Radio Rebel Gael Says : Workers of The World Unite

RADIO REBEL GAEL PRESENTS : MAY DAY 2013

http://radiorebelgael.podomatic.com/

FEAT. Special Guests, Colm O’Brien (formerly w/ The Prodigals), 

And Ernesto Ayala of Partido Nacional La Raza Unida !!!

 

http://radiorebelgael.podomatic.com/entry/2013-05-01T17_51_14-07_00

And all your Favorites !

Including ; Belfast Andy, Carlos Puebla, Ciaran Murphy, Liam Weldon, Paddy Reilly, Utah Phillips, Pol Mac Adaim, Hazel Dickens, Tom Morello, Pete Seger, Sunny Ozuna, Woody Guthrie, Dead Kennedys, The Pogues, The Tossers, The Fureys, The Prodigals, The Mickey Finns, The Wages of Sin, Libertadores, Mischief Brew, The Wolfe Tones, Sydney City Trash, El Chicano …. And all your Grandpa’s favorite melodies !

http://www.spreaker.com/user/4991218/radio_rebel_gael_presents_may_day_2013

If the workers take a notion,
They can stop all speeding trains;
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains.
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill ,
Fleets and armies of the nation,
Will at their command stand still.

                                                                             - Joe Hill

Ken Loach & Paul Laverty : Telling A Tale of Glasgow Grit & Working Class Fortitude

Went down to the canal yesterday to see yet another brilliant Scottish film, this new one, "Angels Share" is directed by Ken Loach, the screenplay written by Paul Laverty, whom you probably remember wrote the screenplays of "Route Irish", "Bread and Roses", "Tambien la lluvia (Even The Rain", and "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"....

 

 According to wikipedia; "'Angels Share' is a term for the portion (share) of a wine or distilled spirit's volume that is lost to evaporation during aging in oak barrels. In low humidity conditions, the loss to evaporation may be primarily water."

  This Whiskey-inspired caper is about the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of some working class kids from "the wrong side of the tracks" in Glasgow, neighborhoods often looked down upon by the more affluent residents of Glasgow ---- where alcohol-fuelled violence is as common as the bleak poverty witnessed by the locals. This time around, writer, Paul Laverty suprises us by telling a tale that is apolitical, but one that is also very much class-conscious, showing how Proles can prevail when they stick together.

Fucking brilliant film, to say the least :()

Radio Rebel Gael Presents : REMEMBER 1916

http://radiorebelgael.podomatic.com/

http://radiorebelgael.podomatic.com/

FEAT. Special Guest, Chris O’Moran of James Connolly Assoc. Australia  

 http://radiorebelgael.podomatic.com/

http://radiorebelgael.podomatic.com/entry/2013-04-11T22_15_11-07_00

And timeless Rebel anthems and Fenian Ballads by Declan Hunt, Eugene McEldowney, Pol MacAdaim, Derek Warfield, Cruachan, Podgie, Kathleen Largey, Dougie Breslin, Tommy Makem, Pangur Ban, Erin Go Bragh, Bluestack, The Players Brigade, The Irish Brigade, The Clancy Brothers, The Kreellers, Flying Column, The Currency, The Screaming Orphans, The Wolfe Tones, 

http://www.spreaker.com/user/4991218/radio_rebel_gael_presents_remember_1916

And some of the best Fenian songs of Remembrance….

"Has Ireland defeated me ---- so soon ?"

"Not Ireland ---- but your own false dreams."
"I am not dreaming", he cried. "I am awake.....too wide awake."

"Ah, but you are dreaming." Her voice was sad. 

"But it is forgivable ---- because the reality is so cruel. 
You dream  of a people.....of a world.....working towards its own redemption....And what is the truth? The truth is man against man....man against himself....a chaotic mixture of blood and fear, of greed and lust, of the pettiness that is so much less, so much more evil than the greater wickedness.....And beneath all this, a strange hope, a strange love, a strange nobility that is the leaven of humanity". Her voice grew stronger. "I think you have almost come to hate Ireland....because you love her....You see what she is....and know what she can be......And I can only say to you,

Have Faith."

