ICN Special Reports

Those of us who live in the Ithaca area are a fortunate bunch. Our local music scene produces some fine grooves and soulful music. I couldn't catch all the music I wanted to at Grassroots, but overall the weekend reminded me of the talent that surrounds us, and the activism in Ithaca that continues to push us forward as a community.

The 16^th Annual Grassroots Fest was the third one for me, and the past two years I only attended one day each year. This year, I spent some time every day at Grassroots, though less than planned because of the rain on Saturday. I also brought my fifteen-year-old daughter and her friend with me. They happily avoided me the entire time except for mandatory check-ins, voicemails, and text messages. 

Music and Activism at Grassroots

One of the highlights for me took place in the Art Barn on Friday night. Jeb Puryear facilitated a musician's forum on activism in music. Forum participants were asked how they see music as a form of political or social activism.

Participants in the forum included a very pregnant Jeneda Benally from Blackfire, a Navajo punk rock band, along with Klee and Clayson. Jeneda said she hesitates to use the word activist because, "we're just people who care."

She talked about her work with the Navajo nation in trying to uphold federal laws that are supposed to protect their tribal lands. The Navajo people are still losing their land—now to corporations who want it for ski resorts and other tourism. She spoke about how this land that is sacred to her people is just being taken away, and how she feels music "amplifies the words of the struggle of what our Mother Earth is feeling."

Klee, also from Blackfire, later said that they started a punk rock Navajo band "to have something to do with our anger."

Amir, who traveled from India with the band Musafir, spoke about how music and art always talk about what's going on in the world. "Music is to give message," Amir said. "All art is the language of the soul."

Amir had not wanted to come to America originally, but after he came he was surprised by the disconnect between how Americans are portrayed on TV and how we really are. "I love people from America," he said.

This brought the conversation to the role of TV versus music. "Music transcends all the crap we hear on the TV," Richie Stearns said.

Michael Franti spoke about how it isn't necessarily the job of musicians to be political, but added, "Every musician has the responsibility to make great art."

But how are art, music, and activism connected or separate? The consensus among the group seemed to be that you can't separate them out.

"You cannot separate politics from life, "Jeb Puryear said.

Christina Ortega, from Los Angeles, said the festival "is like a family reunion." She added that she's "here for a purpose, and that is to share joy."

She spoke on how it's important to share joy even with all that's going on in the world today. "There's a real attack on the poor of this world," she said, citing how immigration reform will and does affect farm workers in Southern California.  

Another consensus seemed to be that music has tremendous power to bring people together.

"If musicians from Lebanon and Israel played together and we put it on TV," said Hameed, another member of Musafir, "It would bring more peace."

"Music is the language of the soul," he said.

Checking out the Bands

As for the music, I have to admit that despite our crazy local talent, I was most excited about Michael Franti and Spearhead. I think Franti is a brilliant lyricist, and I've been listening to his music for about ten years. The last time I saw him live, in a small bar in Eureka, California, he was about to release the album Stay Human, Spearhead's third album (not including singles and previously unreleased live shows).

My first impression of Michael at Grassroots, as he kicked around a soccer ball near the kids' play area with the band and other festival-goers, was that he was kind of guarded about his private space. I introduced myself as being with the "alternative media" and introduced my photographer for the weekend, Ryan Curtis. I told him it was great to meet him and he said, "It's great to meet you too, sister." We hugged.

Franti's music has changed over the past two albums. Since 'Stay Human' came out, which is perhaps his most aggressively politically driven work since his days in the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, his music has taken on more of an emotional quality, as though he's trying to appeal to a different demographic. The main thrust of his music these days is anti-war activism, and the muse for this message comes more from an acoustic guitar and sweet sounding lyrics than his earlier work fusing hip hop with political activism.

For example, the Disposable Heroes and earlier Spearhead work was laced with in-your-face rap activism like the highly charged "Rock the Nation," "Television: The Drug of a Nation," "Satanic Reverses," and "It's a Crime to be Broke in America." Franti addressed police brutality, racism, and violence in its many forms.

