The Flames of Discontent: News

THE POUGHKEEPSIE JOURNAL, 4/23/08:
"Concert Raises $5,800 for Utah Phillips"

A benefit concert held Sunday in Rosendale for folk singer and labor activist Utah Phillips raised $5,800.

On the bill for this concert were Pete Seeger, Dar Williams, Redwood Moose, Flames of Discontent and others. Nearly 300 people packed the Rosendale Community Center on Route 32 and many stood for the show.

Seeger dazzled the audience and led the full house in group sing-alongs. "This Land is Your Land," was a highlight. Seeger, dressed in jeans and a denim shirt with a rainbow over his heart, grinned through his entire set, which brought the crowd to its feet several times.

Phillips, who has recorded two albums with alternative musician Ani DiFranco, is battling several health issues and can no longer make a living by performing. The concert held Sunday was organized by Rosendale Café co-owner Mark Morganstern, Moose Dmoch of Redwood Moose, John Pietaro of the Flames of Discontent and Sarah Underhill, who was pivotal in getting Seeger and Williams to perform.

For information, visit www.rosendalecafe.com and www.utahphillips.org.
-John Barry

"Utah Has Left the Trade!"

Pete Seeger, Dar Williams & the Folk Community
Come to Rosendale In Support of Utah Phillips

Community Center in Rosendale
Sunday, April 20, 2PM

Story by Gary Alexander

"You bet I do! You're darn tootin' I do!" he said when asked if he had any thoughts on the health care situation in America, prompting reflection on who else could credibly drop a phrase like that these days.

Although a guy named "Utah" in a town called Nevada City in the State of California was feeling "a little rocky at the moment" on Sunday, his voice on the phone came out in the mountains of New York as clear and strong as ever when he spoke about the people staging a benefit in his honor at the Community Center in Rosendale.on Sunday, April 20, at 2pm. (The show is headlined by our national treasure Pete Seeger and Dar Williams, along with the Flames of Discontent, Sarah Underhill and the High Meadow Larks, Redwood Moose, Jude Roberts & Lily McCabe, and Woodstock's Norm Wennet.)

"I'm living with my wife Joanna in this old gold mining town of about 2800 people up in the foothills of the Sierra," Utah explained. "We live on the edge of town on a rural lane in an old grove of cedar and oak trees that's never been logged. It's a very small house but it suits us just fine." Even on a "rocky" afternoon?

"That's the way it goes, kind of like a roller coaster but I did get out to speak in church today," said the legendary performer of his excursion Sunday to oblige a request from a new minister at the nearby Unitarian Church he had helped to found. Recovering from a recent attack of gout which periodically attends the condition of congestive heart failure that underlies the reason for the fund-raiser, Utah was one of three charter members she, (the minister), had asked to speak briefly about the basis of their spiritual life. "That's something I do very, very seldom but I had a few words."

By reputation, any time Utah Phillips stands to speak is an occasion. Known around the world for the monologues and tales woven into and around his songs, Red House, a leading folk music label, has even released a Phillips CD (The Moscow Hold) of mostly spoken word which rivals the work of many of today's stand-up comedians. Almost everyone consulted while priming this article used the word raconteur to describe him, even though he was born in Cleveland. So, how did he become such a highly respected folksinger?

"I got backed into it," Said Utah, who moved west from Ohio with his mother in 1947 before getting into some old fashioned ramblin' 'round, running away so often, it is said, that his mom started wrapping his lunch in road maps. "I always sang and, when I left Utah in 1969, I was an unemployed organizer. I was on the lam. I had a head full of songs I'd made up and all kinds of songs I'd learned. I'd worked picket lines and migrant councils in the migrant camps but it was only when I got into the east that I was told that I sang folk music. I didn't know what that was."

Long before his tune "Green Rolling Hills" became a hit for Emmylou Harris or "Rock, Salt & Nails" lit up recordings by Joan Baez, Steve Young, Waylon Jennings and others or "Going Away" showed up on a Flatlanders CD or Tom Waits and other artists recorded his songs (including a Grammy-nominated album drawn completely from the Utah Phillips songkit by husband-wife duo Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin); long before he received the 1997 life-time achievement award from the North American Folk Alliance or was Grammy-nominated himself for his mesmerizing collaborations with Ani DiFranco (bringing the work to a new generation); long before his weekly syndicated show Loafer's Glory- Hobo Jungle of the Mind lost its National Public Radio slot; long before all of this, Bruce Phillips, a Unitarian from Utah and card-carrying Wobbly whose name can be mentioned in the same breath as Woody Guthrie, Joe Hill, Jack Elliot and, of course, Pete Seeger, took a dip in the American political pool.

"See, in 1968, I ran for the U.S. Senate in Utah as a peace candidate and as a veteran who had put my time in over in Korea," Phillips continued. "At that time I was working for the State of Utah as a mole down in the basement of the state archives. When the campaign was over and we took 6,000 votes as a peace candidate during the Vietnam war, my job vanished at the state (level) and, in fact, I found I couldn't get work in the state anywhere. Someone had always called ahead. It was a blacklist and a friend suggested that I leave and try to make a living telling stories and singing songs-which, in Utah at the time, seemed absurd or illegal."

