Chris Chandler and Anne Feeney FLYING POETRY CIRCUS
Chris Chandler is a fire breathing phenomenon, the jester prince supreme. Disturbing, hilarious, and always provocative. I have known some gypsies in my time, but few have hit the highways and especially the byways like this snake oil hipster. His current foil and partner in anti-corporate crime is the ever political Anne Feeney, touted even by Peter Yarrow and Utah Phillips as the most important labor singer in America.
Anne Feeney Review Have You Been To Jail For Justice?
SongRamp About chris chandler & anne feeney
Two distinguished forces have joined to form one tremendous act.
Chris Chandler, a traveling snake oil salesman and wandering troubadour from Stone Mountain, GA has rambled the thin highways of fat America to light in Pittsburgh, PA and has teamed up with the unrepentant rabble rouser for the Labor Movement Anne Feeney. Her guitar stylings - steeped in tradition - dovetail with the chaos of stories, poems and barbs.
Saturday, May 24, 2003
Friday, May 23, 2003
Sabots - toss your shoes into the machine works * sabotage: During the Industrial Revolution, machines replaced workers at an alarming rate throughout Europe, and the once stable economy of Guild and craft shop members who had performed manual labor for generations found their very welfare threatened. To protest machine replacement of workers, the workers would toss their shoes into the machine works to make them stop - sabotage.
Anne Feeney, the 'Union Maid' shows this principal at work in a poster with a wrench tossed into the gears. And, of course, she sings Joe Hill's songs . . .
Anne Feeney, the 'Union Maid' shows this principal at work in a poster with a wrench tossed into the gears. And, of course, she sings Joe Hill's songs . . .
Voices At Work Anne Feeney & Chris Chandler In Concert
We have confirmed that we will have Anne Feeney, unionmaid, hellraiser, and the artist that sings "War On The Workers", and Chris Chandler in Houston for a concert on Sunday, June 8th, 2003 from 2pm until 4pm. Tickets will be $10 per adult.
We have confirmed that we will have Anne Feeney, unionmaid, hellraiser, and the artist that sings "War On The Workers", and Chris Chandler in Houston for a concert on Sunday, June 8th, 2003 from 2pm until 4pm. Tickets will be $10 per adult.
The Militant - May 12, 2003 -- Meat packers on strike at Tyson spread their message through ‘Truth Squads’ Speakers at the rally included a representative of the United Auto Workers in Janesville, Wisconsin--a local in GM assembly and parts plants that has been active in building solidarity with the strike. Two representatives of a group of meat packers from Omaha also spoke, along with officials of the Green and Democratic parties. Participants enjoyed songs by Anne Feeney, and a hot dog meal provided by the organizers.
Sunday, May 18, 2003
Saturday, May 17, 2003
Sunday, May 04, 2003
T h e M u s e a n d W h i r l e d R e t o r t
May 2003
that would be Volume IV issue viii
Milwaukee, WI
April 30, 2003
Hey Everybody,
It's that time of the month again! Happy Earth Day and Happy Mayday! Anne and I have been up here in the cheesehead state for an Earth Day to May Day festival ˆ doing things like performing for the striking Tyson workers in Jefferson. But I gotta make this brief because we gots to start counting mile markers, cows, and Tyson Chicken trucks lying like roadkill in truck-stop holding lots as we head to the Big Apple for May Day.
I know, I know ˆ many of you look to this newsletter for some sort of counterpoint to the endless inundation from Fox news - but not this month. I am sorry.
I know, I know ˆ there is a whole planet spinning out of round on its axis of evil.
SARS has not yet collateralled as many innocent civilians as the American Armed Forces.
The US Marines (with a little help from Iraqi children who happened to have mouths full of Skittles® at the time) pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein and then erected in its place a statue of Bob's Big Boy.
Dick Cheney now has a stone tablet copy of The Babylonian Beacon- Journal (first edition ˆ printed in cuneiform) sitting on his coffee table beneath the latest issues of Guns and Ammo, Men's Health, and the swimsuit edition of National Geographic.
BTW: I picture Dick Cheney digging so far into his secret bunker that he actually goes all the way through the earth and runs into Osama Bin Laden (remember him?) digging from the other end.
But before I get to the point of this month's missive ˆ I have to say: it makes me snicker when ˆ after Anne and I finish a set -- someone comes up and says, "Don't you think you should give some equal time in your set?"
Equal time? There is not enough time in the evening for us to do a set long enough to approach equal time. We could do the whole festival, the whole week - we could play the rest of the year ˆ non-stop ˆ hell we could play longer than an episode of Entertainment Tonight and time would not be equal.
If you want "equal time" flip on the TV. Turn on AM radio. Turn on FM Radio! Turn on Cable Radio! Read the "liberal press." Walk into a bar. Open a window. Read a bumper sticker, a T-Shirt, a ball cap, a dixie cup. Eavesdrop on a conversation at the Starvin' Marvin. There is your equal time ˆ yea that's it - equal time. As equal as the median income of those getting a tax break and those who are not. As equal as the Yankees and the Expos ˆ as equal as the Conquistadores and the Incas, Lee and Grant after the fall of Richmond, the Iraqi Army and the US Marines... as balanced as the budget... (I do want to interject here that the technological difference between the Iraqi army and the US was greater than that between the Spanish and the Incas.)
Equal Time.
So, with that in mind - this month I only want to tell you about this brand new CD. I know I know, I mentioned we were going to do it ˆ but we did. It is at the manufacturer right now!
So, Chandler, what's it called? Oh, I thought you would never ask:
"Live from the Wholly Stolen Empire."
It was recorded at a number of choice shows this year including Henfling's in Santa Cruz, The Cherry Tree in Philadelphia, The Norway House in Victoria and Reed College in Portland, OR.
Please understand ˆ I am only telling you about this because so many of you have been asking, "How do I get a copy of that one with the bit about the corporations that used to operate Ronald Reagan like a marionette now having their hand stuck so far up the tight rectal sphincter of George W Bush that the are now able to operate this guy like a hand puppet
"or the bit about how, from the space shuttle, Florida looks like a giant limp tallywhacker hanging flaccid from the beast now known as the United States ˆ yet, from that drooping Johnson ˆ mankind ejaculates into the cosmos ˆ shooting the seeds of the fountain of youth to swim the heavens in search of eternal creation...
