Preview: THE DISSIDENT ARTS FESTIVAL 2012----Save the Dates!

Press Contact:    John Pietaro       (646) 599-0060        leftmus@earthlink.net             www.DissidentArts.com

THE DISSIDENT ARTS FESTIVAL 2012

TWO STAGES!   TWO DAYS!   TWO BOROUGHS!

Friday August 17, 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts (Williamsburg, Bklyn) –and-  Saturday August 18, the Brecht Forum (Greenwich Village). The 2012 edition of THE DISSIDENT ARTS FESTIVAL will feature a wide array of artists of conscience from radical jazz musicians to protest singers to experimental artists and everything in between. Featured performers include legends of Free Jazz and World Music KARL BERGER and INGRID SERTSO. Another special feature will be a screening of ‘METROPOLIS’ with live improvised accompaniment. The Festival is a showcase of cultural workers and serves as a bridge between the arts and the progressive activist community. We present a great span of just what 'protest' art is: radical avant garde Jazz, topical Song, dissentful Poetry, revolutionary New Music, social justice Film and Theatre, Post-Punk dissidence, World sounds, progressive performance of social change. *****************************************************************************************
DAY ONE: FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 8PM - 11PM
17 Frost Theatre of the Arts - 17 Frost Street (between Lorimer and Union Streets), Brooklyn NY

www.17frost.com

 RADICAL SONGWRITERS FORUM: (8PM – 10PM):
*JACKIE SHEELER, punk-laced topical song & poetry

*DONALD JOHNSON, contemporary songs of work, struggle and life

*JOE KIDD, protest music by Michigan-based singer-songwriter

*FASTER, the experimental side of social parody with soprano sax/voice and avant guitar duo

FILM SCREENING w/LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT (10PM – Midnight):

*The silent sci-fi/social change film classic 'METROPOLIS' with a live improvised score by THE DISSIDENT ARTS ORCHESTRA: John Pietaro (xylophone/drumkit/percussion/musical direction), Cheryl Pyle (flute), Quincy Saul (clarinet), Rocco John Iacovone (soprano and alto saxophones), Nick Gianni (tenor saxophone and flute), Ben Barson (baritone saxophone), Javier Hernandez-Miyares (electric guitar/keyboards), Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic (upright bass).
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DAY TWO: SATURDAY AUGUST 18, 4PM - 11PM
The Brecht Forum - 451 West Street (between Bank and Bethune streets), New York NY
(212) 242-4201   www.brechtforum.org

FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION (4PM - 5:45 PM):
*'CULTURES OF RESISTANCE'  - Can music and dance be weapons of peace? In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, director Iara Lee embarked on a journey to better understand a world increasingly embroiled in conflict and, as she saw it, heading for self-destruction. After several years, travelling over five continents, Iara encountered growing numbers of people who committed their lives to promoting change. This is their story.

CONCERT: (6PM - 11PM):
*KARL BERGER & INGRID SERTSO, improvisational world music by legendary founders of CMS!
*UPSURGE! rad jazz and poetry from San Francisco
*CHERYL PYLE & NICOLAS LETMAN-BERTINOVIC, free flute and bass + special guests
*RAS MOCHE, the improv of revolution
*ANGELO VERGA, activist poetry
*RADIO NOIR, dissident swing and realizations of the works of Brecht & Eisler
*CRYSTAL SHIPP, progressive performance art
*JENNIE LITT & DAVID ALPHER, radical cabaret
*NICK GIANNI EVOLUTION, free jazz and more

for more info see:

www.DissidentArts.com –and-  www.facebook.com/pages/THE-DISSIDENT-ARTS-FESTIVAL/116881725023683

*****

About the Dissident Arts Festival…

Now, in the midst of right-wing fear-mongering and teabag hysteria, progressive artists speak out for social justice. The Dissident Arts Festival, now in its seventh year, is a platform for cultural workers to sing, recite, improvise, act and orate against war and inequity and in honor of the struggle of workers and the globally oppressed---and with an accent on an art that is as revolutionary and challenging as the politics of progressive change . Event producer John Pietaro, a percussionist, writer and cultural organizer, is proud to present the Dissident Arts Festival in conjunction with both the Brecht Forum and 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts.

