{"id":996,"date":"2010-10-28T09:14:54","date_gmt":"2010-10-28T14:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=996"},"modified":"2016-06-07T08:12:47","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T13:12:47","slug":"funky16corners-radio-v-89-things-got-to-get-better-get-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=996","title":{"rendered":"Funky16Corners Radio v.89 – Things Got To Get Better (Get Together)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Funky16Corners Radio v.89 – Things Got To Get Better (Get Together)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Playlist<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sir Joe Quaterman & Free Soul \u2013 So Much Trouble On My Mind (GSF)
\nRaymond Winnfield \u2013 Things Could Be Better (Fordom)<\/strong><\/div>\n
Spoken interlude: Malcolm X<\/span>
\nGene Chandler \u2013 In My Body\u2019s House (Checker)
\nNat Turner Rebellion \u2013 Plastic People (Delvaliant)
\nSpoken interlude: Noam Chomsky<\/span>
\nDonny Hathaway \u2013 The Slums (Atco)
\nSpoken interlude: Dorothy Day<\/span>
\nSebastian \u2013 Living In Depression (Brown Dog)
\nSenor Soul \u2013 Don\u2019t Lay Your Funky Trip On Me (Whiz)
\nSpoken interlude: Rev Martin Luther King Jr<\/span>
\nDella Reese \u2013 Compared to What (Avco)
\nImpressions \u2013 Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey) (Curtom)
\nJames Brown \u2013 Funky President (People It\u2019s Bad) (Polydor)
\nSpoken interlude: Terence McKenna<\/span>
\nJames Brown \u2013 Get Up Get Into It Get Involved (King)
\nSpoken interlude: Saul Alinsky<\/span>
\nSoul Searchers \u2013 We The People (Sussex)
\nIsley Brothers \u2013 Fight the Power (T-Neck)
\nSpoken interlude: Jesse Jackson<\/span>
\nStevie Wonder \u2013 We Can Work It Out (Tamla)
\nUnifics \u2013 People Got to Be Free (Kapp)
\nSpoken interlude: Michelle Obama<\/span>
\nS.O.U.L. \u2013 Love Peace and Power (Musicor)
\nMohawks \u2013 Baby Hold On (Cotillion)
\nImpressions \u2013 We\u2019re a Winner (ABC)
\nClosing: Rev Martin Luther King Jr
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Funky16Corners Radio v.89 – Things Got to Get Better (Get Together) <\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Greetings all.<\/strong><\/div>\n

As first hinted at, then promised, and finally warned about (for those of you who are diametrically opposed politically), Funky16Corners Radio v.89 \u2013 Things Got To Get Better (Get Together)<\/strong>, aka the ‘election mix’ has finally arrived, been posted at the top of the blog, where it will remain until the election is over.<\/p>\n

I know I normally run Halloween themed posts this time of year, but we have real things to be scared about.
\nThere is a Halloween set in this week\u2019s Funky16Corners Radio Show<\/strong> on Viva Radio <\/strong><\/a>(Friday night at 9PM) so you can get your fix there.<\/p>\n

As far as I can recall, I haven\u2019t approached the readers of the Funky16Corners blog with anything sociopolitical since the \u2018Two From the Stonewall Jukebox\u2019 <\/a>post back in July of 2009, and before that the posts about the Presidential election of 2008.<\/p>\n

Though I think most of you have some idea of my political orientation, it\u2019s not a frequent subject here, because ultimately Funky16Corners is about music.<\/p>\n

However<\/strong> (big however coming here<\/em>)\u2026<\/p>\n

We are currently in the midst of a very dark time, not just in the US, but worldwide.<\/p>\n

The rise of the ultra-right and the ensuing anti-immigrant, anti-gay and ultimately anti-intellectual wave that is poised to wash away decades of important social gains in this country is the single most important issue at hand.<\/p>\n

