ILHS Union Hall of Honor 2009
Webtrax Admin
Country-punk iconoclast Jon Langford, Woody Guthrie Archives director Nora Guthrie, union-song collector Bucky Halker, and Chicago jazz lions Jimmy Ellis, Art Hoyle and Willie Pickens will headline "Well-Sung Heroes," a very special evening of music benefiting the Illinois Labor History Society.
The concert takes place Sunday evening, Nov. 22, at the Chicago History Museum (1601 N Clark). It is the Labor History Society's annual celebration to induct worthy individuals into its Union Hall of Honor. This year's honorees are:
The late James C. Petrillo, who served as president of the Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 10 for more than four decades beginning in 1922;
The Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 208, which represented black artists in blues, jazz and more before the unions were integrated in 1966; and
Bucky Halker, a self-described "tall man with a big voice and big songs delivered with truth, character, and conviction," a prominent scholar of working-class history and producer of "Folksongs of Illinois," a three-CD series.
Past ILHS honorees run the gamut from historical icons Mother Jones, Jane Addams and Joe Hill to artist/activists such as Studs Terkel, Paul Robeson and Upton Sinclair and politicians like Eugene Debs and alderman Leon Despres.
Tickets are $25 for the concert only or $75 including a pre-show cocktail reception with honorees, performing artists and host Dick Kay.
A commemorative art print for "Well-Sung Heroes" is being produced by Chicago poster artist Steve Walters.