THIS MONTH'S CONTENTS:
1) What's New?
2) West Coast Tour Dates Announced:
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Saoirse thinks tree-hugging is too reformist.
3) New BACK TO THE ROOTS Videos Online
4) How I Almost Died of Hypothermia in Anne Feeney's Hot Tub (A Short Novel)
5) Upcoming Shows and Tours
HOW TO FIND ME ON THE INTERNET:
E-Mail: evangreer@gmail.com
Website: www.evangreer.org
Collective: www.riotfolk.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/evan_greer
Facebook: www.facebook.com/evan.greer2
Myspace: www.myspace.com/evangreer
Buy CDs / Download from Bandcamp: evangreer.bandcamp.com
Buy CDs From CD Baby: www.cdbaby.com/evangreer
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/evangreer1
1) What's New?
When you tell the world that you're going to have a baby you get a huge amount of advice. From everyone. People with kids, people without kids. People who "know people who have kids." Everyone. Some of it is super helpful and some less so. But one little saying you hear over and over again is "You know what they say, the days are long but the months are short."Back to the Roots @ PMN Winter Concert. Photo by Bev Grant
The proverb has certainly rung true for me over these past two busy months. Since I last posted a newsletter, I've been to Kalamazoo and back again with spiritchild performing as our riot-folk / hip-hop duo Back to the Roots, during which time we almost died of hypothermia in Anne Feeney's hot tub. (See section 4 of this newsletter.) We also performed at the People's Music Network (PMN) Winter Concert in Lawrence, MA as part of the 100th Anniversary celebrations of the 1912 Bread & Roses Strike. We rocked hard with the addition of Kirsten Lamb on double bass and were elated to share the stage with Jon Fromer, Emma's Revolution, Bev Grant, Tom Juravich, and so many other great artists. We all missed Anne Feeney, who wasn't able to attend because she broke her wrist in a nasty fall down her basement stairs. On the plus side, though, she just received FABULOUS health news in regards to her battle with cancer, check out her latest Fellow Traveler's Advisory for details.
The gathering was fantastic and I'm excited to announce that I've joined the steering committee for the organization. PMN has been working to further the use of music and culture in movements for change for over 30 years. The next gathering is this summer, July 1 - 3 in High Falls, NY, and I hope to see you there! More info at www.peoplesmusic.org
I performed outside in the snow for the first time in a long time at a picket against Harvard University threatening to lay off hundreds of library workers. Check out my re-write of the classic union tune, "Which Side Are You On?"
Other than that, settling into our new home, being a parent, songwriting, organizing, and enjoying the temporarily mild effects of climate change have taken up most of my time. I have learned just how little sleep I need to function, and also how little work I can get done when I'd rather be playing with my 18 month old. It's a constant balance that i'll probably never get quite right.
2) New Tour Dates Announced:
WEST COAST TINY FISTS TOUR
with BONFIRE MADIGAN SHIVE!
This has been a long time coming but i've finally posted the dates for the much anticipated TINY FISTS TOUR with legendary riot-grrrl cellist Bonfire Madigan Shive. We'll be touring together with our partners and babies carrying heartfelt music, inspiring justice workshops, and a lot of diapers. Sending two bands with babies on the road is quite the logistical feat as you may imagine and we need all the support we can get!
Most importantly, please help us spread the word! If you know anyone in any of the cities we'll be visiting send them a personal note and encourage them to come to the show. They won't be disappointed! If you live in any of these cities and can help put up posters, talk to local media, radio, community organizations, etc. Please let me know!
E-mail: evangreer@gmail.com with all ideas.
Finally, there are a few dates that are not yet filled that we REALLY need your help with! If you know anyone in OLYMPIA, EUGENE, ASHLAND, SACRAMENTO, DAVIS, or the BAY AREA who might be able to help us with a fun house concert, community show, or other opportunity, let me know!
Two things you can do to help!
INVITE PEOPLE TO THE TOUR FACEBOOK EVENT:
http://www.facebook.com/events/338985329472285/
Please also re-post this link to your wall, on twitter, etc. Even if you don't live on the West Coast, chances are there are people in your network who do so take a moment to let them know we're coming! Thanks so much for your support.
TINY FISTS TOUR DATES!APRIL 9: Bellingham, WA
*APRIL 10: need a show!
