Back in 2014 I wrote about a film called Palikari — Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre. Directed by Nikos Ventouras and produced by Lamprini Thoma, the film tells the story of Greek and other immigrant miners during the Colorado Coal Strike of 1913-1914. The other day, our friend Michael…
A Perfect Holiday Pairing for the Bob Dylan Fan in Your Life
Here’s a holiday gift idea for the Bob Dylan fan in your life: a copy of Daniel Wolff’s Grown Up Anger, tracing the connections between Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and the Italian Hall disaster, and a DVD of the…
Joe Hill’s music in Chicago this week
If you’re in Chicago, don’t miss Bucky Halker at the Filament Theatre this Wednesday, November 18th at 7:30PM, performing songs from his new CD Anywhere But Utah: Songs of Joe Hill. Bucky will share the stage with special guests the BS Brass Band and John Abbey. More information here, at Bucky’s site and…
Labor Day – Enjoy Responsibly
Have a great Labor Day. And don’t forget what it’s all about.
“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…
Murder, Mother Jones and the Militia
By August of 1913, things in the Copper Country were really starting to heat up. The miners had been on strike since the end of July, and the strike was “gradually drifting,” in the words of the Calumet News, “towards its second stage, a period of guerilla warfare.” The Michigan National…