"Faith is not enough for me....I must have deeds."

"Then fight."

---- "Dead Star's Light" by Elizabeth Connor

Radio Rebel Gael Presents :

Saint Patrick (Was A Dissident) !

http://spinxpress.com/bronxgael/

FEAT. NEW Music andGuest Musician, 

Brendan Power of KILMAINE SAINTS !!

http://archive.org/details/RRGSt.PatrickWasADissident/

And tons of new brilliant tunes and timeless classics by Shane MacGowan, Damien Dempsey, Jun Tzu, The Rebel Hearts, The Logues, The Cranberries, The Dubliners, The Ryans, The Currency, The Druids, The Rum Jacks, The Wages of Sin, The Tractor Boys, The Prodigals, The Zydepunks, The Screaming Orphans, Whiskey of The Damned, Reilly, Dropkick Murphys, Scary Eire, NECK, Niblick Henbane, Sydney City Trash, Roughneck Riot,

http://archive.org/details/RRGSt.PatrickWasADissident/

And all your Grandpa’s favorite melodies !

http://archive.org/details/RRGSt.PatrickWasADissident/

Dissident:

1. disagreeing especially with an established religious or political system, organization, or belief.
2. A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution.

By the late Brendan Hughes .. The Greatest IRA Leader of our Time. (Thanks , Derry Doire)

Written in 1999  

“In 1969 we had a naive enthusiasm about what we wanted. Now in 1999 we have no enthusiasm.   And it is not because people are war weary - they are politics weary. The same old lies regurgitated week in week out. With the war politics had some substance. Now it has none. The political process has created a class of professional liars and unfortunately it contains many republicans. But I still think that potential exists to bring about something different. And I speak not just about our own community but about the loyalist community also. Ex-prisoners from both and not the politicians can effect some radical change.”

“Stormont is still there, but it is a Stormont with Republicans in it. Stormont has not changed. The  whole apparatus of the Stormont regime is still there, it is still controlled by the British, it is still unjust, it is still cruel. The RUC is still there. The whole civil service are still there, the same civil servants who controlled the shoot-to-kill policy, who controlled the plastic bullets, who controlled the H Blocks of Long Kesh, who took responsibility for ten men dying. It is all still there. But, saviour of saviours, we have two Sinn Féin ministers there, who happen to close hospitals. The sad thing about all this is that the British set this up. This is the British answer to the Republican problem in Ireland. It’s a British solution, it’s not an Irish solution. It’s not a solution that we have control of. There are people up there and the British ministers are handing money out. But the whole thing is built on sand.”

“I am not advocating dumb militarism or a return to war. Never in the history of republicanism was so much sacrificed and so little gained; too many left dead and too few achievements. Let us think most strongly before going down that road again. I am simply questioning the wisdom of administering British rule in this part of Ireland. I am asking what happened to the struggle in all Ireland—what happened to the idea of a thirty-two county socialist republic. That, after all, is what it was all about. Not about participating in a northern administration that closes hospitals and attacks the teachers’ unions. I am asking why we are not fighting for and defending the rights of ordinary working people, for better wages and working conditions. Does thirty years of struggle boil down to a big room at Stormont, ministerial cars, dark suits and the implementation of the British Patten Report?”

“It has been the futility of it all. From a nationalist perspective alone what we have now we could have had at any time in the last twenty-five years. But even nationalist demands don't seem to matter any more.  And in the process we have lost much of our honesty, sincerity and comradeship."

“The republican leadership has always exploited our loyalty.”

Vol.Brendan Hughes, Oct 16th 1948 -- Feb 16th 2008.

"We are a risen people. This time we must not be driven into the gutter, even if this should mean dying for justice. The fight must go on."

