'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

My song to Woody Guthrie: "Got the Saint Augustine, Woody Blues"

The Harder They Come, written by Jamaican singer Jimmy Cliff, performed by Willie Nelson and Ryan Adams, Live, David Letterman Show 2002.



Got the Saint Augustine,
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.


Mike Marcellino performs at Gallery RIVAA on Roosevelt Island in New York City





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.

Add caption

American folk singing legend Woody Guthrie, born July 14, 1912, Okemah, Oklahoma; died October 3, 1967 in New York City, at age 55 from Huntington's disease

"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.

They're mighty fine.

One an' all.

One an' all.

Got the Saint Augustine,

Woody Blues.

Got the Saint Augustine,Woody Blues by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2012

"This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie

"This Is Your Land," Bruce Springsteen, Los Angeles, 1985

Falling Water and Ayn Rand's fanatical 'individualism'

Falling Water, the Kaufman family home in the mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania, designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935

Falling Water is listed among Smithsonian's Life List of 28 places "to visit before you die."

Falling Water or the Kaufmann Residence is a house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. The home was built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill Run section of Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains. Hailed by Time shortly after its completion as Wright's "most beautiful job," it is listed among Smithsonian's Life List of 28 places "to visit before you die." It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. In 1991, members of the American Institute of Architects named the house the "best all-time work of American architecture" and in 2007, it was ranked twenty-ninth on the list of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. - Wikipedia 

Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867-1959

Falling Water and the fanatical 'individualism' of Ayn Rand

An essay by Mike Marcellino

Falling Water is a home designed by perhaps America's greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Some critics argue that Wright, from Richland Center, Wisconsin, was the pattern for Howard Roark, the architect and hero of author Ayn Rand's 1949 novel of the individualist - "The Fountainhead."   That same year the film "The Fountainhead" directed by King Vidor, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, was a critical bomb.




I do recommend a trip to Falling Water in the mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania.
If you like Rand's first literary success, read "Atlas Shrugged" her last book and last word on "objectivism," her philosophy where complete individual rights is the only social system.
The Russian born writer from a bourgeois family in St. Petersburg is the champion of laissez-faire capitalism.

I must admit that I did enjoy reading both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, but then I was quite young and exploring.  Now I look upon Rand's philosophy something akin to the philosophy practiced by cave men, yet her primary point of allow creativity and individualism to flourish in a society that builds things remains vital.

Ayn Rand, 1905 - 1982

She makes some valid points with respect to creativity and industry but goes off the deep end with her egotistical survival of the fittest mentality in which creators and industry without restriction get all they desire while the rest of mankind - oh, she didn't bother with the rest of the people.

I did read both novels in junior high school, or was it grade school?

It's important not to confuse her selfish philosophy with the protection of individual rights, I have found.  But then, Atlas Shrugged did predict the fall of industry in America, such as private trains, passenger trains that is.

Still, we should be watchful not to allow government to destroy the individual.

The trouble is that largely unrestricted industry is on its way to destroying the earth, the wildlife upon it, the air we breath, the water we drink and the creeks, lakes, rivers, seas and oceans we love.

While, this essay wasn't intended to be political, it is the season in America; we should think long and hard about the coming presidential election.  We should not elect someone who will promote creativity, industry and capitalism, while destroying our planet and the great majority of its people.

Visit the website of Falling Water, it's wonderful!

Falling Water website

(Falling Water photo courtesy of home-designing.com and other photos thanks to Wikipedia)

(author's note:  Google Blogger editing software is the worst known to man, so please excuse the layout as I have done page layout for newspapers; like Word Press, here I come, as I have wasted countless hours trying to make Blogger work)

copyright by Mike Marcellino 2012

Trail of the tide pool soldier, a poem by Mike Marcellno

Pebbles with poppies painted on are seen on the beach of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer on June 5, 2009 during a ceremony in memory of Canadian troops which landed in 1944 at the Nan Red point on Saint-Aubin beach. Each poppy painted by students represents a soldier killed here during World War II. Preparations are underway for the upcoming D-Day celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the June 6, 1944 allied landings in France, then occupied by Nazi Germany. (DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images) (from denverpost.com)

Trail of the tide pool soldier
by Mike Marcellino

Once a man marched on the beach
at the last glow of day,
each and every day.
They called him the tide pool soldier,
for short.
As he marched, he cast his eyes
upon the sand,
reading colors
in the tide pool canyons.
Coppers,
gold, grey, cream,
black and silver reds.

