The Concert For Social Justice - Live From Hollywood!

Man, when I hear "Concert for Social Justice", I am, of course, there. The event was held last night at The Fonda in Hollywood by the Grammy Museum and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights to fund the organizations' "Speak Up, Sing Out: Songs Of Conscience" program that gets kids from K-12 to write songs about social justice issues. It was a show all the way up my alley.

The lovely L.A. traffic caused us to miss all but about the last chord of the marvelous Rocky Dawuni's tune, "Shine A Light" from his brand new album, Branches Of The Same Tree. His happy music with a message set the tone for what would be a wonderful night of voices singing out together in the name of social justice.

Up next was the Grammy winning group, La Santa Cecilia, and their Latin jams.

Led by La Marisoul in full yellow skirt, getting everyone up and dancing, as she said, "Social justice music can also be good to dance to!" I don't know what the words being sung were (in Spanish) but the universal beat was impossible to resist. You'll want to check them out for sure.

Actresses next took the stage to read letters from around the globe from people speaking out and making a difference for the world. Alfre Woodard led the way, telling stories from Malala in Pakistan, from a Kenyan woman leading a movement to plant trees, and from a woman rising up for the Mayan people ... all ending with the urge to "Speak truth to power". It was moving stuff, and solidified in the minds in all gathered there really what the evening was about - and how very important it is for us ALL to do that truth speaking.

Tom Morello had people yelling for him before he even took the stage - and proceeded to incinerate it. The Nightwatchman and his Freedom Fighter Orchestra had some technical difficulties (like, no sound from the guitar - "The rock can't happen with no guitar."), and took that time to ask "Are we all in this together, People?!" We assured him that we were, and the floor was rewarded with Morello telling them all to move up and get rid of the velvet rope that separated them. 'Cause that's how he is.

With the crowd now smashed together up front, they lit into "One Man Revolution", with its fresh verse change to say, "On the streets of South Carolina, they're ready to blow" - referring to the murder this week of the unarmed Walter Scott, that this time was fully caught on tape. This cannot stand, and we'll sing about it and talk about it and protest about it and cry about it until it stops. When Morello yelled, "Fuck, yeah!" at its end, he was merely echoing the thoughts of everyone there.

"Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine"rocked the house silly, and then Morello did his now iconic take on "The Ghost Of Tom Joad", dedicated to RFK and our late friend, Tomas Young. People now anticipate his ridiculous guitar solo on this one, cameras out and toes on tip. I've heard it a ton of times now, and I still get chills every time - especially now on the again changed line "Wherever there's a cop shooting a guy ... Look for me, Ma, I'll be there!" We ALL need to be there now. When Morello lifted his "Arm The Homeless" guitar to do his teeth solo, it revealed the sign on its underside, "I Can't Breathe!" And really, none of us really can until this complete madness stops.

Everyone was on their feet after that one, screaming for more, and they got it. "The Road I Must Travel" sealed the deal for Morello with this crowd, as the place was all in, singing heartily along with the "Na na na na na!" chorus, and then losing it when it merged into the guitar riff from Rage's "Sleep Now In The Fire".

Another standing ovation, and the room was still trembling when a group of actors took the stage. Martin Sheen, David Arquette, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Chad Lowe took the stage to read letters from the men around the world who are speaking their truth to power. I had trouble hearing them because people were speaking loudly to each other up in the balcony, but did catch Lowe saying, "Tom Morello stood right HERE!" It was that kind of a performance.

"They said Social Justice, and I said 'Yeah'", said Melissa Etheridge when she came on to sing the great and aptly titled for the night, "Testify". Her voice is so unique, raspy and strong all at once, and just she and her acoustic guitar held the room rapt. Even more so when she talked about her coming out in 1993.  "Social justice starts with the individual. Someone steps up, someone else steps up, and then it's a whole crowd ... and now it's all 'Oh, gay marriage' ... We're all really different, and that's the thing we have in common." Truth! Then she sang her "Silent Legacy", with its beautiful line, "Pray in the darkness for wings to set you free ..." Arms were held in the air to applaud after that one.

