Recording artist is a standup guy

Bill Knight column for Mon., Tues. or Wed., Sept. 10, 11 or 12, 2018

            “Chicago Farmer” is a great name for an act, like “clean coal” or “nonviolent commando.”

            But Chicago Farmer is much more than a snappy name. Born Cody Diekhoff, Chicago Farmer is more than a 39-year-old “singer/songwriter.” The troubadour is standup – a storyteller like the best standup comics and an upright fellow standing up for regular folks and the lives of quiet desperation and outright glee we all experience to the soundtracks in our heads and hearts.

            Chicago Farmer's live album "Quarter Past Tonight," recorded in December at downtown Peoria’s Apollo Theater, was released this summer, and the double CD’s 32 tracks make up a Chicago Farmer retrospective of sorts, with songs and anecdotes familiar to clubgoers throughout Central Illinois and the Midwest.

            Raised in Delavan in Central Illinois, Chicago Farmer brings a pleasant and too-rare blend of everyday small-town ethos and routine big-city experiences to his healthy working-class perspective.

            He’s comparable to John Prine, Loudon Wainwright and Neil Young, and also occasionally like the late Steve Goodman, Art Thieme and Woody Guthrie, with a soulful sense of humor and keen insight to the human condition and all its passion, silliness and dreams. However, he’s not derivative as much as a distinctive artist who’s plucked the baton from such contemporaries and forebears to race on.

            Describing himself as a “folk-singing hillbilly from the upper Midwest,” Chicago Farmer uses his dynamic but delicate tenor to soar and also bring listeners along for flights of fancy. But he’s also such a solid writer that his skill can make other aspiring wordsmiths feel like mere typists, with momentary but memorable lines like “pickin’ guitars and fights.”

            The reflective song “Anymore” deals with frustration and change, surrendering the impulse to drink, fight, cuss – and maybe dream of peace. “Round Table” is a common-sense take on the environment and prejudice, and “Dirtiest Uniform” starts off things with a universal a tale of heroic efforts and sincere sacrifice.

            Other highlights are “Who on Earth” (about arbitrary rules, showing a point of view that’s less “anti-establishment” than “pro-human”),“Illinois Anthem,” a nicely weird mix of celebration and rejection, turning dejection into a joyful romp, and “Umbrella,” a comforting cut, even soothing, with a memorable melody and poetic lyrics.

            Besides a knack for turning a phrase, the talented guitarist also can twist a riff, shown in numbers such as “Victoria Walker,” about racism and irony. Among all the love songs and laments, uptempo jigs and melancholy ballads – like “Won’t Let You Down,” which almost sounds like a lullaby – there’s an inspiration and insight here that’s too rare in whatever passes for the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, much less what radio’s become.

            One of the best tracks is “Farms & Factories,” which starts by singing “My family works in the factory, my family works on the farm,” and ends with a nice double-reverse, pining, “Thank God for the farms and the factories, thank the devil for the factory farms.”

            In the jarring stomp “Assembly Line Blues,” featuring a sharp harmonica, or his cover of Edward David Anderson & Backyard Tire Fire’s “Good to Be” (a rousing bit of merriment), or “I Need a Hit” (combining a humble sense of humor with some sobering perceptions), or “Rocco N’ Susie” (a plaintive look at superficial appearances, pressures and the illusory temptation of meth as a solution), Chicago Farmer reminds us that excellent artists aren’t confined to the coasts or urban areas, Many listeners will agree with Diekhoff's observation here: “Local bands are music to my ears.”

            In heavy times and troubles that burden folks hour by hour, Chicago Farmer offers a sober lightness and creates music that’s a balm to our spirits.

            (Chicago Farmer has a Facebook page [www.facebook.com/chicagofarmer/] and website [www.chicagofarmer.com/].)

