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From my book: THE PARAGRAPHS (which indirectly explains the context and source for UNKNOWN SOLDIER
i will never truly know. ever.
watching last weekend's Winter Soldier II (Iraq veterans against the war) i was struck by how distant i am from knowing, in any profound or visceral way, what it is that a soldier, any soldier, suffers. i've not been there to watch my comrade get shot to death or have his arm blown off. i've not been there when the machine gun in my hand severs the head of the 'enemy' while his son looks on. i've not been there arriving home, stepping off a bus, looking into the eyes of family, friends, loved ones and feeling that they can never comprehend where i have been, what i have seen or what i have done. i've not had my humanity trained out of me, dehumanizing and demonizing 'the other'. i've never known the screaming pain of having my leg exploded by a roadside bomb, my face acned with shrapnel or my mind lost in the paranoid nightmare of PTSD. i never will unless Jamaica Plain is invaded and i take up a butter knife to defend my old lady's railroad apartment. i sit stunned in front of the computer screen as i listen the story of the father who takes his 22 year old son's body into his arms and lifts him up out of the garden hose noose he had used to hang himself. i collect with others in the rain for an anti-war vigil by the JP Civil War Monument. we are few. cars honk by in the drizzle. our quiet assemblage is not noticed by anyone who has the power stop this war. my out of Iraq now sign blurs in the wet and assuages no one hurt or destroyed in battle. i fear this unknowing on my part although i am grateful to have never known the hot hell of war. i ache for those who cry out, but my pain is nothing compared to theirs. i 'think' - god bless you, but i don't know who or what god is.

Vets: Paul Oleary, Luke Overshiner, Matt Hogan
Still shot of Joe D’Entremont at the Moving Wall by Donna D’Entremont
Window open by the sea is from Ruthie Estrich’s condo in Marblehead.

Cast:
Rob Manochio (guitar/mandolin)
Ricky McLean (guitar, harmonica, vox)
Chris Antonowich (kit)
David Goodchild (bass/standup bass)
Sam Dudley (vox)
Zach Olson (sax)
Jane Mangini (organ)
Berlin (vox)

Studio:
Bitch Kitty (mixing/overdubs)
TJ Wenzl (engineer)
Zippah Recording Studios
Miranda Serra (engineer)
Produced by
TJ Wenzl w/ the band
Mastering
Zippah Studios
Brian Charles

Camera/Edit: Berlin
Song: Berlin
Lobsterland Publishing/ASCAP
berlinrick.com

credits

from GREAT BIG HOUSE, released July 4, 2019

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Rick Berlin (now playing w/ THE NICKEL & DIME BAND) image

Rick Berlin (now playing w/ THE NICKEL & DIME BAND) Jamaica Plain

A giant on the Boston music scene. His colorful songwriting + strong stage presence have influenced countless other artists since the early 1970s. He continues to make music w/ intelligence + integrity, building an international reputation around his knotty, singular piano playing, straight-from-the-heart singing and a style of character-based songwriting that's drawn comparisons to Waits + Cohen ... more

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