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DC LABORFEST

Celebrating Labor Arts

DC LaborFest: Music Events

​Organized and presented by the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, the DC LaborFest features a wide-ranging selection of art about work, workers and workers’ issues. 

MAY DAY/LABORFEST SPECIAL: Weds, May 1, 4-6p
JUDGE SMITH: Tuesday, May 1, 5P
STRIKE (WITH Alloy Orchestra): Fri, May 4; 7:15p
DICTIONARY OF MARX: Sat, May 5, 6p
MAGPIE: Tuesday, May 8, 5p
LABORPALOOZA MUSICFEST: Saturday, May 26, 8p
Featuring: CHILL PARENTS, DC LABOR CHORUS, 
JOE UEHLEIN, and MOOSE JAW BLUEGRASS

LABOR JAZZ SHOWCASE: Tues., May 29, 5-7p
​​​

MOST PERFORMANCES ARE FREE BUT YOU MUST RSVP;
See below for detailed event write-ups and links to RSVP. 
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UNION CITY RADIO​: WPFW’s [email protected] LABOR EDITION
5p*, live on WPFW 89.3 FM
Live performances on your radio by artists who “put the movement back in the movement!” 
Weds, May 1: Judge Smith Band
Saturday, May 26, 8p: Laborpalooza MusicFest
Tuesday, May 29: Labor Jazz Showcase 
​
* except for the May 26 Laborpalooza show, which starts at 8p

MAY DAY/LABORFEST SPECIAL: Labor Music Hour

Weds, May 1, 3-4p, WPFW 89.3FM or listen online
Union City Radio’s Chris Garlock hosts a 3-hour radio special (2-5p) celebrating May Day and previewing the 2018 DC LaborFest; in the 4-5p hour he'll play labor music selections.
​May Day is observed around the world as International Workers' Day, honoring laborers and the working classes, while the DC LaborFest – now in its fifth year, explores workers and their struggles through the arts, including film, music, art and history.   
​

JUDGE SMITH

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Tuesday, May 1, 5P, listen on WPFW 89.3FM
​

Led by DC Nurses Association Executive Director – and Your Rights At Work co-host -- Ed Smith, the DC-based rock band has released three projects since their 2003 formation, featuring innovative covers of classic songs from the Beatles and the Grateful Dead as well as original music. The band will play original tunes from their most recent release, the full-length “American Vista,” as well as classic rock songs.


DICTIONARY OF MARX

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Sat, May 5, 6p; Capital Fringe space at 1358 Florida Ave NE, Washington DC
$10; order tickets here 
A one-night-only multimedia extravaganza and exploration of what Karl Marx means today in America and the world, Dictionary of Marx will take place on Marx’s 200th birthday, which coincides with the Cinco de Mayo celebration of Mexican culture. A dozen of Washington, DC’s most engaging presenter-performers will provide their brief interpretations of key words in the lexicon of Marx in less than 15 minutes. There will be theater, poetry, film, monologues, mini-lectures, and happenings. The event will also feature live music from Joe Uehlein, Magpie, and Elena & Los Fulanos, and interactive experiences, including board games, bartender conversations, and writing workshops.
The event is organized by the Goethe Institut Washington DC as part of an international series, and curated by John Feffer.
Includes the short film Creative Feds, a documentary project which explores federal employees who are as far from the stereotypical “faceless bureaucrats” as you can get.  They are government employees by day who also pursue a creative calling  by night and weekend. Whether they consider their creative work a hobby or a second career, they don’t see their federal work as a day job. Instead they bring their creative spirit into their federal work, and are equally  dedicated to serving their country and their craft.

STRIKE (1925) Live musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra

Fri, May 4; 7:15p; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets
Live musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra
Trouble is brewing at a large factory in Tsar-era Russia: laborers are overworked and underpaid, and when a man falsely accused of theft kills himself, his comrades won't stand for it any more. Sergei Eisenstein, then an up-and-coming theater director and later an eccentric genius whose name would become synonymous with Soviet filmmaking, was only 26 when he directed STRIKE. His startling film debut broke every convention of the time to create a revolutionary cinema for the new country.
DIR/SCR Sergei Eisenstein; SCR Grigoriy Alexandrov, Ilya Kravchunovsky, Valerian Pletnev. USSR, 1925, b&w, 88 min. NOT RATED

MAGPIE

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Tuesday, May 8, 5p; listen on WPFW 89.3 FM
Magpie’s Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner return to LaborFest for the third straight year. The duo will sing selections from their newest release, “When We Stand Together: Songs of Joe Hill, the IWW, and Fellow Workers,” and talk with LaborFest coordinator Chris Garlock about the influence of music in the labor movement. From Joe Hill and the Wobblies to the miners of Appalachia to Pete Seeger, Joe Glazer, and contemporary songs by themselves and fellow writers, Greg and Terry cover more than a century of labor song with power and authenticity. 

