I've been busy so I haven't been able to respond to this but now I have a few.

Ok, there are firebrands but don't go to your Sam Goody or Wal-Mart to find them.  It's like asking for ground beef at a candy store.  I'll spare you my suggestions, but instead I would try hitting local music stores and asking there for music with substance and also check out LOCAL music.

Yeah, most "rock" lyrical content lately is pretty tame.  Well, if you want hard hitting political commentary, try rap and hip hop lables.  Not the MTV stuff either, hit the underground not so well known titles.  Listen to college radio and wade into urban music slowly to get accustomed to it.  There is some really thought provoking material out there that most of us will never hear.

Remember, don't turn your nose up at the mainstream because as Editor Andre Cordrescu (exquisite corpse, NPR, etc) once said, "Eventually, the Avante Garde ends up at Wal-Mart."  And it's true.  Once that new, cutting edge formula hits the shelves, the world demands more and more, and it gets watered down until the next thing you know, Marilyn Manson is scoring the next "Full Length Disney Animated Feature."

It's hard to blame the artists.  Few of us have the juevos to suffer for our art.  We all want full rooms when we're booked and many of us enjoy the sound of applause, the "whoosh" of flying panties and the jingle of moving merchandise.  But when you're music is meat (artful and with purpose) and your audience craves candy (3 mins 15 seconds at a moderate tone with a dancable beat, sexy video and elementary lyrical content) it causes many promising musicians to get day jobs.  

Support your local musicians and randomly put David Baerwald's name on buildings and cars so there will be greater recognition when his album comes out.

PRH