The winding trail carried far off seas,
little ripples, tiny swells,
along these shores for many a mile,
as far as the eye can see.
Slight beach canyons on the ground
reminded him
of some old Irish glenns he'd seen,
in fall.

On and on he marched, but not till dawn.
He wore no steel pot, no bearskin hat,
no jungle, no desert fatigues.

"One two three four
sound off, "
he whispered to himself,  somewhat bitterly.
"The streets of heaven are paved with gold.
Sound off."

On and on he marched, but not till dawn.
"Do people ever catch any big fish here,"
he asked a fisherboy.
"Yes, we caught an eight pound red fish,"
his dad said proudly.
"Are they good eating?" the hungry soldier asked.
Then a yellow lab
came into the conversation,
suddenly.
But Matt heard his master's call
and ran away from it all.
The father smiled,
and looked back out to the sea.

The tide pool soldier
skirted a dribble castle,
it was too well fortified;
he knew the tide would take it
anyway.

On and on he marched, but not till dawn.
He stepped out gingerly,
his automatic reflex
designed to protecting some empire.
But was always careful
not to get into a real
goose step
invented by the first Leopold
a prince
of the 18th Century.
It was to keep the troops in line.
They tried it once on him.
It didn't work;
He was a soldier for liberty.

Billowing clouds, with a tint of
rainy grey
blocked the sunset,
marring a perfect day.

On and on he marched, but not till dawn,
noting all he encountered -
a blond boy tinkering
on his tide pool journey,
his mother pushing a carriage
of a sleeping dark skinned baby.

"Have you ever seen a tide pool trail like this,
going on as far as the eye can see?" he asked.
"No, I've never seen this before," the mother said.

On and on he marched, but not till dawn,
about facing,
just in time
to see
a yellow chartreuse
neon surfer
setting out to sea.

Trail of the tide pool soldier by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2012

Song of liberty, pain, war and peace: "Born in the USA"

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band perform "Born in the USA" live in Paris during their two-year Born in the USA World Tour

"I wrote this song about the Vietnam war, tonight we sing it as a prayer for peace" 
- Bruce Springsteen speaking in Catalan live in Barcelona 2003

"Born in the USA" acoustic, from Spain

Born in the USA postscript
by Mike Marcellino

I wrote the following column on The Fourth of July 2012, and decided to explain point blank what the song "Born in the USA" is all about from the perspective of a combat veteran of the Vietnam War.

Today, I just discovered in his own words what the song means to Springsteen, at least now.
I agree with his dedication in Barcelona of "Born in the USA" as a prayer for peace.  Amen, Bruce.


People debate over whether Bruce Springsteen's song "Born in the USA" is unpatriotic.  Well, they then they either know nothing or are without understanding of the Vietnam War and the high price paid by 3 million American troops who served in country, the 58,282 who died, 303,644 wounded and the 1,672 still missing in action.  

When troops came home from the battlefields they weren't given any transition assistance, weren't asked a single meaningful question even in hospitals. Instead we were blamed for the war, called "baby killers," treated with disdain and even spit upon.  

Many who served had a rough life to begin with.  Many opposed the war.  Many stayed in college to avoid the draft (Bill Clinton), joined the National Guard (George Walker Bush), many got marred and had kids, some fled to Canada and elsewhere.  

I served a combat correspondent and photojournalist in the U.S. Army and traveled through much of South Vietnam and even Cambodia.  I couldn't be prouder of those I served with and looked out for me (since I carried cameras and notebooks instead of my M-14). They were the best!  They defined courage.  

So don't ever tell me that our song "Born in the USA" is unpatriotic.  

It doesn't make any difference if your like the song or not, or what your politics are.  Given our sacrifices in American longest war (10 years). I ask, how patriotic can you get?  

