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Must Not Sleep! Must Warn Others! And other tips from fundraising hip hopistas
- May 6, 2011
- Posted by: Mazarine
- Category: Fundraising 101
So as I write another blog post at midnight, I’m reminded “Must Not Sleep! Must Warn Others!”
Let me explain.
Yesterday I met with Leah Manners, a development professional who not only just raised tons of membership money at KOOP community radio (91.7FM) here in Austin, but ALSO has her own hip hop show here on Sundays! You should tune in. It’s called Hip Hop Hooray.
This struck a chord with me, because I used to have my own radio show, back in college. I called it “Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem” and it was SO FUN. I got my friends to come on the show with me and recommend music, and I got exposed to so much good stuff! This is why we need community radio. Because these radio stations getting bought out by corporations is really what destroyed the music industry. But I digress.
As Leah was driving me back to my house, she told me about Aesop Rock. I knew about Mr. Lif, Common Market, Blue Scholars, Sole, and other social justice hip hop people, and I was happy to learn about a new band!
I just looked Aesop Rock up, and Aesop Rock has tattoos on each forearm. His left arm says the words “Must Not Sleep”, and the right says “Must Warn Others,” which are quotes inspired by the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This kind of feels like the life of a fundraising one-person shop! As so many of us are.
Must not sleep! Must warn others!
What keeps you up at night? All the work you need to get done? What makes your cause truly URGENT? How do you communicate this urgency? I mean, obviously, tattoos would do it for people you met in person, but since you’re not cutting albums, how ELSE man?
What must you warn people about? What happens when your cause is not there? What happens to people before they receive your services?
And here’s another, somewhat related question for you.
How do you get in the GROOVE when you have a lot of work to get done?
Do you rock the black tea?
Do you put your headphones on and pump up the volume?
What are some of your favorite “Get Work Done” songs?
What helps you put your game face on?
What’s your “I am the most bad-ass fundraising professional” playlist?
I’ll share mine if you share yours!
Here are some of mine:
Erykah Badu: Didn’t Cha Know? and Bag Lady
Aesop Rock: Daylight and None Shall Pass
Deerhunter: He Would Have Laughed
Junip: In Every Direction
Notorious BIG, 2Pac: Let’s Get It On
Ted Leo: Parallel or Together
Sleigh Bells: Rill Rill or Crown on the Ground
Common Market: Tobacco Road or Winter Take All
Mr. Lif: I Am the Sun
The Strokes: Red Light
Paul Simon: The Afterlife
Go on, share in a comment, what are you listening to right now?
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Check out Sleep is Wrong by Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.
Here are the lyrics
Writhing in the old bliss
Never forget this
Reeling in the sweet grip
Never let this slip
Your eyes are yours to close
Never let go. Sleep is wrong
“Do not go gently
Into that good night
Rage against the
Dying of the light”
Your eyes are yours to close
Never let go. Sleep is wrong
When I grow up I’m never gonna sleep
When I grow up I’m never gonna cry
When I go out I’m never coming home
When I grow up I’m never gonna die
Wow, I just listened to that song. It’s….
Like….
Uh….
Very scratchy and steampunk meets noise music.
Thank you for sharing!
Peace,
Mazarine