Over the past few months... actually 3 months to the day I started down the road to radical giving (this is what I call it. I'm sure someone else has name for this already). It was during a church service, shortly before Christmas, that the pastor mentioned something about giving to some group. I had heard things like this before, and none of them had moved me enough to give more than the usual 10% tithe I had always given since I started earning a paycheck. This time was no different, however, I felt like God was telling me to not only give more but to give everything in my wallet. I had not even filled my tank with gas yet. I was under a quarter tank and had to a lot of driving the next day. I wrestled with this in my mind for a while before I finally gave in and gave all the money I had. I was even crying because I needed it.

I had never felt like I was all that attached to money. I have always thought more about what I was doing, that I felt was right to do, with my life rather than think about getting a better paying job so I can have more things. In fact, that idea disgusts me more often than not. I was amazed however, at how much I felt I needed the little money I had. And it was a little. I think it was about $33.

The next day $150 was given to me, and I decided that I would start tithing 20% instead of 10%! Not much of a leap but a start. I have been doing this the past three months now, and really have not been hurting. It has been hard a couple of times, but God has come through each time. If anything, this has helped me feel God helping me in my life more! ...and it doesn't stop there either!

About two months ago I came across a charity that helped girls and women that were sold into the sex trade. It wasn't even a pamphlet, just a jar with a picture on it that was sitting on a teacher's desk at the place I work. For some reason I took note of it but didn't do anything. I didn't even see the jar again after that. Over the next month and a half I would occasionally think about the charity and feel this deep compassion for the girls and a nagging (actually more of a longing desire) to do something to help. Finally, I decided to listen to God, and leave a note on the teacher's desk and ask her about the charity. This correspondence  let to an email with this link: Hope for Sexually Exploited Girls

I gave $50 to the teacher the next day because I wanted time to research the charity a little more before I started actively giving to them. That was two weeks ago and this whole time I have been selling old music equipment and looking for ways to get more money to rescue these girls. Other than music, I have never felt so strongly about anything. Even music pales compared to the joy I am feeling knowing that I can make a difference, and change these girl's lives for ever with only $25 per girl. I wanted to make a difference with my music but that was self centered because it all came back to me. This is selfless because it all goes back to people I will probably never meet. I would rather give away my music if I thought it could somehow help and give hope to those hopeless girls. Making money as an artist was a cause, but this is a crusade!

I really need to go to bed, I've been up for way to long! But, before I do, I will mention a few last things. I am auctioning off my old car (1976 Chevy Nova Concours), and one of my old guitars (Gibson Les Paul Studio Custom). All the money raised will go directly to the charity. The auction will go on for a year tops or as long as I can keep it going, because this is more about the charity than the items being auctioned. I will give more details on how I will do this in the next few days. Also, I am pledging (on top of what I am giving already from my paychecks) all the money made in the next year from music sales to this charity, ending on March 21st, 2010! ...Who knows, I might do it indeffinitely!

I can't emphasise enough how much this cause means to me. If you don't feel like going through me to give to this charity then don't. They don't even know me anyway. But do please give to them through the above link. If you do give to them directly (and specifically to this particular cause), send me an email at info@buzzheadrepublic.com letting me know, and I will send you a digital copy of whatever album you want of mine for free, just to thank you for helping out in this cause I feel so strongly for.

I will update with more info as I get it.

God bless,
Matthew Shaffer
Buzzhead Republic

        

I want to draw people's attention to a project started by Glen Beck (Fox News). It is called The 9.12 Project (www.the912project.com), and is about the principles that our founding fathers built this country on. I have not been able to view the site because so much traffic has hit it that the server is almost permanently down.

For those that missed Glen Beck's live show,  he is reminding America that it is We the People, not Us the Government, who call the shots. I encourage everyone to get involved not because I am but because ...<< MORE >>

This last Saturday (Feb. 7th) I was going around the city selling my books so that I would have enough money for gas and food until I get paid. My uncle (Uncle Bob) was in town, and he loves books, so I was going with him to all the bookstores. The last bookstore we visited is one of my favorites (Poor Richards). For some reason I didn't think they were buying any used books that day so I just hung around while my uncle was browsing. I kept having this nagging feeling I should ask them is they were buying ...<< MORE >>

I hate spam from illegitimate drug companies with philosophical quotes being tacked on to my Recording Today entry. It takes a lot of time to mark them as spam and to block the IP address.

Now for the updates:

Allen is coming over this Thursday (the 1st of '09) to record violin parts for one of our side albums. It is an instrumental only album about 15 minutes long, with piano, violin and possibly cello. That all depends on if I'm able to get a cellist. The current working title for the album is Among the Aspen Groves. This is just going ...<< MORE >>

I have been making huge leaps forward in production. Our music production is just about on par with the likes of The Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails! No joke. I can hardly wait to show it to everyone. It may be a long time though. I have only completely finished two songs. I will probably finish a third song today, and I have about seven others in the middle of production.

