Friday, October 5, 2007
Topical Songs 2007 OCT 11 wicn.org= Roy Zimmerman and Robert Zimmerman and others...
Bob Dylan in 1964
David Masengill, live in 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Home movie Rufus, Martha, Kate and memé?
Rufus and Martha spoof on mom and aunty
Kate McGarrigle and Anna McGarrigle are sisters who write and perform together. They were born of Canadian and Irish parents in Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, northwest of Montreal, and educated at a Roman Catholic convent school. Their careers in music began with the 1960s folk combo Mountain City Four, in conjunction with Jack Nissenson and Peter Weldon.
Their songs have also been covered by a variety of other artists, including Maria Muldaur, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Billy Bragg, Chloé Sainte-Marie and Anne Sofie von Otter. Although associated with Quebec's anglophone community, the McGarrigles have also recorded and performed many songs in French. Two of their albums, Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse (also known as French Record) and La vache qui pleure, are entirely in French, but many of their other records include one or two French songs as well. Most of their French songs have been co-written by Philippe Tatartcheff, with occasional input from Kate McGarrigle's son, Canadian-American solo artist Rufus Wainwright. Rufus and his sister Martha Wainwright, also a singer, are the children of Kate and her former husband, singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III.
Their version of Wade Hemsworth's song, "The Log Driver's Waltz" grew famous as the soundtrack for a 1979 animated film by the National Film Board.
They provided backing vocals on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds's 2001 album No More Shall We Part.
Another sister, Jane McGarrigle, is a film and television composer who has written and performed several songs with the duo.
They were appointed Members of the Order of Canada in 1993 and received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 2004.
They appear in the 2006 Leonard Cohen tribute film Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. Cohen, like them, originates from Montreal.
Kate, Anna and Emmy Lou + many more sing Hard Times
Your Mother and I Loudon WainwrightIII
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first line
Russian mystic & novelist (1828 - 1910)
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Joan in 1960s
This is a clip from the Concert/Film "The Big TNT Show"
which also features Ray Charles, Ike & Tina,
Donovan, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Ronettes and Man From UNCLE David MacCollum.
Some "skips" in the tape but if you stick with it, you will be glad.
in 1969 on Italian TV
which also features Ray Charles, Ike & Tina,
Donovan, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Ronettes and Man From UNCLE David MacCollum.
Some "skips" in the tape but if you stick with it, you will be glad.
in 1969 on Italian TV
Friday, September 21, 2007
Still singing and touring ~ Joan Baez
http://joanbaez.com/tourschedule07.html
But here she is in 1975
Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. She is a soprano with a three-octave vocal range[1] and a distinctively rapid vibrato. Many of her songs are topical and deal with social issues.
She is best known for her 1970s hits "Diamonds & Rust" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" -- and to a lesser extent,"We Shall Overcome" "Sweet Sir Galahad" and "Joe Hill" (songs she performed at the 1969 Woodstock festival). She is also well known due to her early and long-lasting relationship with Bob Dylan and her even longer-lasting passion for activism, notably in the areas of nonviolence, civil and human rights and, in more recent years, the environment. She has performed publicly for nearly 50 years, released over 30 albums and recorded songs in over eight languages. She is considered a folksinger although her music has strayed from folk considerably after the 1960s, encompassing everything from rock and pop to country and gospel. Although a songwriter herself, especially in the mid-1970s, Baez is most often regarded as an interpreter of other people's work, covering songs by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder and myriad others. In more recent years, she has found success interpreting songs of diverse songwriters such as Steve Earle, Natalie Merchant and Ryan Adams.
in 1966
But here she is in 1975
Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. She is a soprano with a three-octave vocal range[1] and a distinctively rapid vibrato. Many of her songs are topical and deal with social issues.
She is best known for her 1970s hits "Diamonds & Rust" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" -- and to a lesser extent,"We Shall Overcome" "Sweet Sir Galahad" and "Joe Hill" (songs she performed at the 1969 Woodstock festival). She is also well known due to her early and long-lasting relationship with Bob Dylan and her even longer-lasting passion for activism, notably in the areas of nonviolence, civil and human rights and, in more recent years, the environment. She has performed publicly for nearly 50 years, released over 30 albums and recorded songs in over eight languages. She is considered a folksinger although her music has strayed from folk considerably after the 1960s, encompassing everything from rock and pop to country and gospel. Although a songwriter herself, especially in the mid-1970s, Baez is most often regarded as an interpreter of other people's work, covering songs by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder and myriad others. In more recent years, she has found success interpreting songs of diverse songwriters such as Steve Earle, Natalie Merchant and Ryan Adams.
in 1966
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Phil Ochs FBI File
Folk Singer for the FBI: The Phil Ochs FBI File
by Federal Bureau of Investigation
Description: Hard to believe and who knows what they [FBI et alia] do these days.
