Produced by Ian Ruskin and Suzanne Thompson
Jackson Browne, Pete Seeger, Tim Reynolds, Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, Ciro Hurtado and David Mora contribute to this soundtrack, that celebrates the American labor movement, highlights challenges that it has faced, and tells the story of the work of labor leader Harry Bridges.
The soundtrack from "Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks", also produced by Ian Ruskin and Suzanne Thompson and directed Academy Award© winning director and cinematographer Haskell Wexler, features world exclusive recordings by Jackson Browne ("Step by Step"), Arlo Guthrie ("The Ballad of Harry Bridges" and "Waltzing Matilda"), Ciro Hurtado ("Tengo Hambre Blues", composed for the film), contributions by Pete Seeger ("The Scabs Crawl In" and "Step by Step"), Tim Reynolds ("Put the Gas Mask On"), David Mora ("Harry Bridges Mambo") and the world exclusive first recording of the Woody Guthrie song "Ballad of Harry Bridges", sung by his granddaughter Sarah Lee Guthrie. There is a twelve-page liner note booklet with extensive notes about the recording of each track, the song's history and its historical significance.
The CD is now available at www.theharrybridgesproject.org It will soon be available as a digital download at CD Baby, iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Amazon, Napster, Verizon V-CAST, Liquid Digital Media, PayPal, AudioLunchBox, GroupieTunes and Ruckus. Woody Guthrie once said "I just sort of thought that there ought to be some kind of little song wrote up about old Harry and the tough old human race for which he stands". The Harry Bridges Project is proud that these musicians are continuing the tradition of writing and performing songs about the labor movement and the work of Harry Bridges for today's audience. And as Pete Seeger said recently "Harry Bridges...one of the most extraordinary human beings that I've known in my entire long life".
All profit from this CD will help to fund the Educational Programs of The Harry Bridges Project, a non-profit organization. Twelve workshops, based on issues within the film "From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks" and two radio documentaries in pre-production, will be designed for community colleges and high schools and offered free of charge. Go to http://www.theharrybridgesproject.org/education.html
The Harry Bridges Project is dedicated to introducing the public to the life and ideas of Harry Bridges and his impact on our lives today. Bridges was an extraordinary labor leader and social visionary whose life and work encompassed all of the important issues and events of his day, including immigration, depression-era policies, red-scares, McCarthyism, the cold-war and labor issues. His story provides a springboard into understanding these times and realizing their significance today, as we face parallel issues of globalization, the growing gap between rich and poor, increasing governmental surveillance and the war on terror. His life inspires people to come together, discover their own history and take charge of their own lives by engaging in dialogue and debate about these issues in order to move beyond the fears and limitations they can create.
A Brief History of Harry Bridges (1901-1990)
Australian born Bridges was a labor leader and social campaigner whose impact on the fabric of American life during the 20th century was profound and far-reaching. From 1930 until the early 1970s he was a national and international figure. He knew Charlie Chaplin, Paul Robeson, Billie Holiday, Pete Seeger and Orson Welles. When Nelson Mandela visited America, Bridges was the first man he thanked for his stands against Apartheid. The ILWU has a long history of international solidarity and the issues for which he campaigned during those five decades - including prejudice and discrimination, rank-and-file democracy in unions, social security, a national health system, government surveillance, and an end to unjust wars - are still as relevant, important and challenging today as they were when Bridges began work as a longshoreman, a "wharf rat", on the San Francisco waterfront.
Bridges personal life was as vivid and compelling as his public life. His passion for Jack London novels brought him to San Francisco as a 19 year old, where he went from public enemy number one to elder statesman. Two of Bridges' marriages ended in bitter divorces but a third, to a Japanese-American, changed the anti- miscegenation laws of western states. He had his "Hollywood era", with star-studded fundraisers for his trials. He was always, in his own words, a "working stiff", but also a man who met with Presidents and toured Europe as a hero. A man with a Marxist philosophy who spent 21 years fighting to become an American citizen, Bridges' commitment to the achievement of workers' rights and social justice, and his fight against discrimination, continues to impact our lives in the 21st century.
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting"
Milan Kundera
For more information please go to:
www.theharrybridgesproject.org
http://www.youtube.com/harrybridgesproject
http://blog.aflcio.org/?s=From+Wharf+Rats&cat=11&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit
http://troubadourtribune.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/jackson-browne-contributessong-to-harry-bridges-project/\