- Frank Stagg, 4 October 1942 – 12 February 1976

Radio Rebel Gael Presents :

 Rebel Treble !

http://spinxpress.com/bronxgael/

FEAT. NEW Music & Guest Musician, Matt Maulding of BRICK TOP BLAGGERS !!

http://archive.org/details/RRGRebelTreble/

And tons of new brilliant tunes and timeless classics by Pol Mac Adaim, Ciaran Murphy, Christy Moore, Terry O’Neill, Damien Dempsey, Erin Go Bragh, The Druids, The Rolling Kings, The Navigators, The Logues, The Killigans, The Prodigals, Athenrye, Bare Knuckle Boxers, Spirit of Freedom,  Blood or Whiskey, Cutthroat Shamrock, My Three Kilts, Dropkick Murphys,

http://archive.org/details/RRGRebelTreble/

And all of your Grand Pa’s favorite melodies !

RADIO REBEL GAEL TOP TEN FILMS

Top Films for Fenians, Rebels, Brawlers, Proles, Moonshiners, and Revolutionaries

Reviewed By Rory Dub. 

1.        The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2006)

This brilliant epic, directed by Ken Loach, and written by Paul Laverty (who also wrote the screenplays, “The Angels Share”, “Even the Rain(También la lluvia””, “Route Irish” and “Blood and Roses”), won the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and portrays the lives of two Cork rebels and brothers, Damien and Teddy O’Donovan (played by Cillian Murphy and Padraid Delaney) , who fought in the War of Independence and would ultimately end up on opposite sides of the Irish Civil War, and really captures, the best I think , that any film could, of the essence of the struggle for Irish Freedom and its socialist elements, in a moving , tragic, painful yet beautiful manner. Lead character, Damien O’Donovan is said to be loosely based on the life of Ernie O’Malley, and its grim conclusion is very reminiscient of the current political quagmire in the north of Ireland, with former Republicans now turning their backs on their principles and former comrades, for a better political office and a British pay cheque. One of my favorite parts of the film, is how the role of the Church is seen, condemning Fenians, as in times of yore, and anyone who doesn’t kow tow to the Establishment’s current doctrine. Seems like that will never change. No wonder I haven’t stepped foot inside of a Church for over twenty years….

2.) Hunger (2008) 

 

Written by Dubliner and playwright Enda Walsh, and Steve Mc Queen, who also directs a gripping and heart breaking kind of movie, one that will profoundly affect you, like any powerful and inspirational film based on the trials and tribulations and sacrifices of the 1981 Hunger Strikers. German-Irish actor, Michael Fassbender, plays the role of Bobby Sands, while Liam Cunningham (who also plays the Irish Citizens Army guerilla who shares a cell with Damien O’Donovan in “The Wind That Shakes The Barley) plays the role of the priest, Father Dominic Moran, attempting to dissuade Bobby Sands from taking part in the second Hunger strike. The actor does a brilliant job defending his position as a Republican hunger striker, and soundly defeats the priests redundant and empty slogans and religious rhetoric. Must see film if you haven’t yet.

3.) Even the Rain (También la lluvia) (2010)

 

Directed by Spanish director, Icíar Bollaín,

Yet another revolutionary film , written by stellar Scotsman and screenwriter, Paul Lavery, telling the tale of the indigenous rebels of Cochabomba, Bolivia, fighting another battle against a new conquistador, the multinationals that lay claim to ownership of the waters that nourish the people of Cochabomba. Willing to fight against a brutal Police State owned by European multinationals, against police batons, live bullets and the Bolivian military, the indigenous Bolivians win out in the end, proving to their countrymen that the “water is yours!” , as Establishment Media headlines scream : “Multinationals Pull Out of Bolivia after Water War”. This time around, Christopher Columbus, got his fat ass, handed to him , los Compañeros.

