MARCH 2009 - Anne Feeney's Fellow Travelers' Advisory - VOLUME 4, #12

IMMEDIATE DESTINATIONS:
(details, time and locations appear at the end of this newsletter, and are continuously updating at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html)

FLORIDA!
Tallahassee
Gainesville
Jacksonville
St Augustine
Orange City
North Miami
Deerfield Beach
Lake Worth
Miami
Sunrise
Fort Myers
Sarasota
Cape Coral

then...

Pittsburgh - March 25th with Charlie King and Karen Brandow
Cleveland - March 29th
Detroit - March 30th?????
Somewhere else to host a benefit for UAW 364 - March 31st???
Elkhart, IN - April 1st

Then:
Big Ontario Tour with Joey Only!

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BUY CDS (please!): http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid
Please forward this message to your friends!
(If you got this as a forward, you can subscribe at http://annefeeney.com/newsletter.html)
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Pittsburgh, PA
27 February 2009


Welcome to the March 2009 Edition of my monthly email news - THE FELLOW TRAVELERS' ADVISORY. It's the only way I can really stay in touch with all the folks I visit over the course of a year, and I sooooo appreciate you inviting me into your inbox once a month.

I'm packing now for three weeks touring in Florida, and then I'll head to the midwest, to Ontario, and Washington DC.

I still have space for nine more folks to come along on the fabulous tour of Ireland I've got planned for August 25th - September 3rd. I hope that all of you - particularly some of my Danish and Swedish friends are considering this trip - It's a great great way to see Ireland!

In this month's Fellow Travelers' Advisory there are some really important timely actions you can take, a fun report from my 2009 Oscars party, family news, news about Charlie King and Karen Brandow's upcoming show in Pittsburgh and more! Write back and let me know what you're up to.

In solidarity

Anne

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Alberta Tar Sands - Attention Canadians and US residents

http://www.tarsandswatch.org/message-canada-s-political-leaders-stop-ducking-obama-s-nafta-challenge - Here's a site that gives us all a chance to say what a TERRIBLE idea it is to try to squeeze the filthiest oil on the planet out of the Alberta Tar Sands. Click today!
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March 3rd special election for Tom Geoghegan

There's a special election to fill Rahm Emanuel's seat in Illinois and we have a chance to send a brilliant guy who REALLY understands labor, the environment, the economy and so much more to fill that seat. Tom Geoghegan is a fabulous person and a good friend. He'd be perfect for the seat, but he could use your help.

Call your friends in Illinois and tell them they've got a chance to pick a real winner! And if you've got an extra few bucks sitting around, send them Tom's way. I did.

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Charlie King and Karen Brandow in concert in Pittsburgh

Come see Charlie and Karen in an intimate house concert in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, March 25th. Charlie is one of my favorite songwriters, and I'm not alone in that opinion. Charlie's fans include Peggy Seeger, Tom Paxton and Billboard Magazine. Performing with his multi-talented wife, Karen Brandow, Charlie's show is now filled with complex rhythms and gorgeous harmonies. If you'd like to come, send me an email: anne@annefeeney.com and I'll save a seat for you.
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BENEFIT FOR STRIKING UAW 364

After the concert I'm leaving on a midwest mini-tour to raise money for the striking members of UAW364 in Elkhart, IN. You can bring a check payable to Food4Strikers to the Charlie King/Karen Brandow show, or mail one to me:

Food4Strikers
c/o Anne Feeney
2240 Milligan Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15218

and I'll deliver it to them in person on the THIRD anniversary of their strike against Vincent Bach/Conn-Selmer. If you ever played a brass instrument it was probably made by these striking workers.

I'm in Cleveland on March 28th and the morning of the 29th. I'm hoping to do a show in Detroit - Ann Arbor - really - anywhere that's sorta-kinda-maybe on the way to Elkhart, IN - If you'd be willing to host a house concert on March 29, 30 or 31st email me right away!

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Ireland tour - August 25-September 3rd - Galway, Dublin and Clare!

This will be one of my best tours ever. If you'd like to join me and a small group of exciting activists for a musical tour of Ireland, this is your chance! If you're interested, drop me an email and I'll send you the details. anne@annefeeney.com

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ONTARIO IN APRIL

My pal Joey Only and I have been talking about touring together for a long time. Well, it's finally happening this April in honor of Joey's 30th birthday. We still have some dates to fill on that tour. If you're in Ontario and you'd like to host us, please email me: anne@annefeeney.com or Joey info@joeyonly.com


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

WHERE IS THE $$$ GOING? - LINK OF THE MONTH

This fantastic site will suck you in for longer than you meant to stay. Brilliantly conceived and executed - it gives us all a chance to be part of the budget, and to know where the money is going!

http://stimuluswatch.org/
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TRYING TO FIND A PICKET LINE?