Originally based in upstate New York, the Festival began life as ‘the Dissident Folk Festival’ in 2006. Its primary goal was the establishment of an annual showcase of progressive protest music, poetry and performance art--perhaps the only such fest in the nation. But this Festival has always sought to bring together a wide variety of sounds and styles, bending rules and breaking institutions whenever and wherever possible. Among our past performers and speakers were actor/raconteur Malachy McCourt, folk legend Pete Seeger, poet Louis Reyes Rivera,  jazz violinist Gwen LAster, hip hop ensemble ReadNex Poetry Squad, filmmaker Kevin Keating (“Giuliani Time”), labor leader Henry Foner, folksinger Bev Grant and many more. We presented tributes to Woody Guthrie, Paul Robeson, Bertolt Brecht and Phil Ochs along the way. The Festival has also offered a voice to progressive political candidates, particularly those of independent parties and radical labor organizations. As of 2010, the Dissident Arts Festival became added to the Brecht Forum's notable cultural program. The Brecht Forum was established decades ago as a center of Left education and culture in Greenwich Village. And now we have become a 2-day, 2-borough event with the affiliation of 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts, an independent radical gallery and performance space in Williamsburg Brooklyn.

THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL promises to be the best yet featuring an array of experimental and boundary-breaking artists in every realm of radical music, from the acclaimed explorations of Karl Berger & Ingrid Sertso, to the burning free jazz of Ras Moshe, the innovative avant garde of Nick Gianni, the nu sounds Cheryl Pyle & Nicolas Letman-Bertinovic, the edgy sonic journey of Faster, and the new realms of the bold and the old with Radio NOIR. But the 2012 Festival also presents an assortment of acts which encompass revolutionary poetry, song, and/or theatre through unique means: the outspoken San Francisco-based jazz-poetry of Upsurge!, the post-punk agitated songs of celebrated singer-poet Jackie Sheeler, the rad spoken word of Angelo Verga, the ‘People’s Cabaret’ of Jennie Litt & David Alpher and the multiple worlds of Crystal Shipp’s performance art. We will also present traditional topical songsters such as balladeer Donald Johnson and the Michigan-based protest singer Joe Kidd. This year’s film screenings include powerhouse social statements of two centuries: ‘Cultures of Resistance’ by Iara Lee (with discussion), and ‘Metropolis’ by Fritz Lang---featured here with a live score by the hand-picked improvisers of The Dissident Arts Orchestra.

THE DISSIDENT ARTS FESTIVAL 2012 is presented by

Dissident Arts, the Brecht Forum, and 17 Frost Theatre of the Arts.

Organizer/Producer/Host:  John Pietaro

The arts ARE a weapon for social change…….

REVOLUTIONARY MUSIC EVENTS: MAY 2012

 (photo of Karl Berger's Improvisers Orchestra by Don Mount)

News from the Cultural Front.......

Here's a NYC-based arts alert concerning some 'May Month' performance events I am involved with. Hoping to say 'hello' to some of you at these events which run from May Day itself through the next couple of weeks of the month. I know there are many wonderful rad events happening out there that I may need to miss due to my involvement with these, but there's room enough for all of these progressive-minded concerts and more! What better way to speak to the pressing issues around us than through radical arts?

1) KARL BERGER'S IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA: Tues May 1, 7:30 (workshop) and 9PM (performance), the Jazz Gallery 290 Hudson St, Greenwich Village. This Free Jazz large ensemble is conducted by one of the greats of improvisational and world music, Karl Berger, and this band--like the one he led last year that had residency at the Stone--is as revolutionary as they come. The music is comprised of free expression shaped by Karl's guiding hands; the band numbers up to 26 pieces including flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, violins, mandolin, vocals and a double rhythm section (2 electric guitars, 2 upright basses, percussion and drumkit) . My seat in the back---playing conga, frame drums, and various percussives---has brought me to the center of it all, including working alongside guests like John Zorn, Warren Smith, and many more. The Orchestra is in the midst of a biweekly residency at this hip, Village club but I suspect the May Day gig should be quite memorable. After the march and rally in Union Square, come on down to Hudson St and revel in the sounds. See www.creativemusicstudio.org for much more info.

