September 2012 - Anne Feeney's Fellow Travelers' Advisory - VOLUME EIGHT, Number 3

Live from the great Canadian Southwest!

This is the September 2012 episode of Anne Feeney's Fellow Travelers' Advisory.

I hope you'll leave comments from time to time... especially if you've got breaking news that you think my 8200 subscribers would enjoy.

  

You can buy or download my music (and I hope you will!) check out http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid or call 1-800-BUY-MY-CD

IMMEDIATE DESTINATIONS

Victoria, BC

Burnaby, BC

Victoria, BC

Vancouver, BC

Bellingham, WA

Terre Haute, IN

Cleveland, OH

Pittsburgh, PA

Complete details on the shows are continuously updating at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html

THE TOUR IN FULL SWING

I had a great show in Seattle.  Bob Barnes ran sound for me with a broken arm incurred while wresting a big horn sheep on a hike in, I think, California somewhere.  I saw a photo of the sheep - big fella.

Last night I did a show in Sidney, BC for Tark Hamilton and the Deep Cove Folk Song Society.  It was a wonderful evening.  And tonight I'm off to James Bay to do a house concert for my pal Ken Orchard.  Please check the schedule http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html

Looks like I stumbled right into the middle of a people's uprising here at the University of Victoria on beautiful Vancouver Island!  The provincial government engaged the services of some very expensive bean counters, and now they have plans to corporatize the University's employment practices, becoming lean and very mean and potentially contracting out hundreds of jobs.  The remaining workers will be offered a much lousier contract.  At this writing, two of the campus unions have been without a contract for over two years. A MAJOR fightback is in process and I'm thrilled to be in the thick of it.  

I hope I get to see lots of my BC friends on this tour, and I'm so looking forward to my Bellingham show too. 

THANK YOU!

So many thanks to the generous friends who've been able to send me some dough.  It's so humiliating to have to ask for cash from my friends after a lifetime of hard work.  You have certainly taken the sting out of it with your wonderfully kind notes.  If you meant to do it, but haven't gotten around to it yet, you can send a check to:

Anne Feeney

2240 Milligan Avenue

Pittsburgh,  PA  15218

or use the Paypal "donate" button on my website (http://annefeeney.com) or on my blog ( http://fellow-travelers-advisory.blogspot.com )

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Congratulations Sara and David!  I just learned that Julie's daughter Sara is expecting a baby in March! How exciting!  Levi will have a little brother or sister who's only 19 months younger ... Sara and David will be VERY busy.

And this little cutie is Willow - newly arrived daughter to my pal Joey Onley and his partner Leah.  I hope to get to visit her in Barkerville, BC on this trip!

I just learned that my friend David Kurtzman of Melrose, FL died on June 2nd.  I believe he was a very young 77.  I'll miss him.  He graduated from Harvard with a Philosophy degree and briefly taught at the University of Pittsburgh, where I met him.

I'm so excited that Julie's son Jonas is coming to the US for a visit this fall!

Amy and Mike's plans are progressing nicely... you can follow their romance at http://amysueandmiketietheknot.com

Dan and Monique had a huge power surge at their house in Zimbabwe which took out their satellite internet AND their Vonage phone.  The only way I can talk to them now is by calling Dan's Zimbabwean cell phone... a fairly expensive option.  So I haven't seen Sebastian in over a week :-0 

Happy September Birthdays to my daughter Amy, September 1st; Karen Brandow, Sept 2nd; new mom Christina Mumphrey Schafer, Sept 3rd; Mary O'Connor Grefenstette, Sept 11th; Kris Deelane, Sept 12th; Danny Donnelly, September 13th;

 Wonderful folksinger Faith Petric, pictured on the left, is 97 years old this year, and going strong, despite recently breaking a hip -  send her a card at :

Faith Petric

885 Clayton

San Francisco, CA 94117

My cousin Mardy Weber McCahill's birthday is September 21st; Kay McCahill Mumphrey is September 25th, and Mary O'Connor Grefenstette's grandson Charlie Warren is six years old today!  

Happy birthday one and all!

VOTER SUPPRESSION

If you live in PA, go to http://signon.org/sign/statewide-just-say-no?source=fb.ads.ck.so.vid.pa.sw.qlm2.b.n.o1 and sign the petition to stop enforcement of Pennsylvania's ridiculous new voter ID law.

