmacy around 9:30 this morning. It turns out that my insurance will not pay for this new prescription, and that without insurance it is $230. I may be able to get a waver, but the request has to come from the doctor prescribing the medication.

So I immediately call the sleep clinic, and explain the problem to them, and they tell me that they'll get on it, to get the "special permission" that the insurance company needs in order to consider making an exception. I don't hear from them for a few hours, but then remember that my doctor wrote his phone number on the card, and figure I'll talk to him directly and let him know what is going on, and maybe I should get something that my insurance company would pay for without making me jump through a bunch of hoops. Funny story, he gave me a phone number he cannot be reached at.

I eventually get patched back into the main office of the sleep clinic, and I tell them that I want something for tonight, so if I can't get the super duper special sleeping pills, just something different than what I'm taking that will still be covered by the insurance company. The guy on the phone says he's faxing in the special request to my insurance company, and that it may take a day or two. Which means another sleepless night for me, so I say let me talk to a doctor, he says they're both in session, and someone will call me when they're available.

Fast forward to 5:30PM, and as my appointment was at 6:00PM yesterday, and that was when it looked as if the office closed up, I decide that I'd better give it one more try. I get an answering machine, telling me the regular hours are 9-5, and to leave a message and they'll get back to me tomorrow. Guess yesterday was special. My appointment was for 6:00.

So, if even the medical professionals who claim to be sleep experts don't take the problem they treat seriously, that's a problem. And don't get me started on the little prick of an insurance bureaucrat who decided that I didn't need the pills and denied me, and is probably sleeping perfectly well tonight.

So I'm coming out of the Insomnia closet. I'll let you know how it goes.

M

So I'm giving it one more try, picking up the pieces, and staying on top of a scaled back blog site. Less art, more frequent postings, and we'll see what happens.

Thanks to all who have stopped by over the past few years. Hang in. More to come...

xo,

M

Here's the deets:

3rd Annual United for the Ride Benefit Concert
Saturday, July 24, 6:45PM
The Triad Theatre
158 West 72nd Street (at Broadway)
Free Cover, 2 drink minimum
Donations are for a good cause, and much appreciated.