On Sunday, June 28th, over 50 artists and tens of thousands of fans came together for Justice Comes Alive, a one-day, virtual festival harnessing the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. The donation-based streaming event generated $55,000 and counting in funds for the participating artists, who remain out of work as the pandemic continues, as well as a number of social justice-oriented causes via PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund.
The 12-hour live-stream marathon featured new contributions by an array of amazing artists from around the world including funk quartet Star Kitchen who ran through a covers of tracks by The Stylistics and Bob Marley. Leading off with an instrumental take on “People Make The World Go Round” off the soul group’s 1971 debut album, Star Kitchen once again proved itself as being greater than the sum of its parts. Led by Marc Brownstein (The Disco Biscuits), the group features drummer Marlon Lewis (Lauryn Hill, John Legend), guitarist Danny Mayer (Eric Krasno Band), and keyboardist Rob Marscher (Addison Groove Project, Matisyahu).
Next up was a rendition of the Bob Marley song “Crisis”, found on the late reggae icon’s 1978 album, Kaya. This rendition also saw Star Kitchen translate the classic song into a purely instrumental tune while still maintaining the punchy, reggae groove from the original recording. “Crisis” was kept to a lean four-minute run time, but that didn’t inhibit Brownstein, Mayer, Lewis, and Marscher from making the song their own—as they do with many of the funk, soul, and reggae classics they’re known to tackle live.
The performance for Justice Comes Alive precedes the first-ever original single from Star Kitchen, “Entirely”, due out this Friday, July 17th via Color Red. The new psychedelic funk single also features contributions from Color Red boss/The New Mastersounds guitarist Eddie Roberts as well as percussionist Nate Werth (Snarky Puppy, Ghost-Note).
Watch Star Kitchen perform “People Make The World Go Round” by The Stylistics and “Crisis” by Bob Marley at Justice Comes Alive below. If you enjoyed the performance and have the means, consider making a donation to Plus1 For Black Lives Fund via www.JusticeComesAlive.com.
Star Kitchen – “People Make The World Go Round” (The Stylistics), “Crisis” (Bob Marley) – Justice Comes Alive
Presented by Live For Live Music in partnership with PLUS1 and Nugs.TV, Justice Comes Alive was conceived as a way to harness the power of music to bring about collective change in response to racial inequality. All funds raised from Justice Comes Alive will be split evenly between the artists on the bill and the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund, which was developed to address and continue the fight against anti-Black racism and violence in the U.S.
Directly supporting organizations like Equal Justice Initiative, Impact Justice, and The Bail Project, the PLUS1 For Black Lives Fund focuses on empowering Black communities, movement building, keeping people out of the criminal justice system while dismantling it more broadly, and a collective, international narrative change toward the equitable treatment of Black people. 30% of the PLUS1 for Black Lives Fund is also committed to small grants for Black and Indigenous-led grassroots efforts combating racism. For more information on Justice Comes Alive, head here.