Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 141

Congressman Threatens to Throw Reporter Off Balcony

Watch the aptly named Rep. Grimm from Staten Island threaten to break a local TV reporter "in half" on camera (which he obviously thought was turned off) at conclusion of an interview last night when he refused to answer a question about alleged campaign finance abuses.  Repercussions? And anyone calling him a "thug"?

Grimm: "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this f-----g balcony."
Scotto: "Why? I just wanted to ask you..."
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: "If you ever do that to me again..."
Scotto: "Why? Why? It’s a valid question."
[[cross talk]]
Grimm: "No, no, you're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll break you in half. Like a boy."

They Been Berliners

Daughter Jeni has just moved from Nantes to Berlin (east side) with husband Stephane and son Jules.  Here's Stephane and Jules at the Brandenburg Gate.  Jen observes that police had just kicked out people who dress up as former U.S. and Soviet soldiers for picture with gullible tourists.  Below: our man Ludwig in famous memorial in park.

Billy Bragg's Tribute to Pete Seeger--And What's Needed Now

Taped yesterday.  Another thing they had in common:  each wrote new lyrics for Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." -- G.M.

More Pot Holders in the Kitchen

In my version of a humble brag, let me note here that in 1968, as a member of the 4H club  Cadiz Country Cousins,  I catapulted from the Harrison County fair to win first prize at the Ohio State Fair, in the category of Tasty Meals. The menu featured ham loaf and perfection salad, always a hit at local pot luck dinners. But the challenges of pleasing a county fair judge will be of an entirely different order for those who enter the Denver County Fair this year, which is sponsoring several marijuana-themed events. Among them: best marijuana plant (judged for plant quality, not potency); best brownie recipe, and best homemade bong. Best pot luck dinner is not on the agenda, so far.
"We look at the trends and what's happening in our city, and we want to reflect that," said Tracy Weil, the fair's marketing and creative director, in an interview with USA TODAY Network.
My fellow 4H-ers (ages 8 to 18) won't be able to compete; participants must be 21 or older to enter the "pot pavilion." -- B.B.

With Pete at My First Big D.C. Demo

It happened when I was in college, November 15, 1969, the biggest antiwar protest ever, more than a quarter million in Washington.  Jon Wiener writes about it at The Nation today and mentions (and I remember it clearly) Pete Seeger leading crowd in John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance," joined by Peter, Paul and Mary and then none other than "Sing Along With" Mitch Miller--he waves his arms and smacks Mary, even.  Jon may not know there's footage of it but I've found it here, very close though no sound.  Coretta Scott King and George McGovern also show up in the brief clip.  The night before we'd paraded past the Capitol, carrying candles and small signs with names of a U.S. soldier who'd died in Vietnam, and then dropped the signs in caskets. --G.M.

Just a Damn Banjo-Picker

Here's full transcript of Pete Seeger's appearance before the Red-hunters of HUAC in 1955, when he refused to cooperate, politely, and was sentenced to a year in jail for contempt.  When asked what he did for a living he replied:  "Well, I have worked at many things, and my main profession is a student of American folklore, and I make my living as a banjo picker—sort of damning, in some people’s opinion." I love this:

MR. TAVENNER: Mr. Seeger, prior to your entry in the service in 1942, were you engaged in the practice of your profession in the area of New York?
MR. SEEGER: It is hard to call it a profession. I kind of drifted into it and I never intended to be a musician, and I am glad I am one now, and it is a very honorable profession, but when I started out actually I wanted to be a newspaperman, and when I left school --
CHAIRMAN WALTER: Will you answer the question, please?
MR. SEEGER: I have to explain that it really wasn't my profession, I picked up a little change in it.
CHAIRMAN WALTER: Did you practice your profession?
MR. SEEGER: I sang for people, yes, before World War II, and I also did as early as 1925.

But, of course, his key statement was:

I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this. I would be very glad to tell you my life if you want to hear of it.

 He did offer to sing them any song, adding:

I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody. That is the only answer I can give along that line.

But later:

I decline to discuss, under compulsion, where I have sung, and who has sung my songs, and who else has sung with me, and the people I have known. I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent this implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, or I might be a vegetarian, make me any less of an American. I will tell you about my songs, but I am not interested in telling you who wrote them, and I will tell you about my songs, and I am not interested in who listened to them.

Giants Who Believed in the Little Guy

Perhaps the two greatest folk heroes of the century in rare photos together, Pete Seeger and his good pal Woody Guthrie.  (See my many Pete-related videos earlier on this blog today, co-starring Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Leonard Cohen, the Byrds, more.)

Pete's Last Show?

It was probably last November 14, and aptly, for a lefty cause, WBAI radio, at the Cutting Room in New York.  Here below he does a bit of his "Turn, Turn, Turn." (He also did it for his 94th birthday las May.) And below that:  the Byrds #1 hit from 1965.

Amid Fracking Boom: Red Hot 'Man Camps' and Not Much Else

It sounded pretty good to recession-battered Ohioans far too used to double-digit unemployment rates: back in September 2011, oil and gas industry officials predicted that efforts to tap the Utica shale would result in more than 200,000 new jobs in four years. But as the Columbus Dispatch reports, three years after the first Utica drilling permit was issued, the most tangible signs of a shale boom are transient workers living in "man camps" (photo left of one in North Dakota). Even in the counties with the most drilling activity--including my home county of Harrison--the data shows much-increased sales tax revenue, but a red-hot labor market? Not so much. In the 4 counties with the most Utica shale well permits, the number of employed residents is smaller today than it was in 2007.
“The deep-down question people need to ask is, ‘With this activity that’s going on in the community, to what extent is it benefiting the community?’ said Tim Kelsey, an agricultural economist at Penn State University who has studied the effects of shale development on his state. “If it is non-local companies bringing in non-local supplies and non-local workers, then there isn’t much of an effect on the area.”  --B.B.

Pete on Blacklisting

Amazing mid-1960s interview with young Robert MacNeill (later of MacNeil-Lehrer fame) on his troubles with the anti-Commie crusade and serving time in jail.