MAY/JUNE 2017: Anne Feeney's Fellow Travelers' Advisory, Volume 11, Number 2

Welcome to the May/June edition of the Fellow Travelers' Advisory.  This is the best way that I know to keep in touch with all the folks I know.  I'm so grateful to all the friends, family, followers, folkies and fellow travelers who support my work and make my life possible. The "reply" function works, so please let me know what you're up to - especially if you have news my 10,000 subscribers would be interested in.  For example, last month my faithful subscriber and dear friend Barbara Lebeau suggested larger type - VOILA!

Maryellen Deckard showed me how to enlarge any type that is too small on a PC laptop - Just down the button  with the windows logo on it adjacent to the space bar while pressing the + key.  To return, press the "-"  key (otherwise known as the hyphen).  If you know the keystrokes for Apple laptops, let me know.

As you can see from my tour schedule below, it's going to be a busy summer starting in FIVE DAYS -  If you're in or around Austin at 3PM on Sunday, May 21st, make a beeline to the air-conditioned Saxon Pub.  I played there first in 1990! This time I'll be joined by FABULOUS musicians who played on my new benefit/tribute CD 'WAR ON THE WORKERS' - available for purchase or download at cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid  Join me, the Hot Nut Riveters, Oliver Steck and more at 3PM, Sunday March 21, at the Saxon Pub!  You'll leave energized, inspired and uplifted!!!

2017 will be a challenging year for us all.  Fortunately, I get to keep doing what I have always been doing - raising hell, bearing witness, speaking truth to power and singing through the storm.  I hope to see a lot of you out there doing the same!

Don't forget to support the Utah Phillips Library - https://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/utah-phillips-flanger-railroad-car-restoration

If you've checked out http://annefeeney.com lately, you'll see it's wildly different and under construction.  I could really use some help with it.  Let me know if you can help.

I'm including a new feature to improve my show.  I've gotten a holder that will display my backlit lyrics on my iPad so that I can jettison all my patter about forgetting lyrics and just sing the songs!  This too has a steep learning curve for me, so if anyone coming to Kerrville knows about iPads and Forscore, PLEASE help me to get this system up and runing!

Hope to see you somewhere on my Summer of Resistance tour! If you don't live in any of the cities I'm performing, I bet you know someone who does!  Please forward this newsletter to your friends. That's how it works.  You can be certain that your friends will not hear about these shows from my corporate sponsors  The calendar updates continuously at http://annefeeney.com/calendar.html

Thanks for your help, loyalty and support.  I couldn't do this without you. 

Anne Feeney - 
Summer of Resistance Tour

Sunday, May 21st, 2017 3:00 PM CD RELEASE w many special guests! Saxon Pub 1320 S. Lamar Austin, TX 512-448-2552 https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1481799?_ga=2.96070357.858604901.1494358221-2125165344.1494358220&__utma=1.1656138213.1494358220.1494358220.1494358220.1&__utmb=1.1.10.1494358220&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1494358220.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=44956964 Price: $5 Wonderful guests will be on hand to celebrate the releasea of benefit/tribute CD : WAR ON THE WORKERS also available for purchase/download @ http;//CDBaby.com/all/unionmaid

Saturday, June 17th, 2017 7:30 PM Diane Crowe presents Anne Feeney in Concert Mt. Toby Concerts for Peace and Social Change Leverett, MA https://mttobyconcerts.wordpress.com/

Sunday, June 18th, 2017 7:00 PM Barre Historical Society presents Anne Feeney, Unionmaid and Hellraiser with special guest Charlie King!! Socialist Labor Hall 46 Granite Street Barre, VT 802-331-0013 http://oldlaborhall.org/ Price: $15  I've been dreaming about playing at this National Historic Landmark since I first laid eyes on it in 1997! This dream-come-true is 20 years in the making - Please join me for a wonderful show!!!

Thursday, June 22nd, 2017 - Saturday, June 24th, 2017 at 2:00 PM Great Labor Arts Exchange iTommy Douglas Center for Labor Renewal 10000 New Hampshire Ave NW Silver Spring, MD 20903 http://laborheritage.org Price: see webste

Saturday, July 1st, 2017 7:00 PM Anne Feeney Summer of Resistance Tour Monkey House 1638 University Avenue Berkeley, CA http://www.themonkeyhouse.org/IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! jOIN ME AND AILEEN VANCE AND OTHER SPECIAL GUESTS AT THIS GREAT VENUE!

Sunday, July 2nd, 2017 7:00 PM Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour Mendocino Community Center 998 School St Mendocino, CA 94582 http://www.communitycenterofmendocino.org//rkarch@mcn.com is the contact

Monday, July 3rd, 2017 8:00 PM Health Care for All Oregon presents Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour! Unitarian Universalist Church 4th and C Ashland, OR http://hcao.org/ Price: free!   Wes Brain  brain@mind.net is organizing the show

Wednesday, July 5th, 2017 7:00 PM Anne Feeney Summer of Resistance Tour Siuslaw Public Library 1460 Ninth St. Florence, OR http://annefeeney.comI'm delighted to return to this wonderful venue. See you there!

Friday, July 7th, 2017 - Sunday, July 9th, 2017 at 12:00 PM Oregon Country Fair (tentative)

Thursday, July 13th, 2017 8:00 PM Summer of Resistance - Portland - with the Chris Chandler Show and  Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Fremont Theater 2393 NE Fremont Ave Portland, OR 239 http://www.fremonttheater.com/events/?view=calendar&month=July-2017

Friday, July 14th, 2017 8:00 PM The Chris Chandler Show invites Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour to Remember Woody Guthrie TBA Esticada, OR

Saturday, July 15th, 2017 7:30 PM Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour Tacoma, WA Marilyn Kimmerling is the contact

Sunday, July 16th, 2017 8:00 PM Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour tba Seattle, WA PAUL BIGMAN is the contact

Wednesday, July 19th, 2017 8:00 PM Cumberland BC Hosts  Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour House Concert at Diana Paige's Cumberland, BC Canada 250-336-8893the perfect sorbet between Vancouver Folk Fest and Islands Fest. Call Diana or email her at dipaige@gmail.com for reservations and directions

Saturday, July 22nd, 2017 8:00 PM Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour - Benefit Concert for Larry Hildes tba Bellingham, WA  Gary Kantner and Betsy Pernotto are the organizers

Sunday, July 23rd, 2017 7:00 PM Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour tba Sequim/Port Angeles, WA

Wednesday, July 26th, 2017 8:00 PM Anne Feeney's Summer of Resistance Tour tba Grey's Harbor, WA

Sunday, July 30th, 2017 7:00 PM Anne Feeney Summer of Resistance Tour with Eliot Kenin in Eliot's barn! 1072 Pereira Martinez, CA 94553 800-965-1302Eliot is the author of "You Ain't Been Doin' Nothin' if You Ain't Been Called a Red" and "F#%k Off and Die!" I am overjoyed to be sharing an evening with him performing in his barn. Please join us for potluck and music, starting at 7PM eliotkenin29@gmail.com    Call or email Eliot for reservations and directions or DIRECTIONS - IMPORTANT!! from berkeley or oakland, take Highway24 toward Orinda - go north 3 miles to Bear Creek Road. Turn right. Bear Creek becomes Pereira Look for signs to barn on right. don't wear high heels. road from Pinole is still washed out. Bring a warm jacket. It's cool at night.

Monday, July 31st, 2017 7:00 PM LaborFest presents Anne Feeney and Roy Zimmerman!! ILWU Local 34 801 2nd St San Francisco, CA 94107

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!