Joan Baez Inspired By Occupy Wall Street On Veteran's Day

The protest movement of the 1960s carried with it a stirring soundtrack; one that rang with counterculture, sang of injustice and called for equal rights. The echoes of the decade that fostered the genre of protest in the US returned to present day New York City's Foley Square, through a veteran activist and folk singer Joan Baez.

According to CTpost.com, while Baez is still putting the finishing touches on her set list for her upcoming tour stops in the tri-state area, the artist, inspired by the protests, was looking to visit the downtown plaza.

"I don't want to go in toting my guitar. This has a very different tone," she told CTpost.com in comparing OWS to past movements she has been involved with and performed for. "I am going to want to talk to the people."

The 70-year-old Baez has a notable career under her belt, one that spans more than 50 years. She's no stranger to protests, either, as she joined Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during his march on Washington in 1963; the 1969 Woodstock festival; and the Vietnam War rallies and concerts.

"What's happening now is very different from when I was leading civil disobedience marches," she told the National Post. "I feel like I better sit for awhile and listen."

Baez is not the first 60's artist to sing with the mostly youthful OWS protesters, according to the New York Daily News. David Crosby and Graham Nash performed at Zuccotti Park on Tuesday.

PHOTOS: Joan Baez sings at Occupy Wall Street on Nov. 11, 2011.

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• Singer Joan Baez waves to the crowd of protesters with Occupy Wall Street November 11, 2011 at Foley Square in New York. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

• Singer Joan Baez sings to the crowd of protesters with Occupy Wall Street November 11, 2011 at Foley Square in New York. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

• Singer Joan Baez sings to the crowd of protesters with Occupy Wall Street November 11, 2011 at Foley Square in New York. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

• Singer Joan Baez sings to the crowd of protesters with Occupy Wall Street November 11, 2011 at Foley Square in New York. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

• Singer Joan Baez sings to the crowd of protesters with Occupy Wall Street November 11, 2011 at Foley Square in New York. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

• Singer Joan Baez sings to the crowd of protesters with Occupy Wall Street November 11, 2011 at Foley Square in New York. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

 

Comments

[Robert Lee Harrington]

09:55 AM on 11/24/2011

You may not like her "politics"...but admire the commitment.And she can sing!

[arethabaez]

01:15 AM on 11/14/2011

BAEZ is amazing !

[sloreader]

12:42 AM on 11/14/2011

These young people don't have a park to pi$$ in and most could care less. So what's next?

[jones]

09:12 AM on 11/13/2011

OWS will rock the elections!!!

[walkindude1981]

01:43 AM on 11/13/2011

What a fantastic opportunity!! Groups of people living outside, not bathing, and often using drugs! I'm seen a comeback tour for Joan!! Of course, there won't be many album sales, most of these people expect donations.

[Liberty427]

10:38 PM on 11/12/2011

Joni Phony to the rescue. OK, let's all join hands and form a circle and sing a few lines of Kumbaya.
Now, doesn't that feel good?

[AKansasComment]

12:53 PM on 11/14/2011

And you have the nerve to have "Liberty" in your screen name? You're certainly a fair weather American.

[rocksage7]

09:52 PM on 11/12/2011

she is the greatest....saw her in the 60"s...

[Fight like hell]

07:31 PM on 11/12/2011

I have tremendous admiration for the human respect and attention shown to war veterans by pacifists Joan Baez and her ex-husband David Harris who went to prison as a draft resister while Joan was pregnant with their son. David could have claimed a student deferment or conscientious objection status and been a free man - he was class president at Stanford University - but did not want to take the privileged man's dodge while poor men continued to get drafted. In the years after his release, he ran a halfway house for some of the wounded and troubled Vietnam veterans who were being so shamefully ignored by the U.S. government and everyone else in the 1970s - it may have been hearing stories about the men David worked with that inspired her to write Where's My Apple Pie, the tribute to returning war veterans that Joan sang at Occupy Wall Street.

[Slash14]

06:47 PM on 11/12/2011

I wonder how much S o r 0s paid her to be there

[Slash14]

06:43 PM on 11/12/2011

Some one probably told this relic that Vietnam is still going on

[KickstandCat]

06:31 PM on 11/12/2011

There you are Joan. Thank you for not forgetting.

[Anita Jordan]

01:41 PM on 11/12/2011

Where o where is Blutarski when you need him ????

[andrc657]

12:34 PM on 11/12/2011

Joan Baez is an American icon and a great inspiration for all of us.

[Willowset]

12:47 PM on 11/12/2011

True ... an American icon and admirable in her own way. But are these 60's characters -- Baez, Pete S. and imitators -- really helping to change the sagging economy in the United States of 2011. I say no. The message may be worthy, but the Occupations are deteriorating fast. The media don't even have an accurate account of the deaths. On one of the university campuses a middle-aged man who had crashed the party died in his tent.

[bldr1bob]

09:20 AM on 11/12/2011

I remember sitting in the park in Berkeley a long time ago singing "We Shall Overcome" with her and several hundred of my best friends. Some things never change.........

[Youlielol]

10:40 AM on 11/12/2011

LOL.....I remember her getting married to some guy in a prison cell, because she wanted to marry a guy in prison! (This scene is perfect for her, it's outta whack!=)

[rontheking]

03:10 PM on 11/12/2011

As usual, you conservatives just don't get it...and you never will....

[arethabaez]

01:12 AM on 11/14/2011

She married the football team captain and student body president of Stanford U.
He was also Mit Romny's big brother @ Stanford.

[AKansasComment]

12:47 PM on 11/14/2011

And once again... we shall overcome.

[bldr1bob]

05:58 PM on 11/14/2011

smile...............

[bobbythompson3333]

08:12 AM on 11/12/2011

Nice to see OWS another person from the 1%. I knew they'd come around.

[sviolette]

03:52 PM on 11/12/2011

Maybe you'll be able to understand when you grow up!!!