Photo details: Flickr/Eric Richardson, DU.com/Kadie

Americans’ anger over AIG’s publicly funded executive bonuses may make this the last “Why are we not rioting?” post. First, one more observer remarks on the stateside calm, blaming low levels of unionization while seeing sparks of resistance in hundreds of homeowners picketing a mortgage financier’s Connecticut home. But there’s union help in spreading the word about anti-AIG-themed economic protests planned for Thursday at sites across the country. They’ll have to draw the advertised 10,000 to the streets without us: The Minneapolis protest is set for “500 Griswold St, Detroit, MI,” time TBA.

As usual, California is ahead of the curve, with a lightly attended anti-AIG demonstration yesterday, documented here. Another protest at Wall Street will take place April 3-4.

None of it will likely reach the heights Fox’s Sean Hannity hoped for late last month with an online poll asking which sort of revolution (right wing, natch) viewers prefer:

Atmosphere at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Allison Moorer and Steve Earle at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Billy Bragg at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Onstage performers invoked the names of Woody Guthrie, the Clash, and James Brown, among others, with Morello embodying the lineup’s unusual nexus of hip-hop and folk leftism as he took the stage with an acoustic guitar scrawled with the words “Whatever it takes” (a nod to Guthrie, who wrote “This machine kills fascists” on his). Covering Rage and bringing members of Iraq Veterans Against the War to the stage behind him, he somehow persuaded a sea of tattooed under-30-year-olds to sing and clap along to Guthrie’s clunky national anthem “This Land Is Your Land.” Bragg (who could later be seen head-bobbing to Atmosphere) had already told the crowd that the event reminded him of London’s Rock Against Racism show in 1978, where he first saw the Clash.

“Labor doesn’t belong to any country, any party,” he said.

Tom Morello at Take Back Labor Day with Iraq Veterans against the War (photo: Tony Nelson)

The Pharcyde at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Crowd at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Showtime and Myth, two b-boys on the grass near the stage, had never heard of Bragg or Steve Earle–they were here for Mos Def–but popped and locked to Earle’s DJ-accompanied rendition of the theme from HBO’s The Wire. (On that show, Earle plays the most iconic AA sponsor this side of Morgan Freeman in Clean and Sober.) Allison Moorer sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” And Mos Def (with his acting mentor Giancarlo Esposito in the wings) covered Brigadier Jerry’s “Jamaica Jamaica.” Atmosphere’s Slug dedicated “Yesterday,” a song for his late father, to George Carlin. Like the guitar says, whatever it takes.

Postscript: Not so peaceful. Most of us there didn’t know that arrests were taking place near the Wabasha Bridge down by the river within earshot of Atmosphere’s set–it was all over by the time I biked over. The irony is that the song, “Always Coming Back Home to You,” is partly about how relatively peaceful this city is. Watch the footage from theuptake above.

Here are some more photos from the show by Tony Nelson:

Steve Earle at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Atmosphere at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

The Pharcyde at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)