As summer passes to fall and people all over the country are enjoying music, food, and cause-oriented festivals, From the Vault takes a step back to a music festival from 1974 worth remembering. San Diego is the city where in 1967 a man by the name of Lou Curtiss found a way to bring folk music legends Bill Monroe, Gil Turner, Sam Hinton, and the Possum Hunters to perform in the first San Diego Folk Festival. Year after year, the festival grew — and by 1974, it was the premiere folk music festival on the West Coast. The San Diego Folk Festival had grown so large that in addition to the music performances, workshops were included on such subjects as blues piano, banjo picking and songwriting, to name a few.

We have Roz and Howard Larman to thank for the recordings featured this week. Roz and Howard Larman started the legendary FolkScene radio program on KPFK in 1970, which soon became the Hollywood hotspot for folk musicians to entertain audiences with an intimate on-air performance; while Howard passed away in 2007, Roz continues strong, hosting the iconic series every Sunday night at 7:00 pm on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles. In this episode of From the Vault, we’ll let Roz introduce these talented singers and songwriters in her own voice from the original 1974 recordings. We’ll hear performances from Mary McCaslin, “Young Wesley;” Jim Ringer, “Father Time;” Bruce Utah Phillips, “Jesse Garcia;” Hazel Dickens, “Black Lung;” Alice Gerrard, “Missing Jenny;” John Wilcox, “Tree of Life;” Patty Hall, “Daddy Please;” Debby McClatchy, “California Faith;” John Bosley, “Humerous Song;” and Tom Waits, “Heart of Saturday Night” and “Better Off Without a Wife.” Special thanks to FolkScene hosts Howard Larman and Roz Larman; FolkScene engineers Alan Kanter, Steve Barker, Peter Cole, and Peter Cutler; and Pacifica Radio Archives volunteer Curtis Metcalf, for transferring and researching material for this episode.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

Archival recordings used in this program, San Diego Folk Festival – Songwriter’s Workshop:

BC1937.01-09 San Diego Folk Festival workshops / produced by Howard and Roz Larman MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

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From the Vault this week features the booming voice of Bella Abzug, who may be best known not only for her relentless efforts to elevate women’s issues to a level of inclusion while in Congress from 1971-1977, but also for her trademark wide-brimmed hats.

Near the end of her Congressional term, Bella Abzug was narrowly defeated in a bid for the U.S. Senate by Daniel Patrick Moynihan…and then in 1977 ran an unsuccessful bid for mayor of New York, losing to colleague Ed Koch.

Abzug then turned her attention to women’s rights issues, and in 1977 was a featured presenter at the first National Women’s Conference in Houston. Legislation Abzug helped pass in Congress funded this conference.

Today, we’ll hear Bella Abzug from 1971, as she fields questions from National Press Club President Vern Louviere. 1971 was the first year the National Press Club was open to women. Then, we’ll speak with Ms. Susan Rubin from the Feminist Majority about Bella Abzug and other female politicians, and their impact on the political landscape. Finally, in a 1981 talk given on the campus of UCLA in 1981, Abzug reflects on her campaign for women’s rights.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

Archival recordings used in this week’s episode, Bella Abzug:

BC0019.24 Bella Abzug at the National Press Club MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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This week on From the Vault, we look at the bloodiest prison confrontation in American history. September 9th, 1971 marked the beginning of the Attica Prison Rebellion. Nearly 1500 prisoners revolted and held 40 guards hostage, while the world awaited the reason for this uprising.

Prisoner L.D. Barkley would break the silence, by reading from a manifesto the inmates had created, which issued demands for improvements on inhumane living conditions as well as establishing educational and training opportunities. Four days of negotiations ended and New York State Police and National Guard troops assaulted the rebel prison block. When the smoke cleared the death toll stood at 43 souls, including 10 hostages. Pacifica’s coverage of these five chilling days brought into focus a world largely unknown to the American public.