This very cool site tells you who's on strike and why - all over the world!!
http://www.xpdnc.com/links/strikes.html

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FAMILY NEWS



My cousin Anabel Karen Bernadette Blanco was born on February 22nd at 11:48am, 6lb
15oz, 19in - Mother (Kristin Brown Blanco) and daughter are both doing fine!

My son and his wife - Dan and Monique - enjoyed Carneval in Ecuador. You can read Dan's latest post here

My annual Oscars party was great fun. There's a photo essay on the party just below this post if you're reading this on my blog. Otherwise you can click here to see the citrus sorbet pressed into the mold of Nixon's head (Frost/Nixon, get it?) and other gastronomic excesses of the evening.


Get well soon!
Janet Bates
89569 Sunny Loop Lane
Bandon, OR 97411

Janet is recovering from surgery, with lots of TLC from her wonderful husband Ken.

My friend, colleague and union brother, Derrick Finch - fabulous piano player and wonderful spirit, was killed in a car crash in LA at the age of 36. Gone too soon. Rest well, brother.

BIRTHDAYS!!

Shirley Shultz Myers - Mar 1st, Mary McCahill Madera - Mar 1st, Griffin Lane McCahill - Mar 13th, Rob Shepherd - Mar 14th, Ron Berlin is 65 on Mar 15th, Tom Weldon is 80 (!) Mar 17th, Suzy Edkins - Mar 17th, John Cunningham - Mar 20th, Bette Jacobson Godfrey - Mar 26th, Martha Shunn - Mar 27th, Mary Weldon - Mar 29th, Kelly Grefenstette - Mar 31st

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HERE'S THE TOUR SO FAR:

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 11:00 AM
UFF-FSU sponsored Rally to protest education cuts!
State Capitol
Tallahassee, FL
http://fateofthestate.ning.com


Thursday, March 5th, 2009 8:00 PM
Concert and Pot Luck!
Imaginary Fool's Juggling, Singing and Gourmet Supper Club
Tallahassee, FL
850-878-4149
Price: $10 suggested
call or email wbroderson(@)hotmail.com to make reservations and get directions.... I *love* this venue ... It's soooooooo much fun!

Friday, March 6th, 2009 8:30 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
The NEW Civic Media Center
433 S Main St
Gainesville, FL
Price: $10
gainesvilleiguana(@)cox.net


Saturday, March 7th, 2009 8:00 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of St Augustine
2487 A1A South and Florida Avenue
St Augustine, FL 32605
http://www.nrdp.net/uufsa/
Price: $10-20 suggested

Sunday, March 8th, 2009 10:30 AM
Music for Sunday Service
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of St Augustine
2487 A1A South and Florida Avenue
St Augustine, FL 32605
http://www.nrdp.net/uufsa/
Price: all welcome


Sunday, March 8th, 2009 3:00 PM
Mosaic Unitarian Universalist Church
425 S Volusia Ave (17-92)
Orange City, FL 32774
http://mosaicuu.org/
jsdupree(@)hotmail.com


Sunday, March 8th, 2009 8:00 PM
Live on Progressive Roots Radio with Ken Connors and CeeCee Severin!
Live in the Studio and streaming on the internet at
Jacksonville, FL
http://radiofreejax.com
Price: free!
On Air: FM 105.7 (WHJX) in Jacksonville, FM 105. 5 (WSJF) in St. Augustine
Call-In # = 694-1057 (AC 904)


Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 12:00 PM
Artist in Residence
Flagler College
Kernan Bldg. #135
St Augustine, FL
Two classroom appearances: 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM and 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Site: Flagler College,
Performances for two classes on "The '60s -- Revolution, Revelation, ..."
Local Contact: Allan Marcil, cell = 806-6178


Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 7:00 PM
Anne Feeney In Family Concert for Union Folks and Their Kids!
IBEW #177 Hall
966 North Liberty Street
Jacksonville
(904)-765-5004

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 3:00 PM
Anne Feeney Live on Brother Stan's Radio Show 105.7FM
Live in the Studio and streaming on the internet at
Jacksonville , FL
http://radiofreejax.com
On Air: FM 105.7 (WHJX) in Jacksonville, FM 105. 5 (WSJF) in St. Augustine
Call-In # 904-694-1057


Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 5:30 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert at CLC meeting
IBEW #177 Hall
966 North Liberty Street
Jacksonville, FL
Price: free
this brief appearance is for Jacksonville labor activists


Thursday, March 12th, 2009 5:30 PM
Campus Chapter of Amnesty International presents Anne Feeney in Concert
UNF Campus
UNF Art Gallery Auditorium
Jacksonville, FL
904-620-1654
http://www.unf.edu/dept/gallery/
ccarter(@)unf.edu - Candice Carter is the contact or Shelly Clay-Robison shellyclayrobison(@)hotmail.com
Price: donations welcome
Shelly Clay-Robison shellyclayrobison(@)hotmail.com


Friday, March 13th, 2009 8:00 PM
Countdown to St Patrick's Day Concert!
Luna Star Cafe
775 NE 125th St
North Miami, FL 33161
http://www.lunastarcafe.com
Price: $15
In addition to my regular repertoire, look for lots of wonderful Irish songs too!