Phil Ochs was one of the greatest political and topical folk singers of the 1960s. Ochs was first investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) early on in his career, after writing a favorable article on Woody Guthrie in Mainstream magazine in 1963, which also brought another name to the attention of the FBI: Bob Dylan. The FBI attended political rallies where Ochs played, and he began noticing the attention, telling an audience in 1966: “I’m a folk singer for the FBI.” The FBI’s investigation intensified after the DNC riots in Chicago in August 1968. The FBI attempted to build a case against Ochs and other members of the Youth International Party (Yippies), but the indictment against Ochs never materialized due to a lack of evidence. Ochs instead later testified at the Chicago Seven trial for the defense. Despite the hundreds of pages in his FBI file, Ochs never committed a federal crime. He continued to be under investigation until his death by suicide in 1976.
by Federal Bureau of Investigation
Description: Hard to believe and who knows what they [FBI et alia] do these days.
Phil Ochs was one of the greatest political and topical folk singers of the 1960s. Ochs was first investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) early on in his career, after writing a favorable article on Woody Guthrie in Mainstream magazine in 1963, which also brought another name to the attention of the FBI: Bob Dylan. The FBI attended political rallies where Ochs played, and he began noticing the attention, telling an audience in 1966: “I’m a folk singer for the FBI.” The FBI’s investigation intensified after the DNC riots in Chicago in August 1968. The FBI attempted to build a case against Ochs and other members of the Youth International Party (Yippies), but the indictment against Ochs never materialized due to a lack of evidence. Ochs instead later testified at the Chicago Seven trial for the defense. Despite the hundreds of pages in his FBI file, Ochs never committed a federal crime. He continued to be under investigation until his death by suicide in 1976.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Phil Ochs on folk music - circa 1969
"Before the days of television and mass media, the folksinger was often a traveling newspaper spreading tales through music. There is an urgent need for Americans to look deeply into themselves and their actions, and musical poetry is perhaps the most effective mirror available. Every newspaper headline is a potential song."
- Phil Ochs
And Phil put this in his liner notes:
"A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over." -- Joe Hill
Live music by Phil Ochs - keeping it real
History of Phil Ochs Song Nights from http://www.sonnyochs.com/
On April 9, 1976 my brother, Phil Ochs, ended his life by hanging himself. He was 35 years old. He had written over 100 songs, and had traveled to many countries. He suffered from manic-depression and had been experiencing a long term writer's block.
I had moved up to the Albany area in '86, so I decided to move the Song Night upstate so as not to have to travel to the city anymore. In 1987 the Song Night was held for the first time at the Eighth Step Coffeehouse on Nov. 6th, and it was held there every year until 1999 except once when there was a date mix-up, and it had to be held elsewhere in the Capitol District. That same year we did a Song Night in Philadelphia.
Up to this point all the Song Nights had the same formula. Each performer would sing one or two of Phil's songs, depending on how many they knew, and that was it. The philosophy behind Song Night was to keep Phil's music alive, to give all the monies collected to organizations in the folk field who were struggling financially, and to showcase performers. Money was given to groups like People's Music Network, Broadside Magazine, Sing Out Magazine, New Song Library, various non-profit folk clubs and college radio stations. I would appeal to the audience to go out and see the performers when they were in town doing their own material. I found it frustrating that people would pay money to hear Phil's songs, but not the songs of the performers. Sammy Walker said, "Phil Ochs draws a larger audience dead than we do alive."
A side benefit of the creation of the Song Night was that several performers liked the songs that I asked them to sing so much that they included them in their repertoires and sang them all around the country. The ultimate thrill was when Kim and Reggie Harris not only recorded "In the Heat of the Summer", they also made it the title song of their first cd.
After several years of only doing Phil's songs at the Song Nights I started to get bored hearing the same songs over and over by basically the same performers. We were playing in different venues including Washington DC and Cambridge, Massachusetts by this time so the audiences were different, but I needed a change. I decided to change to format so that each performer would do one of Phil's songs and one of his/her own, thus giving the audience a taste of what is being written today. As of now, this is still the formula we're using. I much prefer it, but some of the performers think we should only do Phil's songs, and that's what some of them do.
Another minor change was added when we did a show at the Village Gate in Manhattan in November of '93. There was a biography of Phil by Michael Schumacher being written at that time. He let us have some of his transcripts from several interviews. We had two excerpts read which described some of Phil's adventures in Africa and South America. They were quite humorous and added a new dimension to the Song Night. We have included this practice in several Song Nights since then.