With $75 dollars in his pocket, Utah headed east in an old German VW bus he called "Hitler's Revenge" that November, "crossing the belly of the continent toward an uncertain future and that's when I discovered the folk music community; the whole folk music world. I discovered Pete. I discovered Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, where so many singers started out with Lena Spencer.

"Pete doesn't agree but I've told him a number of times 'Pete, you invented this trade here.' While I know that all over the South and Southwest there were cowboy singers or people who had been cowboys who were traveling and singing there with the radio folks, the Carter family and all of the traditional people. But, for people from a different walk of life, who simply learned the music because they loved it and then set out to travel around the country to perform it for people who also loved the music, as a kind of missionary activity- sort of our 'People's Music'- Pete invented that- the whole idea that it could be an honorable, productive and useful profession.

"Just working, sleeping on couches and floors, building to better halls and larger audiences over the years and living right close to the ground," Utah said, "I learned from this folk music family that I don't need wealth and I don't need fame or power. What I need is friends and that's what I found and that's what's coming through for us in our time of need."

Sarah Underhill, a Banshanachie (woman storyteller and song collector), who will perform on Sunday, met Utah after she had come from the West Coast in the late '70s to sail the Hudson on the Clearwater sloop and wound up staying. She vividly recalls a Clearwater journey in Long Island Sound with Phillips to protest the building of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant at Portsmouth, New Hampshire and welcomes the opportunity for the community to raise awareness about the nation's health care situation and celebrate Utah's music and work as a devoted activist.

"He's an incredible humorist who wrote a lot of songs about hopping trains and being out on the great western plains that wound up being sung by the Clearwater crew even though we were usually singing our sea shanties and nautical stuff," said Underhill. "Now that some of us have settled in the Hudson Valley, we still sing his songs when we get together."

"We sailed from Beacon on the Clearwater, down the Hudson, around and out on the ocean," Phillips recalled of the mission Underhill mentions. "The Clearwater had never been out on the ocean and we sailed the coast of New England, around Cape Cod to Seabrook to a big anti-nuclear rally. I crewed on that and Peter Wilcox was the captain then. He wanted to take the sloop into the harbor under sail and radioed ahead to have the drawbridge over the harbor's entrance raised. So, here we were, under full sail, bearing down on a bridge that was rising rather slowly and he realized we were not going to make it, so he threw the anchor overboard to slow the sloop down. It caught, then broke but it did slow the vessel down. Captain Peter and the rest of the crew were diving for that anchor while I was on stage singing."

Singer-songwriter Norm Wennet was involved with the Cornell Folksong Society in Ithaca when he floored by the song "Daddy, What's A Train" when Utah came in for a concert over 3 decades ago and met him at festivals in the Northeast afterward, forming a friendship.

John Pietaro, core of The Flames of Discontent with his bass wizard wife Laurie Towers, is also a Wobbly, or member of the historic IWW- Industrial Workers of the World union, and feels Utah is perhaps its best known living member.

"I've been a labor and protest singer quite a few years. IWW has long been a 'singing union'," said Pietaro, an arts columnist for New England's progressive Z Magazine whose group has an album titled I Dreamed I Heard Joe Hill Last Night...A Century of IWW Songs featuring workers' standards redressed in modern rhythms. "It was a group of people that came together and said 'We can allow women, we can allow blacks, immigrants and unskilled workers and we want the same union here as for people in Germany, South America, anywhere.' And, in order to really cross that barrier, they sang. Joe Hill said 'One song speaks louder than a thousand pamphlets' and Utah Phillips is rooted in that tradition. He carries the torch of Joe Hill."

Pietaro, who runs an annual "Philfest" at The Colony in December on Rock City Road to celebrate the songs of Phil Ochs and a Woody Guthrie Tribute there in July, specializes in topical and protest message songs.

"It's ironic that I work for a health care workers' union and much of what I've been doing as part of my own job is fighting for universal health care," he said. "Now, here is this great man who wrote classics like 'All Used Up' who can't afford his treatment and there are millions less visible than him suffering as the Bush administration pushes away at Mediaid."

Dar Williams first met Utah when she opened some shows for him 15 years ago. Their friendship developed further at festivals and concerts through the years like a large fundraiser for the famous free speech radio station KPFA in Berkeley as they underwent their management shake-up in 1999 with Joan Baez, Spearhead and other artists sharing the bill.

"I'm a big fan of Utah and there are things he didn't do in general and specific ways in his career that helped him keep things on a human scale," said Williams of a man who scorned the "parasites, and money grubbers who own the music machine" in his assessments of the music industry. "His motto was 'Make a living, not a killing' and, in order to navigate the whole medical scene, it's almost as if you need to have made a killing. If you stick to the human scale, you look to your friends and we're his friends and he always gave generously of himself and passed on things where he really could have climbed another kind of ladder. I certainly don't do as much as he did but I try to do a lot of fundraisers and I'm in line with that sense of responsibility because of people like Utah, and specifically Utah."

