Set list from Saturday's abolitionist show at Brooklyn Historical Society

I'll try to add some more links to this later but for now here's what I played at Saturday's show at Brooklyn Historical Society. The show was a celebration of the anti-slavery movement in connection with their new exhibit In Pursuit of Freedom, an exploration of abolitionists in Brooklyn.

Thanks, Red Hook Ramblers, for being my band for the day and turning it into a real dance party!

(did I mention I'm going to start recording an album with RHR starting in early March featuring many of these songs?)

Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-Ga

longtime fan favorite, appears on American History + Rock-n-Roll = The Deedle Deedle Dees in full rock band form and on S.S. Brooklyn in a stripped-down sing-a-long version

Down by the Riverside

old American spiritual 

Henry Box Brown

one of the Deedle Deedle Dees' signature songs, appears on Freedom in a Box

Marching Through Georgia

one of my favorite Civil War songs 

Trapped in the Attic

inspired by Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, original version written with fourth graders in Brooklyn

Sojourner Truth

appears on Strange Dees, Indeed, co-written with a kid in MA for a musical about the history of Northampton

Weeksville

brand-new song about Brooklyn's thriving all-black neighborhood, a community that arose after New York made slavery illegal... but pre-Civil War. 

, 

Follow the Drinking Gourd

awesome Underground Railroad song. we played a rock-n-roll arrangement that was a nod to the folky one Pete Seeger did with the Weavers 

Keep the Hate Mail Comin'

brand-new song I wrote after seeing an awful piece of hate mail sent to Henry Ward Beecher. a tribute to him, Hank Aaron, and other heroes who received vicious correspondence but kept on with their important work.

John Brown's Body / John Brown

the Union army marching song combined with one of the original Deedle Deedle Dees songs

Special guest at my Feb. 1st abolitionist show at BHS: Red Hook Ramblers

Red Hook Ramblers, NYC's greatest New Orleans-style jazz band, are going to be the featured guests at the February installment of my monthly series for families at the Brooklyn Historical Society, Sing Back, Brooklyn!

BHS just opened an amazing new exhibit called Brooklyn Abolitionists: In Pursuit of Freedom. Read the NYTimes piece about here here. My show will be a musical introduction to the exhibit for families. And with the Ramblers onboard it's sure to be an old-fashioned dance party as well as an afternoon of education and shared stories.

Showtime: 3pm
Cost: FREE

Donate winter coats at my sing-a-longs Jan 14-17

Bring your gently-used winter coats to my sing-a-longs this week. I'll take 'em to my local precinct for New York Cares.

This week's sing-a-longs:

Tuesday at 11:30am
Five Spot Soul Food, Clinton Hill

Wednesday at 11am
Knitting Factory, Williamsburg

Thursday, 10:30am
Dean Street Restaurant, Prospect Heights

Friday, 10am
Lark Cafe, Ditmas Park


L

Holiday sing-a-long and show schedule

Yes I will be canceling some sing-a-longs right around Christmas. But I've got some special holiday shows that will more than make up for it.

Dec 16 - Dec 20 - regular sing-a-long schedule (click on links to the right)

Sat, Dec 21 - pre-movie sing-a-long concert at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, noon
A special sing-a-long show before their midday movie (More details soon)

Sun, Dec 22 - pre-movie sing-a-long concert at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, noon
A special sing-a-long show before their midday movie (same thing, next day)

Mon, Dec 23 - Fri, Dec 27 - NO SING-A-LONGS

Mon, Dec 30 - NO SING-A-LONG

Tues, Dec 31 - No sing-a-long -- I wanted to do a New Year's Eve thing for families but it's not going to work out this year.

Weds, Jan 1 - No sing-a-long

Thurs, Jan 2 - sing-a-long at Dean Street in Prospect Heights, 10:30 am (regular sing-a-long schedule resumes)

Fri, Jan 3 - sing-a-long at Lark, Ditmas Park, 10am

Sat, Jan 4 - The Deedle Deedle Dees at the Brooklyn Historical Society, 3pm
The first Saturday of every month I do a family program at BHS. To kick off the new year, I'm bringing my whole band for a special family concert: "The History of Brooklyn According to the Deedle Dees."

Questions? You can always write me at lloydhmiller AT gmail DOT com.

Lloyd

No sing-a-long at Five Spot (Clinton Hill) today

Five Spot Soul Food is closed due to the weather today (Tues, Dec 10). So no sing-a-long.

Have some hot chocolate and watch some movies for me. I'll see you next week!

Lloyd

This Saturday: "Songs of Sandy & the Sea"

Don't miss "Songs of Sandy & the Sea," the December installment of Sing Back, Brooklyn! It's this Saturday, December 7th at 3pm.

Sing Back, Brooklyn! is my monthly sing-a-long variety show at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Every show is themed to their collection. The BHS has a growing exhibit about Hurricane Sandy so I decided to make a show exploring Brooklyn's experience of the storm as well as celebrating the rich maritime history of our borough. I'll be singing my own nautically-inclined songs (yes, of course the Henry Hudson one will be among them), some classic sea tunes, and a brand-new crowd-sourced song about Sandy

I've got quite a roster of guests for this show:

Amelia Robinson -- mastermind of the musical phenomenon, Mil's Trills

Leah Umansky-- NYC poet and frequent collaborator with Underwater New York

Justin Wood -- circus performer, concertina player, sea shanty singer

Andrew Vladeck-- acclaimed NYC singer-songwriter / AKA Hopalong Andrew of local sing-a-long fame

and some surprises...

More specifics on my calendar.

See you there!

Lloyd

Bay Ridge sing-a-lunch returns this week!

Starting tomorrow (Monday, December 2nd), I'll be back at Kettle Black in Bay Ridge on Mondays at 11:30am for their weekly sing-a-lunch. Details here.

Hope you can come!
Lloyd

photo by Joy Fields (c) 2012