"Or the one about ˆ how nothing makes me anymore fulfilled ˆ than I was ˆ when I received that brightly colored package ˆ with the picture of the Sea Monkeys waving to me as they swam by ˆ and I ripped open that package ˆ and emptied its contents into a large gold-fish bowl and watched breathlessly ˆ as ˆ as two pathetic brine- shrimp larvae floated ˆ in a most un-seamonkey-like descent to the bottom of that bowl!?"
Yes, folks it is all here. In one shrink-wrapped package.
BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE! If you order now-now-now (add echo) you will get a (slightly used) set of Ginsu Knives and an "Inside the Egg" Egg Scrambler®. (also slightly used. hey ˆ I fell for it once ˆ and ya gotta get rid of that stuff somehow.)
OK, not really. But there really is more ˆ MUCH MORE.
Anne has finally put together a CD of all of her Union Classics such as: Union Maid, and Solidarity Forever as well as some of her own inspired compositions -- War on the Workers, What Ever Happened to the Eight Hour Day? & 19 (yes, 19!) others...
So ˆ you ask How can I get a copy? And as you ask ˆ for a brief moment -- I would think, "What kind of swoosh-sticka® wearing capitalist do you take me for?"
Then I would take a big sip of my Latte Grande®, I crease the brim of my New Orleans Saints® ball cap (made in Macao but bought in a thrift store ˆ owned by GAP® ˆ but that is a different story) I take a drag off my Marlboro Medium® ˆ I realize THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS EQUAL TIME and then I tell you:
go to: http://www.cdstreet.com/cgi-bin/artisthome_db.cgi?1238384 and use a creditcard.
or (if you're like me) and do not have a credit card you can send $15 (+ $1 S&H) to Anne Feeney (she is the one responsible enough to have a checking account) 7206 Michigan Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15218 (Pennsylvania Residents add another $1.05 for sales tax)
There you have it. Till the long haul ends ˆ you will find Anne and me out on the road ˆ here's hoping we talk in person.
Everything,
chris chandler
*****
Kerrville is coming! Need I say more? We are Booked Booked Booked on May 29!
*****
Speaking of Kerrville ˆ Anne and I would like to express our deep sadness in the passing of Jim Ross. He was an anchor that stabilized camp CALM through the storm of songs that is Kerrville. His passing makes me acutely aware of how much harder we will all have to work to just keep pace in a world without Jim Ross. He was a friend of fifteen years, a music lover and a veteran. Though we often disagreed politically he taught me to disagree with grace. I will miss him ˆ and his insightful comments to this newsletter.
*****
We could sure use some help on both the trip down to Kerrville as well as the trip back up. Please see our tour dates below.
*****
Praise HA! A documentary about laughter that I have worked on (and off) for several years with my good friend Wendy Corn will be making its debut in NYC this weekend! Our screening will be taking place on Sunday, May 4, 2003 in New York City at the SCREENING ROOM, 54 Varick @ Canal at HIGH NOON (please try to shake your hangover and arrive by 11:30am) Followed by Mimosas and Bloody Marys at the cash bar. MAY FOURTH IS WORLD LAUGHTER DAY! check out: www.pythonaquarius.com/praiseha1.html
*****
This summer is starting to fill out nicely ˆ but we could sure use some help here and there. Please see tour dates ˆ and if you are on the west coast and have some ideas for July ˆ Zap us!
******
Anne's smoking update... not since November! That is over 5 months. She is like the energizer bunny ˆ only I feel like the energizer bunny's drum.
******
Past Whirled Retorts: http://www.balladtree.com/ or: http://www.antifolkonline.com/MuseAndWhirledRetort2003.html FINALLY!
See you in the road.
Anne Feeney
unionmaid@earthlink.net
www.annefeeney.com
7206 Michigan Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
412.241.SONG
May 2003
that would be Volume IV issue viii
Milwaukee, WI
April 30, 2003
Hey Everybody,
It's that time of the month again! Happy Earth Day and Happy Mayday! Anne and I have been up here in the cheesehead state for an Earth Day to May Day festival ˆ doing things like performing for the striking Tyson workers in Jefferson. But I gotta make this brief because we gots to start counting mile markers, cows, and Tyson Chicken trucks lying like roadkill in truck-stop holding lots as we head to the Big Apple for May Day.
I know, I know ˆ many of you look to this newsletter for some sort of counterpoint to the endless inundation from Fox news - but not this month. I am sorry.
I know, I know ˆ there is a whole planet spinning out of round on its axis of evil.
SARS has not yet collateralled as many innocent civilians as the American Armed Forces.
The US Marines (with a little help from Iraqi children who happened to have mouths full of Skittles® at the time) pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein and then erected in its place a statue of Bob's Big Boy.
Dick Cheney now has a stone tablet copy of The Babylonian Beacon- Journal (first edition ˆ printed in cuneiform) sitting on his coffee table beneath the latest issues of Guns and Ammo, Men's Health, and the swimsuit edition of National Geographic.
BTW: I picture Dick Cheney digging so far into his secret bunker that he actually goes all the way through the earth and runs into Osama Bin Laden (remember him?) digging from the other end.
But before I get to the point of this month's missive ˆ I have to say: it makes me snicker when ˆ after Anne and I finish a set -- someone comes up and says, "Don't you think you should give some equal time in your set?"
Equal time? There is not enough time in the evening for us to do a set long enough to approach equal time. We could do the whole festival, the whole week - we could play the rest of the year ˆ non-stop ˆ hell we could play longer than an episode of Entertainment Tonight and time would not be equal.
If you want "equal time" flip on the TV. Turn on AM radio. Turn on FM Radio! Turn on Cable Radio! Read the "liberal press." Walk into a bar. Open a window. Read a bumper sticker, a T-Shirt, a ball cap, a dixie cup. Eavesdrop on a conversation at the Starvin' Marvin. There is your equal time ˆ yea that's it - equal time. As equal as the median income of those getting a tax break and those who are not. As equal as the Yankees and the Expos ˆ as equal as the Conquistadores and the Incas, Lee and Grant after the fall of Richmond, the Iraqi Army and the US Marines... as balanced as the budget... (I do want to interject here that the technological difference between the Iraqi army and the US was greater than that between the Spanish and the Incas.)
