TOM MORELLO And Friends To Celebrate JOE HILL

On Tuesday November 17, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello will lead a group of musicians and actors during a unique event honoring the great labor songwriter Joe Hill at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. Additional artists include Joan Baez, Ziggy Marley, Rich Robinson (THE BLACK CROWES), Boots Riley, Tim Armstrong, Wayne Kramer, Van Dyke Parks, Jill Sobule and David Rovics, with more special guests to be announced. THE LAST INTERNATIONALE and BUILT FOR THE SEA, who are both signed to Morello‘s Firebrand Records, will play as well.

As Morello notes, “Joe Hill‘s influence is everywhere. Without Joe Hill, there’s no Woody Guthrie, no Dylan, no Springsteen, no CLASH, no PUBLIC ENEMY, no MINOR THREAT, no SYSTEM OF A DOWN, no RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE.”

Musicians will perform songs from and inspired by Hill‘s extensive songbook — which features picket line and protest classics “There Is Power In A Union”, “The Rebel Girl”, “The Preacher And The Slave” and “Casey Jones”, among many others.

Actors will read from his moving letters and poetry including from a telegram Hill wrote to “Big Bill” Haywood from his jail cell in Utah: “Don’t waste time mourning. Organize!” — a line that became a slogan of the U.S. labor movement.

Hill was assassinated by a firing squad in the State of Utah a century ago, November 19, 1915.

The event will also serve as the launch of a new edition from independent publisher Haymarket Books of “The Letters of Joe Hill: 100th Anniversary Edition”, edited by Philip S. Foner, with a foreword by Morello. All concert attendee will receive a free copy of the book.

The evening is presented by Haymarket Books, Civic Bakery, Wallace Action Fund and California Nurses Association (CNA) / National Nurses United (NNU), Grand Performances, and is cosponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Tickets cost $20 and are on sale now. Doors are at 8 p.m.

The Troubadour is located in West Hollywood at 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard just east of Doheny Drive and the border of Beverly Hills. All ages are welcome.

Tickets are available at Ticketfly.