These days, with a trip to the Middle East behind him, in which he witnessed the human cost of war in Iraq, Israel and occupied Palestine, his whole vibe seems to be more contemplative and meditative than when I met him in Eureka six or seven years ago. At that show, he jumped all over the stage all throughout the entire show. Grassroots fans still witnessed some serious hopping (and a unique flower-arranging dance from Spencer), and the version of People in Da Middle they performed (from the first Spearhead album Home) was truly rousing.

Additionally, in the newer songs they played Friday night, of which four or five I wasn't familiar with, Franti proved his lyrical abilities remain brilliant when he silenced the crowd with a song confronting our current administration for their illegal war-mongering.

And not all of it is mellow: Yell Fire, one of his new singles, reaches back to his roots of no-holds-barred lyrics set to high-energy, reggae-inspired rock. The song personally inspires me to stand up and rebel against the war.

You can check out his latest album Yell Fire, released by Epitaph/Anti-Records on July 25, at http://www.spearheadvibrations.com.

I was sorry to have missed Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band after the Spearhead show. I was supposed to have met my daughter and her friend at J-San and the Analogue Sons in the Cabaret Hall at 12:00 am. And that was supposed to have been after catching fifteen minutes or so of Yo Mama. But at some point during the Spearhead show, I checked the time on my cell phone and found that I had missed five calls from my daughter and was forty-five minutes late meeting her. I sent her a text message that Franti was still playing and asked if she was okay. She messaged back, "I'm fine, call me when you want to leave."

I figured it would be a while before Yo Mama's band started playing, so I walked to the Cabaret to check out JSan. When I arrived they were just starting, and they rocked! I've been trying to catch these guys live for more than a year, but the shows have always conflicted with childrearing responsibilities. I will definitely make a point to catch them again, as they were a lot of fun. I met some friends, and when my daughter showed up a few minutes later, I asked what time they wanted to leave. They replied in unison, "Never."

I made them leave around 1:30; I was simply too tired to stay. 

I wish that I'd had more energy though; I heard from a guy today who works at Gimme! Coffee that Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band played until 4:00 am. If I'd had the energy, I could have caught all of JSan, checked out Yo Mama until the end, and still got home before the rain. But it's probably good that I drove home and went to sleep, as my two younger kids woke me up at 7:00. 

Other bands I'd caught on Thursday were Thousands of One in the Dance Tent, where I ran into a friend of a friend from Santa Cruz, and John Brown's Body. On Friday I caught Black Castle, a band I look forward to hearing again.

I am sorry to have missed so many bands: Five2, Up South, The Duhks, Samite, Amy Glicklich, Black Fire, and many others. Worse, I ended up missing Donna the Buffalo every time they played over the weekend. On Thursday I took it for granted that I'd see them Saturday night, and then on Saturday I was too overwhelmed and tired to stay past 7:45 (though my photographer got some great shots of them on Saturday, check out the photo gallery). Like a little kid, I felt overstimulated and needed a nap.

On Sunday, I arrived mid-afternoon with a carrot cake for my son's 8^th birthday. We celebrated with a bunch of friends outside the art barn where Ithaca Community News and Positive News were tabling. Also present were his two sisters, his father, and his dad's girlfriend.

Later in the afternoon, I caught an amazing spontaneous musical invention: the Buvas, an old-timey folk band, were playing with members from Musafir. The result was simply outstanding. Imagine a fast-paced fiddle coupled with a Jew's Harp, tabla, and Indian chanting over funky guitar and stand up bass.

After that, I visited the Dance Tent for Preston Frank and his Zydeco Family Band, where I spent some time dancing with my kids and taking photos, then hung out for a while at the ICN/Positive News tent, where I could still hear the music from the Dance Tent.

I also heard the Turtle Duhks, who were a lot of fun, and parts of Christina Ortega's show. I tried to stay awake long enough to catch Donna the Buffalo, but when they still weren't on at 10:00 (they had been scheduled for 8:30), I left. I was too tired, although I did catch the song "Funkyside" on my way to the car. When I arrived home at 10:30 after dropping off my daughter at her friend's house, I fell asleep five minutes later. Overall though, what a great weekend! What a fun festival.