This space is dedicated to the proposition that we need to know the history of the struggles on the left and of earlier progressive movements here and world-wide. If we can learn from the mistakes made in the past (as well as what went right) we can move forward in the future to create a more just and equitable society. We will be reviewing books, CDs, and movies we believe everyone needs to read, hear and look at as well as making commentary from time to time. Greg Green, site manager
The truth is we are on the ground in the Midwest organizing on Medicare for All, immigration reform and other issues that are driving activity and will be pivotal in this election.
Brothers and Sisters, the debates are wrapping up, and it's late, so I'll get right to the point.
We have a critical end-of-month post-debate fundraising deadline tonight at midnight, and we're short of where we need to be.
Your donations will go directly toward funding essential organizing, like our grassroots campaigns to recruit Medicare for All cosponsors and get the Democratic Party officials to sponsor a climate debate.
We can't afford to move backward after all the progress we have made by winning the war of ideas in the Democratic party. Now is the time to turn that progress into structural change.
Alfred — From presidential tweets to kids in cages, communities of color are sounding the alarm that hate is on the rise. They point to examples like the 3 Ole Miss University students who shot up the Emmett Till memorial sign. The sign honors the memory of Emmett Till, a child killed for a crime that never happened. The only consequences so far for these students is suspension from their fraternity. Activists believe hate crimes should have steeper consequences. Join the call to pressure Ole Miss to speak out against hate and discipline these students now.
In March three students of the University of Mississippi posted a photo of themselves smiling with guns in front of a bullet riddled memorial for the late Emmett Till, a victim of lynching and a catalyst to the civil rights movement. The three men were members of the Kappa Alpha fraternity on campus and have since been suspended from the organization.
No formal statement from the University had been issued at the time of the incident and this would not come until months later when the press got wind of the situation. Interim Chancellor Larry D. Sparks, the Interfraternity Council President, and the University as a whole has neglected to take further action against these men. The University has the opportunity to lead the way for other southern schools, organizations, and it’s citizens in general to right it’s wrongs and it has failed to do so. These men, and the University need to be held accountable for their actions (or lack thereof).
I am devoted to a local
folk station WUMB which is run out of the campus of U/Mass-Boston over near
Boston Harbor. At one time this station was an independent one based in Cambridge
but went under when their significant demographic base deserted or just passed
on once the remnant of the folk minute really did sink below the horizon.
So much for radio folk history
except to say that the DJs on many of the programs go out of their ways to
commemorate or celebrate the birthdays of many folk, rock, blues and related
genre artists. So many and so often that I have had a hard time keeping up with
noting those occurrences in this space which after all is dedicated to such
happening along the historical continuum.
To “solve” this problem
I have decided to send birthday to that grouping of musicians on an arbitrary
basis as I come across their names in other contents or as someone here has
written about them and we have them in the archives. This may not be the best
way to acknowledge them, but it does do so in a respectful manner.
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of The Bluegrass Gospel Project Doing "Take Me In Your Life Boat".
CD Review
“The Heavenly Choir”
Wander On, the Bluegrass Gospel Project, Vital Records, 2005
At first blush it would not appear that a somewhat secular bluegrass tradition and the very definitely religious-oriented gospel tradition would be a good mix. Silly me though. Of course they mix if one thinks about the roots of both genre then, while not a ‘match made in heaven”, the two traditions share at least a common isolated mountain Saturday night partying- Sunday repentance connection. That said, this group composed mainly of denizens of Vermont (although I do not believe most of them are natives) has caught the essence of both traditions, complete with mandolin, fiddle, banjo, guitar and the like. A remarkable group of talented musicians and with the vocals of Patti Casey they have everything they need to lead a ‘heavenly choir” (or musically set the barn on fire).
