hi all, Joan Baez has a neat idea for her show/upcoming tour.
...." She plans to read a transcript of a conversation between President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in which Nixon states that he doesn't care about the loss of civilian life in war time." Richard Full article follows. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/features/scn-sa-baez1mar27,0,7221626.story Politics and protest: Against a new war, Joan Baez arms herself with song By Ray Hogan Staff Writer March 27, 2003 The hours before the warning shots that signified the beginning of war last Wednesday found folk singer/social activist Joan Baez a little blue. "Mostly sadness and secondly fear," was her response when asked what she was feeling. That's not surprising: Music and activism have been interconnected throughout her more than 40-year career, and the conflict with Iraq hits particularly hard for Baez because she lived in Baghdad for a year as a child. Her memories of the Middle East capital are bittersweet. "I can't bear to think about it," she says. "It was poverty-stricken then and it doesn't look like it has changed. I remember the sunsets and how beautiful they are ... It's heartbreaking. It's none of our business. It's all about who we want to get next. The empire strikes first." Being in the midst of a tour that brings her to the Palace Theatre on Sunday, Baez hasn't been able to actively protest as much as she wanted to, but her unwillingness to leave the subject matter for any length of time signifies its importance to her. As for the show, she says her song selection has been gravitating toward the political for more than a year. "The set list was heading that way on the last tour; more socially aware than my concerts have been," she says. "I will go on stage dressed in black and I won't say much. ... To not make myself clear would be a sin." She plans to read a transcript of a conversation between President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in which Nixon states that he doesn't care about the loss of civilian life in war time. The parallels between the Vietnam War and the current conflict are similar in that dissent is being met with accusations of anti-Americanism. Whereas Baez and her generation were called communists, today's targets are pinned anti-patriotic. The Dixie Chicks, who voiced embarrassment at President Bush being from Texas, were recently met with a backlash (although it turned out to be more hype than anything else). "I hope they are well enough taken care of financially that they can be proud of it," Baez says. "I always thought of it as a badge of honor when a country banned me." Baez says that protest and political songs don't go out of fashion as much as they go into hiding, waiting for climates such as the current one to reveal themselves. She cites Steve Earle's "Jerusalem" as a present-day favorite. "It's been there all along. The most powerful to me is the most political. The stuff was being written but there wasn't the political air around that demanded them to be heard," she says. As a leading interpretive singer of her generation, Baez isn't content to live too far in the past. The word folk implies a commonality in singers and writers sharing songs, and for her new album, "Dark Chords on a Big Guitar," due this summer, she looked to a younger generation to provide material. The disc will feature songs by Earle, Ryan Adams and Natalie Merchant. Baez says she usually knows almost immediately if a song is suited for her to sing. "For the most part I know but I don't know if it's a consistent thing," she says. "(Contemporary music) isn't where my home was. We all have a home where our music was. My home was in folk music and then contemporary folk music. There are kids in their twenties and thirties and I discovered this goldmine." Baez earned her reputation in the Cambridge, Mass., folk scene and made her career at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival while still a teen. The setup for the tumultuous '60s was in place for Baez and Bob Dylan to become the king and queen of musical social protest. By 1965, Baez followed the transition of folk morphing from traditional music often indicative of a region to a new definition where the songs were produced by modern singer/songwriters and sometime poets. Music and activism are the constants in a career that has allowed Baez to remain vital when so many of her former peers aren't. She predicts civil disobedience will increase the longer the war goes on. "No social change is ever made without sacrifice," she says. "That's the word that's been missing. Sacrifice means risk." * what: Joan Baez and Josh Ritter where: The Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford when: Sunday, 7 p.m. Price: $35 and $45. Contact: 325-4466 or www.onlyatsca.com. Copyright � 2003, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ -- ____________________________________________ http://www.operamail.com Get OperaMail Premium today - USD 29.99/year Powered by Outblaze
