Season 2 / Episode 35 – Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet

Watch Episode 35 Hold On

It’s all about holding on in the face of the oppressive forces confronting us. Holding on while we resist the violence and injustice – racial injustice, climate injustice, social injustice – with hope. And with song. Now, as in the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s, music is a way to bond and unify us in whatever acts of peaceful resistance we can muster. No act is too small to confront the enormity of the evils we face. Email your Representative, talk to friends and family, boycott businesses that enable the corruption, above all VOTE. And by all means, sing.

SINGER-SONGWRITERS

James Kahn is a novelist, screenwriter, singer-songwriter, and one of the producers of Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet. His main focus over the last ten years has been music, and in particular the way it can be both inspired by, and effect changes in, social and climate injustice. His hope is that, as in the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s, music can guide our way to resisting the forces of chaos in society.

Harriet Jerusha Korim, one of the Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet producers, is a lifelong social justice activist, multi-media artist, and singer-songwriter. Celebrated for her human rights work and deeply involved in the climate justice movement, she brings them together in her rendition of the Lu Aya song, “I Can’t Breathe,” commenting on the suffocation being experienced both by oppressed people and a choking planet.

International film star Samuel L. Jackson issues a musical challenge to everyone who’s risen to “ice water” challenges on social media in the past: Sing the song “We ain’t gonna stop ’til people are free.” Then, as part of the challenge, he sings it himself – bringing meaning and substance to the usual social media platform blather.

Lu Aya graduated from Fordham University with a degree in Peace and Justice Studies. He is a poet, journalist, and organizer, performing at rallies, in hospitals, and in prisons, working with communities for collective healing and liberation, using music and poetry in the struggle for human rights.

Lea Morris’s origins are in the Baptist church of Baltimore. A singer-songwriter, educator, and choir director, she travels the world sharing songs and experiences to connect hearts and communities. Her uplifting, gospel-inspired music brings people together with hope and joy, in a world that needs healing.

Cool Tunes for a Hot Planet Produced By

Jack Cochran

Pamela Falkenberg

Purly Rae Gates

Seth Handelman

James Kahn

Harriet Jerusha Korim

Mark Lagerwey

Warren Senders

SONG CREDITS – EPISODE 35

Daryl Lowery, sax

Tom Beaver, keyboards, trumpet, flugelbone

Nashid Abdul-Khaaliq, bass

Roscoe Hamer, drums

Rick Arnoldi, guitar, producer

Paul Arnold, engineer

Recorded at Newbury Sound, Boston, 1985

Spoken Welcome: Purly Rae Gates

Cold Dawn

Produced by David West for Play Ball! Musical Services

(www.davidwest.com)

Recorded by David West at The Million Cellar, Santa Barbara, Ca.

Mixed and mastered by Emmet Sargeant at Beagle Studios, Santa Barbara, Ca.

Cold Dawn –

J Kahn – lead vocal

David West – harmony vocals, electric guitars, Nat’ steel guitars, electric bass

Brian Mann – accordion

Tom Ball – harmonica

Kevin Winard – drums

Singing Resistance Segment

Video Footage: Minneapolis January 2026

I Can’t Breathe – The Peace Poets

Peace Poets Singers:

Abraham “Abe” Velazquez Jr. (featured prominently in the video)
Lu Aya
Ezra “H” Berkley
Nadia Colburn
Ryan “Rogue” Vonn

I Can’t Breathe – Samuel L. Jackson

facebook video 2014

I Can’t Breathe – Harriet Jerusha Korim

vocals by Jerushko

lead guitar and arrangement by Rick Arnoldi

with assistance and additional instrumentation by Brian Morris

permanent wave records,

Pononakanet, Massachusetts

images (and details of images) by jerushko and sara blandford of artpeacemakers; roger peet, chip thomas (aka jetsonorama) and jess X snow of justseeds.org; Jane Mutiny, banksy and the late Jerome Friar;

other artists include photographers working with Getty Images, gratefully used under non-commercial fair-use provisions, for non-profit educational purposes only, #NoD

APL Archive

Only One Love

Vocals, handclaps – Leah Morris

Hold On

Heidi Wilson

Written by Heidi Wilson. Sung by protesters in Minneapolis, January 2026.

– lyrics & melody by Heidi Wilson.
© 2026 by author. All rights reserved.

@wilsonheidiann as shared by Singing Resistance TC, sung here by the collected voices of our weekend workshop in Talybont, Mid Wales

Podcast Host: Warren Senders

Intern: Janelle Chang

Video/ Audio Support:

Outlier Moving Pictures – Pam Falkenberg and Jack Cochran