Rolling Thunder Downhome Democracy Tour (Lefty Loonies To Gather In Chicago)

Rolling Thunder Tour ^

[PJ-Comix]

Chicago, Illinois - June 15, 2002

VOLUNTEERS - Sign Up Online! »

The Chicago RTD2 event will showcase how we can strengthen our democracy by becoming more active in and informed of the core issues that we face everyday: workplace conditions, education, social justice, environmental health, corporate takeovers, etc. We will have a special focus in Chicago on Food, Hunger and Farming issues - our goal being to unite the vast diversity of people who work on these issues or are simply affected by them whether it be someone working to fight the genetic manipulation of our food supply, or someone struggling to get enough to eat.

WHEN:

June 15, 2002
Doors open 9:30 am
Stage events and workshops begin at 10 am
Event ends 8:30 pm

WHERE:

Union Park
South Ashland at Lake
Ashland Station Green Line EL
2 blocks from United Center
Click here for a [ map ].

ROLLING THUNDER TICKET OUTLETS:

Midwest Democracy Center
312-587-7060
325 West Huron #304
(in River North)
10-6 on weekdays

Healing Earth Resource Center
773-327-8459
3111 N. Ashland
(in Lakeview)
Mon-Sat 10am-9pm
Sundays 10am-7pm

Women & Children First
5233 N. Clark (in Andersonville/Edgewater)
773-769-9299
M/T 11-7PM, W/TH/F 11-9PM
Saturday 11-7PM, Sunday 11-6PM

Revolution Books
3449 N. Sheffield
773-528-5353

World Folk Music Co.
1909 West 103rd
Chicago, IL
773-779-7059

HOTELS:

The Hyatt at University Village is located less than a mile from Union Park and has a free shuttle service from the hotel to the park. If you call before Tuesday May 28th you can ask for the Rolling Thunder group rate of $129. Please call 312-529-6002.

Hyatt at University Village
625 South Ashland Avenue at Harrison Street
Chicago, Illinois, USA. 60607
Telephone: 312-491-1234
Fax: 312-529-6095

Other options: Any hotels downtown will be very close to Union Park via a short drive.

For a very inexpensive and centrally located room try:

International Youth Hostel
24 East Congress Parkway
Chicago, IL 60605
312-360-0300
http://www.hichicago.org

SUGGESTED DONATION:

$10 in advance
$15 at the door before 6PM
$25 at the door after 6PM
Groups of 20 or more in advance bulk sales - $10 each (Please email to inquire about group sales) Kids are special guests
Click here to purchase

WHO:

Jim Hightower - Founder, Rolling Thunder Tour & Columnist for the Nation
Studs Terkel - Legendary Chicago interviewer
Erykah Badu - Grammy-award winning musical performer
Patch Adams - Physician, Clown and social revolutionary
Ben Cohen - Founder, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
Jesse Jackson Jr. - Illinois Congressman
Jan Schakowsky - Illinois Congresswoman
Luis Gutierrez - Illinois Congressman
Frances Moore Lappe - Author, Diet for a Small Planet
Jim Slama - Executive Director, Sustain
Dolores Huerta - United Farm Workers
Baldemar Velasquez - Founder and President, Farm Labor Organizing Committee
George Siemon - CEO, Organic Valley Family of Farms
Lori Wallach - Director, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
Wenonah Hauter - Director, Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy & Environment Project
Ralph Paige - Executive Director, Federation of Southern Cooperatives
Kuumba Lynx - Chicago performance and spoken word impresarios

Click here for a draft schedule of events.

PLUS:

• Organic Valley Family of Farms Traveling Organic Kitchen
  
• Giant Inflatable Budget from Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities
  
• Solar Powered Stage by Greenpeace's Rolling Sunlight
  
• Ben and Jerry's Carnival Games with an Educational Message
  

WORKSHOPS:

The educational component of the Chicago Rolling Thunder Festival will be divided up into three thematic tracks. For more information, check out this memo on RTD2 Chicago Workshops.

1. Food, Hunger and Farming
   
2. Taking Power Back for People
   
3. Citizen Toolbox - Skill Building for Effective Action
   

For an overview of the Food & Farm workshops, check out this outline.

