Categories
Commemorations

Joe Hill concert with the U-Liners

We continue to add new Joe Hill events to our calendar as we learn of them.  The latest:

Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017. 4:00 pm. Joe Hill commemoration concert with the U-Liners. Fundraiser for Marc Elrich, candidate for Montgomery County Executive. Flanagan’s Harp & Fiddle, 4844 Cordell Ave., Bethesda, Maryland.

We’ve also added the 2018 Solidarity Forever Labor History calendar to our web store. This year’s calendar commemorates workers’ struggles against fascism and bigotry around the world, and the power of workers’ solidarity.

Categories
Commemorations

Joe Hill exhibit in Bishop Hill, IL

Workers of the World, Awaken!: The Life and Legacy of Joe Hill exhibit opened on Saturday, June 3, at the Steeple Building Museum in Bishop Hill, Illinois. The exhibit will close on September 30, 2017.

This traveling display, consisting of 5 text panels and over 25 stand-alone images with music, was created by the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia. After a year in Philadelphia, the exhibit has also appeared at Nordic Northwest, in Portland, OR.

For more details about the exhibit or the concert, please call 309-927-3899 or email bhha@mymctc.net.

Categories
Concert tour

Musical History of Joe Hill Tuesday 4/25, Nashville


Shelby Bottom Duo invites you to attend a free performance of their acclaimed show “A Musical History of Joe Hill & the Early Labor Movement,” Tuesday April 25, 11 am at the UAW hall, 6207 Centennial Blvd in west Nashville, Tenn.

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Categories
Commemorations Concert tour

Joe Hill musical history show set for Louisville on April 7

By John Paul Wright 

Nashville-based Shelby Bottom Duo (Michael August and Nell Levin) will perform their entertaining, multimedia educational show, A Musical History of Joe Hill and the Early Labor Movement in Louisville April 7. The show is set for 7 to 10 p.m. at Lettersong, 1501 Story Ave.

Tickets are $10 advance, $12 at the door. Space is limited so advance tickets are recommended. Click here for tickets.

Their companion CD Joe Hill Roadshow will be available at the show. Special guest will be Louisville’s John Paul Wright, Railroad Engineer, Songwriter, Drummer, Poet, Activist. www.railroadmusic.org

Songwriter Joe Hill is the precursor of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. He was immortalized when Joan Baez sang “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night” at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. A Swedish immigrant, Hill was a member of the international labor group, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies), active in the decade leading up to World War I. In 1914, Joe Hill was framed for two murders he did not commit. He was executed by a firing squad in Salt Lake City, Utah on November 19,1915. He subsequently became a labor icon.

Our Musical History includes live performances of Joe Hill songs along with a talk and images about Hill’s life, early labor struggles and the influence of the IWW’s innovative organizing strategies on movements today. Our goal is to share this vital slice of labor history with a wide range people so that we can all better understand why the revolutionary creativity exemplified by Joe Hill and the Wobblies is still relevant. In 2015, 100 years after Joe Hill’s execution, 40 concerts were held around the country celebrating his legacy. Shelby Bottom Duo organized and performed at the Nashville concert and performed at the Knoxville concert.

A Musical History has received funding for our performances from Metro Nashville Arts Commission THRIVE and Humanities Tennessee.

“Shelby Bottom Duo: Entertaining, irreverent social commentary, humanity and humor.” Bill Friskics-Warren, correspondent for the New York Times

Categories
Commemorations

Utah Phillips’ rail car to be restored

by Ron Kaminkow, Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture

Last Fall, I spoke with Duncan Phillips – the eldest son of the late folk musician and fellow Wobbly Bruce “Utah” Phillips – who I have known since April 2008, when his Dad’s health was in an irreversible state of decline. Duncan had some interesting news. It turns out that the old caboose-like rail car known as a flanger,” once owned and rehabilitated by Utah nearly 50 years ago in Vermont, had been put up for sale. We both agreed that we must do whatever it takes to acquire the car, that it should serve as the Bruce “Utah” Phillips Library, and that it should be trucked across the country to the place where Utah would have wished it –  the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture in Weed, CA.
So, the great news since then is that Duncan has set up a tax-exempt non-profit 501c3 called The Long Memory, and he was able to obtain the rail car! Now we need to raise roughly $25,000 to prepare the car for the move, build a track pad and other onsite infrastructure, rent the cranes to lift/drop it and the semi-trailers to haul it, and then restore it upon arrival to its condition in the early 1970s when Utah first lived in it.  Check out the comprehensive website that Duncan has put together, a virtual treasure trove of information, not just about the caboose/flanger and its history, but about Utah Phillips –  his life, music, ideas, recordings, wisdom, poetry, writings, radio shows, and more. Take your time, there is a lot to see, listen to and think about.
I hope you are as inspired as I am about this project. If you are, please consider the following:
1 — Make a donation – no matter how small – to help us bring this project to fruition. You can do that HERE.
2 — Post a Blog entry on the Long Memory website, and share any stories, thoughts, and/or reminiscences that you may have about Utah Phillips. You can do that HERE.
3 — (Musicians) Give a verbal plug from the stage for the project (and possibly pass out flyers) at your upcoming shows throughout this year.
4 — (Musicians) Play a benefit concert in the coming months to help us raise the necessary funds for the transport and rehab of the rail car and to raise awareness of the project.
5 — Join us at the ceremony and celebration this summer at the Bruce “Utah” Phillips Library on the grounds of the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture in Weed, California at the foot of Mount Shasta (tentatively planned for late summer 2017).
6 — (Musicians) Perform on-stage on the grounds of the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture at the ceremony/celebration.
7 — Forward this email to fellow musicians, union activists, Wobblies, historians, and supporters of the arts who might be interested in this endeavor.
For further information see the website and/or fundraiser. Your support, advice and encouragement is much appreciated!
Categories
Uncategorized

