I'm always thinking about what I learned by being involved in the punk movement early in it's development. I have first hand experience seeing everyday blokes get high in the garage in the daytime and stand on stage in the night time. I admired their determination and was entertained by their music but I didn't really idolize them because I knew they were the same dudes who were dope sick in the morning and threw their smelly socks on the floor. Musicians are just people who are really creative and determined and somehow, when you get four guys together with ideas for songs they can make it happen eventually...if they can learn to work together somehow. The bands that didn't make it were mainly the ones who fought, got too heavy into drugs or didn't have a common vision (which usually caused the fights). Stay Positive by Hold Steady pretty much sums up my feelings about the underground music scene and life in general. So, I thought I'd share. Listen to a clip or buy it on iTunes. Read Lyrics to Stay Positive by The Hold Steady I've got a lot of old friends that're getting back in touch and it's a pretty good feeling yea it feels pretty good I get a lot of double takes when I'm coming around the corners and its mostly pretty nice its mostly pretty alright 'cause most kids give me credit for being down with it when it was back in the day back when things were way different when the Youth of Today and the early Seven Seconds taught me some of life's most valuable lessons There's gonna come a time when the scene'll seem less sunny it'll probably get druggy and the kids'll seem too skinny there's gonna come a time when she's gonna have to go with whoever's gonna get her the highest there's gonna come a time when the true scene leaders forget where they differ and get 'big picture' cause the kids at their shows, they'll have kids of their own the sing-a-long songs'll be our scriptures We gotta stay positive We gotta stay positive We gotta stay positive We gotta stay positive Musical Interlude When the chaperone crowned us the king and the queen I knew that we'd arrived at a unified scene and all those little lambs from my dreams well they were there too 'cause its one thing to start it with a positive jam and its another thing to see it all through and we couldn't of even done this if it wasn't for you We gotta stay positive We gotta stay positive We gotta stay positive P.S. This is why I want everyone to sign the petition to keep punk rock Fungus 53 on XM Radio. Please sign it and share this blog with your friends.