Paralyzed Iraq veteran transforms pain into protest music

[babylonsister]

Paralyzed Iraq veteran transforms pain into protest music

"I want my buddies to be brought home": Iraq war veteran Tomas Young, who is paralyzed because of a war wound, curated Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran, a double-CD compilation of songs.

All-star support: Eddie Vedder worked closely with Tomas Young in selecting the music for "Body of War". Vedder also contributed a previously unreleased song,"No More", to the album.

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY


Bent on retribution, Tomas Young joined the U.S. Army two days after 9/11. When he learned he was being shipped to Iraq instead of Afghanistan, he says he felt hoodwinked and sought meds "to quiet the angry voices in my head."

Instead, he found solace in other angry voices, specifically the rebel yells of Public Enemy, Bad Religion and Dilated Peoples. The protest music did more than soothe the disappointment of heading to what he believes was the wrong battlefield. It also helped Young cope when he was shot and paralyzed.

Now Young hopes the same songs "will light a fire in the belly and brain and get people involved in the process of change," he says. "I want my buddies to be brought home."

Young, 28, curated the new Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran, a 30-track double CD that includes Against Me!'s White People for Peace, Lupe Fiasco's American Terrorist, Talib Kweli & Cornel West's Bushonomics, Bright Eyes' When the President Talks to God, Pearl Jam's live cover of Bob Dylan's Masters of War and other rebellious fare by System of a Down, John Lennon, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Roger Waters.

It also boasts Eddie Vedder's previously unreleased No More, performed live with Ben Harper, and Michael Franti & Spearhead's Light Up Ya Lighter, both featured in the Body of War documentary directed by Ellen Spiro and produced by Phil Donahue. The film, which Time dubbed "almost unbearably moving" when it was unveiled to unanimous acclaim in Toronto last Sept. 11, splices prewar debate with Young's postwar ordeal.

His story began with patriotic fervor.

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-04-06-body-of-war_N.htm

[ihavenobias]

1. K & R