Phil Ochs - We Need You Back!

Listen to "Cakewalk to Baghdad" by Country Joe and Band. There's also Steve Earl,Micheal Franti and Spearhead, Chumbawumba, new Ricky Lee Jones, Jim Page, David Roviks, John McCutcheon, new Infernal Noise music, Michelle Shocked, many more.

Jim Page is a Seattle based singer story song writer who speaks his mind and travels all over the country. He has supported himself as a folksinger for the last 30 years and he is writing and singing on current topics. He wrote a master piece "Didn't We" about shutting down the WTO in Seattle and he has numerous CDS.
He will even be in Portland in September. It is on the INDY calendar.

And they're not too hard to find, though some people seem to strongly rooted in the past. Here's a couple to get you started.

Ryan Harvey
 http://www.ryanharvey.cjb.net/
 http://www10.brinkster.com/ryanharvey/sounds.htm

David Rovics
 http://www.davidrovics.com/
 http://www.soundclick.com/pro/?BandID=111310

Thanks! I wish these folks would get more exposure. I will check them out. Has anyone thought about setting up a site with links to these artists?

A lot of folks in the Hootenanny are good choices, as it's a songbook of mostly EF! campfire songs. You can see the whole book at Rebel Folk. Some of my favorites are Desert Rat, The Levellers, Flying Folk Army, Timothy Hull, Casey Neill (less so these days), Seize the Day.

i cant remember the title, but utah phillips has a song that was one of the best political social awareness song ive ever heard.i heard it on a radio station and it was immediately likeable. it mentioed just about everything you could think of in regards to corporate madness.

...we still have the likes of U. Utah Phillips, Tom Paxton, Faith Petric, Pat Humphries and Sandy O, Kim and Reggie Harris, Magpie, Mark Levy, to name a few.

Check out  http://georgemann.home.att.net/hail2.html

Billy Bragg!!!!

You mean there are other people who remember Phil Ochs? Thought I was all alone. (I did read once that Sean Penn is a Phil Ochs fan, though. . .)

Try Ozomatli. NPR covered them just yesterday, but they've been around for awhile (check the soundtrack to Drew Barrymore's 1999 movie, "Never been kissed."

 http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3856489

Tom Lehrer gave up doing political satire and returned to teaching math after Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Lehrer said that, as a satirist, he couldn't top that.

Your comment about missing Phil Ochs may have more to do with the problems of today's mainstream-corporate-controlled-media than with any real lack of protesting troubadours.
30 years ago, Viacom, Clear Channel and all their cronies didn't control everything that we heard on the radio. And there was a cultural, societal bent toward ending the (VietNam) war and finding new answers to old problems. Now we are in a more tightly controlled(& moving toward a facistic) culture. Thank our lucky stars for KBOO and Indymedia.

dozens of songs by lots of artists.

 http://www.protest-records.com/

anna roland is from st. louis and soon to be in olympia ... great political folk artist! www.annaroland.com

evan greer is also pretty amazing ... probably at www.evangreer.com

there is also another women named thistle (check out www.cdbaby.com)

highly recommend ryan harvey (see above)

immortal technique's song "the cause of death" is a good entry into his work.

Let's not forget Chris Chandler & Anne Feeney, or Danny Dollinger, Dan Bern, Timothy Hull, Ani DiFranco, Eliza Gilkyson, Iris Dement.....
We are also blessed with 2 fine folk venues on Mississippi-Mississippi Studios, where Jim Brunberg (box set)provides portland with great artists, reasonable prices, and a fantastic, intimate space, and Mississippi Pizza, also a fine friendly venue.
Robyn Shanti is always good for some inspiration 12noon thursday on KBOO.
And as far as loved ones lost, Steve Goodman's "Election Year Rag" puts it as succintly as I've ever heard: "The winner is always someone else, and the loser is always us...."
Dave Carter didn't write a whole lot of political stuff before his sad and untimely passing, but those of you who've heard his last completed song, the anti-war/war toys/sweatshop labor anthem "Hey Ho," well, I don't think Dylan ever wrote a better song. Don't miss Tracy Grammer when she plays in town.

85 years old and still fighting the bastards! You go, Pete!