Because of his heart condition, Utah has attempted retirement a couple of times in the past few years. In October, last year, the inevitable could no longer be put off.

"My heart is enlarged and very weak," Utah said. "I was sent down to California-Pacific Hospital, the best cardiac unit in the country, for a heart transplant. This was at the beginning of Feburary (2008), and it was determined by a group of experts there, and myself, too, that I would not survive a transplant... So, the alternative was to keep me there for the whole month of February, run a variety of medicines through my heart-electrolytes, coreg and so on, to see what I would tolerate, eventually to get it right and send me home with the alternative to a transplant- which is continuous home medication.

"I'm getting used to carrying this shoulder bag around with my life support in it and people around me have to get used to it, too, but I'm doing okay...It has a bag of medicine in it, which shows up here on dry ice every other day in several packages, and an electronic pump which all sit pretty nicely in this small shoulder bag. There's a tube that comes out of the bottom and goes up to a permanent IV implant in my chest and that catheter ablation goes directly to my heart to pump a continuous supply of that medication 24 hours a day to keep my heart beating more regularly, help my breathing and send the right signals to my kidneys not to eliminate all that fluid- which was a big problem with me.

"So, that'll be for the rest of my life that I'll be carrying this around, besides taking a lot of oral medications nine times during the day," he summed up. "So, I guess I really have left the trade- which I regret enormously"

Then Utah reached the part which in his estimation made me "darn tootin'"..."I think there's a lot of people out there who assume the reason we're up against it here is because of the tremendous high cost of medical care and that's why there's a benefit happening with Pete and Dar Williams and some other good friends in your part of the country.

"I'm 73 years old. I'm on Medicare...The month in the hospital, the pump, the oxygen machine I sleep with that makes oxygen out of the air and rumbles every night in my bedroom, my pacemaker-defibulater on the other side of my chest- I'm a cyborg now, all of that was covered by medicare...Medicare is something that, during the 1930s, enormous numbers of American working people, who were all up against it, developed so much pressure from the bottom that it forced the government to create it. It's something that American workers got together and created for ourselves- to take care of each other. That's why there's never been any problem being in the medicare system.

"And, besides other good things like minimum wage, unemployment insurance, workman's compensation; things that are unheard of any place else in the world, the people here got those things but medical social security is the centerpiece of all of that...What I'm saying is socialized medicine works. Anybody who's got an argument with that, send 'em to me and I'll tell 'em. It works. Here I am, okay? I should be dead but I'm not and I'm getting excellent care. As much as an anarchist as *I am, I realize that it's through the help of my fellow workers all over the country through the tears that has enabled this to happen...It does work. There shouldn't be any argument there. The object is to lower the age requirement to zero. And stop fighting these dumb wars. And stop the money pump that's pumping waelth from the bottom to the top at a furious rate, impoverishing the working class. Reverse that, get that money back and put it to work, giving everybody exactly what I've been able to enjoy through medicare."

Utah also wanted to clarify his current circumstance: "The reason these benefits are happening throughout the country is that I had to leave the trade. I can no longer be on stage. I left, after about 40 years, fairly close to the high end and I'm not talking about 'the industry.' I always worked at a 'sub-industrial' level. I was a journeyman at my trade, working close to the street- small clubs, small concert halls; making a living-not a 'killing,' which is all I ever wanted... I was doing fairly well and, when I finally decided I couldn't do this anymore, our income went from a reasonably good one to zero. So, that's what stranded us here.

"My medicines are covered. We own the house we live in, thank God, or we couldn't afford to live here. But we've got property taxes. We've got to heat the place. We've got to keep the lights on and keep ourselves fed... My wife, Joanna, and I are giving ourselves a year to get on our feet- to decide how we're going to make a living from here on and the good people in the folk music world- it's a family, behaves like a family- are coming together and helping float us over this year until we get on our feet."

There is scarcely anything more that needs to be said about Pete Seeger, who turns 89 next month, than here is an opportunity to see him perform in person. Rosendale Cafe proprietor Mark Morganstern, who originally organized the event for his cafe and acquired use of the community center due to public response, advises that there will be no advanced sales or reservations.

Utah said he would try to arrange a live phone hook-up to speak to the audience directly and, if you've got some Utah Phillips CDs you've been meaning to get, now would be a great time to do it. Go to Utahphillips.org or Cdbaby.com.


-Gary Alexander

Friends,

Its easy for us all to use humor as a means of dealing with the realities of George Bush. He's a terrific embarressment and people living in other countries cannot imagine how this man became leader of anything. He's a humiliation to anyone of conscience, so we often chuckle around his stupidity. But if you lay all of his so-called accomplishments out, resume-fashion, there's a lot to just be furious about. Here's something that was sent to me and should become a staple of internet political commentaries. I felt the need to add a couple of entries to this one...

