Concert Saturday In Newtown To Highlight Sandy Hook Promise
Concert Saturday In Newtown To Highlight Sandy Hook Promise
By ERIK OFGANG, Special To The CourantThe Hartford CourantJune 7, 2013
As a member of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Yarrow has lent his voice in support of the civil rights movement and many other social causes. On Saturday, he's coming to Newtown to perform in a concert to support the Sandy Hook community and its children.
Yarrow is scheduled to perform at 9 p.m. at the Newtown Congregational Church, 14 West St.
His performance is part of an event called "Within Our Reach: A Gathering of Song and Spoken Word." A choir featuring Newtown children, Newtown Youth Voices, will be joined by Yarrow, poet Martin Espada, singer Vaneese Thomas, and other guests.
The concert is planned to extend past midnight into June 9, which is National Children's Day. At midnight, bells will be rung across Newtown, and over the weekend bells will be rung in solidarity at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
The event was organized in response to the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six educators.
"This concert emanates from what has become a heightened awareness of our need to prioritize and protect and celebrate our children," Yarrow said.
"It provides a place for people to come together and affirm their commitment to fulfilling the Sandy Hook Promise, which is that Newtown will be remembered not for the tragedy that took place, but as the place that sparked real transformational change in America."
Yarrow said the event will have a celebratory tone and he will be performing some of the songs he is best known for, including "Puff the Magic Dragon," "If I Had A Hammer," and "Blowin' In the Wind."
The concert is free and will be streamed live online. There will also be overflow seating available at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main St., Newtown, where the concert will be broadcast on a big screen.
The event was organized by Newtown musician Jim Allyn and Newtown psychiatrist Dr. John Woodall.
Woodall and his wife, Margo, are the founders of The Unity Project, an organization that seeks to teach children worldwide how to be resilient global citizens. Before the Newtown shootings, Woodall had traveled to Uganda to work with former child soldiers. He also frequently travels to communities in the U.S. that have experienced trauma. After the Dec. 14 shootings, he began doing similar work in his hometown.
"From great calamity, from great crisis can come the greatest strengths," he said. "That's what we said to the former child soldiers in Uganda. We told them they can become the next Mandela if they manage their suffering correctly, and it's the same message we give to the kids of Newtown."
He said that Saturday's concert will help show people "that we can make a choice for compassion and turn away from the fear and the anger that divide us."
Allyn invited Yarrow to participate in the event. The two had met through the Newtown Flagpole Radio Café, a music and variety show. Allyn is the bandleader of Flagpole Radio's house band and Yarrow had been a guest on the show.
David and Francine Wheeler lost their 6-year-old son, Ben, in the shootings. The Wheelers were members of the Flagpole Radio ensemble. In February, Yarrow performed with the Flagpole Radio cast and other artists at a concert in support of Newtown at the Ridgefield Playhouse.
That event marked the first time the Wheelers performed since the shootings. Since the concert in Ridgefield, Yarrow has become close with the Wheelers and vowed to help uphold the Sandy Hook Promise.
"I was sharing in a time of enormous pain and tragedy, but also determination," Yarrow said. "It took a lot of courage for Francine and David to do what they did, and it was very touching and sad; it was a healing day.
"Part of what we committed to in this period of time is to not let this imperative slip by, not to abandon what is going to be a really important and challenging struggle to change the circumstance of America.
"We will not let this struggle wane and we do this in various ways. One way is this gathering on the eighth of June, which will unite people to celebrate children and work together to create a continuing effort to move forward."
"Within Our Reach" will take place on Saturday, June 8, at 9 p.m. at the Newtown Congregational Church at 14 West St. Admission is free and open to the public but seating is limited. Overflow seating will be available at Edmond Town Hall at 45 Main St., Newtown. The event can also be streamed live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/within-our-reach Details: http://www.withinourreach.us
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-newtown-concert-0607-20130607,0,2355825.story
