Singers seek to inspire Occupy protesters

Playing acoustic guitars and singing about social and economic justice, Jackson Browne and Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins hailed the Occupy Wall Street movement Thursday.

The concert, performed atop a granite bench in lieu of a stage, drew about 200 people to Zuccotti Park.

"I think this a deeply fundamental patriotic thing that you're doing," said Jenkins before launching into a song his band wrote for the protesters -- "If There Ever Was a Time."

Calling for youth to join the movement, Jenkins sang, "Things only get brighter when you light a spark; everywhere you go right now is Zuccotti Park."

Browne performed five songs with the rock band Dawes, including "Casino Nation," which takes America's leadership to task for militarism, and "I Am a Patriot."

At most stops on his recent concert tour, Browne said audiences have been very sympathetic with the Occupy cause.

The sound of sirens and noise from the World Trade Center construction site threatened to overwhelm the performances Thursday afternoon, but the singers' voices -- assisted by some in the audience -- broke through each time.

Browne and Jenkins are among a group of musicians who are putting together an album in honor of the protests, titled "Occupy This Album." It will be available this winter in digital form, also featuring music from Crosby & Nash, Devo, Lucinda Williams and filmmaker Michael Moore.

"It's important right now to make a legacy of the music that's being written today and what's going on here, so that people next year, through the election, are going to hear it," Jenkins said.

Geraldo Mario, 49, of Washington Heights, a security guard before he lost his job, described the impromptu concerts at the park as "very necessary" because they inspire people to join the budding movement.