Joan Baez diffuses right wing protest at Idaho concert.

[elleng]

What would you do if you found yourself standing face to face with people bearing signs accusing you by name of killing babies and encouraging the shooting of American soldiers? Might you lose your cool? Might you get involved in an exchange that would ultimately lead to anger or descend into the shouting matches we've been seeing at so many Town Halls lately?

Not if you're Joan Baez, who, in the 50th year of her career, continues to live according to unshakeable ideals of non-violence and compassion in ways that should inspire us all.

Last night, four Vietnam veterans protested Joan's concert in Idaho Falls with signs reading: "JOAN BAEZ - SOLDIERS DON'T KILL BABIES, LIBERALS DO" and "JOAN BAEZ GAVE COMFORT & AID TO OUR ENEMY IN VIETNAM & ENCOURAGED THEM TO KILL AMERICANS!"

Joan was informed that the men were protesting her concert about an hour before it was due to begin and she immediately walked out onto the street to talk to them. When she approached, one of the first things they said was "We appreciate the work you did on civil rights and women's rights." They wanted to make that point clear.

She listened closely as they discussed their views. Primarily, they wanted to express the way they felt betrayed by anti-war protesters when they returned from combat. Joan assured them that she stood by them then and now. They had mixed reactions as she explained her actual positions and her support for all veterans, across the board.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/08/12/765667/-Joan-Baez-diffuses-right-wing-protest-at-Idaho-concert?detail=email#

[leftofcool]

1. I love me some Joanie!

[Inbetweendays]

2. Same here.

She always was a legend. Glad to see she's still fighting the good fight.

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Spread it out all over the place, did she?

[Jim Lane]

7. When it comes to errors like this one, I also have a short fuse. (n/t)

[n2doc]

4. Great and Brave Woman

Met her once, she was very gracious.

[busterbrown]

5. I have several Vietnam Vets. as close friends.

One was a Silver Star Recipient.. None of them saw the anti-war protesters as a negative.
They all wanted to get the hell out of there. When they came home none of my friends saw any sign of protesters abusing arriving soldiers.. Occasionally some idiots would do something stupid but they clearly were putting their health at risk.. From the soldiers and their friends..

Many Vets. ended in our basements smoking weed and listening to led Zeppelin.

[Dustlawyer]

9. I am sure these protestors swallowed too much

Rush Limp balls and Fox Noise. They had to to have Joan so wrong.

[mountain grammy]

45. Ditto from my husband,

Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2015, 07:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Crew chief on a Huey, Vietnam, 1971. Thank you protesters, this is a mistake.

[justhanginon]

6. Sweet memories.

I remember going to one of her concerts at SIUE Edwardsville Il. here in the St. Louis area and sitting on the long sloping hill that faced the stage. It was a time, Gosh I must be getting old, I remember seeing the young ladies walking through the crowd throwing flower petals and the air was rather heavy with a strange smelling smoke. Must have been the late fifties or early sixties. She gave a wonderful concert and it truly was a magical evening. I had to go by myself because none of my friends were much into folk music or the general political scene at the time.
Ms. Baez still sings mighty good and I remember her having a seemingly pure voice. A beautiful lady in so many ways.
Good times!

[Hekate]

13. Yes, a pure voice, then and now. I got to see PP&M 2 or 3 times. That generation of folk...

...singers saw their gift for music as a calling to better humanity and the country. To say I miss that music is an understatement -- though I do have untold numbers of CDs, it's not the same.

[NBachers]

30. "Those are the memories that make you a wealthy soul."

[eridani]

34. I went to one there in 1969

Absolutely wonderful experience, though I look a little ridiculous these days in the miniskirt I wore for the event.

[shenmue]

8. She is awesome

[Greybnk48]

10. A bunch of amateurs confronting a pro.

The protests were always in support of the poor guys scooped up and sent to Viet Nam. No soldier was ever spat on at any airport. That was Govt. propaganda.

[Fred Sanders]

11. Soldiers are the most damaged by the blood thirsty war mongers ordering them to fight false wars.

Talking it out. Before war, give it a try, as Obama does,

[mountain grammy]

12. Thank you, thank you for posting.

It's old, but still so relevant. Oh boy, do I want to be like her. I've got so far to go, it seems impossible.
Saw her at the Newport Folk Festival singing with Bob Dylan in 1964.
Saw her again in 1965, but Dylan shook a few people up going electric, so don't remember them singing together that year.

I just read this on Daily Kos and wanted to post it here. Thanks for doing it for me.

[Hekate]

14. Oh, Grammy, you actually got to be at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival?! I am in awe and envy...