We are "brothers in arms."  And, that song by the British rock band Dire Straits is probably our most cherished anthem, along with "Fortunate Son" by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" recorded by British rock band The Animals.    

"Born in the USA" is a song about my brothers in arms.  

Mark Knopfler performing one of the best verions ever of “Brothers in Arms” during “Music for Montserrat,” live from Royal Albert Hall, London – 15 September 1997

Song of liberty, pain, war and peace:  Born in the USA

by Mike Marcellino

The 1984 album Born in the USA was #1 on the charts in the United States and in other countries throughout the world, except for France and Italy where it was #2 and Japan #6. Considering the language differences that's amazing.

I wrote this piece after finding debates on YouTube by people over whether "Born in the USA" is a patriotic song or not.

Listening to the bursts of fireworks outside my window, (always makes me a bit jumpy, as they sound much mortar, rocket or bombs) I think of the Fourth of July and I think of Bruce Springsteen's title song Born in the USA.

If you've struggled in your life trying to make ends meet, or served in the U. S. armed forces sticking your neck out or getting wounded you understand the song. If you're the family of a loved one who didn't come home you understand.  Now some folks may not like Born in the USA, the song, but they understand it.

Americans have courage and the determination to overcome.  We've proven that for more than 236 years.

The YouTube comments debate misses the point, entirely.  Patriotism is having opinions and standing behind them, even when they are different than the majority or oppose the government or its decisions.  That's liberty.  That's what our soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and guardsmen have fought to create and preserve.

What real Americans agree on and believe in is making our country a better nation with liberty and justice for all.  Americans know their country makes mistakes, is terribly wrong at times, but they know we must overcome and endure.

Our troops don't make wars; not right ones or wrong ones; but our troops are the best in the world and have lost very few battles, including the Vietnam War.

Our elected officials, the president and Congress makes wars; but men and women in the armed forces answer our nation's call; if we hadn't many of us would not be here; or all of us might be here without our liberty.

From all over the world, people continue to seek refuge from oppression in the United States.  People from all over the world continue to immigrate to America, many wait and many try anything to get here and stay.

The reason is liberty, though our nation remains imperfect.

My comrades and I who served on the battlefields understand what Born in the USA means, whether we like the song or not.

Born in the USA
by Bruce Springsteen

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Until you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A. . . .

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said, "Son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said, "Son, don't you understand"

I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I'm a long gone daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I'm a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A.

Debby spawns Katrina flashbacks: "Hurricanes of humanity"

Tropical storm Debby meanders, daily paper's death slams recovery in New Orleans 
by Mike Marcellino


As Tropical Storm Debby slashes the Florida Gulf Coast, unsure of just which direction to go, east or west back toward New Orleans, it brings back memories of Hurricane Katrina.

The latest forecast, as of 5:21 pm, EDT, Sunday, has Debby "meandering" in the northeast Gulf of Mexico for the next 3-4 days.  


But hold on as the forecast keeps changing.  Two hours earlier the National Hurricane center had the tropical storm with winds up to 60 knots headed for the coast of Louisiana.  

Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster in United States history.  From conception over the Bahamas on August 23 to August, 29 2005, the killer storm caused $96 billion in damage, wrecked 300,000 homes and took the lives of 1,883 people, including 1,464 in Louisiana.

Hurricane Katrina Damage Facts from Fox News

Tropical storm Debby Threatens Louisiana coast

Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:25pm EDT

1 of 1Full Size

By Chris Baltimore

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Strong winds and heavy rain from Tropical Storm Debby reached the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sunday as the storm meandered on an uncertain track toward the Louisiana coast with 60 mph winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Service said.

Debby, the first named storm of 2012 to enter the Gulf of Mexico, was centered about 200 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was moving slowly northeast at around 5 mph at 1 p.m. CDT (1800 GMT). The storm was expected to strengthen into a hurricane by Tuesday night, the Miami-based center said.

The NHC predicted that Debby will turn west and come ashore on the eastern Louisiana coast early Thursday as a weak Category 1 hurricane. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, citing possible inland flooding in some coastal parishes.

