Utah Phillips: Feb. 24

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Feb. 24

Utah has spent most of the day sitting in a chair, reading and watching a little television. This is a welcomed change from the last few weeks and spending most of his days in bed. The nurse drew a blood sample around two and dads electrolyte levels have not fluctuated for the last couple of days.
When the doctors make their rounds dads room visits are shorter and noticeably more upbeat. For dad, returning home to his extended family and friends will be the best medicine of all. I take comfort and pleasure in knowing that when I to leave and return home to Salt Lake City and the every day realities of life, dad will remain in the hands and hearts of so many friends and comrades in Nevada City and around the world.
Thank You
Duncan

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi Utah....I and the rest of the crazies in the morning Cardio Maint. class at SNMH have been following your progress and definitely missing you. We folks who are a bit right of Huckaboom definitely miss you for the wonderful balance you bring to our political discussions. We need you and your middle of the road viewpoints and witicisms back ASAP.....I am a bit disappointed that you have not wearing your Thai Hill Country Tribal Hat. Hope to see you in class soon..Jim; February 24, 2008 at 5:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Just wanted to add my heartfelt wish for a successful recovery and many more years of hell raising, Utah. I stumbled across this blog while reading the posts in the Salt Lake Weekly about KRCL. I'm on the board of KDHX in St. Louis, who is one of the five community stations nationwide that CPB awarded grants. Sorry to hear about the intrafamilial warfare there, Duncan. Hope it all works out for the better. I also do a show called The Back Country, which has featured Utah's music in the past. Living in a small town called Glen Carbon--coal valley--across the M.I.S.I.P in Illinois, we appreciate everyone who's on the side of working men and women and the oppressed. Great news about going home now on the horizon. Utah, you have so many wonderful friends and family to welcome you home. Count me among them.
Jeff Corbin; February 25, 2008 at 2:25 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

The Two Bums

This is a poem from George Milburn's book, The Hobo's Hornbook. You can also find it in a lot of old I. W. W. pamphlets and literature. It sums up a great deal of what I feel. It talks about the bum on the rod and the burn on the plush, which is just a simple way of saying that the kind of system we live in now demands that there be a poor people, demands that there be people out of work so that there will always be people willing to work for any wage.
Sure, a lot of railroad burns are parasites, but, like the poem says, they're just fleas who get an occasional bite, and you look at what those parasites at the top are chewing off. I know that there's a lot of talk these days about the welfare Cadillac; middle class people talking about those welfare gobblers down on the bottom who are afraid to do an honest day's work, and they're all driving big Cadillacs. And you hear over and over again, "Nobody ought to get something for nothing. " I've got to agree. You've got to work to eat.
I look at a factory. I see that everybody associated with that factory puts something in and they take something out. The workers put in their sweat and their skill, and they take out wages. The salesmen put in their skill and ability, and they take out commissions. The managers and foremen and people in the offices put in theirs, and take out salaries. But there's one group of people who take out more than they put in, and that more is called profit. I can't think of any other way to define it. That's a bunch of people who are getting something they didn't work for, and it's a whole lot.
If we're really concerned about people getting just what they earn, if we're really concerned about people not getting something that they didn't put in time and sweat for, let's start with the major offenders, and get rid of them. Then we'll gradually work our way down to the petty chiselers. It just makes sense.

The bum on the rod is hunted down
As the enemy of mankind;
The other is driven around to his club
And feted, wined and dined.

And they who curse the bum on the rods
As the essence of all that is bad
Will greet the other with a winning smile
And extend him the hand so glad.

The bum on the rods is a social flea
Who gets an occasional bite;
The bum on the plush is a social leech,
Blood-sucking day and night.

The bum on the rods is a load so light
That his weight we scarcely feel,
But it takes the labor of dozens of men
To furnish the other a meal.

As long as you sanction the bum on the plush,
The other will always be there,
But rid yourself of the bum on the plush
And the other will disappear.

Then make an intelligent, organized kick,
Get rid of the weights that crush;
Don't worry about the bum on the rods,
Get rid of the bum on the plush!

Internet Archive

I have started to develop an internet archive on my web page. It will be a collection of pictures, concert flyers and posters, concert audio and video, in short everything that I have collected during the last few years of traveling with dad. My hope is that it may one day become a central place for the world wide community to have access to an ever growing archive of Utah Phillips. I would like to encourage folks to add to the archive as well. You can either send things via e-mail ( friendsofutah@yahoo.com) or to my home address. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank You
Duncan Phillips
1392 e. 5935 s.
SLC, UT. 84121