The Ballad Of John Henry Faulk (August 21, 1913 - April 9, 1990)
By Phil Ochs (December 19, 1940 - April 9, 1976)

I'll tell you the story of John Henry Faulk.
I'll tell you of his trials and the troubled trail he walked,
And I'll tell of the tyrants, the ones you never see:
Murder is the role they play and hatred is their fee.

On the TV and the radio John Henry Faulk was known.
He talked to many thousands with a mind that was his own,
But he could not close his eyes when the lists were passed around,
So he tried to move the Union to tear the blacklist down.

His friends they tried to warn him he was headin' for a fall.
If he spoke against the blacklist he had no chance at all,
But he laughed away their warnings and he laughed away their fears:
For how could lies destroy the work of many honest years?

Then slowly, oh so slowly, his life began to change.
People would avoid his eyes, his friends were actin' strange,
And he finally saw the power of the hidden poison pen
When they told him that his job was through, he'd never work again.

And he could not believe what his sad eyes had found.
He stared in disbelief as his world came tumblin' down,
And as the noose grew tighter, at last the trap was clear:
For every place he turned to go, that list would soon be there
-- Oh, that list.

And is there any bottom to the fears that grow inside?
Is there any bottom to the hate that you must hide?
And is there any end to your long road of despair?
Is there any end to the pain that you must bear?

His wife and children trembled, the time was runnin' short,
When a man of law got on their side and took them into court,
And there upon the stand they could not hide behind their eyes,
And the cancer of the fascist was displayed before our eyes.

Hey, you blacklist, you blacklist, I've seen what you have done.
I've seen the men you've ruined and the lives you've tried to run,
But the one thing that I've found is, the only ones you spare
Are those that do not have a brain, or those that do not care.

And you men who point your fingers and spread your lies around,
You men who left your souls behind and drag us to the ground,
You can put my name right down there, I will not try to hide --
For if there's one man on the blacklist, I'll be right there by his side.

For I'd rather go hungry to beg upon the streets
Than earn my bread on dead men's souls and crawl beneath your feet.
And I will not play your hater's game and hate you in return,
for it's only through the love of man the blacklist can be burned.

by popular demand

Rosie Cheeks

photo by Whiskey Bent

friday elfgirl blogging

friday random ten

Lauren has the instructions.

"James and the Cold Gun" - Kate Bush
"Can't Find Love" - Giant Sand
"She's a Sensation" - Ramones
"From Her To Eternity" - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
"Lambs" - TunaHelpers
"The Hours" - This Microwave World
"4nit2" - Aero Wave
"She Talks to Rainbows" - Ramones
"babyheadrush" - Sixteen Deluxe
"Snakeface" - Throwing Muses

Demi Gore gets ink.
Atlanta Rollergirl in
New Prick Magazine.

CBS, Jon Stewart
win a Peabody Award.
Wingnuts horrified.

Total cost of the
Baboon-a-palooza tour?
Waxman wants answers.

Carolina Rollergirls Ready to Bout

The Flat track Carolina Rollergirls will skate the first bout of their innaugural season this Sunday, April 10th.

Debutant Brawlers vs. Trauma Queens

Sunday, April 10.
Skate Ranch of Raleigh
Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door.
Doors open at 5:45pm, bout starts at 6:15pm.

Visit the Carolina Rollergirls website for more info.

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Debutante Brawlers, Trauma Queens

Rock-n-Rollerderby

Austinist reviews the Texas Rollergirls season opening bout:

We had no idea what to expect as first-timers. However, three hours later, when we walked out of the Playland Skate Center, we were downright giddy from what we had just experienced. The Austinist attended last night's opener for the Texas Rollergirls Rock-n-Rollerderby 2005 season, the rollerderby done with a Texas twist.

Doors open and music starts at 6:30. We were outside, in a long, but fast-moving line about 6:45. If you don't care about sitting in actual seats, seating is ample (floor, against rails, up on the wall). The track is flat and fast (marked with a string of lights) and there are no protective barriers between the blur of skaters and the audience. This is a Good Thing.

To kick things off, John Popper belted out a harmonica rendition of the Star Spangled Banner that inspired hootin’ and hollerin’ from the crowd (yeah, it was THAT John Popper, from Blues Traveler; the hat pretty much gave it away.)

Then the games began.

[snip]

This is not a sport for the weak of heart. They shove each other hard, crashing in spectacular balls of fire into the laps of the audience. They frequently end up in fist fights and wrestling matches on the floor that have to be broken up by the only seemingly sane people in the room, the referees. And in case you were wondering, any one of these girls could take you without so much as breaking a sweat to ruin her makeup. We like that.

[snip]

A Texas Rollergirls derby is exactly the kind of gritty, punk-meets-hipster-meets-BDSM event which will scare the hell out of and then subsequently enchant your out-of-town friends with our Austin weirdo ethos.

Despite their rough exteriors, the athletes and staff we spoke with were all exceedingly approachable, friendly and welcoming; they're doing Austin proud.

This is one of those things you need to at least try once as long as you're in our town. Go in with an open mind for low-brow kitsch and you may just walk out a fan like us.

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Texas Rollergirls, Austin

75 - 70
Congrats to Forrest Pangborn, winner of the Zonebots NCAA men's basketball bracket.

Cheers to Richard Cranium of All Spin Zone for creating the bracket.

rollergirl haiku

former champs bouting
impassioned battle on skates
hustlers heartbroken

adrenalin high
faster, faster, kill kill kill!
honeys by a mile

hot banked track action
upset in the making? no
cowgirls rode putas

Roller Warriors in the press

The Lawrence Journal-World has a story on theKansas City Roller Warriors.

Women in Kansas City started a roller derby league -- the Kansas City Roller Warriors -- about a year ago. The all-female league now is part of a giant comeback for roller derby. But this time it's absent the disco music and terry cloth-clad skaters.
The women are fierce. And with names like Maiden Hell, Red Ripper and Abra Cadaver, you don't want to run into them in a dark alley.

But in the safe setting of the Winnwood Skate Center in Kansas City, Mo., people yearn to see them.

"I usually sit on the couch and watch TV," says skater Brooke Leavitt (aka Dirty Britches). "No one wants to pay to see me watch TV. But people want to see this. People want to watch roller derby."

Be sure to check out photo gallery, video clips and audio clips in the side bar of the story.

The Kansas City Roller Warriors next bout is set for April 23rd.

tags: rollergirls, roller derby, Kansas City, Roller Warriors