99 artists and 99 songs for $9.99. 99 metric tons of subtly-free symbolism crushing anyone willing to support the 99%. On May 15, Music For Occupy, a group claiming to be “in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street,” released Occupy This Album, a 4-disk compilation of previously unreleased tracks featuring several never-before-heard artists. Surprisingly, this supposed amalgamation of folk nonsense has attracted a disproportionate amount of media attention—Rolling Stone even called it an “A-list soundtrack” of the Occupy movement.

“What you call protest music, I like to call movement music,” said founder of Music For Occupy and executive producer of Occupy This Album Jason Samel. While the vast reach of the compilation lacks any form of cohesiveness that would be required for a solid LP, Samel’s idea holds true—each artist on the album donated a song to the movement without concern for the time spent or lack money earned. This box set is the product of a movement, not individual performers criticizing The Man.

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Last night, the Lannan Center Spring Symposium and Literary Festival hosted its first event, proposing a “Blueprint for Accountability” to address the destructive effects of “The Wall Street-Washington Connection.” The event featured a panel of progressive leaders, dramatic readings, and short documentaries that tackled the economic crisis and the relationship of corporate and political power.

The panel was supposed to be moderated by MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan, but due to a last-minute cancellation, MSNBC political analyst Karen Finney led the dialogue. Panelists included former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, Rolling Stone political reporter Matt Taibbi, award-winning journalist and author Ron Suskind, environmental advocate Van Jones, liberal policy advocate Heather McGhee, and Occupy Wall Street protester Jesse LaGreca.

Each topic for the panel was introduced by a short documentary, ranging from “Crash,” which highlighted the causes and effects of the economic crash of 2008, to “Conflict of Interest,” which discussed the tension between Wall Street and Washington and proposed ways to move forward. In addition to the films, actors Anna Khaja (of True Blood), Charles Parnell (All My Children), and Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me) performed dramatic readings during the evening. Khaja theatrically read the story of a woman unable to receive loan modifications in order to pay her mortgage. Pasquale’s performance stressed the importance of voter awareness to understand both sides of the current economic divide.

Parnell’s dramatic reading addressed the issue of poverty, in which he exclaimed:

This is America’s opportunity to help bridge the gap between the haves and have nots, the question is whether America will do it. There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.

During the panel discussions, LaGreca, the comedian of the group, compared the idea of Wall Street self-regulation to letting zoo animals regulate themselves. Jones stressed economic justice for both sides and the impact of economic decline on the middle class, stating, “The very pillars that we were told were the pillars we were supposed to use to get out of poverty, to build the middle class, those are the two pillars that are being used to crush us—home ownership and a college education.”

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