According to Stereogum, former Sonic Youth co-leader, Thurston Moore is the latest artist to jump onto the support train for Chelsea Manning (Born Edward Manning), the former US Army soldier who is currently sitting in prison over her involvement with the leaking of classified information to WikiLeaks, the site dedicated to posting and commenting about leaked government and corporate misconduct.
Chelsea Manning, who is being held at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas since 2013, was born Bradley Edward Manning, but underwent hormone replacement therapy while being locked up, and a little over a week ago we discovered that she will be the first to undergo gender-affirming surgery while in prison. It’s been a long battle by the ACLU to get this moved in the right direction, and although this is a victory on Manning’s part, some still feel she is being treated wrongfully. Over the past few weeks several artists, including Michael Stipe, and a handful of others, have recorded songs and video messages in order to support the fair treatment of former Pvt. Manning in jail, Thurston Moore is the most recent to release a support piece for Chelsea.
Moore is never one to turn away from social or political issues, having recently made a song with former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and this time is no different. Today he announced his newest track “Chelsea’s Kiss”, which will show up on the A-side of a Cassette Store Day single he will release, along with another song titled “Sad Saturday”.
Moore will be giving partial of the proceeds to the Chelsea Manning Support Network, earmarking it for the defense of Manning. The new tape will include a double sided J-card with the phrase “Free Chelsea Manning” on the inside as well, and will be a limited edition release of only 1000 copies on October 8th.
Leave a Comment