~
Songs of Freedom Television
Songs of Freedom Television “Tune in and don’t tune out!”
MANHATTAN
Saturday at 10:30 PM Channel 34 Spectrum Channel 82 RCN Channel 33 Verizon
and at www.mnn.org Community Channel One
July 6, 13, 20, 27
QUEENS
Thursday 11:00 am Spectrum Channel 56/1996 RCN 84 Fios 36 and
Thursday 8:00 pm Spectrum Channel 79/1998 RCN 83 Fios 35
July 4, 11, 18, 25
BROOKLYN
Mondays and Wednesdays at 3 am, 9:30 am, and 2:30 pm on Channels 35/68, Spectrum 1998, Optimum 68, RCN 83, Verizon 43,
also, Live Streaming at Brooklyn Free Speech Television, Channel 2
Monday and Wednesday:
July / 8 and 10, 15 and 17, 22 and 24, 29 and 31
BRONX
Monday at 7:30 PM on BX OMNI, Optimum: 68 and FIOS: 2134
July 8, 15, 22, 29
“Songs are funny things.
They can slip across borders. Proliferate in prisons. Penetrate hard shells.
I always believed that the right song at the right moment could change history.”
~ Pete Seeger ~
Upcoming Episodes
~ July 2022 ~
~ JULY 2024 ~
Happy Birthday, Woody Guthrie!
Recalling his life and times and having a hoot in the big city
JULY 2024
Celebrating the Life and Music of Woody Guthrie
Just as December is “Phil Ochs Month” at Songs of Freedom Television, July is a month whose shows are dedicated to the life, music, and memory of Woody Guthrie (July 14, 1912- October 3, 1967). I have been participating in Woody Guthrie Tribute shows for more than 20 years, and never has his music been more timely. (Fascists are still bound to lose!) His uncompromising style and moral clarity continues to live on in the songs and artists that have come years after he rode the rails, wrote and performed songs, and left us at the age of 55. Woody, of course, is best remembered for “This Land Is Your Land”, a song we all learned when we were young even though it never played on the radio – a tribute to the notion and dogged persistence of “folk music.” That represents who Woody Guthrie was. He was an American original and its quintessential troubadour. He proclaimed,
“I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim or too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard travelling. I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work. And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you. I could hire out to the other side, the big money side, and get several dollars every week just to quit singing my own kind of songs and to sing the kind that knock you down still farther and the ones that poke fun at you even more and the ones that make you think that you've not got any sense at all. But I decided a long time ago that I'd starve to death before I'd sing any such songs as that. The radio waves and your movies and your jukeboxes and your songbooks are already loaded down and running over with such no good songs as that anyhow.”
We celebrate Woody Guthrie this month with performances from the Songs of Freedom Television archives. There are three vintage shows from 2009 and one from 2008. All of the performances come from the shows Steve Suffet produced at The Bowery Poetry Club in Greenwich Village, NYC. The 2009 shows featured Oscar Brand and a talented ensemble of artists, some of whom can be seen in the episode recorded in 2008.
Woody’s message lives on and Steve’s annual Woody tribute shows continue too. The next one is in Queens, NY on Monday, October 10th. Stay tuned for more about that, but for now, I hope you enjoy these episodes. And remember, this land is still your land!
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
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The Episodes for the Month of July / Celebrating the Life and Music of Woody Guthrie
Show 2: The 2009 Woody Guthrie Birthday Hoot in NYC, episode 2, featuring,
Jessica Feinbloom, Robin Greenstein, Joel Landy, Steve Suffet, Gina Tlamsa, and Carlos Vasquez
Show 3: The 2009 Woody Guthrie Birthday Hoot in NYC, episode 3, featuring,
Jessica Feinbloom, Robin Greenstein, Joel Landy, Steve Suffet, Gina Tlamsa, and Carlos Vasquez
Show 4: The 2008 Woody Guthrie Birthday Hoot in NYC, episode 1, featuring,
Hillel Arnold, Jessica Feinbloom, Emma Graves, Joel Landy, Sandy Pliskin, Anne Price, Steve Suffet, Gina Tlamsa, and Carlos Vasquez
~~~
On your cable and online
MANHATTAN
Saturday, July / 6. 13. 20, 27
QUEENS
Thursday, July / 4, 11, 18, 25
BROOKLYN
Monday and Wednesday:
July / 8 and 10, 15 and 17, 22 and 24, 29 and 31
BRONX
Monday, July / 8, 15, 22, 29
JUNE 2024
Bring on the Music! Bring on the Fun! Make Music New York and More!!
Bring on the music! Bring on the Fun!