Equal Time.
So, with that in mind - this month I only want to tell you about this brand new CD. I know I know, I mentioned we were going to do it ˆ but we did. It is at the manufacturer right now!
So, Chandler, what's it called? Oh, I thought you would never ask:
"Live from the Wholly Stolen Empire."
It was recorded at a number of choice shows this year including Henfling's in Santa Cruz, The Cherry Tree in Philadelphia, The Norway House in Victoria and Reed College in Portland, OR.
Please understand ˆ I am only telling you about this because so many of you have been asking, "How do I get a copy of that one with the bit about the corporations that used to operate Ronald Reagan like a marionette now having their hand stuck so far up the tight rectal sphincter of George W Bush that the are now able to operate this guy like a hand puppet
"or the bit about how, from the space shuttle, Florida looks like a giant limp tallywhacker hanging flaccid from the beast now known as the United States ˆ yet, from that drooping Johnson ˆ mankind ejaculates into the cosmos ˆ shooting the seeds of the fountain of youth to swim the heavens in search of eternal creation...
"Or the one about ˆ how nothing makes me anymore fulfilled ˆ than I was ˆ when I received that brightly colored package ˆ with the picture of the Sea Monkeys waving to me as they swam by ˆ and I ripped open that package ˆ and emptied its contents into a large gold-fish bowl and watched breathlessly ˆ as ˆ as two pathetic brine- shrimp larvae floated ˆ in a most un-seamonkey-like descent to the bottom of that bowl!?"
Yes, folks it is all here. In one shrink-wrapped package.
BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE! If you order now-now-now (add echo) you will get a (slightly used) set of Ginsu Knives and an "Inside the Egg" Egg Scrambler®. (also slightly used. hey ˆ I fell for it once ˆ and ya gotta get rid of that stuff somehow.)
OK, not really. But there really is more ˆ MUCH MORE.
Anne has finally put together a CD of all of her Union Classics such as: Union Maid, and Solidarity Forever as well as some of her own inspired compositions -- War on the Workers, What Ever Happened to the Eight Hour Day? & 19 (yes, 19!) others...
So ˆ you ask
Then I would take a big sip of my Latte Grande®, I crease the brim of my New Orleans Saints® ball cap (made in Macao but bought in a thrift store ˆ owned by GAP® ˆ but that is a different story) I take a drag off my Marlboro Medium® ˆ I realize THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS EQUAL TIME and then I tell you:
go to: http://www.cdstreet.com/cgi-bin/artisthome_db.cgi?1238384 and use a creditcard.
or (if you're like me) and do not have a credit card you can send $15 (+ $1 S&H) to Anne Feeney (she is the one responsible enough to have a checking account) 7206 Michigan Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15218 (Pennsylvania Residents add another $1.05 for sales tax)
There you have it. Till the long haul ends ˆ you will find Anne and me out on the road ˆ here's hoping we talk in person.
Everything,
chris chandler
*****
Kerrville is coming! Need I say more? We are Booked Booked Booked on May 29!
*****
Speaking of Kerrville ˆ Anne and I would like to express our deep sadness in the passing of Jim Ross. He was an anchor that stabilized camp CALM through the storm of songs that is Kerrville. His passing makes me acutely aware of how much harder we will all have to work to just keep pace in a world without Jim Ross. He was a friend of fifteen years, a music lover and a veteran. Though we often disagreed politically he taught me to disagree with grace. I will miss him ˆ and his insightful comments to this newsletter.
*****
We could sure use some help on both the trip down to Kerrville as well as the trip back up. Please see our tour dates below.
*****
Praise HA! A documentary about laughter that I have worked on (and off) for several years with my good friend Wendy Corn will be making its debut in NYC this weekend! Our screening will be taking place on Sunday, May 4, 2003 in New York City at the SCREENING ROOM, 54 Varick @ Canal at HIGH NOON (please try to shake your hangover and arrive by 11:30am) Followed by Mimosas and Bloody Marys at the cash bar. MAY FOURTH IS WORLD LAUGHTER DAY! check out: www.pythonaquarius.com/praiseha1.html
*****
This summer is starting to fill out nicely ˆ but we could sure use some help here and there. Please see tour dates ˆ and if you are on the west coast and have some ideas for July ˆ Zap us!
******
Anne's smoking update... not since November! That is over 5 months. She is like the energizer bunny ˆ only I feel like the energizer bunny's drum.
******
Past Whirled Retorts: http://www.balladtree.com/ or: http://www.antifolkonline.com/MuseAndWhirledRetort2003.html FINALLY!
See you in the road.
Anne Feeney
unionmaid@earthlink.net
www.annefeeney.com
7206 Michigan Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
412.241.SONG
Friday, April 18, 2003
18 April 2003
friday in pittsburgh
hi folks
so many people have written to tell me how immobilized and depressed they've felt since this war began. while i continue to write, fax, petition, sing and pray for peace i've found i need to do more to feel okay these days. i've started walking ... a *lot* ... trying to do 5 miles a day ...partly to get into better shape, but mostly to have some time to reflect and also to take in the splendor of the planet. the glories of spring are everywhere these days ... the crocuses, daffodils, tulips, lilacs, dogwoods, azaleas ... the trees in bloom ... enough to take your breath away, and constant reminders that life renews.
chris and i have been busy piling on the hours mastering and editing and getting the artwork ready for our new CDs. i've got all the very best labor songs i've ever recorded onto one 23 song CD called "Union Maid" ... the cover features the wonderful labor history mural of pittsburgh that my husband and i did for SEIU with students at Schenley High School ... my UPIU brother Randy McSorley dropped everything he was in the middle of to do the design (thanks!) ... it's got all the hits from 'united we bargain, divided we beg' onto CD for the first time -- 'are you now or have you ever been?', 'The US Steal Song', 'Schooldays End', "Solidarity Forever', "Which Side Are You On?" "Fannie Sellins" "Bread and Roses" "Are My Hands Clean?""Your Nursing Heart" "Punch It In" ... and then, from "Look to the Left" - "Scabs", "National Health Care Now!", "We Do the Work", "We Just Come to Work Here" ... from "Heartland" we picked "Union Maid", "After School", "the Sick Note" "Praise Boss" and "The Victim Gets the Blame" ...I went back to my 1987 cassette "If I Can't Dance It's Not My Revolution" to get "Do-Re-Mi" and "I'm Gonna Be an Engineer" and then, for good measure, I added "Whatever Happened to the Eight Hour Day?" and "War on the Workers" from "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" It's almost 78 minutes of fabulous labor music!