I have actually heard this group in person and between the two their live performance gives a better take on how good they really are. For those not so fortunate this CD will be a fine substitute though. Feast on “Angel Band” and the classic Tommy Dorsey (the old time Blind Willie McTell blues companion turned gospel singer not the 1940’s band leader) song “Come, Let Us Go Back To God”. I just wish “Poughkeepsie” was included here. Patty Casey “amped it up” on that one at the live performance I mentioned above.
Stanley Brothers Angel Band lyrics
My latest sun is sinking fast My race is nearly run My longest trials now are past My triumph has begun
Chorus Oh come angel band Come and around me stand Bear me away on your snow white wings To my immortal home Bear me away on you snow white wings To my immortal home
Oh bear my longing soul to him Who bled and died for me Whose blood now cleanses from all sins And brings me victory
[chorus]
I know I'm near the holy ranks Of friends and kindred dear I brush the dew on Jordan's banks The crossing must be near
I've almost gained my heavenly home My spirit loudly sings The holy ones, behold they come I hear the noise of wings
When Lady Day Chased The Blues Away, Again And Again-“Billie Holiday: The First Verve Sessions ”-A CD Review
CD Review
By Music Critic Seth Garth
Billie Holiday: The First Verve (Record) Sessions, Billie Holiday, Verve Records, Polygram, 1975
Yeah, that is the sad part, the life and times part. But if you listen to this CD under review like the other compilations that I am reviewing at this time while I am in a “from hunger” wanting habits mood about Lady Day’s work like I get into every once in a while about music that moved, moves, me, spoke, speaks, to me. If you listen through this CD or her classic tunes for Verve Records you will also know why in the first part of the 21st century guys like me are still reviewing her work, still haunted by that voice, by that meaningful pause between notes that carried you to a different place, by that slight hush as she enveloped a song which kept your own blues at bay. I repeat kept your blues away whatever she suffered to bring that sentiment forward.
That last statement, those last two sentences are really what I want to hone in on here as I have previously done since Billie Holiday is an acquired taste, and a taste which grows on you as you settle in to listen to whole albums rather than a single selection spending half the night turning over vinyl, flipping tapes, changing CDs if you don’t have multiple CD recorder, or grabbing the dial on an MP3 player. Here is my god’s honest truth though. Many a blue night when I was young, hell, now too, I would play Billie for hours, tune that vinyl over in the beginning in my case, and my own silly blues would kind of evaporate. Nice right.
Here is the not nice part, maybe better the not respectful part for a sanctified woman’s voice and spirit. Once a few years ago I was talking to some young people about Billie and, maybe under the influence of the Diana Ross film or from their disapproving parents, kind of wrote her off as just another junkie gone to seed. When I was a kid, long before I acquired the Billie habit I had some similar ideas about junk and junkies maybe under the influence of Frankie Machine (played by Frank Sinatra) in the film adaptation of the voice of the small people Nelson Algren’s The Man With The Golden Arm. (The “golden arm” the amount of money spent with the “fixer man” which singer/songwriter John Prine later mentioned in a lyric about “all the money going into a hole in daddy’s arm” in the song Sam Sloan about the fate of a returning Vietnam veteran who couldn’t face the “real” world after that experience.) The film seen and not totally understood then with my parents in the early 1950s who warned me against the dangers of hanging with junkies and getting hooked on dope. A real and present danger in the neighborhood we were forced to live in where dope was around if a lot more discreetly and on the low than now. It would take actually knowing guys, soldiers, friends, coming back from Vietnam where via the Golden Triangle heroin, opium and such were cheap and plentiful to have a more tolerant attitude toward that guys with a “habit”. A couple of overdoses only added to the sense of loss. I shocked them, I think, and maybe myself a little when I said if I had had the opportunity I would have given Billie all the dope she wanted just for taking my own blues away.
That is why we still listen to that sultry, slinky, sexy voice today.
