NASHVILLE |DATE: DECEMBER 7, 2010
FROM: MARCEE RONDAN/MITCH SCHNEIDER/ANGELA VILLANUEVA
MICKEY LEIGH
RELEASES ANTI-BULLYING
VIDEO FOR VINTAGE RATTLERS’ SONG
“I WON’T BE YOUR VICTIM”
THE MUSICIAN/AUTHOR/PRODUCER
HOPES TO SPREAD MESSAGE OF SUPPORT
“I won’t be your victim, anymore.”
–MICKEY LEIGH
Musician/author/producer MICKEY LEIGH* is hoping to spread his message of support to victims of bullying with a newly created video for “I Won’t Be Your Victim,” a song (he co-wrote) by The Rattlers, the NYC band he formed in 1979. With this stirring and thought-provoking video that utilizes archival footage of social and political bullying through the ages, LEIGH is also hoping to prevent future bullycides (teenage suicides caused by bullying). View the video here: http://mickeyleigh.com/?p=385.
The “I Won’t Be Your Victim” clip includes brutal scenes of bullying from the civil rights movement through the recent rash of teenage bullying, to same-sex marriage struggles and victimizations of peoples from the Catholic Church. Other images of victimization–as a result of the Gulf Coast’s 2005 hurricane devastation and 2010 oil spill, plus the economic downturn–are compellingly shown in the video.
The powerful clip begins with an homage to recent bullycide victims and concludes with a positive statement of “love” and messages of hope from other anti-hate supporters including Ellen DeGeneres and Tim Gunn.
“I'd rather bang on my guitar than a person—only thing I might hurt is my hand,” LEIGH says in the intro to the video. “The strong who take advantage of the weak are cowards, bullies. I wrote this song about standing up to them,” and adds that he created “this video to spread that spirit. Make it better, or let it get worse. Other bullies might attempt to prevent this message from being spread…”
* Born in New York City, LEIGH’s musical journey began at 10. By age 12, he had recorded his first album, produced by his brother Jeff, who would later become known as Joey Ramone. As a musician in the 1970’s through the 1990’s, his bands became known for music described by reviewers as neo-garage punk incorporating elements of jazz, country and pop. At the same time, LEIGH’s writing has appeared in publications such as Coney Island High Times, NY Waste, Audio Review and Time Out NY. He was editor and publisher of Coney Island High Times, and his column “My Guitar is Pregnant” in NY Waste featured prominently in that publication’s selection for a Best of NY Press award. His first book, I Slept with Joey Ramone (A Family Memoir) was released in December 2009 and published by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. Since his brother’s death in 2001, he has produced The Joey Ramone Birthday Bash, an annual non-profit NYC event celebrating his brother’s life and work. He is also a founder/chairman of The Joey Ramone Foundation for Lymphoma Research. LEIGH is currently reforming STOP (his mid-90s band), with plans to reissue the original CD and record material written over the past decade.
For more information on MICKEY LEIGH, please visit: http://MICKEYLEIGH.com/. For more information on anti-bullying, please visit www.itgetsbetterproject.com and www.glaad.org.
###
MSO PRESS CONTACTS:
Marcee Rondan 818-380-0400 x248 marcee@msopr.com
Mitch Schneider 818-380-0400 x235 mschneider@msopr.com
Angela Villanueva 818-380-0400 x232 avillanueva@msopr.com
http://
