On Sunday, July 15th, 2018,
I went to a rally in support of John Fetterman. Currently, he's the
mayor of Braddock, PA but he is out campaigning to become the next
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania.
John's wife, Giselle, emceed the
event. Given the amount of work that she does in the community with
various non-profits, the commonwealth will be much better off with
Giselle in a more prominent role across the state.
Also speaking at the rally were Sara
Innamorato and Summer Lee. Both women ran against long time
incumbents of the state house of representatives and won. Both
candidates were tired of nothing ever changing so they changed it
themselves.
There was also some other guy there. I think his name was Bernie Sanders or something. It was great to
finally hear him speak in person since I missed all of the other
times he came through town on his run for president.
The theme for the afternoon was
Democratic Socialism and coming together to make government work for
everyone. Instead of the current model that seems to include
corporate plunder of public treasuries to the detriment of the many.
Mr. Fetterman kept his remarks short
because he was in a tough spot on the bill. After the fiery speeches
of Ms. Innamorato and Ms. Lee, there wasn't much left that needed to
be said and then he had to introduce Bernie Sanders. It was like
being on a bill with James Brown, The Ramones and Hendrix. There
wasn't much room for him to do his thing so he played it smart
and got out of the way.
Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, came
out and played what I begrudgingly refer to as his greatest hits. Using our tax dollars for healthcare and education instead of on the
military and prison industrial complexes. As well as equity in the
economic and justice systems.
I refer to them as Bernie's greatest
hits because I'm tired of hearing about them and I'm sure he's tired
of talking about those topics. These are all things that should have
been settled by now but aren't due to the fact that we are surrounded
by greedy pigfuckers. Greed and their desire for more of everything,
consequences be damned, is going to get us all killed.
For me, the personal highlight of the
afternoon and the reason I dragged my bundle of social anxieties off
of the couch and into a large crowd of people was to see Derek
Zanetti (a.k.a. The Homeless Gospel Choir) open the proceedings with
a handful of songs.
Derek has very quickly become one of
my favorite people in the land of Punk Rock. Armed solely with an
acoustic guitar, he's able to very succinctly get a message across
that, even though we may feel like outcasts, we are not alone. He
doesn't shy away from pointing out the impact that Punk Rock has had
on his life and I'm right there with him.
Trying to navigate my way through the
world became much easier once I knew there were a bunch of other
maladjusted people out there trying to find their way too. And they
made records about it!!! The discontent of Punk Rock became a
lighthouse for me and I was immediately drawn to it. The Ramones,
The Clash, anything with Ian Mackaye or Keith Morris. Those records
are my equivalent to magic Mormon underpants.
Seeing Derek play his protest songs in
front of an unexpecting audience that was waiting for political
speeches was a treat. I was worried about the response he would get
but the crowd seemed to be into what he was getting at. When he
started into his last song, “Normal,” it took every bit of
restraint that I had to not start pogoing in the folk pit. Chances
are I would have ended up crippling the two elderly women that were
standing next to me. That certainly would have put a damper on the
afternoon.
Derek is the closest thing to a Punk
Rock version of Mr. Rogers that I have ever encountered. He is all
about inclusion and kindness. The Punk Rock weirdos should be
uniting and holding each other up in order to push back instead of
forming into competitive factions that keep us divided.
Derek is also very open, in his lyrics
and between song raps, about his struggles with mental health issues. The more we talk about mental health the sooner the stigmas
surrounding it will fall by the wayside. If something he says at a
show encourages someone in the room to reach out for help and brings
them some sort of relief to their feelings of isolation, the greater
good has been served.
The Homeless Gospel Choir is on Anti-Flag's A-F Records. Please, take a moment to check out his work. Your ears will be greatly rewarded.
And if the internet isn't lying, Derek is assembling a band to take his songs out on the road with a fleshed out Punk Rock sound. Hopefully there will be a warm up show in the area before they head out.
And if the internet isn't lying, Derek is assembling a band to take his songs out on the road with a fleshed out Punk Rock sound. Hopefully there will be a warm up show in the area before they head out.
Here are some links for the curious:
Here's a video that I shot of The
Homeless Gospel Choir's set that day:
No comments:
Post a Comment