A Union-Man’s Man: Tom Morello

Photo by David Atlas. Courtesy of Tom Morello

Taking up the working man’s plight, ‘The Nightwatchman’ sends out an urgent call for action with his new ‘Union Town’ EP

Tom Morello is as well known for his heavy guitar riffs with Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Street Sweeper Social Club and his solo acoustic act The Nightwatchman as he is for fervent political activism. Co-founder of the political group Axis of Justice, whose declared purpose is “to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice together,” Morello has championed causes ranging from immigration reform and ending war to abolishing torture and the death penalty. Inspired by the labor struggles in Wisconsin, his newly released “Union Town” EP aims to invigorate listeners to stand up, get active and fight for the rights of workers, with 100% of proceeds from record sales going directly toward this cause. This interview by Linda Rapka.

What did you hope to stir in listeners with the release of “Union Town”?
I was very inspired by what I saw at the protest in Madison, Wisconsin. I’ve played at hundreds of demonstrations and union events, but the energy in the city of Madison was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I wanted to do as much as I could as fast as I could, so I recorded the “Union Town” record and am giving 100% of the proceeds away to the union struggles across the country.

It seems you’re equal parts musician and political activist. In your world, is there any distinction between the two?
Well, those have always been my two passions. I didn’t choose to be a guitar player, that chose me, and so once I was stuck being a musician I had to find a way to weave my convictions into my vocation. Fortunately the outlet of The Nightwatchman allows me to do that in an unfettered way. Being a solo acoustic troubadour is like being a guerilla fighter of folk music. I can answer the telephone call and be on the frontline the next day.

Being so involved in myriad causes — fighting racism, torture and war to standing up for the rights of immigrants and now for workers — with so much to fight for, what is it about these particular causes that strikes a personal chord with you?
I was raised in a household where it was imperative to stand up for the underdog and to do for others. I’ve been a member of the Los Angeles musicians union Local 47 for 22 years and I’m a “red card” carrying member of the Industrial Workers of the World, so labor issues are near and dear to my heart. My mother was also a union public high school teacher for almost 30 years in Illinois, and so the attack on public sector collective bargaining, I take very personal.

When did you first become passionate about unionism?
The Morellos come from a coal mining town in central Illinois, so coal mining politics and unionism were something I was aware of from a very early age. Unions are a crucial counterbalance to the raw corporate greed that has torpedoed our economy, threatens our environment, and is attempting to strip away decades of social progress. The Republican governors and their corporate masters are trying to make this a country of the corporation, by the corporation and for the corporation, and that doesn’t leave very much room for us. It seems sometimes that only one side is fighting a class war in this country, which is why we need to get organized and fight back.

How far do you think music can push forward politics?
I know music has greatly inspired me in my political work. It was groups like the Clash and Public Enemy that presented a world view that made sense to me and made me feel part of a global community of activist musicians who were not afraid to speak out against injustice and not afraid to take to the streets when our rights were threatened. In my Nightwatchman concerts I try to create a little bit of the world that we’d like to see by bringing together a diverse group of people, all singing the same songs for the same cause.

What musical political activists inspired, and inspire, you?
The aforementioned Chuck D and Joe Strummer were certainly important. Many musicians of course have inspired me, from Randy Rhoads to Charlie Parker, and on the political front Joe Hill, the great poet laureate of the American labor movement in the early 20th century, to people like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Bruce Springsteen, and System of a Down. It’s all part of the same mosaic of musicians who use their craft to forge solidarity and to confront injustice.