[mountain grammy]

16. What a great experience, two years in a row.

only had tickets for two shows, saw (heard) the rest from the parking lot.

My favorite set of all, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, but it was all memorable.

[AikenYankee]

17. You are so fortunate

Grammy. Newport Folk Festivals!! Love Joan Baez; "Dylan shook a few people up going electric" in '65 .... yeah, he sure did! He still is. Thanks for posting.

[mountain grammy]

31. He was great, saw his show standing on the roof of the car..

but we could hear! He was plugged in! What a blast.

Welcome to DU

[AikenYankee]

42. Witnessing history

on the roof of a car .... How cool is that!! Thanks for the welcome! Enjoy reading the posts.

[calimary]

33. Welcome to DU, AikenYankee!

Glad you're here! Well, many of us here probably have a little jealousy to swallow - what a memory for mountain grammy! The Newport Folk Festival! Two of 'em. And Paul Butterfield. And Dylan - MAN... some of that jealousy is certainly mine!

We get many wonderful stories like this from fellow DUers. Many of them have amazing experiences and they share - in many cases quite lyrically, too, and we are thoroughly enriched by them. I love reading these! It's a real treasury we have here. The older ones among us are wonderful sources of living history. I contribute a minor bit of broadcast journalism experience back in the day when I was still working. So many DUers went through Vietnam (either protesting or drafted into combat), lived through ten Presidents or more, multiple natural disasters and other cataclysms, loves, losses and more. I particularly like reading through recollections of historical moments - "where were you when ______" and so forth. We gain so much from this - including knowledge, perspective, the benefit of other people's research, and the benefit of other people's VERY sharp eyes. I swear - people around here spot the most startling and illuminating things!

[AikenYankee]

43. Thanks for the welcome calimary!

and for the DU enriched insights. I've read many of your posts in the short time I've been here. Looking forward to more in the future. Peace and love.

[calimary]

44. Thanks! I often think of DU as a think tank.

We have ALL KINDS of expertise here.

We have the perspective of the elders here. We have the scholars and academics and teachers and historians. We have soldiers - many of them decorated - and peaceniks and refuseniks. We have all manner of sexual orientation, and the observations, toils, and trials they face - on a daily basis. SO MUCH HERE to help one build one's own informed opinions.

We have battle veterans from not only actual battlefields but also the legal front, the scientific front, the civil liberties front, the medical front. We have writers, journalists, strategists, and even a few big names who've checked in here. Elizabeth Edwards used to post here. Alan Grayson. Politicians and political activists from very local to very national. We have expats and international citizens here - the perspective offered from people living in other countries (whether they moved there from America or they were born there) is AMAZING and INCREDIBLY educational. THAT ALONE informs anyone here who's arguing our health care system or our educational system or our scientific research system or our economic system against those in other countries. Gives us TONS of good info and good ammo for arguments. You really can come here to get an education. And people argue here. And those arguments are sometimes really great to read through and consider. GREAT training for jousting with, and rebutting, your Neanderthal uncle who only watches Pox Noise, or your neighbor down the block who listens only to limbaugh and friends. GREAT way to sift and vet arguments, observe what holds up, what makes sense, what confirms your original opinion OR what changes it because somebody brought up a point maybe you hadn't considered but find compellingly valid.

We have almost ridiculously-eloquent writers here. Both professional and non pro. MAN if you ever wanted help formulating a line of attack, or a way to express something that can be brilliantly incisive and persuasive - read one of them! Will Pitt comes to mind. And sometimes he gets in trouble, too. That's a WHALE of a great time - reading through all that and comparing and contrasting and learning through the venting and the coolly dispassionate intelligent points and the raging - you can learn what to do and what not to do, how to sound and how NOT to sound. It's REALLY valuable! Same thing with Nance Greggs, who doesn't appear very often here anymore, much to our detriment. There's a bunch of 'em. H2O Man and Omaha Steve and the list just goes on and on.

There are also the scouts and the curators - like kpete and babylonsister - they find stuff. Sheshe2 FINDS stuff. Hers are usually photo essays which will widen your eyes and drop your jaw and catch your breath and make your heart leap! There's n2doc's regular contribution of curated cartoon collections. And if you go to the DU Lounge (DO NOT avoid the DU Lounge!!!) you'll be entranced, and will probably laugh your ass off. There's where you'll find our regular compilation of "Sunday Funnies" thanks to SalmonChantedEvening's Sunday LOLCats (who I personally believe deserves a special award for hilariously clever screen name). AND the Lounge will be where you find the really silly stuff like "Ruin a Rock Band" where the OP asks for everybody to come up with crazy takes on some already-crazy-enough rock band names. I think there were also "Ruin a TV Series" or "Ruin a Hit Song" or "Ruin a Movie Title" threads. Some will literally make you LOL.

