Broadside Balladeer Blog: unions

Today, March 18, 2017, Vic Sadot joined the Progressive Majority Creative Network and posted his profile at the new wordpress website. You are invited to check out Vic's new profile and links, and also to browse around to see the other artists getting ready for Sing Out actions. If you are a singer-songwriter looking to get active in the Trump phase of the Post 9/11 era, apply for a profile. Berkeley's Hali Hammer came up with the idea! Vist the Hali Hammer Artist Profile

The photo selected for the profile is a screenshot from a Labor Project Video YouTube Channel Jail the Bankers post of Vic Sadot singing at an event by United Public Workers for Action. Steve Zeltzer, host of WorkWeek Radio on KPFA, was the key organizer. All shows are archived at WorkWeek Radio SoundCloud. There's a link to a "Truth Troubadour" YouTube playlist of Vic Sadot singing "live" at various SF Bay Area actions. Freeman Sullivan was also doing a live-stream of the October 2016 action.

Vic Sadot released a new 18 Song CD titled "Truth Troubadour" on CD Baby on December 2, 2016. You can hit individual song buttons or “Preview Them All” to hear the songs. "Truth Troubadour" is the most acoustic and reflective CD that Vic Sadot has released. 17 of 18 of the songs have Vic on vocals and guitar, and some piano accordion.

Eric Golub contributes his formidable talents on various stringed instruments, such as viola and violin, as well as a regular and a baritone ukulele. Rockin' Rob Sadot is featured on electric guitar on 3 of the songs. The lead-off song, Left My Mind, is the only rock song. Left My Mind has Dean A Banks on keyboards and Rob Rbeast Hunter on drums rocking it out on an old Joe Sadot song with Vic and Rob Sadot.

“Truth Troubadour” is the most acoustic and reflective CD of the four that Vic Sadot has listed at CD Baby: "Comin' Home (1997); "Broadsides & Retrospectives" (2005); "9/11 Truth & Justice Songs" (2011).

Some tracks on "Truth Troubadour" already have videos made for them people can watch them on "Vic Sadot" and "Truth Troubadour" YouTube channels. For example, “Full SpectrumDominance”, "Courage To Resist Free Chelsea Manning", and "In the Harbor of Love". "The Fog Watch" was adapted from a poem by Vic's Uncle George Reuter. The song takes you back into a time before we had paved roads, a time when it took farmers an over-night trek to deliver their harvest to the nearest local marketplace.

Brothers Vic and Rob Sadot enjoy playing two songs written by their departed middle brother Joe Sadot (1978). They are Left My Mind and Lori, which features exquisite viola and ukulele improvisations from Eric Golub.

♫ Truth Troubadour CD by Vic Sadot was also published to CD Baby's YouTube Channel on Dec 11, 2016. This site allows full length play of the cover songs while the CD Baby sales site only allows 30 second listening clips of our 4 licensed cover songs. We were able to set the rest to full length review at the CD Baby sales site. To hear our full versions of "Masters of War" by Bob Dylan, "Working Class Hero" by John Lennon, and "Changes" and "United Fruit" by Phil Ochs visit Truth Troubadour at the CD Baby YouTube Channel playlist for this CD. 18 Songs in all! Love Songs & Broadsides for 2017 and the Post-9/11 Trump Era!

Related Links:

♫ Vic Sadot Releases 4th CD on CD Baby – Berkeley Calling Blog 12-26-16

https://berkeleycalling.wordpress.com/2016/12/27/vic-sadot-releases-4th-cd-on-cd-baby

♫ “Truth Troubadour CD Is Ready For Review!” Truth Troubadour CD by Vic Sadot and the 18 songs on the disc were posted at CD Baby on Dec 2, 2016. Now we need some reviews! https://vicsadot.com/2016/12/14/truth-troubadour-cd-ready-for-review

Previous CD from 2011:

9/11 TRUTH &JUSTICE SONGS (9/11/11) by Vic Sadot

Country Joe McDonald surprised me one day when we were organizing an event in 2015 that he dreamed up called The Berkeley Protest Festival. He handed me a book titled "Red Dust and Broadsides", saying, "I think you will be very interested in reading this book since you mentioned that you knew these folks from Broadside Magazine". Joe said the book was edited by his friend Ron Cohen.

Cover of "Red Dust & Broadsides: A Joint Biography by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham & Gordon Friesen". Edited by Ronald D. Cohen. Forward by Pete Seeger.

I was somewhat shocked since I had come to know them very well. I had volunteered to help them in the 1980's when they were already getting on in years. I had been reading Broadside Magazine and learning my first songs from its pages many years before I met them. They liked that I had met Phil Ochs, put him up in my apartment, and interviewed him in May 1973 while living in Washington, DC and doing social work in the school system. They published my tribute to Phil titled "Broadside Balladeer", and several other songs. My brother Joe Sadot also had several song published in the pages of Broadside..

