| Tonight on TDS, author Jeff Sharlet discusses his new book,The Family; and on TCR, it's Mark Johnson, Producer, Playing For Change |
Special thanks to TiaRachel for coming through with the graphics, all the way from her hotel room in Pittsburgh. (If you're reading this, Rachel, hi!!!). A special shout-out to to all you Kossacks who are at Netroots Nation right now. You rock, and I'm sorry I can't be there. I promise I'll get there one of these years.
Anyway, back to tonight's shows. Jeff Sharlet is a journalist noted for his work on American religious subcultures. According to a Publisher's Weekly description of his most recent work:
Checking in on a friend's brother at Ivenwald, a Washington-based fundamentalist group living communally in Arlington, Va., religion and journalism scholar Sharlet finds a sect whose members refer to Manhattan's Ground Zero as "the ruins of secularism"; intrigued, Sharlet accepts on a whim an invitation to stay at Ivenwald. He's shocked to find himself in the stronghold of a widespread "invisible" network, organized into cells much like Ivenwald, and populated by elite, politically ambitious fundamentalists; Sharlet is present when a leader tells a dozen men living there, "You guys are here to learn how to rule the world." As it turns out, the Family was established in 1935 to oppose FDR's New Deal and the spread of trade unions; since then, it has organized well-attended weekly prayer meetings for members of Congress and annual National Prayer Breakfasts attended by every president since Eisenhower. Further, the Family's international reach ("almost impossible to overstate") has "forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most oppressive regimes in the world." In the years since his first encounter, Sharlet has done extensive research, and his thorough account of the Family's life and times is a chilling expose.
Mark Johnson is the creator and producer of the group Playing For Change. According to Wikipedia:
The project started in 2004 with the organization's self described goal to "inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music". The creators of the project traveled around the world to places such as New Orleans, Barcelona, South Africa, India, Nepal, the Middle East, Irelahttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/12/22714/2022?new=truend, using a mobile recording studio, had local musicians perform the same song, interpreted into their own style. The project's first single Stand by Me, began with a Santa Monica street performer named Roger Ridley (now deceased), who they had perform the tune. They then traveled around the world and had more musicians add their versions.
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