Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
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Activist/Poet John Trudell's West Coast Spoken Word Tour Seattle, Washington, Benefit for NW Leonard Peltier Support Network: Sunday, March 18, 2001 8:00 P.M., 4620 S. Findlay St., Seattle. Advance Tickets Available $10. Contact Jess Grant, phone: 206-721-2063 (eves) or send email to: Robert Free.

On Saturday, March 17TH, Olympia, John Trudell Spoken Word With Highter Grounds of Struggle & Warpath Benefit for the Sapa Dawn Center. Capital Theater, 206 E. 5TH Ave., downtown Olympia, Washington. Sliding Scale - $7 - $10 donation. For more information call: phone, 360-459-4130 or 360-458-7610.

On the heels of Clinton's failure to grant clemency to political prisoner Leonard Peltier, John Trudell concludes a west coast tour of spoken word performance in Seattle, at a benefit for the NW Leonard Peltier Support Network. The Network worked frantically last month to secure Peltier a grant of presidential clemency before Clinton left office, and the administration had given hopeful signs. On January 20th, however, as George W. Bush took power, it became clear that -- despite Clinton's willingness to grant clemency to his political cronies -- Peltier had not made the list. The NW Support Network is continuing to work for Peltier's release, carrying on the momentum built by Peltier's large international network of friends and supporters.

John Trudell is an equally looming presence in the movement for Native American rights. In 1969 he was the National Spokesman for the "Indians of All Tribes Occupation of Alcatraz." >From there he went on to serve as National Chairman of the American Indian Movement (AIM) between 1973 and 1979. In 1979 his entire family was killed in a fire of "suspicious origin," which Trudell and others believe was an act of murder by the State in retaliation for his political work on behalf of the First Nations.

Devastated by this loss, Trudell withdrew from the world and began writing poetry. What began as therapy turned into much more, and his first book of poems was published in 1981. He soon began setting his words to music, and in a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, Bob Dylan called Trudell's album AKA Graffitti Man "the best album (of the year)." A 1988 tour with Australian band Midnight Oil gained Trudell's band even more exposure, leading to Trudell's signing with the Rykodisc label in 1992, where he worked with producer Jackson Brown. Movie director Michael Apted has cast Trudell in two movies: the Robert Redford-produced documentary Incident at Oglala (about Peltier's case); and the fictional film Thunderheart. For more information link to Blue Indians.com.

The show is being hosted by the Rainier Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Columbia City/South Seattle, "working to build a compassionate faith community which is multicultural in membership and celebration, and which works for social justice in our neighborhoods, our city, and the wider world." 4620 So. Findlay Street is one and a half blocks east of Rainier Ave. S, one block north of Orcas. Food and drink; information about Peltier's case; and copies of Trudell's music will be available at the show. Advance tickets went on sale at Left Bank Books (Pike Place Market) and Bailey-Coy Books (Capitol Hill) on Friday, February 9th.