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Post by beatlies on Feb 6, 2012 18:15:06 GMT -5
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Post by artemis on Feb 12, 2012 7:37:51 GMT -5
U, FRITNEY!
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Post by lucy on Feb 14, 2012 20:11:30 GMT -5
That's supposed to be Brittney?? Eeeks...that is scarey...
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Post by beatlies on Feb 17, 2012 22:42:36 GMT -5
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Post by sherlok on Feb 17, 2012 22:58:37 GMT -5
Hmmm ... which one is he??
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glassonion
New Member
Life is strange, life is good, life is all that it should be
Posts: 43
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Post by glassonion on Feb 18, 2012 5:18:23 GMT -5
Second from left
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Post by treegenus on Feb 24, 2012 16:40:05 GMT -5
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Post by beatlies on Feb 25, 2012 3:28:59 GMT -5
From wikipedia, Staunton Military Academy graduate and "protest singer-songwriter" PHIL OCHS:
"Ochs was personally invited by John Lennon to sing at a large benefit at the University of Michigan in December 1971 on behalf of John Sinclair, an activist poet who had been arrested on minor drug charges and given a severe sentence. Ochs performed at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally along with Stevie Wonder, Allen Ginsberg, David Peel, Abbie Hoffman and many others. The rally culminated with Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were making their first public performance in the United States since the breakup of The Beatles.[94]
Although the 1968 election had left him deeply disillusioned, Ochs continued to work for the election campaigns of anti-war candidates, such as George McGovern's unsuccessful Presidential bid in 1972.[95] In 1972, Ochs was asked to write the theme song for the film Kansas City Bomber. The task proved difficult, as Ochs struggled to overcome his writer's block. Although his song wasn't used in the soundtrack, it was released as a single.[96]
Ochs decided to travel. In mid-1972, he went to Australia and New Zealand.[97] He traveled to Africa in 1973, where he visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa. One night, Ochs was attacked and strangled by robbers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which damaged his vocal cords, causing a loss of the top three notes in his vocal range.[98] The attack also exacerbated his growing mental problems, and he became increasingly paranoid. Ochs believed the attack may have been arranged by government agents—perhaps the CIA. Still, he continued his trip, even recording a single in Kenya, "Bwatue".[99]
On September 11, 1973, the Allende government of Chile was overthrown in a coup d'état. Allende died during the bombing of the presidential palace, and [Ochs' friend Victor]Jara was publicly tortured and killed. When Ochs heard about the manner in which his friend had been killed, he was outraged. He decided to organize a benefit concert to bring to public attention the situation in Chile and raise funds for the people of Chile. The concert, "An Evening with Salvador Allende", included films of Allende; singers such as Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and Bob Dylan; and political activists such as former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Dylan had agreed to perform at the last minute when he heard that the concert had sold so few tickets that it was in danger of being canceled. Once his participation was announced, the event quickly sold out.[100]
After the Chile benefit, Ochs and Dylan discussed the possibility of a joint concert tour, playing small nightclubs. Nothing came of the Dylan-Ochs plans, but the idea eventually evolved into Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue.[101]
The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975.[102] Ochs planned a final "War Is Over" rally, which was held in New York's Central Park on May 11. More than 100,000 people came to hear Ochs, joined by Harry Belafonte, Odetta, Pete Seeger and others. Ochs and Joan Baez sang a duet of "There but for Fortune" and he closed with his song "The War Is Over"—finally a true declaration that the war was over.[103]
[edit]Decline and death
Ochs's drinking became more and more of a problem, and his behavior became increasingly erratic. He frightened his friends both with his drunken rants about the FBI and CIA, and about his claiming to want to have Elvis's manager Colonel Tom Parker or Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders manage his career.[104]
In mid-1975, Ochs took on the identity of John Butler Train. He told people that Train had murdered Ochs, and that he, John Butler Train, had replaced him. Train was convinced that someone was trying to kill him, so he carried a weapon at all times: a hammer, a knife, or a lead pipe.[105]
