Friday, February 24, 2017
Thursday, February 23, 2017
What You Should Be Listening To... Best New Releases
Son Volt, Sun Kil Moon, Ty Segall, Chuck Prophet, Gene Clark, The Orwells, Foxygen
New Releases Of Note:
Son Volt "Notes Of Blue"
Sun Kil Moon "Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood"
Ty Segall "Ty Segall"
Chuck Prophet "Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins"
Gene Clark "The Lost Studio Sessions: 1964 - 1982"
The Orwells "Terrible Human Beings"
Foxygen "Hang"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jay Farrar's (ex-Uncle Tupelo) Son Volt has an excellent new album. His former comrades went on to form Wilco and become superstars. Jay is criminally neglected but continues to put out interesting new tunes to a small but appreciative and ever growing circle of fans. His "Big Sur" soundtrack and collaboration with Jim James, et al (New Multitudes) were inspired and worth checking out if you missed them the first time around.
Sun Kil Moon's Mark Kozelek's new album is much of the same from him, lyrics-wise, but with a very different sound. Basically you either really love or really hate Mark Kozelek. I like him, so I like this album. Your mileage may vary.
The same could be said of Foxygen - either very love or very hate - no in between. Me? I love.
Chuck Prophet seems to be getting major props and if this is this moment, I say, so be it!
Ty Segall keeps cranking out material. His 60s and 70s influences come through loud and clear (T. Rex, Bowie, Beatles, metal, punk...). Most of the songs are hard, fast, and loud, but a couple of slower numbers demonstrate Ty's not a one-trick pony.... Anyone else think "Talkin'...." sounds like The Dead? (Not an insult, just a comment. Hey, if Malkmus can do The Dead, anyone can...)
The Orwells are a young hard rock band building a solid following which will only increase with this new release.
Gene Clark co-founded The Byrds with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby but left for a solo career after singing on the #1 hits "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn, Turn, Turn" and writing "Eight Miles High". Sadly, his solo career never really took off, but a growing number of musicians and other music insiders cherish his singing and songwriting, more than 25 years after his premature death. This new collection (to be reviewed in a separate article next week) more than fulfills its promise to reveal previously hidden treasures from the vaults. The singer-songwriter songs from the collection, like "Back To The Earth Again", "The Lighthouse", "The Awakening Within", and "The Sparrow" have become some of my favorite Gene Clark songs. I wish more people would fall in love with Gene Clark, but I feel that the people who need to find him, often do!
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Cool, New Bonnie "Prince" Billy Song "Treasure Map" Is Benefit For Anti-Racist Group SPLC
This song will be released officially in May as part of a benefit for the anti-racist, anti-extremist group the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). For more information on their work, please see their website here...
Forbes: Grace Slick - "Why I Licensed Music To Homophobic Company"
Forbes Showbiz, Contributor
Musician Grace Slick signs a portrait of herself at a handprint ceremony inducting her into the Hollywood Rock Walk on October 22, 2002. (Vince Bucci/Getty Images)
Recently an ad agency asked me if they could use a song I sang on, in 1987, for a TV commercial. I didn’t immediately tell them to go f**k themselves.
After all, I’ve licensed my music to advertise someone else’s product before. In 1967, Jefferson Airplane wrote a psychedelic jingle about white
rabbits jeans that’s a damn classic (Google it!). But that was for Levi Strauss & Co. This time, the agency wanted the Starship tune “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” for a very different kind of enterprise: Chick-fil-A.
Chick-fil-A pisses me off. The Georgia-based company has a well-documented history of funding organizations, through their philanthropic foundation WinShape, that are against gay marriage. In interviews, CEO Dan T. Cathy has critiqued gay-rights supporters who “have the audacity to define marriage” and said they are bringing “God’s judgment” upon the nation.
I firmly believe that men should be able to marry men, and women women. I am passionately against anyone who would try to suppress this basic human right. So my first thought when "Check"-fil-A came to me was, “F**k no!”
But then I decided, “F**k yes.”
