My band, Thin Skin Jonny was asked to play an event for a human rights organization. This afternoon, Marcos Sanchez and I went to Flushing Meadows Park to play in a festival for Make the Road, an organization that advocates civil rights and equality measures for underprivileged and lower income New Yorkers.

Make the Road New York promotes economic justice, equity and opportunity for all New Yorkers through community and electoral organizing, strategic policy advocacy, leadership development, youth and adult education, and high quality legal and support services.

Nearly everyone at the festival today spoke spanish. There was Brazillian dance, bi-lingual electro funk, anti-folk and a whole bunch of food. One of my favorite acts was what seemed to be avant guard sketch/satire comedy about a sweat shop. They had oversized props and costumes make from cardboard. The whole thing had a mezmorizing feel. It reminded me of an old Punch and Judy show, with live actors – sort of. Unfortunately they were so captivating that I forgot to snap a photo of them.

This all happened outside the Queens Museum.

It was a great day. Marcos and I had a good show. Everyone was super nice, and while I didn’t know what was being said a lot of the time (the show was emceed and performed mostly in Spanish and Portuguese) there was certainly an open vibe. The other acts were extremely warm and supportive and really, really good.

Flushing Meadows Park was the site of the 1965 world’s fair and some of the structures still stand, looming over the skyline of the park. It’s lends an impressive, wistful quality to the surroundings.

The other thing that really struck me was this huge metal globe sculpture outside the museum. It’s situated in the middle of a massive fountain and it’s so impressive. There are still some fallen trees around, too – from Thursdays freak tornado. I got quite a few great shots.