Routers story, Sunday, June 24, 2:25pm

Hurricanes of humanity

By Mike Marcellino

Hurricanes of humanity.
Weathermen called the wind Katrina.
Her blow, overwhelming waves covered New Orleans,
leaving in her wake a city never the same.
She left them Cajuns reeling -
mumbling 'bout their old homes,
dying for MEMA cottages
out of reach, south of highway 90.
“Sold ‘em to contractors.  We’re
building casinos for the poor
working families without homes.”

Hurricanes of humanity.
Brass of Army sergeants homeless in uniform
swept from the streets, no need for assessment.

Giv’em an offer they can’t afford -
habitat for five hundred dollars a month
plus flood insurance.
Churches turned some gold to straw,
parish people say.
Wonderin ‘bout their government
before, during an after the nation’s greatest disaster
when a category 5 hit the Gulf Coast
on that August day 2005.


Hurricanes of humanity.
Homes not jails, food not bombs.
Five hundred city kitchens cross country,
twenty two to thirty two percent

of our kids going to school homeless,
Arizona to Detroit.

Hurricanes of humanity.
Subjects of FEMA, New Orleans to Brooklyn.

Armies on the street to college.
What went wrong? they ask.
Not the people? they say.
Must of been the leaders, some say.

Hurricanes of humanity.
Bayou grits, southern accents let’s see

before, during and after Katrina.
Try disability.
Hope a leg’s missing, never mind.
Speakers in the woods -
tents of seven hundred survivors
of the bitter winter 2009.

Hurricanes of humanity.
Like Dorothy upside down -
Hope for a soft landing on a bed of change.
Deportees from a 20 megaton daydream.
Two gallons left.
Lost out on fifty fifty -
miles, dollars away

from New Orleans and Black Bay.

Copyright Hurricanes of humanity by Mike Marcellino 2009. 

Death of daily paper rips New Orleans recovery

And, New Orleans is still reeling, as folks await the death of their daily newspaper, The Times-Picayune.  New Orleans will become the largest city in America without a daily newspaper when it begins publishing only three days a week this fall. 

Advance Publications, owned by the wealthy Newhouse family, strategy is for readers to get their news from the paper's Internet version.  Trouble is 39% of New Orleans residents don't have access to the Internet. Founded in 1837, The Times-Picayune was named after a Spanish coin worth, at the time, 6 cents.  There's a certain irony in the name "Advance Publications."  In other words, advance and make more money no matter the cost to humanity, in this case the people of New Orleans and the newspaper's employees.

Writers William Faulkner and O'Henry worked at The Times-Picayune, a paper that's won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for coverage of Hurricane Katrina.  

How well the three-day a week Times-Picayune serves New Orleans remains to be seen, but one thing for sure is the Newhouse family will continue to pile up the dough.  The Newhouse family's wealth hasn't suffered along with the fall of Times-Picayune and newspapers across the country. The family fortune has climbed from a whopping $8 billion in 1988 (Fortune magazine) to $12.5  billion in 2011 (Forbes magazine). 

Look out Cleveland!

The family, through Advanced Publicans, also owns The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Sun Newspapers, once the largest paid weekly newspaper chain the the country.  The Newhouse family is well known for its anti-union and union-busting tactics, at least in Cleveland where I worked for a decade as a two-time national award winning reporter with Sun Newspapers.  

Here's an excerpt from the McClatchy News Service story on the death of the daily paper in New Orleans.  It captures the impact on the recovery of New Orleans and the health and well being of the city and its citizens:

Martha Kegel, who leads a consortium of nonprofit agencies that fight homelessness in New Orleans, said it was “infuriating” to watch what was happening.


“The paper has its faults, but has been absolutely essential to the city’s recovery,” she said. “If ever a city needed a daily newspaper it is New Orleans.”Clearly, the Newhouses could care less what happens to New Orleans."

The rest of the McClatchy News Service story on the death of the daily Times-Picayune -

Death of the Times-Picayune daily

The White Bird, a poem by Mike Marcellino

St. Augustine Beach, Florida 

The White Bird

By Mike Marcellino

Take time with the natural. 

Slow down. 

Don’t miss the beauty,

the small wonders.

Watch and

follow the white bird

on the shore

standing on spindle legs,

like crooked tar twigs.

She paces the wet sand

in a state of consecrated grace,

too lightweight

to leave prints.

