MR

Dear Friends,

I would like to thank all the wonderful fans who chose to celebrate my birthday by making charitable donations in my name, from helping to preserve rain forests in Costa Rica, adopting endangered animals, supporting the ASPCA, Greenpeace, PETA, and other organizations who seek to help save the planet from the forces of global warming, neglect, factory farming, cruelty, and other nemeses all within our power to effect.

There was a time not too long ago when many of these same fans, all with the best of intentions, would send gifts of stuffed animals, boxes of chocolate, games, and other things that represented celebration in the conventional sense. But in fact, because we travel almost every day and space in our suitcases, wardrobe cases, personal bags and trucking is so already spoken for, 99 percent of these gifts had to be left behind. Once we communicated this, as well as the message that we really did not expect fans to give us gifts, something changed, practically overnight and the idea of charitable gifting took over.

It reminds me of the old song I used to hear at the end of one of the gospel television shows every Sunday when I was growing up in Montgomery, Alabama that went something like this: "If everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world this would be..."

I used to think that was such a corny sentiment but now that we've all begun to let the idea of going green into our consciousness, it makes perfect sense. Just do the math.

Thanks again for giving some beautiful and positive spin to my September 11 birthday!

T Shaw

from inside Styxworld BB

Hi everyone,

As you probably know, I was collecting donations for Tommy's birthday gifts. We ended up adopting a tiger, a wolf, a howler monkey, and an acre of rainforest land in Costa Rica in Tommy's name. He also got a membership in the Nature Conservancy, and the money left over was enough to feed the rescued wild horses at the Black Beauty Ranch for two months.

Tommy sent this note for me to pass on.


Now that's what I like to get for my birthday!
I am very touched by these gestures and I wish more people would opt for such a meaningful gift.

Love to you all,

Tommy

A HUGE thumbs up to this entire post. I think how the contributions were spent is just fantastic.

Bugsy

Not to open a can of worms, but Tommy should be real careful about lumping PETA in with good organizations like Greenpeace, ASPCA, and the others. As someone who works in animal conservation, PETA actually ends up working against the effort becuase they use such extreme tactics. There is no reason to try and shut down all zoos when zoos are, in fact, responsible for captive breeding programs and initiatives that boost population numbers far beyond what "lobbying" can do. There is no reason to "free" laboratory primates into urban streets.

There are really good strategic and tactical ways to fight for animal welfare and conservation. If you just wildly go about things, you impede well thought out stategies and do MORE harm than good.

Kudos to Tommy for fighting for animal conservation but PLEASE everyone KNOW the groups you support.

Off my soap box.

The one that appealed to me the most is the Nature Conservancy. This organization is one of the best out there and seeks to keep a balance between the natural rapacity of humankind to take, take, take and build, and the wild places that need to be kept as they are meant to be.

Glad part of the money went there.

Standing partly on a soapbox here for that one.


Bugsy

bugsymalone wrote:The one that appealed to me the most is the Nature Conservancy. This organization is one of the best out there and seeks to keep a balance between the natural rapacity of humankind to take, take, take and build, and the wild places that need to be kept as they are meant to be.

I totally agree. Nature Conservancy is one of the best organizations there is.

Higgy wrote:Not to open a can of worms, but Tommy should be real careful about lumping PETA in with good organizations like Greenpeace, ASPCA, and the others. As someone who works in animal conservation, PETA actually ends up working against the effort becuase they use such extreme tactics. There is no reason to try and shut down all zoos when zoos are, in fact, responsible for captive breeding programs and initiatives that boost population numbers far beyond what "lobbying" can do. There is no reason to "free" laboratory primates into urban streets.

There are really good strategic and tactical ways to fight for animal welfare and conservation. If you just wildly go about things, you impede well thought out stategies and do MORE harm than good.

Kudos to Tommy for fighting for animal conservation but PLEASE everyone KNOW the groups you support.

Off my soap box.

Agreed, I didn't know about the gift so I didn't donate but I wouldn't give a dime if any of it went to PETA. The rest of those charities are fine though.

Some people like PETA, some people hate it, some people (Like Tommy) have kids who are heavy into it.

Thank you Tommy.Your heart is in the right place mate.
Oh ,and happy bithday to you.

Tommy didn't pick the organizations, It was Tani who does Styxfest. It's a parllet from the money that was collected from "mystified" on Styxworld wher they collected money and donated it to the SPCA in Tommy's name if my memory serves me right. Regardless who does it, it has to be better than Tommy getting a bunch of bags of coffee or other material items that he really has no use for.

styxfanNH wrote:Tommy didn't pick the organizations, It was Tani who does Styxfest. It's a parllet from the money that was collected from "mystified" on Styxworld wher they collected money and donated it to the SPCA in Tommy's name if my memory serves me right. Regardless who does it, it has to be better than Tommy getting a bunch of bags of coffee or other material items that he really has no use for.

I think such a gift is a great idea but the inclusion of a group like PETA is not palatable to me. They will never see a dime of my money directly or indirectly. Tani is a great person but I think she should have chosen a less controversial charitable organization.

The same could be said of GreenPeace.

What I know of Tani, she was probably given some ideas about what organizations to give to through someone close to Tommy.

And for the record Tani and I hate each other, but I think she did OK on this overall.

From Tommy through MySpace

To everyone who wrote in to wish me Happy Birthday, thanks a million. Even at 54, it's still nice to be remembered, and especially ever since 2001 when this day took on a whole new significance. It just goes to show that there is always room for good thoughts, even while remembering solemn occasions.

Thank you to those who made donations to charities on my behalf, to those who kept me in their thoughts and prayers and to those who sent Starbucks cards. Life is good!

Onward we go...

Peace,

TS

styxfanNH wrote:The same could be said of GreenPeace.

What I know of Tani, she was probably given some ideas about what organizations to give to through someone close to Tommy.

And for the record Tani and I hate each other, but I think she did OK on this overall.

The same certainly can NOT be said of Greenpeace. Greenpeace is a strategic, nonviolent, action and lobbying group who use well thought out tactics in an ongoing struggle for conservation. PETA is a group of extremists who favor tactics that actually do more harm than good (because they aren't well thought out). PETA is to the Animal Welfare movement what the Nation of Islam is to civil rights.

If PETA had their way, there would be no captive breeding programs (which have saved several species, mostly primate from extinction) and no zoological parks (where the majority of animal behavior and conservation studies are performed). There are real ways to go about things and there are extreme ways that get nothing done. PETA chooses the latter. Groups like Greenpeace, Nature Conservancy, Earthwatch and the Sierra Club choose the former.

BTW, if PETA had their way there would certainly never be a Ted Nugent.

I read a similar argument on the Def Leppard board when Phil Collen said he supported PETA.
Same thing was said there. They are TOO radical, they were handing out brochures with really
graphic pictures of animal violence in them to little children. etc...

It is still a nice gesture, "Save The Planet!", and all that jazz.

Aside from their extreme tactics when making a statement my biggest problem is the way PETA recruits. PETA goes after children. We all know that extreme organizations love to target the young because they are less able to deal with propaganda.

Now I can't speak for the people who wrote this article but I've seen the recruiting chart before. It sickens me.

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/feature_peta_kids_map.cfm