"Red Dust and Broadsides" was indeed a fascinating read. "Ronald D. Cohen, professor of history at Indiana University Northwest-Gary, 1970-2005, wrote and edited numerous books and articles, many about American folk music, and co-produced compilations of folk and topical songs." is the description for one of his collections. His books about Woody Guthrie and "Folk City: New York and the American Folk Music Revival", which he wrote with Stephen Petrus, are much better known by comparison.

Sis & Gordon

There is so much in this "Red Dust and Broadsides" book that I never knew about these two activists who met each other in Oklahoma where they had grown up on farms, where they later joined the labor movement and the then-idealistic Communist Party USA. They were the only people willing to organize the most downtrodden farmers, the sharecroppers. In addition to many stories about their childhood days, their love story is weaved into the telling of their tales. They not only met Woody Guthrie, but Sis Cunningham and Pete Seeger were in a band called The Almanac Singers with him before the more famous Weavers band came into existence and Woody was hospitalized. The other members of The Almanac Singers were Millard Lampell, Bess Hawes, and Arthur Stern. Gordon was the roadie who carried Sis's heavy accordion and did much of the booking and security for them in those early days with Woody.

The chapter titles give a good idea of how Ron Cohen approached the gathering of the information: Chapter 1: Gordon's Childhood; Chapter 2: Sis's Childhood; Chapter 3: Gordon in Kansas; Chapter 4: Sis: Youth & Politics; Chapter 5: Gordon in the 1930's; Chapter 6: Sis in the 1930's; Chapter 7: Gordon - The Almanac Singers and After; Chapter 8: Sis and Gordon following World War II; Chapter 9: The Broadside Years; Epilogue: Growing Old in New York; Appendix: "Oklahoma Witch Hunt" an engaging early piece of writing by Gordon; Afteward by Ron Cohen.

The story of "Broadside: The National Topical Song Magazine" is true Americana as Sis and Gordon told Ron Cohen about how they met singers like Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Malvina Reynolds, Len Chandler, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Janis Ian, Patrick Sky, Julius Lester, Peter LaFarge, Nina Simone, Joe McDonald, Peter Krug, Sammy Walker, and hundreds of lesser known folk singers had their songs published in the pages of Broadside. "Sing Out! Magazine" took on the project of preserving "Broadside Magazine". They may need some volunteer help to complete that project. At this time, only the early issues are accessible in the collection. It was a labor of love involving a small community and their daughters were actively involved as well. Aggie contributed hundreds cool drawings and Jane had a major role in organizing and distributing the issues. Phil Ochs would come back to the apartment late at night from Greenwich Village with his pockets full of dollars and change from hawking the latest issues in the clubs. They loved Phil like he was family!

Phil Ochs May 1973 Interview by Vic Sadot & Rich Lang

A very young Phil Ochs in Broadside #36 in a screenshot from the video I made from the May 1973 audio of the radio interview I did with Phil along with Jeff Lang and Skip Pizzi at WGTB Georgetown University student radio station. Click on the screenshot photo to watch it! "Phil Ochs May 1973 Interview by Vic Sadot & Rich Lang" (30:10) Truth Troubadour YouTube Channel. Phil talks about Nixon, Watergate developments, the TV show he was on the day before, and his travels in South America.

And the singers they liked sang about the Civil Rights movement, the war in Vietnam, labor and union struggles, Martin Luther King, Watergate, the dust bowl and depression era, poverty, farmers, blacklist, strikes, and environmental concerns. They were close to Moses "Moe" Asch, the owner of Folkways Records, and were able to release a number of LP's full of protest songs. There are many historic moments which have become somewhat obscure in the public memory, but they most certainly come alive in Red Dust and Broadsides. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves political songs and social justice movements.

One thing I did not realize was how important the financial support of Pete Seeger was to Broadside Magazine over the years. I remember visiting from Delaware one weekend and they said, "You can stay in the room Phil used to stay in". The Pete Seeger knocks on the door and walks in to sit down and play some songs. That was simply incredible and unexpected. I backed Sis on guitar sometimes, but usually she played piano or accordion. I will close out this book review with a song that I wrote about Sis and Gordon that was actually published in Broadside #167 called "Comrades". It was never recorded, but it should be... So long old friends! It's been good to know you!

Comrades

From the hills of Oklahoma like that “Dustbowl Balladeer”

To the heart of New York City and the songs you helped us hear

When you founded “Broadside” magazine, and you published certain songs

Of issues and of struggles, of social rights and wrongs

So here’s to you, you good ol’ comrades!