THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS

I saw the movie "BOUND FOR GLORY" as part of a film studies assignment while attending Brooklyn College in 1976. An over-looked film, it stars David Carradine, from the hit TV show, "KUNG FU."

Its been 34 years since I saw "Bound For Glory" but I recall liking it. Unfortunately, that enjoyment only thrust the paper I wrote as far as a C+.

Woody Guthrie, was more than just an American songwriter and folk singer. He was an inspiration to the oppressed and stood up against the establishment of his time. Through song, he brought change and helped deliver the dormant dignity of a downtrodden nation.

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (July 14, 1912-September 3, 1967), died a young man. Even worse, he became stricken with a degenerative neurological disease long before he passed and wasn't productive for more than the last decade of his life.

"Bound For Glory" is the story of Guthrie's life in the"Dust-Bowl" and follows him to the land o' plenty, California. Beautifully photographed, it serves as a timepiece of the Depression.

He and thousands of fellow idealistic Okies find out that the descriptions of the "promised land" were highly exaggerated. The fruit growers throughout the area hire hundreds of pickers each day but there are three or four times more applicants than jobs. To make conditions worse, the orchard owners take advantage of this leverage and pay the select few, extremely low wages.

Guthrie is appalled by the living conditions in the shantytown village next to the orchard. He borrows a guitar and sets out to make his own way. When he retrurns, a radio personality, Ozark Bule comes by the camp to entertain the masses. Bule's lyrics carry with them a message of a better life through organization and unionization. Guthrie joins in until the rally is squashed by goons from the orchard. Guthire escapes with his life and takes up the cause.

Ozark introduces Guthrie around and soon, he is a singing radio star too. His stardom becomes tenuous because as he rises in popularity, the sponsorship wants to restrict his rabble-rousing sentiments. Guthrie turns his back on the money...family and friends too...and criss-crosses the country in support of America's suffering working class.

The movie ends there but Woody's life continued in 1940 New York City. Embraced by the leftist folk music community much of his legacy was built there. He meets author John Steinbeck whose 1939 novel, "The Grapes of Wrath" closely parallels Guthrie Dust-Bowl to California experience.

In New York, he wrote his most famous song, "This Land is Your Land." My favorite passage is:

As I went walking, I saw a sign there,
and on the sign there, it said "no trespassing"
but on the other side it said nothing
That side was made for you and me.

Oddly the original title was: "God Blessed America." Guthrie didn't like Irving Berlin classic, "God Bless America," because he felt it was unrealistic and compacent...plus he hated hearing Kate Smith sing it.

During WWII Woody served briefly in the Merchant Marines and later in the army.

After WWII, he joined Pete Seeger as part of the "Almanac Singers." They described their music as anti-Fascist songs. At that time Woody put a sign on his guitar that read: This Machine Kills Fascist.

Guthrie lived on Mermaid Avenue in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. His famous son Arlo spent a lot of time growing up there until the Guthrie's moved to the Pacific Northwest.

Woody's health worsened and he began acting extremely erratic in the late 40's. Before he was correctly diagnosed with Huntington's Disease in 1952, he was thought to be suffering alcoholism or schizophrenia. In 1954, a freak fire seriously injured Woody's arm...he never played the guitar again. The following year he was committed to a mental institution. He was shuffled to different hopitals for 12 years and died at New York's Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in 1967.

In 2006, my son Andrew and I attended the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. We got to see a special Bob Dylan exhibit. We learned that Woody Guthrie influenced Dylan both in his style and the theme of his lyrics. Also Guthrie is mentioned in other areas of the museum as a core contributor to the roots of Rock 'n Roll itself.

The title of this great American's autobiography is also, "BOUND FOR GLORY." You should pick it up or at least find the movie. I found it straightforward and thoroughly inspirational.
Sometimes I get sentimental in regards to patriotism and the individual sacrifices that were made to make our country great. I guess I feel that way because I'm no hero and recognize my own limitations.

My only hope now...is that I get a higher grade on this column than the C+ on got on my college paper.

HEY GOOD LOOKIN'

Did you ever get emotionally bowled-over by something you read or saw in a movie or TV show? I just did. I think my reaction had do with the irony of attaining a great success and not enjoying it.

