Protest Music Protest and topical music including comedy. We're interested in the history of protest music, for instance labor songs, civil rights songs, anti war songs. We also feature contemporary protest music and we particularly want to hear your protest songs. This is an open group. Please join and post your diaries. If you want to help manage the group message me and I'll make you a BlogEditor. Of course Protest Music is on topic. But it doesn't have to be both. Protest or Music. Protest is on topic. Music is on topic.

It's happening now, in Wisconsin

Right now! People are voting in the most important election happening. Now. In Wisconsin. This is the election to begin all elections. This is the power of the people. This is the repudiation of 1% insider tactics. This is the repudiation of government for the corporations. Woody Guthrie would be glad to know that we are singing about it. Which Side Are You On? Solidarity Sing Along, Reclaim Wisconsin Rally, March 10, 2012 Here's my inspiration for this diary, now sitting at the top of the rec list, With Action Links. Massive Early Voting in Wisconsin Recall More music below the fold.

What About The Context Behind The Context That Allows Such a Picture to Happen?

It's ingrained, taken for granted.

Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar: The Birth (and Life) of Boogie Woogie

Be honest...when you think of music and Texas in the same sentence, what comes to mind?  Dixie Chicks?  Mickey Gilley?  George Strait?  Buddy Holly?  Roy Orbison?  Maybe, if you like the Blues, Johnny Copeland?  I am the first to sling mud at the state of Texas, but I'm also the first to admit that there is much more to its cultural tradition than I am aware of.  Texas may be C&W, but it's also Blues.  And Gospel.  And Jazz.  It's a big state, and much more diverse than most people are aware of. If New Orleans is the home of Jazz, we have Texas to thank for the musical style which became known as "Boogie Woogie."  Who'd a thunk it?  Aside from Bob Wills and other, mostly Country musicians, I never knew that Texas had much of a homegrown musical tradition that extended beyond steel guitars, fiddles or honky tonks, let alone a musical tradition steeped in its own regional Black culture.  In fact, I never really knew just how large and long established Texas' Black community was.  I have always thought of Texas as being the most "White" of all of the Southern States...and I couldn't really explain to you where that perception comes from.   Surely you all know what Boogie Woogie is, but just in case there's any question allow me to start this off with just one example: I was first "introduced" to boogie woogie in the early 70's, through the music of Commander Cody and, later, Asleep at the Wheel.  From there it was a natural progression towards more traditional Blues players whose music was steeped in the style: Pinetop Perkins, Champion Jack Dupree, Professor Longhair, Big Joe Turner and others. Among the rock bands I grew up with that played some boogie woogie, there were Little Feat, the Allman Brothers, Leon Russell, Dr John. I've always found the music infectious...propelling.  Happy.  But I never knew much about its origins.

John Lennon a Closet Republican? Yeah right...

Note: I wrote this back when The Nation article was published and the issue was fresh. I didn't post it for some reason and when I came across it recently, I thought someone might enjoy it. Plus it's always appropriate to smack down republican propaganda. And this is republican propaganda of the most bone-headed kind. Some rightwing republicans are claiming John Lennon as their own. Man! Talk about revisionist history. What's next? Hunter S. Thompson was a Reagan Democrat? Abbie Hoffman's secret crush on Nixon? Apparently if you're a rightwing republican you get to just make shit up to suit you. It's what they do: WMDs in Iraq? Check. Trickle down economics? Check. Reagan was a great president? Check. Global warming is a hoax? Check. Trees make pollution? Check. George W. Bush wasn't an unmitigated disaster for America? Check. The poor need to shoulder more of the burden? Check. Cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires creates jobs for the peons? Check. Now this. This is so weak and shameful it may be setting a new low.

Not Fade Away

I turned 60 recently. That's at least a couple of hundred in hippie years, though I don't know if anyone has ever worked out the conversion formula to any degree of precision. I should've asked Ben Masel. He would've known. But I missed my chance.

Donna Summer has passed away

This will be brief, but I will add as details become available.  Donna summer has passed away at the age of 63 after a battle with cancer.  I was not even aware she was ill. According to various sources, the five-time Grammy winner was working on a new album at the time of her death.  She is survived by her husband and three daughters.

