Update [2005-1-13 10:25:25 by hillaryk]: here's a better link to the music downloads:
You can listen to some of their music here.
Hope it works this time!
My husband is half of a political anti-folk duo and they've set up an Anti-Inaugural Concert this weekend. No contributions from Halliburton accepted. No sparkly Oscar dela Renta gowns needed.
All Kossacks in the eastern PA/western NJ region are cordially invited to attend.
Amazingly enough, our largest local newspaper took note of the event!
Okay, so we weren't thrilled with the headline: A REAL INAUGURAL BAWL
-- and we could have done without the reference to George Wallace -- but, hey, ink is ink, right?
It's a short article, so enjoy it here with no need to click through:
As comic Bill Maher is fond of pointing out, President Bush insists he doesn't read newspapers, so perhaps it has escaped his attention that there are people none too pleased with his re-election.
To let the president know there is ''significant opposition'' to his positions, Mark Graham of Allentown and Brandon Kwiatek of Bethlehem, aka acoustic ''anti-folk'' duo Real West, have decided to, as the late Gov. George Wallace would have phrased it, ''send 'em a message'' by throwing a free anti-inaugural concert at Bethlehem Book Loft & The Caffeine Cafe beginning at 8 p.m. Saturday.
''We had been paying attention to some of the anti-inaugural events in Washington, D.C., planned for Inauguration Day, Jan. 20,'' says Kwiatek. ''But since we both have families and full-time jobs'' -- Kwiatek teaches English literature and composition at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem Township, while Graham instructs gifted students at Brandywine Heights High School in Berks County -- ''we couldn't attend.''
Vocalist-guitarist Graham and bassist Kwiatek, lifelong friends who formed Real West in 2001, perform songs that are both satirical and overtly political. Sample titles: ''Waiting to Explode,'' which Kwiatek says expresses ''feeling powerless in the face of being ignored''; ''Born Again Bop,'' an assault on the Christian Right's agenda, and ''Nour,'' a song about an Afghan child killed by a bomb ''that puts a face on collateral damage.''
The spacious Bethlehem Book Loft -- on the third floor of a former textile factory on Bethlehem's South Side -- is allowing the 34-year-old musicians to use the space for free.
''People didn't give us $35 million to stage this event,'' notes Kwiatek.
Real West, 8 p.m. Saturday, Bethlehem Book Loft & The Caffeine Cafe, 521 E. Fourth St., 3rd Floor, Bethlehem, 610-814-6894. Admission: free.
I'd be curious to know if anyone else has events planned outside of DC.