Interview with Dennis Rowe on musical 'Philly' and singer Deborah Penberthy on Half the Sky Movement

¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ Butterfly by Willis and Shante, a positive light ministry. Welcome to the Qumran Report. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. My name is Melvin Ishmael Johnson, coming at you live from Skid Row Studios. Our call number is 800-893-9562. You can listen to us live or download our show and any past show by googling in Qumran Report. Now this week on the Qumran Report, we will hear some new community voices with our in-studio guest, Deborah Penverti, and also an interview with Dennis Rowe, the director of a new musical, Philly, that is opening this weekend at the Union Center for the Arts in downtown Los Angeles. And I would like to start off our show tonight with an interview I did with the director of Philly, Dennis Rowe. Now this is Melvin Ishmael Johnson with the Qumran Report, and I'm delighted to have on the line, talking, the director of the musical, Philly. Dennis, how you doing this morning? Oh, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. I'm shining, it's a wonderful day. Yes, beautiful day. Now can you tell our listening audience a little about your background, and where you grew up at, and how did you get off into directing and writing? I've been actually directing and writing for quite some time now. I just kind of fell into it. I was an actor, didn't really enjoy that too much, and a friend of mine wanted, he was doing a play and suggested I come in and stage manage it for him. I didn't know anything about stage managing, but he said, I'll teach you. So that happened, and then I kind of got the hang of being behind the scenes. And that just went into expanding into the other areas. Directing, writing, life design, choreography, everything it takes to put a show on. That's kind of how it happened. Yes. Now where's your hometown? Where did you grow up at? I grew up in Indio, California, in the desert. Yes, it's hot out there. With the wind. With the cactus. Yeah, beautiful. Out by Palm Springs. Out by Palm Springs, exactly. Now can you tell us, what is the play Philly about? Well, Philly is inspired by true events. It happened in 1985 in Philadelphia. They dropped, the city of Philadelphia dropped a bomb on its citizens. And 61 homes were burned. Two city blocks were leveled. And 11 people lost their lives. So it was at that time a city that was divided. You talk about the city of brotherly love at that particular time. I don't know how much love that was going on in the city. But, so it's inspired by that event. However, as bleak as it sounds, we try to emphasize and put the spotlight on the survivors. We put the spotlight on Birdie Africa, a little 13-year-old child. At the time he was 13-year-old. And how he survived. And it talks about, you know, no matter what you're going through, you can survive what's going on in your life. Tragedies. Tragedies. You have to endure. Drama. Anything. You can survive. And then there's the African American mayor. He was the first Black mayor of Philadelphia at that time. W. Wilson Good. Who was a man of faith. And all this was going on around him. This happened during his tenure. So he had the draw on his faith to get through it. And so that's another thing we highlight. With God, you can make it. You have the faith, you can make it. Those are the two things that we really highlight in the project. Yep, and also another thing that I find important or unique is the fact that this was the second time that a black community had been bombed in the United States going all the way back to Torsall Wall Street in the 20s. Right, exactly. Now, let me ask you this. What is the message you hope to leave with your audience? Again, just about, you know, first of all, it's historic. I believe that we need to know our history. We need to know what has happened in the past so we can know where to go. Just like you talked about, you know, what happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But this was just as important, and a lot of people don't know this particular story. So I think it's important. That we get stories out that tell us our history, that are a part of our history. But also, it's a human nature story. And then another thing that stands out for me, I was up in Leimert Park last night with the Robie Theater at the Vision Theater passing out some flyers and talking to some individuals. And I was so surprised how many adults. They had no knowledge of the move situation and the bombing in Philadelphia. That's why I think this play is so important. Let me ask you this. Why did you choose the musical form to put it in? I get that question a lot. Music transcends whatever's going on. You know, if there's racism, music kind of transcends that. Right. If there's... Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. It's different classes. Social classes. Music transcends that. And it provokes different type of emotion in people. You can have songs that provoke anger. That provoke sadness. Happiness. You know that song. I'm happy. It's happy. You hear it. Yes. It really moves emotion. And this was our story to have music here. That's emotional Yes, and now two more quick questions Can you just tell us a little about the composer, Gail Johnson? Gail Johnson is awesome She is off the chain She's awesome She is the musical director for Norman Brown She's been playing since she was I heard her tell someone she's been playing since she was probably three or four years old She's always wanted to play And she's been involved with music from that early age And she has her own band, Jazz and Pink And she's played at different churches She's traveling now as a matter of fact And today So she has been, she's awesome Awesome, awesome, awesome I know she's won a couple of American Music Awards And different things of that