The story thus far…
Last September:
My son Jezz had been camped out in Zuccotti Park with Occupy Wall Street, protesting the growing influence of the Uber rich on our government, and the disparity between the rich and poor in this country. I had gone down to drop off blankets and food there a few times, and was astounded at the level of awareness that these young (mostly very young) brave, idealistic people showed.
After a while, I wrote a song about it and even got feedback from Sister Brigid ( a super guru)..about the words..
Then, I booked a gig on Long Island, in a club that Bobby Belfiori was promoting, Buckleys, in Baldwin…and I asked the guys to play a little funk jam…
Anyhoo, everyone started dancing and singing along. The bass player, Even Steven, offered to help produce the tune with me.
All the musicians wanted to be part of it, and Rod Kohn from Buddy Miles’ band even sent wave files of keyboard and guitar through the internet..from Hollywood, Florida…to add to the track.
THEN… I asked Mark Brady to come to the studio to videotape our recording session. Mission and Trp were there, and they got inspired and wrote some additional lyrics…
THEN, Mark said he’d cut a video together..BUT then, Mark got really sick, with some severe blood poisoning…and in the middle of going back and forth to doctors, his video editing system crashed.
Meanwhile, Mark’s friend Mark Melendez offered some of his Occupy footage. THEN Mary Campbell offered to shoot Even Steven and me playing the song in the park..and then in a club …Then TrP and Mission, videotaped themselves rapping….
…so anyway, with all this footage, and Mark’s system down, and his face blown up like a balloon from a jaw infection…Even Steven and I cut a video..and the results were great…
And THEN Mark got better and was able to replace some of his video editing gear, so he and I finished the original video..
SO here are the 2 versions in all their glory….
so..here are 2 videos of one song, We are the 99 Percent, which now has an original arrangement, so much that I’ve included several of the players as writers of the piece….
Here’s version 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2cQA2D2-Cg
And version 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AYVis4FyAM
YouTube – Videos from this email