Jessy Delfino's Blog

NEW DIRECTIONS, NEW MOTIVATIONS, 

CHANGE IS GOOD

A few weeks ago, my mother said to me, "What do you think about the BP oil spill?" She was the first person to ask me that question. "It is bad," I said. Up until then, I hadn't really given it a lot of thought. I mean, it was like I said. It is bad, and no one, not even BP executives, think it's "good". But, she planted a seed in my head that I haven't been able to shake,  like a song that is playing on repeat in my brain. I began to ask others that same question. "What do you think about the BP oil spill?" It's pretty much unanimous, no one likes it. But at a time when people can "like" and "unlike" things so easily and then disassociate themselves with one apathetic click, "unliking" this event is just not nearly enough for me. 

I grew up on, near, in and around water, in a coastal New England town. I spent some of my most important years and recall some of my best memories on the beaches, in the ocean, beside the ocean. "The Ocean" is one of my favorite songs by Led Zeppelin, and I was raised and cared for by the ocean's bounty, as my dad was a lobster middle man for probably close to 20 years. I ate so much lobster as a kid, I begged for pizza. The ocean means something to me. 

I digested those points, then, yesterday I awoke, and I sat up in bed thinking to myself, "I have to do something about the ocean." It was that sentiment which made me drag my sorry, hung over ass out of bed and get dressed, while my warm boyfriend and cat and bed tempted me and made me wish I could just sleep in. But I had to get up, because I was forcing my aloof self to go to the Green Salon, a symposium my brilliant artist activist friend Mara Haseltine brainstormed and brought to life. As we ate a vegetarian brunch, we listened to leaders in their field of research and speakers of all ages, even a few teens, talk about what they are doing to help the oceans. It was inspirational and magical. It was the medicine I needed, and the event was full of the teachers and guidance I was looking for. 

I have so much to say, I want to write so much about it, but it'd probably be about as interesting as me telling you about the dreams I had last night. But in a nut shell, I want to use my art and music and voice to save the ocean, whatever that entails, whatever that means. I am literally sickened by being a shill in this antiquated system and I want to see and encourage changes. I can't sit back any more and do nothing. From now on, I will use the power of my vagina songs for good, and I will start by no longer trivializing them and simply calling them vagina songs. Anyone who knows me and appreciates what I do knows that there is more to me and my work than that. And shame on anyone who has shared that misconception or participated in that lie. But I forgive you, and I'll hear you out if and when you're ever ready to talk about it, and learn and grow as a human being.

So, to start, if you can believe it, I've written this week's dirty folk rock SONG OF THE MONTH in line with this new plan. It's dirty, it's ribald, it is as quirky and silly as ever, and I hope it will plant an idea in some of your heads, as my mother's words did to me. I'm not exactly a hippy, I sort of hate hippies. I'm not going to start behaving in a gross hippy way, and if I do, please call me out on it. My music and art and voice is who I am and what I have to offer, what I can and will offer. I also am able bodied, and have my health and some time, so I have those things to offer, too. 

Listen in tonight at www.nyctalentshow.com or attend 10:30 PM, The Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, to hear the new song. If you like it, send it to a friend. 

And if this is something that is of interest to you, let me know the answers to these questions: What are you doing to help the ocean, and how can I help you? I want to hear your ideas. If you don't know what to do or how to help but want to, then get in touch and I'll let you know how you can help.

I'll leave you today with a thinker: If everybody would refrain from using public transportation or driving for ONE DAY ONLY, world wide, what kind of impact would that have on the world? What kind of message would that send? Is that something we could do, realistically? One day only -- a DON'T DRIVE day. Think about it and let me know your feedback.