Tag: music

Toby Keith and troops - Credit: photonichelle on Flickr

Country artist Toby Keith, who has been politically vocal in the past, mostly conservative, has taken a position when it  comes to the DADT repeal and sexual orientation as none of the government's business, and he thinks they should stop wasting time and money on the issue. In a CMT Insider interview he says, "we're going to stop somebody from getting a marriage license because they're gay? You won't stop them from living together, so what have you accomplished? ... Wasting a lot of money here and a lot of time that could be spent working on this deficit that we're under ... I never saw the reasoning behind getting in people's personal lives. ... Somebody's sexual preference is like, 'Who cares?'"

Read the CMT Insider interview here, and the full interview is on CMT.

Almost overnight, a group of non-violent protesters launched "#OccupyKST" to show solidarity with the protesters at Wall Street, and for what many of them have said has been a lack of media covering the event up in New York.

They chose McPherson Square first because under 500 people you do not need a permit, and secondly it is in the middle of the "K Street Corridor" that are the offices of the thousands of for-profit lobbyists that many protesters believe are the biggest reasons why are political system is so corrupt and paralyzed right now, and why people are suffering.

We will keep you updated on what we hear and see from down there, and JTMP will be down there on Thursday, October 6th for the launching of the Freedom Plaza Occupy DC event, and will post pics and video as the "occupation" unfolds so check back. Also, there is an Occupy DC website.

(Photo credit: Reuters/uPolitic)

Tom Morello, aka the Nightwatchman, has been very active and vocal in the music activist field recently, and spoke at length about music, activism and politics in a new In These Times interview. 

In These Times: How does music tackle politically charged subjects?

Tom: “There has never been a successful wide-scale social justice movement in this country without a musical soundtrack, whether it’s the working class struggle, the civil rights struggle, the peace struggle. Music and culture have always been a critical component in both voicing and amplifying struggles for social justice.

I was transformed and encouraged by the music from groups like The Clash and Public Enemy, who made me feel less alone in my worldview as well as created compelling art. And that made it seem like change was possible and that change could sound kick ass at the same time.

more....

Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls was featured in a recent interview at the GA Voice, a LGBT news website based out of their hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, and she touched on Troy Davis and environmental issues and said, "It’s all tied together for us. It’s all about shifting the paradigm of human welfare, public welfare, and environmental welfare."

Read the interview here, and watch a performance of the Indigo Girls at the Lilith Fair 2010 tour, advocating for more female bands and musicians on the radio.