You’re putting all proceeds from “Union Town” to the America Votes Labor Unity Fund, a bold statement against the anti-union movement in Wisconsin and the nation. What else can people do to support unionism?
One thing you can do is visit www.saveworkers.org, where you can get a free download of the song “Union Town” and lend your email address to organizers across the country who are working to maintain our collective bargaining rights. But I think this struggle is about more than that. It’s not just about stopping a few bad laws and rolling back aggressive anti-worker legislation. What I felt in the streets of Madison and saw in the thundering rotunda of the capital building there made me think that we could be on the cusp of a bold new chapter in progressive, radical, even revolutionary politics in the labor movement. It’s time that workers in this country not just fought back but pushed forward aggressively our agenda — the working families’ agenda — from musicians to steelworkers to union cops to longshoreman. I saw a bunch of farmers to radical students, they were all in the streets of Madison, all shoulder to shoulder, standing up for our rights.

The “Union Town” EP, which you can now get on iTunes, 100% of the proceeds go toward that struggle. It’s a combination of original songs of mine and classic labor class-war anthems which have been given a “Nightwatchman-izing.” So I hope you enjoy the music, and fellow musician workers, I’ll see you at the barricades.

Originally published by Professional Musicians, Local 47, July 2011 Overture

“Dancing With the Stars”: Classical Week

ABC hit series “Dancing With the Stars” added a touch of class in April with the launch of Classical Week.

Pushed by the show’s co-executive producer Joe Sungkur, the theme week featured an orchestra doubled to an impressive 46 pieces performing traditional and new classical music. Selections included a Spanish double-step pasodoble and a 200-year-old Viennese waltz as nine celebrity couples competed to outshine one another on the dance floor and save themselves from elimination.

Making special guest appearances in honor of the special theme week, international violin virtuoso David Garrett and the opera world’s angelic voiced mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins performed on the results show April 12. Jenkins delivered two extraordinary vocal solos with “Con te partiro” and “O mio babbino caro” and sang a duet of “The Flower Duet” with the show’s regular singer, Beverley Staunton. Garrett performed a rollicking version of “Walk This Way” enlivened by the DWTS Dance Troupe. Grammy and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson also made an appearance, belting out powerful renditions of “Do Not Look Down” and “Feeling Good,” both from her latest album.

“They really wanted to class up the show, and boy did they!” said veteran “DWTS” trumpet player Rick Baptist, who has been with the show for all 12 seasons. To accommodate the larger orchestra, the crew rebuilt the entire stage just for those two shows. Special care was also taken to ensure the musicians were given special attention; director Alex Rudzinski specially requested that conductor Harold Wheeler add 20 seconds to the start of every song to make sure the orchestra received adequate camera shots.

“There’s something so special that’s in playing live music,” said Baptist, whose extensive credits includes 28 years with the Academy Awards and about 25 Emmy Awards in addition to countless record dates. “It’s great to play on movies and records, but the instant response of when you get done with a live performance and the audience goes nuts, that’s the thrill.”

Bassist Trey Henry, who has also been with the show since its inception, said, “The challenge of playing on a show like ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is to perform such a wide variety of musical styles with some level of authenticity. Add in the fact that the show is live and we see the music for the first time that day.” In the case of Classical Week, he explained the challenge of performing very difficult material over the course of two hours marks the biggest difference from other awards shows, typically filled with play-ons, play-offs and a couple of production numbers.

For many of the extra musicians, performing on live TV was a big departure from their usual post in the orchestra pit of a symphony hall. “It was very exciting,” said Greg Goodall of the experience. The timpanist of the LA Opera and Hollywood Bowl orchestras who has also played on more than 400 film scores says TV was a unique experience. “Live television has a special energy all of its own,” he said.

While undoubtedly exciting, performing live can also be daunting. While no stranger to live TV situations — he’s done 10 or so Emmy Awards, three Academy Awards and numerous other TV shows — Henry said he’s always been “much more comfortable in the studio or in an orchestra pit. I’ve never enjoyed being on stage. But somehow, I’m allowed to go to work, focus on the music at hand and let the show business run amok around me.”

“Everybody’s energy is focused on putting together a two-hour television show of the highest quality,” Goodall remarked. “Everyone is focused at the same time. It’s not like a movie where this part is done and then that part is done. Everyone is focused, and it fits together.”
While a lot of work, it’s obvious to anyone visiting the set that there is a definite family feel with everyone involved on the show, from the musicians, dancers and crew to the producers and director.

