BACK ON THE BOARDS AGAIN…
Performing at Brookledge Follies (with maestro Kristian Hoffman),
and in the arms of… tada... PUDDLES! photos by Chris Haston
The first time I've been on a stage since 2005 was as a backing singer for Wayne Kramer's org JAIL GUITAR DOORS, Sept 5th at the Ford Ampitheater in Hollywood. A really fun event (write-up below.) Other shows followed, with pal from the no wave New York scene Kristian Hoffman, a fantastically talented and well-loved musical director and maestro. I covered a Patti Smith and a Contortions tune with Kristian and a kick-ass band at the Steve Allen theater in Hollywood for his CBGB’S West show. Kristian then invited me to perform at the über-exclusive Brookledge Follies. A jewelbox theater hidden in Hancock Park and run by the same family who created Hollywood’s Magic Castle, Brookledge is by invitation only and I can see why. It's small, extraordinary and a bit enchanted. Like stepping into an episode of Boardwalk Empire without the gunfire. I opened for Puddles Pity Party… the one and only clown who sings like a cross between Tom Jones and Pagliacci (if he really existed). LISTEN TO HIM! I'm not KIDDING! Absolutely that line where you're laughing and about to cry… it works so well live. I sang Billie Holiday’s My Man with a gender twist… in a sailor suit. However else would I have dressed for such an event? I thank the entities that I didn't have to follow Puddles!
Hello and happy October… although the weather forecast in Los Angeles is predicting temperatures will move back into the triple digits for the rest of this week. Mother Jones published an article about California’s three-year drought, the worst in what could be 500 years, and the article was written in FEBRUARY. Imagine what scientists must be saying now, after our brutally hot summer, with temperatures not abating, water running out, and the danger of fires rapidly multiplying. Read Mother Jones article HERE.
400,000 people or more showed up for the Climate march in New York City on September 21st, yet the numbers (and any footage of the peaceful protest) were grossly underreported by our corporately-held media. The powers that be learned their lessons well from the successful human rights movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s; if you don’t report these actions and their numbers, people won’t know they’re happening, therefore no ripple effect. And in terms of numbers, there sure is a much bigger weight on our end of the see saw these days. I’m talking 99% of the weight.
and in the arms of… tada... PUDDLES! photos by Chris Haston
The first time I've been on a stage since 2005 was as a backing singer for Wayne Kramer's org JAIL GUITAR DOORS, Sept 5th at the Ford Ampitheater in Hollywood. A really fun event (write-up below.) Other shows followed, with pal from the no wave New York scene Kristian Hoffman, a fantastically talented and well-loved musical director and maestro. I covered a Patti Smith and a Contortions tune with Kristian and a kick-ass band at the Steve Allen theater in Hollywood for his CBGB’S West show. Kristian then invited me to perform at the über-exclusive Brookledge Follies. A jewelbox theater hidden in Hancock Park and run by the same family who created Hollywood’s Magic Castle, Brookledge is by invitation only and I can see why. It's small, extraordinary and a bit enchanted. Like stepping into an episode of Boardwalk Empire without the gunfire. I opened for Puddles Pity Party… the one and only clown who sings like a cross between Tom Jones and Pagliacci (if he really existed). LISTEN TO HIM! I'm not KIDDING! Absolutely that line where you're laughing and about to cry… it works so well live. I sang Billie Holiday’s My Man with a gender twist… in a sailor suit. However else would I have dressed for such an event? I thank the entities that I didn't have to follow Puddles!
Hello and happy October… although the weather forecast in Los Angeles is predicting temperatures will move back into the triple digits for the rest of this week. Mother Jones published an article about California’s three-year drought, the worst in what could be 500 years, and the article was written in FEBRUARY. Imagine what scientists must be saying now, after our brutally hot summer, with temperatures not abating, water running out, and the danger of fires rapidly multiplying. Read Mother Jones article HERE.
400,000 people or more showed up for the Climate march in New York City on September 21st, yet the numbers (and any footage of the peaceful protest) were grossly underreported by our corporately-held media. The powers that be learned their lessons well from the successful human rights movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s; if you don’t report these actions and their numbers, people won’t know they’re happening, therefore no ripple effect. And in terms of numbers, there sure is a much bigger weight on our end of the see saw these days. I’m talking 99% of the weight.
