Drummers At Occupy Wall Street Demand $8,000 At General Assembly

(Occupy Wall Street on Facebook)

Last night's General Assembly meeting in Zuccotti Park was "one of most contentious ever," in large part due to a heated debate over whether the drummers at Occupy Wall Street should be given $8,000 from the movement's coffers to buy more drums and equipment. It seems some of the drums were stolen or vandalized, and the drummers asked the General Assembly to help them regroup. "We have worked for you! Appreciate us," one drummer told the crowd, but the appeal was denied, and the Huff Post's Craig Kanalley tweeted, "Drummer who didn't get money from GA tonight now yelling, cursing at members of GA." Meanwhile, another member of the drum corps was lashing out at the Community Board meeting.

"I am an occupier, I am a drummer, and, despite what they say, I am also a human being," Ashley Love, a young member of the OWS People of Color Working Group, told the packed Community Board meeting last night. Mother Jones reports that Love was met with booing when she informed the locals, "It's primarily a commercial area; not too many people live there. The majority of the drummers are people of color with low-income or no-income backgrounds, and Wall Street was built by slaves when they brought the Africans over here. The council people back then prohibited drumming because it was a way of protesting. It was a way of communication. And I just think you guys are scapegoating us."

(Bethany O'Grady/Gothamist)

One of the biggest complaints from local residents is the noise at Zuccotti Park, and last night the CB 1 committee passed a resolution limiting "the use of drums, trumpets, tambourines, bugles, and air horns to two hours per day, in midday." But the drummers want to expand, not contract. "We need to grow," drummer Elijah Moses, 19, of Astoria, said last night. As luck would have it, Russell Simmons was down at Zuccotti park handing out cash this afternoon. Jonathan Vergara, a music producer, tells us, "He gave one girl who said it was her birthday twenty dollars. She showed her ID and everything. I saw inside his wallet he had 300 dollars cash in there!" Explaining his affinity for the Occupy Wall Street protesters, Simmons tells the Speakeasy, "I’m part of the 100%. If those people suffer, I suffer with them."

(Additional reporting by Bethany O'Grady)

(Bethany O'Grady/Gothamist)

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on October 21, 2011 3:00 PM

Comments [rss]

anonomatic

Can a community council set rules (in regard to limiting noise) that supersede those set by the city? If so can my community council stop all the motorcycles that blast their engines so loud that windows rattle and whole blocks of car alarms go off? That's kind of disruptive too.

chee1rs

Drummers are being oppressed .... save the drummers ... err , whales .....

meltronix

it seems with all the political clout, public reception, and social networks the protestors have they could just put out a massive region wide call for drum donations so replace that -ish...then we can see what a real non-capitalist movement of people who not just attempt consensus in allocating moneys for materials (i.e. sanctioned consumption, egalitarian, democratic or otherwise) but instead use their massive techno-matrix of connections, loudspeakers, and direct democratic process for sharing, enhancing and revitalizing the flow of resources from the bottom to the bottom. The cooperate backdrop of the market is being attacked and may subsequently warrant a critique/attack of consumerism also, or is that not why people are saying this is ironic or hypocritical? so lets see a pull for supporters to get these drummers drumming. annoying or not they are invested in creating a rhythm for this movement, one whose momentum may see an actual change in the structure, a revolution of the economy, rather than cute little shift in power a quick minute. the revolution must be constant, less the tyranny of the oppressed become the new off beat fascism of the rest. all power the the people. the more involved every american gets the more likely we can take our democracy back and get rid of the puppets, the ponsy schemers, and the power poopers

meltronix

it seems with all the political clout, public reception, and social networks the protestors have they could just put out a massive region wide call for drum donations so replace that -ish...then we can see what a real non-capitalist movement of people who not just attempt consensus in allocating moneys for materials (i.e. sanctioned consumption, egalitarian, democratic or otherwise) but instead use their massive techno-matrix of connections, loudspeakers, and direct democratic process for sharing, enhancing and revitalizing the flow of resources from the bottom to the bottom. The cooperate backdrop of the market is being attacked and may subsequently warrant a critique/attack of consumerism also, or is that not why people are saying this is ironic or hypocritical? so lets see a pull for supporters to get these drummers drumming. annoying or not they are invested in creating a rhythm for this movement, one whose momentum may see an actual change in the structure, a revolution of the economy, rather than cute little shift in power a quick minute. the revolution must be constant, less the tyranny of the oppressed become the new off beat fascism of the rest. all power the the people. the more involved every american gets the more likely we can take our democracy back and get rid of the puppets, the ponsy schemers, and the power poopers

Mary O'Shaughnessy

If unbridled drumming becomes the "reason" OWS gives the cops and city to clear out Zuccotti park, it will be self-centered, myopic drummers' fault--and they will have killed the movement.

sharpshoota

I love this movement but honestly this really sounds dumb. Get over yourselves.

chee1rs

arrest these lowlifes

JenEsss

Someone please let me know when this is over? I'm tired of having to feign interest.

Brian Topping

Dateline: New York -- "In the microcosm of OWS, where a world order is looking to be refreshed, Ted Stevens emerges as a band of drummers, looking to build a bridge to nowhere, erm, replace drums that were damaged over years of trips on the Green Tortoise, citing a couple of scratches that were added during the park cleanup as reason for brand new articles."

nayerr

Drums? Seriously? I was pro OWS for the first couple weeks, but now? Nope.

Good Lt.

I want this to continue for weeks and weeks. We're not even two months into it, and civil war is breaking out over drum circles.

Who knows what kind of entertainment a little cold weather will bring.

LOL!

DP

Dude, why are we wasting this money on drums? If we're seeking real change we should be using this money to pay Blonde Redhead to play a concert, ya know? A concert to end corporate greed!

Eggcream

My clandestine org, the Marxist-Leninist-Trotskyist-Woody Allenist Revolutionary Tendency discussed this request for $8000.00 (for fucking drums) and concluded that commercial-sized soy sauce pails would a better investment, and only cost a small fraction of the money requested.

sgod

Yeah, as a big OWS supporter, I don't think spending $8,000 on toys for a bunch of recreational drummers is going to help bring in donations.

teresakoch

Occupy Wall Street - When the 99% Become the 1%:
After a month in the trenches, these kids who started out as wide-eyed idealists down with “the cause” are starting to get gobsmacked with lessons that they would most likely never have learned in classrooms filled with theoretical situations and simple, elegant solutions.
In the classroom of “Real Life”, these kids are rapidly finding out that Marxism, Socialism, Communism, and/or Anarchy aren’t all that they are cracked up to be. We can only hope that they will take away some valuable lessons from this experience.
http://wp.me/p1ipEz-F6

Soren Kay

I can't wait till Hollywood makes a movie dramatizing Occupy Wall Street. I hope they call it Kindergarten Coup.

PrettyAmiable

Featuring Arnold Schwarzeneggar as Tony Bologna?

Guest

u know what the movement would be without the drums!? NOTHING. that's what. we want our $8,000. period.

diablofreak

i work next to the park 115 broadway and the drums are giving me a throbbing headache. these clowns are friggin getting on my nerves now.