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A CONCISE HISTORY OF
CITIZENS BAND
Harry moved to Olympia in 1983. He came from the east
coast where he had been inspired by Bright Morning Star, a political band that
formed in jail from the massive civil disobedience actions at the Seabrook
Nuclear Power Plant. He wanted to
start a radical arts collective that would use music and theater to do movement
support and outreach. But Harry hardly
knew anyone in Olympia, so his friend Sean Sinclair rounded up a slew of
lefties to meet and discuss the idea.
Out of that, a group of 10 emerged and first tried to figure out a name.
Believe us, Citizens Band is not our favorite name for a radical arts
collective but you try to reach consensus on a name with 10 people and see what
you come up with. We must of spent ˝ hour discussing Purple Rainforest as an option.
So the 10 of us ventured out to
our first gig at Evergreen on Earth Day in 1984. Right off the bat, the sound system crapped out (due, as we know
now, to the Luddite energy reverberating from us) so we jumped off the stage to
play acoustically though the crowd sat a good 30’ away. The second thing that happened was that two
4 year olds wandered into the space between us and the crowd and promptly
started screaming, pushing, and fighting during our rousing rendition of Peter
Alsops’ My Body Is Nobodys Body But Mine.
We probably should have seen
these as bad omens and packed it in then but thanks to our thick-headedness, we
ploughed on. By 1985, we were down to
five members, then four, then five until 1989 when we arrived at our current
constellation. Harry and Grace since
the beginning and Eliza and Jim since then.
Our guiding vision is
simple. We believe that capitalism
sucks and there are all these greedy
capitalists bent on ruling the world and destroying all living things. The
fight to change all this is long, hard, and sometimes sickening and laughter is
the only medicine that everyone can
afford. So we go for laughter in quantity (especially since we’re not that good
at music). As a matter of fact, we can
get it for you wholesale.
We have been so lucky over the
years to play with so many amazing people at so many amazing political events
organized by so many more amazing people.
We’ve played at rallies for thousands and rallies for no one (a Ralph
Nadar fundraiser in Chehalis, Washington).
We don’t record often (once per decade is all we ask…) so we must take
this opportunity to thank lots of people we care about:
FORMER CITIZEN BAND MEMBERS: Carol Elwood, Sarah Meardon, Susanah
Stratton, Deanna Manis, Sarah Rose, Lauren Volosion, Vicki (the drummer) Sean
Sinclair, Amy Epstein, and Barbara Collins.
PEOPLE WE’VE BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO
PLAY WITH: Jim Page, Dana Lyons, Casey
Neill, Timothy Hull, The Austin Lounge Lizards, Alice DiMichelle, Danny
Dollinger, Robert Hoyt, Joanne Rand, Utah Phillips, Faith Petric, Judy Bari,
Darryl Cherney, Chris Chandler, Anne Feeney, Dave Rovics, Harry Stamper, Dave
Lipman, The Fighting Instruments of Karma Marching Band/Chamber Orchestra, Leon
Rosselson, Jim Hightower, Bill Oliver,
Todd Samuelson, Andras Jones, Peg Millet, Rebel Voices, General Stike, Peter
Wilde, Holly Graham, Obrador, the Mud Bay Jugglers, Vince Brown, Alicia
Littletree, Gary Galbreath, Jolie Richman, John Seed, Mother Zosima, Katiya
Chorover,
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