Is 'Money' the root of America's downfall?

If you will notice this one dollar bill with George Washington, our father and general, is not backed by gold or silver, but by faith in the United States of America

Notebook Writer:  Sound Off One Two

Is 'Money' at the root of America's downfall?

Dear Folks, 

Preface:

I've come to find out in writing this piece out of the blew looking at a scary graphic of Hurricane Sandy bearing down on our nation's capital, where I had just been and barely survived.  (I might as well be at The Ritz in Cleveland rather than Union Station in DC, except for McDonald's where I totally lucked out and got a second Big Mac for one cent.  Being rather busted nearing the end of the month in this great soggy depression in the USA, this two Big Macs maybe $3.71 (a good guess as i don't save Big Mac receipts kept me from starting on Amtrak's Silver Meteor to Florida.)

The train ride thanks to some great folks from all over creation and a super friendly and professional Amtrak staff made the 24 hour ride from Cleveland to Jacksonville a fun trip with coffee and cigarette breaks coming in the nick of time. And, this time I did not like my brothers before me get thrown off the train for no reason into the abyss of North Charleston, South Carolina where it costs $30 to look at a cap driver once you get past the city police. See my first of a series of stories on 'ridin' and rollin' on Amtrak'
 aka Wetlands to Badlands Tour 2012-3: Beat Poetry Music of Mike Marcellino

Choo Choo Amtrak....Part One 'Ridin' and Rollin' Amtrak

They don't call "money" the "root of all evil" for nothing.  "Money" has become persuasive lifestyle in American society and our "gold rush" mentality and excessive quest to possess material things. 

Texas businessman Ross Perot recently warned that the USA is at risk for "disaster" and "takeover" due to the federal government's 'alcoholic' like spending and 16 trillion debt.  Perot ran as a third party presidential candidate in 1992 and 1996.  Well, wish it were just that simple but on the other hand, the American people are asleep at the switch in electing federal representatives that perpetuate the decline of America.

 

In spite of his piles of money, Perot failed in his bid for president.  In 1992, an independent group of Cleveland, Ohio Vietnam veterans started Veterans for Clinton, the Vietnam draft dodger along with George W. Bush.  We met up with Bill's Arkansas boys across northern Ohio, even caught by Australian television, joined with union workers, women and peace an environmental activists and helped sweep Clinton into the White House for eight years of prosperity, progress and lack of wars.

A handful of veterans sitting on a Cleveland curb literally energized Clinton's campaign in Ohio and across the country.  He won the veteran vote, Ohio and counties never won before by a Democrat. 

You ask, what's your point Mike?   The point is I was there on the curb and that anything is possible if Americans take action to make our country 'all it can be' (I'm an Army veteran of Vietnam). 

Clinton did emphasize veterans who have served and sacrificed for their country, not just in the elections but all year long.  That's rare.  He never thanked us formally, but I guess we didn't want his 'thanks" but his actions.  When I met for coffee in the Map Room of the White House in the bitter winter of 1992-3, I remember writing notes on some white slips of paper and said to President Clinton and those dozen or so grass roots folks and senior political aides.  I simply asked him to test all he does on whether it will strengthen the American family.  He did a pretty good job.

Frontline produces some of the best, most accurate and fair news coverage in the world.  The influence of 'Money' on our freedom is the greatest challenge of our time.  I invite you to watch along with me and swap notes on the future of the United States of America.

Note:  this column by journalist Mike Marcellino was written in response to a graphic of Hurricane Sandy about to give a left hook into the nation's East Coast, perhaps centered on our capital, Washington, D.C, the house of emptiness.  Mike just arrived in St. Augustine Beach, Florida after leaving by train just in time, from the District of Columbia, where he could not get a ride to the Vietnam Memorial, not even from Congress or the Office of the President or Vice President.  More about Mike's DC Road Trip coming soon on his Notebook Writer Blog.

Take care,

Mike

PS:  Be great to hear from some of you folks about what's doing on in our country and where we're headed.

'Woody Blues' : Mike Marcellino's 'talk' with Woody Guthrie, an American folk music legend

This Hard Travlin' poster of the art of legendary American folk singer of the Great Depression was published by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996

Hard travelin': 'Woody Blues' story

The evolving interest in the Oklahoma cowboy Woody Guthrie first led Mike Marcellino to write a poem about Woody in view of how things are today, called "St. Augustine, Woody Blues."  Now the poem has turned into Woody Blues, a lyrical poetry song recording with Mike doing the lyrics and vocal and Tomas Texino doing the music and on electric guitar and synthesizer.  

Mike says his interest in the life and folk music of Guthrie, popular troubadour across America during the Great Depression of the 1930s, started long ago in the early 1960s when he fist started listening to the likes of Bob Dylan, who admired and was influenced by Guthrie.  Guthrie's songs that interest Mike are about the downtrodden and the working families.  His continuing interest got a boost on a wild road trip in the summer of 1964, from North Carolina to California, winding up in New York City.  (The subject of Mike's short memoir, a limited edition, New York Revisited, published in Cleveland in 2008 or so in advance of Mike's poetry music performing tours in New York City, the last one in the fall of 2010.)  

"My favorite Woody Guthrie songs are Pretty Boy Floyd and Hard Travlin'," Mike says.  "But then, I still listening."  Mike's poetry music covers the waterfront, and he invites you to listen to "Woody Blues" his 11th in a series of recordings that began in the fall of 2009.  He released 6-song limited tour CD "Notebook Writer" in 2010.  A new, full album is in the works along with a series of performances in the United States and Europe.  

