Tom Morello At Occupy LA, Breaks Up Fight At The Troubador

In the spirit of those legendary musicians that played Woodstock, Tom Morello (guitarist for Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave) is speaking out to the Occupy Movement and letting the protestors know that they have a rockstar for an ally.

On Tuesday afternoon, Tom Morello -- also known as The Nightwatchman -- took to the "people's microphone" proclaiming his support for Occupy LA and his disappointment in the U.S. Government. He also announced that he wanted "to rock the f**k out" with the Occupy LA movement by providing 175 free tickets (to be distributed "democratically") to his show at The Troubador.

Not only did Morello follow through with his promise, but he even succeeded in breaking up a fight amongst two disagreeable concert go-ers later on that evening.

Guests were hanging outside the Troubador when a "misunderstanding" developed on the sidewalk. Our friendly neighborhood peacemaker, The Nightwatchman, swooped in an said "we're trying to bring it together here in LA, we're not on different sides." Before too long the two men were shaking hands, and the situation had diffused.

Previously, the Nightwatchman played Occupy Wall Street on October 13 and provided Occupy SF protestors with tickets to his Great American Music Hall Show on October 21.

The good vibes and social justice focus are in keeping with his foundation Axis of Justice (co-founded with Serj Tankian of System of a Down), a non-profit devoted to uniting "musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice," according to their mission statement.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post initially stated that Tom Morello was a bassist, rather than a guitarist.

 

 

Comments

[Munawar Malik]

08:23 PM on 10/27/2011

and he's NOT a bassist!

[ChrisMason Mason]

05:12 PM on 10/27/2011

Tom Morello is the real deal. Not one of these cookie-cutter, manufactured Clear Channel "pop" products.

[JTyroler]

11:44 PM on 10/26/2011

Apparently Tom Morello's instrument has been corrected in the story. He's a great person who is concerned about people and has used Woody Guthrie's slogan on at least one of his guitars - "This Machine Kills Fascists".

[beasteben]

06:03 PM on 10/26/2011

so i'm sure the journalist who wrote this saw that Tom plays his guitar high on his chest and figured he looked close enough to a bass player.

[Dresden Codex]

08:40 PM on 10/26/2011

Or maybe they just couldn't count the strings. Either way, shoddy journalism.

[Eric Speas]

04:53 PM on 10/26/2011

Point of fact: Tom Morello did NOT play bass for Rage Against the Machine; that was Tim Commerford. Tom was the guitarist.

[catcrazee]

05:25 PM on 10/26/2011

Thank you!

[JohnnyLawson]

04:14 PM on 10/26/2011

Wow, I didn't know Tom Morello was the new bassist..does that mean Timmy C is the new drummer?

[Springer79]

03:49 PM on 10/26/2011

Re: "In the spirit of those legendary musicians that played Woodstock, Tom Morello (bassist for Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave­) is speaking out to the Occupy Movement and letting the protestors know that they have a rockstar for an ally."

Then he got in his sports car and drove home to his mansion.

[henrydeluxe]

06:10 PM on 10/26/2011

what do you do besides over working your hand?

[Springer79]

06:12 PM on 10/26/2011

I make millions in the banking industry.

[JuniorBug]

09:04 PM on 10/26/2011

You're functioning on the premise that the 99% simply resent the financial success of others. They don't. They resent the exploitation of the 99% by the 1%. Tom Morello didn't make his money by exploiting naive borrowers or raiding his subordinates' retirement fund.

[Springer79]

12:24 PM on 10/27/2011

"Naive Borrowers"? So you're saying the 99% are stupid or children or didn't bother to read the paperwork before signing? They didn't realize the value of their house could go down, or that a college degree wasn't an automatic guarantee of a six figure income? That withdrawing the equity out of their house as the value goes up probably isn't a good idea? Or that a variable rate loan is riskier than a fixed rate loan? Or that a credit card has a higher interest rate than a home loan, and that rate can be adjusted when you miss payments?

It strikes me that there are a lot of people out there who are just as greedy as the 1% they're railing against. They just weren't as lucky or as good at it (I do recognize that success is often a result of timing).

I'm not mean. I'm just tired of making deliberate lower risk decisions, slowly building things up rather than taking stupid chances, and then being told I HAVE to cover the reckless decisions of others. I doubt they'd be writing me a check if things broke their way.

Retirement fund - I can't really speak to that. One reason I stuck with the company I'm at is because my 401k was in my name and fully vested from day 1. So I suppose that was another low risk decision on my part.

[mayorarce]

02:50 PM on 10/26/2011

"bassist"??????????????? WHO WROTE THIS????

[Frisian]

01:54 PM on 10/26/2011

FYI: Tom Morello is not the "Bassist", he's a 'Lead Guitarist'.

Re: In the spirit of those legendary musicians that played Woodstock, Tom Morello (bassist for Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave) is speaking out to the Occupy Movement and letting the protestors know that they have a rockstar for an ally.