I was greatly saddened last week to learn about the passing of Utah Phillips one of the great folk artists and pacifists of our time. I learned about Utah Phillips several years ago through his recordings with Ani Difranco. He quickly became not just one of my favorite artists but an inspirational figure whose work I turned to revive me when the world just seemed too much, too doomed by its own stupidity. His stories and music were more then just stories and songs, they spoke to us of greater human ideals and our potentialities as human beings. Utah also kept alive the songs and stories of the labor movement, a history sorely neglected that we forget at our own peril. Last fall wrote a paper on the theology implied by the combination of music and lyrics in Utah and Ani's rendition of "Korea", its not just about history and pacifism but the human experience and our need to live for something greater than ourselves--I call this God, but I also, and I think Utah would agree, call it human community. In the spring I took an ethics course called Voices of Non-Violence, Utah was certainly one of these. Utah was perhaps one of the best story tellers and activists of the last century. The silence that comes with his passing is hard to imagine into the future, but his words will abide and endure with us still.
Here is one video of Utah Phillips telling story and singing about non-violence and theology, I hope you enjoy. There are many more videos of Utah on Youtube:
Utah Phillip's son maintains a blog that may also be of interest; for more information about Utah Phillip's please visit utahphillips.blogspot.com/
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