Politics unavoidable part of Farm Bill talks

Bill Knight column for Sept. 13, 14 or 15, 2018

The Capitol Hill conference committee assigned to try to reconcile differences in two versions of a new Farm Bill is made up of representatives whose districts both rely on food stamps and also get substantial government payments, so their presence may be at least as self-serving as responsive to constituents.
Hopefully, that works in favor of everyday farmers and rural communities, but in some ways it's a dangerous game.
The current Farm Bill expires Sept. 30, and the House and Senate passed vastly different versions of a replacement measure, versions with significant variations -- especially from the less-bipartisan House.
The House's Farm Bill would eliminate provisions to help locally produced foods, the Energy Title, and public comments on logging projects; would reduce conservation spending by $1 billion and de-fund the Rural Development Program; would ban local and state rules on agriculture or food production if sales are made in other states; would permit toxic chemical use even if that threatens endangered species or is dumped into rivers; and would stiffen work requirements for eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP -- food stamps).
The Senate's version would prohibit non-farmers from receiving commodities subsidies.
"In order to be successful in passing a final bill, the conference committee must put politics aside and focus on the needs of our farmers, families and rural communities," said U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) in a joint statement.
That's easier said than done by elected officials who always seem to have a knack for career self-preservation.
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Moline) summarized the challenge.
"We have a House bill that barely passed [213-211]; it's not a very good bill," she told the Monmouth Daily Review Atas. "The Senate bill was voted for 86-11."
She's one of three members of the conference committee from Illinois' Congressional delegation, whose presence seems pretty political. Besides Bustos, the group includes U.S. Reps. John Shimkus (R-Effingham) and Rodney Davis (R-Decatur). It has 29 Republicans and 18 Democrats from the House, and six Democratic and five Republican Senators.
Bustos' district has 53,549 households getting food stamps and $85,811,000 in federal payments to farmers. Shimkus' numbers are 38,147 SNAP households and $155,644,000 in government payments; Davis' numbers are 37,024 households and $53,882,000 in payments -- all according to AgCensus data from the Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently reported that farmers' expenses are up dramatically, so attention is needed. Improvements and construction costs were up 48.8 percent between 2016 and last year, the data shows, and expenditures for tractors and machinery was up 34.3 percent over that 12-month period.
"This is only the second time in history that Congress has considered a Farm Bill while  Republicans control both the executive and legislative branches," commented agriculture researcher Margiana Petersen-Rockney. "The result is a bill that serves Washington's fattest wallets and most special interests.
"Its goal can be summed up as: Deregulate the rich and police the poor," she continued.
Steve Holmer of the American Bird Conservancy added, "This usually bipartisan and non-controversial bill currently being debated is in jeopardy. Harmful provisions weakening protections for endangered species and public lands have been added, making the bill a threat to conservation instead of being its greatest benefactor."

Apart from his death, pioneer newspaperman had a full life

Bill Knight column for Mon., Tues. or Wed., Sept. 10, 11 or 12, 2018

In 1893, an ailing man at the Illinois Central Hospital for the Insane at Jacksonville died on May 5 in near anonymity. Such end-of-life hospitalizations weren’t unusual for the time. Records from that time from Iowa’s Hospital for the Insane, for example, listed more than 1,400 patients there with conditions ranging from senile dementia, “disease of the brain” and “injuries of the head” to “business anxieties,” “political excitement” and “novel-reading.”
This patient had been one of Illinois’ earliest newspapermen, a pioneer who wrote a book about the state’s early years: John Regan.
Born 200 years ago this week in Ayrshire, Scotland, the home of poet Robert Burns, he left Europe for America in 1842. The 24-year-old school teacher travelled to New Orleans, St. Louis, Burlington, Iowa, and the Mormon community of Nauvoo before trekking east across the prairie to central Illinois. He later remarked that “the voyage [was] ... like a strange dream; but here, in the depths of the unsubdued wilderness, surely is reality. The brown squirrel scampers up the tree, looking at us over his shoulder as he goes, and chattering among the branches – the woodpecker taps upon the decayed limb – the bluebird flits from tree to tree – the dew trickles – the frogs in the distant ponds hold loud concert ... but still there is the feeling of solitude and loneliness gushing into the heart from every object around.”
Regan happened upon Spoon River and followed it south where he bought 40 acres near Ellisville and built a log cabin, farmed, taught school and kept detailed notes. He and his wife Elizabeth and their four children in 1847 returned to Scotland via the Illinois River, the Great Lakes and New York, letting Regan write and publish “The Emigrant’s Guide to The Western States of America.” Possibly inspired in part by Charles Dickens’ rather negative 1842 assessment (“American Notes for General Circulation”), Regan’s book was an account not only of moving to early Illinois, but also of life on the frontier.
It “is a truly remarkable book,” recalled literary historian John Hallwas, a Western Illinois University professor emeritus, “ – beautiful in its description of the wilderness and small-town landscape, colorful in its presentation of western characters, accurate in its recreation of frontier speech, incomparable among volumes of early Midwestern sketches for its thorough reflection of the author’s character, and significant as a presentation of the emigrant’s’ experience as cultural myth.”
In it, Regan described an Illinois thunderstorm: “After the hail, the rain poured down in absolute torrents,” he wrote, “the lightning glared, the thunders bellowed, crackled, ripped, and rattled, and reverberated along the level prairie in fearful grandeur.”
Around 1853, the Regan family returned to America to settle near Knoxville, Ill., where Regan taught school, started a book bindery, dabbled in oil painting, and bought the Knoxville Journal newspaper.
Once known as an abolitionist, Regan decided to support Democratic U.S. Sen. Stephen Douglas, a political foe of anti-slavery Abraham Lincoln. That hurt his business, which folded in 1855.
In 1858, he began running newspapers in nearby Elmwood, Maquon and Yates City, taking a break to join the Union Army during the Civil War, serving with Company H of the 83rd Illinois Infantry.
He resumed newspapering in 1866 and published off and on for 13 years until his health failed and he was admitted to the Jacksonville hospital.
Buried in Elmwood, Regan’s epitaph might be in this passage from his book: “Before us lay one vast plain of verdure and flowers, without house or home, or anything to break in upon the uniformity of the scene, except the shadow of a passing cloud. To the right and left long points of timber, like capes and headlands, stretched in the blue distance – the light breeze of the morning brushing along the young grass and blue and pink flowers – the strong sunlight pouring down everywhere – and the singular silence which pervaded the scene – produced a striking effect upon the mind.
“My feelings, indeed, were of the most elated and enraptured description. I had heard of Eden and Elysium. Was it possible their beauties could surpass these?”
Regardless of his circumstance and place of death, Regan’s life was one of endless effort, hope and possibilities.