San Pedro Joe Hill Memorial unveiled

A memorial to Joe Hill was unveiled in January 2017 at a ceremony attended by labor activists, folksingers, and others. ILWU retirees helped raise money for the 8-foot-wide plaque. http://www.ocweekly.com/news/legendary-labor-singer-organizer-joe-hill-gets-immortalized-in-san-pedro-7866413

Categories
Concert tour

Shelby Bottom Duo Joe Hill Roadshow (Tennessee)

“For those who wonder about the lineage of Woody Guthrie’s celebrated songs of social conscience and labor activism, the Shelby Bottom Duo & Friends have provided a compelling answer with the Joe Hill Roadshow—a collection that places top notch musicianship and heartfelt singing at the service of songs as meaningful now as they were when Hill wrote them a century ago.”  —Jon Weisberger, International Bluegrass Music Association Songwriter of the Year and Print Media Person of the Year.  

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, 4 pm, House Concert by Shelby Bottom Duo and a talk by art historian Gail Levin about the paintings of Edward Hopper.  308 Oxford Street, San Francisco. Limited space.  Please contact bernellalevin@gmail.com if you plan to attend.

Tuesday, Feb. 21 2017, IBEW Local 175, Chattanooga, TN

Wednesday, March 15, 2017, Midsouth Peace & Justice Center, Memphis, TN

Tuesday, March 21, 2017, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN

Saturday, April 15, 2017, Louisville, KY Shelby Bottom Duo with John Paul Wright, locomotive engineer, community organizer, union organizer, labor singer, poet and djembe player.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017, UAW Local 737, Nashville, TN

April 2017, AFL-CIO of Knoxville, date pending.

February, March and April 2017 dates pending for Nashville Musical History shows.
For more information, contact bernellalevin@gmail.com.
Categories
Uncategorized

Joe Hill & Wobbly Gifts for all Seasons

We have a wide array of Joe Hill and labor-oriented material suitable for gifts, including:

Bucky Halker: Anywhere But Utah (Songs of Joe Hill)

A Full Life: James Connolly The Irish Rebel

2017 Solidarity Forever Labor History Calendar

Direct Action Gets the Goods women’s cut T-shirts

Joe Hill centenary T-shirts

Fred Alpi singing Joe Hill and other labor songs in French

The Shelby Bottom Duo singing songs of Joe Hill

Joe Hill’s letters and other writings

the definitive biography of Joe Hill, by William Adler  (the site lists it at full price; we have a large quantity of discounted copies arriving shortly which will be available in quantities of 3 or more at very attactive prices; drop us a line at iwwhlf@gmail.com if interested)

and full color Christmas Cards drawn by Joe Hill in his Salt Lake City jail cell

Categories
Concert tour Joe Hill songs

Two Joe Hill shows in Nashville, Tennessee

14788453_1475036769-0384_funddescriptionTuesday, Oct.  25, 2016. Musical History of Joe Hill & the Early Labor Movement Tour with the Shelby Bottom Duo (Michael August and Nell Levin) United Auto Workers Local 737, 6207 Centennial Blvd, Nashville TN, 2 pm.
Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016. SPECIAL ALBUM RELEASE SHOW! Musical History of Joe Hill and the Early Labor Movement Tour with Shelby Bottom Duo, Nashville Peace & Justice Center, Friends Meeting House, 530 26th Avenue N., Nashville, 7 pm.
Categories
Commemorations Concert tour Joe Hill songs

Support Joe Hill CD/Tour

Nashville-based Shelby Bottom Duo (Michael August and Nell Levin)  have launched a fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $5,000 to fund their Musical History of Joe Hill and the Early Labor Movement Tour and a companion CD of Joe Hill songs.

The project includes live performances of Joe Hill songs recorded on the CD along with a talk about Hill’s life, early labor struggles and the influence of the IWW’s innovative organizing strategies on movements today. Their goal is to share this vital slice of labor history with a wide range people so that we can all better understand why the revolutionary creativity exemplified by Joe Hill and the Wobblies is still relevant.

To support the project, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/shelbybottomduo