ABOUT THE TOUR
Inspired by the United Farm Workers house parties of the 1960’s and 1970’s, The Living Rooms Across America Tour is an annual nationwide tour that utilizes music as a catalyst for engaging and productive conversations around changing the epidemic of gun violence in America. The tour is collaborating with Chicago Ideas Week, a premier annual gathering of global thought leaders, and local advocates and community groups in five cities across America to facilitate living room conversations with policymakers, cultural influencers and knowledgeable individuals on the front lines of reducing violence in the United States. The tour consists of living room performances and conversations in the months prior to, and leading all the way up to, Chicago Ideas Week with community leaders from across the country sharing their stories in front of White House officials and other prominent leaders. The tour will be filmed for a documentary by award-winning director Dream Hampton and is visiting five cities including: Los Angeles, CA; Jackson, MS; New York, NY; Detroit, MI, and; Chicago, IL.
The Living Rooms Across America Tour brings together a unique group of influencers, artists, policymakers, and community leaders who are committed to shifting the debate around gun violence. Through a series of intimate living room conversations, the tour seeks to raise awareness of local efforts that are successful at reducing violence through the stories of those most impacted. Through the very act of convening people committed to creating safer and violence free communities, the tour seeks to build coalitions across the country that can ultimately help change the hearts and minds of America so that political change can occur.
The first year of The Living Rooms Across America Tour took place in 2012 and visited 10 cities in 10 states in the 10 weeks leading up to the Presidential election. Tour stops included: Phoenix, AZ; New York City, NY; Charlotte, NC; Detroit, MI; Fairfield, IA; Jackson, MS; New Orleans, LA; Philadelphia, PA; Washington, D.C., and; Los Angeles, CA. With memorable performances in front of thousands of people, including shows at the Democratic National Convention, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and at the annual Interdependence Day Conference, the tour provided community members with the tools to create greater awareness of important issues affecting us all and helped connect non-profit organizations nationally.
The tour is sponsored by Chicago Ideas Week, The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation and Californians for Safety and Justice.
ABOUT THE BAND
MDLR featuring Mike de la Rocha is an acoustic folk rock band with appealing melodies, emotional lyrics and heartfelt songs inspired by soul music, classic singer-songwriters and socially conscious artists like John Lennon and Bob Marley. Acclaimed artist and social activist Mike de la Rocha started the band in 2011 after teaming up with his cousin Milan de la Rocha to expand the reach and sound of his music. Since then, MDLR has won fans over by exploring different (and often challenging) musical textures while taking their brand of acoustic folk-rock all over the United States and Europe.
Since the release of “Moving Forward,” Mike’s debut EP in 2010, de la Rocha has landed some high-profile gigs as an opening act for the Clean Energy Tour with Pete Rock & CL Smooth, performed alongside John Forte, Jon Batiste, Cypress Hill and the Roots, performed on the Washington Mall, the Interdependence Day Conference in Berlin, Germany and Dublin, Ireland as well as other large scale events in Mexico, France, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Canada. Mike has been a featured artist for Rock the Vote, the nation’s preeminent nonpartisan voter registration organization, and has spoken at TED-x Venice Beach, Clinton Global Initiative, Catalyst Week and Chicago Ideas Week.
In 2013, MDLR featuring Mike de la Rocha released a live, full-length album capturing the essence and spirit of last year’s nationwide tour that brought people together in a new and exciting way to stimulate conversation, build community and inspire people to get involved in local and national efforts to positively change our world. Mike de la Rocha also has a solo record entitled “Moving Forward” that was released in 2010.