Some judges show courts aren’t always shields against excess

Bill Knight column for Thurs., Fri. or Sat., Sept. 6, 7 or 8, 2018

Courts can safeguard against legislative or executive powers and overreach, but judges can’t be relied on, especially when the Trump administration is packing courts at the federal level – from local districts to the Supreme Court.

Sometimes, judges stand up for justice, of course, like the ultimately doomed effort to derail President Trump’s travel ban. In fact, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in Washington on Aug. 24 overturned key parts of three executive orders Trump issued that would have made firing federal workers easier.

Trump’s orders “conflict with congressional intent in a manner that cannot be sustained,” she said.

However, Americans can no more count on judges than they can on lawmakers, who too often put politics above the public interest, whether it’s congressional Republicans reluctant to criticize the president or state lawmakers resorting to “preemption” laws that overrule local ordinances.

For instance, the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals on Aug. 17 blocked Austin’s ordinance requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave to workers, which had been scheduled to take effect Oct. 1.

Among 22 wealthy countries, the United States is the only nation with no guaranteed paid sick-leave policy beyond what’s provided in union contracts. Therefore, states or communities must pass their own laws on the issue, if they think it’s in the public interest.

Amid a legal challenge from a Right-wing business group, Austin’s ordinance requiring employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave was shelved for the moment.

Austin’s city council in February voted to allow workers at most private businesses to accumulate up to 64 hours (eight days) of paid sick leave annually. The ordinance doesn’t seem unreasonable. Small businesses with 15 or fewer employees could have paid sick days up to 48 hours (six work days), and businesses with five or fewer employees wouldn’t be required to offer any paid sick leave until October 2020.

At a Council meeting where more than 200 people came to testify (most supporting the measure), the council approved the law 9-2. But within hours, State Rep. Paul Workman, an Austin Republican, said, “It’s not the role of the government to mandate for employers to do this,” and other Texas’ lawmakers pledged to pass legislation to block such local progressive laws, a preemption like other states have done to disallow ordinances approved by less-conservative local representatives, from laws on ride-sharing and plastic bags to fracking, increasing minimum wages, and becoming “sanctuary cities” where police need not do immigration enforcement more appropriately handled by federal officials.

Austin Councilman Greg Casar, the author of the sick-leave ordinance, said, “The fact of the matter is basic protections for working Texas families are essential to making sure that we have an economy that works for everyone. When all of us do better, all of us do better.”

As for state lawmakers, Casar added, “We’ll just fight them tooth and nail at the legislature.”

Besides opposition from the legislature, the ordinance faces a lawsuit filed by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, part of the Koch-backed State Policy Network.

Still, the city of Austin stresses that the judges’ ruling is just a temporary delay in implementing the ordinance. Spokesman Andy Tate said the court “has not yet made any ruling on the validity [of paid sick leave].”

The court’s decision came a day after San Antonio became the second Texas city (and the 33rd U.S. municipality) to approve such an ordinance, also by a 9-2 vote. That measure, scheduled to be enacted Jan. 1, built on advocates gathering more than double the required 70,000 signatures to compel the council to act on the issue.

“Unfortunately, we have a state leadership that is determined to interfere with our cities’ ability to do what’s best for their citizens,” Michelle Tremillo, director of the Texas Organizing Project community group told In These Times magazine.

