The Nightwatchman

Tom Morello Wants Your Vote

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:06:02 -0700

A news story on The Fix about Tom Morello's first endorsement of a political candidate was recently featured on the Current TV website homepage.

You can help The Nightwatchman spread the word by voting UP on the story. If the story gets to #1 -- it's at #3 as of June 29 -- it will be featured on the Current TV News Pod. This would help Tom in his efforts to spread the word about Cindy Sheehan, who is challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Congressional seat in California's 8th District - which covers most of San Francisco.

You can see the fur fly and vote right here.

"Feed the hungry, fight the power, and rock the fuck out." - The Nightwatchman

Justice Tour LA: All-Star Insane in the Membrane

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:13:37 -0700

Tom Morello, Slash, Wayne Kramer of The MC5, Steve Vai, Sen Dog and B Real of Cypress Hill and more...

Tom Morello announces Justice Tour

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:46:32 -0700

Tom Morello, the guitarist for Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave who plays firebrand folk guitar as The Nightwatchman, launches the Justice Tour in Los Angeles on April 15. The two-week outing stops in New York, New Orleans, Asheville, NC, Washington, DC and Boston before concluding with a May Day show in Chicago on May 1.

Each stop of the Justice Tour will include a day of activism to focus on a sphere of social justice in America: homelessness (Los Angeles), safe, secure and affordable housing (New Orleans), a living wage (Asheville), peace and veterans care (Washington, DC), affordable healthcare (Boston) and labor organizing (Chicago). In addition, Amnesty International’s TearItDown.org Campaign to Close Guantánamo, Project Noise and Morello’s own Axis Of Justice have joined as partner organizations throughout the tour. The itinerary also includes a previously announced show April 17 at New York’s Nokia Theater to benefit Road Recovery, a nonprofit that helps young people orge a future free from addiction and other adversities.

“There has been much talk about change this election season, but real change must start with people, not politicians. No matter who is elected, we the people must create justice on the ground,” said Morello, who will perform on the Justice Tour as The Nightwatchman.

Sharing the stage with The Nightwatchman will be different special guests on each stop of the Justice Tour. Among those who have signed on are Ben Harper, Slash, Perry Farrell, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Davey Havok of AFI, Boots Riley of the Coup, Maynard James Keenan of Tool and Puscifer, Shooter Jennings, State Radio, Mike Einzinger of Incubus and MC5 founder Wayne Kramer. In addition, each stop of the tour will include a local special guest artist.

While the tour’s activism highlights the hard work that must be done to achieve social justice, its mood is celebratory. “Each night of this tour is going to be a freedom party,” Morello said. “We are going to create a little bit of the world we’d like to see.”

“Throughout American history, progressive change has always been driven by activists who blow the winds of social change,” said Danny Goldberg, longtime activist and band manager and the author of How The Left Lost Teen Spirit. “Without such energy, even the most idealistic public officials cannot prevail against the self-interested partisans of the status quo.”

JUSTICE TOUR 2008 TOUR DATES

DATE CITY VENUE SOCIAL JUSTICE PARTNER

15-April Los Angeles, Troubadour, Axis of Justice and People Assisting the Homeless

17-April* New York, Nokia Theater, Road Recovery

20-April New Orleans, Parish Room at the House of Blues, Sweet Home New Orleans and Amnesty International

22-April Asheville, NC, Grey Eagle Tavern, Just Economics & Music Hall

24-April Washington, DC, Black Cat, Iraq Veterans Against the War

28-April Boston, TBA, HeathCare-Now

1-May Chicago, Park West, Service Employees Intl. Union

*This show is a previously announced benefit for Road Recovery, featuring Slash, Jerry Cantrell, Wayne Kramer and others.

TICKET INFORMATION

People’s price tickets are $10 for all shows except the April 17 Road Recovery benefit in New York. Proceeds from each show benefit the local social justice partner.

Los Angeles: Tickets on sale now at TicketMaster outlets, at ticketmaster.com, and at the Troubadour box office.

New York: Tickets for this previously announced benefit are $60, $100, and $250 and are on sale now at TicketMaster outlets and at ticketmaster.com.

New Orleans: Tickets on sale now at TicketMaster outlets, at ticketmaster.com, at the House of Blues box office and hob.com.

Asheville, NC: Tickets on sale now at www.thegreyeagle.com, or 800-594-TIXX, and at the Grey Eagle box office after 5 PM on a day with another event scheduled, at Harvest Records and at Orbit DVD.

Washington, DC: Tickets on sale now at TicketMaster outlets, at ticketmaster.com, and at the Black Cat box office between 8 PM and midnight.

Boston: TBA

Chicago: Tickets on sale now at TicketMaster outlets, at ticketmaster.com, and at the Park West box office.
LOCAL SOCIAL JUSTICE PARTNERS FOR JUSTICE TOUR 2008

Los Angeles (April 15): People Assisting the Homeless (PATH)

PATH’s mission is to break the cycle of homelessness by empowering homeless people with the tools for self-sufficiency. PATH provides services that help homeless people find work, save money, secure housing and empower their lives. www.epath.org

New York (April 17): Road Recovery

Road Recovery is a non-profit organization comprised of entertainment industry professionals whose lives have been touched by addiction and other adversities and who now wish to make a positive impact on the lives of others. Through mentoring, educational and live performance-based programs, Road Recovery's goal is to help young people find their way towards a healthy future. www.roadrecovery.org

New Orleans (April 20): Sweet Home New Orleans and Amnesty International

Sweet Home New Orleans works to revitalize the music and cultural community within the neighborhoods of New Orleans by helping the city’s tradition bearers access resources and secure stable, affordable housing. www.sweethomeneworleans.org

Amnesty International, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights organization, established a New Orleans-based project after Hurricane Katrina to address human rights concerns for displaced residents returning to the Gulf Coast. The office also produces educational materials, holds local trainings and organizes events for community members to develop advocacy skills. www.musicforhumanrights.com

Asheville, NC (April 22): Just Economics

The mission of Just Economics is to educate, advocate, and organize for equitable economic conditions, increased union representation, and a fair share for all in the prosperity of our region, regardless of race, gender, or citizenship status. www.justeconomicswnc.org

Washington, DC (April 24): Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)

IVAW, an organization leading the movement of veterans and GIs working to bring troops back now, aims to mobilize the military community to withdraw its support for the war and occupation in Iraq. IVAW is also the beneficiary of the Body of War film and CD. www.ivaw.org

Boston (TBA): HealthCare-Now

HealthCare-Now is a national grassroots organization dedicated to the passage of universal, single-payer health care for all. The group is based in New York City and has chapters and membership throughout the US. www.healthcare-now.org

Chicago (May 1): Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

SEIU is an organization of more than 1.9 million members united by the belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide, and dedicated to improving the lives of workers and their families and creating a more just and humane society. www.seiu.org

TOUR PARTNERS FOR JUSTICE TOUR 2008

TearItDown.org—Amnesty International's Campaign to Close Guantánamo
Tear It Down.org is Amnesty International's global online campaign to close Guantánamo and end illegal U.S. detentions. Amnesty International is calling on US authorities to charge Guantánamo detainees and give them fair trials or release them immediately and unconditionally. Amnesty International is also calling on US authorities to stop subjecting detainees to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Amnesty International will have a presence at all shows to engage audiences in this campaign. www.musicforhumanrights.com

Project Noise
Project Noise is an organization founded on the conviction that music is a powerful and unifying force of change. Formed in San Francisco in 2008, Project Noise is committed to maximizing the impact of musicians and organizations working together for change by utilizing the evolving convergence of music, technology, media and the internet-empowered individual. Through partnership with musicians and organizations, Project Noise aims to support their efforts, amplify their message to greater awareness, and mobilize and empower their supporters to act as effective participants. www.project-noise.org

Axis of Justice
Axis of Justice is a non-profit organization formed by Tom Morello and Serj Tankian to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice. AOJ aims to build a bridge between fans of music around the world and local political organizations to effectively organize around issues of peace, human rights, and economic justice. www.axisofjustice.org

ABOUT TOM MORELLO
Tom Morello's great uncle was the first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, and his mother, Mary Morello, founded an anti-censorship organization. Harlem-born and Libertyville, IL-bred, Morello graduated with honors from Harvard University in Political Science. His previous bands, Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, have collectively sold 30 million albums and have won two Grammys; Audioslave was the first U.S. band to play Cuba. In 2007, Morello released his first solo album, the hard-left, acoustic One Man Revolution, under the name The Nightwatchman. The Nightwatchman recently contributed a track to Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran, a 2-CD benefit collection for Justice Tour partner Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Morello was named one of Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitar Players," at #26. He has produced artists as diverse as Puff Daddy, Indigo Girls, Joe Strummer, KRS-1, Wu Tang Clan, Crystal Method and Anti-Flag, and has scored such films as Collateral, Charlie's Angels, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and XXX: State of the Union. Morello hosts the weekly radio show Axis of Justice Radio Network on KPFK Los Angeles and various syndicated stations. He was the recipient of the 2006 Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award.

Hotel Cafe 12/6 Review by Carol Gronner

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:34:27 -0800

You know that every Nightwatchman show at the Hotel Cafe is going to be
nuts ... but last night was a whole other animal - a Party Animal!

Whereas last week's show was super great, it had a more serious feel to
it. Last night was sweatier, boozier, more, er, smoggy inside, and
people wanted to just party!

{By the way, I know these stories are long. There is no other way to
relay it all to you, so too bad!}

Per usual, The Nightwatchman kicked off the night with his fiery,
"Flesh Shapes The Day" and had the crowd clapping and hooting along from the
first chorus. At it's end, he even commented, "That's pretty
rhythmic and sexy for a Thursday night". He mentioned that GWB claimed
secret prisons and torture going on in Iraq for the excuse to invade, when
that's exactly what we've been doing ever since. It really is our duty
to get this fool out of office, "by any means necessary", and he
launched into the new "King of Hell" - not exactly "Deck The Halls", and his
point was well taken.

The night was, as ever, a benefit for Axis Of Justice to feed the
homeless of our fair city - and I'm happy to report that the doorman had
EVERYONE paying this week! Eat up, fine friends of Los Angeles!

Yeeeeee-ah.

Nitewatch introduced "The Garden of Gethsemane" as his own favorite
from his album (which should have been Grammy nominated in the fiery Folk
category - grrr - but good for Steve Earle!), "One Man Revolution".

Total silence and respect for the beautiful music, so much so that he
sang part of it away from the mic, and you could hear him perfectly. To
balance that out and re-stoke the fire, next came, "House Gone Up In
Flames". We whistled and shouted in mad appreciation and he said,
"It is my pleasure to serve you", with a smile - and you know this guy
means it. It would be real hard to find someone who plays with more
passion on every single song - just watch his face. Man!

