January 25, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Builds Momentum for Spring Resurgence: Launches 5-Week Bus Trip

Early Wednesday morning, nearly two dozen occupiers boarded a 24 seat conversion bus in Brooklyn. For the next five weeks, members of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) from New York City will be touring the Northeast to connect with other occupations.

“Interoccupy communications and face to face community building is a key step in growing solidarity in a global movement,” says Austin Guest, member of the OWS Direct Action group. At each stop along the trip, occupiers will share skills and knowledge with each other. By building relationships between occupations, occupiers are setting the stage for nationally coordinated actions.

The Occutrip will touch base in 16 northeastern cities including Providence, Boston, Albany, Buffalo, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, and Newark. Overall, 80 members of OWS are expected to participate.

To follow the trip visit the Occupy Bus Trip Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Wall-Street-Bus-Trip/155444994569669

PeaceSmiths Coffeehouse

Featured performers:

Music by George Mann

Poetry by Steven Schmidt

Open Mic: Maybe You

More info and directions:

What?: PeaceSmiths Coffeehouse
When?: Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8pm
Where?: The First United Methodist Church in Amityville

$7 suggested donation
More if possible, less if necessary

More info or directions, see below, or leave a message at:
(631)798-0778 or www.peacesmiths.org

Directions:

PeaceSmiths’ is held at the First United Methodist Church in Amityville.
We call it “The last church on the left.”
Address: 25 Broadway Ave, Amityville, NY
(Broadway is actually the south-most end of RT 110
near Merrick Road/Montauk Highway.)

PeaceSmith’s  Inc., community organizing for peace, justice and the environment.

Please bring your ideas, literature, petitions, and announcements to share with the PeaceSmiths community.
Please bring news and announcements from your favorite, local occupations.

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A blog project from Steven Schmidt: Persistent Fool
Video of Steven Schmidt: here

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Thoughts from George Mann on his upcoming PeaceSmiths appearance:

I’ve been swamped over the past two months, recording and finishing “Patience in These Times,” my new CD, and booking/preparing for a three-week tour of Australia in February.

So this word about my upcoming concert at Peacesmiths Coffeehouse on Friday, February 3 is my invitation to you to come hear of my latest travels and work. I’ll be singing many of the 8 new songs on the CD, as well as my favorite folk “Classics” and some of my other songs.

The new CD has songs on it that I am still unfamiliar with, i.e., they came out of me but I still feel disconnected from, if you know what I mean. Among them are:

“One More Beautiful Song”
“When the Money Runs Out”
“The Union Made Me Strong”
“I’m at the End of My Rope”
“Cancer Changes Everything”
“The Hardest Thing to Conquer is Hate”

Save-The-Date:
The next PeaceSmiths Coffeehouse will be Friday, February 3, 2012 with singer/songwriter/activist George Mann and poet Steven Schmidt.

_________________________________________

JANUARY/ FIRST FRIDAY
PEACESMITHS MONTHLY COFFEEHOUSE

FEATURING
**** Music of JEFF CURTIS ****
and
****Poetry of DANA SAUSA****
ON 1/6/2012 AT 8 PM

Jeff Curtis
Guitarist/Composer
JeffCurtisMusic.com

and

Dana Sausa, poet
(and occupy activist)

Plus Open Mic Time
(Maybe You?!)

Held at:
The First United Methodist Church in Amityville
$7 suggested donation
More if possible, less if necessary

More info or directions, see below, or leave a message at:
(631)798-0778 or www.peacesmiths.org

Directions:

PeaceSmiths is held at the First United Methodist Church in Amityville.
We call it “The last church on the left.”
Address: 25 Broadway Ave, Amityville, NY
(Broadway is actually the southmost end of RT 110
near Merrick Road/Montauk Highway.)

PeaceSmiths, Inc., community organizing for peace, justice and the environment.

Please bring your ideas, literature, petitions, and announcements to share with the PeaceSmiths community.
Please bring news and announcements from your favorite, local occupations.

More about January’s featured artist:

Jeff Curtis
GUITARIST-COMPOSER
INSTRUMENTAL ECLECTIC FINGERSTYLE ACOUSTIC GUITAR & BEYOND

Guitarist-Composer Jeff Curtis was born on Long Island and resides in Westbury, New York. While growing up during the 1960′s, his earliest musical experiences involved “music lessons for about a week – I think it was the accordion” at age 7. “My father was a builder and my mother was basically a homemaker – I suppose the last thing they ever expected was for me to become a musician.” Within two years, the Beatles had hit the scene and young Jeff found himself becoming engrossed in their music. “There was something about the energy in their songs that made it so accessible, so personal in so many ways – you really felt like you were a part of the music whenever you listened to it.” There was also a rock band “I don’t remember what name the guys used” that some friends on his block had put together. “I watched and saw how cool it was to connect with an audience through music. In late 1969, my friend Bob brought over this new album he had just gotten. I had a little more freedom at my house with the family stereo and it was an opportunity for both of us to listen to `Led Zeppelin 2`. When I first heard the song `Whole Lotta Love’, I decided then and there that I was going to be a part of music on a much deeper level and would to teach myself guitar. In early 1970, I borrowed one of those small pocket chord diagram booklets and a nylon stringed guitar from friends and started practicing. I bought my first electric guitar later that year.”