nature Looking forward to that Now, can you give us the contact And Ticket information for Philly? I certainly can, yes The name of the show, first of all Is Philly, again Philly, Philly, Philly The show is Saturday, July 5th At 3 and 8 Sunday, July 6th At 5 o'clock p.m. At Union Center For the Arts Which is just blocks from the Music Center Downtown L.A. Ticket information is Tickets are available at Eaglewood Tickets Or you can call 818-754-4405 And that address is The address of the theater is 120 Judge John Iso A-I-S-O Street Okay Just blocks from the Music Center Okay, thank you very much It's Dennis Rowe He's the director of the great Musical Philly Philly Yes Okay, that is Dennis Rowe And we will hear more about The show in our community calendar I'm delighted to have with us In the studio Debra Penberthy Debra, welcome to the Coon Round Report Thank you so much, Melvin Glad to be here Can you tell our listening audience A little about your background And how did you become a singer? Yeah, I'd love to I've been singing all my life I was Annie in fifth grade Or sixth grade And I just always loved music And I wrote songs when I was young But I kind of ignored that part That part really wasn't encouraged As much as getting good at performing Like on the piano and singing Went to music school Florida State, I'm from Florida And really met with the Classical musical establishment And didn't feel a click with that So I kind of went off on the side And studied music theory Because that allowed me to do Whatever music I wanted to do I was still doing other people's music But I was doing more challenging music More interesting music And music that hadn't been done A million times by a million different people I also did a double major in criminology And it was Marxist criminology So I was studying things like How the drug laws were racially motivated And things like that And I got interested in nuclear disarmament And things like that And so I did a peace studies internship At the end And by the time I was done with music school I was kind of done with music temporarily And I went and worked for Greenpeace for four years Running canvas offices and raising money And doing things about International trade issues And how that's affecting labor And environmental issues around the world And then it took me a little while To get my music back And get my sense of myself And what I wanted to do I started composing And then I moved out to L.A. To go to CalArts I was writing performance art pieces That were kind of political That had music and dance Like I did one that was Following the Historical place That the Coca-Cola company plays In my family My father was the vice president of Minute Maid Which was owned by Coca-Cola So I kind of followed the meaning of Coca-Cola Through how my grandmother related to it Who was kind of a corporate wife in the 50s With the cocktail parties And how Coca-Cola kind of represents Like patriotism It represents America And its role in World War II It's like a good symbol And then my mom who's a little bit less politically involved And more focused on family And then me who's very radical And knew what Coca-Cola was doing in Colombia Where they were actually funding the paramilitary You know to stop unions in Colombia But still around the world It's seen as this symbol of status And even really like freedom So I was doing pieces like that That relate to That involved music And had political content But then when I graduated I got a job Working with Coca-Cola With musicians At a university here And I kind of forgot That I was creating my own stuff And I started doing classical music Because you can make Pretty good money out of it in LA And that was my time of wandering in the desert Honestly Because I've come back to who I am in music Which is a creator of music And I love Compose, sing Yeah I write my own I'm a singer-songwriter But my stuff's pretty strongly crafted And you're going to hear some stuff tonight Yeah do you perform with bands? Well yeah I performed a little bit with bands And I'm making my first CD Which is just like A complete dream come true I've been writing since the late 90s But I've always been Taking care of other people You know fundraising for Greenpeace Or working with young musicians At one of the major universities here Do you do any jazz Or contemporary type pieces? Well I do French cabaret Like I sing like So I do that some And I'd like to start a band With that Like a Django Reinhardt Edith Piaf sort of collaboration But mostly I love to do my own stuff And so my producer on my CD Is putting together an amazing band And we went in this week To the studio The Lair It's a full service studio With like I don't know 50 different retro keyboards And every sort of old fashioned mic You can think of What do you think about The music scene here in Los Angeles? Especially classical music And all like you think Is up to par with the rest Oh yeah Well I mean in LA Everything that you could ever want In the arts I think they have On an international level The difficulty with LA It's so spread out And if you are a musician Honestly I think it's even harder To access the arts Because like I'm putting on this show On July 17th And Troop Unitarian in Pasadena And like four of my friends can come You know Because they're going to be Oh I've got a rehearsal At the Hollywood Bowl Or I've got this in Orange County Or that So that you know The two hour square radius That we deal with Is the challenge But God yes I happened to go by accident I went to the concert And I went to the concert And I went to the concert And I thought my teacher Kathleen Grace Is an amazing singer Was singing at room five On Saturday night So I went to see her And it turns out I was a day late And there were these two acts That were freaking amazing So yeah I mean every night You can catch amazing music here Well let me ask