National College Players Association - United Steelworkers

Grammy-winner roots rocker Dave Alvin, a son of aSteelworker, entertained delegates and guests foran evening at the USW Convention in Las Vegas.Joined by his band, “The Guilty Ones,” his setincluded, “Gary, Indiana, 1959,” an ode to the national steelstrike that year and the slow, steady decline that followed.Behind his searing guitar, he sang:“The factories are in ruinsdecent jobs hard to findYou can’t get aheadno matter how hard you try ‘cause the big boysmake the rulestough luck for everyone else out on the streetsit’s every man for himself”“I was just channeling my dad,” Alvin told InternationalPresident Leo W. Gerard after the show. Cas Alvin, his father,was an organizer in the U.S. southwest and an editor ofSteelabor magazine.Dave Alvin and his older brother Phil, also a musician,spent their childhood in a working-class neighborhood insuburban Los Angeles. In 1979, they founded the Blasters, arock and roll group.Their father’s work took him to steel mill communitiesin California and to copper and coal mines in Arizona, Utah,New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. Sometimes the brotherswould tag along to union events and travel with him onorganizing drives during school vacations.“Dad was a dedicated union man,” Alvin said. “In fact,I’m named after Steelworker President David McDonald.”His brother Phil is named for Philip Murray, the USW’s firstpresident and director of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee(SWOC).You can check out “Gary, Indiana, 1959” on Dave’s recentrelease “Eleven Eleven” and find out more about him and hismusic at http://www.davealvin.net/Dave AlvinPhoto by Steve Dietz20 USW@Work • Fall 2011