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RICKIE: Well perhaps it leads off with Ugly Man because that is a great first track. It sets a tone, musically, and that is the goal, to fill your mind with the great color and tone of smart and friendly music. NWMS: How do you feel about freedom of speech being reduced to only include those who support the government while any speech that challenges the government’s tactics has been deemed unpatriotic by many?
RICKIE:
Well my feelings about this are expressed in Tell Somebody,
which ostensibly takes place in a future where this right we take
for granted has been squeezed out. I saw it happening all around
me, where no dialogue has taken place, no healthy or unhealthy
criticism of the government, not one word about this imposter
president. Of course a real imposter president would not allow any
criticism. Only great presidents allow free speech. This guy can't
afford it. It would be a domino effect for him. So it has been
amazing to me that people have allowed it to go down, gone along
with the program, not stood up without apology for their views.
That's what was so delightful for me, to do the interviews in
Europe, to know that I was the first one saying it like it is, and
to feel, from a distance, how afraid everyone is in the USA. I
tried to tell them why, but it seemed to dissolve in my hands,
this feeling of why. What are we afraid of? Fox news? Can they
really stop us from being a democracy, Fox news? I think not. Yes,
I received lots of hate mail and threats. My family was in tears.
But I said, this is what we have to do, because what are we if we
stand silently and watch this go down? People are always saying
how could the Germans not see what was going on? I say, here is
your answer. You are all standing here watching them change
everything, corrupt the very fabric of our ethic, and you are
saying NOTHING. You let them humiliate the few who speak. You
support them by watching their channel and buying their products.
I say write to the sponsors of all Fox programming and say you
will no longer buy their products. DO It. It works. I say we have
no country to protect if we let ourselves become little fascists,
accusing everyone else of doing what it is we are doing. NWMS: In a related question, today I read an article about the FBI’s recent dealings to monitor the personal history and background of those who participate in anti-war demonstrations because the government claims that terrorists or violent protesters could be amongst them. What are your thoughts on this?
RICKIE:
I have to start with the question of
monitoring the activities of American citizens. This is the danger
of the Patriot Act, why it is the worm that will eat our democracy
into pieces, why we cannot give any one or any thing the right to
investigate and hold persons who do not fit with the status quo.
The Patriot Act is going to be used that way, there is no doubt.
In an article in the Los Angeles times this weekend the author of
the Patriot Act expressed concerned about it being used to detain
citizens at random. In the Guantanamo Bay fiasco, where the united
states is presently engaged in criminal activity, breaking
international law, holding foreign citizens without trial, without
access to legal defense, without access to the Red Cross (Imagine
if we accused Iraq of these things...Wait! We did!), even holding
CHILDREN in this POW camp, no less than four of our own officers
have been accused of trying to smuggle information out of that
hell hole. Why would our own American officers be detained? Why is
this Patriot Act even in play, when it's propensity for abuse is
so high? This piece of legislation is like giving nuclear weapons
to third graders and hoping they don't go off. There is no chance
that it won't be abused. Here is a personal example. Last week I
was traveling through Denver. I am searched every time I fly, I am
used to the routine. But this time they were looking for drugs, no
doubt. The police woman took apart every lip stick, opened it,
every eye shadow, every thing less than an inch in length. I
finally said, "May I ask you a question?" She hesitated and kept
searching and after about twenty seconds answered me. "You have no
right to be searching me for drugs. I understand we are safe
guarding the planes from terrorists, but you have no right to use
this security act to search for drugs. " NWMS: There was an eerie silence that fell over America when the election was taken. Little was done to prevent or demonstrate against it. How do you believe our voice will matter in the 2004 election? RICKIE: I think people were exhausted from the eight years of assault on Clinton. You will recall that less than one hundred days into his first year, the republicans started to accuse him immediately. I remember seeing a morning news show magazine showing some old men sitting around talking on a porch, wondering out loud why the republicans wouldn't let him even get started doing his job. Then when the Americans elected him a second term, you could see they were fuming. They had accusers and betrayers out in numbers, trying to bring this guy down, because he was trying to give People good service, not Business. That a nineteen year old sexual devise was his downfall is a testament to how exhausted we were. I will never get over the publication of the obscene material in the newspapers, where any child could read it. I was flabbergasted at how crude our media had become. In Seattle it was plastered on the front page. I remember riding a ferry and thinking, 'how horrible, how reckless, any child could pick this up and read it.' I never read it myself. I have heard through innuendo. Hard to believe people do those things. But much harder to believe that a president could be impeached for it. I have remembered the names of democrats who voted for his impeachment. Shame on them. Shame on the democrats who have become republicans just because they want to keep their cushy jobs. WE want democrats who are democrats. We don't want right winged people running under the democrat ticket. I have watched who squirmed over to the right. Feinstien, what a turn coat. I sent her an email on the internet and received a pat response more than a month later. Nice for me, like they don't know or care who I am. Well, I am one of the people whose vote you will miss next time. NWMS: You donated Ugly Man to the Bush In 30 Seconds contest. How did you get involved with this? RICKIE: v2 records told me about it. The record was made for that. I hope someone makes a good commercial for it. NWMS: You worked with so many great artists on your new record including Ben Harper and Eric Benet. I understand that all of them were very eager to work with you. How was it to work with such a diverse mix of artists? Also, would you consider yourself a mentor to any of the many artists who look up to you? RICKIE: Well, they are all just players. They come in, they want to do a good job. They were all very enthusiastic, all very sweet. I thought, 'wow, people are so nice nowadays.' One thing though is that Eric and that Ben are pretty good looking guys. Good grief. Eric is a real singer, he got himself matching my tone and laid down lots of harmonies. He was really helpful on Ugly Man. Ben is a stylist, and I had never really heard him before, and did think he had a very heartfelt voice, I like it. He is on the oooohss, at the end of Little Mysteries. |
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