If you have been reading this web page over the years you know that June is my favorite month.
It's not just because I am a schoolteacher, although that helps! More hours of sunlight and pleasant weather and colorful flowers and singing birds...
the spirit is sweet and the season is calling us to share ourselves and play outside.
AND
The promise of summer is upon us – and we haven’t ruined it yet!
AND ... if you are a musician, music and music festivals are everywhere!
There is one particular music celebration Songs of Freedom Television devotes itself to this month.
Do you know about Make Music New York?
WHAT IS MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK?
Make Music New York is inspired by France’s “Fête de la Musique,” a national musical holiday inaugurated in 1982. Ever since, the event has become an international phenomenon, currently celebrated on the same day in more than 700 cities around the world. I have been hosting MMNY events at Red Pipes Café (formerly Red Pipe) in Forest Hills for the past few years and am proud to say that I have participated as a host and as a performer in this all day event since it came to my city from France 17 years ago.
The 2021 event at Red Pipes featured a variety of musical styles and performances, and fun for New Yorkers and music lovers of all ages.
Special thanks to Ofer and Red Pipes Cafe for their continued support and participation in sponsoring this annual event, Special thanks also to the musicians who came to play and everyone who wandered into the recording of this show. It took all of us to make this special evening happen ... and the power of song.
Here are three Songs of Freedom Television episodes I created from the June 21, 2021 event that will be streaming and playing on tv this month.
This year we will make "musique" again at Red Pipes and play outside the café on Austin Street, in the heart of Forest Hills. We will set up chairs on the sidewalk and we have a sound permit to amplify our efforts. We start at 6:30 pm and go on till after dark. Join us to sing and/or be part of a fun New Yawk street scene with generous doses of serendipity and a supporting strolling cast of hundreds – many of whom are amused and surprised to be serenaded as they pass by.
Click this link for the Facebook Event page and directions to Red Pipes on Austin Street.
The fourth show coming your way this month focuses on a Make Music Day project that pairs songwriters and asks them to perform and record a song written by the other. It is called "My Song Is Your Song." These recorded performances are posted online for viewing on June 21 for the world to see at makemusicday.org. I will post a Songs of Freedom Television episode featuring my participation in this project singing the work of other artists and other artists covering my compositions at that time. It will include work from this year's partnership with New York City based recording artist John Plenge. I have been involved participating in this music project for four years and the results have always been interesting. It is a curious and intriguing thing to see your work performed by someone else, offering a different take to art you created. I hope you get to experience that feeling some time in your life. It never gets old.
Stay tuned!
And keep on singing!
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
The Episodes for the Month of June / Make Music New York 2021 at the Red Pipes Cafe
Show 4 (coming soon!)
On your cable and online
MANHATTAN
Saturday, June / 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
QUEENS
Thursday, June / 6, 13, 20, 27
BROOKLYN
Monday and Wednesday:
June / 3 and 5, 10 and 12, 17 and 19, 24 and 26
BRONX
Monday, June / 3, 10, 17, 24
~ MAY 2024 ~ "MAY We Remember"
Commemerating and Celebrating Those Who Are Still With Us In Spirit
Pete Seeger. Eric Levine. Ray Korona. Sol Weber. PRESENTÉ !!
MAY. We Remember!
It has become a ritual tradition at Songs of Freedom Television to play episodes during the month of May that celebrate the lives of those who have left us, but whose work and spirit remain. This year is no different. We do not only celebrate a Memorial Day. We celebrate the entire month.
We Remember . . .
The first episode in MAY We Remember coincides with the May 3 birthday of Pete Seeger. There is so much to know about his life and legacy, and I bet you know quite a bit already. In 2008 Pamela Timmins wrote and directed a film called “Clearwater Nation.” It is a celebration of Pete Seeger’s vision and the Clearwater organization that came from it in protecting and preserving the Hudson River. You will see it in its entirety. In addition, there is time enough to show you a video I recorded of Pete leading an audience singing “Turn, Turn, Turn” in New York City at a New York City Friends of Clearwater Water Festival. If you have ever been to a Clearwater Revival festival or if you are a Pete Seeger fan you will want to watch this episode.
Episode two features and remembers my friend and brother, Eric Levine, who left us in 2008. There is a lot I could tell you about Eric, including his unrelenting moral clarity and service to others. I could also say that he was a talented musician, producer, and songwriter who introduced me to a world of activist artists that have become my second family. I would rather tell you that Eric was a gentle spirit who touched the lives of many people and left the world a better place than it had been. Watch the episode devoted to his memory and you will know what I mean.