you this Let's talk about What is the Half the Sky Movement Can you tell us what that is? Yeah Yeah that's how we met Right Melvin? So there's a movement Called the Half the Sky Movement And it is an organized movement Men and women Meant to stop the oppression Of women and girls Around the world And the idea behind it Is that you know If you look at the 19th century Sort of the issue Of the 19th century Was ending slavery Or at least ending The acceptance of it You know at the beginning Of the century That was considered unthinkable By the end of the century It was like of course We have to end this So Nicholas Kristof And Cheryl Wood Dunn Have written this book Half the Sky Which is an amazing book They're New York Times Pulitzer Prize winners They wrote this book And it's all about The things that are happening To women and girls Around the world And they are investigative reporters So Nicholas Kristof Would go with a woman Who's going to go Liberate a brothel And film it And you know Risking his life Because these are Dangerous situations I'm talking about Like in India And around the world Although some of these things Are happening in America For sure Which I know You're going to talk about So he would go And film that And then the thing is That half the book Is about All these terrible things That are happening But then it always talks about What people are doing To change it And so Like there's a village In some country in Africa I don't remember the country Where the men are expected To beat the women So the women just decided No more And they went And made their own village No men are allowed And they have all women Run businesses And the boy children Need to leave After a certain age And they've just You know Taken it upon themselves So I think sometimes People get really overwhelmed When they hear All these terrible things Are happening But the whole point Of the half the sky Movement and the book Is that It's not We don't have to reinvent The will We know that there are Things that can Work there It's economic pressures It's foreign policy There's a bill right now That Barbara Boxer Has reintroduced Into the Senate It's called The International Anti-Violence Against Women Act And it has a lot of support But it's been I think it's been around For 15 years And But it's never passed So if we can get that passed It'll mean that Foreign policy When we give to another country They need to make efforts To change the status of women Well let me ask you this question It's something that You know That always puzzles me And I was in a country Where I watched What happened With the last election Here in Los Angeles When they had A female That was running From office And you know Women Is a huge majority All over the world It was 51% Yeah So you would think More than men And then I also think I thought about What happened In the Trayvon Martin Situation When they had the jury You know That made that decision That was made up Was it all women On that jury Or something like that I think it was It might have been all women So whatever it was I was buried in my own Private hell at that time So I Yeah Down in Florida Which is a whole different world Although I'm from that area And people have a different take on it Actually my mom went to the rally To support Support it Trayvon Yeah And she said it was an amazing event She was one of the only White women there And her car got stuck in the mud And these people came out And helped her And there was all this Really nice energy Yeah But here's what I want to know It looked like You know If all of the stars are aligned And everything worked out It looked like we're getting ready To have our first female president Might be With Hillary Clinton I keep our fingers crossed You think that's going to make a difference In the whole mindset Of the male dominated world On how I think we had a really strong battle to fight It's like Obama Like that's an amazing thing that happened But look at the backlash Look at the racism that's come out And so I think I think the half the sky movement Is really It's an international movement They're making an umbrella And the The The name of the movement Comes from a Chinese proverb That says that women hold up half the sky It's just like you're saying Like women are The majority of the earth Or about half of the earth So We need them And so I think that It's not going to just be one leader It's going to be you And me And everybody here Doing their Doing their part To make a difference In their local communities And internationally And people can go to The halftheskymovement.org It's just Halftheskymovement.org And there are a million things on there About how to take action And that's That's what I'm doing with my With my music And I think you wanted to talk about that Yeah But Now before I get to that Just tell me How did you How did you get involved with it? Yeah How did you get involved with that? Well honestly I was studying songwriting And I had a song due I had to write a song every two weeks And I'm a procrastinator So it was about Saturday And I hadn't picked the topic for the song And I take my songs really seriously Like it needs to be something I care about So I was sitting there And I listened to the radio And this Darwinian feminist Named Amy Parrish Who works at USC She studies the bonobo monkeys She was being interviewed And she was talking about How there is a A biological or evolutionary precedent For a more matriarchal society And that's the bonobo monkeys They're on the same level with chimpanzees As far as the evolutionary chain But they're less known And they are very much sisters They will take care of each other's babies Which chimpanzees will just They're more tribal And they will shun other The babies of other You know female chimpanzees So these bonobo monkeys are bisexual They are They will help each other out They're not violent And so this