Rock A Mole Productions
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ROCK A MOLE'S VISION:
A STREET FOCUS, A BETTER FUTURE
Who
We Are: We're Rock A Mole (rhymes with guacamole) Productions. We
are musicians, writers, filmmakers, and artists.
What We Do: We put on grassroots cultural festivals (eight so far) that feature music, art, poetry, and film by or about at-risk youth, immigrants, the homeless, welfare recipients, and prisoners.Read about the Rock A Mole experience.
What We Believe: Anyone who spends any time in the streets, the jails, or the homeless shelters constantly encounters talented artists of every kind--from painters to poets, from video wizards to musicians. These marginalized people are our sisters and brothers. They are demonized in the media as the ones who are responsible for our society falling apart. That is a lie. The volcanic flow of creativity in the streets of America challenges us all to unite around a vision of a peaceful America where everyone's needs are met.
Who
We're Down With: We are a part of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights
Campaign (PPEHRC), a nationwide coalition of over fifty poor people's organizations.
These organizations are led by the poor themselves. The goal of the PPEHRC is
to end poverty, not manage it. Check them out at www.kwru.org.
What's Next: We are now finishing up our first film, The Ultimate Song, which is about music's role in the struggle to end poverty. The film brings together the leaders of the poor in America with musicians such as Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Brother Bank, Rage Against the Machine, Jackson Browne, Krown Ju-Elz, Steve Earle, and Ice T. We will preview the film in 2002 at the biggest Rock A Mole festival yet.
What You Can Do: If you like our approach, link up your artistic or organizing skills with ours. Contact us at Rock A Mole Productions, P.O. Box 341305, Los Angeles CA 90034; 310-398-4477; backroom@rockamole.com.
Luis Rodriguez, the author of Always Running: Gang Days in LA, is a
co-founder of Rock A Mole. Luis and his wife Trini have recently opened Tia
Chucha's Cafe Cultural www.tiachucha.com
in Sylmar, California. Tia Chucha's is a cultural center with a bookstore,
art gallery, and performance space that carries on and expands the vision of
Rock A Mole.