I get my non-profit bank account Monday and then a PayPal account, but for now you can donate at http://www.jasonmoon.org/store.cfm with the donate button. It is tax deductible and will be a great help. Since 01/01/2011 Jason Moon has traveled over 24,000 miles to raise $12,000 which has been distributed to many various veterans’ organizations. I performed at 54 different veteran events and concerts and gave 650 cd to veterans and veteran healers. I traveled the country in 2011 from Tucson Arizona, Walter Reed Medical Center, Ashville North Carolina, Fort Knox Kentucky, Lanse Michigan, and Seattle Washington to so many more. This year I’m invited to perform everywhere from San Diego at the first ever Military Sexual Trauma convention bringing together women veterans from across the world, to Boston Massachusetts for the VA art competition. It costs just over $800.00 to file for the non-profit. My monthly budget for the nonprofit, Warrior Songs Inc., is only about $200.00. I don’t pay myself for the performances or CD sales. I only need the startup fees and money to travel. My goal? To make sure every veteran in this county knows that PTSD is not a weakness and that they are not alone. To give a copy of my CD to every veteran or veteran healer who wants one at no cost. And to let every civilian know that they have a sacred obligation to understand PTSD and that doing so alleviates the suffering of PTSD veterans. Sounds big, but I’m a combat engineer. I WILL TRY!

I get my non-profit bank account Monday and then a PayPal account, but for now you can donate at http://www.jasonmoon.org/store.cfm with the donate button. It is tax deductible and will be a great help. Since 01/01/2011 Jason Moon has traveled over 24,000 miles to raise $12,000 which has been distributed to many various veterans’ organizations. I performed at 54 different veteran events and concerts and gave 650 cd to veterans and veteran healers. I traveled the country in 2011 from Tucson Arizona, Walter Reed Medical Center, Ashville North Carolina, Fort Knox Kentucky, Lanse Michigan, and Seattle Washington to so many more. This year I’m invited to perform everywhere from San Diego at the first ever Military Sexual Trauma convention bringing together women veterans from across the world, to Boston Massachusetts for the VA art competition. It costs just over $800.00 to file for the non-profit. My monthly budget for the nonprofit, Warrior Songs Inc., is only about $200.00. I don’t pay myself for the performances or CD sales. I only need the startup fees and money to travel. My goal? To make sure every veteran in this county knows that PTSD is not a weakness and that they are not alone. To give a copy of my CD to every veteran or veteran healer who wants one at no cost. And to let every civilian know that they have a sacred obligation to understand PTSD and that doing so alleviates the suffering of PTSD veterans. Sounds big, but I’m a combat engineer. I WILL TRY!

And Now The Moment You’ve all Been Waiting For…
Or at least I have. What began in 2009 with an interview request comes to fruition tomorrow in Europe. The documentary On the Bridge which was the catalyst for Trying to Find My Way Home is airing tomorrow. How many people will watch it? I am happy, nervous and scared all at the same time. I have been working up to this date since June 2010. I’m looking forward to the screening in Chicago as well as going out to DC. Also I am looking forward to some much needed R & R. In celebration of this long awaited event I offer to you the instrumental version of Hold On. Here is the link below:
http://fullmoonmusic.org/files/08 (Instrumental) Hold On.mp3
 

And Now The Moment You’ve all Been Waiting For…
Or at least I have. What began in 2009 with an interview request comes to fruition tomorrow in Europe. The documentary On the Bridge which was the catalyst for Trying to Find My Way Home is airing tomorrow. How many people will watch it? I am happy, nervous and scared all at the same time. I have been working up to this date since June 2010. I’m looking forward to the screening in Chicago as well as going out to DC. Also I am looking forward to some much needed R & R. In celebration of this long awaited event I offer to you the instrumental version of Hold On. Here is the link below:
http://fullmoonmusic.org/files/08 (Instrumental) Hold On.mp3