CHICAGO TEACHERS

Sounds like a tentative agreement has been reached... I hope it's a good one!  I think people were fired up enough to hold out for some real improvements to our educational system.  

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/15/us-usa-chicago-schools-idUSBRE88E0IV20120915

SAVE THE POSTAL SERVICE!

 

Show your support for our embattled postal workers!

These shirts are available from the National Association of Letter Carriers in sizers M-XXXL for $12 ... http://www.nalc.org/nalc/store/store.html

send your name,  address for shipping,  the size and quantity that you want and a check for $12 each (includes postage and handling!) to

Secretary-Treasurer, NALC

National Association of Letter Carriers, Supply Dept. 

100 Indiana Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20001-2144

Telephone: (202) 393-4695

http://nalc.org

ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LOCKED OUT!

http://www.atlsymphonymusicians.com/1/post/2012/09/atl-symphony-musicians-to-perform-two-benefit-concerts-920-and-921.html?

This is the message I sent to these talented musicians:

Stay strong sisters and brothers! When they go after you for cuts and concessions, they are admitting their own incompetence - why can't they raise the money to fund a first-rate orchestra? The richest 10% have never been better off. The money is out there. If they don't know how to go get it, the board should fire the management and replace them with people who can do the job.

YOU are the orchestra! THEY are the parasites who make a more-than-ample salary from YOUR talent.

Well, that's it for now...

See you next month...

Love

Anne

tourdates at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html

Anne Feeney

http://annefeeney.com

http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid - Buy CDs!

412-877-6480 (cell)

"Anne Feeney is the greatest labor singer in North America." -- Utah Phillips

MAY 2011 - Anne Feeney's Fellow Travelers' Advisory - VOLUME SEVEN, #2

IMMEDIATE DESTINATIONS:


New York City
Newmarket, TN
Kerrville Folk Festival
Chicago, IL

You can buy my CDs at http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid
You can get the latest health updates on my cancer battle at http://caringbridge.org/visit/annefeeney
You can help me through this prolonged stretch of involuntary unemployment by click on the "Donate" button to the right of this message, or by sending a check to:

Anne Feeney
2240 Milligan Ave
Pittsburgh,  PA  15218

IN THIS ISSUE:
Rock, Paper, Scissors .... 18-Wheeler
Medical Stuff
California Visit
Please Sign this Petition to Support Academic Freedom and Labor Education!
Family News/Birthdays
Fabulous Benefit Concert


 Hi all!

It's not much of a May newsletter if I don't get it out today, so it'll be short and sweet.  Spring is finally here, and my wisteria is in fragrant bloom!  I begin my seventh year of monthly newsletters to you with this issue. Thanks for tuning in, and especially for writing back.

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS... 18-WHEELER

 As many of you know, it turns out that I broke my right wrist on April 8th when I totalled my sweet 2009 Chevy Malibu on the PA turnpike...  this is *not* the view you want through your windshield ...

All in all I did about $16,000 damage to my car.  The 18 wheeler I collided with caught something on my right front wheel and just about ripped off the front end of my car.  I bounced off him like a pinball and began spinning all over the turnpike... hitting the truck three or four more times before I was able to control the car and get it to the side of the road.  Needless to say, I had to get a new car.  Now I've got a 2008 Ford Taurus with 32,000 miles on it.  I love it. And I'm looking forward to driving it a lot this year... once my cast comes off.

MEDICAL STUFF

Turns out I was a little premature with the good news on my PET scan.  The brain MRI showed a 7mm tumor in the back of my head.  I have decided it's a weasel turd.  I had it zapped with a gamma gun a week ago, and we almost certainly got rid of it.  We'll repeat the brain MRI at the end of June and see what we see.

In the meantime, a consult with a new infectious disease specialist reveals that I may never have had the awful MAC infection that I've been treating with massive doses of antibiotics for the past nine months!!  A few days ago I had a CT-guided lung biopsy to see just what this is in the upper right lobe of my lung.  The results of the different tests and cultures will come in over the next few weeks.  I'll keep you posted.  But in the meantime, I'm off those awful antibiotics and my stomach is quickly returning to normal!  YES!

VISIT TO CALIFORNIA

The newspaper is gone, but the Tribune's clock lives on as an Oakland landmark....

