[Vision2020] America Lost an Activist Yesterday

[Tom Hansen]

"There is Power in the Union" by Utah Phillips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O93YpTYCWRk

His finale at the 2007 Strawberry Music Festival (includes 
songs "Hallelujah I'm a Bum" "So Long Its Been Good to Know Ya")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZtJdNIUcC4

The "Utah Phillips" site
http://www.utahphillips.org/

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>From today's (May 25, 2008) Spokesman Review -

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U. Utah Phillips, singer, dies at 73 
Ex-hobo hosted Folk Life exhibit at Expo '74
Becky Kramer 
Staff writer

U. Utah Phillips, a widely acclaimed folk singer, storyteller and labor 
activist who hosted the Expo '74 Folk Life exhibit in Spokane, died Friday 
night at his home in Nevada City, Calif. He was 73.

Phillips' stint at Expo came shortly after his 1973 hit "Moose Turd Pie," 
a rollicking story about working on a railroad gang. His songs reflected 
his time as a hobo, as well as his interest in social justice issues.

After Expo, Phillips lived in Spokane until 1988. He met his fourth wife, 
Joanna Robinson, here.
 
"Utah had a following in Spokane," said long-time friend Jordan Fisher 
Smith.

But then, "Utah had a kind of following in many towns where people thought 
he was a resident," said Smith, a Nevada City resident. "When he went to a 
town, he would read the hometown newspaper … He would build part of the 
show around what was going on."

Bruce Phillips was born on May 15, 1935, in Cleveland, Ohio, to parents 
who were union organizers. He spent his youth in Utah, and later took the 
name U. Utah Phillips as a tribute to musician T. Texas Tyler.

Phillips was an Army private in the Korean War. After he returned home, 
Phillips started drinking and drifted across the country on the rails. 
Phillips ended up at a homeless shelter in Salt Lake City run by a member 
of the Catholic Worker Movement, according to an obituary provided by his 
family.

He became a pacifist who used songs and stories to express his political 
views. In 1968, Phillips ran for the U.S. Senate on the Peace and Freedom 
Party ticket. 

His debut album "Good Though!" was released five years later. His other 
recordings included "I've Got to Know"; "Fellow Worker," which was 
nominated for a Grammy award; and "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere," with Ani 
DiFranco.

Phillips' songs were performed and recorded by Emmylou Harris, Waylon 
Jennings, Joan Baez and others. He also hosted a weekly radio 
program, "Loafer's Glory: The Hobo Jungle of the Mind." 

Phillips spent 21 years in Nevada City, a historic gold rush town. In 
2004, he was diagnosed with chronic heart disease.

"I think he's one of those people whose influence as an American folk 
singer and a labor historian far exceeds his commercial success, which he 
wasn't seeking," Smith said.

The family asks that donations be made to the Hospitality House in Grass 
Valley, a homeless shelter that Phillips founded.

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Too many . . . too soon.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho



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