Marc Ribot Throws Tantrum, Accomplishes Nothing

Since President Trump took office, the United States has experienced an unprecedent economic turnaround. The GDP expanded at a 4.3% rate during the spring of this year, with 4.3% predicted by the Atlanta Federal Reserve for the third quarter as well. (To contrast, two years ago we were experiencing 1% growth.) Unemployment rates continue to drop across all demographics, with the rate for blacks and Hispanics hitting record lows. Youth unemployment is at a 52-year low. Job participation rates have hit record highs. EBT usage continues to plummet. Black business ownership has risen 400 percent. And consumer confidence is the highest it’s been in 18 years.

Guitarist Marc Ribot thinks all that sucks. More specifically, he’s an adult adolescent that feels utter contempt for Donald Trump, and therefore he thinks it sucks that anything Trump does is having a positive effect and refuses to acknowledge it. “I am alarmed by Trump and the movement he’s part of,” the longtime sideman for Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp and other fellow old white liberals. “If we don’t deal with what is going on,” Ribot sputters, “it is going to deal with us.”

How the delusional musician is dealing with it is putting out an inconsequential album of WWII Italian anti-fascist resistance songs, Mexican protest ballads and civil rights-era folk tunes, with guest vocalists including Waits, Steve Earle and Meshell Ndegeocello. Anti- Records will release Songs of Resistance 1942-2018 on Sept. 14. The few that buy one will listen to it once, pat themselves on the back for supporting the enlightened “resistance,” and never play the stupid thing again.

Photo by Ebru Yildiz.