It's Good Though!

It’s a sad day at The Nick. I started my Sunday morning by tuning into Across the Great Divide on KPFA. Robbie Osman, the host, was playing a Utah Phillips song early into the show, and I knew something was wrong. I checked Utah’s blog and learned that Utah made the transition from is to was Friday. Needless to say, I unplugged the big screen and put the Indy 500 on the back burner. For a KPFA archive of Robbie’s show, go here: http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=26487

For those of you ‘Nicksters’ who don’t know anything about Utah Phillips, he was a folk music legend, peace and labor activist, and a favorite ‘curmudgeony’ raconteur of mine. In 1956, he joined the Army and did a tour in Korea, which would motivate him to become a peace activist. Go to http://www.theunion.com/article/20080524/NEWS/459535358 for a complete article about Utah.

I first discovered Utah Phillips in 1980 or thereabouts. I lived and worked in the San Jose area and listened to the very iconoclastic radio station KFAT. We ‘FATheads’ were fed a daily dose of Phillips’ Moose Turd Pie, a hilarious retelling of his times as a cook while working on the railroad. To this day, I know every word by heart.

Seeing Utah Phillips perform live was always high up on my ‘bucket list’. I was able to scratch this off my list about six years ago, when I traveled to Fresno to see Utah perform at the Forestiere Underground Gardens, an ‘earthy’ venue to say the least, a cross between an art farm on steroids and the catacombs of Europe. Although a physical condition prevented him from playing his guitar most of the night, just hearing the guy tell his endless stories was well worth the admission price. Being a ‘foamer’, I also enjoyed Utah’s train songs. Utah Phillips should be considered a national treasure. He will be missed.

“My God, that’s moose turd pie! (pause) It’s good though!”

For further info, go to http://www.utahphillips.blogspot.com/