Gathering the Local 1000 at Highlander by John Mccutcheon When I Was a Fresh-Faced 19-Year-Old, May 18
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WINTER/SPRING 2011 Gathering the Local 1000 at Highlander by John McCutcheon When I was a fresh-faced 19-year-old, May 18. The Executive Board will have its hitchhiking the mountains of Southern day-long retreat on Monday, May 16th. Appalachia looking for banjo players, Local 1000 stalwart Bernice John- one of the first places I stopped was the son Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in Highlander Center near Knoxville, TN. the Rock, will lead a gathering. Guy & They were holding their 40th Anniversary Candie Carawan will conduct a work- Celebration and Guy Carawan offered me shop. There will be singing, informa- an invitation. It was there I got my first tional sessions, Labor history perspec- serious taste of unionism. Members of tives, and great food and fellowship. Miners for Democracy were there. MFD The cost is a mere $200 and covers was a reform movement within the United all events, food, and dormitory lodg- Mine Workers, fighting to defeat Tony around the country, held their founding ing. (There are hotels/motels nearby Boyle, the corrupt head of the UMW, with meeting. for private accommodation). Space is Arnold Miller in the wake of the murder It was there, years earlier, that blacks extremely limited (35 maximum!) so of their initial candidate, Jock Yablonski. and whites first met (illegally, at the time) sign up today at www.local1000.com There were veterans of early efforts to to strategize the Civil Rights Movement. and click on Highlander Retreat. This is a organize miners. Old miners who’d fought It was there that Zilphia Horton, Myles’ members-only event and you must be in alongside Mother Jones. Florence Reese, wife, gathered improvisations on an old good standing, i.e. current with your dues. the writer of “Which Side Are You On,” hymn and helped write and disseminate There is limited space, if available, for was there. Rosa Parks was there. And “We Shall Overcome.” It was there Woody spouses/partners. future Local 1000 member Utah Phillips Guthrie took the young Pete Seeger to It has long been a dream of mine to staged a workshop/rally giving the most meet Myles Horton. It was there that min- gather our Local at Highlander. As this is impassioned appeal for unionism I’d ers with Black Lung met with millworkers my final year as your president, I’d like to ever heard. Myles Horton, Highlander’s with Brown Lung to help them understand extend a personal invitation to join your founder, took me under his wing and gave the political ropes of gaining help through sisters and brothers at this amazing place. me guidance, encouragement, and more OSHA and government programs. We are unique in the AFM in that we are than a couple swift kicks in the ass. Music and culture has always been the only “non-geographic Local.” Kind of Highlander became a place of central to Highlander’s organizing philos- an oxymoron, isn’t it? Unlike other Locals resource, relaxation, and rejuvenation for ophy. It was there that so many musicians we don’t have a Union Hall where we can me over the years. It was there that Guy learned how to be instrumental, rather gather to wrestle with issues, jointly solve and Candie Carawan gathered regional than merely ornamental, to social move- problems, or imagine our future, face-to-face. musicians to organize support for grass- ments in this country and beyond. Most of us have never met many other roots movements around Appalachia. It And it is there that Local 1000 is Local members. Here’s your chance. We was there I met Nimrod Workman, one holding its first Retreat, a gathering of our designed it mid-week so as not to interfere of my great mentors and the great- membership for resource, relaxation, and with weekend gigging. The location, in the est unionist I’ve ever had the honor of rejuvenation. Highlander is hosting this springtime hills of east Tennessee, is stun- knowing. It was there that the Southern historic event Tuesday, May 17th – Thursday, ning. The Center itself is wonderfully rich in Mountain Musicians Coop, one of many 19th. A Membership Meeting of Local 1000 history. And the company is sure to be the efforts to organize musicians regionally will take place at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, best. See you there! New Deal is the official organ of Local 1000. Please read it carefully. INSIDE: Page 2—On the Road with Dave Lippman • Meeting Notice• Page 3—50 Ways to Leave Your Union • Get Together Now Pages 4-5—Supporting Wisconsin Workers • Page 6—The New Local 1000 Recording Contract • Solidarity with People Around the World Page 7—Member News • Page 8—New Deal