”Folk music at its best.”
- Canadian Dimension magazine
"He sings like an angel,
and plays accordion like a demon."
- Cat Haston, Victory Music Review
One thing you can be sure about Len Wallace - in the world of folks and roots music he’s the real thing - a songwriter, singer and inheritor of the tradition. He is what he plays.
Len’s is a passionate, powerful voice of conviction with songs that tell the tale of the extraordinary lives, histories, struggles, hopes and dreams of ordinary folk. He's a virtuoso instrumentalist who breathes life into his instrument. The result is a performance of fiery energy, joy and conviction. Jan Vanderhorst, host of Brantford, Ontario CKPC-FM’s “Just Us Folk” pegged it - "Len's music is strong as steel, joyous music played at spine-tingling speed one minute and beautifully warm and soothing the next. Performed with integrity and conviction, this is music that stirs the soul, but doesn't forget a good spin on the dance floor can be just as uplifting to one's spirit." Audience members have been known to dance in wild abandon when Len’s fingers hit the squeezebox keys.
”THE SQUEEZEBOX FROM HELL”
Len Wallace has been dubbed "The Squeezebox from Hell”. Often ready with a quip or joke about the squeezebox and squeezebox players the accordion becomes stunningly magic in his hands. An award winning virtuoso and Canadian national champion he treats the accordion as a serious instrument demanding respect. Few can match his power and virtuosity as an accordionist.
Although trained in classical music he is here to reclaim the accordion for folk music and reclaim folk music for the accordion. He’s played a significant role in bringing the accordion into the fold of the modern folk music scene
In his work Len honours and embraces the heritage of the Diaspora in North American culture. His take off of Celto-Slavic Fusion is a heady mix of Celtic Irish and Scottish Celtic melodies with Slavic Russian, Ukrainian and Balkan genres in a brilliant and grand weave and tapestry. Pushkin shakes hands with Robbie Burns and Taras Bulba rides with Rob Roy. But listen well and you will also hear him import Klezmer, Latin, Tex-Mex, Cajun and zydeco stylings. The versatility in style and power are amazing and Len has played an important part in promoting the accordion in its rightful place in the world and roots music.
It’s music that makes you want to dance, weaves a tapestry, links traditions, paints a mural, and can break the speed barrier.
“Lawrence Welk was never like this!”.
- Bob Bossin
"Len Wallace has a reputation with an accordion the way
Pete Townshend had with a guitar."
- Toledo City Paper, Feb. 24 - March 3, 2005
”Len Wallace is the best thing since potato pancakes and I love potato pancakes!”
- Clifton Buck-Kauffman, Artistic Director,
Cotati Accordion Festival, Cotati, California
CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES
Len is a performer of many traditions and for over twenty-five years he has been a favoured performer of the Celtic Irish and Scottish music tradition. He learned the genre from musicians in the Detroit, Michigan Irish music scene steeped in the older traditions.
A decade ago he teamed up with guitarist John L.Sullivan and bassist Bill Misiuk
as part of the powerful and favourite trio called The Diggers.
and often joins performers Gerard Smith and Terry Murphy to become the up-tempo Bowsies.
He has toured extensively through the United States with singer/songwriter Charlie King and can be heard on Charlie’s albums, Brilliant: Songs of Ireland and I Struck Gold. He teamed up in concert with Scottish singer/songwriter Bobby Watt'sand appears on the big man’s recording, album C'est Watt. Len also joins Canadian folk artist Valdy on his double CD releaseViva Valdy.
CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
1996-97, Len Wallace wrote the music, provided research and acted in the Canadian Artists' Workshop theatrical production of "BROOKS" written by playwright Rex Deverell, directed by Patricia Hennessy Laing about the life struggles and murder labour leader Charlie Brooks.
"Len Wallace - the 'Squeezebox from Hell',
and one of the finest rebel songster/musicians
in the Joe Hill tradition."
- Franklin Rosemont, Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture" , Charles H. Kerr Publishers.
In 1991, Len received a special gift from the Toronto members of the Industrial Workers of the World - a red leather locket containing some of the remaining ashes of IWW rebel, union organiser and songwriter, Joe Hill, murdered by the authorities in Utah in 1915. It was given to Len for his work in keeping the rebel tradition of Joe Hill alive.
