RobertSpuhler.com

Crushing Myself For Charity



Friends, Loves and Unindicted Co-Conspirators:

This weekend, we mark the ten year anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Many of us will, at one point over the day or another, reflect quietly on the events of that day and those days after, the change in America's tenor and the lives lost in New York, in Washington, D.C. and in rural Pennsylvania.

Since that time, we've also lost more than 1,500 soldiers in Afghanistan and nearly 5,000 in Iraq. Daughters, sons, brothers, sisters.

And parents.

On September 17, I'm taking part in a fundraiser called Fight Gone Bad 6 that will help support, among other charities, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. It's mission is to send the children of all special forces troops killed in combat (like the SEALs who died in the helicopter crash in early August) to college at no cost to the child.

The foundation has already sent 182 children through college and has 144 enrolled right now, but those numbers will skyrocket over the next few years as the children of soldiers slain in our current military actions reach college age. According to the foundation, there are 600 kids of special forces troops who are currently in elementary, middle and high school.

I come from a long line of military men. My father and both of my grandfathers served honorably. I know only through stories what these men and women go through to serve their country. I'd like to help those who, as Lincoln said, “gave the last full measure of devotion” by supporting their families.

Of course, I understand that this is a tough time for giving money. We've all been, in one way or another, battered around by the current economic climate.

So, I want to make it easy enough for everyone to be able to help, by establishing two donor levels:

Buy me a Beer: As many of you know, I like beer. A lot. So, instead of getting a round the next time we go out drinking, chip in $5 to help a kid go to school.

Hire me as a DJ: I have several skills. I translate Hipster-to-English at a graduate degree level, I make a fantastic chicken piccata and, as a music writer, it's part of my job to expose people to new music that they might not have heard. If you contribute $25 to the cause, I will make you a 10-song mix CD based on a phrase of your choice (like “Hipster Bingo” or “Cliches are the New Black”), picking songs that match the theme and what I think you might like – or, at a minimum, not hate.

The link to donate is: https://fgb6.rapidgiving.com/frp/fundraise.aspx?pk=9Q3ELEF

A YouTube video from the last time I participated, in 2008 (look for me, nearly passed out, around the 3:10 mark): http://youtu.be/cMa8nZhEz6Q

The Slow Descent

There were three reasons I applied to attend the University of Colorado so many (SO MANY) moons ago:

• Close to the family
• Safety school
• Dedicated Journalism school, and a fairly well-respected one at that

The last of those is going away, according to news reports; CU is closing its journalism school, looking to integrate its “core classes” into the college’s Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society Institute.

What To Do With the NEA

If I Ran the NEA - Los Angeles Times

(leave it to the Times to find the least-attractive way to lay out an article. Really - I have to click on everyone's head shot and have a pop-up window come up? We couldn't just do text?)

I know some of my more conservative friends will have an immediate reaction to this ("shutter it"), but I wanted to throw this out there anyway.

I can't make a case that the federal government *should* be involved in the arts. It's certainly far afield from the Constitutional duties of the feds. But I look at an arts supports system like Canada's, which has helped give me so many of my favorite bands (Stars, Broken Social Scene and Feist each have received seed money for projects at one point or another), and I wonder how to make it work here.

Can it?

On Virginia Tech

I wish there was something to say. I wish there was a lesson, a way to make things better, a way to guarantee that what happened yesterday at Virginia Tech never happen again.

There isn’t, you know.

Somebody is Fired

Boston Devices a Cartoon Marketing Ploy

Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Number one in the hood, g.

MLK

Being a hero does not mean not being scared in the face of danger or insurmountable odds. That is psychosis. Being a hero means being scared ... and doing the task anyway.

Free at last, they took your life, but they could not take your pride.

Holiday Spirit

I generally dislike holiday episodes of television shows ("…this week, on a very special Blossom…"), but Studio 60 knocked it out of the park Monday night, ending with a performance by trumpeter Tony Andrews and a backing band. They did "O Holy Night" and it was incredible. Their version should be available on ITunes (for free, purportedly), today. EDIT: Go here and look in the right sidebar.

The story line that set up the performance was touching, too – homeless jazz musicians from New Orleans were picking up fill-in gigs becuase LA session players all "got sick" for a bit to allow their brethren to pick up union cards and session fees.

And that’s the clunky segue to my friend Christian and his moustache.