Saturday, March 14th, 2009 10:00 AM
Deerfield Beach Progressive Forum - 10AM - 12 Noon
Century Village, Deerfield Beach Activities Center
Deerfield Beach, FL
bobbende(@)gmail.com is the contact


Saturday, March 14th, 2009 7:30 PM
Bailout the People! Anne Feeney in Concert
Society of Friends (Quakers) Meeting House
823 North A St.
Lake Worth, FL
561-330-9016
Price: $10-20 sliding


Sunday, March 15th, 2009 11:00 AM
Music for Sunday Service
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami
7701 SW 76th Avenue
Miami, FL 33143
305-667-3697
http://uumia.org/
Price: all welcome


Sunday, March 15th, 2009 7:00 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
Glades Edge House Concerts
Sunrise, FL
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=108478112
Price: $15
shadow83blk(@)comcast.net - There is a potluck at 6PM


Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 12:00 PM
St Patrick's Day After-Parade Celebration - Noon until 3:30PM
Channel Mark Outdoor Restaurant
19001 San Carlos Blvd
Ft Myers Beach, FL 33931
(239) 463-9127
laura griffin is the contact - swflagirl(@)aol.com



Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 6:00 PM
St Patrick's Day Celebration 6-9:30PM
French Connection Block Party
2282 First Street
Ft. Myers, FL 33901
(239) 332-4443
(Downtown Ft Myers after the Boston Red Sox Game) Laura Griffin Swflagirl(@)aol.com is the contact

Friday, March 20th, 2009 7:30 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
Mother's Musical Bakery
6525 Superior Ave
Sarasota, FL
Price: $10-20 suggested
come early! I'll start at 7:30 sharp!


Saturday, March 21st, 2009 7:00 PM
SWFLA Labor Social
Moorings Patio Restaurant
1326 Se 16th Pl
Cape Coral, FL 33990
Price: $5 at the door
Laura Griffin is the contact - swflagirl(@)aol.com
Come early for:
**social 5-6:30
**EFCA discussion 6:30-7
**Anne Feeney Show 7-10


Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 7:00 PM
Anne Feeney presents Charlie King and Karen Brandow
Jim & Llouise's
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
412-877-6480
http://charlieking.org
Price: $15
email me at anne(@) annefeeney.com to receive an invitation to this wonderful concert, featuring two extremely talented friends long-overdue for a pittsburgh visit! Seating is limited. reserve a seat now! (Of course, I'll sing some, too!)


Saturday, March 28th, 2009 7:30 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
UU Society of Cleveland Heights
2728 Lancashire Road
Cleveland Heights, OH
216.932.1898
http://uusocietyofcleveland.tripod.com/index.html
Price: $10 suggested


Sunday, March 29th, 2009 10:45 AM
Music for Sunday Service
UU Society of Cleveland
2728 Lancashire Road
Cleveland Heights, OH
216.932.1898
http://uusocietyofcleveland.tripod.com/index.html
Price: all welcome

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 5:00 PM
Third Anniversary Reunion of Locked Out Conn-Selmer Workers!
McNaughton Park Pavilion
701 Arcade Ave
Elkhart, IN 46516
574-264-1591
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3386674426389672298&/
Price: donations
Ronald Czarnecki ronczarnecki@msn.com is the contact - Bring checks payable to Food4Strikers, or cash, or food

Oscars 2009!

The tables were set:






The 2009 tote-board in place:






The red carpet was rolled out, and we awaited our guests!




Our lovely paparrazza, Sophia Faller (on the right), and her friend Mia Davis, took the guests' coats on arrival, gave them their ballots, and collected their dollars!




First to arrive were Jim and Llouise Altes with the "Slum Dog Millionaire" appetizers!





Next came "Eric von Marchbein" - silent movie director - resplendent in his jodhpurs and riding boots




Father Bill Feeney




Jan Boyd and Bill Erickson



Barbara Lebeau, wearing a lovely bottle of Pinot Noir



Father Lou Vallone in his Steelers-wear:




"Slumdog" Hilary Chiz!



Barbara's husband, Tom Aspel



Jeanne Clark, with a car full of beer and champagne!



Tod Faller, parking valet, technical master, furniture mover, majordomo and factotum


The candles are lit and we start off with our "Slumdog Millionaire" appetizers - curried nut mix and pappadams with three sauces!




Robin Alexander (on left) and Polly Halfkenny (adjusting her "Revolutionary Road" hat in the mirror) arrive just in time with "The Reader" salad!



Perfect, Polly!



Following Polly's dramatic reading of the recipe, and Robin's artful tableside preparation, we were treated to "The Reader" salad - featuring poached pears, dried cranberries, gorgonzola cheese and toasted pine nuts! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm



Time for the Benjamin Button entree - New Orleans Jambalaya!



