On Saturday May 19th portoluz is hosting a once-in-a-lifetime star studded concert to honor the 100th birthday and legacy of Woody Guthrie.  

While we are completely independent and unaffiliated with any  summit activities, the concert will be one of the cultural capstones of  the activities taking place during the G8/NATO summit in Chicago 

portoluz is seeking to raise sufficient funds from individuals and foundations to support  this gala concert so that we can keep our ticket prices and the event affordable to youth and lower income attendees.  

We are seeking contributions of at least $1,000 from foundations discretionary funds and private donors to help us meet our production costs .    

The tentative lineup of artists includes: Lila Downs, Tom Morello, Jon Langford, Son del Viento, The Klezmatics, Toshi Reagon,Billy Branch, Bucky Halker,Holly Near, Rob Wasserman, Kevin Coval and others.     

If you are not personally able to contribute won't you please consider either  passing this along to someone else who may share our love of Woody or provide us with a contact name of a potential contributor?   

Contributors at the $1,000 level will be guaranteed VIP seating and acknowledgment in all of our outreach materials (if desired)   

With Many Thanks  

Marguerite Horberg  

for portoluz 

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Woody Guthrie,  a timeless voice  

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (July 14, 1912 - October 3, 1967) is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his guitar. His best-known song is "This Land Is Your Land". Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress. Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional folk and blues songs. Many of his songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression, earning him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour".

Read Bill Moyers on Woody

"Woody is just Woody. Thousands of people do not know he has any other name. He is just a voice and a guitar. He sings the songs of a people and I suspect that he is, in a way, that people. Harsh voiced and nasal, his guitar hanging like a tire iron on a rusty rim, there is nothing sweet about Woody, and there is nothing sweet about the songs he sings. But there is something more important for those who will listen. There is the will of a people to endure and fight against oppression. I think we call this the American spirit."- JOHN STEINBECK