We have moms, dads, grandparents, childless, divorced, widowed, and new preggers - married and not married. We have every kind of sexual preference. Every kind of religious leaning. Every skin color in the human rainbow. Every economic level. Every health level. Every physical capability level. We have threads about being in mourning. We have threads like MineralMan's sense wonder about the ducks returning to his yard. People taking care of kids AND their elders too. There are DUers from teenager to octogenarian - and beyond. We have Occupy people, Code Pink people, activists and stay-at-homes. We have butchers, bakers, and candlestick-makers. Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs. And speaking of that, I've seen numerous different Native American tribes represented here by various posters. I've read posts from amateur and professional theologians of all kinds. Every branch of the sciences. Skeptics of every sort. It all helps and it all matters and it all informs. And people like Skittles who remind - "someone's always here" - for the lonely, and/or confused, and/or in crisis, and/or bereaved.

I'm forgetting a whole bunch of people, much to my regret. But the choices here are as myriad as the stars. And it ALL educates, elevates, and illuminates. It's my favorite site, by far (other than my kid's band's Facebook page, that is!)!

[AikenYankee]

46. +1

wow ... well said! Thanks again! Looking forward to some great reads.

[mnhtnbb]

15. Here's Joan two years ago performing for our group on The Nation Cruise

We had never done one of these cruises--it was a lot of fun with a lot of progressive/liberal
attendees and speakers arranged by The Nation magazine. They do them every December.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[elleng]

18. How GREAT!

[randr]

19. The mistreatment of veterans by anti-war protesters is a lasting myth

While there were a few protesters acting out their anger, they were depicted as the poster child of ant-war movement.
For several years, years mind you, in every major city of America, every week, usually following church, thousands of people protested the war in Viet Nam. Every single religious organization spoke out against the war with the possible exception of Southern Baptists. Marchers were made up of a cross section of America and included grand parents, parents, sisters, brothers, fellow veterans, and a whole lot of students. The media picked out a few snap shots of the more colorful protesters and ran with a story that we still have with us today.

[Hoppy]

21. The only verified returning veteran who got spit on at an airport,

was a soldier named, John Rambo.

Every other soldier entered the U.S. on U.S.A.F. bases where civilians wouldn't be in contact. Furthermore, can you imagine a soldier being spit on an not physically responding to the insult? Maybe not all soldiers but at least one?

I thank God that Private Rambo was there to protect us.

[ChiciB1]

29. People Have Been Using That "Spit On Us" Myth Forever!

I'm an Army brat, and many of my friends got drafted back then, some never came back. I know there are many theories about being spit on, and I think it started somewhere out in CA, but none of my friends ever said it and I lived through those times.

If you really think about it, WE wanted the war to end and too many kids tried to avoid the draft in so many different ways. Tell me WHY our generation would spit on them when we worked so hard to STOP THE WAR?? We wanted them to come home.

If anyone has the "real" story and proof to support it, I would like to see it. I always ignored it because I didn't see it, but even I don't know where the truth is. Just that I never heard my soldier friends tell me about it. My husband got his draft notice, but we hurried up and got married and he didn't have to go. In the beginning if you were married they didn't take you, then they did. But then we heard they wouldn't take you if you had a child, soooooooooo I got pregnant and we had a daughter. THIS IS a true story!

And yes, we're still together today, which is weird in and of itself! I never wanted to get married that young, but I DID MY DUTY, SIR!

Was going to continue and add comments about Viet Nam, but it was just too awful and we saw too much!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. I never heard the story of soldiers getting spat on till (guess what)

the Reagan administration, when a whole new mythology was fed to the American people.

[eridani]

35. Plenty of antiwar people hung out at GI coffeehouses

The movement began in the late 60s, but it is still going strong today with outposts likd Coffee Strong.

The story of the GI coffeehouses

http://socialistworker.org/2007-2/656/656_10_Coffeehouses.shtml

The military authorities had good reason to fear Oleo Strut. In August, 43 Black GIs, who became known as the Fort Hood 43, had refused to be deployed to Chicago to put down protesters at the Democratic National Convention.

Oleo Strut helped to coordinate a defense campaign for their comrades, using the Fatigue Press to publicize the case, and the Fort Hood 43 were given relatively light sentences, despite their mutinous action.

Many coffeehouses were associated with GI newspapers--such as Pawn's Pawn produced by soldiers at Mad Anthony Wayne's, Attitude Check produced by the Green Machine coffeehouse at Camp Pendleton, and Fed Up at the Shelter Half coffeehouse near Fort Lewis.

