Music music music on display at Source Material on Friday. Still more music music music music music. Justin Farmer reached into a Stop Shop bag filled with CDs on Friday and pulled out album after album of his favorite music, laying each plastic case along a table in Westville’s Source Mat erial art gallery. There was The Fugees’ 1996 hip-hop hit The Score. Next to John Mayer’s 2001 soft-rocking Room for Squares. Next to Boyz II Men’s Full Circle and Norah Jones’ Not Too Late and The Chemical Brothers’ Dig Your Own Hole and The Best of the Grateful Dead. “I have nearly 20,000 favorite songs,” Farmer said. From a wide range of genres and artists. “People just see these headphones and they’re like, ‘I know what Justin’s listening to.'” They think it’s got to be hip hop. They’re often wrong. Farmer then found his copy of George Michael’s 1987 pop album Faith and smiled, turning to see who he could tell all about it. In addition to loving music, Farmer is also running for state representative. He’s in the closing stretch of a heated three-way race for the Democratic nomination for the 92nd General Assembly District seat, alongside incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon and fellow challenger Eli Sabin. The primary is on Aug. 11. Thus far this campaign season, Farmer has sought to distinguish himself from his political opponents primarily by embracing his activist bona fides. A longtime social, racial, and environmental justice organizer, Farmer — a former three-term Hamden Legislative Council member who now lives in Westville — has been endorsed by the Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). On the campaign trail he’s talked about his support for Right to Counsel and Fair Rent Commissions, his fight against prison gerrymandering, his advocacy for elder care, his centering of mental health in conversations about public safety. He’s also spoken about his own lived experience with Tourette’s Syndrome, about how his two older brothers were deported back to their native Jamaica. On Friday, he embraced a different style of politics — one focused on sharing culture through music. He organized a music-listening and CD-burning party at Source Material, nico w. okoro’s new art gallery right next to Manjares cafe on West Rock Avenue. On the one hand, listening to music together — and handling CDs in particular — provides plenty of opportunities for policy talk, Farmer said. Top of mind for him was how artificial intelligence is “stealing people’s knowledge production,” including that of artists. He also spoke about the monopolistic stranglehold that Ticketmaster has on live shows. On the other hand, there’s what particular songs and albums represent. The Fugees’ The Score, he said, is pro-Black. “It had struggle music.” It talked honestly about the challenges that Asian and Black communities face living together. The hit song “Killing Me Softly” showed how “it doesn’t have to be the hard blow” that cuts the deepest. Thanks to Lauryn Hill’s vocal and lyrical prowess, it centered women in hip hop. It’s “an amazing album that made them wealthy and that is relatable today.” On the other other hand, music is just the best. A great way to meet people and spend time with friends and just enjoy one another’s company. A political project in its own right. Erik Kuranko, a 36-year-old Vista Terrace resident and DSA member, biked down to Source Material to chat and listen to music in advance of a planned canvassing outing for Farmer’s campaign on Saturday. A disabled veteran who served in the Marines in Afghanistan in 2011, Kuranko said his experience overseas made him “very anti-war.” “I’m well aware of the destructive capacity of the military,” he said. Kuranko described Farmer as being “the tip of the spear” among local politicians in speaking out against Israel’s “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza. He praised Hamden’s ceasefire resolution as being the first in the state, and one of the first in the country. Favorite songs? Black Sabbath’s heavy metal anti-war anthem “War Pigs,” Kuranko replied. “I’ve sung that at karaoke,” he laughed. And “Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)” by John Lennon. What does he like about that song? “It’s directly to the point,” Kuranko said, quoting its chorus of, “Free the people now. Do it, do it, do it, do it now.” Another attendee at Friday’s small meetup, Heidi Oyuela, said she first met Farmer when she was 16. She’s since gone off to college, majored in political science, graduated, and moved back to New Haven — and now lives in the 92nd District. She heard Farmer was running for office and came out because she wanted to learn more about his campaign and how she could help. A favorite song of hers now? “Walking on a Dream” by Empire of a Sun, she said. “Just the energy,” she replied when asked what she likes about the song. Its techno pop brightness is perfect for the summer. okoro, who runs the gallery, said she opened up the space for Farmer’s campaign event in part because of how close she’s become with Farmer’s campaign treasurer, Joe Shortsleeve, and his family, who live a few doors down. She said she liked the idea of hosting a candidate’s music-listening event as it wasn’t necessarily “political by nature,” but instead more about “sharing culture.” What CD would she put on if she got to pick the soundtrack for Friday night? She said she has only one CD — Spice World — a gift by a friend to her 4-year-old son. “‘Wannabe’ is one of his jams,” she said. The album she’s actually been listening to the most as of late, however, has been Jill Scott’s To Whom This May Concern — the RB artist’s first record in more than a decade. It has “a lot of songs that feel like anthems,” okoro said. Plus, it marks a “comeback” for a female artist who has spent some years away from the limelight, living her life, and is now back and singing about what she’s experienced. That feels political somehow, too. Oh, and before I forget, some of the songs that Farmer played at Friday’s meetup — not actually on a CD player, but through the offline music app Musicolet and a JBL speaker — included “Another Night” by Aretha Franklin, “Distant Lover” by Marvin Gaye, “Not Like Crazy” by Jill Scott, “Minute by Minute” by Girl Talk, “Cosmic Love” by Florence + the Machine, and “Forgive them Father” by Lauryn Hill. Erik Kuranko: Likes Sam Cooke, loves “War Pigs.” Elizabeth Nearing, nico w. okoro, Bani Singh, and Nate Fox at Friday’s meetup. Carlos and Heidi Oyuela with Farmer. DJ Farmer, that is. The post Farmer Pumps Up The Jams appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less