I have seen Ameirca as looking like a Turkey my whole life.  Surely you can see Florida as a leg, and New England as the head.  But is it was only about 10 years ago that I saw Massachusetts as an old cartoon musket, even with the Cape as a hook to hnag it up on.  Interesting how there is a bring your own god church at the end of the barrel.

by Michael Dewey (5 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 245 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 at 12:46:45 PM

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I crashed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, on opening night, 1995. Twice.  It must have been the beret.  All the guards were wearing berets, and all I did was put on my beret, and they let me pass, sans tix. 

 My payoff, and it was a sweet one, was to stand in front of a glass case and gaze at Woody's violin, and tambourine.  He had used a wood burner on both, and around the edge of the latter, he had inscribed, "This machine encircles Fascism and destroys it." 

I wrote a tribute to Odetta, that folk goddess, and "Muse of America," yesterday ~~two columns down the block, of this home page, neighbor~~ and you can find me quoting the lines from Woody's "Pastures of Plenty" ~~ "I come with the dust....and I'm gone with the wind."  Stunning depth of feeling in the words and Odetta's unforgettable delivery of them.

 The whole folk music thing still embraces and expresses the ironies of American life, which now not only abound, but fluoresce.

We need more, new ones.  But the music needs to return to its roots, which is the necessity to sing in the midst of staggering oppressions. 

We probably won't get that again, but the people have to get past this card trick played on us over and over by the big behemoths of finance and industry, or will just being doing one number, one only: "Groundhog Day."

 And, take it from the top, America?  Again?  We need to wise up as a people, and that means doing homework, or we'll be doing the Groundhog Shuffle, decade after decade. 

Only learning to know each other as neighbors, and becoming friends, can we become allies against this divide and conquer evil.  That means heart and faith and fearlessness.

 It may not sound like much of a plan, but we have to get things right at the roots, or we'll just be on this merrygoround forever.  They don't WANT the merrygoround to break down, they want to keep it well-oiled and in perpetual motion.  The Depression, it broke down, people got to know each other, and love each other, so then The Masters of the Universe had to start a Big War. Again.  Seem familiar?  It's all about killing off grass roots in America, before peaceful tribes can form.

 nd, the rest is History.  Our perpetual velvet shackles, for some.  Iron bracelets for those who are allergic to velvet.

by muservin (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 at 1:23:42 PM

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Music is the soul of humanity and a story telling tool.  Woody Guthrie tells the story of the 1930's, violence in and on the unions, destruction of the American plains, riding boxcars instead of airplanes, starving, dying, defeated and broken America, coming back to life, Bonneville and Roosevelt Dams on the Columbia River, electricity and water, Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal of economic recovery.  Can we have more of this kind of soul, please.

by zephyr (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 at 4:55:20 PM

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Hey this may not be too hard for anyone who read this article to believe.  The 7 peals of thunder kept secret in Revelation 10 are Rock and Roll.  You all may understand what that means.  It should be blasting away on the MSM for the next 6 months to heal this land.  Its tough to say whether Woody, Elvis or John Lennon started them.  But I doubt any of them are concerned about that credit, just that its widely known who Rock and Roll is!

by Michael Dewey (5 articles, 1 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 245 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 at 7:53:13 PM

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If you are interested check out this moddern day songwriter of and for the people.  At his web site this songwriter has offered freedownload of a large selection of his well crafted social justice music.  There are also some interesting music videos.  Check it out at Patrick Dodd 

by MC Kean (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments) on Friday, Dec 5, 2008 at 6:20:35 PM

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Thanks, all. In the interest of fairness and balance, I’d like to share something Joshua Frank e-mailed me yesterday: “Don’t be so kind to Woody, the pawn of the Dept. of Interior. He wrote songs promoting the construction of dams along the Columbia River, which kicked out native peoples and eventually led to the virtual extinction of the large salmon populations. He didn’t once step up to defend the natives or the environment. The power that came from the dam rolled on up to Hanford, the infamous H-Bomb factory. Guthrie ain’t no hero, he was a blatant supporter of cultural genocide.”

by Mickey Z. (238 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 6 comments) on Friday, Dec 5, 2008 at 8:20:05 PM

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