Everything Under The Sun: Kevin Bacon Meets The Bomb Squad

Monday, August 22, 2016

Kevin Bacon Meets The Bomb Squad

Kevin Bacon having a discussion with members of The Bomb Squad, part of Young Chicago Authors.

Kevin Bacon has been travelling around with his band, THE BACON BROTHERS, and recently made a stop in the Chicago area. But instead of just relaxing and waiting around by a hotel pool, he found out about a group of Chicago youth, YOUNG CHICAGO AUTHORS, an organization which strives to make a difference in the lives of youth through giving them outlets with writing, performance, and publication education.

Mr. Bacon stopped by the organization's city location to meet with these young artists. All of the young people are members of the BOMB SQUAD, a youth collective of poets under the auspices of Young Chicago Authors, which performs every Friday night.

Kevin has been conducting these meetings with small, grassroots organizations near some of the concert venues where the group performs. The idea is to give support to these smaller groups that don't receive the level of publicity that larger nonprofits can afford.

Members of The Bomb Squad expressed appreciation that someone of the caliber of Kevin Bacon would have a conversation with members of their group. Kevin talked about his experience writing song lyrics since he was a child, so he was able to appreciate the ability of poets to paint word pictures. He also said that he had never written a stand-alone poem, that his words had always been accompanied by music. He expressed a great appreciation for the talent of these young people, who could move people with their words.

Jahnari Pruitt expressed some of her feelings about being part of The Bomb Squad, "Bomb Squad: These are my family, and it's just so amazing to be around this group of people who share the same love of words and their stories, and it's just a magnificent atmosphere. Everyone is just so welcoming, it's a family.

Then Kevin Coval added, "We believe in re-authoring the world. That's certainly the way the world is constructed and who gets to tell history is problematic - white supremacists - and one of the things that we were trying to do is create a much broader, democratic space for young people. And in the space of Louder Than a Bomb and even in the room today, you really heard a much more inclusive spectrum of what it means to live in Chicago as a young person in this moment."

Members of The Bomb Squad with Kevin Bacon (back center).

Kevin's takeaway was his appreciation about being able to meet with the young people served by this organization, "The payback, for me, just from an experiential standpoint, is huge. To be able to see what this organization is doing, to see what these kids are doing, and saying, and writing about and speaking about is - I'll never forget."