Is everything in this CD or in her overall work the cat’s meow. No, toward the end in the 1950s you can tell her voice was hanging by a thread under the strain of all her troubles, legal and medical. But in the 1930sand 1940s, the time of her time, the time of her Verve recordings covering Cole Porter, Gershwin and Jerome Kern songs with a little Johnny Mercer thrown in, the time of Tin Pan Alley songs which seem to have almost been written just for her she had that certain “it” which cannot be defined but only accepted, accepted gratefully. Some of the versions of the songs here may be a little more indicative of her high water mark than her later work where she teamed up with serious jazz and blues players like the aforementioned Lester Young blowing out high white notes to the China seas while she basked in the glow of the lyrics. But just check out Blue Moon, Autumn In New York, Love For Sale and Solitude and you will get an idea of what I am talking about. And as I have stated repeatedly maybe get your own blues chased away
Yeah, that is the sad part, the life and times part. But if
you listen to this CD under review like the other compilations that I am
reviewing at this time while I am in a “from hunger” wanting habits mood about
Lady Day’s work like I get into every once in a while about music that moved,
moves, me, spoke, speaks, to me. If you listen through this CD or her classic
tunes for Verve Records you will also know why in the first part of the 21st
century guys like me are still reviewing her work, still haunted by that voice,
by that meaningful pause between notes that carried you to a different place,
by that slight hush as she enveloped a song which kept your own blues at bay. I
repeat kept your blues away whatever she suffered to bring that sentiment
forward.
That last statement, those last two sentences are really
what I want to hone in on here as I have previously done since Billie Holiday
is an acquired taste, and a taste which grows on you as you settle in to listen
to whole albums rather than a single selection spending half the night turning
over vinyl, flipping tapes, changing CDs if you don’t have multiple CD
recorder, or grabbing the dial on an MP3 player. Here is my god’s honest truth
though. Many a blue night when I was young, hell, now too, I would play Billie
for hours, tune that vinyl over in the beginning in my case, and my own silly
blues would kind of evaporate. Nice right.
Here is the not nice part, maybe better the not respectful
part for a sanctified woman’s voice and spirit.
Once a few years ago I was talking to some young people about Billie
and, maybe under the influence of the Diana Ross film or from their
disapproving parents, kind of wrote her off as just another junkie gone to
seed. When I was a kid, long before I acquired the Billie habit I had some
similar ideas about junk and junkies maybe under the influence of Frankie
Machine (played by Frank Sinatra) in the film adaptation of the voice of the
small people Nelson Algren’s The Man With
The Golden Arm. (The “golden arm” the amount of money spent with the “fixer
man” which singer/songwriter John Prine later mentioned in a lyric about “all
the money going into a hole in daddy’s arm” in the song Sam Sloan about the fate of a returning Vietnam veteran who
couldn’t face the “real” world after that experience.) The film seen and not totally understood then with my parents in
the early 1950s who warned me against the dangers of hanging with junkies and
getting hooked on dope. A real and present danger in the neighborhood we were
forced to live in where dope was around if a lot more discreetly and on the low
than now. It would take actually knowing guys, soldiers, friends, coming back
from Vietnam where via the Golden Triangle heroin, opium and such were cheap and
plentiful to have a more tolerant attitude toward that guys with a “habit”. A
couple of overdoses only added to the sense of loss. I shocked them, I think, and
maybe myself a little when I said if I had had the opportunity I would have given
Billie all the dope she wanted just for taking my own blues away.
That is why we still listen to that
sultry, slinky, sexy voice today.
Is everything in this CD or in her overall work the cat’s
meow. No, toward the end in the 1950s you can tell her voice was hanging by a
thread under the strain of all her troubles, legal and medical. But in the
1930sand 1940s, the time of her time, the time of her Verve recordings covering
Cole Porter, Gershwin and Jerome Kern songs with a little Johnny Mercer thrown
in, the time of Tin Pan Alley songs which seem to have almost been written just
for her she had that certain “it” which cannot be defined but only accepted,
accepted gratefully. Some of the versions of the songs here may be a little
more indicative of her high water mark than her later work where she teamed up
with serious jazz and blues players like the aforementioned Lester Young
blowing out high white notes to the China seas while she basked in the glow of
the lyrics. But just check out Blue Moon, Autumn In New York, Love For Sale and
Solitude and you will get an idea of what I am talking about. And as I have
stated repeatedly maybe get your own blues chased away
Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Cleman Hawkins Doing "Body And Soul".