The third show this month remembers the lives and contributions of Ray Korona and Sol Weber, two individuals who I met at People’s Music Network gatherings and whose company I always enjoyed. Ray was singer/songwriter, band leader, recording engineer, activist, organizer – a busy fellow who walked the walk when it came to progressive issues. I could go on and on about Ray, how he was a driving force at the Peoples’ Voice Café for many years and how he recorded and produced one of my CDs, and how he celebrated and encouraged new artists…. I invite you to find out more about Ray yourself. As for Sol Weber, known in knowing circles as the “Rounds Man”, I always enjoyed his company and his clever and funny parodies and theatrical production pieces. And his T-shirts. Both Ray and Sol lived full lives, but both left us too soon. They share an episode during Songs of Freedom Television’s “MAY We Remember” month.
Show four is not about recalling an individual. “The American Dreaming” will play during the final week of May, the one that has Memorial Day in it. What will be remembered is how America, The United States – our country – got to be where it is today, with all the sweet and sour. The episode pulls no punches and features the words of Eugene Debbs, Smedley Butler, Noam Chomsky, and George Carlin, among others. Justice and a Memorial for All.
That's the rollcall for this MAY to Remember.
Here are the episodes. You can watch them here or I can see you on the telly.
Keep on singing!
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
~
Show 1: Pete Seeger and Clearwater Nation
Show 2: Remembering Eric Levine
Show 3: Remembering Ray Korona and Sol Weber
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April 2024 Spring is here! Bring on the color! Bring on the music!
It is springtime!
Living where I do the month of April brings the springtime, a breath of freshness in this trying and dangerous, and sometimes hopeless feeling world. I look forward to this time every year. Warmer weather, the sound of birds, the start of the baseball season, first flowers – even the cynical among find a moment to smile and think of what can be.
Springtime, my favorite time of the year!
April brings with it music and music events, including the annual New England Folk Festival. If you don’t know about the New England Folk Festival I am happy to tell you about it. NEFFA is an all volunteer folk arts festival that has been going on for almost 80 years. That in itself is amazing. Late April brings the weekend event and dancers, musicians, crafts artists and others from around the country and the world to share each other’s time company and talent. Every hour between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon there are numerous cultural dancing and music sessions taking place. Something for everyone. It has been my pleasure to lead numerous sessions during the past twenty years. This year NEFFA takes place the weekend of April 19-21 in Marlborough, MA at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and Trade Center. I will be leading three sessions on Saturday, the 20th.
The sessions are:
- The Ultimate Parody Jam (1 pm) NEFFA Funny Song Swap Hour (8 pm) Remembering Phil Ochs (9pm)
The episodes you will see this month on Songs of Freedom Television recall sessions I have led at the New England Folk Festival over the years. Two of them are Funny Songs Swap sessions and two of them remember and celebrate the life and music of Phil Ochs. I am particularly fond of the Phil Ochs sessions and the stories people share during those hours about Phil and what he meant to them. We will get to do this again on April 20th at this year’s NEFFA. I hope you can make it then, but you can also view videos of previous “Remembering Phil Ochs” sessions here at Songs of Freedom Television and at my You Tube channel. I hope you do, and I hope you can make it to NEFFA this year.
Onward into the spring and music!
Keep Singing!
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
April episodes:
1. NEFFA Funny Songs Hour (2016) 2. NEFFA Funny Songs Hour (2018) 3. Remembering Phil Ochs (2017) 4. Remembering Phil Ochs (2018)
March 2024 A look at the present and sounds of the past
This month Songs of Freedom Television continues its focus on highlighting live music in local venues. We start the month with a trip to the ongoing open mic at Red Pipes Café in Queens, NY. Every third Thursday for more than a year local artists have been coming to this friendly bistro in the heart of Forest Hills to make music and have a good time. February’s event took place one day after Valentines Day and the musical theme was about relationships of all kinds. It is always fun for me to emcee the show, introducing performers and sharing in the community spirit.
The first two February episodes feature myself and the act of Jennifer and Jess. Tune in for a heartfelt evening of song.
Here are those episodes:
Show 1 (February 15, 2024 at Red Pipes Café, featuring Joel Landy, Jennifer and Jess)
Show 2 (February 15, 2024 at Red Pipes Café, featuring Joel Landy and a cast of characters)
The next two shows this month recall evenings from recent years in Kew Gardens, my hometown. Once upon a time there was a venue called The Interlude Café, where the likes of Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk, Jose Feliciano, and Al Kooper plied and learned their craft. During the next 60 years The Interlude gave way to other businesses in that space, including Odradeks Coffeehouse and the current Roast & Company Café. Venue names may change, as do the names of artist performers, but music still is made. And the beat goes on. Tune in for two episodes from recent years past. Stay for the fun and fine music. It will help us through cold times.
