Moore Music House Concert
Saturday, March 21 8 PM ROCKVILLE, MD
Call or email for directions and reservations: 301- 461-3600 or
mooremusicconcerts@gmail.com $15
What's funny about war, poverty, ignorance, bigotry, neo-conservatism,
homophobia, greed, lust and fear? Ask Roy Zimmerman. He's been writing
satirical songs for twenty years.
The Los Angeles Times says, "Zimmerman displays a lacerating wit and
keen awareness of society's foibles that bring to mind a latter-day Tom
Lehrer."
Tom Lehrer himself says, "I congratulate Roy Zimmerman on reintroducing
literacy to comedy songs. And the rhymes actually rhyme, they don't just
'rhyne.'"
Joni Mitchell says, "Roy's lyrics move beyond poetry and achieve
perfection."
There's a decidedly Lefty slant to his lyrics. "We used to have a name
for Right Wing satire," he says. "We called it 'cruelty.'"
Zimmerman has played clubs across the country, and shared the stage with
George Carlin, Bill Maher, Kate Clinton, Dennis Miller, Sandra Tsing
Loh, kd lang, Andy Borowitz and Paul Krassner. He's done several shows
with The Pixies' Frank Black, swapping songs in a solo acoustic setting.
His up-to-the-moment topical songs are featured on American Public
Media's syndicated broadcast "Weekend America" and Sirius Radio's "West
Coast Live."
He's currently touring a one-man show called "Faulty Intelligence." It's
a ninety minute theatrical presentation of Zimmerman's original songs
and comic commentary - an indictment of the Bush administration to
accompany Patrick Fitzgerald's.
And there's a new album to go with it. "Faulty Intelligence" the CD
contains a lesson in Intelligent Design, "Creation Science 101;" an
Elvis sounding love song to the government phone tappers called "Hello,
NSA" that's featured on the ACLU web site; and the bawk-along
"Chickenhawk," already a Zimmerman classic. He says, "I hope this record
gets good reviews, but mostly I hope it gets denied under oath by Karl
Rove."
Zimmerman's fourth CD is a Holiday offering called PeaceNick. It's
Lefty, Pacifist, Humanist satire celebrating the birth of the Prince of
Peace in a time of pre-emptive war. The disc takes a snipe at
militaristic merchandising with "Buy War Toys for Christmas," and thumbs
its nose at the War on Christmas - an absurd notion promoted by Bill
O'Reilly and his ilk - with the Happy Holidays song
"Christma-Hanu-Rama-Ka-Dona-Kwanzaa." The Dylan-esque "Christmas is
Pain," another Zimmerman classic in the mold of another Zimmerman,
receives wide airplay every Holiday Season.
Homeland and Security are a twin pair of CD releases arising in the
aftermath of the 9-11 disaster. In 23 scathing originals, Roy dissects
the jingoism, belligerence and plain addle-headedness of Bush and
Company's response. Homeland takes on domestic threats, among them the
"Patriot Act" and "Jerry Falwell's God." This disc also contains Roy's
heartfelt love song to his wife, "You." Security widens the satirical
bite to include a "Multinational Anthem" and the mock-inspirational "One
World, One Bank."
Roy's first solo release was Comic Sutra, a mixture of the personal and
the political and the personal that is political including the same-sex
marriage anthem, "Defenders of Marriage," and "Punish the People," a
happy-go-lucky paean to class warfare.
"Punish the People" is also featured on the compilation CD Laughter is a
Powerful Weapon, released to raise money for the Red Cross in the wake
of Hurricane Katrina.
Roy wrote the song "I'm Fired" for the Los Angeles Theatre Works
production of "Fired!" and performed in the show at the Skirball Center
for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway at New York's
Second Stage Theatre.
Performing at New York City's Symphony Space during the 2004 Republican
Convention, he drew this review from the New York Times: "Roy Zimmerman
lifted the evening with his song 'Chickenhawk,' ridiculing the military
policies of Bush administration officials who didn't serve in the armed
forces. Zimmerman's squawking and clucking conveyed his scorn with
contagious irreverence."
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