I got a chance to go out and visit Chris Chandler (http://chrischandler.org) and his fiancee Jen Delyth in Oakland.  I got to see their wonderful new house, with a real bird of paradise blooming in their front yard!  I got to see two of my high school pals, Maureen Carney Barnato and Kay Magill - great fun.  We had dinner with dear pal Shelley Kessler, wonderful Seattle labor chorus singer and tradeswoman Aspen Swartz, and 95 year old folk treasure Faith Petric.  Another night ex-pat Pittsburgher Jimmy Kelly, who lives in Oakland now,  took me on a tour of Jack London Square.  And I got to hang out at the "Women Build California and the Nation" conference.

Another absolute highlight of the trip was getting to Vukani Mawethu's 25th anniversary at the new and greatly improved Freight and Salvage.  Vukani Mawethu is a singing ensemble that specializes in South African freedom songs.  They have raised thousands of dollars for HIV/AIDs relief for African children and many other worthwhile causes.  On their 25th anniversary they presented a lifetime achievement award to my oh-so-talented friend and companero, Jon Fromer.  I've recorded three of his songs, but this video features him singing a Malvina Reynolds song - "I Cannot Sleep" with Aileen Vance during the "Sing Out for Single Payer Roadshow" in 2009. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fQiOEYPutk)



Jon was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer.  He's got an uphill fight ahead of him, and I know he'd love to hear from you on his 65th birthday on May 11th..  Send him a card @

Jon Fromer
28 Morning Sun
Mill Valley, CA  94941

or email him at
mjfromer@gmail.com

He's a real true heart and class conscious warrior... a regular at the School of the Americas, a founder of the Bolshevik Cafe and the Freedom Song Network, an emmy award winning film producer, producer of the acclaimed "We Do the Work" series on KQED, member of AFTRA and the American Federation of Musicians. Send him some love...


PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!!

My friend Judy Ancel is a labor educator at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.  She is brilliant, tireless, fearless and a *great* teacher.  The scurrilous pseudo-journalist Andrew Breitbart has set his sights on Judy and her colleague Don Giljium. 

Breitbart is the slime who circulated the outrageously deceptive video that led to Congress de-funding ACORN before Breibart's treachery could be fully exposed.  Breitbart then turned his attention to USDA official Shirley Sherrod - nearly ruining her career before the NAACP and the Obama administration viewed his slanderous video and the actual speech from which Breitbart had cut and pasted his misleading and inflammatory garbage.

Now Breitbart thinks he can end the careers of these two dedicated labor educators, and ultimately end labor education itself.  This attack on academic freedom and labor education is unconscionable..

Sign the petition now!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/defend-labor-education/



Family News/ Birthdays

Being a Mom is one of the best decisions I ever made.  My kids are an endless source of joy to me.  If you're looking for something for your Mom (still) try this site - http://www.organicbouquet.com/

They have beautiful organic fair-trade flowers and you can even donate to your mom's favorite charity while you're buying them.  Here's the wreath that my daughter Amy sent me last year for Mother's Day... It's still gorgeous!

There are lots of cousins and dear friends that I hope are planning to come to my 60th birthday weeklong celebration at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland.  If you'd like details about the festivities - which run from June 25-July 2nd - please contact my daughter Amy Berlin - amysueberlin@yahoo.com


May Birthdays... Jim Tremmel - May 2nd, Kathleen Feeney - May 3rd, Antonito Blanco - May 3rd, Pete Seeger - May 3rd, Alex Bagwell - May 7th, Paul Eric Grefenstette - May 10th, Bill Deegan - May 10th, Jon Fromer - May 11th, Jeanne Jasperse -     May 11th, Eleanor Walden -     May 11th, Utah Phillips (presente!) -  May 15th, Kevin McCahill - May 15th, Tony Mumphrey - May 15th, Terry Donovan - May 23rd, Charlie King - May 27  

Manny Fried - RIP
My friend Manny Fried died in Buffalo on February 25th.  He and I met at the 1990 Great Labor Arts Exchange, when he came to receive the Joe Hill Award. He was born on March 1, 1913, and died just a few days short of his 98th birthday.  He led a very active life.  He and I stayed in regular touch and I frequently stayed with him when my travels took me through Buffalo.  He was a great actor.  The last time I hung out with him he was joking about the film role he had coming up.  Manny was to play a corpse in a casket in the film.  He said "It's a little too close to my next big role."   Here's a nice article about Manny from the Buffalo arts newspaper.  http://blogs.artvoice.com/avdaily/2011/02/25/manny-fried-finally-retires/ 