The diners await Hilary Chiz's "Frost/Nixon" citrus sorbet -


artfully arranged by Julie Leonardsson in a custom-made mold of Nixon's head



"Was that the dessert?" wonders Jeanne Clark



No! Just the palate cleanser. Dessert is courtesy of "MILK" - Julie's lovely Creme Caramel -




CHAMPAGNE!



and now, on to the Oscars!



From the beginning, Tom is out front!



von Marchbein looks strangely confident!



Hilary says, "Has anyone noticed that Tom has gotten them ALL right so far!!!"


Tom ponders: "Should I invest my winnings in stocks, bonds, commodities?"




And the winner is - SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE!!



And the winner of the 2009 Oscars' Sweepstakes is Tom!His score - a whopping 18 out of 24 - 75% correct! amazing! (click on the image to enlarge... Tom's score is on the bottom row!

FEBRUARY 2009 - Anne Feeney's Fellow Travelers' Advisory - VOLUME 4, #11

IMMEDIATE DESTINATIONS

Newport, OR
Salem, OR
Tallahassee, FL
Gainesville, FL
Jacksonville, FL
St. Augustine, FL
Orange City, FL
Jacksonville, FL
N Miami, FL
Deerfield Beach, FL
Miami, FL
Ft Myers, FL
Sarasota, FL
Ft Myers, FL
Elkhart, IN
Effingham, IL
get all the details on these gigs at the end of this newsletter, or continuously updating at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html


Hugs to all of you fellow travelers from lovely Portand, Oregon!

Thanks so much for signing up for my once-a-month email news - The Fellow Travelers' Advisory. It's the best, and really, the only way I have of staying in touch with all the wonderful folks I meet in my travels. It may seem impersonal, but I promise you that a very real person (me) is working hard every month to find items that will interest, inspire and amuse you. If you write back - and I hope you do - I answer.



This tour started in Watsonville, CA with my friend Amy Newell organizing a great concert at the SEIU local hall there, and continued north. The day before the always-wonderful Western Workers' Labor Heritage Festival started, my husband and I went with Karen Newman to Coit Tower, where we were paid a surprise visit by the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill!

The wild parrots of Telegraph Hill - photographed by Karen Newman at Coit Tower


I had a wonderful visit with Joanna Robinson in Nevada City, and she took me to see the Hospitality House that she and Utah Phillips helped to found - I'm SOOOOOOOOOO glad we raised some money for this most worthy organization! I visited high school pal Rita Roxas in Sacramento, and we watched the inauguration together. I stopped to visit FW "Baltimore Red" at his fabulous new railroaders' retreat in Black Butte, OR.









A packed house was waiting for me at the People's Inaugural "Obama Pajama Party" at the Siskyou Pub in Ashland, OR - (Photo courtesy of Wes Brain)



At Kate & Dave's house in Astoria - organized by Carol Newman (photo by Paxton)

Certainly one of the highlights of this tour of the Northwest (and the great Canadian Southwest...) was spending so much time with the fabulous Rebel Voices - my dear friends, Janet Stecher and Susan Lewis. To have such celestial three part harmony at 8 shows was a thrill!






After-the-gig party in Portland with Sisters in the Brotherhood! (Photo from Melina Harris)


Unfortunately, I also got pretty sick on this tour - stomach crud - and I fell at least a week behind on my email and data entry ... and I'm several days late on this newsletter. I head back to Pittsburgh on Sunday, and look forward to a couple weeks rest and recuperation at home before heading to the Sunshine State for March. I'm sure that my hometown is a very happy place after the Steelers' Super Bowl victory.

David Rovics and I are talking about an October tour of the Midwest and possibly FLORIDA, March 2010 - If you're interested in hosting a show on that tour, get in touch.

As always, you can get my CDs at http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid - and I hope that you'll do that, if you haven't already.

Here's the news - thanks for reading!

Love and solidarity (and NATIONAL HEALTH CARE NOW!!!)

Anne

IN THIS ISSUE:

COME TO IRELAND WITH ME!
TOM GEOGHEGAN FOR CONGRESS
NATIONAL HEALTH CARE!
FAMILY NEWS
BIRTHDAYS
WHY NOT A MINISTER OF ARTS AND CULTURE!
SOAW SIX SENTENCED!
FLORIDA TOUR! A COUPLE DATES STILL AVAILABLE!
THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT WILL END CIVILIZATION - JOKE OF THE MONTH
OSCARS DINNER
THE TOUR



COME TO IRELAND WITH ME! AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 3RD - GALWAY, DUBLIN, CLARE






Seats are filling fast with wonderful folks for this tour of Ireland. If you'd like to see Ireland someday, why wait? Join me and 18 other like-minded exciting funny activists for an unforgettable tour of the Emerald Isle. This very affordable trip will include beautiful county Galway, historic Dublin, and the amazing music and scenery of County Clare. The fifty folks who went to Ireland with me last year will all testify - it's a great experience. For $1950 we'll provide all accommodations for nine nights, all ground transportation, all breakfasts, three wonderful dinners, many special events and the best Irish music you'll ever hear! The pace is Irish ... no early mornings, some time for yourself, and many opportunities for authentic Irish experiences unavailable on other tours. Check out http://enchantedwaytours.ie and drop me a line if you'd like to join me. You'll be very welcome. Your first deposit must be received by March 1st.