Having grown up in the 1970s, I find the idea that this great country would ever descend again into a maelstrom of religious lunacy, open hatred of immigrants and homosexuals, demonization of organized labor (especially teachers) and hateful, empty Rand-ian \u2018libertarianism\u2019 is beyond insane.<\/p>\n

The economy is in terrible shape, and is unlikely to get better any time soon, and those that have been able to return to work often find that the salaries are lower and the benefits non-existent.<\/p>\n

How have some of our countrymen reacted to these challenges?<\/p>\n

Not well.<\/em><\/p>\n

An increasingly angry minority, funded by the mega-rich have become a political force, eager to build fences (literal and figurative) to keep those they consider \u2018undesirable\u2019 from participating fully in our democracy.<\/p>\n

The rise of these deeply ignorant \u2018patriots\u2019 (they love to wrap themselves in the flag, unable to embrace its true meaning), marching alongside religious ideologues and plutocrats has woven together a rancid fabric, its warp and weft rife with xenophobia, racism, class warfare, homophobia and various and sundry fringe hatreds.<\/p>\n

You may step back and see these negative forces as smaller, separate issues, but the truth is that they are all part of the same, ugly reaction.<\/p>\n

When the going got tough, the right got nasty.<\/em><\/p>\n

Those institutions tasked with keeping us informed have collapsed under the collective weight of corruption by and collusion with those that have the most to gain by a population ignorant of the truth.<\/p>\n

I still have a basic faith in the goodness of the human race, but it is being sorely tested.<\/p>\n

I want my children to grow up in a world where they are indifferent to the color of a person\u2019s skin, the language they speak or their sexual preference, but we are surrounded by those that would deny them that future.<\/p>\n

This includes people of supposed deep religious faith who forget that their own freedom to worship and express the tenets of their faith includes the freedom of others to find their own path. These are the people who continually fight to deny gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans their civil rights.<\/p>\n

These are the people who want to rewrite the textbooks in our schools to cleanse them of science and fill them with creationism and revisionist (racial and political) history.<\/p>\n

This also includes a lot of people, many of them radicalized after the attacks of 9\/11, who have turned against American citizens of Muslim faith, and stoked fears (alongside similarly radicalized anti-Muslim forces in Europe and Scandinavia) of all Muslims, as well as immigrants in general.<\/p>\n

These are the people who allowed 30 years of Republican propaganda to turn them against organized labor, while simultaneously building an obscene faith in big business that allowed massive deregulation and tax cuts, as well a cheering our way into two insane wars.<\/p>\n

This is the same big business that – thanks to a bizarre Supreme Court decision – is now allowed to flood the political system with piles of cash (anonymously) to attack those that would put a stop to our slow (but seemingly inevitable) march to plutarchy.<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t mistake this as an endorsement of President Obama <\/strong>specifically, or the Democrats in general.
\nDespite promises to the contrary, the President has continued to fight the right of gays to serve in the military, and has stated that he opposes the idea of gay marriage.<\/p>\n

Many of those that serve with the (D) next to their name have also thrown their lot in with the \u2018whatever big business wants\u2019 crowd as well.<\/p>\n

There may be something \u201ctrickling down\u201d onto the middle class and the poor, but it\u2019s not money.<\/em><\/p>\n

However (another big one here), the alternative is people like Joe Miller<\/strong> in Alaska, Sharon Angle<\/strong> in Nevada, the execrable Rand Paul<\/strong> in Kentucky, deeply ignorant Christine O\u2019Donnell<\/strong> in Delaware, Ken Buck<\/strong> in Colorado, Marco Rubio<\/strong> in Florida and countless others who have embraced the insane ideas of the radical right.
\nThese people are only the larger public face of this movement.<\/p>\n

While they run for national office, their foot soldiers are poised to fill seats in state legislatures, county and local office, and worst of all, school boards.<\/p>\n

There are those that would have you believe that the system is utterly broken, and that an appropriate response is not to vote at all.<\/p>\n

