First of all… as we all know, Million Whatever Marches rarely accomplish anything other than press coverage by TV news crews that would rather report on the event than real news and raising public awareness of a cause. What ever came about from the Million Man March? Anything? Well, other than great press for the movement, there was an influx of Black Male voter registration following the march. This may be the gleaming success story in the long litany of groups who have marched on Washington since the civil rights marches of the 60s (these actually worked!). The primary objective in most cases is to bring awareness to a cause though. The thing that bewilders me about the Million DJ march is WHAT CAUSE ARE THEY MARCHING FOR? Respect? My problem with this is where do you draw the line? When does it stop. Should the club owners that own danceclubs that promote music march on Washington?

My issue is, I have DJ’d for 15 years. Both Professionally and as an amateur.

The following lines are taken verbatim from the march website.

“Labels and major businesses who reap the rewards of default publicity, need to pay more attention and give more recognition to DJ’s for the promotion they provide.”

This whole event seems to be an excessive abuse of taxpayer’s dollars. I certainly don’t want to foot the bill for crowd control and police presence simply to convince major business to say “Thank You for all that you do to a bunch of DJs.”

My Solution: In an effort to settle the debate on this and avoid the inordinate expense of such a rally, I am willing to help the cause by making the following statement on behalf of the recording industry (I am NOT in any authority to make this statement!)… hopefully hey will now call off this silly march.

Thank you DJ’s!. I am one of you, but I also work for a Major Independent Label (albeit Classical). I (we) certainly appreciate all that you do to help promote and support the music industry. I also appreciate the fact that (like me) you chose your career not because of major financial or social aspirations, but because you LOVE MUSIC and want to spread that love to all that are willing to listen. We love you for all that you are and all that you want to be (Jerry McGuire line). You truly are the Sunshine of our lives! Thank You again!

Now Hug it out bitch!

* This is a great festival! The showings are organized and with only one venue, the schedule easy to plan around. I have learned tons about the indy film world in only a short week.

* Opening night featuring William H Macy! need I say more? Bill was in attendance to preview his great indy film, “The Deal”. This may have been an indy produced film, but nothing about it seemed independent. There was a stellar cast of characters including Meg Ryan, Elliot Gould and LL Cool J along with Mr. Macy. The plotline was fantastic and I laughed so hard my gut hurt. There was a meet and greet opening party at BMI afterwards where we all rubbed elbows, waxed poetic on the state of the film industry and vied to meet Mr. Macy. I succeeded!

* The panels were provocative, yet predictable. The Music Supervisors panel (of prime interest to me) featured a handful of heavy hitters from Hollywood. While most of what the talked about was interesting, it was not the first time I had heard it. It seems that there is still a real issue with filmmakers’ willingness to pay for quality music for their projects. It seems that unless you have a hit song, you are a bit dead in the water… this is disheartening. Other panels I attended included a panel on film financing and another about the process of taking an independent film into distribution. Not really compelling for a music guy, but interesting nonetheless.

* The closing party and film featured the Wrecking Crew, the background band famous for many of the fantastic recordings of the 60’s and 70’s and who were notoriously Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound.” Elbow rubbing and hububbing aside, the evening was a nice closure for the event. Many new friends had a chance to convene and reflect on the past eight days’ events. The Cannery Ballroom was hopping and there were good times had by all.