(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Day the Woody Guthrie Music Refused to Die in Ron DeSantis' Hometown - Part 1: Die, Hate, Cry [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-09-21 by John Liccione, Candidate for Congress in FL’s 13th District Channeling Woody Guthrie At an open bluegrass jam at Woodwright Brewing Company in Dunedin FL on June 22nd, I was harassed, bullied, and had the cops called on me on false pretenses for committing the non-offense of singing a modified Woody Guthrie song criticizing and challenging Ron DeSantis, my opponent Anna Luna, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor-Green, and...Vladimir Putin. There were no arrests or charges: Deputy Bynum (shown below) and his fellow female deputy left with a respectful goodbye after realizing their time was being wasted after giving me my props. Go blue! (FYI: I’ve got the 911 and bodycam footage from the Sheriff’s Dept.) Pinellas County Sheriff’s Deputy Bynum Demanding My ID at Woodwright Brewery on 6/22/23 The most interesting and important part of this story to me is what this micro-incident says about the state of hate and “woke-right” fascism here in Florida and in America at-large, about “woke-right” snowflakes who can’t take either criticism, or a joke, without going full fascist snitch, and what it says about how to defeat the “woke-right fascist mob” using creative non-violence, and music. I embrace this as a teaching moment, a fascism early-warning system and corrective action tutorial if you will, on how to stop fascism in its tracks before it picks up momentum. You must start by abandoning all fear and standing up to the bullies, don’t back down (Tom Petty), and by engaging in what I’m going to call a “Community of Creative Non-Violence.” This methodology can be scaled up across all of Florida and America, one music venue at a time. Oh, The Irony And how ironic it is that the song that almost got me arrested, at a bar, at an open bluegrass jam, in Florida, a state where the light of freedom and democracy are supposedly so valued, was a modified version of the classic anti-fascist Woody Guthrie union protest song “American Maid.” (i.e., “You can’t scare me I’m stickin’ to the Union...”) Woody Guthrie, the anti-fascist, pro-union folk music legend who named his guitar “This Machine Kills Fascists,” is hopefully looking down on me from heaven and smiling at how I used his song and my guitar as a weapon to attack the fascist forces spewing disinformation and hypocrisy that are driving the woke-right agenda here in Florida, America, and in Russia. I call my version: “American Made.” In it, I sing all Woody’s original lyrics then I tack on a few new choruses of my own at the end. The lyrics are at the bottom of the article. Die Hate Cry Confrontation Woodwright Brewery Manager/Bartender Elise (Die Hate Cry) (from Woodwright’s Facebook page) Woodwright Brewing Company owner Eunice Painter’s bartender cum bouncer cum HR manager Elise, a woman who sports a “Die Hate Cry” tombstone tattoo on her arm, rushed up to me and got all up in my face while I was talking respectfully to a young cowboy musician after finishing my song. I didn’t know her name so I think of her as Die Hate Cry Lady. The young cowboy is an incredibly talented, multi-instrument musician, but he was disrepectful toward this old man and he had told me not to come back after the jam ended. We were having what I felt was a respectful back and forth about his demand and I acted to de-escalate the tension by offering to buy him a beer and go sit at a nearby picnic table to talk it out. But Die Hate Cry interrupted our conversation, escalated, invaded my personal space, and with her face just two feet away from mine, she got all aggressive like bouncers tend to do and barked at me saying: “You can’t sing political songs here, we don’t allow it.” I told her she didn’t have the power to muzzle my political speech, this is America. We went back and forth and I told her the only power she had over me was the power to tell me to leave. I told her, explicitly, that if she told me to leave, I’d leave. She didn’t. Instead, she turned and rushed inside to snitch on me to her boss...then out stormed owner Eunice Painter. Eunice Round 1 Police Question Woodwright Brewery Owner Eunice Painter and Jam Host (from police bodycam footage) Eunice tried the same exact schtick on me: “No political music allowed!” she bellowed. I wouldn’t concede that she had the power to muzzle my political speech. I told her several times that I’d leave if she told me to leave and that was the limit of her power over me. (Note: I’ve been arrested for trespassing on false pretenses twice in my life so I know my stuff on this. Each one is its own story to be told at another time.) This debate with Eunice went on for maybe 2 minutes. I told her I was running for Congress and that I owned a news media company called RussiLeaks and that maybe I should publish an expose’ on what she was trying to do to me. In response she threatened me with a defamation lawsuit if I published and said she was calling her lawyer. Finally, after realizing she wasn’t going to win the debate and that I wasn’t impressed with her defamation lawsuit threat, and that I wasn’t going to bow down to her demands, she told me to leave. I immediately walked off the property and posted up on the public sidewalk out front and began recording with my cellphone. I also made sure I wasn’t blocking foot traffic or disturbing anyone. I began singing George Harrison’s “Give Me Love” and James Taylor’s “You’ve Got a Friend” (The original lyrics) at a low volume. Me on the Public Sidewalk Playing While Watching the Cops Arrive in 2 Squad Cars Eunice Round 2 After a few minutes, Eunice came storming back out of the bar and began hurling threats at me as I stood on the sidewalk. “I’ll call the Sheriff and I’ll tell them you’re disturbing the peace,” she yelled at me. After realizing I wasn’t fazed, she stormed back inside and had Die Hate Cry call 911 and lie, a lot. The two of them made numerous false statements to the police on the phone and to Deputy Bynum at the scene in an effort to get me arrested on false pretenses. Epic fail. Now, this isn’t Russia. Or Nazi Germany. It’s not a crime to sing political satire songs criticizing