Etheridge next talked about coming out about being a cannibas user. "Plant medicine is good medicine. The freedom to explore our consciousness is a very important freedom." More truth, hit home with her cover of Brandy Clark's "Get High". The lighting turned green, and the air grew thick, as we all smiled along, knowingly - or wistfully.

Etheridge brought on her old bandmates, Kevin and Felix (I think she said) to help her cover "Get Up, Stand Up", and believe me when I tell you, EVERYONE got up. Stood up. It was awesome, and then they played their jam from 1988, "Bring Me Some Water", which was equally well-received, with thunderous applause and whistling.

To introduce the next act, Etheridge confided that she'd originally thought of Jackson Browne as her sperm donor, but they went with David Crosby to be her childrens' "Bio Dad".

People went nuts when David Crosby and Graham Nash came out, and that's when I saw the exact same guy up and dancing on Monday at Arlo Guthrie, up and dancing on this night too. It was a big week for all the good old hippies - and those of us that want to be them - in Los Angeles, to be sure. They have long been outspoken on issues of social justice, and they opened with their perfect for the occasion, "Long Time Gone", and its verse that goes "Speak out you got to speak out against the madness, You got to speak your mind if you dare ..." Truth to power. Their gorgeous harmonies are still intact, and there were a whole bunch of stoked Baby Boomers in the house at that moment, trust me.

They followed that one with "Military Madness", again timely and classic. Nash took over the piano then for his truth speaking, "Chicago (We Can Change The World)", and the people loved it. Like arms in the air, swaying the whole time loved it. "We've been singing this one since the Civil War," cracked Crosby, "About something that just keeps getting worse." He was speaking about the people that run this country, and the wealth disparity, and they were singing a cappella, "What Are Their Names?" It was heavy, and again, extra true.

"It all starts with teaching the kids the right way," said Nash to introduce their classic hit, "Teach Your Children." Everyone with a voice sang along, and basically yelled the "And know they love you!" part. Hearts swelled.

As they did again when Kerry Kennedy and Bob Santelli of The Grammy Museum introduced the winner of their "Speak Up, Sing Out" contest, a girl named Jade Rhodes from The Brentwood School. She wrote and performed a song called "Invisible", about what a refugee from Darfur might be feeling and thinking. She held the entire room's attention, the entire time, and a star just might have been born. People loved her and shouted their encouragement, as she shyly left the stage. It was great, and showed how important and special the work for social justice is.

Kennedy said that when they were talking about the musicians they wanted for the concert, musicians who have dedicated their lives to singing - and acting - for social justice. "The first person I called was Jackson Browne, and he not only said yes immediately, he called his friends to join him."

 Out came Browne, saying just that, that he'd always just wanted to sing songs about social justice, and so he did. "Lives In The Balance" is just such a song. Listen to the lyrics and receive an education about unjust wars. Truth to power. "Far From The Arms Of Hunger" was no different, slow and lovely, but hitting as heavy as anything fast and hard. "Looking East" kept the wisdom and the beautiful music coming, and then he covered "I Am A Patriot" by Little Steven, and got the place dancing again with its slightly reggae beat. The faithful did not want it to end.

As always at a good social justice jamboree, you have to have an All Star Jam! As Morello is about the best ringleader in the world for these kind of things, he took the mic and said, "No Social Justice concert would be complete without a Woody Guthrie song to anchor that shit (Sorry, kids - the fight for social justice is not always PG13)! ... Whether you're of the Occupy Wall Street generation or the Aquarius generation ... This land is your land!"

All the evening's artists returned to the stage (except I didn't see Crosby and Nash?) to belt out that "Alternative National Anthem" together as one. La Santa Cecilia's accordion player added a lovely touch to this version, and folks took turns singing the ALL the verses, including the previously censored ones. It was especially great when young Jade Rhodes got her turn to take a verse, happily sandwiched between Morello and Browne. I mean, C'mon! It was a night to remember for everyone, but probably the most for her.