Show 3 (May 2016 at Odradeks Coffeehouse with Jerry Korobow and Joel Landy)
Show 4 (July 2018 at Roast & Company open mic hosted by Dennis Doyle)
Keep the faith. Stay tuned and stay strong. Spring is coming.
And keep singing!
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
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February 2024 February is always the winter of my discontent.
Unless they were born in that month folks in New York City don’t like February. It’s cold and we’ve had enough winter. I think that is why February was given only 28 days. Wrap it up, February! Let’s get on to March and springtime already!
That’s how I feel, anyway.
So, what does Songs of Freedom Television have for you in February 2024?
We celebrate live music and local venues. The Red Pipe’s Café in Forest Hills has been a friend to Songs of Freedom Television for years. Red Pipes hosts an open mic that I MC on the third Thursday of every month (6:30 to 8:30 pm). All musical styles are welcome. I want to take this moment to thank Ofer at Red Pipes Café for his continuing support in opening his space for community entertainment. His generosity means a lot to me and the Songs of Freedom TV show.
This month we feature recent open mic performances. The first three spotlight and feature performers and performances at the December 21, 2023, Third Thursday Open Mic. The fourth show highlights the annual June 21st summer solstices celebration known as Make Music New York. Red Pipes Café has been hosting this New York cultural event with SOF TV for many years. June 21, 2023, was no exception, excepting for that it was truly exceptional.
Tune in and find out for yourself.
We will get through this cold month. Good music and live performances will help us get by and smile. I hope you sing along.
See you online and at the Red Pipes Café Third Thursday of the month. Red Pipes, where the treats are tasty and so is the music.
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
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Stay tuned, and keep singing!
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JANUARY 2024
Here we are celebrating another year gone by and another one before us. I hope your 2023 was peaceful and painless. I know that is a lot to ask these days. Life is rarely peaceful and painless, but it is something to enjoy when it happens. I hope you got to enjoy it in the year we just had.
That brings us to 2024.
This will be a very political year. Take a look at the world around you today. Is it peaceful and painless?
Probably not. There is a lot of work to do to create the world we want.
The first thing to do is to find your friends and decide to make some portion of the world you want to live in better. Work at this goal together. Do it with art. Do it with music, do it another way, but do it! Express yourself and you do not have to do it alone.
This month’s Songs of Freedom Television episodes focus on battles that have been fought in years past, many of them won. The shows feature performances at the 2023 Woody Guthrie New York Hoot in Long Island City, Queens. Woody Guthrie lived through troubled times. His spirit survives and the stories he told with his songs continue to inspire generations of artists and other cultural workers.
Performers include Steve Suffet, Pat Lamanna, Hillel Arnold, Marie Mularczyk O’Connell, and Joel Landy.
As Woody was known to say,
“There's several ways of saying what's on your mind. And in states and counties where it ain't too healthy to talk too loud, speak your mind, or even vote like you want to, folks have found other ways of getting the word around. One of the mainest ways is by singing.”
I add to his words,
“Tune in and don’t tune out!”
~ Joel Landy, Songs of Freedom Television ~
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Show 1: https://youtu.be/z6pt_pCaxk0
Show 2: https://youtu.be/j_Ix-NO2Thc
Show 3: https://youtu.be/TzVgs-8iKUE
Show 4: https://youtu.be/rw6WyDZwSnw
Stay tuned, and keep singing!
~~~
"More Than a Small Circle of Friends"
DECEMBER is Phil Ochs Month at Songs of Freedom Television
It is hard to believe it has been eight years since I organized and produced a show in Queens celebrating the 75th birthday of Phil Ochs. It was a magical evening featuring brilliant performance by artists inspired by Phil's memory and music. I recorded the entire evening for Songs of Freedom Television and made four episodes of what happened that night.
The episodes I recorded and edited will play at public access tv stations in New York City this month. They will also stream online. In addition, I am posting the four episodes here so you can watch them at your convenience.
"In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty."
~ Phil Ochs ~
I wish you beauty, peace, and happiness.
Joel Landy, Songs of Freedom Television ~
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Here again are the episodes for this month.
Show 1: https://vimeo.com/484564993?share=copy
Show 2: https://vimeo.com/484565664?share=copy
Show 3: https://vimeo.com/484566359?share=copy
Show 4: https://vimeo.com/484566870?share=copy
Stay tuned, and keep singing!