These newspapers in turn reflected the diverse political currents that coursed through the GI movement. Some advocated the hippie counterculture of peace and pot, others championed the rise of the Black Power movement, and still others argued for collective bargaining rights and better living conditions for soldiers.

Right-on Post, produced by soldiers at Fort Ord, described its cause as "GIs dedicated to freeing themselves and all the exploited peoples from the oppression of the U.S. military. We recognize our true enemy...it is the capitalist who sees only profit. They control the military which sends us off to die. They control the police who occupy the black and brown ghettos."

https://coffeestrong.org/


1961-1973: GI resistance in the Vietnam war

http://libcom.org/history/vietnam-gi-resistance

By every conceivable indicator, our army that remains in Vietnam is in a state approaching collapse, with individual units avoiding or having refused combat, murdering their officers and non-commissioned officers, drug-ridden, and dispirited where not near mutinous. Elsewhere than Vietnam, the situation is nearly as serious… Sedition, coupled with disaffection from within the ranks, and externally fomented with an audacity and intensity previously inconceivable, infest the Armed Services...”

Heinl cited a New York Times article which quoted an enlisted man saying, “The American garrisons on the larger bases are virtually disarmed. The lifers have taken our weapons away...there have also been quite a few frag incidents in the battalion.”

“Frag incidents” or “fragging” was soldier slang in Vietnam for the killing of strict, unpopular and aggressive officers and NCO’s (Non-Commissioned Officers, or “non-coms”). The word apparently originated from enlisted men using fragmentation grenades to off commanders. Heinl wrote, “Bounties, raised by common subscription in amounts running anywhere from $50 to $1,000, have been widely reported put on the heads of leaders who the privates and SP4s want to rub out.” Shortly after the costly assault on Hamburger Hill in mid-1969, one of the GI underground newspapers in Vietnam, GI Says, publicly offered a $10,000 bounty on Lieutenant Colonel Weldon Hunnicutt, the officer who ordered and led the attack.

“The Pentagon has now disclosed that fraggings in 1970 (209 killings) have more than doubled those of the previous year (96 killings). Word of the deaths of officers will bring cheers at troop movies or in bivouacs of certain units.” Congressional hearings on fraggings held in 1973 estimated that roughly 3% of officer and non-com deaths in Vietnam between 1961 and 1972 were a result of fraggings. But these figures were only for killings committed with grenades, and didn’t include officer deaths from automatic weapons fire, handguns and knifings. The Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps estimated that only 10% of fragging attempts resulted in anyone going to trial. In the America l Division, plagued by poor morale, fraggings during 1971 were estimated to be running around one a week. War equipment was frequently sabotaged and destroyed.

[ChiciB1]

47. I Lived In Killeen When The Oleo Strut Went Into

operation. I was in High School and we walked everywhere we went. Went by there many times. Killeen, TX would NEVER have survived as a town had it not been for Fort Hood!

And the civilian kids I went to school with used to start barking at the soldiers when they went off post. I remember really getting mad and letting them know how disgusting they were! They barked because they wore dog tags, but as time went by some of those same kids got drafted! Not saying I was happy about THAT, but the soldier (kids) that got drafted and were trained at Ft. Hood were just kids from different home towns.

Funny thing though, even though I lived in Central Texas, because of the 1st & 2nd AD being there, our schools were actually integrated before almost the rest of any town in TX. Fort Bliss was out in El Paso and my father got stationed there when he came back from Korea. We had lived in Killeen for 6 years which was an extended length of time so I graduated from school there at 17, so I HAD to move to El Paso too! Didn't like it much there either.

My husband & I both lived in Killeen when Jane Fonda came there and she actually got a very warm welcome from the soldiers! They had a parade in town and i was mostly made up of soldiers. We go back there for class reunions and as soon as I get off the plane I wonder WHY I even decided to go back. I met Mollie Ivins when she was in Florida right before she died and I remember asking her about Ft. Hood/Killeen... she said it was STILL A DUMP!

It's a VERY big dump now! Sorry if I offended anyone, but I'm NOT a fan of the place in ANY WAY!

Sure don't doubt what was said about Ronnie RayGuns... it did come out of CA as I recall.

[red dog 1]

20. Joan Baez is a class act

and so is her friend Jim.

[Hoppy]

22. You might also enjoy the dvd of the C.S.N.Y. anti-war tour a few years ago. Available on Netflx

[JEB]

23. Support the troops

by opposing wars of aggression, choice or profit driven. Troops and veterans please understand who your friends are.