And Now The Moment You’ve all Been Waiting For…
Or at least I have. What began in 2009 with an interview request comes to fruition tomorrow in Europe. The documentary On the Bridge which was the catalyst for Trying to Find My Way Home is airing tomorrow. How many people will watch it? I am happy, nervous and scared all at the same time. I have been working up to this date since June 2010. I’m looking forward to the screening in Chicago as well as going out to DC. Also I am looking forward to some much needed R & R. In celebration of this long awaited event I offer to you the instrumental version of Hold On. Here is the link below:
http://fullmoonmusic.org/files/08 (Instrumental) Hold On.mp3

I haven't written a newsletter since June and a lot has changed since then.   I've been very busy, but that's a good thing. I know many of you are busy so i won’t be offended if you don’t have the time to read this.  This month I'll celebrate my 37th birthday and the fourth anniversary of my marriage to my beautiful wife Sarah Dolens-Moon.  Here is a short update of what I've been doing since June and the future what has in store.

As many of you know, since the release of my new CD "Trying to Find My Way Home" (01/01/2011), I have been on a mission to raise awareness about PTSD, as well as raise money to help veterans with PTSD. My goal is to raise $25,000 by 2013. As of today, September 12, 2011 I have raised $8858.10, and traveled 15,913 miles to achieve this.  I'm exhausted, road weary, and have been suffering some pretty nasty episodes of PTSD myself lately, but I continue to drive on.  So first let's look at some of the highlights of the last few months that made me happy.

A personal dream of mine came true when I was invited to play at The Coffee House in Milwaukee.  My September 11, 2011 concert at The Coffee House raised $952 for the Milwaukee Homeless Veteran’s Initiative.  I was glad so many people showed up to the show and that we raised a substantial amount of money. But nothing compared to the feeling I felt when I took the stage, to a room full of people waiting to hear songs I wrote.  I can’t explain how it felt, except that it was magical perform on a stage that so many of my heroes played on If you don't know the history of The Coffee House in Milwaukee, do yourself a favor and take some time to learn about it.  Many of my Milwaukee heroes have performed in this unassuming space.

Another wonderful occurrence was the invitation by my mentor, teacher, and all around great guy Lil Rev, to sing on his new album. Rev took a song I wrote which I played for him back in the early 90s when we first met and rearranged it.  He recorded it at my absolute favorite studio, SurroundinSound Studios, with my absolute favorite studio engineer Jonathan Leubner.  I sang back up on the chorus.  It was surreal to be in the studio with two of the most talented people I know, recording a reworked version of a song I had written when I was very young.   

Also, a gigantic thanks to Rev’s wife Carol who took the time to practice several craniosacral massages on me.  I made a gigantic step forward with my PTSD when I was able to understand what my body was saying.  We are so very much the component of many different organs and systems.  If you have PTSD and you don’t know what your reticular activating system does, find out.  Knowledge of how my RAS works turned my hyper vigilance into a friend instead of a foe.  It’s hard to explain, but, from the bottom of my heart, thank you Carol Alvarez.

Speaking of people to thank, my most esteem gratitude goes out to Mary and Bill, two wonderful new friends whose generosity has allowed me to focus all my efforts on PTSD education and fundraising.  Because of them I have been able to spend my time traveling around spreading my message and have been able to put aside the bar room performances I had been doing for a while.  I sure did love playing at all those wonderful taverns in the Northwoods of Wisconsin this summer: Little Brown Jug, The Minocqua Brewing Company, Legends of St. Germain, The Timbers, and the Sayner Pub. And a very special thank you to my old and dear friend Becky Dunn for setting up the majority of these shows.  While I always put a tip jar out at each of the shows and raised a little money for veterans charities, I'm excited be done playing the barroom scene for a while.

This year’s Locust Street Festival was a fantastic success, raising almost $2000 per veteran’s charities.  It also brought a lot of attention to the needs of veterans.  I enjoyed my many trips to Camp American Legion where I provided entertainment for both their woman's week and the American Legion Legacy ride.  Thanks to Tom Guenther, of Big Wave Productions, I was able to play the side stage at country USA in Oshkosh Wisconsin, and raise some money for veterans there with help from my friend Benjamin Cloyd.  We got to sit backstage while they interviewed Miranda Lambert, but unfortunately I didn’t really know who she is.   I've also enjoyed the new friendships are formed with the veteran’s organizations: Dry Hooch, and Vets 4 Vets.  As is always, the Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative remains the veteran’s organization nearest to my heart, followed closely behind by Soldier's Heart.  I’m also thankful for the civilian organizations which have provided me with venues to spread my message, raise money for veterans, and find relaxation.  Special thank you to: Linneman's Riverwest, Echo Valley Farms, Java by the Bay, and my Eagle River hometown favorite, Many Ways of Peace.