LABORPALOOZA MUSICFEST

Saturday, May 26, 8p; Hyattsville Busboys and Poets, 5331 Baltimore Ave, Hyattsville, MD 20781 or listen live on WPFW 89.3FM
FREE; RSVP online here
This year’s first-ever Laborpalooza will showcase an exciting lineup of talented musical artists from the DC-area labor movement. Emceed by LaborFest coordinator Chris Garlock and Labor Heritage Foundation Executive Director Elise Bryant, Laborpalooza will feature the DC Labor Chorus, roots rocker Joe Uehlein and the ULiNERS, Moose Jaw Bluegrass and punk band Chill Parents. This swashbuckling evening of music for the movement is a can’t-miss LaborFest event! 

LABOR JAZZ SHOWCASE ​

Tues., May 29, 5-7p; FREE
5-6p be part of the live audience for a [email protected] simulcast on WPFW 89.3 FM
6-7p Live set
Busboys & Poets 14th Street; 2021 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
FREE; RSVP online here
Sponsored by the Washington DC Federation of Musicians, AFM 161-710
The DC LaborFest wraps up with a full night of jazz starting with a live simulcast concert from 5-6p on WPFW 89.3FM with local jazz musicians from the Washington Musicians Union: Carl Cornwell, saxophone; Wade Beach, piano; Steve Novosel, bass; Nasar Abadey, drums.

Carl Cornwell: Saxophonist with Project Natale (https://www.reverbnation.com/projectnatale), Mike Thornton Jazz Collective and Maurice Lyles. Co-founder of Gil Scott-Heron's Amnesia Express before embarking on a career in computer systems development. After moving to Washington, DC. Carl became a mainstay at Harold's Rogue and Jar night club, performing regularly as a sideman and as leader of his own quintet. Carl toured the US and Europe as saxophonist, arranger and sometime pianist with Gil Scott-Heron.

Wade Beach
 is widely respected for his harmonic sophistication and superb technique, which knows no stylistic limitations. He holds a master’s degree in piano performance from the University of Maryland.  He entered the world of jazz as a protégé of Sir Roland Hanna and toured the globe many times over with the United States Air Force Band jazz ensemble, The Airmen of Note.  Mr. Beach keeps an active teaching and performing schedule, performing with groups around the DC area, including The Jazz Update Band.

Steve Novosel
 is an American professional jazz bassist and educator whose 40-plus year career has spanned numerous genre, from traditional jazz to swing, bebop, mainstream and avant garde. Steve has toured with Red Norvo, Tal Farlow, Al Grey and most recently, with David “Fathead” Newman. In addition to his previous 57 recordings, he has several on Mapleshade including Portraits in Ivory and Brass with Jack Walrath and Larry Willis and Every Rung Goes Higher with Willis and Steve Berrios plus singer Kenyetta.

​Nasar Abadey
 is a drummer and composer who’s the founder, leader and driving force of SUPERNOVA, and who has also built a solid reputation as a sideman with several groups, performing with many national artists throughout his career. Abadey began playing drums at age five, drawing influences from powerhouse drummers such as Tony Williams, Max Roach, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, Art Blakey and cousin Frankie Dunlop, to name a few. Nasar Abadey creates music which he refers to as Multi-D: multi-dimensional, multi-directional. Mr. Abadey is currently a Professor of Jazz Percussion in the Jazz Studies Department at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD

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COPYRIGHT METRO WASHINGTON LABOR COUNCIL AFL-CIO 2023
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  • Home
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  • Evening With Labor
    • Archive >
      • 2021 Evening With Labor
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      • 2015 Evening With Labor
      • 2016 Evening With Labor
  • Stay Connected
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