by Gray Trammel
For Seattle musician Mike Frazier, music can feed a community. On Nov. 24, Frazier and several local artists will take the stage at Tractor Tavern for a benefit concert supporting Ballard Food Bank, which served over 127,000 people in 2024-2025.
Music has become a way for Frazier to build connections that extend far beyond the stage. Since moving to Seattle from Virginia four years ago, he found himself increasingly involved in the city’s music and organizing communities, where performing at rallies and benefits has become another way to participate in the causes he cares about. Now, he is bringing those passions together to support Ballard Food Bank, where he has volunteered for the past two years, and which distributed 4.5 million pounds of food in 2024.
“I think that place is, without a doubt, the most hopeful, beautiful place I’ve ever walked into. It’s really pure communal work. At its core, it’s simply just neighbors looking out for neighbors, taking care of one another,” Frazier told TtS.
Frazier’s involvement in Seattle’s local music scene eventually transpired into performing at actions, including those organized by Seattle Against War (SAW). Frazier said his introduction to the group came during an emergency rally following the murder of Renee Good. He later performed at a “Hands Off Venezuela” rally organized by SAW at the Federal Building, eventually becoming involved with the group beyond performing.
“I think inherently music is just so deeply human, and that sense of community around music really helps with political movements,” Frazier said.
In addition to working with SAW, Frazier has performed a benefit for La Resistancia, and at a No Kings event with DefundMusk. He also performed at a No Azure for Apartheid rally at Microsoft’s campus, and said he has seen how music can bring together people from different backgrounds around shared concerns.
“I go to these rallies, I sing at these protests, and I’m like, “Wow, there’s so many people here from all walks of life, and they all care,’” he said.
For Frazier, that sense of connection and community is extremely valuable at a time when people can feel overwhelmed by fascist regimes through a constant stream of negative news and social media. He encourages people to participate in their communities, whether through volunteering, joining an organization, or simply showing up to an event, because those daily actions are a collective responsibility.
That idea will come together for the “Mike Frazier & Friends,” benefit concert, which will feature Small Paul, Chico Detour, Townsend’s Solitaire, and the MF Family Band, with Troy Nelson serving as host. The show starts at 7 p.m., and tickets are $25.
The concert is an opportunity to turn connections built through music into support for an organization doing hard work in the community, and Frazier told TtS that the idea that people do not care about one another is worth challenging.
“The bastards want us to think that no one cares, but most people do,” Frazier said.
TtS is fully-funded by readers just like you. Consider donating today.
Leave a Reply