FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BORDER SONGS CD Release

A different message coming out of Arizona: Musicians, Poets and Artists come together to save lives

Border Songs–a new compilation album to benefit the southern Arizona humanitarian group No More Deaths—is available for purchase online at: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bordersongs

All proceeds from the sale of the Border Songs CD will go to No More Deaths/No Más Muertes, a volunteer group that caches water in the desert, provides medical assistance and food to migrants, and helps recently deported people on the Mexican side of the border. Since 1994, more than 6,000 migrants have died along the US-Mexico border. According to the album’s co-producers Robert Neustadt and Chuck Cheesman, the mission of the Border Songs CD and No More Deaths is simple: to end death and suffering on the Arizona/Mexico border. In the first month since the album’s release, the project has raised some $9000 for No More Deaths. Each purchase will provide 29 gallons of water, or the equivalent in food or medical supplies to people in need.

The two-CD set features 31 performances in both English and Spanish from a variety of different genres and styles: blues, corrido, cumbia, folk/Americana, hip hop, instrumental guitar, mambo, Nicaraguan new song, reggae, rock, and even an electronic recording of the wall itself.

Renowned artists contributing to the compilation include Sweet Honey In The Rock, whose song “Are We a Nation?” was written in direct response to Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, SB 1070. Other prominent musicians include Amos Lee, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Calexico, Joel Rafael, Tom Russell and Eliza Gilkyson. Salvadoran Lilo González, who himself crossed the border without documents, contributes a cumbia based on his own experience, “Ningún ser humano es ilegal” (No Human Being is Illegal). 93 year-old folk music legend Pete Seeger contributed his call for unity, his song “My Rainbow Race”

Spoken word on the album includes a dramatic reading by Chicana performer Denise Chávez, excepts from an interview with Charles Bowden, and an animal fable by m. henry that will both entertain a child and inspire an adult to think. Poets contributing work include Chilean Raúl Zurita, one of South America’s most important living poets, Salvadoran Mario Bencastro, whose poem “Arizona” honors migrants who have died in the desert, and North American Margaret Randall, whose poem “Offended Turf” is blended with Glenn Weyant’s electronic recording of the border wall. This diverse collection of border songs is held together by a common thread—a deep concern and solidarity for migrants, for people of all ethnicities, regardless of their country of origin.

The complete list of artists contributing to the Border Songs project features:

Amos Lee, Calacas Blues, Calexico, Charles Bowden, Christa Sadler, Chuck Cheesman, Classik & Pachuco, Cyril Barrett, Denise Chávez, Dúo Guardbarranco, Eliza Gilkyson, Eric Skye, Giant Giant Sand, Glenn Weyant, Joel Rafael, Lakesigns, Lilo Gonzalez, Los Románticos, Margaret Randall, Mario Bencastro, m. henry, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Óscar Sarmiento, Pete Seeger, Raúl Zurita, Robert Neustadt, Scott Ainslie, Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Ted Warmbrand, Tom Russell.

Border Songs was released on October 12, 2012. The purpose of the album is to raise awareness and provide aid to migrants who suffer and die in Sonoran desert.

The Border Songs album is available for purchase for $24 at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bordersongs

Or, through the Border Songs CD Project web page: http://www.bordersongs.org

See also, Border Songs on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BorderSongsCdProject

For information, contact Robert Neustadt: bordersongscd@gmail.com

Tucsonans will recognize many of the local people and musical groups included in this two-CD set. I’ve personally met author Charles Bowden, who has written several books about the Arizona/Mexico border.

“Humanitarian Aid is Never a Crime.”

- As a part of WASHINGTON WEEK Election 2012, Arizona Public Media and KPBS San Diego will host a Town Hall on Friday, June 29, 2012 at 5:45pm PDT on AZPM.org.

Gwen Ifill from Washington Week will be joined live in the Tucson Studios by AZPM Host Andrea Kelly. The numbers of illegal border crossers has risen steadily in the past two decades as crackdowns in California and Texas squeezed immigrants into the Arizona desert. That’s created a political backlash in this state, resulting in laws like SB1070 that now make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to live here. The 2010 census showed that Arizona’s Latino population has grown nearly 42% in the last decade. Join us online to discuss these issues and how they may affect the vote in the upcoming elections. The program will also be shown on the World channel (broadcast 27-3, Comcast 203, Cox 83) on Sunday, July 1at 4 p.m. Click here for a link for the streaming page.

