On Saturday, February 27, the Solidarity with Earth Defenders Concert features music by Los Mex Pistols Del Norte, Blackbird Raum and Samba Ja with special guest speakers Jeff “Free” Luers and Ramona Africa. Held in conjunction with the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon, this event is a benefit for the Civil Liberties Defense Center’s activist defense programs, as well as for Green Scare ecoprisoners Marie Mason, Briana Waters, and Eric McDavid.
Speakers:
Ramona Africa is the sole adult survivor of the May 13, 1985 massacre of eleven members of the MOVE organization. The FBI and the City of Philadelphia dropped a C4 bomb on MOVE’s 6221 Osage Avenue home in West Philadelphia. Carrying the young Birdie Africa (the only other survivor) with her, Ramona dodged gunfire and escaped from the fire with permanent scarring from the burns.
Eugene’s Jeff “Free” Luers is a environmental activist (and Fall Creek tree-sitter) who was sentenced to twenty-three and a half years in prison for making a political statement about global warning. He was recently released after serving ten years of that sentence.
Bands:
From one of the soggiest places in the nation, Eugene, Oregon, comes one of the best Latin-style bands in the country: Los Mex Pistols Del Norte. Don’t think of cumbias, or “La Bamba”. Think of a raging bull with a matador in his sights.
Los Mex Pistols Del Norte combine elements of traditional Paso Dobles (music played at bullrings to reward the participants of the bullfight), Tejana, Conjunto, Banda, Ranchera, Norteno, Spaghetti-Western and instrumental rock and roll to play to a wide variety of audiences. They have opened for several Grammy award-winning acts, including Los Lobos, Flaco Jimenez, Ozomatli, the Neville Brothers, as well as an assortment of other famous and well-established acts such as Pink Martini, surf guitar legend Dick Dale, rockabilly great The Reverend Horton Heat, and songwriter Jonathan Richman. The band also has played with famous Mexican acts such as Banda Los Lagos, and has won “battle of the bands” contests at Latino festivals. Music from the band’s cd, Esta Noche We Ride, has been featured in six films and one commercial.
Incorporating traditional instruments such as guitarronne, mandolin, accordions, trumpets, sousaphone, tympanis and concert chimes with electric and acoustic guitars and drums, as well as an organ, it is no wonder Los Mex Pistols Del Norte can play with almost anyone; they simply have other acts outgunned.
Blackbird Raum formed out of a squatter community living in abandoned buildings and greenbelt tree houses in Santa Cruz, CA in the early 2000′s. Finding themselves living without electricity, they began to learn to play folk instruments from each other and other members of the traveling punk/folk culture. They all grew up playing in anarchopunk, indie and ska bands and then, knowing next to nothing about traditional music, slowly gathered together the skills to create a new genre of music, based somewhere right in the middle of the two musical worlds they now inhabit.
Refusing the retro clichés of many of their contemporaries, they write entirely original music that is reflective of the world they live in: a world of abusive police, ecological devastation, creeping ambiguity and vague fear, but also a strong community sense and a deep love of a natural world constantly on the verge of collapse. They jump back and forth between extremely fast metal influenced jug band dancers to quasi-medieval chant and drone and to herky-jerky hardcore influenced time signature gymnastics. They have toured the country in a tiny truck, played mainstream folk festivals, punk houses, squats and all ages clubs.
Samba Já is Eugene’s own bateria — a thirty-member mobile percussion ensemble. They specialize in playing wild, funky, infectious and incredibly danceable street music from all over Brazil and the Americas, from the sounds of Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro to hip-hop tributes. Diverse, playful and innovative, Samba Já recently celebrated its eighth birthday as a not-for-profit groove cooperative.
The CLDC:
The Civil Liberties Defense Center is a nonprofit organization focused on defending and upholding civil liberties through education, outreach, litigation, legal support and assistance. The Civil Liberties Defense Center strives to preserve the strength and vitality of the Bill of Rights and the U.S. and state constitutions, as well as to protect freedom of expression.
Tickets are $10 advance, $12 at the door, available at WOW Hall or by calling 541-687-9180. Doors open at 6:30 pm and showtime is 7:00.
SHOWTIME: 7:00 PM, PRICE: $10 Advance, $12 Door.
