Queen of the Punks

Dear girlgroup,

In thinking about my year-end list, it occurred to me that there’s something on it that you folks may not have heard but would be quite interested in. And in hopes of getting it onto more year-end lists than just mine…

Alicia Bay Laurel is best known for her 1971 handwritten and drawn commune guide “Living on the Earth” (later picked up by Random House, and an international bestseller). Alicia became a friend and mentor when I was 15, and I’ve returned the favor by helping to build her website, http://www.aliciabaylaurel.com, and teaching her how to blog.

Her new album, What Living’s All About (available from her online store) includes an astonishingly powerful protest tune, “America The Blues,” featuring wild guitar work by Nels Cline and Alicia sounding more like the Queen of the Punks than the Queen of the Hippies. I made her promise to make it available for free, because this song needs to be heard. Please give it a spin if you’re inclined, and think of it when listing your singles for your year end list.

Alicia says: “This is a song about speaking truth to power—not only to despots, but to our own collective power. The operative lyric here is VOTE. If everyone who could vote actually did vote, we could elect representatives who would work with us to reverse the vast environmental, public health, diplomatic, and human rights problems we earth-dwellers face, and make this a sustainable, joyful world for all who live in it, now and in the future.”

More about the song and mp3 link:
https://archive.org/details/AliciaBayLaurelAmericatheBlues

best regards,
Kim Cooper
Editrix
Scram Magazine
http://www.scrammagazine.com