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MANHATTAN
Saturday, December / 16, 23, 30
QUEENS
Thursday, December / 14, 21, 28
BROOKLYN
Monday and Wednesday:
December/ 11 and 13, 18 and 20, 25 and 27
December/ 11, 18, 25
"Another trip around the sun . . ."
SEPTEMBER 2023
The Season Begins Anew
Birthdays are special things. I was born in the month of September, when weather changes in the Northeast, school starts, and the “get back to work” season starts for everyone in a lot of ways. It has been ingrained from an early age. Television. Football. Cars. Theatre. The fall season begins and takes us into winter and spring until next summer.
I was born on September 3. School has sometimes started on my birthday. That is not fun. Not only for students, but for teachers too! I am not complaining. What I am going to do is dedicate the month of September to birthdays and not only mine. Songs of Freedom Television is now 27 years old and we have never had an official party for the show. So this is it.
The episodes you will see feature my performances at two open mics I regularly attend, one in Kew Gardens, where I live, and one next door in Forest Hills. I would be happy to tell you all about them. Contact me directly at joel@singfreedom.org if you want to know more. The fourth episode this month is a personal political pronouncement. I leave it to you to see what I mean by that.
The first show is my recent performance as the featured artist at the Austin Ale House Sunday evening open mic on July 16th. We had lots of fun that night, including an appearance by Uncle Joel's Kazoo Army. I gave kazoos to everyone in the audience, and we played together. Now everybody is a musician!! Not only did I bring my guitar to the show, I created a band! It is part of the fun we have when I play. I hope you enjoy the show and that I get to see you sometime at an upcoming gig.
Show 1: https://vimeo.com/858178373?share=copy
The second and third shows you will see are from the Third Thursday Open Mic I host once each month at Red Pipes Café in Forest Hills. It’s lots of fun. I enjoy sharing the stage and introducing new and old friends. Thank you to Ofer and the crew at Red Pipes for their hospitality and continued support.
Show 2: https://vimeo.com/858179263?share=copy
Show 3: https://vimeo.com/858177703?share=copy
The fourth show of the month is as personal and as public as it gets. I have been writing and singing about the twice impeached and four times indicted criminal and former President Donald Trump since he announced he was running for President in 2015. And now here we are in 2023 on the fringe of another election season.
If you don't like Donald Trump and what he represents this Songs of Freedom Television episode is for you. It pulls no punches about how I feel. Perhaps you feel the same way. Take a look and see for yourself. Here is one of the songs in Show 4.
If you are thinking about voting for him again, I ask that you watch this show and then decide what you will do. In 2024 vote as if your democracy depends upon it. It does.
Here is Show 4: https://vimeo.com/858180059?share=copy
I hope you get to enjoy the end of the summer and the new season in front of us. Another trip around the sun for me means another chance to spend time with you, my friends, my family, and my pursuits, doing things I enjoy and making a difference along the way the best I know how.
Wishing you the best of times, health, and luck in this new season.
~ Joel Landy, Songs of Freedom Television ~
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Here again are the episodes for this month.
Show 1: https://vimeo.com/858178373?share=copy
Show 2: https://vimeo.com/858179263?share=copy
Show 3: https://vimeo.com/858177703?share=copy
Show 4: https://vimeo.com/858180059?share=copy
Stay tuned, and keep singing!
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MANHATTAN
Saturday, September / 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
QUEENS
Thursday, September / 7, 14, 21, 28
BROOKLYN
Monday and Wednesday:
September / 4 and 6, 11 and 13, 18 and 20, 25 and 27
Monday, September / 4, 11, 18, 25
"Summertime and the Music is Breezy . . ."
JULY 2023 Showcasing Make Music New York at the Red Pipes Cafe in Forest Hills
On June 21st people around the world make music in the streets where they live.
Make Music New York is a NYC tradition that traces its history back to Paris, France, and “Fête de la Musique,” a national musical holiday inaugurated there in 1982. It is a time when buskers take to the streets and there is free music throughout the entire city. New York City adopted the idea 17 years ago and it has become an anticipated celebration of music, spirit, and the summer solstice ever since.
The festival has grown into an international phenomenon, celebrated on the same day in more than 750 cities in 120 countries, including Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Australia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada, and Japan.
Songs of Freedom Television has been part of every MMNY in this town. In recent years SOF has been hosting an event at Red Pipes Cafe in Forest Hills, NY.
Episodes this month bring you what happened on the streets of Forest Hills, Queens, at Red Pipes Cafe on Solstice Day, June 21st, 2023.
