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Taken from JamBase (February 13, 2002)
MICHAEL FRANTI | AN INSPIRATION
by Seth Eisenstein
Photos by Wonder Knack
 It is not too often when a tour comes around featuring a diverse group of artists that collectively incorporate funky jamming, soul, hip-hop, and even strong political messages. However, as the SnoCore Icicle Ball tour prepares to kick off this Friday in Los Angeles, all of these elements will combine for what is sure to be quite a musical experience. Among the acts on this tour is Michael Franti and Spearhead. Franti is a musician, a poet, and an activist who manages to both educate and energize his audiences wherever he goes. I had the pleasure of speaking with a very engaging and eager Franti last week via telephone. Throughout our conversation we covered topics ranging from his excitement over the SnoCore Tour to his thoughts on the September 11th tragedy, and even some insight on some upcoming collaborations for Spearhead's next album.
Michael, let's talk about the upcoming SnoCore tour, the SnoCore Icicle Ball, which has also been called the "Hippie-Hop". How did u get involved with the tour, and what does it mean to play with Karl Denson and the other guys?
Well, we got hooked up thru one of the promoters who has been a fan of ours for a long time. I think it's a really great tour. I'm really excited because it's ourselves, Karl Denson, Blackalicious, and Saul Williams. It's interesting in that it's 4 black bands that are going to play at these snowboarding resorts (the SnoCore tour heads north from LA to wintery places like Mammoth, Portland, and Whistler and Vancouver, British Colombia). When I first got into snowboarding it was 4 years ago, and it was at this big snowboarding convention, the International Convention where we played, and they were talking about how snowboarding was going to be in the Olympics, and that was legitimizing the sport. And I was saying snowboarding has been a legitimate sport all along, but what is really making it legit is when it becomes a sport that's of all people - you know, black people, brown people, yellow people, rich and poor - and so I'm glad to see that black artists are able to get out into those communities. It's really cool.
Are we going to see a lot of collaborating on different nights, mixing it up, and stuff like that?
Definitely. You know, there are so many super talented and funky musicians among all these bands, and so I'm expecting it to be a very beautiful dance party and a lot of collaboration and a lot of jamming and trading off between bands.
So are we starting to see hip-hop cross over into the jam community because of a tour like this?
Yeah. Well, one of the cool things about hip-hop is that it has been an improvisational art form from the beginning. Freestyle rhyming, as well as beat boxing, it's always been an improvisational art form and in that way it has a lot of similarities to what's happening with jam bands. Also, hip-hop draws a lot of its musical roots from jazz and funk. And we have been one of the few hip-hop groups that have always toured with a live band, and we've always jammed at our rehearsals, so it was something that we just gradually over the years started incorporating into our live show. And then we started developing a whole new audience. We've never been shy from the beginning about people taping our shows, and we're flattered when people want to record our music. So it's been really fun to kind of get involved in the jam band community and the scene, and hook up with other artists that are part of it, as well as the audience, who I think are really music fans. That's the thing I love about it more then anything else - the people who want to be challenged by music, the people who want to let go and feel the freedom of dancing and self-expression at a show. That's not always true in the Hip Hop community. There's a lot of people there who are just like, "I want to hear the hit," and "Entertain me" so I dig it (the jam community).
 Let's talk about a recent appearance that you made with String Cheese Incident on December 29th. It was at that show where you lead the crowd in a rallying chant of "We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace." Do you find that it's a different challenge to deliver your messages to a crowd at SCI shows, since they're really into their band and out to party down, versus when you take the stage with Spearhead?
Well, for me as an artist, I'm always just trying to be myself. I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything, but I do like to try to give you an example of the way I would like the world to be. So I'm always trying to challenge myself to become a better person, to become a better communicator, to become a better musician. Part of communicating messages about social ideas is that you have to do it in a way that people are going to enjoy... To put it through music that is going to be uplifting spiritually for people, and isn't going to just be a depressing message that you've heard over and over again. An uplifting message that inspires people to get involved and inspires people to go about their lives and look for the way things could be, rather then just asking why things are the way they are all the time.
My songs always tend to be about issues, and ideas. And since the massacre on Sept. 11th, I have, as most people have, been really concerned about what's happening in the world, and the direction that our country has taken. And increasingly I'm interested in concentrating on promoting the ideas that we're not just one nation under God, but that we're one World under the Creator. And our enemy isn't terrorism, our enemy is Militarism and that's what we should all be working towards- an end to violence and an end to militarism as a way of dealing with our solutions.
Have you gotten the opportunity to visit Ground Zero?
Yep. I was out there- we finished a tour with Blues Traveler, and the last day of the tour I went to Ground Zero, and it was incredible. It was really overwhelming, a sense of sadness and loss to see that massacre in the form of, just, rubble. The overwhelming feeling I left with was, "How could anyone possibly consider doing this to anyone else?" And it's what we've been doing - our bombing of Afghanistan - we've dropped thousands of bombs in Afghanistan and we've killed thousands of people over there. The pain and loss that they feel is the same pain and loss that we feel, and somewhere it has to stop. So I'm going to continue to work to speak out in favor of peace and against war in all of its forms.
Who are you looking into collaborating with in the near future?
Well right now, we're working on our new album. We're still writing songs and we've been talking to several different people. I met with Me'Shell Ndeg?Ocello recently, talked to Steve Marley, and Baaba Maal, who I saw last night. It was an incredible show, I'm definitely going to do something with him... and Sly and Robby, who are probably my favorite rhythm section in the world and were going to probably be doing some stuff with them. And then my old band mate, Charlie Hunter, who I haven't done anything with in many many years but I'm excited to do something with him on this new album. And you can expect to see a couple of these new songs on the SnoCore tour.
So West Coast, get yourselves ready. If you aren't getting enough snow from watching the Olympics on TV, be prepared for a winter blast as the SnoCore Icicle Ball makes its way to your town, beginning at the fabulous Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles this Friday. This incaration of the SnoCore Ball will feature the always funky, endlessly touring Karl Denson's Tiny Universe as the headliners. Franti and Spearhead will be part of the tour for much of the west coast run and re-join the tour in the Northeast for four more shows. In between, several other noteworthy acts will join the bill, including Sound Tribe Sector 9, Ozomatli, and Nikka Costa. For more information on opening acts Saul Williams [http://www.saulwilliams.com/] and Blackalicious [http://www.blackalicious.com/] , check out the <A href="http://www.jambase.com/contests/index.asp?contestID=371">JamBase ticket giveaway and enter to win free tickets!
Seth Eisenstein
JamBase SoCal Correspondent
Go See Live Music!!
[Published on 2/13/2002]
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