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Issue 260401 |
Chag Pesach Sameach! Happy Passover! (Wed, Apr 1 – Thu, Apr 9) Happy Easter to you! (Sun, Apr 5) We hope that our members who follow Islam had a blessed and generous Ramadan. |
BIG NEWS! Website modifications have been made, including the presentation of our calendar and the upcoming events. Please use the website’s home page as your first reference point. There are two calendars – the official PMN activities is on top and below that is a calendar of events presented by organizations or individuals with connections to PMN, including members. A “newsletter” will now consist of an email containing a link to the website-based newsletter layout. This change will facilitate the preparation of newsletters and enable us to retain information in a more accessible and manageable manner. So, please check the website daily for important information and updates, including registration for the Summer Gathering and registration for other events. If you have questions about this "big news", suggestions for the website, or events to schedule, please contact newsletter@peoplesmusic.org. . Come Together! Save May 29th through May 31st! For this year's "Summer" gathering, we will again be at the Grotonwood Camp & Conference Center in Groton, Massachusetts. We always have a wonderful time there. If you have attended before, please come again! If you have never attended, please join us! Summer Gathering Registration Starts Tuesday, April 7th If you have workshop suggestions, please click here to complete a suggestion form prepared by the Program Committee. Please do not wait. If you have any questions about this form or problems with the form, request assistance by sending an email to program-comm@peoplesmusic.org . Please note that Summer Gathering registration will start before our final workshop line-up is complete. Thank you! The Steering Committee  The Raging Grannies rocked marchers on No Kings Day 3! PMN members were out in force spreading the words, songs and energy of accountability! |
We would appreciate it greatly if PMN members would send your three favorite photos from No Kings Day 3 to us! We would be proud to include them in the People's Museletter! |
STRATEGIC PLANNING If there is any phrase that strikes terror in the hearts of non-profit Board members, its “strategic planning”! That is indeed unfortunate, because strategic planning is the most logical and critical component of non-profit work: Nothing can really turn out as well as you want it to without some planning -- particularly planning that is linked to an integrated and inspirational approach to the programming and fundraising. PMN is a non-profit organization with its share of organizational rollercoaster rides, but now is the time to re-focus on who we are, who we want to be and what we want to accomplish moving forward. We are needed more than ever and we need each other more than ever. It makes sense, therefore, to move into the 50th year of our existence with greater clarity and determination than we have had in recent decades. To do this , the Steering Committee will be establishing a Strategic Planning Working Group with an aggressive schedule for the 2026 sessions. In the interest of efficiency, Working Group membership will be limited to no more than 15 individuals. That being said, we are hoping to create a group that is representative of different constituencies within PMN, so please do not be shy about asking questions. If you think you might be interested in being part of this group, please send an email to Chris Owens, Steering Committee Chair no later than April 15th. April Birthdays of special note to PMN. Why? A fascinating group ... Andre Previn, Anne Boleyn, Bessie Smith, Bette Davis, Billie Holiday, Buddha, Carol Burnett, Charles Baudelaire, Charlie Chaplin, Clarence Darrow, Coretta Scott King, Cynthia Nixon, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Emile Zola, Emmylou Harris, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, George Lopez, George Takei, Harper Lee, Hayley Kiyoko, Jill Scott, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kofi Annan, Leonardo da Vinci, Loretta Lynn, Luther Vandross, Marlon Brando, Marvin Gaye, Maya Angelou, Michael Moore, Muddy Waters, Oskar Schindler, Paul Robeson, Rachel Maddow, Ravi Shankar, Seamus Heaney, Shirley Temple, Spencer Tracy, Vladimir Lenin, William Shakespeare, Willie Nelson, Zubin Mehta Name one PMN member whose birthday is in April! If you can’t name one, then get to know your fellow members better when you attend the Summer Gathering at Grotonwood from May 29 - May 31!
 
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MEMBERS OF THE MONTH MARCH-APRIL, 2026 A “Member of the Month” is a PMN member in good standing (your dues are current). Since this presentation is about educating ourselves about our colleagues and learning from each other, there is no “test” you need to pass to be nominated – though preference may sometimes go to an individual who has been “of service” to PMN. The MOMs-to-date have been Joanie Calem, Eric Law, Lindsey Wilson, and Jane Sapp. Now, without further ado, please get to know Colleen Kattau, Evan Greer, and Rubén González!