So that was my voice you heard on the Chick-fil-A commercial during the Grammy Awards telecast. I am donating every dime that I make from that ad to Lambda Legal, the largest national legal organization working to advance the civil rights of LGBTQ people, and everyone living with HIV. Admittedly it’s not the millions that WinShape has given to organizations that define marriage as heterosexual. But instead of them replacing my song with someone else's and losing this opportunity to strike back at anti-LGBTQ forces, I decided to spend the cash in direct opposition to "Check"-fil-A’s causes – and to make a public example of them, too. We’re going to take some of their money, and pay it back.
See, I come from a time when artists didn’t just sell their soul to the highest bidder, when musicians took a stand, when the message of songs was “feed your head," not “feed your wallet.” We need that kind of artistic integrity today, more than ever. We won’t produce quality art if we don’t keep ourselves open to all people and possibilities, if we don’t put our money where our mouths are. As Jennifer Lopez quoted Toni Morrison during the Grammys telecast, "'This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self pity, no need for silence, and no room for fear. We do language. That is how civilizations heal.'"
You might think I’m writing this just to cover my ass for allowing a company whose practices many find morally objectionable to use Starship’s music. Well, I haven’t covered my ass since the day I was born (except, maybe, in a pair of white Levi’s). From the moment I agreed to license the song, I knew I wanted to set an example for other artists. I wanted to tell them, “Your art will survive and thrive. Do not let it be used by companies who support intolerance. Don’t be afraid to take a stand. You’re an artist; that’s what we do.”
I hope more musicians will think about the companies that they let use their songs; we can use our gifts to help stop the forces of bigotry.
Nothing’s gonna stop us now.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Forbes: Pink Floyd Previews London Show, Talks Glastonbury Rumor, Donald Trump, Mexico And 'The Wall'
MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT 9,005 views
Pink Floyd Previews London Show, Talks Glastonbury Rumor, Donald Trump, Mexico And 'The Wall'
Pink Floyd band members Nick Mason (L) and Roger Waters (R) pose for photographers following a press conference in central London on February 16, 2017. (BEN STANSALL/ AFP/ Getty Images)
Pink Floyd today announced plans for a blockbuster touring show, starting in London. It also addressed rumors of a future performance at the Glastonbury Festival and questions about the relevance of its album The Wall with President Donald Trump’s plans build a wall on the Mexican border.
The comments came during a rare joint appearance by singer-songwriter-bassist Roger Waters, and drummer Nick Mason.
The “Their Mortal Remains” exhibition, running at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum from May 13 through Oct. 1, will feature stage sets, instruments, rare photos, unseen videos and much more from throughout the U.K. band’s 50-year career, during which time it has sold more than 250 million albums, 75 million in the U.S. alone.
In news conference questions, the two musicians were asked if there was any possibility of the group reuniting to play a concert on the Mexican border.
Mason said he had no idea, but joked that he had been sent a picture of Donald Trump captioned “We are going to build a wall and Pink Floyd is going to pay for it.”
Waters said he had been often asked if he would stage The Wall in future, having stopped his solo performances of the concept album a couple of years ago. “I have always said I would do it again… if they ever figure out what to do with Israel and Palestine and get rid of that appalling security boundary there.” He would certainly consider it if world conflicts were resolved “and there is no ‘Us and Them’ and we are all human beings… then as an act of celebration of a move towards a more humane way of organizing ourselves I would be only too happy to put a concert on in some place that is significant geographically and if that happened to the border between the United States and Mexico, then yes absolutely. But, first of all, the sewers are clogging with the greed of powerful men… I am quite sure that if President Trump comes to this country [Britain] there will be enormous demonstrations, the biggest ever seen.”
Waters said he only finished the vocals for his new solo studio album the day before yesterday and it is being mixed now. It will be followed by an international tour, Us & Them.
The duo was asked about the world’s biggest greenfield festival, Glastonbury, where veteran organizer Michael Eavis had been quoted previously as saying he would like Pink Floyd to play. The festival takes periodic fallow years, with one expected in 2018, and is set to move to a new venue in 2019.
