Joe Hill Festival featuring John McCutcheon August 26, 2011

Joe Hill Festival
featuring John McCutcheon

In what will be a rousing regeneration of the legacy of defiant union icon Joe Hill, Denver area organizations present a Joe Hill Festival the weekend of August 26.

Headliner for the events will be John McCutcheon, Grammy nominated and Front Range favorite singer, songwriter and instrumentalist, featuring not only songs written by Hill, but selections from the new Joe Hill tribute play written by Si Kahn. Joining McCutcheon on stage at Denver ’s Mercury Café at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, August 26, will be local folk artist Elena Klaver. Tickets are $17 and available at the door or online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/188703. The Mercury Café is located at 2199 California St. in Denver .

Festivities Saturday, August 27, will include the showing of two feature films about Joe Hill, two documentaries, a poetry reading, capped off by a singalong of Joe Hill and related songs led by a number of local musicians. Saturday’s events will take place admission free at the 27 Social Centre, 2727 West 27th Ave. in Denver .
According to organizer Lowell May, the festival was inspired by the upcoming release of a new Hillbiography by Denver author William M. Adler, which provides startling new evidence that Hill was wrongfully convicted and executed by the state of Utah in 1914-1915. Despite widespread public outrage, as demonstrated by tens of thousands of letters and interventions by both the Swedish government and the U.S. President, Hill was charged with murder in Salt Lake City and then executed essentially based on official hostility to his work organizing and songwriting for the Industrial Workers of the World union.

The new book, The Man Who Never Died published by Bloomsbury USA, will provide convincing new evidence that another man was guilty of the crime, and may provide the basis for an international campaign to secure Joe’s formal legal exoneration before the centennial anniversary of his execution. The author will be available to sign copies throughout the festival. The colorful legacy of Joe Hill as the humble Swedish immigrant laborer whose spirit overcame his circumstances is honored by artists from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and was immortalized in the famous ballad popularized by Joan Baez, I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night.
Sponsored by the Bread and Roses Workers’ Cultural Center and the Denver-Boulder IWW. Proceeds to benefit the Bread and Roses Center . A $5 discount on books for concert ticketholders. For updates and further information: workersbreadandroses.org and, about the book, themanwhoneverdied.com.

Mercury Café & Bread and Roses Workers - Joe Hill Festival with John McCutcheon on Friday, August 26 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $17 - Online @ www.brownpapertickets.com/event/188703 or at the door. The Mercury Café, 2199 California St., Denver.