Atascadero benefit concert raises funds, goods for Standing Rock
Caleb Blackbird, Tanner Scott, Cody Blackbird and Taino Torres at Last Stage West (photo Jordan Elgrably).
—The Cody Blackbird Band flew back from their tour of Japan on the day of the elections and soon thereafter arrived in Atascadero for a benefit concert at Last Stage West on Nov. 13. The concert last night raised over $500 in cash donations and over $2,000 in donated goods for the protestors who are making a stand at Sacred Stone Camp in North Dakota against the $3.78 billion Dakota Access Pipeline.
The show off Highway 41 opened with performances by local artists Tanner Scott and Erin Inglish, then featured indigenous artist Cody Blackbird on flute and vocals, with his brother Caleb on flute and percussion and Taino Torres on guitar.
They were joined by local bluegrass player Banjerdan for their song “Serenity,” while a quartet that included Tanner Scott sang a rousing version of the blues classic “House of the Rising Sun,” made famous by The Animals in the ’60s.
A song that set the tone for the Blackbird concert, “Promised Land,” featured lyrics that spoke of “natural rights” that should include the right to clean water for all creation, not just mankind.
Several songs in the Blackbird Band repertoire were rendered with such heart that one was reminded of listening to folk songs around a campfire on a cold night.
Although he’s still in his ‘20s, Cody Blackbird is not new to the music scene. He has been playing the Native American flute since he was eight, and growing up he toured with his father, the musician and cowboy poet Thomas Blackbird. More recently Blackbird has performed in the Black Hills Unity concerts three years running. He showed up with his band at a Keystone Pipeline protest concert and performed for a 1,000 people at Standing Rock in September, when Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein painted graffiti on a bulldozer at a construction site, for which she still faces criminal charges.
Proceeds from last night’s concert are going to the Standing Rock Sioux Nation “water protectors” and their many allies, who have been camping out and engaging in civil obedience, fighting the pipeline (#NoDAPL), which they say will desecrate their sacred lands and potentially pollute drinking water for millions of people.
Last Stage West attendees arrived with bags and boxes of in-kind donations, including warm winter coats, non-perishable food, goggles, gas masks, earplugs, headlamps, batteries, tents and cold weather sleeping bags.
Singer-songwriter and banjo artist Erin Inglish is heading up to North Dakota on Tues., Nov. 15th, and will personally deliver Atascadero’s donations to the Sioux Nation protestors. To donate in-kind items, contact Amber Scott, (805) 792-0505, or to donate directly to Standing Rock, go here.