2) LAUNCH EVENT FOR CAMPAIGN TO FREE RUSSELL MAROON SHOATZ! Saturday, May 5th, 2012, 6-8 PM, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 521 W 126th Street, Harlem. An evening of music, spoken, word and discussion on Maroon's life, featuring Theresa Shoatz, renowned Philadelphia-based prison justice activist; Fred Ho, internationally renowned saxophone player and composer; Arturo O'Farrill, legendary Cuban-American pianist; and Magdalena Gomez, poet and veteran of the Nuyurican Poets Movement. The campaign is being launched by Scientific Soul Sessions (SSS), a collective of revolutionary artists, farmers and organizers based in New York City, to call for justice for RUSSELL MAROON SHOATZ, a 70-year-old political prisoner who has spent the last 40 years of his life in various penitentiaries across the United States. An SSS band will also present the debut performance of a new piece composed by Salim Washington dedicated to this cause. I am still awaiting word on the full line-up of performers for this edition of the SSS Band but it will include the saxophones of the composer as well as of Fred Ho and Ben Barson, plus Quincy Saul's clarinet and my own xylophone and percussion. Please be sure to see info on SSS as well as this important event at www.scientificsoulsessions.com

3) RADIO NOIR: Sunday, May 6th, 7PM, ABC No Rio 145 Rivington Street Lower East Side. My quartet 'Radio NOIR' returns to this noted anarchist space for another edition of the COMA experimental music series. We will dedicate this show to May Day and Labor History Month. Radio NOIR is known as a dissident swing band, performing music at once avant garde and recalling the sounds and fervent radicalism of the 1930s. The evening will also include performances by other revolutionary music artists: Faster, Brian Abbott, Golden Rectangles and Stan Nishimura Ensemble. For more info on Radio NOIR please stop by www.reverbnation.com/radionoir

4) RADIO NOIR: Sunday May 13, 8PM, Goodbye Blue Monday 1087 Broadway, Bushwick Brooklyn. Radio NOIR brings our art deco-damaged improv to this hip Bushwick club, performing with the very cool-sounding Hot Club of Flatbush; their set is 8 - 10 and we will go on at 10PM. For this gig our full quartet will be there: Quincy Saul (clarinet), Laurie Towers (electric bass), Javier Hernandez-Miyares (electric guitar & effects) and your truly on xylophone, bells, percussion and voice. For more info on Radio NOIR please stop by www.reverbnation.com/radionoir

ALSO be sure to save these dates....AUGUST 17 and 18 for THE 2012 DISSIDENT ARTS FESTIVAL: 2 Days! 2 Stages! 2 Boroughs! For more info see www.DissidentArts.com as well as the Festival's Facebook page where we will be posting updates.

In Solidarity,
John Pietaro
www.DissidentArts.com

Performance/CD review - Cal Massey Tribute

The ‘60s Jazz Revolutionary Who’s Time Has Finally Come

Performance and CD review by John Pietaro

THE MUSIC OF CAL MASSEY: A TRIBUTE

Performance: February 22, 2012, the Red Rooster, New York City

Compact Disc:  Mutable Music, NY. Produced by Fred Ho and Quincy Saul, Scientific Soul Sessions – www.scientificsoulsessions.com

Harlem’s historic Red Rooster was a house afire as the music of radical jazz composer Cal Massey commanded the space within. In honor of Black History Month and coinciding with the birth anniversary of Malcolm X, the outspokenly dissident musician Fred Ho feted the music that leapt off of the manuscript through the fifteen hand-picked musicians under his direction. The walls appeared to almost quake under the weight of this band, driven not only by the expansive vision of Massey’s composition but the deft improvisatory ear of the leader who included free sections within the already post-modernist score. Ho demonstrated a form of conduction that appeared much like upper-torso modern dance as he waved in cues and embraced the sheets of sound about him.