The duo was asked about the world’s biggest greenfield festival, Glastonbury, where veteran organizer Michael Eavis had been quoted previously as saying he would like Pink Floyd to play. The festival takes periodic fallow years, with one expected in 2018, and is set to move to a new venue in 2019.
Mason said, “I think it would be nice to add to the list of things – we have never played Glastonbury. It would be fun to do it, yes. But I don’t think it is very likely.”
Waters replied, “I did Glastonbury once – it was very cold! But there were a lot of people and it seems very jolly and I liked it. Yes, I would do it again. I am on the road during 2018, so if Glastonbury came up I would look at it and say yes or no.”
(All of which is not a flat “no” anyway.)
Would guitarist David Gilmour get on board?
Mason said that Gilmour had announced his retirement – then unretired. Waters noted that the reunion question is “so dull.” It has been coming up ever since the 1980s, and there was a brief reunion for the Live 8 concert in 2005. Waters and Gilmour joined for another show at London’s 02 in 2011.
Like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd members face constant questions about the likelihood of reuniting. Led Zep’s Robert Plant has denied reports that he rejected $800 million for a reunion. Some promoters could see a figure of that amount for Pink Floyd, given the potential for income – surely more than The Wall Live Tour, with extra for a movie.
Pink Floyd’s early leader, Syd Barrett, left in 1969 and died in 2006; keyboard player Rick Wright died in 2008. Gilmour and Mason turned leftover material into The Endless River in 2014, with statements saying that album was the last of the band. Waters quit in 1985 for a long solo career.
The songwriting of Waters was the backbone of some of the bestselling albums of all time: The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Still, some tracks were a group effort with Gilmour’s guitar and vocals to the fore. During today’s news conference it was stated that Dark Side still sells 10,000 copies a week.
The songwriting of Waters was the backbone of some of the bestselling albums of all time: The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Still, some tracks were a group effort with Gilmour’s guitar and vocals to the fore. During today’s news conference it was stated that Dark Side still sells 10,000 copies a week.
Floyd’s earnings capacity was boosted in 2011 and 2012 with remastered editions, compilations and box sets. Most recently, its 27-disc box set of early recordings was priced $699.98 in 2016. The Early Years on Legacy has more than 12 hours of audio and 15 hours of video, including 20 unreleased songs such as 1967’s “Vegetable Man” and “In the Beechwoods.” Individual volumes of much of the material are now following.
The Pink Floyd exhibition follows the record-breaking David Bowie Is show at the V&A. The Rolling Stonesalso gathered material for another huge touring show, Exhibitionism.
Among the Pink Floyd objects going on show: the school book that says Waters was caned for fighting; a letter from Gilmour telling his mother he was joining a band called Pink Floyd but she need not worry; a photo of John Lydon of the Sex Pistols sporting a “I hate Pink Floyd” tee-shirt; a Sennheiser recreation of “Comfortably Numb” and much more.
I’m the author of books including All You Need is Rock, collecting my rock criticism for Bloomberg. I’m now editor of Dante magazine and write for ArtInfo andForbes. Follow me @Mark_Beech
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Pavement's Spiral Stairs Cool New Song "Dundee Man" (Audio) from the forthcoming album "Doris & the Daggers" out 24th March on Domino
...and from last October in San Francisco... Spiral Stairs (Scott K) and Stephen Malkmus, the guitar gods behind Pavement, got together for a rare jam on Scott's birthday... here they are during the encore doing Pavement's "Summer Babe" to the crowd's great joy...
Monday, February 13, 2017
No Depression: Concerts Mark 50th Anniversary of Byrds Co-Founder Gene Clark Solo Debut
The Sometimes Forgotten Byrd to Be Honored on Both Coasts
Gene Clark is finally getting his due.
For decades, Roger McGuinn received most of the credit for the Byrds’ impact on rock and roll, tied in with psychedelic, country, and folk music. McGuinn was the unquestioned leader, and there’s no reason to denigrate his incredible contributions and his longevity with the pioneering '60s band with the beautiful vocal harmonies.
