News Archives: 2012
Jackson Browne featured on the Artist Line up for This Land is Your Land ~ The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert
July 31, 2012
The Kennedy Center and The GRAMMY Museum announce Artist Lineup for This Land is Your Land ~ The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert.
Concert celebrating 100 years of famed folk singer will feature
Jackson Browne, Rosanne Cash, Judy Collins, Ry Cooder, Del McCoury Band with Tim O’Brien, Ani DiFranco, Donovan, Dropkick Murphys, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Jimmy LaFave, John Mellencamp, Tom Morello, Old Crow Medicine Show, Joel Rafael, and Rob Wasserman
October 14, 2012, Concert Hall
Part of the Songs of Conscience Concert Series
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – A lineup of renowned artists including Jackson Browne, Rosanne Cash, Judy Collins, Ry Cooder, Del McCoury Band with Tim O’Brien, Ani DiFranco, Donovan, Dropkick Murphys, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Jimmy LaFave, John Mellencamp, Tom Morello, Old Crow Medicine Show, Joel Rafael, and Rob Wasserman will salute folk music legend Woody Guthrie at the Kennedy Center, in collaboration with the GRAMMY Museum, presents This Land is Your Land ~ The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert on Sunday October 14, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The evening will celebrate the life and work of folk singer Woody Guthrie, whose songs have inspired change throughout the nation and the world. The performance is part of the Songs of Conscience concert series. Artists are subject to change.
Originally from Okemah, Oklahoma, singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie was responsible for songs that have become the folk standards of the nation, known and performed in many languages throughout the world. Songs such as “Pretty Boy Floyd,” “Pastures of Plenty,” “Hard Travelin’,” “Deportee,” “Roll on Columbia,” “Vigilante Man,” and “This Land Is Your Land,” are among the hundreds of Guthrie pieces that have become prevalent in the canon of American music. Through his unique music, words, and style, Guthrie was able to bring attention and understanding to the critical issues of his day.
The Kennedy Center, in collaboration with the GRAMMY Museum, presents Songs of Conscience, a concert series celebrating the legacy of two artists whose music captured the spirit of their times and continues to echo today. On Sunday, October 14, 2012, the Center presents This Land is Your Land ~ The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert; and on June 23, 2013, the Center presents The Legacy of Bob Marley, an event that will honor the international artistic and social influence of singer Bob Marley and his music. Both performances will take place in the Concert Hall.
ABOUT THE GRAMMY MUSEUM
Paying tribute to music’s rich cultural history, this one-of-a-kind, 21st-century museum explores and celebrates the enduring legacies of all forms of music, the creative process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the history of the premier recognition of excellence in recorded music – the GRAMMY Award. The GRAMMY Museum features 30,000 square feet of interactive and multimedia exhibits located within L.A. LIVE, the downtown Los Angeles sports, entertainment, and residential district. Through thought-provoking and dynamic public and educational programs and exhibits, guests can experience music from a never-before-seen insider perspective that only The GRAMMY Museum can deliver. For more information, please call 213.765.6800 or visit www.grammymuseum.org. For exclusive content, join the organization’s social networks as a Twitter follower at www.twitter.com/TheGRAMMYMuseum and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thegrammymuseum.
ABOUT THE KENNEDY CENTER
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, David M. Rubenstein, chairman, Michael M. Kaiser, president, is America’s living memorial to President Kennedy. It is the nation’s busiest performing arts facility and annually hosts approximately 2,000 performances for audiences totaling nearly two million; Center related touring productions, television, and radio broadcasts welcome 40 million more. Now in its 40th season, the Center presents performances of music, dance, and theater; supports artists in the creation of new work; and serves the nation as a leader in arts education. With its artistic affiliate, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Center’s achievements as a commissioner, producer, and nurturer of developing artists have resulted in more than 200 theatrical productions, dozens of new ballets, operas, and musical works. The Center’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Kennedy Center Honors is broadcast annually on the CBS Network; The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize is seen on PBS. Each year more than 11 million people nationwide take part in innovative and effective education programs initiated by the Center. As part of the Center’s Performing Arts for Everyone outreach program, the Center and the National Symphony Orchestra stage more than 400 free performances of music, dance, and theater by artists from throughout the world each year on the Center’s main stages, and every evening at 6 p.m. on the Millennium Stage.
For more information about the Kennedy Center, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.
Please visit facebook.com/kennedycenter for behind-the-scenes news, special offers, advance notice of events and other related Kennedy Center Facebook pages.
Follow @kencen on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news, offers and more.
Read MoreYou can help Leonard Peltier – Call the White House Today!
July 20, 2012
Please call the White House today, Friday, in favor of freedom for Leonard Peltier,
Native American activist in prison for a crime that he did not commit.
The number for the White House comment line is: 202 456-1111
If the line is busy, try the White House switchboard: 202 456-1414
and ask for the comment line. You may be placed on hold until
the next available staff member can take your call.
Please, make that call.
Read MoreCrunch Time in Wisconsin
June 18, 2012
This past Friday afternoon I arrived at the address advertised for a “grassroots rally” for Republican governor Scott Walker, who is facing a recall election today against Milwaukee’s Democratic mayor Tom Barrett. I was greeted at the gate by two Waukesha County sheriff’s cars, from within which one of the officers asked me why I was there.
