NC Music Love Army Continues Music’s History of Protest

Governor Pat McCrory

I long have been a fan of Caitlin Cary‘s music that includes her days as part of Whiskeytown (with Ryan Adams) and her solo career. One of her latest projects finds her joining her musical talents with others to make a statement. In 2013, Cary and singer-songwriter Jon Lindsay co-founded NC Music Love Army. The group is a collective of musicians with a connection to North Carolina who wanted to make a statement about regressive politics in the state. The artists released an album of protest songs in 2013 called We Are Not For Sale: Songs of Protest.

In 2014, as we approach election time, the group is releasing additional songs. Below, listen to Mary Johnson Rockers sing “Senator’s Lament,” a song about the land that sounds timeless while also being timely. After the song, you may listen to alternate versions on the player too.

In “Dear Mr. McCrory,” Lindsay wrote a song directed at the governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory. On the song about voter suppression in the state and civil rights, Lindsay is joined by Cary and BJ Barham (of American Aquarium).

In “Dear Mr. McCrory,” Lindsay asks a question we wonder about for many politicians, “When you were a young man did you wanna be / This person here before us today?” Check it out.

You may download “Dear Mr. McCrory,” “Senator’s Lament,” and other songs through NC Music Love Army’s website. [October 29, 2014 Update: Check out the latest release through NC Music Love Army of “Train Coming” by Dasan Ahanu and Jrusalam.]

Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Caitlin Cary After Whiskeytown
  • Who is Ryan Adams?
  • Rosanne Cash Takes a Stand With “Crawl Into the Promised Land”
  • Living Colour: “American Skin (41 Shots)” (Cover of the Day)
  • Chronicling the Struggle for Justice in “True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality”
  • Trini Lopez: Hammerin’ Out Danger

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    OK Go: “I Won’t Let You Down”

    OK Go Umbrella

    OK Go has released another one of their exciting videos, this time with the fancy umbrella work in the video for “I Won’t Let You Down.” The video is directed by singer Damian Kulash and by Kazuaki Seki.

    Check out the video for “I Won’t Let You Down,” which is from OK Go’s Hungry Ghosts album.

    If you are wondering about the motorized scooters that the band members are riding, they are called UNI-CUBs. Also, Rolling Stone has more about the making of the video.

    What is your favorite OK Go video? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • OK Go in Zero Gravity in “Upside Down & Inside Out”
  • Don McLean Live at Glastonbury
  • Another OK Go Mesmerizing Video: “The Writing’s On the Wall”

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Watch Sci-Fi Film That Promotes Real Rosetta Comet Mission

    European Space Agency

    The European Space Agency released a short science fiction film, Ambition, to promote its upcoming real Rosetta probe. The ESA hopes the unusual tactic will help explain to the general public the purpose of the mission, which is a study of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In November, they will put a small robot on to the surface of the ice comet to analyze it.

    The film, which runs less than seven minutes, stars Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) and Aisling Franciosi. Check out Ambition and learn more about the Rosetta probe.

    Ambition was filmed in Iceland, and it initially screened in London on October, 24 2014 during the British Film Institute’s sci-fi program, Days of Fear and Wonder. For more on the making of the film, check out this video.

    Did the ESA come up with a good way to teach science? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt Travel Space in “Passengers”
  • “Wanderers” Video on the Future of Space Exploration
  • Astronauts on Space
  • Carl Sagan on the Pale Blue Dot
  • The Scene in “The Right Stuff” That Makes You Love John Glenn
  • Apollo 11 Lands On the Moon

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Harry Shearer’s New Series on Richard Nixon

    Nixon Web Series

    Actor Harry Shearer, famous for his work in This Is Spinal Tap, Saturday Night Live, and The Simpsons, is tackling a new character with his YouTube mini-series, former president Richard M. Nixon. In the new series, entitled Nixon’s the One, Shearer portrays Nixon by following transcripts of actual audio recordings of Nixon. The results are both illuminating and funny.

    Shearer and Nixon scholar and author Stanley Kutler listened to Nixon recordings to find segments that reveal Nixon’s everyday life. Shearer explained to CBS that he always felt that portrayals of Nixon missed something about the man. Shearer sees him as “this strange, self-torturing, self-destroying guy who was, in my point of view, darkly comic.” These new episodes attempt to capture that tragic and comic part of Nixon.

    This segment of Nixon’s the One gives a hidden-camera view of Nixon talking to Henry Kissinger about John F. Kennedy.

    One episode captures Nixon’s conversations as he prepares to give his speech to the nation announcing his resignation. As Nixon engages the reporters in small talk as he prepares to resign, the result is funny but also heartbreaking. Certainly, it captures the loneliness of Nixon at that moment. .

    It should not be too surprising that the man who does the voice of Mr. Burns would help us see another side of President Nixon. Check out other segments of Nixon’s the One on YouTube. If you want to compare the resignation video to the real thing, see below.

    Who is your favorite actor to portray Nixon? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Daniel Ellsberg: The Most Dangerous Man
  • Dylan Releases “Murder Most Foul”
  • Duet of the Day: Cass Elliot and John Denver “Leaving on a Jet Plane”
  • The Uncommon Champion of the Common Man: Henry Wallace
  • RFK (and Aeschylus) on MLK Assassination
  • Trailer for “11.22.63” Stephen King Miniseries

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Buy from Amazon

    Ronny Spears: “North of Mexico”

    Texas singer-songwriter Ronny Spears passed away this week on October 20, 2014. Although not as well known as the many of those he performed with, Spears had a genuine Texas sound and the man was admired by those who knew him.

    Spears often collaborated with songwriters like Ray Wylie Hubbard. Most recently, Spears worked with Robby White as part of White & Spears. The duo often performed around north Texas, and as recently as Saturday, October 18 were scheduled to play at Hank’s Texas Grill in McKinney, Texas.

    In the video below from June 2011, Spears appears on “Texas Renegade Radio” on KNON 89.3 FM in Dallas, Texas, hosted by Mark Mundy. Here, he performs “North of Mexico,” which he wrote. If you have never heard Spears, check it out.


    RIP Mr. Spears.

  • Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
  • Ned Miller: The Shy Man Behind “From a Jack to a King”
  • Merle Haggard: “Kern River”
  • Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog
  • B.B. King: “Why I Sing the Blues”
  • RIP Percy Sledge: “When a Man Loves a Woman”

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)