Monthly Archives: November, 2013

NOV 6, 2013 - Carole King was on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning, talking about MusiCare's 2014 Person of the Year Award she has been honored with, and also how she was in New York to help out Alicia Keys and her awesome non-profit "Keep A Child Alive" getting much-needed health care, food and other assistance to children in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and India. The MusiCares Person of the Year award has gone to many fine activist musicians in the past, like Carole's long-time musical partner James Taylor, and also Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. JTMP has some cool clips from Neil Young's 2010 Award Ceremony on our YouTube Channel, including Norah Jones doing "Tell Me Why". Check out all our videos on our JTMP YouTube Channel here. 

Carole KIng has had a rich life. Born in New York City, she graduated high school at 16, married at 17, and had her first kid at 18. All the while she pushed a very successful songwriting career, and in the end would be involved in hundreds of successful songs. She is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also got the Gershwin Prize from President Obama recently. In the 1970s she had her breakthrough as a performer in her album "Tapestry". She continues to perform and help out as a musical-activist, and lent her music to the Boston Strong concert to aid the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Check out Carole singing "Sweet Seasons" at the Boston Strong concert on our YouTube Channel here.

Carole King is helping out Alicia Keys with Keys' non-profit "Keep a Child Alive" Black Ball on Thursday. Both activist-musicians want to remind us that children are in much need of health care, food and other necessities of life in places like Kenya and Uganda. This will be the tenth year of Alicia's foundation, and to find out more and to watch past episodes of this great event, check out KeepAChildAlive.org and the Black Ball event page is here. To read more about Carole's MusiCare's award, check out the Grammy MusiCare's website here. (photo credit: Michael Borkson/CC)

NOV 5, 2013 - I used to crank Five For Fighting's "America Town" album back in 2000. I loved frontman John Ondrasik's songwriting, music, and I especially liked that he was a hockey fan like me and used the hockey penalty for fighting, five minutes for fighting, as the group's name. But, I was shocked and horrified today to stumble upon an interview of him by Madeleine Morgenstern on right-wing extremist conservative Glenn Beck's "The Blaze" website. I almost dropped my laptop when I read how he blames Obama for the Teabagger-started shutdown, and even implied President Obama deliberately told the US Park Service to put up "Closed" signs as to create "horror photo ops for the media". I don't know if I will ever listen to his music again, or listen to it in the same light again. Ondrasik even says he was hopeful President Obama could "bring the country together and decrease the divide", then incredulously blames the massive and constant obstruction by the Teabagger-led right-wing extremist House of Representatives blocking his every bill and the Obama Hatred Derangement Syndrome that Republicans are suffering from on President Obama. Incredible. 

As Ondrasik points out in his interview, he and Kid Rock are pretty much the only two musicians that are conservative, and both stumped for the .01 percenter Richie Rich Mitt Romney in 2012...ugh. He mentions in the interview that many people after finding out the right-wing extremist conservative views he holds say "I will never listen to or buy Five For Fighting music again". Count me as one of those. The "fair and balanced" (NOT) interviewer Morgenstern points out his new song "Rebel" "takes a jab at the Sean Penns of the world". Throughout the interview Ondrasik rants that being progressive is not brave, since most people hold progressive views, so they are just trying to fit in. No John, most of us are progressive because we were born this way; there are just more of us than there are of you...sorry. He recently created an "incident" at the Jefferson Memorial during the shutdown (talk about creating a horror photo-op) where he forced a US Park Police officer to ask him to leave the closed Jefferson Memorial. Ondrasik refused and forced the officer to "push him out of the memorial" and Tweeted about it in pics here. If you want to never listen to Five For Fighting's music again and to read John Ondrasik's extremist Teabagger views, corrupt your cache by going to The Blaze here. (Don't forget to clear your cache afterwards and take a shower)  (photo credit: Mike Cassidy/CC)

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NOV 5, 2013 - 2 important gubernatorial elections will be held today, one in the commonwealth of Virginia and the other in New Jersey. 3 candidates face off in Virginia: Terry McAuliffe for the Democrats, Ken "Forced Ultrasounds" Cuccinelli for the Teabaggers...I mean the Republicans, and the Libertarians are running Robert Jarvis on the ticket. In New Jersey, Chris Christie for the Republicans will face off against the Democrat Barbara Buono. Also, New York City voters head to the polls to pick a new Mayor. Bill de Blasio the Democrat is running against the Republican nominee, Joe Lhota.

JTMP wants to remind our supporters that Governors appoint State Supreme Court Justices, and sometimes that appointment is for life! Many conservatives are using the states to ram through very anti-progressive policies; like getting the government in between a woman and her doctor and require by law he insert a ultrasound device up her vagina in an almost rape. Please pay attention to all elections and offices, especially local. Many progressive policies, like medical marijuana or gay marriage, can be blocked by a Governor and his cohorts he appoints on the State Supreme Court. So, if you live in New Jersey or Virginia, please VOTE!! JTMP urges our supporters to register to vote, keep your registration current, get informed, and vote in primaries and general elections; paying extra close attention to city councils, school boards and others that make decisions that affect your life!

To find your polling place in Virginia go here, to find a polling place in New Jersey go here, and to find your voting location in New York City go here. Please bring ID, voter registration card and anything else you might need to clear the voter suppression hurdles conservatives have put up recently. Don't let anyone stop you from voting!

NOV 1, 2013 - Music has been playing a huge role in the Arab Spring and helping to fuel the youth uprisings and calls for progressive changes in their countries. A Danish rapper, Martin Fernando Jakobsen, saw what was happening, and stepped in to help fund Tunisian and activist rappers across the Middle East. Jakobsen has set up "Turning Tables", where he helps young rappers who want to sing about political change get into the studio and get their words out. In an interview on TheNational.ae, he tells Janne Louise Anderson, "The youth movement and the young people's freedom of expression and artistic freedom face an uncertain future because of opposition by powerful conservative forces, societal norms and limited production and expression." Jakobsen also talks about the brutal governmental and police policies that arrest and even jail rappers for expressing their political beliefs. Some rappers in Tunisia have had to go underground after being sentenced to years in prison in absentia, merely for speaking out artistically. Jakobsen also tells Anderson, "We are supporting young people who are fighting for a Tunisia that respects basic freedoms and equal opportunities for all, through the targeted use of art festivals, music events, and the creation of independent media that conveys the youth's views on Tunisia's future." Jakobsen plans to spread his help to Syria and Jordan soon.

Turning Tables allowed Middle East rappers, Vipa, WMD and Katybon, to collaborate on "Up On The Roof" YouTube music video (watch below), and Vipa commented in The National's article, "Tunisians try to move forward with great desire, but there are always some barriers that prevent us from trying to spek about justice, be it political, or economic or social." Read the entire Jakobsen interview on TheNational.ae website here. To learn more about the non-profit Jakobsen has set up to help activist-rappers, check out TurningTables.org.