PDA Celebration and Benefit for the Healthcare NOT Warfare Campaign

After three successful state tours of the Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign this year, we’re taking it to Washington, D.C., in June.

On the night of June 6, we hope you’ll join us for an evening of celebration and community featuring John Nichols, Thom Hartmann and Donna Smith!

PDA Celebration and Benefit
for the Healthcare NOT Warfare Campaign
at Busboys and Poets 14th & V Sts. NW
Closest Metro stop: Convention Center

Join us for a private reception before the main event at 8:00 PM. Click here for details and to reserve your ticket.

Or come to the main event at 8:30 PM. Click here for details and to reserve your ticket.

This promises to be a fun and entertaining evening. We certainly hope you can attend this warm-up celebration to the rally the next day. If you cannot, we hope you will consider making a contribution by clicking here so we can continue with our state Healthcare NOT Warfare tours.

Please mark your calendars for the June 7
Rally with the Nurses at Lafayette Park.
Closest Metro stop: Metro Center
 Click here for more information.

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PDA Chapter Meeting in Wheaton
Saigonese Restaurant,
11232 Grandview Ave
Silver Spring (Wheaton), MD 20902 Google Map
Public Transportation: Short walk from Wheaton Metro (red line)

Join us for a recap of the PDA DC HealthcareNOTWarfare fundraiser (June 6) and the healthcare rally and lobby day (earlier on Tuesday June 7) We'll also discuss the 2011 Maryland session--successes and failures--and the upcoming special session including redistricting, revenues, budget issues and plans for next year. Other hot topics: Congress and the budget, defense authorizations, Patriot Act extension, and more!

Hope to see you there,

Tim Carpenter
PDA National Director

June 12 U-Liners with John Kadlecik special concert: Art & Activism

EVENT: The U-Liners with Special Guest John Kadlecik present a special concert:
Art & Activism -- Music that inspires and informs.  COVER CHARGE: $10
SHOW TIME: 7:00pm to 8:30pm Sunday, June 12, 2011
VENUE:  Takoma Park Civic Auditorium -- 7500 Maple Ave., Takoma Park, MD 20912
ARTIST WEBSITE:  http://www.uliners.com/  LABEL WEBSITE: http://www.azaleacityrecordings.com/

What role does music, and art, play in public dialogue?  Can music save the world?  Joe Uehlein & The U-Liners will explore this question in both a historical and contemporary context in a special concert on Sunday, June 12 from 7pm - 8:30pm at the Takoma Park Civic Auditorium as a fundraiser for Voices for a Sustainable Future, a Takoma Park based non-profit.

As Joe Uehlein says, “Art is a critical complement to activism.  No matter how brilliant our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that makes the difference.  Every great social movement has had a backbone of music and art.  The sustainability movement is no different, and will define the 21st Century in the same way that six great social movement defined the 20th Century: Labor, civil rights, women’s, environment, equality, peace & freedom.  It’s time to get out of our silos and work together to solve the climate crisis and build a sustainable future for the planet and its people.  Music and art will play a critical role.”

The U-Liners, often described as Woody Guthrie meets Merle Haggard meets Jerry Garcia, are a top-notch roots-rock ensemble that has played every great DC-area venue including the Birchmere, Jammin’ Java, the IOTA Club, Strathmore, the Black Cat, and many more.  the band has performed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Yale University, the Knitting Factory in New York City, Bally’s in Las Vegas and other venues around the country.

The band includes some of DC’s best musicians including Wammie-winning multi-instrumentalist Avril Smith on guitar and mandolin, Wammie-winning drummer/percussionist Larry Ferguson, Mindy McWilliams on violin and vocals, Barry Warsaw on bass, Eli Gonzalez on sax, and Joe Uehlein on guitar and vocals.

The U-Liners will be joined by special Guest John Kadlecik of Further (with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead).  A Takoma Park resident, John is touring the country playing large venues with Further.