The setting was plant of Quad/Graphics, the second largest printing company in the country, in the village of Sussex, pop. 10,045, and the cops were guarding the governor on a factory “walkthrough”-just about the only home-stretch campaigning Walker was doing. It co-starred South Carolina governor and proud and admitted union-buster Nikki Haley, who called Walker, whose law crushing Wisconsin’s public service unions is the reason state activists managed to raise over a million signatures to recall him, a model for all governors to follow. Walker, in blue-collared work shirt, repeated the lie that has become his closing argument: that the federal’ Bureau of Labor Statistics had “verified” his administration’s “corrected” numbers showing that, contrary to earlier reports of job losses, Wisconsin under Walker “has added over 30,000 jobs.”
Not much of a grassroots rally. And a curious place to make even a fake job-growth sale. Quad/Graphics’s contribution to America’s industrial economy in the last several years has been to buy up printing factories around the country to close them – in order, as the company has explained, to “maximize profitability, improve credit profiles, and adapt to an increasingly dynamic and challenging endmarket environment.” In other words, they kill jobs for a living.
Upon further thought, perhaps that’s not so curious. Relentlessly anti-union, infamous in Wisconsin for its cult-like workplace culture (I remember it from when my class was taken on a field trip there as a boy), Quad/Graphics is just the place if you need a captive audience of factory workers to display on the news enthusiastically cheering their governor. They look exactly like union members are supposed to look. But if they actually had a union to protect them they wouldn’t have had to look enthusiastic – upon fear of losing their jobs.
This was also a perfect audience to cheer the Walker campaign’s other closing big lie: that Barrett was responsible covering up his city’s descent into a Mad Max-style cauldron of criminal anarchy. “We don’t want Wisconsin to become like Milwaukee,” the governor dog-whistled in rural Sussex (African-American population: 0.75 percent) of the nearby city where nearly seventy percent of the state’s black population lives.
Then, a sunny drive west on I-94, a radio interview with friendly Mayor Barrett – and for the second time that weekend, I heard a public radio host explain apologetically that producers had reached out to both candidates, but that the Walker campaign said no or did not respond. Walker’s press operation is run by a woman named Ciara Matthews, who in 2007 wrote and then deleted a blog post reading “I would really love to punch Hillary Clinton in the face,” and whose previous job was keeping media from lunatic Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle (the one who told a group of Mexican-American students “you look a little more Asian to me” and suggested “”Second Amendment remedies” in a conversation about how to “take Harry Reid out”).
A truck stop. A pleasant woman’s voice over an AM radio station: “… the corrected numbers show large job job gains … the reforms made job creators more confident …. Wisconsin is getting back to work …” The ad’s sponsor is the “WMC Foundation,” as in Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business organization, who have scored the neat trick of simultaneously blanketing the state with misleading pro-Walker ads and mainlining into the media an ostensibly objective survey in which its membership overwhelmingly affirms that thanks to Walker’s “reforms” they’ll be hiring more … soon.
Wisconsinites meanwhile pulled out their phones and saw texts reading, “Tom Barrett is a Union Puppet who will give Union Thugs everything they want. Call & ask why 414-271-8050.” That’s Barrett campaign headquarters – whose switchboard was promptly shut down by the deluge of calls.
Welcome to Scott Walker’s Wisconsin – and, if Wisconsin fails to do the right thing today, Scott Walker’s America: dirty tricks and intricately nested corporate-sponsored lies, states competing with one another to out-Dixie Dixie, glittering simulations of democracy on TV commercials paid for by cruel lying billionaires, passed on verbatim by reporters too lazy to care.
Then I reached my destination, Madison’s Labor Temple, and saw another Wisconsin on full display – a lucky thing or I would have just about jumped into Lake Mendota.
I saw police officers there, too – relaxing in the sun getting ready to enjoy a Friday get-out-the-vote concert put on by the independent group We Are Wisconsin and starring Jackson Browne, Mike McColgan of the Dropkick Murpheys, Tim McIlrath of Rise Against, rapper Brother Ali, and mighty Tom Morello, who put it all together and MC’ed. These officers wore T-shirts reading “COPS FOR LABOR.” There were little old ladies, too, sporting “PROUD TO BE A UNION THUG” T-shirts. There were young people, and middle aged people, and people of color, yuppies and blue-collars – just like the congregations of 100,000 and more who descended upon Madison’s state capitol day after frigid day the moment Governor Walker introduced his union-busting bill. That, back in February of 2011, Tom Morello told me backstage before the show, was the first thing he noticed about the Madison Uprising: “not just the usual suspects of young anarchists and old hippies, but, you know, firefighters, policemen, Green Bay Packers, longshoremen.”
“And vets, and farmers,” Jackson Browne chimed in. “It almost sort of presaged Occupy.”
He’s right. In fact, Madison would have been the biggest political story of 2011 if there were any sense in our political press; instead, newspapers were busy giving front-page attention to Tea Party rallies drawing crowds in the hundreds or even less.
Morello, with the blessing of his nine-months-pregnant wife, raced to Madison immediately upon seeing the images just like the ones he’d been watching from Cairo’s Tahrir Square, “and an hour away from where I grew up in Libertyville, Illinois.” Jackson Browne followed the story obsessively. I asked him how it connects with his activist interests, which go back decades. “It actually fits right in with everything else I’ve ever done. It comes under the heading of community. Strengthening our prosperity based on what people really need in their lives …. The civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, the environment-all of it shines a light on corporate America’s rise to try to control, to try to make personal fortunes off the backs of regular people.”
And now here it was happening again.
“When I came in on the plane at down, at around 5:30 this morning, I thought, ‘It’s a beautiful, beautiful place.'” Browne went on. “And you say, ‘What does it take to make those beautiful communities? Well, you have to have teachers, you have to have firemen, you have to have cops, you have to have an infrastructure. And what they’re continually doing is letting this thing fall apart-“
Morello: “all in the name of short-term gain.”