Jeff continued for the next 20 years primarily with the electric guitar. “I never actually took lessons, I learned pretty much everything I know by ear and watching others along with endless experimentation. I can’t read music and know virtually nothing about theory. If something sounds interesting or melodic, I`ll play around with it and see what evolves from experimenting and jamming.” Though lacking in formal musical training, Jeff’s influences over the years are broad and varied. He cites Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page as “probably the biggest influence on my playing and approach to composition” along with a close friend from Long Island, Quin. “We met the summer after graduating from our respective high schools over a pair of guitars. The improvs and interplay just seemed to click from the beginning so it was easy to invent material. We probably jammed at more parties just for the fun of it than anyone else we know. We would set up this single amp and both plug in and go for it. The sound was horrendous but we always had a blast and got invited all over the place.” When asked about other guitar influences, Jeff cites the following: Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Steve Howe, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Duane Allman, Roy Buchanan, Steve Morse, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.

In the early 1980′s, Jeff had also started playing and composing on the acoustic guitar. “I was getting more into jazz and as my tastes in music mellowed, the acoustic guitar started to have more appeal for me personally.” He had also started listening to a whole different genre of musicians: Pat Metheny, Larry Coryell, Michael Hedges, Preston Reed, Alex DeGrassi, Jorma Kaukonen, Leo Kottke, Will Ackerman, Adrian Legg and Pierre Bensusan came to mind when asked that question. “I consider these guys absolutely required listening for any serious acoustic player. I learned by listening, watching and experimenting on my own, but you have to challenge yourself and these guys certainly provide the inspiration. I don’t ever expect to approach their level of playing but what matters is simply trying to do one`s best. I think anytime I go to a concert, it also serves as a lesson.”

The inspiration is not limited solely to other musical artists. Having traveled the country extensively, Jeff is quick to mention nature and the many places he has traveled to the great outdoors as having influenced his music, as well as personal experiences with different people he`s known. “I could show you the exact places in Vermont, West Virginia and California where I essentially came up with ideas that turned into some of the tracks from both CDs. I have this belief that there is music in some form in just about everything one can experience and nature plays a big part in that belief.”

In the summer of 1998, Jeff released `Dreams`, a CD containing 18 original compositions that was co-produced and engineered by Greg Sweney. The album featured primarily solo acoustic guitar instrumentals along with viola and/or flute duets on some of the tracks. In addition to the regular standard tuning, Jeff used the drop-D and open-G tunings along with another special modal tuning. The guitar was a “cheap little Carlos I bought for something like 35 dollars and spent another 65 dollars or so for Grover tuners.” The 3/4 scale guitar has brass saddles both at the top and on the bridge giving it a bright sound, which Jeff says he reinforced by changing the strings before virtually every recording session.

The release of `Dreams’ led to live guest appearances on Roy Abrams’ WBLI show `The Island Zone’ and Don Sill’s WUSB show at Stony Brook in October 1998. Music from the album was also later aired on WLIR’s ‘Tri-State Sound’ in Long Island and WRVE’s ‘Acoustic Sunrise’ in Albany, New York.

In 1999, a chance meeting with Verge Belanger at an outdoor gathering led to a trip later that year to northern California. An interview/performance was taped for Verge’s radio show `On The Verge’ on public radio stations KZYX and KZYZ in Mendocino County and on public radio station KKUP in Cupertino outside San Jose. Since then, there have been a total of four more mini-tours of the area including performances in Monterey at Ocean Thunder, the Point Arena/Mendocino Talent Show and coffeehouse appearances in Fort Bragg, California. A sixth trip is currently planned for October, 2003 to coincide with the release of Jeff’s latest CD.

In late 2000, Jeff licensed his composition `Horizons’ to the producer of a local Public Access Cablevision TV show called LT1 for use as that show’s theme score. The show is produced by Bruce Figarsky of Community Media Network. Jeff later appeared on LT1, both as a soloist and in a duet with violist Laura Gallucci of the band `St. Huckleberry`, who originally recorded the song `Horizons’ with Jeff.

