Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Change through music: ‘When the Levee Breaks’

Change through music: ‘When the Levee Breaks’
When The Levee Breaks feat. John Paul Jones | Playing For Change | Song Around The World

Music has often been a force for engaging people in the issues that are most important to them.

Recently, Playing For Change shared their new song featuring John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.


Playing for Change said this about the song:

We're excited to share our new song around the world, “When The Levee Breaks,” featuring legendary multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin!

This song is a powerful, thought-provoking and emotionally-charged classic by Led Zeppelin and a rework of the 1929 original release by Kansas Joe Mccoy and Memphis Minnie about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927; the most destructive river flooding in U.S. history.

Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks and over 20 musicians and dancers from seven different countries join John Paul Jones for this global rendition featured in Peace Through Music: A Global Event for the Environment.

Feel the impact of these compelling lyrics and let the music move your spirit!

The Fulcrum believes that music and democracy are deeply connected. If you have favorites that you would like us to share with our readers please contact us at pop-culture@fulcrum.us

.

Read More

Candace Asher

Singer/songwriter Candace Asher

Presenting 'This Country Tis of Thee'

As we approach another presidential election, less than 120 days away, uncivil, dysfunctional behaviors continue to divide the nation. Each side blaming the other is never going to unite us.

As the rancor and divide between Americans increases, we need to stop focusing on our differences. The Fulcrum underscores the imperative that we find the common bonds of our humanity — those can, do and must bind us together.

There are many examples in the American Songbook that brought folks together in previous times of great strife and discord, including “Imagine,” “Heal the World,” “Love Can Build a Bridge,” “The Great Divide” and, of course, “We Are the World.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Sutherland, Jane Fonda and others on stage

Donald Sutherland (left), Paul Mooney, and Jane Fonda performing in an anti-Vietnam War FTA (Free The Army) show in the Philippines in 1971.

Stuart Lutz/Gado/Getty Images

This young GI met Donald Sutherland in a bygone era. RIP to an original.

Page is an American journalist, syndicated columnist and senior member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board.

News of Donald Sutherland's death at age 88 took me back to a day in 1971 when he was protesting the Vietnam War onstage with Jane Fonda and I was one of about 1,000 off-duty soldiers in their audience.

I hoped, in the spirit of John Lennon's anthem, to give peace a chance.

Keep ReadingShow less
Taylor Swift singing on stage
John Shearer/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Taylor Swift: 'It's basically saying don't lose hope'

Daley-Harris is the author of “Reclaiming Our Democracy: Every Citizen’sGuide to Transformational Advocacy” and the founder of RESULTS and Civic Courage. This is part of a series focused on better understanding transformational advocacy: citizens awakening to their power.

In my last writing, I discussed how Taylor Swift’s first involvement in politics (during the 2018 midterm election in Tennessee) was prompted, in part, by her harrowing experience in a sexual assault trial. That year Swift endorsed Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s opponent in Tennessee’s U.S. Senate race, Rep. Jim Cooper (D). It wasn’t an easy decision.

“I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions,” she wrote in an Instagram post, “but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Keep ReadingShow less
Young woman doing stand-up comedy

Laughter is the embodiment of depolarization.

FG Trade/Getty Images

What role does comedy play in pulling us together?

It’s no secret that pop culture in America has amazing healing and connecting powers. Throughout history, we’ve seen how artists, entertainers, athletes and creators of every kind invite us into a space of transcendence that leads to connectivity. We see that when we join people together their energy can be harnessed for good, and then amplified and scaled.

Certainly comedy fits in perfectly. Laughter is the embodiment of depolarization. Just consider that in order for something to evoke laughter, it has to have the capacity to both hold tension and release tension at the same time. And so we invite you to join Bridge Entertainment Labs tomorrow at 4 pm Eastern for “What’s Making Us Laugh? What Role Does Comedy Play in Pulling Us Together — or Driving Us Apart?”

Keep ReadingShow less