It's May! Possibly my favorite month of the year and not just cuz it was my birthday! (And thanks to the hundreds of you who sent birthday wishes!) Truly, though, it's a beautiful time of year here in Boston and I feel endlessly lucky to be able to take my baby to our community garden, see our friends out and about in the street, and drink iced coffee. Mmmmmm. Iced coffee. You know I never used to do caffeine before I had a baby? People change.
Life is very full at the moment as we hit the ground running after coming back from an wonderful West Coast Tiny Fists Tour with Bonfire Madigan. It seems like we never quite get caught up on the to do list! Anyhow, because of that this will be a pretty short newsletter this month, but stay tuned for lots more exciting happenings in June!
1) Feature article about me in the Boston Phoenix!
2) Tiny Fists Tour! Stories, Photos, and Video
3) People's Music Network Summer Gathering: June 1 - 3 in High Falls, NY!
4) Great Labor Arts Exchange: June 22 - 25 in Baltimore, MD
5) New Album Updates!
6) Upcoming Shows and Tours
HOW TO FIND ME ON THE INTERNET:
E-Mail: evangreer@gmail.com
Website: www.evangreer.org
Collective: www.riotfolk.org
Myspace: www.myspace.com/evangreer
Buy CDs / Download MP3s from Bandcamp: evangreer.bandcamp.com
Buy CDs from CD Baby: www.cdbaby.com/evangreer
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/evangreer1
1) Feature article about me in the Boston Phoenix!
I'm very excited about this well-written and in depth article about my music, written by Liz Pelly, that just came out in the Boston Phoenix's Queer Issue! In an issue that features Kate Bornstein and other great folks, I was interviewed about my thoughts on Against Me! lead singer Laura Jane Grace coming out as transgender, mainstream queer politics, intersectionality, transfeminism, and more! The Phoenix is Boston's largest weekly paper and this issue has been getting a lot of attention so i'm really excited!
Here's the link to the article:
Please like this on facebook and share it around to help increase the visibility of transgender parents, musicians, and activists!
You can also check out an online streaming mixtape of 15 of my favorite queer and queer friendly artists including Lah Tere, The Discotays, Led to Sea, Bonfire Madigan, bell's roar, spiritchild, Born In a Cent, Schmeckel, Taina Asili, Broadcast Live, and more! This includes my comments on each song and is kind of a cool idea for a paper to put online, i thought.
The direct link for that is:
2) Tiny Fists Tour! Stories, Photos, and Video
I had the great privilege of spending the entire month of April touring the West Coast with my partner, Erin, our 20 month old (at the time) Saoirse, and legendary riot-grrrrl cellist / composer / activist Bonfire Madigan. We called it the Tiny Fists Tour and it was truly a groundbreaking and exciting experience traveling together as a big and very visible queer family of rockers.
We played about 20 shows between Vancouver and Tijuana and connected with dozens of great grassroots community organizations, student activist groups, LGBTQ+ centers, youth, parents, and more.
I think this was Saoirse's favorite tour to date. He liked it even more than Europe. A typical day went like this: Saoirse and I wake up at 6am or so and go play in the van for a bit while everyone else sleeps. Then we'd go find some vegan breakfast and a playground until 11 or so. Madigan and Erin would wake up and we'd trek to the next gig. Saoirse was able to come to many of the shows that were all ages and started a bit earlier and he had so much fun dancing, singing along, and playing his drum.
Besides the shows we also got to spend some really quality time together and it was a joy getting to know Bonfire Madigan and hearing all her crazy stories of touring with some of the most influential feminist bands of all time, hanging out in Portland with Elliot Smith, and being called to become a mother while being a queer woman music icon. The morning after our show in Eugene we headed to this amazing hot springs that was just the right temperature for Saoirse to swim around in for three hours!
Under the watch of Oregon old growth it was truly a magical place.