David Crosby, Gram Parsons, and Clarence White also were hailed for their contributions to the Byrds, who hit the ground running when they took Bob Dylan’s folk anthem, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and made it electric on the title cut of their sensational debut album. Parsons, though, was only in the Byrds for one album — their sixth record, Sweetheart of the Rodeo — and White officially joined the group after Parsons departed, though his incredible session work on guitar was on earlier Byrds albums.
Too forgotten in a group that oozed with talent and chops were original members Gene Clark and Chris Hillman.
Hillman’s musical resume before, during and after the Byrds may be second to none — the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers; the Golden Gate Boys; the Hillmen; the Flying Burrito Brothers; Stephen Stills’ Manassas; the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band; McGuinn, Clark and Hillman; the Desert Rose Band; Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen; and a long career solo and with Herb Pedersen. Yet today it’s somewhat mind-boggling that many still don’t know the name of this great musician who continues to perform memorable show after memorable show.
For decades, Clark and his music were also under the radar, despite his golden voice and the tender, insightful, poetic songs he wrote. Next week, in New York and Los Angeles, he will be celebrated — 26 years after his death from a bleeding ulcer at age 46, an end that came five months after the Byrds were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
On Feb. 22 in Manhattan’s Cutting Room, numerous musicians, including the Kennedys, Marshall Crenshaw, Amy Rigby, the Smithereens’ Jim Babjack, Cait O’Riordan, and Lee Ranaldo, will take the stage for The Songs of Gene Clark: A 50th Anniversary Celebration. On Feb. 25 at the South Pasadena Library, an event of the same name will feature Carla Olson, who recorded albums with Clark; former Byrd John York who also played bass in Clark’s post-Byrds band; Peter Lewis, a founding member of Moby Grape, and Clark’s son, Kai Clark.
The shows follow on the heels of Sierra Records’ wonderful new Gene Clark album, The Lost Studio Sessions 1964-1982. The album has many highlights, particularly 1972 songs with Clark’s original vocals that had been scrubbed when the tunes appeared on Terry Melcher’s 1974 solo album and Clark’s final recording session in 1982 with Hillman, Pedersen, Al Perkins, and Byrds drummer Michael Clarke.
On its website only, Sierra Records is also selling an Ultimate Limited Edition Set of the album that contains vinyl records, an SACD, a DVD, a digital download card, and two bonus CDs with six more unreleased songs.
The idea for the celebratory shows began with Ingrid Neimanis, a big fan of Gene Clark and the organizer of a campaign to induct him into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“Ingrid contacted me and suggested the idea of doing a New York show in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the release of Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers,” says Edward Rogers, the co-producer of the Cutting Room show. “I went to my music associate, Don Piper, who was very enthusiastic about the project. We did a proposal to the Cutting Room and were immediately offered a date. I was surprised how many people knew and appreciated Gene's songwriting and music.”
Rogers and guitarist/producer/songwriter Don Piper, who is the musical director of the New York show, put together a backing band and a long lineup of singers and musicians.
“We chose the band and performers because we felt they were fans of Gene Clark’s — both as a solo artist and with the Byrds — and would do justice to his music,” Rogers says. “We hope to introduce his songs to a new audience, and, at the same time, please the most diehard fan.”
Like most people, Rogers says he came to know Clark’s music because of the Byrds. Clark wrote or co-wrote five of the 12 songs — more than any other member — on the Byrds' groundbreaking Mr. Tambourine Man album.
“I loved his version of ‘Feel A Whole Lot Better,’ but I was much more aware of Roger McGuinn's presence because of his 12-string guitar, songwriting and fashionable granny glasses,” Rogers says. "Younger Than Yesterday is still one of my favorite Byrds albums, but Gene had already left the band. In the '90s, an underappreciated cult band called Velvet Crush did a great cover version of ‘Why Not Your Baby Anymore,’ a song of Gene's I had never heard that subsequently renewed my interest in his solo work. I discovered a vast catalog of amazing songs and couldn't understand why he wasn't more well known as a solo artist.”
