During the time I spent in Washington, DC with the Remove Trump / Swarm the Senate movement, I had the good fortune to connect with many wonderful activists and artists.

One such activist is Dragon, lead singer of the band The Resistance Company. We instantly recognized one another as musical forces of nature, only to discover that we are also both Latinx Jews who like Star Trek and baseball.

Needless to say, we felt the need to team up.

Our first release is the arrangement of Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” that I was playing when I was arrested in the Senate’s Russell Rotunda on January 15.

We’re working on more new music now, so stay tuned.

====

I spent the first five weeks of 2020 in Washington, DC trying to get any Republican who would listen to understand that Donald Trump is a danger to us all. Only one (Mitt Romney of Utah) listened.

On February 5, 52 Republicans voted to let Trump off the hook, and look where we are less than two months later: an incompetent, willfully corrupt response to a pandemic that will kill hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans and as many as 100 million people around the world.

This video is a bicoastal love letter from me and Dragon of The Resistance Company to all of America, especially those brave souls who uprooted our lives, went to DC, and did what we had to do.

I hope you enjoy it. I hope that you’ll share it.

On Twitter:

Republicans stay complicit, whether 45 is inviting foreign election interference or mismanaging a pandemic.

We stay brave.

I made this w/ @resistcompany with ❤️ for #SwarmtheSenate & @Remove_TrumpNow

Full video: https://t.co/PJ4obUO0UR#GeneralStrike #RentStrike #ShutItDown pic.twitter.com/t6GZbMiv4u

— Tae Phoenix 🐝 🔥🩸 🦷 🗽 (@TaePhoenix) April 1, 2020

On Facebook:

On Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

This is a cover of Sara Bareilles' "Brave" as Phoenix was playing it when she was arrested inside of the Senate's Russell Rotunda during the Remove Trump protests in January of 2020. She and Dragon met during those protests and collaborated to make this recording. Phoenix & Dragon would like to thank the Swarm the Senate / Remove Trump movements for bringing us together and inspiring us to be brave. 🎧 Download: https://taephoenix.bandcamp.com/track… ===== Lead vocals & rhythm guitar: Tae Phoenix Backing vocals, guitar, bass, percussion: Mark "Dragon" Ospovat Engineered by Maurice Jones Jr. and Mark "Dragon" Ospovat "Fire Donald J Trump (Pantaleo)" appears courtesy of The Resistance Company (copyright & protected) 🎧 Download: https://thecompanyinc.bandcamp.com/tr… Words-as-art by Alessandra Mondolfi Avery Miers Barbara Schulman Deanne English Gale Bonker Julie DeLaurier Lisa Fithian Margaret Coble Naomi Finkelstein Rabbi Me'irah Iliinsky Risa Shaw Tae Phoenix Tricia Cooke Protest footage courtesy of: TW Collins Myra Slotnick Tyna Ek David Kroman Solomon Granor Common Cause Lis Cox “Brave” by Sara Bareilles and Jack Antonoff Copyright Sony/ATV Songs LLC, Sony/ATV Tunes LLC o/b/o Tiny Bear Music, Sony/ATV Songs LLC o/b/o Ducky Donath Music, and Sony/ATV Tunes LLC Cover Release License ID: LPL308155

A post shared by Tae Phoenix (@taephoenix) on Apr 1, 2020 at 11:00am PDT

Dear WordPress friends,

It’s been awhile since I posted on here about my activities in DC, and I apologize for the delay in sharing the news with you all. I update my Twitter feed most frequently, so if you use Twitter and you want to follow me, you can do so at @Taephoenix.

Tomorrow is going to be amazing

Tomorrow is a huge day of action organized by dozens of groups including the Poor People’s Campaign, MoveOn, Women’s March, and Center for Popular Democracy (Action) – as well as our original Remove Trump crew who have been making office visits and staging protests every day since January 6.

Program

9am Volunteer Training – St Mark’s Episcopal (301 A St SE, Washington, DC 20003)
10am  Action Training – St Mark’s Episcopal (301 A St SE, Washington, DC 20003)
12pm  Action – Hart Senate Office Building Atrium (120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002)
3pm  Break
5:30pm – Poor People’s Campaign National Tour Meeting (Facebook event here)

If you want to help make it possible for folks to converge on the Capitol, donate to the Center for Popular Democracy here: http://bit.ly/cpdfightback

Musical visits

On Friday, we paid a visit to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s house. We wrapped his door in crime scene tape and sang to him.

🚨🚨@Remove_TrumpNow went to LEADER MCCONNELL'S home to sing about his CORRUPTION in the Senate. They also brought their CRIME scene tape! #AmericansWantWitnesses pic.twitter.com/wM6hOEqQUq

— Peter Morley (@morethanmySLE) January 25, 2020

🎶🎸

Every law you break
Every oath you fake
Every deal you make
Every step you take
We are watching you

Melody & Chords: Sting
Lyrics: Me & The Resistance Company

Video credit: @ker_dc on Twitter – https://twitter.com/ker_dc/status/1220812410405126151

Yesterday, we visited the offices of Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) with a musical message: “we want to see you be brave“… and vote for witnesses and documents.

As we sang, the front office staffers were visibly touched, while Romney’s chief of staff and the rest of his aides stopped their daily all hands and came out into the hall to listen.

We’ve been to many offices in our time, but @TaePhoenix singing Brave in @MittRomney’s might be the all time best! His staff was (rightly) floored Cc: @Remove_TrumpNow @IndivisibleTeam @MarchForTruth17 @by_the_ppl @justinhendrix @ezralevin @Leahgreenb @es_indivisible pic.twitter.com/M2WFE3mJt3

— Indivisible NationBK (@bkindivisible) January 27, 2020

Afterwards, we had a very positive exchange, which you can watch below. Office visits are sometimes a frosty affair, but bringing music to the process has changed the atmosphere on more than one occasion. I’m so proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish with the power of music.

I also want to thank Mason, Khayah, Deanne, Laura, Kristen, Alison, Michael, Kevin, Susan, and Patricia for their financial support of my stay in DC. Their contributions have paid for four additional, much-needed nights in a hotel convenient to the Capitol, which has allowed me to have a place to rest between actions and conserve my limited energy for the work itself.

If you would like to join them in helping me pay for housing, groceries, and transportation, I would very much appreciate your support.

http://paypal.me/taephoenix
Venmo @TaeTaeTVK
CashApp $tvk47

Finally, I want to apologize for an incomplete version of this post that I mistakenly hit publish on before it was ready to go. It has been deleted and replaced with this one.

Love always,
Tae 💖