Accidental acts of activism
Hello friends!
I'm still riding the high from performing at the ADA35 celebration at Malcom X College yesterday. In addition to getting to perform a great set of music for a warm audience, it was awesome to reconnect and be in community with so many disabled people and artists.
The event was a city-sponsored gathering, and I'm appreciative of the civic effort to give us space to gather.
I don't know if I'd consider anything that went on yesterday activism, but it certainly felt like active participation in community.
In contrast, I played a gig last Friday that wasn't supposed to have anything to do with activism, but ended up being a little act of resistance.
My close friend Lyn Rye hired me to play with her at a community event hosted by the Glenco Writers Theater in the north suburbs. It was supposed to be simple--live band, food trucks, and activities for kids followed by a show in the theater.
Now, I need to highlight this: Lyn is easily the most visible activist I work with across a wide variety of causes, but nothing about the music, promotion or intention for this gig was political in nature. This was a band with a front person that talks about issues at some gigs showing up in a pure happy times summer fun band copacity.
We arrived at the lawn of the theater about 90 minutes early to setup the instruments and sound system. The staff was already exhibitting a nervous energy when we got there, but everything seemed normal on the surface.
There was a stage, so we started unloading. I'd only taken one drum out of its bag when one of the organizers approached us and said, "Hang on, we might have to move you."
Move us? When there's a stage right here? Why?
After a little back and forth, they finally told us with shame in their voices that there was a group that had started an online protest of the event saying that it was anti Israel.
Now, I've written here a couple times about my opposition to the genocide of the Palestinian people, and Lyn is a practicing Muslim. She does have an online presence supporting Palestine to some degree, but admits she keeps it a little quieter for fear of retaliation. And that fear is even more justified than we thought because this inocent gig triggered the bigotry of the wealthy zionists of Glenco
I often feel that I am not vocal enough about issues in general, so I was very surprised when we were met with this news. I didn't know whether to laugh or scream at the absurdity . Even if I personally believed there was more wiggle room on this moral issue, this was taking it far.
Because the music and food trucks were on village property, and Glenco was not willing to stand up to the protesters (who never actually showed their faces), they moved us to the theater terrace, which is private property. We played a nice slightly curtailed set and loaded out without issue.
I left feeling that we are in such a dyre situation that even hosting a simple gathering with live music feels like activism. The bar is really low. Hatred and greed have grown to define society it seems.
In this current economy, as musicians its especially easy to get caught up in the rat race of chasing gigs, likes and follows. This occurance reminded me of my essential function with my skills: bringing people together to exist in at least a temporary state of less pressure. Without moments of release and relief, we will burst. The seams of society are strained and I plan to double down on doing what I I can to create moments of reprieve. It's what I'm good at at and I'm grateful for the reminder to not let up, even when a concert sounds foolish in the face of violence.