hey there, benji.

Just poppin’ in to say hi. Hope all is well.

Hi! It’s been a minute, huh? That’s what happens when you join two bands and get real busy. Here’s what I’ve been up to.

In 2013, I couldn’t work because of clerical errors from before I was born. I couldn’t afford to eat, so I sold my gear. I couldn’t gig for 12 years because of it…until now. Santa pulled up. And I’m excited. Meet Genevieve. My new bass.

Merry Christmas, y’all.

The Trump administration has banned Americans from adopting babies from most countries in Africa as well as Cuba & Venezuela. I fully expect evangelicals to riot over this. After all, adoption is the answer to abortion, right? Or will they do nothing because they don’t really believe in anything?

Given that there has been more outrage over tax dollars paying for a poor mom’s Pepsi than tax dollars paying for bombs killing Palestinian people, it’s not surprising how much of internet discourse comes back to “I don’t know how to tell you to care about other people, and it hurts that I have to.”

I don’t know if I talked about this over here, but life update: I got ordained so I could perform marriage ceremonies! My heart was to be a resource to queer and low income people, but I am open to others as well! Huzzah!

You race baiters! You only talk about racism to stir up dissent and anger.” Historically speaking, the only thing Black people have ever had to do to make white people angry is believe in ourselves out loud. We didn’t make you angry. You were already angry we exist because you don’t want us to.

Dear Tough Guys on the Internet, A quick question. How is it you’re strong enough to support a family but feel threatened by a man wearing nail polish? See, actual strong men know who they are. You’re looking at one. Y’all are children with deep voices. Have the day you deserve.

Hi. (Sign of life)

Friendly reminder that being around an attractive person is NOT consent. An attractive person consenting to other people, no matter how many other people, does NOT mean they consent to you. If it’s not a confident yes, it’s no. The internet will have you thinking this is debatable. It is not.

The phrase “the wheels of justice roll slow” is supremely misleading. Truth is, nothing’s a problem in America until it’s a problem for affluent white people, for whom justice is based on. The second we demand equality from justice, everything stops because equality was never part of the design.

The only upside of AI is how it makes clear no industry is safe. For years, folks told service workers “a robot could do your job” while billionaires invested in robots that took over both industries & blamed it all on immigrants. GOP v Dem is a wasted war. The battle is worker v ruling class.

The people who voted to cut SNAP benefits are the same who worship a dude that fed 5000 with two fish & five loaves of bread. They don’t get the irony is because they don’t worship Jesus. They worship the exclusivity they think comes with him. Half the allure of heaven is leaving people behind.

Nothing makes me angrier at the state of the economy than watching House Hunters. “Hi, I’m Janet and this is my boyfriend Josey. He’s a professional internet bot and I study the mating patterns of artisanal cheeses. Our budget is $4 million, but we we’d like to stay closer to 3”

Here’s the thing. I hate capitalism. But what you don’t get to do is walk into a Black creator’s space, insult their intelligence, and then ask to be educated against that intelligence when you get called out. You wanna be educated? Pay me. You don’t lack this clarity with white people.

If white people worked as hard at fighting racism as they did trying to get me to ignore racist trolls on the internet, I would have to worry a lot less about racist trolls on the internet. The reason you don’t is because you’re hardwired to be police officers. It takes you work to be my friend.

Dear White People on the Internet, Just because you don’t understand racial power dynamics doesn’t mean the concept doesn’t make sense. It just means you don’t understand it. How is it that y’all set up a system that prioritizes your education & wealth but you still know less & can’t buy a clue?

I haven’t seen the Diddy doc yet, but the responses so far remind me of an eternal truth. Diddy was able to terrorize people for 30 years for the same reason Chris Brown still has a career. As long as we’re entertained enough, and as long as the beat is fire, we will overlook anything.

White People: Stop with the racial paranoia! We don’t care about skin color! Me: *makes song about Starbucks and puts it on the internet* White People:

I won’t name names, but it’s remarkable how much of country music and contemporary Christian music (CCM) is just non-Black people making Black music for people who are scared of Black people.

(Possible) Hot Take: “All I Want for Christmas” is the last truly great Christmas song that has been written. Everything after it has been a poor attempt at what this song came by honestly. At 30 years old, it’s both the youngest and last classic Christmas song we have.

I just saw a video of a music producer basically saying “Don’t fight AI. Sell out & use it.” As it is, we creatives wage war with algorithms, having to sacrifice earnestness for clicks. I’m a human. My output will always be human. We shouldn’t have to pay a price for not being a robot.

In case you wondered.

Friendly reminder that your Spotify Wrapped was built on the back of artists being paid fractions of a penny per song stream. They not only runs ICE ads and support AI, but they’ve worked actively for years to pay musicians less. Support human art. Support real music. Support real musicians.

The term “microaggression” is somewhat misleading. There’s nothing micro about microaggressions. It just seems small when held against 400 years of slavery. It’s not that microaggressions don’t cause macro harm. It’s that y’all are just really used to treating Black people as less than human.

There comes a point when “we need to separate the art from the artist” becomes code for “I don’t want to stop consuming art from harmful people because I like comfort more than I hate what they did/continue to do” and we need to just be honest about that.

Repost from last year. I don’t share much of the music stuff I do over here, but this was a fun one. My take on a classic. All music, sampling, mixing and such by yours truly. Which song should I tackle next year?

I don’t know if we’re ready to talk about this yet, but AI musicians wouldn’t have happened if we had a culture that values art more than capitalism.

Hi. Been a while. Promise I’ll be here a bit more. But I’m alive.

If churches still keep pastors with allegations of getting handsy with children, they won’t care if Trump’s name is in the Epstein Files. However, they might care that he was blowing on Bill Clinton’s skin saxophone, and that should tell you all you need to know about how evangelicals operate.

If you needed some joy today, the Supreme Court has refused to hear arguments to overturn same sex marriage rights in the United States. Keep your heads up, folks. Make time to smile today, folks. Love has won again.

A common refrain from evangelicals is “if we start helping people, where does it end?” It ends when there’s no more need. Feels pretty simple. That only sounds like a problem for people who are intent on hoarding resources.

There is nothing new under the sun. The church doesn’t care about people losing SNAP benefits now, and when I was homeless and couldn’t work ten years ago, they told me “if you don’t work, you don’t eat.” There is nothing new under the sun.

This is so important to state openly, and I don’t think people understand that this point. Our operating systems haven’t updated to the way things are now, so they don’t realize how antiquated the concept of “real work” is.