Paul Stein uses his accordion, melodica, claviola, voice, & original songs to support peace, justice, & the environment. Co-founder of The Occuponics, who were active throughout Occupy Wall Street, he can be heard at marches, demonstrations, rallies, & vigils all around the New York City area, often with the Filthy Rotten System band.
The Occuponics have been consulting and playing with The Occupy Guitarmy, an open source music collective that allows musicians of all stripes to perform socially conscious songs together.
There is a lot of work that goes into organizing The Guitarmy, but also a lot of fun when we can put down our Word Docs and Spreadsheets and jam together. The following video captures the Guitarmy’s second rehearsal together; the song performed is Florence Reece’s “Which Side Are You On.”
In July, The Occupy Guitarmy will lead a 99-mile musical march between Philadelphia and New York City in solidarity with the Occupy National Gathering. Over at http://occupyguitarmy.tumblr.com, you can learn more about participating in this exciting event.
The Occuponics’ Stephen C. Baldwin had the pleasure of being with the GUITARMY today on veteran progressive media critic Danny Schecter’s weekly radio show on PRN (the Progressive Radio Network).
Long before Occupy Wall Street appeared, Danny was pointing out how the corporatization of media was endangering democracy in the U.S.A. You can listen to the show below. Also included is a video shot by Robert K. Chin on the big GUITARMY March on May First, 2012.
The Occuponics Perform in a worldwide streamcast of The People Staged "Father$ of Lies." Photo credit: Stacy Lanyon.
The Occuponics performed with The People Staged this past Saturday night, providing music for an original play entitled “FATHER$ OF LIES.” The performance was streamed live to the world as part of the international broadcast ‘Low Lives: Occupy!’ on March 3, 2012. The music performed was “I Don’t Know But I’ve Been Told,” an original composition by the Occuponics’ Stephen Carl Baldwin.
This past Sunday, February 26th, Tompkins Square Park was reoccupied by Occupy Town Square, a series of “pop-up” occupations of public spaces that’s done a number of interesting “mobile occupations,” including actions at Washington Square Park and the West Park Presbyterian Church. The event included plenty of music, art, poetry, drama, crafts, and teach-ins, and The Occuponics were there. Here, Stephen C. Baldwin performs two Occuponics favorites, “I Don’t Know But I’ve Been Told/Occupy People Are Mighty Bold” and “Wall Street, Your Kingdom Must Come Down,” a song derived from an old gospel tune taught to us by Painless Parker (AKA Noam Berg). The accompanying female voice belongs to the polymath Allegra Culpepper, who has both performed at and documented the Occupy Wall Street movement for many months.
Occuponics Jam With OWS Drum Circle – 1/29/12 Washington Square Park “Occupy Town Square”
The Almighty delivered splendid weather on Sunday, January 29th, 2012, when Occupy Town Square, an OWS (Occupy Wall Street) affinity group, produced a “pop-up occupation” in Washington Square Park. It was a beautiful afternoon that succeeded in re-establishing OWS as a powerful (albiet formerly dormant) force around the world.
The Occuponics continue to write and perform “on the spot,” improvisational Occupy Wall Street music and the group did its thing at The Peoples’ Stage (AKA The People Staged) and, earlier, before the valorous Daniel had gotten the People’s Stage banners up, with the splendid drum circle featured in this video, featuring Brendan Rooster Hunt, Saeed RB, John Eustor, and other members of the famous “Pulse” percussion cooperative, which gave OWS its heartbeat in late 2011.
We salute the OWS Drum Circle (AKA “Pulse”): these are valiant soldiers of rhythm who have given so much to Occupy Wall Street and have paid a price (three drummers were arrested on Saturday at Zuccotti Park (AKA Liberty Square). We hope these artists are released from jail soon. They were playing quietly and meant no harm to anybody.
Today’s WSP (Washington Square Park) Occupy Town Square event happened without arrests and was a beautiful model for future “pop-up” occupations that combine arts, culture, teach-ins, and be-ins for the public good.
