Joan at Woodstock taught me about Joe's murder so long ago.... (corrected added Woodstock video)

[Omaha Steve]

Today is the anniversary of the killing of John G. Morrison and his son Arling. IWW union activist Joe was framed: http://www.joehill.org/

http://nhlabornews.com/2014/01/january-10-1914/

January 10, 1914




Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) organizer and songwriter Joe Hill allegedly kills two men during a grocery store robbery in Utah. Hill, who was framed for the murders, was convicted and executed by firing squad.

[jwirr]

1. Most of us learned about this man from her. I wish we had the folks singers back in the fight now.

[G_j]

2. Utah Phillips,

Last edited Fri Jan 10, 2014, 03:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Utah Phillips, formerly State Archivist, recorded this at the 1976 Festival of American Folklife.

[G_j]

8. Phil Oches

[Warpy]

3. One of the things that really pissed the bosses off

was that Hill was taking spiritual music and rewriting the lyrics. Everybody knew the tunes and the rewritten lyrics were traveling like wildfire. In addition, Hill kept things simple enough for everybody to understand, immigrants as well as the undereducated who'd had to go to work young.

After he was hanged, Hill's will specify he be cremated and his remains sent to every state in the Union except Utah, because he wouldn't want to be caught dead there.

The late, great Utah Phillips put Hill's lyrics onto vinyl and then CDs. Some of them are still in print and they're all worth looking for.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. A man and a story worth remembering. Thank you.

[malthaussen]

5. I learned about him from Paul Robeson:

-- Mal

[Mass]

6. Thanks for posting this\nt

[starroute]

7. I saw Baez perform in Boston right after Woodstock

I think she must have played nearly the same set. At any rate, I've got her performance of the song stuck in my head, and I'm pretty sure I first heard it there.

In 1969, there wasn't much information generally available about the Wobblies. Now there is -- and the more I learn, the more there is to like.

Among other things, there's a direct line from "what they could never kill went on to organize" to "you can't kill an idea" in V for Vendetta -- and from there to Anonymous claiming they're not an organization, just an idea.

Joe Hill never died.

[CanSocDem]

9. In the interest of kicking this thread...

...I am compelled to recount my own 'introduction' to Joe Hill.

It was 1970. I was working in L.A. for a small struggling printing shop. Some local film producers got wind of our generous credit arrangements and for awhile we were inundated with shine-y "investment" offers in exchange for our services. We did the work and then given private screenings of "Our Production".

One day some guys came in who were in 'pre-production' for a movie called Joe Hill. When they asked how much MY service would cost, as I usually did, told them I'd do it for a part in the movie. And as they usually did, said OK. To my surprise, a couple of days later, I got a call to go down to this old part of Hollywood Blvd. to a dinghy old office complex and read for a part in the movie.

Up until that moment, the thought of becoming a "movie star" was a long discarded childhood fantasy. Even living and working in the heart of Hollywood, I looked at the industry more with disdain....until of course they called me for "a reading".

Sadly, I'm forced to admit that this self-centered delusion blinded me to the heroic reality of Joe Hill until I started listening to Joan Baez a couple of years later.

I didn't fulfill my short-lived dream of Hollywood fame. The people I read for didn't like the way I said "out", if you can believe it. But I did become more interested in Social Justice.


.

[Omaha Steve]

10. Thank you for sharing!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

11. K&R

[Wounded Bear]

12. K & R..nt