For an overview of the Democracy & Skills workshops, check out this outline.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

• Become a Local Coordinating Partner

• Host an information table at the festival

• Submit an Action Letter to have participants take action at the festival

• HELP ORGANIZE THE EVENT!! Come to our weekly coordinating meetings every Thursday at 7pm at the UNITE Headquarters at 333 South Ashland at Hwy 290!! Check out the list of subcommittees to see how you can get involved.

• VOLUNTEER!! We need volunteers NOW and also on the day of the event! Volunteers the day of the event get in free and get a t-shirt. Please contact Lilian Jimenez at 312-738-6143 or education16@juno.com to be a volunteer.

[PJ-Comix]

The DUmmies are going to have a booth at this event. I wonder if the media will be covering it. They tend to whitewash the more lunatic ravings of these folks.

[Southack]

Wasn't "Rolling Thunder" Lyndon Johnson's pet phrase for B-52 attacks on Communists??

Irony?!

[PJ-Comix]

There is also a Rolling Thunder Motorcycle event. This is the lefty looney Rolling Thunder. It would be great if some Freepers can attend this event and record the more crazed rantings there. And you know with the DUmmies in attendance, they can't help but spout the usual leftist nonsense. The speeches at this event might be interesting to read about. I won't be a bit surprised if Bush (but not Bin Ladin) is denounced as the greatest evil on the planet. I notice there are a couple of Congress Critters that will be attending this event.

[PJ-Comix]

Who is Jan Schakowsky? She is listed as one of the Congress Critter speakers at this event. What sort of voting record does she have (must be far left)?

[Clemenza]

Who is Jan Schakowsky?

Whoa-ho. I lived in her district (northside of Chicago) when she first ran to replace the then retiring Sidney Yates. She is SO FAR TO THE LEFT she makes Michael Moore look like Tom DeLay.

[Clemenza]

BTW: Schakowsky received a "0" rating in 2001 from the American Conservative Union with a lifetime rating of "3."

[PJ-Comix]

I sure would like to get a transcript of what she and the other loonies say at that Left-Looney gathering. Is she one of the "BUSH KNEW" gang?

[PJ-Comix]

If you lived in the Northside of Chicago then you might have heard of Maurice Seymore photography. That studio went out of business with the retirement of the owner but his wife was my father's aunt. In a lot of ways she was like the legendary Auntie Mame. She knew EVERYONE in Chicago from nightclub performers to politicians to gangsters (often the same group as the previous one). Anyway, the owner was extrememly introverted while his wife was just the opposite and it was her outgoing personality that drew in lots of clients to the Maurice Seymore photo studio and made it the biggest photo studio in the Midwest.

(Sorry for the lapse into Chicago family trivia.)

[Gumlegs]

She is SO FAR TO THE LEFT she makes Michael Moore look like Tom DeLay.

Would that be a "towering pillar of Jell-O"?

Chicago bump.

[PJ-Comix]

If you're from Chicago, you should consider taping the looney speeches at this event for the record. The lamestream media tends to whitewash the loonier rantings at these events but this is something that should be put on the record.

[Gumlegs]

Used to be. We moved to New Jersey in 2000, though. I was quoting Chicago radio & Sun-Times commentator Tom Roeser re: Tom DeLay.

[Lancey Howard]

Wow, that is quite a lineup of left-wing loonies and traitors.

[Lancey Howard]

The original Rolling Thunder concert was the brainchild of Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. It took place around 1972. Rolling Thunder, aka John Pope, was (is?) an indian medicine man who worked for the railroad out in Arizona somewhere, if I recall correctly. I think he would shudder at the abuse is name is taking from scumbags like Hightower and his lineup of radical left-wing goofballs who use it to promote America-bashing.

[Clemenza]

The name sounds vaguely familiar. Keep in mind, however, that I only lived in Chicago for a year and a half.

[gg188]

What a freak show.

[1rudeboy]

I live less than five minutes away by "El," and believe me, I wouldn't be caught dead in that area after dark. Actually, if I was caught in that area after dark, I would be dead. You know what I mean.