Though the music being presented was written more than forty years ago, it remained urgent, immediate. Cal Massey was a trumpeter and composer who worked with a who’s who of jazz greats including Coltrane, Parker, Monk, Billie Holiday, Carmen McCrae, McCoy Tyner, Jay McShann, and most notably Archie Shepp who recorded the greatest number of Massey’s pieces. But the composer’s name will not be known to most jazz connoisseurs as he, like other militant African American artists before him, has largely been erased from music history.  He was a leader of the Black Arts Movement and a close associate of the Black Panther Party who had come of age in the heat of the 1960s’ political conscience. Largely blacklisted by the jazz industry and major labels, he embarked on a career based in the concept of Black self-determination, producing concerts independently.

As is the case with much of Massey’s work, it was written in conjunction with Romulus Franceschini, a socialist musician who specialized in chamber jazz composition. Both worked with artists such as Shepp and Coltrane and their bond was a testament of the progressive scope, Black Nationalist and Italian-American radical standing together. Franceschini is another marginalized figure in jazz history, most noted for conducting Coltrane’s Africa Brass recording. He worked closely with Massey, usually in the role of orchestrator but their collaboration also involved co-writing credits and the two led the RoMas Orchestra together. Unfortunately they would have little chance to continue this relevant work as Massey died in 1972, a mere 44 years of age. Franceschini updated the arrangements in 1986 in preparation for an earlier series of concerts Ho produced in honor of Massey.

THE CONCERT AT THE RED ROOSTER was not only about the welcome resurfacing of Massey, but of his work The Black Liberation Movement Suite, commissioned by Eldridge Cleaver in 1969. Massey wrote this 9-movement work for expanded jazz ensemble of reeds, brass, strings and rhythm as a fundraiser for the Black Panther Party. It has rarely been heard beyond the tumult of those times and only segments of it have been recorded—by Shepp--before this project undertaken by Ho and two younger musicians, the baritone saxophonist Ben Barson and clarinetist Quincy Saul (who does not perform in this piece as the arrangements were kept true to the original, but acted as a producer). As explosive as it is introspective, The Black Liberation Movement Suite stands out as a sonic tour through the African American revolutionary experience, brandishing movements with radical fervor:  Prayer, (Hey Goddamnit) Things Gotta Change, Man at Peace in Algiers (for Eldridge Cleaver), the Black Saint (for Malcolm X), the Peaceful Warrior (for Martin Luther King Jr), the Damned Don’t Cry (for Huey P Newton), Reminiscing About Dear John (for John Coltrane), Babylon, and Back to Africa (for Marcus Garvey). Appropriately so, the Suite includes various sounds evoking jazz history with points of defined free jazz, be-bop, swing, New Orleans and ‘third-stream’ jazz which incorporated contemporary classical traditions. 

As Fred Ho stood before them, the musicians played with an intensity that spoke of the piece’s inherent activism. The ensemble passages and solos, swinging, cruising the airspace, exploded with passion and rage. The music not only reflected 1969 but the radicalism of now, from anti-war and labor struggles to Wisconsin to the Occupy Movement and the ongoing fight against racism. Among the primary soloists of the evening were tenor saxophonists Bhinda Keidal, who brought an almost Dexter Gordon-like quality to the proceedings with her smoky, searching instrumental voice, and Salim Washington (who doubled on flute), noted free jazz musician and scholar who offered a point of chaotic intensity that slowly rounded out into a haunting melody and then disappeared into a whisper. However, the first solo of the evening was deftly executed by alto saxophonist Darius Jones whose fingers raced over his instrument’s keys, soaring over the orchestral mass each time he stood to play. Ben Barson’s baritone saxophone offered a fresh voice, pulled from the lower depths of his horn and then upward. The brass section included Nabate Isles, Satish Robertson and James Zollar’s trumpets as well as Aaron Johnson’s trombone and David Talyor’s bass trombone. Each offered masterful solos, ranging from the growl trumpet sound with plunger mute to Gillespie-ish flights to gutbucket bursts. Charles Burnham, violin, and Adam Fisher, cello, comprised the string section. Both were visionary soloists whose ensemble parts emphasized the textural possibilities, blending into and then leaping out from the winds.