Thank you to Ofer and the crew at Red Pipes for their generosity making everyone feel welcome at the cafe and providing a space for community and entertainment. The sweet vibe of community made the evening fun and special this year, as it has in the past.
Join us next year in Queens on Austin Street when we gather again on Solstice Day to share an evening of music and fun!
Stay tuned, and keep singing!
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
Here are the episodes that will play this month. Tune in and sing along!
Episode 1 https://youtu.be/xS4aoGbDGLQ
Episode 2 https://youtu.be/qwePMk2200Q
Episode 3 https://youtu.be/JJTN1yjc7oE
Episode 4 https://youtu.be/aAZ7MTf0TEk
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JUNE 2023 a time for music, festivals and fun
June is my favorite month. As a teacher you can guess why. School ends in June.
The weather is great in New York City. The promise of summer is upon us – and we haven’t ruined it yet!
AND if you are a musician, music and music festivals are everywhere!
This month Songs of Freedom Television celebrates the coming of summer and festivals that make the month of June so special. Among these festivals are the annual Porch Stomp on New York’s Governors Island and the Make Music New York city-wide extravaganza that takes place on June 21st every year.
First, the Porch Stomp. This annual event takes place all day this year on Saturday, June 17th. Governors Island has an interesting history. It sits off the southern tip of Manhattan in New York Harbor near the spec of land where the Statue of Liberty stands. It is called Governors Island because that is where New York’s governor lived a long time ago. Later it served as a home for retired sailors. Most recently it is a playground for grownups and children far away from the bustle of the city, but is only a ferry ride away. The yearly Porch Stomp brings music of all kinds to the many alfresco performance spaces there on this day. I have been privileged to play and host acoustic sessions there as part of the People’s Voice Café “stage” – which is really a lawn comfortably nestled between shade trees.
The first of two SOF shows this month feature two of the sessions I participated in and recorded from [year]. Featured artists you will see include, Bev Grant, Hudson Valley Sally, Joshua Garcia, and yours truly.
I look forward to June 17th for more fun with my friends as I host the PVC’s 3 pm to 4 pm hour this year. The stage becomes active at noon with a host of talented performers. See this link for more information about Porch Stomp 2023. Here is a link about the Peoples' Voice Cafe.
And here are the first two episodes of June.
June Show 1, featuring: Joel Landy, Hudson Valley Sally, and Bev Grant.
June Show 2, featuring: Joshua Garcia, Joel Landy, Hudson Valley Sally, and Bev Grant.
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The second two shows in June feature and celebrate Make Music New York, a tradition that has been embraced by my home town where buskers and other musicians take to the streets and all kinds of performance spaces across the city on the day of the Summer Solstice, June 21st. I have been hosting MMNY events at Red Pipes Café (formerly Red Pipe) in Forest Hills for the past few years and am proud to say that I have participated as a host and as a performer in this all day event since it came to my city from France 17 years ago.
We play outside the café on Austin Street, in the heart of Forest Hills, when weather permits. It is always a fun time and a genuine NYC street scene, with generous doses of serendipity and a supporting strolling cast of hundreds – many of whom are amused and surprised to be serenaded as they pass by.
Join us this year on June 21st from 6:30 to 9:30. Click this link for the Facebook Event page and directions to Red Pipes on Austin Street.
As for the episodes, here are two from different years. Both provide New Yawk flayva and a half hour of good music. You got no problem wid dat. Enjoy!
Show 3, Make Music New York at the Red Pipes Cafe in Forest Hills (2018)
Show 4, Make Music New York at the Red Pipes Cafe in Forest Hills (2018)
Keep on singing!
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
The Episodes for the Month of June
Show 1, featuring: Joel Landy, Hudson Valley Sally, and Bev Grant.
Show 2, featuring: Joshua Garcia, Joel Landy, Hudson Valley Sally, and Bev Grant.
Show 3, Make Music New York at the Red Pipes Cafe in Forest Hills (2018)
Show 4, Make Music New York at the Red Pipes Cafe in Forest Hills (2018)
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MAY 2023 "MAY We Remember"
This month we share the lives and music of four souls who have transcended this worldly plane in their cosmic journey. I was honored to call all of them my friends.
Toby Fagenson, Jessica Feinbloom, Ray Korona, and Eric Levine all appeared on Songs of Freedom TV.
The first of the month's shows features Toby Fagenson. He was an excellent musician and a top notch parody writer. I have fond memories of staying up late into the night at a Pinewoods folk society weekend with him swapping funny songs and laughing a lot. That's what it was like when I spent time with Toby. Clever times and fun. Toby was also able to deliver serious performances of songs addressing weighty human issues. He is missed. You will see a bit of both on the show you will see. It is from 2002 when he visited the Songs of Freedom Television stage.
