Ken emailed late last night with the news that Pete Seeger had died. I found out this morning. We both feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have spent time with Pete, talking about Woody, their time on the road, “1913 Massacre” and all sorts of musical and historical topics. There…
Documentary As A Layer of Memory
Geoff Gimse saw our film last Thursday evening, at Michigan Tech. Here, Ken and I agree, he nails it, and we especially dig his last comment about the film as “another layer of…memory.” Since the actual facts of the tragedy are impossible to discern, the film instead focuses on how…
“They Try to Create Despair Among the Miners”
One of the small treasures I brought back to New York from Lake Superior is Hannu Leppanen and Daniel Schneider’s 2013 letterpress edition of Tyomies, the Finnish workingman’s newspaper published during the strike of 1913. I’ve mentioned the project here before. Daniel set up his Chandler & Price Pilot Press…
Check Out This Performance of ‘1913 Massacre’
After seeing our film, composer Rob Garcia was so taken with Woody’s song that he developed this original setting of “1913 Massacre.” Here’s Rob Garcia’s Soap Box performing the song at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture last month. http://youtu.be/cAq6uSFxsGg&w=420&h=315 The Soap Box ensemble features: Jean Rohe – vocals Michel…
“Unfinished Business”
Mike Ragogna interviews Nora Guthrie today on Huffington Post about her father and his music. MR: Were there certain topics brought up in his material, such as the plight of the Mexican worker in “Deportees,” that resonated with you more than others? NG: Woody wrote over 3000 songs for every…
A Theme from Labor Day 1913
One hundred years ago today, in 1913, a crowd of almost 3000 people gathered in the sweltering heat at the municipal park in Hancock, Michigan for a Labor Day rally. It had been a difficult, violent summer, and there was no indication that the strike on the Copper Range was…