Browne: “And a large percent of the $35 million being spent by these billionaires is to try to convince working class people that the billionaires are on their side!”
I spotted the extraordinary rapper who leverages his racial ambiguity – ethnically caucasian, aurally African American, whose medical condition of albinism gave him striking white skin and piercing blue eyes – to invest his lyrics on the imperative of solidarity an intensity that transcends clich. “Maybe we can bring over Brother Ali here,” I say.
And Jackson Browne lights up even more. “Brother Ali is fantastic,” he says, practically worshipfully.
Ali, who is staggeringly well informed on current events, reflects on Walker as “the prototype that groups like ALEC” – the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Washington-based right-wing group that writes legislation like Scott Walker’s anti-union bill to push through state legislators across the nation in the name of “Wisconsin values” and “Michigan values” and “Nevada values” and the like – “are putting in place. They’re saying, ‘Can we be this brash? Can we be this quick with what our agenda is? So we’re here to say: ‘don’t mess around.'”
Excitable Tom Morello, the words rushing out: “I think they’ve been very surprised. I mean, the hubris: that there’s nothing that can stand in the way of their money.”
Browne, practically on top of him: “They’ve got a culture of impunity. They believe in impunity! The Bush administration was the same thing: ‘Oh, that’s illegal? Well, let’s see you stop us then.'”
A little one crawls into the rapper’s lap; “What’s your friend, Ali?”
“That’s my daughter, Soul. S-O-U-L.”
“That I can see! Are you having fun?”
Soul nods, but I’m having fun too: “I wasn’t asking you. I was asking these guys. You having fun?”
Browne: “Yeah! This is fun! It’s very exciting! It’s really like paddling into a big wave to hang out with Tom Morello and see him organizing various disparate musical influences”-at which, as if on cue, Tim McIlrath sits down to join the conversation: the twenty-something punk rocker, this weathered baby-boomer sage, this rapper, the sui generis Morello, all staggered by this solidarity they get to be part of, as historic as anything they’d ever seen. Mike McColgan is across the room, in another animated conversation, so I caught up with him later by phone. He took a mid-career hiatus to work as a fireman in Boston, and revels in the story of how Tom Barrett’s running mate, Mahlon Mitchell, the head of the firefighters union, reacted when the governor took him into a back room to explain that Act Ten would exempt his union and also the policeman’s union: he said “Hell no.” And then the cops said the same. “I’ve never seen police officers being part of the labor movement in a city or state that out front. This just kind of typifies how amazing this whole grassroots movement is. Everybody’s in. It’s all encompassing. It’s an amazing movement.”
Back in the green room, Tom Morello explains what the 1% does when faced with something like that. “What they’re trying to do is silence us. This is what this is all about …. But they’ve been surprised at every turnout. They didn’t know there was going to be 100,000 people in the streets. They didn’t know there was going to be a million signatures for the recall. They didn’t know that despite the fact that they’re outspending the Democrats twelve to one they can’t get above fifty percent.! You know, with all the lies, and the smoke and the mirrors, they can’t get above 50 percent. Becuse theres’ something in the people here – same as the people in Cairo, same as the people in Greece, same as the students in Chile and Quebec – that’s just saying, ‘We’ve had enough!”
“Now, can we harness that for a social justice movement here in Madison, in Wisconsin, in the country, in the world, that’s going to improve people’s lives and hold those criminals accountable? I don’t know. But in an hour and a half onstage, we’re going to paint a little picture of what that world would look like.”
And then the congregation took the stage, where they did. “Who is that guy?” an old lady asks me when Tim McIlrath starts singing union songs. I say he’s from a punk rock band called Rise Against. “Punk rock? My gosh! It’s good!” Uncannily, another old woman asks me the same thing when Brother Ali takes the stage: “I’m not a rap fan but I like it!” (So does Jackson Browne, who turned intently to Ali after our interview to ask him exctly how freestyling worked.)
The next morning I drive to a microscopic town next to Racine, where a giant open field was a stop on the bus tour in which Americans for Prosperity, the fake grassroots group that fronts for the Koch Brothers, was shipping supporters from, among other places, Illinois, to these here rallies around the state. Not, they claim, to support the Walker campaign – that would violate election law – which they had nothing to do with, but just in the interest of “educating folks in the importance of the reforms.”
It wasn’t hard to come up with a crowd count: I just counted them. The three hundred or so (though National Review counts differently than me) white people – and one black, who stood precisely in the center of the front row and wore an AFP staff T-shirt – heard an AFP staffer hosannah “economic freedom, limited government, and lower taxes.” And that “even Barack Obama’s Bureau of Labor Statistics” said “we’ve created jobs in Wisconsin.” Then he introduced as an “honorary Wisconsinite,” the head of Americans for Prosperity – Wisconsin, Tim Phillips – a Southerner who made a joke about frigid weather. Apparently reverse carpet-bagging is a signal feature of this “grassroots” movement.
Then a third speaker, but I had already wandered off , bored by the conspicuous lack of energy, past a sign reading “Republican’s Are Makers Democrats Are Takers” [sic, of course], and tables featuring free DVDs on both the glories of Scott Walker and the United Nation’s plan to enslave the United States, in the direction of a a second, entirely separate, stage across the field put up by the Racine Tea Party. A few minutes later, the rest of the crowd followed me there. For, yes, an entirely separate rally, which had nothing to do with the nonpartisan one two hundred yards away that had just ended. There they heard Walker’s running mate Rebecca Kleefisch rant about the “big union bosses from out of state,” and how the unions were just like Goliath, and her boss was exactly like David.
