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| EntryNo: |
200 |
| Date: |
Thursday
15:20
29.07.2010 |
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Tom |
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Verified: yes
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PHC Journal Entry 7.29
Steeltown, Coalfields, and The Unbroken Circle - Tom Breiding
Last Saturday I performed my program for the first time from the big stage. I'm very pleased with the way it went over. Though there was no dialogue during the show itself, many came to the table afterwards and expressed their appreciation. As has been the case with all of the non-profits who have invited me so far, Linus and the folks from Covenant of Life Fellowship in Washington, PA were incredibly gracious and appreciative hosts. This year's event was to celebrate Washington, PA's Bicentennial, though they are considering having the event next year. I hope to be a part of it.
Tom
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| EntryNo: |
199 |
| Date: |
Friday
05:23
16.07.2010 |
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Tom |
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Verified: yes
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PHC Journal Entry 7.16.10
Steeltown, Coalfields, and the Unbroken Circle
Last night I performed for the folks at the Warrior Trail Association in Fordyce, PA, Greene County. I can't say enough about the civic minded individuals who keep this organization running. They were incredible hosts, providing a wonderful picnic dinner of local beef and deer burgers, salmon burgers, sides galore, and homemade berry pie. It was a joy to give my presentation in the Murdock schoolroom, a one room school building built in 1880. Some in attendance went to school there (one teacher, eight grades) and I was blessed to meet a charter member of the trail association who is 102 years old.
The stories they shared with me included recollections of the nearby Bobtown mining community, harshly run many years ago by a coal company, and many expressed their concerns about natural gas drilling throughout the county and the process of "fracking."
I was surprised at how many in attendance knew well about the battle of Blair Mountain, the Bullmoose Special and other events I had documented on The Unbroken Circle album. One gentleman even knew the particulars about the struggles to keep Blair Mountain on the national register of historic sites.
Special thanks to the association's chair Llew Williams who invited me to perform and presented me with a two foot hemlock tree (PA's state tree) to plant in my yard. I promised to join him soon for an afternoon to help maintain the trail. The Warrior trail runs from the Monongahelia River in PA to the Ohio in West Virginia. I urge you to learn more about the trail (go to http://www.westgreenepa.net/ Community/warriorTrail/ ) and I hope you will consider a visit.
I also hope that I will get an opportunity to share more of my music with the fine folks of Greene County sometime soon.
Tom
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| EntryNo: |
198 |
| Date: |
Wednesday
09:36
14.07.2010 |
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Tom |
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Verified: yes
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Hi Everyone,
Just a note of thanks to all the great folks in California who made my shows there special. Check out Brennan Leigh at http://www.myspace.com/brenn enleigh if you get a chance. She and her band opened for me at Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena and she was really fantastic. You can see a video on the myspace of her performiing "I'm Something Blue" that night Thanks, too to Don and their crew, who were really a great bunch and saved the day with my son's misplaced camera. This was my second show there and if you are ever in the Los Angeles area, you should check out a show at this incredible venue owned by Bob Stane of the legendary "Ice House" fame. It is a real gem. Visit http://www.coffeegallery.com for more info.
Thanks to Dom Liberate, John, Mike, and Mike for their hospitality and support in L.A. - also to Nick and Rowena.
Finally, thanks to Wynne and the fine folks at the Vista Library in San Diego County for making the afternoon performance there so special.
Time to roll...
T
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| EntryNo: |
197 |
| Date: |
Friday
14:37
02.07.2010 |
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Joe Bowen |
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Verified: yes
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I just wanted to say thank you for the fine talk, songs and presentation you just finished here at the Vista, California Library. Entertaining yes, but more importantly, educational. You might be pleased to know you have been something of a catalyst in creating discussions between a couple of us here who did not even know each other prior to attending your session. >
> It is refreshing to find people such as yourself who do such an excellent job of conveying so much information and offering entertainment principally for the good of it more than for the money or the glory.
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| EntryNo: |
196 |
| Date: |
Thursday
10:35
03.06.2010 |
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Jonathan |
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Verified: yes
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Hey Tom! Keep up the good work!