Joe Uehlein is the founding President of the Labor Heritage Foundation, and more recently is the founder of the CultureWorks Collective, dedicating to integrating art and activism in ways that help unite and inspire people to achieve progressive change.  A 40+ year member of the American Federation of Musicians and a life-long labor and environmental activist Joe has lived his life at the confluence of art and activism.  

The U-Liners, one of the region’s best roots-rock bands, celebrate critical praise for their eponymous CD.  On Tap Magazine said “Longtime area roots-rocker Joe Uehlein practices in the best folk tradition: social consciousness that never loses site of musical enjoyment, and vice versa.”  The Washington Post said “The payoffs are plentiful....the original tunes enliven things... real treats...when it puts a hauntingly harmonized spin on (Woody Guthrie’s) 'Pastures of Plenty."  http://www.uliners.com/

Background:  A strong activist for worker rights and the environment himself, Joe is politically active and on the cutting edge of the latest efforts for workers’ rights and social justice today. He is the founder of CultureWorks Collective, dedicated to integrating art and activism in ways that help unite and inspire people to achieve progressive change.

From his early days working in an aluminum mill in Central PA, a feisty and passionate Joe Uehlein developed a keen interest in Rock & Roll and the Folk and Country sounds of working class music. Joe’s broad musical journey began in union halls across the country, touring to Japan, Switzerland, Great Britain and Venezuela, and led to sharing the stage with countless legendary artists including Pete Seeger, Tom Morello, Steve Earle, Boots Riley, and Lester Chambers.  Joe also performed at the White House for President Jimmy Carter.

Their debut CD, The U-Liners, crosses bridges and boundaries, providing audiences with inspiration, camaraderie and solid entertainment. As The Washington Post says, ”The payoffs are plentiful...”

You're invited! See you June 6!

Dear Friend,

After three successful state tours of the Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign this year, we’re taking it to Washington, D.C., in June.

On the night of June 6, we hope you’ll join us for an evening of celebration and community featuring John Nichols (Nation Magazine, MSNBC) and Donna Smith (SiCKO, national nurses organizer and healthcare advocate)!

PDA Celebration and Benefit for the Healthcare NOT Warfare Campaign
at Busboys and Poets 14th & V Sts. (Convention Center metro)

Join us for a private reception before the main event at 8:00 PM. Click here for details and to reserve your ticket.

Or come to the main event at 8:30 PM. Click here for details and to reserve your ticket.

This promises to be a fun and entertaining evening. We certainly hope you can attend this warm-up celebration to the rally the next day. If you cannot, we hope you will consider making a contribution by clicking here so we can continue with our state Healthcare NOT Warfare tours.

Please mark your calendars for the June 7 Rally with the Nurses at Lafayette Park. Click here for more information.

Hope to see you there,

Tim Carpenter
PDA National Director

Sign Petition to Save Organic Farm in Potomac

From our friend Naomi Bloch:

Nick's Organic Farm has leased County land held for an eventual middle school in Montgomery County Maryland for the past 30 years. Farmers from all over the region rely on Nick's certified organic feed and seed for their organic operations.

Sign here: http://www.change.org/petitions/turn-a-30-year-old-organic-farm-in-maryland-into-a-food-education-hub-not-soccer-fields-2

On March 7, 2011, Nick and the community at large were given 2-weeks notice that the land would become Soccer Fields. There have still been no public hearings on this decision.

Many environmental, agriculture and local food organizations have banded together to ask Montgomery County's Executive, Ike Leggett, to form a Food Policy Council that will use Nick's Organic Farm as an anchor for agricultural and food education.

A Food Policy Council would fit perfectly with the County's current efforts to strengthen the local food system; including the Food Innovation Hub, and of course the nationally renowned Agricultural Reserve.

We have to act quickly, the County is moving ahead on soccer field construction on this site. Please join the organizations calling for a Food Education center at Brickyard Farm by signing the petition to Executive Leggett. The public should have a voice in the future of the Brickyard property...and the health of their local food system.

For more info as this issue evolves: http://brickyardblogmontgomery.blogspot.com/

Sign here: http://www.change.org/petitions/turn-a-30-year-old-organic-farm-in-maryland-into-a-food-education-hub-not-soccer-fields-2