Live Music, Good Food, Community, and Big Wind

House shows are my favorite shows to play. They typically include good food and drinks, and a feeling of intimacy that is just hard to establish in bars, festivals, or larger music venues. There is one little place though, called The Spotted Cow in Urbana, Ohio, that has the same feeling as a good house show. There's something about it that I just love. Last weekend I played with there with some of my nephews and nieces, (The Miller Road Band), and one of my favorite bands, The American Landscape. The night began however, with an excellent new band called The Caravan Folk Trio, which another niece happens to be a part of.

This band was started by a friend of mine who had the idea to bring the community together to experience and celebrate local music and local food, so he got a band together, found a venue, and contacted some local farmers and food-truckers, and planned the whole thing. It was pretty inspiring.

But there's just something about The Spotted Cow that moves me. I think it has a lot to do with the good work they do for folks with developmental disabilities. They have a farm where people with all types of disabilities, from down syndrome to autism can come and work with various animals and do different jobs, which also include working in the coffee shop. This place has been a haven for lots of people for a number of years.

Recently though, the farm has encountered a problem. It's one that our community has been struggling with for years, and it's an old story that has been told many times around the world. It's a story of deceit, corporate greed, and exploitation, except in this case it's disguised by being "clean and green", so it can be a little confusing for people who haven't really looked into it beyond normative media coverage.

When industrial wind turbines are installed too close to people's homes, they cause problems. Along with property devaluation, they can also affect people's health because of something called infrasound. Unfortunately, a wind company (owned by the world's biggest asset company) our community has been fighting against for years is determined to install turbines all around this farm, knowing full well what this could do to the people living in this community, and especially to those with developmental disabilities, so I wanted to share their story here, as it's been on my mind lately.

I've also added a live video of me and some of my band from the Spotted Cow playing one of my songs called "Jailbird", which is another story in of itself, for another time.

Thanks again everyone, for your support, and for listening!