“We have a state leadership that is not at all concerned about improving conditions for working people,” she added.

Workers on film for Labor Day week

Bill Knight column for Mon., Tues. or Wed., Sept. 3, 4 or 5, 2018

Filmgoers proud of working for a living, especially this week, may watch movies and think, “Where are REAL working people?” Unfortunately, in cinema and TV they’re about as common as functional families, good cops, everyday minorities, ordinary women, and compassionate lawyers: mostly missing.

That’s despite most Americans identifying as working class – 48 percent of us, according to the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), compared to 39 percent who think they’re middle class. We’re more working-class now than 30 years ago, when 42 percent identified as working class.

Further, this year both the Gallup and the Pew polls showed public support for unions at its highest level in years (61 percent at Gallup; 60 percent at Pew), and 76 percent of Americans younger than 30 approve of unions.

Nevertheless, as “Crime Movies” author Carlos Clarens wrote, “The film industry timidly avoided labor themes for years.”

Patrice O’Neill, of public TV’s “We Do the Work,” added, “Working people’s lives are a gold mine that [Hollywood’s] failed to fall into. Hollywood is missing an audience that seldom sees itself.”

But some gems were made; here are 10:

“Black Fury” (1935). When Warner Brothers released this drama, the studio warned, “ ‘Black Fury’ is not a propaganda picture; it offers no solution to labor problems, but presents human beings in a human story.” Still, it was banned in some states, including Illinois. Paul Muni plays a miner who endures betrayals, from a lover to strikebreakers. Racketeers seek to control the miners’ union, and Muni’s character himself surrounded by controversy. Ward Bond and Barton MacLane co-star.

“Blue Collar” (1978). Peoria native Richard Pryor co-stars with Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto in a tale about the assembly-line culture that can exhaust workers trapped between Big Business and Big Labor. Set in a Detroit-area factory, three friends work and play together, and involve themselves in mischief that turns dangerous when they try to steal money from the union and discover records that seem to show criminal activity. This first directing effort from filmmaker Paul Schrader (screenwriter for “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull”) shows many divisions: capital and labor, black and white, men and women, mostly powerful and powerless.

“Bread and Roses” (2000). Filmmaker Ken Loach directed this fine drama about a group of Latin American immigrant janitors who protest for their right to organize. Adrien Brody plays a union organizer with the Justice for Janitors’ corporate campaign.

“Business as Usual” (1987). Glenda Farrell stars in this British picture about an independent woman who decides she’s had it with mistreatment on the job. After she’s fired because she objected to a co-worker’s harassment, she organizes the work force, which protests, pickets and prevails.

“Matewan” (1987). Filmmaker John Sayles’ vivid account of West Virginia coal miners in the 1920s focuses on an incident called the Alamo of coal-field wars. Chris Cooper stars as a union organizer who has to unite miners and diffuse racial and other tensions separating workers. Finally, trust, savvy and decency overcome suspicion and coal companies’ power. James Earl Jones and David Strathairn co-star.

“Norma Rae” (1979). Sally Field won an Oscar for her portrayal of the title role in director Martin Ritt’s movie about a textile worker, wife and mother who rises to the challenges and risks of organizing her workplace. Beau Bridges and Ron Liebman co-star.

“On the Waterfront” (1954). Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning reports in New York, this Elia Kazan picture won eight Academy Awards. It stars Marlon Brando as an ex-boxer and misfit dockworker frustrated with his brother (Rod Steiger) and the injustice in the death of a reform-minded co-worker. Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden and Eva Marie Saint (her film debut) co-star. Leonard Bernstein composed an exceptional score.

“Sacco & Vanzetti” (1970). This Italian biography about the immigrant anarchists whose conviction and execution sparked world-wide protests is compelling and tragic. History doesn’t agree on the involvement of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in a killing. But in the 1920s, their arrest, trial and sentencing was controversial. Still, they died in electric chairs. The dubbed movie was honored at Cannes Film Festival.

“Silkwood” (1983). Likeable whistleblower Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep) joins union organizers’ improving working conditions in Mike Nichols’ biopic. The story traces circumstances that led to the unsolved death of the nuclear plant worker driving to deliver documents to a reporter, raising issues like unions’ role in bringing about change. It co-stars Kurt Russell, Cher and Craig T. Nelson.

“10,000 Black Men Named George” (2002). This made-for-cable film stars Andre Braugher as A. Philip Randolph, the organizer who led the Pullman sleeping-car porters union for decades. Directed by Robert Townshend, the splendid picture co-stars Mario Van Peebles, Brock Peters and Charles S. Dutton.