Enjoy, er---Seethe,
John Pietaro www.flamesofdiscontent.org


RESUME

GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE :

Law Enforcement:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.

Military:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL.
I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use.
By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.


PAST WORK EXPERIENCE :
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.
I began my career in the oil business in Midland,Texas in 1975. I bought an
oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt
shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land
using taxpayer money.

With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including
Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in
borrowed money.

I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American
history.

With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President of the United States, after
losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month
period.

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S.
stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their
jobs and that trend continues.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I worked hard to stay in good favor with corporations by appointing an anti-labor secretary, Elaine Chao, to head up the Dept of Labor. Together we hand-picked an NLRB that would refuse to hear cases unions brought forward and we also were sure to make airport security "union-free" when we reconstructed that department. In all of my years in office, I am proud to note that the few times I vetoed a bill the proposed bills were pro-worker. I also made sure that construction workers in post-Katrina New Orleans were not paid at the prevailing wage.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.

I am the all- time U. S. and world record - holder for receiving the most
corporate campaign donations.

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in US. history,
Enron.

My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure
my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation
or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica
Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate
rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.

I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S.history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded
government contracts.

I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any President
in US. history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the
history of the United States Government.

I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history. What Kyoto Treaty? Oh and speaking of that, I was sure to appoint Gale Norton to be sure to keep US-based corporations from worrying about pollution laws at home.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees
and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election
inspectors (during the 2002 US election).

I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President
since the advent of television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period.
After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst
security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center
attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in
the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. Citizens and the world community.

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty
benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking
Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.


I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%)
view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.

I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.


RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.

All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt
companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended
regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for
public review. I specified that my sealed documents will not be available for 50
years.


"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the
country who determine the policy, and it's always a
simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist
dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no
voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the
pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

I am writing this shortly after my return home after a 10-day stay in Cleveland, Ohio, on the campaign trail. I am an organizer with a militant healthcare workers union on the east coast and was part of the activist army deployed to various cities on behalf of Barack Obama. Over 700 of us were on hand in Ohio and Texas,
courtesy of our international, and though Barack lost both states to Hillary Clinton, the forces came away stronger.

I arrived in Cleveland a week prior to the primary and hit the streets for our GOTV effort immediately. Cleveland is very cold in winter, but during our stay there was unexpected snow which piled up to about two feet in most places. We were wet, cold and tired. On primary day there was also endless freezing rain to contend with. But each time we rang a door bell and received a positive, excited response as we discussed Sen. Obama, we were revitalized. Foolishly, I thought my heavy work shoes would be adequate and I ended up with frigid, soaked socks during much of the canvassing. My coat quickly became stained with salt and my wool cap was frosted over, the campaign button afixed to the front glistening. Yet, the warmth of solidarity was truly in the air. Our staging area was the hall of SEIU Local 3, a great group of Ohio building service workers. We came to see that these are some terrific folks who greeted us as sisters and brothers.

A few days prior to the election, we were all called to a rally sponsored by the
Change to Win federation. Present were 1199 SEIU-United Healthcare Workers East, 1199 SEIU South, Local 32 B-J, Unite-Here, United Food and Commercial Workers, more than one Teamsters local, and others. The room was brimming with excitement as the rally kicked off with several members' intense chanting, leading the crowded room in hearty, throaty call-and-response. It spoke volumes of the masive united effort to bring Barack to the general election.

During the canvassing, which was our full-time job for the week (but necessarily encompassing much, much more than 40 hours), we looked into the eyes of Cleveland's
working class, poor and diminishing middle class. Many houses were standing vacant, boarded up as foreclosures swallowed up families. Most told us that they were big fans of Obama and very excited to have him in the race. Sure, we also came across
some folks, both African-American and white, who were rooting for Hillary, but all also agreed that this is the first time in many years that we've had excellent candidates in the running.

But the MOVEMENT around Obama is still more unique....and it's amazing to be a part of it all.

In Solidarity,

John Pietaro, Beacon NY

A Note To All of Our Friends and Comrades...

As of this writing, the Flames will be having to offer a much slimmer schedule than in the past. Usually we pick up on a busy performance calendar once the snow begins to clear, but this year things will be less involved than in the past. Recently, John began a new job with 1199 SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East, as a Community Organizer. As he's a part of the Union's Political Action Department, things are heating up already and he's being deployed to hot spots in the Democratic primary race. So while the Flames will continue to host the May Day event in New Paltz, the Woody Guthrie birthday concert this July in Woodstock, the Beacon-based Dissident Folk & Arts Festival in October and the December 'Woodstock Phil Fest', there otherwise-schedule will be lean. We need to cancel our March 1 gig in Kingston as a result of a deployment to Texas (hopefully its not to Crawford!); jury is still out on Nov 7 gig in Woodstock. Duty calls!

At least 100 union members turned out to support striking screenwriters at a rally held in the historic Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie on Friday.

The crowd included more than 50 Hudson Valley-based members of teachers’ union NYSUT as well as union sheet metal workers, commuter railway workers, communications technicians, stagehands, musicians, Actors Equity members and local Writers Guild members.

