Chadwick Stokes Previews Calling All Crows' 17th Annual Benefit Weekend

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, a local favorite is set to turn the
Somerville Theater into a night of rock and storytelling. He
happens to be one of my favorite songwriters as well.
Very excited he has time to join us here. Chad
Stokes is on the line. How are you, Chad?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning? I'm good. How are you doing good?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Just waiting on spring, you know, I think it's gonna
come at some point.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, yeah, I appreciated this winner though. It was like
it was like the winners that we remembered.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, that is true. Yeah, we got a little bit
of that. All right, So big business on tap here
for you guys. It is the seventeenth annual Calling All
Crows Benefit. Weekend goes down Friday here starts up Friday.
Tell me a little bit about what Friday is gonna bring.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, we got a little like a VIP hangout at
the just like a stone's throw from the Somerville Theater beforehand,
where people are welcome to come and you know, buy
tickets for that. And that's just kind of like, I guess,
an intimate precursor and just a hang and then we
head over to Somerville Theater.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
The rock opera is titled nineteen seventy two. Of course,
I know we've talked about it a bit, but just
for fresh people with the stories about.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, it's about a young woman running from an abusive
relationship in nineteen seventy two. She's newly pregnant and jumps
freight trains to kind of simultaneously escape her boyfriend, and
she's looking to obtain an illegal abortion. It's the year
before row beat Wade abortions are illegal like they are

(01:31):
today basically, And it's kind of about her journey and
her adventure and her meeting that world head on, you know,
with some cards stacked against her.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
You know, I know you had been working on this
rock opera for a long time. It is kind of
crazy how the you know, the world just is in
a different place now than it was, you know, even
four years ago. And you mentioned this really does hit
I guess close to home for so many people.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, we're in a crazy time. We're in at a
critical time, you know, and where we need to we
need to resist in every way we can, and I
think that the arts are a big part of that.
It's sad that you know that Trump was elected essentially
and that so much of the message of our show
became more urgent than it was before.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
This year a little bit different here you're celebrating a
senator at market. Tell me a little bit about that.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah. So, like, we give out an award every year.
It's called the Lassi Award, and it's it's for people
and you know, who are really public servants and people
who have really dedicated their lives, and he definitely has.
He's he's he's been so wonderful for this state. So
we're really excited to honor him. You know, it's hard,
it's hard. I'm really actually proud of the Massachusetts politicians

(02:47):
and who they are and you know where they come from.
And he's been around I feel like he's been around
the longest. Sin it's kind of but his agenda has
always been, i don't know, heartfelt and smart and cares
about community. So we're really excited about that.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Very cool and calling all crows in general. Do you
ever look back on it here? You know, seventeen years
of this, you guys done so many great projects and
you know, raised so much, whether it be money or
awareness or all this stuff. You must kind of look
back on it. This must be a really proud thing
for you and Sybil and really everybody to look back on.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yes, I mean, like you know how it is. It's
hard to keep anything going for a really long time, right,
So Sybil is really everything for this, you know, she
really oversees things. And we have such a great team
of people who, you know, all the behind the scenes
works of keeping a nonprofit like this alive and out

(03:47):
on the road and at the festivals. And I got
to hand it to her. She is she's a producer
on nineteen seventy two. She has a sunglass company, she
runs a design firm, she runs calling all Crows. So
I don't know how she does it.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Nineteen seventy two. I know it's taken on some New
Life site. Is it in the end? Is this kind
of what you envisioned when you thought about it, when
you really embarked on this project.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, I mean we have we know, speaking of teams,
we have a great where as we do this and
as we kind of morph into the stage world, which
is really you know, apples and oranges to the rock
and roll world, We're learning so much. People are coming
on board. It's a huge collaborative effort, which I assumed

(04:32):
it would be, but it really takes on a life
of its own. In the beginning, I was holding everything
and kind of directing or whatever. But now we have
a director. Now we have a producer, Now we have
a production team, you know, and pretty soon we're going
to be doing auditions for the stage performance. So it's
like it's going to morph from the you know, the
concert version into more of a stage thing, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
And I look ahead. You got another busy summer too.
You taken Dispatch back out, different banned, different music, but
I probably the same excitement of taking just a different
project on the road, right.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, we have a new record coming out that we
recorded this fall in this winter here in Boston, and
so that's always exciting. And I'm about to leave in
a week or so to start practices for that. Excited
to go out with John Butler, who was an old friend,
and Donovan Clanking writer and g Love. So it's it's

(05:25):
safe enough to be a fun tour.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
It's I see too, New England pretty much. Staples there,
Thompson Point, which is always fun for you guys. And
Levitate this year

Speaker 2 (05:35):
As well, Yes, yes, psychs for that it's like and Levitates,
you know, right in our backyard, so we're really really
psyched for that