The roots of the Attica crisis can be traced to conditions inside the prison that very few people were aware of, unless they spent time behind Attica’s gates or listened to Pacifica Radio’s coverage. In this episode, we will feature archival recordings of an exceptionally rare and comprehensive nature: interviews with prisoners leading the revolt, like L.D. Barkley and Donald Noble; comments by New York State Assembly member Arthur Eve, representing the 143rd district of Buffalo; statements by various prison guards held hostage in the uprising; reflections from radical lawyer and civil rights activist William Kunstler; and the sharp wit of comedian Richard Pryor (edited for language, of course!). These Attica Prison rebellion recordings from the Pacifica Radio Archives provide a unique look back at a seminal event in United States history, largely ignored by the conventional media in 1971, wholly reported and explored by Pacifica Radio, and brought back to life on this episode of From the Vault.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

Archival recordings used in this week’s episode, The Attica Prison Rebellion:

BC0336 Attica Prison: A Montage MORE INFO

BC0807 Inside Attica: An Interview with Donald Noble MORE INFO

BC0362 Arthur Eve on Attica MORE INFO

BC0363 Bobby Seale on Attica MORE INFO

BC0378.05 Remember Attica: Reconstruction, Reflection, Reaction MORE INFO

BC1030 Richard Pryor on Attica MORE INFO

BC2588 Attica and Wounded Knee / William Kunstler MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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In this episode of From the Vault, we explore the historic election of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1970 and the forces that conspired to overthrow his socialist government in 1973, by studying three main historical components of this period in Chile’s history, through recordings preserved by Pacifica Radio Archives.

First, we examine the years leading up to the election of Salvador Allende as president, framed by the tremendous social movement of workers, students, activists, artist, professionals, politicians, and intellectuals that resulted in Allende’s rise to national leadership. We hear from anonymous Chilean workers as they describe conditions in the factories before the Allende presidency; author Antonio Skarmeta, whose novel Ardiente Paciencia inspired the 1994 Academy Award-winning movie Il Postino speak on the political climate of Chile in the 1960’s; and Joan Jara, widow of legendary folk singer Victor Jara, Chile’s version of Bob Dylan, speak about her husband’s leftist music and how it helped keep the Allende election movement inspired.

The second historical component we study is the Allende presidency itself, from 1970 to 1973. Starting with the changes in working conditions resulting from Allende’s ambitious agenda to reduce unemployment and increase workers wages, we listen to a worker describe the how conditions had changed under the new socialist leader. At the close of Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s visit to Chile just a year into Allende’s rule, the president’s farewell speech to Castro reminded his supporters that he was willing to die to complete what he called the people’s mandate. Fidel Castro’s visit had a galvanizing effect on the anti-Allende opposition, and a year later we hear Allende voice his concerns of a coup d’etat to the United Nations Assembly. Finally, the first lady of Chile, Hortensia Bussi de Allende recalls the terrifying events surrounding the coup of September 11, 1973, in an interview recorded on December 1st, 1973 by KPFK’s Victor Vasquez.

Finally, we hear how the September 11th, 1973 coup affected people in Chile and around the world. As international condemnation grew surrounding the coup, certain Chilean exiles were speaking to the possibility of U.S. complicity in the overthrow, and those sympathetic to the Allende government remaining within Chile were branded as terrorists by the ruling junta: union leader, artists, professors, and shantytown dwellers alike were subject to human rights abuses, torture, and disappearances. For perspective, Salvador Allende’s personal physician Dr. Jose Quiroga, a witness to Allende’s death during the coup, speaks on those circumstances with From the Vault guest host Gabriel San Roman in a recent interview; and we play cuts from the legendary Chilean music group Inti-Illimani, which had been touring Europe when Allende was overthrown and denied re-entry to Chile until 1988, when they were warmly welcomed back after 14 years of exile in Italy.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

Archival recordings used in this week’s episode, The Coup d’État in Chile:

IZ0511 Salvador Allende Addresses MORE INFO

BC1188 Salvador Allende at the United Nations MORE INFO

BC1631 Mrs. Hortensia Bussi de Allende MORE INFO

BC1829 Who Was Victor Jara? / Joan Jara MORE INFO

BC1625 Interview with Chilean Factory Worker MORE INFO

BC2157 Inti-Illimani in Concert MORE INFO

BC1632 Interview with Marc Cooper MORE INFO

KZ3540.52 UpRising Radio on KPFK- Los Angeles 12/12/2006 MORE INFO

KZ3854 Interview with Antonio Skarmeta MORE INFO

KZ3855 Dr. Jose Quiroga: Salvador Allende’s Personal Physician MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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