Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures and (very likely) misadventures of a writer who seeks to take his education, activism and seemingly boundless energy to North Minneapolis, (NoMi) to help with a process of turning a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood into something approaching Urban Utopia. I am here to be near my child. From 02/08 to 06/15 this blog pushed free speech to the envelope, so others could take heart and speak unafraid. Email me at hoffjohnw@gmail.com
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Sunday, August 3, 2014
(TEMPORARY NON-CONTROVERSIAL BLOGGING RESTRICTION IN PLACE) Joshua "Josh" Taft Sings The Song That Got Him Banned From Downtown Savannah, Georgia, "The Bullet" By The Devil Makes Three...
YouTube embed and blog post by John Hoff
This blogger is soliciting funding via PayPal for defense of the First Amendment rights of this blog. See PayPal button to the right. All blog posts published "for the duration" of my "temporary non-controversial blogging restriction" will have this solicitation for funds but I can't offer readers more explanation at present.
I'm not blogging about North Minneapolis right now. Readers who have been with me since 2008 can see how serious that is.
Now then, when I wrote yesterday about how I wouldn't write anything controversial for a while clearly I meant nothing controversial about North Minneapolis and my usual blogging subjects. So (as Monty Python used to say) NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!!!!!!!
In the video above you can see...
...a young man named Joshua "Josh" Taft singing a song called The Bullet by The Devil Makes Three. What's the point of this blog post? Heck, just to share this song.
I met Josh while he was hitchhiking, though he was not actually on the road at that moment. He was between rides at Jack In The Box. So technically I did NOT pick up a hitchhiker. His thumb was not even extended.
Anyway, I befriended Josh and we hung out for a bit and I gave him a ride, some stamped postcards, a copy of Into The Wild and lots of fatherly advice. I told Josh I was planning to give Into The Wild to my 17-year-old son but I said "You need it more than he does." For a moment, Josh became like a surrogate son. If my son was hiking around the country, "finding himself," I would hope that safe and kind people would look out for him. I urged him to keep updating his parents.
Josh told me something amazing. Looking at the postcards I gave him, he said he'd "never sent anything with a stamp before." I guess in an era of email and postage meters, stamps are a rarity for a 20-year-old. That's a shame, I think.
In return for my gifts and hospitality, Josh played a song for me. It's called The Bullet by The Devil Makes Three. Josh says he was banned from all of downtown Savannah, Georgia for singing this song while seated on a park bench in front of a cup soliciting donations.
(Soliciting donations, HINT HINT)
If you think that's a rotten thing for Savannah, Georgia to do then feel free to pass on the song video, which I have uploaded to my YouTube channel.
Thank you for being so kind to my son. I hope he only meets good people like yourself on his journey.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? That's your son?
ReplyDeleteYou're not just anonymous and saying that?
ReplyDeleteYes, that's my baby!
DeleteNo, that's my baby. I just didn't create a profile to post the comment. I was just showing this blog to his dad. Thanks again. I think you know how I worry for him.
ReplyDeleteI guess I just have to take your word.
ReplyDeleteI tried to encourage the young man to go to college and study music. He's worried about student loans. I wish I could think of a way to encourage him to settle into the normal path of life following this period of "finding himself." Sometimes young people will listen to complete strangers rather than their own parents. Anyway...
ReplyDeleteI told him to go to school.
Who ever is claiming to be there son is a liar. That is my son and the son of a bitch tried to kill his whole freaking family with liquid drano disguised as lime Kool-Aid mixed with Everclear.
ReplyDeleteHe fucked up cuz it didn't kill us but made us stronger...fuck off with your yellow stories and new persona...you are being sued again and you are shitting on yourself this time..
It's a shame to see a comment like that on a nice thread about this kid Josh and his song, but I think I need to document what the trolls are saying so I will go ahead and publish it, even though it's bizarre and obviously false.
ReplyDeleteIf you need to document ALL the troll comments why don't you go back and approve ALL the comments you rejected?
ReplyDeleteI submitted numerous comments that never saw approval.
Oh, I know you'll have some excuse like they must have been blocked by the SPAM filter, or it was a technical glitch. But I made sure to send decent comments as well, thanking you for all your hard work. THOSE comments submitted at the same time as the critical comments got approved.
Without a doubt you pick-and-choose which comments to approve. So let's not hear any of your bullshit about comments vanishing into cyberspace.
I have screen shots of ALL my comments and I will gladly provide them to the court as evidence.
Evidence for what 10:05 a.m.? You are an anonymous fucking dunce. Sounds like Spanky is at it again.
ReplyDelete