songs for hard times

Posted by rflacks on: Wed 16th Sep, 2009

Thursdays at 6 pacific time is when I have my weekly radio show on the campus station, KCSB (91.9fm). It's called CULTURE OF PROTEST. I've been doing this for 27 years. It's very much a music show, based on my collection of political, socially conscious recordings (in fact, doing this program has been a great excuse for buying stuff!) Each week we organize the hour around a theme. In the past few weeks for example, we've done programs on Hiroshima, the Woodstock anniversary, Labor day and Paul Robeson and the 60th anniversary of the Peekskill riots. For the last few months I've been trying to collect as many songs as I can that speak about 'hard times': songs from the 1930s (and before) and songs being released now in our current hard times--and there are quite a few artists of many genres consciously making such songs, many deliberately connecting with the great depression and the current situation. So this Thursday, we'll do one of a series of shows with this kind of material. There's something deeply evocative about hearing songs from decades ago that ring true in our time--songs that describe the experiences of those who are jobless or scared about that, songs about Wall Street, greedy bankers, songs about getting together to cope and to fight back. And I'll bet you'll find the new songs by artists known and unknown to be surprising and maybe inspiring.

I hope you'll tune in. We stream on line at www.kcsb.org, at 6-7 pm PST. And I've just started to post the play list (a day or so after the show airs) at http://kcsb.radioactivity.fm (click on the date of the program your interested in getting a play list for).

If you've any suggestions for 'hard times' songs use the comment space below!

Tags: culture of protest, kcsb, political songs

About

Dick Flacks here...sociology professor emeritus at UCSB. Budget cuts mean that I can't continue my annual course on political sociology. Maybe a blog will be a space for me to continue to ruminate and pontificate. And maybe (as a veteran teacher on these matters) I can offer some ways of thinking about what's happening nationally and locally that will be useful, as we struggle to make sense of the tortured complexities of these times. I've been a leftwing activist for more than 50 years. What we've been struggling for all these years is full democracy--to increase the opportunities for people to have real voice in the decisions that affect them. Step by step over these years we've made some gain...but it is a long march, and one that never ends. The big barrier to democracy in our society is the concentrated power of corporations. At the same time, democracy is undermined by the felt powerlessness of people in their daily lives--the persistent belief that our problems are only our own personal concern. It's a strong cultural theme--such individualism--constantlly reinforced by mass media and everyday circumstance. But the current big crisis of the economy maybe makes it more possible for more people to understand that we've got to have social reform and economic reform. So my writing here is aimed at helping us figure out what to think and act on that so that we can hope for new democratic possibilities. WE'll be talking about the local and the national. The blog name comes from an old labor union hymn: Step by step the longest march can be won. Many stones can form an arch...singly none. And by union what we will can be accomplished still. Drops of water turn a mill, singly none, singly none. For 27 years I've had a weekly radio show on KCSB (91.9 fm. www.kcsb.org) It's called the Culture of Protest. It's comes from my fascination with music and social movements. I collect 'political' and 'protest' music and that's what we play each week (Thursdays 6-7 pm). So sometimes here we'll share and talk about that. I'm worried about one thing about the blogosphere. And that's the way that some people use the blog comment space for anonymous nastiness. I'm sick of the kind of political blather that assaults the motives of others, and sees dark conspiracy behind every thing one doesn't like. This kind of stuff is helping to poison the political atmosphere. So I'm going to strive for a civil tone to whatever interaction may happen on this blogsite.