One of my favorite shows of the tour was in support of Occupy Sacramento at the Coffee Garden and someone took a great video of most of my set! Check it out on my YouTube Channel!
Don't forget you can also subscribe to my YouTube Channel and get updates when I post videos. I also post a lot of videos and photos when I'm on the road from my Twitter and Facebook accounts, so let's be friends!
You may notice that this is my brand new guitar! Thanks to all of you who donated to the guitar fund, and thanks especially to my dad, Jim Greer, for his support!
If you're bummed you didn't catch the Tiny Fists Tour, don't be! We're already plotting and scheming for an East Coast / Midwest Tiny Fists Tour sometime in the next year or so, and we are always available for one-time events in communities around the continent. Get in touch with me if you want to bring me and Bonfire Madigan to your town! E-mail: evangreer@gmail.com for all booking requests.
I'm also honored to announce that Bonfire Madigan will be playing some cello on my upcoming full length album, which should be out this Fall! (See heading number 5 for updates on that!)
3) People's Music Network Summer Gathering
I have recently re-joined the Steering Committee for the People's Music Network for Songs of Freedom and Struggle (PMN), a great organization that has been promoting the use of music and culture in movements for social change since long before #Occupy was in diapers.
I hope you'll join me next weekend, June 1st - 3rd for the People's Music Network Summer Gathering at Epworth Camp & Retreat Center in High Falls, NY. The time to register is now and you can do so online at www.peoplesmusic.org
This is an inspiring weekend of political music, workshops, skill-sharing, jamming, an open mic, and more. This summer's gathering features renowned folksinger Si Kahn as an artist in residence and he will be teaching several workshops and performing in the Friday night concert.
PMN is an amazing community. It's where I first met my dear friend and mentor Anne Feeney, and also where I first met Pete Seeger (and played his banjo!) Please spread the word about this wonderful gathering and join us at Epworth June 1 - 3 if you can. It's just an hour south of Albany!
There is a facebook event for the gathering here: http://www.facebook.com/events/315578131846376/
And more info on the PMN website here: http://www.peoplesmusic.org/Summer_2012/index.htm
PMN is an amazing community. It's where I first met my dear friend and mentor Anne Feeney, and also where I first met Pete Seeger (and played his banjo!) Please spread the word about this wonderful gathering and join us at Epworth June 1 - 3 if you can. It's just an hour south of Albany!
There is a facebook event for the gathering here: http://www.facebook.com/events/315578131846376/
And more info on the PMN website here: http://www.peoplesmusic.org/Summer_2012/index.htm
4) Great Labor Arts Exchange: June 22 - 25 in Baltimore, MD
I also plan on attending and hope you will join me at the Great Labor Arts Exchange: June 22-25 near Baltimore, MD. This is another incredibly moving and powerful event that brings together cultural workers, labor singers, rank and file union members, social justice activists and more from across the country to connect, collaborate, and build our craft and further the use of music, art, and culture in the labor movement and all movements for justice.
The weekend will include a panel on the "new-school" of labor music featuring myself and DC underground hip-hop star Head Roc, as well as many other fabulous workshops, songswaps, and skill sharing with the likes of Anne Feeney, Bev Grant, and many other wonderful artists and cultural workers dedicated to social justice and worker power
From the GLAE page on www.laborheritage.org
spiritchild and I are still hoping to release our collaborative hip-hop / folk / punk BACK TO THE ROOTS album by the end of the summer. Check out a sample of what we're doing here: http://backtotheroots.bandcamp.com
my new full-length, full band Evan Greer & Friends album (yet to be titled) will hopefully be ready to release by early Fall. I am still working hard to fund raise enough to release that CD myself. Please consider pre-ordering a copy at http://evangreer.bandcamp.com
From the GLAE page on www.laborheritage.org
- Meet other unionists from all over the country and abroad
- Exchange experiences and ideas for artistic expression;
- Collaborate or engage with other artists, performers, and activists;
- Share resources with organizers and artists from the Conference on Creative Organizing;
- Return home rejuvenated, energized and inspired with a battery of new ideas and tools that will make your artistry more engaging and infused.
