Tag: Woody Guthrie

Pop Culture Roundup (Mid-January 2012)

24 complete series Keifer Sutherland

In case you were too busy driving around with your dog on your car roof or wondering how to finish that research paper with Wikipedia going dark for a day in protest of a proposed law, here are some of the recent pop culture stories you might have missed.

Movies

The Los Angeles Times notes that four recent movies leave the viewer with an open ending. (Watch out for spoilers!)

Do the proposed new rules for the documentary category of the Academy Awards make sense?

George Clooney is planning a movie about art historians rescuing art looted by the Nazis.

Keifer Sutherland reports that shooting for a 24 movie could start in a few months.

A new documentary looks at the life and career of comedian Bernie Mac.

Metromix has 21 films to watch for in 2012.

Another Bruce Almighty sequel is in the works, but this time with Jim Carrey returning.

James Franco’s new movie about the life of writer Hart Crane is available on demand or through download. (review)

This year, four film classics return to theaters but this time in 3-D. . .

The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the character of Sherlock Holmes’s sidekick Watson on the screen through the years.

NY Times reviews new documentary in the Paradise Lost series about the West Memphis 3, recently cleared of murder.

Why an empty box was the Star Wars holiday gift sensation in 1977.

Wes Anderson’s upcoming film is Moonrise Kingdom:

Music

Owl and Bear has an interesting list of top 2011 albums.

The New York Times reviewed Glen Campbell’s “Farewell Tour” performance in NY.

Bill Moyers explains why Woody Guthrie is relevant now.

Kelly Willis talks about making an album with her husband Bruce Robison. (No Depression)

Madlands? Bruce Springsteen’s forthcoming album is angry. (Paste)

A conversation with Texas legendary troubadour Billy Joe Shaver.

Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars, and Taylor Swift will perform at Grammy Awards on Feb. 12.

A proposed Indiana law sets performance standards (w/ fines) for the national anthem at public schools and colleges.

Turnstyled Junkpiled has a “tribute show” collection of videos of artists covering Townes Van Zandt songs.

John Fogerty made a guest appearance on the new Fox TV show The Finder, also singing the theme song.

Van Halen just released its first David Lee Roth video since 1996.

Television

The Golden Globes award show was on Sunday, leading to the question: Do the Golden Globes pick better winners than the Oscars?

The 500th episode of The Simpsons airs Feb. 19.

The Paley Center for Media celebrates Bill Cosby’s 50 years in show biz.

AMC is developing a Goodfellas TV series. Yeah, I think this is funny. Clown funny.

Hostess Twinkies

Other Pop Culture News

Alvin! Check out the history of Alvin and the Chimpmunks.

Barry Larkin on his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A new biography of Stephen Hawking celebrates the ideas of the world’s most famous scientist. (review)

Better start stockpiling those Twinkies and cupcakes. Hostess filed for bankruptcy.

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    Don’t Kill My Baby and My Son

    On May 25, 1911, a mob lynched an African-American woman and her teenage son near Okemah, Oklahoma. Through a direct family connection to the lynching, the acts that day would later inspire one of Woody Guthrie’s great songs.

    Oklahoma Lynching

    The lynching of the woman and her son occurred in response to the death of a well-respected white deputy sheriff, Goerge Loney. Earlier, Loney was investigating the theft of livestock when teenager Lawrence Nelson reportedly thought the officer was going for a gun and shot Loney. Loney bled to death.

    A posse then went to arrest the teen and his family, which included his mother Laura Nelson and her infant son. Lawrence’s father ended up in jail too.  But a mob eventually took the teenager and his mother Laura, who at one point tried to protect her son by saying she fired the fatal shot.

    It is unclear what happened to the infant, but the mob ended up hanging the teen and his mother from a bridge. According to some reports, Laura Nelson was raped before she was lynched.

    “Don’t Kill My Baby and My Son”

    One of the members of the lynching crowd was a man named Charley.  A year later, Charley would name his new son Woodrow after Pres. Wilson. Woodrow grew up to have quite a different view of the lynching than the participants. And Woody, as we would come to know him, developed political views that diverged from his father, Charley Guthrie.

    Woody Guthrie wrote the song, “Don’t Kill My Baby and My Son” about that lynching in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. In the chorus, Woody chose to view the song from the standpoint of the woman who was lynched rather than choosing the voice of his father in the crowd:

    O, don’t kill my baby and my son,
    O , don’t kill my baby and my son.
    You can stretch my neck on that old river bridge,
    But don’t kill my baby and my son.

    Now, I’ve heard the cries of a panther,
    Now, I’ve heard the coyotes yell,
    But that long, lonesome cry shook the whole wide world
    And it come from the cell of the jail.

    Singer-songwriter Brooke Harvey, who is from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, recorded a beautiful rendition of Guthrie’s song:

    Harvey’s version does not appear to be available outside of YouTube, and there are few people who have performed “Don’t Kill My Baby and Son.” Apparently, Guthrie himself never recorded the song.

    But if you are looking for an album with the song, then Joel Rafael has a wonderful version of “Don’t Kill My Baby and Son” on his album, The Songs of Woody Guthrie Vol 1 & 2. Check it out.

    Although “Don’t Kill My Baby and Son” is not one of Guthrie’s most well-known songs, it is among his most heartbreaking. Besides being a great song, it documents a horrible injustice that we should not forget.

    More information about the lynching is in the biography Woody Guthrie: A Life, in a recent book on the history of capital punishment and the use of lynching, and on the Executed Today website, which includes the haunting photo of the lynching that was later used as a postcard.

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    Super Bowl Songs: Pete Seeger & “Pittsburgh Town”

    FootballAs you prepare for a day of watching commercials occasionally interrupted by a football game played by the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, Chimesfreedom considers songs inspired by the states in the big game. An upcoming post will address the state of the Packers, but this post considers the hometown of the Steelers: Woody Guthrie’s “Pittsburgh Town,” recorded by Pete Seeger.

    Like some other songs sung by Guthrie and Seeger, “Pittsburgh Town” takes on the big corporate interests. For Pittsburgh, at the time, that meant attacking the steel industry: “What did Jones & Laughlin steal now Pittsburgh?” But the song ends by defiantly proclaiming the workers are organizing and joining the Congress of Industrial Organizations (a precursor to the AFL-CIO).

    All I do is cough and choke in Pittsburgh
    All I do is cough and choke in Pittsburgh
    All I do is cough and choke
    From the iron filings and the sulphur smoke
    In Pittsburgh, Lord God, Pittsburgh

    From the Allegheny to the Ohio, in Pittsburgh
    Allegheny to the Ohio
    Allegheny to the Ohio
    They’re joining up in the C.I.O.
    Pittsburgh, Lord God, Pittsburgh

    According to Ed Cray’s Ramblin’ Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie, most of the lyrics to the song were improvised when Guthrie was performing for Jones & Laughlin employees after Guthrie had just seen the workers’ poor living conditions. Guthrie may not have been in too good of a mood, having just spent the night in hotel infested with cockroaches.

    Bonus Cheerier Songs: Yeah, the song is depressing, and maybe I’m mad my team did not make the Super Bowl. If you would like a “happier” song, here is Charlie Daniels “In America” (“Go and lay your hand on a Pittsburgh Steelers fan / and I think you’re finally gonna understand”).

    Do you have another Pennsylvania song you like? Leave a comment.

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