The Disco Ball - I mean, Jonny Polonsky (in the sparkliest shirt ever)
- played two songs next, which I didn't hear great because the crowd
got a little lost and chatty during them, but I intend to learn more
about this fellow. It's great because in addition to all the superstars
that play this gig - you always get turned on to someone new (to you) as
well. Shine on, Jonny!

Who should appear next, but Wayne Kramer, of "the MCmotherfucking5" as
Tom introduced him. His set was like the coolest poetry reading
you've ever been to, accompanied by his own acoustic guitar with no strap.

I'm just going to tell you a bunch of lyrics because they were so
good, that's all you need to know to imagine how well they were received.

"Some motherfucker is pissing on my grave, how much irrigation can I
stand?"

"There's something broken in the Promised Land."

"My cat sings along with all my old Smokey Robinson records."
"Where's Lee Harvey Oswald now that we really need him?"
(which got the loudest cheer of the night thus far)
"We're having a revolution in Apartment 29, with Hot to Trotsky-ites
... we'll plan a manifesto, just after chips and pesto ... with homeless
and comb-less chicks from the beach ... we'll bring The Man to his
knees and do what we fucking please!"
(another crowd pleaser)
His last jazzy song was about Charles Bukowski and how he misses him
(don't we all?). "We'd drink whiskey and talk about God. We were
DEEP. But mostly we were drunk. Hank would talk about peace, when he
could find it." And the song ended with the resonant reminder that,
"Kindness is just about the best we can do." Amen, Brother!

Now that everyone was warmed up, FLEA and the "Flea Family Orchestra"
(uh, that would be Mr. Perry Farrell, Carl Restivo, Etty Farrell,
Breckin Meyer, Jonny P. shredding the electric guitar, and yes, Tom) came
up to take it all a notch higher, with in fact, "Higher Ground"! Perry
and Carl took over the vocals and Flea played that bass like you know
he does. They even a had a guy on the horn (Willie Waldman),
screaming with that thing! It got even hotter (and drunker) in there when
this crazyquilt of a group next played, "Bust A Move" with Carl as Young
MC! Flea made that party anthem his OWN with the funkiest bass solo
alive, just SICK.

After that, and with people needing oxygen, they grooved it up with
Perry as Tom Petty on "Breakdown". For this one they brought up the
Aussie Posse of Nick Maybury and Stella Mozgawa from the Oz band, Mink.

(Check out their version of "Little Drummer Boy", Stella-r) Stella was
on drums, which I love, and they brought it. Welcome to Los Angeles,
guys! This is what happens at the Hotel Cafe in the U.S.A.

As I mentioned, this night felt like more of a party, with pretty much
everyone crammed on the tiny stage the whole time, and with sillier,
partier songs ... like the one Perry intro'd as "a strange one that Flea
just taught me". I didn't catch the title, but it went, "You can be
my dog, I can be your tree, so you can pee on me". You get the vibe -
back-room jam. This may sound trite if you weren't there, but it
evolved into maybe my favorite of the night. Tom requested a Flea solo -
which he got and it was bezerk. SO Tom returned the favor ... he
swapped guitars with Jonny P., trading his acoustic for the electric (in a
double- whammy-reverse-Dylan BACK to electric). Tom said, "You are in
for eight bars of guitar fury" and a guy in the crowd yelled out,
"OHHHHHHHH Shit!" and everyone went absolutely bonkers as Tom played that
thing with his TEETH (ala Hendrix) to start the solo, then switched to
the traditional fingers with no loss of pizazz at all. MADNESS
ensued. It was one happy sweat-box in there, just imagine!

Now it was Satellite Party's turn to take the lead and Perry continued
to try out new songs on the audience. The first was "Slasher" - an
homage to Etty, who backed up her man when he went to a guy's house to
retrieve stolen music equipment, and didn't exactly slash his tires, but
if she did, it would be hard to do. Not that they would know. Nick
and Stella again rounded out the band, and it was FUN. The chorus
went, "You do it for me" and you got the feeling anyone would do anything
for them at this point, for real. Then, already by request, "Nasty
Little Perv", the song they debuted last week about molesters on t.v.

It has caught on after two plays! With the usual smile, Perry
introduced the next one, saying, "Here's an old one" - and they busted into,
"Been Caught Stealing". One might say it was a crowd pleaser ... the
ENTIRE crowd sang along, with every word. It was like being stuffed
back into your college party house basement in there, singing your
favorite tune along with your best pals. SO fun.

Tom took this goodwill opportunity to remind people that you could
donate all night to Axis Of Justice, and when met with applause, said,
"Don't just clap and then not do it, motherfuckers". That's right.

Bringing it back, he said, "I know the Hotel Cafe is delicate, but let's
ROCK!" And that we did. To the Porno for Pyros tune, "Pets". Etty
appropriately prowled around the stage like a cat - in heat - much to
the guys in the house's pleasure. Estrogen was also provided by
Ginger from The Smashing Pumpkins. It got hotter in there, to say the
least.

Knowing this group, you would never have anticipated the next tune ...
"Umbrella" with Carl as Rhianna! This brought on another mass
sing-along, funnily, and perhaps served as a raindance, since L.A. finally got
some rain starting up while we were inside. Pure comedy.

Then the poetic Wayne Kramer was brought back up, and lest you forget
how hard he can rock, he was the leader of MC5! (As Tom said, if you
don't know, "Google it" - immediately) There was some disorder getting
set up, which only added to the house party atmosphere. They played
the rather obscure and bluesy, "25 Miles" by Edwin Starr, which was fun,
but THEN it was time to KICK. OUT. THE. JAMS! Tom yelled at everyone
to get up, "Even you, Indie Dude, yes, YOU!" Wayne took the lead on
his mega-classic and the whole makeshift band was exploding with how
EPIC it all was, none more than Tom. Wayne even throw in some "Michigan
style cave walk" I think he said, prompting Tom to say, "Let's hear it
for showmanship, people!" I actually hurt a little today from the
head-banging, and I'm totally fine with it.

I couldn't believe the next song. I was there at it's conception,
when Tom would have jams in his studio and we would all write phrases on
slips of paper and he would turn them into group songs that were
hilarious, but also pretty good for a bunch of drinkers. The one that has
always survived as a party motto was played for last night's group of
drinkers, and "Shake My Shit" was unveiled to the masses. Tom made up
some heavy-ish verses in between and they all led back to the chorus of:
"But all I wanna do is just shake my shit, just shake my shit
tonight!" And I promise you, shit was shook. It was so funny to see that
backyard jam become a Hollywood crowd pleaser. And the sentiment was all
true, for sure, on this night.

And then Sen-Dog from Cypress Hill was brought up to put a capper on it
all. You can tell it's the end of the night when this happens, as it
turns into a messy, fun, crowd-moving THROW DOWN. Sen lit up a jay
from the stage and again treated the party to the familiar rhymes of
"Insane In The Membrane", "Rock Superstar", a little "Bring The Noise",
which all became the Cypress and Rage hybrid of "Kill A Man". Awww,
yeah! The end brought a scatty, beat-box-off between Sen and Perry that
you had to hear to believe (You Tube, anyone?). Too much. But not
quite enough yet ...

The finale was House Of Pain's "Jump Around"! The perfect party jam
of party jams! Tom is a great group conductor, making the crowd "break
it down", and "Jump, Jump!", creating total frenzy the whole time.

It started to get a little sloppy (as I mentioned, drinks and jays,
folks) towards the end, so Tom intervened and said, "I have a
suggestion". He took the mic and started the "Killing In The Name" chant, "Some of
those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses". Let's just
say it worked. The crowd picked up that chant, screaming along, and
Tom brought it all back to "JUMP! JUMP!!" until the entire building was
jumping along in unison -
{City Inspectors: You might want to check the foundations on
Cahuenga. Safety first!}
- and the kids inside were more stoked than they even knew they could
be. Tom yelled out, "Take it easy, but take it!" and that was that.

The party was over - until next week!

As for the jams ... as Brother Kramer opined, "We done KICKED 'EM
OUT!"

- Carol "Dave" Gronner

*Special honorable mentions must be made of Carl Restivo and Breckin
Meyer. Carl - once he learns Etty's dance moves - could actually fill
every slot on that stage, he's insane. AND he is the music director
for Paul Green's School of Rock in Hollywood - teaching little kids how
to grow up and rock the house like these cats do every week. That's
something the future needs absolutely. And Breckin ... great father,
actor, friend that he is, drumming is not his day job, but you would
never know it. With little to no practice together, every week he comes
along and holds the beat tight on any kind of song, with every different
band, random though they may be. Gigantic CHEERS to both!

A Holiday Gift from The Nightwatchman

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:30:11 -0800

Well the holidays are here and the spirit of giving is in the air. Please accept and enjoy as a humble gift the free download of "Stars
Of Orion". A number of fans have requested it, and who is the
Nightwatchsanta to say no? Thanks so much for all your support throughout 2007. I very much look forward to bringing you more
Nightwatchman music and rabble rousing in 2008!
-Tom Morello

http://nightwatchmanmusic.com/email/nw120607.html

Highlights of The Night(watchman)

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:29:01 -0800

Hightlights of the Night(watchman)

Two new Nightwatchman songs. That's the lead.

'King of Hell' is the opener, and it's rhythm-y and low. It maybe
borrows some pieces from some (unpublished?) Nightwatchman numbers?
Still, it's good -- an appropriately ambiguous set of words for the
chorus and not too many two-syllable rhymes. A worthwhile addition to
the Nightwatchman canon.

Then 'Guerilla Radio,' with the two-pronged dedication to striking
writers and GH3 players. The Nightwatchman is in fine form tonight,
both vocally and guitar-ily. Is he playing sober?

I wrote a few things down during 'Rise to Power.' One was that this is
what happens when Nightwatchman songs are allowed to mix and breed. It
has more 2-syllable rhymes than King of Hell. It's beautiful like
Garden of Gethsename. It might be the Nightwatchman's 'Beth.' It also
seems to be pretty commie, and maybe gay, but not in a bad way. I
liked it. The crowd liked it. But it's unusual.

Then 'Road I Must Travel,' with the crowd used like sled dogs. Again,
I noted that the Nightwatchman's vocals were strong, tonight.

Then Jill Sobule, who's always good. Not as great as she should be,
but always really good. The WGA song is nice, but confusing to me as a
WGA guy. It's not clear if it's folk parody or an earnest plea for
entertainment writers. Of course, that's the whole problem with the
WGA strike. It's kind of a strike -- and it's also kind of a really
tough business negotiation.

