{"id":17543,"date":"2023-05-18T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/?p=17543"},"modified":"2023-05-19T14:49:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T18:49:47","slug":"the-musical-conscience-of-bruce-barthol-1947-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/2023\/05\/the-musical-conscience-of-bruce-barthol-1947-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"The Musical Conscience of Bruce Barthol (1947-2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Barthol at the Freight and Salvage, Berkeley, CA, Nov. 2007. Photo Richard Bermack.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bruce Barthol, a fixture at the ALBA\/VALB reunions, was the unapologetic, rebellious, musical heart of the Tony award-winning, never silent, always revolutionary San Francisco Mime Troupe. With sardonic wit, cutting sarcasm, a vast knowledge of history, and a broad understanding of everything political, Bruce Barthol wrote lyrics that outraged, broke hearts, and inspired. A tribute.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Bruce Barthol was spirited, argumentative, brilliant, contrary and collaborative, cool and cranky, passionately pissed and hysterically funny, laid back, but always a twitch away from launching into an argument about anything and everything. He was the rock-bass-playing radical who became one of the most talented and prolific composer\/lyricists in American musical theatre. He was stoned, he was sober, he was high, and he was low\u2014but he was always there for the work of changing the world for the better.<\/p>\n

I first saw Bruce when he took me to Golden Gate Park to see a play and there, in the middle of a meadow, was a small funky stage, a band, hundreds of audience members, and a wooden sign\u2014\u201cThe San Francisco Mime Troupe.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there were no people in black tights who tried to get out of imaginary boxes, walked against imaginary wind, or pulled imaginary ropes! And it was absolutely not silent. Instead it was music, singing, comedy, and best of all\u2026politics! \u201cFactwino Meets The Moral Majority\u201d was a wonderful combination of underground comix, zany cartoons, and passionate politics hilariously skewering the proto-fascistic religious fundamentalists\/evangelical con men who preyed on the faithful, promoting prejudice for profit and power. And just when I thought these revolutionary truths and hijinks couldn\u2019t get any better, a new character entered the stage: the two-headed villain behind every throne and presidential handshake, The Creature behind every curtain! Armageddonman\u2014who strode onto stage with vicious glee and outrageous enjoyment, and then sang!<\/p>\n

From \u201cArmageddonman<\/em>\u201d (\u201cFactwino Meets the Moral Majority\u201d):<\/p>\n

Can you guess just who we are?<\/em><\/p>\n

One part business, one part war.<\/em><\/p>\n

We own the weapons, banks and land\u2014 <\/em><\/p>\n

Call us Armageddonman!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is less, but want more,\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

So we take it from the poor.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t stop us no one can\u2014 <\/em><\/p>\n

Because we\u2019re Armageddonman!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karl Marx predicted our demise,<\/em><\/p>\n

But its on crisis that we thrive.<\/em><\/p>\n

Find a new market, or a war will do<\/em><\/p>\n

And we\u2019ll see our historic mission through!<\/em><\/p>\n

Even though our race is almost run,<\/em><\/p>\n

When we are through you\u2019ll all be done.<\/em><\/p>\n

And what we don\u2019t use up we\u2019ll blow away\u2014 <\/em><\/p>\n

On that Armageddon day!<\/em><\/p>\n

Actually, it was two guys in a single costume, a couple of artists dedicated to overthrowing the military industrial complex by any means necessary, including farcically embodying it in a duel supervillain suit. Individually, they were Dan Chumley and the composer\/lyricist of the Mime Troupe, Bruce Barthol. But together they were the two-headed supervillain: Armageddonman!<\/p>\n

Some would say Bruce Barthol was already Rock & Roll Royalty by then. But if that were true, I think he would have immediately fomented a revolution against himself. Bruce was imbued from childhood with a hunger for justice and had developed a generous well of pissed-offed-ness he could draw on at any time. Though born in Berkeley, for a brief time he learned about fascism first-hand when his family experienced Franco\u2019s dictatorship in Spain. He then returned to the U.S., where his parents pointed out the fascistic tendencies here at home, along with all our homegrown class warfare, hypocrisy, and violent racism.<\/p>\n