The fantastic benefit concert that's being organized for me in NYC is almost sold out! (no wonder, such a lineup!!)  Folks are coming in from Wisconsin, Florida, Seattle, Maryland, DC, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas...  It'll be a great reunion.  If you want to try your luck at getting a ticket visit my website - http://annefeeney.com or call Bev Grant 718-788-3741.

From there, I'm headed to a retreat for members of my union at the legendary Highlander Center in Newmarket, TN.  I'll also spend a week under the Texas stars visiting friends at the Kerrville Folk Festival.  I'll be there from 25th of May until June 1st.  From there I'm going on to the Regina Polk Institute for Union Women.  It's a great gathering of women from all over IL and the midwest.  This year I'll be a registered participant instead of the "minister of culture."  It's my amazing friend Helena Worthen's last year organizing this conference, and I really wanted to be there... AND Judy Ancel is on the faculty!! double bonus!

That's it for May... Happy Springtime to you!

May 2010 - Anne Feeney's Fellow Travelers' Advisory - VOLUME SIX - #2

IMMEDIATE DESTINATIONS:


Lexington, KY
Dayton, OH
Columbus, OH
Stonybrook, NY
Kerrville, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
Detroit, MI
Lake of the Ozarks, MO

See all the details below. Details continuously update at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html

You can get this newsletter delivered monthly to your email inbox by signing up at http://annefeeney.com/newsletter.html

You can buy my cds at http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid
Please forward this news on to any and all of your friends and relations!

IN THIS ISSUE:

I'M ON BILL MOYERS!!
MAY WITH DAN BERN!
IRELAND 2010
SEE YOU IN DETROIT
FAMILY NEWS AND BIRTHDAYS

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Mayday, Mayday - That's the real workers' day
Labor's history says, "Don't give your day away!"
It's time that the working class says,
"Stick Labor Day up your asses."
Oh, ain't it great to celebrate on the glorious First of May!

I hope you found some appropriate way to celebrate International Workers' Day. Evan Greer and I were in Philadelphia with Roy Zimmerman for a wonderful Mayday celebration sponsored by Crossroads Music. It was great to see Alexis Buss and John Bekken and their gorgeous daughter Sophia (or was it Sonia? two very popular names these days, I've noticed...), and Tom Herman and Jo Miller, and Marilyn Goldsmith and John Benedict among many many others...

Congratulations to the Temple Nurses for their recent strike victory!!

As I write this I learn from Ann Suellentrop that "more than 15,000 folks are marching, including 11 of us from Kansas City, here in New York City to take part in the protest march against nuclear weapons as the NPT conference begins at the UN! People here from all over the world! Peace out!"

There are a whole lot more of us than they think.

Very soon, we should have some fabulous YouTube videos from that concert, as well as the Eighth Step concert the night before in Schenectady.

The "Generations of Resistance" tour was a smashing success. I loved every minute with Evan Greer. And the hospitality on this tour was over the top! Many thanks to all our hosts and presenters.

Much love
Anne
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I'M ON BILL MOYERS!!! (VICARIOUSLY)

Yes, yes, it's true. On the last edition of Bill Moyers' Journal on PBS, he did a segment on Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement as a great example of real populism, and one of the members, John Blasingame, starts talking about their fighting spirit, and that there are words to a song “that get right to the heart of this.” Next thing you know, he’s singing a verse of “Have You Been To Jail For Justice!” Cool beans.
from the transcript:
John Blasingame: You can fight. In fact, you've got a duty to fight. There's some words to a song that get right to the heart of this.

(singing) You law abiding citizens, listen to this song. Laws were made by people and people can be wrong. Once unions were against the law, but slavery was fine. Women were denied the vote and children worked the mines. The more you study history, the less you can deny it. A rotten law stays on the books 'til folks with guts defy it.

You can buy or download "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/annefeeney2

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MAY WITH DAN BERN!