I've been having so much success using music to connect with those who suffer from, don't know they suffer from, or don't know about, PTSD.  You can read some of the reviews of my work by veterans as well as civilians on my web page under the New CD  tab.  I’ve also added a press log just in case you’d like to see what the press has been saying about my work.  You can find it under the Press tab. I'm a humble man, so I share these reviews and accolades with you in the hopes that you will find my work credible and allow me to continue my mission. The most important payment I ever receive for the work I do comes when I get through to a veteran with my story and song.

I’m not exactly sure why it works, but it does. Take this experience for example.  I had the honor to be invited to play for the 327th engineering company of Onalaska, Wisconsin on July 15, 2011. The 327^th returned from a year of service in both Iraq and Afghanistan in December of 2010.   In typical combat engineer fashion, I played on a rickety stage in rainy weather plugged into a generator.  It took place at the USSA grounds in Pittsville, WI, which is a retired cranberry bog. It had just rained, and the spotlights on the stage made me a prime target for the many hungry mosquitoes. For three hours I told jokes, stories about my time in Iraq, sang songs, and eventually discussed my own personal struggle with PTSD. When the show ended several soldiers who had be struggling with the symptoms of PTSD, but have been afraid to come forward, began to speak. Members of Vets4Vets were there to listen.  A soldier took me aside, and said he learned more about PTSD from listing to me for three hours than he had in six months of PowerPoint presentations by the military.  This is the mission, and this is just one example of the work I do.

My new CD, now nine months old, continues to be received well.  It has been accepted by Pandora Internet radio and is in rotation.  They've also begun to play my very first CD “Naked Under All These Clothes”.  Both CDs are now available at all major digital music distributors such as iTunes and Amazon MP3.   I've set aside November and December of this year to begin working on my next CD. I'm going to try my very best to have the talent who worked on “Trying to Find My Way Home” work with me, next CD.

As I said earlier, I put down playing bar gigs for a while. So here are some of the exciting events that I'll be participating in over the next few months.  You can view them all by visiting my webpage and looking at my calendar.  I will be performing at the Tomah, Wisconsin VA for their annual POW/MIA recognition Day on September 16, 2011.  I have another show tentatively scheduled their on Veterans Day November 11, 2011.  The most amazing piece of news is that I've been invited to perform and speak at the first annual National Summit on Art in Healing for Warriors, to be held at the new Walter Reed medical facility on October 14, 2011. I'm a little nervous as all the scheduled speakers on the agenda have lots of capital letters after their names.  It's an enormous honor to be invited to this event and I promise I will do my best to communicate the importance of music and the arts in healing from PTSD, both from my own experience, and the work I've been doing.

If you've been following along with these newsletters, which are incredibly long I know, then you know that this all started when a French director Olivier Morel asked me to be part of the documentary about the struggles of veterans returning from war and attempting to reintegrate into society. I am thankful I said yes, and I'm thankful that both Zadig Productions (France) and Roy and Linda Dolens, as well as many, many, other friends and family made it possible for me to create “Trying To Find My Way Home”.   I hope the work I'm doing and have done and the money I have raised and will raise honors those who invested in the making of the CD.

The documentary, “On the Bridge” is finally set to be released.   It will air on ARTE-TV on September 30, 2011, in France and Germany, for an expected viewership of up to 2 million.  The documentary has also been selected for The Global Peace Film Festival, in Orlando Florida. It will air there on the 24th and 25 September. I’ve saved the most fantastic piece of news, an opinion based solely on proximity, for last.  The documentary was selected to be one of 12 documentaries competing in the 47th annual Chicago International Film Festival.  It screens on October 8th and 16^th.  I am unable to attend the screening on October 8, but hope to arrange for a panel discussion and musical concert/fundraiser after the October 16 screening.  The documentary will also be screened in the Milwaukee Wisconsin area later this winter.