It will be ready in time for Mayday, and I could really use some pre-orders, too. To reserve a copy, send a check for $15.99 (PA Residents add $1.05 Sales Tax) to Anne Feeney - 7206 Michigan Avenue - Pittsburgh, PA 15218
And before the Kerrville Folk Festival begins Chris and I will have 1000 copies of "LIVE FROM THE WHOLLY STOLEN EMPIRE" in our hands. Chris has outdone himself on the artwork this time, and he and i both agree it's a *wonderful* recording... Finally on one CD -- Carnivals #3, I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine, FL, 21st Century Skid Row Man, Cracker Jack Cure, Whoop, Top Banana, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Abyss, Chiapas, Freedom Is... and Martin Luther, Classic.
You can pre-order this CD too! Send a check for $15.99 (PA residents add $1.05 sales tax) to Chris Chandler, 7206 Michigan Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15218
We're off to Wisconsin for Earth Day to Mayday ... we're looking forward to our visit to the picket line of striking UFCW 538 workers at Tyson! Then on to New York City... please check the tour dates. See you on the road & in the streets!
In Solidarity
Anne
friday in pittsburgh
hi folks
so many people have written to tell me how immobilized and depressed they've felt since this war began. while i continue to write, fax, petition, sing and pray for peace i've found i need to do more to feel okay these days. i've started walking ... a *lot* ... trying to do 5 miles a day ...partly to get into better shape, but mostly to have some time to reflect and also to take in the splendor of the planet. the glories of spring are everywhere these days ... the crocuses, daffodils, tulips, lilacs, dogwoods, azaleas ... the trees in bloom ... enough to take your breath away, and constant reminders that life renews.
chris and i have been busy piling on the hours mastering and editing and getting the artwork ready for our new CDs. i've got all the very best labor songs i've ever recorded onto one 23 song CD called "Union Maid" ... the cover features the wonderful labor history mural of pittsburgh that my husband and i did for SEIU with students at Schenley High School ... my UPIU brother Randy McSorley dropped everything he was in the middle of to do the design (thanks!) ... it's got all the hits from 'united we bargain, divided we beg' onto CD for the first time -- 'are you now or have you ever been?', 'The US Steal Song', 'Schooldays End', "Solidarity Forever', "Which Side Are You On?" "Fannie Sellins" "Bread and Roses" "Are My Hands Clean?""Your Nursing Heart" "Punch It In" ... and then, from "Look to the Left" - "Scabs", "National Health Care Now!", "We Do the Work", "We Just Come to Work Here" ... from "Heartland" we picked "Union Maid", "After School", "the Sick Note" "Praise Boss" and "The Victim Gets the Blame" ...I went back to my 1987 cassette "If I Can't Dance It's Not My Revolution" to get "Do-Re-Mi" and "I'm Gonna Be an Engineer" and then, for good measure, I added "Whatever Happened to the Eight Hour Day?" and "War on the Workers" from "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" It's almost 78 minutes of fabulous labor music!
It will be ready in time for Mayday, and I could really use some pre-orders, too. To reserve a copy, send a check for $15.99 (PA Residents add $1.05 Sales Tax) to Anne Feeney - 7206 Michigan Avenue - Pittsburgh, PA 15218
And before the Kerrville Folk Festival begins Chris and I will have 1000 copies of "LIVE FROM THE WHOLLY STOLEN EMPIRE" in our hands. Chris has outdone himself on the artwork this time, and he and i both agree it's a *wonderful* recording... Finally on one CD -- Carnivals #3, I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine, FL, 21st Century Skid Row Man, Cracker Jack Cure, Whoop, Top Banana, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Abyss, Chiapas, Freedom Is... and Martin Luther, Classic.
You can pre-order this CD too! Send a check for $15.99 (PA residents add $1.05 sales tax) to Chris Chandler, 7206 Michigan Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15218
We're off to Wisconsin for Earth Day to Mayday ... we're looking forward to our visit to the picket line of striking UFCW 538 workers at Tyson! Then on to New York City... please check the tour dates. See you on the road & in the streets!
In Solidarity
Anne
Sunday, April 06, 2003
This is a special wartime edition of
T h e M u s e a n d W h i r l e d R e t o r t
Volume 4 issue 7
Meeeep maneeep neep neep...insert graphic graphics of an American
soldier running slow motion through the desert to rescue a crying
baby.
Chiron overlay: "Americans wipe out Iraqi propaganda machine."
The Iraqi Horror Picture Show!
3-31-03
Washington, D.C.
Hey everybody, it's that time of the month again...
It's crazy out there, folks. (As if you needed to be told that.)
This time last month Anne and I were hopeful that this might just be
the first peace movement to actually stop a war. Ha! Reality makes
it extremely hard to try to be funny.
Believe me, I would much rather be writing about the first day of
Baseball – and the fact that the Orioles played their opener in the
snow.
Here in the nation's capital the snow is falling and the cherry
blossoms are in bloom. Perhaps Mother Nature herself is responding
with her own set of ironies. Happy spring. Perhaps this is Mom's own
April Fool's joke. We could all use a good laugh about now.
I stand in Lafayette Park, in front of the White House, just as I did
12 years ago. I was 26 and had been living out of a car for four
years, playing guitar on the streets and in subway stations, in
picket lines and at political rallies. Oil War I® started on my
birthday. Phil Rockstroh and I had camped out in the park for the
weeks leading up to the war, singing "Bush Lite," "Talkin' Lafayette
Blues," "Leave Iraq and Roll," and "Emotional Dyslexia."
At any given time, there were around 100 people staying 24/7. Our job
was to entertain the "permanent" residents of the park. We thought of
ourselves as George's nearest neighbors - thought he might drop by
sometime for a cup of foreign policy.
