My (not very) secret plan during the tour was to share peace songs and if possible learn some new music. So I schlepped my Martin Backpacker, some flutes and harmonicas along the whole route. Learning songs was challenging, but my bag of original and traditional peace songs found loving listeners. Worldly translators provided an often humorous bridge to unforgettable sing-alongs. Imagine translating Zulu into Italian into Arabic… Singing in the early education classroom just 50 feet beneath a heavily fortified Israeli army guard post in Hebron… In the home of a large family of shepherd folk living in remote caves south of At Tuwani where kids and elders sang “One More Step” drumming on plastic buckets and pans while a dust storm raged outside… From Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv (site of a tragic 2003 terror bombing) onstage with Jeff Green of One Drum during the Sukkot holiday…To an impromptu guest appearance at a street wedding reception at Deheshia Refugee Camp in Bethlehem singing Annan’s song “Peace and Solidarity” amid the joyful cheers of the young Palestinian men gathered to honor their friend.

• I sang to the walls we carry within us, which are movable with love.
• I sang to the 28″ high concrete separation Wall, which did not move.

But you know, all walls eventually crumble especially those built on fear and hatred.

I have pictures and remembrances; please ask me to come sing to you and to tell this story.

Yellow is the Sun that rises in the East
White is the Dream that lives in the South
Black is the Night as She rides to the West
and Red is in the North, Red is in the North
Green is the Earth that lies beneath my Feet
Blue is the Sky and it’s clear UP above
Deep are the Feelings that grow in my Heart
This Song is ALL of Love
Oh I am so in LOVE with YOU.

One Drum co-founder, David Stocker will perform at 8:30 Friday at Main Street Cafe in Homestead, Florida. One Drum has been a favorite at South Florida Folk Fest, Strawberry Festival and has presented concerts from Sunrise to Tampa in Florida and from the homebase of Milwaukee (where the band has been named Best World Music Ensemble) to Cairo where the band performed in a millennium Drumming Festival.

Singer songwriter David Stocker will perform with special guest percussionist and honorary Miami One Drum member Sebon. David started the group in 1996 with Jahmes Finlayson and traveled to Florida as a finalist in the SFFF competition. He brings a unique voicing of world music sounds and instruments to the folk genre. “People will find themselves singing along in languages they never heard or heard of before.” This is definitely music for the spirit and soul.

Friday, March 31st. 8:30 p.m. (usually 8, but people have a difficult time getting to the cafe by that time on Fridays), Tickets are $12.00 (plus tax), Contact # is: 305-245-7575; web site is: www.mainstreetcafe.net
Main Street Cafe
Homestead, Florida

So where is that powerful healing force right now? Not that the sixties are going to blow in and save us like a mighty wind. No, we need something for today. With a few notable exceptions like Ani di Franco and Ben Harper, the so called ‘new folk’ movement is about as political as Britney Spears. The corporatization of popular music is a death knell for the oral tradition just as electronic voting machines spell the death for democratic elections. Corporate music has obscured the real legacy of Woody Guthrie with issues of royalties and licensing. The man believed music was not to be owned but to be given away. There’s very little of the significance of a quarter million years of human oral history to be found shrink-wrapped at Border’s Books and Music.

Connecting the dots of my musical journey, you’d find me picking up glimpses of oral history in the sacred music at Pine Ridge Reservation, Pilgrim Baptist Church and Philly Folk Fest. It’s been said that the only truly unique American contribution to musical history is the Elvis Presley movie. I always liked the moment in Elvis’ movies when life just spontaneously bursts into pop music. Lately I’m beginning to think that other than maybe the thrum of a Harley Davidson, the only unique contribution America has made to the history of sound is the sound of two atomic bombs vaporizing tens of thousands of people. Most of the musical styles claimed as American music are derived from the music of people enslaved, conquered or otherwise oppressed.

So we better sing our little hearts out. For better or worse. If the ancestors are listening. Maybe a song we have not yet heard will come into our consciousness. Just maybe we can alter the tragic course of our American government.

The following new lyrics to a familiar Irish melody will be sung at a community meeting in Rockford, Illinois with Dennis Kucinich on March 13. Meeting with Dennis Kucinich feels a bit like attending at a hospice. But I am thankful for his courage and I want to tell him that. I’m proud that any political candidate had the balls to echo the 1950 ballad by Ed McCurdy
…last nite I had the strangest dream I never had before I dreamed the world had all agreed to put an end to war.

David Stocker is a teacher and member of One Drum

Come all you young rebels and list while I sing
For the love of ones country is a terrible thing
It banishes fear with the speed of a flame and
And makes us all part of the patriot game.

I’ve aimed my machine gun at women and kids
My mind fills with terror at things that we did
For the fear that was banished, I’d gladly regain
My humanity lost to a patriot game.

I’ve the same name as you, I’m just home from Iraq
Five pieces of shrapnel are lodged in my back
Put there by a people who just don’t agree,
With the home of the brave and the land of the free.

We take what we want then we steal what we need
Replacing our freedom with corporate greed
Where no one must answer and no one’s to blame
As the world pays the cost of our Patriot game.

The true heart of Justice is now masked and veiled
Once neighbors and friends are deported and jailed
Our own bill of rights lies all twisted and lame
It’s just the first taste of the patriot game.

I dreamed of a world where all people lived free.
I stood up for justice and true liberty.
I look at my children, how can I explain
Where we all went wrong in our Patriot’s Game.

An Afghan, a Haitain, Iraqi or Kurd
A yank or a Briton, no matter the word
An Act or a Missile, it all is the same
All players beware the new Patriot game

David Stocker is a teacher and member of One Drum