Colleen Kattau Colleen is a bilingual award-winning singer and commissioned songwriter. Colleen's music conveys a loving, spirited presence, clear Latin American influences and fearless lyrics with a voice that soothes and haunts with its range and clarity. Nature, activism and collective conscience infuse her music. She believes in the transformative power of song. Colleen has recorded seven albums and three successful benefit CDs for environmental and peace actions. Her 2024 release, This Hen’s Gonna Crow – and several cuts from the album have earned spots on the FAI Folk charts.
Evan Greer Radical historian Howard Zinn once called Evan Greer “an eloquent and energetic writer” reminiscent of “Phil Ochs”. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello called Greer “a heck of a guitar player.” Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace called her “a mentally ill man in a dress” just before having her thrown out of an event in Washington, DC. Evan Greer is a trans and queer activist, writer, and musician based in Boston. When she’s not playing queer anarcho-indie-punk music, she's the director of digital rights group, Fight for the Future, and writes regularly about the intersection of tech policy and human rights for the Washington Post, Time, NBC News, Wired, and CNN. Her last album Spotify is Surveillance was released by Don Giovanni Records and Get Better Records and featured by NPR, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Her pre-"streaming era" debut album, Never Surrender, was beloved in the early 2000s folk-punk scene with underground “hits” like the “Picket Line Song” and “I Want Something.” Over the years, she has shared stages and collaborated with Pete Seeger, Dead Prez, Against Me!, Talib Kweli, Ted Leo, Speedy Ortiz, Anjimile, The Blow, Eve 6, Chumbawamba, Ezra Furman, Immortal Technique, Mirah, Oi Polloi, Mischief Brew, and Billy Bragg. Never one to shy away from blending provocative activism with her music, Evan Greer has announced AMAB/ACAB, a new full length album produced by Casey Neill. With percussion from Rachel Blumberg (The Decemberists), features from Eve 6, Liz Berlin (Rusted Root), Victoria Ruiz (Downtown Boys), and keys from Boston Red Sox organist Josh Kantor, Greer presents a dozen new songs ranging from folk-punk bangers about cozy but imperfect basement shows to Boygenius-inspired shoegaze ballads about keeping relationships together while the world burns. Greer is known for her protest songs and queer anthems, and given the current political moment one might expect an album of straightforward punk polemics. But, despite its cheeky name (acronyms for “Assigned Male At Birth” and “All Cops Are Bastards”), what AMAB/ACAB delivers is more enduring and musically expansive than your standard protest. These are songs forged in a time before MAGA and Trump, and they will still resonate long after the fascists lose. Photo credit: Michelle Schapiro 
Rubén González
Rubén González creates songs about people and things, and things that happen to people. He mixes the cadences of his native Argentina with the sounds and stories of the big city NYC where he’s lived most of his life, creating a world made by hand one song at a time. Rubén's music creates a journey crossing borders between distant places and spaces: South and North America, politics and poetry, humor and pain. His songs have a “hand-made” feeling to them that draw audiences into a communal music making experience. It’s music to sing along, it’s music to think along. Rubén González was invited by notorious trailblazer composer Phillip Glass to perform in his 75th birthday celebration at the Tune-In Music Festival due to its “musical ingenuity” and as “an example of new directions in music”. He has three Song Collections (CD’s) can be heard on Spotify and Apple Music: Foto de Mi Aldea, La Libertad and I’m Working on Something. He is currently finishing the album You are the Poet, a collaboration with master balafon player from Guinea, Famoro Dioubaté. Rubén has been the producer of SHOWCASE AT THE SHRINE, a roughly bi-monthly show featuring PMN’s members performing their music at the Shrine, a World Music venue in Harlem, NYC. Foto de mi aldea https://open.spotify.com/album/2b5IbN0NXahnTq4rjZfwrd?si=csisarvtQsqoB9dqvUbqMQ La Libertad https://open.spotify.com/album/01GmYAQMvqFZisId1BjJMF?si=kzgV7qKNR3mbj6K_AyFujA I’m Working on Something (Children music) https://open.spotify.com/album/4WuI8vnVGvAHeNOam7EDST?si=7W3bFJzvTpuP8WYuAT9RMQ Ruben Gonzalez  |