Me, I fingered my slick Americans for Prosperity – Wisconsin flier, which I later noticed contained the most revealing typo in the history of politics. “The forces of BIG GOVERNMENT would like nothing more than for you to DO NOTHING,” it warned, but promised, “We are gathering citizens together from across Michigan to make phone calls, knock on doors and educate their friends, family and neighbors.”
The tag line? “Join forces with Americans for Prosperity to defend the Wisconsin Way and fight back against the failed policies of Barack Obama.” Michigan Way, Wisconsin Way: what’s the diff? It’s the Koch Brothers’ Way all the way, and if Wisconsin doesn’t vote right today, it’s where we all are heading.
Rick Perlstein is the author of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus and Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. He writes a weekly column for RollingStone.com.
Read more at rollingstone.com
Read MoreJackson Browne Announces Fall Leg of 2012 U.S. Acoustic Tour with Special Guest Sara Watkins. Tickets On Sale Now
June 18, 2012
Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne has added a string of Fall dates to his 2012 U.S. Acoustic Tour. The tour, which begins this summer on July 14 in Charlotte, NC runs thru mid-August, before picking up again mid-October and ending on November 15 in Colorado Springs, CO. Playing guitar and piano, Jackson will perform songs from his entire body of work, with varying set lists each night. Singer-songwriter and fiddle player Sara Watkins will open the Acoustic Tour as a special guest. Tickets are on-sale now for the summer tour and the pre-sales for the fall tour begin this week; information is available at www.jacksonbrowne.com.
Sara Watkins first gained recognition as a founding member of the GRAMMY-winning trio Nickel Creek. Sun Midnight Sun, the second solo album from acclaimed singer, songwriter, and fiddle player will be released May 8 on Nonesuch Records. Produced by guitarist, singer, and songwriter Blake Mills, co-founder of the band Simon Dawes, the album features special guest appearances by Fiona Apple, Jackson Browne, Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Benmont Tench, and Sean Watkins. Im really excited to have Sara joining me on this tour, says Jackson. We’ve played together a number of times in the last few years, sometimes on her show and sometimes mine, and it’s always been a thrill for me. I’m floored by her amazing instrumental virtuosity and by her beautiful voice, and most of all, I love her songs.
The summer run of the 2012 U.S. Acoustic Tour includes Jackson’s first-ever performance at the legendary Newport Folk Festival in Newport, RI (7/29), founded in 1954; the tour’s other festival stop is the 11th annual carbon-conscious Floyd Fest on the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Floyd, VA (7/26). Other tour highlights include concerts at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN (7/18), Filene Center at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA (7/23), the Beacon Theatre in New York City (8/3), and Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, OH (8/15). The fall leg runs through mid-November, with dates that span from the Virginias to Colorado with several stops in between. Tour highlights include concerts at the stunning Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, WI (10/21), Chicago Theater in Chicago, IL (10/26) and the Paramount Theater in Denver, CO (11/14).
Jackson will be donating $1 from each ticket sold on the U.S. Acoustic Tour to charity. In addition, premium benefit seats are available for purchase through The Guacamole Fund: www.guacfund.org.
Jackson Browne has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music and has defined a genre of songwriting charged with honesty, emotion and personal politics. He was honored with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007. Beyond his music, he is known for his advocacy on behalf of the environment, human rights, and arts education. He’s a co-founder of the groups Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE), Nukefree.org, and, Success Through the Arts Foundation, which provides education opportunities for students in South Los Angeles.
Jackson Browne 2012 Acoustic Tour Dates with special guest Sara Watkins:
| Date | City | Venue |
| 7/14/12 | charlotte, nc | belk theater of the north carolina blumenthal performing arts center |
| 7/15/12 | north charleston, sc | north charleston performing arts center |
| 7/17/12 | greenville, sc | peace center concert hall |
| 7/18/12 | nashville, tn | ryman auditorium |
| 7/20/12 | richmond, va | carpenter center |
| 7/22/12 | durham, nc | durham performing arts center |
| 7/23/12 | vienna, va | filene center at wolf trap |
| 7/25/12 | philadelphia, pa | academy of music |
| 7/26/12 | floyd, va | blue cow pavilion/floyd fest |
| 7/29/12 | newport, ri | newport folk festival |
| 7/30/12 | gilford, nh | meadowbrook u.s. cellular pavilion |
| 8/1/12 | holyoke, ma | mountain park |
| 8/3/12 | new york, ny | beacon theatre |
| 8/5/12 | west long branch, nj | mac center monmouth university |
| 8/7/12 | shippensburg, pa | luhrs performing arts center |
| 8/8/12 | greenberg, pa | the palace theater |
| 8/9/12 | williamsport, pa | community arts center |
| 8/11/12 | cincinnati, oh | pnc pavilion at riverbend music center |
| 8/12/12 | louisville, ky | whitney hall |
| 8/14/12 | indianapolis, in | murat theatre |
| 8/15/12 | cleveland heights, oh | cain park |
| 10/15/12 | morgantown, wv | west virginia university- creative arts center |
| 10/17/12 | newport news, va | ferguson center for the performing arts |
| 10/20/12 | detroit, mi | music hall center for the performing arts |
| 10/21/12 | milwaukee, wi | the riverside theater |
| 10/23/12 | springfield, il | sangamon auditorium |
| 10/25/12 | south bend, in | morris performing arts center |
| 10/26/12 | chicago, il | chicago theatre |
| 10/28/12 | minneapolis, mn | state theater |
| 10/29/12 | duluth, mn | duluth entertainment convention center |
| 11/1/12 | davenport, ia | adler theater |
| 11/2/12 | st. louis, mo | fox theatre |
| 11/4/12 | grand prairie, tx | verizon theatre |
| 11/5/12 | linden, tx | music vity texas theatre |
| 11/7/12 | houston, tx | bayou music center |
| 11/8/12 | austin, tx | bass concert hall |
| 11/10/12 | catoosa, ok | the joint at hard rock hotel & casino |
| 11/11/12 | wichita, ks | orpheum theatre |
| 11/12/12 | omaha, ne | orpheum theatre |
| 11/14/12 | denver, co | paramount theatre |
Casino Nation – Video
June 17, 2012
Video of Jackson Browne’s song, an animated editorial by Andrew Thomas.
