Tom Robbins set the stage for a rousing evening of music as he introduced Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Keb' Mo' and Danny O'Keefe at Seattle's concert for the Songbird Foundation's Sustainable Coffee Campaign at the Paramount Theatre.
As he described the evening's "eargasm," Robbins railed against the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, in addition to large-scale, corporate coffee farming, which is decimating the winter homes of songbirds that nest right in our own backyards every spring.
Danny O'Keefe, perhaps best known for "Goodtime Charlie's Got the Blues," began this three-hour-plus celebration of songbirds with "Rare Bird," a touching tribute to the late Hazel Wolf, one of the world's greatest environmental activists. Wolf's legacy includes an active network of more than 25 active chapters of the Audubon Society in the Pacific Northwest and civil rights work that supported organized labor, women's suffrage, and conservation.
Keb' Mo' introduced "Victims of Comfort" on slide guitar by joking with the audience about recycling, and one of the many highlights from his solo slide set was "Stand Up and Be Strong" from last year's Okeh CD, The Door. Mo's bandmate Clayton Gibb sat in on guitar and banjo, and when Gibb plucked the latter, Mo' joked about that uniquely American instrument.
Mo' talked about his neighborhood in Compton, near Los Angeles. "Growing up in Compton, you'd get beat up if you liked the banjo."
The evening was all acoustic - almost. Bonnie Raitt's long-time bass player, Hutch Hutchinson joined Bonnie and Keb' for a plugged-in version of "Just Like You," the title cut of his Grammy-winning release from 1996, to a standing ovation from the sold-out Paramount audience.
Tom Campbell, the Executive Director of The Guacamole Fund, introduced Jackson Browne. Campbell has produced an array of social and cultural events for positive change over the years, including the No Nukes Campaign from the Musicians United for Safe Energy in the 1970's and touching 1998 tribute to the UCLA Children's Memorial Hospital in memory of Nicolette Larson.
Browne began with "World in Motion" on solo acoustic and treated us to two works-in-progress: one from an electric piano and another up-tempo tune on acoustic guitar. Yes, that's right: a positive, up-tempo song from a troubadour that bared his soul in the 70's on songs like "Here Come Those Tears Again" and "Late for the Sky."
In addition to honoring the work of Northwest Shade Coffee Association, the Songbird Foundation, and TransFair USA, tonight's event celebrated the magic of the slide guitar. Few instruments can lift a song higher than the slide guitar. In the hands of masters like Keb' Mo', Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt, Browne's "Bright Baby Blues" shone brightly.
O'Keefe re-joined Browne in a slow duet on "The Road," a song written by O'Keefe that landed on Running on Empty in 1977.
Benefit shows usually have some surprises, and tonight's was no exception.
Cris Williamson joined Raitt on "Goodnight, Louise, Goodnight" and their harmonies soared on this traditional American song. Bonnie Raitt once said that Cris had a "voice like honey on a cello," and it was in fine form tonight. Williamson flew up from her home in Oregon for the show, and like Raitt, Cris has paved the way for generations of young women in music. Williamson's The Changer and the Changed is a classic independent women's record, and one that changed women's music forever, long before the Lilith Fair was even a dream. Not that Bonnie and Cris are elder stateswomen, they've just been around awhile, and their contributions to the blues and to women's music have been exceptional.
Bonnie reached back to her 1974 Warner Brothers LP (yes, vinyl) Streetlights for James Taylor's "Rainy Day Man," and then switched to piano for the title cut from her 1989 Capitol Release, Nick of Time. When she picked up her Stratocaster, she winked that "it might be a little loud for you," but lit into John Hiatt's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" that got the audience up and moving. Bonnie did Hiatt proud, with Keb' Mo' and Jackson Browne at her side, each playing slide.
The entire cast sang John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery," including guests like clarinetist Joel Tepp, long-time sideman for Jerry Garcia and that California institution that celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, Hot Lips and Fingertips.
Tom Robbins joined the band for the encore, "Well, Well, Well," a song co-written by O'Keefe and Bob Dylan, about a contaminated well near O'Keefe's Vashon Island home, just a few miles off-shore from Seattle.
After more than three hours of great music and strong messages about coffee production, I'll make my next latte from shade grown, organic, fair-trade coffee.
Behind the Buzz: A Short Introduction to The Songbird Foundation, The Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign, and TransFair USA.
Danny O'Keefe formed the Songbird Foundation as a non-profit organization in 1997 to protect songbirds and their habitat. He is perhaps best known for a top ten hit, "Goodtime Charlie's Got The Blues," from his 1972 Atlantic release, O'Keefe. Since then, he's toured with Maria Muldaur, Loggins and Messina, Jesse Colin Young, among many others. His songwriting credits include "Angels Spread Your Wings," "Magdalena," and, of course, "The Road." O'Keefe formed The Songbird Foundation to draw attention to the issues of rainforest destruction and migratory songbird loss. He's enlisted the help of friends like Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt to help spread the word about the importance of sustainable choices and the foundation website, www.songbird.org features links to a menu of bird resources, including the songs of the Scarlet Tanager, Tennessee Warbler, and the Indigo Bunting, among others threatened by non-sustainable agricultural practices.
The Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign, a project of the Seattle Audubon Society, has more than 40 members who work to promote shade-grown coffee and conserve migratory birds. The link between songbirds and coffee is strong: North American songbirds depend on shade canopies in Mexico, Central American, the Caribbean and American for their winter migratory homes, and coffee has traditionally been a shade grown plant. Over the last 25 years, coffee producers have moved to higher-yield sun farming at considerable cost to the environment. Coffee shrubs grown in the sun have half the productive lifespace as those grown in the shade, and perhaps more importantly, this strategy decimates songbird habitat. For more information on this project, go to www.seattleaudubon.org/Coffee/home.html. This Campaign has the potential to change the way consumers purchase their daily pick-me-up.
TransFair USA is a non-profit monitoring organization based in the San Francisco Bay-area that certifies that participating traders are following fair trade guidelines. While many of the coffees recognized by TransFair USA are small, boutique blends and varietals, the Sustainable Coffee Campaign is promoting shade-grown, organic, fair-trade coffee through the collaborative work of the Northwest Shade Coffee Association, the Songbird Foundation, and TransFair USA. To get this "buzz of approval," coffee importers must agree to purchase from small farmers listed
on the International Fair Trade Coffee Register and the farmers must meet various criteria including organic farming practices, democratic organization, and a commitment to a high quality product. Fair Trade is an innovative approach to empowering Third World farmers through direct trade, fair prices, access to credit, and sustainable farming methods. While organic, fair trade and shade grown coffees comprise less than 2% of the world's coffee market, learn more about this innovative approach to helping Third World farmers at www.transfairusa.org.
(C) 2001 - Eric Steiner
