Rise Above: Twenty-Four Black Flag Songs To Benefit The West Memphis Three

The Black Flag/West Memphis Three tribute CD came out today. I just ordered my copy. It is for a good cause, and contains some great music with some well known singers, so go ahead and order a copy.

From Henry Rollins' website:

Track Listing:
01. Rise Above (Chuck D, Henry Rollins)
02. Nervous Breakdown (Keith Morris)
03. Fix Me (Iggy Pop)
04. American Waste (Neil Fallon (Clutch))
05. I've Had it (Cedric Bixler Zavala (The Mars Volta))
06. I've Heard It Before (Jeff Moreira (Poison the Well))
07. Room 13 ( Corey Taylor (Slipknot))
08. Wasted (Exene Cervenka)
09. Jealous Again (Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age))
10. TV Party (Henry Rollins)
11. No Values (Hank III)
12. Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie (Dean Ween (Ween))
13. Depression (Casey Chaos (Amen))
14. Six Pack (Mike Patton)
15. Police Story (Ice T)
16. Revenge (Tom Araya (Slayer))
17. Thirsty & Miserable (Lemmy)
18. What I See (Chuck Dukowski)
19. No More (Tim Armstrong, Lars Frederiksen (Rancid))
20. Black Coffee (Henry Rollins)
21. Slip It In (Henry Rollins, Inger Lorre)
22. Annihilate This Week (Henry Rollins, Kira Roessler)
23. My War (Henry Rollins)
24. Nervous Breakdown (Ryan Adams (Live @ the Fillmore))

There is not enough space in this format for me to say all the things I want to about Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, otherwise known as the West Memphis Three and the scarcely believable situation they're in, or Steven Branch, Christopher Byers and James Moore and their tragic deaths. Since there are more informed sources, WM3.org for example, I will concentrate on what will be effective here in this confined area.

I became aware of the case like many people, from watching Paradise Lost documentaries that HBO released. The first one shocked me and made me upset. The second one made me mad. Damien, Jessie and Jason were found guilty of murdering three boys and sent to prison. I didn't agree with the verdict. I figured that to do nothing about that would be to align myself with the forces of injustice that got them pulled into this horrible situation.

One thing led to another and soon I was in contact with the West Memphis Three Support Group folks; Grove, Burke and Kathy and the plight of the WM3 became personal.

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Article Author: Jim Schwab

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