On a final note I’d like to thank my dear friend Corky for coming through in the time of crisis. I would also like to thank my good friend Lin Daily for always reminding me to let love be the source of my inspiration. I'd like to thank my dear friend Dr. Zemler for always having a shoulder to lean on.  I'd like to express unending gratitude to my dear friends Mary and Bill's whose generosity sustains my mission.  And lastly I would like to thank my son Dylan, and especially my wife Sarah for allowing me to take the time to do this important work.

Thank you,

Jason Moon

September 13, 2011

"Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”  Matt 25:40 CEV

 

“Where ever you go preach the gospel everyday; if necessary, use words” - Francis of Assisi

 

Introduction
I wanted to write this on Memorial Day weekend. I wanted to write this on Memorial Day. An entire month has gone by and I have not written a newsletter. I've begun to wonder if anyone will notice. Someone once said “I will honor the dead by fighting like hell for the living.” So that is what I'll do. This newsletter will stray from the course and you won't believe parts of it. Other parts you will have predicted, but I offer you the truth for I have no other weapon.
Before you begin any mission, if you are lucky enough to be privy to the information, you get to do an assessment. What we have, what do us need, what is our objective, and how we achieve the objective considering the difference between what we have and what we need. I spent my entire 10 years in the military as a specialist, which is the highest rank you get, so long as you never get in trouble. If you do nothing, except follow orders well, you will attain the rank of specialist. Some of, more motivated soldiers, have laughed at me. But I enjoyed being told what to do. There was never any glory, but there was also never room for a mistake.
What is working?
There have been so many fantastic opportunities to communicate the mission. This June 4, 2011 I will perform for dry hooch on the VA grounds during the reclaiming our heritage event at 3:00 PM. On 10 June I will travel to Lake Tomahawk, to Camp American Legion. On June 21, I have the honor and privilege of playing in the VIP tent at country USA in Oshkosh Wisconsin. On Tuesday, June 21, 2011 anyone who served our country and has documentation of that fact enters the grounds for free. July 8 will see me at many ways of peace in Eagle River Wisconsin, and July 9 I will travel all the way to the northern rim of Michigan’ Java on Da Bay has invited me to play.
I hope to perform at Camp American Legion for the freedom ride on August 23, 2011, but plans have yet to be made. Later in September, I will play it the vets 4 vets gathering, and conduct a songwriting workshop at Camp Miller in Sturgeon Lake. I am absolutely humbled by the opportunity to perform in Ashville, South Carolina in early October for what will be my fourth soldier's heart retreat. Then, October 20 and 21st, I will be given the honor of performing and speaking at the first annual veterans healing and arts integration conference, at Walter Reed medical hospital Washington DC.
Of course June 12, is a Sunday. And so I expect you to be resting. If you have the energy make sure you come to the west end of Locust St., Festival and check out the brand-new first annual Wisconsin veteran stage, featuring Frog water, God’s Outlaw, The Mambo Surfers, and Shattered. All the proceeds go to help homeless veterans in Milwaukee. By the end of June 2011, I hope to be one third of the way to my goal of raising $25,000 for veterans by 2014. Imagine, all you have to do is come down, enjoy the festival, and drink a beer.
Failures, disappointments, and reality
The most difficult thing, about raising money for others is balancing the level of neglect one presides over concerning their own dignity. A better way of saying that is; traveling around, playing music and talking about the reality of PTSD, isn't paying the bills. Don't get me wrong, the communities and performances have been wonderful, I've raised almost $4000, and I have communed with some amazing veterans. But Sarah, my wife, and I are trying to have a child. And I am dangerously close to having to sell everything related to music to simply pay the bills.
What does someone say about that? I always have much more food in my stomach than those I feed. But I have been traveling, communicating, and performing, at a financial loss. I have yet to reach a place where I'm comfortable to both earn enough to eat, and raise money for others to eat.
To be quite honest, our music company, Full Moon Music, is almost $2000 in the hole. These bills will come due on the first of next month. When they do my mission will end. If you haven't taken the time to purchase a copy of my new CD, please do so now. It is funny that it may be the very act of charity that ends my charity work. But this is life, always ironic and present. I cannot ask, my religion and my pride do not allow it, so I simply say, “we are out of money.” “You're out of money because we give it all away.” There are many obstacles I have been trained to remove, but profiting from my charity is the most difficult proposition I have ever navigated. Unfortunately, I was looking down at the path, and neglected the greater picture. Drive on. I know no other way to exist.
With what we have
And so I offer you this Jason Moon newsletter with great joy, and great suffering. These letters that I write are not so much to you the reader, as they are an exercise for the author. The author needs to be reminded why we are here and what we are struggling for. I need help with webpage design, I need a tape recorder, and I need strings and picks and gas money. I’d like to get a hard top camper, which can be placed at any big-box realtor for three days, so I don't need to play for my bed. I'd like somebody to help me organize my schedule and my promotional material; this is my weakness. July 1 may bring the end, the end to everything I’ve worked on since the beginning of this year. But I will march proudly, and with knowledge of my direction, to the cause which the divine is called me to. If this is the last letter you ever receive from Jason Moon.org, know that I wrote it with love, joy, and kindness.
These are my only weapons. Sleep is a lover I haven't known in years. Depression lives in my shoestrings. Anxiety is not a matter of if but when, and to what intensity. The road less traveled leads to the same destination as the road well-traveled. All roads lead to Rome! But are we going to Rome? Each night, I close my eyes and I dream of a life with regular sleep patterns in the absence of chronic pain. Each morning I wake, if we could even call it that, with the harsh reality of insomnia and pain.
I leave you with that; have a joyful Memorial Day weekend. I hope that all of you made it home alive. You survived a stupid idiotic action of your own accord and hopefully you learned from it. Is this life a test? I don't know. A great man once asked me, “Would you love God, even if you knew God had abandoned you? Even if you knew, you are condemned the punishment for all of eternity?" I answer resoundingly yes. Bring it.
I close this letter in confusion, love, and trust. Confusion over what I should do next. Love, for I know that only 2% of you will have gotten this far in reading this letter. And trust, that what I am doing is important, and ordained. That to do anything else no matter how profitable would run against the grain. I will try. Of all the mottos in all the military branches no other rings truer to me than this one. I will try. I will try. For the love of God I will try.