Jessica Feinbloom is remembered in this month's second show.
The video you will see is from a memorial concert produced by Steve Suffet in 2017, "A Song for Jessica." The video features stories about Jessica and songs she sang with the evening's guest artists. They include Toby Fagenson, Jane Babits, Frank Werner, Allison Kelly, Anne Price, Gina Tlamsa, Steve Suffet, and Joel Landy. Special memories were also provided by Jessica's brother. Tune in for heartfelt memories and some fine music.
Ray Korona was a lot of things to a lot of people. All of them good. Ray was a recording artist and producer, an effective organizer and activist, and a singer/songwriter. He was all of these things, but I choose to remember Ray as a caring friend and as an individual who promoted the talents, skills and confidence of those he met and worked with. I was one of those people. The show you will see featured this month is of Ray and his band back in 1997. It shows you what Ray was all about. I always enjoyed watching him talk about what is important in the world. Accessible and intelligent conversation intended to empower and unite people. That's who he was. In coming weeks I will create Songs of Freedom TV episodes of the Ray Korona tribute concert that took place at the Peoples' Voice Cafe in New York City in April of this year. Stayed tuned!
Eric Levine was more than a musical colleague and a friend. He was a brother of mine. We lost Eric in 2008. He left a legacy of memories including victories fighting for disability rights, deep friendships, and lots of really good songs . . . and fun times. Eric was as relentless as he was unpretentious. What you saw was what you got. Some of my favorite Songs of Freedom Television moments were of Eric and me, two chairs and two guitars, sitting in a bare Manhattan Neighborhood Network studio, swapping songs in front of a camera. No pretense. Nothing fancy. 100 percent Eric and what he had to say and sing about. Eric called himself the "Folk Doctor" and he was my folk doctor in the early days of Songs of Freedom TV. He was on frequently and helped me shape the direction and content of early shows. The show you will see is from 1996 and one of the first Songs of Freedom Television episodes. I hope you enjoy it.
And I hope you enjoy the month of May !
Bring on the Spring!
Bring on the Music!
And keep on singing!
~ joel landy, songs of freedom television ~
The Episodes
Show 1 featuring Toby Fagenson and Jane Babits (2002)
Show 2 "A Song for Jessica" a tribute to Jessica Feinbloom (2017)
MARCH 2023 "Thursday Night Hoots in Kew Gardens"
During the early 1960s The Interlude Cafe in Kew Gardens, Queens, regularly hosted the voices and guitars of Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk, Al Kooper, Jose Feliciano, and other noteworthy musicians. On Thursday nights there was a "hootenanny", with local talent and others taking the stage and filling the space with music. The past fifty years brought numerous changes of ownership to that Interlude Café space, although today it remains a coffeehouse. In 2016 the space was Odradeks Coffee House. I was invited to produce Thursday Night HOOTS! once every month in the winter and spring, recalling the folk scene of decades past.
Tonight features performances from May of 2016. The May hoot was a terrific evening. Great players showed up and everyone in attendance had a great time. The music started before the show actually started when arriving musicians were tuning their instruments in different parts of the room. Suddenly a song broke out and the whole building was filled with music and the evening's first jam. One player who was having coffee ran back home and got his fiddle and joined the party. That was the kind of evening it was. It was magical time in this rekindled musical space. I recorded the event and created three Songs of Freedom episodes. I hope you enjoy them.
Thank you to Jake Block and his staff at Odradeks for making us feel so welcome. And thank you to Jake and the other performing artists for the wonderful evening.
The artists were Jake Block, Alan Alter, David Butler, Eli, Jerry Korobow, Joel Landy, Lulu Michaels, Marie Moskowitz, Gina Moffet, and Steve Suffet. Odradeks is gone, just as The Interlude Café is part of the musical legacy of Kew Gardens. But the music remains, and Songs of Freedom Television is proud and happy to bring it to you.
Keep on singing!
~ joel ~
The Episodes
Show 1 featuring Jerry Korobow and Joel Landy
Show 2 featuring Jake Block and Steve Suffet
February 2023 "Hot Times, Cold Times"
The annual Porch Stomp on Governors Island in New York Harbor takes place every June. It is a celebration of the season and sun, with lots of music of all kinds. It's a terrific event. For the past few years, the Peoples' Voice Cafe has had a stage (a stretch of lawn with trees) featuring an impressive variety of topical artists. Songs of Freedom TV has been there recording the goings on. I have also emceed and performed at this event. Many pleasant memories and memorable performances there.
So, it is the harsh weather reality in NYC that is February.