“The producers of the show really do recognize and stress the importance of the element of live music,” Henry said. “It’s rewarding to be a part of a team that is respected and trusted to perform at a certain level week in and week out.”

“We love working with each other and we’re appreciated by the powers that be in that organization,” Baptist said. “That’s the important thing. Musicians don’t get that a lot these days.”

“It felt great to work on a show that thought it was a good idea to put classical music, being played by a live orchestra, on two hours of prime time TV, in front of 20 million people,” Henry said.

The show was especially memorable to Goodall for a reason all his own. “I got to fulfill a lifetime dream on the show,” he explained. “Finally, when the announcers called out, ‘Now from Hollywood…’ Boom! That famous drum roll — that was me!” A Hollywood dream come true.

Words + photos by Linda Rapka.

Originally published by Professional Musicians, Local 47 Overture, June 2011

Mogwai @ the Mayan 5/10/11

As published by L.A. RECORD:

As with the Beach Boys and Sigur Rós, Mogwai has a definite case of “landscape manifest in music.” Keenly reflecting the gloom, drear and unpredictability of their Glaswegian hometown’s climate, these five lads from Scotland have crafted slow-burning, sonically heavy, mostly instrumental shoegaze since the late 1990s. With a “Spinal Tap”-like irreverence, the band fuels its inspiration for song titles and sparse lyrics from cryptic and random musings on things like dead musicians, ’80s children’s TV show catchphrases, and mythical monsterish creatures—“I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead,” “I Know You Are But What am I?”, “Batcat.”

This year the band released its seventh studio album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, and with it reclaims more of the positive critical reviews it had more readily received with earlier efforts. In support of the new record, Mogwai’s current tour of the western and southern parts of the U.S. included a stop at a full-capacity Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles, where its droney, pulsating electronic-synth set spanned the band’s many albums to the obvious delight of many Angeleno fans.

Kicking the night off with a new track, “White Noise,” Mogwai followed with the sublime “Friend of the Night,” off Mr. Beast, the stage lighting inducing flashbacks of the track’s insanely popular YouTube video with that spotlight which follows a never-ending path of eerie plaster carvings. Though definitely heavy on new tunes like “Rano Pano,” “How to Be a Werewolf” and “You’re Lionel Richie,” the setlist included a few surprises, like 1997 single “New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 1″ and “Batcat” from the 2008 EP of the same name, bringing out audience favorite “Mogwai Fear Satan” from 1997′s Young Team for the final encore. Mogwai returns Stateside in September but will only hit up the east coast. Road trip, anyone?

—Linda Rapka (words + photos)

Hollywood Bowl season announcement 5/3/11

The Passion and the Fury of David Axelrod (musician) – interview

Photo by B Plus, courtesy Dana Axelrod.

The Passion and the Fury of David Axelrod

interview by Linda Rapka

A golden producer in the heyday of Capitol Records, David Axelrod lent his magic to hit jazz, funk and soul records of the 1960s and ’70s. He churned out a succession of gold records and top singles with artists including Lou Rawls, Cannonball Adderley and the Electric Prunes, and his signature sound is a sampling favorite of today’s hip hop artists. His keen eye for spotting unlikely successes garnered him a lasting imprint on some of the most eccentric albums of the era. Sailor-mouthed and charmingly surly, Axelrod minces no words about his improbable highs and cavernous lows during six decades in the industry.

Raised in the tough black neighborhood of South Central, Axelrod started going out to the clubs at 15. “If you were in diapers and you had cash, they would serve you,” he recalled. “We went there because we could get served. But then I started listening to the music.”

Big Joe Turner, Jimmy Witherspoon, Amos Milburn and other prominent black jazz and R&B artists of the Central Avenue scene turned Axelrod on to the world of music. In the late 1950s he spent a stint on the east coast, where he befriended the likes of Charles Mingus, Buddy Collette, Ernie Andrews and Gerald Wiggins. But his love of L.A. soon led him back home, where he found session work drumming for TV and film scores. His shift to producing made waves in jazz circles with his work on hard-bop tenor saxophonist Harold Land’s “The Fox” in 1959.