As with this war, there were "events" when our numbers would grow.
But always the drums rang out. George the First told a reporter that
our drums were keeping him up at night. We all thought that was
nothing compared with the sound of Patriot missiles falling on
Baghdad. (George the 2nd was at a Texas Ranger's Baseball game at the
time.)
When Oil War I® started, thousands of people came out to the park in
defiance. A spontaneous "snake march" erupted. We circled throughout
the city, calling out for others to join us. And they did! Boy
did they! We grew from a thousand to ten thousand in a couple of
hours as we marched through the streets.
The thing about marching through the streets, though, is that we
abandoned Lafayette Park and it filled with about a hundred counter-
demonstrators. As we rounded the corner returning back onto
Pennsylvania Avenue, we were met by mounted police, who began to spin
their horses in a 360, pushing us back into the park among the pro-
war folks and their shouts of "USA! USA! USA!"
Rocks and bottles began to fly. Fights erupted everywhere. It was
mayhem. I was on the front line where, we were all linked arms. When
the police swung their horses around, our lines broke. I was linked
with an 18-year-old kid. He fell on top of me as a horse ran us
over. He accidentally became my shield - he got beaten with a billy
club. I never did get his name. A friend, Barry the Balladeer, saw
us lying in the street, and he pulled us to safety.
The fights between the protestors, counter-protestors, and police
lasted for hours. It was clear that the police had caused the
disruption by forcing our ranks right into the middle of a hundred
counter-demonstrators. The next day when I read the paper, the
banner headline read, "It's War," of course. However, under the fold
was a minor article that read, "A couple of dozen protestors hobbled
down the street pelting police with rocks and bottles." It taught me
a valuable lesson: I knew then the support for that war was not near
what the paper claimed. This is doubly true for George the Second's
Oil War II. I think about this these days as I stand out in Lafayette
Park.
Today the snow has dampened the number of folks, but there has been a
24-hour vigil in front of the White House since the war started. A
couple of days ago, there were 65 arrests, including three Nobel
laureates. The next day, 25 people linked themselves together with
PVC pipe and blocked traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue. People handed
leaflets to commuters apologizing for the "inconvenience," but
compared with the inconvenience of bombs falling in public markets,
it seems pretty small. There were more than 200 arrests in New York
City a couple of days ago. In all, there have been far more arrests
of people protesting this slaughter than coalition casualties.
(OK, it's time to cut the "coalition" crap. No one else is on our
side it is the Anglo/American forces. Let's be honest here.)
Still, folks, I feel safer (yes, safer) because of the protests. At
least on some level, we are telling the world which is so justifiably
outraged at American arrogance that we Americans are not all
warmongering, shortsighted global capitalists. Thank God there
is worldwide condemnation. And those of you out on the streets
around the world, I hope you hear us in the Streets of Washington DC,
New York City, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Boise, and Peoria, Illinois
louder than you hear the Tomahawk® missiles.
Hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets across this great
country telling the world: We did not elect him and we are sorry for
what that mean-spirited child of privilege is doing. We support our
troops by trying to get them home.
You might be interested to know that while we "ANTI-AMERICAN RABBLE"
were out in the streets not supporting the troops by demanding their
immediate safe return, the patriots in Congress were busy actually
CUTTING veterans' benefits.... REALLY.
Though I did hear one congressman (I will let you guess which one)
say at a gathering I attended, "If you want to support our troops,
pay taxes on your dividends."
The awesome shock of the American military will take down a tiny,
impoverished country. Yet we have the audacity to say we will rebuild
that country with the profits from ITS oil! No, really: We say this
and no one bats an eye. Though it does make me realize that this is
not JUST about oil - it is about global capitalism. Those are not
refugees fleeing across the border - those are customers. Iraq has 24
million potential customers in it.
From that perspective, wouldn't we be making better customers if,
instead of spending $200 billion to destroy a county of 24 million,
we just bought it? The way we did Kuwait® and the United Arab
Emirates®? Or even better, we just gave the Iraqis $8,300 apiece?
That is what it works out to. Maybe we could open up a McDonald's in
Umm Qasr, the way we did in Kuwait City®. There, they just
introduced the McArabia Burger®. Really! Hell, with the exchange
rate that would be 20,000 McArabia burgers for each Iraqi. That is 4.8
TRILLION McArabia burgers.
How did that Biff Rose ditty go?
"Goin to McDonalds, Gonna stand in line.
Order a billion burgers and watch them change the sign."
Want an Apple Pie or Freedom fries® with that? (BTW, French's mustard
has released a new slogan: "The only thing French in French's is the
name.")
As we drive through our fast-food fairyland, we have Basra -a city
the size of this one - fully under siege, and a humanitarian crisis
of biblical proportions rages just outside of Babylon. We seem to
be having trouble getting humanitarian aid in yet our "smart bombs"
have no trouble whatsoever. Hmmm…. at $40 million apiece, doesn't it
seem as if our money would have been better spent with precision-
guided food bombs?
Now, why is it they hate us?
We complain that Iraqis in civilian clothes attack us. Yet look to
our own history: What were the battles of Lexington and Concord? If
it were not for civilians taking it upon themselves to attack an
"occupying" army the shot heard round the world would have been the
shot heard round the mulberry bush.
We complain about Iraqis flying a white flag and then attacking us.
Yet look to our own history: Crazy Horse was lured out of the
Canadian wilderness by the United States Army under a flag of
truce...and then murdered.
How can we claim that Iraq is violating the Geneva Convention in a
war that itself is a violation of the Geneva Convention?
We scratch our heads, befuddled, when the Iraqi people do not rise up
and join the invading army to rid themselves of Saddam's tyranny. Yet
look to our own history: Southern slaves and free blacks actually
joined the Confederacy en masse (larger numbers than joined
the North though it is not PC to say as much, nor does it make good
Hollywood movies) to stem the tide of an invading army even though it
meant the perpetuation of their own slavery.
Isn't the lesson obvious? Invasion trumps tyranny. You cannot
liberate a country that does not want to be liberated.
It is as if in 1959 Red China invaded Alabama to liberate African-
Americans from Jim Crow. Would you really expect American blacks
running through the streets of Birmingham waving Chinese flags and
shouting, "Long Live Chairman Mao?" Get real, folks.
