portoluz marks Woody Guthrie centennial with star-studded concert

 

Tom Morello headlines celebratory concert – cultural capstone of G8/NATO summit week  

 

The non-profit arts organization portoluz has produced a once-in-a-lifetime concert honoring the legendary American Folk hero Woody Guthrie.  

 

On Saturday May 19, 2012 portoluz will present: This Land Is Our Land, a centennial concert celebration of the legendary Woody Guthrie. The concert will take place at the Metro, 3730 N. Clark Street Chicago.

 

This Land Is Our Land, a centennial concert celebration of the legendary Woody Guthrie is part of the year- long series WPA 2.0, a brand new deal – a festival about art and work organized by portoluz.  portoluz has organized a mini-festival of cultural events taking place around the city during May and this concert will be the closing highlight of the festival.

 

Featured on this extraordinary program are a roster of nationally renowned and stylistically diverse artists who will pay homage to the godfather of folk music in this three hour songfest. Headlining the all-star cast is Tom Morello, one of the nation’s most vaunted guitar players and among the prestigious coterie of contemporary folk heroes.  From the Eastern European influenced renditions of Woody Guthrie classics as voiced by the Klezmatics to the gut-bucket blues of Toshi Reagon, to the Spanish language versions of Deportee as played by Chicago’sown Son del Viento, to the 1970’s era anthems of Holly Near and the indie-rock phrasings of Jon Langford and friends, this evening promises to celebrate the wide range of influences and enduring legacy of our national troubadour, Woody Guthrie.  The Illinois Labor History Society is a primary co-sponsor of this event.

 

EVENT SUMMARY

 

portoluz presents:This land is our land, a centennial concert celebration of the legendary Woody Guthrie

Saturday, May 19th 2012 

Metro 3730 North Clark Street  Chicago, IL   

Metro telephone: (773) 549-4140

Doors 7pm

Concert 8pm

Tickets $26-$56

open to ages 18+

Metro web-site and advanced tickets: www. metrochicago.com 

Tickets on sale: March 10,2012 at noon 

portoluz website: www.portoluz.org

 

FEATURED ARTISTS:

• Tom Morello
• The Klezmatics
• Holly Near
• Toshi Reagon
• Son del Viento
• Jon Langford
• Bucky Halker
• Kevin Coval
• Harrison Bankhead  
• B.S. Band  
• plus additional guest artists  

 

The artists will perform their own material and selections from the Guthrie cannon and perform as their individual ensembles as well as in combinations unique to this concert.

 

portoluz organized this event to take place during the planned G8/NATO summit in order to celebrate the joyful expression of protest as voiced through the power of participatory culture. Like many enduring heroes of the twentieth century, Woody Guthrie is emblematic of our country’s coming of age.  A hobo, a union organizer, a friend of the down and out, Guthrie wrote and sang the stories of the 99%. This Land is Your Land, is one of this country’s national anthems- expressing not only the beauty and glory of America’s abundant natural wonders but asserting our right to be its stewards and ramblers. 

 

ABOUT WOODY GUTHRIE

Woody Guthrie, born on July 14th, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma, is widely regarded as America’s greatest folksinger. He wrote over 3,000 songs in his lifetime, including “This Land Is Your Land,” which became America’s unofficial national anthem, and such standards as “Pretty Boy Floyd,” “Pastures of Plenty,” “Going Down The Road,” “Hard Travelin’,” “Jesus Christ,” “I Ain’t Got No Home,” “Deportee,” “Roll On Columbia,” “Vigilante Man,” “Do Re Mi,” “Tom Joad,” “Union Maid,” “1913 Massacre,” “This Train Is Bound For Glory,” “Oklahoma Hills” and “Riding In My Car.”

Read more about Woody Guthrie: http://www.woodyguthrie.org/biography.htm