Ochs's friends tried to help him. His brother Michael attempted to have him committed to a psychiatric hospital. Friends pleaded with him to get help voluntarily. They feared for his safety, because he was getting into fights with bar patrons. Unable to pay his rent, he began living on the streets.[106]
After several months, the Train persona faded and Ochs returned, but his talk of suicide disturbed his friends and family. They hoped it was a passing phase, but Ochs was determined.[107] One of his biographers explains Ochs's motivation:
By Phil's thinking, he had died a long time ago: he had died politically in Chicago in 1968 in the violence of the Democratic National Convention; he had died professionally in Africa a few years later, when he had been strangled and felt that he could no longer sing; he had died spiritually when Chile had been overthrown and his friend Victor Jara had been brutally murdered; and, finally, he had died psychologically at the hands of John Train.[108]
In January 1976, Ochs moved to Far Rockaway, New York, to live with his sister Sonny. He was lethargic; his only activities were watching television and playing cards with his nephews. Ochs saw a psychiatrist, who diagnosed his bipolar disorder. He was prescribed medication, and he told his sister he was taking it.[109] On April 9, 1976, Ochs hanged himself.[110]
Years after his death, it was revealed that the FBI had a file of nearly 500 pages on Ochs.[111] Much of the information in those files relates to his association with counterculture figures, protest organizers, musicians, and other people described by the FBI as "subversive".[112] The FBI was often sloppy in collecting information on Ochs: his name was frequently misspelled "Oakes" in their files, and they continued to consider him "potentially dangerous"[113] after his death.[112] Congresswoman Bella Abzug (Democrat from New York), an outspoken anti-war activist herself who had appeared at the 1975 "War is Over" rally, entered this statement into the Congressional Record on April 29, 1976:
Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, a young folksinger whose music personified the protest mood of the 1960s took his own life. Phil Ochs—whose original compositions were compelling moral statements against war in Southeast Asia—apparently felt that he had run out of words. While his tragic action was undoubtedly motivated by terrible personal despair, his death is a political as well as an artistic tragedy. I believe it is indicative of the despair many of the activists of the 1960s are experiencing as they perceive a government which continues the distortion of national priorities that is exemplified in the military budget we have before us.
Phil Ochs' poetic pronouncements were part of a larger effort to galvanize his generation into taking action to prevent war, racism, and poverty. He left us a legacy of important songs that continue to be relevant in 1976—even though "the war is over".
Just one year ago—during this week of the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War—Phil recruited entertainers to appear at the "War is Over" celebration in Central Park, at which I spoke.
It seems particularly appropriate that this week we should commemorate the contributions of this extraordinary young man.[114] Robert Christgau, who had been so critical of Pleasures of the Harbor and Ochs's guitar skills eight years earlier, wrote warmly of Ochs in his obituary in the Village Voice—an irony that Ochs might have enjoyed. "I came around to liking Phil Ochs' music, guitar included," Christgau wrote. "My affection [for Ochs] no doubt prejudiced me, so it is worth [noting] that many observers who care more for folk music than I do remember both his compositions and his vibrato tenor as close to the peak of the genre."[115]
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Post by treegenus on Feb 29, 2012 15:44:32 GMT -5
Good find, thank you! I remember his song Small Circle of Friends.
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Post by beatlies on Feb 29, 2012 21:33:51 GMT -5
Good find, thank you! I remember his song Small Circle of Friends. You're welcome. That reminds me of the Featles' "I get by with a little help from my friends," and Fohn and Yoko adopting (without crediting him) Ochs/Fochs' "I declare it's over, the WAR IS OVER"... With clones, War Is OVA !!
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Post by sherlok on Feb 29, 2012 21:44:50 GMT -5
warez ova?
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Post by artemis on Mar 1, 2012 15:35:14 GMT -5
Though, of course, there are more than 2 FESSICA's out there
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Post by artemis on Mar 13, 2012 16:27:49 GMT -5
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Post by sherlok on Mar 13, 2012 21:13:26 GMT -5
And her hair's on backwards and she had her neck shortened and her nose lengthened. Looks like another candidate for the Big Head thing that lucy was just talking about.
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Post by sherlok on Mar 13, 2012 21:15:03 GMT -5
[this space available for advertising]
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