On Monday, June 20, Larry Long will be releasing the video for Living in a Rich Man’s World, the first of three music videos from Long’s forthcoming disc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXJkLPaqL9k. Long’s “Rich Man” video is slated for wide release on social media outlets, his website and YouTube.
The video captures haunting and heroic images shot by famous photographers and those from the many social justice struggles he’s helped out with through the decades in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, from the recent Black Lives Matter marches to the Farmers Tractorcade to Washington DC in 1979 and the American Indian Movement (AIM).
The American landscape that folksinger and community builder Larry Long sang about on his first album 37 years ago, Living In A Rich Man’s World, doesn’t look dramatically different from the one he sings about now as he reinvents it as a rock song in an uplifting new video of the same title. The re-imagined song is included in Long’s new recording, Walking Like Rain, which will be released on Veterans Day, November 11, 2016, at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.
“I wrote ‘Living In A Rich Man’s World’ as a young man. Now three decades later, I’ve returned to it with inspiration from the political activism of the Millennial generation, ” Long says. “My cousin, Melvin James, charting artist with MCA Records, electrified the song with his guitar playing and production skills. Master filmmaker Bob Trench captured its message on film.”
“Some have said ‘Living In A Rich Man’s World’ is more relevant today than when it was written, with the disparity between the rich and the poor getting wider everyday,” Long adds. “This economic inequality seems intentional and comes at a great cost to our democracy. Taxes on the wealthy get cut, while we foot the bill to bail out the corporations who put us in this mess. It’s socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. As Noam Chomsky says, ‘Concentrated wealth creates concentrated power.’ Just look at federal government: Half of our members of congress are millionaires. Thankfully we have a new generation to join us in the fight for economic justice.”
Documentary Photographers Andrew Goetz, Dick Bancroft, and Long’s Own Photos Underscore Video Impact
The images seen within the music video will take you through most of Long’s life journey as a troubadour. But a big chunk of those photographs also come from internationally known and beloved photographers and documentarians:
- Dick Bancroft: Bancroft has given his entire life to documenting the struggles of First Nation people, with an emphasis on the American Indian Movement (AIM). He published a book in 2013 entitled, We Are Still Here: A Photographic History Of The American Indian Movement (Borealis Books, and Minnesota Historical Society).
- Andrew Goetz: His photographs have appeared in The New York Times, Forbes Magazine and other places. He was the chief photographer for Voodoo Music and Arts Experience, Essence Music Festival and New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Long worked with Andrew in partnership with Program for Rural Services and Research (PRSR) at the University of Alabama in over 27 Alabama rural communities throughout the 1990’s on up to the present day. His stellar portraits of Alabama elders are seen throughout this music video.
- Powerline Protests: The photographs of farmers fighting a high-voltage power line being forcibly put up on their land in central Minnesota comes from Professor Luther Gerlach, University of Minnesota. Senator Paul Wellstone & Dr. Barry Casper later wrote a book about this conflict entitled, Powerline: The First Battle of America’s Energy War.
Long’s historic images in the film include:
- The march with Black Lives Matter in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- The protest sign wired to the grill of a tractor which traveled from Minnesota to our nation’s capitol with the American Agriculture Movement
- The tragic image of a man on the steps in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- The canoe flotilla down the Mississippi River to organize communities to clean up the river.
- The Zulu Choir with whom he taught “Living In A Rich Man’s World” outside of Durban, South Africa
About Melvin James, Recording Artist and Music Producer
Melvin James is a former MCA Billboard charting recording artist, singer, songwriter, performer, and music producer with original works in over 16 major motion pictures. Melvin James currently owns and operates the recording studio, Melville Sound in St. Paul, Minnesota.
About Bob Trench, Film Director
With over 30 years of experience in visual communications, Bob Trench is the director of the upcoming documentary film entitled Dodging Bullets, a film that focuses on indigenous peoples struggles with Historical Trauma. Based in Minneapolis, Trench oversees a film company that focuses on social awareness short and long form films. Trench’s experience extends to a number of notable not-for-profit organizations including the Children’s Cancer Research Fund, Pay it Forward Fund, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and The Bridge for Youth.
For more information — or to interview Larry Long about his career and the release of “Living In A Rich Man’s World” video – please contact Martin Keller. Media Savant Communications, 612-729-8585, mkeller@mediasavantcom.com