"AMERICAN MASTERS" is an hour-long TV show on PBS. Using a biography format, the show concentrates on US artists, musicians etc. Tonight's episode was on country singer Hank Williams, (1923-1953).

My familiarity with Williams had been filled with my own misinformation. Perhaps that's why the tragedy of his life hit me so hard. It should be noted that there is plenty of information on him at Wikipedia but the written word simply can NOT convey how much this man was loved.

A couple of years ago, I saw the movie, "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW." It featured Hank Williams tunes and even though I always liked his music, I never knew anything about the man.

I mentioned how great his music was in the film to one of my readers, TRPT, and he kindly burnt me a copy of Williams' greatest hits CD. Despite strong objections from my son and wife, I have worn that disc out! My four favorites are, "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Kaw-Liga," "Hey Good Lookin' " and "Jambalaya."

The most compelling aspect of Hank Williams life was that he was born with a mild, undiagnosed case of spina-bifida occulta; a disorder of the spinal column that gave him lifelong pain--a factor that led to his later abuse of alcohol and drugs.

Prior to the impact of Elvis Presley, Williams' honky-tonk style was an important link Country Western music had with Rock 'N Roll. Although Williams was too "hillbilly" to attain the widespread appeal that Elvis was to enjoy, he was still a superstar in every sense of the word.

While "enjoying" his success, Williams was haunted by his back pain and tortured by the nagging of his wife, Audrey Shepard. She repeatedly accused him of infidelity while on the road which led to horrendous fights. These emotional battles coupled with his fight against pain influenced the lyrics in many of his songs. It was said of his first wife, "Its hard to tell if he was drinking to numb his pain or drinking to block her out." But his love for her was also intense because it was also said of them, "They couldn't live together and they couldn't live apart."

To ease his pain, Williams had some vertebrae fused together but the operation didn't accomplish very much. While convalescing at home, perhaps influenced by morphine and "handfuls" of other pain-killers, he shot out the windows of his house. Although his motives are unclear, his wife was so spooked that she left him and filed for divorce.

Wiliams' pain, domestic woes and drinking were all common-knowledge to his fans. If anything these problems made him a more sympathetic character. At the height of his depression he confided in a friend, "I don't know who my friends are any more. I'd trade everything, to just entertain the folks back home."

In the early forties a friend and fellow singer Roy Acuff encouraged Hank to stop showing up at performances drunk. He said of Williams, "He has a million-dollar voice and a ten-cent brain." Nonetheless, Williams together with his band, The Singing Cowboys, only saw their popularity escalate. He hosted his own radio show and kept turning out records. In a span of about thirteen years, Williams wrote and performed 12 number-one hits plus many others in the top-ten.

At the pinnacle of his success, the public appearances became less important to him and he frequently just didn't show up. While a regular at the Grand 'Ole Opry, this attitude and erratic behavior got him and the Singing Cowboys fired. The band didn't want to work with him any more and they parted company. Williams left Nashville and got hired as a solo performer at another country venue, The Louisiana Hayride.

By 1950, Williams decided to clean-up his act and take back control of his life. He began writing moralistic songs; many of which were recitations rather than his usual crooning. He was fearful that this new approach would hurt his existing commercial appeal, so he wrote under the name "Luke the Drifter." His public recognized his voice and accepted this duality (going from songs about rowdy times and drifting to songs about religion and remorse). His legendary status remained untarnished and the new style widened his audience.

Williams began hinting to friends that he feared that he would die. Two of the last songs he wrote were, "I Won't Be Home No More" and "I'll Never Get Out of the World Alive."

On New Year's Day 1953, en route by car from Knoxville, Tennessee to a public appearance in Canton Ohio, (severe weather had cancelled all the flights), Hank Williams was found dead in Oak Hill, West Virginia, in the back of a rented limousine; he was 29 . His exact cause of death was never determined but he had injected himself with B12 and morphine. The only other item found in the backseat with him besides a few beer cans was the handwritten lyrics to an unrecorded song, "Then Came That Fateful Day."

I hope you can all discover Hank Williams' music for yourself. But if you want to kill two birds with one stone, rent "THE LAST PICTURE SHOW." Its from 1971, starred Cybill Shepherd and was a four-star movie.