Let's warm things up with Porch Stomp videos and artistic talent!
Enjoy these four shows. They have also been scheduled to play in NYC at your local community access television stations. They will also be streaming online.
(Check above for the times and dates at the top of this page for that information.)
I joke that the reason that February has only 28 days is because PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE FEBRUARY!
Let's get on to spring already!!!
Until that happens, enjoy your summer Porch Stomp in the winter.
peace and music
~ joel ~
The Episodes
Episodes feature the following artists
Show 1, featuring: Joel Landy, Hudson Valley Sally, and Bev Grant.
Show 2, featuring: Joshua Garcia, Joel Landy, Hudson Valley Sally, and Bev Grant.
Show 3, featuring: Steve Suffet, Judy Gorman, Pat Lamanna, and Sally Campbell.
January 2023 "Looking Back and Moving Forward"
Show One is a 1998 “Best Of” the first two years of Songs of Freedom. It features performances from Pat Humphries, Bev Grant, Howard Kaspin, Joel Landy, and Professor Louie. It also includes a sampler of faces and voices from the first two years of SOF TV. Lots to like in a show of Songs of Freedom memories. I hope you tune in.
Show Two is from 2000 and highlights the talent, music, stories and political attitude of David Liebman and Gil Skillman. Both gentlemen boldly and humorously define and represent the dignity of human struggle in the songs that they sing and the work that they do. Did I mention they are both economics professors? It was fun (and educational) sharing songs with them on the Songs of Freedom TV stage. We had a good time putting this half hour together. I did not know economics professors could be so much fun.
Not all the shows made in 2000 were fun though. Show Three was recorded the day after Election Day in 2000, amidst the chaos and confusion of the vote counting that gave us George W. Bush as President. The show remains a poignant reminder of what happened, my response to it, and videos of comfort girding us for what was about to happen, including another oil war and the abridging of human rights. It is worth watching again today, as similar dangers and signals of their approach are about us once more. Tune in and you will see what I mean.
Finally, Show Four was recorded in 2003 at the late and great 22-Below performance space in Manhattan. I headlined an evening of political cabaret, joined by the talents and music of Gina Tlamsa, Shawn Norton, and Kim Rich. It was election season and the Iraq War was on. Rudy Giuliani wanted to be mayor again and George Bush “had the whole world in his hands.” There was a lot to say and be sung. And so it was. Topical times satirically stated, and pointedly political. Go back in time twenty years and tune in to 2003, raise your banners, and sing along!
The Episodes
from the Songs of Freedom Television Archives
Show 1: The Best of Songs of Freedom Television, Volume #1
Featuring Pat Humphries, Bev Grant, Howard Kaspin, Joel Landy, and Professor Louie
Show 2: "For What It's Worth"
Featuring David Laibman and Gil Skillman
Show 3: The Great Election Day 2000 Hangover
What happened 23 years ago. Lessons learned and warnings for today.
Show 4: "I Did It Their Way!" / Live from the 22-Below Cabaret in NYC (2003)
An evening of topical entertainment featuring Joel Landy, Gina Tlamsa, Shawn Norton, and Kim Rich
Here is a plaque for an award the Alliance for Community Media bestowed upon Songs of Freedom Television in 1997. This was for the work done during our first year on TV.
The Alliance for Community Media is a trade group and an organization comprised of public access television professionals. They lobby in Washington DC for your right to create video and have it seen and have it paid for by the commercial corporate entities in your town entering your home and your mind every day. Always an uphill battle. They are also the people who work in access centers. Members also include community access producers like myself. I was honored to receive an award, more so to have the award represent the category of Empowerment, a word that means a lot to me.
I stopped entering the annual competitions a number of years ago, not because I have an attitude about them or because I have “been there and done that.” It is just not where my energy lives now. I seek to do the good work and fight the good fight because it is the right thing to do. I seek to acknowledge others who travel the same road and inspire with creativity and vision. I seek and do that while daring to express myself and have fun along the way.
I am glad you are here to share the journey with me.
Don't forget to laugh as you change the world.
~ Joel ~
Do you know about the Peoples' Voice Café?
It is New York City's premiere progressive venue.
Proof of vaccination is required for audiences, staff and artists.
Your safety is important to us.
The 2021-2022 season continues on Saturday nights, at
Judson Memorial Church Assembly Hall at 239 Thompson Street
in the heart of New York City's historic Greenwich Village.
For details and more information about the Peoples' Voice Café, including the season schedule and how you can become a volunteer, go to:
www.peoplesvoicecafe.org and the PVC Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/peoplesvoicecafe/