Morello called for the house lights to be turned up, so he could see that everyone in the place was standing up, singing "as loudly as it's ever been sung on Hollywood Boulevard to date" and jumping wildly up and down, "From the sound man to my 91 year old mom sitting right up there!" We stood, we sang, and we jumped for freedom, for justice and for rock and roll.

There was a long, mutual standing ovation from artists to fans and back, and Morello yelled, "The future is unwritten!" It's important to remember that. Nothing can't be changed. Nothing can't be improved. Nothing can stop us, when we stand up, and speak out - together.

Speak truth to power.

*Beautiful photos by Paul Gronner Photography.

Arlo Guthrie Celebrates 50 Years Of Alice's Restaurant At Disney Hall

I was excited when invited to see Arlo Guthrie at Walt Disney Hall, because though I've grown up on his songs, I'd never actually seen him play them live. The audience filing into the wonderful room was clearly a room of Guthrie's own demographic, and they were all excited too. Really excited. You know it's going to be good when you run into Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Sarah Lee Guthrie backstage before the show even started. It was that kind of a show, like a family reunion in stories and song.

The show opened with a video of an animated pickle - yes, a pickle - riding along on his "motorsickle", that seamlessly became his band playing it live on stage beneath the screen, and then Mr. Guthrie joining them (to raucous applause) to be the pickle singing "The Motorcycle Song". He looked like a tall General Custer type, in a black Western shirt - groovy and commanding all at once.

Everyone loved it, and at song's end, Guthrie said, "Thanks for helping us celebrate 50 years of stuff!" He went on to say that they'd lost that video for 40 years ("for good reason") and then wondered what to do with it when they found it. "Now we know." Guthrie introduced his band at the beginning, a group comprised of his friends and neighbors, and including his own son, Abe Guthrie.

"We're gonna play a lot of old stuff tonight,"said Guthrie by way of introducing, "Chilling Of The Evening." That was more than fine by everyone in there (especially when Guthrie wailed on his harmonica). Old stuff because his vast catalog goes back fifty years, and Guthrie said when choosing songs for this tour, even if he'd picked only one from each album, we'd be here for a few days, "and that's just from what I can remember, 'cause you can't pick stuff you forgot." That brought chuckles, and knowing nudges between the also-grey haired majority of the crowd. "I love the old stuff," Guthrie said at the end of "Darkest Hour". We were all in agreement there.

As the tour is in its beginning stages, the set list is still being worked on. Guthrie said he was happy to include one by his father's (the wonderful Woody Guthrie, of course) best friend, Cisco Houston. "St. James Infirmary" was great, and featured an acoustic guitar solo by Guthrie that brought whistles from the people that know.

"On the off chance that there are some young people here ..." made people laugh, but Guthrie explained that he'd been "dragged to things like this when I was a kid ... but before there was recorded music, you had to go get someone to play ... play for getting married, getting buried, for getting hung, songs for kids ... but overnight songs for kids went to hell, they all had to be about building self-esteem, building character ... but these songs were not by someone that had actual, living, breathing kids! It's stupid. You want to scare 'em ... give 'em a reason to stay under the covers! This is for kids." While Guthrie then played the charming, "Me And My Goose" as the video for its children's book of the same name played on the screen. The goose gets cooked, and Guthrie said at its conclusion, "I know it's sick, but that's why I like it." And why we do too.

"My kids made a list of my songs I should know, and this is one of them," Guthrie cracked to introduce his "Last Train". Whereas his father's train was BOUND for glory (and his autobiography has that title), Arlo's is the LAST train. Hmmm. Either way, it was great, as was a rollicking, old Ledbelly tune, "Pigmeat". Guthrie met Ledbelly when he was two years old, and remembered that "If it made a noise, Ledbelly could play it." His early memory was of standing there holding Ledbelly's pants leg - "and that was about it." Guthrie's storytelling is as good as his playing, and both compliment each other beautifully. Ledbelly played the 12 string guitar, so Pete Seeger played the 12 string (in addition to and as often as his famous banjo). "Pete stole everything from Ledbelly, so I stole everything from Pete."

