With the Inauguration looming ahead, as well as our national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, todays show featured a number of songs about change, civil rights and helping each other.
My in-studio guests were Chuck E. Costa and Peter Siegel, and I’d like to thank each of them for traveling a good distance to be on the show and share some live music on a snowy day in Teaneck.
New and highly recommend – Aztec Two-Steps “Time It Was” – it is great to finally be able to share their brillant renditions of Simon & Garfunkel classics. I had the honor of having them on my program before their first S&G Songbook show, and it is a treat to hear how the songs have evolved and become part of the Aztec Two-Step songbook!
Also, Tom Rush “What I Know” – finally, a studio album after 35 years!! He is still one of the finest songwriters and performers around! Last but certainly not least – check out Mason Brown’s “When Human’s Walked the Earth” – a perfect example of how traditional music evolves into contemporary! Mason is an exciting artist!
During the last 15 minutes of the show, I received a call from a “listener” who felt I was playing too many “of those songs” with “foolish ideas” and then started shouting racial slurs before hanging up. It is comforting to know that songs about civil rights can still effect people and this individual’s sick attempt to continue with his racist ideas have become the exception rather than the prevailing attitude. Time has changed since those days, and great progress has been made – faster than most of us would have believed even a few years ago – but a phone call like that reminds me that there is still a lot of change needed in this world – and I thank the singer-songwriters who continue to teach and inspire and work for a better nation and world. I was on the air while Pete Seeger, his grandson Tao, and Bruce Springsteen led tens of thousands of people in singing “This Land is Your Land” at the Lincoln memorial during the Obama Inaugural concert. To hear Pete singing the song with all the so-called “radical verses” had me in tears when I watched the recorded program hours later. The fight took a long time, and it isn’t over, but there is much to celebrate these days. I am so thankful that Pete was there as both a witness to history and a reminder to all of us that the fight can be won.
(Tune in to TRADITIONS every Sunday from 3 to 6pm Eastern Time
over WFDU-FM 89.1 in the NYC/Northern New Jersey area
or on the web at www.wfdu.fm. A Sing Out! Radio Partner)
ARTIST Tune / Song
ALBUM LABEL -Website
Theme: HARVEY REID Dirty Dish Rag
Summer’s Voice Red Sea Records – www.arlonbennett.com
GUEST: CHUCK E. COSTA performed “At the Drawing Board”, “The Goalie”, and other songs live in the studio, plus we heard the following songs from Chuck’s most recent CD:
CHUCK E. COSTA When the City Comes
In This World: Looking Back, Moving Forward Sliced Bread Records – www.magpiemusic.com
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Eyes on the Prize
While I’m Here self – www.zacharystevenson.com
TOM RUSH Casey Jones
What I Know Appleseed Recordings – www.appleseedmusic.com
GUEST: Peter Siegel, who performed “Ragged But Right”, “Take it From Dr. King”, ” The Local’s Leaving Town” and we shared the following from Peter’s recent CD:
PETER SIEGEL The Wrath of Zinnia
Living in Rome self -www.petersiegel.com
PETER SIEGEL New Money / Monroe’s Farewell
Living in Rome self -www.petersiegel.com
PEGGY SEEGER Obama is the One For Me
Mission Street Project Vol. 2 Hudson Harding Music –
ANTJE DUVEKOT Hold On
Ron Olesko
WFDU-FM
1000 River Road
