![]() The Haggards lived in a converted box car, in the Oildale neighborhood, which was about as glamorous as it sounds. He was born Merle Ronald Haggard in Bakersfield, California, in 1937, the son of a railroad worker who migrated from Oklahoma (and I’m wondering if Woody Guthrie, riding hobo in the central valley during those dust bowl years, ever wandered through the Bakersfield yard and jammed with the guitar- and fiddle-playing James Francis Haggard). Both are giants, but there’s a significant difference between the two: Johnny sang in prisons Merle lived in them. Was there ever a country music singer with a better name, with a more perfect voice? Certainly, he’s ballpark in both categories with his old friend, Johnny Cash. He’s pushing the envelope, as he so often does, without even trying. This is, in fact, a peak Merle Haggard listening experience: down-home but dangerous, smooth as silk but lacerating, filled with love and longing, manliness and despair. This is Irma Jackson, written in the late 1960’s, at the height of the civil rights movement, the same vintage as Okie from Muskogee, but not released until years later because they wouldn’t let him. Then I don’t understand this crazy world we’re livin’ in It’s about a white man in love with a black woman: What on earth? Those lyrics: this is not your regulation country music song. The lyrics aren’t fancy, just brilliant simple, slicing right down to the truth the guitar is gritty, deep and driving. ![]() The AMPTP's maniacal corporate culture for greed must stop.You’re driving through the southern Illinois cornfields, shuffling your iPod-as I was, a few months ago-and that voice comes on, pure and effortless as a mountain stream, and your first reaction is a satisfied, goin’-home exhale even before your brain registers that it’s Merle. This is a righteous thing, and they are on the wrong side of history. How are working people supposed to make a living with two-thirds fewer opportunities to earn residuals? How can they expect us to accept minimums equivalent to minimum wage? How in the world could they think that we're going to?"ĭrescher went on to slam the studios for their "greed," saying, "How big business greed seeks to take away our careers and livelihoods, to take away our livelihoods. ![]() The actress continued, "How is anybody going to afford their medical coverage when they are making two-thirds less in residuals with this? The answer is: They can't. We cannot accept the old residual model." The AMPTP has radically changed the business model, demanding a new structure for the contract. However, I never imagined that show business, which was so romanticized in the old movies of the thirties and forties, would, in 2023, become a soulless business of greed and disrespect for performing artists. Inside the hearing, Drescher testified on behalf of her union and said, "I am from Queens, and I dreamed of becoming a professional actor, becoming a member of the Screen Actors Guild, being a part of the show business community and making a career out of my craft. ![]() Also participating in Tuesday's New York City rally were New York Local President Ezra Knight, Executive Director of New York Local, Labor Policy and International Affairs Rebecca Damon, Executive Director of WGAE Lowell Peterson, WGAE Vice President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen and member of the WGAE Council Erica Saleh. ![]()
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