Tag: free speech

FEB 13, 2012 - Bruce Springsteen, long known for his activism, opened up with a song at the Grammy Awards Show last night called, "We Take Care of Our Own", a new song from his upcoming album, "Wrecking Ball". He was met with a standing ovation and cheers, and chants of "Bruuuce!". The song has lines such as, "From the shotgun shack to the Superdome, We yelled help but the cavalry stayed home", and "Where's the promise, from sea to shining sea, We take care of our own". Many are taking this song to be a statement on the government's response to Katrina, jobs being outsourced, and the American dream being threatened by recent actions such as attacks on unions and teachers and government entitlement programs. There is another version of the video Bruce released, which contains images of working people, a group Bruce has long supported and fought for over the years. Watch Bruce singing "We Take Care of Our Own" when he opened up the Grammys last night, and then a black & white "studio version" below.
(Photo credit: Thomas Uhlemann/Wiki)

FEB 3, 2012 - Pink Martini, a band started in 1994 to perform at progressive events to raise awareness and funds for issues, will be playing the 2012 Savannah Music Festival. In a SavannahNow.com interview, founder Thomas Lauderdale says, “The Occupy movement is interesting and complicated because a lot of their talking points are issues which actually most Americans are thinking about. Entertainment is one of the few ways of reaching Americans. It’s not an activist sort of thing. If anything, it’s sort of subtle, more diplomatic than political. ” The 2012 Savannah Music Festival takes place from March 22 through April 7, 2012. Numerous bands are scheduled, check out the whole lineup here. Pink Martini is scheduled for March 29 at the Lucas Theater.
(Photo credit: Ryan Harvey/Wiki)

FEB 2, 2012 - Christopher Cristwell, a musician who eventually wrote 2 "Starbucks Rant Songs", was fired from working at Starbucks after the first video eventually went viral on the Internet. In a fast paced and very catchy tune, he details the blues of working at Starbucks and dealing with the customers, but Starbucks management was not pleased. He has lost his barista position, and no word yet on a recording contract but we will keep an ear out for that. Meanwhile, watch this highly talented musician and his hilarious "Starbucks Rant Song" below, and if you are curious as to what happened to him after the song, be sure to check out Part 2 (link at end).

JAN 23, 2012 - Occupy This Album, an album to be released this spring to help support the movement, has a growing list of musicians. Third Eye Blind, Willie Nelson and Jackson Browne were a few of the artists signing up early on, and now the list has grown to over 40 bands and musicians. JTMP was at Occupy DC and caught the band Junkyard Empire, and posted videos of the activist band's performance on our YouTube Channel HERE. They will be one of the bands contributing to the album; along with Tom Morello, the Guthrie Family, Yoko Ono, Lucinda Williams, Immortal Technique, Crosby/Nash and more. Check out the full list here.

With all this talk about SOPA and PIPA, JTMP has learned that the hip-hop blog site OnSmash.com, a site featuring agents and promotional music, was shut down by the government in November of 2010, with an affidavit alleging it had facilitated copyright infringement. The founder soon opened up a new domain, FreeOnSmash.com. Some are saying this is an example of collateral damage in the government's overzealous "war on piracy".

Read more on RawStory here.