Interview: Daniel J. Watts' THE JAM Will Terrorize With Love

Daniel J. Watts, the poet/performer/activist currently in HAMILTON, was en route to midtown after teaching a spoken word class to public school students at NYU, where he's an adjunct. "I have so much going on this week," he understated. A concert titled "The Jam: Love Terrorists," will feature The InnerView, a rousing band that will perform a benefit to raise funds for LGBT communities in Florida. The performance will take place July 31 at Webster Hall.

"I'm having a totally good time," he said before a rehearsal. The Jam was so named in homage to his great-grandmother, who was passionate about making jam from scratch. What she didn't personally use she distributed to friends.

"The idea of bringing together artists for The Jam came out of boredom after doing a show in Seattle," Watts said with a laugh. "I've always written for myself," he said. "Stream of consciousness, poems, and I shared a few with friends. Then I had the idea of taking and adding to the pieces and adding performers.

"People dance, sing, play piano or go bare bones," he said of past performances. The concert with the InnerView band will include lead vocalist Derrick Baskin, drummer/vocalist Ephraim Sykes, guitarist/vocalist Taharqa Patterson, bass player/vocalist Voltaire Wade-Greene, and keyboard player Taylor Williams. Beyoncé's music director and bassist Divinity Roxx also joins the bill. Cast members from HAMILTON, SHUFFLE ALONG and ON YOUR FEET will perform. Preston Dugger III, aka DJ Duggz, will spin throughout the evening.

Watts, a prolific writer, culls much of his subject matter from recent news events. "I cover all kinds of different topics," Watts explained. "From the stresses of life to family to social consciousness issues. There's no lack of social issues to write about.

"My idea is that we are terrorists of love, tough love maybe, but love. After Orlando, New Orleans, Minneapolis, we need a little love. We're killing with affection, annihilating with construction," he said.

Watts decided to dedicate the July performance to Orlando's gay community after an ex-girlfriend asked him if he had written anything about Orlando after the Pulse night club massacre. "For some reason, her asking me about it inspired me. You can't help who you love," he said.

Funds raised will go to Equality Florida, representing the LGBT community in Florida and the Community Center of Central Florida.

Everyone's awareness about LGBT rights and sexism should be raised, Watts said. "We're all complicit," he said of making inappropriate judgments. "It's easy for me to feel I'm a compassionate person, and sometimes I have to check myself. I'm a black male and I engage in certain kinds of jokes maybe I shouldn't be. You can't whistle at girls; it's inappropriate. Freedom of speech doesn't protect you from offending someone else," he said.

"We have to focus on similarities we all have instead of how we're different from other people," he said. What do we have in common with others? "Positive energy can be transferred from one person to another. Say you show up and I'm really angry and you won the lottery," he cited. "Either you're going to gravitate to my anger or you can kill me with kindness.

"My friend Martina Sykes, a performer in MOTOWN, collects money and clothes and food for the homeless," Watts said. "She started the heART Mission, and each city they played in she did this. That's a love terrorist," he said.

"We're all in this together, trying to figure out why we're here," Watts said, "and we're all driving in our own lane until we collide with someone else."

Watts grew up in Indian Trail, a small town outside of Charlotte, N.C., in the middle of what was confederate country. "My history teacher had a confederate flag on the wall. She'd say it was 'heritage, not hate,' but it's embedded in hate," he said. "Growing up around that atmosphere people don't understand homosexuality, but you can't help who you love."

Watts points to social media as the common denominator that exposes injustice worldwide. "We're able to document these things in real time. We're being bombarded with the bad stuff-police shootings and terrorism," Watts said.

"We're being shown a mirror of ourselves and we need to face the demon. We've got work to do," he said. "I think love and compassion is part of the solution along with education."

Watts is still stunned by the HAMILTON juggernaut. He was a cast member of IN THE HEIGHTS when Lin-Manuel Miranda was working on what was going to be a concept album. "I knew it was going to be crazy but I didn't think it would be this crazy," Watts said.

"This is astronomical," he said. "Like a roller coaster coming to the end of the ride-Going to the White House, Prince randomly inviting us to a party a month before he passed, a construction worker on the subway listening to "Yorktown," a song from the show. It's been amazing," Watts said.

Watts said he is confident the Broadway community will come out in droves for the July 31 concert. "This version of 'The Jam: Love Terrorists' is a little bit bigger than usual."

"The Jam: Love Terrorists," in association with WattsWords Productions and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, will be performed at 8 p.m. on July 31 at Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street.

Photo credit: Travis Magee