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| EntryNo: |
195 |
| Date: |
Wednesday
22:59
02.06.2010 |
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Tom |
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Verified: yes
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PHC Journal Entry 6.2.10
Steeltowns, Coalfields, and the Unbroken Circle - Tom Breiding
Great show in McKeesport this evening at the McKeesport Heritage Center in Renzi Park, 1862 Arboretum Drive. I met a lot of great folks, many of whom worked at the National Tube Works, once a huge mill on the Monongahela river. It was obvious after my discussions with tonight's patrons that when the tube works closed some twenty odd years ago, it was the town of McKeesport's last gasp. The heritage center houses a huge model of the mill, as well as many artifacts and artwork depicting a busier time in this Mon-Valley community.
Dick Grace, head of the local USWA and employee for forty years after returning from Korea, told stories of the "stockhouse," a huge crane near the Duquesne Bridge, as well as stories of the furnaces at the works. To everyone's amusement, he recalled working those furnaces when he began and the prevailing sentiment was that he had survived the Korean War so he could survive the mill. When it closed down, KDKA's Harold Hayes asked Dick for an interview and he refused, saying that he didn't want to cry on television.
Everyone recommended to me a book by John Hoer called "The Wolf Finally Came," which was inspired by the Tube Works and addressed the plight of the entire Mon-Valley at the demise of the American steel industry. I will look for it tomorrow.
I also met a former history teacher whose first name was Miles who shared a story of the "puddler's union" called Sons of Vulcan, whose job it was to stir by hand impurities out of the molten iron; Jerry and Dotty Kyslinger who were instrumental in founding the Mon-Yough Trail Association; and though a it was a little unnerving at first, I was so happy that my friend Tim Crossen and his daughter Nora were in attendance.
During the show, I mentioned how the glow of the mills in the Ohio Valley at night were images that I carry with me, and several of the audience told me that from McKeesport, they would look across the river at night at the glowing hearths of Duquesne, and in the middle of the night it was so bright that they could count the trees on the hillside. I'm told that pilots flying into Allegheny County Airport at night would pick up that glow as far away as Johnstown and follow it to the runway.
I also learned that McKeesport was the home of G.C. Murphy's department store and their national headquarters was located there.
My hosts for the evening were Charlie, and Jo Ellen, head of the local library.
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| EntryNo: |
194 |
| Date: |
Sunday
19:32
28.03.2010 |
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Cathi Rhodes |
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Verified: yes
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Hi Tom!
We were VERY impressed with your songs and your music, and are delighted to have met you at Christian Klay Winery at Chalk Hill. We'll see you again!
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| EntryNo: |
193 |
| Date: |
Saturday
18:59
27.03.2010 |
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J Hicks (S.A.) |
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Verified: yes
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loved your site and sound, we're interested in you and your group for our local record store,
Please write us or log on to our website to contact us for more information-
"Sound Attitude"
630 N.Palora ave
Yuba City,Ca 95993
http://www.soundattitude.org 
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| EntryNo: |
192 |
| Date: |
Thursday
11:38
25.02.2010 |
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Jimmy K |
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Verified: yes
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Its always a thrill to have American Son perform in my neighborhood ; nice guys with an array of impressive original music. Thanks for playing Pds in Squirrel Hill; hope to see that more often. The opening act (The Rogues) was also a pleasant surprise. Then to have Bill Toms join in on the encore was the cherry on top. Thanks Tom !!
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| EntryNo: |
191 |
| Date: |
Sunday
13:28
21.02.2010 |
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Keith G. Kondrich |
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Verified: yes
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Tom -
Thanks for a fantastic performace last night at the Cub Scout Pack 52 Sleepover! Your "Steeltown" program was incredible and the boys were mezmerized! You have a wonderful rapport with children.
Also - the parents couldn't stop talking about the show all night - one dad said "I wish we could send the kids downstairs and have Tom play for us the rest of the night!"
Anyway - thanks again! It was the perfect program for our scouts - one they won't soon forget.
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Copyright (C) 2006 Tom Breiding Music, Railroad Town Records, AmeriSon Productions - All Rights Reserved - Pittsburgh, PA USA
Use of the textual information presented on this site may be copied verbatim and distributed.
These copies must be verbatim, and many only be altered with the expressed written concent of the content owner.
Audio clips and audio files downloaded or played from this site may not be copied or distributed.
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