Despite Andy Ngo's politically conservative worldview and tendency towards exaggeration, his book, Unmasked, made for fascinating reading.  Especially since he and I and other people I keep on meeting have been targeted for cancellation and more by the same group of "antifascist" morons, for different reasons.  Me because I'm a Nazi, of course!  (Didn't you know?)  

Here's a playlist of songs I've written that are on subjects written about in Ngo's book, from a very different vantage point.  If you contrast the perspective of these songs from the way the people of whom I'm singing the praises are considered by Ngo to be criminals or terrorists, it's that much more intriguing, or disconcerting, or something, that we're both being constantly trolled and harassed by the same group of people, or groups with lots of crossover.

Songs related to Unmasked

What if Trayvon had stood his ground?

This is a song from the album, Spies Are Reading My Blog, which you can download or stream in its entirety at:  www.davidrovics.bandcamp.com

Trayvon

This is the studio version of the song I wrote after the racist police execution of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9th, 2014.

Lyrics:

His Hands Were In The Air

The town is mostly black, almost all the cops are white
You can see it right away, something isn't right
There's no funding for the schools and they're being shut down
The powers that be don't give a shit about the town

They were walking in the street, it's the safest place to be
In case someone comes shooting, you got a better view to see
They were walking in the street, they weren't hurting anyone
Then came a white man with a badge and a gun

His hands were in the air (4x)

“Get the fuck on the sidewalk,” that's what the cop said
He cut them off in his car, fat face, blood red
The cop says he was attacked, and from a cursory check
It seems his fingers were assaulted by Michael Brown's neck

His hands were in the air (4x)

There were witnesses who saw it, it was recorded on a phone
But the police couldn't handle the light that would've shone
She was forced to hand it over so they could try to hide away
A racist execution in the middle of the day

His hands were in the air (4x)

He had just finished high school and was off to college next
Instead he was shot and killed with no pretext
The media joined in, called the community a mob
A cop called them animals while Michael's mother sobbed

His hands were in the air (4x)

His Hands Were In The Air

Charleston. Is everyone crazy who hears voices telling them black people are irredeemable criminals bent on taking over the country? Or are they just listening to Fox? Was this the act of a madman, or just a fan of Bill O'Reilly following hate speech to its logical conclusion?

Should a massacre of black church-goers really be so shocking in a state that still officially flies the Confederate flag in front of its State House? (To say nothing of the other US flag, the Stars and Stripes, also drenched in the blood of Africans near and far, along with so many more people.)

Download the entire album:
https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-side

Lyrics:

He was listening to voices, talking in his head
If you grew up in America you know exactly what they said
And with every job we lose, however bad things get
There's a black man in the White House on the TV set
And we can blame it all on him and his entire race
Because they no longer know their place

You can hear the voices and by the early light of dawn
You can see the flag waving on the State House Lawn

He was listening to voices, you could say that he was crazy
For thinking certain people are just born to be lazy
He could see it on the cop shows, they don't know right from wrong
The race war is coming and now it won't be long
I promise it was not his original notion
If you want to start a war, first you have to set the war in motion

Chorus

He was listening to voices who said the conflict's coming soon
And he walked into the church on the 17th of June
The very date of the rebellion that never was to be
For which 35 were hanged in that very city
For which the church was burned, for which the church was banned
For which there's been no atonement in a sick and troubled land

Chorus

The State House Lawn

Dallas.  From my album, Punk Baroque, available for download or streaming in its entirety at www.davidrovics.bandcamp.com.

Lyrics:

If This Were A War

If this were a war, if he were a soldier
He'd find a well-defensible position
He'd put on body armor if he were a sniper
And set his sights with terrible precision
If this were a war and he was somewhere overseas
He'd be watching out for the other side
Watching for the Taleban or whichever enemies
Kept on trying to blow him open wide

If this were a war he'd be dodging shells
Aimed at him for being on the street
He'd be on alert for any sign that tells
That the soldier might be drawing heat
If this were a war and he were being shot
He'd be under orders to shoot back 
If he had learned the lessons from the training that he got
He'd carefully prepare his counterattack

If this were a war and the enemy wore blue
He'd be looking for signs of it everywhere
If he was in good form and his aim was true
He would pick them off and center his crosshairs
If this were a war, not a Dallas parking lot
He'd be getting medals for this firefight
If he were a soldier, he'd be praised for every shot
He fired from above on that deadly night

If this were a war

If This Were A War

For Heather Heyer.  From my 2017 album, Ballad of a Wobbly.

Today In Charlottesville

Time to share another track from my new album, Strangers & Friends -- which launches on streaming platforms on January 19th, and is available now to patrons.

I wrote this song in July, over the course of the couple days following the death of Will Van Spronsen, who was killed by police, in the bus yard behind the ICE prison in Tacoma, Washington, where Will was trying to destroy as many buses as he could. This song features some of the more complex vocal arrangements from Lorna and Kamala to appear on the album, which, in my humble opinion, totally transform the song. They're what will make people listen to it a second time -- along with the urgency of the question presented by the song, by Will Van Spronsen's actions that July night.

