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DC LABORFEST

Celebrating Labor Arts

DC LaborFest: Music Events

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​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. 

Tue, May 2, 5:00pm: R&B & JAZZ SHOW: LEE ANDERSON AND BEV HOLTON 

Thu, May 4, 5:00pm
: SONGS FOR THE RESISTANCE: JOE UEHLEIN

Tue, May 9, 5:00pm:
 AZTEC SUN

Fri, May 12, 7:30pm
: THERE IS POWER IN A UNION: A LABOR SONGS VESPERS

Wed, May 17, 5:00 pm
: LOVE SONGS FROM THE LIBERATION WARS

Fri, May 19, 5:30 pm
: SOLIDARITY FOREVER AWARDS

Tue, May 23, 5
:00 pm:
 MAGPIE

Tues., May 30, 5:00 pm
: LABOR JAZZ SHOWCASE 

ALL 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!” 
Friday, April 29: LaborFest preview show with guests TBA
Tuesday, May 2: Labor R&B & Jazz show: Lee Anderson and Bev Holton 
Thursday, May 4: Songs for the Resistance: Joe Uehlein
Tuesday, May 9: Aztec Sun
Wednesday, May 17: Love Songs from the Liberation Wars
Tuesday, May 23: Magpie (Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner)
Tuesday, May 30: Labor Jazz Showcase 

R&B & JAZZ SHOW: LEE ANDERSON AND BEV HOLTON

Tuesday, May 2, 5:00 pm-8:00 pm, Busboys and Poets Takoma, 235 Carroll St, Washington DC 20012
5-6 pm be part of the live audience for a WPFW 89.3FM [email protected] simulcast  
6:00 pm-8:00 pm concert 
​
FREE but you must RSVP here 

​Many musicians have day jobs and many office workers dream of other vocations: Lee and Bev weave these together perfectly. They both work at the AFL-CIO – Lee’s a Senior Digital Strategist in the Digital Strategies department and Bev’s an Administrative Secretary in the  Communications department – and they’ve both been singing for decades.
Lee Anderson is a classically trained R&B singer, pianist, producer and has been singing for over 20 years at progressive movement conferences like Netroots and the Midwest Academy. He’s sung background vocals for celebrities like Mariah Carey and with local bands like the Touch Band. Most recently he appeared in the DC production of “Love Songs From The Liberation Wars.” Find out more at https://leesingsrnb.com/
Jazz singer Bev Holton began singing at age three, performing "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" at her nursery school's talent show. Since then she’s performed with the Nova Shadow Quartet at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, a vocal group in Boston performing weekly concert versions of Broadway shows, at various piano bars and open mike nights in New York City, before returning to DC where she’s performed regularly for the last 30 years. 

SONGS FOR THE RESISTANCE: JOE UEHLEIn, with Tom Espinola and Carol Anne Bosco​

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Thu, May 4, 5:00pm-8:00pm
Busboys and Poets Takoma, 235 Carroll St, Washington DC 20012
5-6p be part of the live audience for a [email protected] simulcast on WPFW 89.3 FM
6:00 pm-8:00 pm concert

FREE but you must RSVP here
​

Joe Uehlein has sung on hundreds of picket lines, in union halls, at union educational conferences and conventions, and in all of DC's finest venues.  His deep roots in the labor and environmental movements make the theme of this show -- "Songs for the Resistance" -- a natural for him. Joe's new CD, Sweet Lorain, named for the city in Ohio where his story starts, is a true concept album: ten new originals and two covers, all songs that have something to say about the world around us. Now celebrating  a half-century in the American Federation of Musicians, Joe has lived his life at the confluence of art and activism, performing with Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, Pete Seeger, Steve Earle, Lester Chambers, and more.  
​

AZTEC SUN

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Tue, May 9, 5:00 pm-8:00 pm
Busboys and Poets Takoma, 235 Carroll St, Washington DC 20012
5-6p be part of the live audience for a [email protected] simulcast on WPFW 89.3 FM
6:00 pm-8:00 pm concert
FREE but you must RSVP here:

United by the beat and driven by the groove, AZTEC SUN's music is perfect for dancing or just listening and appreciating. Named "DC's Best Local Band of 2016" by the Washington City Paper's Reader's Poll, they offer a blend of 70s-era Funk and Soul music with heavy influences of Afrobeat, Blues and Jazz. Hard-hitting rhythms, infectious melodies and high-energy live performances are the hallmarks of this band. The group combines a multitude of cultural backgrounds and professional occupations (including two musicians union members) - but the sum of their work is a tightly-wound music machine. Catch them live at the 2017 DC LaborFest!