So, of course, he ended up studying at the University of California at Berkeley. Bruce arrived at UCB just in time for the explosion of the Free Speech Movement. Sit-ins, strikes, occupying buildings\u2014all in the name of educational freedom, of Civil Rights, of teaching real politics and history rather than just corporatist propaganda\u2026 You know, all the freedoms of educational thought Conservatives are still at war with.<\/p>\n

And it was in that cauldron of revolution that a fellow musician invited Bruce to join him in a jam session with another musician, Joe Macdonald\u2014who went by the nickname Country Joe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

In Country Joe and the Fish, 1967.<\/p><\/div>\n

A year later, Bruce had dropped out of Berkeley and was off touring with Country Joe and The Fish, one of the biggest political folk\/rock bands of the \u201960s. Suddenly, he was in the vanguard of artists speaking out against The Vietnam War. Their song \u201cFeel Like I\u2019m Fixin\u2019 To Die Rag\u201d (\u201c1, 2, 3, 4, what are we fighting for? Don\u2019t ask me, I don\u2019t give a damn, next stop is Vietnam!\u201d) was an anthem of the anti-war movement. They performed at protests and in concerts across the United States and Europe, including the legendary 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Bruce\u2019s love of politics seemed to make him a perfect fit for the musical movement, but his inability to go-along-to-get-along also meant that he couldn\u2019t agree with what he saw as fundamentally bad political decisions by the band. So, while it was predictable, it was still a big disappointment when he was voted out of the band for refusing to endorse a denouncement of Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies before the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. (Trust me, it\u2019s a long, weird story.)<\/p>\n

After a stint in Europe with a new band, Bruce returned to the Bay Area, where the drummer Barry Levitan introduced him to The San Francisco Mime Troupe. Founded in 1959 as a theater \u201cOf, By, and For the Working Class,\u201d the Troupe had been performing its particular brand of political musical comedy for almost two decades by the time Bruce became its lyricist.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t possibly note all the work Bruce did during the Reagan years\u2014just so many wrongs to ridicule and critique\u2014but of particular note were his songs about the United States\u2019 habit of supporting any dictator, however brutal, who promises to support Capitalism over Socialism:<\/p>\n

From\u00a0\u201cThe Three Dictators Song\u201c<\/em>\u00a0(\u201c1985\u201d):<\/p>\n

Hey, we\u2019re glad to see ya, American guy!<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re the best friends that your money can buy.<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re fighting for freedom, and getting paid\u2014 <\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re Marcos, Mubutu, and Pinochet!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The struggles of unionism:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cStanding With The Union,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0written with Eduardo Robledo (\u201cSteeltown\u201d)\u2014<\/p>\n

Supervisor tell me\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cRose, you better go on home,\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I came three thousand miles,\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

not they\u2019re telling me to go!<\/em><\/p>\n

Then Rudy from the union say\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

there\u2019s one he know,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cRose is working here –<\/em><\/p>\n

The rest of you can go!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m standing with the Union<\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah I\u2019m standing with the Union,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Cause the union stood by me!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And his powerful and haunting musical documenting of a massacre of fighters for The Republic by fascist soldiers during the Spanish Civil War:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From \u201cBadajoz<\/em>\u201c (\u201cSpain\u201d):<\/p>\n

We saw the dust clouds grow large in the distance,<\/em><\/p>\n

We shut the strong gates, and we took to the walls.<\/em><\/p>\n

But riffles can\u2019t hold off a motorized column,<\/em><\/p>\n

And rifles are useless when bombs start to fall\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

With Pete Seeger, New York City, 2005.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bruce wrote for the oppressed, creating wrenchingly personal songs and soaring, inspiring anthems, chronicling revolutions. And he always had a special affinity for those great souls who fought against Franco\u2019s fascists during the Spanish Civil War. His admiration for their selflessness and dedication to freedom shone through, not only in his work on that play, but also in his years with the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB) and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA). Each year Bruce worked tirelessly to help organize their annual reunions, sharing with audiences the importance of music for resistance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bruce Barthol singing with Nate Thornton at Berkeley VALB Picnic, Sept. 2007. Photo Richard Bermack.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1989, Bruce wrote one of his most beautiful, hopeful songs, about the struggle for a two-state solution between Palestine and Israel:<\/p>\n

