some of the bands & performers from last year

D+

Dear Listener- Thank you for the attention you may be about to spend on our latest D+ recording project. In Anacortes, we enjoy an incredible all-ages art & music collective called the Department of Safety; it was at a D.o.S. concert that my eye was caught by the question on a poster made by Ariana Jacob: what is doubt for? Having lived several decades attempting to be human, I’ve had time to wrestle with many doubts – as we all do – in myself, in god, in others. I suppose that the name D+ is itself an expression of doubt. In time, through thought and dialogue, I was able to trick myself into seeing these inner questions as something of benefit.

What is doubt for? Can you trust a doubtful person? Can you trust the person who pretends not to doubt? Unfortunately, we live in a time and place of extreme Amerigance; the Power of Pride translates to “shut the fuck up!” Hardly an environment for cultivating understanding. Questions of strategy, purpose, accountability – the very act of articulating a relevant question – (entertaining doubt) is labeled taboo and subject to derision and threats of excommunication.

The Power of Doubt? A strange question, but very American at root; we’ve always been revolted by the theocratic and monarchistic. Even our royal family poses as populist rebels.

We can try but ultimately not really deny inner doubt or the wish to escape it. This personal human drama has become an international psych-ops program administered for profit. Will we choose the easy certainties and semi-enslavement of Consumerism over the anxieties of Citizenship with its burdens of civility?

Let’s grant ourselves the benefit of the doubt. Believe that exploring doubt is a strength that might expose the weakness and thoughtlessness of those manipulative bullies, the ones who pretend to speak for us and know it all.

Thank you for these irreplaceable moments,
Bret Lunsford