Beats, Rhymes and Justice: Hip Hop on Rikers Island

Photo: L-R, Darnell Hannon, Ryan Burvick and Cameron Rasmussen who lead the Beats, Rhymes and Justice programme on Rikers Island. Credit: Jason Bergman

MC and producer Ryan Burvick takes us behind bars on Rikers Island, New York’s largest and troubled Jail. He leads a music production programme there called Beats, Rhymes and Justice, which helps inmates write rhymes, make music and imagine their future off the island in a different light.

We hear from three of its students, all aged between 18-21 and awaiting trial. Ayosay has been on Rikers for five months. He’s an experienced rapper from New York who dreams of making it in hip hop. Trigger is working on two tracks that express his desire to make a better life for his four-year-old daughter. Suave, a former student from the Beats, Rhymes and Justice programme, has recently been released after spending over two years in jail and is trying to adapt to life at home with his mother in the Bronx. We hear these student making music in Ryan’s portable studio on Rikers.

Rikers Island is located on an island in the East River, between the Bronx and Queens. Around 8,000 people are incarcerated there, across multiple complexes. Rikers’ has a long history of violence. Earlier this year Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to close the jail, with the council calling it “a stain on our city’s great reputation.”

The Beats, Rhymes and Justice programme, organised by Columbia University’s Centre for Justice, is one of many attempts to reform the jail. Ryan and the team from Columbia University use hip hop to take the inmates out of their cells and their immediate surroundings, to encourage self-expression and to give them hope.

Loafers Glory 05: Whimsical Stew

 Episode 05 of Loafers Glory Whimsical Stew, this ones a bit more random going from a recital of Walt Whitman's poetry including a rare mechanical recording of the man himself, to activism of Yip Harburg the song writer responsible for Over the Rainbow among many others. It's also jammed with some Wobbly history and anecdotes about Utah Phillips childhood reading about Depression era Bank Robbers.

Despite the rather shotgun like approach to organisation this was again an informative and enjoyable journey through history. In particular the speech by Huey Long about wealth concentration seems very close to the 99% rhetoric of the Occupy movement.

The full audio archive
Video playlist

Loafers Glory 04: Holidays

Episode four of Loafers Glory is about holidays, we have stories and songs about Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. We also have an account of the New York News Guild strike that ended on Christmas day with the Newspaper companies conceding. We Christmas songs from the Basque community in Idaho, Congolese songs for Kwanzaa, and Shalom by Richard Tucker and a Mish Mosh by Mickey Katz.



We also have an account about the time Utah went to jail, and the history of the 1913 Miners Strike and the massacre at the Italian Hall, by the mine company guards. We also have some poetry and a few more funny anecdotes sprinkled in. My favourite is the story of the last living Wobbly.

Loafers Glory 03- Busking

Episode three of Loafers Glory is all about the art of busking, from street singing to soap box oration and all points in between. Includes some special tips on how to survive if your on the street during hard times.

Includes a selection of music from some of the most famous street corner singers in the US and Canada.

ACAB

On Sunday I went with some mates to Grimsby V Gateshead, while there I'm reminded of why so many fans from virtually every club all hate the police. If you have a friend or family member who still refuses to believe the police are a violent force that keeps working people in line and can and will use its powers when it feels like it, then take them to an away game, then they'll soon learn.

Now the reason why an away game is a perfect example of the Coppers typical behaviour is simply really. They can and will get away with it, the rest of British society even those who don't watch or play football hate hooligans. And if you're a football fan in trouble with the police then you must be a hooligan. Also since the fans are on an away the police don't have to worry too much since the fans will be leaving the same day, they don't know the area and have no connections or roots to the town. Also thanks to football tribalism most locals will be quite happy to see the other side get a pasting.

And the club is no help, fearing being made liable for damages or getting a reputation that will hurt merchandising they'll remain silent or make press statements condemning there own fans for the crime of getting a truncheon to the face and a night in the cells.

Anyway here's a song about the thin blue line by Bristol Anarchist duo QELD

"When a person becomes a policeman, he has sold his class interests, he has crossed a class line, he is in the paid employment of the ruling class, he is a part of the private army of the ruling class which exists for the sole purpose of defending private property and profits."

