Friday, October 21, 2011

NY Daily News / #occupyCMJ Sat 7:30pm @The Living Room


Hey folks,

I honestly wasn't expecting this much free beer, and I kindly accept. You should know that your overwhelming response to my recent job loss for a US Congressman led to these features in the NY Daily News (whose Elizabeth Olsen?), Forbes Magazine and an exclusive interview at Mp3.com. So a sincere thanks to you, and please continue the dialogue.
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I got into a great conversation with a friend last night. I can understand and respect a conservative, individualistic position - I worked for my dime, and I'm gonna keep it. I think what's being missed here is that people aren't successful on their own, whether we know it or not. We're nurtured by an infrastructure to rise up the economic ladder - our schools, our community, our government protections. Now, for the first time in our history, those who have benefited at the very, very top refuse to buy back into our collective system and it's cost us our middle class. One great point you've brought up is that even young people in the finance industry aren't immune from the one percent bubble. I'm not for equal distribution, I believe in self-responsibility. Yet what the "American Dream" really means is equal opportunity, and that's what's at stake. We could all use a little perspective.

I believe our faith in government has been lost because we're stripping paltry resources from the disenfranchised and those who need it most while millionaires enjoy tax breaks, deregulation and massive corporate profit on our own backs. Now that's "wasteful spending." You could argue that Obama's actually done very well within the existing framework having passed the most legislation since LBJ, but we gave him a mandate to transform the system itself. Now we'll have to revert to these Great Depression-era baby names.

I agree it doesn't help anyone that Zucatti Park looks like Shakedown Street at a Phish concert. But great movements don't start by focusing on legislative prescriptions. They start by individuals speaking up; policy comes later. So let's speak up loudly about the lack of equal opportunity, affecting us through student loans or starting a business. Let's speak loudly how the walls of access are too high. And let's show vigor through a renewed sense of idealism - our generation at least deserves a crack at it. I try to do so through playing the kid's rock n roll music with their complicated shoes, and I invite you to join us Saturday night at the CMJ Music Festival. And no matter where you stand, please continue the conversation on our FB page.

The DannyRoss Fall 2011 Laid Off Tour

OPENINGNIGHT: #Dannyrossandhorns Occupy CMJ (Official Showcase)
Saturday Oct 22 - 7:30pm Sharp
@ The Living Room, 154 Ludlow St at Stanton - NYC
FREE! // Facebook Event Page

#Dannyrossandhorns Occupy Boston
Sunday October 30, 8pm Sharp
@ TT The Bears, 10 Brookline St at Mass Ave - Cambridge, MA
With Sommerville Symphony Orkestar and Dave Crespo's After Party
Facebook Event Page

#Dannyrossandhorns Occupy DC
Friday November 4, 9pm Sharp
@ IOTA, 2832 Wilson Boulevard - Arlington VA
With BFF Justin Trawick to follow
Facebook Event Page


But seriously, there's another Olsen twin?

All the Best,
D
--
Danny Ross
"One Way showcases ambitious arrangements, eclectic songwriting and overall technical mastery" - American Songwriter
Have you heard One Way? Stream the entire album free at http://www.dannyrossmusic.com

Thursday, October 13, 2011

How I Got Laid Off


Hey folks,

Last week I was reluctantly let go from my position at a NYC Congressman's office after five years of service -- a position I held alongside the pursuit of music and ultimately lost from severe budget cuts. Now don't worry about me, I'm doing just fine, if only trying to wrap my head around how the men touting job creation just literally took mine away. In either case, at the age of twenty-seven, I find myself out of work. I now have no income stream, no savings, no benefits and loads of college debt. I'll have to figure how to pay rent, afford Hulu Plus to see the latest Parks and Rec, and provide generally for my Brooklyn household (girlfriend + cat). From the statistics alone I know almost every one of us on this 3,500+ list suffer from some version of this mess.

It's made worse in that I was given the built-in advantages for the modern global economy - a white male raised in a comfortable suburb with a world-class education. But something much broader is happening here. My friends who are passionate about law and medicine are spending years and small fortunes on graduate programs with little assurance of economic stability. My friends working as teachers, non-profit workers, public servants and social workers are lucky to survive while trying to do a very basic good. Entrepreneurs and small business owners are stonewalled by the mere financial barriers of entry. The price of access is too high to even begin. As my musician friends can attest, the costs to record and market an album, hire a band and play shows out of town are incomprehensible. I potentially have a very big opportunity to make a record with a label this winter, but it could bankrupt me. Unless, of course, Pitchfork decides I'm the harbinger of cool.

We're not class warriors, I too would like to be filthy rich. But it seems that unless we either work in financial services or have a tremendous amount of start-up capital and access, the walls of access right now to the American Dream are too high. I'm not here to make the substantial statistical case for unique economic inequality in our time. But I shouldn't have to spend the rest of my life paying for an education that won't guarantee any future stability. I shouldn't be forced to work in the finance sector in order to feel merely financially secure. I shouldn't have to wish I was born on the right side of the street in order to access the simplest form of equal opportunity that our parents did. Rags-to-riches stories have gone the way of the cassette tape.

Together, we have to remember that it's vocalizing our demands as a generation on Facebook and on the street that leads to political action, and not the other way around. Civil rights marchers couldn't wait around for JFK, and young people today can't wait around for Obama. So go post this clip with something snarky, it works all the time at Knicks games. Or do something else - buy an ice cream cake! I express my voice through our rock n roll band and horns, and ask you to join me. Let's Occupy the CMJ Festival for FREE next week in NYC, then Boston and Washington.

Announcing the DannyRoss 2011 Laid Off Tour

#Dannyrossandhorns Occupy CMJ (Official Showcase)
Saturday Oct 22 - 7:30pm Sharp
@ The Living Room, 154 Ludlow St at Stanton - NYC
FREE! // Facebook Event Page

#Dannyrossandhorns Occupy Boston
Sunday October 30, 8pm Sharp
@ TT The Bears, 10 Brookline St at Mass Ave - Cambridge, MA
With Sommerville Symphony Orkestar and Dave Crespo's After Party
Facebook Event Page

#Dannyrossandhorns Occupy DC
Friday November 4, 9pm Sharp
@ IOTA, 2832 Wilson Boulevard - Arlington VA
With BFF Justin Trawick to follow
Facebook Event Page

Let's continue this conversation, please post your hilarious and articulate comments on my FB page. I'm unemployed and I literally have nothing else to do. I also have my CV prepared for interviews at your earliest convenience.


All the best,
D
--
Danny Ross
"One Way showcases ambitious arrangements, eclectic songwriting and overall technical mastery" - American Songwriter
Have you heard One Way? Stream the entire album free at http://www.dannyrossmusic.com

DR iTunes Store
To contact or unsubscribe please email danny@dannyrossmusic.com