Lowstar comes out and does a medley. These guys are great and, well,
weird. There are three of them, and they play three very different
songs. The Bulls on Parade cover is confusing but catchy. The
original, 'Justified?' is kind of gospel-ish. These guys need to be
more hard core, even if that means the sweetest motherfucking harmonies
that have ever been sung. Right now, it still feels like they're
dabbling. My advice is that they need to get so serious about it that
they don't laugh anymore, ever. Then they'll be great in a way where
being weird won't matter.

'Fucking Up' is a nice bar song. Who wrote it?

Then Perry Farrell and his wife and Karl come out and Perry looks like
he went to the gym and got dressed by a first-year stylist. It's a
good look, but there's suddenly no Silverlake in the man. Odd. 'Under
the Tahitian Moon' comes off very grown-up and nice. Has he been going
to the gym? 'Nasty Little Perv' is a nice Satellite Party song. But
he loses faith, or interest, or something, with 'Celebrate,' so they do
'Love Feedback' and he shows us why he's great all over again. Plus,
the lovely wife seems to belong on stage with him now. She sings. Who
knew? She's good.

Then a Jane's Addiction song, 'Aint' No Right,' but it's not one of the
all-time great Jane's Addiction songs. But that's okay, because it's
not where this set crescendos.

'Brand New Cadillac' is where it happens, partly because it's just so
out of left field for Perry, partly because it's a great song.

But then, wham, everything stops, and we get this guy Kenna and his
piano sandwiched between 'Brand New Cadillac' and 'Cum on Feel the
Noize.' And he's kind of awesome -- maybe because of the stuff he's
put in between. He's more than 'kind of' awesome, in fact. It's
actually a big and unexpected moment for everyone in the room.

Then things just go off the hook, from the two up-tempo dead-guy songs
(Bye, Joe and Kevin) to the rock being let out of the bag. Sen Dog
misses some lyrics for the first time in my memory, but it doesn't
matter. 'Whole Lotta Love' is in there somewhere, with a huge
man-crush coming out between the two vocalists, and Tom's mom swears
enthusiastically when it's requested. It all works. And as always,
the ending doesn't disappoint.

Hotel Cafe Review - Nov 28th by Carol Gronner

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:27:32 -0800

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Nightwatchman is BACK at the Hotel Cafe! After a tour that saw him riling up much of the world, last night saw his return to the hometown jam that kicked it all off. MORE to be thankful for!

{A bit of housekeeping before we get started ... I was blessedly happy to be on the guest list, but as it is a night to benefit Axis of Justice's work to feed the homeless of Los Angeles, I am more than happy to pony up the "people's price" of a $10 cover. The doorman was extra surprised, and said, "how nice of you" - leading me to believe that paying guest-listers are scarce. As the list is pretty huge and the venue pretty small, doing the math makes it seem like more homeless could be eating more if EVERYONE paid to get in. Just think about it. Thank you.}

SO, it is once again ON on Cahuenga! I practically skipped inside, with really nothing on my mind other than, "Tra la la, lucky me! I get to hear crazygood music all night long from superstars in a space not much bigger than a city bus, fa la la!" While standing around waiting for the show to begin, I asked the guy by himself next to me if he'd been to any of these shows before. He replied that he'd been blown away by the one Ben Harper played at, but sadly, had to miss The Nightwatchman's c.d. release show because he'd been in Iraq, and in fact, had just returned from there. Gulp. As a gal who thinks Kucinich is a bit too conservative for my tastes, I gritted my teeth and prepared to steel myself for a heap of jingoism. Instead, Jeff O'Brien from the U.S. Navy told me he's against the war, and had signed up after 9/11 in a burst of patriotism after volunteering in NYC. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "You know that had nothing to do with Iraq, right?" He did. He wanted to go to Afghanistan, where he too thought the fight was to be fought, but that was not to be. He told me the soldiers really are doing a lot of humanitarian work, and that's why he's ok to be there. That if they ALL left now, it would be genocide, but that the surge was truly unnecessary. And that he put an "Axis of Justice" sticker on one of Sadaam's palaces (Jeff, you MUST send me or AOJ that photo! I'm sure it will be worth all of these words).

Jeff had been in line since 3:00 that afternoon (and paid $TWENTY$ to get in, because it supports AOJ, Bless him and take note, Deep Pockets), because he loves music and misses it dearly when overseas. He came alone because his buddies don't get it like he does. The smile on his face and the pure JOY just to be there put a distinctly different appreciation on the night for me right from the beginning ... and so it began.

The Nightwatchman took the stage to whistles and cheers, from the crowd who knew what they were in for. He introduced his first song as a new one, about the breaths in between water-boarding, and the moments before electric shocks (all of which had deeper resonance with Jeff standing next to me), and fired up, "King of Hell". Heavy, people, heavy. He's so right. This merged into the song that will be sung in the streets when GWB is finally brought to trial for war crimes ... the bluesy version of "Guerilla Radio". The vocal chords of the room were all present and accounted for after that, I assure you. The next one was dedicated to the WGA Strikers and to the Guitar Hero III players (who, if good enough, can unlock a virtual version of Tom shredding!) like me, who got carpal tunnel trying on Thanksgiving. He asked for and received silence, and played another GORGEOUS song called, "Rise To Power". The beauty - and weaponry - of the acoustic guitar on a number like this cannot be overstated. It prompted one fellow in the room to yell out, "You're GOOD!", at it's end, rendering The Nightwatchman momentarily speechless (an absolute rarity, and good humor). To complete his set, the "1 Smash hit", "The Road I Must Travel". The crowd bellowed out the "Na Na Na Na!!!" chorus emphatically, and the night was off to a rousing start.

Jill Sobule was invited to the stage next. She is simply adorable. She introduced her first song (with Michelle Lewis) as "trying to be like The Nightwatchman", and also threw down for the WGA. The chorus went, "We are the writers, and we are the wronged!" Brilliant. She mentioned that she has a blog on Yahoo Music and most people on there tell her to go to hell, so maybe we could go on there and give some props. I will! Her next was a "positive song about drug use in high school" - "Cinnamon Days" (with Dave Gibbs). To round out her set, she brought up the house band (tonight, Carl Restivo, Breckin Meyer, Tom and Dave) and they got everyone shaking with, "I Will Survive". Fresh.

Hello, Low Stars! Dave Gibbs, Jeff Russo and Chris Seefried could really double as CSNY, anyday. To wit, they opened with Y's, "Southern Man". 70's Laurel Canyon rock is back! Phew! Then, per Tom's request, their stellar version of, "Bulls On Parade"! "Rally round the family, with a pocket full of shells" takes on a whole new sheen when sung in a lush three-part harmony. Insta-classic. And speaking of lush, as well as smooth, nuanced and any other word for lovely, their "Justified" made me title this just that. Wowzers. They too brought up the house band (with the bonus of Ginger from the Smashing Pumpkins on bass) to close their set with a aptly-titled ditty called, "Fucking Up". Rock and Roll is fun!

The Nightwatchman remained on stage to introduce the next band with a great anecdote. When he was new to town, he sneaked in to see his favorite band rehearse, transfixed. They later invited his band (Rage Against The Machine) to open for them. When Tom went backstage at their Castaic Lake show, he opened their dressing room door to see nothing but "Booze, drugs and topless chicks", giving him a whole new view of the rock scene. With that, he brought up Perry Farrell (!), Carl Restivo and Etty Farrell from Perry's new band, Satellite Party.

Clad in a tight red t-shirt and tiny jeans, Perry could be mistaken for someone just starting out himself. He bounced onto the stage and said, "I remember that", with a knowing smile. In fact, I don't think I've EVER seen him without a smile. And it is madly infectious - everyone in the room was Cheshire grinning. They opened with Porno for Pyro's, "Under The Tahitian Moon", done acoustically so that it became almost a lullaby. One of my favorites made even more beautiful. Next they played a new song, inspired by the "To Catch A Predator" series on t.v. that busts molesters (they'd watched an 8 hour marathon of it on Thanksgiving). "Nasty Little Perv" was pointed and funny all at once - in classic Perry form. They then started to play the buoyant Satellite Party tune, "Celebrate" - but aborted it, due in part to "one too many Crown and Cokes". Instead, luckily for us, they played another new song, never played anywhere before. "Love Feedback" was written for when a man and a woman ("or man and man, woman and woman") are really getting it on and feeling that "Love thing". With (superhot) Etty's ethereal soprano harmony and Carl's pretty guitar and Perry's Perry-ness, they had the room in the palms of their hands. LOVE feedback is indeed what they got at it's end! THEN - they brought everyone up to play Jane's "Ain't No Right". And we smiled bigger (I think I got a new wrinkle, but it was worth it).

The whole group stayed up there to play "Brand New Cadillac" by The Clash. It's amazing how old classics sound brand new, yet still classic, when you get a distinct voice like Perry's singing them. The house was el ROCKING-o!

Which made the complete and utter silence that came next all the more remarkable. Tom took the mic and introduced a gorgeous young man I'd never heard of (but Soldier Jeff had - he even knew his label, that he was produced by Pharrell, the name of his album, etc ...), fresh from the airport who had wanted to participate in a good cause, named Kenna. He seemed shy, and said if we knew his music, it is "really over-produced, with a lot of flashing lights" so to be just him and the piano was new and "kind of cool". He turned the piano bench small-side-in, and proceeded to make us all fall in love with him on a song called, "Sunday After You". And in deeper love with, "Baptized In Blacklight". Uh, if we didn't know him before ... we do now. I looked him up when I got home, and Yikes! How we heard him sounds nothing like his recorded stuff - what a rare treat for us, and what a true talent to discover. You just never know what's going to happen on a Nightwatchman night at The Hotel, that's for certain.

What you DO know, however, is that it will R-O-C-K in the U.S.A! Tom next squeezed up the entire circus on the stage and dedicated the next one to someone who inspired him to drive his 1985 Astrovan due West to where the ROCK was happening - Quiet Riot's Kevin Dubrow, who passed away this week. This group played, "Cum On Feel The Noize" like never heard before! Carl Restivo again proved his rock to be chameleon and SANG that thing - as did the crowd. "We get WILD, WILD, WILD!!!" It was so great, you guys. Jeff next to me said, "This stuff you cannot explain". I told him I'd try, but still ... it really was one of those you had to see to believe's.

