The Nightwatchman's "Justice Tour"

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Washington D.C.
The Black Cat

Show Review

The Nation's Capital was the the fifth stop of The Justice Tour, and in a bit of a switcheroo, this time the show came first.  It was a hot, gorgeous day in D.C., trees in bloom, people out walking everywhere ... and snipers were on the rooftops around our hotel (rumor had it the President of Palestine was also staying here).  The towns and shows of the tour so far have all had slightly different feels, and this one felt the heaviest yet.

The Black Cat in Washington D.C. was our host for the evening ... and it felt punk rock right from the get-go.  The beneficiary of tonight's show was Iraq Veterans Against The War (IVAW), which we will learn and talk about more tomorrow, but their presence was all over this show, and the reason for it.

After sound check (rocking ... you knew the guys were going to bring it in the show), we were in the dressing room having a bite and talking about what songs The Freedom Fighter Orchestra would play (yeah, they usually learn them right before.  They're that good.), when Tomas Young rolled in.  He is the subject of the fantastic documentary, "Body Of War".  He was paralyzed in Iraq his first week over there ... and clearly, he is an Iraq Veteran AGAINST The War.  It was an honor to shake his hand, and meeting him before the show put a much deeper meaning into the whole proceeding - the guys knew it was for him and his fellow Vets, and wanted that to be felt.

After meeting and talking with the new additions to this stop, it was show time.  We climbed the cement flights of stairs to the stage level and walked out into another sold out house.  That was ready to be rocked out.  The Nightwatchman hit the stage to loud cheers, especially from the many guys wearing IVAW shirts.  My favorite one said, "Honor The Warrior, Not The War", and that about sums up the feeling and message of the entire night.  Tom said, "We're going to rock the fuck out in The People's Republic of Washington, D.C." and laid "Flesh Shapes The Day" on them.  The heavily male audience loved it.  Tom said he'd done a radio interview earlier in the day, and had disagreed about politics with the D.J., who felt America needed to be victorious.  Tom said, "Victory in this war for me would mean that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Condi Rice would all be sharing a small cage in Guantanamo", which was met with roars of approval.  Though all these war decisions are being made right here in the same town, the strong disapproval they were met with here shows how very out of touch our horrible administration is with the reality of the people. To stress that point, Tom played, "King Of Hell".  Take that, Bushies!

The buddy system was adopted (if your friend is chirping next to you, you tell them to shut the fuck up) for "The Garden Of Gethsemane", which was absolutely the "spooky shit" Tom told us it would be ... and again, pure silence in the room, so that Tom could step away from the mic to sing, "Take my hand love, down we go".  There was again a LOUD lull while Tom tuned his guitar for the song the yellers had earned, "Guerilla Radio".
The line, "I move on D.C." got a huge shout ... and I remembered that not everyone has heard this acoustic version.  We get spoiled living in the same town as The Nightwatchman, and it was a delight to see the Capital crowd be so enthused to hear it.  "What better time than NOW?!" got the whole place going - I hope they mean it.

Boots Riley was the first guest star to the stage, and you never would have known that this cat woke up stuffy and suffering this morning ... he absolutely killed it.  As usual.  He opened with "Love For The Underdog", his spoken word song that is nothing but truth.  It was super quiet for him, and I think it's because, as one line goes, "It's you in this song".  He makes you get it better than you thought you did.  Tom returned to back Boots up on "Five Million Ways To Kill A CEO" with his acoustic guitar.  This one gets Boots moving, and that is one of my favorite things in life to see.  He followed that excellent one with "Everythang", and though the crowd did not comply with "everybody put your lighters up" as the song asks, they did substitute their cell phones.  Progress?  Then "Wear Clean Drawers" once again made everyone want Boots as their best friend.  He told me he actually has bikini underwear made up that say "Clean Drawers" on them, but forgot them.  That is a shame, because they would've been snapped right up, because EVERYONE loves this song. (Boots: save a pair for me, please!  Ruler.)

Ryan Harvey (www.Riotfolk.org) joined The Justice Tour at this stop, down from his native Baltimore.  Ryan is so talented, and so means every word, that you feel like following him into any battle he's involved in.  It makes sense that he's friends with Tom Morello.  I first met him in Venice when Tom was first playing out at The Nightwatchman, and knew then that he was someone to pay attention to.  His lyrics and guitar lay bare the hypocrisy in the world, and set out to right wrongs every time.  He's very involved with the IVAW, and the love in the room was mutual.  He dedicated his rebel song, "Search and Avoid" to the soldiers, and got us all singing along with the "Nah, no way, not me, fuck that" chorus, with Tom on back-up vocals he just learned like two seconds earlier.  As if it were ever in question, it reminded that, "Soldier, you're not alone."