Tom Geoghegan for Congress

My friend Tom Geogheghan is seeking Rahm Emmanuel's Congressional seat in Illinois. Maybe you read his book "Which Side Are You On?" - Tom is brilliant, witty, and just what we need in Congress. Please send him some money. I did. http://www.geogheganforcongress.com/


NATIONAL HEALTH CARE NOW!!

My many Swedish, Canadian, Irish, British and Danish subscribers probably shake their heads that we can't solve this crucial problem simply and efficiently as they have - I welcome all your commments!

Just before I started this tour of the northwest, I was invited to perform at the Labor for Single Payer meeting in St. Louis. One hundred fifty nine labor activists from all over the country converged to discuss how to keep a full fledged single payer health care program on our national agenda.

What does 'single-payer' mean? It means that the government will process payments for medical bills. Currently Medicare remains the most cost-efficient billing program in the country. (This is despite many terible recent initiatives from the private sector that have made Medicare less effective.)

This is not "government-run" health care - You'd be able to see the doctor of your choice, and follow the treatment that doctor recommends - The bills would go to the national health care system and your doctor would be paid.

Everyone is covered. No problems with "pre-existing" conditions. No problem if you change jobs, or move, or get pregnant. All services are covered.

There are so many misconceptions and so much misinformation out there, I'm going to devote part of each 2009 Fellow Travelers' Advisory to dispelling the corporate/insurance-funded mythology. Here are

Reasons Why a Massachusetts-Style Mandates Program Won't Work

1. As long as we include private for-profit insurers in the mix, universal coverage will be unaffordable. These companies refuse to insure sick people and force them off their rolls, spiking the cost of any public programs.

2. Many people who have insurance now can't afford to get sick. Many people are paying more and more premium and out-of-pocket costs forcing them to decide between health care and food or housing.

3. Mandate-style programs do nothing to regulate premiums, or require insurance companies to pay for necessary services.

4. Employers currently providing coverage would continue be under a disadvantage competing with Canadian and other companies whose employees receive health care from the government.

5. We'd still be paying for the costs of advertising, union-busting and other non-health related activities that private insurance and pharmaceutical spend billions of our health care dollars on.

6. We know many people do not carry auto insurance - even in states with mandatory auto insurance laws. What are we going to do to people who do not have health insurance? Fine them? Jail them? Let them get sick? Who decides how much of a premium the uninsured should pay in a mandates system?

7. There will be no accountability in a mandates program. Who will require insurers to pay for mammograms, or immunizations, or preventive care?

8. Administrative costs currently consume nearly one-third of every health care dollar.

9. A public, non-profit system will respond to what doctors and patients need - not what corporate executives and their stockholders want.

10. A public, non-profit health care system covering ALL of us would create millions of sustainable jobs in this troubled economy. Finally providing health care to our 47 million uninsured will improve public health dramatically.

The only plan that addresses these issues successfully is House Resolution 676. It currently has 93 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives.

Here's the list http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@P - If your Congressional Rep isn't on the list, call 202-224-3121 and ask him/her why s/he isn't sponsoring this important legislation.

Here are a couple more links to check out. More next month.

http://www.calnurses.org/research/pdfs/ihsp_sp_economic_study_2009.pdf
http://www.calnurses.org/healthcare3/assets/pdf/singlepayer_top10.pdf


FAMILY NEWS

My son Dan Berlin and his wife Monique Murad are safely ensconced in Quito, Ecuador for the next two years. Dan is posting a blog at http://www.balancingtheegg.blogspot.com/ -- check it out!



Dan's buddies Mike and Dionna Hatch moved to India with their baby Max, seen here modeling his "Power to the Little People" shirt, available from Northland Poster Collective



My folk music family suffered a terrible loss on January 7, 2008 when our friend and mentor Victor Heyman died. He was a total folk music fan, and put his heart and money into supporting folk music and musicians. Thanks to his generous spirit and selfless genius at database management, Victor provided folk alliance attendees for years with impeccable tables to guide us through the over-scheduled weekends with ease. His wonderful wife, partner and sweetheart - Reba Heyman - continues as a cherished member of our folk family. My heart breaks for her and the Heyman family.

Working class hero Ed Sadlowski is recovering at home following major surgery. I'm sure he'd welcome your cards and warm wishes.

Ed Sadlowski
10709 S Avenue F
Chicago, IL 60617-6709

His son Ed is up to his ass in alligators with UHW in California, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with another working class hero, Sal Roselli.