Multi-Platinum Recording Artists Headline Get Out the Vote Rally in Madison
May 29, 2012
As polls show a dead heat, We Are Wisconsin hosts free event to mobilize troops in massive GOTV effort
MADISON-Grammy Award-winning guitarist Tom Morello of “Rage Against The Machine,” singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, Tim McIlrath of the punk rock band “Rise Against,” international touring hip-hop artist Brother Ali and Mike McColgan, the original lead singer of “Dropkick Murphys” and the lead singer of the “Street Dogs,” are all hitting the stage in Madison to turn out the vote in a Wisconsin recall election that’s too close to call.
The “Get Out The Vote” Rally, sponsored by We Are Wisconsin, will provide a massive boost to canvassing efforts days before the recall election on June 5. The event, which will be held at the Madison Labor Temple at 1602 S. Park St., is free to the public with a sign up to volunteer to help get out the vote. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
“Gov. Scott Walker messed with Wisconsin workers and now it’s time to pay the piper,” said Morello. “I’m headed back to Madison with some friends to help yank that right-wing extremist out of office like a bad tooth. We are ready, willing and able to use our music to help rally the troops to do the hard work of knocking on doors and getting out the vote during the last critical hours of this recall election.”
McIlrath says his fans often ask how they can get involved with issues of change and awareness. “The frontline happens to be in Wisconsin at the moment, and I’m excited to be out there to help turn out the vote with everyone,” he added.
Three different polls released in the past week have shown a dead heat with challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett having clear momentum and a superior field operation. Both sides have consistently said the election will come down to whom has the better ground game and turns out its base.
“Wisconsin has the lowest amount of new jobs being created out of all American states and a high unemployment rate,” said McColgan. “Certainly with that in mind Wisconsin needs a change and a break from a governor who is beholden to corporate interests and the American Legislative Exchange Council.”
FRIDAY, JUNE 1ST
Madison Labor Temple
1602 S. Park St.
Madison, WI 53715
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
“Working people across America watched aghast as Gov. Scott Walker struck down the right to collectively bargain for Wisconsin State employees,” said Browne. “It’s up to the people of Wisconsin to remove Walker from office, but the fight is an American fight, for a basic American right. I’m coming to Wisconsin to help get out the vote. Recall Scott Walker!”
*NOTE TO EDITORS/PRODUCERS: For interview requests, please contact Staci Maiers of We Are Wisconsin at (608) 301-5167 or stacimaiers@gmail.com.
Follow us on twitter at @WeRWisconsin #WIunion #WIrecall
Paid for by We Are Wisconsin Political Fund, Kim Warkentin Treasurer. Not authorized by any candidate, candidate’s agent or committee.
Read MoreJackson Browne Announces Summer 2012 U.S. Acoustic Tour With Special Guest Sara Watkins
April 23, 2012
LOS ANGELES, CA, April 23, 2011: Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne is set to launch his summer 2012 Acoustic Tour with a string of U.S. dates beginning July 14 at the Belk Theater in Charlotte, NC. Playing guitar and piano, Jackson will perform songs from his entire body of work, with varying set lists each night. Singer-songwriter and fiddle player Sara Watkins will open the Acoustic Tour as a special guest. Tickets go on sale beginning next week; visit TOUR for ticket/show information.
Sara Watkins first gained recognition as a founding member of the GRAMMY-winning trio Nickel Creek. Sun Midnight Sun, the second solo album from acclaimed singer, songwriter, and fiddle player will be released May 8 on Nonesuch Records. Produced by guitarist, singer, and songwriter Blake Mills, co-founder of the band Simon Dawes, the album features special guest appearances by Fiona Apple, Jackson Browne, Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Benmont Tench, and Sean Watkins. “I’m really excited to have Sara joining me on this tour,” says Jackson. “We’ve played together a number of times in the last few years, sometimes on her show and sometimes mine, and it’s always been a thrill for me. I’m floored by her amazing instrumental virtuosity and by her beautiful voice, and most of all, I love her songs.”
The tour runs through mid-August, and includes Jackson’s first-ever performance at the legendary Newport Folk Festival in Newport, RI (7/29), founded in 1954; the tour’s other festival stop is the 11th annual carbon-conscious Floyd Fest on the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Floyd, VA (7/26). Other tour highlights include concerts at Ryman Auditorium inNashville, TN (7/18), Filene Center at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA (7/23), the Beacon Theatre in New York City (8/3), and Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, OH (8/15).
Jackson will be donating $1 from each ticket sold on the U.S. Acoustic Tour to charity. In addition, premium benefit seatsare available for purchase through The Guacamole Fund: www.guacfund.org. Pre-sale information and VIP packages are available here (TOUR).
Jackson Browne has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music and has defined a genre of songwriting charged with honesty, emotion and personal politics. He was honored with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2007. Beyond his music, he is known for his advocacy on behalf of the environment, human rights, and arts education. He’s a co-founder of the groups Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE), Nukefree.org, and Success Through the Arts Foundation, which provides education opportunities for students in South Los Angeles.