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I heard a great TED talk the other day by a fellow named Nick Hanauer, an ‘unrepentant capitalist’ who tells his fellow plutocrats to wake up, the pitchforks are coming! Economic inequality is reaching the tipping point, pushing our societies around the world into conditions resembling pre-revolutionary France. You cannot oppress people for this long, this badly, forever. Without a radical reversal of the insanely greedy tactics of the 1%, rebellion is imminent. Nick’s talk is well worth it. See it HERE. |
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A song I co-wrote with Maz Kessler for Sheena Easton.
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On to Jailhouse Rock. I’ve become officially involved as a facilitator for Wayne Kramer’s non-profit org, JAIL GUITAR DOORS and have been volunteering for JGD since early summer, doing a songwriting workshop with inmates at LA’s Twin Towers Jail, the largest jail in America. This place has quite the rep. I’m linking you to yet another Mother Jones article placing Twin Towers as 5th on America’s 10 worst prisons as of May, 2013. I know there have been reforms since, with more to come.
What I didn't know is the type of men I'd meet when I walked through the doors of Twin Towers.
JGD donates acoustic guitars to jails in programs all over the U.S., including Twin Towers, and we visit the jail on Tuesday evenings for two hours, breaking into groups with the inmates, encouraging them to collaborate with each other on writing & performing their original songs. And what songs these guys create together! There’s so much talent in that room. They write at least four or five originals every week, sometimes more. We volunteers accompany them, or suggest they put a bridge here, maybe another verse there… Essentially it’s all about the inmates telling their stories, expressing their emotions and personal challenges through song. I’d heard the stories about Twin Towers. I never imagined the inmates would turn out to be the gentle, talented souls they are. In fact, I don’t know exactly what I expected, other than to be of service to men who have been thrown away by the broken system that provoked their misstep in the first place. I don't know their crimes, I don't ask them. But I can tell you something extraordinary is happening. These men, who I imagine myself being of service to, are helping ME. They’re bringing me back to music, and I’ve been away from it for too many years now. Every week, they’re so grateful and happy to see us. Every week, they write great, powerful songs, and sometimes they make me sing (!) and best of all, they remind me of what music offers when you take away all the bullshit -- the joy, the healing, the deeply strange and beautiful heart and soul of it, the sense of communion always there for us when we go to it purely and allow it to work its magic on us. I'm the grateful one, thanking all the inmates AND fellow volunteers who participate in the JGD songwriting workshop for bringing the essential truth of music back home to me. JAIL GUITAR DOORS ROCKS HARD.
I'm very excited to be working with Wayne Kramer, JGD and Coach Mara Taylor who created GOGI, a nonprofit with this mission: The mission of GOGI is to enable the positive development of the prison population and its successful return to society. GOGI (which stands for getting Out by Going In), also brings yoga and meditation instruction to prisoners. Wayne and Coach Taylor are mentoring me through this process, and soon JGD will be launching a workshop at CRDF, the Lynwood Jail for Women in Los Angeles. I'm actively seeking women of color who are musicians that live in L.A. and are interested in being volunteer mentors at this workshop. Please contact me at this address: [email protected]
As for the power of music, here's my favorite scene from The Shawshank Redemption; Tim Robbin's character defies the guards and plays the Mozart duet from the Marriage of Figaro to the inmates.
What I didn't know is the type of men I'd meet when I walked through the doors of Twin Towers.
JGD donates acoustic guitars to jails in programs all over the U.S., including Twin Towers, and we visit the jail on Tuesday evenings for two hours, breaking into groups with the inmates, encouraging them to collaborate with each other on writing & performing their original songs. And what songs these guys create together! There’s so much talent in that room. They write at least four or five originals every week, sometimes more. We volunteers accompany them, or suggest they put a bridge here, maybe another verse there… Essentially it’s all about the inmates telling their stories, expressing their emotions and personal challenges through song. I’d heard the stories about Twin Towers. I never imagined the inmates would turn out to be the gentle, talented souls they are. In fact, I don’t know exactly what I expected, other than to be of service to men who have been thrown away by the broken system that provoked their misstep in the first place. I don't know their crimes, I don't ask them. But I can tell you something extraordinary is happening. These men, who I imagine myself being of service to, are helping ME. They’re bringing me back to music, and I’ve been away from it for too many years now. Every week, they’re so grateful and happy to see us. Every week, they write great, powerful songs, and sometimes they make me sing (!) and best of all, they remind me of what music offers when you take away all the bullshit -- the joy, the healing, the deeply strange and beautiful heart and soul of it, the sense of communion always there for us when we go to it purely and allow it to work its magic on us. I'm the grateful one, thanking all the inmates AND fellow volunteers who participate in the JGD songwriting workshop for bringing the essential truth of music back home to me. JAIL GUITAR DOORS ROCKS HARD.
