No More Songs [Launceston] - Phil Ochs: The music & story

No More Songs

The music and story of the legendary Phil Ochs

The Small Circle of Friends Band – Maurie Mulheron, Dave O'Neill, Deanne Dale, Peter Robertson and Tassie guest Peter Hicks are based in NSW and well known on the folk scene. See https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581967126845
Maurie and Peter Hicks are the team who have put together the Woody Met Pete show and Dave O'Neill has played fiddle and mandolin with the likes of Eric Bogle. He is an exceptional musician.

Together the band present: No More Songs – a concert featuring the songs of Phil Ochs

Phil Ochs (1940–1976) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and political activist best known for his sharp, witty protest songs about war, civil rights, political corruption, and social justice; a true activist-musician who described himself as a “singing journalist”. He devoted his short life to music and radical protest and many of Ochs’ songs remain in the common vocabulary and repertoire of today’s folk singers. Despite this, even in North America this vital, powerful, gifted songwriter of sonorous voice is losing the recognition he deserves.

Phil was a prolific songwriter – Bob Dylan said "I just can't keep up with Phil—and he's gettin' better and better", but sadly the wider acclaim that his fellow folk singers found escaped him. Despite this, Ochs remained deeply committed to writing songs about specific political events and injustices. In the early 1970s, he organised large-scale benefit concerts that would serve as the model for the later No Nukes and Live Aid events.

In February 2009, Ochs was posthumously awarded the Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Award by the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance

Ochs believed that songs could do more than entertain: they could tell the truth, challenge authority, and inspire people to act. His songs include: “I Ain't Marching Anymore” (1965) - an anti-war anthem told from the perspective of a soldier who has grown weary of fighting, “There but for Fortune” (1964) — a compassionate song about how easily anyone can fall into poverty, imprisonment, or misfortune and “Love Me, I'm a Liberal” (1966) — a satirical attack on people who profess progressive values but resist meaningful change. Sixty years on and those topics are still current.

Maurie is a personal friend of Sonny Ochs – Phil's sister in New York and has learned many stories about Phil and the early folk revival from her. Join us for this wonderful event and let’s have a large circle of friends and comrades.

No More Songs - The music and story of the legendary Phil Ochs.
Saturday 6th Feb, Holy Trinity Launceston, 7:30pm

A Folk Federation of Tasmania Inc. event

See also: https://events.humanitix.com/no-more-songs-phil-ochs-hobart