On September 15, 1963, racists exploded a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, injuring several people and killing four little girls aged 11-14: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley. The incident is largely seen as a turning point that helped inspire the Civil Rights Movement.
In Spike Lee’s excellent documentary about the incident, 4 Little Girls (1997), many of the people who knew or were related to the girls give moving stories about the events surrounding the bombing.
It would be decades before some of those involved in the bombing would be brought to justice. The movie interviews former Alabama Attorney General William Baxley, who reopened an investigation into the bombing in the early 1970s, resulting in the conviction one of the men involved in the bombing in 1977.
Baxley had long been interested in pursuing justice in the case even before he was attorney general. In the movie, he explains how he used to listen to Joan Baez’s song “Birmingham Sunday” every day.
“Birmingham Sunday,” which was written by Richard Fariña, appeared on Baez’s album, Joan Baez/5 (1964). It was released in the year after the bombing.
The way the song helped inspire Baxley through the years to help bring some justice to the tragedy helps show the power of song. Spike Lee’s movie 4 Little Girls also shows the power of film.
Photo of church window at 16th Street Baptist Church, donated by the people of Wales after the bombing, via public domain.
Producers Logan Rogers and Evan Schlansky have gathered some artists to put an alt-country spin on Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 album, Born in the U.S.A. The result, Dead Man’s Town: A Tribute to Born in U.S.A. (2014), features artists such as North Mississippi Allstars, Holly Williams, Joe Pug, Apache Relay, Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, Justin Townes Earle, and Blitzen Trapper.
For now, you can listen to a stream of the full album below. Each of the artists puts a new spin on the one of the twelve tracks on the album. Check it out.
Standout tracks includes Holly Williams mining the sadness underlying “No Surrender,” Justin Townes Earle reworking and slowing down “Glory Days,” and Quaker City Nighthawks finding the country heart of “Darlington County.” Dead Man’s Town will be available September 16.
What is your favorite song on the album? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Chilean singer-songwriter and activist Victor Jara left a fascinating legacy beyond his heroic death, inspiring many around the world, including Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen.
On September 16, 1973, Chilean singer-songwriter and political activist Victor Jara was killed. According to one source, the killing took place in a stadium before a large crowd of prisoners being held by the military after a coup.
Before his brutal death, Jara had one final act of courage and heroism.
The 1973 Coup and Taking of Prisoners
Jara had supported Salvador Allende, who had been elected president of Chile in 1970. But the Chilean right wing used the military to stage a coup d’état against the popularly elected Marxist on September 11, 1973.
Allende allegedly killed himself rather than surrender (although some argue he was murdered). But many of Allende’s supporters were taken prisoner, including Jara. You may see Jara below performing a few months earlier in a July 1973 TV show.
Jara’s Defiant Death
After the arrest, Jara and about 6,000 others were taken to the Santiago boxing stadium, according to Chilean journalist Miguel Cabezas. Jara tried to help the other prisoners who were kept in the stands. But when the prison camp commander recognized the singer, he had Jara taken to a table in the center of the arena for everyone to see.
Officials had Jara place his hands on the table. Then, with an ax they cut off the fingers of both of Jara’s hands. The officer beat Jara, screaming, “Now sing, you motherf***er, now sing.”
Jara rose up from the blows and went to the edge of the bleachers. To the horrified crowd, Jara said, ‘All right comrades, let’s do the senor comandante the favor.’ He lifted his bleeding hands, leading the crowd in singing the anthem of Unidad Popular, the party of Allende.
Officials opened fire, and Jara’s body fell dead.
Other versions of the tale recounting Jara’s death tell a slightly different story. Reportedly, he was tortured in a basement for several days. From the torture, he had a swollen face. And his fingers that used to play guitar were fractured by the butt of a rifle. A low-ranking officer then spun the chamber of a revolver, pulled the trigger, and killed Jara in a round of Russian roulette.
No matter how Jara died, his life is worth remembering. And whether or not he actually led others in a rebellious song before his death, the story symbolizes where he stood on the side of history.
World Leaders and the Coup
Scholars still debate how much of a role the U.S. played in the Chile coup. President Richard Nixon feared the success of a socialist elected official in South America who was friends with Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Thus, the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Chile that at a minimum contributed to the circumstances of the coup.
Nixon, however, would be out of office in less than a year in August 1974, resigning in disgrace. In Chile, General Augusto Pinochet would hold power much longer, remaining as president until 1990 and in other official offices for almost a decade after that.
Pinochet’s last years, though, were spent facing charges related to human rights violations. He died in 2006 without being convicted for any of his crimes. But legal action continued against others involved in Jara’s murder.
Update: Several former Chilean military officers have been charged in the murder of Jara. In June 2016, a Florida jury found a former Chilean army officer liable for the torture and murder Jara. The jury awarded $28 million in damages to Jara’s widow Joan Jara and their daughters. And in December 2023, that former lieutenant, Pedro Barrientos, was extradited from the U.S. to Chile. Victor Jara’s widow, though, did not get to see it as she passed away two weeks earlier in November 2023.
Jara’s Legacy Continues
As tyrants fall away, history remembers the heroes and the martyrs. The military burned many of Jara’s master recordings, but Jara’s wife Joan Jara took some recordings out of the country.
