IMMEDIATE DESTINATIONS:
WATSONVILLE, CA
FELTON, CA
LOS ANGELES, CA
PALO ALTO, CA
NEVADA CITY, CA
SACRAMENTO, CA
TUCSON, AZ
LAUREL, MD
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
LAWRENCE, MA
READING, PA
JIM THORPE, PA
IRELAND
TERRE HAUTE, IN
continuously updating details at my website
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IN THIS ISSUE:
LEBANON - INCLUDING DAN AND MONIQUE UPDATE
NATIONAL GREEN PARTY CONVENTION IN TUCSON
SIDE TRIPS - MARIPOSA, THE MIDWEST SCHOOL & MORE
SKYDIVING BIRTHDAY PICS
NEW CD IS READY!
FUN LINK
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You can subscribe, and have the Fellow Travelers'Advisory delivered to you monthly...
You can buy my CDs at CDBaby...
The newest cd "If I Can't Dance" will be available there very soon. I'm mailing out
the pre-orders and sponsor copies right now!
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UPDATE ON BEIRUT/LEBANON/DAN & MONIQUE
Many of you know that I was planning a trip to Beirut this summer to visit my son Daniel Berlin and his fiance, Monique Murad. They have been there for the past two months studying Arabic and enjoying the culture and many pleasures that Beirut has to offer.
It is with outrage and utter disbelief that we watch this country being destroyed -- hundreds dead and over 500,000 civilians forced to flee Lebanon with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Dan's blog
is filled with first hand observations of Lebanon before and after the attack.
Thank goodness Dan and Monique were able to escape and will be safely back in the US on July 27th. Please call Congress and insist that no further weapons be sent by the US to the region and that we join the world in calling upon both sides for an immediate cease fire. Please check out these links for further action!
UFPJ
and this link that Dave recommends
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NATIONAL GREEN PARTY CONVENTION
Touring with Dave Lippman has been so much fun. He's a genius - and so funny - and a great musician and composer. We are delighted that our tour ends with a surprise add-on! The National Green Party has invited us to Tucson to do a concert. It's open to the public, and also gives me a chance to visit my Tucson cousins again! See the details below.
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TOUR SIDE TRIPS: THE MARIPOSA FOLK FESTIVAL, THE MIDWEST SCHOOL FOR UNION WOMEN, and the CALIFORNIA AFL-CIO CONVENTION
I had to take a few breaks from the Triple Trouble Tour with Dave -- the first was to the Mariposa Folk Festival - a couple hours outside of Toronto on the shores of Lake Koochiching (sp?). I heard so much great music and connected particularly with a great young band called Stonefox, as well as poet Robert Priest and a fantastic bass player named Dan... uh... Dan... (they told me not to take that green stuff at woodstock, but I didn't listen... sorry I forgot his name)
I met Canadian folk legend Sid Dolgay too... he and Guy Carawan toured together for a while and Sid wrote a Canadian version of "This Land is Your Land" that became a hit in Canada and is still taught in schools.
I just returned to the Triple Trouble Tour after a week at the Midwest School for Union Women -- a dedicated and hardworking bunch of women who are sure to bring a power surge of new energy back to their locals. The instructors at this conference are phenomenal. Many thanks to Helena Worthen for including me as minister of culture this year. I wrote a set of lyrics to "Don't Fence Me In" for a rally at City Hall in Chicago to keep out "big box" employers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target unless they agree to provide living wages to their workers...
I want to roam 'round a town where varieties abound
DON'T BOX ME IN!
Buy something chic and unique at a neighborhood boutique
DON'T BOX ME IN!
I like to have lots of options - merchants galore
I get Mallzheimer's in a big box store
Here in the Windy City we need more --
DON'T BOX ME IN
Don't want to cry when I buy those sweatshop goods from China
DON'T BOX ME IN
Don't want to shop where workers labor til they drop
DON'T BOX ME IN
I want a living wage, and did I mention
A union, health care and a decent pension
City Hall - give me your attention and
DON'T BOX ME IN!!!
Gloria Guzman from the Honduran Banana Workers' Union spoke eloquently at the conference about trade union struggles and women's victories in the labor movement in Honduras. Her visit was sponsored by STITCH that
does fabulous work.
The globalization panel was moderated by Judy Ancel of Kansas City who does so many good things I can't count them, but also introduced me to the work of the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras.
Next Monday night I'm flying to LA to perform at the CA State AFL-CIO Convention - I'm looking forward to that too! Then the Triple Trouble Tour continues!!
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SKYDIVING!
Yes, Amy talked me into it. The pictures are posted directly below this...
It was literally a breathtaking experience. Amy and her dear friend Justin and I celebrated my 55th birthday by jumping out of an airplane at 13,500 feet (4115 meters for those of you playing along in Denmark, Canada, Sweden ... well, everywhere but the US
We had our adventure just north of Salem, OR on July 2nd... It was hot and sunny and the view of Mt. Hood and the surrounding mountains was spectacular. Oregon Skydive requires tandem jumps on your first effort, so you'll see me attached to a terrific guide in the photos.
The 6 seconds of free fall at 120 miles an hour (193km/hour) came to an abrupt end when the parachute opened, and then the stillness and the beauty were overwhelming.
It took almost another nine minutes to get to the ground for a perfect stress-free landing. I'm glad I paid the extra to have the photos taken -- I've relived the adventure a hundred times since.
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"IF I CAN'T DANCE" IS READY!
I'll be mailing out the pre-orders this week, as well as the sponsor copies. It should be up on CDBaby for sale any second now, too!
Thanks to everyone who helped to make the recording possible. I hope you'll buy copies for yourselves and all your friends as soon as it's up at CDBaby.
It will also be in the Labor Heritage Foundation's new catalog.
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FUN LINK
Many of you may already be familiar with the brilliant work of Bruce Yurgil - Check out his Political Velocity Cartoons.
That's it till September... Thanks for reading... and please, do everything you can to stop this attack on Lebanon!
Anne's tour calendar feed