#Railroaded - An epic journey.. on the rail..

I will admit... I have been sort of crazy for a couple of months... but like U. Utah Bruce Phillips said... Crazy is a mental condition..

I have been mad.. and that is a reaction... I have been #railroaded !

Let me explain..

This is my 14th year as a railroad worker.. Being a railroader is already a stressful job, and for the last two years I have poured my heart into a campaign to stop ONE PERSON TRAINS...

Railroaders went up against a very large power.. and now we are waiting for Goliath to strike back...and the fight is not over...

#railroaded is a collection of railroad music form the campaign against the BNSF.. Against the corrupt side of the SMART Union. I am a very big thinker..I get consumed... working for the railroad is a lonely job, lots of time to think... lots of horse power.. commodities.. track... a empire of logistical networks and an agenda of mass corporate greed. The workers on the BNSF said no.. but... 

The Fight is far from over.. that is why we have been #railroaded

Hi$torically $peaking!

I am a musician, locomotive engineer, union organizer who dreams to tell this story far and wide... this is partly why I have gone somewhat mad.. This collection is 13 years of learning who I am.. as a railroader.. where I fit in.. in a very harsh climate. In a hidden culture.. In the scheme of many things....

In a Rolling Art Show and a Sub-Culture of a Sub-Culture.. My friends are located everywhere along the track.. seriously.. ghosts.. Rail Yard Ghosts.. haunt my dreams.. wandering gypsies sing my songs.. I sing theirs.. they are rolling and this driver pulls.. the weight... OVER!

Enjoy this recording. Share it far and wide.. Ask questions.. and for Joe Hill's sake.. Buy the fucking thing... it's a labor of love.. and an interesting look into a world that is and was very influential to many.. #FOLK singers love it.. the whistle.. the aura.. #country singers sing about it... I come from a long heritage.. Jimmie Rodgers - Johnny Cash - Pete Seeger - Woody Guthrie - Joe Hill - Eugene V Debs--- Many more.... Have all been...

#RAILROADED 

The Mad Railroader Manifesto.. for Ramu

The Mad Railroader Manifesto.. for RAMU.

I am done with apologies. I once had a Shams-
but his name was Umar... and backwards like these memories and forward-
Like this dream I speak on this "longest night!"

I do not owe anything to this story, but must give my advice to silence my desire.
I miss the friend, and we once sat black and white, young and old.. to speak-
of duel alities.  and missions and visions... in circles we danced.
Seeped in explanations!

He said, "you must.."
And I said, " I know"
He said, "you should"
And I said "how do you?"
And he said...
and like this we spoke.. until the announcement came!
"Leave! You think you know?" but "come back!"
"After you find out.. and things come together.. the dreaming starts."

Dream with friends back home-
but I am done begging for rights to my story!

This is it..My MANifesto! I am raging to tell you a story of a boy who did love the tree..
of the man that did want something to talk about in the locker room..
I am longing to swirl in our conversations... in Old Louisville nights.. long ones.. like tonight..
like some sort of Last Poets hot and drunk from the wine... waiting for blue notes to play his flute while wailing voices... and NAY sayers  are bound in bamboo vibrations and then lulled to sleep by innocence.
Like this..
And then some...

I was your Rumi. Still am.. and you have been gone for too long.
I am screaming! and being consumed like a fly in a spiders web.. round and round but free..
And like your Humanifesto.. this is the beginning. I am of that age now when...
One Song was all I needed!

I could go on for nights-
 pinned to a breast or buttoned up for a cold trip into the dark... but..
I am not finished.
I am done with apologies-
Mad.. but not crazy!

JPW 2014 - 12-21 Nashville, TN

#Ferguson, Children

I wrote this after reading several posts on Facebook. I grew up Catholic and being a union organizer,.. I understand the Jesus story and many of the stories in the book. Noah, and that boat.. yep.. got it.

I am working on a ship, and I may never sail on it but the problem we are facing in this country is Biblical in proportion! So, I wanted to respond.. and I was also very mad. Mad at the many racist posts that I read. Many of them... hurt deeply...

and I needed some inspiration. So, I listened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech from Memphis. The one when he was speaking to a bunch of Garbage Men.. people who were making the point that they were men! People, humans! That speech and the story surrounding it might be my favorite MLK moment.

I wanted to be part of the conversation. I didn't want to participate in angry debate. So.. I wrote a song.. We are missing the point again.... still after all these years and experiences.. #blacklivesmatter

#wecantbreathe and we are all God's Children! 

#Ferguson, Children 20142914

It doesn’t take much to imagine,

the jest of the stories spoken.

A group of people standin’ around a criminal?

And the word it was resounding!

Go on and throw that rock,

yet you be the judge and the jury!

(Chorus)

We’re missin’ the point again!

Cause?.. We can’t seem to look past the end of our swords.

We are all God’s Children!

(They), put Jesus up on the cross.

Flanked by two of the worst from the street.

He was jabbed, scorned and mocked by all.

His own people, standin’ in the street!

Yet, he cried out Father, forgive them,

They know not what they do.

(Chorus)

And what about that Good Samaritan?

The message is BLACK and WHITE!

Two men of God were walkin’ by,

and they didn’t do nothin’

and I know it’s dangerous territory,

To possibly love thy enemy!

But how can it be against God’s law

to Love his Children!

(Chorus)

(They) say Jesus died for our sins,

but I say he was executed!

And that put the word in action!

And the moral can’t be disputed!

It is WE that is up on that cross,

And a sickness has spread across this land!

When we fight for punishment and not forgiveness!

Chorus