Brooklyn brothers-in-ears

I had no business being on that stage. A crowd had gathered at The Hive NYC, a rough-hewn art space in Bushwick, Brooklyn to show solidarity with Sound Central, Afghanistan's first rock music festival since 1975. The organizer Daniel Gerstle asked me to say a few words along with stories from Faisal and Marwan of the Iraqi metal band Accrassicauda and Shayan of The Casualty Process.

Monica Racic, a correspondent from the New Yorker was there to capture it, along with photographer Michael Marquand who captured this wonderful portrait of my brother-in-ears (thank you to the enchanting musical saw player Sarah Zar for the expression).