Loafers Glory and the West

Episode two of Loafers Glory focuses on the West, in its dying days in the 1910's. It covers the stories of Old Western Miners, loggers and farm hands. From the Logging camps in Washington state to Butte Montana and the conditions of the Miners who toiled away underground.



Includes music and poetry from Cowboys and Loggers including Gail I Gardner, and Bill Young (not the US legislator) and from other Wobblies such as Bruce Brackney and Mark Ross. Stories include a bit of Logger folklore like the story of the death of Tom Lamb. It also comes with a special Utah Phillips pie recipe. But the bulk of the show concerns Butte Montana miners in the 1910's in particular that Speculator Mine Disaster of 1917.

Loafers Glory the Hobo Jungle of the Mind

My introduction the IWW was the film Reds, I liked what they seemed to stand for but since I hadn't heard of them before I assumed they were one of those radical groups that became a casualty of the Red Scares. Letter on I found they were still around an while much smaller had actually spread to other nations including the UK.

My introduction into the Wobbly philosophy was the songs and little stories of Utah Phillips, a folk singer, song writer and Father Christmas impersonator. I love his songs and covers, and I really liked the little bits of story he'd use to book end them in many of his recordings. My favourite album by him Fellow Workers for this reason.

Later another Wobbly shared an archive of a community radio show Utah did in the 90's, Loafers Glory. It was weekly, around an hour, lasted 100 episodes and is just fascinating to listen to. Since I have a bit (ok a lot) more free time at present I've been making videos of them like I did for Free Speech Radio News. Which has made a comeback.

The program was a mix of folk songs -some of which hadn't been heard before at the time- and stories about important but overlooked people and events, many of whom Utah had a personal connection too.

Here's the first one.

The introduction is a bit less focussed than the other episodes, the others focus on a particular theme, for example episode 2 is about the West (as in Cowboys). The introduction includes everything from the life and death of Mother Jones, Tom Scribbner and the art of musical saws (yes that's right using saws to play music), to the Spanish Civil War with a beuatiful rendition of Freiheit (freedom) by Eddie Balchowsky, and some quite sad but sweet tributes to Utah's deceased friends from his hobo days.

 Since I do still have some work to do and am prone to distraction finishing the other 98 (I already did Episode 88) may take sometime but the full archive is freely available on the Long Memory.

Here's the playlist to be updated as and when.

The New Babylon

The film The New Babylon (Novyy Vavilon) was directed by Kozintsev and Trauberg in 1929. It is a sympathetic account of the history of the Paris Commune of 1871 and tells the story of two lovers who are separated by the fighting.

The film The New Babylon (Novyy Vavilon) was directed by Kozintsev and Trauberg in 1929. It is a sympathetic account of the history of the Paris Commune of 1871 and tells the story of two lovers who are separated by the fighting. The film was ultimately suppressed by the Bolsheviks for its anti-war message. It also contained a lot of formal innovations and the musical score for the film was written by the young Dimitri Shostakovitch. Guy Debord used extracts from the film in his own The Society of the Spectacle in 1973.

The film was something of a lost treasure, the film and those who worked on it particularly Shostakovich who scored it fell out of favour with the Stalinist regime so didn't enjoy a big run or distribution of film reels. As such it mainly survived in the West being past around by film clubs and cut up and inserted into documentaries and student films. There was however a project set up to remaster and release the film to DVD, that process was successful and you too can on this work of art for the low, low price of er £75.

Seriously that was the price the group that remastered it were asking for when I looked it up. So it remind pretty obscure, but then a light, one it seems that a group of musicians had acquired a copy, but curiously decided to remove the original score (which did survive and outgrow the film in the west) and substitute there own. 

After watching that I asked myself some questions, why? Who the hell are the Magic Lantern Show Orchestra and what are they playing at. But as far as I could tell it were the only freely available version of the film around. So what I did was mute the video and then play the original score here it is.

But after getting fed up of that I kept looking I eventually found another version with the original score in tact.

Here it is

It really is a great film of the silent era, and a rare look at the Paris Commune and the brutal repression by the French Army.

And yes there is now a torrent.