our leaders. It IS a crime, however, to make false statements to the police...when you lose a political debate. And it’s not criminal trespassing when you immediately leave a bar the first time you’re told to by the owner. Perhaps a refresher on the 1st Amendment and Florida trespassing law is in order. Woodwright is Beloved in the Community To the good people of Dunedin and Pinellas County, I know that Woodwright Brewery is actually an awesome place. They host these Thursday night open bluegrass jams in their courtyard from 7-10PM every week and the establishment is really a treasure in the community. They’re a local cultural icon with these free bluegrass jams and other musical events. Eunice Painter and her staff seem like good people and upstanding citizens to me, despite their ill-informed behavior that night, which certainly can be excused if not repeated. I’ve always loved going there and jamming and singing with such talented artists and the audience is always supportive and appreciative. They really should have taken me aside for a private conversation and we could have worked things out instead of escalating what at that moment had been a respectful conversation between me and the cowboy into a full-blown public spectacle in front of over 100 customers and then wasting the cops’ time responding to this nothingburger. The cops had more important things to do that night they told me as they left. My Own History at Woodwright My own history with Woodwright goes back to 2019 when my brother in law, who is a base player in the Creek Bend bluegrass band up in Buffalo, took me there with my guitar. I remember playing and singing what is called a “stained-glass bluegrass” song written by Jack Cambell called “I’ve got more to go to heaven for than I had yesterday.” Woodwright Brewery Pickin’ Splinters Bluegrass Jam Ad After returning to Florida this January, I drove up to Dunedin a couple times before this incident and just jammed with the guys and gals and had great fun. I hadn’t written any of my own music back then. One song I remember leading on was “Fox on the Run,” an old bluegrass tune. Then I started writing political satire music. At the next jam I attended, I performed my first original piece of comedic political satire there which I call “The Fox Gonna Holler.” In that song I excoriate Fox News for lying to the American people on a massive scale and for having to pay the piper (Dominion) for it in their defamation lawsuit. Now, that song got a lot of laughs, applause, clapping, and smiles from the audience and no one accosted me afterwards or told me I couldn’t sing political songs. And by the way, there is no signage anywhere at the locale or on their Facebook page or website indicating political music is prohibited at these jams. North Pinellas Democratic Club Meeting in Dunedin So I came back with a new song on the night of the 22nd and I arrived late at the end of the jam session after having come directly from my first North Pinellas Democratic Club meeting in Dunedin. There I had seen a guy sporting a “DeSantis Sucks” t-shirt for the first time and had a good laugh at that. Fellow Democrats at the North Pinellas County Democrats Club Meeting on June 22 (names unknown) At that point I had no idea that Ron DeSantis is Dunedin’s favorite son. The police officer told me that during our conversation. I had no idea political songs were prohibited. I had performed a political song at a previous jam with no drama. I ran into a buzz saw. So much has changed here in America since 2019. There’s a fascist vibe that’s been brewing now for 8 years that boiled over on Jan 6th. And now DeSantis is turning up the fascist heat even more so here in Florida. Talk about “snowflakian” behavior. My song got a lot of laughs, applause and smiles from the audience of 100+. But there were 1 or 2 folks that gave in to their inner fascist and went behind my back and snitched on me to Die Hate Cry at the bar, then she snitched on me to Eunice Painter. I guess haters gotta hate, and MAGA whiners gotta whine. Hey, you want to debate me? Debate me. You don’t call the cops on me because you lost a 1st Amendment debate and lie about me disturbing the peace and tresspassing. Woody Guthrie's "American Maid" Chorus, and My New Ones Woody’s original chorus lyrics go like this: You can't scare me I'm stickin' to the union I'm stickin' to the union. I'm stickin' to the union. No you can't scare me I'm stickin to the union I'm stickin' to the union 'till the day I die. My parody version contains the original lyrics in full but I add two new choruses at the tail end that contain some patriotic and what I would call mildly critical political speech to bring the song up to date. My Tacked-On Lyrics “Oh you can't scare me I'm stickin' with America I'm stickin' with democracy Stand against hypocrisy No you can't scare me Vladimir Putin I'll be stickin' it to Putin till the day I die Oh no you can't scare me I'm stickin' it to Luna I'm stickin' it to Matt Gaetz I'm stickin' it to Marjorie Taylor-Greene Oh you can't scare me Ron DeSantis I be stickin' DeSantis till the day I die, oh yeah, It’s American as apple pie.” Coming Up Next: Part 2: The Tampa Bay Times Defamatory Hit Piece and Cover-Up The story of how The Tampa Bay Times came to publish a defamatory hit piece on me including falsehoods about the Woodwright incident while elevating Anna Luna’s candidacy. Headline: Anna Paulina Luna's first congressional challenger has checkered past” Subtitle: Democrat John Liccione who filed to run for the Pinellas seat in June has faced tresspassing and assault charges​​​​: ” John Liccione is a Candidate for US Congress in Florida’s 13th Congressional District Where he is the only declared Democratic Candidate running against Anna Luna in 2024. (VoteLiccione.org) He is also Founder and CEO of RussiLeaks, an online media company solely focused on exposing Putin’s secrets and those of his agents on American soil. He is also the Founder and CEO of Leaks Media, a start-up media company whose mission is “Exposing the Secrets of the Enemies of Democracy.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/21/2188287/-The-Day-the-Woody-Guthrie-Music-Refused-to-Die-in-Ron-DeSantis-Hometown-Part-1-Die-Hate-Cry Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/