Add, Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) to that list of my favorite Woody Guthrie songs: list gonna grow and grow:  add California Stars and Ingrid Bergman (I like those two by Wilco and Bily Bragg on Mermaind Avenue, a two-CD set of Woody's songs) it's gonna grow and grow...

"I'll never lose my interest in Woody Guthrie, for me, he was the first real voice I heard, along with Dylan.  They're both great American writers,"  Mike added.  Woody would have turned 100 on July 14, 2012 if he were alive.

Mike says you can help preserve Woody's legacy and archives by supporting the Woody Guthrie Foundation, a non-profit organization.  In fact Mike discovered the Hard Travlin poster of the art by Woody Guthrie can be purchased at the Woody Guthrie website by clicking this link.  And, Mike just may have to get one himself cause his "Hard Travlin" T-shirt's coming apart.  Mike picked up the T-shirt in Cleveland in 1996 at the time of the 10-day celebration of Guthrie's music put on by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and Case Western Reserve University.  

The Woody Guthrie Store

And, finally, here's a link to the main Woody Guthrie website.  In 1988 Guthrie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Woody was the first artist celebrated in the rock hall's annual master series in 1996, an event Mike didn't miss.

WoodyGuthrie.org

You can listen to Mike's new song "Woody Blues" on the music player at the top.  Here, also, is a link to our music site on ReverbNation.  Listening is free; share our music and like us on our Facebook music page.

Woody Blues

by Mike Marcellino


First it was my army backpack.
Then
my old yellow T-shirt
with The Lillies on
gone.

The day after
Friday the Thirteenth
they took
my real leather beach shoes
right on your birthday.
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.

So, this becomes
your birthday song
from the sand beaches
of the Great Recession
to dust bowls
of the Great Depression.
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.

"As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said 'No Trespassing.'
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me."

So Woody, tell me,
Is this still our land -
"From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters?"
Or is it just a den of greed and thieves?
Did you have to nail stuff down,
back then
on the box car roads to California?
Or, just watch out
gettin' beat up bound for glory?
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.

Now, another century
Jammin'
on Roosevelt Island.
Makin' up some songs
on the streets of Cleveland.
Trekking cross country
thumb out all the way.
Nothin' to lose anymore,
except everything
when the trucker fell asleep.
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.
"Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me."

Thanks for the borrowed lines, Woody.
They're mighty fine.
One an' all.
One an' all.
Got the Saint Augustine,
Woody Blues.

St. Augustine, Woody Blues and Woody Blues recording lyrics by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2012

So long, been good ta know ya - here's This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie in a rare Depression era video

Split Pea/ce: rare video of Cleveland's lyrical poetry revolution

Mike Marcellino and Abe Alvido as Split Pea/ce

(Video by John Burroughs)

Split Pea/ce rips poetry, electric guitar 
at  legendary Mac's Backs on Coventry


This is a rare, maybe the only known video recording of poet Mike Marcellino and guitarist Abe Olvido performing their lyrical poetry music.  Thanks to fellow poet and friend John Burroughs for being at the show and recording this video.


This show with Marcellino and multi-media artist Olvido as the band, Split Pea/ce, was recorded at the legendary Mac's Backs Bookstore on Coventry in Cleveland Heights, Ohio on October 8, 2008.  That was the year Mike started his musical poetry adventures after showing Abe one of his poems earlier that year.  He's not sure which one started it all.


In this video Split Pea/ce performs several of Mike's early songs: been down ta Las Cruces, Asterisks after innocence, Full moon Baltimore and West of the Pecos. 


In case you're not familiar, Coventry Village in Cleveland is a miniature Midwest version of Greenwich Village in New York City or Haight Ashbury in San Francisco - places where the Sixties still survives in spots.  Also, in case you wonder, looking at this rare video, Abe rarely faced the audience while creating his music.  


Mike now knows why he left the snows of Cleveland for the surf of St. Augustine as he looks rather peaked at the Mac's Backs show. His hair and beard are mostly blond now bleached by the tropical sun, salt spray and lemon juice.

Split Pea/ce performed many times in Cleveland in 2008 and 2009 from the East Side to the West Side and South.

The band's home base was the legendary Barking Spider Tavern on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, just down the road from Algebra Tea House on the old red brick Murray Hill Road in Little Italy where Mike and Abe met. 

Mike reads his poetry songs at International Human Rights Day in Cleveland as renowned reggae musician Carlos Jones jumps off stage.  (Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Some of the classic performances of Split Pea/ce included The Battle of the Bands at Peabody's where the crowds of teens and twenty somethings went wild, jumping up on stage and asking Mike to sign copies of his rip and read lyrics on perforated rolls of computer printing paper.

Split Pea/ce performs at Visible Voice Books in Cleveland

Mike Marcellino with noted poet and musician Ray McNiece at the Barking Spider Tavern

While Mike did talk with record company scouts, Split Pea/ce wasn't signed to a label. Another of the band's memorable shows was at Visible Voice Books in the Tremont neighborhood, just across the Cuyahoga River from downtown.

In September of 2009 Mike left Cleveland to bring his lyrical poetry to the cafes, art galleries and festivals of New York City from the Lower East Side to Greenwich Village and Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Now he surfs the beaches of St. Augustine, America's oldest city.  Mike performs and records with musicians Tomas Texino in St. Augustine, Florida and Randall Leddy in New York City.  

In the fall of 2010 to help promote his New York City shows, Mike and Texino produced a 6-song CD "Notebook Writer."  A few copies remain and can be had for a price.  Just comment on this bog if you're interested in this classic album. 

Mike Marcellino on ReverbNation

Mike Marcellino as Split Pea/ce on MySpace

Check back as Mike's out looking for the lyrics to these four songs to post up.