Around 1989, Mimi Conway, a Labor Heritage Foundation board member, was conducting research at the National Archives of the United States in Washington D.C. Mimi noted a list of items that the Archives was getting rid
of because they were not paper documents. One item was an envelope containing
the last remaining ashes of the IWW martyr.
Joe Hill's last testament was that his ashes be scattered across the country (except in the state of Utah). The Industrial Workers of the World took responsibility for distributing the ashes. It seems that one envelope of the ashes was confiscated by U.S. federal agents on the grounds that you cannot transport the remains of a body across state lines without family permission. Joe Hill, a Swede, did not have family nearby to grant permission. Perhaps U.S. government authorities still believed that Joe Hill's ashes were too hot to handle.
Mimi contacted labour activist and singer, Joe Uehlein just as he was leaving for a concert in Miami for the International Labor Press Association, and before singing the Joe Hill's Last Will. A reporter for the United Auto Worker's magazine, Solidarity, was in the audience and it was published by editor Dave Elsila.
The IWW's Chicago office read the article, contacted Joe Uehlein and the envelope of Joe Hill's remaining ashes were turned over to the IWW at a small ceremony outside the National Archives.
The last package of ashes was divided up into many envelopes and sent to IWW locals around the world. A pinch of Joe Hill's ashes were given to singers Utah Phillips and Mark Ross who placed them in their guitars. Activist Abbie Hoffman and folk rocker Billy Bragg also received ashes which they consumed.
IWW Branch Secretary and singer-songwriter Jerzy Dymny in Toronto, Ontario presented Len with a pinch of Joe Hill's ashes during the Toronto Mayworks Festival. There was a bitter strike of Sears workers on Jarvis Street that winter. Joe's ashes were mixed in with some pf the ashes from the oil drums in which wood has been burned to keep strikers warm.
The ashes were placed in a sealed red leather locket fashioned by singer, songwriter, guitarist Rick Fielding. The red leather locket was stamped with the initials I.W.W. with an inscription of Joe Hill's last words to fellow workers before his execution - "Don't Mourn - ORGANIZE!". They were given to Len so that Joe Hill could keep on singing in the spirit of Joe Hill. He proudly wears the locket every time he performs.
“Everybody should be so lucky to hear Len Wallace.
And when you hear him you'll never forget him."
- Bruce Hutchinson, WBAI-FM Radio, New York
THE WORLD ACCORDION TO LEN WALLACE
"The courage of his convictions and his onstage presentations are both genuine.
And that's what Len Wallace is all about. He carries on that tradition of singing about
the lives of everyday people. He clearly has some militant ideas. Unlike the canned
culture which jams the commercial airwaves, he sings about trade unionism, about working
in the mines, and about the east coast fisheries crisis. Still, Len doesn't preach about
issues like the unjustly imprisoned native American,
Leonard Peltier. He just sings 'em the way he sees 'em. He should not be missed."
- Norm Walker, Artistic Director of the Regina Folk Music Festival
"A great accordionist, singer and songleader." - Pete Seeger
DISCOGRAPHY
Open the Doors (1988); Winds of Change (1990);
Midnight Shift (1994); CULTURE SHOCKed (2007)
Northern Journey: A Guide to Canadian Folk Music by Gene Wilburn, Reference Press says: "Wallace writes in the tradition of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie - populist songs about working
people. With virtuoso accordion, powerful songs, and Wallace's passionate vocal delivery, Midnight Shift may be one of the strongest old-style folk albums in the guide."
Rated FOUR STARS PLUS! Outstanding. Album of unqualified excellence. Recommended.
FOR BOOKINGS, CONTACT LEN WALLACE
346 Randolph Street Windsor Ontario N9B 2T6 Canada
Tel: (519) 973-3981 or Email Len: lwallace@mnsi.net
What they say about Len Wallace:
"Midnight Shift is a moving collection of songs celebrating working people. You'll see something of interest here whether you're from the east (Men of the Midnight Shift), the west (Back Breaking Day) or from out in left field
(his polka version of Takin' Care of Business)." - CBC Radio, "Heartland"
"It's always a treat to listen to music you can share your politics with.
Midnight Shift is folk music at its best: realistic, committed
and traditional at the same time. Enjoyable, empowering and entertaining." - Canadian Dimension magazine, August-September 1997
"This is honest, passionate music about real people's lives."