APRIL 11: Tacoma, WA
APRIL 12: Seattle, WA
APRIL 13: Seattle, WA
APRIL 14: Portland, OR
APRIL 15: Portland, OR
APRIL 16: Portland, OR
APRIL 17: Eugene, OR
APRIL 19: Arcata, CA
APRIL 20: Arcata, CA
APRIL 21: Arcata, CA
*APRIL 22: need a show!
*APRIL 24: need a show!
*APRIL 25: TBA in Bay Area!
APRIL 26: San Francisco, CA
APRIL 27: Santa Barbara, CA
APRIL 28: Los Angeles, CA
APRIL 29: Long Beach, CA
MAY 1: where should we be on May Day??
Remember to e-mail me if you have ANY suggestions for any of the dates with a * next to them! We need your help to fill in these gaps!
Also please consider making a DONATION to support the work of this tour!
3) New BACK TO THE ROOTS Videos Online
Check out these new videos of my collaborative hip-hop / riot-folk project with rad South Bronx by way of Brooklyn hip-hop freedom singing emcee spiritchild, best known for his work with Mental Notes, Movement in Motion, and as an organizer with the youth hip-hop program, One Mic Artists Collective.
We're still cooking up an album in the studio but while you're waiting here's a few videos of recent live performances. Most of this is freestyle and musical improvisation, hope you like it!
Back to the Roots is available for performances at youth centers, colleges, venues, conferences, parties, and more. Check out http://backtotheroots.bandcamp.com for a free sample MP3 from our upcoming album!
Back to the Roots - "Countdown" Live @ Kalamazoo Peace Center
Kalamazoo, MI - 1/21/12 - Video by Taleigh Bicicleta
Back to the Roots - "Prison Industry Freestyle" Live @ Crossroads Music
Philadelphia, PA - 2/5/12 - Video by Adelaide Windsome
Back to the Roots - "Back to the Roots" - Live @ Crossroads Music
Philadelphia, PA - 2/5/12 - Video by Adelaide Windsome
The last two videos were filmed by queer fabulist, puppeteer, and multi-talented musician/artist Adelaide Windsome aka Geppetta. Check out: http://stitchingtentacles.com to see her amazing work!
4) How I Almost Died of Hypothermia
in Anne Feeney's Hot Tub (A Short Novel)
Anne Feeney has a hot tub. This is awesome because Anne Feeney is also the world's best tour guide if you want a roadmap of all the best hot tubs in North America, and the nicest, coolest, most radical people to sit a hot tub with. She's always wanted one and after many years of hard work supporting the movement she sure deserves one. Anne is also a very gracious host, even when she's not home.
When spiritchild, Taleigh, and I were headed out to Kalamazoo for the concert where the first video above was taken, we needed a place to crash between NYC and Michigan, and Pittsburgh seemed logical. We rolled in late during a snow storm and Anne had left keys for us to get in. We were hanging out, had a drink, were playing some music on Anne's guitars, and then I remembered the hot tub. It was already about 1am at this point.
Anne's house sits on a hill with a great view of Pittsburgh, and the hot tub is on a porch about 12 feet from the inclined ground below. We stripped down, left our shoes, phones, and all that inside by the door, and skittered across the snow into the hot tub. It was great, obviously, and we stayed in a for a long time enjoying the hot water and the cold air. Finally I decided to go in for some water. I hauled myself out of the warm bath and crashed through the ice crust over to the glass doors between me and the warm floor inside. The doors were locked.
My mind raced. "We didn't lock the front door did we?" I called to the hot tub. "Did we?"
By that time I had already exceeded the time limit for surival in freezing cold weather with icy rain when you're basically naked so I launched myself back into the hot tub, breathing for the first time since i had left the warm water.
At that point, it was still funny. But that's because we still thought the front door was unlocked. It wasn't, but it wouldn't be another half and hour before I discovered that after having figured out how to climb down to the ground from the 12 foot porch by shimmying down a support beam onto a neighbor's slick, icy, wooden fence, and then running barefoot through the snow and ice to the front of the house. When the front door handle didn't turn, my heart sank, and i dashed back around the house and climbed up to the porch much faster than I would have thought possible if i weren't desperately dependent on getting to Anne's hot tub in order to survive the cold.
At that point we knew we were completely locked out, and we realized that the hot tub was literally the only thing keeping us from near instant death from exposure in this kind of weather.
We were still laughing a lot at that point, because what else could you do? At least the hot tub was warm. It was probably about 3am by then, but we had no way of really knowing. We sat in the tub and ran through a million different plans.
Plan A: We would run half naked up to a neighbors door and bang loudly until they came down and HOPEFULLY let us in and dried us off rather than calling the cops on the naked strangers pounding on their door at 3 in the morning.