4.) Baaria (2009)

 This Italian film was directed by the man who brought you “Cinema Paradiso”, Giuseppe Tornatore, this stunning film captures the battle between the Socialists and Partisans of a small working class village in Palermo, Siciliy in the 1920s and 30s , versus the Fascists, Black Shirts, The Royalists and The Mafia, for bread, and land and freedom. It also shows how former revolutionaries can become turn coats, and choose privelege and comfort over revolutionary principles and workers justice, as been seen in most political struggles, whether it’s Fianna Fael, The Stickies, or current Provisional Sinn Fein or the road that some former dedicated trade unionists have taken, like Hoffa, for example, choosing weekend getaways playing golf and country club life over the fight for freedom. Its sickening isn’t it? But too fucking common.

 

5.) Flammen and Citron (2008), 

  Provocative and stirring tale of Danish resistance against Nazi occupiers and their Quisling collaborators, the film is loosely based on true events involving two of the most active resistance urbn guerillas  in the Holger Danske resistance group during World War II - Bent Faurschou-Hviid (known as Flammen, played by Thure Lindhardt) and Jørgen Haagen Schmith (known as Citron, played by Mads Mikkelsen), as these courageous freedom fighters assassinate high-ranking Nazis and their Danish collaborators, they also have to be careful of Femme Fatale double agents, sneaky Gestapo undercover police and fair weather friends turned Quisling. Really reminds you of the Irish Freedom struggle, the Cuban Revolution, and the battle of the Cypriot guerillas against the Brits, it’s a film that any rebel, revolutionary or freethinker is bound to love.

 

6.) Bronx Tale (1993);

 

Robert De Niro’s directorial debut, written by Bronx native, Chazz Palminteri, whose screen play is said to be an autobiographical portrait of his youth , growing up in the Bronx of the 1960s, amidst Mafia control of his neighborhood, racial tension between the Italians versus their black neighbors, that could remind you of neighborhoods in Belfast or Derry, with Protestant kids throwing stones at Catholic kids and vice versa, or the racial turmoil of Irish-americans in Southie versus their Black neighbors in Roxbury, it’s a deep and moving story about how easy it is, for poor kids, that have so much in common with each other, being pulled into violent and sometimes deadly confrontations over who is going to “rule the roost” or control whose turf, and the fact that some kids, are smarter, and realize that it’s a waste to be squabbling over crumbs and throwing bricks and molotov cocktails at your neighbors just because they gave you a hard stare, follow a different religious path or their parents come from another country than your own. I still see this kind of bigotted behaviour still taking place, in NJ as well in NY, its not only in the deep south that you encounter racial hatred and religious bigotry, but this film shows that you don’t always have to be a knucklehead and follow the mob and be a muppet or join in with the lynch mob. Another unique thing about this film is that its one of the rare NY films writteb by an Italian-american, that doesn’t glorify the Mafia. Chazz Palminteri has a lot of heart and is a damn good story teller.

7.) Machuca (2004) : 

Written and Directed by Andres Wood.

I wanted to recommend this brilliant Chilean film , which is basically the only movie I have ever seen that shows the truth of Class War from the point of view of grade school students, a story of a school kid growing up in Santiago when Salvador Allenda was in power and shortly after removed by the CIA backed military junta of Augosto Pinochet,  and the repercussions on the poor after Pinochet took power .

This film shows the massive chasm that lies between the haves and the have nots of Santiago in the early 1970's, which could really be any place or town or city or nation, in Europe, North, Central or South America, today, showing, El Barrio of New Brunswick with its poverty and desolation and less than two miles away, the sparkling estates and riverfront condominiums on the Raritan river of New Brunswick, Highland Park, South Brunswick, or North Brunswick, or perhaps taking you from the yuppie splender of Park Slope to the bleak ghettoes of Bedford Stuyvesant, and the fight for social and economic equality by those who opposed such a inequality and the radical changes brought about by  socialists like Salvador Allende, whose legacy has, I believe, sparked the massive move towards socialism and socialist governments in modern Latin America, with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, former Roman Catholic Bishop and political prisoner, Fernando Lugo, in Paraguay, a student of "liberation theology" (which is often termed  "Christian Marxism" by its detractors due to its emphasis on the fight for the poor and social justice), and Evo Morales in Bolivia, the first indigenous leader to become a president of Bolivia, when he was elected in a massive landslide of 53.7 % of the popular vote (the largest electoral victory in Bolivian history) on December 18, 2005, only to substantially increase this majority in a recall referendum on August 14, 2008, where he won more than two thirds of the votes, and again won the presidential elections in December 2009 with a 63% majority in tbe national vote.

