"Yes, the long memory is the most radical idea in this country. It is the loss of that long memory which deprives our people of that connective flow of thoughts and events that clarifies our vision, not of where we're going, but where we want to go."

Bruce "Utah" Phillips 1935 - 2008

AUDIO ARCHIVE

A collection of audio files that have been digitized from a variety of formats, mostly reel to reel tape, cassette tape and DAT. They have not been professionally mastered so the audio quality varies.

LOAFER'S GLORY / A HOBO JUNGLE OF THE MIND

Loafer's Glory was originally broadcast from KVMR in Nevada City, Ca. These broadcasts are a collage of rants, poetry, tales, and reminiscences mixed in with little known music and talk from over 1,000 tapes of everything under the sun, from tramping and labor (historic and contemporary ) to baseball and old friends... from unreleased Lord Buckley to animals, children, tall tales, Paul Robeson, and most of what you need to know about life on the open road... and always music.

LISTEN TO EPISODES 1-100

The Long Memory & The Bruce "Utah" Phillips Flanger Car

It was late 1968 or maybe early 69'. Only my father and a couple of his friends knew the exact date that my father left Utah. In 68' he had run ran for the U.S. Senate on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket. It was successful only in the fact that he received approximately 5,000 votes. As a result, he was blacklisted and couldn't find work, so he loaded up his green-and-white V.W. micro-bus and set out across the country, a kind of reverse pilgrimage you could say. Many of you might remember hearing him talk about this during one of his many shows…read more here

UTAH'S  FLANGER

U. UTAH PHILLIPS / STARLIGHT ON THE RAILS AND OTHER SONGS

 Brother, have you seen starlight on the rails? To me it’s amazing how an eight-word line from the book Of Time and the River by Thomas Wolfe weaves its way through so much of my father’s work. There is the song itself, Starlight on the Rails, and the song’s introduction, also from Thomas Wolfe. And there is the four-CD box set, Starlight on the Rails, my father’s oral version of an autobiography, produced and released by AK Press. But the piece of my father’s work that is closest to my heart, is the little brown ninety-six page songbook entitled Starlight on the Rails and Other Songs, originally published by Wooden Shoe in 1973.  Read more....

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SYNOPSIS

In the autumn, when the leaves are down, it’s the time that folk singing rabble rouser U. Utah Phillips thinks about hitting the rails. As a young man he crisscrossed the country on freight trains in search of teachers that would help to understand himself and where he came from.  During this time he experienced the ultimate freedom of having no home ahead and none behind but he also experienced the works of mercy as he faced the difficulties of his journey. He discovered the dynamic struggle of people to organize themselves and demand a quality of life for themselves and those around them that provides bread yes, but roses too.

Tales From the Long Memory follows the people who look to Utah as their teacher while they continue the work that inspired him throughout his life. In Detroit, the Wobbly Kitchen shows how the simple act of feeding someone can spark a community of solidarity in a city struggling to rebuild its glory. In Madison, the sweet sounds of labor songs echo through the capital building every day at noon. In Portland, the Sisters of the Road Café serve up dignity & nourishment at a price you can afford. And in a quaint northern California gold rush town, a dedicated group of community members grow an idea into a house of hospitality called Utah’s Place.