My father left prison at 27 and went to a drug rehab community which turned into a cult where I was born.

When we escaped, I finally got to know him. He became my best friend.

When he died I wrote this song for him. It’s called HOLLYWOOD PARK. open.spotify.com/track/4oqTFpt6…
This song is about the moment my father nearly died from a heroin overdose. He woke up with tubes in his arms in a hospital bed.

He always said if he ever went back to it, he knew he’d die and that was the only way to change.

It’s called CARRY ME.

open.spotify.com/track/42TPjDlB…
When my dad died, it was like a hole opened up in the sky. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

I would talk to him in my head. I could hear him, always telling me to be a better man.

I wrote a song about what he says. It’s called The Common Touch.

open.spotify.com/track/7FKf5Cbv…
We escaped to Oregon w our mom where we lived on food stamps. This song is about the night I ran away after my second step dad hit me. It’s called COME ON OUT.

I love this remix. It was done by @RAC, who is a great musician AND a pioneer in the NFT space.
open.spotify.com/track/4aQo4VWJ…

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More from @Mikel_Jollett

5 Mar
If you're wondering why the music industry is talking about NFTs, beyond cryptocurrency apps, beyond "democratization of patronage" is one simple, glaringly obvious fact:

Music is worth WAY more than it's current price in the modern world and corporations are strangling artists.
Musicians currently only get 12% of all revenue in the music business. That's it. The rest go to middlemen (labels, streaming services, publishers).

This system both undervalues music AND benefits corporations at the expense of artists.

NFTs have the potential to change this.
Music has been undervalued (mispriced) for a very long time. Basically after Napster disrupted the CD-based music economy in 2002, streaming services rushed to fill the void by artificially lowering the price of music so they could still control it.
Read 15 tweets
23 Feb
OK Twitter, What’s the best music venue in America?

(It can’t be a converted sports venue or a park. I’m talking about a place that was built for music.)

I nominate the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
The early front runner is Red Rocks in Colorado. We played there accompanied by the Colorado Symphony. I don’t read music so I spent most of the show counting while trying to remember the lyrics.

Lots of love for First Avenue in Minneapolis, the 930 Club in DC and the Gorge.
To my mind, a rock and roll show is part confessional, part revival, part circus, and on that front the Fillmore in San Francisco will always have a soft spot in my heart. We've had so many wild nights there...
Read 6 tweets
10 Feb
I don't think the general language we are using in the discourse about covid vaccines is appropriate.

So far, 140 million people have received a covid vaccine worldwide. There have been virtually NO DEATHS from covid after receiving the vaccine. This should be common knowledge.
I admire scientists who use the academic language of skepticism in their popular work bc it translates to a more scientifically literate audience.

But, it's creating a cloud of doubt over vaccinations which is dangerous. A third of Americans say they will not get vaccinated.
The headline should always be, "Covid vaccines mean you will not die of covid." You may get covid, but it will be a very mild form. All this talk of 67% vs. 95% effectiveness clouds the issue that vaccines make covid NOT DEADLY.
Read 5 tweets
30 Jan
We’re at the mass vaccination site at Dodger Stadium to get my mom the vaccine. The anti–vax protestors have approached the entrance to the site. The LAPD have now closed the gate. We have been sitting here for about half an hour. Nobody is moving.
There has been no communication from the LAPD as to how long the entrance will be closed. They closed the gate as the protestors approached, presumably to stop them from entering the facility itself. Now nobody is going in. This is the largest vaccination site in the country.
There appears to be only about 30 protestors total. It’s not clear why they’ve shut off the whole facility.

Sheriff’s helicopter now circling the scene.
Read 7 tweets
17 Jan
I remember the day Trump was sworn in, I had a lump in my throat of fear and dread. I've had it every day since. I've carried it like a tumor.

4 years later our system is in shambles, our Capitol was attacked by his supporters and 400,00 are dead.

But...it's over in 87 hours.
Trump did something important though, he revealed many of the lies America tells itself about itself: that America is somehow a post-racial meritocracy, that we are not susceptible to fascism, that America is somehow less selfish or stupid than other countries. It isn't.
And yes, of course, many of us have been saying these things for years, writing about them, researching them, marching for them. But Trump made them plain and tactile.

An obvious example: a great democracy is not attacked by the supporters of an outgoing imbecile autocrat.
Read 4 tweets
20 Nov 20
My book, HOLLYWOOD PARK, was chosen as an Amazon Editor's Pick for a best book of 2020:

"Wild and shocking, but beautifully articulated. Jollett conveys his journey—the hurt, strangeness & yearning of youth—with delicate care & unabashed honesty."
amazon.com/Hollywood-Park…
My book, HOLLYWOOD PARK, received a *starred review* from Publisher's Weekly which called it:

"A heartbreaking memoir of staggering growth."

publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/co…
This is, well, good.

My book, HOLLYWOOD PARK was chosen by Good Housekeeping as a Best Book of 2020:

"Loyalty, raw love, and a poetic voice prevails throughout the horror."
goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertain…
Read 4 tweets

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