The Latest From The
Rag Blog-A Voice Of The Old New Left
Click below to link to The Rag
Blog
http://www.theragblog.com/
Peter Paul Markin comment:
When we were young, meaning those of
us who were militant leftist baby-boomers from what I now call the “Generation
Of ‘68”, we would chuckle/gasp/shriek in horror when some Old Leftists tried to
tell us a few of the ABCs of radical politics. Those scorned old leftists,
mainly old Stalinist Communist Party hangers-on or moribund Trotskyist
Socialist Workers Party members who had come of political age in the 1930s and
1940s had nothing to tell us young stalwart in-your-face- rebels who were going
to re-invent the world, re-invent it without the hurts and sorrows accumulated
from millennia of previous struggles to push the rock up the hill of human
progress.
Well, we fell significantly short of
that aim, had that Promethean rock come speeding down over our heads. Today I
am still not sure whether in retrospect those scorned Old Leftists of old had
anything going but all I know is we are now cast in somewhat the same light. We
are now the Old New Leftists. Problem is that unlike our 1960s generation,
warts and all, there is no sizable younger crowd of young stalwart
in-your-face-rebels to thumb their noses up at us. And there should be. That
has not stopped many old radicals, many who have not succumbed to old age and
hubris, from trying to be heard. And the place they have congregated, for
better or worse, at least from what I can see is at this site.
So I find this The Rag Blog website very useful to monitor for the latest in what
is happening with past tense radical activists and activities. Anybody, with
some kind of name, and who is still around from the 1960s has found a home
here. The remembrances and recollections are helpful for today’s activists.
Strangely the politics are almost non-existent, as least any that would
help today, except to kind of retroactively “bless” those old-time new left
politics that did nothing (well, almost nothing) but get us on the losing end
of the class (and cultural) wars of the last forty plus years. Still this
is a must read blog for today’s left-wing militants.
A Markin disclaimer:
I place some material in this space which may be of interest
to the radical public that I do not necessarily agree with or support. Sometimes
I will comment on my disagreements and sometimes I will just let the
author/writer shoot him or herself in the foot without note. Off hand, as I
have mentioned before in other contexts, I think it would be easier, infinitely
easier, to fight for the socialist revolution straight up than some of the
“remedies” provided by the commentators in the entries on this website. But
part of that struggle for the socialist revolution is to sort out the “real”
stuff from the fluff as we struggle for that more just world that animates our
efforts. Read on.
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PODCAST | Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson on Rag Radio
The delightful and talented Eliza Gilkyson performs on Rag Radio and discusses her approach to songwriting and her new album, ‘Nocturne Diaries.’
Eliza Gilkyson with Rag Radio’s Thorne Dreyer in the KOOP studios in Austin, March 21, 2014. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.
Rag Radio is a weekly hour-long syndicated radio program produced and hosted by long-time alternative journalist and Rag Blog editor Thorne Dreyer. The show is recorded at the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, a cooperatively-run all-volunteer community radio station in Austin, Texas. It is broadcast live on KOOP every Friday from 2-3 p.m. (CST) and streamed live on the web.
Listen to or download the podcast of our March 21, 2014 Rag Radio show with Eliza Gilkyson, here:
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson joins Thorne Dreyer to talk about the autobiographical nature of her work as a songwriter, how her music reflects her social conscience, about the Austin music scene and the recent SXSW which was panned by many for its rampant commercialization… and much more. Eliza also discusses the stories behind some of the songs on her new album, Nocturne Diaries, and performs three songs from the album.
One of the most respected musicians in folk and Americana music circles, Eliza is a member of the Austin Music Hall of Fame and the Texas Music Hall of Fame. She is the daughter of legendary songwriter Terry Gilkyson. She has 20 recordings and her songs have been covered by Joan Baez, Bob Geldof, Tom Rush, Rosanne Cash, and many more.
Eliza is an active member of the Austin music and political communities. She works with the environmental group, Save Our Springs, and is a co-founder of the 5604 Manor Community Center, an Austin-based resource center that promotes political activism. Eliza says that, “For me, the challenge today is to remain human when everything around us compels us to shut down.”
The Nocturne Diaries, her first new album in three years — released by Red House Records — was produced and recorded in Austin with her son, Cisco Ryder. It is a contemplative work made up of “songs that come in the night,” and are “inspired by the converging forces of her highest hopes and darkest fears.” The songs range from roots rockers to a haunting version of the folk classic “Fast Freight” written by her father, Terry Gilkyson.
Rag Radio is hosted and produced by Rag Blog editor Thorne Dreyer who was a founding editor of the original Rag, published in Austin from 1966-1977. Tracey Schulz is the show’s engineer and co-producer.Rag Radio has aired more than 200 shows since September 2009 on KOOP 91.7-FM, an all-volunteer cooperatively-run community radio station in Austin, Texas. Rag Radio is broadcast live every Friday from 2-3 p.m. (CST) on KOOP — and streamed live on the web — and is rebroadcast and streamed on Sundays at 10 a.m. (EST) on WFTE, 90.3-FM in Mt. Cobb, PA, and 105.7-FM in Scranton, PA. Rag Radio is also aired and streamed on KPFT-HD3 90.1 — Pacifica radio in Houston — on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. (CST).
After broadcast, all Rag Radio shows are posted as podcasts at the Internet Archive.
Rag Radio is produced in association with The Rag Blog, a progressive Internet newsmagazine, and the New Journalism Project, a Texas 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
Rag Radio can be contacted at ragradio@koop.org.
Coming up on Rag Radio:
THIS FRIDAY, April 11, 2014: Betsy Leondar-Wright, author of Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures.
Friday, April 25, 2014: Bruce Dancis, author of Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War..
This entry was posted in RagBlog and tagged Austin Activists, Austin Musicians, Eliza Gilkyson, Interview, Podcast, Rag Bloggers, Rag Radio, Singer-Songwriters, Terry Gilkyson, Thorne Dreyer. Bookmark the permalink.
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