From\u00a0\u201cThis is the Year\u201d<\/em> (\u201cSeeing Double\u201d):<\/p>\n

This is the year of the possibility<\/em><\/p>\n

Take a chance, stop the downward slide<\/em><\/p>\n

Drop the guns, and take the hand,<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s reaching out from the other side.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can hear the clock is ticking<\/em><\/p>\n

You can see there\u2019s not much time<\/em><\/p>\n

There is no god in the Holy Land,<\/em><\/p>\n

Just people screaming<\/em><\/p>\n

I want mine\u2026,<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

In conversation with Barbara Dane (2021).<\/p><\/div>\n

A tragic farce, \u201cSeeing Double\u201d toured for years across the United States, plus runs off Broadway, at the Kennedy Center, and a short run in East and West Jerusalem. Bruce\u2019s song was the climax of the show; it brought audiences to tears of hope and heartbreak whenever it was performed.<\/p>\n

Bruce knew how to structure scenes to build emotionally and comedically to justify song moments, and how to find the outrageousness in heartbreaking situations in such a way that did not undermine the terrible truths of class warfare.<\/p>\n

From\u00a0\u201cSteal, Murder, and Lie\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cSocial Work\u201d):<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just that they\u2019re ignorant<\/em><\/p>\n

Or that they loot and rob,<\/em><\/p>\n

But as rulers of the Earth<\/em><\/p>\n

They\u2019re doing a very bad job!<\/em><\/p>\n

Their arrogance is monstrous<\/em><\/p>\n

Their ignorance profound<\/em><\/p>\n

But the world will not stand still for them,<\/em><\/p>\n

The wheel will turn around\u2014 <\/em><\/p>\n

They stand on a volcano,<\/em><\/p>\n

And they do not even know,<\/em><\/p>\n

Unless there is some justice soon,<\/em><\/p>\n

The whole things gonna blow!<\/em><\/p>\n

Because they steal, Murder, and Lie!<\/em><\/p>\n

Or in our show about the impoverishment brought by Free Trade designed to enrich the wealthiest 20 percent while further impoverishing the already poor 80 percent:<\/p>\n

From\u00a0\u201c80\/20\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 (\u201cOffshore\u201d):<\/p>\n

20 percent live on dry land,<\/em><\/p>\n

While 80 percent drift out to sea!<\/em><\/p>\n

20 percent have more then they need,<\/em><\/p>\n

While 80 percent have next to nothing!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On a good day you will assemble chips,<\/em><\/p>\n

On a bad day you\u2019ll wash windows and beg for tips!<\/em><\/p>\n

Or go out to the dump, and pick through the trash,<\/em><\/p>\n

And scheme and dream of anyway to get some cash!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anthems were Bruce\u2019s specialty. For instance, his song from our play about environmental degradation and food poverty in the name of profit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From\u00a0\u201cRule of the Bottom Line\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cEating It\u201d):<\/p>\n

I think we all must be from mars,<\/em><\/p>\n

Or from some planet circling a distant star.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s why we can take the risks we take,<\/em><\/p>\n

And why we can make the choices that we make.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’re just visiting, not staying around,<\/em><\/p>\n

So we can poison the water, the air and ground.<\/em><\/p>\n

After all why should we care?<\/em><\/p>\n

We know we’ll be returning to our home out there!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

With Peter Carroll and Peter Glazer. Photo Jeannette Ferrary.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2000, when longtime Resident Playwright Joan Holden retired from The Troupe, Bruce stayed on, fighting the good fight to overthrow capitalism one musical comedy at a time, chronicling the lament of a homeless vet in our play about an America perpetually at war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From\u00a0\u201cA Shot And A Bottle Of Beer\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cVeronique of the Mounties\u201d):<\/p>\n

