OFF THE ROAD AND INTO YOUR LIVING ROOM 
Brian Bowman
of Buzz City Magazine
 

Late last fall, Brandy Moore loaded her cat and guitar into her self-contained camper van to tour the southwestern United States. 

"I love adventure, so driving down there was a blast", said Brandy.  "My boyfriend came along as far as New Mexico. He flew home from there, and I continued on touring through New Mexico and Arizona before meeting up with him again in San Diego on Christmas Eve. We drove on to Palm Springs and Las Vegas, and eventually all the way back to Regina together. We feel really lucky that we got to experience so much beautiful and varied scenery together."

"...I've found that deep down, most people really are the same wherever you go. It’s more the venue that determines the type of show you’re going to have," she observed.

Brandy is a flexible performer with a large repertoire of material. She can play to any audience, but she says some venues, such as bars, do hold drawbacks for solo performers.  "In a band, the volume level is such that you won't be crowded out. But when I perform solo, I prefer to play in a listening room environment. It's more satisfying for the performer as well as the audience. You get to share a more intimate experience," she said.

Time alone in unfamiliar environments can be a game changer. Brandy met new people, shared tunes and ideas, and spent time communing with both nature and her soul. She's returned home with new material and a new determination. House concerts, listening rooms, and self-organized solo shows is where she's placing her primary focus now.

"I'm kind of regrouping right now. I really love the Listening Room experience," said Brandy. "I used to do more of that when I first moved to Regina. I'd sell tickets to a solo show, light candles, and include dessert and coffee in the price.  I also love doing house concerts. I performed at a home in LaRonge several years back. There were people on chairs, on the couch, on the floor, and even sitting on the steps up to the second floor. You could hear a pin drop, and everyone really got the story and emotion from each song."  

It's a concert, not a sing-along or a party, and Brandy sets the play list. But it's casual, too. "I usually do two sets with a nice break in the middle so everyone can talk and mingle," said Brandy, adding that if someone knows she does a particular tune, she's happy to accommodate a request.

This could be quite an experience. Brandy has her own style and her own music, but she’s also been influenced. Ask for the right tune, and if you turn your head or close your eyes you just might think it’s Eva Cassidy, Etta James or Patsy Cline singing in your living room.

"I've performed a few house concerts here in Regina, but I haven’t really promoted it.  So I'm working on marketing myself more in that area," she said. "This is what I love - I love songs - and they don’t have to be mine. I just want to get the story of a great song through to the audience's heart."

A tug on the heart strings can be food for the soul, and this lady has plenty of that. For more information on how you can bring great tunes and a world-class performer to play for you and yours in the comfort of your home, contact Brandy through her website at www.brandymoore.ca


BASIC INCOME INSPIRED SONG EXCITES NABIG 
Tyler Prochazka
of Basic Income Earth Network


“Shouldn’t I have enough to eat?  And don’t I deserve a safe place to sleep?"

These are the first two lines from the song that shook up this year’s North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress. The song “Just Because I’m Alive” was performed live at the congress by musician Brandy Moore, a supporter for the idea of Basic Income.  Moore started a GoFundMe campaign to help fund a studio version of the song that she hopes to release this year.  Moore has already raised over 10 percent of the goal in just a few weeks, and she hopes “the momentum keeps going" (Just Because I'm Alive was released in Feb 2017).

One of the primary reasons that Moore supports Basic Income is that it would let all people be “...free to say no to workplaces and/or living situations that aren't healthy...  and yes to what we really want to do with our lives. I believe that art is a priceless contribution to society and that artists should be valued.  All types of unpaid caregiver work which people carry out in our society should be recognized as invaluable...  and no one should be going without food or shelter."  About two years ago, Moore came across the idea of Basic Income on Facebook and became intrigued. Her curiosity did not stop there and Moore became inspired to write a song about it - writing it in “one sitting.” She said she started with the first two lines of the song “and everything else just flowed out of that.”  Moore said that it is important to create art related to basic income, because art “has the ability to touch hearts and inspire minds in a very immediate way. It gives a voice to feelings and subjects that people might find hard to talk about, but which still need to be expressed.  It also helps people feel less alone... more connected with the rest of humanity,” Moore said.

Ursule Critoph, an attendee at NABIG, said Moore’s performance “struck a chord” with the audience. Critoph said using art to promote basic income will help “appeal to the human heart and spirit". Brandy's lyrics express the essential foundations that underlie the importance of a guaranteed basic income... appealing to the universal human need for affirmation, food, shelter and other aspects of a full life is critical to convincing persons that access to a basic income must become a universal right,” Critoph said.

Maria Wong, a worker at the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, also listened to Moore’s live performance. She said she loves the lyrics because they illustrate the reason she is “fighting” for a basic income: “It’s a human right.”  Wong said a basic income would help women, including those at the shelter. “Women experience poverty at higher levels because of responsibilities with caring for family, a lack of options and/or being undervalued in the workforce. We believe a Guaranteed Livable Income will give these women more autonomy and allow them to be less invisible in society,” Wong said.

A part-time office worker by day and a musician by night, Moore sings because she loves it. “We were meant to be free, and when enough of us believe we deserve to be free, we will be."


JUST BECAUSE
I'M ALIVE
Brandy Moore


Shouldn't I have enough to eat?
And don't I deserve a
safe place to sleep?
Where no one can take
what doesn't belong to them,
And I don't have to look
over my shoulder?

Why must I pay for my existence?
And why must I prove
my worthiness?
I have a right to basic needs
Why, why, why, why, why?
Just because I'm alive---

I don't look like you,
And I don't act like you,
And I could never make it
in your world,
But I still deserve a decent life
Why, why, why, why, why?
Just because I'm alive--

I'm alive---
Just because I'm alive--
Just because I'm alive--

I'm hungry,
I'm cold,
I'm lonely,
I feel-----
Just like you do...

Because I'm alive

I'm alive

Just because I'm alive
Just because I'm alive
Just because I'm alive
Just because I'm alive
Just because I'm alive

Why, why, why, why?
Why, why, why, why?
Why, why, why, why, why?


Everyone deserves enough to eat and a safe place to sleep. Why? Just because we're alive.

READ ABOUT BASIC INCOME
DOWNLOAD THE SONG