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Jeff Mangum, Lee Ranaldo, More to Perform at Occupy Wall Street Telethon

occupy wall street telethon

Jeff Mangum, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, and others will play an Occupy Wall Street-affiliated charity event and telethon at Le Poisson Rouge in New York on November 15. According to Pitchfork, “The People’s Bailout: A Variety Show and Telethon to Benefit the 99%” wants to raise $50,000 for Strike Debt, an OWS offshoot that aims to abolish predatory debt practices.

“Big banks and corporations walk away from their debts and leave taxpayers to pay the tab,” the event announcement reads. “It’s time for a bailout of the people, by the people.”

Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, comedian Janeane Garofalo, and Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead are some of the other guests scheduled to appear at the show, which will live stream at Rolling Jubilee, a debt-rescue campaign organized by Strike Debt. According to the site, the Rolling Jubilee project launches on November 15. The homepage reads, “We buy debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, we abolish it. We cannot buy specific individual’s debt — instead, we help liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good will, and collective refusal.”

Not your typical phone-based telethon, donations to Rolling Jubilee’s debt-relief efforts can be made via the campaign’s website. A $250 donation eliminates an estimated $5,000 worth of debt, according to Strike Debt.

The upcoming show is the latest example of musicians teaming up with the Occupy movement. Mangum himself performed at an OWS protest last year, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello recently released the protest anthem “We Are the 99 Percent,” and Ranaldo has pledged his support to the protest group via the Occupy Musicians website. Adebimpe’s partner in TV on the Radio, Kyp Malone, also recorded an album in support of Occupy Wall Street, according to NME.

Tickets for “The People’s Bailout” go on sale Friday, November 2 at 10 a.m. EST.