THERE IS POWER IN A UNION: A LABOR SONGS VESPERs

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Fri, May 12, 7:30p; Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, 2709 Hunter Mill Rd, Oakton, VA 22124
​FREE; RSVP here:
​
From Joe Hill to Pete Seeger to Billy Bragg, the songs of the labor movement have helped rally workers to the cause, inspired men and women to organize for justice, and articulated the aspirations of of tens of millions of workers around the world. Join Pete Rafle, Bob Carr and Bob Hatfield as we honor the music and poetry that has inspired the power of solidarity and the workers' struggle. All are welcome. Stay after the service for refreshments and conversation. *Vespers: A complimentary, casual (occasionally spiritual) gathering around themes of music & poetry, easing the transition from workweek to weekend. We are a thriving liberal spiritual community of some 1200 adults and children, a descendant of the historic All Souls Unitarian in DC, now in our 62nd year.

LOVE SONGS FROM THE LIBERATION WARS

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Wed, May 17, 5:00 pm - 8:00pm, Busboys and Poets Takoma, 235 Carroll St, Washington DC 20012
5-6p be part of the live audience for a [email protected] simulcast on WPFW 89.3 FM
6:00 pm-8:00 pm concert
FREE but you must RSVP here:

​An original “labor jazz opera” by local activist/musician Steve Jones, “Love Songs” tells the moving story of a strike led by African-American women at the R J Reynolds factory in Winston-Salem, NC, which was an early victory against Jim Crow segregation. Tonight’s performance will feature selections from “Love Songs,” with local singers, directed by Elise Bryant. 

SOLIDARITY FOREVER AWARDS

Fri, May 19, 5:30p-7:00p
Busboys and Poets, 1025 5th St NW, Washington, DC 20001
Click here for tickets

Hosted by the Labor Heritage Foundation
This year’s Solidarity Forever Award goes to Newton B. Jones, president of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, for his outstanding leadership in preserving labor history and culture through the Boilermaker History Preservation Department. In addition to creating award-winning historical documentaries, the Boilermakers honored Betty Reid Soskin, 94, for her Home Front support during World Ward II and her current work at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park and Museum in Richmond, Calif. Soskin is the oldest full-time National Park Ranger in the United States.
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MAGPIe

Tue, May 23, 5:00pm-8:00pm, Busboys and Poets Takoma, 235 Carroll St, Washington DC 20012
5-6p be part of the live audience for a [email protected] simulcast on WPFW 89.3 FM
6-8p concert 
FREE but you must RSVP here

​THIS JUST IN: 
this year's performance will also be the official release of Magpie's new CD “When We Stand Together.”

​MAGPIE’s Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner return to the LaborFest for the second straight year. They’ll be singing selections from their new CD, "When We Stand Together: Songs of Joe Hill, the IWW, and Fellow Workers." Terry and Greg have been singing about unions and workers for their entire career. Pete Seeger called them “…more links in the chain,” dedicating their lives and music to leaving this world a better place. 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. http://www.magpiemusic.com
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LABOR JAZZ SHOWCASE ​

Tues, May 30, 5:00pm-7:00pm; 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 
SPONSORED BY THE MUSIC PERFORMANCE TRUST FUND


FREE; RSVP 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, including Bob Boguslaw on piano, Antonio Parker on saxophone, PercySmith on drums and Paul Scimonelli on bass.
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COPYRIGHT METRO WASHINGTON LABOR COUNCIL AFL-CIO 2023
202-974-8150; [email protected]
  • Home
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