Whose Anthem? ("Let's Come Together" video)
We only get one life...
Let's not allow our differences to divide us...I stand for unity, not for the anthem. It's time we set an example for the rest of the world; "Let's come together.."
I wrote this song "Whose Anthem?" after waking from a dream, I was fortunate enough to have found a group of people from all walks of life that had the same vision I did. Thank you guys for making this dream become reality. Hats off to TheOnes Group.
"Zeek, you are 52 years old..not really the best time to start a music career." I proved them wrong and followed what was in my heart. If I can do it, I hope to inspire you to follow your dreams.
STORY OF THE “WHOSE ANTHEM?” VIDEO (“LET’S COME TOGETHER”)
On the rainy night of Dec 5, 2017, a group of musicians who had never played together before “came together” in a Philadelphia, PA recording studio to play a live in-studio version of a song and shoot a video in the process.
This session culminated from a story that began with athletes peacefully protesting legitimate inequality and mistreatment. There are plenty of details and “sides” that have been taken on this issue. But, in my opinion, the larger point is that these peaceful protests have done what they intended to do ... they have started a much-needed public conversation.
I wrote a song originally with no intention … quite frankly, in a moment of “creative serendipity”. But now created, and reflecting on its creation, I hope this song ... both its message and mood ... appropriately and respectfully captures the point that none of the pomp & circumstance matters. Neither the “kneelers” nor the “standers” are more or less patriotic ... IF we allow inequality and mistreatment of certain classes of people. We really need to come together … and I hope the universal language and connection of music can be a starting point in that process.
THE BAND FOR THE STUDIO PERFORMANCE VIDEO
The band I pulled together for the video performance is – for me – very important to note. It is a big part of this story. It included …
Ellen Houle & Rubin Edwards – I had known Ellen and Rubin mostly from a distance, though had recently become better acquainted with Ellen due to a number of mutual friends both in & out of music. Though I currently live in Center City, I had lived in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Mt. Airy for 20 years. Ellen & Rubin lived there, as well. Mt. Airy is nationally known for being one of the earliest and most successfully integrated communities in our country. Black, white, other colors, ethnicities, religions, races & sexual orientations, etc., live in mutual respect & harmony and had done so for 70 years. I had seen Rubin at the local watering holes and I had heard great things about both Ellen & Rubin … and had always wanted a chance to play with them. And I suspected they knew each other from playing in the jazz circles of Philly – which turned out to be true. I am so thrilled this connection came together. They were incredible to work with. They created the rhythm I originally felt when I first started writing the song (kind of a “Muscle Shoals – Aretha sessions” feel).
EVO – John Evola (EVO) is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, “beat maker”, engineer/producer. EVO did the guitar tracks on the “single version” recording of this song, so we had recently had the chance to work together and develop a little camaraderie. I really liked his chops on the recording and absolutely wanted him to play in the video and stretch it out a little, try some new things even. We were, in fact, looking for the “live performance version” to be a little different than the “single version”. Once again, EVO did not disappoint. He crushed it. Well, you can hear the licks for yourself. Sweet, right?
Alan Biehn – Alan & I have been playing together in different bands for nearly 10 years. He has been drumming for over 35 years but has recently put it out there that he wants to focus as much on his fantastic harmony vocals and overall percussion capabilities in less “noisy” situations. We have been working together in that capacity in my collaboration known as “G’town Monks”, where he either plays box drum or e-drum pad, so we could very closely control volume and focus on vocals. And I wanted to make sure he had an opportunity here in this video. Yes, Alan is talented but there was also the more important matter of loyalty to one another.
Mason (aka Got Mason) – helps people like me … the dreamers and creators … to dream & create. He, too is a dreamer & creator, which makes it natural for him to lead his company “The Ones Group”, an artist support services company. Mason and I share that combination of creative & business brains … along with full-on authenticity … that allowed us to hit it off immediately when we first met in the Philly Open Mic community. We took a leap of faith … took a chance on each other … and I am real happy about that.
And who am I? I am Zeek Mitchell (Z!)