Do You! [11 January 2010]

?uestlove by Nizam Uddin

Frida Kahlo by Libby Rosof

Hobos by Michelle Aziz

Joey by Dave Parker

“Be yourself, don’t take anyone’s shit, and never let them take you alive.” ~Gerard Way

“Well there is that common misconception that punk was this negative nihilistic thing, but that was never what it was about. It was about empowerment, individuality and some kind of “politicalisation.” I’m not talking about the politics that people see on the TV; I’m talking about a global politics. Trying to be in touch with the planet, to me, is my kind of politics. There’s a trend towards this passive consumerism these days whereby most people are emotionally detached from the planet. Obviously that’s going to lead us nowhere.” ~Don Letts (excerpt from Conversations With Punx)

You my new friend (and of course my long-standing friends that read this) are one of a kind. You are unique. You see life in your own special one of its kind way. No one else can ever do things the way you do them, you bring your own unique style & flavour to the party. And, what a party that is! Magnificent, divine and full of life!

Even if someone else was given the exact same information as you, we all translate it differently and put our own twist on things depending on our past experiences, upbringing, beliefs, outlook so we can only really do things our own way.

“Individuality is very important for a full human life” ~HH the 14th Dalai Lama

A big part of ‘doing you’ is knowing who you are and what you stand for and staying true to that—not allowing yourself to be swayed by your friends, family, group pressure or trends. A huge part of me has learnt so much about myself and who I am thanks to punk rock and hip hop music, culture and those that contribute positively to it. And although music is one of my favourite things in the whole Universe, I make sure I don’t let it define me.

Many years ago (6 actually, at the beginning of my book project)… I found myself having been involved with punk rock for over a decade. I had written fanzines, put on shows, manned merch booths, been a publicist, music critic, and activist; I had interviewed hundreds of bands, attended countless live shows, had a mail order, and been a noise maker in various bands that never made it out of the garage. My social life revolved around shows and I had met all of my friends at gigs. I was in deep. After a while it all started to feel uninspiring. Nothing excited me or provoked me to think. I had to get drunk and be surrounded by my tightly knit social clique for shows to be fun. I was in a punk rock bubble and the bubble become very cloudy.

I had always attributed punk (and hip hop) as contributing to my personal growth. I began to feel my growth as a person stall and become stagnant. Punk had always been a platform from which I could explore and find myself. The platform had seemed to become limited. I thought, “Is this it? Is this who I am?” I realised that my whole life was sadly based around a music scene, which in the grand scheme of things is minute. I had lived, breathed, and consumed punk, until it had begun to consume me. My perspective started to shift. There had to be something more, something beyond punk. I started to disconnect from what was going on around me. For the first time, I was alone in my punk rock world. I started to turn inward.

For me this was a really confusing time, I really had to focus on me and who I thought I was, who I was, and who I wanted to become. My journey through that is in part my book projects. Meditation & my Morning Page rituals really helped me during this time of self-exploration.

Advice from amazing people also helped! Exene Cervenka the remarkable front lady of Los Angeles punk band X chatted with me for my book and had the following to say… which I felt was really spot on in relation to Doing You!

Exene: I’m trying to take care of that stuff. It’s complicated because as you get older you have a lot of stuff you’ve been through and you look back on it all and you get an image of yourself. It’s not always the best image. Maintaining a healthy self-image and really loving yourself is something that’s really important to me. People let life get to them too much and they get beaten down by it. They become cynical and jaded. It’s really important for me not to become like that. When I look back and say I want to love myself it’s not because I’m running from my past, it’s because I’m learning to accept who I am with flaws.

Being yourself isn’t always going to be easy (with so many distractions out there and people & things trying to influence you and your choices)… a big tip I can give you though on the road to Doing You! is: stop caring what others think about you. If you’re constantly fretting about what this person or that thinks about you, it’ll be impossible to be yourself.

In my experience, any lasting thing in life is built rooted in truth. Ask yourself, what’s your truth?

“If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.” ~Billie Holiday

“Cherish forever what makes you unique, ‘cause you’re really a yawn if it goes.” ~Bette Midler

And don’t forget one of the biggest truths of all: you’re unique just like everybody else! (he, he :))

The King of ‘Do You!’ Russell Simmons

So are you going to take the challenge to Do You!? I dare you to.
More magic all the time,

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