Bardavon director Chris Silva welcomed the group warmly, stressing the theater’s long history of supporting writers, from Mark Twain to Bob Dylan.

Musicians’ union member and labor organizer John Pietaro kicked off the rally with a Pete Seeger-ish banjo and rousing chorus of "Solidarity Forever."

Hudson Valley Area Labor Fed. AFL-CIO organizer Jen Fuentes addressed the assembled crowd, saying, "The issues at stake and the stand the writers are making are important, because in the labor movement, we are never afraid of a David and Goliath battle ... We will stand behind them 100 percent."

Philadelphia screenwriter Ron Nyswaner presented the strike issues succinctly and with humor, noting "the guy who manufactures the plastic box for the DVD earns more per copy than the guy whose head the movie came out of."

The entire crowd moved onto the street outside the theatre, holding up signs, greeting patrons as they entered for a sold-out screening of "The Blues Brothers," and handing out Writers Guild informational flyers. Spirits were high in spite of temperatures in the low teens, and as audience members streamed into the theatre, several cars slowed down to honk in a show of support.

Okay, if you don't change and grow, you get stagnant, they say. Recently, the Flames' drummer, Angelo Moscarello, had to move onto another project. We wish him well. Soooooo, we are now seeking to either replace him and/or to expand and shift our line-up considerably:

Our front-man John is also a trained and experienced drummer/percussionist and is considering moving into that role and manning the lead vocals from the drum chair. But to do this, we'll need to bring on a guitarist. We'll have our work cut out for us if we make such a radical shift, but its worth it. In the meantime, we are now seeking a GUITARIST (rhythm/lead) who can bring us some traditional rockabilly twang as well as some post-punk assault and maybe a bit of improv, to. Backing vocals are always a plus. You don't need to be an activist, but it helps. All that's asked is that any prospective member has a heart for performing songs of social change in a new style. Singer/songwriters who want to collaborate are surely welcome...

Simultaneously , we seek a DRUMMER so we don't have to shift our singer to the back! If you are a drummer who can swing with some of DJ Fontana's energy and drive as well as offer an eclectic touch which will be multi-faceted, give us a call! And FYI: the Flames are based in NY's Hudson Valley and rehearse in Beacon NY (we have a terrific vintage Premier drumset in our rehearsal space). Interested? Call John at 845-591-2161.

"Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History" (NY: Hill & Wang) was just released. The book is a part of the series of graphic (comic) histories edited by Paul Buhle. This book was largely written by underground comic legend Harvey Pekar and mostly drawn by veteran cult comic artist Gary Dumm---but the Flames' own John Pietaro authored one of the book's chapters--"I Ain't Marchin' Anymore: Phil Ochs, the Protest Song, and SDS". We are proud to have a segment of this brilliant new book which offers an in-depth look at an important part of radical history.

WOODSTOCK MUSIC STORE OWNER REMEMBERED
By John W. Barry
Poughkeepsie Journal


A light snow fell on Rock City Road in Woodstock, just a short walk from the village green where the band Rusted Root gave a free concert in August 2002, on a day off from dates with Carlos Santana.


Over at Levon Helm's barn Sunday night, the former drummer for The Band, Grammy nominee and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member was taking a night off after holding one of his Ramble house concerts the night before. But as he rested up for a sold-out New Year's Eve Ramble, many of the musicians who play in his band were giving a concert of their own.


One of the most famous little towns anywhere, Woodstock owes a lot of its notoriety to the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair. For many, the name Woodstock conjures images of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Bob Dylan, who did not perform at Woodstock the concert, lived for many years in Woodstock the town.


Woodstock may have secured its place in history for the coming centuries, but this past Sunday night did not belong to Jimi or Janis or Bob. For more than four hours at the Colony Cafe, friends and musicians remembered with fondness the guy who ran the Woodstock Music Shop at 18 Rock City Road.


Died Dec. 26

Ron Osenenko, 58, co-owner of the music shop, died suddenly the day after Christmas. He was a former South Florida resident who worked in marketing for 25 years.


At the Colony Cafe Sunday, songs were sung, hugs were shared and laughter lingered.


"The loss of him leaves an emptiness in this community and in my heart, which will never be filled," singer-songwriter Tom Pacheco said from the stage.


Inside the Colony Cafe, two doors down from the music store, dozens of Christmas lights had been strung and a warm fire blazed. The mood was somber, but the memories were happy.


Osenenko was a man credited with inspiring a sense of community, serving musicians well and offering solid service.


"It's hard to describe the Woodstock Music Shop without sounding clichéd - unique, personal, different,


intimate, special ... all of that," said keyboard player Pete Levin, who has performed with Annie Lennox, Paul Simon and Gil Evans. "But the best part was walking in and getting a big smile and hello from Ron Osenenko from behind the counter. A good-natured gentleman and profoundly generous, Ron was wonderfully supportive of local musicians and the Woodstock music scene."