I'm so sorry I didn't let everyone know about my talented cousin Sean McCahill's fabulous acoustic guitar arrangements of Christmas carols in time for the season... but check them out and talk him into releasing this as a cd! It's excellent!
www.myspace.com/guitarcarols

BIRTHDAYS
Ryan Grefenstette - Feb 7th, Joe McCahill - Feb 15th, Benjamin McCahill's first birthday! Feb 21st, Ross Chapman - Feb 24th, Barney McElhone - Feb 26th, Shirley Shultz Myers, Mar 1st, Mary McCahill Madera - Mar 1st


WHY NOT A MINISTER OF ARTS AND CULTURE?

Ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, The United States has never created such a position. We in the arts need this and the country needs the arts--now more than ever. Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif (from Henry Doktorski)

Here's a link to a speech on the power of music by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at Boston Conservatory. (It's long, but worth it...)
http://fellow-travelers-advisory.blogspot.com/2009/02/power-of-music.html




SOAW SIX SENTENCED

on January 26, six human rights advocates appeared in a federal courthouse in Georgia. The "SOA 6," ranging in age from 21 to 68, were found "guilty" of carrying the protest against the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC) onto the Fort Benning military base. The six were among the thousands who gathered on November 22 and 23, 2008 outside the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia to demand a change in U.S. policy towards Latin America and the closure of the SOA/WHINSEC.

The "SOA 6" spoke out clearly and powerful in court today. They made a compelling case for the closure of the school and creation of a culture of justice and peace, where there is no place for the SOA mindset that promotes military "solutions" to social and economic problems. The six spent the weekend preparing for their trials with a team of lawyers, legal workers and volunteers, and today they stood up for all of us working for a more just world.

The "SOA 6":
Father Luis Barrios, 56, from North Bergen, NJ, was sentenced to 2 months in federal prison and a $250 fine
Theresa Cusimano, 40, Denver, Colorado, found guilty and awaiting sentencing
Kristin Holm, from Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to 2 months in federal prison and a $250 fine
Sr. Diane Pinchot, OSU, 63, from Cleveland, Ohio, was sentenced to 2 months in federal prison
Al Simmons, 64, from Richmond, Virginia, was sentenced to 2 months in federal prison
Louis Wolf, 68, from Washington, DC, found guilty and awaiting sentencing

From February 15-17 School of the Americas Watch is planning activities in Washington, DC. Read how to support these actions on their website.



FLORIDA!! DATES STILL AVAILABLE!!

Still looking for Saturday, March 14th near Miami, and March 18th and 19th (Wed and Thu) - If you have any ideas, please let me know!



THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT WILL END CIVILIZATION - JOKE OF THE MONTH





At least that's what the creeps running Home Depot and the Bank of America think. DO check out this amazing conference call in which these corporate thugs discuss using taxpayer bailout money to fight this simple legislation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/bank-of-america-hosted-an_n_161248.html



OSCARS DINNER

I'm gearing up for the annual Oscars party at my house. I think I've got 16 for dinner this year. We'll be having

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE APPETIZERS - pappadams & mint chutney, somozas, etc
THE READER SALAD - a tableside salad preparation while the recipe is being read aloud
BENJAMIN BUTTON JAMBALAYA - available in vegetarian and carnivorous versions
FROST/NIXON CITRUS SORBET in the shape of Nixon's head (Julie's still pondering this request... I hope to have a photo for next month! and then....)
HARVEY "MILK" CREME CARAMEL

It was a great year for movies. I'm predicting Benjamin Button for Best Film, Mickey Rourke Best Actor (although this category is amazing - great performances one and all!), Meryl Streep Best Actress and Director Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, Supporting Actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Supporting Actress Amy Adams. I hear FROZEN RIVER is terrific - I'm looking for it. I haven't seen Revolutionary Road yet either.

THE TOUR

Friday, February 6th, 2009 8:00 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
South Beach Community Center
Newport, OR
Price: $10
contact Akia at akia(@)peak.org

Saturday, February 7th, 2009 6:00 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
Salem House Concerts
Salem, OR
503-378-7704
http://home.teleport.com/~blueman/
Price: $12/$20 w dinner
Marc Nassar is the contact - blueman(@)teleport.com


Thursday, March 5th, 2009 8:00 PM
Concert and Pot Luck!
Imaginary Fool's Juggling, Singing and Gourmet Supper Club
Tallahassee, FL
850-878-4149
Price: $10 suggested
call or email wbroderson(@)hotmail.com to make reservations and get directions.... I *love* this venue ... It's soooooooo much fun!