Mr Block: Introduction

I'll be uploading the Mr Block comic a 1912-13 Comic series that ran in the Industrial Worker, the newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Mr. Block, who has no first name, was created November 7, 1912 by Ernest Riebe, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Block appeared that day in the Spokane newspaper Industrial Worker, smoking a cigar and wearing a checkered suit with top hat. Subsequently, Mr. Block lost the fancy clothes but often kept a hat, ten sizes too small, perched on one corner of his wooden blockhead.

"Mr. Block is legion," wrote Walker C. Smith in 1913. "He is representative of that host of slaves who think in terms of their masters. Mr. Block owns nothing, yet he speaks from the standpoint of the millionaire; he is patriotic without patrimony; he is a law-abiding outlaw... [who] licks the hand that smites him and kisses the boot that kicks him... the personification of all that a worker should not be."

 Mr Block first appeared in the song Mr Block by Joe Hill.

Please give me your attention I'll introduce to you A man that is a credit to "Our Red, White and Blue"; His head is made of lumber, and solid as a rock; he is a common worker and his name is Mr. Block. And Block he thinks he may Be President some day.
(Chorus)
Oh, Mr. Block, you were born by mistake, You take the cake. You make me ache. Tie a rock to your block and jump in the lake. Kindly do that for Liberty's sake.


 Here's a Cuban version of Mr Block by Mats Paulson

Utah Phillips Chats with Pete Seeger

Here's an old interview of Pete Seeger by fellow folk musician and committed Wobbly Utah Phillips. The two discuss the history of folk music in America and Pete's proper place within the genre, broken up with a few songs of course.

The interview covers many topics, from McCarthyism, the Communist Party, going broke (repeatedly) and even covers mediaeval ballads. Utah also shares his secret recipe for self turning pancakes.



From the archives of Loafers Glory at the Long Memory website.

R.I.P. Pete Seeger

 As I'm sure you already know legendary Folk singer Pete Seeger died recently aged 94. He lived to a ripe old age and had a major impact on music and public opinion in America and abroad. I've listened to his protest songs more then a few times and if I were to have a top ten list I'm sure he'd be on it.

I'm also pleased to have seen that he received eulogies and tributes from a lot of media outlets in America. However I wasn't happy to see them try to retroactively claim him as there own.  The Young Turks did a video on him were despite acknowledging Seeger's support for the Communist Party claimed he was a Liberal. Which is odd since they're usually the first to complain that a Liberal and Communist is not the same thing. Oh and despite congratulating him on his work for Civil Rights they completely failed to mention his most active and important area of Activism, the Labour Movement.

Like Woody Guthrie his friend and collaborator Pete Seeger was very active singing songs for and about Unions and workers struggles. In fact for a time he was part of a band called the Almanac Singers along with Woody Guthrie that concerned themselves almost exclusively with Union songs. It then branched out to include other topics including the fight against Fascism, which led to some very strange "protest" songs like "Dear Mr President" a song dripping with praise for a pro war FDR, oh and the Almanac Singers where an official part of the American "Popular Front" a CPUSA ran Soviet sponsored front group designed to build an alliance between the Communists and other "Progressive" forces.

Over all the best biography of Seeger I've seen is from the Real News Network, though they don't acknowledge the Communist links at all, and its only mention is part of a dismissive comment about right wing smears.



I guess "Radical" has become the safety word for Liberals to praise Communists without giving credit to another group. Still over all its a good recap and introduction to the guy, even gives a (limited) taste of his music.

I'm not really surprised to see this much dishonesty from self described Liberals, though I was a little surprised to see it appear here, because Seeger's links to the Communist Party are actually very well known since they lasted many years, but also because it should be an easy target to attack him. He's support went beyond voting for the Presidential Candidate or reading the Daily Worker, he actively  participated in its initiatives like the Popular Front and the American International Brigade. He also sang songs and spoke out in favour of the USSR and Stalin.

But in the 1980's he changed his opinion on Stalin and the Soviet Union, in 1982 he took part in a benefit gig for Solidarnosc Polish Union that resisted the Soviet Union and its Warsaw government. He also began to criticise violence and say that he had been wrong in interviews and offered to apologies.

