#OWS-Occupy This Movement: Sean Lennon, Jeff Mangum, Sonic Youth, Russell Simmons, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Eno, Crosby & Nash, Perry Farrell, Lou Reed, Fugazi, Talib Kweli, Yo Lo Tengo, ?uestlove, DEVO, Lupe Fiasco, John Zorn, Wilco, Ted Leo, Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Wayne Coyne…

“You say you want a revolution/ Well you know, we all want to change the world“
-John Lennon, 1968

Occupy This Album, a benefit album for the Occupy Wall Street movement, will be available this winter featuring Yo Lo Tengo, DEVO, members of Woody Guthrie’s family, Crosby & Nash, Jackson Browne, Ladytron, Warren Haynes, DJ Logic, Third Eye Blind, Lloyd Cole, Lucinda Williams and drummers from Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park (take that Jon Stewart). Although some tracks will be taken from prior live performances, many will be recorded specifically for the project…
…including Michael Moore’s official singing début…

All Occupy This Album proceeds go to the Alliance for Global Justice who will divide them between Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy movements. The organizers aim to raise $1-2 million.

News of Occupy This Album broke on Thanksgiving 2011 – just three days after the press release that announced Occupy Wall Street’s newest spin-off movement, Occupy Musicians:

“We, the undersigned musicians and all who will join us, support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world. In addition to the public statement of support, OccupyMusicians will serve as a resource:

  • • to facilitate performances at Occupy spaces and events
  • • provide links to media wishing to interview Occupy-supporting musicians
  • • host testimony and other writings of musicians for why they support the 99 percent
  • • host embedded media to Occupy-related songs and music videos
  • • network musicians to Occupy locations and Occupy fund raisers”

Among the more prominent members of Occupy Musicians are Lou Reed, most of Sonic Youth (Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Steve Shelley), Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, Dead Kennedy’s Jello Biafra, Gang of Four’s Dave Allen, Rhys Chatham, John Zorn, Marc Ribot (free jazzer and sideman for Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and others), Talib Kweli, Laurie Anderson, Dan Deacon, My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden, tUnE-yArDs’ Merill Garbus, Sharon Van Etten, former Titus Andronicus guitarist Amy Klein, Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart, Parts and Labor and Kimya Dawson. The complete list of participants is at occupymusicians.com.

Photos above and below by Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo – see more here…

Occupy This Album and the Occupy Musicians movement follow an ever-growing list of artists that have associated themselves with Occupy Wall Street throughout autumn 2011 – such as Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum. On October 4th he began a surprise show at Occupy Wall Street with a cover of The Minutemen’s “Themselves,” then addressed the crowd, “I’m here to serve you. What do you want to hear?”

Watch Jeff’s entire set – including requests “Holland, 1945″, “Ghost”, “Song Against Sex”, “Two-Headed Boy Part 2″, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”, “The King of Carrot Flowers Part 1″, and “Oh Comely” with the crowd screaming “we know who our enemies are!” at the end – in the video above (note: the date is mislabeled).

Below is a twitter recap of the Occupy Wall Street movement from the great Radiohead swindle to Roger Waters’ new car, caviar echoes, Kanye’s photo-op to Pete Seeger’s presence, and from Tom Morello and Wilco covering Guthrie to Sean Lennon spinning Madge…

The Inside Story Of Occupy Wall Street by Sean Captain, October 7, 2011: “The public milestones of #occupywallstreet are well known. A July 13 call to arms by activist magazine Adbusters. An August 31 YouTube video by hacktivist collective Anonymous. A few hundred protesters on September 17. Arrests the 24th. Taking the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1. Massive media attention and a national movement afterwards….

But most accounts fail to grasp the real disruption going on here. Something was different about this initially chaotic-seeming assembly from the beginning. And if it was so chaotic, how has it grown from a toothless web post to an action threatening to go nationwide? By working differently than protests in recent American history–using everything from social media shadow puppetry to a radical consensus process and a lack of official leaders.

I’ve been following the movement and attending events and meetings from day one, and for much of the time, it seemed destined to flop. Yet it took off. In retrospect, there were moments where it became obvious something new was going on here. Here are some of those moments.”

Pitchfork October 10, 2011: “Kanye West, the man who just spent an entire album rapping about rolling around in piles of watches and clothes and private jets, showed up at the Occupy Wall Street protests against American greed and corruption today. West arrived in Zuccotti Park in downtown New York City this afternoon alongside Russell Simmons, becoming the latest in a growing list of musicians and celebrities to throw their support behind the cause.“

 

Rolling Stone October 13, 2011: “Morello began with a rendition of ”The Fabled City,” the title track from his second Nightwatchman album. While encouraging the protesters to clap their hands, Morello crooned, “I’ve seen the fabled city, its streets are paved with gold. But an iron fence runs ’round it and its iron gate is closed.” Then Carl Restivo, guitarist of the Nightwatchman’s band The Freedom Fighters Orchestra, joined Morello for “Save the Hammer for the Man.” The two sang together among the protesters, working off their energy. On “This Land Is Your Land,” Morello told the crowd that despite the circumstances, they were “gonna have a good mother fuckin’ time,” and as he sang, he jumped – and so did everybody else. The entire mass of protesters bounced up and down, proclaiming, “This land was made for you and me.” To cap everything off, Morello taught his “World Wide Rebel Songs” to the crowd and together, among fists and American Flags raised by the hands of protestors, they sang: “World wide rebel songs, sing out loud all night long, hang on man it won’t be long, world wide rebel songs.” He then left the stage with one message to Occupy Wall Street: “Take it easy, but take it.”

Business Insider November 10, 2011: “He’s got 99 problems, and now “the 99%” might be another one. Rapper Jay-Z is plastering Occupy Wall Street’s message onto a new line of T-shirts, to be released Friday under his Rocawear clothing label… But here’s the thing: Rocawear isn’t going to share its wealth. A Rocawear spokesperson sent us a statement confirming there’s no plan to distribute any of the profits, which will surely pour in from shirt sales, to Occupy Wall Street.”

What do the Occupiers want?

More photos by Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo – see his full post here…

“Say you want a revolution, we better get on right away
Well you get on your feet and out on the street
Singing power to the people“
-John Lennon, 1971

Related websites and recommended article links:

The revolution will be tweeted… follow OccupyWallSt, OccupyWallStNYC…
…twitter.com/FutureHeartDay

One response on “#OWS-Occupy This Movement: Sean Lennon, Jeff Mangum, Sonic Youth, Russell Simmons, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Eno, Crosby & Nash, Perry Farrell, Lou Reed, Fugazi, Talib Kweli, Yo Lo Tengo, ?uestlove, DEVO, Lupe Fiasco, John Zorn, Wilco, Ted Leo, Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Wayne Coyne…”

  1. Pingback: Occupy Album and Guitarmy « . . . . The Future Heart·

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