KEXP Invites You to Give Peace a Chance

Join KEXP on Friday, January 20th as we come together as a community in the Gathering Space for a Bed-In for Peace. Starting at 8:00 AM, we'll have live music from local artists Wimps, Tomo Nakayama, DoNormaal, Grace Love, and Gabriel Teodros culminating in a sing-along of "Give Peace a Chance" led by Sean Nelson at 9:00 AM. KEXP DJ Riz will MC the proceedings. Everyone from all cultures and communities is invited to join us for this event. Representatives from fellow non-profits Planned Parenthood, The Vera Project, ACLU of Washington, TeenTix, Gender Justice League, Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas, and Office of Arts and Culture will be on site with more information about their respective organizations. They'll also be on the air throughout the week; see the schedule below:

For those not familiar, we were inspired by the original Bed-In held March 20, 1969 by Yoko Ono and John Lennon. As the Vietnam War raged, Yoko and John knew their marriage would be a huge press event. So, they held a two-week-long bed in for peace, one at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam and one at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, each of which was intended to be non-violent protests against wars, and experimental tests of new ways to promote peace. The idea is derived from a "sit-in", in which a group of protesters remains seated in front of an establishment until they are evicted, arrested, or their demands are met. One of the things that they also wanted was to treat these serious issues with humor, as to them a “Bed-In” was humorous. Yoko stated “our opposition, whoever they may be, in all manifest forms, don’t know how to handle humor.”

We are for love, we are for peace, and that means supporting the rights and dignity and freedom of any individual or group, including minority groups as defined by race, sexual orientation, or religion. We stand with them under a big, inclusive umbrella. We do this with the spirit of John and Yoko and we do this with our hope that every last person on earth can achieve peace with one another.