Make Jazz Not War!
an affiliation of Citizen Artists
Music, News, Performances, Poetry
Fight Fascism Flicks is the new MJNW! imprint. Here's our first flick: Moral Decay. People complain about today's young people (of course they always have), but what chance do they have with role models like Donald Trump and murderous police ? It all started with Nixon's pardon and the idea that he could get away...
Music, News, Performances, Poetry
I have often said that when Ford pardoned Nixon, he set the stage for the corruption, criminality, and seditious behavior of the Republican Party AND the resurgence of fascism in America. He’d probably be sad. Betty’d probably say, “I told you so.” This piece is our take on Republican privilege and impunity. The lack of accountability emboldens them. They’ve been plotting their coup for 50 years. I worry about our future enough already. If Trump faces no consequences, I think democracy is doomed. Of course, the Republican Ohio Legislature is trying to do that anyway. This is another of our......
Music, News, Performances, Poetry
Without our comrade, Greg Ward, it’s been hard to get our new music out. This is from a recent rehearsal. Our take on intersectionality. It will open our Comfest show at 4:15 pm, Sunday, June 25. I Am Not Your Ally I am the one whose back matches yours, swords in hand, my rear view blindness trusting your eyes and hands at my back. I am not your ally. I am the one whose arms link with your arms and the arms of others. I am not your ally. I am not a person of color I am not a......
News, Note, Poetry
TARGET PRACTICE During George Floyd Summer Blacks Lives Matter signs were planted in Glen Echo with almost the frequency of spring bulbs. Diversity and inclusion wafted on the summer breeze. Refreshing. Inviting. Chasing the burnt stench of yesterday, the sweet scent of tomorrow made cliches like sweet scents on a summer breeze fresh again. I...continue reading...
News, Note, Poetry
Some appreciation has been coming in for sharing the words before this Friday’s show. So here’s another piece we’ll be performing at Hot Times. (This Friday, Sept 9, 6:45. Parsons and Main.) It’s based on Gil Scttt-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. We took off from that with our “The Repression Will Not Be Televised”. Then NOLA Resistance did “The Resistance Will Not Be Televised”. Now we’ve got: The Counter-Revolution WILL Be Televised C#7 Racists will speak openly of “Replacement Theory” While they gang-rape critical race theory Or any race theory except the master race All on cable TV.......
Note, Poetry
At Hot Times, We’ll be performing “F.O.P.”, our new-ish piece written in response to the murder of Casey Goodson. It seems appropriate to share it here on this Labor Day weekend just after the murder of another unarmed Black man by another Columbus F.O.P. member. F O P F-ed up Our Police!Say What? F O PF-ed UP Our Police!Say What? F O PF-ed up OUR Police!Say Wh? Wait a minute.Whatchu mean OUR police? Ain’t never been OUR police!Rich white people’s police – yeah.But never OUR police. Lot of ‘em started out slave-catchers.Most of the rest were Pinkerton or the likeThey......
News, Poetry
Our newest piece (below) premiered at Comfest in June. Here’s why we play it. I got tired of hearing about how to stop violence and the dire danger of gay and books and color and blame the teachers and how bad or lazy or self-absorbed this or that generation is and and and. I got tired of sactimoniass religionists and criminalistic demagogues telling us what we can do with bed, bath, and body while themselves behaving in egregiously horrific ways that would put the rest of us in jail. I got especially tired that they don’t understand the behavior they......
Poetry
It is always our goal to have our latest performance be our best so far. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn’t. At Comfest 2022, it did. It was a beautiful warm summer evening with a light breeze. The usual parade of diversity was standing in line for gyros and hot dogs or promenading the avenues...
Poetry
Greg Ward was an integral part of Make Jazz Not War! At first, Greg “just” did audio things for us - as a favor, but he quickly became our producer. He was no bullshit. He knew what he was doing and expected the same from others. He was, as he would say, a professional. He was the one who could, at the end of the night, still climb ladders with me and take down the lights. He was fun and he was good. He made our work more than the performance. He struggled for a while with the avant-garde process. When......
Music, News, Poetry
My grandpa Ruby and Grandma Molly were both Ukrainian Jews. Ukraine was part of Imperial Russia then, so they were also Russian Jews. Molly’s family was from the Odesa area. Ruby’s family was from near the Polish border. Russian Jews had no rights. They couldn’t live anywhere except in the Pale of Jewish Settlement and they couldn’t own property. Employment and education were severely restricted. They had to be back in the shtetl (Jewish settlement) by sundown. And then there were the massacres and lynchings and rapes (pogroms). These were the Jew laws of Russia. Unsurprisingly, people ran. Became refugees.......