Ochs helped me survive a recent road trip into Los Angeles. He had many songs about L.A., city of tomorrow. Ochs long cinamatic narratives are under appreciated. Edmonds in triple set liner notes misses inscriptions, for example, of"Crucifixion" ...largely about war and the violence of returning war veteran in the non-colony, to the imperial city. Kennedy is not central here...sorry Ben. Shit heads KBOO don't play 2 hour all Phil Ochs sets like they used to. KPFA Berkeley still plays long Phil Ochs sets. Bout had it with KBOO.

PATTI SMITH
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/08/295017.shtml

NOFX did a GREAT song called "Idiot Son of an Asshole". It has a very entertaining little video that goes with it. If you go to Google and put in keyword search for Idiot Son of an Asshole, it'll take you there.

Sorry, but in my opinion NOFX is singlehandedly responsible for the DE-politicization of punk rock. Just absolute garbage. All their songs are jokes, none are serious. God, I just hate 'em with a passion. Sorry.

I would like to echo the choices of Jim Page (!), the Hootenanny artists (Desert Rat!), Chumbawamba (new record is amazing), new Patti Smith especially (see link above), and Le Tigre.

My favorite socially concious band is the Subhumans, although they dont have any current stuff. Against me! is really good too.

now for shamless promotion:
I'm also starting a silly satirical folk group with songs like "to be a republican", "I love my bike" and the oh so great anthem of The Dalles, its been called "woody guthrie on speed" Name is yet to be announced and if you want to know anything about it in the future email me at  stickboi@gmail.com once i have some recordings i'll let you know.

His new album "The Revolution Starts Now" is just out. Besides the title song, most of the songs are political including "Rich Man's War" and a "love song" for "Condi, Condi" and:

Fuck the FCC
Fuck the FBA
Fuck the CIA
Living in the Motherfucking USA!

Though not a "political" songwriter per se, check out James Low's "Soledad" from his "Mexiquita" album. An amazing, highly class conscious song. I don't think James is playing his weekly Laurelthirst gig anymore, and I know at the moment he's on a cross-country tour, but he's well worth seeing. Check him out when he's in PDX again this fall.

Check out Dead Prez, or The Coup. Zack de la Rocha (formerly of Rage Against The Machine) has done some great raps with KRS-1 and others. dred-I has some excellent raps that were posted here on PIMC.

If you would like to hear many mp3s that are very political:
 http://www.benfrank.net/nuke/Free_Peace_mp3s.html

As for writers, Kurt Vonnegut is *still* churning out good anti-war pieces.

Portland's own Joe Sacco has written/drawn some amazing political graphic novels (OK OK: "comic books") such as PALESTINE and SAFE AREA GORAZDE.

Respectfully submitted.

gringo already mentioned Dead Prez. I'd add Portland's own Lifesavas (top-notch stuff), even Cannibal Ox and Aesop Rock (from the Def Jux label) dwell on social and political issues. KRS-ONE has always been political.

Floater and War have both taken time during their sets to speak out against the current administration/general injustice, last time I saw them.

Come on down to Ashland, Oregon for a unique show on Sunday, October 24, 2004 and see Sonny Ochs (Phil's sister) MC a show with great musicians, each doing one song of Phil's and one of their own original songs. It is a fundraiser for Peace House, a local non-profit non-violent resource center for peace, justice and sustainability. Check out www.peacehouse.net for more info and how to get tickets.

Check out some of these British artists. Some have been around for a while, but without a
doubt real class counscious content.

Leon Rossleson  http://www.kar83.dial.pipex.com/leon.html

Attila the Stockbrocker  http://www.attilathestockbroker.com/

Robb Johnson  http://www.robbjohnson.co.uk/

There are good links on their web sites

I don't know why I never hear Peter Case or T-Bone Burnett on any of KBOO's folkie shows. They've been favorites of mine for years.

I did discover Anne Feeney because of KBOO, however.

And I concur that Ozomatli is awesome, 'specially live. 8)

PDX local Jenn Rawling tells it like it is with a beautiful voice, guitar and spirit.

also Bob Marley will always be teaching us

so ryan harvey has a bit of work here on pdx imc archives....check these out:

 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/08/295011.shtml the last 8 or so minutes of this has a ryan harvey song (dont just vote) and some other music afterwards

 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/08/295013.shtml this is an interview with harvey, and afterwards --the last five minutes or so, is a ryan harvey song (open letter to gw bush)

 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/02/280785.shtml this is a video of ryan harvey singing (cops of the world)

 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/04/286854.shtml some lyrics (ballad of the biscuit fire)

 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/04/286156.shtml and this is the above song live