is a This is proof That we have in our genetics The ability to cooperate And to have women be in the forefront And to have love be The way that power is manifested Well no doubt in that Because you know Some of the ancient Egyptians And Greek societies You know women Yeah but most people don't know about that Yeah they were worshipping Dominating The goddess societies yeah Let me ask you this What is the Half the Sky Song Project? Yeah so How did that come about? Can you explain that to me? Yeah so I was listening to the radio show And when she was talking about This Darwinian feminism I was like Well this is just like the half the sky You know we have to get this You know we need to take this evidence And we need to say Hey it's time We need to stop all this violence against women The sex trafficking The genital mutilation The abortion of female children All kinds of things like that So I decided to write a theme song For the Half the Sky Movement I knew about the movement I had read the book There had been a group of women At the church I was going to at the time Which was All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena Which is a wonderful Very progressive church I know you guys are feeling it Yeah Yeah And so I decided to write a theme song As the song that I was going to have do But knowing that I really wanted to do something with it So I wrote this song And then after I wrote it I was really happy with it And people reacted really well to it And so I decided to have this project Where I go and I sing this song At houses of worship It could be other places too It doesn't have to be in the church It doesn't have to be religious based But right now I'm singing it at Unitarian churches mainly Like yesterday I was at Santa Monica Unitarian So I go and I sing the song And then the worship leader Talks about the Half the Sky Movement And then asks people to take some action And I'll usually prep them Because sometimes they haven't been familiar with it Like Frank Wolf at the UUC Wasn't familiar with the movement But obviously he supports women's rights So he then asks people to sign the petition To support the International Anti-Violence Against Women Act And then I didn't do that there But at Santa Monica I had a table So people would come up And I would talk to them about these issues And then one person said Hey how can I get involved in my local community So that prompted me to do some research On what people can do in Los Angeles So it's a synergistic thing And I'm having this event on July 17th To fundraise for my EP And I'm hoping to have someone there from CAST Which is an award winning organization in Los Angeles That deals with people who have been in trafficking Let me ask you this You mentioned You mentioned earlier about composing And I meet a lot of composers And most of them seem to be piano players Is that one of the central components of composing music? Why is that so important? Yeah, well most composers If they're coming up through classical They're pianists to start with Or at least guitarists Because it's harmonic So like I grew up playing the flute Well I started with piano And then someone handed me a flute Because they were like You're the fifth girl in line Here's your flute And I was like Because that is a very gendered thing That's been studied And so I kind of lost that sense of harmony In fact you're helping me remember why that happened Because flute is usually a soprano instrument We play something high Maybe the melody But piano You know you got it in your fingers You've got the rhythm You've got the harmony You've got the melody You've got ten of them You know So yeah that's why That's the main reason Most of your great composers also Yeah well and probably also Just the respect that piano has for you Has in the classical world You know Like I always tell people Parents are saying What's a good instrument to start on Start on the piano Because it's visual You can see the highs And you can see the lows You know on trombone You might do this But you don't really feel Where the highs and the lows are I wouldn't say you know So it's a good instrument Oh yeah To train young people That's wonderful yeah To get involved with the arts And it's very social You know people can gather around it It's a great instrument Look let's play one of your songs And then we'll come back And talk about it It's a song Half the Sky Half the Sky We hold up half the sky in wonder But half the sky is bleeding Fading from sight I see the sky Half the sky I see the sky is changing We are gathering Our sisters changing Raging to might You can call me stuck in ways You can say I'm a dreamer You can tell me there's no way We can find what's always been true I can tell you don't we're not it right When he called us the coolest To come to the world Creatures He saw a glimpse of modern day We are leading our daughters like yams As we plot out half the sky We hold up half the sky in wonder A pedestal of brush and smoke in the air I see the hard rains I see the rains are coming I see the rains are coming Come in to seed my hopes Lay in my heart bare There are people that'll say Most people live as they choose There are those that find a way To say only the loose women lose Back in evolution days People claimed to be a slave Was a virtue You can find all the way Lincoln said it's hard to find a free man who'd ask to prove that true. So we must hold off half the sky. We'll hold off half the sky in wonder. Until the day of wonder gives way to a peace when half the sky. Half the sky rejoins us. Our mothers, brothers, sisters holding the sky. Our mothers, brothers, sisters holding the sky. Our mothers, brothers, sisters holding our sky. Our mothers, sisters holding the sky. Do you write the lyrics first and then the musical arrangement or vice versa? It could go any way? It comes from inspiration or what? It comes either way for