So the Song Nights continue. Many performers have taken part in them, and many more will be invited in the future. Some of the regulars include Emma's Revolution (Pat Humphries & Sandy Apatow) , John Flynn, David Roth, Greg Greenway, Kim & Reggie Harris and Magpie. In 1994 we made our first foray into Canada, doing a show in Toronto, in 1996 we did a min-tour covering 8 cities in the mid west, and in 1999 we went to 7 cities in the mid west including a major tribute to Phil at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. We also did 2 nights at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage.
We toured the northwest in 2004, starting in Vancouver with shows in Washington and Oregon, ending up in California - San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Berkeley. It's really exciting to be a part of a constantly evolving show with the main purpose of keeping Phil Ochs' music out there.
On April 9, 1976 my brother, Phil Ochs, ended his life by hanging himself. He was 35 years old. He had written over 100 songs, and had traveled to many countries. He suffered from manic-depression and had been experiencing a long term writer's block.
I had moved up to the Albany area in '86, so I decided to move the Song Night upstate so as not to have to travel to the city anymore. In 1987 the Song Night was held for the first time at the Eighth Step Coffeehouse on Nov. 6th, and it was held there every year until 1999 except once when there was a date mix-up, and it had to be held elsewhere in the Capitol District. That same year we did a Song Night in Philadelphia.
Up to this point all the Song Nights had the same formula. Each performer would sing one or two of Phil's songs, depending on how many they knew, and that was it. The philosophy behind Song Night was to keep Phil's music alive, to give all the monies collected to organizations in the folk field who were struggling financially, and to showcase performers. Money was given to groups like People's Music Network, Broadside Magazine, Sing Out Magazine, New Song Library, various non-profit folk clubs and college radio stations. I would appeal to the audience to go out and see the performers when they were in town doing their own material. I found it frustrating that people would pay money to hear Phil's songs, but not the songs of the performers. Sammy Walker said, "Phil Ochs draws a larger audience dead than we do alive."
A side benefit of the creation of the Song Night was that several performers liked the songs that I asked them to sing so much that they included them in their repertoires and sang them all around the country. The ultimate thrill was when Kim and Reggie Harris not only recorded "In the Heat of the Summer", they also made it the title song of their first cd.
After several years of only doing Phil's songs at the Song Nights I started to get bored hearing the same songs over and over by basically the same performers. We were playing in different venues including Washington DC and Cambridge, Massachusetts by this time so the audiences were different, but I needed a change. I decided to change to format so that each performer would do one of Phil's songs and one of his/her own, thus giving the audience a taste of what is being written today. As of now, this is still the formula we're using. I much prefer it, but some of the performers think we should only do Phil's songs, and that's what some of them do.
Another minor change was added when we did a show at the Village Gate in Manhattan in November of '93. There was a biography of Phil by Michael Schumacher being written at that time. He let us have some of his transcripts from several interviews. We had two excerpts read which described some of Phil's adventures in Africa and South America. They were quite humorous and added a new dimension to the Song Night. We have included this practice in several Song Nights since then.
So the Song Nights continue. Many performers have taken part in them, and many more will be invited in the future. Some of the regulars include Emma's Revolution (Pat Humphries & Sandy Apatow) , John Flynn, David Roth, Greg Greenway, Kim & Reggie Harris and Magpie. In 1994 we made our first foray into Canada, doing a show in Toronto, in 1996 we did a min-tour covering 8 cities in the mid west, and in 1999 we went to 7 cities in the mid west including a major tribute to Phil at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. We also did 2 nights at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage.
We toured the northwest in 2004, starting in Vancouver with shows in Washington and Oregon, ending up in California - San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Berkeley. It's really exciting to be a part of a constantly evolving show with the main purpose of keeping Phil Ochs' music out there.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Big Bill Broozny
great video - from 1956
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KhPTfPykpDI
Born William Lee Conley Broonzy
June 26, 1893
Scott, MS.
Died
August 15, 1958
Chicago, IL.
Broonzy's body of work--including his enduring
originals "Key to the Highway" and "Black, Brown
and White"--ranks him among Muddy Waters, B.B.
King and Robert Johnson in terms of influence.
A storyteller as much as a lonesome singer, Broonzy was
among the first performers to marry rough rural blues (like
Johnson's brand of Mississippi Delta moaning) with upscale jazzy
city blues (like Charles Brown's cocktail piano crooning). He began
his career as a violinist (a skill he learned from an uncle) and learned
from mentor Papa Charlie Jackson how to adapt those skills to the guitar.
As his obvious talent gradually turned him into a star, he moved to Chicago
and started hooking up with Memphis Slim, Brownie McGhee, John Lee "Son-
ny Boy" Williamson and Big Maceo; he also recorded for many different
labels, including Columbia, OKeh and Bluebird. Most refused to put
out "Black, Brown and White"--a powerful attack on racism with
the memorable tell-it-like-it-is chorus, "Get back," after
Broonzy wrote it in 1949; two years later, in France,
writer-critic Hugues Panassie and record company
officials helped him get it in circulation.
