Howdy

Hello everyone. It's been awhile I know. Since the last update I have been to Nevada City for the one year deal and traveled to Moab Ut. to rehearse with Ben and Gigi for the Kate Wolf Festival next week. Going back to Nevada City was far more difficult than I thought it would be. Folks say it takes a year after a death to start moving on. That sounds nice but it's really a load of crap. The first place I went upon my arrival was the cemetary to see dad. I just stood there shaking.

A whole year can you belive it, I can't. Joanna is doing well and it was nice to see Brendan and Morrigan. We are scatterd about so,so we don't get a chance to see each other that often. We sat around with a few close friends , told stories and stuffed our faces with barbecued chicken.

I am now focused on Next weekend and the Kate Wolf festival. Bobette and I will drive down on Thursday to see Joanna before heading to Laytonville. Rehearsal went well. It was the first time we had all played together in fact it was the first time Ben had met Gigi. A good friend of ours bought a place in Moab that is void of furniture so it was a great place to jam. All weekend we jammed, hiked around and jammed. It's a bummer that none of us live in the same city let alone the same state.
But things are coming along.
Her is the line up of songs that we are going to do

Daddy What's a Train
Eddie's Song
Going Away
Aces,Straight and Flushes
Carolina Pines - Kate's song
Green Rolling Hills of West Virgina
I Think of You
Long Gone - A song that I wrote for dad
Trumpet Vine _ Kate's song
If I Could Be The Rain - Maybe
and assorted stories and memories

If any of you come please do stop by and say hi.
If there is internet at the site I will post next weekend
Thanks.
Duncan

Howdy

Hello, I trust that everybody had a good May Day. Our local May Day event had to postponed due to rain. We worked all week on building a boss pinata for the little ones to take a whack at so we were a little bummed when the rain settled in. We'll give it a go next weekend.

Gigi Love and I did a house concert last night here in Salt Lake. Actually it was mostly Gigi. She did here thing and then we did a few songs together. We sang Aces Straights and Flushes, Daddy What's a Train, The Green Rolling Hills of West Virgina and she closed with Going Away. She of course was perfect, for me it was the first time to play and sing in front of folks. Needles to say I was a little shaky but I got through it and folks were very encouraging. It was a small gathering of thirty or so at our friends John and Tamrika's house. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and Gigi made enough cash to cover her coming up from Durango to rehearse with me for a couple of days and go over things for the Kate wolf Festival in June. Gigi, Ben and I are going to do our Bums on the Plush thing on Sunday at the festival and Dad's old friends Mark Ross, Kuddie and my little brother Brendan are going to do a tribute for dad on Saturday. As far as the music I think it's coming along and with the help of good friends I'm starting to get the hang of it. I will post some pics of the May Day event next week.
Take care.
Duncan

Hello,
Here are some pics from the Portland show from my brother Nick.
Ben Pearl in on my right, Mark Ross is on my left and my little brother Brendan is next to Mark on the banjo.

I have been busy working and helping with plans for the May Day rally on May 2ND. I am going to build a bosses pinata for the little kids to take a whack at.

Things are going well. My friend Gigi is going to come into town from Durango next weekend to rehearse for the Kate wolf festival in June. I hope to see some of you there.

Ken Sanders and I are still working on republishing the original Starlight on the Rails song book. Hopefully it will be out this summer. I think we are going to print some special edition leather bound copies complete with photos inside. I will keep you posted.

Howdy Folks,
Check out this link Matt sent me from the Examiner.com
My friend Gigi Love came into town for a couple of days to jam and hang out. Gigi is one of the Bums on the Plush on the run to the Kate wolf festival in June. That brings up another subject. I have had a few e-mails about using the name Bums on the Plush. The name comes from a poem dad would recite from time to time, I will post it on the side of the blog page. II gave this name a great deal of thought and kept coming back to the time dad and I were traveling up to the North West.
several years back. We stayed over night at the Ashland Springs Hotel in of course Ashland OR. The hotel is a nice piece of work. It was built in 1925 and has been beautifully restored and much more upscale than most places we would stay. After dinner we sat in the lobby next to the fireplace, cocktail in hand, soaking it all in. Dad went on and on about how nice the hotel was and how he was going to go to High Tea the next day at which point I turned to him and asked "so how does it feel to be a bum on the plush" he smiled and laughed.

Please understand I mean no disrespect. In fact I feel the name is quite the opposite. Please do feel free to post your thoughts I am sincerely interested in the opinion of other folks.

I received this from Herb's family and thought I would pass it along.

Herbert Morris Schneider, born April 24, 1921, died February 14, 2009 after a short illness.

Herb was a member of the Merchant Marine, starting as a wiper-oiler in World War II and retiring as chief engineer of the SS Coronado, an oil tanker. He maintained a lifetime interest in machinery and engines of all sorts, from tiny models to the Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C, the world’s largest ship engine. His work at sea took him to ports all over the world, from Alaska to Bangla Desh to Brazil to Marseilles. He was always a stalwart union member.

When his children were young, he worked at a variety of machinist jobs ashore for eighteen years. Once he took his family for a year on a kibbutz in Israel.

When he returned to sea in 1968, it took a Supreme Court decision to get him on a ship. He was denied a Coast Guard security pass for political reasons. That decision was appealed to the Supreme Court, which found that the Coast Guard had exceeded its authority in investigating Herb’s or any other seaman’s beliefs and opinions. This action brought to an end almost twenty years of Coast Guard blacklisting.

