I came along after the folk music craze had lost steam. Groups like the Kingston Trio give me hives. Pete Seeger, on the other hand, was not just an element of a craze. He supported migrant farmworkers, union organizers, the anti-war movement (except World War II, he served in that and believed we had to "lick Mr. Hitler"), the environmental movement and the no-nukes movement. He joined the Communist Party and later drifted away. He was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and invoked his First Amendment right of free association. He was blacklisted. He taught children. A good life. Arlo Guthrie said "Well, of course he passed away! But that doesn't mean he's gone."
I first heard of Amiri Baraka when I read a book about humor from the Anza Branch Library. It talked about his play
The Dutchman, and called him LeRoi Jones, which I thought was an interesting-looking name. He generated a lot of controversy with his poetry and his statements, but he was an artist. I listened to his son's eulogy on KPOO. He talked about his father's spirituality and how the home was always full of jazz and artists and food.
Bud Spangler was a drummer, a record producer, and a radio producer and artist. I remember him on KJAZ, where he produced a show with Turk Murphy. Later, I listened to his "Sunday Night Suites," a series of remote broadcasts on KCSM. I borrowed the photo from Wikipedia.