Bill Mulroney, Baltimore attorney/musician

Bill Mulroney

Conservative Baltimore attorney Bill Mulroney is widely known for being one of the worst musical performers in the Washington, DC area. His performance strategy is to surround himself with musicians and singers with moderate talent. They front the band for about 90 percent of Mulroney's shows, then he bores audiences silly for the remaining 10 percent. His shows are usually mind-numbing jam sessions with little inspiration. Yet Mr. Mulroney has created the illusion that he is a performer, but he is now beginning to reveal his true agenda, which is political. He spews right-wing rhetoric at shows, and on his band's website, in support of the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, and the global war on terror which is code for pogroms to exterminate all Arabs and Muslims on the planet. It took time for Mr. Mulroney to reveal his political agenda, but now he's a full throttle "America, love it or leave it" kind of guy. He isn't a musician, he's a politician! He still attends weekly open mics at Outta the Way Cafe. When he enters the room, he kisses every woman on the cheek, and shakes hands with every man. It's truly a nauseating spectacle. For all his brown-nosing, he doesn't get that many gigs. But he's building an image, creating the illusion that he's an artist.

It occurred to me long ago that when the ruling class of any nation decides to wage war, the leaders probably make an enemies list of potential opponents to that war. And history teaches us that the most powerful resistance to the Vietnam War in the 60s were rock stars and their fans. Rock concerts were often synonymous with anti-war rallies. At Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner on his electric guitar, Country Joe McDonald sang "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag," which became an anti-war anthem to many young people.

Nearly 40 years have passed since Woodstock, but the US Government has a long memory. I expect the FBI, CIA, and other promoters of war have learned from their mistakes from the 60s. What did they learn? Keep a lid on rock music. If such a war is being waged against rock musicians, Bill Mulroney certainly fits the profile of a counterinsurgency spy. And the fact that a talent-challenged guy like Mulroney is getting gigs at Outta the Way Cafe draws them into suspicion as well. Why not? Besides supporting really bad bands, Outta The Way Cafe is home for bona fide Communists and Evangelical Christians alike. Every type of freak on the planet hangs out there. (See "Chip Berman's Outta the Way Cafe - an FBI Listening Post?")

I met Bill Mulroney the first time I performed at an open mic at Outta the Way Cafe around February 2005. At first, he was very friendly, but he seemed quite eccentric. The more I got to know him, his profile did not quite add up. He seemed more like someone pretending to be a musician than someone whose heart was in it. Mulroney was a Baltimore attorney who suddenly took up playing rock music at local bars after not playing at all for approximately 25 years. He was in his mid-50s at the time. That alone is very unusual. True artists never stop playing, from my experience. Lots of musicians become lawyers, doctors, engineers, draftsmen, or whatever it takes to pay their mortgage and live a relatively comfortable life. But the truly gifted tend to continue playing as a hobby regardless of their day job. Gifted musicians don't just quit playing for 25 years, then suddenly pick up again after the age of 50. Anything is possible, but Mulroney's scenario is rare, from my experience and observation of other musicians.

Mulroney was anything but gifted, in my opinion. He was a mediocre performer, although he plays rhythm guitar in a competent manner, but no better or worse than thousands of other people who attend open mics at bars/restaurants around the country every night. He didn't have much drive, and he sang with little passion. He writes love songs about his second wife who doesn't seem particularly enchanted with his music career or the love songs about her.

Besides writing unappreciated love songs, Mr. Mulroney is a conservative and has written a few pro-Iraq War tunes. Lately, I have noticed that Mulroney's band, The Second Wind Bandits, was booked for a few gigs at Outta the Way Cafe, presumably because of Mulroney's pro-war, pro-military, pro-Bush/McCain rhetoric and general glorification of war in his music.

On his band's website, Mulroney has a pro-war song and pro-war video that is "dedicated to the United States Marine Corps and to our military's families."

I do not wish bad karma or bad luck on military families, but Mr. Mulroney is obviously pandering to pro-war fanatics. It is quite clear that Mr. Mulroney is exploiting the misery of Marines and their families in order to get a gig at Outta the Way Cafe.

The most surprising thing about Mulroney is he recorded a CD/album in Nashville with professional musicians and a producer. He sounds much better on the recording than in person. It seems like there were two Bill Mulroneys: the one on CD, and the mediocre, often drunk performer who muddles through poorly executed material. He didn't have a recording contract, it was just a self-made CD that he was promoting himself. Lots of local musicians do that. I've done it a few times myself. But most people try to control costs somewhat. Recording in Nashville is expensive, and not particularly necessary, in my opinion. There are great musicians in every major city. The Washington, DC area is filled with top notch musicians looking for work. Washington, DC has several top notch recording studios and top notch producers as well, although the latter item is less in demand than musicians and recording studios. Anyway, my point is it is expensive to travel to Nashville to record, and use a Nashville producer and Nashville studio musicians. In 1994, I recorded a bare bones CD/album for approximately $4,000, which included CD duplication. But I didn't pay the musicians, I used friends who wanted to help. I didn't have a producer because it was too expensive. (Local musicians don't typically use producers for self-promoting CDs.) Based on that experience, I would extrapolate that Bill must have spent approximately $20,000 minimum to finalize his CD. That's quite an expensive hobby; however, going to Nashville definitely helped create an impressive image. It made him look like someone who was serious about his artistry, when in reality, he is totally unorganized.