Ryan's voice is so distinctive that it's kind of hard to describe.  Kind of a high voice, and always with an urgency to it.  His next one was about civilians joining the fight, however they can, and "Holding the line".  He was involved with a Port blockade in Washington, where they tried to stop the ships bringing equipment to Iraq, and the soldiers gave them peace signs.  Nothing makes sense anymore in this world, does it?  At least we know there are good people out there/in here, putting themselves on the line to do - and sing - what's right.  Political hip hop artist, Son of Nun joined Ryan on his last song, dedicated to people coming to this country to find work and better lives.  Son of Nun asked, "Where my immigrants at?" and hardly any people raised their hands.  So he said, "So everyone else is either Cherokee or Sioux or something?  I'm gonna ask again ... where my immigrants at?!"  And this time, the entire room threw both hands up.  Ryan and Son knocked it out, and ended the tune with, "NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!"  All present were in loud agreement with this force of nature called Ryan Harvey.  Look for him, listen to him.

I heard one guy say, "I just bought an MC5 album on vinyl and Wayne Kramer is here tonight!"  Yes, he was.  And he made no bones about letting this new generation of listeners know that "Something's Broken In The Promised Land".  The bad news is, we'll have to get our fix of the line "Where's Lee Harvey Oswald, now that we really need him?" now, because it is my hope that we won't ever need him again - certainly not CHEER for him - when we get our new President this fall.  Let us hope we can retire the NEED for this great song. For tonight's version of Wayne's Bukowski tribute, Omar Akil joined him on trumpet, making it sound all hep-cat, and the heads nodded along.  Far out.

Joe Uehlein and his U-Liners took to the stage next, and when introducing them, Tom credited him for making him feel that the Justice Tour would be possible.  Joe has a long history of songs for social justice and rebel songs, and like he said, "We're passing down the rebel spirit through the generations."  He and his cool band, complete with fiddler lady played a Celtic sounding song called, I believe, "Copperhead Road". Folky and fun.  Then, the question we're all asking (especially the IVAW), in their cover of Bob Dylan's "License To Kill" - "Who's going to take away their license to kill?"  I think the answer needs to be US.  They finished their set with "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding" ... always a classic, and never more appropriate than when played for this audience.

The Nightwatchman is many things, and one of them is the producer of the next band's in the works album - The Outernationals, from Brooklyn, NY.  There was a guy down front who Tom said was "Straddling the line between insanely great supporter and crazy heckler" that was fired up about EVERYTHING.  "I can't ever stop watching at night, you can see the challenges I face".  But that was forgotten as soon as Outernationals lead singer, Miles, said, "The revolution has come to town" and they fired off, "Sir, No, Sir!"  They were GREAT!  Fiery guitar licks, frenzied dancing, even a trumpet!  Miles is a great front-man, ala Mick Jagger, and isn't at all afraid to put himself totally out there for the rock.  The band is super-tight, and you can see why Tom would get on board to put his stamp of approval on them.  It was a straight up rock out.  Their last jam was "Empty Lives", and they really let us have it.  I want to see them more ... a lot more.  "Tremendously exciting", was what The Nightwatchman thanked them with.  The looks on the faces in the room relayed, verbatim, "We dig".

Have you heard of Head Roc?  I hadn't, but I sure have now.  Local D.C. Hip Hoppers, Head Roc and Grizzly Bear rhymed it up for us, saying, "You know why you're here, right?  To protest this war!" and the audience made it clear that yes, they knew that.  Loudly.  (Can't they get it ... NO ONE wants this war anymore, if they ever did).  They did a rap about the Washington Redskins, and how they need to "Change that name!"  It's racist.  The "Put Your Hands Up" plea was complied with, and happily so.  They also did an anti-gun rap, that said, "Guns don't kill, people who make guns to kill people do" and dissed Charlton Heston, as they should.  I got their c.d. You should too.

The very special guest of honor at the show was Tomas Young.  He was lifted on to the stage in his wheelchair to the heart-felt cheers of the crowd, which contained many of his peers of Vets Against The War.  He thanked Tom, and said that "all of this was great, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't go home and do something to bring about change".  Which is exactly the point of this whole tour!  Get informed and rock the fuck out with us, but then bottle the feeling and re-open it in your own daily life and we'll really be getting somewhere - together!

