Music, Rebellion, Repression

Two authors and a DJ

Folksingers and the FBI by Aaron Leonard
Some of the most prominent folk singers of the 20th Century, Woody Guthrie, ‘Sis Cunningham, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, etc., were also political activists with various associations with the American Communist Party. As a consequence the FBI, kept meticulous files running many thousands of pages on them. Using music, video selections, news clippings, and records from extensive Freedom of Information Act filings — including never before released material — this presentation will bring to life these artists and the systematic way

The Explosion of Deferred Dreams by Mat Callahan
The book’s impassioned arguments both expose and reframe the political and social context for the San Francisco Sound and the vibrant subcultural uprisings with which it is associated. Using dozens of original interviews, primary sources, and personal experiences, Callahan shows how the intense interplay of artistic and political movements put San Francisco, briefly, in the forefront of a worldwide revolutionary upsurge. A must-read for anyone who “was there” (or longed to have been).

with DJ Dennis O’Neil

MAT CALLAHAN is a musician and author. Most recently he re-published Songs of Freedom by James Connolly and launched the Songs of Slavery and Emancipation project. He is the author of five books including in 2017 The Explosion of Deferred Dreams and A Critical Guide to Intellectual Property. Callahan resides in Bern Switzerland.

AARON LEONARD is author of Heavy Radicals: The FBI’s Secret War on America’s Maoists, and A Threat of the First Magnitude—FBI Counterintelligence & Infiltration: From the Communist Party to the Revolutionary Union. A regular contributor to Truthout and HNN.us, he lives in Los Angeles.