In Tucson, Andrea Kelly will be joined by the following AZPM guests:

Leticia de la Vara – Leticia directs ONE ARIZONA, a coalition of 10 non-profit, non-partisan organizations across the state that came together after SB 1070 to turn out the Latino vote. An alumna of multiple leadership institutes, Leticia works for equality in housing, education and political engagement in Arizona’s low-income and Latino communities.

Larry Dever – Larry serves as sheriff of Cochise County in rural southeastern Arizona, with an expanse of 83 1/2 miles of the U.S. border with Mexico. He has testified before Congress many times on immigration and border issues.

Gary Thrasher – Gary is a Cochise County rancher and veterinarian serving rural residents on both sides of the border.

Bruce Bracker – Bruce owns Bracker’s Department Store in Nogales, Ariz. He represents the third generation of family members to run the store and depends on visitors from south of the border for more than 80 percent of his business.

In San Diego the KPBS Host will be Amita Sharma, Investigative Reporter joined by the following KPBS Guests:

David Flores – An architect/community planner with Casa Familia in San Diego, David is working with U.S. government agencies including the Border Patrol and the EPA to try ensuring that the expansion to the world’s busiest border crossing does not harm the health of the largely immigrant neighborhood that hosts it.

Jose Mondragón – A student and DREAM Act supporter, Jose is a graduate of the University of California Santa Cruz and soon to be a graduate student at New York University. He is an undocumented immigrant.

Peter Nuñez – A professor, Peter is former U.S. Attorney for San Diego. He teaches at the University of San Diego and is board president of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates stricter border enforcement.

Yvonne Purdy-Luxton –Yvonne is a member of the Community Emergency Response Team, a neighborhood watch-like organization in rural eastern San Diego County near the U.S.-Mexico border that in many ways is the eyes and ears for enforcement officials there.

With the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s SB 1070 law, this is a very current topic, and of interest to many of our readers and AZPM’s viewers. I heard Gwen Ifill speak in person about how she got into broadcasting a few years ago at the University of AZ Crowder Hall, and she is an inspiring journalist.

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, a Mexican American Republican who immigrated to the U.S in 1986, is announcing her bid for the CD 7 U.S. House seat held by 4 term Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva. She is also known as “Gabby”, like Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of CD 8. Grijalva is not up for re-election until November, 2012.

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer

Her announcement will be made at 11 a.m. Wednesday March 2nd at the Inn Suites/Tucson Hotel, 475 N. Granada Avenue, Copper room in Tucson, 85701. Doors open at 10:30 a.m.

From her website:

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer lives on Tucson’s west side with her husband of 24 years, Ted Mercer. Gabriela, “Gabby” for short, set aside her work career with a defense electronics firm in order to raise her 3 children and continue her education. As the kids were growing up Gabriela became more and more concerned about the direction that her adopted country had taken in recent years. She legally emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1986 in order to live in a nation full of opportunity and Constitutional protections of individual liberties. She became a proud U.S. citizen in 1991.

I happened to be at the Tucson City Council meeting last Spring when Gabriela stood up & spoke against the Council’s opposition of SB 1070, and Congressman’s Grijalva’s call for a boycott of the State of Arizona. Most of the Mexican Americans in the room spoke against SB 1070.

Campaign info: www.saucedomercer.com, 520-349-5600, gabriela@saucedomercer.com.

Congressman Raul Grijalva has served since January, 2003 and won his last November, 2010 campaign against political newcomers Republican Ruth McClung, Libertarian George Keane, and Independent Harley Meyer. Results of that recent race:

GRIJALVA, RAUL M. (DEM)
50.16% 79,935
MCCLUNG, RUTH (REP)
44.16% 70,385
KEANE, GEORGE (LBT)
2.71% 4,318
MEYER, HARLEY (I-N)
2.83% 4,506
Write-in
0.14% 228
159,372 total votes cast

3/3/11 UPDATE: 2 live videos of this campaign kick off event:

http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/2011/03/02/gabriela-saucedo-mercer-releases-two-videos-in-race-for-cd-7/