With friends like those growing up, and Wavy Gravy, and Ramblin' Jack, and the list goes on and on ... the stories are really something. Guthrie told his tale about Woodstock, and being flown into the venue by an open-doored chopper. Two policemen were on board with them, talking about how they'd never go down there with all them dirty hippies ... and that's when Guthrie knew it would be a good time. He wasn't set to play until the next day, so went off "and did what everyone else was doing." Suddenly the promoter told him it was his turn to play, "And I couldn't even talk! Or walk!" But he did play ... "At least that's what I remember". He took us back there with him when he launched into a rocking version of "Coming Into Los Angeles" ... a couple gals that might have really been at Woodstock were up and dancing for this one, but they were tame in comparison to a groovy old dude down front who was dancing all alone like he just didn't care, even in the staid Disney Hall. It was awesome.

There was then a brief intermission before Guthrie came back saying, "You're still here?!", sounding surprised. Of course we were, because now it was time for the reason for the evening - the 50th Anniversary of "Alice's Restaurant". People clapped loudly just for the opening chords, prompting Guthrie to say, "Oh, you've heard this one before?" The 18 minute, 34 second talking song really put Guthrie on the map as a spokesman for social justice. The whole story (and accompanying film by Arthur Penn - that stars all the real people of the story, even the Officer Obie nemesis, who in real life became Guthrie's good friend) is all about how dumb justice (or the lack of it) can be sometimes. Some well-meaning kids help a friend dump some trash, get busted for littering, get drafted and have to go with hardened criminals ("These weren't Mother rapers, they were FATHER rapers!" - I've never even heard that phrase!) because of the arrest ... and all they were trying to do was be cool on Thanksgiving. People sang and laughed along throughout, and as Guthrie said, when you get enough people together singing the same song for justice - it becomes a movement. "We can change the world! So sing it loud enough that it's worth correcting in the first place." The last strummed chord brought people to their feet, and the building was tangibly rowdier. It was again awesome.

"When A Soldier Makes It Home" was a lovely tune, but sad too, because it talked about how people didn't care that they were home. It unexpectedly choked me up, because when you think about it, isn't that all ridiculous too? That people would go fight for someone else's idea of a war, and then make it home and be mistreated for it? UGH ... it's all just ridiculous. Thank goodness for people like Guthrie that tell truths, and do it in a way that you don't even realize until it hits you.

Guthrie explained that his sister, Nora Guthrie, has been compiling all their father's work, and as there was so much of it, many of the lyrics found didn't have music. She gave some of those songs to different artists to put them to music, and Guthrie then played us Janis Ian's version of "My Mother's Voice". I, of course, choked up again listening to him sing about hearing his Mother's voice one more time. In a family where everyone is musical, you can imagine how lovely hers must have been, while treasuring the voice of your own in your mind. A special song, for sure.

People LOVED "City Of New Orleans", and Guthrie told about how its writer, Steve Goodman, actually wanted Guthrie to get it to Johnny Cash. Cash passed as he already had a bunch of train songs, "So that worked out well for me." The whole place sang along with the "Good Morning, America, how are you?" chorus, and I think it took everyone back to the sunny day when they first heard it, wherever they were. There was certainly a lot of nodding along and toe tapping to let you know people were feeling it.

One day, friends of Woody Guthrie, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, asked young Arlo to open for them on their West Coast tour. Guthrie's mother said he had to stay with friends or family, and that meant Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Guthrie was thrilled, as he knew what kind of trouble Ramblin' Jack could get into. Immediately upon arrival in Malibu, Elliott took Guthrie to a rodeo, where he saw the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. She totally ignored him, so Elliott gave him some kind of pill to cheer him up, saying, "Don't worry, it will wear off!" When it did, he went to The Troubadour, where the same pretty girl was working as a cashier. She paid him enough attention then to marry him, have his children, and "put up with me long enough to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary in 2012." As it's 2015, that suddenly let us know that she was gone, and as the slides played on the screen of Guthrie's beautiful, happy wife Jackie ... this time actual tears sprang to my eyes when Guthrie said, "This is for her," and played "Highway In The Wind". It was a truly beautiful memorial to her.