Known for big beats and deep bass lines, the Axelrod sound was much heavier than typical of that era. “I liked mixing the rhythms like rock with jazz and add classical sounding strings,” he said. “Nobody was doing that. I don’t know why. It seemed like a natural thing to do, I thought.”

He landed at Capitol in 1964 under Alan Livingston, for one simple reason: “That’s where I wanted to be.” Located in Los Angeles, it was the only major outside of New York and Chicago, and he wasn’t about to leave his hometown again. That same year Capitol struck gold with the Beatles, which afforded unorthodox thinkers like Axelrod more leeway to experiment. He did A&R, wrote and produced a succession of gold albums and hit singles including Lou Rawls’ “Dead End Street” and Cannonball Adderley’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!” and helped steer the company in new directions. His unprecedented move to hire black promoters to push Capitol’s black artists paid off big. His idea to sign blond, blue-eyed pin-up actor David McCallum of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” fame, despite the fact he had no previous experience and couldn’t sing, landed four hit records. Axelrod was the golden boy.

In 1968 he broke ground blending psychedelic rock with string arrangements on the Electric Prunes’ concept album “Mass in F Minor,” wholly composed, arranged and conducted by Axelrod. Sung in Latin, the album was received as innovative and adventurous and gained heightened popularity when the song “Kyrie Eleison” appeared in the cult film “Easy Rider.”

But the album’s success came back to bite him; it was recorded not for Capitol, but for Reprise. “Livingston had a fit!” Axelrod mused. “After he yelled at me for a while, he said, ‘You’ve got to write an album for us. That’s an order.’ I said, ‘Oh, well OK.’ Like I wasn’t happy about it.”

That year he set to work on his first solo effort. Inspired by the poems and illustrations of English artist William Blake, the end result was a quixotic blend of pop, rock, jazz, theater music, and R&B using a rock orchestra. “Song of Innocence” surprised everyone when it met with widespread critical and popular success. “It turned everything upside-down,” Axelrod said. “Suddenly everyone’s trying to do it. Especially in the U.K.” Another Blake-inspired album, “Songs of Experience,” followed in 1969.

During this time he continued to work with Adderley, Rawls and others including South African singer Letta Mbulu and bandleader David Rose. In 1970, with the exit of Livingston, Axelrod left Capitol. On the verge of making an album putting music to Alan Ginsberg’s celebrated poem “Howl!” tragedy struck when Axelrod’s 17-year-old son died. “Ginsberg was so hip. We talked about it,” he said. “He told me certain things that were gonna happen because of my son dying. And he was right. They did.” A few short years later, close friend and collaborator Cannonball Adderley died of a stroke. Axelrod’s work slowed, and three solo albums he recorded in the 1980s went unreleased.

In the early 1990s his music found renewed interest by the hip hop generation. His beats are sampled all over tracks by Dr. Dre, the Wu Tang Clan, Lauryn Hill, DJ Shadow, De La Soul, Sublime, Lil’ Wayne and others. This surprised no one more than Axelrod himself. “I’m reading that I’m one of the most sampled artists, and I’m going, ‘Where the hell is the money?’” Though everyone was using his music, almost no one was paying royalties. He and his attorney are hoping to stave off drawn-out lawsuits by settling out of court.

In 1993 he released his first album in over a decade, “Requiem: Holocaust,” and several compilations of his earlier work were also released. In 2001 he released the self-titled album “David Axelrod” on British DJ James LaVelle’s label Mo’Wax, which features new arrangements of 30-year-old rhythm tracks originally recorded for an unrealized third Electric Prunes album. For the first time in his career, in 2004 he headlined a sold-out concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

Axelrod continues to write music for an hour or two each day, but not for any particular project. “It doesn’t need to be anything that’s gonna be concrete or done,” he said. “It’s just writing. It’s just to keep your mind active physically. You’ve got to stay in shape.”