 

Fearless, she hops tiny waves,

fluttering her wings,

in no particular hurry.

On occasion 

peck, peck, peck

into sand and shallow surf,

spearing what she captures

inside her

long

razor black beak.

Something unseen–

gulp, gulp, gulp,

digesting sea creatures,

sometimes hidden

in clumps of seaweed.

Recall.  Civilizations,

nations

but

dribble castles: 

Here now,

back in the sea,

tomorrow. 

The white bird

knows not to fall

for what man made.

Not tripping,

she takes notes,

in passing:

an upside down

rubber

flip flop;

plastic of every detail

imagined -

caps, toys and containers;

a single leather soul;

thrown up paper -

a manufactured jelly fish,

of the faintest blue

performing a tide pool ballet

on the beach. 

“And,

“Pray you,” chirps the white bird silently.

“Don’t mix the gods up with your very nature.” 

In her tracks she left behind two shells

worn ocean smooth,

one white, the other black.

The White Bird by Mike Marcellino, copyright 2012

On the beach.  

Photos by Mike Marcellino Copyright 2012

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. 

Happy unBirthday, Mike*

The Top 10 Reasons Mike Doesn't Celebrate His Birthday

10.  He can't remember having a birthday party.

9.  He doesn't like the song, "Happy Birthday."

8.  He doesn't ever act his age.

7.  He doesn't look 39.  Hey, it worked for Jack Benny.  (Jack who?)

6.  If he had a lot of money everyone would be celebrating his birthday.

5.  It's two days after the birthday of the United States Army.  Hooah! Enough said.  (The Army, which Mike proudly served in was born in 1775, even before the Declaration of Independence.)

4.  He tried at least four times today, his birthday, to defy rip currents and gale force winds (47 knots) and get out to the set waves on his Custom X LTD Six bodyboard, but at least he didn't get knocked into the pier.

This is video of surfing two days before Mike's birthday at the The Dredge, St. Augustine Beach, Florida by Surf Station.  "The Dredge" name is a take-off of "The Wedge," south of the pier at Newport Beach, California, one of the best know surf spots in the world and where Mike got his feet wet bodyboarding (aka boogie boarding) in another age and timezone.

The name "The Dredge" refers to the dredging of sand from the inlet into the ocean by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (actually a contractor as I haven't seen any Army fatigues yet) to help restore the sand beach wiped away by hurricanes, tropical storms and northeasters.  You can even buy a cool T-shirt with a photo of The Dredge at Surf Station.

3.  Mike's an official Hindu convert (among other things). And, Hinduism is just a way of life, not a religion about a person but “karma” or cause and effect (and boy there's sure is a lot of that lately in the world lately, and not for the good).  And besides, he doubts the really cool religious guys like Muhammad, Buddha and Jesus had birthday parties.  So now billions of people celebrate their birthdays.

2.  He's not sure his birth certificate is for real.  Kind of like the "birthers" thing.

The Number 1 Reason Why Mike Doesn't Celebrate His Birthday:


1.  He's lost in the rain in Juarez having a shot of tequila with Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.  

(Tequila:  n. an alcoholic liquor distilled from the fermented juice of the Central American century plant Agave tequilana.)

Emiliano Zapata Salazar (August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution. Followers of Zapata were known as Zapatistas. He is a figure from the Mexican Revolution era who is still revered today. - adapted from Wikipedia

 A peasant since childhood, he gained insight into the severe difficulties of the countryside. -Wikipedia

Viva Zapata! is a 1952 fictional-biographical film directed by Elia Kazan. The screenplay was written by John Steinbeck.  Anthony Quinn won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and nominations included Best Actor for Marlon Brando and Best Screenplay for Steinbeck.  

Viva Zapata! may be my favorite film.


*Thanks to my very smart friend, Paula Osborn of California, for coming up with the snappy "unBirthday" description.

Death of the American Dream

  
The inequality crisis
by Mike Marcellino

I knew something was wrong after the 1960s and 1970s when many Americans were living the dream and taking action to bring on civil rights and stopping America's longest war the Vietnam War people were living.

