10 YEARS of brewing against the machine

Growing up Evangelical meant pretty much any media to be consumed was filtered through the lens of the great and mighty Dr. James Dobson through his Plugged In arm of Focus on the Family. Somehow I never saw this as a restriction and instead embraced it as though maybe I was being ‘saved’ from the world. I remember distinctly judging peers for listening to such terrible music that clearly possessed a Jezebel spirit.

One such band was Rage Against the Machine.

It genuinely blows my mind that I had ZERO understanding of what they were actually singing. None. Zilch. Other than they cursed a lot. Oh my! Of course even if I did, it wouldn’t have mattered because I was a pretty sold out Zionist leaning American Christian. 

Needless to say, I was not conditioned to be a curious person. This is why we push this so hard as a company. Curiosity is a necessary ingredient for LOVE. And at least for me, that is the purpose we seek to live by. Not money, materialism and not the rat race of capitalism. 

Is it ironic that 25 years later for the 10 year anniversary of Mad Priest we took the brilliance of Zack, Tom and the Rage crew and flipped it to continue the same message? We do get mad and rage here and there, but we are using coffee as a vehicle to Brew Against the Machine, quite literally. 

In 2022, my manager at the time Adam, and I, flew to NYC to see Rage at Madison Square Garden. Full circle moment. It was an absolute blast. I hadn’t rocked that hard in a LONG time.

Before the show we were meandering around Central Park as one does when visiting NYC for a spontaneous day trip to see a band. I came across a street poet and I immediately knew I needed this artistic prophet to speak to me. He told me to give him one or two words and he’ll do the rest… without a beat, and no additional hints or information, I said,

“Get Mad”.

The sound of antique typewriter clacking took off like a 100m race, seeming as though immediate inspiration from heaven was downloading in realtime. Once he finished, which was far faster than I would have expected for a decent poem, I took the paper with hesitancy because surely something written that fast wouldn’t carry much weight or meaning. What I read shook me to my core.

I’ve never shared this poem with anyone other than the few who have seen it hanging in my room by my pillow. I revisit it often, and now is the time I would like to share it with you. 

To this day, I feel things when I read it. The prophetic transcendence it carries for me, Mad Priest, and honestly, all of society, is riveting. I hope you enjoy it.

After reading it in front of him and doing my best to hold back tears, I randomly had an extra Get Mad hat in my bag… I pulled it out and said, “Wear this proudly. Keep doing the Lord’s work”. 

My exhortation to us all is that if we truly pursue being present, we can witness and experience some really neat shit. So go out and just open those eyes… do something different… stretch yourself…. be…. CURIOUS. Now go turn up The Battle of Los Angeles and head bang a bit! Oh, and go buy some coffee too I guess ;)

Love you all.

+Michael