The long memory is the most radical idea in America

[sabotabby]

R.I.P. Fellow Worker Utah Phillips

I just got this from the Vancouver branch:

Bruce U. Utah Phillips

from Chris Chandler

In a matter of a few minutes Anne Feeney phoned me from an airport in Houston. Al Grierson's "Lonely Deadhead Box-Car" was playing on Random on my iPod. After our conversation, I went to check my email. Jim Page was singing "Anna Mae." I had an email from Jim. I have pasted it below. As I read it Utah sang "All Used Up." As I responded to Jim's Email Arlo Guthrie sang "Hobo's Lullaby."

In the night of May 23, 2008, Bruce Duncan Phillips died in great peace, asleep in his bed in Nevada City, California, with his wife Joanna by his side.

Amazingly, at the very same instant that the scholar Bruce Phillips finally discovered his angle of repose, U. Utah Phillips flagged a westbound freight train. Yes, a mighty fast rattler, on a long west-bound track. He needed no ticket, he was welcomed on board.

The immediate family and neighbors of Bruce Phillips, along with any Wobblies who happen to be passing through, are gathering in Nevada City to do all the things that must be done. Please give them the quiet respect they so need right now.

But you can wave "So Long!" to Utah when that train moves west. Hey, hear the whistle? He's passing by right now!

I knew this was coming, but somehow, it still managed to come as a shock. Sadness of a particular sort, the sense that a link between generations has been lost, that there aren't enough old radicals passing on their stories to the young.

I met him only once, but it was unforgettable:



Utah was a great storyteller, a great Wobbly, and a great man. So long, Fellow Worker. Thank you for keeping the songs and the struggle alive.

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Comments

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

OMG, no, not him. I'm crying right now. Shit.

[sabotabby]

He had an old age full of rum and riot. But I'm still weepy, oh yes.

[corvus.livejournal.com]

Bah.

I'm glad I saw him play a few years back. He was a wonderful musician and story teller.

[sabotabby]

I'm so glad I got to see him play in Chicago. (Also, that was where I got to meet rohmie IRL, and the whole reason that the now-rapidly-growing Toronto branch got started. But mostly, because I think it was one of the last shows he ever did.)

[lovableatheist.livejournal.com]

This makes me really, really sad.

:(

[sabotabby]

Me too. We drank a toast to him last night and listened to a local labour band play. Seemed fitting.

[sadie-sabot.livejournal.com]

awww, no. that's sad. I only met him once and he was wicked cranky, but he had every right to be cranky. Thanks for everything, Utah!

we were just this morning talking about some of our loved elderly comrades who we worry about. ahhh, life.

[syndicalist.livejournal.com]

An elderly comrade who I worry about is Noam Chomsky. I hope he lives to be at least as old as Albert Hofmann, the Swiss inventor of LSD who died a couple of weeks ago at the age of 102. When Edward Said passed, I was also extremely taken aback and saddened. Losing Utah is like losing a living connection to classical American (make that int'l) labor history.

[sadie-sabot.livejournal.com]

yes. also, Howard Zinn, especially right now considering his wife just died. We were also discussing Betita Martinez, here, who has been a friend and mentor to several of my close comrades.

[sabotabby]

Yeah. I was pretty crushed when Said died, especially because he wasn't that old.

I hope some of the folks I know now will grow up to be as fantastic as these old comrades.

[orpheus42.livejournal.com]

Wow. Sad day.

Godspeed, Utah.

[sabotabby]

Indeed.

[syndicalist.livejournal.com]

Whoah -- holy shit. Out of the blue for me. Wow. They really, really don't make them like him any more. He WAS labor folk/labor history embodied in human form. What a loss.

[sabotabby]

Absolutely. I knew about his heart condition and retirement (we held a benefit for him here a couple weeks ago), but I just didn't expect it to be so soon.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

U. Utah Phillips flagged a westbound freight train. Yes, a mighty fast rattler, on a long west-bound track. He needed no ticket, he was welcomed on board

Awwwww, man.
//sniffles

...dammit.

[sabotabby]

(He was welcomed on board, of course, because he has a Red Card. That used to get you on the trains for free.)

[sfslim.livejournal.com]

I deeply regret never having met him in person. But I will forever be captivated by his stories, inspired by his fury, & moved by his heart.

[sabotabby]

I'm so glad I got to hear his stories.

[finding-rowan.livejournal.com]

:(

[sabotabby]

...

[streetdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh, no. The world was so much better off with him in it.

Rest in peace, Utah. You will be very much missed.

[sabotabby]

Very much so.

[roter-terror.livejournal.com]

I've only heard him on the IWW Rebel Voices CD, but even there, in the few lines of dialogue between him and the crowd, I really got the sense that he was a kind, caring person.

[sabotabby]

He was. And expressed it in a rather curmudgeonly sort of way, which was even more awesome.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

I just found out moments ago via email. I wasn't expecting this at all. I mean, I know he was in ill health for quite some time. He had already cut back his touring before 2005, when we met him. I think the Centennial Celebration was an exception to his schedule. But still, I had not thought about his health since then. I'm still in shock.

[sabotabby]

I've been thinking of you since I heard.

I knew he was dying. I mean, it wasn't expressed to me in those exact terms, but that was the gist of what I'd been hearing from people. I just didn't think it would be so soon.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking of you since I heard.

I have been thinking of you too.

but that was the gist of what I'd been hearing from people.

I guess being out of the Wobbly loop compounded my surprise.

[lisechen.livejournal.com]

Aw, fuck.