Lookingglass Folk at Conflikt 5

This concert's theme, codenamed "Trinitite Lens", was inspired by Talis Kimberley's song "Kitchen Heroes". Talis was in the audience, and we nailed it. Go us!

The audio is not the best. What I have now is the board mix, courtesy of the awesome John Segher, which is mono and pretty dry. The guitar came out overdriven; next time I have to make sure the sound crew knows about Plink's onboard preamp and tell them that she takes a line in rather than a DI. But on the whole not too bad. I'll try to find time to process the tracks I got from Harold Stein and see if those are a little better.

We have decided that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, and have accordingly put the whole thing up, as of Feb. 11. If you object to something being up here, let Steve (the webmaster) know.

1	[ogg]	[mp3]	Where the Heart Is (Rivkis/Hills)
			“Came a time when we couldn’t deny it…” Ladies and gentlemen, this concert is unlike anything either of us has ever done. We can no longer deny or turn our faces from the terrible damage being done to our planet and our people. Instead, as folksingers, we’re bringing our music here, to address the challenges our world is facing and perhaps the greatest challenges it has ever faced.
			We have a very special guest here, Talis Kimberley. The following is one of her songs, the one that challenged and inspired us to take up this work in the first place. It’s called Kitchen Heroes.
2	[ogg]	[mp3]	Kitchen Heroes (Kimberley)
			When I was a kid, recycling was barely on the radar. By the time I was in college, we considered it a nice thing to do. My children recognize it for what it is: a matter of survival. So does this song by Cat Faber, called “As Solemn As Life Or As Death.”
3	[ogg]	[mp3]	Solemn As Life Or As Death (Faber)
			Survival. It’s not something most of us grew up feeling we had to think about. Unfortunately, there’s a terrible effort going on right now to keep us from thinking about it – to marginalize the people who are dying from the twin ravages of ecological disaster and the class war.
			What’s the first thing you do to marginalize someone, to make them seem irrelevant and not worth fighting for? You mock them -- you laugh at them.
4	[ogg]	[mp3]	Don't Laugh At Me (Seskin & Shamblin)
			That was “Don’t Laugh At Me,” by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin.
			This is another Cat Faber song, though we’ve adjusted it slightly to give half the population their opportunities to help out. It’s called Underground Rail, and although it focuses on one specific injustice, the method has been used before and can be used again. What do you do about the marginalized, the ones forced outside the protection of unjust laws? Please look around you, ‘cause your answer is to your left and to your right.
5	[ogg]	[mp3]	Underground Rail (Faber)
			I wonder, sometimes, lately… what does it feel like to go extinct?
			This song is called “The Last Buffalo,” by Dave Carter.
6	[ogg]	[mp3]	Lord Of the Buffalo (Carter)
			Okay, now what’s it feel like NOT to go extinct? Also by Dave Carter, this is “The Gentle Arms of Eden.”
7	[ogg]	[mp3]	Gentle Arms of Eden (Carter)
			There’s more than one way of going extinct. We’re fighting to save the planet, yes, but also the people who live on it, and I don’t have to tell you that 99% of us are having real problems right now. This song is by Canadian songwriter James Keelaghan, called “Boom Gone to Bust,” and I wish that fewer of you could identify with it than probably can.
8	[ogg]	[mp3]	Boom Gone To Bust (Keelaghan)
			I mentioned the 99 percent a minute ago. It’s a figure used to talk about the poverty crisis because right now, one percent of the population of this country control almost half the available resources. It's not a new problem, though it's been getting worse lately.
			Les Rice and Pete Seeger wrote this in 1950; it’s called “Banks of Marble.”
9	[ogg]	[mp3]	Banks Of Marble (Rice)
			If your city doesn't have a branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement this winter, you can find them online. They’re the first populist effort that’s had any success in this war yet, and they need your help.
			When I was a kid we used to sing this at summer camp. I had no idea how long it would stick with me, and I still have no idea who wrote it or under what circumstances. Everyone else I’ve found who knows it says the same thing, so if any of you know where it came from, please tell me! It has several names, but I learned it as “The Dreamer.”
10	[ogg]	[mp3]	The Dreamer (unknown)
			Speaking of things I learned when I was a kid, this is from one of my son’s favorite books. It’s at the core of everything we’re saying here, so I hope you’ll understand why we’re including something that’s not a song at all. From “The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss:
11	[ogg]	[mp3]	The Lorax (Seuss/none)
			It’s hard to fight. You know it. I know it. And wars on two fronts are always harder. We’re not trying to tell you that summer camp songs will save the planet; it’s going to take hard work, and sometimes it’ll hurt like hell.
12	[ogg]	[mp3]	Sweet Survivor (Yarrow, Mann, Weil)
			That was “Sweet Survivor,” by Peter Yarrow and friends.
			There’s so many of us here with so many talents. So much heart. So much persistence. We can make it. Takes about fifty people writing individual letters – not ghostwritten and you sign it, your own words – to own your Congressman’s position on almost any subject on which he hasn’t already publicly committed himself. You all probably know how much pressure it took to kill SOPA, but that effort changed even people who had publicly committed themselves. “If you want to read the mystic story written in your future, you’d better start to write it now.”
13	[ogg]	[mp3]	Secret of the Crossroads Devil (Bingham)
			That was Christopher Bingham’s “Secret of the Crossroads Devil”, and we’re Lookingglass Folk. Thank you for listening, everyone. Our world needs us. Let’s get going.

Last modified: Sat May 12 22:03:39 PDT 2012