Michael Franti & Spearhead are coming back to Durango for a birthday party.
It’s not just any birthday or any old party: KSUT turns 40 this year, and it is capping off its series of concerts and events with a celebration Saturday at Three Springs.
The party will feature a day of live music, starting first with the Afrobeatniks, then Zella Day, and finally with Franti & Spearhead taking the stage at 5.
The Afrobeatniks, from Mancos, will kick the day off at 2 p.m. with its blend of afrobeat, latin jazz, funk and rock.
Special guest singer-songwriter Zella Day, from Pinetop, Arizona, who is playing multiple dates with Franti and Spearhead as part of their SOULROCKER tour, is next up at 3:30.
At 5 p.m., it’s time for the big show.
The choice to invite Franti to headline ensures a high-energy, thought-provoking show.
Franti, known as much for his humanitarianism and advocacy as much as his music, brings to his songs a sense of positivity that’s contagious.
But that positivity is something Franti himself has to work at.
“I go through ups and downs like anybody else and find my life and the world to be incredibly challenging,” he told writer Jaime Becktel in an interview this week for DGO. “I believe in the power of positivity and that it isn’t something you’re just born with. You have to practice, like shooting free throws, or getting good at playing darts or anything else. If day after day you say positive things to others, practice positive thoughts toward yourself and take positive actions, it becomes easier for that to be your default mode.”
Along with working at being positive, Franti said unity is important, too.
“The support we have for our neighbors, the way we talk to each other, the way we treat each other, the music we share, the food we eat and the experiences we have together – finding reasons to bring people together is so important now because there’s so many things pulling us apart,” he said in DGO. “That’s really why I make music … because I care about people and the planet.”
