Viktor

FEB 20, 2014 - The members of Pussy Riot, after being detained by police at the Sochi Olympics, staged a free speech action and protested against Putin and were attacked by Cossacks. People were pepper sprayed, beaten and whipped. See pics and read more on HuffPo here.

FEB 1, 2014 - Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from the activist-musical art band Pussy Riot that were recently freed from prison have been detained in Sochi, Russia and falsely accused of a crime, and are being detained and questioned without a lawyer. They had planned on an anti-Putin song free-speech action at the Sochi Olympics, and apparently Putin must have got wind of it because he shut it down. Read more on CNN.com here.

FEB 3, 2013 - Greg Deering, founder of Deering Banjo Company and good friend of JTMP, has commented on the recent passing of Pete Seeger and his legacy:

"Pete Seeger greatly influenced me as a music hero. He also influenced all the other music heroes I have. To a great deal I am a banjo maker today because of his influence and contribution to the world. I will miss him. We all miss him. Whether or not he would agree, I know he is now in a new place which he will also make better." - Greg Deering

(photo credit: Dxede5x/CC)

JAN 31, 2014 - The heavy metal band Skinny Puppy found out that the US government was using their music to torture detainees in Gitmo and they were pissed. So pissed in fact they sent an invoice to the US government and billing them for their "musical services". Read more on Independent.co.uk here.  (photo credit: zimpenfish/flickr/cc)

JAN 28, 2014 - JTMP is in shock and in mourning today, for we woke up to the news that we lost American folk music legend and Great Grandpa Musical Activist that started it all, Pete Seeger. Pete is a personal inspiration, for I attend a "Sing Out Jam Out" folk music circle (find one on MeetUp.com!), and we use the "Rise Up Singing" song book that he helped out with and contains many of his songs. His passing will affect millions and he will have an impact on America and the world for years to come.

Pete was born in New York in 1919, and died in New York in 2014, at the age of 94. His musical career started in the 1940s and 1950s and he enjoyed a successful musical career, and even performed with the band the Weavers, who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He is considered by many to have started the activist folk music scene in the 1960s, and Pete and his music became a staple of protests and rallies from the 1960s to today.

JTMP joins the mourning of the passing and celebration of the life of the American activist folk music legend, Pete Seeger. Below is Pete and the Weavers reunited for a concert at Carnegie Hall singing the folk classic, "Wimoweh", or "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and read about this amazing man on NPR.org here. Rest in Peace Pete, we will carry on the struggle for civil rights!  (photo credit: LOC/CC)