Jackson Browne 2012 Acoustic Tour Dates with special guest Sara Watkins:
* Support TBD
DATE – CITY / VENUE
7/14/12 – Charlotte, NC / Belk Theater of the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
7/15/12 – North Charleston, SC / North Charleston Performing Arts Center
7/17/12 – Greenville, SC / Peace Center Concert Hall
7/18/12 – Nashville, TN / Ryman Auditorium
7/20/12 – Richmond, VA / Carpenter Center
7/22/12 – Durham, NC / Durham Performing Arts Center
7/23/12 – Vienna, VA / Filene Center at Wolf Trap
7/25/12 – Philadelphia, PA / Academy of Music
7/26/12 – Floyd, VA / Blue Cow Pavilion/Floyd Fest
7/29/12 – Newport, RI / Newport Folk Festival
7/30/12 – Gilford, NH / Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion
8/1/12 – Holyoke, MA / Mountain Park
8/3/12 – New York, NY / Beacon Theatre
8/5/12 – West Long Branch, NJ / MAC Center – Monmouth University
8/7/12 – Shippensburg, PA / Luhrs Performing Arts Center
8/9/12 – Williamsport, PA / Community Arts Center*
8/11/12 – Cincinnati, OH / PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center*
8/12/12 – Louisville, KY / Whitney Hall
8/14/12 – Indianapolis, IN / Murat Theatre
8/15/12 – Cleveland Heights, OH / Cain Park
Read MoreJackson Browne & Lizz Wright To Perform A Benefit Concert On June 9th At The Orpheum Theater
April 23, 2012
A Benefit Concert for Success Through The Arts Foundation and The Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center
American Jazz Saxophonist And Composer Wayne Shorter To Be Honored
Jackson Browne and Lizz Wright will perform a benefit concert at The Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles for Success Through The Arts Foundation and the Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center on Saturday, June 9, 2012. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 27th through Ticketmaster. Premium benefit seating is available through www.sttaf.org.
Generally acknowledged to be jazzs greatest living composer, American jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter will be presented the Dream Believe Achieve award at the benefit concert. Students from both Success Through The Arts and the Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center will also perform.
Success Through The Arts Foundation provides a performing arts education to over 800 students in South Los Angeles through their After-School, Saturday, and Summer programs. They utilize performing arts such as band, dance, and theater as a catalyst to propel students forward and enable them to lead rich, productive lives. In an area where the graduation rate is well below 40%, 100% of the seniors who have participated in Success Through The Arts programs are graduating and attending college.
The Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center provides superior arts instruction to under-served students in the heart of Leimert Park in South Los Angeles under the direction of Fernando Pullum. In an area where the surrounding schools offer little or no performing arts programs, the Center provides free, high quality after-school arts instruction in guitar, piano, drama, film, and recording. Fernandos passion coupled with his incredible arts curriculum gives these kids a sense of self-esteem and invaluable personal growth. Arts education should be a part of every childs school experience. Its a well-documented fact that studying music aids in the development of all kinds of cognitive skills. Fernandos programs connect the students to the broader spectrum of their lives possibilities, and thats what makes his work so vital, says Jackson Browne.
For tickets and information visit: www.sttaf.org
About the performers:
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne has written and performed some of the most literate and moving songs in popular music and has defined a genre of songwriting charged with honesty, emotion and personal politics. He was honored with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2007.
Beyond his music, Browne is known for his advocacy on behalf of the environment, human rights, and arts education. He’s a co-founder of the groups Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE), Nukefree.org, and Success Through The Arts Foundation, which provides education opportunities for students in South Los Angeles.
Lizz Wright
Her debut album, Salt (2003), introduced Wright as both an accomplished songwriter and an effortlessly magnetic performer, delivering subtly persuasive performances in understated jazz/R&B settings. Salt won international acclaim and was praised by The New York Times’ Stephen Holden, who wrote that Wright’s “astonishing maturity and poise stirs jazz, gospel and rhythm and blues into a reflective, flowing style that elongates songs into prayerful meditations,” and described her singing as “pitch-perfect, with a smoky, full-bodied texture… impressive in its steadiness, control and rhythmic subtlety.”
Dreaming Wide Awake followed in 2005, expanding Wright’s interpretive range on a broad array of material ranging from Fats Waller to Neil Young and reached the top of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart. Her third release, The Orchard (2008), was largely self-penned as she continued to mine her own experiences to create an unmistakably personal musical statement.
Wrights newest recording, Fellowship, (2010) continues her genre-defying journey, a nod to her roots in gospel on the one hand and her gospel of eclecticism on the other.
About the organizations:
Success Through The Arts
Founded in 2000, the mission of Success Through The Arts Foundation is to utilize performing arts programs as a means of enhancing self-esteem, academic achievement, self-discipline and social responsibility for K-12 students in South Los Angeles. An arts education can ignite a passion within each student for the arts as a whole, and, more importantly, it can serve as a tool to foster those things at the heart of our mission statement: self-esteem and academic achievement. Our After-School, Saturday, and Summer students go on to graduate from high school, attend four year colleges, and many come back to teach the next generation of students in South LA.
The Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center
The Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center provides quality arts instruction to under-served students in South Central Los Angeles. Through a program of exceptional instruction, curriculum and performance, students build self-esteem and develop a sense of civic responsibility. Our strategy is to present unique, culturally enriching programs and performances, provide our students with access to community service opportunities that serve our neighborhood, and promote academic achievement through our arts curriculum and tutoring program with the goal of each student raising his or her grade point average.
Read MorePaste Magazine Video Premiere – Jackson Browne with Jack Johnson & John Cruz – Take it Easy
April 20, 2012
Check out the video of Johnson, Jackson Browne and John Cruz’s rendition of “Take It Easy” below. You can purchase the 14-track album on iTunes.