An Iraqi taxi driver attacked American supply lines with a suicide
bomb and the U.S. media called it a terrorist attack. What I want to
know is, When do they get to be defenders and not terrorists?
Yes, I do have sympathy with the young men who lost their lives, and
their families. But they were soldiers in the line of duty who were
killed by the Iraqi militia -- not terrorists. And while we are on the
subject: As I sit here in Washington, D.C., under Homeland Security
Code Jolly Olly Orange® - my duct tape and plastic sheeting always
close at hand I wonder if, when an Iraqi national drives a gasoline
truck or chemical truck or worse into a military base (or, for that
matter, any target as loosely defined as we have defined "military"
targets in Baghdad) right here in Washington, D.C., will it be
called a terrorist attack?
I will not feel safer with Saddam Hussein "out of the way." I will
feel safer with George Bush® out of the way. My god, how can one
lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? We will not have any
better luck carving up Iraq than Winston Churchill did at the end of
the First World War.
The only thing that makes me feel safer is the hundreds of thousands,
yes, millions of voices out there on American streets telling the
world loudly that WE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS WAR!
Yours,
Chris Chandler
*******
Our Live CD "Live From the Wholly Stolen Empire" is being finished!
Last chance – if any of you have a recording you thing might could
make it on the CD! We are aiming for a May release – in time for
Kerrville and the kick off of summer festival season.
*******
Anne is still not smoking! (and she never mentions it)
*******
Chris' Retrospective ("If I had any hits these would be the greatest")
is in the works. It will be interactive and contains two previously
unreleased music videos of "This is not a folk song" and "Evil (is
boring")
*****
My friend Jim Infantino has created this for your amusement – Ifing
ya gotta decent computer check out http://www.slabmedia.com/slab.html
then click "state of security"
*****
In general we are looking for work in the Washington DC area… if you can help!
HERE IS DA DATES!
April 9-11 Holed up in a studio mixing and mastering our new CD! "Live from the Wholly Stolen Empire."
if any one there knows of some stuff for us to get into please let us know!
Saturday, April 12 - Dogwood Festival - Atlanta, GA
http://www.dogwood.org/ Piedmont Park. 2:00 PM
Sunday, April 13 Atlanta, GA Java Monkey 9:00 PM (Downtown Decatur)
Fri. April 25th 8:00 pm UW-Madison Memorial Union
(TITU) Earth Day to May Day Concert with troubador
folksingers: Anne Feeney, Chris Chandler, and Vicki
Guzman. Part of the Madison Earth Day to May Day
Celebration. Info? #262-9036 or #255-1800.
Sat April 26th noon - Picnic & Rally for striking UFCW workers at Tyson Foods in Jefferson.
Sat. April 26th 6:30 - 11:00 pm James Reeb
Unitarian Universalist (2146 E. Johnson) Community
Commemoration of the Bombing of Guernica.
Refreshments, open mic, and Sing-a-Long with Anne
Feeney, Chris Chandler, Vicki Guzman, Dave Stoddard,
Kristine Pettersen, Ben Manski, and others. Part
of the Madison Earth Day to May Day Celebration.
Info? #262-9036 or #255-1800.
Monday, April 28 - Milwaukee, WI - WisCOSH & the Milwaukee Labor Council commemorate
Workers Memorial Day. Concert at Zeidler Park (5:00 pm to 6:00 pm) and marching over to
Postal Union Hall for a dinner (6:00 to 8:00 pm)
May 2003
Thursday, May 1 - Mayday at the American Labor Museum, Haledon, NJ - 7PM
Friday, May 2 - NY Pinewoods Folk Club; Adm: $13 (members, $10, Polytech students and staff free). At: Polytechnic University, Wunsch Student Center, just over the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridges in Brooklyn; Info: 1718-549-1344 (after 11 AM).
Saturday, May 3 - House Concert - New York, NY
Contact Mark Aaron James details TBA
Sunday, May 4 - Cherry Tree Folk w Jim Page!
3916 Locust Walk – U Penn 215 386 1640
May 9-11 (Anne solo) - Regina Polk Leadership Conference for Union
Women - Chicago, IL
May 11 - 12 North of Baltimore MD, Susquehanna Fest
Ramblewood Park near Havre de Grace 301 847 1523
Saturday, May 11 3:00 PM Pavilion Stage (Chris solo)
Sunday, May 12 12:00 PM Pavilion Stage (Chris and Anne in a workshop)
Sunday, May 12 3:00 PM Stage 3(Chris and Anne in a concert)
****
We are mapping our trip to and from Kerrville as I write this and are
looking for dates in Louisville, KY, Cincinnati, OH, St Louis, MO,
Tulsa, OK, Lexington, KY, Little Rock, AR, Nashville, TN, Dallas, TX,
Houston, TX and not in that order! If you have some ideas and or
offers – PLEASE let us know asap!
*****
Thursday, May 29 - 8 PM - Kerrville Folk Festival - Kerrville, TX
Threadgill Theater with The Road Dog Divas!
Coming in July – The Oregon Country Fair, Music Fest (Courtenay, BC)
and a full west coast tour! If you have any ideas or offers here –
please let us know ASAP!
T h e M u s e a n d W h i r l e d R e t o r t
Volume 4 issue 7
Meeeep maneeep neep neep...insert graphic graphics of an American
soldier running slow motion through the desert to rescue a crying
baby.
Chiron overlay: "Americans wipe out Iraqi propaganda machine."
The Iraqi Horror Picture Show!
3-31-03
Washington, D.C.
Hey everybody, it's that time of the month again...
It's crazy out there, folks. (As if you needed to be told that.)
This time last month Anne and I were hopeful that this might just be
the first peace movement to actually stop a war. Ha! Reality makes
it extremely hard to try to be funny.
Believe me, I would much rather be writing about the first day of
Baseball – and the fact that the Orioles played their opener in the
snow.
Here in the nation's capital the snow is falling and the cherry
blossoms are in bloom. Perhaps Mother Nature herself is responding
with her own set of ironies. Happy spring. Perhaps this is Mom's own
April Fool's joke. We could all use a good laugh about now.
