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David LaMotte

Musician, Speaker, Author

Abraham Jam: making the case that harmony > unity

  A Muslim, a Jew, and a Christian walk into a recording studio… It’s no joke. Actually, it’s the musical project that is capturing most of my energy and imagination these days.  My long-time friend Billy Jonas, who is Jewish, and my dear friend Dawud Wharnsby, who is Muslim, and me, a Quakerterian Christian, have […]

King’s relevance today

The folks at the Black Mountain News asked if I would offer some thoughts on the relevance of Martin Luther King’s teaching and legacy to today’s circumstance.  This is the article they published on January 31, in advance of the town’s  MLK Breakfast on Feb. 10. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. came to prominence in […]

My TEDx talk

Hi friends, My TEDx talk has just been released, and I’m happy that I can finally share it with folks who weren’t there. Check it out, and let me know what you think…

Nailing stuff to my house…

I have learned to pay attention to the words, “Somebody oughta…” It is universally acknowledged that the United States is at a particularly divisive point in our history. Not, as some have said, the most divisive (try the early sixties or the Civil or Revolutionary wars), but definitely a hard time. It’s leaving me wondering […]

Wrapping up my Nobel work…

Thanks to the Black Mountain News and Asheville Citizen-Times for deeming this story worth their time, attention, paper and ink… Local resident and internationally acclaimed musician David LaMotte in November completed his sixth and final year on the American Friends Service Committee’s Nobel Peace Prize nominating committee. As he describes it, the experience has been […]

The KKK has announced a march. How do we respond?

On November 10, 2016, The Loyal White Knights of Pelham, a North Carolina branch of the Ku Klux Klan, announced a “Victory Klavalkade Klan Parade” to take place on Dec. 3rd, 2016.  The stated purpose of the march is to celebrate Donald Trump’s victory and the sense of validation they have gained from it. As […]

Home from Alaska, my 50th state

On Monday night I returned to North Carolina from a ten-day run of events in California and Alaska.  It was a wonderful trip, and even had some downtime in it, which is not always the case in my crazy schedule.  

It also marked my fiftieth state to perform in professionally.  Having offered concerts in Anchorage […]

Hospitality in my digital living room

In my line of work, I get to move through a lot of different spaces. Not only geographically, but socio-economically as well. I spend time with folks who are quite wealthy, and folks who are extremely poor, people of various skin tones, political persuasions, identities, nationalities, orientations, abilities, and challenges. I treasure that, and I […]