On May 1st I’ll be playing at the Portland Mayday Labor March and Rally at the South Park Blocks – one of the most important days on the calendar this year, and one I’m proud to be part of as a performer and as a union member.
I’m a member of PCCPCE, the professional classified union at Portland Community College. We went on strike last month, and that experience changed how I think about solidarity – not as an abstract principle but as something you feel when people show up for each other. The workers, immigrants, and community members who will be in the streets on May 1st are showing up for each other. I want to be part of that.
I’ll be playing before the rally from 11am, warming up the South Park Blocks before the speakers take the stage at 1:30pm. Then later I’ll be on the back of a firetruck at 3:30pm as the march moves through downtown Portland.
I believe music, dancing, and joy are not separate from resistance – they are part of it. Soundsystem culture has always understood this. From the dancehalls of Jamaica to the picós of Colombia to the discomóviles of Central America, communities have used music and collective celebration to assert their dignity, their presence, and their power. That’s what May Day is about. That’s what I’ll be bringing to the street.
Workers and migrants unite. See you out there!