Broonzy's pockets of regional popularity coagulated into an adoring
national audience after he played John Hammond's From Spirituals to Swing
concert (as a replacement for Robert Johnson, who had just died) at New York
City's Carnegie Hall in 1938. Regular Chicago and southern gigs followed until
the 1950s, when Broonzy--along with peers Leadbelly, Josh White and Sonny Terry
and Brownie McGhee--became an avatar of the folk movement. While touring and
recording in Europe throughout the 1950s, he wrote a fascinating biography,
Big Bill Blues, with Danish writer Yannick Bruynoghe.
Because Broonzy was such a prolific writer and because so many different
big record companies put out his stuff, plenty of thorough CD collections doc-
ument various stages of his career. Most impressive include Good Time Tonight
(Columbia/Legacy, 1990, prod. various) [Rating: 5.0] , which spans 1930 to
1940 (including, of course, his classic "I Can't Be Satisfied");
Do That Guitar Rag (1928-35) (Yazoo, 1973) [Rating: 4.5] ; and Blues in the
Mississippi Night (Rykodisc, 1990) [Rating: 5.0] , a sometimes chilling 1946 Alan
Lomax-recorded no-holds-barred conversation between Broonzy, pianist Memphis
Slim and harpist Sonny Boy Williamson about racism in the South.
What to Buy Next:
Feelin' Low Down (GNP Crescendo, 1973) [Rating: 3.5]
Worth Searching For:
Big Bill's Blues (Portrait) [Rating: 5.0] captures Broonzy's
seriousness and humor as well as the spontaneity of his record-
ing process.
From:
MusicHound Blues:
The Essential Album Guide
By Steve Knopper
Copyright © 1998 Visible Ink Press
A division of Gale Research
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KhPTfPykpDI
Born William Lee Conley Broonzy
June 26, 1893
Scott, MS.
Died
August 15, 1958
Chicago, IL.
Broonzy's body of work--including his enduring
originals "Key to the Highway" and "Black, Brown
and White"--ranks him among Muddy Waters, B.B.
King and Robert Johnson in terms of influence.
A storyteller as much as a lonesome singer, Broonzy was
among the first performers to marry rough rural blues (like
Johnson's brand of Mississippi Delta moaning) with upscale jazzy
city blues (like Charles Brown's cocktail piano crooning). He began
his career as a violinist (a skill he learned from an uncle) and learned
from mentor Papa Charlie Jackson how to adapt those skills to the guitar.
As his obvious talent gradually turned him into a star, he moved to Chicago
and started hooking up with Memphis Slim, Brownie McGhee, John Lee "Son-
ny Boy" Williamson and Big Maceo; he also recorded for many different
labels, including Columbia, OKeh and Bluebird. Most refused to put
out "Black, Brown and White"--a powerful attack on racism with
the memorable tell-it-like-it-is chorus, "Get back," after
Broonzy wrote it in 1949; two years later, in France,
writer-critic Hugues Panassie and record company
officials helped him get it in circulation.
Broonzy's pockets of regional popularity coagulated into an adoring
national audience after he played John Hammond's From Spirituals to Swing
concert (as a replacement for Robert Johnson, who had just died) at New York
City's Carnegie Hall in 1938. Regular Chicago and southern gigs followed until
the 1950s, when Broonzy--along with peers Leadbelly, Josh White and Sonny Terry
and Brownie McGhee--became an avatar of the folk movement. While touring and
recording in Europe throughout the 1950s, he wrote a fascinating biography,
Big Bill Blues, with Danish writer Yannick Bruynoghe.
Because Broonzy was such a prolific writer and because so many different
big record companies put out his stuff, plenty of thorough CD collections doc-
ument various stages of his career. Most impressive include Good Time Tonight
(Columbia/Legacy, 1990, prod. various) [Rating: 5.0] , which spans 1930 to
1940 (including, of course, his classic "I Can't Be Satisfied");
Do That Guitar Rag (1928-35) (Yazoo, 1973) [Rating: 4.5] ; and Blues in the
Mississippi Night (Rykodisc, 1990) [Rating: 5.0] , a sometimes chilling 1946 Alan
Lomax-recorded no-holds-barred conversation between Broonzy, pianist Memphis
Slim and harpist Sonny Boy Williamson about racism in the South.
What to Buy Next:
Feelin' Low Down (GNP Crescendo, 1973) [Rating: 3.5]
Worth Searching For:
Big Bill's Blues (Portrait) [Rating: 5.0] captures Broonzy's
seriousness and humor as well as the spontaneity of his record-
ing process.
From:
MusicHound Blues:
The Essential Album Guide
By Steve Knopper
Copyright © 1998 Visible Ink Press
A division of Gale Research
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