Research by Jonathan Riley
We’re going to keep reminding the public that the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) wasted inordinate amounts of time and money over the past few years monitoring peace activists. And by “reminding,” we mean hollering and tweeting until the damning revelations found in thousands of recently unclassified documents reach people who otherwise care solely about sports and celebrity.
Just yesterday we carried on about how BRIC operatives have watched everyone from college kids to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (when he was still a labor organizer and legislator). As noted, the documents secured by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) show such ridiculous things as cops analyzing actions in which activists were “making stilts” and “blowing bubbles.”
Video via SleepoverShows.com
While poring over the reports, we also noticed several mentions of local and national musicians who performed in Dewey Square and at Occupy camps elsewhere. From local rocker Ryan Lee Crosby to David Crosby, authorities believed their bringing music to the protest warranted documentation. Since bands and artists have a platform to tell their fans about this bullshit, we combed through the files and compiled the names of those mentioned. With any luck, most of them will respond like Ryan Walsh of Hallelujah the Hills, and speak out …
“I thought Occupy was such a promising, beautiful series of events,” Walsh tells the Dig. ”On the one hand, knowing that our live set there was marked down in those reports is a real badge of honor for me (like Billy Bragg sang, “if you got a black list / i wanna be on it”) but, on the other, it does highlight the tremendous amount of misused resources that was happening at the time. Criminals meet behind closed doors, peaceful movements are transparent. Occupy was so clearly the latter that the existence of the reports themselves are embarrassing. I visited the Boston camp quite a bit. I was there the night it was shut down. I’ll never forget that time in Boston.”
In addition to sounding the alarm about constitutional concerns and wasted resources, we also figured that the targeted artists deserved due props and exposure for enduring this ordeal (you can get the new Hallelujah the Hills album here), and for being cool enough to entertain the Occupy troops. This is hardly a novel scenario; outspoken artists like Pete Seeger were spied on by the FBI for years. That doesn’t make unwarranted surveillance any less abhorrent, though, and so we sing …
Artists and musicians noted in the BRIC docs for performing at Occupy Boston …
State Radio
Tosh I
Hallelujah the Hills
Lauren Flaherty
Manasseh Israel
Cowgill
The J Kirks
Quill
Bojah and the Insurrection
Colin Leeds
Jeff Rowe
Garvy J
The Low Anthem
Melodigo and Incus
Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band
Don Hammontree
Four Point Restraints
Mel Weoodfall from Colour
Tubby Love
Other notes on musical performances (in Boston plus at other Occupy camps) and artists from the new PCJF documents …
The announcement came the same day that David Crosby and Graham Nash, of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, planned an acoustic performance in the park for supports and passers-by.
Dubstep Party. A dance techno party at Dewey Square, people are asked to bring strobe lights, fog machines and balloons.
OccuPoetry at the State House. Occupy Boston Poetry group will be reading on the steps of the State House. Analyst Notes: This event is hosted by people from SEIU. OB has conducted past events in conjunction with members of SEIU.
And the follow-up: OB conducted Occupoetry at the Massachusetts State House. No known issues were reported and approx. 15 individuals were in attendance
Street Theatre Group at the Gandhi Statute in Dewey Sq.
Movie: Jimmy tingle shows his new movie American Dream at the “main stage” of Dewey Sq.
Analyst Notes: Russell Simmons is the co-founder of Def Jams record label, as well as the creator of clothing fashion line Phat Farm. Simmons is an elite figure in the hip- hop community.