Another chance meeting with New York bassist Andy Lowe in July 2002 led to a further collaborative effort as Jeff opted for a more orchestrated sound in his latest compositions. Their first live performance as a duet in October 2002 at an annual harvest party outside State College, Pennsylvania captivated the mostly college aged audience who had been listening to a jam band most of the evening. Back in New York later that fall, two more local showcase performances drew enthusiastic applause. Jeff and Andy have also appeared recently on the LT1 cable show.

In January of 2003, Jeff returned to the recording studio to begin work on a second CD of the more recent acoustic guitar-based compositions. “These are basically the ones that have been written over the years and polished a bit since the `Dreams’ recording project was finished five years ago. The approach to this album is different in that I am playing everything in this crazy tuning that my friend Randy Barnett showed me. It was back the fall of 1996 and we had met at a party at another friend’s place down in West Virginia. Randy is an incredible musician in his own right and plays mostly the violin. We were attempting to jam on Led Zeppelin’s `The Rain Song` and he showed me the tuning that Jimmy Page had used for that piece, though it is actually a whole step higher. The tuning I use is DADADE, low to high, though sometimes I`ll use a capo. I started experimenting over the next few weeks afterward and discovered how easily all these unique chord voicings could be played. Three of the eighteen tracks on `Dreams’ were in DADADE but the new album is all tracks of DADADE in various styles – something for everybody hopefully.”

The new album, entitled `The Next Place` is a collection of 16 original compositions written since 1998 that incorporate musical styles from “soft rock to funk to meditative to blues and beyond” plus a solo instrumental fingerstyle rendition of `The Rain Song’. Jeff mentions that “no guitar picks were used whatsoever” during the recording sessions. Sonny Speed of the Island Songwriters Showcase and of the band, `The Defibrillators` produced and engineered the project at Son Spot Studios in Commack, New York, which took almost 8 months to complete. “I tend to think of the material I am writing now as more like a movie soundtrack – each composition could possibly be the background score for a different scene.” `Horizons’, which is included on `The Next Place’ CD, has been used as the theme music for `LT1′ since late 2000 and another track entitled `Medieval Forest` from the `Dreams` CD was used in a west coast produced full-length 2001 documentary film entitled `Treesit`.

Jeff worked with 8 other musicians on the latest project: Andy Lowe on electric 6-string fretless bass and electric 6-string upright bass, Sophie Parker (who also played on the `Dreams` album) on viola and violin; Laura Gallucci, viola; Sean Grace, flute; Sonny Speed, keyboards; Chris Peters, theremin; Dave Broida, harmonica; and Simon Miller, cajon and percussion. “Everyone who participated was great to work with and helped make this CD sound really good, in my humble opinion. There are solo pieces similar to the material on `Dreams` plus orchestrated tracks that will satisfy those who want something more lively.”

GO TO JEFF’S WEBSITE TO LISTEN TO HIS TRULY AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL COMPOSITIONS AND CHECK OUT HIS REVIEW SECTION….
JeffCurtisMusic.com

MORE ABOUT DANA SOUSA:

Second feature ….Dana Sausa….Poet

Occupy Black Friday!

Friday, November 25, 2011

12:00 noon – 2:00 pm

Smith Haven Mall

Middle Country Road (Route 25), Lake Grove

Join this Occupy Wall Street solidarity demonstration on Black Friday, at the Smith Haven Mall. Participants will include demonstrators from various Long Island occupations and Occupy Wall Street support rallies, members of numerous Long Island peace and justice groups, and many others who support the Occupy Movement.

We will gather peacefully on the long sidewalk, on Middle Country Road.

Bring your signs, your chants, your enthusiasm, and your call for [Peace!] and economic justice.

Kimberly writes:

PeaceSmiths, Inc. has a collection of posters, audio, video, books, etc., that we store as part of our peace and justice archives. Many weeks ago, I sorted through the archives in search of some books that we could donate.

The PeaceSmiths board decided to send a box of our books to The People’s Library at Occupy Wall Street at Liberty Square. So, I picked out some choices I thought would interest the activists there, wrapped them up, and shipped them to NYC.

Because of the current theme of public discourse, and the focus of Occupy Wall Street, I was very amused to find a certain, small, pamphlet-shaped book. Among the PeaceSmiths archives, was a copy of the US Constitution, published by Citicorp/Citibank, in collaboration with the US government. I cannot help think that Susan June Blake, PeaceSmiths’ former Coordinator, saved the item with her usual sense of humor and irony. There are very amusing finds like this one among the archives.

In order to share the joke, I sent this book as one of our donations to the Occupy Wall Street Library. I even wrapped it up in a recycled plastic bag, with a note attached.