The rhythm section of Arthur Hirahara, electric piano, Julian Litwack, electric guitar, Wayne Batchelor, upright bass and Royal Hartigan, drums and percussion functioned as much more than support. One moment laying it down, the next kicking it up over the heads of the house, they were equally comfortable in every mode. Special attention must be paid to Hartigan, a learned percussion master who embarks in world music explorations each time he sits down at his drumkit, which includes temple and wood blocks and other ‘traps’ including a talking drum and a gong. Of note to percussionists (including this writer), Hartigan can often be heard playing his gong like a ride cymbal for a ‘kerr-ang’ that no cymbal can supply. Ever the traditionalist in a setting comprised of musical emulsion, Hartigan said that he often feels a sense of guilt playing ethnic instruments apart from their tradition. But this evening was about the amalgamation of sounds that spoke to the people at large.

The compact disc, ‘The Music of Cal Massey: a Tribute’, was officially released at the Harlem concert. This disc is the first complete recording of Massey’s monumental Suite and thereby stands as historic unto itself. But Ho, who produced this recording with Quincy Saul, took the tribute further still. He also arranged a series of shorter Massey compositions for the CD, Goodbye Sweet Pops (for Louis Armstrong), The Cry of My People and Quiet Dawn, which was originally composed for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. These works together with the Suite serve now as the ultimate Massey compilation. For the recording, Ho brought in conductor Whitney George and much of the band heard at the Red Rooster, but for the record, the disc line-up is: along with Bobby Zankel (alto saxophone), Binda Keidel and Salim Washington (tenor saxophones), Ben Barson (baritone saxophone); Jackie Coleman, Nabate Isles and James Chandler (trumpets), Frank Kuumba Lacy and Aaron Johnson (trombones), Art Hirahara (piano), Wes Brown (bass), Royal Hartigan (drums and African percussion), Melanie Dyer (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello). A revolutionary artist like Massey, lost to time and by the hand of the reactionaries, is in need of rediscovery by a new generation hungry for the culture of dissent. Add this CD to your collection and file it along with your ‘Autobiography of Malcolm X’, collection of Langston Hughes poetry, your favorite old Woody Guthrie records and DVD of ‘Salt of the Earth’. 

Here’s a recording that will stand the test of our time and place…..and as you read of the latest hateful, divisive rhetoric of a Rick Santorum, a Newt Gingrich or an Eric Cantor, it will remind you of the need for real social change in our current society. Speak to us Cal Massey, speak. 

-John Pietaro is a musician and writer from Brooklyn NY. His website is www.DissidentArts.com. This piece was originally published on The Cultural Worker blog

           

POETRY IN RETROSPECT: 2010 - 2001

This is a collection of Pietaro-penned material in retrospect. The first poem is from 2010, very soon after my wife and musical partner Laurie Towers and I arrived back in Brooklyn after living upstate in Beacon NY for five years. The collection extends back through the period immediately following September 11, 2001. Along the way find many politically-charged works, from Valerie Plame to Hurrican Katrina.............

Reaching Outward

Ssshhhhhh…..softly.

Above you stands the mountain, casting massive shadow

High above the city limits.

Like a giant swath of darkness

It cuts deep into the light of day.

How majestic is its reach, how consuming

Its breadth.

Ssshhhhhh….softly.

Drink it in, drink it in, the sound of outdoors, the scent

Of nature.

The din beneath calls out loudly, can you hear its clamor?

Can you feel its draw?

Reaching upward, back toward the cloud-splitter,

The height is dizzying.

And then the imagery escapes.

Ssshhhhh…Ssshhhh….

You stand apart from the vision, now;

Beyond the dream, the sky is small again.

The sky is small again and you,

You are microscopic in its wake.