- Marie-Lynn Hammond, singer/songwriter
"Great stuff! And damn well sung and played."
- Max Ferguson, The Max Ferguson Show, CBC
"Len Wallace offers a voice we need to hear."
- Canadian Folk Music Bulletin
"The fastest fingers this side of Florence." - Valdy, Canadian folk singer/songwriter
"Couple political activism with a dangerous sense of humour, and accompany them with accordion styles ranging from Eastern European traditions through Celtic airs and reels and you have one of the most highly entertaining singer/songwriters imaginable."
- Mariposa Folk Festival
Dreaming a better world. CLASS ACT by Len Wallace, on his new recording CULTURE SHOCKed:
We work in the factories, offices and homes
Some on welfare, some on the dole
The ones at the top say "Don't ask why!",
But I'll tell you all why,
It's a Class Act!
You're working for a paycheque each and every day
And try to get a lot from a little bit of pay
But you can't even buy the things you've made
Well, welcome to the world of the Class Act.
It's a Class Act when they put you in your place
It's a Class Act when they make you run the race
It's a Class Act when they try to keep is down
We can turn it all around with a Class Act! . . .
The Inspiration given by Phil Ochs: The poet seeks the truth and anger spins his motion.
He laughs at the great ones spinning out the lies.
And through the unforgiving streets the singer walks the lonely beat
Raising up his voice and lays his heart out on the line. - from Len Wallace's "The Poet's Cry (song for Phil Ochs)"
Complete lyrics HERE thanks to Manfred Helfert.
“Reach out for each other,
raise a song together,
and let our voices carry us through”.
- from “Singing Through The Hard Times” by Bruce “Utah” Phillips
It was sad news. Fellow Worker, Bruce “Utah” Phillips passed away quietly in his sleep on May 24, 2008.
Utah enthralled an audience of workers years ago at the CAW Local 200/444 union with his stories, songs and jokes to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Those were rare moments and even a few months ago I was being asked, “When can we bring Utah Phillips to Windsor again?”
His tall stature was accentuated by a big brimmed Stetson fedora, long white hair and white flowing, white beard. Wearing work shirt and work pants and suspenders, watch chain and fob dangling, union pins and work boots, he looked like a man from another era. In a way, he was. You couldn’t help but notice him.
He was passionately committed to the belief that people could change the world and he insisted on the power of remembering. He was fond of the adage that “You don’t know where you’re going unless you know where you came from”. The elders of our community came up with some darned good ideas, one of the them being the idea of the One Big Union of all workers. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Remembering is a very subversive thing because it points to the “not now”. The powers that be and the defenders of the powers that be want us to think that the way things are the way they have always been and always will be and frankly, that is nonsense.
Good friend Rick Taves made the same point to me after he heard an interview Utah did with Amy Goodman of Democracy Watch on U.S. National Public Radio a few years ago back:
“He talked of the parallels between the Weimar Republic and present day America, and about how an awareness of such parallels demands a possession of historical memory that is very subversive to the existing order. Those who give us Iraq and Afghanistan depend on our amnesia.”
That’s food for thought. Utah did it with his humorous stories filled with the exploits about terrible jobs, riding the rails, baking a moose turd pie, getting involved in a wrestling match in which he ends up biting his own testicles, making fun of yuppies, barbed references to fascists and corporate execs, new age faddists, fortress keepers. He presented it in a style of homespun tales of the front porch variety. In a way they were. They were often the wisdom of the elders of our communities. They had to be preserved otherwise they would disappear just like front porches have been replaced by the modern suburban architecture of the two car garage door in itself a sad but telling commentary on capitalist society.
Utah’s stories were based on objective reality but he never let the facts hamper a good yarn. They were artfully crafted in a Mark Twainesque style full of eloquence that challenged this day and age of the internet, ipods and text messaging that has dumbed us down and made us inarticulate. “Be careful of the garp you put in your brain from reading newspapers, listening to radio and watching TV”, he told me years ago. “If you stuff your brain with garbage then garbage will come out.”
Utah’s pockets were often a treasure trove of unexpected items - pins, clown noses, rubber cockroaches. The cockroach routine was something he picked up from the hobo jungles. You can buy a tin of them for next to nothing at a joke store. If you found yourself out of work, starving and without money on the road you could go into a restaurant and order a hot meal. After you had eaten your fill you could reach into your pocket take that rubber vermin and slip it into the mashed potatoes then stand up hollering, “OH MY GOD! There’s a COCKROACH in my food! I refuse to pay for this meal!” and go walking out. By the time the horrified and apologetic owners discovered the ruse you would be down the road with a belly full of food.
