emmylou harris, robert plant, and more fit to new york's town … · 2017-04-16 · quartz,...
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¬ ŧ �
EMMYLOU HARRIS, ROBERT PLANT, ANDMORE BRING REFUGEE BENEFIT TO NEW
YORK’S TOWN HALL
EVENTS MUSIC
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by : CARRIE COUROGEN | 6 MONTHS AGO | 351 VIEWS
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It wasn’t lost on many during Tuesday night’s Lampedusa: Concert for
Refugees bene�t that a series of concerts to raise awareness and funds for
the current refugee crisis was in full swing just as the presidential election
drew increasingly nearer.
In an election season where refugees have become such politicized
�gures, where they’ve been distilled down to talking points and memes
and likened to a bowl of Skittles, the Emmylou Harris-helmed bene�t was
a humbling reminder that, above everything else, refugees are just people.
They’re just people. Men, women, and children, and in the current refugee
crisis, 65 million of them around the world have been displaced from their
homes. This isn’t a partisan issue; it’s a humanitarian one.
“You can start from a place of fear and suspicion, or you can start from a
place of love and compassion,” Joey Ryan, one half of indie-folk duo the
Milk Carton Kids said. “We’re all doing this to hopefully promote the latter.”
People behind the slew of Facebook comments that litter the event’s posts
might want to question their decisions to boycott the concert series for
political reasons. It wasn’t a political event. It was a momentary relief from
the negativity and ugliness that has �ooded the news cycle. There was no
mention of either candidate, save for a brief comedic song from Nancy and
Beth (actresses Megan Mullally and Stephanie Hunt’s musical alter egos).
There were no accusations of who’s right and wrong in a political war over
immigration, no damning critiques of anyone involved in either political
party.
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The musicians held back from proselytizing; any remarks about the
refugee crisis were brief and told in personal anecdotes. The Milk Carton
Kids shared that their family histories are marked with immigration stories,
that there were stark di�erences between the lives of distant relatives who
made it in America and those who were turned away. Harris told a short
story about meeting a former child refugee who came to America on the
back of a train and is now a college graduate working with refugee
services to give others the same kind of help he received.
It wasn’t a night about politics. It was a night about music, and the way it
can unite people, especially when it’s for a good cause.
The evening began unassuming and intimate, with each musician sitting
and playing in-the-round style, taking turns singing lead while others
occasionally joined in, at times performing songs as an ensemble. They
referred to it as a good old-fashioned guitar pull, as if they were just friends
jamming together and not some of the most seminal names in rock and
roll. But casual as they tried to be, each musician gave performances that
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were met with thunderous applause, reminders of just how much they
could do with such sparse fanfare.
Harris hushed the crowd with a soft performance of “Making Believe,”
joking afterwards that she was just beginning to realize how many sad
songs �ll her library. Buddy Miller lightened the mood with �ery guitar work
and an electrifying rendition of “Gasoline and Matches” with Harris. Steve
Earle reminded the audience that everyone, especially New Yorkers, came
from somewhere else with “City of Immigrants,” and the Milk Carton Kids
stunned the crowd with a Simon and Garfunkel-esque cover of Harris’s
“Michelangelo.” Robert Plant’s take on the ancient folk song “Little
Maggie” began simply and quickly crescendoed into a lush roar of sound
from all of the musicians on stage.
While the night’s political points had existed mainly in quiet undertones, in
the subtle, yet pointed set list choices, its purpose was well made towards
the end of the evening when special guest Joan Baez took the stage. Baez
taught an entire generation of musicians that music could not just sound
good, but it could do good, Harris explained. That work was, in a way, part
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of the reason why they were all gathered together on stage, part of the
reason why Baez was nominated for a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame that morning.
Before a passionate, poignant performance of “Deportee (Plane Wreck at
Los Gatos),” the First Lady of activist songwriting mused that maybe
people were looking at the refugee crisis the wrong way.
“My father was an immigrant from Mexico and ended up becoming the co-
inventor of the x-ray microscope,” she explained. “We shouldn’t be thinking
about what immigrants are taking from us, but what gifts they can bring.”
Upcoming Tour Dates:
October 19 — Philadelphia, PA — Merriam Theater
October 21 — Washington, DC — Lisner Auditorium
To learn more about the Jesuit Refugee Service’s Global Education Initiative,
visit http://jrsusa.org.
Featured image: Ben Stas for the Boston Globe
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TAGS : BENEFIT . BUDDY MILLER . CLASSIC ROCK . CONCERT . CONCERT FOR REFUGEES .
EMMYLOU HARRIS . JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE . JOAN BAEZ . JRSUSA . LAMPEDUSA .
LAMPEDUSA: CONCERT FOR REFUGEES . MEGAN MULLALLY . MILK CARTON KIDS . MUSIC . NANCY
AND BETH . NEW YORK . POWERFUL . REFUGEES . ROBERT PLANT . ROCK AND ROLL .
STEPHANIE HUNT . STEVE EARLE . THE MILK CARTON KIDS
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Carrie Courogen
Carrie is a writer and social media manager for Condé Nast Entertainment in
New York. Her writing has been featured in print and online for publications like
Quartz, Teen Vogue, The Hu�ngton Post, Bustle, and the New York Daily News,
among others. Additionally, she maintains a Tumblr where she muses on things
like millennial issues, music, and, most of all, lady heroes.
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