From NOEBIE.net
May Day Celebration – Noon to 1: 30 PM Haymarket Memorial, Corner of DesPlaines & Randolph
May Day 2015 March, Rally, and Noise Demonstration – 2:30 PM Union Park
Illinois Labor History Society Annual Membership Meeting – 5 to 7 PM Chicago Federation of Musicians, 656 Randolph Street, Haymarket Square
The Joe Hill Roadshow – 9 PM Hideout, 1354 West Wabansia Avenue, Chicago
On a windblown, gray Chicago day 100 years ago, January 17, 1915, Ralph Chaplin left his home on the South Side for a raucous, poor person’s rally at the city’s famous women’s center, Hull House. He asked a visiting friend he’d met organizing coal miners with Mother Jones to listen to the lyrics of a new tune he had been working on. Here’s the story behind one of the most beloved Labor Hymns.
Read the article: ‘Solidarity Forever’ Written 100 Years Ago, Today | Labor Notes.
David Rovics sings of the Saint Patrick Battalion, in concert at Belfast.
Join us at 7 PM on August 7th at Feed Arts Center.
Join us on Thursday evening, July 3rd, from 7 to 9 PM at Feed Arts Center for the next Key City Singalong.
More info is here.
Come join us on Wednesday evening, June 11th, at 7PM for Open Mic Night at Feed Arts Center in downtown Kankakee.
We’re planning an evening of acoustic music and spoken word, with old Folkies, young poets, and everybody in between taking the stage to present their craft.
Whether you are a seasoned performer, or you’ve never yet faced a public audience, we invite you to come and share your music, recitation or reading before a group of enthusiastic and nurturing souls at Feed.
If you don’t feel like performing, please join us to listen and to support those who do.
It’s an evening of homegrown words and music, direct from the heart of the arts in our community.
Labor Notes 2014 in Chicago was an incredible weekend of inspiration and activism. This was my first Labor Notes, and I hope to make in an annual ritual. Highlights, for me, were the Friday afternoon Chicago Labor history tour (conducted by the ILHS), the Saturday afternoon STOP Staples protest, and (of course) the Friday and Saturday night Folk Music singalongs, spearheaded by members of the Seattle Labor Chorus and Anne Feeney.
How could I forget to mention the incredible and boisterous impromptu singalong in the Crowne Plaza lobby into the wee hours of Sunday morning with young Wobblies and Occupy kids from Portland, Chicago and the Twin Cities?
Labor Notes has the first videos from the conference posted on their site now. I’m looking forward to more.
Need an inspiration fix? Here are a few video highlights for those who couldn’t make it to the record-breaking 2014 Labor Notes Conference—or those already ready to relive it.
See them here: First Videos from the 2014 Labor Notes Conference | Labor Notes.
We get our firewood from a fellow that has a blade, tool and saw sharpening business here in town. I’d noticed quite a few old guitars and other instruments around the shop there, and on my last visit I asked Dave, the proprietor, if he played. It turns out that he’s been learning guitar, and he showed me a book of traditional Folk tunes that he works from. His eyes lit up as he spoke about his love for music, and his dream of playing with other musicians.
At the time, I thought of how cool it would be to get together with people in the area and just play for the love of it.
Pete Seeger’s recent passing has stirred me to think about the role of music in our world and in our lives as something other than a commodity. I’ve decided to do more than just think about it.
In searching the Web and asking around at the music store, I wasn’t able to find something like this in our community, so I’m working to organize a gathering of people who love to sing, accompanied by traditional Folk instruments. I picture it as a family environment with people of all ages playing and singing for a couple hours some evening once a month. I’m currently looking for a church hall or other public space that would be available without charge for such an endeavor. If you happen to know of one, please get in touch.
In the meantime, visit Key City Singalong | Folk Music Gathering in Kankakee, if you’d like. It’s where I’ll be promoting the idea, and posting further information as things develop.
Wish us luck.
Photo by Jim Capaldi
Pete Seeger was heroic in his testimony before the House Unamerican Activities Committee in 1955.
“I decline to discuss, under compulsion, where I have sung, and who has sung my songs, and who else has sung with me, and the people I have known. I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American. I will tell you about my songs, but I am not interested in telling you who wrote them, and I will tell you about my songs, and I am not interested in who listened to them.”
Read Pete’s full testimony: House Un-American Activities Committee, August 18, 1955 – PeteSeeger.net.