The Bop Shop Special 7.4.23 - Four Songs and a Motto for America

“My photographs tell stories of loss, human struggle, and personal exploration within landscapes scarred by technology and over-use…. [I] strive to metaphorically and poetically link laborious actions, idiosyncratic rituals and strangely crude machines into tales about our modern experience.
”

— R.P-H.

For quite a few years, I have parged together [perhaps pertinent] songs on July 4th, particularly considering the many unsettling changes facing we citizens. Here’s a go for 2023!

-Ronny Elliott-

Ronny Elliott is a stalwart Tampa, Florida rock icon who has danced beneath the raindrops of recognition. He takes center stage on our Independence Day meditation, encouraging us to take the baton from MLK and run with it.

ani difranco

Once she got her sea legs, Ani DiFranco exercised her independence muscle creating her own music label (Righteous Babe) instead of waiting for acceptance from existing ones. “Do or Die” was released on September 30th preceeding the 2020 Election. Who can measure the impact of the musical arts? Did it help decide the election? The proof is in the puddin’ out.

uncle tupelo

I’ve never made a movie, but if I did, this instrumental would be in it. Images from all around the country would be displayed from the vantage inside of a moving train. Movement is what carries the song. Movement toward promise. Movement, differences, waiting, wrangling, leaping. Movement across an unlistening history. Movement that is majestically troubled. Uncle Tupelo existed for 7 years and carved out some unique territory replete with raw angles of timeworn materials. Why not this song for a new national anthem? An instrumental not tied to language, but allowing us to breathe in our own words and out into the bold American daylight!

the felice brothers

“
America, undress
Under the locust tree
You and me
America, undress

Smell the chrysanthemums
Republicans and Democrats
Undress
Even the evangelicals
Yeah, you
Lighten up, undress
Shake the maracas
Everyone’s nude on Family Feud
Undress
Under the mushroom cloud
The Pentagon
Undress
Lady Liberty
Crimes against humanity
Undress
Caesars of Wall Street
Brooklyn Bridge
Undress
Comanche and Iroquois
Exploitation, genocide
Undress
Bank of America
Kellyanne
Undress
Read me the Riot Act
Vice President and President
French Kiss
Nobody needs to win
Plymouth Rock
Undress
The slaughter of innocents
Trigger-happy deputies
Conservatives in lobster bibs
Industrialists and anarchists
Sweet is youth
But sweeter: truth

Chain of collusion
Endless confusion
When will we see the light of day?
Chain of illusions
Endless confusion
When will we find the light of day?

When will we find
When will we find
”

— Ian Felice

Ian Felice traffics in the unexpected as a songwriter. His lyrical collisions allow us into new ways of apprehending the subject. In this case, America gets unveiled and comes home with us, but not wearing clothes. Does the veil get lifted so we can find our way out or create a new way in to the maze of our malaise?