Politicos

So, as the hipsters say.. um.. well.. I think I would tell them..

There are 470,000 things good and 470.000 things bad about the Labor Movement.. and NEWS FLASH!!!!!!   Scoop: There has always been 470,000 things good and 470,000 things bad about the Labor MOVEment, but...

There are ways to take the good and leave the rest for history to sort out. Sun Ra the Free Jazz musician had a saying... "That is His Story, My Story is endless.. what is your story?"

My story: I am a Locomotive Engineer, front line labor organizer.. I am very versed in Eugene Debs,  the railroad man.. Socialist? not so much...A middle class dude who has a serious heart for the underdog. My mother was a teacher, she went to school in Louisville. She traded in two working men for a life of activism, lesbianism and then childhood education. I grew up around political activists....And now.. like Paul Harvey said... here is the rest of the story... I am a folk singer.. community activist, slash... African Djembe player.. Community Builder. (Your Community).. is relative.. so..

Why would a "hippie" come all the way to DC to hang out with a bunch of labor reporters? well.. we got work to do.. fellow workers.. you work and they don't.. you write and they don't.. i play music and they don't .. there is no Republican "folk" music.. We are in a room full of coal gas.. here.. so...
Get to work!

 Mike Elk wrote a peice once about coal miners.. doing civil disobediance in the street in St. Louis.. I really wanted to go to that protest, but I had other obligations. I read the article, looked at the pictures and wrote a song.. A picture was inspired the tune... Old men.. Grandpa's willing to get arrested.. Oxygen in thier noses.. sitting down in the street... the article aslo had Quotes from the workers...

Important.. voices... I could hear them in the writing.......

Mike reports on labor differently than some.. I am a musician and look for inspiration in people. Sometimes the tune documents a struggle, sometimes it tells of a vicotry... but mostly (Folk) music is about folks and what they do, and why ... and sometimes what they can do about it.. So, UM.. like... it's hip.. to be a folk labor reporter.. and my message to you would be.....

Write it out.. look to street for advice.. talk to the person on the bus.. down the street working as a security guard.. The worker at McDonalds... because, they have a story to tell... (what's yours)... here is the tune...