[ChiciB1]

24. Joan Baez Is Just Fantastic! I Have Been A Huge Fan

of hers since FOREVER! Bought her albums first, then cassettes and now DVD's. I even went to several concerts, one that she and Bob Dylan showcased. Dyan is truly one of the Greatest Ever, but he was never into politics or protesting despite Baez's pleas! And, at the concert I attended with both of them... she upstaged him that night, IMHO! Super concert nevertheless!

As Boomers, we had some of the VERY, VERY, VERY BEST music! But the singer who's had my heart forever is JACKSON BROWNE! Just bought his new CD Standing In The Breach. My kids tell me I should just download instead of buying CD's, but I like to have the CD!

And he's still writing his protest songs along with other GREAT music! So glad I was fortunate enough to see all the concerts way back when. My generation was one that will always be remembered as one of the greatest, and to have seen so many performers in their prime made for some heady times! We came together, marched and believed we could make a difference. And no matter what history will say, I DO BELIEVE WE DID!

Keep On Singin' Joan Baez, your voice and activism makes me proud!

[callous taoboy]

27. Wow. Great post! n/t

[ChiciB1]

28. Thanks A Lot... Came From My Heart... n/t

[Cha]

25. Wow.. good on Joan Baez.. that brought

back memories and tears to eyes.

Mahalo ellen

[Thinkingabout]

26. This is a good reason to not allow one issue to taint your view of someone.

It happens too often, a person can do hundreds of thing really well and then something which may be different from your perception and this reverses the good issues and now the person is all bad.

[Major Hogwash]

36. Joe Hill.

One of my favorite songs that Joan sang at Woodstock.
Great thread.
She is definitely a peacemaker, still trying to bring healing to the broken generation of men (and women) affected by the Vietnam War.
More than 50 years of using her talents to heal the wounds.
She's an incredible lady.

[JohnnyRingo]

37. Well worth a complete read.

Thanx for posting!

[90-percent]

38. Joan and Zappa palling around

?t=1426334285

?t=1426334281


The first Mothers of Invention album included "The Freak Out list".

"These People Have Contributed Materially in Many Ways to Make Our Music What it is. Please Do Not Hold it Against them."


http://www.discogs.com/lists/The-Freak-Out-List/19681?page=3

Joan is #56 in this particular list, right before Bob Dylan, #55.

Freak Out was produced by Tom Wilson, who also produced a few Simon and Garfunkel albums along with Dylan's first electric album.

Been a Zappz fan for about 45 years, and my hobby is all the direct and indirect connections. One being Penn Gilette's first FZ show was in Boston a week or so before my first in Oct 1971 at Stony Brook University, which was about three miles from the house I grew up in.


-90% Jimmy

[WinstonSmith4740]

39. I was a total Baez fan back in the day.

Some friends and I went to a concert she gave in South Jersey at a summer "Theater in the Round" venue. Bob Dylan showed up and sang along with her. We almost had a stroke (hey, we were teen-agers...what can I say?). The best part though, was that after the concert on our way home, we saw her car (she was driving and XKE at the time, so it was pretty obvious) parked outside a local farmer's market. So, being teen-agers with more enthusiasm than manners, we stopped and started talking to her. The poor woman was just trying to buy some fresh, local fruit & veges and we kind of descended on her. She was warm, gracious, and welcomed us like we were her own kids. We talked with her for at least 15 minutes...she asked us about school, our interests, folk music...pretty much "stuff" in general. She then signed our programs for us, told us it was a pleasure talking to us and we parted company. A class act, and a HUGE influence on my life. Glad to see she's still spreading the word.

[Stainless]

40. Spitting on soldiers is a right wing myth

I was in the Army during the height of the Vietnam War (1966-72). On several occasions, I traveled around the country in uniform and never once observed any disrespect whatsoever to me or to anyone else in uniform. I was also a fan of the music of that era and I remember very well the anti war protests. Although I never set foot in Vietnam, my life was profoundly altered by the events of the time and I still appreciate the people who stood for peace and non-violence.

[bayareaboy]

41. I learned more from Joan Baez and her friends in 10 days at Alemeda County Jail...

Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2015, 02:31 PM - Edit history (1)

I was jailed in an anti-war demonstration in Oakland in the 60s.

I was sitting down the row about 5 or 6 bodies from Joan. Then after a day or so we all took the big bus to the jail and my bunk mate was Vik lovell, the guy who turned Ken Kesey on to LSD. We had some great meetings about peaceful demonstrations form folks like Ira Sandpearl.

Visiting day was pretty OK as well, with Martin Luther King showing up and shaking hands and asking how we felt about the war.

I have never learned more about myself or the good folks around me as those 10 days.