Protest for President’s Day

February 16, 2026

I decided to join the ranks of protest singers and posted my first-ever protest song this past Friday, “Tall Tales of Trump (No Kings).” Inspired by Charles Mingus’s seminal work “Fables of Faubus,”1 which protested Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus’s use of the National Guard to prevent the integration of schools in Little Rock in 1957, “Tall Tales” is my response to the incredibly dangerous and absurd times we live in. I’m donating ALL SALES of this track to the National Immigration Law Center (https://www.nilc.org/).

I’ve had the title for this piece in my head ever since the first Trump Administration, but the opening chant and verse melody did not materialize until Fall 2025. Here’s a snippet from the first-ever performance with my son Callum and his bandmate Ofir Klemperer at Le Voyeur in Olympia, Washington, on October 3, 2025:

After the latest killings by ICE and CBP in January 2026 my level of outrage and corresponding feelings of helplessness ratcheted up to the point that the lyrics suddenly appeared and could wait no longer. Keeping “Faubus” as my model, I catalogued the contradictions, absurdities, falsehoods and cruelties of the current administration in verse form—rhyming couplets helped me distill and focus my thoughts. I needed a bridge with a more direct call-out, a WTF chorus, if you will. A melody and counter-line came to me very quickly—after all, in the words of Charlie Parker, “Now’s the Time.”

I began recording this work on my own on January 20, 2026, the day of the Free America National Walk Out. I intended to record the tracks myself and self-release by that Friday (!), but almost immediately I realized I could not do this by myself—that, as with all acts of protest, it is easier and more effective when you call upon your community to join the cause.

I reached out to my Tumble bandmate Robert Heirendt for help. Robert has a genuine love of all kinds of music, and two of the best ears as well, and lucky for me he immediately offered his services as recording engineer. That Saturday afternoon I showed up at Robert’s with a carload of instruments and within a half an hour’s time we began tracking, beginning with two tracks of EEb contralto clarinet, then layering on tenor & alto sax, clarinet and piccolo.

After a long day’s work, it was apparent to us that this project was going to take a couple of more sessions to flesh out. The middle section of the piece had morphed into a march-like call to action and needed some martial heft to it. It takes a village—luckily drum major extraordinaire (and my Pocket bandmate) Tim Bulkley lives just a few blocks from Robert AND was willing to lend his expertise to the proceedings. The following Tuesday night he brought a snare and hi-hat and in two takes we had a righteous regiment of parading paradiddles.

For the final session, in which I was laying down the vocals and banjo accompaniments, Robert’s wife Juli and daughter Mei Lin gladly joined us on the chants of “No Kings” and “Tall Tale” that frame each verse and begin and end the piece. Their dog, Tony, was feeling left out, so we asked him to contribute some growls and howls to the proceedings. You can hear him on the last verse expressing his dismay about some of our president’s wilder accusations with regards to certain people’s dietary practices.

My son, Callum, had been a part of this piece since the beginning, and I knew he would want to participate in this recording. I needed something to cap the WTF Chorus—at my request he sent a long track containing several fierce solos for us to choose from, each one with its own biting character. I decided we had to use all of them. And thanks to some studio wizardry from my co-conspirator David Dvorin from Cure-All Records, we were able to make that happen.

Besides being my Cure-All partner and (another) Pocket bandmate, David teaches composition and recording arts at CSU Chico. He’s literally written the book on the audio software Logic (twice) and was the man for the job. Robert and I sent David all of our recorded tracks, plus Callum’s solos, and despite his full schedule of teaching and a busy family life, he generously put his obsessive and meticulous talents to work editing, mixing and mastering (!) the track. He even added some bass drum to the proceedings.

The full piece, with vocals and accompanying crowd chants, had its debut on Sunday afternoon, February 1, 2026, at Time Tested Books in Sacramento—Tim and saxophonist Matt Langley (wait, isn’t he in Pocket as well?!) joined me for a rousing rendition with a full crowd chanting along with us.

To reiterate, I’m donating ALL SALES of this single to the National Immigration Law Center. I have been inspired by all the people who from Day One have resisted this authoritarian government we now have in place, and I am thankful to the people in Minnesota who are demonstrating to the rest of us that speaking up, showing up, and ultimately putting oneself on the line in support of one’s neighbors and fellow human beings can truly make a difference.

Thanks to Robert & Juli & David & Tim for helping me realize this piece, but especially to Callum & Mei Lin—who better to express the frustrations, fears and outrage about the systemic dismantling of this country than this next generation who will suffer the long-term consequences if we continue to stand by and do nothing.

  1. Columbia Records wouldn’t let Mingus use his lyrics on the version of Faubus released on 1959’s Mingus Ah Um. Check out “Original Faubus Fables” from the 1960 Candid album Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus to hear the scorching full version:







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