Hammer Song

 “I’ve got a song to sing

About love between my brothers and my sisters

All over this land.”

   “If I Had a Hammer,” Weavers

Ron Cohen is attending IUN’s annual Gala because a friend gave him a free ticket to be his guest.  He sent me a couple chapters of a book he is doing with Rachel Clare Donaldson about folk music during the 1950s.  They challenge the assumption of some historians that not much happened between the Weavers success in the early 1950s and the commercial explosion following the release of the Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley.”  The Weavers’s most influential song was “If I Had a Hammer.”  Ron is the foremost historian on the subject, and my only suggestions were stylistic and to cut down on the long quotes.  I suggested he start chapters with stories like he did so successfully in “Children of the Mill.”  Here’s one possibility I came up with for the introduction: “On Christmas Eve, 1955, despite being hounded by the government for their leftwing political activities, the Weavers played to a sold-out audience at New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall.  In addition to performing their well-known standards, they did a version of a song that was the number one hit that month as recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford, ‘Sixteen Tons.’”

A friend invited Ron to the alumni association’s annual Gala and he hobnobbed with the Gallmeiers and other notables.  Maury McGough, who worked with Janet Demody at the Northwest Indiana Open Housing Center, told him he had files that he might be willing to donate to the Archives.

I dropped in on Clark Metz, who was watching a show on Oprah’s channel about women in prison. He tapes it on DVR beforehand to avoid the annoying commercials.  He mentioned cost overruns with the 28 million-dollar Marquette Park restoration project.  Evidently it’s normal for companies to bid artificially low in order to obtain contracts and then claim that things that could have been anticipated, like the need to replace thermostats or cut down trees, were unforeseen.

I took three copies of Traces to Ted and Anne Karras in Miller, pointing out Ted’s being mentioned in photo credits and several other places.  I extended my condolences on Alex’s death and mentioned how stupid it was for Roosevelt Charter School’s parent company, Edison Learning, to fire their son Jeff right before the beginning of football sectionals for giving players rides home after practice.  There was no bus service, and guys lived all over the city.  There wouldn’t even have been a team without his dedication and zeal.  Administrators probably want to kill Roosevelt’s once famed athletic program.  Dave, who coaches tennis at East Chicago, has to stay until all his players are picked up, so what’s a coach to do if nobody comes for the players.

above, Jeff Karras by Jim Karczewski; below, Sidney Hillman

 

Condo president Bernie Holicky, like me, was pleased with the election results.  He pointed out that Democrats won almost all races in Porter County and supported statewide candidates by large margins.  We talked about how Obama swept the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania with significant union help.  He said that his dad had belonged to Sidney Hillman’s Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.  Much to his pleasant surprise, I repeated the phrase “Clear It With Sidney” used by Republicans against FDR to claim that leftwing unionist Jews had too much influence with the President.  Not only was Sidney a common Jewish name, Hillman’s parents were Lithuanian Jews. 

Focusing on 1991, WXRT mentioned artists inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall od fame that year, including The Byrds, and the first women, Tina Turner and LaVern Baker.  It was a banner year for honoring former Vee-Jay artists, including John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, and the Impressions, including Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield.  Lin Bremer did a clever segment about folks who died that year, including Freddy Mercury, Redd Foxx, Michael Landon, and Tennessee Ernie Ford.  Comedian George Gobel, known as “Lonesome George,” died at age 72 on my birthday, February 24.

With Ryan Shelton’s help Friday I’m almost back to where I was before the computer froze.

The theater in Valpo was packed for the afternoon showing of “Lincoln.”  It was also opening day for the latest “Twilight Saga” episode, “Breaking Dawn, part 2,” so the theater was crowded.  Daniel Day-Lewis was riveting as Lincoln, bringing him to life as a pragmatic idealist who endured sorrow and disappointment that would have overwhelmed most leaders.  Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens was awesome as well.  The idea that Spielberg didn’t portray African Americans properly is total poppycock; there were no darky stereotypes, and one black soldier questions the President about discrimination within the Union army.  The only battle scene is at the beginning where soldiers slaughter each other in close combat taking place in a muddy swamp.  Near the end corpses line Lincoln’s route as he rides through a battlefield on the way to meet with Grant, and we see workers at a military hospital dumping arms and legs into an open grave.