One of the few songs that Woody Guthrie actually taught Arlo himself was his seminal wonder of a song, "This Land Is Your Land."  We've all sung that classic a million times, but as Guthrie explained it, a piece of you is left with it each time it's sung, making it all the more meaningful. Like when you visit a place that an event happened and everyone goes there to see it, you leave some of yourself there, making it even more of a special place. As we all sang it together again, with the son of its writer, it indeed felt special. Also because of the massive standing ovation Guthrie again earned for it.

When speaking of his father, Guthrie is appropriately reverent, but also funny. He told of how Woody read and was very affected by John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath, which inspired him to write "The Ballad Of Tom Joad." Steinbeck wrote him a letter after hearing it, kind of mad that Guthrie was able to distill his entire novel into 12 lines! The Steinbecks and The Guthries are all good now, even intermarried, and Guthrie told more tales of their family together, hanging out in a mental hospital with Woody, having parties, making the best of it. You really could sit and listen for days.

There was only one more song, however, and though it was, as Guthrie said, "A bit Kumbaya", we all did sing together once more, the lovely "My Peace." Guthrie said it was a fitting summary of his father's life, and what life could be better than one that goes ...

My peace my peace is all I’ve got that I can give to you
My peace is all I ever had that’s all I ever knew
I give my peace to green and black and red and white and blue
My peace my peace is all I’ve got that I can give to you

My peace, my peace is all I’ve got and all I've ever known
My peace is worth a thousand times more than anything I own
I pass my peace around and about ‘cross hands of every hue;
I guess my peace is justa ‘bout all I’ve got to give to you

And that was that for the music, but not for Guthrie, as his fans stood and applauded until he was gone with a "God bless you and Good night!"

... And we were blessed and the night was good, just for having been there.

The 50 Year Anniversary tour of Alice's Restaurant continues throughout 2015.


*Photos by Paul Gronner Photography

A Venice Easter Weekend

Easter weekend 2015 was all about family, friends, and family friends here in Venice. I had my dear Krsniks/Hendricksons here and we did all the usual L.A. tourist stuff (and had an Easter miracle finding a lost purse - with cash and everything still in it! - at Hollywood & Highland. Good humans.) which is always fun to do with people ... and then it was time to simply relax (after all the cooking was done).

First there was some worship and gratitude, then Easter Bake and Monkey Bread were consumed Sunday morning. That had to be followed by a brisk walked to the beach to digest. There we saw the Venice Easter Bunny, delighting kids and me alike.

Danny Samakow was out and about, making sure that everyone was having a good time, and keeping the holiday spirit pumped up - as he does for just about every holiday.

People were lounging about on the sand, and displaying their own Easter egg hunt treasures by the graffiti walls, also looking as if it was post-brunch laziness for them too.

As it was both Easter and Passover this weekend, there was a lot to observe. At the beach, even the Hare Krishnas made a strong showing on a Sunday they might otherwise have been overshadowed by.

Then it was time for another holiday meal with dear friends, followed by another Easter egg hunt, with still more candy to be found.

We kept saying, "It's just once a year" to justify all the sweets and over-stuffing ... but still. When you see little faces looking this happy over some candy in a plastic egg, you just laugh and hope for the best.

With Easter 2015 in the books, Sunday night was pretty much all about crashing for everyone I know. I hope your weekend was spent with your dear ones too, and that none of us see another Peep for an entire year. Thanks Easter Bunny! Bawk Bawk.

Norman Ollestad's Gravity

I'm so excited for my friend, Norman Ollestad! His new book, Gravity, came out last week on Amazon Kindle (though I'm not into those things, it's also available to read on any device, like your phone, thank goodness), and it's already the #1 best seller in Memoirs! With all that buzz going on, Ollestad still made time to sit down and chat with me about the new, kind of sequel to his last best seller, Crazy For The Storm.

More a companion piece to Crazy For The Storm than a sequel, Gravity takes place 15 years after he was last in Austria at the age of 5 (9 years after his last book), when Ollestad was 20 years old. He'd been attending UCLA and making money doing window washing when he decided to leave all that and go be a ski bum in St. Anton, Austria, a place he'd visited many times before with his late father, and the home of modern downhill skiing. The junior Ollestad left with only his skis and backpack, and went to stay at a pensione owned by a woman the senior Ollestad used to know. Soon upon arrival, the woman showed Ollestad his father's guitar, and he didn't want to touch it. It was his first indication that this trip might actually turn out to be really heavy.

