BILL PASSALACQUA

Passalacqua - The Common Spelling

by Roger Kuhns

When a big black Hummer with a license plate that simply said “AMERICA” drove through the sleepy hamlet of Egg Harbor over the weekend, I immediately thought: Passalacqua!

Lyrics popped into my head...’Got one foot in the grave and one foot on the gas / driving my big Hummer, baby, she’s drinking it while it lasts’.

Again: Passalacqua! And I’m writing as fast as I can...‘Let me fill her up again ‘cause we’re living on the curve / I’m just another conscript in the petroleum reserves’.

Every event has a catalyst, every pro a con, every issue a critic. We could pick on Hummers today; I mean the ‘motor-gargantuan’ only get a few miles per gallon more than an M1 tank. And I just can’t stop writing these lyrics...“Got a tanker of Iraq black gold; a pipeline of Texas tea / my addiction is fossil fuels; don’t you shake your fist at me. / I’m a consumer of the world, just an economic wiz; I’m on Dubyah’s dream team in the premium gas biz.” Picking on Hummers might be a very Passalacqua-esque thing to do; one must stay in the realm of honesty, a little bit of humor, and have a point. The Passalacqua frame of mind may indeed be driving my little form of protest over America’s insatiable consumption of petroleum. But protest is dangerous.... those in power and control won’t like you. The local peninsular population may even “recall” their own political upheavals in 2002, and the fall out from changing of the guard. Actor Martin Sheen recently said, “There should be a personal cost of taking a stance against something you don’t believe in.”

Music can be one of the most powerful vehicles of broadening awareness, of peaceful protest and public education. But what cost and what form protest? It is very American - not un-American - to protest, to disagree, to challenge the view of the government and the status quo. Pete Seeger told us that ‘we shall over come’. John Prine taught us through song that our flag decal wouldn’t get us into heaven anymore. Dylan - well he teaches us everything. Ani DiFranco tells us why women don’t make war. Tracy Chapman or Joan Baez about civil rights and women’s plight, along with Michelle Shocked or Aimee Mann. Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam calls protest music “A public service announcement with guitars”. And in our peninsular world Mark Radditz goes on about too many condominiums, Ryan Moreno sings of tough times from his young perspective, Julian Hagen laments the farmer’s hardships, Pat McDonald even put his guitar down for a moment to speak out at a County Board meeting, and I’m going on about gas guzzlers.

And then there’s that Dixie Chicks thing... when at a March 10 London concert Natalie Maines said, “We’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.” The Grammy Award-winning female trio was ostracized by the music world and all Texans for being critical of George W. Bush. The girls were mad at a president’s policy, they were not mad at the troops or America.

Yoko Ono, recently told New Yorker that she felt today’s protest songs were not as effect at rallying people as they were in the past. She said that today’s military leaders and their governments are smarter, and, “instead of dialoguing or fighting with the peace people they’re just ignoring us.”

When Laura Bush cancelled a seemingly innocent poetry reading at the White House earlier this year because the poets wanted to make an anti-war statement, invited.... then un-invited Port Townsend (WA) poet Sam Hamill said, “I think poets have become the conscience of our culture.”

All knowingly or unknowingly all these musicians and poets are under the influence of the Passalacqua effect; that nebulous greater awareness that causes some of us to get up and speak our minds.

Bill Passalacqua, “That’s the common spelling,” said Bill, as he took the stage last year at an Ephraim concert, has got a new CD this year. He’s returning to the peninsula for a June 11 concert in Sister Bay. Passalacqua will be performing with his Americana Review - a marvelous blend of wonderful American favorites, with musicians Elizabeth McQueen and Jeff Lazaroff and band from Austin. “This concert is Americana music, it’s not a protest concert,” Passalacqua said. But he will help you along the path to awareness with a wonderful selection of country-folk-bluegrass numbers. Although he has a point to make with his new album (called “Peace of My Mind” on Reckless Pedestrian Records), he is quick to point out he’s on a music tour not a commentary tour.

Every oak has its strong roots, and Passalacqua is no exception. Born in Effingham, Illinois, Passalacqua’s early days are the definition of Middle America. “I grew up in a musical German Catholic mother and Italian father family, so there was a slightly different vibe (than in the rest of the village). I listened to my dad sing songs by Dylan and Prine in a community that was pretty much mainstream America. It’s a pretty conservative community, not as much as Texas; even though it was democratic it was conservative democrat. I grew up in a very republican family; my first vote was for Ronald Reagan when I was eighteen - wouldn’t vote that way again, of course not.” With one eye on law school while at University of Illinois Champaign, Passalacqua started writing for the school paper as a music writer. “I just started playing guitar a few years before that, and went down to write about the music conference in Austin. I fell in love with it. That was about ten years ago. Austin is a beautiful city, the weathers great, music is great - all my heroes are there - Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Joe Sexton, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Joe Ely, Charlie Sexton, Kelly Willis, to name a few.”

