May 30, 1964: Tom Morello Born
Courtesy: www.guitaronthedge.co.uk
On this day in 1964, Tom Morello was born in 1964. The guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, and The Nightwatchman (his solo side project), emerged as a guitar virtuoso with Rage’s self-titled debut album and is as well-known for his controversial political views as he is for his playing. When I saw Rage at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium in 1999, I had to walk through a Fraternal Order of Police protest formed because of the band’s advocacy for the release of Leonard Peltier, an activist with the American Indian Movement who was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a shoot-out at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Below is the video to “Freedom”, which explains the band’s views on that particular case.