Kai Clark, who lives about a three-hour drive northeast of San Francisco in Alta, California, is really looking forward to performing at the show in South Pasadena.
“It is so great to see my father finally getting the credit he so well deserved,” Clark tells me. “I think there is still a big, bright future for my father and his legacy. His music only seems to be growing, still on the cutting edge of anything out there in music. My family and I are excited to see these shows coming together and want to thank all who have made this a possibility. And I am super stoked to get to play with some people who shared the stage and some good memories with my father. It’s an honor to play this show.”
New Gene Clark Album
Kai Clark is also enjoying the new Sierra Records release.
“I think it’s quite amazing,” he says. “It’s like a time capsule for me. And I'm sure Gene Clark fans will agree, it covers my father from the beginning to near the end of his career. His voice is amazing in every song. It gives us a glimpse of my father’s songwriting ability long before most anyone knew of his songwriting talents.”
The album spans nearly 20 years, and Clark’s warm, expressive voice — which I think may be the most beautiful voice in rock-and-roll history — changes through the years. The 1964 sessions on the album threw me, because, at first, I had a hard time believing it was Gene. His voice is strong, but — forgive me if I am tossing out a foolish comparison — sounds like a warmer, fuller version of Phil Ochs.
So I ask Kai Clark about this.
“Obviously, Gene was influenced by artists such as Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers and all the artists he was hearing on the radio as a young man,” Kai says. “His voice emanates this on the early tracks.
“My father’s voice is quite unique, and, if you hear his voice, you instantly know it is Gene Clark singing. I only hear one significant change in his singing style on these recordings. There was a period between 1969 and 1970 where many artists were trying to emulate Bob Dylan, and this is obvious in several tracks on the album. The 1980s were a tough time for my father. I think he was trying to find his place at the end of a disco era and a beginning of a new era for music. I think it was great to see McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman come together again. But I think all of them were already on different paths in their careers.”
How should Gene Clark, who was born in Tipton, Missouri, the third of 13 children, be regarded in the history of music?
“My father’s place in the history of music is pivotal and extremely important — not only what he accomplished for music and songwriting in the Byrds,” Kai Clark says. “Everything he accomplished and produced before and after the Byrds was beyond what most of us can comprehend. He was always pushing the boundaries of what songwriting and music were — even during the '60s, when music was already being pushed into new territories. He was taking it even further. His place in music history is well deserved.”
Kai Clark says it’s not easy to identify his favorite Gene Clark songs.
“That’s a tough question,” he says. “I love so many of his songs, and, even as his son, it seems I am still discovering new songs every day that are just showing up more than a quarter century after his passing. I think my favorites are the ones that I can play and relate to as a singer and a musician. ‘Gypsy Rider’ and ‘Silver Raven’ are all-time favorites. Also, ‘So You Say You Lost Your Baby,’ ‘I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better,’ ‘Kansas City Southern,' and a lot of the Dillard and Clark material. It’s too hard to narrow down to any one single favorite. I keep finding new favorites.”
He can identify his favorite album, though.
“I would have to say No Other. It just stands out on its own in so many ways. I think the album combines sounds and genres that were way ahead of its time.”
For decades, my all-time Top 5 albums — by all artists — have always included Gene Clark’s Roadmaster. To me, no folk-rock or country-rock album comes close to its sheer beauty. The songs are wistful, the melodies are brilliant, and the harmonies are beyond sublime.
Eight of the songs were recorded by Clark in 1972 for his final record for A&M Records, but the sessions were slow and expenses were mounting. He abandoned the project and left the songs in a vault. Clark’s manager Jim Dickson later added three other unreleased songs, and the record was initially released only in Europe in 1973. Players on the album include David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn, Michael Clarke, Rick Roberts, Bernie Leadon, Clarence White, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Spooner Oldham, and Byron Berline.
Why the title Roadmaster, I ask Kai Clark?