I stand in Lafayette Park, in front of the White House, just as I did
12 years ago. I was 26 and had been living out of a car for four
years, playing guitar on the streets and in subway stations, in
picket lines and at political rallies. Oil War I® started on my
birthday. Phil Rockstroh and I had camped out in the park for the
weeks leading up to the war, singing "Bush Lite," "Talkin' Lafayette
Blues," "Leave Iraq and Roll," and "Emotional Dyslexia."
At any given time, there were around 100 people staying 24/7. Our job
was to entertain the "permanent" residents of the park. We thought of
ourselves as George's nearest neighbors - thought he might drop by
sometime for a cup of foreign policy.
As with this war, there were "events" when our numbers would grow.
But always the drums rang out. George the First told a reporter that
our drums were keeping him up at night. We all thought that was
nothing compared with the sound of Patriot missiles falling on
Baghdad. (George the 2nd was at a Texas Ranger's Baseball game at the
time.)
When Oil War I® started, thousands of people came out to the park in
defiance. A spontaneous "snake march" erupted. We circled throughout
the city, calling out for others to join us. And they did! Boy
did they! We grew from a thousand to ten thousand in a couple of
hours as we marched through the streets.
The thing about marching through the streets, though, is that we
abandoned Lafayette Park and it filled with about a hundred counter-
demonstrators. As we rounded the corner returning back onto
Pennsylvania Avenue, we were met by mounted police, who began to spin
their horses in a 360, pushing us back into the park among the pro-
war folks and their shouts of "USA! USA! USA!"
Rocks and bottles began to fly. Fights erupted everywhere. It was
mayhem. I was on the front line where, we were all linked arms. When
the police swung their horses around, our lines broke. I was linked
with an 18-year-old kid. He fell on top of me as a horse ran us
over. He accidentally became my shield - he got beaten with a billy
club. I never did get his name. A friend, Barry the Balladeer, saw
us lying in the street, and he pulled us to safety.
The fights between the protestors, counter-protestors, and police
lasted for hours. It was clear that the police had caused the
disruption by forcing our ranks right into the middle of a hundred
counter-demonstrators. The next day when I read the paper, the
banner headline read, "It's War," of course. However, under the fold
was a minor article that read, "A couple of dozen protestors hobbled
down the street pelting police with rocks and bottles." It taught me
a valuable lesson: I knew then the support for that war was not near
what the paper claimed. This is doubly true for George the Second's
Oil War II. I think about this these days as I stand out in Lafayette
Park.
Today the snow has dampened the number of folks, but there has been a
24-hour vigil in front of the White House since the war started. A
couple of days ago, there were 65 arrests, including three Nobel
laureates. The next day, 25 people linked themselves together with
PVC pipe and blocked traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue. People handed
leaflets to commuters apologizing for the "inconvenience," but
compared with the inconvenience of bombs falling in public markets,
it seems pretty small. There were more than 200 arrests in New York
City a couple of days ago. In all, there have been far more arrests
of people protesting this slaughter than coalition casualties.
(OK, it's time to cut the "coalition" crap. No one else is on our
side it is the Anglo/American forces. Let's be honest here.)
Still, folks, I feel safer (yes, safer) because of the protests. At
least on some level, we are telling the world which is so justifiably
outraged at American arrogance that we Americans are not all
warmongering, shortsighted global capitalists. Thank God there
is worldwide condemnation. And those of you out on the streets
around the world, I hope you hear us in the Streets of Washington DC,
New York City, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Boise, and Peoria, Illinois
louder than you hear the Tomahawk® missiles.
Hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets across this great
country telling the world: We did not elect him and we are sorry for
what that mean-spirited child of privilege is doing. We support our
troops by trying to get them home.
You might be interested to know that while we "ANTI-AMERICAN RABBLE"
were out in the streets not supporting the troops by demanding their
immediate safe return, the patriots in Congress were busy actually
CUTTING veterans' benefits.... REALLY.
Though I did hear one congressman (I will let you guess which one)
say at a gathering I attended, "If you want to support our troops,
pay taxes on your dividends."
The awesome shock of the American military will take down a tiny,
impoverished country. Yet we have the audacity to say we will rebuild
that country with the profits from ITS oil! No, really: We say this
and no one bats an eye. Though it does make me realize that this is
not JUST about oil - it is about global capitalism. Those are not
refugees fleeing across the border - those are customers. Iraq has 24
million potential customers in it.
From that perspective, wouldn't we be making better customers if,
instead of spending $200 billion to destroy a county of 24 million,
we just bought it? The way we did Kuwait® and the United Arab
Emirates®? Or even better, we just gave the Iraqis $8,300 apiece?
That is what it works out to. Maybe we could open up a McDonald's in
Umm Qasr, the way we did in Kuwait City®. There, they just
introduced the McArabia Burger®. Really! Hell, with the exchange
rate that would be 20,000 McArabia burgers for each Iraqi. That is 4.8
TRILLION McArabia burgers.
How did that Biff Rose ditty go?
"Goin to McDonalds, Gonna stand in line.
Order a billion burgers and watch them change the sign."
Want an Apple Pie or Freedom fries® with that? (BTW, French's mustard
has released a new slogan: "The only thing French in French's is the
name.")
As we drive through our fast-food fairyland, we have Basra -a city
the size of this one - fully under siege, and a humanitarian crisis
of biblical proportions rages just outside of Babylon. We seem to
be having trouble getting humanitarian aid in yet our "smart bombs"
have no trouble whatsoever. Hmmm…. at $40 million apiece, doesn't it
seem as if our money would have been better spent with precision-
guided food bombs?
Now, why is it they hate us?
We complain that Iraqis in civilian clothes attack us. Yet look to
our own history: What were the battles of Lexington and Concord? If
it were not for civilians taking it upon themselves to attack an
"occupying" army the shot heard round the world would have been the
shot heard round the mulberry bush.
We complain about Iraqis flying a white flag and then attacking us.
Yet look to our own history: Crazy Horse was lured out of the
Canadian wilderness by the United States Army under a flag of
truce...and then murdered.
How can we claim that Iraq is violating the Geneva Convention in a
war that itself is a violation of the Geneva Convention?
