Bios of Speakers for "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune"

Here is information on the two speakers who will discuss Phil Ochs and his times after the 2 p.m. screening of "Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune" this Sunday, June 12, at Hebrew Union College in Clifton. If you want to attend, advance reservations are recommended as the auditorium's capacity is 100. Just message ochsmoviecincy@aol.com and we'll be in touch.

SPEAKERS:

Anne Arenstein, a freelance arts writer and educator whose outlets include CityBeat, first heard Phil Ochs as a summer camper in the mid 1960s. When WEBN first went on the air, Ochs' music was regularly heard and she is probably the source for the hundreds of requests announcers received to play "Crucifixion" (even after she had the LP). She believes his words were always powerfully expressed, in vivid imagery and mordant irony, and his musical sense was perfectly attuned to the lyrics, even when he set the words of others, as he did in The Highwayman. And nothing since equals "Crucifixion"...Dylan doesn't come close.

Don Mooney is a Cincinnati attorney who has been a local political activist and occasional contributor to the Cincinnati Enquirer and Post for more than 40 years. Mooney was involved in several organizations and political campaigns focused on ending the War in Vietnam during the late 1960s and 1970s, including a local organizing role as a high school leader of the Presidential campaign of Eugene McCarthy in 1968; and a student leader at the University of Notre Dame for George McGovern's 1972 Presidential campaign. Mooney was in Chicago as an anti-war activist for the 1968 Democratic Convention and, in later years, attended Democratic National Conventions as an elected delegate in 1980, 1984, 1988 and 2008.

New Information on Cincinnati Screening of "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune"

Here is a new announcement about the 2 p.m., June 12th, screening of the new film "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune" at Hebrew Union College in Clifton:

Special first-run Cincinnati screening of the new documentary "Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune” [Sunday June 12th at 2 PM at Hebrew Union College in Clifton]:

One way to look at the folk/protest-music movement of the 1960s is as a rivalry between two astonishingly talented young songwriters – Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. But Ochs, who took his own life in 1976, is underappreciated today, despite recording such tough, tender, pointed, often-sarcastic politically left songs as "Changes," "There But For Fortune," "Love Me I'm a Liberal" and the anti-war "I Ain't Marching Anymore."

As Dylan was moving away from folk songs with messages, he derided Ochs as a “journalist” (Ochs had studied journalism at Ohio State). But pushed by Dylan, the times and his own keen mind to move into rock and artful, personal singer-songwriter compositions, Ochs responded with a classic. His 1967 Pleasures of the Harbor, one of the most poignant, personal and beautifully melodic albums to come out of the period. It also contained his first recording of the song considered his masterpiece, “Crucifixion,” a religious allegory about President Kennedy’s assassination.

It is said that when he played an acoustic version for Robert Kennedy during his 1968 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Kennedy wept.
Pleasures of the Harbor was not the mainstream commercial breakthrough Ochs or his record company hoped for. He continued to record for a few more years, exploring rock and country as well as folk, and in 1968 wrote the anti-Vietnam War classic “The War Is Over,” even though that war very much wasn’t over. But amid changing times and trends, he slipped from public view and his last years were spent outside the limelight.

The new, highly praised documentary “Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune,” by Kenneth Bowser, offers extensive archival footage of Ochs' career and music, plus interviews with Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Peter Yarrow, Tom Hayden, Billy Bragg and Sean Penn.

The screening will be held at 2 p.m. June 12th in the electronic classroom of HUC's Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, 3101 Clifton Ave., and will be followed by a discussion featuring CityBeat music writer Anne Arenstein and Don Mooney, a lawyer and longtime political activist.

Tickets are $10 in advance, available at www.philochsmoviecincinnati.blogspot.com, by E-mail from ochsmoviecincy@aol.com or by calling 513/535-0936. There will also be tickets sold at the door. Since theater capacity is 100, advance purchases are recommended.

"Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune" Movie Coming First-Run to Cincinnati

We're pleased to announce that the new, acclaimed documentary PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE -- about the late, great 1960s-era folk/protest singer ("There But For Fortune," "Changes") who is largely forgotten today but was Bob Dylan's chief rival back in the day -- is coming to Cincinnati for one first-run screening at 2 p.m. on June 12 in the American Jewish Archives auditorium on the Clifton campus of Hebrew Union College, 3101 Clifton Ave.

Tickets are $10 in advance, including a discussion afterward with special guests about his musical and political impact. They will be available at the door, but since we can only seat 100 people you can purchase in advance by E-mailing your contact information (include a phone number) to ochsmoviecincy@aol.com.

And for more information about the movie, as well as Ochs' life, visit www.philochsthemovie.

Thank you,
Steven Rosen

"Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune" Movie Coming First-Run to Cincinnati

We're pleased to announce that the new, acclaimed documentary PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE -- about the late, great 1960s-era folk/protest singer ("There But For Fortune," "Changes") who is largely forgotten today but was Bob Dylan's chief rival back in the day -- is coming to Cincinnati for one first-run screening at 2 p.m. on June 12 in the American Jewish Archives auditorium on the Clifton campus of Hebrew Union College, 3101 Clifton Ave.

Tickets are $10 in advance, including a discussion afterward about his musical and political impact. They will be available at the door, but since we can only seat 100 people you can purchase in advance by E-mailing your contact information (include a phone number) to ochsmoviecincy@aol.com.

Thank you,

Steven Rosen