[act-ma] (Wed, ) 11/19 Jack Landron, Folksinger, Story-teller and "Witness to History" at Cambridge Forum

[director at cambridgeforum.org]

CAMBRIDGE FORUM
3 Church Street ● Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-2727
email: director at cambridgeforum.org
www.cambridgeforum.org

/RELEASE /                                                                                  
NOVEMBER 4, 2014

WITNESS TO HISTORY: REMEMBERING FREEDOM SUMMER

On Wednesday, November 19, 2014  at 7:00 p.m. Cambridge Forum hosts
Afro-Puerto Rican folksinger, songwriter, actor, and self-described
story-teller JACK LANDRON, remembering his journey from Boston to
Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964.  He worked in the Freedom
Schools and, at one point, was personal assistant to the Rev. Martin Luther
King, Jr . Landron, with family roots in Puerto Rico, years growing up in
Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, and theater training at Emerson College,
discusses his unique perspective on the Civil Rights Movement with
folklorist MILLIE RAHN.  What moved him to travel south that summer? 
What did he find there?  How did his journey affect him – at the time? 
and over the course of his career?

JACK LANDRON is a folksinger, songwriter, and actor who was part of the
early folk music revival at Harvard Square's Club 47, where he performed as
Jackie Washington..  In the early and mid-1960s, he released four albums
on Vanguard—Jackie Washington (1962); Jackie Washington/2 (1963); Jackie
Washington at Club 47 (1965), a live album that includes his commentary
setting up the songs and telling stories; and Morning Song (1967), which
consisted entirely of original compositions and was his first with a band.
After completing his theater studies, Landron left Boston for New York and,
eventually, Hollywood, where he worked as an actor on the stage, on
television, and in commercials. He also continued composing.  His first
recording as Jack Landron, Curbside Cotillion, was released in 2012; it was
his first album in 45 years. He will be back at Club Passim (formerly Club
47) on November 16 as part of his 2014 East Coast Tour.

MILLIE RAHN is a folklorist who has done extensive fieldwork throughout New
England. She has done extensive research on the 60s folk music revival and
has a special interest in foodways.  Rahn has curated exhibits for many
regional folk festivals, including the annual Lowell (MA) Folk Festival;
the American Folk Festival in Bangor, Maine; the Boston Cultural Heritage
Festival; and the Working Waterfront Festival in New Bedford (MA).  In
addition, she has produced public foodways programs and television segments
in Lowell, coastal Maine, and other areas of New England.  Her work has
appeared in /Journal of American Folklore.  /Rahn teaches as adjunct
faculty in heritage studies at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire.

The program is co-sponsored by Club Passim and Folk New England.  It is
free and open to the public. The forum takes place at the First Parish in
Cambridge, 3 Church Street in Harvard Square.  Cambridge Forum is recorded
and edited for public radio broadcast. Edited podcasts are available, and
select forums can also be viewed in their entirety on YouTube.

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Cambridge Forum
3 Church Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-27272
www.cambridgeforum.org