Sen Dog from Cypress Hill joined the ruckus for the finale jam, and you know what that means - "Insane in the Membrane!" Sen cutely apologized for all the swearing to The Nightwatchmother, Mary, who blessed the joint with her presence. All was forgiven and he tore into P.E.'s, "Bring The Noise" - No problem, Sir. The noise was BROUGHT! That became "Rock Superstar", which then became Zeppelin's, "Whole Lotta Love" - with Perry Farrell as Robert Plant, People! (Sen touchingly spoke with awe to Perry as "what Elvis was to people in the 50's, Perry Farrell is to modern rock" and you could see P.F. was touched. True moments.)

And there definitely was a WHOLE lotta love in that building. For music, for these rockers, for each other, for freedom, and most especially, for justice. The finale finale was Tupac's "California Love", continuing the vibe out into the night, and ideally, out into the world.

The best part is you too can join in the fun the next two Thursdays! You just don't know how great it is until you experience it for yourselves, or who in the rock pantheon will show up. I know I'll be there, I know Jeff O'Brien of the Navy (I never got his rank, I just know that to me, it is Top) will be there, probably in line at 3, to get more of his music fix before he has to ship out again. So buy him a beer, tell him thanks, and recognize the power of music - to sustain, to transport, and to bring about change in this land that we ALL love.

- Carol Gronner
(or if you prefer, The Blonde Blogshell, as I was just called)

WGA Review

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:26:10 -0800

WGA review

The whole country pretty much knows by now that the Writer's Guild is on strike. To most of them, it just means all of a sudden there's only repeats of Letterman on, and why do those fancy-pants rich writers need more money, just give us our shows back. But to the members of the Guild (and for those trying to be in the Guild, ahem), it really is about Respect.

Last Friday saw a phenomenal gathering of writers (and those who support them) come together to show their force, their solidarity, their wit, and their UNION - in every sense of the word. The call went out to meet at the Fox studios in Century City en masse, on Day 5 of the Writer's Guild Strike. The call was answered, by the thousands. As writing is a mostly solitary endeavor, it was extremely moving to see so many come together (even as many squinted from being unused to the sun).

I soon figured out that it was a BIG deal ... first, from how far away I had to park, and second, from the many helicopters hovering over the site (which I later found interesting that it didn't seem to be covered in the "news" - much like the national peace protests ...hmm). People decked out in the strike colors of red, black and white, streamed from all directions towards the growing roar from Century Park East. I weaved my way through the dense crowds, looking for faces I knew, but it didn't really matter if I found them, all the faces were friendly. Even the Cops.

Yes, this was not your May Day in L.A. protest, to be sure. The Fuzz (some of them even Hot) were super-polite. Reps from the agencies in town and other guilds had people going through the ruly crowds with snacks on trays - oddly, mostly churros - and bottled drinks. There was a lot of laughter. It was evident that rubber bullets were not about to fly. About the only thing in common was the principle of it all, and that the Bat (Night?) Signal had gone out from both to The Nightwatchman.

I squished through the picket signs and bodies just in time to hear The Nightwatchman belting out his "Union Song" ("Standing UP, and standing STRONG!") to the cheering throngs. Then half of Rage Against The Machine (Tom and Zack) performed an acoustic version of "Bulls On Parade"! Trust me, it is still as powerful, if not more, unplugged. The image of the docile writer was shattered then and there - the place was PUMPED.

Then the Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke, throwing down some good old fashioned call and response. He too enjoys a good strike/fight. WGA President, Patric Verrone, spoke to the fired up crowd. Chief Negotiator, John Bowman. WGA Executive Director, David Young. SAG ( a strong presence and ally) President, Alan Rosenberg. The television legend, Norman Lear. Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) gave a humorous speech, ending in the voice of his character, Stewie, shouting, "Victory will be ours!"

And that has to be true. Because it's not about some wealthy t.v. writer that makes $200,000 (the number being thrown about for some reason) and wanting more, because all those "Hollywood People" are greedy. It's about stories, and the people who create them. I still don't at all get why, but writers have not been properly respected since the earliest days of film and television. There's even jokes about it (which I won't perpetuate here). Without the writers, the $25 million per picture movie star would have nothing to say. The Hot Shot director would have no action to shout over. Every last person that makes this a "Company Town" would have no company, because the company would have no content .... Dig? You can already feel the wells drying up all over town. After one week.

People can gripe about the "selfish" writers, and how they're "causing" other people in the industry to be laid off from their jobs, and all that. But that's what happens in a strike. Hotel workers know that rooms will not be cleaned if they strike, and that loses the Hotel Owner money. Airline workers know that flights will not depart without them, and that will lose the Airline Companies their money. It is a desperate tool, for desperate circumstances, and one of the few things that can work. Strikes are ugly, which is why they should be prevented through fair bargaining in the first place. That did not happen in this case, so any who want to blame the writers for anything, really need to look at the bigger picture, the bigger pockets = The Studio Heads.

In 1988, Writers, well, bent over. They agreed to a deal that screwed them royally on cable and video royalties, while the studios made BANK. They've whimpered about it, sure, over the years, but now that their last contract ended, and there's a whole new and future world of DVD's, internet, and whatever comes next (Brain chips for movies on demand when you shut your eyes? You never know ...) they're just not going to make the same mistake twice/thrice. As one of the speakers said, even if the studios/corporate Man agreed to EVERY point the WGA is going for (which would never happen, that's why they're The Man), it would still not come close - as a whole GUILD - to what the Corporate CEO's take home. And what did they create?

In a drastic analogy, it's a bit like our soldiers out there, busting ass for little pay amid holy hell, trying to create a new country out of the remnants of Iraq ... to come home to shoddy benefits, meager pensions, little respect for an unpopular (and, um, illegal) war ... only to see the heads of Halliburton robbing our treasury blind to fatten themselves up even fatter. Only writers are trying to create a new idea, new stories (amid development hell) that will entertain and inform (I exclude, of course, people that contribute to the likes of "Nacho Libre" and its ilk) the entire world - but the studios who earn BILLIONS can't cough up an extra 3 cents per DVD (just one crazy example among many) to the person/s who created the entire thing out of their imagination, alone at their writing desk. It's disgusting. And ridiculous.

When you start to think it's a fight between a bunch of spoiled babies ... consider the writer, who let's say DID make $200,000 per project (not the majority of the Guild, p.s.). Judging from my own personal experience at how maddeningly LOOOOOONG it takes to get anywhere NEAR your project getting made ... if they made that on one job, and it takes them, oh, five years to get the next thing made - then they're not living off very much to feed, clothe, and educate their families, to drive, go to a movie someone else wrote (grrrr!), get a new computer to replace your ancient one that always crashes before a deadline ... necessary life stuff that makes the residuals and tiny rate bumps EXTREMELY important.

I realized while standing up the other day for a Guild I'm not even a part of yet (YET, People!), surrounded by all the cool people who make up your favorite shows, who wrote that line from "Caddyshack" your husband always quotes, who made you cry like a little kid, laugh til you almost wet your pants, feel pride, feel angry, simply who made you FEEL - that they could be substituted for WE. Our whole country is being/has been taken over by CORPORATIONS. The middle class (most of whom present at this rally are part of) is disappearing. It is increasingly a scenario of Rich vs. Poor. But not if we can FINALLY Stand UP! Stand STRONG! DEMAND CHANGE! Together.

So the next time you pass the picketers if you're in L.A. - HONK, because you kind of get it now. Wave because you don't want The Money to keep them/you/us down anymore. And start getting your own people united to stand together to fix what you're unhappy about - wherever you live, whatever you do. When you feel the true power that comes from standing up for a noble cause, you get the feeling that change really is possible (P.S.S. - Go Obama!).

To steal from a writer present at this jam ... "It has to start somewhere, it has to start sometime. What better place than here, what better time than NOW?!"

Go on, get out there!

SiCKO

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:31:12 -0800

Families featured in Michael Moore's "SiCKO" adopt "Alone Without You" as theme song for their campaign for health care justice:

We were alone. We were afraid. Unforgiveable, but true. But not any more. Now we are a group of citizens joined to fight for free, universal health care for every American. We are American Patients for Universal Health Care (apuhc.com).

And we have Tom's song, 'Alone Without You' as our anthem and our battle cry. If you saw Michael Moore's 'SiCKO' then you heard the song and you saw many of us -- the people battered by the broken U.S. health care system.
Visit our website, apuhc.com, and tell your story -- you are not alone. Join us at one of our solidarity vigils for health care justice on Sept. 28 (in Washington , D.C. , Chicago , Kansas City or Denver ) -- see http://apuhc.com/default.htm for more details or visit http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/blog/. Give us a bit of a donation if you want to -- we have little but our spirits to carry on.
We want to change this world. Universal, single-payer health care is a human right. No one should die or suffer because they could not get care. Join us. We're alone without you.

Peace,
Don na Smith
American SiCKO
Founder, American Patients for Universal Health Care

The Nightwatchman speaks about the movie "Berkeley" and his new song "Stars of Orion"

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:30:43 -0800

A close friend of The Nightwatchman, a gentleman named Tom Morello, appears in the upcoming movie "Berkeley." Berkeley was directed by Bobby Roth who directs episodes of "Lost" and "Prison Break" and is a good sixties-era radical who has made the coming of age story of Berkeley an analogy for today's war-torn times. There are two Nightwatchman songs featured in the film. An early recording of "The Road I Must Travel" rolls over the end credits and a new song, "The Stars of Orion" is featured in the film (with me singing and playing drums!). In the movie, I play a Vietnam War veteran who smokes a lot of weed (quite a challenge to my acting skills as I have never smoked pot. I've never even smoked a cigarette. So they had to provide a Faux-Week Smoking Coach), plays drums in a college band, and pens "The Stars of Orion" which is featured in the film. For your listening pleasure, we've posted a acoustic version of the song; a full band version of the song (complete with guitar solo) appears in the film.

Chicago review with Brigade member- Jill Haley!

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:29:50 -0800

A review of the Chicago show on October 12th at the Vic Theatre:

Recipe for Revolution

One part the Nightwatchman
Two parts Serj Tankian

Start with introductions by Mary Morello, stir in the rabble-rousing folk rock
ala Tom Morello, and add a heaping trough of Serj Tankian. Pulverize until
sparks fly or smoke alarms shriek.

Tom Morello came home to Chicago on Friday, October 12 and brought a friend with him: Serj Tankian. To be honest, I was there to see the Nightwatchman and wished he headlined the bill, but was intrigued to hear Serj's newest album, Elect the Dead. Serj and his band came on stage wearing suits and top hats. They were energizing, entertaining and sufficiently quirky. The highlight of his set for me was an old Dead Kennedy's cover of Holiday in Cambodia and the Unthinking Majority, a song that answers the question, "How did this happen?" Simple. Antidepressants and denial.