This is insane.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is there any among you that really think that the way to right a staggering democracy is to withdraw from it?
\nNot only should every one of you exercise your right to vote, but you should do what you can to convince your family and friends that they should as well, because one thing the forces of the radical right do, religious or otherwise, is vote.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These are the people that are counting on apathy to help them get their hooks into the government where they can start to punch holes in the Constitution they ironically wave like a battle flag.<\/p>\n

So what does this have to do with Funky16Corners?<\/p>\n

Like the mighty James Brown<\/strong> says:<\/p>\n

People, people we got to get over before we go under!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tell\u2019em Godfather!<\/em><\/p>\n

The majority of the soul and funk music we celebrate here was created during a time when the forces of the right were attempting to tighten the screws of the status quo, while the forces of peace, racial equality and sexual liberation were battling in the streets (and the ballot box) to upend it and seize their rights.<\/p>\n

Soul and funk are the sounds of struggle and liberation. Not every number here has an explicit political\/social message, but the music of black America, created in the 60s and 70s in its core rarely says anything else.
\nFunky16Corners Radio v.89 is an attempt to string some of the more powerful musical statements of the time together, along with spoken intervals by important thinkers.<\/p>\n

Things get off to a depressing, yet wholly realistic start, but work their way up through anger, defiance and ultimately (hopefully) triumph.<\/p>\n

Not every number here carries an explicit message, but taken together they make an important statement.
\nThe voices heard between the songs include some very well known (civil rights figures like Dr Martin Luther King, Malcolm X<\/strong> and Jesse Jackson<\/strong>), and some lesser known (Dorothy Day<\/strong>*), and in a few cases dreadfully misunderstood and demonized (Saul Alinsky**, Noam Chomsky<\/strong>), but their words all have in common is their relevance to the world we live in today.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying that things are going to be fixed if the opponents of democracy are defeated in this election (since many of them clearly won\u2019t be), but rather (to borrow an old saw) the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, and stepping into the voting booth and making yourself heard is that step.<\/p>\n

Far too many Americans take a pass on that important responsibility, and if they continue to do so, they\u2019ll have no one to thank but themselves when the world around them gets worse.<\/p>\n

So, once again in the words of James Brown:<\/p>\n

Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Educate yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Educate others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t allow hatred and disinformation to go unchallenged.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n*Dorothy Day is an especially important figure in the history of social justice and charity. If her name is unfamiliar, dig a little deeper and read about this great woman.<\/strong><\/p>\n

**Saul Alinsky has been demonized by the right to the point where his name has become a kind of shorthand (with just the tiniest bit of anti-semitism attached to it) for leftist subversion. I doubt most of the people that throw his name around as an epithet have read anything about him. His voice \u2013 like most of those in this mix \u2013 was an important one in the struggle to transfer power from the haves to the have nots (which goes a long way to explaining why those that shill for the mega-rich hate him so). If all you\u2019ve ever heard about him are bad things, do yourself a favor and read up on his life (outside of right wing web sites).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PPS – Make sure to fall by Iron Leg
\n
\n<\/strong><\/a>PPPS Make sure to hit up Funky16Corners on Facebook<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Funky16Corners Radio v.89 – Things Got To Get Better (Get Together) Playlist Sir Joe Quaterman & Free Soul \u2013 So Much Trouble On My Mind (GSF) Raymond Winnfield \u2013 Things Could Be Better (Fordom) Spoken interlude: Malcolm X Gene Chandler \u2013 In My Body\u2019s House (Checker) Nat Turner Rebellion \u2013 Plastic People (Delvaliant) Spoken interlude: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[58,11,17,14,15,40,74,75,12,18],"tags":[171,163,166,41,25,164],"class_list":["post-996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-songs","category-funk","category-funk-45","category-funky16corners","category-funky16corners-radio","category-new-orleans-funk","category-philly-soul","category-politics","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-chicago-soul","tag-funk","tag-funky16corners","tag-new-orleans","tag-philly-funk","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-g4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=996"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6467,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions\/6467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}