Hi,
Please link on over to Protest Music and scroll down to enjoy two great Paul Robeson diaries. One just published and one published last January. It is these diaries that have inspired me to make this proposal. So hat tip to mole333 and JekylInHyde. (Or you can just link from here!)
Music for the Underdog: Paul Robeson
"You Are the Un-Americans, and You Ought to be Ashamed of Yourselves"
These two diaries together make a chapter in the history of Protest Music. A history that lives and changes and expands as we learn to appreciate just how much Protest Music has contributed to our collective well being.
I did a series of diaries in the past covering the story of Joe Hill fictionalized as Tom Joad covering how John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, and Bruce Springsteen have kept this story alive.
Arlo and Woody Guthrie - Pastures Of Plenty
Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad
I am sure there are others who have contributed substantial diaries to Protest Music and even some diaries not yet republished to Protest Music with this level of detail and depth. If you have written or read a diary like this please link to it in the comments.
So diaries covering a songwriter or a performer. Diaries about a movement that was fueled by song like Civil Rights, Labor, or Anti-War movements. Diaries analyzing the lyrics in Protest songs or the impact of protest songs. All of these could be included.
My idea is simple. We find and catalog these diaries turning them into an online book. This book would actually just be a categorized link list to the actual diaries as published. The book will be alive in that it will constantly be updated as new diaries are written, found, and added. It will also be alive because of the comment threads where anyone can update the book and the information included.
So the chapters of the book itself are hosted at DailyKos. The link list or Table Of Contents can be hosted at dkosapedia, Delta Boogie, and anywhere else anyone wants to promote it. Ideally there would be a master copy with an RSS feed so when updates are made they could automatically be propagated out to subscribers.
Please direct me to other chapters for the book I haven't listed. Also comments on implementation and promotion are appreciated.
I want to encourage all posts to Protest Music. If there is a single song that strikes you or a comment about a performance you want to make these are fine posts for Protest Music. What the Protest Music book will add is a listing and a familiar format to the more substantial posts that we get and find.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry