The Kitchen Musician ~ March 2016

This month I share a reflection on our Because Black Lives Matter show at Club Passim last month, plus an archival video of a Saint Patrick’s Day performance in 2009. Come on into the kitchen!

Index
  News:
  This Month’s Music: “The Cricket” (From the archives)
  Upcoming Shows
  Featured Non-Profit: Black Lives Matter

At Welly’s Restaurant in Marlborough, MA.
Photo: © 2016 Dan Tapppan

News

My head is still buzzing from our sold-out Because Black Lives Matter show at Club Passim in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Thirteen performances by On Point (youth choir), Alastair Moock (Grammy nominee, songwriter), Oen Kennedy (songwriter, naturalist), Carolyn Waters (singer/songwriter), Kiana Harper (poet), The Kuumba Singers (vocal group, Harvard University), Kate Seeger (member of “The Short Sisters”, songwriter, joined by Dean Spencer), S-Factor (vocal group, Tufts University), Ruby Rose Fox (artful, edgy rock/pop, lyrically rich songs), Bob Franke (singer/songwriter), Charlie King, with Martha Leader (songwriter, activist, political satirist), Greg Greenway (member of “Brother Sun”, singer/songwriter). Unfortunately, Kim Wallach was under the weather and couldn’t make the trip.

Two student film makers from the MIT Media Lab shared the following video with us after the show. Not everyone was represented, but I think it gives the flavor of the show.

Video by Christina Houle and Cindy Bishop

This show was born from a deep discouragement about all of the hate speech I have been hearing from some of our presidential candidates, coupled with shocking videos of the mistreatment and murder of young black men and women by some law enforcement officers. I felt my little voice was woefully inadequate to be heard above the noise. At about this time, a graduate of the school where I teach came back to visit. Camilla Herman gave a presentation to our students and started with the core premise, “following fear to find your purpose”. In 2014, Camilla watched as the ebola virus ran out of control in Africa. In spite of her youth and having no medical background, she stepped out of her comfort zone and assembled some very skilled people to create a system for Assisted Contact Tracing, a way to track the progress of ebola to assist medical personnel and policy makers as they fight the spread of this terrible disease.

In spite of my love for sharing music and performing on stage, I am basically an introvert. I avoid large gatherings. At parties, I tend to seek out a few close friends (usually fellow introverts) rather than “work the room” to meet new people. But I kept coming back to Camilla’s core premise, “following fear to find your purpose”. Could I use my music background to organize a show to speak to the issues around racial equity? I found that prospect to be frightening. After all, I have no qualifications to be a spokesman, and a failed event would be a very public embarrassment. But in a moment of weakness (or strength?), I e-mailed a proposal to Matt Smith, manager of arguably the most prestigious folk club in New England. To my surprise, Matt gave me a date and I was on the hook to actually do the show. I knew that I needed help, but the date was only a month away. I reached out to several folksingers whom I respect – folks I would love to hear sing on this project. Again, to my surprise, several of these fantastic performers agreed to do the show. However, Alastair Moock challenged me to think about whether our voices would be heard beyond our group of like-minded folkies. With his encouragement, I expanded my search and before I knew it we were a group of 50 musicians and poets ranging in age from 10 to about 70, of various races, and representing various artistic genres. I was flabbergasted to learn that the show was sold out, and I found myself building the audience for the live Concert Window broadcast.

The show was everything I hoped it would be. Each performer was limited to 10 minutes, and I used all of my “Ed Sullivan” skills to move the show along smoothly. Although most of these performers are headliners who typically play entire shows before large audiences, each performed one or two songs or poems and then stepped aside to hear the other performers. There were no egos on display – it was the message that was on stage for this show. For me, the diversity of performers was a big reason for its success. It was such a powerful experience to hear artist after artist, in his or her own voice, all saying that Black Lives Matter and that we need to make it a priority to address issues of racial equity in our country.

Our show doesn’t compare to stopping the spread of ebola, and it won’t bring about racial equity all on its own. But we did give hope and energy to the struggle for positive social change. We also made some money to fund a Passim Iguana Fund grant to an artist or organization working for racial equity. … and it felt wonderful.

This Month’s Music
The Cricket (From the archives)

The Cricket (From the archives)
© 2009 Tom Smith (ASCAP)
Click the image above to play the video.

A busy work schedule plus my pending family vacation has displaced songwriting this month. So I share an old video from March of 2009. This is from the very first performance by “The Chanticleers”, a loose knit group of musicians brought together by the wonderful Kate Chadbourne. This was supposed to be a one-time-only performance to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day at the Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts in Concord, MA, where Ellen Schmidt held a long-standing open mike.

I love performing with these folks, which we have done once or twice every year since. On that first night, Linda Abrams was under the weather so couldn’t join (left to right) me, Kate Chadbourne, Bill Kehoe, Pat Kenneally and Robert Phillips. My heart fills with warm feelings when I watch this, remembering our dear departed Bill Kehoe.

Once again, the Chanticleers will celebrate Saint Patrick. I will be away on vacation at the time but will be with them in spirit. You can be with them in body (and spirits!) if you show up at Main Streets Market and Cafe in historic Concord, MA on Thursday, March 17 at 7:30 pm.

– Tom

(If so inclined, I invite you to leave a comment by scrolling to the end of this page.)

Upcoming Shows

Friday, March 11, 2016 at 8:30 pm, Dedham, MA
Splitting sets with my talented friend, Craig Sonnenfeld at the Dedham Square Coffeehouse.

Saturday, April 2, 2016 at 8:00 pm, Framingham, MA
Opening for internationally known Canadian folksinger, Garnet Rogers at Amazing Things Arts Center.

Click to view details for all upcoming shows.

Featured Non-profit: Black Lives Matter

From their web site: “When we say Black Lives Matter, we are broadening the conversation around state violence to include all of the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. We are talking about the ways in which Black lives are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity.”

What not “All Lives Matter?” To answer this common question, I share with you what I wrote to the parents of On Point, the youth choir that opened our Passim show:

The Black Lives Matter movement, for some, may be confusing. For our young people, there may be questions around why we are focusing on black lives when we are taught that all lives are to be respected and honored. President Obama, when addressing this issue, stated the following: “I think the reason that the organizers used the phrase “black lives matter” was not because they were suggesting nobody else’s lives matter. What they were suggesting was, there is a specific problem that is happening in the African-American community that’s not happening in other communities. And that is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address.” The president continues, “I think everybody understands all lives matter. Everybody wants strong, effective law enforcement. Everybody wants their kids to be safe when they’re walking to school. Nobody wants to see police officers, who are doing their jobs fairly, hurt.”

Please join me in supporting Black Lives Matter.