I came back sick from the first Gulf War<\/em><\/p>\n

The V.A. said I was fine.<\/em><\/p>\n

I punched my commanding office<\/em><\/p>\n

When he told me not to whine!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then the Army they cashiered me<\/em><\/p>\n

After serving nineteen years<\/em><\/p>\n

So come on, Dot, gimme a shot<\/em><\/p>\n

A shot and a bottle of beer,<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m an invisible man who sleeps in his van<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how I got this way,<\/em><\/p>\n

But I\u2019m heading down the tubes<\/em><\/p>\n

Along with the U S of A.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Or in the case of our play about the fight for Reason against impending American theocracy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From \u201cThere Are The Times That Try Men\u2019s Souls\u201d <\/em>(\u201cGodFellas\u201d):<\/p>\n

This very life you lead, even you’re right to be,<\/em><\/p>\n

Comes with intrinsic responsibilities<\/em><\/p>\n

You must engage, and to not ignore<\/em><\/p>\n

The threat to freedom standing at the door!<\/em><\/p>\n

We can see the armies of the night,<\/em><\/p>\n

Who’s superstitions kill the light,<\/em><\/p>\n

Of reason and of liberty –<\/em><\/p>\n

Is that the world we want to see?<\/em><\/p>\n

Survival is a form of resistance!<\/em><\/p>\n

If we die or give up, then they win.<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t have a plan or a roadmap, but<\/em><\/p>\n

Let’s begin, let’s begin, let’s begin!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of his last Troupe songs was, in many ways, a perfect Bruce Barthol call to arms: rebellious, truthful, angrily anti-Capitalist, inspiring, and hopeful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cArmageddon\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(\u201c2012, the Musical!\u201d):<\/p>\n

Armageddon\u2014 just a distraction<\/em><\/p>\n

To help the forces of reaction!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Apocalyptic visions of annihilation<\/em><\/p>\n

Breeds more fear, and alienation<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the US of amnesia,<\/em><\/p>\n

Where it where so many seek anesthesia,<\/em><\/p>\n

Crucial to controlling us is that we be afraid<\/em><\/p>\n

So we don\u2019t see how we\u2019re being played\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Played by the bankers who made the economy fail,<\/em><\/p>\n

Who kept what they stole and stayed out of jail.<\/em><\/p>\n

Played by the media moguls who constantly lie,<\/em><\/p>\n

Who distract and distort while democracy dies<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life\u2014 just a series of business transactions<\/em><\/p>\n

With ever increasing resource extraction!<\/em><\/p>\n

The world, sustained, can meet all of our needs<\/em><\/p>\n

But not when run for corporate greed!<\/em><\/p>\n

But not when run for corporate greed!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the people are no longer afraid<\/em><\/p>\n

Is when they\u2019ll take to the barricades!<\/em><\/p>\n

So stride on through the lies and spin<\/em><\/p>\n

You just can\u2019t let the bastards win!<\/em><\/p>\n

We just can\u2019t let\u2026.. the bastards win!<\/em><\/p>\n

Bruce never stopped being an artist, a history nerd, a Defiant Defender of the Left, and the smartest hippie in the room.<\/p>\n

And wherever there is a gritty revolutionary trying to rhyme \u201coligarchical capitalist swine\u201d in such a way that is both important and hilarious, or a band is blaring out a worker\u2019s anthem designed to uplift, infuriate, inform, and inspire, I gotta think Bruce will be in the corner, his fist in the air, a sly smile on his face, and his gravelly voice whispering \u201cRight on, brother!\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Gene Sullivan is an actor, writer, director, and teacher whose plays have been performed around the world. His directing credits include work with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and The African American Shakespeare Festival.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bruce Barthol, a fixture at the ALBA\/VALB reunions, was the unapologetic, rebellious, musical heart of the Tony award-winning, never silent, always revolutionary San Francisco Mime Troupe. With sardonic wit, cutting sarcasm, a vast knowledge of history, and a broad understanding of everything political, Bruce Barthol wrote lyrics that outraged, broke hearts, and inspired. A tribute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[746],"class_list":["post-17543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-memorys-roster"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17543"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17632,"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17543\/revisions\/17632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17543"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albavolunteer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}