In between songs Sunday night, some of the songwriters who make up the backbone of this Catskill Mountain town spoke of Osenenko in terms of guitar picks and microphone stands, the little things that mean so much to musicians, who live for their craft.


There were also memories of a friend, someone with whom you could share a pleasant conversation, someone who was much more than just a local merchant.


"Ron was a gentle soul and he just always made you feel good," said Charles Lyonhart of Woodstock. "Ron was a special person."


Of Osenenko's business flair, Lyonhart said, "It wasn't a rush job."


Backed by guitar and bass Sunday night, Lyonhart played a spirited set of songs. Also hitting their musical mark Sunday night was The Flames of Discontent, a Beacon-based duo. Guitarist and vocalist John Pietaro had high praise for Osenenko, who sold CDs by The Flames of Discontent, advertised their shows and let them stage a protest music workshop in the store over the summer.


"Ron Osenenko was a shop-keep that seemed out of place in our plastic, sound bite-driven era," Pietaro said. "But then, Woodstock is often like that. Ron harkened back to a time when a merchant was really a member of the family and a music store a haven for musicians and aspiring musicians alike. When The Flames of Discontent first made the pilgrimage to Woodstock, we knew we needed to go into that store, which seemed like it should always have been there. That warm gentleman behind the counter greeted us - and all who ventured inside - like an old friend. So we kept going back."


Richard Prans of Woodstock, who also performed, said, "I felt good when I was talking to him."


"I'll miss him," Prans continued. "I'll miss him."


Vocalist Amy Helm, a member of the band Ollabelle, whose father is Levon Helm, spoke warmly of Osenenko at Saturday's Ramble. Helm and her husband, horn player Jay Collins, subsequently sent an e-mail to the Journal, detailing their thoughts on Osenenko.


"We remember Ron for his gentle soul and his kindness," the couple said. "He was a shining example of generosity and service to his community. He will be warmly remembered for helping every musician who crossed his path."


During a conversation Wednesday, Ron's brother, Woodstock Music Shop co-owner Derek Osenenko, said his brother "poured heart and grit into this shop." Ron Osenenko ran the shop.


"He was really honored to work with so many fine musicians up here," Derek Osenenko said, "and he really approached his work sort of as a duty to help support musicians in this area as best he could."

The second annual Woodstock PHIL OCHS BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE will occur this December 14 at the historic Colony Cafe. The Flames will host and offer two sets--an opening one and one to close the proceedings, for which we'll be joined by the avant duo of Mancini & Martin in the finale. Other guests will be Phil's sister, WRPI airpersonality Sonny Ochs and folksinger/activist Bob Lusk.

The 2007 Dissident Folk & Arts Festival will be upon us next Saturday, OCTOBER 13. It will run all day from 1PM until 11PM and we're happy to say that this is a very, very strong fest indeed. Please jump over to the Calendar section for details and a full schedule. Let's get this anti-Bush cultural show on the road!

While percussionist/vocalist Rafael Figeuroa will still join us intermittently, the Flames will introduce our new drummer, ANGELO MOSCARELLO, on 9/27/07 as we play live on a cable TV broadcast. With the addition of a drumset our sound is now more clearly defined in the rock genre---we're we have been wanting to take it for some time. The fact that Angelo's background is in jazz is a big plus, however: even when we rock, we swing!
Final plans to complete the band will be when a guitarist/vocalist joins our ranks.....anyone know a good, eclectic electric guitarist who's at least half a socialist??!

Though the Flames have been enjoying work with percussionist/vocalist Rafael Figueroa, several changes have forced us to begin seeking out a drumset player. One reason is that Raf is a busy musician, working with several bands in the area. He told us from the start that he will not always be available for gigs. But there's also a sonic reason: over the past year alone our sound has become more electric, more rock-based. While we continue to make great use of older songs of protest and labor, our unique means of presenting them has gotten even edgier than it had been. We are delving further into the rockabilly/pop/post-punk end of things and feel it would be a great time to expand the group into an actual trio, with the third member sitting behind a full drumset. Raf will be invited to join in for larger gigs, as he has before, but the core sound we are now seeking will include vocals/electric banjo, lead bass, drums. This package also works better for the record companies we have been approaching in recent months and will put us more into the rock circuit. Hey, if you are a musical drummer who can play brushes as well as sticks, if you can rock and swing, and care about the social justice issues our songs speak of----drop us a line!