Friday, March 6th, 2009 8:30 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
The NEW Civic Media Center
433 S Main St
Gainesville, FL
Price: $10
gainesvilleiguana(@)cox.net


Saturday, March 7th, 2009 8:00 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of St Augustine
2487 A1A South and Florida Avenue
St Augustine, FL 32605
Price: $10-20 suggested


Sunday, March 8th, 2009 3:00 PM
Mosaic Unitarian Universalist Church
425 S Volusia Ave (17-92)
Orange City, FL 32774
http://mosaicuu.org/
jsdupree(@)hotmail.com


Thursday, March 12th, 2009 8:00 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
UNF Campus
Jacksonville, FL
ccarter(@)unf.edu - Candice Carter is the contact


Friday, March 13th, 2009 8:00 PM
Countdown to St Patrick's Day Concert!
Luna Star Cafe
775 NE 125th St
North Miami, FL 33161
http://www.lunastarcafe.com
Price: $15
In addition to my regular repertoire, look for lots of wonderful Irish songs too!


Saturday, March 14th, 2009 10:00 AM
Deerfield Beach Progressive Forum - 10AM - 12 Noon
Century Village, Deerfield Beach Activities Center
Deerfield Beach, FL
bobbende(@)gmail.com is the contact

Saturday, March 14th, 2009 7:30 PM
Bailout the People! Anne Feeney in Concert
Society of Friends (Quakers) Meeting House
823 North A St.
Lake Worth, FL
561-330-9016
Price: $10-20 sliding




Sunday, March 15th, 2009 7:00 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
Glades Edge House Concerts
Miami area, FL
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=108478112
Price: $15
shadow83blk(@)comcast.net
There is a potluck at 6PM


Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 8:00 PM
St Patrick's Day Celebration
Ft Myers, FL
laura griffin is the contact - swflagirl(@)aol.com


Friday, March 20th, 2009 7:30 PM
Anne Feeney in Concert
Mother's Musical Bakery
6525 Superior Ave
Sarasota, FL
Price: $10-20 suggested
come early! I'll start at 7:30 sharp!


Saturday, March 21st, 2009 8:00 PM
Music for Union Agitators and their Friends!
tba
Ft Myers, FL
Laura Griffin is the contact - swflagirl(@)sol.com


Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 8:00 PM
90th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (tentative)
Cooper Union
New York, NY
(I can't find my contact information on this gig... Is anyone on this list involved with this event???? get in touch with me!)



Sunday, March 29th, 2009 8:00 PM
UU Fellowship of Cleveland Heights
UU Society of Cleveland
2728 Lancashire Road
Cleveland Heights, OH
216.932.1898
http://uusocietyofcleveland.tripod.com/index.html

The Power of Music

Music can, no less than, save the planet. Here’s an eloquent attempt to describe the power of music by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at Boston Conservatory. (It's long, but worth it...)

“One of my parents’ deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn’t be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother’s remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school—she said, “you’re WASTING your SAT scores.” On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was. And they LOVED music, they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren’t really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the “arts and entertainment” section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it’s the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works.

The first people to understand how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you; the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. Let me give you some examples of how this works.

One of the most profound musical compositions of all time is the Quartet for the End of Time written by French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1940. Messiaen was 31 years old when France entered the war against Nazi Germany. He was captured by the Germans in June of 1940, sent across Germany in a cattle car and imprisoned in a concentration camp.

He was fortunate to find a sympathetic prison guard who gave him paper and a place to compose. There were three other musicians in the camp, a cellist, a violinist, and a clarinetist, and Messiaen wrote his quartet with these specific players in mind. It was performed in January 1941 for four thousand prisoners and guards in the prison camp. Today it is one of the most famous masterworks in the repertoire.

Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture—why would anyone bother with music? And yet—from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without rec reation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, “I am alive, and my life has meaning.”

On September 12, 2001 I was a resident of Manhattan. That morning I reached a new understanding of my art and its relationship to the world. I sat down at the piano that morning at 10 AM to practice as was my daily routine; I did it by force of habit, without thinking about it. I lifted the cover on the keyboard, and opened my music, and put my hands on the keys and took my hands off the keys. And I sat there and thought, does this even matter? Isn’t this completely irrelevant? Playing the piano right now, given what happened in this city yesterday, seems silly, absurd, irreverent, pointless. Why am I here? What place has a musician in this moment in time? Who needs a piano player right now? I was completely lost.

And then I, along with the rest of New York, went through the journey of getting through that week. I did not play the piano that day, and in fact I contemplated briefly whether I would ever want to play the piano again. And then I observed how we got through the day.

At least in my neighborhood, we didn’t shoot hoops or play Scrabble. We didn’t play cards to pass the time, we didn’t watch TV, we didn’t shop, we most certainly did not go to the mall. The first organized activity that I saw in New York, that same day, was singing. People sang. People sang around fire houses, people sang “We Shall Overcome”. Lots of people sang America the Beautiful. The first organized public event that I remember was the Brahms Requiem, later that week, at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic. The first organized public expression of grief, our first communal response to that historic event, was a concert. That was the beginning of a sense that life might go on. The US Military secured the airspace, but recovery was led by the arts, and by music in particular, that very night.