me. A lot of times when I was writing in the past, I'd sit down at the piano and count what was in my hands. But that's why I was studying songwriting, because I wanted to not just have it in my hands. I wanted to pick a form or pick a topic and maybe write all the words first and then add the music. So now it just only comes as a blend, because it's really hard to separate. There are times when I'm, I've just written the words separately, but usually I'm trying to craft the melody with the words. You get the feeling all together. And I'm sitting at the piano, or I'll go and sit in this one chair, which you can tell I've been sitting in a lot the past few years writing this stuff. And just really, just pour over the words. And, you know, you write things out, you get in a brainstorming mode, and you throw things out. And then you just keep working on it. I mean, I'm kind of obsessive about my compositions. That's probably the 50th version. I do little edits, like a measure here, or a word here. Oh, you teach also songwriting? No, no, no. I was studying songwriting. What I was doing at a local university was advising young musicians. I consider it teaching, but it's teaching people about themselves. It's helping them. Well, if you was teaching a young person interested in that, how would you start? Would you start with teaching them the lyrics first? You mean in terms of writing music? Yeah, in terms of putting it together, or is there a standard way? Is there a standard way? I don't think there's a standard way. I don't think there's a standard way. I don't think there's a standard way. I don't think there's a standard way. No, I mean, it's such a personal thing. I think it has to do with what people came from. I came from, I was in musicals, and I was a singer first, so that's why words are so essential to me. All the music I listen to, I can't listen to music unless the words are interesting and positive. Not necessarily it has to all be positive, but it can't be extremely negative. So, yeah, it depends. It's a personal thing, I think. Now, how did this song come about? Well, yeah. How did you come up with it? How did you compose it? Well, how did I compose it? I was thinking about using a form, A-B-A-B-A, which is what you have. So you had the music first before the lyrics? Oh, no. A form is just sort of saying, I want to do it this way. Most songs are verse, chorus, verse, chorus. And that means that the chorus is always repeated the same way or might have a little modification. This one doesn't have a true chorus, and it's through composed, meaning if you look at the words, that's why I handed you the music there, if you look at the words, you'll never see a whole section that's completely repeated. And that works well in some ways for this issue because I can say so much. You know, I'm not coming back to something. Like, We Are the World, you just keep singing We Are the World at some point. There's some verses, but you come to that chorus. But other songs like this, it's through composed. So that was part of it. I sat down at the piano and I worked with the composition teacher, and then I sang it with my teacher, my singing teacher, and then my friend Chris Hackman, who's a total sweetheart, he was playing on my album, he was playing bass. He helped me make this track. And this is the first demo of it, but now I'm recording it again in more of a gospel style. There's actually going to be a gospel choir and a children's choir on it. And I'm trying to make it more of feeling like We Are the World. And I want to try to get it attached to the movement or used by like Barbara Boxer, you know, for her events or, you know, maybe one of the organizations around here you might have some suggestions. Yeah, Karen Bass, one of those. Okay. How about... I had another question I wanted to ask you. Well, I'll tell you what. Let's take a break for our community calendar and then we're going to come back for our second half where you're going to perform live for us. And I want to talk a little bit more about the movement. Great. Thanks so much. This is the community calendar for upcoming events. This is a two-day event. Saturday, July 5th at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, July 5th at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, July 5th at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, July 5th at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, July 5th at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, July 6th at 5 p.m. Dennis Rowe Entertainment presents the world premiere of Philly, a musical stage play. Philadelphia, 1985. Did he drop bombs on its citizens? Pain, fear, fire, death, revolution, change, family, hope, and love. This play deals with the real story. The location is the Union Center for the Arts in downtown Los Angeles. And for more information, please call 818-754-4405. And this is also a two-day event. Friday, July the 18th, 2014. Saturday, July 19th, 2014. The Robie Theatre Company is celebrating 20 years of excellence in black theater from 1994 to 2014. And they present the first annual Paul Robeson Theatre Festival. This event will be a presentation of 16 original short plays about Paul Robeson developed through the Robie Playwrights Program and performed and directed by alumni from Robie Theatre Production and the Workshop. The location is the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, California. And for more information, please contact the Robie Theatre Company, 213-489-7402. And to get more information, we will be announcing lots of information on upcoming shows, and there will be featured presentation in musicals and a two-day extravaganza. If you have a community event that you would like announced on our show, send the information to DRAMASTAGE1 at yahoo.com. Attention, Earline Anthony. The call-in number for our show is 800-893-9562. Now, back to our