What happened?  How did the American dream die in three decades?  Well, now you and I can find out in the new book The Price of Inequality by Nobel prize sinning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz.  Here's an article from Vanity Fair magazine to give you a test of Stiglitz' findings.  This should help us figure out how to clear the decks, change direction and bring back The American Dream."

Well, at least this growing inequality in American may put the lid on the desire of people to immigrate to the United States.  We are no longer the land of opportunity for the poor, working and middle classes.  While many conservatives in American may not know the dream is dead, or care, as long as they get richer the rest of the world surely knows of our downfall.

Consider the Walton family: the six heirs to the Walmart empire possess a combined wealth of some $90 billion, which is equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30 percent of U.S. society.
- Stiglitz in Vanity Fair.

The 1 Percent’s Problem

Why won’t America’s 1 percent—such as the six Walmart heirs, whose wealth equals that of the entire bottom 30 percent—be a bit more . . . selfish? As the widening financial divide cripples the U.S. economy, even those at the top will pay a steep price.

Related

Read Joseph E. Stiglitz’s “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%,” from the May 2011 issue 

By Joseph E. Stiglitz Illustration by Stephen Doyle

Adapted from The Price of Inequality, by Joseph Stiglitz, to be published in June by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (U.S.), and in July by Allen Lane (U.K.); © 2012 by the author.

(Excerpt from Vanity Fair)

Let’s start by laying down the baseline premise: inequality in America has been widening for dec­ades. We’re all aware of the fact. Yes, there are some on the right who deny this reality, but serious analysts across the political spectrum take it for granted. I won’t run through all the evidence here, except to say that the gap between the 1 percent and the 99 percent is vast when looked at in terms of annual income, and even vaster when looked at in terms of wealth—that is, in terms of accumulated capital and other assets. Consider the Walton family: the six heirs to the Walmart empire possess a combined wealth of some $90 billion, which is equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30 percent of U.S. society. (Many at the bottom have zero or negative net worth, especially after the housing debacle.) Warren Buffett put the matter correctly when he said, “There’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years and my class has won.”

So, no: there’s little debate over the basic fact of widening inequality. The debate is over its meaning. From the right, you sometimes hear the argument made that inequality is basically a good thing: as the rich increasingly benefit, so does everyone else. This argument is false: while the rich have been growing richer, most Americans (and not just those at the bottom) have been unable to maintain their standard of living, let alone to keep pace. A typical full-time male worker receives the same income today he did a third of a century ago.

From the left, meanwhile, the widening inequality often elicits an appeal for simple justice: why should so few have so much when so many have so little? It’s not hard to see why, in a market-driven age where justice itself is a commodity to be bought and sold, some would dismiss that argument as the stuff of pious sentiment.
Put sentiment aside. There are good reasons why plutocrats should care about inequality anyway—even if they’re thinking only about themselves. The rich do not exist in a vacuum. They need a functioning society around them to sustain their position. Widely unequal societies do not function efficiently and their economies are neither stable nor sustainable. The evidence from history and from around the modern world is unequivocal: there comes a point when inequality spirals into economic dysfunction for the whole society, and when it does, even the rich pay a steep price.

Let me run through a few reasons why.

Click this link for the full story by Stiglitz in Vanity Fair:

Stiglitz on the death of the American Dream in Vanity Fair magazine

I find this part rather startling.  It captures just how upside down America is today:

Consider the Walton family: the six heirs to the Walmart empire possess a combined wealth of some $90 billion, which is equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30 percent of U.S. society. 

(Many at the bottom have zero or negative net worth, especially after the housing debacle.) Warren Buffett put the matter correctly when he said, “There’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years and my class has won.”

We are now at a turning pout in the matter of the growing inequality in America, the death of the American Dream and the stagnant economy with millions jobless with the presidential election only 16 weeks away.

So, how many people are unemployed now?  The Labor Department report for May shows unemployment is tuck at 8.2% with 12.7 million Americans unemployed.  But that figure is grossly misleading.  