With over 18 million records sold and a canon of five studio albums, the 36-year old singer/songwriter Jack Johnson has spent more than a decade creating sun-kissed guitar melodies.
Johnson’s collaborative efforts with legendary artists from Willie Nelson, Eddie Vedder and Jackson Browne have been standouts-these infectiously intimate and energetic live performances define the authentic, positive vibrations of Johnson’s charmed decorum.
Impressively, Johnson’s efforts range from solar-powered recording studios, founding the environmental education non-profit Kokua Hawaii and the curation of Hawaii’s Kokua Festival. Through his philanthropic efforts, he has lead an army of social, creative and genuine efforts.
Now, Johnson is set to release Jack Johnson and Friends – Best of Kokua Festival. The album is a multi-genre effort that features performances from Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews, Tim Reynolds, Damian Marley, Taj Mahal, G. Love, Ozomatli, Glenn Frey, Willie Nelson and Fred Rose.
All of the profits from Jack Johnson and Friends – Best of Kokua Festival will go to the Kokua Hawaii Foundation. In a press release, Johnson explained, “all of the musicians who’ve played at the Kokua Festival have a connection to the cause and the work we are doing with the foundation. When I hear the album, I feel so much gratitude for all the people who’ve been involved in the festival, and all the many ways they’ve contributed to Kokua.”
Read the full article at www.pastemagazine.com.
Read MoreOccupy This Album: a compilation of music by, for and inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and the 99% OUT MAY 15TH
April 18, 2012
The City Winery in New York to Host Occupy This Album Record Release Party May 8th, 2012
The City Winery in New York to Host Occupy This Album
Record Release Party May 8th, 2012
Occupy This Album Embeddable Digital Sampler Available Now
Album Features Fan Favorite and Never Before Released Tracks From Ani DiFranco, UNKLE, David Amram, Joan Baez, Tom Chapin, Willie Nelson, Rain Phoenix, Patti Smith, Anti Flag, Girls Against Boys, Garland Jeffreys, New Party Systems Featuring Kyp Malone, Yoko Ono, Amanda Palmer, Dar Williams, The Mammals Featuring Pete Seeger, David Crosby & Graham Nash, George Martinez & The Global Block Collective, Jackson Browne, Yo La Tengo, The Guthrie Family, Matt Pless,
Filmmaker Michael Moore, Mogwai and More!
Legendary and emerging artists inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement have come together to lend their voices on Occupy This Album: a compilation of music by, for and inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and the 99% (CD/Digital). Released by Music For Occupy through Razor & Tie distribution, the four-disc physical and 99-track digital compilation is due out May 15th. Proceeds received will go directly to the Occupy Wall Street movement, which began in the financial district of New York on Sept. 17, 2011. The movement can now be found in 951 cities in 83 countries on five continents. On May 8th The City Winery in New York will host a special night of performances by participating artists and surprise guests. Lineup and ticket information is provided below. An Occupy This Album free sampler is available here! More information available at www.musicforoccupy.org.
“The ability for people to unite behind the idea that our very constitution is supposed to guarantee freedom of speech is a wonderful sight to behold. We have to take our country back from the corporate state.” – Graham Nash
About Occupy This Album
Release Date: May 15th, 2012
Occupy This Album digital sampler available here.
Album artwork available here.
Occupy This Album will be released digitally (featuring 99-tracks + 1 hidden track) as well as physically (featuring 78-tracks) on a four-disc compilation distributed worldwide by Razor & Tie Records and can be pre-ordered here. Many of the tracks by both renowned and up-and-coming artists have never before been released. Additionally there are well-known songs that have been re-recorded and re-mastered and live-cuts for Occupy This Album. Full track list available below.
“This album is the voice of the 100 percent. It is unified and all-encompassing just as we would like our world to become.” – Jason Samel, Music For Occupy, Executive Producer.
What people are saying in anticipation of Occupy This Album
“Occupy Wall Street now has an A-list soundtrack: the compilation Occupy This Album.” – Rolling Stone
“Those cynics who told the incessant drummers of Occupy Wall Street in New York not to quit their day jobs might be reconsidering — they just got a record deal (of sorts).” – LA Times
“This Occupy Wall Street Tribute Album Has Way Too Many Amazing Musicians On It” – L Magazine
About Occupy This Album Record Release Party at City Winery May 8th
The City Winery and Music for Occupy present Occupy This Album Record Release Party on May 8th at City Winery (155 Varick St. New York, NY 10013). The evening’s program will include performances and collaborations by artists appearing on the upcoming release. The release party is a chance to inspire and celebrate through music the Occupy Wall Street movement and the 99% who’ve been adversely affected by the economic corruption that has permeated our Democracy, created a near insurmountable disparity in wealth, and hindered life, liberty, justice and the pursuit of an honest living for all.
Tickets are on sale now. Tickets include a bottle of the special wine ” Occupy This Wine” Cabernet Sauvignon and a free copy of Occupy This Album. Press tickets available upon request.
Performers include:
Ace Reporter
Aliza Hava
Angels of Vice
David Amram
DJ Logic
Fear Nuttin Band , and and Broken English.
George Martinez And The Global Block Collective
Grammy Award Winning Nanci Griffith accompanied by Pete and Maura Kenedy and the Clap Brothers
Greg Smith and The Broken English
Jennie Arnau
Joel Rafael
Los Cintron
Matt Pless
Michael Moore accompanied by Tom Chapin, Dave Dreiwitz, David Amram, and Kevin Twigg
Mike + Ruthy
My Pet Dragon
Nickodemus
Rejectionist Front
Richard Barone
Taj Weekes and Adowa
And special surprise guests!