host. Okay, thank you, Miss Earline Anthony. We're back with our in-studio guest, Deborah Pinberty. Now, Deborah, the question I wanted to ask you before the break is what musicians or composers that really kind of influence you? Oh, thank you. Yeah, I've been listening a lot to Leonard Cohen in the past couple of years. There's an album he has from 2012 that some people find depressing, kind of slow, but to me, it's like a balm for your soul, and it's just amazing. There's a song called Going Home, I think it's the first track, and it says, going home without your burdens, going home without that costume that you wore. And to me, it's about coming back to yourself after the pain that you've had, and maybe even coming back to your home without any burdens. Yeah. Without the burdens that you took from it. Mm-hmm. You know? And so that's one influence. Nico Case, she's an amazing Americana singer and songwriter, freaking love her. Jenny Lewis and the Watson twins. Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Bob Dylan, James Taylor. How about Michael Smith? Michael? Michael W. Smith. I don't really know him. Oh, no. Yeah, should I check him out? Yeah, absolutely. Michael W. Smith. Okay, I'll write it down. Awesome. There's still a lot I gotta learn. Michael W. Smith. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. All right. Now, let me ask you this. How can we get more musical programs involved in these after-school programs? They're always cutting back on the music and the arts. Yeah, they are. And it's really a big shame, because there's evidence that that is what keeps people out of gangs, keeps people motivated, teaches people discipline. I have a friend named Sarah Wassey, worked for the Harmony Project, which does after-school, teaches kids music, but it also teaches them mentorship, so that when they get higher up, they teach the younger kids. Mm-hmm. And they have a much higher graduation rate from high school. In fact, that's their main goal. It's not to get people to be the best musicians in the world. It's to get them to graduate from high school. So I don't, I mean, I suppose it's really watching Congress. And California just keeps cutting and cutting and cutting education. Mm-hmm. I mean, back since Reagan, right, it used to be free to go to the amazing universities around here. Mm-hmm. So I think just taking that really seriously, looking at the long view and not looking at the short-sighted, let's say, a little bit on our tax bills, but it's a big thing to tackle. And I think, you know, there's a lot of what's going on right now is people doing things for themselves. There's the time bank. You know about time banks? That's organized sharing. Yeah. I mean, so, I mean, people could just start, you know, just like, hey, we don't have this. Let's go start it. Are you familiar with OLA? No, what's that? Yeah, that's a program that the composer, Dulemae. Dulemae. Yeah. Dulemae. Oh, yeah. Dulemae, the conductor of the LA Phil. They set up a musical program there. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. I can't remember the name of it. He gave them, what, like 1,000 violins and all that kind of stuff. Right, right. And he was very famous. Yeah, in Venezuela. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Real great musician. Oh, definitely. I've sung with him, actually. I got to sing on his first concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Ooh. No, at the LA Phil. Yeah. Wow. OK. Yeah, as a choral singer. But. Now, Debra, what's the name of the song you're going to perform for us live? Yeah. This is called Dream of Peace. And I wrote this right after I got to do a songwriting workshop with, well, I just happened to get to observe this workshop with Noel Paul Stuckey, who's Paul of Peter, Paul, and Mary. Mm-hmm. And he has. From Philae with Peter, Paul, and Mary. Right. And he has an organization where he gets people. It's an archive where you can archive all these songs that have to do with, like, you can look up feminism, find the songs about that. You can find the songs about environmentalism. Mm-hmm. And he just was trying to really encourage the 18 to 22-year-olds, the undergrads. Mm-hmm. Who just happen to be there along for the ride. Mm-hmm. To write about what's really meaningful and to change the world. Mm-hmm. And I ended up writing this song that weekend, thinking it was really personal. But, and it's called Dream of Peace. And it's more about me and the life that I lived, which is very non-traditional. I've never been married. Mm-hmm. I'm not 22. Don't laugh too hard. Mm-hmm. And it's about not having necessarily the things that you want, but still dreaming for it. OK. Yeah. Here's Debra Pinberthy. Performing Dream of Peace. And I hope this track is loud enough. It's a little bit less loud than the other ones. You might need to turn it up or just adjust it as it goes along. OK? Yes. I found this letter. It was written 20 years ago. Written by a girl, a girl whose face I know. Still I wonder. Maybe I'm not as good as I thought. It said things of peace, things of beauty, things of love, they elude me. Maybe. I'm not. I'm not as good as I thought. I thought I'd mind when I said no on a clear day branches of snow. You said no. A window, a world, a world that I would know Instead I found Maybe I'm not as good as I thought I thought I'd find me a better way Find me a place to stay And build a family to live all my days with me Instead I found Maybe Now I dream of peace, I dream of beauty I dream of love, though they elude me I dream of peace, and I dream of beauty And I dream of love, though they elude me And I find I'm better when I dream Gonna find me a better way Find me a place to stay Build a family to live all my days with me And I'll dream of peace And I'll dream of beauty I'll dream of love, though they elude me And I'll dream of love, though they elude me And I'll dream of