Tom Morello was the raging red star of the show. He understands the value of a stripped- down, bare bones performance. Short and savory, a seven song set opened the flood gates for Serj. His acoustic guitar fired off songs that were reminiscent of 60's folk heroes with a bit of punk and funk thrown in for good
measure. Morello sings of a more organized work force, of how the color of a
man's skin shapes his future, of an America that truly IS for you and me.

Mostly, he paints a picture of fundamental change that he has dedicated his
life to pursuing. There is an urgency and insistence in all his lyrics, an
understated menace in the most mellow of ballads. He joked that the
Nightwatchman was optimistic about the Cubs winning the pennant in the next
century, but we got the feeling he is optimistic about so much more. There is
another Nightwatchman album on the horizon, as he announced before his new song, the King of Hell, and it is apparent he will not fade away.

I have no doubt he and Serj will work to fulfill these parting words of
Tankian's:
"No matter how much I love my flag, I don't believe in flags. No matter how much I love my country, we shouldn't have countries . No matter how much I love borders, we shouldn't have borders."

Set list for Tom:

1.) One Man Revolution
2.) Union Song
3.) King Of Hell (new song!)
4.) The Road I Must Travel
5.) Flesh Shapes The Day
6.) Guerrilla Radio (Acoustic Rage Against The Machine Cover)
7.) This Land Is My Land ( Woody Guthrie Cover)

Set list for Serj:

1.) The Unthinking Majority
2.) Empty Walls
3.) Feed Us
4.) Lie, Lie, Lie
5.) Saving Us
6.) Baby
7.) Sky Is Over
8.) Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
9.) Charades (Rock Version)
10.) Holiday in Cambodia (Dead Kennedy's Cover)
11.) Honking Antelope
12.) Beethoven's Cunt

Jill Haley

Nightwatchman Brigade member Jim Naureckas’s Review of NYC shows

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:29:25 -0800

The Nightwatchman brought the acoustic apocalypse to New York City last night, opening for Serj Tankian at the storied Irving Plaza. He began the evening hiding in the bushes with a baseball bat, and only got more cantankerous from there.

Listening to a Nightwatchman show is a little like being an FBI profiler going over notebook scraps and answering machine threats and cryptic symbols smeared on basement walls, almost afraid to put it all together. As the song goes: "The secretary took my name--man, she sounded scared." The big fear, of course, is that he might be right.

A cover of "Guerrilla Radio" illustrated how the Nightwatchman takes the radicalism of Rage Against the Machine and ups the ante: It's one thing to assert that there's "no better place than here, no better time than now" in a stadium filled with tens of thousands; the message is much more direct and personal delivered to a relatively small group unbuffered by electronic distortion. Yeah, you, the Nightwatchman asserts with both lyrics and delivery.

After the show, the Nightwatchman raced to another gig at Webster Hall, where the Amalgamated Clothing Workers were founded, where the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee met and the radical paper The Masses held free-love fundraisers. Last night it hosted a tribute to Woody Guthrie, a fundraiser for Huntington's disease, which cut short Woody's life.

The Nightwatchman was a surprise guest at the show, following the tough acts of Steve Earle and Billy Bragg; he performed the scab-kicking "Union Song," Guthriesque in its which-side-are-you-on pugnacity, then led a mass singalong of "This Land Is Your Land," the same tune that closed out his Irving Place set. Restoring the more pointed later verses to their rightful place in the song, the Nightwatchman makes clear the seemingly harmless elementary school ditty's dangerous message: This land *is* our land, and we're going to take it back--"whatever it takes. "

Mary and Cindy return!!

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 10:58:27 -0800

Mary: What is going on politically with you?

Cindy: An event I went to on Saturday was called "Step it Up" and there were hundreds of them all over the country. It was to step up our efforts to prevent or slow down or halt global warming. It spoke about how individuals can reduce dependence on fossil fuel and how they can eliminate some wasted plastics and recycle. Something that I've been researching since my son died is the link between fossil fuels and the war and especially the occupation of Iraq. I've gone from that kind of research into the research about how much fossil fuels that the pentagon uses and how much the pollution the U.S. military causes. If the U.S. military was a country, it would be the fourth largest polluter, and the Pentagon is the single highest user of fossil fuel in the entire world. We know that whenever there's a military base anywhere or a U.S. military presence, that area turns into a toxic site. I think that we also have to not only individually do whatever we can to halt global warming, but we also have to bring in the war machine because the war machine is the biggest polluter in the world. We have to downscale it, we have to bring our troops home from the illegal occupation, we have to close most of the military bases around the country. The thing that I'm advocating for is changing the companies that profit off of the war into companies that clean up the environmental wastelands that they have made. So not only are we rescaling the war machine, we're creating green jobs and instead of making toxic messes they're cleaning up their messes. Also they need to clean up their land mines, their bombs, and other things they've left all over the world and to make the world a safer place.

Mary: I wanted to talk about our attitudes of whites against Hispanics. I think I mentioned a town in Illinois that said that people could only speak English. I think it' an honor to be bilingual or trilingual.

(Technical problems here- so sorry Mary!!)

I don't want them to be so All-American because the US isn't helping them but my attitude is that anybody who lives here should be able to live here and especially if they have a kid who is a US citizen and was then they should be naturalized. But we'll see what happens.

Cindy: Well you know it's just another level of arrogance because every single one of us came from someplace else. We're all immigrants and even our native indigenous people- they came over from Asia. Another thing we have to look at is the people who are coming here from Mexico are coming here because of our free trade agreement and in Mexico and South America they don't have jobs, they can't work. Mexico ha the highest proportion of millionaires in the entire world so that the disparity between the haves and the have-nots is even greater in Mexico. But that's what they're trying to do here with the free trade agreements; they're trying to destroy our middle class. If we did away with the free trade agreements the people would actually have jobs in their own countries and they wouldn't have to immigrate here. Most of them don't want to leave their country, they want to stay in their own country. But we've made them virtual economic refugees in Mexico.

Mary: They come and work and they send money home to help support the people at home because that's the only way that they can earn money. And that's awful.

Cindy: Then there's this hostility that some people like Lou Dobbs from CNN are whipping up against the Mexican immigrants. It's just very, very racist.

Mary: I live in a basically white neighborhood and the white people are not friendly. The Hispanic people, you know the workers in the yards if I'm out walking or something, I can wave at them and say "good morning" and they respond. I don't know what's the matter with whites that they don't respond but they don't. I'll go and exercise, I'll see a lot of people from my past there but I don't meet new people because people just don't speak. I don't understand it.

So you're going away?

Cindy: I am going to Venezuela. There's an international book fair and I'm going to participate in that. That will be my second trip to Venezuela and it's really a great country.

Mary: Tell the leader "Hi" and how many of us here approve of him.

Cindy: Oh, I will. I'm hoping that I get to meet with the president again. I did get to meet with him the last time I was there. That's what many people tell me. "Tell President Chavez that many people in America are behind him".

Mary: Tell him that there are a lot of people here who are for him so don't pay any attention to our government.

Cindy: Right!

Mary: okay Cindy, have a good trip!

Cindy: thank you!

Ben Harper's review of The Nightwatchman

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:53:33 -0700

The Nightwatchman

The Nightwatchman is Tom Morello's alter ego. "One Man Revolution" (Sony) shocked me because he's from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and this is his first solo work. His lyrics come at you like daggers, straight up. It's a record Woody Guthrie would be truly proud of and possibly cover songs off it. I saw a gig of Tom's and was blown away. It's nylon-string solo acoustic guerrilla folk. His voice is not quite baritone, it's below a tenor. His singing fits the style perfectly. Songs like "House Gone Up in Flames" and "One Man Revolution," they stay with you. He's one of the great guitar heroes of my generation. To hear him on a nylon string guitar after electric for so many years is super-inspiring.

