Sat 5/7 @ 7:30PM
Veteran folkie Roy Zimmerman is a satirical topical songwriter, tackling a range of social, cultural and political issues from a leftie viewpoint and with a sense of humor. The 57-year-old northern California musician says, “We used to have a name for Right Wing satire,” he says. “We called it “cruelty.’”
Over the course of more than a dozen albums in 20 years, he’s sung about Second Amendment absolutists, the Occupy movement, opposition to same-sex marriage, Citizens United. He release This Faucet’s on Fire last year.
Current events provide him with a constant stream of inspiration. “I happened to be touring in North Carolina as the state legislature passed its latest “Religious Freedom” bill, making tolerance punishable by fine or imprisonment,” he writes on his website. “What a great time to release this song ‘Religious Freedom (to Burn Our Own Witches).’” [Wife] Melanie [Harby] and I wrote it touring last fall, and shot the video over five weeks in ten cities in eight states on one continent!”
That should give you some idea of how hard he works and how prolific his output is. This year he has made a “campaign promise” to post a new “Song of the Week” every week until the November 6 election and play in all 50 states before the Republican National Convention. So it’s certainly appropriate that he’ll be playing in Cleveland this week at the Unitarian Universalist Society in Cleveland Heights. Cleveland Heights’ own Deborah Van Kleef, a fixture at area peace demonstrations, civil rights rallies and labor union affairs, whose lyrics about a fast food strike were sung by Pete Seeger at Carnegie Hall, opens. It’s a $15 suggested donation, presumably with a surcharge if you’re a Republican.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44106