I opened the set this Monday night with my song "Spinning Blind" -to an audience of multi-ethnic men and women. The song is about racism, politics, identity, American culture, and calls upon the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. Its a story of 2 young adults (a guy and a girl) who have a sense of hopelessness and despair about their lives - tied into the reality that their lives are fatally determined by the racism they have encountered, that paralyzes them, and the world we live in today..........

Here are the lyrics to "Spinning Blind" by Ko-Shin
______________________________________________________
She thinks her life is not important from nine to five
She never smiles or says "thanks" to passersby
And all the sadness that she feels
Keeps her spinning blind
She's lost herself, and why?
She reads the magazines and wonders why her life
Can't be magical like movie stars and trophy wives
She finds a cure inside a bottle
To deal, with necessary evils

Oh Martin Luther King, Jr - we haven't come a long way
Since you left this world- its still the politics of hate
And all the horses and all the King's men could not find a way
Imagine all the people, Imagine all the people

He thinks his life is unimportant
His parents died
When he was 17, and now he questions love and tries
To be like water, lying low
Under a rock, you'd find him stoned
He has ideas and education
Is seeking truth and spiritual liberation
But prefers living as a ghost
He has no solace and no hope

Oh Martin Luther King, Jr- we haven't come a long way
Since you left this world - its still the politics of hate
And all the horses and all the King's men could not find a way
Imagine all the people, Imagine all the people

I still have a dream, I still have a dream.............
______________________________________________________

So when I was singing, and I started singing about MLK and the "we haven't come a long way part... the audience started clapping and cheering!!!!!! As I was noticing this, I still had to keep playing the keys and singing in perfect time and pitch, but it hit me in my "one world spiritual heart."

As an artist, I write songs sometimes as a response or a question, or because a voice wants to speak through me. The one thing I can never account for is the response I might receive. I felt really grateful that I could speak to the hearts of people who may feel like a part of them is still aching, and somehow silenced, or defeated, or enraged. I am at a place right now of being grateful for my ability to express in words and songs, what many of us feel. And there's power in our honest voices.

When it comes down to it, we are all just human beings here for a HUMAN experience. I don't care what color someone's skin is, and no one else should either! We are all the children of the Earth, and we are all one race. Why is it called a race, anyway. What are we trying to win? I'm so tired of all the fighting that goes on in this world. I am tired of fighting, and you should be too. GET OFF THE BATTLEFIELD!!!!!!!! And the fight begins inside of you. The argument you can't win within. The need to be right. To WIN! At all costs!!

I don't care how many people I piss off with my beliefs anymore!!!
I believe in a world where we love ourselves, and we are truly capable of loving eachother. Of stepping aside to let people off the train before we push our way to get on. C'mon man!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am talking about the REAL revolution here. Its not the one where we fight and blow eachother up. Its about lighting ourselves up from the inside. We are our own Xmas trees. And when we get all lit up, everyone wants to gather around us, and enjoy. And we have gifts to share...I know I do.............
:)
Ko-Shin