Plan B: I would, in my tired, dehydrated state, climb to the second story window above, crawl across an ice covered inclined roof, and hope that it was unlocked, to get inside and let the others in. (We attempted this plan several times before abandoning it, realizing that the only thing that could make the situation worse was if I had a broken arm.)
Plan C: We'd just stay in the hot tub. Anne was in Zimbabwe with her family, but she'd be back the next morning around 11am. If we just stayed in the hot tub we wouldn't get too cold and we could just wait for Anne to get there and let us in.
We kept going around in circles, settling on a plan and then starting to think of the implications, leading us to opt for a different and equally flawed plan.
Eventually, our decision was made for us. We had all started shivering. Our heads were freezing as the snow and rain kept falling on our wet hair, and something else was happening. The hot tub was getting colder. Exposed to the extremely low temperature for so long, it couldn't keep the water as hot as it was supposed to. There was even a little thermometer so we could watch as the temperature got lower and lower. We realized that Plan C was out of the question. If we stayed in the water, we had a good chance of dying of hypothermia in Anne Feeney's hot tub.
While I can think of no more honorable way to die, I wasn't quite ready to give up on life at that moment. We focused ourselves on Plan A. It had to work. It was the only option. Taleigh and I gathered up our white privilege and bathing suits and precariously climbed down to the ground. Before we could head to the front of the house, though, i made a spontaneous, destructive, but potentially life changing decision: I broke down Anne's basement door.
I've spent a lot of time at Anne Feeney's house and I know it pretty well. While we were sitting in the hot tub scheming our escape, i spent a lot of time going over every entrance to the house and thinking about how we might be able to get in. As my feet hit the icy ground below the porch, one more way in occurred to me that i hadn't thought of: the rickety basement door. At that moment I decided I'd rather buy Anne a new lock than wake one of her neighbors up at 4am and hope they had a key to her place!
We fled into the blissfully warm basement and dripped upstairs to let spirit in through the glass doors. We were all shrivelled up like raisins but still laughing, cuz what else could you do? We drank some tea and passed out as the sun was rising.
The next day we had to leave to start driving to Kalamazoo before Anne arrived from Zimbabwe. I left her a check for $100 and we hit the road. After a little while I called her and caught her as she got to the air port. I told her the whole story and she, of course, thought it was hilarious. Thank goodness she has a good sense of humor!
Just after this little incident, as some of you know, Anne fell down the stairs to that very same basement and broke her wrist. Such a bummer as she was just recovering from cancer and getting ready to start performing seriously again. Now that you've heard this tale of Anne's hospitality and kindness, consider heading over to her website to buy one of her wonderful recordings, or make a donation to her to keep her going until she can get back on the road singing for the movement: www.aneefeeney.com
5) Upcoming Shows and Tours
Lots of shows coming up, mostly on the WEST COAST TINY FISTS TOUR with BONFIRE MADIGAN but lots of other stuff too! As always, check www.evangreer.org/tour_dates for all the details and constant updates, or follow me on Twitter or Facebook for even more current updates and info!
APRIL 3: Boston, MA
@ Boston University
Center for Gender & Sexuality Activism
775 Commonwealth Ave.
Basement floor, Boston, MA 02215
6:00pm WORKSHOP
8:00pm CONCERT!
FREE and open to the public.
Donations accepted to benefit Center for Gender & Sexuality Activism!
More info: http://www.bu.edu/cgsa/about-us/
April 5: Abbotsford, BC
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
@ The Reach Gallery Museum
32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford, BC; V2T 0B3
7:00pm doors; 7:30pm show!
All ages! $8 students, $12 general admission.
Buy tickets online: http://thereach.ca/eventsprograms.html
April 6: Vancouver, BC
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
@ Cafe Deux Soleils
2096 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC; V5N 4B2
7:00pm door; 7:30pm show!
All ages! $10 suggested donation at the door.
Venue phone: (604) 254-1195
April 7: Victoria, BC
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
@ Solstice Cafe
7:00pm - 10:00pm! Come on time.
529 Pandora Avenue, Victoria, BC; V8W 1N5
All ages! $5 - 15 sliding scale suggested donation.
With: Mike XVX, Zac V, Star
APRIL 9: Bellingham, WA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Special Guest DANA LYONS
7pm @ Blue Horse Gallery Cafe
301 W. Holly St. Bellingam, WA
Venue phone: 360. 671.2305
All ages! $5 - 15 sliding scale cover.