WOODY GUTHRIE: 95 Years Later, His Machine Still Kills Fascists
by John Pietaro
www.flamesofdiscontent.org

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912. This month, he would have celebrated his 95th birthday. Had he not been silenced decades ago through the trials of Huntington’s disease, one cannot imagine that he would not still be composing ballads about struggle and social justice. The Bush Administration could have given him a whole new repertoire…

"I have decided long ago that my songs and ballads would not get
the hugs and kisses of the capitalistic experts"
-Woody Guthrie

The hot and dry plains of Okemah, Oklahoma bared witness to the birth of Woody Guthrie. The area’s spacious straights and windy hills shaped his formative years, that which was spent in the company of the high-lonesome sounds of rural white America, the church and blues music of African-American culture, and the customs, dialects and plight of Native Americans. With the introduction of basic guitar, harmonica and mandolin skills, Guthrie dealt with the pains and poverty of his young, tragic life through music. The sad ballads his mother taught him before she succumbed to the awful symptoms of Huntington’s Corea (as it was then known), as well as old-time songs, fiddle tunes, blues, and popular song quickly enveloped Woody’s budding repertory. But it would not be long before he began composing new words to traditional music, words that reflected his immediate surroundings and the formidable struggle of working people. In this regard, Woody stands as our prototypical protest singer.

In the 1930s, Woody Guthrie was among the many who climbed out of the western states’ disastrous Dustbowl; he brought with him original songs that catalogued the sights and emotions of his time: “So Long, Its Been Good to Know You”, “I’m Blowin’ Down This Old Dusty Road”, “Talking Dust Bowl Blues”, "Vigilante Man" among many more. Landing in California, Woody soon learned that it was no land of milk and honey, and that te plight of his fellow migrants was nothing if not horrific. However, instead of toiling in fruit orchards, he quickly became a radio performer, offering his old-timey and topical music to the southerners who’d moved up the west coast. While the station manager tried desperately to hold Woody to the country standards, somewhere in the mix was an original called “Mr. Tom Mooney is Free”. This 1939 composition told of the recently pardoned labor activist, a cause celebre in Left circles, who’d been wrongly imprisoned for 22 years.

Through Left journalist Ed Robbin, who’s own radio program aired just after Woody’s, Guthrie was invited to a Communist Party dinner to welcome Mooney home. Back-woods, lanky and unkempt, Woody stood out in sharp contrast to most Party cultural workers--at that time, largely academic poets or Modern classical composers. Yet almost immediately Woody walked into the role of “a Communist Joe Hill”, that which had been called for by Daily Worker columnist Mike Gold months prior.

Actor/activist Will Geer, also based in Los Angeles at the time, saw Woody’s potential and the two began working in tandem at events for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union and other Left-wing labor organizations. Several months later, Geer was on Broadway starring in “Tobacco Road” and alerted Woody to the opportunities in New York for progressive artists. During the winter that bridged ’39 to ’40, Woody made his way across country via train, bus, hitchhiking, even by foot when necessary. It was all of the inspiration needed to write the first sketch of “This Land is Your Land”, then called “God Blessed America for Me”, an acerbic response to the Irving Berlin-penned number one hit, “God Bless America”. In a bold statement toward socialism, Guthrie wrote this verse, lost for many Cold War years:

"Was a big, high wall there/that tried to stop me/a sign atop it said/'Private Property'/But on the other side/it didn't say nothing/That side was made for you and me"

Several years later, Woody would comment, “Singing and working and fighting are so close you can’t hardly tell where one quits and the other begins”. Woody’s career as a musician was based on the larger needs of our society, even when his own family had to pay the terrible price of his ‘rambling’. Living on various coasts, performing for union meetings or in honor of progressive political candidates, offering songs about the poor in Manhattan and then the construction of Grand Coulee Dam in the northwest, singing for those wandering out of the south or rallying against Hitler or ceasing homegrown racism, Woody laid down the foundation for the generation to come. He stated, “I learned all I could from the speeches of William Z. Foster, Mother Bloor, Gurley Flynn, Blackie Myers. I heard them all and played my songs on their platforms”.

By 1940, Woody had joined forces with Pete Seeger in the Almanac Singers, an ensemble dedicated to writing and performing a music of the people. This was the original urban folk/protest band, founded by Seeger (whose father had been a cornerstone of New York radical music circles as well as a force in the WPA Arts Project), bass singer Lee Hays (a graduate of the Highlander Folk School) and singer/songwriter Millard Lampell (who would go onto become an important author and playwright). Quickly, others would join in including Guthrie and the powerhouse musician/organizer Sis Cunningham. Woody toured with them, performing for striking workers all over the coutry and aiding greatly in the CIO's drive to organize industrial unions without segregation.

As per Sis Cunningham's recollection from some years ago (the authror's interview), the group joined the Communist Party together, gaining membership in a NYC cultural branch which engaged in the fight for labor, racial equality and peace. However, following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and the Japanese assault of Pearl Harbor, Woody’s guitar became adorned with the hand-painted epitaph, THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS, a slogan which held great metaphoric power. In the face of World War Two, the group separated as most members were drafted or anxiously enlisted. The fight against fascism took on massive proporations, especially for those on the Left. Woody joined the Merchant Marine, offering two tours of duty, and then was briefly drafted into the Army as well.