At any rate, today I'll apologize for a number of things, such as thinking that Stalin was merely a "hard driver" and not a "supremely cruel misleader." I guess anyone who calls himself a Christian should be prepared to apologize for the Inquisition, the burning of heretics by Protestants, the slaughter of Jews and Muslims by Crusaders. White people in the U.S.A. ought to apologize for stealing land from Native Americans and enslaving blacks. Europeans could apologize for worldwide conquests, Mongolians for Genghis Khan. And supporters of Roosevelt could apologize for his support of Somoza, of Southern White Democrats, of Franco Spain, for putting Japanese Americans in concentration camps.

And in 2007 he wrote one of his last songs called "Big Joe Blues" which was a song about the brutality of the Stalin years and his disillusionment with him.

 "I'm singing about old Joe, cruel Joe. / He ruled with an iron hand. /He put an end to the dreams / Of so many in every land. / He had a chance to make / A brand new start for the human race. / Instead he set it back / Right in the same nasty place. / I got the Big Joe Blues. / Keep your mouth shut or you will die fast. / I got the Big Joe Blues. / Do this job, no questions asked. / I got the Big Joe Blues."

So you could quote mine the guy to make it appear that he was disillusioned with Communism, even though he maintain that he was still a supporter of Communism.

 "I still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it."

But enough words now the man should be remembered most for his music, so here's a selection of them.

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

which side are you on 

 

Solidarity Forever

Banks of Marble

The Lady's not Returning

Yes this time its true April the 8th 2013 is the day that Margaret Thatcher died. Its been a long time coming but its finally here. To comemorate this Red Letter day I've composed my own special eulogy

The Day That Margaret Thatcher Died

 I’ll tell you true, I’ll tell you why
So many are happy to see Thatcher die.
She made it her most important role
To condemn millions to waste on the dole.
So tight was the woman called Thatcher
That for decades we knew her as “Milk Snatcher”.

The nickname was apt for she was the cream
Of the proponents of Milton Friedman’s dream.
For over ten years she reigned supreme
At the head of our most divisive regime.
Her favoured title was the “Iron Lady”
Though her favoured practices were quite shady.

Her response to the trouble on Stormont Hill?
A sinister order to “Shoot to kill”
An order that punished many whose only crime
Was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When the Miners were on strike
She sent up the Met with a pay hike.
The people of Brixton were left in the lurch
Her solution? Stop and search.
Construction workers were trying to organise
Such an act would threaten her drive to privatise.
The solution she hid in bureaucratic mist
Was to agree to the bosses black list.

Still I’ll say this she was kind to her friends
That chosen few who enjoyed dividends.
Yes it was a good time to be in real estate
Or any position that could profit from the decline of the State.
A friend of Thatcher was here to stay
Just ask the Chilean butcher Pinochet.

Still that was all in the past
The shrill one is dead at last.
And the lie of Thatcherism
Will end like every other Despotism.
When the Working class
Shatter her legacy like glass.

For a more comprehensive list of reasons why I and many won't be sad on this day I'll leave you with Tony Benn.

Remembering Joe Hill

 One of the biggest reasons for interesting me in the work of the Industrial Workers of the World were its prolific work in protest and folk songs. The old IWW was rich in songwriters, arguably the most important (certainly the most famous) was Joe Hill a Swedish born organiser for the IWW. While in Utah he was arrested and tried for the murder of a shopkeeper and his son. The evidence was that Hill owned a Red Bandanna and had been treated for a gun shot wound that same night (as had four others) and that was it. He was executed by firing squad on the 19th November 1915.

 Joe Hill's Last Will

My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don't need to fuss and moan,
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

My body? Oh, if I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my Last and final Will.
Good Luck to All of you,
Joe Hill

Joe Hill wrote some of the American Labour movements most popular songs including Casey Jones- Union Scab, Preacher and the Slave, There is power in the Union and Rebel Girl.

His example stuck with me so when I started writing pro-IWW poetry I decided to write this tribute to him.

The Death of Joe Hill

Joe Hill was shot down
By firing squad, they did it
Do not mourn for him

Joe Hill is dead now
But like Jesus he lives on
In our hearts and minds

Joe Hill left his will
He did not ask us to kill
But to Organise

Twelve Days of Revolution

Seasons greetings to you all, and to all a good..... arbitrary period of time. One thing I've noticed is that most groups usually celebrate a day with a song, so let me share with you all a song in keeping with the Revolutionary spirit. (No it isn't the one with the Communist cats I've already posted that)

The Twelve Days of Revolution

Did Santamarx visit you this Revolutionmas? If not enjoy a picture of a fist I'm afraid I ran out of copies of Combat Liberalism.

