Brennan Cornwell
was the last act at Crime and Punishment night, a theme evening, at the Coffee House on May 3, 2002.
Among the other performers at this Food Pantry Benefit night was the venerable Larry Penn, along with Tom Martinsen and Two Thik Micks. Amusing ruminations as to what constituted crime and what constituted punishment came from nearly all the performers with respect to their song selections.
As equally engaging as his music were the bristling political monologues with which he has been providing his audiences ever since we started kicking Dick Nixon around. He'll give you something to think about and a couple of tunes, to boot. “Trying to write Chomsky references into a lyrical line length is tough enough,” Cornwell said, “without having to provide historical footnotes to the predominant culture that doesn't care to be aware.” He goes on to say that it's tough to finish the dozens or hundreds of songs he's started with the dwindling audiences for small venue singer-songwriters. Many of those that come to lis-ten are more interested in being entertained than in being challenged to action. And corporate media outlets certainly don't take chances on material that raises censor pencils. “A new music is required. Something that speaks to us now,” Cornwell said, “something with the urgency of tear gas and rubber bullets. Singing Leadbelly's Bourgeois Blues or Woody Guthrie tunes just doesn't cut it like it used to. It's not just us versus them anymore.” To paraphrase Pogo, we have met the enemy and he is we.
The Coffee House, (the-coffee-house.com) at 19th and Wisconsin, is the oldest continuously running coffee house in Milwaukee and a great venue for acoustic music and spoken word, now begining its 36th season. May ‘02 Words © 2002 David L. White, Photography © 2002 Lottermoser