The Freedom Fighter Orchestra (Breckin Meyer, Dave Gibbs/ Kid Lightning and Wayne Kramer + Brian Baker from Bad Religion tonight) came up to join Tom in playing the song for Tomas Young that he had asked to be part of the "Body Of War" soundtrack: "Battle Hymns".  Watching Tomas as Tom sang the poignant words was about as deep as it gets. 

*Until tomorrow, that is, when we actually go and see some Veteran places for ourselves (stay tuned). 

It was also badass.  Tom brought out his electric guitar for the first time on this one, and that got about as big a roar from the mostly dudes in the audience as any all night.  Once again, rock with a purpose is very powerful stuff.

Wayne "KICK OUT THE JAMS" Kramer (every time he steps on stage, guys yell that out) led the FFO for his classic, and this time it inspired a mosh/slam pit down front - I told you it was punk rock at the outset.  The guitar chat between Wayne on his Star Spangled guitar and Tom's Arm The Homeless said it all.  The boys were going off the charts with the testosterone influx.  I'm a girl, but I totally get it - it ruled.

"Fortunate Son" was dedicated to Tomas Young, whom Tom said "has physical challenges, but gets more done every day than people who have no disabilities at all".  Think about that - and perhaps ponder doing something about that, if you're willing and able.  "You can wait around for this war to end, or you can stop it yourselves", Tom said.  Maybe that's a good place to start.  CCR's hit felt, like the whole night did, harder core.   When it was time for "I ain't no President's Son - FUCK HIM" - you really hoped that the noise from the club would lift up and out and across town to land in Bush's face ... but I still don't think he would care.  I'd like to see Cheney say "So?" to the Americans at this show ... the old and evil ticker couldn't finally take it, I'm sure.  Drat, we should have put him on the list.  Sigh.

My new favorite rock-out jam, "100 Little Curses" by Boots and Tom was next ... and I don't think I'm alone in playing favorites there.  Boots was met with "BOOOOOOOts", prompting him to ask if they were Boo-ing or saying "Boots".  There was no question it was said with a whole lotta love.  That was also shown to Tom when he blasted the place off with his teeth guitar solo ... the air was filled with a solid wall of fists and phones.  Boots' rhymes and moves are equally sick, making this the one they'll all be talking about tomorrow.  Scratch that - they'll be talking about it ALL tomorrow, and for a long, long time to come.

Ryan Harvey came back up to lead Operation Ivy's "Jaded".  PUNK rock!  Ryan said about Operation Ivy, "they're fucking good".  I'd say the same about this ode to them.  Short but sweet.

"Every once in a while, The Nightwatchman likes to get DOWN."  So did everyone else for "Shake My Shit".  This one has been going over real big everywhere we've roamed, for good reason.  Party anthems are crowd pleasers, but add to it some dosage of reality, and you get a keeper.  And your shit shook.

Once again, ALL proceeds from the door and merch will go to IVAW.  Once again, there was no limit on what it would cost to get out.  (No, not talking about the awful war there, though I could be. I meant out of the CLUB). I have a feeling the folks ponied up for this one.

The super-nice and super-duper talented Outernational fellows came back to lead the entire gang in their "Fighting Song".  This one featured a neat melodica riff that I'm still whistling now at 4 in the morning ... because it was cool like that.  ALL the guys on the stage were jumping up and down with the "Di-di-di-di-di- di-DI!" chorus, and it was more anti-war fight inspiring than real fisticuffs - the camaraderie from stage to front door was thick as thieves.  I want to hear it again.

The entire group of players came up for the night's finale, "This Land Is Your Land".  This has been the customary last song at most of our stops, and it is always a true hellraiser.  Interestingly, when Tom introduced it saying it was a Woody Guthrie song, that got a cheer as big as any of the night, and I hope good ol' Woody heard that.  I think he'd be proud of the way Tom has brought back ALL the verses, and of the way it raises the roofs off of every place they've played it. Tom instructed, "I want to see everyone in the place jumping up and down, even Tomas Young" ... and you know what?  Even he DID. 

That's what gave all the more resonance to Tom ending the night with "Never Give Up, Never Give In!"  If guys like Tomas Young - and there are many, some of whom we'll meet tomorrow, ALL of whom we need to be talking about, and providing for, and getting the hell out of Iraq - can never give up, and never give in ... then who are we to?  It is our American duty to get each other's backs, just like these soldiers have always done for each other.  If the guys who were there can organize and be against this war, we need to do that too, and Honor The Warrior, Not The War.   Oh, and Rock The Fuck Out!  PEACE!

- Carol Gronner

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