Yes, I saw Utah use the routine at the CAW Educational Centre in Port Elgin, Ontario. While we sat eating with two hundred other trade unionists in the huge cafeteria I caught him reaching into his pocket. “Oh no!”, I said to myself. “Please don't do this to me!” Sure enough he slipped that damned rubber cockroach ever so neatly into those mashed potatoes and then set up bellow. The Centre’s cook was brought in. Why did he do it? For fun and to teach some real history.
Another hobo trick involved getting the cork out of a bottle of hooch without a corkscrew (an item not often carried by the “bums of the rod”). You take a wine bottle, turn it upside down and smack it with the heel of your shoe. Eventually the cork will ease itself out of the bottle and you can pull it the rest of the way. The bottle should not have a concave bottom and the boot heel has to be rubber otherwise the trick can turn into an embarrassing mess.
It’s useful information and this just isn’t the stuff one learns in school. The same goes for the songs and stories that Utah chose to present - poetry from the Bertold Brecht, the abolitionists, revolutionaries, the songs of Joe Hill, workers’ songs, songs of strikes won and struggles defeated. Pick up a school history text (if you can find one because they’re not really teaching history anymore) and you’ll find stories of so-called great men and leaders, national events and such, but you won’t learn much about the history of the working class, the great majority of us in this society. We’ve been made invisible. Worker’s songs, stories and poetry are the real history needing to be preserved and they became his playground of subversion.
Utah disbelieved the notion that workers are mere consumers of the dominant culture . We create culture. The problem is that history as presented to us by those with power, money and means (the “bums on the plush”) is a top down affair and Utah was out to rectify the situation.
If you believe in the rat race then only rats will win. If you think that that humans are hopelessly greedy and warlike that is a hopeless position that only leads to despair. Despair and hopelessness are the gateways to fascism and totalitarianisms of all types. If you resign yourself to the way things are then you have made the choice to side with the powerful few against the powerless. Utah was adamant and engaged in what Herbert Marcuse called the “Great Refusal”. When it came to war he as a former war vet made it plain that “never again would I abrogate my to someone else might right to choose who and who is not my enemy.”
Utah had a weakening heart and he took a serious turn for the worse last year. By the end of last year he was losing strength and he was hooked up to a pacemaker and a machine that pumped in drugs 24 hours a day. It meant that he couldn’t work and couldn’t go on the road. In an economic system where work for wages is the major affliction, even the sick are forced into the irrational and inhuman choice of “earning” a living or live in the streets
It’s a special affliction for those who are artists, musicians literally travelling on the road to earn their bread. Pensions and benefits of any kind are almost non-existent
Benefit concerts were held across Canada and the United States so that Utah Phillips could keep up expenses. We owed him much.
Two weeks before he passed away I was able to perform at a benefit concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. During the concert a phone hook up allowed the audience to hear Utah’s voice. He described his illness and commented that at one point of serious depression he actually contemplated suicide so be dialled the suicide hotline for some counselling.
When he got on the phone he asked the hotline counsellor, "Mind my asking, but where am I calling?" The guy answered, "Afghanistan".
"You're kidding", said Utah, "You mean to tell me the suicide hotline has been outsourced to Afghanistan?". The guy at the other replied, "Yes, now how can I help you?"
"Well", said Utah. "I was having suicidal thoughts.".... "Really?", said the guy on the hotline. "Do you know how to drive a truck?"
Good ol' Utah had us going till the end.
When the revolution comes, and it will, it will be humorous.
I mourn his loss. I considered him a mentor. Just before he passed away I wrote him a long letter telling him to hang in because I’ve learned a lot from him and there’s was so much more I needed to learn. He never saw the letter. I guess I got my work cut out for me. We all do.
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SQUEEZEBOX FROM HELL
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The last package of ashes was divided up into many envelopes and sent to IWW locals around the world. A pinch of Joe Hill's ashes were given to singers Utah Phillips and Mark Ross who placed them in their guitars. Activist Abbie Hoffman and folk rocker Billy Bragg also received ashes which they consumed.
