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Inside: Cultural Sausage. ~ Ludic Lists. ~ Skullbucket. Outside: The Ludic Log is on vacation for five days. While I'm gone, please enjoy this delighful guest entry by the hilarious and high-strung Mr. Brent Bozman. "rock 'n' roll cursor" "punks with ox blood" "Sanctum Sanctorum 177A Bleecker Street" "songs about flying" "Molecule Man" "Rob Liguori" "Bjork stalker video" "Cubs suck" |
08.06.2004
NARRATOR: During the 1950s, performers such as the Weavers and Woody Guthrie revitalized the tradition of using the folk music form to address important contemporary social issues. But forgotten in that wave of socially conscientious protest singers were a number of performers who confronted the changing times in their own way. Tonight on Footnotes, we examine the career of one of these little remembered greats, Travellin' Joe Fisher. A young Joe Fisher learned his craft on the streets of Fairfield, Connecticut. The son of a dentist, Joe was an exceptional student who became interested in folk music at boarding school. He quickly became a key player in Connecticut's burgeoning folk scene, where he developed his unique songwriting voice. DAVID CARTER (SUPER: BANJO PLAYER WITH "THE YOUNG WAYFARERS," JOE'S BACKING BAND): Joe was always a little more cautious than the other folk music types. He was always willing to see the other side of the argument. He wasn't really a "protest" singer, like a Woody or a Pete Seeger. He was more like a "reasonable argument" singer. TRAVELLIN’ JOE FISHER (ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE): “Please, Mr. Factory Man, listen to our plea I know you demand profitability But our union's demands will never cease We request a modest cost of living increase." NARRATOR: Joe was discovered by folklorist Alan Lomax during one of his busking performances in a train station in Norwich. While Lomax was initially skeptical of the young folk singer's authenticity, he was won over by Fisher's dedication to his craft and the promise of free dental work. Lomax signed Joe to Columbia Records and he quickly won a loyal following. DR. PHILLIP D. WALES (SUPER: PH.D IN 21ST CENTURY MUSIC HISTORY FROM CORNELL, CLERK AT "VINYL SOLUTION" IN MANHATTAN'S UPPER WEST SIDE): Joe's songs were anthems for the young people of the time. And he was a charismatic figure, kids across the country imitated him. They'd repeat his catch phrase "Mighty nice to play for you all tonight" and they'd emblazon their guitars with the phrase "THIS MACHINE KILLS EXTREMISTS" just like Travellin' Joe did. NARRATOR: Travellin' Joe spoke for a generation of Americans. A generation that looked around and saw that there were serious problems in society, but also wanted to maintain their comfortable upper middle class status. Songs such as "Let's Raise the Minimum Wage," "Dental Plan," "Fightin' Adlai" and "Equal Rights for the Negroes (In Due Time)" politely demanded social change. TRAVELLIN’ JOE FISHER (ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE): “Freedom and equality, let's make a new start But too much change will upset the applecart Let's make things better, but we shouldn't go too fast If we want our gradual gains to last." NARRATOR: Fisher was a regular on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and Ted Delaney's Ol' Fashioned TV Hoedown and his albums, We Shall, Eventually, Overcome and Songs of the Collective Bargainer went gold. It appeared that Travellin' Joe would take his place among the giants of the folk scene. But like many folk musicians of the time, Travellin' Joe suffered a career ending blow during the Red Scare. Called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Joe refused to name names. Not to protect his friends from the McCarthyites, but because he didn't know any members of the Communist party. DAVID CARTER: Joe didn't go to any Red meetings. He never went to any meetings, as far as I can remember. He liked to be home before 8:00 every evening. NARRATOR: Viewed as an anachronism by the increasingly radical folk community, Travellin' Joe faded into obscurity shortly thereafter. Aside from a failed attempt at a pro-Hubert Humphrey concept album in 1968 with a psychedelic band he dubbed the Happy Warriors and a brief cameo in the 1973 biker movie The Harley Sluts Go to Tijuana, Fisher would make no more public appearances. He became embittered in his later years, often harassing Peter Yarrow during PBS pledge drive shows and writing long, incoherent screeds to the editor of A-Pickin' and A-Singin' Magazine. But for many followers of his music, Fisher's legacy continues to live on. SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D-CT): It was a Travellin' Joe Fisher concert at the Stompin' Grounds in Hartford that inspired me to enter politics. His careful, judicious, inoffensive pragmatism has been an inspiration for me throughout my career. NARRATOR: Join us next week, when Footnotes takes a look at the music of the Four Eviscera-Tones, the forgotten Swedish black metal barbershop quartet. |
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| TODAY'S DRIFTWOOD: "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will." (Martin Luther King) |