Straining your neck to look above the rooftops,

through the pulsating walls about you,

The thick clouds are but fading into the grey

And the swarm of motion has eclipsed all.

---January 29, 2010, 12:17 AM, Brooklyn NY; written for Laurie’s country heart--reflecting back on the view of life from NY’s  Hudson Valley.

Ballad of the Big Wind

The big wind blew away New Orleans;

Took lives and homes and reality.

The Gulf never knew blues so blue,

It sure looks like murder to me.

The big wind could not be predicted;

No gauges, no charts could ever see;

No armies could fight, no doctors could save,

No statesmen could care, they let it be.

The big storm engulfed all the houses

And poured over poor people’s dreams.

The big wind drowned out all the voices,

Killed the animals and innocence, it seems.

It broke men and took down the women

Who’d known more of struggle than most.

For a while it silenced the music;

It roared as it took down the coast.

A warning to all weather stations:

The gauges and charts speak to us!

The big wind that blows through this nation—

The chill factor’s goddamned corrupt.

The big wind blew away New Orleans;

Took lives and homes and reality.

But nothing was done by the fortunate son—

The storm in this Right-wing regime.

October 28, 2006, Beacon NY. Written in a rush of inspiration after listening to reports on the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of New Orleans---and the very human failings of the government’s national rescue efforts. As is well-recalled, George Bush appointed a completely inappropriate person to head up emergency response duties and an endless list of people lost their homes and their lives, let alone lifestyles in the wake of this horrendous storm. Feel free to read what you will into the ‘big wind’ symbolism; no problem. The melody and also the lyrical style were very influenced by the work of Woody Guthrie, evidenced by the recording of this piece on the disc ‘Revenge of the Atom Spies’.

Un-American Gothic

This unrequited logic outcast from covert project

In times of hidden frolic-- Un-American Gothic.

The We who stand alone here sweat the sweat and pay the loan, dear.

There’s no time for upward striving, we’re too busy just surviving

In times of scorn and maiming, alabaster self-proclaiming;

Batten hatches, pull the bridge in; light the fuse, boil the fission.

Oh, they play Un-American Gothic with a smile and twist of fate.

And they bank un-American profit; with sleight of hand, manipulate.

Oh, they play Un-American Gothic; today’s smile is tomorrow’s hate.

While they bank un-American profit it’s the deal they stipulate.

-June 1, 2006, Beacon NY. Commentary on the machinations of George W Bush’s cowboy capitalism as well as his continued appropriation of our post-9/11 fear.

Contrasts

Lost in time, faceless twins;

Mirrored lives and nameless sin.

Do they know? Do they know?

Born of one, an age apart:

Rebel son, sister heart.

Do they know? Do they know?

Contrasts, Contrasts.

Another side, another look--

Conquer, divide, re-write the book.

From Red Scare one to Cold War times

Dissent is shunned, now thought’s a crime.

Here’s to life and twists of fate

From corporate reach to fascist weight;

Do we know? Do we know?

It’s been the same through all of time:

Manipulate, create the crime.

Contrasts…contrasts?

Lost in time, the pawns of war;

Silence them and close the door.

So we go, so we go.

Nothing’s changed but who and when;

Plant the fear and start again.

So we go, so we go.

-March 3, 2006, Beacon NY. Originally a song which was written as part of a music therapy group project in 1993, albeit with a non-political content and one reflective of one’s inner struggle, the lyric was adapted and the song ultimately recorded by the composer’s ensemble, the Flames of Discontent on their 2007 release, ‘Revenge of the Atom Spies’

Who’s To Blame?

Who’s to blame? Who’s to blame? Who’s to blame for Valerie Plame?

Joe Wilson’s wife; the White House claimed

There was no leak! How could there be? We do not speak, oh, no--not we.

Now, Valerie Plame of the CIA

Was brought to light, by force, to pay

When Joe was loud and rightly so, said What is this war? and Why did we go?

So who’s to blame? Who’s to blame? Who’s to blame for Valerie Plame?

There’s no Deep Throat, the sources claimed; There was no word! It was not spread!

So what was over heard was from that figure-head??