This movie teaches the timeless lesson of Class War and even focuses on proponents of "liberation theology", in this movie, in the form of a rebel priest, who is shown as being either socialist or very sympathetic to socialist ideas, Father McEnroe, who is allegedly based on the historical rebel priest, Father Gerardo Whelan, who was the priest who taught at the school that this film's director, Andres Wood attended, Saint George's College, a rebel priest who stands up against the wealthy "elite" and their fascist backers. Great film and a recommended film for any socialist or anyone who understands the importance of Class War in *any revolutionary struggle*

8.) REDS (1981) : 

 Written by and directed by Warren Beatty, tells the true travails and tribulations of radical socialist, Wobbly, and journalist, John Reed, and his Irish-american wife, journalist, marxist and feminist, Louise Mohan Bryant, and John Reed’s coverage of the Bolshevik Revolution (which was turned into his award winning book, “Ten Days that Shook the World”) and how it profoundly impacted the Socialist movement in the USA. Well worth a watch, its one of those classic American proletarian tales that would make John Wayne look like a wuss.

9.) The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) 

 

This kick ass biopic, based on Che Guevara’s journal entries of his motorcycle trek across South America, directed by Walter Salles, written by acclaimed Puerto Rican playwright, José Rivera, really must be one of the best films on Che, capturing the revolutionary guerilla in his youth, and really does a great job on showing the very human side of every socialists working class hero. Drinking, chasing women, and even running from a mob of angry dudes from a Peruvian dance hall, are sides of Che that most are not familiar with. Or that his trek’s final destination was an amazonian Leper colony, where Che went to show his true revolutionary credentials as a man of compassion and a true friend of the underprivileged, the weak, the sick, and those who had been forgotten by the so-called “beautiful people”.

10.) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

 

Reckon them Coen brothers have weaved many a mighty tale, some weird, some off kilter, some just plain mental, but this time around the brothers really done it. Capturing the roots of true working class american folk music, including blues, country, blue grass and honky tonk, amidst a tale that takes Homer’s acclaimed Greek epic, “Odyssey”, and relocates it to the state of Mississippi, amidst massive political corruption, chain gangs, Ku Klux Klan rallies, Baby Face Nelson robbing many a bank, and even a guest appearance of legendary Blues musician, Robert Johnson. Faster than you can holler “Sweet Potato Pie and Shut Your Mouth”, this film gonna make you wanna boogie and is what american roots music , is all about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RADIO REBEL GAEL Presents :

Fenians Arise !!

http://spinxpress.com/bronxgael/

FEAT. NEW Music and Guest Musician, Paddy Ryan of THE RYANS, 

http://archive.org/details/RRGFeniansArise_

And tons of new brilliant tunes and timeless classics by NECK, Reilly, Kilmaine Saints, Whiskey of The Damned, The Druids, The Amadans, The Logues, The Killigans, The Irish Brigade, The Mickey Finns, Christy Moore, The Wolfe Tones, Athenrye, Bluestack, Damien Dempsey, Stephen Leeson, 

http://archive.org/details/RRGFeniansArise_

And all of your Grand Pa’s favorite melodies !

Its Been One Hell of A Year......

