Greetings:

I just heard Pat Humphries, Sandy Opatow, and Jon Fromer at the Peoples' Voice Cafe in New York City last night, and the place was packed to capacity. These are people who are out there, and they are being heard -- at union meetings, at conventions, at conferences, at political rallies, and at direct actions (such as the annual School of the Americas protest in Georgia), as well as in concert. But for the most part, they and the rest of the people on Janice's list, are being frozen out of the mass media. The commercial radio stations won't touch them with a 50-foot pole. TV talk shows, except for a few on public access cable, don't invite them. National Public Radio might give them some airplay -- they did a feature on one of Pat Humphries' songs two years ago, Swimming to the Other Side -- but for the most part they are afraid of offending their corporate and government sponsors. Even most college radio stations these days shy away from anything that could be construed as controvesial. Mudcatter Ron Olesko's WFDU is a notable exception. The Pacifica radio stations, such as WBAI here in New York, do have the guts to play contemporary topical-political songs, but they are only a handful.

Deb Cowan mentioned four names. Aside from Steve Earl, you may have some trouble finding them, but if you get a chance to hear Joe Jencks or Anne Feeney and Chris Chandler, then by all means do so. They are fantastic performers.

--- Steve