Good Trouble
If you've ever knocked doors for a cause or candidate, you've given pause to the sign that says, "No Soliciting." Perhaps it's signage expressing an antithetical viewpoint, or even a private-looking gate or porch that you must cross to ring the doorbell. In this situation, I remind myself of my favorite adage—"I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission"—and step up to the door. For me, this is a way that I feel I can connect to the essence of "Good Trouble," the notion of peaceful noncompliance as described by the late civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis. Pictured above, I was with a team of UU activists, knocking on doors to get out the vote for the 2022 Runoff Election in Clayton County, Georgia, part of the district formerly represented by Lewis.
Luckily, I live in a place and time—and within a body—where the cultivation of my craft itself is not an imminent threat to my life or social standing. But there are countless examples of Good Trouble throughout music history. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor risked his career and reputation to embrace and integrate African and African-American music into his own compositional output. Amy Beach honed her craft as a pianist and composer in spite of her repressive father and husband, both of whom would not allow a woman to have a career in music. Dmitri Shostakovich maligned the Bolsheviks in his music, veiled as "patriotism," fearing that any night he might be abducted by secret police. Even today's pop megastars Taylor Swift and Beyonce endorsed Kamala Harris for President at risk of doxxing, stalking, and violence from misogynistic White Nationalists.
"Keep politics out of music!" cry the naysayers. Yet music has always been political. Music has always been a vehicle for peaceful noncompliance—for Good Trouble. This week, let's celebrate the power of music to inspire justice with a tapestry of civil rights anthems. MLUC's brilliant singer/songwriter Nathan Surles joins me and Jodie to perform Alva Anderson's aptly titled "Good Trouble;" our local friend Aaron Nathan's song "The Strength to Not Fight Back," recounting the story of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey; Karisha Longaker's "We Shall Be Known;" and Yolanda Adams's "This Joy." Together, we will sing hymns #1017: "Building a New Way,” and #350: "The Ceaseless Flow of Endless Time."
See you Sunday!
David
Luckily, I live in a place and time—and within a body—where the cultivation of my craft itself is not an imminent threat to my life or social standing. But there are countless examples of Good Trouble throughout music history. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor risked his career and reputation to embrace and integrate African and African-American music into his own compositional output. Amy Beach honed her craft as a pianist and composer in spite of her repressive father and husband, both of whom would not allow a woman to have a career in music. Dmitri Shostakovich maligned the Bolsheviks in his music, veiled as "patriotism," fearing that any night he might be abducted by secret police. Even today's pop megastars Taylor Swift and Beyonce endorsed Kamala Harris for President at risk of doxxing, stalking, and violence from misogynistic White Nationalists.
"Keep politics out of music!" cry the naysayers. Yet music has always been political. Music has always been a vehicle for peaceful noncompliance—for Good Trouble. This week, let's celebrate the power of music to inspire justice with a tapestry of civil rights anthems. MLUC's brilliant singer/songwriter Nathan Surles joins me and Jodie to perform Alva Anderson's aptly titled "Good Trouble;" our local friend Aaron Nathan's song "The Strength to Not Fight Back," recounting the story of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey; Karisha Longaker's "We Shall Be Known;" and Yolanda Adams's "This Joy." Together, we will sing hymns #1017: "Building a New Way,” and #350: "The Ceaseless Flow of Endless Time."
See you Sunday!
David
Posted in Music Notes