(Airing Oct. 26 – Nov. 1) Tedeschi Trucks Band and Joseph Arthur
By Helen ~ October 25, 2011
Hello everyone,
Great show this week – We welcome musical guests Joseph Arthur and The Tedeschi Trucks Band. A little about each of them:
Joseph Arthur is a virtuoso musician, writer, painter and poet (in no particular order.) He’s also terribly funny, sincere, quirky, witty and tall (plus, as my dad used to say, he’s easy on the eyes). Very entertaining guy. And one who likes to improvise (he invites Nick and me to join him on a song we’ve never heard before . . tune in to see how we do!).
Both Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have made solo stops in eTown over the years, but this particular visit is the first for the newly-formed husband & wife duo’s all-star band. Individually, Derek and Susan are both amazing performers on their own (in 2010 they each received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album), but together, sheer magic happens; and this time is no exception: they bring the house down.
There’s also a special grassroots hero from Illinois featured in the E-Chievement Award segment of the show. Tons of good stuff this week. This is gonna be a good one. Be sure to join us!
In a different vein: I just watched an amazing and moving documentary with Nick the other night, called ‘The Freedom Riders.” I strongly recommend it. It was on PBS. I imagine you might be able to rent it as well. If you haven’t seen it, you should, it’s informative . . and shocking. It covers in depth the Freedom Riders movement of the early 60’s that was so instrumental in shifting the consciousness of the country and winning the eventual (albeit reluctant) support of the federal government in favor of the civil rights cause.
It’s hard to wrap your brain around the fact that this event happened so recently. Nick turned to me at one point and said, ‘You know, this all was going on during our lifetime.’ We were both little kids and neither of us really understood what was going on at the time. Still, it blows me away to realize that such deep and vile racism and violence was alive and well in this country, such a short time ago. And of course it’s still going on, though we’ve come a long way since then.
I know we’ve all read and heard and studied in school about the civil rights movement in the US, but this film delves into it all in such a powerful and personal way. It’s extremely well done. Nick and I both came away feeling we learned a lot. I had no idea it was as dangerous, as long lasting and as grueling as it was, for first twenty-one young folks who began the whole thing and eventually for those hundreds of people, black and white, who participated over time. They just would not back down, supported in their belief that what they were doing was right. They knew that things could no longer go on the way they’d been, that injustice had to be addressed.
In an odd sort of way, there’s a modest correlation there with the Occupy Wall Street protests. To be clear, while there’s no current danger to life and limb with the OWS movement, it is also about people reacting to injustice and wanting to take a stand of some kind. It’s portrayed in the media as just a bunch of fringe people, but the fact is the people who’ve been participating are from all walks of life, all ages, all parts of the country (and the world, actually, it’s up to something like 900 cities where the makeshift movement has sprung up) and from all levels of economic and social status. It’s collective frustration with the way things have been and the real desire to see the average Joe/Jill get a fair shake.
Its clear people are just sick of all of the division and hate that’s been pumped out these past few years. They want to see real change. It’s not a bunch of deadbeats. It’s real people. Some of the participants are among the unemployed, its true, but of those many want to work, there are just no jobs. Others are among those of us lucky enough to have a job, but they want to support those who are desperately seeking employment, the ones who are struggling. I think a lot of us can see that there is a deep imbalance right now in this country. And the middle class, the foundation of this country, is suffering terribly. As far as Occupy Wall Street goes, I know that currently there is no formal agenda, no set of articulated concerns, and OWS has been criticized for that. But then, that’s how the Tea Party started out, right? So we’ll see.
Let me know if you’ve participated in an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. You can find me here, or on Facebook or Twitter. I’d love to hear from you. And check out “The Freedom Riders” if you can. It’s powerful stuff. Let me know what you think.
Talk to you next week. Best always, Helen
One Response to (Airing Oct. 26 – Nov. 1) Tedeschi Trucks Band and Joseph Arthur
i participated (very proudly) in the brooklyn bridge march where so many were arrested. it was a peaceful march & it was a very diverse group of people. my son, who is a social work major @ temple university, marched with me. he was so excited and impressed that he recruited a few friends & they came a couple of weekends later and camped out with the occupiers. i am also hoping to get back there. a lot of media portrays the ows protesters as not having any solid demands. this is not true. most americans understand exactly why they are down there. i am so proud of these people!!!!