I and many others appreciate what you do and the difficulties that you have faced to continue telling the truth through song. You're right about the celebrities who have come out in a limited way about Palestine. Guy Pearce can wear a Palestine flag pin on the cover of Vanity Fair, only to have the pin edited out of the photo, and artists like Billie Eilish can wear a similar pin to the Academy Awards, but how far are they willing to go to buck their handlers? A few people in visible positions in the US government have resigned from their jobs over funding the genocide in Gaza, but no one at the top appears to be willing to step away from all the benefits of their position. Roger Waters continues speaking the truth, and Macklemore, in his song "Hind's Hall", says "What happened to the artist? What d'you got to say? If I was on a label, you could drop me today". He has managed to remain an independent artist, not tied to a label, enabling him to create a powerful anthem like this.
You have helped me to start using my voice in a way that I am not used to doing. I came to your concert at the Community Church of Boston a couple of months ago and was moved by your song "Saint Patrick's Battalion", the history of which I had been unaware, although my grandmother had come over from Ireland about four decades after John Riley. I belong to a ukulele group of fellow senior citizens, and they are mostly unquestioning supporters of whatever our government decides to do. This includes learning and playing "The Armed Forces Medley", honoring all the branches of our military, for a bunch of little kids at the opening of a summer camp program here in town. (I stayed away, and let the leader of the group know why I thought it was inappropriate.) I have been practicing your song, and last week at the end of our practice when we have an "open mic" segment for whomever is willing, I sang and played the song for them. No one was aware of the story---no surprise there! Just to let you know the ripple effect of the worthy work you do...thank you!
i think you're playing a wonderful role in that ukelele group!
as for macklemore, i love his song, but he's one of the exceptions that proves the rule, just fyi. he's on warner, one of the 3 biggest record labels on the planet. i don't know what kinds of consequences he might face for his song, but he's obviously fully prepared for whatever is coming.
regarding your potential visit to BC, I live in Cumberland on the big island & would love to see you get this far north. there's a very strong pro-Palestinian group here in the valley who might be helpful in getting a gig together, if that is of interest to you. cheers!
i would love to do a concert in cumberland, if it would be possible to organize a paying gig of some kind there. probably the best date would be sunday, september 29. i hope it works out!
Date is tough for me but someone else in the group could help it work then, I suspect. Let me see what I can do. Personally, earlier in September or after mid-October would be better. Could maybe put together a gig on Cortes Island as well.
if i had a good gig in cumberland and one in cortes island, i could make another trip up there in mid-october no problem. it's not all that far from portland, oregon, so if i have a couple of good gigs, going up to bc for a long weekend is always a great plan.
I and many others appreciate what you do and the difficulties that you have faced to continue telling the truth through song. You're right about the celebrities who have come out in a limited way about Palestine. Guy Pearce can wear a Palestine flag pin on the cover of Vanity Fair, only to have the pin edited out of the photo, and artists like Billie Eilish can wear a similar pin to the Academy Awards, but how far are they willing to go to buck their handlers? A few people in visible positions in the US government have resigned from their jobs over funding the genocide in Gaza, but no one at the top appears to be willing to step away from all the benefits of their position. Roger Waters continues speaking the truth, and Macklemore, in his song "Hind's Hall", says "What happened to the artist? What d'you got to say? If I was on a label, you could drop me today". He has managed to remain an independent artist, not tied to a label, enabling him to create a powerful anthem like this.
You have helped me to start using my voice in a way that I am not used to doing. I came to your concert at the Community Church of Boston a couple of months ago and was moved by your song "Saint Patrick's Battalion", the history of which I had been unaware, although my grandmother had come over from Ireland about four decades after John Riley. I belong to a ukulele group of fellow senior citizens, and they are mostly unquestioning supporters of whatever our government decides to do. This includes learning and playing "The Armed Forces Medley", honoring all the branches of our military, for a bunch of little kids at the opening of a summer camp program here in town. (I stayed away, and let the leader of the group know why I thought it was inappropriate.) I have been practicing your song, and last week at the end of our practice when we have an "open mic" segment for whomever is willing, I sang and played the song for them. No one was aware of the story---no surprise there! Just to let you know the ripple effect of the worthy work you do...thank you!
i think you're playing a wonderful role in that ukelele group!
as for macklemore, i love his song, but he's one of the exceptions that proves the rule, just fyi. he's on warner, one of the 3 biggest record labels on the planet. i don't know what kinds of consequences he might face for his song, but he's obviously fully prepared for whatever is coming.
regarding your potential visit to BC, I live in Cumberland on the big island & would love to see you get this far north. there's a very strong pro-Palestinian group here in the valley who might be helpful in getting a gig together, if that is of interest to you. cheers!
i would love to do a concert in cumberland, if it would be possible to organize a paying gig of some kind there. probably the best date would be sunday, september 29. i hope it works out!
Date is tough for me but someone else in the group could help it work then, I suspect. Let me see what I can do. Personally, earlier in September or after mid-October would be better. Could maybe put together a gig on Cortes Island as well.
if i had a good gig in cumberland and one in cortes island, i could make another trip up there in mid-october no problem. it's not all that far from portland, oregon, so if i have a couple of good gigs, going up to bc for a long weekend is always a great plan.
Cool - I will start looking into possibilities! It will be great to see you again - last time was in Victoria pre-COVID! ✌️🦅
I’m still working on this but haven’t had much luck yet- will let you know if things move along - ✊
May God bless your kind souls and grant you with all the blessings and fortune