Drenched in red and pink light, Zambonis founder Dave Schneider hopped onto the stage. He tuned his guitar and took a quick look at the crowd at Cafe Nine. The crowd had started to dwindle; it was pushing 11 p.m. But Schneider wasn’t the least bit tired. Instead, he told the still-cheering audience, he was feeling energized, and ready to close out a set with one of his group’s old standards, called The Captain.
“This song is about hockey, but it’s also about being your own captain, and doing what’s right,” he said.
Then he and members of The Shellye Valauskas Experience launched into the song, a rock ballad that tumbled over the lip of the stage and onto the crowd, releasing short bursts of drum and guitar as it flowed through the space.
Such was the jubilant scene — and sound — at Cafe Nine Sunday night, where a capacity crowd gathered for “New Haven Steps Up: A Benefit Concert for the ACLU.” Organized by Valauskas after President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive action (which he reissued in modified form Monday), the event raised $2,700 for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Lucy Gellman Photo
Mates of State.
Valauskas said the idea was born as she watched news reports of ACLU lawyers and staff filling airports after Trump’s order, some working around the clock to keep immigrants and refugees from majority-Muslim countries here in the United States. As a musician, she wasn’t sure what she could contribute to the cause. So she put a status on Facebook: If she tried to organize a fundraiser, would some of her friends be willing to play for free?
“People just popped out of the woodwork,” she said. First, friends from bands around the state offered to pitch in. Local businesses offered to put up donations for a raffle and silent auction, and so many bands signed up that she had to start turning people away. It was once ticket pre-sales reached $600, she said, that she had a feeling this really could turn into something.
“It felt really good to channel the negative energy into something positive,” she said. “To be around people who have passion about music, and art, and human rights … it’s awesome.”
Bands sought to channel that feeling throughout the night, playing from Cafe Nine’s stage as attendees signed up for raffle prizes including gift cards to Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea, Books & Company, and Cafe Nine, jewelry and art by local artists, and concert tickets from Manic Productions. Taking the stage third, singer/songwriter Kierstin Joy Sieser put the crowd in a trance with Connecticut-based Tiny Ocean, channeling Neko Case while unspooling original, folksy lyrics. Mates of State got people dancing with a rousing version of “Palomino,” with John Panos freestyling on trumpet. And Mercy Choir closed out the night with a transcendent set that crept up on members of the audience, ending in an explosion of near-edible mouthfuls of sound.
Schatz: “We’re in a battle.”
“We’re in a battle, really for the souls of our country,” said Andy Schatz, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. And then, taking in the crowd before him — many holding instrument cases — he pointed to the ways the ACLU has championed arts.
“We want to protect that we can be different,” he added. “We want to protect differences, and the creativity … that we have always believed is the core of the American dream.”
Then he made a pitch: join the ACLU.
“Every time you see your card [stating that you joined in 2017], you’ll be reminded that that was the year that took this battle, that we fought for the soul of America, that we fought to make America greater again,” he said. The crowd cheered.
So did Valauskas, who is already trying to plan more fundraisers like Sunday’s. As Mercy Choir wound down the evening, she said that she wanted these to become routine. Trump is not going to stop rolling back what she sees as fundamental human rights, so she’s not going to stop organizing. Asked if she’ll be having another fundraiser soon, she took in a deep breath of the cold night air, and smiled.
“Yes,” she said. “I hope so. We got to.”