Cody Weathers

In high school, I got asked to write replacement music for a play that had (arguably-predictable) rights & licensing issues surrounding the well-known 60's hits it indicated should serve as set pieces for each of a series of short fairy-tale hippie vignettes. I also ended up serving as musical director and putting together a killer band that included the very talented Dave Potts, Jason Kay, and Neil MacPherson. "Mama Earth" was one of my favorite songs to come out of that project, originally sung beautifully by cast member Jennie Mizrahi (a fantastic visual artist these days in her own right Mizrahi Arts)

I give you this whole story as a mild parable (or, if you prefer, "fairy-tale hippie vignette") for the ways in which these days, we struggle with the temptation of the AI "easy button." I can imagine a director faced with the same quandary today thinking first of how AI might be able to solve the problem of needing an entire new score that "sounds like" Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, and Joni Mitchell et al rather than roll the dice entrust a student to salvage the musical end of the production. But I'm grateful that AI didn't exist, and that theater teacher Michelle Busti had faith in me and was nothing but supportive as I took it on. Frankly, we freakin' crushed it, and I hope you like the backstory to this song.

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely of the opinion that it's amazing that AI can exist, but it's even more amazing that we exist, and part of being human is not taking the easy way out....especially when they pave paradise to put up each data center (sorry, Joni...)

Cody Weathers 1 like. "Mama Earth (official music video)"