Episodes

Thursday Aug 24, 2023
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
I've heard from so many people asking for my response to this song that I had to listen to it, learn it, make a couple minor edits to it, cover it, and write an essay about it.

Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Rich Men North of Richmond (adapted)
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
So many people have asked me over the past few weeks what a leftwing version of the song, "Rich Men North of Richmond" would sound like, that this morning I actually got around to listening to this beautiful, powerful song in full. There were a couple lines i changed -- but just a couple. Just the ones where Oliver Anthony was punching down instead of up.
I haven't improved at all on Anthony's gorgeous voice and delivery, or the excellent quality of his overall songwriting, but hopefully I've made a minor improvement on this song with these little changes. This is called the folk process, this is what people do to my songs all the time as well. I don't know Oliver Anthony and I'm sure he's very busy lately, with his song having gotten tens of millions of views all of a sudden, but I hope if he ever discovers my slightly revised version of his song, he'll like it.
For the record, here is Oliver Anthony's original second verse section:
I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat
And the obese milkin' welfare
Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds
Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down
Here's how I changed it:
I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat
And the corporations milkin' welfare
If you got a silver spoon in your mouth and a private jet
Taxes ought not to pay for all the money you get
Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down

Monday Aug 21, 2023
Getting On Lists and Having Weird Coincidences
Monday Aug 21, 2023
Monday Aug 21, 2023
What makes me jump to the most paranoid-seeming possible conclusion about why I am shadowbanned on Bandcamp with no explanation?

Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Bandcamp or Bannedcamp?
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Saturday Aug 19, 2023
Why am I shadowbanned on Bandcamp, and why does this matter?

Thursday Aug 17, 2023
New song: ”Supply and Demand (Song for the Highland Clearances)”
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
The Scottish Highlands were cleared through methods identical to those that are transforming the US today, brought to you by the same sorts of investor-landlords and the same sort of captured state.

Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Generating Generation Gaps
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Tuesday Aug 08, 2023
Some thoughts on our collective divisions and how they've been implemented.

Saturday Aug 05, 2023
Live in Boulder: What Can Be Gleaned from Old Recordings
Saturday Aug 05, 2023
Saturday Aug 05, 2023
If a photo from twenty years ago can sometimes transport you to a time and place, what about a live concert recording?

Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
The Left: How We Can Build It and How We Can Destroy It
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Whether the left develops an inclusive orientation towards organizing the working class, or the exclusive orientation of a dystopic cancellation cult, is up to all of us.

Saturday Jul 29, 2023
Conflict, Compromise, and Controversy in Centralia
Saturday Jul 29, 2023
Saturday Jul 29, 2023
Whatever it is that happened or is happening now in Centralia, come November, 2023, there will be a new, town-sanctioned IWW plaque in Centralia Square.

Friday Jul 28, 2023
New song: ”Centralia”
Friday Jul 28, 2023
Friday Jul 28, 2023
In November of this year, after 124 years, the statue in the center of Centralia, Washington memorializing the deaths of four members of the American Legion will finally be joined by a plaque remembering IWW organizer, Wesley Everest, and our fellow workers who were sentenced to 25-40 years in prison for defending their union hall as it and other IWW halls across the country were under attack by the same organized groups of war veterans doing the bidding of our newly-formed national secret police force, the FBI -- which was created with the express intention of destroying the radical labor movement.