Monica Pasqual

Synopsis Produced and Directed by Jonathan Halperin. Photographed and filmed by Tom Erikson, Jonathan Halperin and David Winton. Edited by Stephanie Mechura Challberg This video is a combination of animated black and white stills shot on film, animated digital stills and lo-fi digital video. Archival footage was provided by Prelinger Archives. Crew Jon Halperin, Director Stephanie Mechura Challberg, Editor David Winton, Camera Tom Erikson, Camera Jeri Jones, Composer/Musician Monica Pasqual , Composer/Musician Renee Harcourt, Composer/Musician pam Delgado, Composer/Musician Filmmaker Comments On January 20th, 2001, George W. Bush, appointed President of the United States formally took office. I had been asked to sing a song that night at the Bazaar Café in San Francisco where Les, the proprietor was producing a counter-event called “The Night of the Burning Bush”. That afternoon, depressed and restless, I couldn’t make myself practice the song I intended to sing, Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War”. Instead, I sat down and turned on the TV. I had honestly forgotten that I would be subjected to live coverage of the inaugural parade. It was a bleak day in Washington, and I remember experiencing an overwhelming feeling of sadness and fear as I watched the Presidential limousine drive down Pennsylvania Avenue. I turned off the TV, sat down at the piano and wrote this song in about 25 minutes. I performed it for the first time that night. Last spring, I wrote an additional verse that addresses the war in Iraq and we recorded the new version of the song for this video

Monica Pasqual,