News
Jackson 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.
Link to Article Jackson Browne & Lizz Wright To Perform A Benefit Concert On June 9th At The Orpheum TheaterPaste 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.
Link to Article Paste Magazine Video Premiere – Jackson Browne with Jack Johnson & John Cruz – Take it EasyOccupy 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*
2nd Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute: A Musical Tribute to Gil Scott-Heron
March 29, 2012
North Hollywood – KPFK 90.7 announces its honorees for the 2nd Annual Hero Awards and Tribute. The Hero Awards is a benefit series for the Los Angeles-based Pacifica Radio station.
Making Moves for Heroes: KPFK Moves the 2nd Annual Hero Awards to Club Nokia!
North Hollywood – KPFK 90.7 announces its honorees for the 2nd Annual Hero Awards and Tribute. The Hero Awards is a benefit series for the Los Angeles-based Pacifica Radio station. The event honors icons of our time who have left an impact on music and community. This year’s honoree is musician and political poet Gil Scott-Heron, with special awards to Jazz bassist and activist Charlie Haden, music educator Fernando Pullum; and a Lifetime Achievement Award to Pete Seeger, American folk singer and activist. The 2nd Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute will take place Sunday, May 6th, 2012 at Club Nokia, 800 West Olympic Blvd, 3rd floor at the fabulous L.A. Live. The event starts with a VIP reception and silent auction from 5 pm to 7 pm and the show starts at 8 pm. The line-up will feature a host of prolific and poetic artists. The invited list of performers and guest speakers include Ben Harper, Stevie Wonder, Jackson Browne, Jill Scott, Tim Robbins, Ledisi, Nas, Nailah Porter, Mos Def, Saul Williams, Ravi Coltrane and Flying Lotus. Brian Jackson, long-time collaborator with Gil Scott-Heron, will be on hand as Music Director.
The KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute launched in 2010 honoring Jazz legend Billy Higgins. The idea for the series was the result of a heartfelt on-air conversation between KPFK Music Director Maggie LePique and musician Charles Lloyd about Billy Higgins, during which LePique thought it would be relevant for KPFK 90.7 to mark the upcoming 10th anniversary of Higgins’ death by celebrating his life and body of work. She enlisted Kasey Lovelace, Music Consultant and friend of the Higgins family to develop the idea into a full-scale event. Catalina Popescu, owner of Catalina Bar and Grill, honored her long friendship with LePique and Higgins by donating her world-renowned venue for the tribute by Higgins’ esteemed contemporaries Stanley Clarke, Charles Lloyd, George Duke, Kenny Burrell, with Music Director John Beasley, among others who performed to a “standing room only” audience. The demand from both the music and public affairs community has prompted the station to continue this event as an annual award series.
KPFK 90.7 FM is a member station of the Pacifica Radio network and the Pacifica Foundation, which consists of five radio stations, over 100 affiliate stations, and the Pacifica Radio Archives, responsible for preserving the voices of artists, activists and progressive journalists since 1949, when the foundation was established by peace activist Lewis Hill. To further peace through broadcasting activities, Hill determined that radio sponsored by individual listeners would be the best way to ensure editorial freedom. The KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute is a means to both raise funds and advance the Pacifica Mission.
Post-Fund Drive Ticket Special
Post Drive Special Pair of VIP Tickets – $300
Includes VIP reception, Gil Scott-Heron book, gift bag,
meet and greet and free parking (Regular price $200.00 each)
Single Preferred Ticket $100
General Admission Ticket $75
All ticket sales benefit the forwarding of the Hero Awards and Tribute
as an annual fundraiser for KPFK 90.7 FM
For updates on the 2nd Annual Hero Awards and Tribute log onto
Follow us on Twitter: @KPFKHero
For general information contact
KPFK 90.7 Radio at (818) 985-2711 ext. 361
Email: heroawards@KPFK.org
“Like” us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KPFK90.7
Lives in the Balance – Video
March 28, 2012
Video of Jackson Browne’s song, an animated editorial by Andrew Thomas.