Fred Hellerman, the last surviving member of The Weavers, died on Thursday at 89. The New York Times obituary does not discuss Hellerman’s relationship with Woody Guthrie (except indirectly, where it notes that Fred produced Arlo’s first two albums). Hellerman nevertheless played an important part in the musical story of…
Woody’s “Old Man Trump” Recorded by Harvey, DiFranco, Morello
Ryan Harvey, Ani DiFranco and Tom Morello have collaborated on a recording of Woody Guthrie’s “Old Man Trump.” I wrote about “Old Man Trump” and the bigotry it denounces here, back in January; but I didn’t know about this recording until yesterday, when my friend David Goddy sent along an…
Touch That Dial!
We started shooting 1913 Massacre before High Definition video and the 16:9 aspect ratio were widely used, and we kept shooting Standard Definition video and producing in a fullscreen 4:3 ratio even after HD and widescreen 16:9 became the default format. I once endured a screening of the entire film…
Labor Day – Enjoy Responsibly
Have a great Labor Day. And don’t forget what it’s all about.
Les Ross, 1923-2014
Les Ross passed away on Thursday, June 26th, just a month shy of his 91st birthday. Read his obituary here: World War II (Navy) veteran. Accountant. Father, grandfather and great-grandfather. A Detroit Tigers fan. And a wonderful musician. Les played lumberjack style harmonica, a Finnish-Scandinavian style in which the melody…
Pete Seeger, 1919-2014
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…