Jason Moon
06/02/2011

I've been really busy. Finally sat down to finish a song tonight. Haven't picked up the pen since i was in the studio finishing the new CD. How do you find the balance between promoting your music and creating your music.
Moon

Jason Moon’s December Newsletter
News, shows, music, and disappointments.

Hello Friends
It’s time for my monthly newsletter.  You are receiving this because you are listed as a friend through my web page www.jasonmoon.org.  If you are receiving this email by mistake please unsubscribe by using the link above.  There is a lot going on around here, so here goes

The New CD
My new CD, "Trying to Find My Way Home” is finally finished. As of today it is available digitally in its entirety at my webpage store http://www.jasonmoon.org/fr_store.cfm or
http://www.reverbnation.com/store/index/artist_447029.  It will be sent to the manufacturer this Wednesday, and should be available as a physical CD directly from me by December 12, and through iTunes, Napster, CD baby, Amazon, and Amazon MP3 by December 20.  The entire project has come together wonderfully. To get the sale of digital downloads rolling, and in the spirit of the giving season, the first 10 people who download my new CD digitally in its entirety, and tell me about it, will receive a free copy of my debut 1997 CD, "Naked Under All These Clothes".  Download my new CD, and I will send you free of charge, shipping paid, a physical copy of the newly repressed Naked Under All These Clothes.  If you go to my webpage you will also see that I have updated my online store. You can now purchase directly from Full Moon Music every CD Jason Moon has ever recorded.
In support of my new CD, I have lots of shows coming up, which you can view by going to my webpage. This month I'm playing Thursday, December 9, At the New Moon in Oshkosh from 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM. On Saturday, December 11, at Fire on Water in Milwaukee, I am performing with Adam Schultz, opening for the band Phalaphel around 9:30 PM. On Thursday, December 30, I have the great honor of performing at the County Clare in Milwaukee.  They've begun a weekly singer-songwriter showcase.  I'll be performing beginning around 10 PM for one hour. I have a lot more shows coming up in January, so visit my webpage for a complete schedule.
I am also looking for places to play. I am available to perform for fundraisers for any organizations which promote healing and support of veterans and/or the cause of peace.  I'd love to come and play at your event free of charge, and also plan to donate two dollars of every CD sale towards your cause. Contact fullmoonmusic@jasonmoon.org for more information. I would also love to hear from you if you know of any places where I could perform at, press that would cover the release of my new CD, or media that would play my new CD.

