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Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
At the Echoplex, Tom Morello lashes out at ICE raids: ‘No one's coming to save us except for us'
Around 3 p.m. Monday, outside the coffee shop Picaresca Barra de Cafe in Boyle Heights, singer-songwriter Tom Morello backed a dozen local kids and families up against a wall. 'You are witnesses to the crimes being committed against immigrants in L.A.,' he said, asking them for straight-ahead, fearless expressions while he played guitar and sang beside them. Morello, in sunglasses and an outlaw's bandanna under the brutal afternoon sun, was shooting a music video — one he cast very intentionally in the heart of the community most brutalized by recent ICE raids against immigrant families in Los Angeles. 'Pretend you'll remember me,' he sang, flanked by kids who, over the last few weeks, stood a good chance of watching someone they love get shoved into a van and disappeared. 'I wanted to humanize the terrible ICE sweeps that are going on now. We are in really, really dangerous times,' said Morello, the longtime guitarist for the leftist rock group Rage Against the Machine. He spoke to The Times backstage at the Echoplex, where in a few hours he'd headline a benefit show for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. 'I think that Saturday's ['No Kings'] protests showed that every act of joy is an act of resistance in this time,' he continued. 'You saw thousands of people on the streets celebrating resistance and saying that 'You picked the wrong city to try to occupy.'' For decades, Morello's been a fixture in left-populist movements in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, spanning his time in the now-dormant Rage Against the Machine, as a solo artist and as a left-labor activist. His agitprop punk-funk and pavement-pounding advocacy work are, to him, part of the same practice. But the events of the last few weeks — in which masked and badge-less federal agents have violently searched, detained and deported working-class immigrants across Los Angeles and the country — shook him deeply. Under the second term of President Trump, the most dire warnings of his music seem to have arrived. A few days working to pull together a benefit for CHIRLA — a California-based policy organization and rapid-response network that's become a front line of defense in the recent ICE raids — cohered in Monday's show, which sold out in minutes. He was joined by B-Real of Cypress Hill, Pussy Riot, and the San Diego rap-metal group the Neighborhood Kids. 'There has never been a successful social movement in this country that has not had a great soundtrack,' Morello said. 'I have to find a way to weave my convictions into my vocation. What can I do? Well, I can make a sign and go out. I can text my friends who happen to be in town. It lets people know that they're not alone.' 'The idea for [ICE] is to try to crush us where we are strongest,' Morello said. 'L.A. has just said hell no to that.' Monday's show hosted by comedian George Lopez and DJ'd by visual artist Shepard Fairey, kicked off early with the Neighborhood Kids, whose churning rap-metal brimmed with conviction and lived detail as young people of color watching their government lash out at their families. 'Get them kids up out them cages!' they howled, as guitars and electronics chugged and squalled around them. If a young band can meet a grim moment like this, the Neighborhood Kids did their damnedest on Monday. The Russian activist rock group Pussy Riot has some experience living under authoritarian governments. 'I spent two years in jail. Let me tell you, it sucks,' singer Nadya Tolokonnikova said onstage, face obscured by a pink balaclava while flanked by a hardcore-punk backing band. Pussy Riot's songs about desiccated pollution and ironic euro-rave breakdowns were dispatches from a possible near future for America — one where bleak humor is a survival mechanism under constant threat. Lopez's between-set riffing embodied the sold-out crowd's sentiments: 'There are more people here tonight than at Trump's little birthday party. If he didn't like immigrants, he wouldn't have any wives,' went one milder quip. He teed up sets from the punky rapper and Cypress Hill's stoner savant B-Real, who embodied the two strains of L.A.'s response now — righteous fury and indefatigable confidence. Morello's closer set of solo material was more communally inspirational than furious. He read a message from his 101-year-old mother imploring the crowd to 'become soldiers in the army of love,' played Bruce Springsteen's 'The Ghost of Tom Joad,' honored his late Audioslave bandmate Chris Cornell and stirred a circle pit during Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land.' Speaking to The Times earlier, when asked if this dire moment might call for Rage's return, Morello was circumspect about the band's future. 'Don't wait for any other bands,' he said. 'This is your time. If you don't like what you see, write your song, join a union, get in the street, make a sign, do a protest.' But he did get a riotous response when he told the Echoplex crowd that 'we learned an old Indigenous fighting song for you tonight,' only to kick into an instrumental version of Rage's 'Killing in the Name,' where his backing band let the crowd yell its infamous, profane lyrics of uncompromising resistance. The right to scream those lines back at him, Morello said earlier, is not guaranteed. It's fought for and won every generation. 'People should realize like that artists that make music, and audiences listen to music, may soon be censured. You can be imprisoned, thrown into a gulag. You cannot take those freedoms to be able to say what you want, sing what you want, listen to what you want for granted,' Morello told The Times. 'They're not carved in stone. They are in peril, right now, today. No one's coming to save you, except for you. No one's coming to save us right now, except for us.'
Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello headlines immigrant rights benefit at Echoplex
After a weekend of raucous 'No Kings' protests across the country — especially throughout Los Angeles — immigrant activists in music have a new benefit show planned for tonight in Echo Park. Tom Morello, the guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and a longtime leftist and human rights advocate, will headline a sold-out show called 'Defend L.A.' set at the Echoplex on Monday in support of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). The show will feature like-minded peers including B-Real of Cypress Hill, Pussy Riot, and visual artist Shepard Fairey. The Neighborhood Kids, a rising young San Diego hip-hop group whose songs document the on-the-ground reality of communities under threat from immigration raids, will play its most prominent L.A. set to date there. Comedian George Lopez will host. Morello joined the recent anti-ICE marches in Los Angeles, where protest signs and slogans often echoed his band's radical-resistance lyrics and imagery. The singer-songwriter wore a guitar emblazoned with anti-ICE messaging onstage at the Boston Calling festival last month. While downtown L.A., a site of many heated protests, had been placed under a nighttime curfew, Saturday's 'No Kings' marches were broadly peaceful, with only 38 arrests in Los Angeles, mostly for curfew violations. After the marches, the Trump administration recently announced efforts to expand immigration raids in sanctuary cities like Los Angeles.
Chicago Tribune
7 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Protesters gathering downtown for Chicago ‘No Kings' rally
Demonstrators have begun gathering in Daley Plaza for Chicago's 'No Kings' rally, part of a national slate of marches planned around the country to protest President Donald Trump's policies and agenda. Among those crowding into the Daley Center plaza Saturday morning were Theresa and Robert Hoban, retired attorneys who split their time between Chicago and Florida. The Hobans said they attended to support their grandchildren's future, and the throngs of others present for the rally gave them a sense of hope. 'We are doing this for our grandchildren's future because we believe the country has taken a turn for the worse under this administration,' Theresa Hoban said. 'We believe that standing up and people hearing our voices is the most profound way to get our message across.' As the crowd grew, loudspeakers near the Picasso statue blasted songs by Beyonce and Rage Against the Machine. The Chicago protest was planned to be one of more than 2,000 'No Kings' events nationwide, with organizers anticipating it would be one of the largest. Tens of thousands were expected to march from Daley Plaza and coalesce in defiance and admonition of Trump near the downtown hotel tower bearing his name. Organizers described the protest as 'a national mobilization to reject authoritarianism,' and was scheduled to begin with several speeches, including one from U.S. Rep. Jesús 'Chuy' García, a Democrat from the Little Village Neighborhood. There are also several other No Kings protests scheduled around Chicago, including ones in Evanston, Geneva, Naperville, Highland Park and Arlington Heights, among other suburbs. The protests, according to organizers, are in 'direct response to President Trump's self-aggrandizing $100 million military parade and birthday celebration, an event funded by taxpayers while millions are told there's no money for Social Security, SNAP, Medicaid, or public schools. 'Across all 50 states, communities will gather to declare: The president is not a king.' The downtown protest comes after a week of tension in Chicago, where city streets have filled in recent days in response to the Trump administration's actions in Los Angeles. There, Immigration and Custom Enforcement raids and the administration's deployment of Marines and the California National Guard have led to fiery confrontations among demonstrators, ICE agents and police. Earlier this week, in anticipation of a similar scene in Chicago, Johnson urged the city's residents to 'resist.' He described it as 'a necessary fight for all of us to be able to push back' against ICE raids and the specter of the mobilization of troops in the city. Planners said they intend to do just that. 'We could all just sit at home and scroll on our phones and be really worried about what's happening with our country, or we can go out and be in the streets and, very visibly, say we are not OK with what is going on with this administration,' said Sally Schulze, a spokesperson for Indivisible Chicago, which is organizing the downtown protest.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rage Against the Machine guitarist rips Trump over president's feud with Bruce Springsteen in fiery rant