His father was a bit of a legend in St. Anton, and all the while Ollestad was trying to fit in with all the other ski bums and live up to his father's shadow, he found himself also having an extra-intense emotional experience being there. The more time that passed, the more he realized that all the connection and feelings he was having for and about his father were actually the reason he went.

Ollestad stayed in St. Anton for six months (where that guitar still remains), but while he was there, he also fell in real love for the first time. With all that was going on in his head about his father, this girl also reminded him of his dad. The entire experience served to reaffirm what he'd been given by his father, who he really was, and he found love, which was something he never expected to find.

After the success of Crazy For The Storm (which is to be a feature film directed by Sean Penn!) and its incredible story (if you haven't read that one, buy both), Ollestad found himself back in St. Anton on his book tour. While there, he went out to revisit his old ski bum super back country spots, and got lost. He started to panic, thinking about his young son, Noah, and then fiancee (now wife), Jenny. Whereas previously in his life, he'd always wanted to defy gravity, he now found himself thinking (and freaking out while lost) that he now really, really wanted that gravity. The grounded feeling of family, home, and love. Hence, the new book's title.

There are so many more wonderful stories from Ollestad's life that more books will be coming. The idea is to have a few novella length ones (as Gravity is - a great, fast beach/plane/couch read!) come out as e-books, then compile them together in a great, hard copy book down the road. I love it. You may also read a new Ollestad story in this month's (May 2015) issue of Outside Magazine, out this week. Ollestad and his son, Noah, took a surf trip to Mexico, which brought back more memories of those same surf trips he'd taken with his own father, coming full circle again.

Enjoying our chat and swapping of stories of our late fathers (and the Ollestad's ridiculously darling baby girl, Camille), it occurred to me that Ollestad may have actually found the gravity that his father never did. That - coupled with all the surf and ski skills also passed down - may be the true gift he's now able to share ... with his children, and with us all.

"I see life as an adventure ... so I hope I can take you along on one with me in this book."
                                                                                                                - Norman Ollestad


I went, and it was great! You should go too.

Gravity is now available for download right here:

http://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Kindle-Single-Norman-Ollestad-ebook/dp/B00UZGZT8W

A Spring Sunset Sail

My dearest friends are here visiting for Spring Break from Minnesota ... and as they are avid boaters back home, this called for a sail.  I called up my favorite Commodore, Noah Farrell (of Abbot's Habit fame) and he agreed to take us out for a spin around the Santa Monica bay.

The Krsniks are motor boaters, and this was a sail. That meant a crash course in being Farrell's crew, which is never a dull moment. It was a fairly choppy day, with plenty of wind (on the vessel named "Got Wind?"), so at times we were almost literally flying.

The day was so beautiful, made even more so by the glow of good friends, and the appearance of a little baby dolphin gang that delighted in jumping around our wake. It was awesome.

We nearly lost Renato at one point when we hit a wave and his 6'6 frame nearly upended him into a MOB drill (Man overboard, rookies). Luckily, his beautiful wife Christine broke his fall (and almost her neck), pretty much saving his life, and ensuring that he'd be here today to celebrate their sweet 16th wedding anniversary!

The air grew chillier as the sun started to set, and Captain Farrell let me operate the tiller almost all the way back in. It's so fun to feel the effects of the wind on the sails, and how the slightest correction in driving makes a total difference. I could see getting obsessed, as people do. The gorgeous sunset was our reward for all the kind of hard work.

We warmed up in the cool South Coast Corinthian Yacht Club (SCCYC) in the Marina, and did more boat talk. It's the ultimate best when you get to share parts of your life and where you live with your very best friends that live far away, and have them get to know the people you surround yourself with when they're not there. We all hit the hay last night exhausted, and more than stoked.

Thank you, Captain Noah! Happy Anniversary, Christine and Renato!