This Week with David Rovics

Discussion with Frank Turner

We spend the hour with touring musician, recording artist, singer/songwriter, author, and all-around lovely bloke, Frank Turner.

Discussion with Laura-Marie River Victor Peace

We spend the hour talking trikes, Las Vegas, mental health activism, and poetry, among other things.

Fifth Estate Live with Karen Pickett on the story of Earth First!

We spend the hour talking with longtime organizer, currently working on a book, Karen Pickett.

Discussion with Jane Reynolds, folk punk icon

I talked with the brilliant folk punk phenomenon from Olympia, Washington, Jane Reynolds, also known as Virtual Bird.  We talked about making music, living on the streets, and a variety of other things.

"Ballad of Kett's Rebellion"

I discovered a fantastic song about Kett's Rebellion, which was one of the more significant efforts to fight back against the theft of the commons by the landed gentry in England. I had to learn the song and record a version of it.

New song: "Kelly Butte"

When the automobile came around, the city of Portland, Oregon opened up Kelly Butte as a rock quarry to make gravel to use for paving the streets of the city.  They did not employ anyone to split the rocks, though -- they arrested people off of the streets of the city on all sorts of nonsense charges, and made them split rocks at gunpoint, as prisoners.  This prison rock quarry, run on some of the original land stolen from the original inhabitants, operated like this for almost half a century.  Who are the descendants of the pioneers that were given this land?  We know them well.  Who are the descendants of the rock-splitting indigent prisoners?  Do they live in tents on the sidewalks of the city today?

This is the latest collaboration between me and Virtual Bird.

New song: "When Jesus Came to Laurelhurst Park"

I saw Jesus at Laurelhurst Park one night.

Fifth Estate Live with Fran Shor, author of Passages of Rebellion

We spend the hour with professor Fran Shor, whose debut novel, Passages of Rebellion, which mostly takes place in Minneapolis between 1967-70, is out now.

The Sweeps Stop Here?

As the housing crisis continues to worsen, an especially intersectional solidarity initiative appears to be taking shape at Laurelhurst Park in Portland, Oregon.  You can find this in podcast form by looking for This Week with David Rovics, or in print form in Counterpunch on Tuesday.

"It's Been A Year" (punk rock Virtual Bird rendition)

A song written on the Covid-19 one-year anniversary, this rendition is all Virtual Bird, vocals and music.  There are other versions out there, including a solo guitar one, and one where Virtual Bird plays the music and I sing.  But this version is my favorite.