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello had some choice words for President Donald Trump at a concert on Sunday. Rolling Stone reported that during his performance at the Boston Calling Music Festival, the famous musician unloaded on Trump in response to the president's recent spat with classic rock legend Bruce Springsteen. "Bruce is going after Trump because Bruce, his whole life, he's been about truth, justice, democracy, equality," Morello said onstage, adding, "And Trump is mad at him because Bruce draws a bigger audience. F---that guy." Flashback: Bruce Springsteen Endorses Kamala Harris The feud between Trump and Springsteen began nearly two weeks ago when the artist accused the president of treason during a concert in Manchester, England. "The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times. In my home, the America I love, the America I've written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration," Springsteen said, drawing applause from his audience. Read On The Fox News App Tesla Doxxing Attacks Wrongly Target Nonowners Across America Two days later, Trump slammed Springsteen in a Truth Social post, stating, "I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he's not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country." The background for Morello's performance last weekend also included a giant "F--- Trump" sign surrounded by several other smaller ones featuring the same words. The background art also referred to Trump as "HATER IN CHIEF." There was also an image that appeared to have Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's faces morphed together into one person. During his set, Morello introduced his cover of Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land" with an anti-authoritarian, anti-billionaire message seemingly aimed at the commander-in-chief. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture "It's a beautiful song, but they censored out all the verses that explain what the song is really about. This is a revolutionary anthem. Woody Guthrie knew that music could be… an uplifting, unifying, transcendent thing; a defensive shield, and a weapon for change. Authoritarians and billionaires think this country belongs to them. Woody Guthrie knew that this land is yours," he said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for article source: Rage Against the Machine guitarist rips Trump over president's feud with Bruce Springsteen in fiery rant
Newsweek
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Tom Morello Mocks Trump's Crowd Sizes While Defending Bruce Springsteen
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello raged against Donald Trump on Sunday, hitting back at the president for criticizing music legend Bruce Springsteen. Newsweek has reached out to the White House seeking comment. Why It Matters Trump is a prolific social media user and many of his posts are targeted at his critics. When they or their supporters have hit back, it has often resulted in a public slanging match between the president and certain celebrities, whether across social media or in real-life arenas. Tensions between Springsteen and Trump started when the rocker denounced the administration in the opening remarks of his tour in Manchester on Wednesday night, resulting in the president lashing out in response. Tom Morello performs during the Boston Calling Music Festival at Harvard Athletic Complex on May 25, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. Tom Morello performs during the Boston Calling Music Festival at Harvard Athletic Complex on May 25, 2025 in Boston, Boston Calling What To Know Morello unleashed a diatribe against Trump during his performance at the Boston Calling music festival over the weekend, defending Springsteen after the latter drew the president's wrath recently. The artist suggested Trump's issue with Springsteen stemmed from jealousy over the crowd size The Boss could attract, according to Rolling Stone. Earlier this month, Springsteen branded Trump an "unfit president" who was in charge of "a rogue government" that was "corrupt, incompetent and treasonous" in front of a British crowd during his Land of Hope and Dreams Tour. Trump swiftly fired back with a post on Truth Social on May 16. "I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States," he began. "Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he's not a talented guy—Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our dried out 'prune' of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that's just 'standard fare.' Then we'll all see how it goes for him!" It wasn't long before other musicians leaped to Springsteen's defense. Neil Young said he agreed with "Bruce and thousands of musicians" that Trump was "ruining America," while Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder said Springsteen was "a true American" and urged Trump to "wake up!" Trump has called for a "major investigation" into celebrities who aided Kamala Harris' 2024 election campaign, including Bruce Springsteen, saying their appearances were potentially illegal contributions. The 75-year-old musician has previously endorsed Democratic candidates including former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and ahead of the 2024 presidential election described Trump as the "most dangerous candidate for president" in his lifetime. What People Are Saying Rage Against the Machine star Tom Morello told the Boston Calling crowd, according to Rolling Stone : "Bruce is going after Trump because Bruce, his whole life, he's been about truth, justice, democracy, equality. And Trump is mad at him because Bruce draws a bigger audience. F*** that guy." The star also showed the audience that the words "F*** ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]" were emblazoned across the back of his guitar. He then went on to say the Boston gig, complete with anti-Trump rhetoric, could be "the last big event before they throw us all in jail." Bruce Springsteen, speaking at a concert: "In my country, they're taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers. They're rolling back historic civil rights legislation that has led to a more just and plural society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They are defunding American universities that won't bow down to their ideological demands." What Happens Next Trump has not yet commented on Morello's outburst.