The Nightwatchman Tour Diaries pt. 3

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:52:57 -0700

The Nightwatchman Tour Diary

The final leg of The Nightwatchman “One Man Revolution” summer tour 2007 began in Detroit at a venue called The Shelter, the same venue that Rage Against the Machine had played at several times in the early 90s, and was now taken over by The Nightwatchman and the local Nightwatchman Brigade. New opening act and fellow Libertyvillian, Ike Reilly, opened up the show with a set of rousing and thoughtful songs. Ike is a talented songwriter as well as a talented whiskey drinker and we had an enjoyable time throughout the rest of the tour. The Detroit crowd was great and featured one very young kid, maybe six or seven years old in the front row wearing a Clash t-shirt and rocking out to the Nightwatchman songs. Pretty cool.
Next up- two sold out hometown shows in Chicago at a joint called Schubas. The first night, the Nightwatchmother, Mary Morello, gave a spirited introduction wearing her homemade Nightwatchman shirt, which she proudly announced to the crowd “I made the shirt myself.” Lots of local friends showed up from Libertyville drunkards to David Draiman from Disturbed to Virus X from the great, old Chicago punk band Articles of Faith, to Jim Strid, the bass player of my first ever band called Nebula. A band in which I was the huge Afro-ed singer with my shirt unbuttoned to my waist, wearing a John Travolta inspired horn on my 13 year old manly chest. I was the singer of Nebula before my voice changed to the rich baritone you enjoy today. At that time I was able to squeak Michael Jackson like cover versions of Led Zeppelin songs. Mercy. Back to 2007. My voice was quite hoarse for the second Chicago show but it is always a pleasure to rock the hometown.
After a steroid prescription from the local doctor and some of mom’s home cooking helped rectify my voice, it was off to Minneapolis and the Seventh Street Entry, which is in the same building where the concert scenes from Prince’s “Purple Rain” movie were shot. This a venue that I actually played with my pre Rage Against the Machine band, Lock Up, in the early 1400s. It was a great crowd and a great show. They were extremely attentive and jumped up and down when required to do so. I began playing Creedance Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” with Ike Reilly every night of the tour from here on out, to acclaim.
Next up: Denver, Colorado. Throughout the tour, I offered free admission to these Nightwatchman shows to any members of the Audiophiles fan club because the kind people of Audiophiles got dicked when the band broke up and they did not really get to collect on the benefits of being the cream-of-the-Audioslave-fan-crop. So I thought the least I could do was to invite them to my Nightwatchman shows. However, some of those shows were not all ages shows and so I would invite under aged Audiophiles to sound checks, like I did in Denver where a new song, “Shadow Of The Cannon”, was debuted for the youngsters. In addition on this tour, a percentage of the proceeds from the Nightwatchman cds and t-shirts went to local homeless charities and food banks to try to give back to each city that we played in.
Portland, Oregon- the show was at a place called the Doug Fir Lounge which is like a high brow wood cabin underneath a bar. A strange venue, but the crowd rocked furiously and a second new song tentatively entitled “Shake my Shit” debuted at this gig. It is The Nightwatchman’s first ever party jam and I enjoyed playing it as the audience shook their shit.
Seattle, Washington featured the worst hotel of the tour by far. Small, cramped, stinky rooms and yet the show was a good one. My Kenyan brother, Gachoka, who lives in Seattle (please don’t tell the INS) came to the show and it was nice to be reunited with him. I only discovered my three Kenyan half brothers about eight years ago so it’s nice that occasionally they get a chance to see what I do for a living.
The tour manager throughout this summer’s Nightwatchman escapades is a gentleman by the name of “Cat Nap” Lewis. Normally by day, Cat Nap Lewis is Timmy C’s bass tech in Rage Against the Machine. He did a very capable and excellent job as tour manager throughout The Nightwatchman touring. He does, however, have a predilection for cuddling cougars. Throughout the tour there were many hysterical tales of tour cougars being tricked into cuddlefests with Cat Nap Lewis. Ever the gentleman, always the cougar cuddler.
Into the home stretch with a night off in San Francisco. I have many good friends from Libertyville that live in San Francisco and they lead me to a dubious joint called The Stud on our night off. Apparently The Stud is normally a quasi dangerous leather bar but on this night it was an almost empty punk rock club featuring probably two of the worst bands I’ve ever seen in my life. Though they played with a lot of spirit and one of the singers looked like a young Ellen DeGeneres.
The subsequent show was at the American Swedish Hall, a cool old union hall and I was joined onstage by The Coup’s own Boots Riley who rocked two songs- a frantic hip hop verse in “This Land Is Your Land” and then an all rap version of “Shake My Shit” which shook the rafters of the American Swedish Hall.
The final stop of the “One Man Revolution” tour was at Los Angeles’s world famous Troubadour on July 21st, 2007. The Troubadour was the site of my very first real Los Angeles “showcase” by my horrible first Hollywood band called Them Generation. At the time, Them Generation thought we were on the brink of rock superstardom and invited every record label, manager and booking agent in the city to come watch us prance about with our pop rock and cowboy hats. None of them showed up but actor Michael J. Fox did. Apparently he’s a guitar player and he wanted to steal some of my hot licks. This Nightwatchman show was much different. First Michael J. Fox was not in attendance. Second, it was a packed to the gills, sold out show, amazing hometown welcome. Kid Lightning opened up the show with his gorgeous balladry and it was lovely to play in front of my Los Angeles family of friends, loved ones and fans. Here is a link to Carol Gronner’s review of the show http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=78943840&blogID=291075403&Mytoken=E538AAD3-95ED-4D84-A5FD68F7630B4DCB72533372 A rousing after party was held upstairs and no tour is complete without a congratulatory dinner at the world famous International House of Pancakes. I enjoyed my cheese omelet and short stack and readied myself for the coming Rage Against the Machine enormodome shows. I’d like to thank everyone who came to the “One man Revolution” tour and imminently look forward to announcing future shows and plans for the Nightwatchman and his sturdy Nightwatchman Brigade. (Oh, you may have noticed that the 'Alone Without You' video does not contain footage from my live performance of the song at Bonaroo. Director Danny Clinch felt that the look of that footage did not fit with the other film we shot of me performing the song backstage. My thanks to those of you in attendance who sat through the song twice! We got a lot of great footage that day which will come out at some point.)

Take it easy, but take it. Love, The Nightwatchman

Tom Morello: Walking the Walk

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:52:06 -0700

Tom Morello: Walking the Walk

Listen to Rage Against The Machine on Rhapsody
and The Nightwatchman on MySpace...

By: Kayceman

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Tom Morello by Sean Ricigliano
Tom Morello isn't like the rest of us. While getting his degree in Political Science at Harvard University (he graduated with honors), Morello somehow found the time to teach himself guitar. But, he didn't just learn how to strum some chords; he invented an entire style of playing that changed the perception of how the instrument could be used. Morello may not have been the first guitar player to make his axe sound like a turntable, but he certainly mastered this sonic approach.

However, it's not the many "Best Guitarist" awards or even his Earth-shattering style that makes Morello so special. There have been many groundbreaking guitar players and there will be many more. What makes Morello stand out is his ability to take what he learned in school, from his family (his great uncle was the first elected Kenyan President and his mother a Civil Rights activist) and his experiences growing up as the only colored kid in town, and put it all into action through his music.

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Tom Morello from View Images
When Morello co-founded Rage Against the Machine in 1991 he never thought they'd get signed, and certainly never planned on being a star. They were just four pissed off musicians who needed to make music that meant something. Rage was a volatile beast that eventually imploded when frontman Zach de la Rocha left the band in 2001. Following the demise of one of that decade's most influential, thought-provoking bands, the remaining RATM members formed Audioslave with Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell. While commercially huge, and certainly worthy of the time and energy, Audioslave never had the political bite of Rage.

With the world in as bad of shape as it's ever been, Morello needed to get back to his roots. Yes, he's a musician, but he's also an activist, revolutionary and freedom fighter. Rock songs with big hooks and massive riffs are great, but Morello has a message and he needs to scream it. Enter The Nightwatchman. Formed in 2003, this is Morello's "political folk alter-ego" and features him stripped down with an acoustic guitar and a slew of protest songs. As our political and social climate continues to deteriorate, we've also seen the reunion of Rage Against the Machine, something Morello swears is no coincidence. Performing together for the first time in seven years, Rage is back, and perhaps we need them more than ever.

With the demise of Audioslave, the return of Rage and a very successful Nightwatchman tour, JamBase sits down with a very busy Tom Morello to pick the brain of a man who truly walks the walk.

JamBase: I wanted to just start with the path from groundbreaking guitar man of Rage and Audioslave to Nightwatchman. What prompted the stylistic change?

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Tom Morello - The Nightwatchman
Morello: Over the course of the last five or six years I've become a big fan of this genre of music. There are plenty of rock & roll bands that use walls of Marshall stacks but still sound weak as pudding. Yet there are artists like Johnny Cash and early Bob Dylan, Nebraska-era Springsteen and Woody Guthrie, that with an acoustic guitar, three chords and the truth, are heavy as Everest. That music has become more appealing to me. I started about four and a half years ago playing these songs at local open mic nights and coffee houses around L.A., as a way to, I don't know, assert my independence from my arena rocking existence. It can get comfortable when you've got hit songs on the radio and an arena in every town, and I wanted to play music that was very activist oriented and that was very action oriented.

JamBase: Now was there any specific event or something that really spawned the initial thought to do this?

Morello: Yeah, there was, actually. I was hosting a talent show at a teenage homeless shelter called Covenant House in Hollywood and there was this one kid who got up there, he might have been 19 or 20 years old, and he had a lot of problems. He got up there and he sang two songs with as much conviction as I've ever seen anyone sing. And I thought to myself, "You know, I've got a guitar. I've got a few ideas in my head, and if this guy can run it up the flagpole, what's keeping me from doing that?" So, I wrote my first batch of songs and then shortly thereafter started playing open mics around L.A.

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.. ENTER PULL QUOTE --> Some nights it feels like everybody's soul in the room is at stake.

-Tom Morello
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Photo of Tom Morello - The Nightwatchman by Scott Fleishman

JamBase: The messages in Rage and Nightwatchman are sort of coming from a similar vibe. Everything you do, that I've heard, has this sort of political vibe to it. Do you find that you're working from a similar place of inspiration when you're doing Rage or Nightwatchman or even Audioslave?

Morello: In Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave I'm not the lyricist. So, the one thing that has been very liberating about making One Man Revolution [released April 24 on Epic] and doing this Nightwatchman tour is that every note and every chord and every word comes from me. And there's a real sort of purity of purpose and vision that you don't get in a rock & roll band. In a rock & roll band you get chemistry, and through the sort of submerging yourself in the collective you get something that you could never get on your own. But, what you get on your own is a singular vision, and that's what I like about doing this.

One song off One Man Revolution that resonated with me immediately was "The Garden." In the press materials I received you talk about growing up Catholic and some of the effects that might have had on you. Having witnessed a lot of very negative aspects to religion in America and the hypocrisy in the church, to me that's one of the major problems in America; I'm sort of curious what your feelings are on that.

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Tom Morello by Sean Ricigliano
I went to Catholic Mass every Sunday for the first probably 13 or 14 years of my life, and at the time you're a squirming youth, just trying to get out to enjoy a nice sunny Sunday. In later years, those narratives have resonance, and in that song in particular, "The Garden of Gesthemane" is about moments of doubts and crucial choices at critical junctures. That is something that is in no way unique to the church or Catholicism. It doesn't have anything to do with priests molesting kids. It has to do with a sort of deep human drama, and that's what's drawn me to some of those Biblical tales.

Now, thinking about what you do with The Nightwatchman, the folk revolutionary vibe definitely shares some similarities with '60s protest music. There's a lot of parallels today to the '60s with what we're dealing with socially and politically. I'm kind of wondering why, in your estimation, we put up a good fight in the '60s and then a lot of hippies turned into yuppies and now we're kind of dealing with the same thing. How do we see this movement through and actually make this world a better place for future generations?

Well, there's two answers. One is that in playing at countless benefit shows and demonstrations, many of the songs that were performed [by other musicians] at those events were from the '60s and even earlier. I thought, we need songs for now. We need songs that speak to what's going on now and songs that fans of, whether it's Rage or System of a Down can relate to in those contexts. Militant songs speak in an uncompromising and uncompromised way, and an unflinching way about the current situation we're in. But, at the same time, the way things will change now, and in the future, is the way that things have changed in the past - by people realizing that they are agents of history. You can't wait for the Democrats to do it for you, or for some new president or Supreme Court justice to wave a magic wand and set things right. How change - how radical, progressive and revolutionary change - occurs is people stand up for their rights where they live, where they work and where they go to school. That's how women got the right to vote, that's how lunch counters got desegregated and that's how apartheid ended. You can't wait around for your leaders to do it.

In line with this, can a song or music change the world?

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Tom Morello by MyNameIsLuca.net
Music has certainly changed my world. For me, it was groups like The Clash and Public Enemy that helped me make a connection. That's one thing that music can do, it can speak in a way that is not controlled. Like the talking heads you see on the news are controlled. The editors of your daily paper have to answer to advertisers and have to answer to big corporations that own those publications. This Nightwatchman music, I don't have to answer to anybody. I'm going to speak the truth as I see it, in the way Joe Strummer did, in the way that Woody Guthrie did. I don't put any ceiling on what culture or art or music can do in helping fan the flames of discontent.

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.. ENTER PULL QUOTE --> It opened up the reassessment of my priorities and values and what it was that I wanted to do as a person and as a musician. And I decided I only wanted to be involved in music that expresses my world view and music that fights for change.

