Veterans’ Day: Thank You

Today is Veterans’ Day in the United States – a day we set aside each year to honor and give thanks to the men and women who have defended our many freedoms.   Veterans’  Day is close to the holiday season that includes Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that helps us to remember that many of these brave people in uniform will not be home with family and friends over that celebratory time.

Thank you for your sacrifice, and your patriotism.

MP3: “Sam Stone” by John Prine

MP3: “Born In The U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

MP3: “The Ballad Of Ira Hayes” by Johnny Cash

MP3: “Johnny Come Lately” by Steve Earle

MP3: “Red, White and Blue” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

MP3: “Soldier’s Last Letter” by Merle Haggard

MP3: “MIA” by Avenged Sevenfold

MP3: “And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” by the Pogues

MP3: “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger

Celebrate Earth Day with Pete Seeger

"This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender." (Photo by Karl Rabe, Poughkeepsie Journal)

Tomorrow is Earth Day, intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the environment of planet Earth. Celebrate how you wish, or not, but remember that this is our home and the things we do to it, good and bad, will affect the lives of our children and the generations that come after them.

Here’s a story and video from our friends at the Poughkeepsie Journal about folksinger Pete Seeger, who is still waddling around causing trouble at age 91. Long an icon for the environmental movement, Seeger will perform for some kind of Earth Day benefit in New York state. Here is a link to the newspaper’s story about him, and to some truly gorgeous photos from Karl Rabe.

And we’ve included a video of Seeger talking about life and genes and Jesus. It’s here merely as a reminder that there are many Americans who are strong and smart enough to fight for what’s right, without any of the b.s. that politicians and TV pundits wallow in every minute. Pete Seeger is going to keep swingin’ until his last breath, and that is part of what makes him an American legend.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

MP3: “Throw Away That Shad Net (How Are We Gonna Save Tomorrow?)” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “It’s A Long Haul” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “From Way Up Here” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “Living In The Country” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “To My Old Brown Earth” by Pete Seeger

Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger!

Without a doubt, Pete Seeger is America’s greatest songwriter.  “Turn, Turn, Turn,” “We Shall Overcome,” “If I Had A Hammer” and many others came from his prolific pen.  But more than anything, Seeger is a major figure for popularizing and preserving classic American music.  He always played classic folk tunes alongside his own compositions, and we owe him a great deal because of that. 

Seeger turns 90 years old on Sunday, and dozens of musicians will gather in New York at Madison Square Garden to celebrate.  And all around the world 90th birthday parties will be staged in tribute to this great man and his great music.  Happy birthday, Pete!

MP3: “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “Down In The Valley” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “Wimoweh” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by Pete Seeger

MP3: “If I Had A Hammer” by Peter, Paul and Mary

MP3: “The Water Is Wide” (live) by Bob Dylan & Joan Baez

MP3: “We Shall Overcome” by Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions Band

Pete Seeger Appreciation Page

New York magazine article on Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday

The Midnight Special

Leadbelly

Sugar Land is a booming town located in the grassy flatlands just west of Houston, Texas.  Those who don’t live there just speed along the freeway, past the city’s strip centers and restaurants on their way down the Gulf Coast.  In that respect, nothing much has changed in just about 100 years –  back in the 1920s one didn’t go to Sugar Land unless you had to.

Walter Boyd surely didn’t want to go there in 1918; he soon found that the sugar plantations and sugar refinery may have given Sugar Land its name, but the town was best known as the location of a Texas prison.   Boyd killed one of his relatives in a fight over a woman, and he was sentenced to 35 years in the penitentiary.  Because he was black, Boyd was sent to the segregated Harlem prison just west of the bigger Central Unit where the white prisoners were kept.  Jailers soon discovered that Walter Boyd wasn’t even the prisoner’s real name – it was actually Huddie Ledbetter.

Friday Is Boss’ Day: Brucenanny!

Bruce Springsteen could have fit in well among the artists of the 1960s who tried on different hats during their musical journeys – the Byrds go country, Muddy Waters gets psychedelic, Dylan goes electric, then goes country, then gets religion, and so on.  Springsteen’s flirted with a few musical genres over his career but none of these detours have been as controversial as his folk music excursions.