love, though they elude me Yeah, I'm fine Yeah, I'm fine I'm better when I dream I'm better when I dream Better when I dream Better when I dream I'm better when I dream I'm better when I dream Thank you. That's a great song. Thank you. It's fun to sing. It's really fun to sing. I feel much better. I feel like 150% now. I love the lyrics and the fact that it is talking about peace. We're going to get into our community round table in a minute because I'm going to ask Bobby to join us. Now, we also had a great musician in here named Manny, I mean, Mitch Greenhill. I don't know if you're familiar with Mitch. His father is Manny Greenhill who managed and discovered Joan Babb. Oh. Wow. Okay. For a long time. Wonderful activist singer. Yeah. And he run a production company called Folklore Productions. Oh, I should check that out, huh? Yeah, check him out. Green? Mitch Green? Mitch Greenhill. Greenhill. Okay. Yeah. Has a band, nice little band that play all over Los Angeles. Awesome. I'll send you some information. Okay, yeah. His band is called String Madness. Oh, awesome. String Madness. Cool. You know all the people, huh, Melvin? Yeah. You would love, you know, but that's an important song. That song really fits in because that's what we need today. We need peace. Mm-hmm. And dreaming of it even though it seems so difficult. Mm-hmm. We need peace all over the world. People need peace in their life, individual peace, community peace, et cetera, like that. Let me ask you this. We work here, you know, Los Angeles is known as the homeless capital of the United States, probably the world. Mm-hmm. And right down there on Skid Row, we have a lot of ladies, elderly, just laying in the streets. Yeah. What are your thoughts? I want to, Bob, I want to bring you into this because you work in the Skid Row area too. Yeah. How can we expand this movement that you're talking about to include this type of oppression of women also right here in our midst? Mm-hmm. Because L.A., one thing about L.A. probably got more millionaires than anywhere else in the United States. Yeah. But yet still, we got Skid Row. Yeah. So what are your thoughts on that? Let's take it over to Bobby. Yeah, I have some thoughts, but you're the expert on that, I think. Expert, whoo. Okay, well, I'm just lifting you up. Oh, yeah, I like that. It's all good. Well, like I say, we're working with Skid Row. Like I say, I want to do a documentary featuring the women and the youth. And I've been talking with a lot of different women. I know, a lady down there on Skid Row, she's a part of a women empowerment group. Cool. And women are having entrepreneurial skills and multitasking skills and everything. That's exactly the stuff, yeah. So it's like, I feel like you get the women motivated and going, the men will follow because men chase women. Well, yeah, there's evidence that if you lift up women, they're going to take care of the rest of the community. Yeah. If you give money to men in developing countries, they don't put it into the community. The women put it into the children. And the men, and they lift up the whole community. So, yeah, I think the same thing locally. Yeah, because let's say, you know, women are one who really runs the church. Women are the caregivers and take care of everybody around them. Mm-hmm. Although that can change. You guys can help out a little bit. I mean, I did a little bit with my daughter when she was born. Okay, I'm not teasing you. I played that part. I said, I'd really go back and work a regular job. Yeah, I mean, I am not one to talk. I don't have kids, so I don't have to do that. Yeah, but no, I'll be the first. I admit, you know, women are more struggling with what people give credit to. Where I come from, I used to be just like every other regular man, but I grew and I matured and I understand life more. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, what are your thoughts on that? I think it's exactly what Bobby was talking about, economic empowerment, and that's one of the main things about the Half the Sky movement. And really, the Half the Sky movement doesn't ignore America. It's really, I mean, I learned about, at a meeting there, about all the sex trafficking that's going on, even in Pasadena. Mm-hmm. And there was a city leader who works on it, and she was saying that a lot of it's happening through the churches. Yeah, that was so, I was going to ask this question. How much is, do religion have to do with the oppression of women? Well, that's a huge question. I know Christianity has really grown because Christianity had a whole history for a long time of the oppression of women. Yeah. Same thing with Judaism, and now I think we're dealing with an aspect of that. Uh-huh. In Islam, we're dealing with even though historically, it wasn't always like that in Islam. It's just, that's a recent phenomenon that we're dealing with now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I just think it's a really complicated question. I mean, I have some friends who are atheists, and when I joined this Episcopalian church, they thought my brain had fallen out of my head. Mm-hmm. You know, there's just so many, and to me, it's like, I'm vaguely Christian, but I'm more drawn to God than to Jesus, and so I go to a Unitarian church because I want to feel that we're all bonded through love, you know, and, and so I don't know there's any easy answer to say what role religion has played. It's played a terrible role in oppressing women, and it's played a great role in lifting up women. It depends on which organization, which person, which moment in history, but I think they have a role now, and I think that they need to look at the status of women within the churches and how women are treated in the churches and whether that makes sense, and, you know, we need to continue to evolve as a race. Mm-hmm. What are your thoughts on the same sect, same sex marriage movements as, you know, a lot of momentum? Yeah, I totally believe in same sex marriage. I believe that all people have the right to love who they love. Mm-hmm. I think it's really beautiful. I'm straight myself, but I have plenty of gay friends, and, you know, that's the way I feel about it, and I feel like even if someone doesn't believe that homosexuality or sexuality is right, this is a democratic country, and we have separation of church and state. Mm-hmm. And so if you're going to believe that, then, you know, it's like we're not going to, the Episcopalians aren't going to go and tell the fundamentalist Christians what they need to think. Mm-hmm. Because vice versa shouldn't be happening either, in my opinion. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Great, great point. Now, is there a local chapter of the Half the Sky? I don't believe so. I was looking, but what they do is you can go on their website, and you can look up what organizations are working locally, and there's a really great organization called CAST, which is one that recently run a presidential award from Obama for its work on human trafficking and a lot of sex trafficking issues. And what they do is they help victims. In fact, I'm going to try and get them to come to my event. I'm having this EP. Yeah. Can you talk about your event? Yeah. And give us all the basic information about it. Yeah, I don't know if this is on camera here. I don't know how much you can see it, but Deborah Pemberthy, yeah, that actually doesn't show up that well, but it's an EP fundraising event, and it is July 17th from 8 p.m. until probably about 10.30. It's going to be to fundraise for my CD. It's going to be six songs, and the Half the Sky song is going to cost about $2,000 to record because I'm trying to really make it very full. So I'm doing a fundraising event and really more just to get exposure for my music because I was so busy with my job. I really hadn't been really pushing my music, and the reason I want to push my music is because I think it can make a difference in the world. It's not really about aggrandizing myself, but it's about the power of music. And there's going to be an eight-year-old girl who's going to sing a song about hope. Yeah. I have the poster here that has all the different performers. Let me just grab that real quick. I met her yesterday at the Santa Monica Unitarian, and she's really excited. Her name is Lois Delaney Hutchinson. She's eight and very adorable. And a band named Nona, who's an emo band that Sam Keeble, a new friend of mine who's my documentarian for the project, is playing. And there's going to be a sketch comedy. They said this was going to be easy sketch comedy. And then Ty Fance, who you may know him. He's a really great sexy guy. He's a really sexy African-American comedian. He's going to do storytelling on the event, though. And then I'm going to sing my stuff and maybe have a music video that includes the music from the EP. So that's July 17th at 8 p.m. at Troop Unitarian at 300 South Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena. And if you forget any of that and you want to email me for anything, my email is just debra, D-E-B-R-A, and then mania, like excitement or mania, at mac.com. Like Mac the computer. And I can give you details or if there's any way you'd like to help me with the Half the Sky song project, I need help with press and various things. Okay. That would be great. We'll continue to announce it every week. One more question before I have you do your closing comment and contact information. How much have the computer age changed the approach of musicians creating? Oh, gosh, no. Have it enhanced it or cut it back? Oh, yeah. I think it's enhanced it. Yeah. I mean, I'm not the best person to ask because I've always been like, okay, you had to get dragged into getting this cell phone. Even the answering machine, I was like, no, I don't need one of those. You know, so, I mean, I still have my tape player and I get my tapes out sometimes. But, yeah, no, people are, my producer, Tim Kopza, who's an amazing genius producer that I'm working with, he works with somebody across the country and they just mail tracks back together and it ends up sounding like the most beautiful film music, but they don't have to be in the same, same room. But that's because they have a really great working relationship to begin with. I don't think that can happen unless you already have that communication. Okay. Closing comments. Why don't you give us your closing comments and your contact information, probably about 45 seconds. All right, yeah. Closing comments. I mean, I'm just really happy to be here. This is a great synergistic group of people, even the people I met out in the hallway who were coming off the last show. It's just, you know, I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be celebrating the power of music and to, to get your encouragement for the music and the power it has to change the world. It was really interesting your interview. They were talking about the power of music and that's what I'm all about. So I just really appreciate being on here. Okay. Yeah, and check out the halftheskymovement.org on the web. People can check that out and they want to contact me. It's just Debra, D-E-B-R-A, mania, at mac.com. Okay. Thank you, Debra. Thank you. Now, I would like to explain a special thing to our Debra Penberty, Dennis Rowe, Bobby Buck, and my co-host, Earlene Anthony. Please listen to past shows of the Qumran Report by Googling in Qumran Report. Thank you for tuning in to the Qumran Report and your host, from your host, Melvin Ishmael Johnson. May the peace and blessings of the life-giving creative spirit be upon you and upon your family. I leave you with the song that opened the show, Butterfly, by Willis and Shante of Positive Light Ministry. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