I'm very excited to be doing a mini-tour in support of my enormously talented companero Dan Bern http://www.danbern.com/ . We'll be in Lexington, Dayton and Columbus. Details appear below and at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html
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IRELAND 2010

I still have 6 seats available on the August 10-19th trip to Clare, Kerry and Galway. I have 12 seats left on the August 22-31st trip to Dublin, Belfast & Derry. This may be the last year that I am able to offer these trips, so if you want to see Ireland with me, I hope to hear from you soon. These trips are sooooooooooooooooo much fun! Drop me a line at anne@annefeeney.com or visit http://www.annefeeney.com/Pages/enchantedwaytours.html for more information. We have a lively and wonderful group of folks so far for each tour. Please think about joining us.

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SEE YOU IN DETROIT!!!

Three fantastic events are occurring in Detroit in June - The Great Labor Arts Exchange, the Conference on Creative Organizing, and the US Social Forum. Information about all three appears at the bottom of this message. I'll be there for all three. Hope to see you there.

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FAMILY NEWS & BIRTHDAYS

Happy Birthday today, May 3rd, to Pete Seeger, Kathleen Feeney and Antonito Blanco. Belated birthday greetings to Jim Tremmel (May 2nd).  Alex Bagwell - May 7th, Paul Eric Grefenstette and Bill Deegan  -May 10th, Eleanor Walden and Jon Fromer - May 11th, Tony Mumphrey and Kevin McCahill - May 15th, and Terry Donovan - May 23rd.

Faith Petric is home from the hospital and doing remarkably well in her recovery from her broken hip. Thanks to all of you who sent cards!

I'll be thinking of Joanna Robinson this month. Her beloved Utah Phillips would have been 75 on May 15th if he were still with us. Utah died on May 24th of 2008.

Happy Mothers' Day to all you moms! Special Mothers' Day wishes to mom-to-be Monique Murad. We found out recently that Dan and Monique will be having a son! Monique is in Washington, DC as I write this, and I'm going down there to visit her on Thursday.

I'm so looking forward to seeing my daughter Amy when I get to Kerrville this year!

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THE TOUR!

Friday, May 14th, 2010 8:00 PM
Anne Feeney opens for Dan Bern!
Natasha's Cafe
112 Esplanade
Lexington, KY
http://www.natashascafe.com/


Saturday, May 15th, 2010 9:30 PM
Anne Feeney opens for Dan Bern!
Canal Street Tavern
308 E 1st
Dayton, OH 45402
937-228-2450
http://canalstreettavern.com/


Sunday, May 16th, 2010 6:00 PM
Anne Feeney opens for Dan Bern
Rumba Cafe
2507 Summit St
Columbus, OH
614-268-1841
http://www.columbusrumbacafe.com/


May 23rd 4PM
FRIENDSHIP HOUSE CONCERTS PRESENT ROY ZIMMERMAN!!
Pittsburgh, PA
Check out Roy at http://www.royzimmerman.com
And "Summer of Loving" at http://www.youtube.com/royzimmerman
Seating is limited. For information and/or an invitation, call or email:
LLouise & Jim Altes
412.361.6051
friendshiphouseconcerts@gmail.com
Suggested donation: $10.00. All proceeds go to the performers.

June 3rd-6th
Working Class Studies Conference
SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook , NY
631-632-7536
http://www.stonybrook.edu/workingclass/conference/2010/index.shtml
Michael Zweig is the contact.

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 8:00 PM
Anne Feeney at the Threadgill Memorial Theater
Kerrville Folk Festival
5600 Medina Highway
Kerrville, TX
http://kerrville-music.com/
Come see me perform at my favorite festival!!


Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 6:30 PM
Labor and Friends Banquet
The Center
4325 N.W. 50th St.
Oklahoma City, OK
Price: $65
for more info contact lljamesco @sbcglobal.net - Sponsored by the Central OK Labor Federation - Turn Around Oklahoma 2010!!!


June 18th-21st
Great Labor Arts Exchange
AFSCME Council 25
600 W Lafayette Blvd
Detroit, MI 48226
http://laborheritage.org/

June 22nd-26th
US Social Forum
Detroit , MI
877-515-USSF
http://www.ussf2010.org/


Anne Feeney
http://annefeeney.com/
http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid  - Buy CDs!
412-877-6480 (cell)

"Anne Feeney is the greatest labor singer in North America." -- Utah Phillips