Mother's Day show to entertain while raising awareness -John Trudell and others play concert today to raise awareness for women's health issues
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Activist-actor-spoken-word recording artist-poet John Trudell has been in so many things for so long that it's amazing he has time for any new ventures. Right now he has a new double album out and "Lines from a Mined Mind," a collection of his lyrics from 1983 to 2007.
But this afternoon's gig with his band Bad Dog at La Zona Rosa is a welcome event: a Mother's Day concert for Give Love Give Life, which he launched with Marcheline Bertrand, initially to raise awareness through music about women's cancers. Also on the bill are Willie Nelson's daughters (Amy Nelson of Folk Uke and Paula Nelson of the Paula Nelson Band) and a granddaughter, Martha Fowler of headliners Herald and Mod.
Give Love Give Life has staged shows occasionally to promote awareness of the issue, including one at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Southern California that featured Willie himself, Jackson Browne and Trudell. For Bertrand, the issue was personal — she had ovarian cancer, which took her life in January 2007. The organization has also expanded to promote prioritizing universal health coverage for women and children. So why not men, too?
"Believe me, I understand the reality of trying to pay health insurance," Trudell said last week from his Southern California home. "It drives me up the wall. But when you look at all the politics about health care, we're getting promises and manipulated math. No matter what the existing problems are, there are going to be millions of Americans without adequate health care. So if that's the situation, let's prioritize the women and children first. Any culture that does not protect the culture of women and children is not a culture."
The former American Indian Movement chairman (1973-79) stressed that today's show, which he opens at 3 p.m., is not a fundraiser — mothers and children younger than 12 get in free, with everybody else paying $25. Instead, Trudell said, the goal of Give Love Give Life (more at givelovegivelife.net) is to get people who agree with the organization's aims to communicate their feelings about prioritizing health care for women and children to the men and women running for president and other elected offices.
"This isn't about money or joining us or organizing," he said. "It's about participating in the democratic process by expressing our voice."
pbeach@statesman.com; 445-3603
Mother's Day Concert
Herald and Mod, Folk Uke, the Paula Nelson Band, John Trudell and Bad Dog, 3 p.m., La Zona Rosa, 612 W. Fourth St. Tickets are $25 and available at Get Tix outlets and at the door. Mothers and children younger than 12 get in free.
http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/stories/2008/05/0511trudell.html
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