Tomorrow is the big day. We're looking to see what kind of fireworks are happening around Birmingham. Kenzie needs her first real taste of fireworks.
Independence Day is more than just fireworks. It's about freedom. No, I'm not talking about the kind of freedom that your local politician or talk radio host is spewing. They don't really know what freedom is.
Someone on Facebook posted that the term “freedom” is thrown around way too much these days. They are right. “Freedom” is a propaganda word. It's used to cover up all sorts of sins.
Murder is *okay* if it's for the sake of “freedom”. Taking away someone's rights is *okay* if it's for the sake of “freedom”. Oppression is *okay*… Is it really? (Help! Help! I'm being repressed.) For the people who casually toss the word around, NO, it's not okay.
My next album is called “Celtic Music Is Freedom”. On the surface, that too is a marketing phrase used to capture more interest in the album. However, Celtic music and freedom go hand-in-hand for me.
Once more synchronicity brings things together in my life. I just started a new campaign to raise money for a new album, seven years after I quit my day job to become a full-time musician. That's one of the things I mean by “freedom”.
In 1995, I graduated from college and said I'd give myself a year to become a musician. Then overnight… ahem… ten years later, I succeeded. During those ten years, I worked a bunch of crap jobs that I hated. That statistics job at the Texas Department of Health where my boss was looking over my shoulder at every instant was miserable! The high-pressure photo processing, yuck. My last job wasn't too bad. They were flexible. But when you're not doing what you love, you don't have freedom.
On July 8, 2005, I handed in my resignation, not entirely convinced I would be able to feed myself. I played shows. I started podcasting. I worked on websites. I built up my online presence. Seven years later, all that work paid off. I'm still free and independent. I don't have to get up at 5am to go to work… Instead, I get up at 5am when my daughter wakes up. hehe. But it's my choice. It's my freedom.
My freedom allows me to make a living with Celtic music. I can't believe how fortunate I am to make a living with music, even more so to find something that is a part of my heritage. My family and heritage are important to me.
I always tell people I was destined to play Celtic music, because I was born on St. Patrick's Day. Destiny or not, following my dream, that is what I mean by Celtic Music Is Freedom. It's your freedom to grab hold of your dream.
Some would say that's what Independence Day is all about, the ability to follow your own dream. Follow yours and have a happy, wonderful, and safe Independence Day. Slainte!