American folksinger Phil Ochs, who had met Jara in Chile, was devastated by the killing. He helped organize a memorial fundraiser called “An Evening With Salvador Allende” in New York in 1974. The same year, a Soviet astronomer named an asteroid after Jara.
Others paid tribute to Victor Jara, including Pete Seeger. Toronto band Apostle of Hustle recorded a song “Fast Pony For Victor Jara” for their 2007 CD U King. In 2008, Calexico released the song “Victor Jara’s Hands” on the album Carried to Dust.
Arlo Guthrie also wrote and recorded a tribute to the singer-activist with the song, “Victor Jara,” from the 1976 album Amigo. Guthrie wrote the music and Adrian Mitchell provided the lyrics with each verse focusing on Jara’s hands that officials would break.
He sang about the copper miners, And those who worked the land; He sang about the factory workers, And they knew he was their man; His hands were gentle, his hands were strong.
Jara also appears in U2’s song “One Tree Hill” from the band’s 1988 album The Joshua Tree. Bono wrote the song in memory of his friend Greg Carroll but the song also refers to Victor Jara: “Jara sang, his song a weapon in the hands of love / You know his blood still cries from the ground.”
The Clash, not surprisingly, also memorialized Jara by mentioning him in a song. In “Washington Bullets,” which appeared on their 1980 album Sandinista!, they recount an abbreviated history of imperialism. One verse refers to the coup in Chile and Victor Jara:
As every cell in Chile will tell, The cries of the tortured men; Remember Allende and the days before, Before the army came; Please remember Víctor Jara in the Santiago stadium; Es verdad, those Washington bullets again.
More recently, when Bruce Springsteen performed in Santiago, Chile in September 2013, he performed Jara’s song “Manifesto” in Spanish.
Springsteen introduced the song, saying “If you are a political musician, Victor Jara is still a great inspiration. It’s an honor to be here and I take it with humility. Victor Jara is alive.”
Special thanks to many folks who enlightened me about Victor Jara and the artists who have honored him. In particular, thanks to Bill Waldron for alerting me to Guthrie’s “Victor Jara” song; thanks to mark@wampus.bsky.social for the reference to Jara in the Clash’s “Washington Bullets”; thanks to Robert Lawson for telling me about Apostle of Hustle’s “Fast Pony For Victor Jara;” and thanks to Rich Wagner for pointing me to Calexico’s “Victor Jara’s Hands.”
This week on America’s Got Talent, three magicians performed in the top twelve, but after America voted, only one magic man was left standing. The comedy-magic team of David and Leeman left everyone amazed with their giant lottery ticket trick, while Mike Super put Nick Cannon in a money machine and revealed a secret message he had given Howard Stern earlier in the week. But it was Mat Franco, featured in a previous Chimesfreedom post, who wowed America with his card tricks to advance to the finals.
This season of America’s Got Talent found some excellent magicians, so it was sad to see it narrowed down to one. On the other hand, it is likely that having so many magicians split the vote for magic fans, making it harder for any of them to win with the other ones around. Franco should benefit from the elimination of the other two magic acts when he goes to the finals.
Did America get it right? David and Leeman amazed everyone by using random numbers selected by the judges. (UPDATE: Unfortunately, the videos are no longer available.)
Mike Super gave a prominent role to Nick Cannon and some one-dollar bills to match a prediction made with cards and a special message he revealed with a (malfunctioning) small butane torch.
Finally, Matt Franco incorporated several card tricks into his act, even involving the audience at home. The next night, he would learn that this performance was sending him to the finals while the other two magicians went home.
Was Franco the best of the magicians? All three acts did a great job this week, although none of them probably had their best performance of the season. Franco’s act seemed a little small and scattered compared to the cell phone trick he did last time he appeared, so I suspect his prior work played a role in the vote. Looking just at the night, I liked David and Leeman’s act the best, but on overall strength through the season, the audience probably got it right in picking Franco if only one act could proceed to the finals.
In the finals, Franco will have some tough competition, even though one of our favorite acts, Blue Journey, was sent home. The six remaining acts also include excellent singers like Emily West, Sons of Serendip, and the amazing 12-year-old Quintavious Johnson. So we will have to wait and see whether Franco can pull a million-dollar win out of his hat. (September 17, 2014 Update: He did. Mat Franco won this season’s America’s Got Talent competition.)
Which magic act did you like best on this season’s America’s Got Talent? Leave your two cents in the comments.
A new album from singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams is always a cause for celebration, and she will be releasing the double album Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone on September 30. Below is “East Side of Town” from the new album.
The song sounds great, with lyrics influenced by the recent problems with the economy: “You wanna see what it means to be down / Then why don’t you come over to the east side of town?”
The album features a range of talented musicians, including guitarist Bill Frisell. A No Depressionreview calls the upcoming album the best one from Williams in more than a decade, while the Village Voice calls it “the best work of Lucinda Williams’s career.” After hearing “East Side of Town,” I can see where they might be right about the album. I can’t wait.
What is your favorite Lucinda Williams album? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On September 15, 1963, racists exploded a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, injuring several people and killing four little girls aged 11-14: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley. The incident is largely seen as a turning point that helped inspire the Civil Rights Movement.
(2014), features artists such as North Mississippi Allstars, Holly Williams, Joe Pug, Apache Relay, Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, Justin Townes Earle, and Blitzen Trapper.
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