Episode 4: The Underground Railroad
I Was Never There
Acast Creative Studios
4.6 • 759 Ratings
🗓️ 16 June 2022
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Marsha’s bar was much more than a place to grab a drink. It was ground zero for a cultural revolution, a haven of progressive politics, free expression, and creativity. In an episode brimful of music, we hear recollections from the musicians, teens, and bartenders of two extraordinary community projects that would ultimately be Marsha’s swan song and establish her as a folk hero.
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I Was Never There is a Wonder Media Network production. It's hosted by Jamie Zelermyer and Karen Zelermyer. It's produced by Allie Wollner, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, and Liz Smith. It's edited by Jenny Kaplan and Liz Smith. Our executive producers are Jenny Kaplan, Jamie Zelermyer and Karen Zelermyer. Production assistance by Alesandra Tejeda. Our music supervisor is Sarah Tembeckjian. The theme music is "Take Me Home, Country Roads" performed by Brandi Carlile, courtesy of Elektra Records / A Low Country Sound, written by John Denver, Taffy Nivert, William Thomas Danoff.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Marcia's bar encapsulated her vibe. |
| 0:04.3 | It was a potent mix of music, politics, and partying. |
| 0:14.3 | Does anybody having fun out there yet? |
| 0:17.3 | We're rocking against violence tonight. |
| 0:20.5 | And I think it's for a pretty good cause. |
| 0:22.6 | I want you all to look around you and see all the people you're here with |
| 0:26.6 | to think about this cause and think while we're all here together |
| 0:29.6 | and realize that we can't get anything done by ourselves and on our own |
| 0:33.6 | because all of you need each other to rock against violence. |
| 0:41.1 | Everybody need somebody. |
| 0:45.5 | That's Shanks, Swing, and the Divots, one of the bar's regular local bands. |
| 0:51.8 | They were playing at one of the many benefits Marcia hosted at the Underground Railroad. |
| 0:58.0 | In 1982, six years after she moved to Morgantown, Marcia opened her bar at 1-2-3 Pleasant |
| 1:05.3 | Street in what had been a bar and music venue called Mateo's. But when Marcia took over, she really upped the |
| 1:14.1 | game. One of the first things she did to redecorate was commission a life-size mural of one of |
| 1:20.3 | her she-rose, Harriet Tubman. But Marcia's transformation of the bar went way beyond the cosmetic. |
| 1:29.3 | Thanks to her vision, what had been for many decades a local dive bar became the beating |
| 1:35.0 | heart of Morgantown's music scene, and a beacon of progressive political action. |
| 1:41.6 | This place, this time, is why people remember Marcia as a folk hero. |
| 1:50.0 | Marsha's back to the land era had ended, but in Morgantown, she was still fueled by the same |
| 1:56.5 | three M's that got us down to West Virginia in the first place. Music, magic, and marijuana. |
| 2:05.3 | The bar was the perfect place where she could continue channeling all three, until one of those |
... |
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