We’ll be rocking out with Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, The Nightwatchman) tonight - March 25 - at the newly revamped and re-opened TheCrocodile (formerly Crocodile Cafe) in Seattle for the Return of the Justice Tour. Special guests include Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Corey Taylor & Steve Earle (Slipknot), Kim Thayil & Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden), Mark Arm (Mudhoney), Boots Riley (The Coup), Wayne Kramer (MC5) and Shooter Jennings.
“The model of the Justice Tour is simple,” said Morello. “Feed the Poor. Fight the Power. Rock the Fuck Out. I’m very excited to be doing this and jamming with my good friends on the various stops on the tour. I’m equally excited that these artists will be rolling up their sleeves to help alleviate hunger and homelessness in these hard times.” Morello also noted, “It is very important to me to keep ticket prices super cheap so that everyone can enjoy these very special concerts.”
In case you missed it, check Geo (prometheusbrown) and Sabzi’s (sabzi) twitter update barrage from SXSW this past week and Geo’s blog for photos of the madness that went down in Austin, TX. Here’s some press/blog links that we made it into:
3/18/09
Official SXSW Showcase by The Agency Group
w/ Blue Scholars, Common Market, Zion I, Brother Ali, Charles Hamilton, Grouch & Eli, Blu & Exile, U.N.I. Doomtree
Back Alley Social - 303 W 5th St.
Set Time: 9:10PM (30min)
3/20/09 – Blue Scholars
Nah Right / Smoking Section Party
w/ Curren$y, Bless1,Tanya Morgan, Blu, BoB, Brother Ali, Mickey Factz and a bunch of others
Info – http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2009/03/the-grand-ole-party-of-bootleggers-tastemakers
rsvp – http://knucklerumbler.com/bootleggersandtastemakers
3/21/09 – Blue Scholars / Common Market (Joint Set)
SxSeattle Party
w/ Past Lives, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, New Faces, Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band and more…
Palm Door – 401 Sabine St
Set Time: 5:15PM (30min)
RSVP Link - http://sarathan. com/ecards/sxseattle
3/21/09 – Blue Scholars and Common Market
Do512. com Party
w/ Dead Confederate and lots more…free lone star beer and savvy vodka drinks!
Do512 Compound – 2208 S Lamar
Set Time: Common Market 9:00PM (20min) Blue Scholars 9:25 (20 min)
RSVP Link - http://sxsw2009. do512. com/event/2009/03/21/the-big-one-2009
My friend Rainn Wilson, who I’ve only had the chance to hang out with once, recently posted an editorial to CNN.com about the religious persecution of the Baha’is in Iran. I am a Baha’i myself (as some of you may know) and currently there are 7 Baha’is locked up in Iran based on entirely unjust charges and awaiting a potential execution. Mr. Wilson, better known to some as Dwight from The Office, wrote about it:
I am a member of the Baha’i faith. What is that, you ask? Well, long story short, it’s an independent world religion that began in the mid-1800s in Iran. Baha’is believe that there is only one God and therefore only one religion.
All of the world’s divine teachers (Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Moses, Abraham, Krishna, etc.) bring essentially the same message — one of unity, love and knowledge of God or the divine.
This constantly updated faith of God, Baha’is believe, has been refreshed for this day and age by our founder, Baha’u'llah. There. Nutshell version.
Now, as I mentioned, this all happened in Iran, and needless to say the Muslim authorities did not like the Baha’is very much, accusing them of heresy and apostasy. Tens of thousands were killed in the early years of the faith, and the persecutions have continued off and on for the past 150 years.
Why write about all this now? Well, I’m glad you asked. You see there’s a ‘trial’ going on very soon for seven Baha’i national leaders in Iran.
They’ve been accused of all manner of things including being “spies for Israel,” “insulting religious sanctities” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
They’ve been held for a year in Evin Prison in Tehran without any access to their lawyer (the Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi) and with zero evidence of any of these charges.
When a similar thing happened in 1980, the national leadership of the Iranian Baha’i community disappeared. And this was repeated again in 1981.
In fact, since 1979, more than 200 Baha’is have been killed, holy places and cemeteries desecrated, homes burned, civil rights taken away and secret lists compiled of Baha’is (and even Muslims who associate with them) by government agencies.
It’s bad right now for all the peace-loving Baha’is in Iran who want only to practice their religion and follow their beliefs. It’s especially bad for these seven. Here’s a link to their bios. They’re teachers, and engineers, and optometrists and social workers just like us.
There is a resolution on the situation of the Baha’is in Iran being sent to Congress. Please ask your representatives to support it. And ask them to speak out about this terrible situation. You can read the text of the resolution here.
You can email your Representatives by going to www.house.gov, plugging in your zip code and gettin their info.
If you live in the Seattle area, you can holla at em directly by clicking on the below links!
Obviously, this issue is a symptom of a greater problem of injustice that plagues humanity as a whole. Simply writing to our elected officials isn’t a solution by itself, but it can certainly help draw some much needed attention to the situation. Furthermore, by doing so you might help inform some of the hipsters out there that Iran is more than just the co-opted name of a side project with the guy from TV On The Radio.
We’re pleased to announce that the shows that got canceled in December that got rescheduled for March at Neumos in Seattle have some new additions: Dyme Def on March 15th, Macklemore on March 15th and 16th, and guest DJ Keelay on March 16th.
Bunch of us Seattle rappers and producers got together for Songs For Eating and Drinking 2.0, where photographer/media dude Chase Jarvis opens his studio, provides cuisine and spirits, and records whatever happens for the world to see. Here’s Geo spitting a verse while holding a glass of red wine:
And Macklemore:
More videos to come featuring Cancer Rising, Fatal Lucciauno, Spaceman, The Saturday Knights, Grayskul, Common Market, The Physics, Dyme Def, GMK & J. Pinder, The Stahi Bros. (Vitamin D & Maneiack B), Laura “Piece” Kelly, Grynch, Mad Rad, Nite Owls and Charles Mudede. With a special performance by DJ DV-One and Sabzi.
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