Teamster sings song for Woody in celebrity hootenanny

Former Teamster Joel Rafael wowed a sold-out audience at the Kennedy Center Sunday night with a stirring performance of Woody Guthrie's "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo."

Rafael once worked as a Teamster concert grunt at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Last night in the nation's capital he shared the stage with Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, Roseanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Ry Cooder, Judy Collins, Donovan and Guthrie's daughter Nora. It was a grand celebration of Guthrie's 100th birthday. And it was a reminder that working people share the same longings and face the same trials now that they did during the Dust Bowl.

Rafael at the Kennedy Center on Sunday.

The artists brought to life (though they were never dead) Guthrie's songs about love, poverty, greed, solidarity, homelessness and hope. The songs express the pride and aspirations of ordinary Americans. During last year's uprising in Wisconsin, "This Land Is Your Land" was a spontaneous favorite of the protesters at the state Capitol.  We fear the message of that great song was lost on some of the affluent Baby Boomers in the audience, who may view it as the quaint soundtrack to a PBS Pledge Week special.

The war on workers still rages. Guthrie's songs still count. One of the first songs John Mellencamp ever learned to play rings truer than ever: "If you ain't got the do re mi, boys, you ain't got the do re mi." He played it last night.

The lyrics to "Union Maid" -- "You can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union" -- mean something important to workers under attack by predatory corporations and their political puppets. The Old Crow Medicine Show performed a rousing version. Ramblin' Jack Elliott's solo "1913 Massacre" reminded us that people sacrificed and died for the right to join a union. And was there ever a more pointed indictment of Wall Street than Rosanne Cash's crystal clear delivery of the final words to "Pretty Boy Floyd": "You won't never see an outlaw/Drive a family from their home?"

Rafael sang for Teamsters more than a year ago during the mammoth rally in Los Angeles. So did another Teamster friend, Tom Morello, who sang at the Teamsters convention in 2011. They were both on stage during the grand finale last night, all the artists gathered to sing "This Land is Your Land." (Look for it on PBS with Morello's F-bombs bleeped out.)

Two days before the show, Rafael, his wife Lauren, and his band toured the International Brotherhood of Teamsters headquarters. They studied the historical photos and artifacts displayed throughout the building. They were delighted to take business cards that read "James P. Hoffa."

Radoslav Lorkovic played piano and accordion during the Guthrie concert. After the concert he said he appreciated the tour of the Teamsters building. His family had been miners. It was very moving, he said.

We hope they return.

Teamster troubadour to play for Woody at Kennedy Center

Thousands of Teamsters remember Joel Rafael from his performance at the March 26, 2011 rally for workers in Los Angeles. Now this former Teamster is taking his show to an even grander venue: The Kennedy Center. On Oct. 14, he'll participate in a hootenanny celebrating Woody Guthrie's centennial along with Arlo Guthrie, Tom Morello, Ry Cooder, Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle.

Rafael is a longtime Guthrie aficionado. He told TeamsterNation that Guthrie is getting the recognition he deserves after being called a traitor and Communist during his lifetime:

Woody Guthrie is finally being recognized as one of America's greatest literary treasures. He was a prolific wroter, who wrote songs and letters and poems. He wrote prolifically on every subject...instead of radical, no-talent hobo... nobody's calling him that any more.

Guthrie championed unions, said Rafael, once a Teamster as a concert grunt at the San Diego Wild Animal Park ini 1985. Now Rafael is a member of the Musician's Union Local 47 and the Traveling Musician's Union Local 1000.

Woody Guthrie was a union champion. He was the original union champion. ... Somehow it doesn't matter what he's talking about, he gets the subject back to unions.

Protest music, says Rafael, is alive ... and if not well, at least it's getting stronger. The reason: widespread economic distress, which includes the worst drought since the Dust Bowl of 1936 that Guthrie sang about. Rafel recently contributed to an Occupy album (called "Occupy This Album") along with 98 other musicians. 

Rafeel and Hoffa at the 2011 LA rally.

Music can make people realize the seriousness of economic inequality, he said.

People are so busy. The style of life is so all-encompassing. There's not enough time in the day. That keeps people so busy that it's easy to not see how far off into this control by corporations we've already fallen into...They don't believe how serious it is...

Rafael wrote recently about Guthrie in Music Radar and Elmore.

He's totally stoked and thrilled to be part of the Kennedy Center tribute to Woody Guthrie.

We've been in the trenches for Woody for two decades. Now all this stuff has come to light. We were so lucky to get on this Kennedy Center show.

Rafael's new album, his eighth, came out on July 17. "America Come Home" has been called "a wonderful request to restore the American Dream." You can find out more about Joel Rafael and his music on his Facebook page here.

Billy Bragg leads Wisconsin union thugs in song (video)

Wisconsinites got some badger Bragg-ing rights yesterday.

Pro-union protest music legend Billy Bragg joined dozens for Solidarity Sing Along, a musical protest gathering held every weekday at the state capitol in Madison.

Bragg posted this photo along with the following comment on his Facebook page, which was shared on the Shit Scott Walker Is Doing To My State page:

Doing Woody's Work: Ahead of my show at the Barrymore Theatre tonight, I went down to join the Solidarity Sing-along on the Capitol Steps in Madison, Wisconsin, the crucible of union activism in the USA. They've been singing out against the austerity agenda of Republican Gov. Scott Walker since January 2011

-- Union Thug

Woody Guthrie's New Year's Resolutions, 1942

"Wake up and fight" is our favorite of the 33 resolutions Guthrie wrote when he was 32 years old.

If you can't read them, you can see a clearer version here. They include take bath, shine shoes, read lots good books, shave, write a song a day, make up your mind, save dough, dream good  ... and help win war -- beat fascism.

And while we're at it, here's a photo gallery of Guthrie roaming the streets of New York City.