5) New Album Updates!
Lots of people have been asking about the my new albums. I know I keep pushing the date back, and i'm sorry!!! The truth is that life as a traveling parent activist musician just seems endlessly wonderfully terribly full and hectic and i'm just a lot slower in the studio than I thought I'd be. My amazing engineer / producer / multi-instrumentalist band-mate bestie Jory Leanza-Carey (of hip-hop indie-rock troupe Broadcast Live fame) just had his second beautiful baby, so things have slowed down a bit with recording, understandably.spiritchild and I are still hoping to release our collaborative hip-hop / folk / punk BACK TO THE ROOTS album by the end of the summer. Check out a sample of what we're doing here: http://backtotheroots.bandcamp.com
my new full-length, full band Evan Greer & Friends album (yet to be titled) will hopefully be ready to release by early Fall. I am still working hard to fund raise enough to release that CD myself. Please consider pre-ordering a copy at http://evangreer.bandcamp.com
Lots of folks have been encouraging me to switch to Kickstarter to crowd-fund this next record, and I probably will get that going toward the end of the summer, so keep your eyes out for that! All you awesome folks who already pre-ordered, don't worry, i haven't forgotten about you! You're going to get an even more extra special gift for your patience! So far I've raised about 15% of the money I'll need to release these songs on CD and online!
I promise this album will be worth the wait. The list of awesome people who will be adding their talent to this record just keeps growing and i'm getting ever more excited about the music we're making for you.
6) Upcoming Shows and Tours
Here is a list of upcoming shows and tours! I am constantly booking so get in touch with me directly if you have any ideas or want to help bring me to your area! E-mail: evangreer@gmail.com
For the most updated show information, always check the Tour Dates page at www.evangreer.org
June 1 - 3: High Falls, NY
Featuring: Si Kahn, artist in residence.
Register now: www.peoplesmusic.org
I will be facilitating the LGBTQ+ Songswap!
June 16: Manhattan, NY
Trans-Pride Afterparty with Schmeckel & GLTR PNCH
9pm @ Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street Manhattan, NY 10009
FREE! but please donate to the touring bands!
June 22 - 25: Lithicum, MD (near BWI)
3 days of workshops, skillshares, music for labor & social justice!
I'll be facilitating a panel on the "new school" of labor music with DC hip hop star Head-Roc and more!
Register now: http://www.laborheritage.org/?p=1309
July 11: Jamaica Plain, MA
9pm @ The Haven
2 Perkins St., JP
I'll be the featured act at The Haven Open Mic
FREE! but bring some cash for my tip jar ;-)
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2012: now booking shows within a days travel of Boston!
Contact me with any ideas! I want to play at your Pride Festival, bookstore, arena, riot, rally, vigil, living room, church, basement, folk festival, gay bar, etc.
Please get in touch with me with any and all booking ideas whether you want to set something up yourself and never have before or even if you just have a suggestion for a venue, band, or organization I should talk to about an event. I work hard provide useful music and workshops for the movement and need your ideas to keep this show on the road!
Thanks so much for all your ongoing support!
love,
-evan g
July 11: Jamaica Plain, MA
9pm @ The Haven
2 Perkins St., JP
I'll be the featured act at The Haven Open Mic
FREE! but bring some cash for my tip jar ;-)
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2012: now booking shows within a days travel of Boston!
Contact me with any ideas! I want to play at your Pride Festival, bookstore, arena, riot, rally, vigil, living room, church, basement, folk festival, gay bar, etc.
Please get in touch with me with any and all booking ideas whether you want to set something up yourself and never have before or even if you just have a suggestion for a venue, band, or organization I should talk to about an event. I work hard provide useful music and workshops for the movement and need your ideas to keep this show on the road!
Thanks so much for all your ongoing support!
love,
-evan g
