The Bright Morning Star Reunion Concert
Thea Paneth is active with Arlington/Lexington
United for Justice with Peace. The concert was organized by the
Reverend Ann Franklin and Tony Palomba and was a benefit for Friends
of Sabeel, Jewish Voice for Peace, and United for Justice with
Peace.
Full Article:
With characteristic outrage transformed into music, Bright Morning Star, the No Nukes movement house band, took to the stage with a rendition of Solar Carol (penned by, among others, the spouse of yours truly): "Solar power…inexpensive energy…"
The audience was on their feet when performers George Fulginiti-Shakar, Charlie King, Court Dorsey, Marcia Taylor, Cheryl Fox, Ken Giles and signer for the hearing impaired, Laura Kolb, entered the room. The house lights stayed on for the heartfelt reunion of stalwart anti-nuclear and peace activists from Boston and New Hampshire with this group of performers born of our movement.
Decades ago, the musicians who formed Bright Morning Star participated in the "grand occupation" of the site of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire at the end of April in 1977.
Over the years, Bright Morning Star developed a performance style that incorporated theatrical elements with their songs. Some highlights of the March 28, 2008 concert included the Brechtian The Medley that combines Make America Proud of You, with Encourage Fear and Phil Ochs' I Ain't Marching Anymore (the audience sang along with feeling). A new song called The Ministry of Oil laid bare the fiction of precision bombing and gave us an image of a nonviolent transformation that could bring about the end of the ministry of oil in the US White House.
They ended on the exuberant note of Pete Seeger's Precious Friends: "Just when I thought that all was lost, You gave me hope. That's not the old soft soap. I'll keep plugging on. Your face will shine, Through all these tears. And when we sing another little victory song, Precious friends, We will be there. Singing in harmony. Precious friends, we will be there."
They are older and grayer, but still on the road singing for peace and justice, "because our life is more than our work and our work is more than our job."
