Clik here to view.
The Last Holiday: On Stevie Wonder, Gil Scott-Heron and the Dream of an MLK...
Today is the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929. It was a long road to the third Monday in January when all 50 states will observe a federal holiday named...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Freedom Singer Len Chandler and the March on Washington
Today marks the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Among those assembled to help Dr. King push forward his dream of racial harmony and economic justice was Len...
View ArticleClik here to view.
San Francisco Names Eighth Poet Laureate: Tongo Eisen-Martin
“My poems are a product of a complete life of resistance,” said Tongo Eisen-Martin when I interviewed him for the San Francisco Examiner in 2018. On Friday, the San Francisco-born movement worker,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bloody Sunday: Freedom Highway Revisited
Five songs into their set at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church, the Staple Singers get down to the real, and the reason, they called their gospel meeting on April 9, 1965. “A few days ago freedom marchers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Which side are you on, boys?
The stats are in: 66 songs, 110 writers, four songs performed by women and seven written by them. The woman pictured between Little Richard and Eddie Cochran is Alis Lesley, an obscure pioneer of rock...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stevie Wonder, Gil Scott-Heron and the road to MLK Day
Today would have been the 94th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a long road to the third Monday of the month when all 50 states will observe a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rest In Power, Len Chandler: Shadow Dream Chaser of Rainbows Died on August...
As anyone with their eyes on the prize knows, the 60th anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was on August 28, 2023. Among those assembled to help Dr. King push forward...
View ArticleClik here to view.
For MLK Day: Len Chandler’s Shadow Dream – in memory of a singer, a movement...
Len Chandler was a protest singer, movement worker and unsung hero from the Civil Rights Era, a frontline campaigner in the fight for voting rights, racial and economic justice and against wars of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“We’re Not Going Back”
Now that it’s September and the clouds here in San Francisco have cleared, I have some news to share: A new publication – the slim volume pictured above is on a new press – and it was made not only in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Complete Unknowns
Martin Luther King Jr., Joan Baez and Harry Belafonte Joan Baez was a junior at Palo Alto High School when she first heard Martin Luther King, Jr. speak at a conference for young Quakers. She would go...
View Article