With a tagline of “music for social change,” satirical and social commentary singer Tom Neilson performs several times during Park Forest’s Earth Week 2018.
He helps kick things off by performing with his wife, Lynn Waldron, April 14 at Edgar’s Place Coffeehouse inside Trinity Lutheran Church in Park Forest. The concert was moved from Unitarian Universalist Community Church due to flooding damage.
“There’s an award-winning song about where I grew up. There’s a song about draft resistance from the 1960s and censored news. There are a number of women’s rights songs around the different forms of misogyny,” said Neilson via phone from Kansas after performing at a church service.
Neilson (www.tomneilsonmusic.com) has received multiple nominations from Just Plain Folks for the music networking organization’s 2018 international awards.
He also won the Vox Pop fan vote for his song “It’s a Crime to Tell the Truth” in the Social Action category of the 14th annual Independent Music Awards.
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“I left the country during Vietnam in 1970,” Neilson said. Over the next 20 years he lived mostly in other countries.
“The first time I came back I realized that what I was hearing, the news as it was reported, was not as I experienced it in other countries,” Neilson said.
“I feel an urgency to report about what I’ve seen, what I’ve experienced and what I believe to be true and try to put as much of a twist of humor into it as possible. So many of these things are absurd,” he said.
Neilson said performing with his wife helps enhance the folk music.
“We can do a lot more together. The harmonies are just great. There are some songs that work so much better as duets. There’s much more playfulness on stage when she’s with me and I always look forward to it,” he said.
Neilson’s Earth Week performances also include shows at 10 a.m. April 15 for a service at Trinity Lutheran Church; 2 p.m. April 18 at Prairie State College’s Heritage Community Bank Room, 202 S. Halsted St., Chicago Heights; and 6:30 p.m. April 19 at Park Forest Public Library, 400 Lakewood Blvd.
“The theme of the week is ‘Peace as an Environment Issue’ to show the relationship between the two,” Neilson said.
The free library and college performances are funded by the Park Forest Environment Commission and a Music Performance Trust Fund grant from the American Federation of Musicians.
“Students and their generation must be the leaders to make change happen. We, the previous generation, must support them. It is true that they look to us for information. Any mentoring they seek out is because they want to learn from us,” Neilson said.
“We must all work together but they must lead and we need to support,” he said.
Neilson has performed in 21 countries on five continents.
“I love performing. Music is the mirror. It reflects the time. It reflects who we are. Music helps bring out the truth,” he said.
“I always feel I am performing with an audience. I don’t go out ever performing to someone. My concerts are very interactive. I am the one who gets nurtured and lifted by the audience. There’s always a lot of talking and back and forth. It’s connection with the audience. We’re all in this together.”
Earth Week includes a Gardening Series at Wetland Discovery Center, 30 N. Orchard Drive, at 10:30 a.m. April 14, 7 p.m. April 17, 7 p.m. April 19 and noon April 21 and “At Peace with the Earth: A Blessing Ceremony” at 6:30 p.m. April 19 at the new downtown village green.
There is also a tree-planting ceremony planned for 2 p.m. April 20 at Park Forest Bark District, 218th Street and Wildwood Drive; and Earth Day at Thorn Creek: Wild Water from 1-4 p.m. April 21 at Thorn Creek Woods Nature Preserve, Monee Road north of Stuenkel Road, in Park Forest and University Park.
The “Earth Week Recycle” exhibit opening is on April 14 at Salon Artists Gallery, 294 Main St., Park Forest, which also hosts the Earth Day closing ceremony from 1-4 p.m. April 22.
Raffle tickets to win a Pat Moore original art piece will be sold at Earth Week events. All proceeds support Thorn Creek Nature Center.
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Tom Neilson
When: 7:30 p.m. April 14
Where: Edgar’s Place Coffeehouse inside Trinity Lutheran Church, 2901 Western Ave., Park Forest (moved from Unitarian Universalist Community Church)
Tickets: $15 donation (cash only)
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www.uuccpf.org/calendar/edgars-place