Solidarity and mittens for all!

From Crisis to Co-operatives

From FSRN

Over the last few years, Europe has experienced a severe financial crisis, with countries like Greece and Spain facing skyrocketing debt and unemployment. More than a decade ago, a similar situation was unfolding in Argentina. In 2001, the country suffered a debilitating economic crisis and, as a result, defaulted on its foreign debt and stopped pegging the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar.  When the peso to dollar conversion jumped suddenly to three to one, many Argentines lost two-thirds of their savings overnight.

Banks closed.  Companies went out of business.  And fully one-quarter of the population was left without work.  Tens of thousands of those people, in desperation, started to make their living from garbage.  Working as “cartoneros,” which means “cardboard people” they sorted through trash to find recyclable materials to sell.  Thus was born Buenos Aires’ informal recycling system, which still exists today.

Eilís O’Neill has more on how the cartoneros, who originally struggled to exist on what they could make on their own, eventually organized into cooperatives in order to help each other and to demand that the government support their efforts.

This documentary was produced by Eilís O’Neill  in Buenos Aires. Documentary editor is Shannon Young. Technical production by Jeannine Etter. La Plataforma provided music for this documentary.

In 2001 Argentina suffered one of the worst economic depressions since the 1930's, surprisingly this traumatic period went unnoticed by most as 9/11 and the Invasion of Afghanistan diverted attention. I'm also certain that the fact this occurred in South America a region that at the time (late 80's through the 90's) was prone to economic collapse and street protests. Venezuela had food riots in Caracas, the old Dictatorships failures to secure living standards saw all of them chucked out the Presidential palaces etc.

Which as the above documentary demonstrates is quite shameful. Not only was it a case of ignoring a whole nation in severe difficulty, it also means that the rest of the world may have missed out on a very important example of the people power and the tenacity of ordinary people to Organise in the face of extreme adversity and societal collapse. 2001-02 saw ordinary shop floor staff occupying and reopening abandoned factories (for those who haven't already seen it I recommend The Take a documentary about factory occupations) and others still became Cartoneros "Cardboard people" they would and still do sort through rubbish for recyclable material to sell.

You may be wondering, isn't that what the homeless do all over the world? And the answer is sadly yes, but what makes the Cartoneros different is that they began to organise themselves into Cooperatives and establish routines and preferred buyers for certain materials, which enabled individual Cartoneros to work fewer hours, take days off and  improve their health and housing.

In fact several have become so large and well established that a number of them like El Ceibo now own their own sorting areas and factories.

They went from this

To this

But beyond the specific example of sorting recyclables the Cartoneros show the world the power of organisation, by hard work and solidarity the unemployed living on the very fringe of formal society have managed to improve their own conditions and become important institutions in Urban Centres.

In particular the Documentary makers think the Argentine experience will be of use to the Greeks (probably should of recorded it in Greek then) as not only do the two nations share similar triggers for their woes (the Argentine Peso was pegged to the US dollar for years) but the severity of both financial meltdowns means both nations faced a breakdown in formal society.

May Day 2012

Its that time of year again, Happy International Workers day, or May day to give it its common title. Official days to respect and acknowledge societies down trodden and oppressed stretch back quite a ways, feudal Europe had Fool festivals and Pauper parades, where for a day (and only a day) the mass of serfs and free peasants could frolic and play pretend nobility. Sort of like the Sword of Damocles set in a fairground. Those however were drawn up by the nobility (actually there learned advisor's) as a clever way to defuse tensions between the rich and poor. The whole festivals where nothing but propaganda that said "see, the Duke/King/Crown Prince/Emperor ain't such a bad sort after all". May Day is of course different it was a Day demanded by Workers to Commemorate Workers and its date was chosen to remember a great injustice by the rich and powerful too ordinary workers. By which I refer to the bloody suppression of a demonstration in Chicago in 1886. For a bit of a recap, on the 4th of May local workers staged a demonstration for better working conditions, most prominently an 8 hour work day. In a curious quirk of history the police decided to violently break up the demonstration, such unprecedneted behaviour is no doubt shocking to you I'm sure. During the head cracking another rarity occurred, an Anarchist throw a bomb into the police lines*, this gave the police the excuse to start firing and when the smoke had cleared seven policemen and four demonstrators had been killed and dozens where injured. In the trial that followed eight Anarchists where found guilty, however they were unable to prove which of them (if any) threw the bomb, in fact the prosecution had to admit there was no evidence that these eight were the bomb men. But the court decided not to split hairs and have seven them hung anyway, with the remaining defendant getting fifteen years. But thats not the end of the story, two of the seven were commuted to life in prison and one other Louis Lingg committed suicide on the eve of his execution. The rest where hung on the 11th of November 1887, they sang the Marseillaise as that was the Anthem of the Revolutionary movement at the time. One of the executed August Spies reportedly said this as his final words "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!". After the executions the surviving men where pardoned and the investigating officer was relived of duty under allegations as serious as forging evidence.