Graceland: A Song of Rifts, Scars, Healing, Transcendence

"Good art shouldn't instruct, it should evoke." Linda Ronstadt Graceland was released in 1985 when I was three years old. I don't know when my mom bought that familiar casette, but I do know I was born in 1982 and I don't remember my life without that album and Paul Simon. We listened to it on endless repeat. When I was older, I dubbed my mom's tape so I could listen to it in my room and on my walkman. I still go through phases where the album is all I listen to, and sometimes I'll put the title song on repeat and listen to it endlessly. I've owned the album on tape, CD (twice), and MP3, and I'll never be without it. Lately, I've been unsettled mentally and emotionally. I'm a writer by trade, but I've realized that writer's block is real and it can be crippling when combined with unexpected tragedies and jarring emotional events. Paul Simon was going through something similar when he traveled to South Africa because he loved the music. Like Mr. Simon, I'm going through a divorce. Like Mr. Simon, I felt like I've been in a downward spiral. I'm starving for inspiration. So I put on Graceland. And the title track started. Paul Simon called it his favorite record. He said it was perfect, and I have to agree with him. So follow me over the fold and let's discuss the perfect song from a perfect album.

The Universe and Everything

Sometimes we have to back away and put things in context to see them clearly. The political system through which we view so many of our social and economic concerns is an exceedingly narrow lens. When we confine our view to that lens, it is akin to looking at the universe through a soda straw.

Do I Need This?

...is the question I ask myself all the time. Living in times in which it often seems harder to avoid new stuff than to accumulate it, I ask this question not just for the sake of a planet drowning in junk but for my own sanity. And it's not just physical things I get overwhelmed by. The onslaught of digital information and chattering, from emails to social networks to blogs to causes to advertising to news clips to films often leaves my head filled up but my soul empty. Everybody is talking and nobody is listening, so I try to choose my own words wisely, pondering first if the world really needs to hear them. Every now and then though I come across a project or a message that just feels right to be released, that the world indeed needs. One of them -- and not without irony -- is Kate Schermerhorn's movie idea currently collecting steam on Kickstarter, asking the very question: Do I Need This examines our culture’s excessive, often questionable acquisition of possessions and asks the viewer to stop and examine what they buy and whether they actually need what they are purchasing - does your newborn really need that baby wipe warmer? Does your dog need another overpriced squeeky toy...do you need that hot dog cooker you found in the Sky Mall catalog...will that uncomfortable pair of new shoes be a good idea simply because they were on sale?   Using humor, quirky and engaging characters, and no preaching, Do I Need This pushes viewers to think beyond today, beyond the instant gratification of walking away with a shopping bag or carload of stuff and to look at the impacts of our endless world of purchases, on ourselves as well as on our planet. The film will engage viewers who may not view themselves as environmentalists but can still make a world of difference with changes to their buying habits. ============== Kate Schermerhorn’s directorial debut, Seeking 1906 (KQED co-production), won her a Northern California Emmy for Directing and a nomination for Best Historical/Cultural Feature in 2007. The San Francisco Chronicle described the one hour documentary about best-selling writer Simon Winchester as "sublime and fascinating." Kate recently completed a second hour long documentary about modern marriage, "After Happily Ever After." The film, which Scientific American describes as "delightfully quirky” asks some often overlooked questions about the institution of marriage. "After Happily Ever After" recently won the Council for Contemporary Families 2012 Media Award for broadcast coverage of family issues. UPDATE,  5pm: Our very own Kossack Lorikeet just pushed Kate over 10k and thus the documentary is on!

RIP Donald "Duck" Dunn, legendary Stax bassist

There's sad news today about the death of legendary Stax Records bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn.  Dunn, age 70, passed away suddenly while on tour in Tokyo, after playing 2 sets at the Blue Note Night Club.

Hairy Larry blogs internet music promotion at Blow Your Own Horn Email Hairy Larry Copyright by Larry Heyl and Vivian Heyl