Entry for Amanda Palmer's Sunday Songwriting Contest regarding the blackout in NYC this past weekend.

“Power Restored”
Music and Lyrics by Carissa Johnson

Saturday night, the midsummer lights should be blindingly bright
Traffic signs below a west side glow
Crowded lines above a timeworn road of hope

Mechanical failure now the power's been drowned
And the marquees are saying that the show can’t go on
Stores emptied out, dizzying sounds of

Civilians and millions of dreams
Strong despite the siren screams
Broadway’s still brilliant ‘cause we are resilient
Darkness can’t stop our hearts from gleaming

“Fend for yourself” they said
The blackout is stretching from
72nd street to west and beyond
You better carry the light
Because it comes from inside
You know it’s only been hiding
Here’s it’s chance to shine

Here in the middle of the city of dreams
Strong despite the dimming, so eerie
Subway cars and elevators stopped
In a swath at the center of the world

“This is not the time” they said
The blackout is stretching from
72nd street to west and beyond
You better carry the light
Because it comes from inside
You know it’s only been hiding
Here’s it’s chance to shine

Saturday night, the midsummer lights are still blindingly bright
If you close your eyes you’ll hear the cheers ring out
Dizzying sounds along the timeworn road of hope

“No light for miles” they said
The blackout is stretching from
72nd street to west and beyond
You better carry the light
Because it comes from inside
You know it’s only been hiding
Here’s it’s chance to shine

Oh can’t you see it so clearly now
The light from inside out
Power restored because darling,
You held the power all along x2
Power restored because darling,
We held the power all along x2

Power Restored

Amanda Palmer presents an intimate conversation with Nadya Tolokonnikova. Recorded October 4th, 2020.

Nadya Tolokonnikova is a Russian conceptual artist, political activist, and co-founder of Vladimir Putin’s least favorite band, Pussy Riot.

In 2012, she was convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after a performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and served two years in prison.

She is the author of “How to Start a Revolution” and “Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism.” Her prison correspondence with philosopher Slavoj  Žižek was compiled into the book, “Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj.”

In this interview we talked about coping with a pandemic, Putin’s never-ending reign, storming the Russian Parliament, the influence of riot grrrls, female empowerment, the advantages of being a multimedia artist, building an institution as a statement of punk, creating your own rules, rebelling against expectations, reuniting with your parents, and the importance of reading books when you have lost your freedom.

@tolokno on Twitter
@nadyariot on Instagram.

Check out everything from music videos to anti-surveillance makeup tutorials on Pussy Riot’s YouTube

www.youtube.com/channel/UCQYcCfKYfYMcuCsem8z5CyQ

Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism

www.harpercollins.com/products/read-riot-nadya-tolokonnikova?

Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj

www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/20819758-comradely-greetings

Get your Destroy the Patriarchy merchandise at pussyriot.store

Support Nadya and Pussy Riot on Patreon:

Patreon.com/pussyriot

No ads.
No sponsors.
No censorship.
We are the media.

Exclusive content is available to Patrons only.

Go to Patreon. Become a member. Get extra stuff.

Join the community at amandapalmer.net/podcast

EPISODE NOTES
Amanda Palmer presents an intimate conversation with Nadya Tolokonnikova. Recorded October 4th, 2020.

Nadya Tolokonnikova is a Russian conceptual artist, political activist, and co-founder of Vladimir Putin’s least favorite band, Pussy Riot.

In 2012, she was convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after a performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and served two years in prison.

She is the author of “How to Start a Revolution” and “Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism.” Her prison correspondence with philosopher Slavoj  Žižek was compiled into the book, “Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj.”

In this interview we talked about coping with a pandemic, Putin’s never-ending reign, storming the Russian Parliament, the influence of riot grrrls, female empowerment, the advantages of being a multimedia artist, building an institution as a statement of punk, creating your own rules, rebelling against expectations, reuniting with your parents, and the importance of reading books when you have lost your freedom.

@tolokno on Twitter
@nadyariot on Instagram.

Check out everything from music videos to anti-surveillance makeup tutorials on Pussy Riot’s YouTube

www.youtube.com/channel/UCQYcCfKYfYMcuCsem8z5CyQ

Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism

www.harpercollins.com/products/read-riot-nadya-tolokonnikova?

Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj

www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/20819758-comradely-greetings

Get your Destroy the Patriarchy merchandise at pussyriot.store

Support Nadya and Pussy Riot on Patreon:

Patreon.com/pussyriot

No ads.
No sponsors.
No censorship.
We are the media.

Exclusive content is available to Patrons only.

Go to Patreon. Become a member. Get extra stuff.

Join the community at amandapalmer.net/podcast

Nadya Tolokonnikova: Pussy Rioting Now

Members: of clubs that will not have me. performer, writer, giver, taker, yeller, listener, love-lover, rule-hater. my first book, “THE ART OF ASKING” paperback is OUT NOW: http://www.amandapalmer.net i wrote it. i post often on instagram and twitter: @amandapalmer love.
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