The events of Haymarket demonstrate both the challenges facing working people, police violence, possible infiltration, biased courts and demonisation in media, and the supreme importance of solidarity and organisation needed if we are to defend ourselves and change the world for the better. My own personal tribute to those men. *Since the real culprit was never identified a number of potential perpetrators have been looked at by historians several of which where known police informants. Personally I think it could easily have been either, this was the same time period that Anarchists where trying out the infamous "propaganda of the deed" and police and soldiers where quite trigger happy when faced with picket lines. Though if it was the Anarchists they probably would have took credit for it, which they didn't, in fact several Anarchist suspects publicly stated they didn't do it but wished they had.

To Make up for the Quiet Period

Sorry for the lack of updates, things have been very busy for me right now, hopefully I'll be back posting soon. I do have a few mostly finished drafts though they were about special days on the calendar so expect a few sorry this is late but.... introductory posts.

Anyway to make up for the lack of updates heres a music video, but not just any video, its the theme song of "Stalin" the main character of the 2006 Indian musical film Stalin, don't worry though its in English so you can sing along. In addition to being a strange subject for composition it is also very catchy enjoy it.

Good News Everyone!

Well I've done it I’ve sold out to the man..... I mean found a long term job. Since completing my Degree course at Hull University back in July I've been looking for work. I was able to get some short term work in between then and now though but emphasis was very much on the word short. And much of my time went into retraining you know IT courses, Voluntary work, I even took up boxing and am currently learning German, you know cast a wide net in case I had to fall back on my abnormally large fists, or knack for stereotypical accents. Since the very first things to be cut in ConDem budget where all the main hirers for my degree course, I was pretty much trapped in Limbo for awhile.

Still water under the bridge, the job I now have is writer, (big shake up I'm sure you'll agree) specifically for a new website Mobbly.com I'm mainly doing product reviews of video games at the moment but its early days and the higher ups are interested in expanding into current affairs and other areas once established so I live in hope. There a nice bunch communications have been pleasant and the hours reasonable. So depending on how it works this place could either get less or more active.

I want to keep both separate really since there not really related, but my twitter which I set up purely as a way to keep readers updated will see a bit of activity from both, I don't really use twitter enough to justify two accounts. I understand I'm not the best writer out there (though do feel free to disagree with me on this :) but the sites a diverse bunch and if you like games, music or sport or cars and more then you should check it out.

Remember this the more you visit the site, the more money I make, I mean the greater the plurality of information source.... which will err weaken the monopoly of information at the heart of`the struggle of human emancipation, yeah lets go with option number two.

Also lets celebrate with a song, what could be more appropriate then "Happy Worker"





Now that's a sentiment I can get behind!

Intifada by Quetzal

Quetzal the Spanish English Bilingual Chicano Rock Band was in 2009 set to attend a concert sponsored by the Israeli Consulate, however they decided to instead boycott the concert and recorded this song Intifada (Uprising, though literally in English translates to Shrugging off) in solidarity with the Palestinians as they commemorate (day of catastrophe) day on the 15th March.

Enjoy.

Read the Morning Star (Lyrical Version)

Been awhile since we had a good song to listen to. Tommy Reckless has been could enough to record a short song about why the Morning Star is great and all the other British papers are anything but.

Enjoy it, and I'll just live this link to the Morning Star website here.