Other updates....

The soundtrack to Grand Guignol will eventually be available on We7.com just as soon as I get the album artwork sent to me (which should have been done almost ...<< MORE >>

I have had one of the greatest two weeks of my life, musically speaking. I realized at the beginning of those two weeks that I had too much stuff. For various reasons, none necessary enough to mention, I have moved my bedroom into my studio. Wanting to keep the feel of my studio without the distractions of a bedroom ensemble, I decided to make a fake wall out of my media (some movies, some books, but mostly a whole lot of music, i.e. cds, records, tapes, music videos, etc.) I did not think I had enough to fill my shelves and in so doing create the fake wall. Boy was I wrong! My fake wall is 12 feet long by 7 feet high and is double sided, and completely filled with my media. There is something wrong with that. Why should I have so much when there are people out there with so little?

Besides that, I started thinking about how attached I was to all of it. I believe that my primary focus in life should be on God and what He wants me to do in this world while I am here. I want to change the world in a positive way maybe through my music (I'll get back to that) or in another way. But how effectively can I do that if I am weighed down by things that I will never be able to take with me when I die anyway? I had to ask myself if my focus had become more about my music than God. Thankfully, after some serious thought, I realized that my focus was on God.

God didn't ask me to unload all of my worldly possessions, but I have started thinking that it would be better to travel light in case one day God tells me to pack up and move to Australia, or Mars for that matter. This is actually something I went through when I was 16 also. At that time, when I was done with my life priority overhaul, all I had were my clothes, my car, my guitar, my bible, and my music (my collection was small enough to carry with me still). Now things are a little different, but not in ways that matter. Now I have a business that has tools, like my studio. You can't exactly make that smaller or move it at a moments notice. But this is where my attitude has changed. If God asked me to drop it all and move, I would. God can provide more than enough for me to completely start over as many times as He needs me to. It's only stuff. I have to leave it when I go to heaven anyway,  so I've got to be willing to leave it in Colorado or wherever I am if I need to. That's a good place to be in!

This aside, I know God still wants me to enjoy life and things like media, as long as it doesn't become my primary focus. So I started to make what I can portable in case I have to go somewhere else. All my studio work is backed up on hard drives so that one's easy. My media is a little bit harder to backup. Many books (if they are classics can be found for free in e-text or even audio book form at gutenberg.org. My cds I can copy onto my hard drive. Records and tapes will have to come later when I have all the converters.

As I have been doing this (only books so far) I have been giving them away. I also gave away some clothing. If I sold something, I used the money to give to a church or a person who needed it. I have even been giving my food to a couple of my roommates who are currently out of jobs with no money. Out of doing this I have discovered for myself a strange quandary about God. You cannot out give Him. The more I have been giving, the more I have been getting. I gave away a bunch of books and now have more than I know what to do with (other than giving again). I gave away clothes and now have a new wardrobe, so now I'm giving away more clothes! Even food is being given to me, which I am in turn giving to my roommates. I even have more money, and I can't explain that one. My paychecks are still the same and I'm not making a profit with music, but still my money seems to be going fsrther than it ever has before! This is all in the past two weeks. This will probably keep growing till I am just passing along the blessings to everyone I meet!

Now my frustration. I want to change the world with my music. Yeah, it's not normal music, but the fact that it's different should be compelling enough to get people to share it and spread it around. I have resorted to giving it away because I believe that it can do a lot and will hold a lot of meaning for a lot of people. Maybe just because of its being different. I don't know. But I do know I have gotten very little response. A couple of die hard fans. Okay, more than a couple. Three. I have three die hard fans (you know who you are, God bless you!). Other than them, I don't think any one has truly listened to my music, because I guarantee there is something to it that makes you want to listen again and again, and share it with others. I can say that confidently because every musician has written music that they are embarrassed by, that doesn't live up to their current work. I also don't know of any musicians who want to hear their own music, and who don't get tired of hearing their own songs after a while.  I am past all my bad works. I only published those out of posterity, and as a sort of audio log of where I was, of a moment in time or a period piece of Buzzhead Republic history. But all my albums from Reaver Doves on are so down to earth and so from the heart that even I have to listen to them. I composed them so in tune to the human soul that they speak to me as if I didn't write them, like they were always there, somewhere, just waiting for someone like me to bring them into the light.

After writing all this though, I don't feel so frustrated. After all, my focus is on God. None of this really matters. It just matters to me.




...please buy something though. At least my music can pay for itself then.

        

Our violinist (Allen) is coming over to lay down some tracks today for the new soundtrack for Theatre 'd Art. We (myself and Rob) have already recorded the detuned piano and accordion. The sound requested of the theater group is a late 1800s french/ brothel/ horror, old world sound. It has been a little more difficult than previous soundtracks, but all in all really hasn't been too challenging. ...We'll see after this evenings recording session.
...<< MORE >>