Music

Omar Sa'ad, an Arab-Palestinian citizen of Israel, is a musician who plays the viola, refused to fulfill the mandatory conscription service in the Israeli...

By JIM TESTA FOR THE JERSEY JOURNAL How often have you been driving or ironing or making dinner, when suddenly a song on the radio stops you dead in your tracks and has you humming along? "I Melt With You" or "Take On Me" or Duran Duran's "Girls On…

MAY 9, 2014 - Joan Baez is lending her support for the Resource Center for Non-Violence in their goal to raise funds for their renovation and upgrade needs for their Santa Cruz building. The RCNV got its start with Joan Baez and others in 1964 as the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence in Carmel Valley, then eventually moved to their present location in Santa Cruz and became the Resource Center for Non-Violence. The RCNV has served as the headquarters for Pete Seeger and other musicians, and the whole peace and justice folk music movement for decades, and is continuing to have music as a big part of the peaceful revolution they promote. The RCNV recently is trying to bring in new folks and have launched the ReGeneration campaign to bring in hip hop and other cultural forms of music to widen the scope of how the RCNV blends music and activism. Joan will be playing the benefit concert tonight and told the SantaCruzSentinel.com, "I don't want to be involved in social change that doesn't have music". We here at JTMP agree 100%. Read the great article all about this on the SantaCruzSentinel.com. (photo credit: rcnv.org) 

MAY 7, 2014 - Bluegrass is not really known for its activism, but there are a few songs here and there, and many sing about the plight of the poor, common man. One new bluegrass song, "Keep Your Dirty Lights On" by bluegrass musicians Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott, sings against dirty coal. But is not just your typical bluegrass song telling the plight of a coal miner. This song specifically uses the word "dirty" and "green", obviously references to the silly "clean coal" propaganda code word invented by coal companies hilariously implying that coal could ever be "clean" (What's next? Gentle rape?) and the "green movement". The song's lyrics go:

Every time they have elections, they talk about how coal is clean
Well coal is cheap but coal's still black, It ain't never turning green
So plug your electric car in, charge it and be gone
Do your shopping online, we'll get you every time

So we can keep your dirty lights on

Watch a video of Tim and Darrell performing "Keep Your Dirty Lights On" below at the in-house studio of WAMU Bluegrass Country here in DC recently.  (photo credit: Takver/Flickr/CC)

May 5, 2014 - Some members of the Canadian band Lemon Bucket Orkestra have teamed up with local musicians from Kiev and are touring Europe and singing about peace and justice, hoping to calm things down and avoid war. They are calling it the Lemonchiki Project, paying homage to the lemons activists had to put in their mouths to deal with the Berkut tear-gassing them as they tried to take control of their country away from the Putin puppets who were destroying their country. Read their story and find out more of this exciting project at the Lemonchiki Project website.