I'm very excited to be working with Wayne Kramer, JGD and Coach Mara Taylor who created GOGI, a nonprofit with this mission: The mission of GOGI is to enable the positive development of the prison population and its successful return to society. GOGI (which stands for getting Out by Going In), also brings yoga and meditation instruction to prisoners. Wayne and Coach Taylor are mentoring me through this process, and soon JGD will be launching a workshop at CRDF, the Lynwood Jail for Women in Los Angeles. I'm actively seeking women of color who are musicians that live in L.A. and are interested in being volunteer mentors at this workshop. Please contact me at this address: [email protected]
As for the power of music, here's my favorite scene from The Shawshank Redemption; Tim Robbin's character defies the guards and plays the Mozart duet from the Marriage of Figaro to the inmates.
TOP: Bad-est of the Bad Boys, the MC5. Wayne Kramer 2nd from right. Fred Sonic Smith, 1st on left.
BELOW: Wayne and Tom Morello shredding at the Ford, with Tim Robbins bangin' tambourine. I'll be posting another of my radio shows this month as well, so check back on the RADIO RAGZAZZA page near mid month. Been listening to a lot of Sinead O’Connor and Leonard Cohen, hence the music theme this time just might be called Songs of Holy. Also planning to write a tribute to Sinead, a valiant warrior and goddess who deserves far more praise than she receives. Call her crazy. I call her Saint Sinead.
I recorded a song ages ago called The Green Suit, based on a poem by Janet Hamill, about putting on my magical green suit and becoming timeless & spaceless. Well imagine my delight when I heard Sinead's new gorgeous song Your Green Jacket. This woman's songs have healed me of deep wounds and they continue to do so. Listen to Your Green Jacket. I’ll leave you with a video from her newest offering, Take Me to Church. BUY HER MUSIC, keep bread on her table. We need her, and many more like her! |
I’ve known Wayne Kramer since 1977, first heard of him 1975, when he went to Lexington Federal Prison in Kentucky on a cocaine charge, and only because Patti Smith (who was just then emerging as a poet/rocker) wore a huge FREE WAYNE KRAMER button on her jacket at all times. Patti would later marry Wayne’s MC5 band mate, Fred Sonic Smith.
Wayne and I reconnected when I ran into him speaking about prisoner’s rights on a panel discussion with the women of Pussy Riot. I quickly became involved with his org as a workshop volunteer.
On September 5th we did a concert; what’s turning out to be an annual JGD fundraiser at the Ford Ampitheater here in L.A. This year JGD’s musical supporters included Jackson Browne, Tom Morello, Ben Harper, and Jill Sobule, with Tim Robbins jumping on stage for a few numbers. My favorite moment was seeing Jill go neck-to-neck with Wayne on a blistering guitar duet for Jill’s song When My Ship Comes In (I got to sing backing vox on it!) And Tom Morello's guitar playing blew me away… the guy is a Hendrix-contender; different, unique and just as incendiary.
Back to Wayne of Jail Guitar Doors, an incredibly gifted, visionary man and a hero of mine. From Detroit’s MC5 to the White Panther Party to coke dealer to federal prison, he’s come full circle, giving the healing and insights he's earned right back by helping prisoners rehabilitate and renew. He’s also an amazing jazz musician and has a new CD out called LEXINGTON. For more about the man behind the org, click HERE. The org is named after the Clash song, and their first verse is about Wayne: Listen HERE. ART & MUSIC HEALS. Creative expression is a fundamental light ray buoying the human spirit. SPREAD THE WORD. October will be an amazing month of surprises. Check out my FAVORITE astrologer, the amazing ANNE ORTELEE who knows her heavens. I swear by this woman… she does a free podcast and column faithfully, every week, and both are entertaining as well as illuminating and inspiring. Anne's PODCAST from her bright red desk is HERE, the column, HERE. She does readings as well, by phone and in person… she's located in NYC. This month, there are two eclipses, Lunar on October 8th in Aries and Solar on the 23rd in Scorpio. Be prepared to rock and roll, if you're not doing so already. |