Who’s to blame? Who? Who’s to blame?

Was it Cheney from the depths of his secret lair? Or Condie from the view of her awful stare?

Was it ‘Rummie’ and his toys in the big War Room or Kenny and the boys?…oh, they’re George’s corporate doom

Who’s to blame? Who’s to blame? Who’s to blame for exposing Valerie Plame?

We’ll find out!, the Dems ascertain, Perhaps we’ll stand tall and speak from our base.

Ohhhh, that’s one way they can finally save face.

It might be the Christian Right or Fox News that composed this secret government blues.

Was it in a sound-bite or misinformation?? Let’s get the rubber hose and start the interrogation.

Was it Mouthpiece Fleischer or perhaps McLellan? No this plot belongs to the real felons.

Then it had to be Rove, little Dubya’s tutor or

Could it have been a grown man who calls himself…’Scooter’??

Ohhhhhhhh, what a brood, it’s so hard to choose; this insidious bunch has control of the news!

When did it get away---how did we fall?

They’re taking the courts and winner takes all.

Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who’s to blame?

Who’s to blame for breaking our trust--and outing Agent Plame?

Joe Wilson’s wife. The White House claimed: There was no leak. So how could it be?

And yet---WE do not speak. Oh, no…not WE.

-November 4, 2005, Beacon NY. This was one of those pieces that comes out like a stream of consciousness and is almost born complete. The news reports of the leak about veteran CIA agent Valerie Plame—payback by the White House for her husband Joe Wilson’s vocal protests against the Iraq invasion—was amazing fodder for a topical piece. It was the afternoon of one of our Flames of Discontent performances and there was no time to think about composing a melody and harmony---we played it then and always as modern day Beat poetry, I dramatically recited over a searing bass line by Laurie. It was recorded this way too.

Your Assets on the Line

Fight’s in the air, the anger’s shared

As we march into the streets.

We’re speaking out in rebel shouts

No, we’ll not accept defeat.

Your call to war has made us sure

Democracy’s over due

You act alone, but from your throne

The whole world’s watching you.

-May 4, 2003, Brooklyn NY. Composed in a fit of anger about the Bush Administration. The style being overtly 1920s-30s Leftist, purely in the mold of the agitational fight song but with a directly confrontational and accusatory approach indicates some leftover bravura from May Day; several days prior, we were performing radical labor songs in Union Square Park!

September’s Divide

Each night I watch the evening news

It shapes my mind, feeds on my blues;

Reports to me with charm and grace

The need for pride and tears and faith.

The headline screams, the crawl reports

While talking heads speak double talk

And graphic flags’ red, white and blue

Reach from the side, obscure my view.

What guides me through times like these?

The City quakes, west to east.

No “us”, no “them” and we’ll survive

And so we close September’s divide.

Broadway still shines through darkened stage

And black smoke refines the fits of rage

While the protestors call out for peace

And march proudly down Fourteenth Street.

New York labor speaks union of race,

We can’t seek the blame on the foreigner’s face.

“America first!” the angry man cries,

But war only calls for workers to die.

The war to end wars led to the next

And the one again st Reds they called the best.

The fight for our rights continues still

So how do we march while refusing to kill.

Avenging the deaths of friends once here,

Amending the reign of corporate sneer.

Rebuild the skies! Our hearts decide

But what’s left to fix when the soul divides?

What guides me through times like these?

The City quakes, west to east.

No “us”, no “them” and we’ll survive

And so we close September’s divide.

What guides me through times like these?

The whole world quakes, west to east.

No “us”, no “them” and we’ll survive

And so we close September’s divide.

-September 10, 2001, Brooklyn NY. This piece was composed in the weeks immediately following the 9/11 attacks; prior to writing this, I was unable to release any emotion about that day through my music. When the attack on the World Trade Center occurred, I was working on the Psychiatry unit of a hospital located in the heart of Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, not far from lower Manhattan. From the windows of the unit, I stood and watched the towers burn and implode and then had to find the right words to discuss it all with a ward full of anxious, understandably desperate people.