Do you celebrate Christmas? I do, so if you want to get me something, I have some ideas. I guess I could list a bunch of high-end novelty items like a Jura Capresso machine and an 8 foot slate-bottom pool table, but then I’d look like a total douche nozzle. So let me go in another direction.

Instead of getting me a gift, consider this – become a patron. A new, modern, contemporary patron of the arts. Let’s face it, my rock star days are behind me. I have a job and a wife and 3 kids and a mortgage. I may need blood pressure medication. I’m not going to be getting backstage lapdances from Miley Cyrus in this lifetime. Nobody is going to be picking all the brown M&Ms out of the bowl in my dressing room.

Still, I believe I have some modicum of talent. And my children agree. There was a time when roomfuls of educated young people also agreed. I miss that. I miss playing my music to a roomful of interested listeners. It bugs me a lot that so many people I know think that wedding bands and tribute bands are the extent of live music outside of stadium shows. Seriously. the concept of checking out an unknown musician is wholly foreign to a large segment of the population.

Shouldn’t we all find this appalling? Shouldn’t we be distressed? I know I am.

So, back on point – I know a few artists and now even a record label that are lobbying for donations. I know of people who are heavy into the barter concept. Not just musicians, but artists in all mediums. Painters, scupltors, writers, whatever. They are soliciting donations, trading finished work for supplies or endorsements, auctioning performances to the highest bidder, etc.

So I have this concept – I have things I want to record. I want to put them down and share them with the world. But I don’t have the spare cash to press a CD and then send half of the run to press outlets and radio stations and the like. I mean, on top of the recording costs and all that. I mean, how can I justify spending thousands on something like that when I have to think about kids’ college funds and filling the tanks with heating oil. I mean, assuming I had the thousands of dollars burning a hole in my pocket.

But if I can make the music and create the package, maybe you can take that and move it for me. Share it, post about it, get free postcards from an internet printer and send them to all your friends. Host a performance and collect gas money. I’ll happily play a show in your living room for a bunch of your friends. We can share a bottle of wine and tell stories. Make me a few t-shirts on your hand screen press and maybe somebody will buy them. Let’s trade on our time and friendship and skillsets and resources. Remember Freshman year in college when everyone on your floor in the dorm was helpful and interested and everything was full of fresh promise? Let’s find that spirit again and do something here.

Maybe we’ll generate interest and some donations and maybe we’ll even have a reason to press a record. Maybe you can do cover art. Maybe you’re good on the phone and can do bookings for me. Hey, most of those great classic rock and roll managers started out as kids with some extra time and maybe some cash who were friends with the band. Let’s do something together. Let’s make something together. What do you think? Can we do something like that?