Shredding, and Whomping, For A Good Cause

This column originally appeared on June 22, 2008

The Downingtown Friends Meetinghouse has stood humbly but elegantly on Lancaster Avenue since 1806. Through its 200-plus years it has watched as horse-and-carriages went and motorized automobiles came, has heard graceful and joyful words of prayer spoken within its walls, and has gazed as grey-haired worshipers it recognized once as tow-headed babes sat in devoted silence.

Chances are, however, that the meetinghouse had never seen the likes of Kalico Jack, until Friday evening.

That would be Kalico Jack the fledgling rock band put together by three young but surprisingly accomplished musicians: Kieran Ferris, John Thayer and Nathaniel Vito.

The trio delighted a crowd of about 40 people who gathered in the driveway of the meetinghouse as they shredded and whomped and strummed through a set of about a dozen songs, from covers of cuts by Velvet Revolver and Blink-182 to a good number of originals, and one oldie, Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl.” The band members — friends and relatives of one another — chatted amiably with the crowd, wondering what songs they liked the most, recalling stories about past gigs, and describing how they came up with the title to their soon-to-be-chart-topping song, “Kiwi Blossom.”

And as much fun as the audience had seeing the band wail on in the shadow of the stately meetinghouse, the experience was made all the more enjoyable for its underlying purpose. The members of Kalico Jack had asked to put on the show to help raise money for an Iraqi exchange student who is trying to stay here in Chester County and out of the harm that almost surely awaits him if he were to return home to Baghdad.

The teenager, who lives with his host family in Chester Springs, came to the United States last fall for his junior year of high school through a U.S. State Department program that was designed to improve relations between Muslim countries and America. But after living here awhile, he learned that other Iraqi students who had participated in this program in past years found themselves and their families in grave danger upon returning home.

According to the teen’s host mother, “one young man was abducted and his family forced to pay a ransom, and he now lives in Spain without his family. Another young man’s brother was shot and killed. He now lives in Pennsylvania without his family.” The teen realized that it would be too dangerous to return to Iraq, and has applied for political asylum.

His plight came to the attention of the Downingtown Meeting, and its members agreed (“wildly,” according to one source) to support the young man in his quest to stay. Fundraisers like the Kalico Jack concert have been held, and the Downingtown members have ponied up to defray the costs of the teen’s attendance at Westtown School in the fall.

It says something frightening about our world that a young person who travels to another country to bridge a gap between two cultures could be subjected to violence and hatred for the simple act of traveling there. And it says something comforting that a small community like the Downingtown Friends Meeting could embrace that same young person and help him stay alive and well. As the Iraqi teen’s host mother said in her thanks to the meeting: “Your help has prevented one more casualty of war.”

If you would like to help, donations can be sent to Downingtown Friends Meeting, 800 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, PA 19335. Let them know it’s for the Iraqi Student Program.

And by the way, it’s pronounced Ka-LEE-co Jack. Just so you know.