The “Bean “Is In The House
The Definitive Coleman Hawkins, Coleman Hawkins, Ken Burns “Jazz”, The Verve Music Group,2000
I admit to a very spotty interest in jazz over my life time and while I have always loved those 1940’s swing bands, like that of Benny Goodman, it was only with the celebration of the centennial of Duke Ellington’s birth in 1999 that I got a little more serious about this genre. Ken Burns’ “Jazz” series for PBS gave me another boost. Still and all there are huge gaps in my knowledge and appreciation of the classic jazz tradition. This is a little odd in that there is a certain convergence between jazz and my favorite musical genre, the blues. The artist under review here exemplifies both those traditions, the “max daddy” tenor sax player Coleman Hawkins, who was the consummate professional and innovator, on that instrument back in the days. All others, including the great Lester Young and Ben Webster, fall in behind this master. That much I do know.
A part of the Burns “Jazz” educational process a series of individual CDs featuring the classic works of the various artists featured in the documentaries were produced. Here the best of Hawkins, starting back in the 1920’s, is given a full workout. The “best” here –no question- “Body And Soul”, “I Mean You” and the later jumped up “Driva Man” (with the legendary Max Roach on drums). Wow.
Click on the title to link to the website mentioned in the headline for the latest news and opinion from that site.
IWW Statement in Support of NGWF Campaigns to Increase the Minimum Wage and End Garment Factory Fires Submitted by jon.christiansen on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 7:37am. Dear brothers and sisters,
This letter is to declare the strong support of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance (PASCA)for the National Garment Worker Federation's (NGWF) campaign to increase the minimum wage from 1,162 Tk. to 5,000 Tk. per month. We are also declaring our support of the campaign: "No More Fires - No More Gate Lock - No More Garment Worker Deaths.”
These campaigns are sorely needed in the garment industry in Bangladesh. In February of 2010, 21 workers died as a result of fire at a garment factory in Bangladesh. Many of these deaths were a direct result of the front gates of the factory being locked, trapping workers on the premises as the fire raged. Sadly this is not an isolated incident. Since 1990 more than 400 garment workers have been killed as a result of factory fires. These deaths could have been prevented if there were adequate fire and safety measures in every garment factory. Therefore we support the NGWF campaign to bring attention to these preventable deaths. In addition to raising awareness the NGWF is also advocating that new safety laws and regulations be put in to place across the country. If laws such as these are implemented we believe many lives will be saved.
Similarly, we strongly support our brothers and sisters in the NGWF as they demand that the minimum wage be increased from 1,162 Tk. (about 24 US dollars) to 5,000 Tk. (about 71 US dollars) by 27 July 2010. The current minimum wage is grossly inadequate for any person to survive in Bangladesh, especially in and around the capital city of Dhaka. Survival on these paltry wages has been particularly difficult as the price of food and essentials has rapidly increased over the last several years. As was pointed out by Brother Amirul Hoque Amin, Bangladesh’s garment workers are the lowest paid of the major garment producing nations.
The IWW also supports actions taken by, and on behalf of, the workers to meet these goals. We also share the belief that if wages are not increased and workers are not protected from early death because of fires and other industrial accidents, it is the government and the companies that share the blame for any unrest that may occur. Increasing wages to a livable level and protecting workers from fires is not too much to ask, but we believe it is too much to ask that workers keep working under these conditions. We hope that the government of Bangladesh and the garment producing companies will do the right and just thing and implement the NGWF demands.
You can help take action by signing the National Labor Committee petition asking Wal-Mart to support the wage increase for Bangladeshi Garment workers. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/677/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4035
In solidarity,
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), International Solidarity Commission;
Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance (PASCA)