“I am not sure,” he responds. “I think maybe it had something to do with my father’s love of automobiles and driving, but I can’t say for sure. Some of the covers for that album show him leaning out the window of his Ferrari.”
The theme of this Best I’ve Ever Seen column is to identify which concerts most impressed and influenced today’s artists, so I ask Kai whether Gene ever mentioned any such shows.
“My father never mentioned attending any concert to me,” Kai says. “He often mentioned concerts he had played with various artists but never one that he just attended. My mother always said he was very peculiar about listening or appreciating others artists’ music. She told me there were years that he never listened to anyone’s music but his own. I am sure he was influenced by many artists of his era, but I never got the chance to discuss that with him. He passed away when I was just 17.”
The best concert Kai attended was a Rolling Stones show with Pearl Jam at the Oakland Coliseum in 1997. The Stones “were still kicking ass and playing with the most current artists of their time as though they were just discovered the year before. That’s something I won’t forget.”
Kai says he can’t recall a concert that influenced him most; it was rather an album that was influential.
“I grew up in Mendocino (California), and it was far for me to go see any concerts as a young man with no gas money or a car. I had one copy of Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced?. I would listen to it over and over and over. I just fell in love with it, and it really inspired me to learn how to play and sing better.”
Music means a lot to Kai, but so do his wife, Amber, his three children, and his passion for the culinary arts.
“I love playing music,” he says. “If it is feasible and affordable, I play all the shows I can, though they do not really pay the bills for me. I think I have the skills and the experience, but an offer never came for me to do extensive touring. I play a lot of tributes and shows that are celebrating my dad or other artists of his era, such as Gram Parsons.
“When we are not doing shows, we are raising our three children on 20 acres in the Sierra Mountains between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. I am a trained culinary professional who graduated from California Culinary Academy/Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco in 2004. We are looking to open a restaurant called the Byrd House in the next year that will be decorated with my father’s memorabilia. We will also celebrate the Byrds' legacy with memorabilia from the band, and we hope to feature great musical acts at our establishment.”
Kai says he has two favorite memories of his dad.
“One of my favorite memories is when he played Harrah’s Lake Tahoe in the early '80s, and I saw the show and stayed with him. We went fishing together on the lake and spent a lot of fun time together. That had to be the first show I saw of his. He had this great sense of humor, and I remember my brother and I were laughing the whole time.
“I also have a great memory when I was living with him in the late ’80s in Sherman Oaks, California. There was a big earthquake, and I was literally thrown out of bed. It was just me and him late at night. We were so startled and shaken by the quake that we sat up in the kitchen all night. He told me a lot about his childhood, and all he had been through. It felt like we were two old friends talking. I think that was the best night I ever spent with him.”
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - This Land Is Your Land (Woody Guthrie cover, live video)
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - This Land is your Land (live)
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Milo Goes To College: Protesters Shut Down Alt-Right Creep Milo In Berkeley! (Videos)
Alive And Well In Berkeley 2017! The Spirit of The Free Speech Movement, Mario Savio, The Civil Rights Movement, People's Park, James Rector (who died for People's Park), The Anti-War movement, the Anti-Nuke movement, Steven Biko & The Anti-Apartheid movement, Bob Sparks and so many more.... Alive! and Present! Last night! THERE IS HOPE!
UC Berkeley cancels Milo Yiannopoulos event amid violent protest
Updated 8:37 pm, Wednesday, February 1, 2017
A protest at UC Berkeley over a scheduled speech by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos turned fiery and violent Wednesday night, prompting police to cancel the event and hustle the Breitbart News editor off campus.
Hundreds of protesters began throwing fireworks and pulling down metal barricades police set up to keep people from rushing into the building where Yiannopoulos had been scheduled to speak. Windows were smashed and fires were set outside the building as masked protesters stormed it, and at 6 p.m., one hour before his scheduled speech was to begin, police decided to evacuate Yiannopoulos for his own safety.
Berkeley police said three people were injured. There were no immediate reports of arrests.
