Utah Phillips: Chicago Benefit

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Chicago Benefit

The folks in Chicago are planning a benefit on June 14, at the Heartland Cafe. Anyone who would like to participate in the planning or might be interested in performing can give Mike Felten a call. I will post his info on the side of the blog.

It's been amazing to hear from folks around the country planning benefits for Utah. Last fall when dad's health forced him to retire I remember sitting in the living room with him and Joanna trying to figure out ways to generate income with out touring. Dad wasn't as concerned as the rest of us, he knew he could count on the folks around the country to see him through the hard times.

Thanks
Duncan

1 comment:

patrick gronholm said...: Thanks to Rich Warren and "The Midnight Special", I was introduced to Utah's music at the tender age of 16. The weight of his songs and the humor in his stories was unlike anything I had ever heard. Just before I turned 24, and one month before the '06 elections, when I had finally reached my boiling point when it came to "American" politics, I decided to walk from cincinnati to washington d.c. I needed to be away from the world in which I was fastly losing touch with. I brought my dog Sal along with me. We spent are days walkin down route 50 and our nights under highways and rain and stars. On the rainiest day we decided to thumb it and caught a most unpleasant ride from a man who thought I had something I could give him. He finally let us out in clarksburg, west virginia where an angel who had been following us, ( who also happened to be a member of the virginia dog rescue group) drove us all the way into maryland 4 hours away.I am telling you all of this because as I was hoofin' it down old route 50 I'd sing utah's songs to Sal, and I would sing them under those underpasses, where all you could hear were the highway wheels and thunder,and I sung them behind all the lonely tears I cried along my journey. Utah's music has meant so much to me over the past 9 years and I just want to thank him. Thank him for his insight and stories and for delivering fred holstein directly to my ears. I live on the southside of Chicago now and will most definitely be at the benefit show in june. If I can help in any way please let me know. my email address is patrickjamesgronholm@yahoo.com. I thank his parents for his existence and the railroads and the dust and the endless vastness of the sky for his soul; April 12, 2008 at 5:48 PM

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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