Occupy This Album Disc 1
*Indicates previously unreleased track or version
1. Something’s Got to Give, Matt Pless*
2. Come On, Come On, Come On, Jackson Browne*
3. Occupation Freedom, George Martinez & The Global Block Collective*
4. People Have The Power (Live In Marseille), Patti Smith
5. Love Anthem (Only Love), My Pet Dragon
6. The Panic is On, Loudon Wainwright III
7. Occulture, Cosmonaut*
8. Save Us, papercranes (feat. Rain Phoenix)*
9. Smile (Get Up and Sing), Jay Samel*
10. This Is What America Looks Like, Tenderflex (DJ Logic & David Maurice) feat. Dynasty Electric, Ayler Young and Jay Rodriguez*
11. Big Little Wolfs, Aeroplane Pageant
12. Agent 99, Alex Emanuel*
13. Safety In Numbers, Deborah Harry*
14. Hey, can I Sleep On Your Futon?, Richard Barone*
15. Occupy Wall Street “Here Here Here”, Black Dragon*
16. White Gold, Ladytron
17. Greed, Gabriel Aldort*
18. Against The Machine, Taj Weekes & Adowa*
19. The Young Idealists, Lloyd Cole
20. A Peaceful Solution, Willie Nelson
Occupy This Album Disc 2
*Indicates previously unreleased track
1. The Times They Are A-Changin’, Michael Moore*
2. The World Is On Fire, Ace Reporter
3. Latter Days, The Middle Eight
4. Turn The Lights On, Chroma
5. Which Side Are You On? Ani DiFranco*
6. Well May The World Go, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger
7. Unified Tribes, Thievery Corporation*
8. Robber Barons, Thee Oh Sees
9. Saving Up To Go Bankrupt, Mike Rimbaud
10. Hell No (I’m Not Alright), Nanci Griffith*
11. We Stand As One, Joseph Arthur*
12. Cash Machine, Girls Against Boys
13. Rebellion Politik, Junkyard Empire
14. Nothing Recedes Like Progress, Anti-Flag
15. Rebel, Fear Nuttin Band
16. Under The Bridge, Jill Sobule with John Doe
17. Take A Stand, Stephan Said
18. The Answer, UNKLE
19. World Wide Rebel Songs, Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman
20. If There Ever Was A Time, Third Eye Blind*
Occupy This Album Disc 3
*Indicates previously unreleased track
1. Move On Fast, Yoko Ono
2. If We Live, Build The Sun*
3. Fight The Good Fight, Our Lady Peace*
4. I Don’t Need Money, Julie B Bonnie*
5. The World Is Turning, Toots & The Maytals
6. A New York Minute, Nickodemus feat. The Real Live Show, Sadat X, ILLspokinN and Rabbi Darkside
7. I Ain’t No Brian Wilson, Gentleman Brawlers*
8. Industrial Park, The Mammals (feat. Pete Seeger)
9. Big Fish, Yo La Tengo & the Lost City Rumblers*
10. Occu-Pie, Harry Hayward*
11. Free, Mystic Bowie*
12. Oye Mi Voz, Los Cintron*
13. Walk On, Carolyn Wonderland
14. Coney Island Winter, Garland Jefferys
15. China Basin Digs, Joel Rafael
16. Walkin’, The Pimps of Joytime (feat. Roy Ayers)
17. River’s Gonna Rise, Warren Haynes Band*
18. Rich Man’s World, Immortal Technique
19. Staying Out And Calling In, Danger Field*
Occupy This Album Disc 4
*Indicates previously unreleased track
1. We Can’t Make It Here, James McMurtry with Joan Baez & Steve Earle*
2. We Are, New Party Systems (feat. Kyp Malone)*
3. Revolution, The Nova Echo*
4. Number One, Born I Music
5. Play The Greed, Dar Williams
6. Broke Heart Blues, Ronny Elliot*
7. What Are Their Names, (Live) David Crosby & Graham Nash*
8. Make A Stand, Dylan Chambers with Lester Chambers*
9. Better Luck Next Time, Jenny Arnau*
10. All Over The World, Arlo Guthrie & Family*
11. We’re The 99, Lauren Diamond (feat. Liz O’Donnell)*
12. We Are Human, Mike + Ruthy*
13. Blessed, Lucinda Williams
14. Freedom Of Speech, Kanaska Carter*
15. Reclaim, Rejectionist Front
16. Occupy (We the 99), Jasiri X
17. Earth Division, Mogwai*
18. Occupy Wall Street Drummers “Pulse” Spoken Word By Paul Spitz*
19. Hidden Bonus Track*
Occupy This Album Digital Only
*Indicates previously unreleased track
1. Chasing The Sun, Andrew Vladeck
2. Livin’ Like a Joker, Greg Smith and The Broken English
3. Rise, Aliza Hava
4. Crashed IT, Stashed IT, The Occubilly Bros.*
5. Invisible People, Chris Pierce
6. Ukulele Anthem, Amanda Palmer*
7. Tree of Life, Nadirah Shakoor
8. On My Wall, Hanne Hukkelberg
9. Little Pieces of Plastic, Jason White
10. Never Be Defeated, mfmadness
11. Greedy Life, Renegade Creation*
12. 99%, Jesse Lenat
13. On The Dole, The Swedes
14. Brazilia, Bill Mlotok*
15. Don’t Taser Me, Bro!, Marcus Blake
16. We Are The 99, Angels of Vice
17. Silence, The Layaways
18. Mother Feather, Mother Feather*
19. Common Man, Thorin Caristo*
20. Everyday, Machan
21. Crashing Down, Vannucci featuring Robert Brentley*
22. Time To Occupy, David Amram*