‘Project 2026 Blue Tsunami’ – June 13

By Alix Cohen

Once more unto the breach!* This is the 14th Blue Wave concert raising money for Democratic candidates since 2018. Stephen Hanks, at various times editor, writer, publisher, reviewer, publicity agent, vocalist, and dedicated political activist continues to evangelistically round up fellow believers. Vocalists and musicians contribute their passion, talent and time.

The most recent series of 4- this is the 2nd- will channel donations to those candidates for the House and Senate needed to flip states: North Carolina: Ray Cooper, Texas: James Talerico, Georgia: Jon Osoff, Maine: Graham Platner, Ohio: Sherrod Brown, Alaska: Mary Peltola, and the winner of the Michigan State Primary.

“Welcome resisters, democracy lovers, people with human decency…We’re in a cold civil war in this country…Everyone has to do everything they can to suppress White Supremacists and Christian Nationalists supported by the oligarch class…” Hanks zealously begins.

With Blue Wave regular, Blair Alexis Brown, he then sings the series’ anthem “The Great Blue Wave” (Michael Roberts.) “Come and join the great blue wave!/No law obstruction, much less corruption…” Verses have been updated. Brown adds her buoyant soprano.

Terri Dannenberg offers Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” Clarity and vigor take her to the barricades with an angry bounce and a shaken fist. “Sixty years ago, we were fighting for the same things,” she notes. Audience spontaneously claps in time. Next Dannenberg show 7/23/26 at Don’t Tell Mama

Geri Palast, instrumental in devising the family medical leave act, wears a scarf her mother donned every election, every strike. “This song helps us to grieve for something we believed in that might be slipping away. “My Country Used to Be” (Dave Frishberg) was, like Dannenberg’s choice, written years ago. Sincerity reinforces.

“It’s been very frightening for me…As bad as it is, it’s worse for Black people…We need to cross lines and speak to those we wouldn’t normally speak to…” April Armstrong tells us. She sings and plays (bongo) “People Get Ready” (Curtis Mayfield) with a few of her own apt lyrics and Peter Calo’s terrific guitar. The song arrives stirring, soulful, full of heat.

MD Gregory Toroian (piano/vocal) presents “The Last Day” (Brenda Russell/John Ewbank): “If today were the last of all days/Would it change how you feel/Who you are?/Would you rise for a moment/Above all your fears…” Sensitive piano and a vocal that challenges embrace universal lyrics.

With “They’re leading us down the road to no return,” virtuoso guitarist and songwriter Peter Calo shares his own “Situation Totally Insane.” Shades of the 60s permeate honesty and dismay. The song is raw.
Next show of Calo originals 6/23/26 at Don’t Tell Mama

Returning to the New York stage, Lauren Fox, whose beautifully researched and performed 1960s shows crisscross the country, gives us a furious interpretation of “Masters of War.” (Bob Dylan) Hands fisted, the actress vehemently channels everything into lyrics. Frequent stage partner Peter Calo creates palpable symbiosis.

At the Piano, Amy Englehardt sings her own “Deep Blue Sea” inspired by a marine photographer’s amazing photos and an interview he gave during which he cried… “My job is to photograph wildlife/And I am studying you/You need dinner/I need a photograph…” The photographer deeply empathizes with his subject. It’s clever and touching.

Rosemary Loar performs an original song from her musical Spoolie Girl (Amy Englehardt- back-up), the story of an eco-conscious, orphaned Kenyan teenager whose traditional “spoolie” hair curlers magically give her the ability to hear and interpret people’s unspoken thoughts. The song bears an infectiously rhythmic message. “We are all we have,” she sings. Audience joins the “la, las.”

Wearing a T-shirt that says: A woman’s place is in the House, the Senate, and the Oval Office, Kati Neiheisel’s “Woman In the Moon” (Kenny Asher/Paul Williams from the most recent A Star is Born) arrives personal, rather than overproduced as in the film. The vocalist barely moves, yet her voice fans out, blanketing the room.

Sue Matsuki, a Blue Wave participant from the start, celebrates her 40th year singing at Don’t Tell Mama. The artist’s rendition of “How Did We Come to This?” (Andrew Lippa) lands sorrowful, though not beaten. “…Laughing at our neighbors/Smiling at a hiss/How did we come to this?’ Matsuki is in fine, affecting voice.

Neil Diamond’s anthemic “Coming to America” is rendered by Turkish immigrant and new green card holder, Can (pronounced John) Yasar. Tamped down from the film version, it becomes an intimate expression of one man’s journey. The vocalist knows when to quiet or let fly. Impact is inescapable.

Stephen Hanks sang “Abraham, Martin, and John” (Dick Holler/Dion Dimucci) at the very first Blue Wave show. Recalling how he learned President Kennedy was shot and the toll of assassinations that followed, his politicization seems like a Jimmy Stewart movie- the story of an aware ‘everyman’ whose unshakable commitment sets an example. The song emerges raw and tearful.

Closing tonight’s show is veteran Natalie Douglas. “In my family, politics, history and music all came together,” she tells us. “My advice to you is to get louder, get gayer, get Blacker- they don’t like us anyway…” The song “Forgiveness” (Susan Werner) erupts like a geyser of emotion, not over the top, but wrenching.

Remarkable song choices are attributable to the artists themselves.Gregory Toroian’s accompaniment supports and enhances. Another superb evening of cabaret and activism.

New to The Blue Wave family are: Terri Dannenberg, Geri Palast, Lauren Fox, Peter Calo, Amy Englehardt,
Kati Neiheisel, Can Yasar

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood…”

(from Shakespeare’s Henry V, spoken by King Henry)

Photos by Alix Cohen

Project 2026 Blue Tsunami – June 13, 2026
Produced by Stephen Hanks
MD- Gregory Toroian
Don’t Tell Mama https://donttellmamanyc.com/

COMING UP

September 1, 2026
Ian Herman MD
D.C. Anderson, Bruce Clough, Mary Sue Daniels, Dawn Derow, Lianne Marie Dobbs, Sean Harkness, Liora Michelle, Karen Oberlin, Julie Reyburn, David Sabella, Ty Stephens,Vanessa Trouble

October 20, 2026
Tracy Stark MD
Sandra Bargman, Raissa Katona Bennett & Kenneth Gartman, Meg Flather, Janice Hall, Laurie Krauz, Ann Kittredge, Lorinda Lositza, Adam B. Shapiro, Lisa Viggiano, Adam B. Shapiro, Gerrilyn Sohn, Joe Iconis and his wife Lauren Marcus