From these two experiences, I have come to understand that music is not part of “arts and entertainment” as the newspaper section would have us believe. It’s not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time. Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can8 0t with our minds.

Some of you may know Samuel Barber’s heartwrenchingly beautiful piece Adagio for Strings. If you don’t know it by that name, then some of you may know it as the background music which accompanied the Oliver Stone movie Platoon, a film about the Vietnam War. If you know that piece of music either way, you know it has the ability to crack your heart open like a walnut; it can make you cry over sadness you didn’t know you had. Music can slip beneath our conscious reality to get at what’s really going on inside us the way a good therapist does.

I bet that you have never been to a wedding where there was absolutely no music. There might have been only a little music, there might have been some really bad music, but I bet you there was some music. And something very predictable happens at weddings—people get all pent up with all kinds of emotions, and then there’s some musical moment where the action of the wedding stops and someone sings or plays the flute or something. And even if the music is lame, even if the quality isn’t good, predictably 30 or 40 percent of the people who are going to cry at a wedding cry a couple of moments after the music starts. Why? The Greeks. Music allows us to move around those big invisible pieces of ourselves and rearrange our insides so that we can express what we feel even when we can’t talk about it. Can you imagine watching Indiana Jones or Superman or Star Wars with the dialogue but no music? What is it about the music swelling up at just the right moment in ET so that all the softies in the audience start crying at exactly the same moment? I guarantee you if you showed the movie with the music stripped out, it wouldn’t happen that way. The Greeks: Music is the understanding of the relationship between invisible internal objects.

I’ll give you one more example, the story of the most important concert of my life. I must tell you I have played a little less than a thousand concerts in my life so far. I have played in places that I thought were important. I like playing in Carnegie Hall; I enjoyed playing in Paris; it made me very happy to please the critics in St. Petersburg. I have played for people I thought were important; music critics of major newspapers, foreign heads of state. The most important concert of my entire life took place in a nursing home in Fargo, ND, about 4 years ago.

I was playing with a very dear friend of mine who is a violinist. We began, as we often do, with Aaron Copland’s Sonata, which was written during World War II and dedicated to a young friend of Copland’s, a young pilot who was shot down during the war. Now we often talk to our audiences about the pieces we are going to play rather than providing them with written program notes. But in this case, because we began the concert with this piece, we decided to talk about the piece later in the program and to just come out and play the music without explanation.

Midway through the piece, an elderly man seated in a wheelchair near the front of the concert hall began to weep. This man, whom I later met, was clearly a soldier—even in his 70’s, it was clear from his buzz-cut hair, square jaw and general demeanor that he had spent a good deal of his life in the military. I thought it a little bit odd that someone would be moved to tears by that particular movement of that particular piece, but it wasn’t the first time I’ve heard crying in a concert and we went on with the concert and finished the piece.

When we came out to play the next piece on the program, we decided to talk about both the first and second pieces, and we described the circumstances in which the Copland was written and mentioned its dedication to a downed pilot. The man in the front of the audience became so disturbed that he had to leave the auditorium. I honestly figured that we would not see him again, but he did come backstage afterwards, tears and all, to explain himself.

What he told us was this: “During World War II, I was a pilot, and I was in an aerial combat situation where one of my team’s planes was hit. I watched my friend bail out, and watched his parachute open, but the Japanese planes which had engaged us returned and machine gunned across the parachute chords so as to separate the parachute from the pilot, and I watched my friend drop away into the ocean, realizing that he was lost. I have not thought about this for many years, but during that first piece of music you played, this memory returned to me so vividly that it was as though I was reliving it. I didn’t understand why this was happening, why now, but then when you came out to explain that this piece of music was written to commemorate a lost pilot, it was a little more than I could handle. How does the music do that? How did it find those feelings and those memories in me?”
Remember the Greeks: music is the study of invisible relationships between internal objects. This concert in Fargo was the most important work I have ever done. For me to play for this old soldier and help him connect, somehow, with Aaron Copland, and to connect their memories of their lost friends, to help him remember and mourn his friend, this is my work. This is why music matters.

What follows is part of the talk I will give to this year’s freshman class when I welcome them a few days from now. The responsibility I will charge your sons and daughters with is this:

“If we were a medical school, and you were here as a med student practicing appendectomies, you’d take your work very seriously because you would imagine that some night at two AM someone is going to waltz into your emergency room and you’re going to have to save their life. Well, my friends, someday at 8 PM someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft.

You’re not here to become an entertainer, and you don’t have to sell yourself. The truth is you don’t have anything to sell; being a musician isn’t about dispensing a product, like selling used Chevies. I’m not an entertainer; I’m a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You’re here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we can come into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well.

Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I expect you not only to master music; I expect you to save the planet. If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don’t expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation. I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to have brought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that’s what we do. As in the concentration camp and the evening of 9/11, the artists are the ones who might be able to help us with our internal, invisible lives.”