July 12, Woody Guthrie would have been 102. The people's artist wrote the words to This Land is Your Land, the peoples' national anthem, and frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists on his guitar..
Despite occasional media laments that "protest music is dead," a new generation of performers has been revitalizing music's links to movements, often self-consciously modeled on the folk singers of the past.
Portside salutes May Day - rallies around the world; The Internationale in 40+ languages; May Day and labor history tools;
Reader Comments -Cecily McMillian Trial Update -= Trial ends tomorrow; Net Neutrality; Chris Hani's political legacy; Ukraine; Israel and Palestine; Paul Robeson, Jr.;
UPDATE - Northeastern University has backed down on the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine; A Seeger Fest to Honor Pete and Toshi, and It's Free - July 17 - 21
The Myth of the American Dream. Turn! Turn! Turn! Big Bang Gravitational Waves Discovered. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The House Rent Boogie.
Pete Seeger created this complex song simply by adding a title, concluding line and music to verses from the biblical Book of Ecclesiates. Here is the the Byrd's (most popular) version.
This telling begins with John Lomax and Huddie Ledbetter, then moves on to Woody Guthrie, the seeds of the protest movement, Pete Seeger and left politics.
Pete Seeger marched and performed at hundreds of rallies for different unions over the years. "Pete has always had an interest in the labor movement and has been associated with unions," said, Henry Foner, who had known Seeger for more than 60 years. "Whenever there was a problem that a union had, Pete was always available."
Reader Comments - Pardon for Snowden; BDS and Israel; Turkey; NAFTA; North Carolina; Bill de Blasio; John Handcox; Philadelphia schools; Art Spiegelman; Obamacare;
Announcements - Memorial for Steve Kindred -NYC -Feb.8; Pete Seeger gets first Woody Guthrie Award -NYC - Feb.22; Student activists scholarships available; Preserve Mother Jones monument in Illinois; Save the Village photo exhibit -NYC;
This week in history - largest slave revolt in U.S. history
Dave Van Ronk's ex-wife, Terri Thal, reviews the film, Inside Llewyn Davis. Llewyn Davis differs from David. - there are so few similarities. The Coens say the movie isn't about Dave, and they are correct. Most of the acting is very good. Oscar Isaac is excellent -- he's real, and he brings pathos and anger to Llewyn Davis. His performances of David's songs are good. The music? It's done well, but the movie never shows how it comes about.
Saturday's Draw the Line held over 200 demonstrations across the United States - it was a day of action marked by song - a phenomenon that is starting to become a major feature of the climate movement.
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