The Shiz

This is the new kickstarter campaign that we're backing.  Instead of making an album, The Shiz is trying to get enough money to tour.  Besides the music, which I think is fantastic on its own, I just love the message of this group.  I'm going to reprint their message from their kickstarter page, but go visit and donate some money.

Hi. This is Liz from The Shiz.

My wife Lilli and I are launching a “U R The Shiz” campaign. We are embarking on a 6 week tour to the west coast to play our music, fill folks with good vibes, and along the way, document why the people we meet feel they are The Shiz.

The Shiz is a rock band based in Hammond, Louisiana, and our mission is to encourage love and positivity through music and community interaction.

Ironically, the band formed at a time when I was feeling anything but The Shiz. The story begins with a simple conversation I had guy my age who seemed to find me compelling, so he asked about the ring on my finger. When he heard the answer, I was fired from my job. 

“I’m married to a woman, and her name is Lilli.”

That man was my supervisor in a wilderness therapy program in Arizona, and that day The Shiz was born - because when I spoke my truth, I witnessed his brain derail and then sat there and listened to the garbage that spilled from his mouth while he tried to get it back on track. I did not ask him to think differently of me, I let him have his experience.  And then I left, and moved back home to Louisiana, feeling empty-handed and alone.

But empty handed and alone can have its perks, and it is a great place to start figuring out what you do have.  

Me, I had songs. I’ve always had songs and a guitar. If I was not singing one song, I was singing another; if not your song, then my own. And when I sang them to my wife Lilli, she was convinced we would have a musical journey together. We had put that journey aside so that I could have my wanderings in the wilderness, but when the wilderness delivered me back home, it was time to start that quest in the form of a rock band which named itself The Shiz. 

While I can’t say that I would have started the band had I kept that job, I can say The Shiz has helped me reclaim my personal authority and my power. As the band has grown over the past three years, I have grown.  I have been forced to find comfort in myself, the people I make music with, and the people I make music for.  This musical journey has inspired me to be, and appreciate being, exactly who I am.

And I am THE SHIZ! We all are. Lilli and I have traveled all over the country and found that to be a hard concept for many of us to grasp. So many of us spend years berating ourselves for one thing or another, sometimes because at one point, someone told us we weren't good enough or that something was wrong with us. Sometimes it's just what we tell ourselves.

I think it’s time to lay that story to rest. We need individuals to believe in themselves now more than ever so that we can stop competing and start working together to keep our planet and each other alive. I want people to join me in saying and believing, “I AM THE SHIZ.” 

We've started by asking current fans and friends, and have already gotten some great responses like:

from Germany:
"I am the Shiz because I still remember the Roger Rabbit and will do if anytime if asked." 

from Louisiana:
"I am the SHIZ because I love rainbows. When I see one, I want everyone to see it, too. I'd stop traffic to make people look at the beauty of a rainbow hanging in the sky."

from the cosmos:
"I am the shiz because I am the universe after 14 billion years of cosmic evolution. I am the shiz because I am the universe made conscious - a way for the universe to experience and understand itself. I am the shiz because I am completely insignificant and yet am the most significant being in existence. I am the shiz simply because I AM."

We plan to film as many people as possible for a documentary that will be available online.  We will also be collecting comments on twitter and facebook so that as many people can be involved (and heard) as possible.  

Please take this journey with us by donating and/or spreading the word. And always remember: U R THE SHIZ!