Following military service, during which time he also struggled against Uncle Sam’s imposed segregation of the troops, he returned to cultural work. He performed in a mixed group called the Headline Singers, which included Leadbelly, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee and others. He also made a series of records for Folkways which became legendary, including the brilliant concept albums, “Songs for Sacco and Vanzetti” and “Struggle”. Guthrie also became a columnist for the Daily Worker and created several tomes of songs, articles, sketches and visions in his ‘down-time’. These post-war years found Guthrie relatively stable and living in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn with his wife Marjorie Maza (a Martha Graham dancer) and their children, Arlo, Nora and Joadie (named, of course, for Tom Joad). Sadly, it would not be long before the illness would affect his mind—and then his body. By the mid-1950s, Huntington’s disease would slowly and painfully steal his ability to make music. With bedside visits by the likes of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan slowly turngin into vigils, he died in 1967. But forty years hence, Guthrie’s legacy remains unshakeable...

The long arm of empire strikes again! Bush has commuted the far-too-light
prison term his crony "Scooter" Libby was facing. Surely, we are all in
agreement that this is the one injustice that we all expected, but never thought
Bush would actually carry out. Its okay to feel incensed.

Bush, "the Decider" has now decided that the hand-picked piss-boy of puppet
master Darth Cheney should not have to endure the two-year prison term a courtroom
full of jurors, a federal judge and a US attorney thought he deserved. This grown man who calls himself "Scooter",
the man who was surely not alone in his guilt but became the target of blame, WAS
clearly responsible for blowing the cover of a federal agent; endangering the life and ruining the career
of someone who spent years in deep cover. All because her husband, former ambassador
Joe Wilson, spoke out against the call for war. So, like the draft-dodgers that
they are, this network of right-wing worms "leaked" information to the
'Fair and Balanced' press which allowed the world to discover just who Mr.
Wilson was married to and what kind of critical work his wife did...for our federal government.

You'll recall that when news of the Valerie Plame outing first occured, "the
Decider" shouted from his bully pulpit that the person responsible would lose
his job and that justice would prevail. Well, justice was sort of blind and righteousness
kind of prevailed, but now the long arm of the law is throwing the catch back. Libby
will still have to pay his $250,000. fine, of course, so the Resident can claim
that Cheney's 'thang' has not gotten off too easy. Right---when you
have spent decades surrounded by Big Oil wealth, is a quarter of a million that
hard to come by?? And the iron fist also came down to proclaim that Libby will have
to endure two years of probation. Naturally, the handlers will not allow him anywhere
near such data now, so there's no chance that he'll have occasion to break
his probation. So life will truly go on for Libby with barely a bump in his road.
Isn't it wonderful to be wealthy, white, conservative and enraptured by priviledge?

But there's really no news here. After all, this decider has just proven himself
once again that he's really The Deceiver.

Neil Young's website 'LIVING WITH WAR TODAY' now includes two Flames songs, 'Revenge of the Atom Spies' and 'September's Divide'. Young began gathering songs that spoke out against the war and other Bush atrocities shortly after he released his oen anti-war CD; the urgency of this website is one we are very much in tune with. We are pleased to stand alongside such wonderful, outspoken company. To check it out go to : http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html

Join the Flames and thousands of other activists as we protest Cheney's visit to the West Point Military Academy. This march and rally occur on SATURDAY MAY 26---we begin gathering at 8:30 AM. Please see www.westpointrally.org for important details and directions so YOU too can get there!

Please check out a wonderful review of our new CD in the Kingston NY-based Daily Freeman newspaper. The review was written by David Malachowski----whom we will be forever grateful to! Check it out in our "Press" section of this site!

Okay, so we continue to try to figure out just what a My Space "friend" is and whether or not they need to be invited over for Sunday dinner....but we have finally delved into My Space (er---so to speak). All those who have come to this site and enjoyed it---feel free to sign on as a friend on the new My Space account: www.myspace.com/theflamesofdiscontent

With the release of our new CD, Revenge of the Atom Spies, the band is now begining a series of performances and also booking more dates. After our CD release party on March 10 in Beacon, we were among the performers to play at the prestigious Rosendale Cafe as part of an important fundraiser for the beloved folk duet Redwood Moose (Rebekka and Moose), who lost their home, possessions and cat to a terrible fire. That gig occured on March 18.

On the agenda are dates at Beacon's Howland Cultural Center (April 7) and Kingston's BSP (April 28). The latter event is a large-scale event featuring a powerful line-up; we organized this concert in honor of both May Day and Cinco De Mayo, and it will also be a benefit event for a battered women's group. For more details see the "Calendar" button.

While the schedule is currently a work in progress, we can report the following dates as well: the Colony Cafe in Woodstock (July 22) in honor of Woody Guthrie's birth anniversary, followed by an appearance at Joshua's Java Lounge (also Woodstock) on August 9. We are also excited to report a very busy October--a return visit to Kingston's Alternative Books (Oct 6) and then a solid day of protest arts in Beacon with the Dissident Folk Festival (Oct 13). The latter will feature a great many wonderful artists of conscience. Additionally, we will be doing a bit of performing live on the WBAI-FM airwaves at the Clearwater Revival on Father's Day while visiting the radio station's booth, run by Don DeBar. The Flames are now in the process of negotiating a number of other area dates which shall soon be announced.