The Sundance Film Fest
Well friends, the results are in. Over 700 films were entered into the international documentary category at the Sundance film Festival. The documentary which I wrote songs for, which should finally have a name within the next couple days, did not make it in. I had hoped it would. It has a lot of important things to say about soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  HBO recently aired “Wartorn-1861-2010”, a film that chronicles the history of post-traumatic stress disorder.  The film tells the viewer that the armies attitude towards PTSD has evolved positively since it’s earlier days. They show the famous clip of Gen. Patton slapping a soldier with PTSD. One current high-ranking military official states, "PTSD casualties should be evacuated from the battlefield just like physical casualties." What this film doesn't tell you is that the military, as we speak, is redeploying soldiers suffering from, and medicated for PTSD. An estimated 20% of all soldiers being recycled back into the field are suffering from identified and unidentified PTSD. In some cases the military has canceled soldiers medical appointments where they would be diagnosed with PTSD in order to redeploy them to combat.  Find out more at  www.ivaw.org/operation-recovery
The documentary which I performed music for, and I'm also in, seeks to break the stereotypical stigma of PTSD.  I was just informed yesterday by a friend I served with in Iraq of another soldier who, rather than face the humiliation associated with the "mental illness" of PTSD, when into his garage, put a shotgun in his mouth, and blew his brains out.  I have a small circle of six Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans which I communicate with on a regular basis.  This brings the total number of soldiers, known to us, who have taken their own lives, to eight.  6570 veterans take their own lives annually.  Its time our country and culture changes the way it treats and talks about veterans who suffer from PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder is anything but a disorder.  The good news is that the film is still in the running in several other national and international film festivals and will still air on ARTE-TV in Europe this September. They are also working towards a grant to help with outreach here in America. So there are several more chances for the message to be heard.

News from the Homeless Veterans Initiative
The HVI Food Program:  On Dec. 7th Veterans For Peace is opening the first food pantry in the city of Milwaukee for homeless veterans. It will be located at St. John's Lutheran Church, 5500 W. Greenfield Ave. We expect to start out feeding over 100 homeless veterans every week.
The HVI Housing Program: We are presently renting a five bedroom house on the near northwest side of Milwaukee where five homeless veterans are staying. We're hopeful that we can raise enough funding in 2011 to rent out one or two more houses.
If anyone would like to help, volunteers are always needed, assembling and distributing the bags of food. And if anyone has grocery bags, both paper and plastic, we need them. We receive a donation of bread each week from Wildflower bakery at 28th & Lincoln and the rest of the food is purchased from Feeding America. Since everything is sold by the pound, can goods end up being the most expensive item we get. So any donations of can goods are also welcomed. If you have either bags or cans and need them picked up, email or call Dennis Johnson at 414-810-0655.  Online donations can be made at www.neverhomeless.org

Salutations
I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season, and pray that the hungry will be fed, and the cold will be made warm.  That the victim will find justice and forgiveness, and that justice will bring rehabilitation instead of retribution. That the world will move one day closer to knowing a day without war.
December 6th, 2010
Jason Moon

http://www.reverbnation.com/c/fr5/artist_447029?eid=A447029_6582715_27498186&fsc=c3799710701