Herb had a lifelong interest in archaeology. He talked of driving a tractor with an archaeologist in attendance during his year on the kibbutz, turning up potshards as he plowed. In the early 1970s he spent over a year as mechanic in charge at the Ozette archaeological dig on the coast of the Olympic Peninsula, maintaining all the pumps and machinery on site. He was the only person there who did not have at least a college degree, but maintained that he was much better paid than any of the graduate students.

He enjoyed traveling with his wife of over 50 years, Shirley McDevitt Schneider. They made numerous trips to Israel and to Europe as well as travels to the Panama Canal and to Asia.

After retirement he worked for many years as a volunteer on Sandy Bradley’s Potluck radio show, forming friendships with Sandy Bradley, the Canote brothers, and Utah Phillips among many others. He helped to organize a retirees’ local in his union, the Marine Engineers Benefit Association (MEBA). He also became active in Volunteers to Outdoor Washington , helping to build and maintain the Iron Goat Trail on Stevens Pass. He led a very active life, hiking and exploring by car up to within days of his death.

Herbert was the son of Felix Schneider and Emma Solomon Schneider Tarshis of Seattle and was predeceased by his wife Shirley. He is survived by his companion, Connie Phelps of Seattle, his sister, Ann Pincus of Sonoma CA, his children Franz Schneider of Hollister CA, Maggie Kadet of Spokane, Wolfe Schneider of Buckley WA, and Reba Schneider of Seattle, as well as seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and many nephews and cousins.

Hello,
I guess I might ass well let everyone in on a project that has been rattling around in my mind for awhile now. I have been trying to figure out away to keep dad's work and songs going forward and also get the chance to meet so many of dad's old friends that are strewn about the country. So, I have come up with " Bums on the Plush " a kind of one man co-op with the idea that were ever I am I could play some of the small old places dad played with some of his old friends. It would be my own sort of roving tribute to dad. Why Bums on the Plush you may ask. Well in a way we are all bums on the plush in that we benefit everyday from the work and labor of those who went before us. Trust me I know that I get the chance to do the things I do because of who my dad was and I have no grand allusions of storming the world just busking my way around for a few weeks next winter, getting a taste of the road and meeting some of you in person.

But first things first.

Now being green as corn I know that I have a lot of work to do before I am ready for such road trip. If you would like I will keep the blog updated as I go through the next few months getting ready for the Kate Wolf Festival in June. I have to be honest,I have know idea if this is something I can do let alone be good at and I have know idea where this train is headed. But as long as folks are kind enough to give me the opportunity to test the waters I know that it would be regretful not to try. So there you have it. Please do keep in touch along the way. All of the kind words and support from everyone truly are the foundation for my next adventure.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact Anna Kapechuk or Susan Tanner
at Righteous Babe Records – phone 716-852-8020
anna@righteousbabe.com / susan@righteousbabe.com
label website: www.righteousbabe.com
Album release date: February 24, 2009

Folksingers Honor Bruce “Utah” Phillips with New Double CD

In his life, Utah Phillips was many things – soldier, hobo, activist, pacifist, union organizer, storyteller, songwriter. He was an oral historian who documented the events of the working class and turned them into stories and songs. And in the folk tradition, he passed them on to others.

On February 24, Righteous Babe Records continues that tradition with Singing Through The Hard Times, a two-CD set that celebrates the music that Utah sang and loved. Included are performances from Emmylou Harris and Mary Black, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, John McCutcheon, Rosalie Sorrels, Gordon Bok, Ani DiFranco, Magpie, Jean Ritchie and many others – folksingers whose music springs from the same rich vein of the people’s history that Phillips chronicled throughout his life.

Of the thirty-nine songs on the album, all but ten are brand new recordings, and many of the older recordings are rare. While most of the songs were written by Phillips, some, like “Dump The Bosses Off Your Back” (sung by fellow songwriter and labor organizer Si Kahn) are folksongs relevant to Phillips’ life and passions. A few have never been recorded before, including the title track, which Utah wrote in 2003 for his local Peace Center in Grass Valley, California. The song’s lyrics, about facing hard times together, ring strongly in the face of current events:

And when the war clouds gather it’s so easy to get angry
And just as hard not to be afraid
But you know in your own heart no matter what happens,
You just can’t turn your back and walk away.

So hand in hand together we help each other carry
The light of peace within us every day
And if we can learn to live it – to walk and talk and give it
That world of peace won’t be so far away

We are singing through the hard times, singing through the hard times,
Working for the good times to come.


The project itself started as a way to help Utah through his own hard times. Last year, folksinger Dan Schatz spoke with fellow musicians Kendall and Jacqui Morse at a musicians’ gathering about putting together a CD to help Phillips defray medical expenses. Phillips had been ill for some time when the project began, and died in May of 2008. “It was a blow to lose Utah,” said Schatz. “It gave the project a wistful feeling, knowing that he would never hear the final result of so much love, or hold the CDs in his own hands. We do know that he was very pleased and excited about what was going on. It meant a lot to him that his songs would continue to live for years to come.”

All purchases of Singing Through the Hard Times continue the folk tradition of creating community through music. All proceeds from sales of Singing Through the Hard Times directly benefit Utah’s family.