Unforgettable
Pete Seeger (Photo Alan Entin)
On Saturday, October 16th, Pete Seeger, Patti Smith, and Guy Davis performed at an unforgettable fundraising event for ALBA, “Songs for the Cause: Music, Education, and Activism,” sponsored by the Puffin Foundation and hosted at the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY). (See photos by Alan Entin here.) The 250 audience members in the sold-out room heard stirring speeches by Lincoln vets Matti Matton and Maynard Goldstein, and sang along with “Venga Jaleo,” “Viva la Quince Brigada,” “People Have the Power,” “The Ballad of John Henry,” and “Freiheit.” The Puffin Foundation announced the creation of a new gallery at the MCNY dedicated to activism, including a permanent plaque honoring the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and also announced the new $100,000 international ALBA Puffin Human Rights Award, which will be granted for the first time in May of next year. ALBA executive director Jeanne Houck, together with two alumni of ALBA’s High School Teachers institute, Sergei Alschen and Gabriela Calandra of Bergen Academies (New Jersey), granted the first ALBA Puffin Student Activism Award to Samuel Rosenblum. At the reception following the concert, activist journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! spoke, together with New York City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito.
Photos by Alan Entin:
What a wonderful event, inspired and organized by David Roland!