Friday, April 22, 2011

What's the Best Protest Song Ever? Save the Historical La Plaza UMeth.Church, at Olvera Street - Saturday

Here's a fun and faux 'contest' which everyone with a

memory can enjoy and relive with. Have a great weekend

and help retain our city’s history, before it disappears,

altogether.

Ed

 

PS: All the songs are great, but only one has become the

banner for struggles for freedom and democracy throughout

the world. Deep in my heart, I do believe, We Shall Overcome!

 

 

From: Portside Moderator [mailto: <moderator@PORTSIDE.ORG>

 
Ten Protest Songs That Matter

 

by Peter Rothberg

The Nation.com: April 21, 2011  

 

http://www.thenation.com/blog/160084/ten-protest-songs-matter

 

Dorian Lynskey's comprehensive new book, 33 Revolutions Per

Minute, details the history of the protest song in America

and around the world.

 

Defining a protest song as one that "addresses a political

issue in a way which aligns itself with the underdog,"

Lynskey starts his story with Billie Holiday's harrowing

1939 anti-lynching ballad, "Strange Fruit," and ably takes

us through the historic tunes that helped sustain and

promote the civil rights, labor and anti-Vietnam war

movements as well as non-American music from The Clash in

Britain, Victor Jara in Chile and Fela Kuti in Nigeria.

 

It's a bracing and informative survey, even if you're

familiar with the topic, and it sent me thinking and talking

to people about all-time favorite protest songs. A quick

poll of Nation staffers and friends of the magazine produced

an eclectic play list:

 

Nation Publisher Emeritus Victor Navasky offered "Peat Bog

Soldiers," one of Europe's best-known protest songs that

became a Republican anthem during the Spanish Civil War and

a symbol of fascist resistance during World War II.

Executive Editor Richard Kim cited Sinead O'Connor's "Black

Boys on Mopeds." Managing Editor Roane Carey undoubtedly

spoke for many when he insisted on Bob Dylan's classic "

Masters of War." Publicity Director Gennady Kolker

contributed John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth." Blogger,

author and former Crawdaddy editor Greg Mitchell's tentative

short-list includes Sam Cooke's "Change Is Gonna Come,"

Woody Guthrie's "Vigilante Man," Steve Earle's "Jerusalem,"

Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello's live version of "Ghost

of Tom Joad," Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom", Louis

Armstrong's "Black and Blue," Leonard Cohen's "Democracy,"

Billy Bragg's version of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy and Neil

Young's "Shock and Awe."

 

Mother Jones Publisher Steve Katz wrote to say that Steve

Goodman's "My Name is Peggy Evans" is the song that's stuck

with him all these years. Free Speech TV's Don Rojas votes

for Bob Marley's "Redemption Song." Care2's Cindy Samuels

couldn't pick just one among vintage classics "Union Maid,"

"Bread and Roses," and "We Shall Overcome." GritTV's Sarah

Jaffe lauds Patti Smith's "Radio Baghdad" and the Dropkick

Murphys' version of "Which Side are You On."  Nation

Institute Investigative Editor Esther Kaplan counters with

what she argues is the "ultimate version of the song,"

featured in the film Harlan County USA and sung by Florence

Reece, who wrote the ballad during a coal mining strike in

the 1930s. Alternet's Washington, DC editor Adele Stan cites

the Isley Brothers' "Fight the Power" and Buffalo

Springfield's "For What It's Worth." TruthOut editor Jason

Leopold argues for Barry McGuire's version of PF Sloan's

"Eve of Destruction," and FAIR founder and Head of the Park

Media Center at Ithaca College Jeff Cohen named a too-often-

ignored 1970 song "What About Me?" from the San Francisco

band Quicksilver Messenger Service. "It has almost

everything -- environment, media criticism, class, youth

rebellion, repression, optimism."

 

Seriously picking a top-ten is an impossible task, but in

the interests of getting the conversation started, here are

my choices. The criteria includes musical quality as well as

topicality  and I tried to stray some from the totally

predictable. Hope you enjoy the videos!

 

1) Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKuUKHmTHPk&feature=player_embedded

 

3:26

 

2) Stiff Little Fingers' "Suspect Device"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgG_c21NW0c&feature=player_embedded

 

2:43

 

3) Steel Pulse's "Ku Klux Klan"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji4hdnCEEUM&feature=player_embedded

 

4:46

 

4) Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X6OASOH_66A

 

3:24

 

5) Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs&feature=player_embedded

 

2:12

 

6) Phil Ochs' "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SVCJC5wIFbA

 

2:01

 

7) Billy Bragg's "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdYwfDaAHVs&feature=player_embedded

 

5:29

 

8) Bob Dylan's "Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UVSWc9KzqV0

 

13:11

 

9) Aretha Franklin's "Respect"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0&feature=player_embedded

 

2:30

 

10) Boogie Down Production's "Stop the Violence"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pAjPuKO6VU&feature=player_embedded

 

4:52

 

We also want to hear from Nation readers! Use this form to

tell us what you consider your all-time favorite protest

song. Please include a link to a video, if you have it, but

just tell us the name and artist if you don't. We'll be

publishing a survey of readers' choices next week.

http://www.thenation.com/whats-best-protest-song-ever

 

 

[Peter Rothberg, the Nation's Associate Publisher for

Special Projects, has been writing the Act Now blog covering

the world of activism since 2003. His previous positions

with The Nation  include publicity director, web editor,

special projects director and intern. A former contributor

to Air America radio's daily Nation Minute commentaries,

Rothberg is also a former speech-writer for civil rights

leader Julian Bond. A member of the Brooklyn Literary

Council and the board of Living Liberally, Rothberg lives in

Brooklyn, where he was born and raised.]

 

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From: EchoElysianNCForum@yahoogroups.com
 

The exact address is 115 Paseo De La Plaza, 90012. Just next to Olvera Street. Thanks.

--- On Tue, 4/19/11, Trey Baskett <gcbthree@yahoo.com> wrote:



Thanks Ed. I appreciate it.

The event is this Saturday the 23rd at noon on the plaza at El Pueblo near the Methodist Church. It coincides with the Blessing Of The Animals. I will be happy to fill people in on the details and the long story behind this push to secure a lease. The El Pueblo Commission that governs the monument and provides direction to the management meets regularly and as we move forward it would be nice to add people to our presence at those meetings. Anyone can feel free to contact me on or off list for info too. Those of you so inclined could contact your council offices as well to brief them on the matter. The more people we can inform the better.

Kindly,
Trey

Echo Park,

Please join me to support La Plaza United Methodist Church at El Pueblo De Los Angeles Historical Monument on Olvera Street to encourage the city to resolve current lease negotiations in a fair and timely manner. La Plaza United Methodist is in talks with the city to secure a new lease agreement to remain in the location from which they have served the community for over one hundred years. 

Let's keep this great monument to Los Angeles historical roots from the hands of salivating developers who would drastically change the configuration and look of the origin of Los Angeles ' earliest village. Erasing history should not be the goal of a healthy, redevelopment and improvement of such a unique, historical core.

At noon this Saturday, April 23rd, the church congregation will be on the zocalo to show our presence and provide information to the community about our challenges with the city lease negotiation team. I invite you all to come down and hear our story. Please see the attached flyer for details.

Please pass this on to your friends and if anyone could be so kind as to translate to Spanish it would be greatly appreciated. Email me if you have questions.

Thank you,

Trey


 

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