Now 80, Axelrod has no plans to stop making music anytime soon. “What the hell else am I gonna do?”

Originally published in Local 47 Overture, May 2011

Dudamel “Mahler’s 9th” at Walt Disney Concert Hall 1/15/11

As published by LA RECORD:

I’ll never forget my first encounter with Gustavo Dudamel. His inaugural performance with the LA Phil back in November 2009 was illuminating. It was transcendent. It was…well, kind of fake, really. You see, my first encounter with our city’s heroic Maestro did not happen within the Douglas-fir lined walls of the prestigious Walt Disney Concert Hall. I was seated on a slab of cold concrete in the middle of the Music Center Plaza. I attended not the concert itself, but a real-time telecast a few blocks away put on for all the unfortunate souls without a golden ticket. The setting didn’t exactly lend to the experience the focused attention reserved for classical concerts. Instead, my attention was split among myriad gesticulating, wild-haired clones splashed across the numerous oversized screens surrounding the plaza, which itself was filled with talkative classical newbies and a handful of the obligatory crying babies. Thus, the Jan. 15 concert of the LA Phil performing Mahler’s 9th was my first real encounter with The Dude. I’m not going to pretend I am an expert in the classical realm, but the musical experience was exquisite, and I can say in all certainty that the real-life experience is more fulfilling than watching on a screen. The nuances of the music, the tangible energy emanating from the musicians, and the uninhibited vibrancy of the conductor are a package worthy of the in-person experience. And although this season the LA Phil has followed in the footsteps of a growing number of orchestras in the country by transmitting live performances to audiences in movie theaters, if you have the chance, and the cash, opt for the real deal.

—Linda Rapka

Yoko Ono @ the Grammy Museum 10/3/10

As published by LA RECORD:

No screeching, yelping or otherworldly noises emanated from Yoko Ono when she took center stage Sunday, Oct 3; her appearance at the Grammy Museum’s Clive Davis Theater solely featured conversation. To a sold-out audience of just 200 lucky guests, Yoko’s intimate discussion touched on myriad topics, from the expected—updates on her new art and musical works—to the unexpected, like her respect for Lady Gaga and her initial aloofness toward John Lennon.

The candid interview, led by museum director Robert Santelli, revealed much about Yoko’s inspirations and life’s work, as well as unveiled some of the speculation and mystery surrounding her infamous love affair and marriage to John Lennon. Laughing at the seemingly ludicrous scenario, she coolly shared that John’s vigorous wooing of her was initially met with a tepid reaction. Referring to herself as an “elitist” artist, Yoko admitted how little she knew about the “mop heads” or John upon their initial meeting; her only prior knowledge of them came from a small article she’d read in a Japanese newspaper. John’s incessant hounding finally wore her down, sparking one of the most legendary relationships in entertainment industry history. 

Yoko also delighted in regaling her musical collaborations with son Sean; recent gigs in Los Angeles and around the country with, among others, Thurston Moore, Mike Watt and Lady Gaga, a “wonderfully talented artist” she “respects very much”; and her past and recent art projects, including the monumental Imagine Peace Tower light installation in Iceland. The interview ended with the screening of a rare film reel of her and John before the session culminated in a Q&A with the audience, which (surprise) was rife with questions about her relationship with her legendary late spouse.

The Grammy Museum’s evening with Yoko Ono marked the opening of her newly curated Grammy Museum exhibit, “John Lennon, Songwriter.” Celebrating the 70th anniversary of her late husband’s birth (Oct. 9), the exhibit spans John’s entire career and displays such artifacts as handwritten song lyrics, guitars, a pair of his signature wire-rimmed glasses, a typewriter, and rare historic film footage covering John Lennon’s early influences, his time with the Quarry Men and the Beatles, and his transition to solo artist.

—Linda Rapka