-Tom Morello on the demise of Audioslave
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Now as Rage has sort of gotten back together, at least for the time being, is it for the same reasons you started Nightwatchman - dealing with social and political hardships; is that why Rage is coming back now?

In part, it's certainly because of the times. We've had kind of desperate times over the course of the last seven years, when Rage did not play shows.

Right.

It was specifically Chris Cornell's quitting Audioslave and that opened up possibilities. For me, it opened up the reassessment of my priorities and values and what it was that I wanted to do as a person and as a musician. And I decided I only wanted to be involved in music that expresses my world view and music that fights for change.

I did have one question about Audioslave, in regards to Chris leaving the band. I haven't found any real definitive explanation of what happened there. Can you elaborate on what happened with that?

All rock bands have disagreements. Audioslave was no different. And often they're quite goofy in nature. Just watch the movie Spinal Tap. Spinal Tap is nonfiction, I'm afraid. Bands are either able to get over those hurdles because of friendship or belief in the music or avarice or whatever it is that makes bands stay together, or they're not. We were unable to kind of get past some of the disagreements that we had. But, at the end of the day, I think everybody's better off. I think that Chris is certainly much happier working with - I don't want to put words in his mouth - my guess is that he's happier playing with hired musicians rather than a band of equals. I'm on this Nightwatchman tour now. I've never had a better time on tour, felt that a tour was more focused or about what I want a tour to be about as this Nightwatchman One Man Revolution tour, and at the same time we're playing Rage Against the Machine shows so I think everybody wins.

There were some relatively well documented issues that drove Rage apart seven years ago. Have those sort of been rectified now that you've played some dates and have more lined up? How do you feel about the inter-band relationships?

It's great. I mean we weren't going to do if it wasn't going to be a good time and if it wasn't going to be a positive experience. In the rehearsals and the show, things have gone great.

Do you expect to have sort of an elaborate future with Rage?

Right now we only have six shows booked.

And that's all that there is, really?

That's all there is right now, yeah.

What drew everybody into you was your guitar playing. Now, do you still get off on making weird noises with the guitar and exploring what you can do with that thing?

Yeah, absolutely. Right now my focus has been doing this Nightwatchman music. It feels like the biggest creative leap for me since I learned how to play guitar solos, and I'm really interested in continuing to explore that. But you know, my guitar playing has always been part of the bigger picture, and in Rage and Audioslave it was about making huge riffs and exotic sounds. The guitar playing in this Nightwatchman music is more about creating mood and texture.

Was that difficult for you, to go from those huge, bombastic guitar pyrotechnics to just be stripped down and no pedals to hide behind?

No. I mean actually, the only guitar in my home for many years has been a nylon string acoustic guitar and it's what I've written my rock riffs on for both Rage and Audioslave, and it's what I wrote these Nightwatchman songs on. So, I'm pretty comfortable with the [acoustic] guitar.

One thing that I certainly appreciate about the way you operate is that you really walk the walk. You write protest songs but you also protest. Has it always been this way, dating back to when you were a young man? Were you always sort of socially and politically involved?

Yeah, it's kind of in the blood. My great uncle was Jomo Kenyatta, who led Kenya's independence movement against the British. My mom has been a lifelong activist and ran an organization called Parents for Rock and Rap and worked with the Urban League on different civil rights issues. So, I think it may be genetic. Ever since I was 16 or 17 years old, I've been involved in social justice issues. Whether it was helping to start an underground newspaper at my high school or participating in the anti-apartheid movement at Harvard University, or a myriad of labor issues and antiwar issues, it's kind of gone hand in hand with my music throughout my life.

When you write or perform a song, how important is the balance or the idea of entertainment versus message to you?

I don't know if entertainment is the right word but the musical part or the artistic part is certainly every bit as important. You have to have a good song or a good show as a vessel. Otherwise it becomes a dry college lecture or something. That was certainly one of the strengths of Rage Against the Machine - not just that the band was uncompromisingly political but that it was a kickass rock & roll band that was uncompromisingly political. What I've endeavored to do with this Nightwatchman material is write songs, use all of my tunesmanship in a way like early Dylan and Joe Hill and Woody Guthrie and people like that, where you gotta start with a song and you gotta put on a show, and then by the end of it hopefully there's barricades thrown up in the streets.

Right! You know, that's sort of something that interests and upsets me. When I watch the news, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way - I'm surrounded by people who feel this way, I often get so angry, and I don't know why people aren't standing in front of the White House lighting shit on fire.

Yeah, amen. I'm with you there.

In your estimation, being somebody who is sort of on the front lines, why aren't there more people like this? When I watch clips from when John Lennon was doing shit, there were a million people in D.C. protesting. So why aren't we like that today?

Right, right, right. No, I definitely agree with you there, and I don't have a good answer to that. It is surprising to me that there are not riots in the streets, and that the White House is not besieged by millions of protesters on a daily basis. We have a war criminal in the White House, literally. That's not hyperbole. We've got a rollback of civil liberties, a total disregard for the environment. This planet could go away within the next 50 years if this administration's policies are fully implemented. And yet, people kind of generally go about their daily business. What one can do, and what an artist's responsibility is, is you have to tell the truth as you see it - one night, one show, one song at a time. It's about liberating territory. Tonight it's going to be the People's Republic of San Francisco, by the time The Nightwatchman show is done.

In line with this, when you try to inspire somebody with a song, is there something you draw upon when you're writing or performing that you feel can get the reaction out of people? Is there one specific thing that leads to enlightenment or opening of eyes?

When the songs are most effective is when they're not really written from a conscious place. That's when you kind of get, in music and in art, to the truth of the matter, and it's something that goes beyond, I don't know, sort of intellectualization of music. It's the same phenomenon of why a Van Gogh painting is more moving than a photograph of a starry night. There's something in the reptilian brain that reacts to a deeper truth, and it's hard to put a finger on it. And I think if you start dissecting it too much you might lose it. So, when I write lyrics, when I write songs, when I write rock riffs, whatever, I try to just let it occur and hope that thing is innate, that [the thing that] makes a connection on a deeper level is inherent in it.

Thinking about the fact that you're knee deep in Nightwatchman and Audioslave kind of just came to an end and Rage is back on people's minds, thinking about all three of those projects, what is the most gratifying thing about each of those for you?

Well, certainly about Rage Against the Machine it's the legacy that that band created. I mean we wrote that initial batch of songs without expecting to be able to book a club show. Now, in the four corners of the globe, people have been radicalized by that band and that music. That's pretty amazing. With Audioslave, it was the fact that we healed one another. We came from personal and musical situations that were very difficult and we came together as four friends who built a multi-platinum band, unexpectedly, and both personally and musically really rejuvenated one another. And with The Nightwatchman stuff, it feels like what I should be doing. There's a real clarity to this work and a satisfaction that I get whether it's playing in front of 10,000 steelworkers in the midst of a teargas attack or playing to 800 people a night at these club shows. Some nights it feels like everybody's soul in the room is at stake.

JamBase | San Francisco
Go See Live Music!

Check out my brand new music video of "Alone Without You" as featured in Michael Moore's SiCKO!

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:25:27 -0700

www.michaelmoore.com

The Nightwatchman Tour Diaries pt. 2

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:26:45 -0700

An exhausting flight from London’s airport lands us into Tulsa, Oklahoma to begin the North American leg of the One Man Revolution tour. The first set of dates will be played with Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals. Ben Harper has been a long time friend and musical comrade. He’s played many of the Hotel Café shows and is as righteous as he is good looking. The club in Tulsa where we played is the same club where the Sex Pistols played on their ill-faded American tour long ago and in the promoters office is actually a small panel of wood behind glass that Sid Vicious put his fist through over some disagreement. The Nightwatchman set ended with a rousing version of Woody's 'This Land Is Your Land' which seemed to strike a chord of regional pride with the Okies. I also joined Ben Harper for his take on Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War”. All in all it was a great and jet lagged beginning to the ill-fated North American tour. Next up was the Wakrusa Festival in Lawrence, Kansas. This summer for the first time in my life [having played with Dave Mathews, Ben Harper,
Wakrusa, Bonaroo] I was exposed to the "hippy" audience. I don’t really think Rage Against the Machine or Audioslave had a single hippie fan. Well here they all are. Growing up in heavy metal and punk rock circles, I had a natural anti-hippie prejudice but boy was I wrong. Those people aren’t so bad! They’re very open-minded, love music of all shapes and sizes, and sometimes the girls just wear paint. The Wakarusa Festival was a lovely, hippie, feel-good time and one aging flower child said to me after my set, “You’re so angry. You need a huuug” and I said “The Nightwatchman does not receive hugs, he would prefer to remain angry.” On the way to the next show in Council Bluffs, Iowa we took a detour and stopped by the home of Missouri outlaw, Jesse James. The same home in which he was shot in the back by a bounty seeking friend while he straightened a picture on the wall. Jesse is a complicated historical character. He’s part Confederate, backwards redneck murderer and part Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. One thing is for certain--his house was really small. We spent some time there learning about the legend of Jesse James and his gang. The Jesse James trip was well worth the detour. I bought a Jesse James mug and used it to drink my tea onstage for the rest of the tour. Next stop—Cleveland. We took a afternoon visit to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame because they had a special exhibit on The Clash, my favorite band of all time. The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland and no one goes to Cleveland so no one sees it but it’s actually pretty cool. There’s memorabilia and exhibits from throughout the history of rock n’ roll but The Clash exhibit was certainly the highlight. They had Joe Strummer’s hand-written lyrics to all the songs on London Calling and the bass that Paul Simonon smashed on the cover of London Calling was also displayed as was Joe Strummer’s Telecaster, which at some point in the distant past, I had the honor to strum. If I have one complaint about The Clash exhibit it was that Joe Strummers sword of punk rock justice, his Telecaster, was sort of off to the side near the drinking fountains. I would have put that thing on the top of the museum with a huge spotlight on it. All in all it was a great afternoon. In Cleveland I continued to perform “Masters of War” with Ben Harper with a little twist—I brought out the electric guitar and did a Ted Nugent-style shredding guitar solo for the hippies to enjoy. The next really memorable gig was in Asheville, North Carolina. Now Asheville is this dot of blue in the unholy red state of North Carolina where artists, musicians, pinkos and yes, hippies, have come to seek refuge and enjoy one another’s company. They also come to a rock show. My first introduction to Asheville was on the Tell Us the Truth tour in 2003 with Billy Bragg, Steve Earl and Boots Riley where we woke up in this rural town, fearing for our lives and ended up having the best show on the tour. Asheville was no exception this time. The crowd was awesome and perhaps the quote of the tour occurred at this show where a young local girl came up and said “Does The Nightwatchman sign tits?” and in this case The Nightwatchman certainly did. Disaster struck the next day when I totally tweaked my back at the airport and spent the next 36 hours embarrassingly being pushed around in a wheelchair and had to use a cane for the rest of the tour having sprained a disc in my lower back. The Nightwatchman is not getting any younger, you know.

