Try as we all might, strive, push, work as hard as we all do, and it just seems like the state of Georgia just has no love for it’s musicians and artists. It’s bad enough that a friend and I had to pull together thousands of artists and musicians last year to storm the capital steps when they tried to remove funding for the Arts Council. It’s even worse that they want to take any right side of the brain thinking from our children, and remove the arts from schools. What next Georgia? Are you going to start arresting artists and musicians because we are different and think different? I mean no way we want people happy and dancing and enjoying something that has been around since the beginning of time.
Why am I in such an uproar you ask? Well you should be too! It seems that our beloved Georgia Music hall of Fame has been ousted from it’s place in Macon in a 4 to 3 vote, even though there was an offer of an $800,000 contribution. Now all of the music history of Georgia, a huge collection of our music history with Otis Redding, James Brown and Allman Brothers memorabilia among a lot more, will be handed over to the University of Georgia. No, not to be displayed, but to be stored. There is also rumor that it will be split into three collections and dispersed this way. All because of not enough funding from the state. Oh but they can send an officer to my door two days ago to tell me my grass was too high. Please.
Time and time again this state has neglected the arts community, even insulted it. How many of us in the arts family are going to keep sitting by and letting them get rid of us? I am sure they can find somewhere to fit such a massive family in this state, long hair, nice teeth and all. Maybe they should stop funding so much to the road crews that are constantly working at night holding up traffic, while they stand around and scratch their bottoms. I mean really, how many times a year does the same highway have to be re-done? Wasn’t Shirley Franklin bad enough with her idiotic riddance of Midtown Music fest and any other events downtown in her insane reign of terror? Stand up people! Tell them we won’t take it anymore! We are a LOT of voters!
A friendly message from your local pissed off music personality!
