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David Rovics Updates
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry4yZas59D]
New video on YouTube
With Abraham Lincoln being talked about in the media more than at any time that I can recall, I thought I’d write a song about John Brown. I think it’s one of the best songs I’ve written. It was recorded in my living room with a camcorder and put up on YouTube. You can check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry4yZas59Dw. A “Beecher’s Bible” is a type of gun. As the armed wing of the abolitionist movement was making their way out to Kansas to fight against the forces of slavery that were trying to take over the state, they’d make a stop in Ohio where Reverend Beecher would give them guns to which he had made adjustments to make them shoot better.
New song on MySpace
I also wrote a song about the peasants’ revolt that led to the Bill of Rights, among other things, Shay’s Rebellion. Most of these rebels had voted for a change by joining the Continental Army and fighting a revolution. Upon returning home they found the revolution to be less than what they’d hoped for, and they took over half the state of Massachusetts for several years. The song is called “Berkshire Hills,” you can hear it at http://www.myspace.com/davidrovics.
Upcoming travels in the US and Japan
In early March I’m heading back to California, this time to southern California, for a couple shows, then off to Arizona for several more. Soon thereafter Leila and I will be spending two weeks in Japan. If anybody knows someone in Japan who might like to organize a last-minute show somewhere, please encourage them to let me know! Same goes for the northeastern US, where I’ll be doing several shows in mid-April as well as in mid-June. Mid-June I’ll be in NYC to open for the NYC Labor Chorus, and it’d be great to have several more gigs in the region around then in particular. All the details on all that can be found in neat, chronological order on the top of http://www.davidrovics.com.
Upcoming travels in Europe
Late April through the end of May I’ll be in Scandinavia, Ireland, and in Britain touring with the great Attila the Stockbroker (http://www.attilathestockbroker.com). I have plenty of free dates to do more shows in Scandinavia and in Ireland. In July I’ll be returning to Europe to sing at the Climate Camp in Copenhagen and elsewhere in Scandinavia, and I was thinking of visiting the Netherlandsafter that before heading back to my humble apartment in Portland, Oregon. (Details on many of those upcoming dates in Europe are up at http://www.davidrovics.com.)
Midwest tour with Anne Feeney
Utah Phillips called her the greatest labor singer in the US. (“Nice compliment coming from the greatest labor singer in the US,” Anne says in response to anyone who mentions these words of Utah’s…) Either way, she’s damn good. Check her out at http://www.annefeeney.com. We had a great tour of Scandinavia together a few years ago, and now we’re gonna tour the midwestern US in October. If there are any midwesterners who feel inspired to contribute to this effort, please let me know!
Random thoughts on the state of the world
The RNC 8 will be doing a west coast tour starting in a few days, including an event in Portland with me. They are facing domestic terrorism charges under the Minnesota Patriot Act for being involved with organizing protests against the Republican National Convention last September. Go to http://rnc8.org for more.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue. Find out how to support the troops who refuse to fight: http://www.couragetoresist.org
Possibly the worst environmental disaster in US history has just occurred in Tennessee. There’s a very encouraging grassroots movement working to do something about the situation. Check out http://unitedmountaindefense.org
If you’re wondering what this new spending bill is all about I highly recommend listening to the interview with the rebel former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, on Democracy Now! a few days ago. Here it is: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/25/stieglitz
For now, signing out…
David
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