APRIL 10: need a show!
Looking for a show in Olympia, Everette, or Bellevue!
APRIL 11: Tacoma, WA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Special LUNCH TIME show!
12:00 noon! @ University of Puget Sound
More details TBA, check back soon.
Free to students, donations suggested for guests!
APRIL 12: Seattle, WA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
8:00pm @ Hollow Earth Radio
2018 A E. Union St. Seattle, WA, 98122
All ages! $7 - 15 sliding scale.
More details TBA!
APRIL 13: Seattle, WA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Workshops & Intimate Unplugged Performance!
@ Gallery 1412
6:00pm: Workshops!
9:00pm: Music!
All ages! $7 - 15 sliding scale donation.
More details TBA soon!
APRIL 14: Portland, OR
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Workshops & Concert @ Portland State University
@ Food for Thought Cafe
1825 SW Broadway (Basement of Smith Memorial Student Union), Portland, OR, 97201
More details and times TBA!
$5 - 15 sliding scale suggested donation, no one turned away.
Contact: joelbrown831@gmail.com for more info or to help promote!
APRIL 15: Portland, OR
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Workshops & Concert @ Reed College
Details TBA!
APRIL 16: Portland, OR
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
7pm @ Red & Black Cafe
400 SE 12th Avenue, Portland, OR
$5 - 15 sliding scale donation. All ages!
With Stone Crowe and Brenna Sahatjian of Riot-Folk!
Contact: meddle@riseup.net for more info.
APRIL 17: Eugene, OR
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Details TBA! We've got something in the works.
Check back soon and e-mail: evangreer@gmail.com if you can help promote!
APRIL 19: Arcata, CA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
FREE Workshops @ Humboldt State University
Sponsored by the Social Work Student Organization, Pride, and more!
Details TBA check back soon!
Contact Diamond: dcm80@humboldt.edu for more info.
APRIL 20: Arcata, CA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
FREE Afternoon concert at Humboldt State University
Details TBA! Check back soon!
Contact Diamond: dcm80@humboldt.edu for more info.
APRIL 21: Arcata, CA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Sisters & Sirens Event organized by the Eureka Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
@ Humboldt Brews
856 10th St. Arcata, CA, 95521
APRIL 22: need a show!
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
Please get in touch if you have any ideas for a show on this date anywhere between Arcata and the Bay Area. We are hoping for SACRAMENTO, DAVIS, or CHICO but open to ideas! E-mail me: evangreer@gmail.com if you can help!
APRIL 24 & 25: looking for shows in the Bay Area!
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
We've got some options for an all ages show in the Bay Area but we still need some ideas so get in touch if you can help: evangreer@gmail.com
APRIL 26: San Francisco, CA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
8pm @ El Rio
3158 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
21+. $8 - 15 sliding scale cover.
With: DavEnd, AC & the Vega
APRIL 27: Santa Barbara, CA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
7:30pm @ Space 777
777 Camino Pescadero, Isla Vista, CA, 93117
$5 - 15 sliding scale donation. All ages!
Details TBA! Local acts TBA!
Contact: ztk2006@gmail.com for info.
APRIL 28: Los Angeles, CA
@ The Smell
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
247 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90013
All Ages! Ticket price and time TBA. Details soon!
With: NAPS (riot-grrrl legend Tamala Polijeck of Longstockings/Chainsaw Records/Team Dresch fame's new band), RYAN HARVEY of Riot-Folk, and DEVIN HOFF (bassist for Xiu Xiu et. al)
APRIL 29: Long Beach, CA
TINY FISTS TOUR w/ BONFIRE MADIGAN
@ DiPiazza's Lava Lounge
247 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90013
With: The Potential Lunatics, and one more TBA!
MAY 1: where should we be on May Day??
MAY 5: Boston, MA
TBA with the Discotays & Born In a Cent!
Details TBA!
MAY 6: Brooklyn, NY
TBA with the Discotays & Born In a Cent!
Details TBA!
JUNE 16: New York, NY
All Trans Rock Show
@ Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street, Manhattan, NY
With: Schmeckel, and more!!!
JUNE 1 - 3: High Falls, NY
People's Music Network Summer Gathering
www.peoplesmusic.org
JUNE 22 - 25: Great Labor Arts Exchange
Conference Center at the Maritime Institute (near Baltimore, MD)
www.laborheritage.org
Rember, updated details for every show are constantly updated on my websites:
www.evangreer.org
www.riotfolk.org