RADIO REBEL GAEL TOP TEN : BEST OF 2012

1.) Pol Mac Adaim "My Name Is Troy Davis " CD 

With best song of the album, in my opinion, "Butterflies"

(Although, lets face it, the whole CD is phenomenal, this Belfast bred Rebel balladeer never fails to amaze us)

2.) Damien Dempsey "Almighty Love " CD 

With best song on the album, "Fire In The Glen", Dubliner and pugilist , Damo, releases another belter that stuns audiences, delivering us another musical knock out.

3.)  The Killigans "Another Round for the Strong of Heart" CD

These Nebraska Celtic Punkers have always thrilled me, and this 2012 release is no exception to their tradition of giving us Proletarian Punk Rock rebellion with a heavy Celtic influence. Very difficult for me to choose a best tune of this entire kick ass album, but, I think, "Salt of the Earth" , is one of the finest.

4.) Colm O’Brien “Back To Work?” CD

This Boston based Dubliner, and former band member of NY’s own,  The Prodigals, really impressed me with this mighty CD release. My personal top tune is “Ballad of Little John” .

5.) Screaming Orphans “The Jackets Green”

These Donegal sisters always lift my spirits when I am feeling down, and this album is one of their best examples of the musical heritage that lives on in the hills of Donegal. Favorite on this album must be “The Lark in the Morning”.

6.) John Mccullagh “Working Class Lowlife” CD 

This Yorkshire native, born of Irish miner stock, and now based in Melbourne, never fails to deliver a powerful musical message, speaking for the underclass and reminding us that we are not alone in our daily trials and tribulations. My personal fave on this incomparable album must be “The Ballad of the Belgrano”.

7.) Stephen Leeson “Isle of Hope” CD

Although, technically, it was done in 2011, it wasn’t released for public consumption until 2012, and the top track on this amazing release by one of the best Dublin balladeers gigging these days,  must be “Sky Over Ireland”. The banjo on this version really rocks.

8.) Damaris Woods “With A Banjo On My Knee” CD

Luton based banjo maestro, Damaris Woods, known for her fine work with Derek Warfield’s , Young Wolfe Tones, shines like the sunshine over Croagh Patrick, with this, her debut solo release, that really captures the power and prowess of Damaris with a banjo, like Muhammad Ali in the ring, she will not go down without a fight and her banjo is a powerful weapon as mighty as the fists of the younger Ali, or the RPGs of a South Armagh Active Service Unit.  My favorite on this sublime CD, must be “Jenny’s Welcome To Charlie”, but it’s a close tie with “Lough Mountain”.

9.)    The Langers Ball “The Devil or The Barrel” CD

These twin cities mighty Minnesotans have released probably the best drinkers album since The Dubliners, or The Clancy Brothers, with this great demonstration of what this upstart band have to offer. “Rye Whiskey” was my favorite on this disc, but it’s a close tie with “Whiskey Chaser”. This CD will intoxicate you and you will wake up wondering how you ended up in bed, far from home, with a splitting headache and some strange woman smiling at you, between gaped teeth.

10.)The Mickey Finns “ Prayers And Idle Chatter” CD

Last but never least, this band made up of two former band members of New York’s , The Prodigals, released an album that was more honky tonk than we expected, but nonetheless, one that will be remembered as one of the best Irish Country albums, of all time. My favorite on this album had to be, “The Ballad of Duffys Cut”, which is a hell of better tribute to those 57 Irish workers who ended up in a mass grave in Pennsylvania, than the tune by Wally Page, in my humble opinion, even if Christy Moore did a fine version of it.

I also wanted to give some honorable mention to those CDs that would have ended up on Radio Rebel Gael’s 2012’s Top Ten, had they not been released in 2011, 2010, etc, and those would be :

Chicago Reel  self titled CD.

Christy Moore “Folk Tale” CD

Dropkick Murphys “Going Out In Style” CD

Longtime Courting “Alternate Routes” CD

The Rumjacks  “Gangs of New Holland” CD

The Currency – self titled CD.

Cruachan “Blood On the Black Robe” CD

The Fighting Jamesons  -self titled CD.

Roughneck Riot “Night Train With The Reaper” CD