And amazingly, I found the real, man on the street data in the most unlikely place:  The Website of the Republican Majority in Congress. Funny, the very people who have supported policies favoring the 1%, the rich, show that the true number of American jobless or underemployed (part timers who can't find full time jobs and people who gave up looking) is 23,533,000!  The Republicans of course are promoting the terrible state of the economy and unemployment in order blame it all on President Obama.  Just image if Mitt Romney wins and the Republican Party now controlled with reactionary conservatives retain control of the House and capture the White House along with the Senate.  

The Republicans also note that 46.2 million Americans live in poetry, the highest poverty rate in 52 years.  It's mind blowing that they have the nerve to use the data showing the death of the American Dream that they, for the most part, caused.


Here's an excerpt from the Website of the Republican Majority in Congress:

• 15.2%: The rate of “underemployment” or “real unemployment,” including the unemployed, those who want work but have stopped searching in this economy, and those who are forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment is 15.2 percent.

• 12,806,000: There were 12.8 million unemployed Americans looking for work in the month of February, up by 48,000 from January.

• 8,119,000: The number of Americans who worked only part-time in February because they could not find full-time employment was 8.1 million. The number of people working part-time for economic reasons reached 8 million for the first time in history in January 2009 and has remained above 8 million for 37 consecutive months.

• 2,608,000: The number of people who are available to work and have looked for a job at some point in the last year but are not counted as unemployed because they gave up their search is now 2.6 million.  

• 1,006,000: The number of discouraged people who stopped looking for work because they believed there were no jobs available is now 1 million.

• 23,533,000: The total number of “underemployed” Americans is 23.5 million, including those unemployed (12.7 million), those who are no longer looking for work (2.8 million), and those who are working part-time because no other work is available (8.2 million).

What I find rather frustrating is that President Obama has not and does not seem to be inclined to confront the causes of the growing inequality in America and death of the American Dream.  He's made some off handed comments that Occupy Wall Street has a point, but he isn't making this a campaign issue, at least not yet.

I believe if President Obama does not confront the decline of America forcefully with a concrete plan of action to do something to reverse course and bring the dream alive, he will lose the election.  And, if that happens, the great majority of Americans will suffer for it and American will become a second rate nation.

The time is now.  The situation is critical.  It's a turning point.  You might say the choice is:  a nation of opportunity versus a nation of Walmarts.  It's just about that simple.  

Syrian massacres: Who decides?

UNSMIS staff in the Syrian village of Mazraat al-Qubeir conduct a fact-finding mission. Photo: UNSMIS/David Manyua (from United Nation's website)


From the United Nation's website:

After earlier obstructions, UN observers reach reported site of massacre in Syria

8 June 2012 – After earlier obstructions, UN observers today reached the Syrian village of Mazraat al-Qubeir, where a massacre of civilians reportedly took place on Wednesday.
“We found the village empty of its local inhabitants, bmp [tank] tracks on the road, a house damaged from shelling, with a wide range of calibre types and grenades,” said the spokesperson for the UN Supervision in Syria (UNSMIS), Sausan Ghosheh. We found burned homes, and at least one burnt with bodies inside – there was a heavy stench of burned flesh.”
According to media reports, Syrian activists claim that Government troops and militiamen massacred at least 78 villagers in Mazraat al-Qubeir, located near the city of Hama, on Wednesday. The Syrian Government has said the accusations are false.
A group of 25 UNSMIS observers reached the village mid-afternoon on Friday, after having been obstructed in earlier attempts.

Syrian Massacre:  Will the killing be stopped?

The United Nations is a Wimp! 

Tens of thousands of people killed in Syria and it seems no one can figure out what's going on, or do anything about it.  

Who is responsible for killing thousands of civilians? 

Secretary of State Clinton keeps wailing at the situation, but the United States, President Obama at the helm, does nothing. 

Of course, this is nothing new, or specific to Obama. 

The United States picks and chooses when to press the metal. And, yes, the president is commander in chief and he or she is responsible. 

Meanwhile President Obama (and Bush before him) picks and chooses drone attacks killing terrorists or everyday people in various places around the world. 

Who decides whether to stop the slaughter of innocents by the scores, hundreds, thousands or millions at any point in time and any spot on the earth?

Who decides that?

Major-General Robert, Chief Military Observer and Head of Mission of UNSMIS. Photo: UMSMIS/H. Siklawi