Police said protesters threw bricks and fireworks at police officers. University police locked down all buildings and told people inside them to shelter in place, and later fired rubber pellets into the crowd of protesters who defied orders to leave the area. Police called in support from other law enforcement agencies and warned protesters that they might use tear gas.
“This is what tolerance looks like at UC Berkeley,” Mike Wright of Berkeley College Republicans, the group that invited Yiannopoulos to the campus, said as smoke bombs went off around him.
Someone had thrown red paint on him. “It’s sad,” he said.
University officials had earlier rejected requests to cancel Yiannopoulos’ appearance. In a letter to the campus community last week, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said, “The U.S. Constitution prohibits UC Berkeley, as a public institution, from banning expression based on its content or viewpoints, even when those viewpoints are hateful or discriminatory.”
Protesters argued that what Yiannopoulos specializes in is hate speech, and that it didn’t deserve to be protected.
“It’s not a question of free speech,” a protester said via megaphone, riling up the hundreds of protesters in attendance. “It’s about real human beings.”
ALSO
Berkeley College Republicans said all 600 tickets had been sold for Yiannopoulos’ scheduled appearance in Pauley Ballroom, in the student union building on Sproul Plaza. Yiannopoulos was expected to use the event to kick off a campaign against “sanctuary campuses” that have vowed to protect undocumented students as President Trump cracks down on illegal immigration.
Campus police had been hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos at UC Davis on Jan. 13, when protesters overwhelmed their barricades and shut down Yiannopoulos’ speech.
In an interview with Fox News after Wednesday’s cancellation, the 33-year-old Yiannopoulos — a self-described “libertarian, gay, Trump-supporting provocateur” — said college campuses are places where “you should be able to engage with different ideas.”
Those who attend his appearances, he said, include people who “don’t necessarily agree with me but just want to hear the other side. They were prevented from doing so this evening by violence from the left — the left that is terrified of anyone who they think might be persuasive or might be interesting or might take people with them.”
Three lines of zip-tied metal fencing separated the crowd of protesters from campus police officers who had secured the building where Yiannopoulos was supposed to speak. He had arrived earlier, escorted by security and had been waiting inside the student union building when the protests erupted.
The protest turned violent around 6 p.m. when dozens of masked anarchists, dressed in black and wearing backpacks, emerged from the otherwise peaceful crowd.
As “Milo had got to go” chants broke out, they struck: in small groups, at first — knocking down the fences, cutting through to zip ties. Then, they came in droves, as the dozens of university police officers quickly retreated to an inner ring of fencing.
That, too, was breached, as protesters ran toward the student center, where Yiannopoulos was waiting for the event to begin. Police in riot gear retreated inside.
Seizing the opportunity, the masked protesters breached the inner ring of fencing, picking up pieces of it and hurling them into the building’s windows. Glass shattered, but no one went inside.
As some protesters yelled obscenities at police, others toppled a generator and light pole police had set up, spray painting “Milo” with an X through it. Then they lit it on fire. From their backpacks, the protesters hurled dozens of fireworks.
One of the black-dressed anarchists said he had been hit by nonlethal ammunition.
“The cops shot me with pepper balls,” said the 26-year-old man, who called himself Zombie. “It hurt.”
Carrying a thick black shield and wearing a milk-soaked kerchief over his face to protect against potential tear gas, Zombie said, “We’re anarchists.” Fellow protesters unfurled a banner reading, “This is war.”
Police soon declared an unlawful assembly and ordered everyone to leave, but hundreds of protesters stayed, filling the entire upper and lower plaza. “Turn on the dance music,” one masked woman yelled.
UC Berkeley junior Fatima Ibrahim, 20, who clutched a “resist fear” sign with a red fist, said the timing of Yiannopoulos’ scheduled appearance stung.
“As a black Muslim woman, all three of those identities have been targeted throughout (Trump’s) campaign,” Ibrahim said. “To have someone like (Yiannopoulos) come into my campus and affirm those people’s beliefs, it’s very, very hurtful.”
Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)