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Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, others target media consolidation on tour
Billy Bragg and Steve Earle are among the acts who will be a part of the 13-city Tell Us the Truth Tour, an outing that aims to raise awareness on media reform and trade issues.
The Nightwatchman--a.k.a. Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello --and Lester Chambers of the Chambers Brothers will also participate in the event. The scheduled lineup for each show is listed in the itinerary below.
According to a press release, each artist on the tour will perform a solo-acoustic set, then all will collaborate on some "special pieces."
Actress Janeane Garofalo will emcee the tour from Nov. 21-24, and other special guests may be announced.
The tour has the backing of the AFL-CIO, Citizens Trade Campaign, Common Cause, Free Press and the Future of Music Coalition, and is being billed as "the loudest, angriest, funniest and most effective challenge to corporate domination of the public discourse in recent history."
Organizers say they hope to show the relationship between "bad policies and bad journalism" by showing the connection between fair trade and media consolidation.
"When presidents and politicians lie, it is the job of the press to expose and challenge those lies," Morello said in a statement. "When the press fails, the lies become laws. The point of the Tell Us the Truth Tour is to help others make these connections, and to show them that activism can change the policies of this country."
The tour opens with Nov. 7 and 8 showcases at The National Conference on Media Reform in Madison, WI. At the event, the artists will perform and speak on panels in support of strategies that will "structurally improve" American media, organizers said.
On Nov. 19, the tour stops at the People's Gala for Global Justice in Miami, where it will join with union members, environmental activists and human-rights campaigners to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a proposed expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The tour concludes in Washington, DC, where artists plan to join activists, academics and legislators to support efforts to overturn a June Federal Communications Commission vote that allowed for further consolidation of media ownership.
The tour is partnering with Rock the Vote to register voters at each show, and will raise funds to support "future artist/activist partnerships and organize future Tell Us the Truth Tours," according to a statement.
Updates and further information will be posted at the event's soon-to-be-launched website.