News On the Road... The Spring Membership Meeting of by Dave Lippman Local 1000 will take place at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, May 18 during the Member Retreat at The Highlander You Can Go Home Again: Center near Knoxville, Tennessee. You Dave Lippman Achieves Homeland Security must be a member in good standing (dues paid up to date) to attend. All my shows subscriber who had produced an early The Spring Executive Board Retreat are organized by post-blacklist Pete Seeger concert; her will be held at The Highlander Center activists from com- son, with whom I played in a band in high on Monday May 16th from noon into the munity peace and school and who produced an album for me evening. justice organizations, in 1998; and a clutch of folks from my frosh many of whom I’ve year with whom I’d had no later contact known for years. whatsoever. These were classmates from Local 1000 on Facebook— Sometimes the folks before I became politically active, so I had http://www.facebook.com/pages/ AFM-Local-1000/144321148933284?ref=ts from nearby towns no ideological link with them; yet they came know each other and and enjoyed it, indicating possible agree- Local 1000 on myspace.com— work together on the ment with my rabidly socially-engaged lyrics. http://www.myspace.com/afmtravelingmusicians concerts, which can Phenomenal and heart-warming. provide the performer Anyway, in this case, not only did some 212-843-8726 with a small gaggle of fellow travelers for a of the event producers know each other, few days. It’s a much less alienating form of but I was able to introduce them to my travel than one-night stands, suitcase and family members who came along for the guitar in hand. People party down in multiple week, and they all had political activities in LOCAL 1000 OFFICERS: settings, almost like you had a real tour bus common. It was as if we were part of some President: with real friends instead of just cable and great ongoing community of concerns and JOHN MCCutcheon beer. Or iPhones and beer. Or a Blackberry pro-activity. All in all, a highlight of my very 404-296-5943 • [email protected] and Twitter… strange career. Secretary-Treasurer: I recently had the great fortune to tour If you live long enough and stay in in both my hometowns. (When I was 13 something like the same circles, you will AMY FIX my family moved – taking me along – from come around again to some of the same 212-843-8726 • [email protected] Seattle to Sacramento.) As I’m now pushing people. They will have enriched their lives Vice President/At-Large Board Member: 61, my old homies are all by living them, and there TRET FURE growed up - and in some will be lots to share, along cases just shy of retiring 608-469-4007 • [email protected] with the simple fact of - yet I still run into people coming full circle to the Canadian Vice President: I haven’t seen since they people you knew when. In KEN WHITELEY were sixteen, or in some my case, I tied together 416-533-9988 • [email protected] cases, two. One of the lat- threads of different parts Midwestern Board Member: ter came with her sister, of my life and re-cemented neither of whom had I some community bonds. SANDY ANDINA seen since 1965, and she Of course you could do this 773-973-3130 • [email protected] later wrote to me “After without being a performer, Western US Board Member: your concert, my child- but I think it happens STEvE Eulberg hood now makes sense.” more if you keep mov- Maybe we’ll now stay in ing (in circles) and keep 970-222-8358 •[email protected] better touch. doing worthwhile things. Eastern US Board Member: In Sacramento the It’s especially precious DEBRA COWAN audience included my when it happens in the old 508-662-9746 • [email protected] original guitar teacher, hometown. an original Sing Out! Top: Dave Lippman as Wild Bill Bailout, Bard of the Bankers: Middle: Portrait of a thinking man; • New Deal Editor: Amy Fix Bottom: Dave Lippman live, as himself. • On the Road Editor: Sue Trainor • Member News Editor: Joe Jencks 2 NEW DEAL is the official organ of the North American Traveling Musicians Union, Local 1000, AFM 50 Ways to Leave Your Union… A Local 1000 Educational Announcement/Reminder by Western US Executive Board Member Steve Eulberg There appears to be a misconcep- There are some consequences for you, quarter ($40) as well as for the cur- tion about leaving union membership that for the office and for the rest of the mem- rent quarter ($40) all at once. needs to be clarified. There are only two bership if you simply stop paying your dues: 3) If you neglect to renew in the suspend- ways to leave an AFM Local: resigning while 1) Because you haven’t communicated ed period, then you will be expelled in good standing, or getting expelled.