YEEHAW!!! 

There was a time in history when hillbillies gathered in circles at every opportunity from cookouts to funerals to have a little Jamboree with the family. Grandmas grabbed the spoons, grandkids grabbed the harmonicas, Uncles grabbed the banjos, and Dad got on the washtub bass drum. Soon, there was harmony on the mountaintop with laughter and clapping that echoed across the valley.

When family members passed; the single guitar player arrived to play the notes for "Will The Circle Be Unbroken." And when the guitar man was no longer around to play; Nephews stood solo without the guitar to harmonize and pay tribute to our family members' lives.

Seeing everyone gathered to include family members from the foothills of the Appalachia Trail arrive in this big city to pay their respect to elders and family members is amazing. Yet, going down South where traffic in town STOPS to A HALT with people stopping to put their hands over their chests to pay respect to the funeral processions heading for the top of the mountain is far beyond words...People down yonder still have the humanity to respect the dead. Moreover when the communities gather at the churches to put on buffet spreads for those grieving family members; you learn what "Community" is all about.

Music has been an amazing connection amonst us all. Children's laughter has always been in the background and loving elders have always been at the head of the tables. Kinship has come in truly dynamic ways. Our friends have been adopted as family; as our own. Unconditional love has been shared. Our music has been shared....

But along the way; swank, self centered, greedy and gentrified folks have tried to squelch our hillbilly ways...They have tried to hush our voices, shut down our celebrations, and violate our rights to enjoy such a sense of community. They have divided us with politics. They have used us as quotas. They have profited from our ignorance. They have taken our land. They have talked down to us in judgment as though they are 'God"...(Sorry guys----we leave Judgment up to GOD, NOT butt wipes)......Anyhow, they have humored us enough to laugh and celebrate even more than they can imagine.....While we have endured their wrath on this trail of tears created by their "regime of lies and deceit"....

Anyhow; it's time for a good ol' fashioned jamboree....

PERHAPS WE COULD HAVE A HILLBILLY FLASH MOB RIGHT IN LINCOLN PARK WITH TONS OF HILLBILLIES and their musical instruments performing and tons of families doing the hillbilly stomp...and even more gentrified yuppies on the sideline trying to figure out what that glorious happiness is within some of these poorest folks in our community....It's something all their money and prestige will never be able to afford... It's AMERICAN PRIDE....It's HUMBLE APPLE PIE....It's HUMANITY....IT'S a hillbilly community...