Forbes Graham

The first time I remember hearing about Black Friday was about 15 years ago. I used to attend a lot of animal rights protests and the biggest day for demonstrations was Fur Free Friday, which co-incided with Black Friday. This was the first time that I was even aware of the day after Thanksgiving being a big shopping day. Sometime around then I first heard of Buy Nothing Day. My thought on it at the time was somewhat cynical. I figured that people who had no money weren't going to buy anything anyway because they couldn't afford to. I guess that's what credit cards are for..

Over the last 5 years or so, it seems that Black Friday has gotten bigger, bigger, and bigger. Every year people get hurt or killed buying things and I can't decide honestly whether I should laugh or cry. Should I look down my nose at the ignorant "sheeple" or should I be sad because our society is so empty and mindless? Or hey, can I do both at the same time?

Isn't Black Friday just the same thing that we do everyday condensed into one insane moment? I wish people would buy my music, but they don't. I feel that given enough work and thought, that I could find my way out of this problem, the problem of there not being a market for my work. So we're back to the same old stuff, musicians complaining about their station in life and society. Shouldn't I have something aspirational to say?

I think that one of these days, I will figure it out and hopefully not just for myself but for at least a couple of my colleagues as well. I just needed to broadcast my thoughtstreams. I guess that's what this blog is for. At least no one will get stampeded trying to buy my cd's.