Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Prayers for the Sioux

Cholo-goth singer Rafa Reyes visits Standing Rock

Rafa Reyes (center): “I had to get outside myself and do something about fossil-fuel corporations that are controlling our government.”
Rafa Reyes (center): “I had to get outside myself and do something about fossil-fuel corporations that are controlling our government.”

Prayers frontman Rafa Reyes was one of many musicians among the thousands protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline near Bismarck, North Dakota.

Picket signs

“I didn’t tell anybody. I just woke up the day after Thanksgiving and took off.”

Reyes said buying last-minute air fare is not cheap. He says the San Diego/Minneapolis/Bismarck jaunt cost about $700 each way.

Vigil

“I knew if I told my family they’d be worried. I have two strikes. And they showed on the media how they will be arresting people and that it would be a felony. I can’t afford to get a third.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“A friend who I met on Facebook who I had never met before picked me up at the Bismarck airport. She had been there over a month.”

Fellow locals Jason Mraz (Oceanside) and Joel Rafael (Valley Center) played a fundraising concert November 27 with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt at nearby Fort Yates. “Cholo-goth” frontman Reyes only went to show support.

The concert and ongoing protest are in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which is trying to stop the pipeline that would run through their sacred grounds.

“I never camped before in my life,” Reyes says. “It was, like, 20 degrees. It feels like sharp knives hitting your face.”

“I never camped before in my life,” Reyes says. “It was, like, 20 degrees. It feels like sharp knives hitting your face.”

But Reyes says it was worth it. “It was very humbling. I needed to get outside of myself and do something about monstrous fossil-fuel corporations that are controlling our government, and show that we won’t stand for police brutality and abuse of power.”

Reyes says there was tension in the air. “People were getting pepper-sprayed. There was militarized police. There was barbed-wire everywhere. There were burned-out cars on the side of the road. It looked like a battlefield after a war.”

Protestors ready for battle

Reyes says he heard one Bismarck local spew a racist slur to his black friend. “The white community in Bismarck was really in opposition. The pipeline was originally going to go through Bismarck. They rejected it. Now it’s supposed to run through Standing Rock.”

Reyes said his trip was just four days.

“I had to get back. We have to turn in music for the movie Low Rider. Plus I had to fire our management.” He says Tool manager Dino Parades is now handling Prayers management.

“Our old management just had too many acts. They were stretched too thin. We agreed it was best [Prayers] go with new people.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Rafa Reyes (center): “I had to get outside myself and do something about fossil-fuel corporations that are controlling our government.”
Rafa Reyes (center): “I had to get outside myself and do something about fossil-fuel corporations that are controlling our government.”

Prayers frontman Rafa Reyes was one of many musicians among the thousands protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline near Bismarck, North Dakota.

Picket signs

“I didn’t tell anybody. I just woke up the day after Thanksgiving and took off.”

Reyes said buying last-minute air fare is not cheap. He says the San Diego/Minneapolis/Bismarck jaunt cost about $700 each way.

Vigil

“I knew if I told my family they’d be worried. I have two strikes. And they showed on the media how they will be arresting people and that it would be a felony. I can’t afford to get a third.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“A friend who I met on Facebook who I had never met before picked me up at the Bismarck airport. She had been there over a month.”

Fellow locals Jason Mraz (Oceanside) and Joel Rafael (Valley Center) played a fundraising concert November 27 with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt at nearby Fort Yates. “Cholo-goth” frontman Reyes only went to show support.

The concert and ongoing protest are in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which is trying to stop the pipeline that would run through their sacred grounds.

“I never camped before in my life,” Reyes says. “It was, like, 20 degrees. It feels like sharp knives hitting your face.”

“I never camped before in my life,” Reyes says. “It was, like, 20 degrees. It feels like sharp knives hitting your face.”

But Reyes says it was worth it. “It was very humbling. I needed to get outside of myself and do something about monstrous fossil-fuel corporations that are controlling our government, and show that we won’t stand for police brutality and abuse of power.”

Reyes says there was tension in the air. “People were getting pepper-sprayed. There was militarized police. There was barbed-wire everywhere. There were burned-out cars on the side of the road. It looked like a battlefield after a war.”

Protestors ready for battle

Reyes says he heard one Bismarck local spew a racist slur to his black friend. “The white community in Bismarck was really in opposition. The pipeline was originally going to go through Bismarck. They rejected it. Now it’s supposed to run through Standing Rock.”

Reyes said his trip was just four days.

“I had to get back. We have to turn in music for the movie Low Rider. Plus I had to fire our management.” He says Tool manager Dino Parades is now handling Prayers management.

“Our old management just had too many acts. They were stretched too thin. We agreed it was best [Prayers] go with new people.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Will L.A. Times crowd out San Diego U-T at Riverside printing plant?

Will Toni Atkins stand back from anti-SDG&E initiative?
Next Article

The Digital Currency Wave Hits the Shores of San Diego

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.