I explore this a bit more in an article in the current issue of the Fifth Estate, in the print edition, incidentally. It's a question that has caused Will to become an iconic figure for many, immediately following his death. A series of questions, really. When you see this familiar pattern repeating, of a corrupt democracy being eaten from within by the rise of a fascist movement, at what point do you decide, under the circumstances, that nonviolent forms of resistance have become futile? Will Van Spronsen had his answer to this question, certainly, which he demonstrated himself in his prose, his songs, and his actions.

The Time To Act (Song for Will Van Spronsen)

Song for the Biotic Baking Brigade

In the heat of the summer.

Lyrics:

Are people still lynched in America – and what happens when they die
When he begged for his mother to save him, was he resisting arrest when he cried
And how does the lynch mob roam free, when we already know who they are
The men who murdered George Floyd, and then drove off in their police cars
To live with such savage injustice, with every new day the Earth turns
I'm left with no reason to wonder, as I watch Minneapolis burn

Are people still lynched in America – how many just in the past weeks
From Georgia to Minnesota, as the pandemic spikes and peaks
Did you see him pinned down for eight minutes, did you see the knee on his neck
Did you see the police station on fire, did you smell the smoldering wreck
As the National Guard marches in, watch the wheels of history churn
In the land of Philando Castille, as we watch Minneapolis burn

Are people still lynched in America – and do the poor still die of disease
Are the prisons still full of debtors, do bodies still hang from the trees
Do the workers still live by the highways, still struggle to come up with rent 
Do families still get evicted, when the last of their credit is spent
Do you see all the people who just had to find out what might there be left to learn
From the flames that rise from the Target, as we watch Minneapolis burn

Are people still lynched in America – and what happens when they die
When he begged for his mother to save him, was he resisting arrest when he cried

As I Watch Minneapolis Burn

No matter what is said about it, the ruling class in the US will not defund the police.  To do so would be to overthrow their brutally unequal, sick form of society.  But it's nice to imagine what it might be like to be liberated.

If They Defunded The Police

The statues are only symbols, and whether they are disposed of by local authorities or taken down by members of the public, there's so much more to accomplish.  But symbols are important, and taking these statues down is an important part of the process of re-framing the mainstream historical narrative, so that it might someday become an honest one.

Pull These Statues To The Ground

I'm watching a country built on the foundations of slavery, genocide, real estate speculation and fantasy crumble before my eyes.  May it crumble faster, and may I live to see the dust settle.

Born On The Fourth Of July

Many people are not aware that Portland, Oregon is the biggest city in a state with a long history of institutional racism (founded as a White Homeland), and a city with a long history of being run on behalf of long line of white property owners with inherited wealth, such as the current mayor, who has presided over the ethnic cleansing of this city through gentrification, who is the police commissioner of a toxic, profoundly unaccountable police department with a terrible and very recent history of carnage.  But maybe you did hear about the fire last night.

The FOP On Fire

If you go to downtown Portland any evening of the week these days, you will find on one side, federal agents in camouflage, armed with a broad array of often mysterious weaponry.  On the other side, a wide spectrum of people, mostly on the younger side, not infrequently bearing either an umbrella or a leaf-blower.

With Masks Upon Their Faces And Leaf-Blowers In Their Hands

A song about a few of those murdered by criminal police, with a very simple chorus.  Note to anyone performing the song anywhere:  there is intentionally room in the chorus to say a name in between every time you sing "say their names."  The last chorus can go on for a very, very long time.

Say Their Names

In Between Milwaukee And Chicago

After the far right continually come to downtown Portland and attack people while the police do nothing, someone was bound to be killed, and someone was.  And then, as if in retribution, police executed Michael Reinoehl in a hail of bullets, with no body cams on, outside of Lacey, Washington.

From my 2020 album, Say Their Names.

Song For Michael Reinoehl

The president and the attorney general and a whole lot of corporate media says Portland, Seattle and New York City are "anarchist jurisdictions."  It's a technical term, apparently.  We anarchists say, if only it were true.

Anarchist Jurisdiction

Assata Shakur has long been a heroine of mine, along with the organizations she has long been associated with, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and the Black Liberation Army. When the FBI teamed up with New Jersey authorities to announce that she had been declared the #1 Most Wanted Terrorist on their list, and the first-ever woman to occupy that esteemed position, I was appalled, as were many others. It is well-documented that despite her one conviction by a kangaroo court, Assata is innocent of all charges and allegations made against her over the years, including the killing of the cop. The terrorists who should have a lot to answer for, in a remotely just society, are the FBI and other federal and local authorities who considered members of the Black Panther Party and other organizations guilty until proven innocent.

This is a track from my 15-song album, Into A Prism, which can be downloaded in full here:
http://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/album/into-a-prism

Assata

2017 album recorded at Big Red Studio with Billy Oskay, Elona Planman and others.

09. On The Train

2011 album recorded at Big Red Studio featuring Billy Oskay, Nick Angelo and others.

13. The Last Lincoln Veteran

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), libertarian socialist, dad, lover of life.