On the surface of Bill Passalacqua is the humoric blend of a friendly smile edged with wit and mischief, dark eyes that let you interpret his clever lyrics any way you want, and down-home, welcoming mannerism that immediately lets you into his musical circle. These traits run deeper, and interleave with a keen intellect, sharp eye for observing the complex and often unbelievable interplay between politics, history, economics, society, and the American way - hey, this guy was going to be a lawyer (but fortunately the fates favored him and he became a country/folk singer/songwriter). His first album, “Jack Rabbit and other love songs,” featured “Curly Headed Waltz” - perhaps the funniest subtle stalker love song I’ve ever heard. The Austin music scene gave this critically acclaimed album high marks. Passalacqua’s second album, “A Collection For Families” really lets you see his warm family side, with a selection of fun and poignant songs about friends and family. Now he’s tackled the awareness issue on his latest album, “Peace Of My Mind”. Passalacqua pulls it off with aplomb – his matter-of-fact voice and wit and clean and creative musicianship make this album a must for those who care where our country is going.

But what is the Passalacqua effect? It is that mantle of social responsibility that causes one to stand up and speak their mind, rather than lay low and watch reruns of Survivor. James Wolcott said that America was full of “huddled, befuddled masses.... as quiet as church mice.” That gets Bill’s goat; he can teach and awaken some of these silent masses through his wit and song. America’s politicians are busy re-naming our food (…Freedom Fries) even as French President Chirac laments that “war is always the worst of solutions” and Kurt Vonnegut lambastes the government as being “upper- crust C students who know no history or geography...” even as our young men marched, drove, and flew into harms way over the Iraqi dessert, even as President Bush took an afternoon nap and was in bed by 9:30pm. What is going on? “The reason I made the record has to do with the fact that I’ve been singing songs that have political comment - a substantial part of my audience is as interested in politics and my point of view as they are in my music. There’s been pressure to make a political commentary album,” Passalacqua said. “The current events and the war and what’s going on (in America and the world) are a motivator. I’ve been playing a lot of rallies, and I’m happy to get the message out.” Passacqua’s sense of history is evident in the selection of songs on the album, especially his own compositions. “Half the album is about what we’re doing to other countries, and that’s beyond our current president as far back as McKinley. The fact that we have the ability to change the world because of our military and economic strength allows us to do this - displace cultures, especially in the Muslim culture where some leaders find our culture to be offensive, and some Americans are offended by their culture.”

“In Texas, you know, the rallies are incredibly supportive. The point is to get people revved up, motivated, educated. Sometimes when I play my songs in a more public forum there are people who get turned off to what I’m saying, and I alienate some audiences,” Passalacqua said. But there is the “price” actor Sheen was talking about. Passalacqua said, “On a song like (John Prine’s) Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore, well, some of the lines are hard to argue with, like, ‘Jesus don’t like killing no matter the reason’ kind of language. So most of the people down here, well they don’t have a response to it, and that helps to make them think - even if they get mad at me. That’s when I’ve made progress, getting them to think, to try to make that difference.”

“Protest songs are funny, because there are so many different kinds, Passalacqua said. “They can be thought provoking, engaging; you’re supposed to think about it - some are not rallying cries, but thought provoking, then there are the ones like ‘Give Peace A Chance’ that are straight forward.”

Passalacqua reflected on the Dixie Chicks career-stunting statement, “Well, the Dixie Chicks were speaking from themselves, not anyone else, and people should respect that. If people love their music and disagree with their politics that’s okay. In Austin there are red necks and hippies side by side, like Willie - he’s a hippie and he doesn’t talk about it much. I don’t blame people who are against the Dixie Chicks, but for them to mount a campaign to get them out of country music is too much, I mean they’re the best thing going in country music right now because they’re just a little out of the pocket.” Living in Austin for a number of years has given Passalacqua a bird’s eye view of the music scene. He said, “Country suffers from sameness, and (groups like) the Dixie Chicks are different, they’re from a different background. That means their perspective should be respected and expected.”

Other singers have made strong statements, some perhaps as challenging as Maine’s. Iris Dement stopped her tour during the Iraq war saying she couldn’t sing while this war was going on. She sent an e-mail quoting Goring who said, “It is easy to make a population go along with a war, all they government has to do is say pacifists are unpatriotic.”

“My point,” Passalacqua said, “Is there are country music people like that that are coming out, saying that this is messed up, and that we have to say something about it; we can’t be silent on this.” One aspect of protesting that Passalacqua said he doesn’t much appreciate is the sloganeering. “It’s one of my pet peeves. For the most part it doesn’t accomplish anything. Slogans like ‘United We Stand’ or ‘No Blood For Oil’ only accentuate our differences, they pulls us apart.”

I write another line for my petroleum song… ‘I’m a soldier of fortune I get what I deserve, / ‘Cause I’m just another conscript in the petroleum reserves.’

In the realm of good music, the conveyance of ideas and possibilities, the hope for open minds, one should never be afraid to speak out. That’s where you’ll find Bill Passalacqua. One should be afraid to remain silent.

Doors open for the Bill Passalacqua and Americana Review concert at 7:00pm for an 8:00 show on June 11 at the Sister Bay Village Hall across from Al Johnson’s, in Sister Bay. Tickets are $10 at the door or on line at www.musictoears.com.

This article was first published in the Peninsula Pulse, Door County, Wisconsin.