We scratch our heads, befuddled, when the Iraqi people do not rise up
and join the invading army to rid themselves of Saddam's tyranny. Yet
look to our own history: Southern slaves and free blacks actually
joined the Confederacy en masse (larger numbers than joined
the North though it is not PC to say as much, nor does it make good
Hollywood movies) to stem the tide of an invading army even though it
meant the perpetuation of their own slavery.
Isn't the lesson obvious? Invasion trumps tyranny. You cannot
liberate a country that does not want to be liberated.
It is as if in 1959 Red China invaded Alabama to liberate African-
Americans from Jim Crow. Would you really expect American blacks
running through the streets of Birmingham waving Chinese flags and
shouting, "Long Live Chairman Mao?" Get real, folks.
An Iraqi taxi driver attacked American supply lines with a suicide
bomb and the U.S. media called it a terrorist attack. What I want to
know is, When do they get to be defenders and not terrorists?
Yes, I do have sympathy with the young men who lost their lives, and
their families. But they were soldiers in the line of duty who were
killed by the Iraqi militia -- not terrorists. And while we are on the
subject: As I sit here in Washington, D.C., under Homeland Security
Code Jolly Olly Orange® - my duct tape and plastic sheeting always
close at hand I wonder if, when an Iraqi national drives a gasoline
truck or chemical truck or worse into a military base (or, for that
matter, any target as loosely defined as we have defined "military"
targets in Baghdad) right here in Washington, D.C., will it be
called a terrorist attack?
I will not feel safer with Saddam Hussein "out of the way." I will
feel safer with George Bush® out of the way. My god, how can one
lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? We will not have any
better luck carving up Iraq than Winston Churchill did at the end of
the First World War.
The only thing that makes me feel safer is the hundreds of thousands,
yes, millions of voices out there on American streets telling the
world loudly that WE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS WAR!
Yours,
Chris Chandler
*******
Our Live CD "Live From the Wholly Stolen Empire" is being finished!
Last chance – if any of you have a recording you thing might could
make it on the CD! We are aiming for a May release – in time for
Kerrville and the kick off of summer festival season.
*******
Anne is still not smoking! (and she never mentions it)
*******
Chris' Retrospective ("If I had any hits these would be the greatest")
is in the works. It will be interactive and contains two previously
unreleased music videos of "This is not a folk song" and "Evil (is
boring")
*****
My friend Jim Infantino has created this for your amusement – Ifing
ya gotta decent computer check out http://www.slabmedia.com/slab.html
then click "state of security"
*****
In general we are looking for work in the Washington DC area… if you can help!
HERE IS DA DATES!
April 9-11 Holed up in a studio mixing and mastering our new CD! "Live from the Wholly Stolen Empire."
if any one there knows of some stuff for us to get into please let us know!
Saturday, April 12 - Dogwood Festival - Atlanta, GA
http://www.dogwood.org/ Piedmont Park. 2:00 PM
Sunday, April 13 Atlanta, GA Java Monkey 9:00 PM (Downtown Decatur)
Fri. April 25th 8:00 pm UW-Madison Memorial Union
(TITU) Earth Day to May Day Concert with troubador
folksingers: Anne Feeney, Chris Chandler, and Vicki
Guzman. Part of the Madison Earth Day to May Day
Celebration. Info? #262-9036 or #255-1800.
Sat April 26th noon - Picnic & Rally for striking UFCW workers at Tyson Foods in Jefferson.
Sat. April 26th 6:30 - 11:00 pm James Reeb
Unitarian Universalist (2146 E. Johnson) Community
Commemoration of the Bombing of Guernica.
Refreshments, open mic, and Sing-a-Long with Anne
Feeney, Chris Chandler, Vicki Guzman, Dave Stoddard,
Kristine Pettersen, Ben Manski, and others. Part
of the Madison Earth Day to May Day Celebration.
Info? #262-9036 or #255-1800.
Monday, April 28 - Milwaukee, WI - WisCOSH & the Milwaukee Labor Council commemorate
Workers Memorial Day. Concert at Zeidler Park (5:00 pm to 6:00 pm) and marching over to
Postal Union Hall for a dinner (6:00 to 8:00 pm)
May 2003
Thursday, May 1 - Mayday at the American Labor Museum, Haledon, NJ - 7PM
Friday, May 2 - NY Pinewoods Folk Club; Adm: $13 (members, $10, Polytech students and staff free). At: Polytechnic University, Wunsch Student Center, just over the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridges in Brooklyn; Info: 1718-549-1344 (after 11 AM).
Saturday, May 3 - House Concert - New York, NY
Contact Mark Aaron James details TBA
Sunday, May 4 - Cherry Tree Folk w Jim Page!
3916 Locust Walk – U Penn 215 386 1640
May 9-11 (Anne solo) - Regina Polk Leadership Conference for Union
Women - Chicago, IL
May 11 - 12 North of Baltimore MD, Susquehanna Fest
Ramblewood Park near Havre de Grace 301 847 1523
Saturday, May 11 3:00 PM Pavilion Stage (Chris solo)
Sunday, May 12 12:00 PM Pavilion Stage (Chris and Anne in a workshop)
Sunday, May 12 3:00 PM Stage 3(Chris and Anne in a concert)
****
We are mapping our trip to and from Kerrville as I write this and are
looking for dates in Louisville, KY, Cincinnati, OH, St Louis, MO,
Tulsa, OK, Lexington, KY, Little Rock, AR, Nashville, TN, Dallas, TX,
Houston, TX and not in that order! If you have some ideas and or
offers – PLEASE let us know asap!
*****
Thursday, May 29 - 8 PM - Kerrville Folk Festival - Kerrville, TX
Threadgill Theater with The Road Dog Divas!
Coming in July – The Oregon Country Fair, Music Fest (Courtenay, BC)
and a full west coast tour! If you have any ideas or offers here –
please let us know ASAP!
Saturday, April 05, 2003
The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head There is an emerging second superpower, but it is not a nation. "Instead, it is a new form of international player, constituted by the "will of the people? in a global social movement. The beautiful but deeply agitated face of this second superpower is the worldwide peace campaign, but the body of the movement is made up of millions of people concerned with a broad agenda that includes social development, environmentalism, health, and human rights.
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