Mary Lyn Maiscott

Bard of the Bowery, Whitman of Whitestone, Valéry of the East Village — singer-songwriter Jesse Malin has been conjuring poetic, gritty, tender, granular tales of New York City for a long time, his sound evolving from the hardcore punk of his youth. And I mean youth — he helped form his first band, Heart Attack, around the time his voice changed, eventually graduating to his influential glam-punk group, D Generation.

Dreamboat Annie. Dreamboat Nancy. The Seattle sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson: one shreds with her voice, the other sings with her guitar. (The poet Louise Glück wrote, “Of two sisters / one is always the watcher, / one the dancer.” Not in this family.) Their co-written 1975 song “Dreamboat Annie,” from their band Heart’s debut album of the same title, speaks presciently of “riding on the diamond waves,” but they could not have known how sparkling and how high those waves would be.

With some kind of protest happening seemingly every day during these perilous times, one might get (secretly) tired of telling people what democracy looks like. In NYC, a couple of organizations, with similar names, have added a twist, inviting protesters to voice their rage, concern, determination, and more through song.