“Eve Decker, Andrea Pritchett and Lisa Zeiler — aka Rebecca Riots — will perform a concert at WICA next Monday to benefit Central American Medical Outreach. They’re a RiotRebecca Riots, an acoustic folk trio from Berkeley, Calif. that plays fresh radical folk, will perform a concert at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts on Monday, Feb. 19, to support Central American Medical Outreach and its efforts in the impoverished regions of Central America.Tickets for the 7 p.m. concert cost $12 and $10, available at the WICA box office; 221-6268. For more information about the band, go to www.rebeccariots.com.The members of Rebecca Riots, named The Best Band with a Conscience by San Francisco’s Bay Guardian, are Lisa Zeiler on guitar and mandolin, Eve Decker on guitar and Andrea Prichett, harmonica. The three combine their vocal harmonies with lyrics that speak to social and political issues. Beyond some gorgeous harmonies, there is a profound honesty and a very deep caring in their music, wrote Doug Simpson, artistic director of the Vancouver Folk Festival. The energy of the three women has carried them from their former lives as teachers into the adventure of life on the road. They are currently touring and promoting their fourth CD, Gardener, released nationally through Appleseed Recordings, a label dedicated to sowing the seeds of justice through music. Rebecca Riots is in good company: Other Appleseed artists include Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie. The band frequently does benefits and has performed at marches, rallies and other events in support of environmental issues, homelesspeople, prisoners’ rights, police accountability, and other efforts. Even the name has its roots in activism: The Rebecca Riots actually happened in South Wales in 1843. Reacting to a system of toll gates that had been imposed, a group calling themselves the Rebeccas (inspired by a matriarch from the Old Testament) went out under cover of night and systematically dismantled the gates. Ultimately, the British government sent in troops to preserve the toll gates and the conflicts that followed were called the Rebecca Riots.The contemporary Rebeccas say they chose the name because it suggests grassroots, nonviolent, women-identified activism that the band supports in various ways, especially with their music. The point of our being together, really isn’t about performing music so much, said Prichett. It is about just enjoying music, and in the course of that getting to know each other and enjoy the healing energy of the music itself. Our first concert was in Lisa’s living room. We did the songs once and we had so much fun, we did them all again. “
Rebecca Riots in concert at WICA
The acoustic folk trio from Berkeley will perform a benefit for Central American Medical Outreach and its efforts in the impoverished regions of Central America.