The first leg of the North American tour came to a rousing conclusion at the Bonnaroo Festival on June 15th. It was one my favorite Nightwatchman shows that I’ve ever played and the thousands of attendees in the tent listened attentively and went absolutely ape-shit in the correct places. I also shot a video that day with director Danny Clinch for the song “Alone Without You” which is featured in Michael Moore’s movie, “Sicko”. The crowd was unbelievable and I played “Union Song”, “One Man Revolution”, “Alone Without You”, “Flesh Shapes the Day”, “The Road I Must Travel”, “Let Freedom Ring”, “House Gone Up in Flames”, “Alone Without You” (yes, again. Danny Clinch made me play it twice), “Guerrilla Radio” and “Maximum Firepower.” Other highlights of the day were meeting Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and watching the 80,000 drug-busy hippies playing with hoola hoops and hacky sacks. That night I joined Tool on stage and did a reprise of my Ted Nugent-stlye solo during their song, Lateralus. It’s certainly the first time I’ve ever played a guitar solo in 17-24 time but I enjoyed it tremendously and little Maynard was cute. That brought the first leg of the North American tour to a conclusion and the next episode will be all about my barn-storming solo shows all across this great nation. Nightwatchman OUT.

The Mary Morello and Cindy Sheehan Show [week 5]

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:39:15 -0700

The Mary Morello and Cindy Sheehan Show [week 5]

Mary: We're driving home from the airport, we just came home from Albany and what are you up to today?

Cindy: Well today I'm taking the day off. My youngest daughter moved up to Lake Tahoe so I'm going to go and spend a couple of days with her. Then I'll come back and be working on my campaign.

Mary: The fires didn't disturb where she is?

Cindy: She moved up after the fire, she just moved up there.

Mary: Oh, I see. (Mary has to stop to make sure that Tom is driving the correct route). We're going to where Tom originally took his guitar lessons. So how did you enjoy the show?

Cindy: Oh we loved the show! We had a really good time.

Mary: Aren't they great?!

Cindy: They're super great. I wrote an article about it called "Brought to You by Boeing", it wasn't about the show but I talk about the show in it, if you guys want to read it. It's about was profiteering and how the war profiteers control our media and how they control our government. I talked about going to the show and how our young people really need to be hooked into music like that to get them to be motivated to "rage against the machine", not be consumed by the machine like my son Casey was. How music can be radical and revolutionary.

Mary: One of my best friend's has two nephews- one is in the Marines and one is trying to get into the Marines and I think that's so foolish.

Cindy: I don't understand why anyone would go into the military with the leadership that we have. I know that Rage Against The Machine- their music is a little old but it's timeless, nothing ever changes.

Mary: Their music is timeless- Tom says "ok". Oh my child… yeah. I didn't know what we were going to talk about today but anyhow, I haven't been up to much. I teach kindergartners in a poor area- I have two classes- I do one room a week and I take them individually and so Tom and I- do you know that they have kindergarten graduation now?

Cindy: My kids had graduation.

Mary: Oh did they? Tom and I bought each one a book because when I'm with them I ask "do you have any books at home?" and most of them don't. A lot of the Hispanics, I understand why the mothers don't speak English but it's really hard to raise your kids, you know? You know about that bill where they only want people to speak English. They passed a law that you can only speak English, but it's in court and may be declared illegal, I hope.

So are you up in Tahoe now?

Cindy: I'm heading up there. I have my other daughter's dog,I'm taking it on a little walk. Another thing that I've been writing about is in this country we have a military economy, we have a capitalist military economy that is really hurting the poor people- makes the poor people poorer and the rich people richer. Everybody's blaming the Mexican immigrant for our economic woe but it's not it's just our economy, the way it's structured. It's structured so the poor don't have any recourse but to go into the military, to get out of their communities or go to college. It's like back in the day when they blamed the Chinese immigrants or the Irish immigrants for the economy when it's the corporate ruling elite that we need to blame.

Mary: You know I try to taught at Libertyville High School for twenty-two years and we have Hispanics in our school. Our counselors put them down and put them in classes as if they weren't bright. It's really horrible. I took the low grade US History class to teach so that I could reach those kids and a lot of them ended up going to the junior college. They don't get encouraged because of prejudices.

Cindy: Then college is so expensive, only the elite can afford to go. Our kids want to get scholarships, student loans or work three jobs to go. There's one of the reasons that Casey went into the military to get college money. It's an economy that's based on our military.

Mary: They use that, with kids, saying that they'll have to serve. You know, I've been around a long time and I taught in Japan a year and I went to Japan on a crew ship that was going to Korea, I chose to go by ship rather than to fly and they were all guys who had fought in WWII who had signed up and who thought that they were just going to do their monthly exercise. They felt horrible that they'd ever signed up. Tom's uncle and my brother ended up in WWII in Hawaii, he had been in the Phillipines. He said that he didn't get hooked and he wouldn't get hooked by it because he had served and he was going out and that was it.

Cindy: Well we try to shut down the machine. I'm hoping that my candidacy against Nancy Pelosi will help to expose how both parties are bought and paid for by the corporations and the war profiteers. How our government is run by the corporations like John Perkins , I'm reading his new book "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". He calls it a corporate-ocrisy and that's what our country is beholden to and I'm hoping that my candidacy will expose that. I hope it will help it to go a long way from a corporate-ocrisy to a democracy.

Mary: You know that I'm very pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian. My best friend in the whole world is Palestinian. She's a professor at Lakeforest College and the other week her two sisters were here from Aman in Jordan. I have stayed with them in Aman.

Cindy: I'm going there in about ten days.

Mary: Oh are you? Well you'll just love it.

Cindy: I've been to Aman before.

Mary: Oh, have you been Syria to Damascus?

Cindy: No but I'm going to Damascus on this trip.

Mary: Go to Damascus. At first I went on a tour and then a friend and her husband are in Damascus so I went and visited them when I was there. Syria is a great country. When I taught I told my kids that the U.S. has to pick countries to be against. When I was a foreign student advisor they were against Ghana and the son of Ghana's ambassador in Washington was one of my foreign students and I became good friends with his folks. The U.S. was totally against him for a while. A lot of my kids that I taught will remember that and will stop and tell me "okay we have our set of enemies now that we have picked that really aren't enemies" and that's the truth.

Cindy: Exactly.

Mary: I was going to tell you that the drummer- did you meet any of the rest of the band?

Cindy: Uh huh- I met the drummer and I met Zack.

Mary: The drummer, he and his girlfriend got married in Lake Tahoe. It's one of the most darling wedding pictures I ever saw and they brought there three dogs with them. That was their wedding party and then they found somebody to marry them. So I'm going to sign off. We're here to go in and see Tom's original teacher. First he started in Libertyville and they wanted him to learn scales, then we found about this place and they let him start with Led Zeppelin.

Cindy: Well they did a good job.

Mary: He is a great guitarist.

Cindy: Tom is 1 in my book.

Mary: He's 1 in mine too. I know a lot of the man ones, you know. I think T.om is the best but that's because I am his mother too. Have a good time in Tahoe and I'll talk to you next week.

Cindy: Love!

Mary: Bye.

The Social Songbook- California's Dark

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:38:48 -0700

THE SOCAL SONGBOOK / GEOFF BOUCHER

Tom Morello's rattled state of mind
The Nightwatchman | 2007

July 29, 2007

TOM MORELLO looked out on the desolate horizon and decided he couldn't
keep
his feet in the car a moment longer. "I had never seen a desert before.
I
just had to go bounding out there." It was 1986 and Morello was 22 and
headed to Hollywood to become a rock star. He had left the leafy
Illinois
township of Libertyville with his guitar, the $1,000 he earned giving
music
lessons, and a Harvard University degree he assumed would get him a
solid
day job.

Neither would get him far in Hollywood, of course, but he didn't know
that
during his giddy romp through roadside dust and desert scrub. "I was 30
feet
out from the highway when I heard the noise: rattlesnakes. Not one, but
lots
of them. I thought to myself, 'I'm going to die before I even make it
to
Hollywood.' "

Morello didn't die in the desert, but neither did he thrive in
Hollywood.
The next few years were a bruising cycle of lousy jobs and music-biz
disappointments, such as when he lost a job because his hair wasn't
long
enough in the view of one metal band's manager. Morello got the rare
happy
ending as the guitar hero of Rage Against the Machine, L.A.'s iconic
hybrid
of funk, rap and metal. This year he launched a solo recording career
as an
acoustic and acerbic folk singer-songwriter, and the first track on his
debut album maps his trip west to the "unique toxic mix that is Los
Angeles," he says.

Come stand among the rattlesnakes

At the side of the desert road

And close your eyes and listen

To the music hard and cold

Morello also looked to his memories of living on the edge in Hollywood
in
the late 1980s and watching the poor struggling on streets where
limousines
zoomed past.

There's a riot on Sunset

And fires burn in the park

The sun has set, my friend

And California's dark

The music of the song ‹ hard acoustic guitar with jagged vocals and a
Pete
Seeger simplicity ‹ shows that Morello's solo career has far more in
common
with Bruce Springsteen's stark folk excursions than the
louder-than-loud
musical polyglot that made Rage famous. Morello has also been a
surprise,
both artistically and in his life story. He grew up in apple-pie
Libertyville, but his birth certificate is uniquely New York ‹ the
hospital
was in Harlem and his father was Ngethe Njoroge, a onetime guerrilla
who
became the first ambassador from Kenya to the United Nations.

Morello's best job in L.A. that didn't involve a guitar was a
$13,000-a-year
stint in the office of Sen. Alan Cranston. Morello kept moving left
politically and has been a staple of protests in the city. His fury has
deepened in recent years too. In Rage, he never wrote the songs and
when he
finally did pick up a pen for his solo project, that fury came out.

" 'California Dark' is one of the first songs I wrote and is part
biblical
prophecy about the future of Los Angeles being thrown into chaos and
revolt,
and part is my personal ‹ and literal‹ journey from the Midwest to
California. That journey was from the suburbs to being an activist and
now
an aspiring revolutionary." The young man who once jumped into snakes
in the
dust sounds comfortable in the venom of the city streets.

Smoke and ashes

Tonight hide the stars

The stoplights are red now, love

We've come for what's ours