One band you won’t see playing in Zuccotti Park is the grunge-like — and openly conservative — quartet Madison Rising. Their application to perform there has been rejected by Brookfield Properties, which owns the park but for months hasn’t really controlled it.
The tents are gone, but dozens of Occupy Wall Streeters still swarm Zuccotti during the day. Madison Rising’s manager and organizer, Richard Mgrdechian, says the band had hoped to give Downtown a “Take Back Wall Street” concert, something “pro-American and pro-capitalist.” A chance to say “thank you to the firemen for all you’ve put up with, thank you to the police for all you’ve put up with.”
Bass player Alex Bodnar admits this isn’t the first time Madison Rising has run into trouble trying to book an intended spot. “A couple venues, when they heard our topics, were like, ‘We don’t cater to that sort of thing.’ One liberal blog that attacked us had nothing but negative comments from its readers — and one of them admitted, ‘Dude, I only listened to four seconds.’”
The band’s real mistake on Zuccotti may just have been asking. Brookfield had no comment on this story, but it’s easy to guess why it’s not granting anyone official permission to perform there right now.
Of course, that hasn’t stopped a parade of pro-Occupy musicians from playing at Zuccotti without permission, from Baby Boomer Jackson Browne to Gen X protest-folk singer Jeff Mangum of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, not to mention Tom Morello of (chronic anti-Wall Street protesters) Rage Against the Machine.
Madison Rising goes against the political grain in rock. Drummer Sam Fishman recalls, “I played [the Madison Rising song] ‘In the Days That Reagan Ruled’ for a college friend” and he “thought it was a joke.”
Guitar player Chris Schreiner says, “My friend’s wife told me that I wouldn’t be allowed back in the house if I appeared on Glenn Beck.” He recalls performances where the band had “girls throwing themselves at us, only for them to run when they heard we were a pro-American band.”
At the band’s recent show at the downtown club National Underground, Mgrdechian noticed some “pierced faces” exiting during the song “Walking Through That Door,” which is about a soldier heading off to duty with his “head held high” (lead singer Dave Bray is a Navy vet). During the next number, the pro-gun “Right to Bear,” Mgrdechian says, “several other people left in a huff.”
“I’ve approached dozens of potential investors over the past six months, people that I’ve known personally and worked with through the years, who have told me in no uncertain terms that they don’t want to be involved with . . . music for ‘rednecks,’ ‘tea-baggers,’ ‘Sarah Palin fans,’ ‘Bush-bots,’ etc.” The manager adds, “People have also told me they hope we fail.”
Luckily for the fledgling band, some places have been more welcoming than Zuccotti and the left-blogosphere. They were the headlining act at the Oct. 8 “We Stand with Gibson” concert in Nashville, honoring the Gibson Guitar company during its battle with environmental regulators over using rare woods in its guitar fingerboards.
By picking causes like that, they may not get invited to many Manhattan cocktail parties, but you’ll likely hear them at a few Tea Parties.
Todd Seavey blogs at ToddSeavey.com.