I am so curious to know if this copy of the Constitution made it to the library. And, I am even more curious to know if it is one of the books that the NYPD and the NYC Sanitation Department trashed, by throwing into a pile in a dumpster. If, instead, this copy of the Constitution is among the (very few) useable, retrieved, books, then that would be a very good omen. There is a chance it was preserved in its plastic bag!

I do think that the existence of this book is something to reflect on. It is from about 1987-1991. The book was cosponsored by Citicorp/Citibank and the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution. So, it is a kind of joint government/corporate venture of a rather philosophical kind.

There are two introductions to the document. On one side, are comments by the then Head of Citicorp Worldwide, Richard Braddock. On the facing page is a forward by then Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger.

At the bottom of this post are some quotations from Mr. Braddock’s comments.

Today, there is a chance to hear Occupy Wall Street Librarians, The National Lawyer’s Guild, and others, discuss the Constitutional violations against their library, committed during the raid of 11/15/2011. There is a press conference at noon at 260 Madison Avenue, on the 20th Floor. If you are able to go, please see if you can find our copy of the Constitution, among the retrieved books that will be on display.

More information on the press conference is at the Occupywallst website: here.

Quotations from the Occupy Wall Street/PeaceSmiths Archives document:

A Message From Citicorp

Freedom
Justice
Opportunity

Throughout the history of the nations, the freedom to think, speak, write, and create; to possess diverse political, social, and religious views; to own and use property and produce and distribute goods and services, has rarely existed. What has made all these freedoms a permanent part of our nation is the Constitution…

[Last sentence...]

Citicorp. Because Americans want to succeed, not just survive.

[Signed by...]

Richard S. Braddock
Head of Citicorp Worldwide
Consumer Financial Services

PeaceSmiths donated a copy of the Constitution to the People's Library at Occupy Wall Street

KW writes: PeaceSmiths, Inc. supports the efforts of Occupy Wall Street. PeaceSmiths gathered some books from our archives, and sent them over as a gift to the OWS library. (Story: here)

It is upsetting that the NYPD destroyed many of the books from the Occupy Wall Street People’s Library in the 11/15 raid of the encampment. And, potentially destroyed our donations.

Today, Wednesday, November 23, 2011, there will be a press conference about the incident. Please go to occupywallst.org for more information: here.

Occupy Wall Street Librarians…
Nov. 23, 2011, 7:59 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

Drivin' Wheel

PeaceSmiths Gathering
Friday, November 4th at 8pm

Music by:
Drivin’ Wheel
in duo formation with
Bob Westcott and Sonny Meadows

plus…
Lots of
Open Mic Time
Held at:
The First United Methodist Church in Amityville
$7 suggested donation
More if possible, less if necessary

More info or directions, see below, or leave a message at:
(631)798-0778 or www.peacesmiths.org

Directions:

PeaceSmiths is held at the First United Methodist Church in Amityville.
We call it “The last church on the left.”
Address: 25 Broadway Ave, Amityville, NY
(Broadway is actually the southmost end of RT 110
near Merrick Road/Montauk Highway.)

PeaceSmiths, Inc., community organizing for peace, justice and the environment.

Please bring your ideas, literature, petitions, and announcements to share with the PeaceSmiths community.
Please bring news and announcements from your favorite, local occupations.

PS to the regulars: We are not calling it “PeaceSmiths Coffeehouse” this time, because the state of the kitchen and refreshments is in flux. Hope to see you, maybe with a bag of snacks in your hand!

PeaceSmithies tend to admire Pete for his gift to folk song and sing-a-long, and also for his work through Clearwater to cleanup the Hudson River.

Some videos below for those who may have missed the late night march and concert.

Attendees included: David Amram, Arlo Guthrie, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Roy who helps with the activist section at Clearwater, and thousands of 99%ers.

Pete Seeger marching through the streets of NYC:

Pete Seeger and friends sing “We Shall Overcome”

Related Post:
PeaceSmiths endorses Occupy Wall Street

A Message from PeaceSmiths, Inc. about Occupy Wall Street:

PeaceSmiths supports Occupy Wall Street in New York City. Our organization stands for peace, justice, and the environment.

We are excited about the way Occupy Wall Street is using nonviolent demonstrations and democratic decision-making to address economic injustice, social injustice, and the need for less militarism.

PeaceSmiths fully supports the 99%!

_______________________

To learn more about Occupy Wall Street, you can visit: www.occupywallst.org

To follow announcements from the occupation’s NYC General Assembly, which uses democratic decision-making, and to see a declaration of grievances, you can go to: www.nycga.cc

As you may or may not have noticed on your calendar, the first Friday in October is Yom Kippur.

There is no PeaceSmiths Coffeehouse for the first Friday in October 2011.

Stay tuned for information about the November Coffeehouse. Date, time, etc. TBA.

Thank you.