I was 15 years old the day I met Pete Seeger.
4,000 or so people at the grand old Auditorium Theater in Chicago. Mesmerized by the rail thin guy, sleeves rolled up in his flannel shirt singing at the center of a bare stage.
Just him and a guitar or banjo.
I have rolled up the sleeves of my flannel shirt ever since.
No one else up there but him.
After the concert; clutching a piece of paper signed by the advisor to the Radio Club at my high school, standing at the stage door; somehow someone actually let me follow a line of journalists up on to the stage of the emptying theater.
Standing with a crowd of about 20; surrounding Pete Seeger who was politely answering questions. Looking out on to the oceans of empty seats, all the house lights up; it was finally my turn.
High School Radio Reporter ready for his moment. Sticking out my gangly arm to shake hands with the great man; and drawn in by the kindly eyes of time, he said; "And what can I do for you, young man?"
Open mouth, eyes wide and forgetting every imagined, written out and approved by my the radio club teacher; I stammered: "Ah. . .um. . . thank you sir."
He smiled and said "Why, you're welcome." And then here's what happened. I have never forgotten this sight. And I never will.
Pete Seeger, who had just sang by himself to thousands, and sang about what really mattered, picked up his guitar case in one hand, his banjo case in another, hopped down the steps on the side of the stage, came back to he center aisle; and proceeded to walk up the center aisle towards the back of the theater.
Then, all of us real and would be reporters following him; watched him walk out the front door of the Auditorium Theater, out into the horns blaring, bright light Chicago night, hold up his guitar case to hail a cab; get in to the first one that stopped and drive away into the darkness.
He will sing forever. About what's important.
But what's really amazing is that when you listen to him sing; you'll sing too.
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Pete and Toshi are still alive, still married.
I was nine when Pete Seeger's sister Peggy, who was married to Scottish folksinger Ewan McColl, encouraged him to listen to my Uncle Matt (McGinn's) recordings. He not only listened, he met Uncle Matt, and brought him to the US to join a concert tour. I first met Pete when I was nine; he was awfully tall, awfully kind, awfully good with kids. I liked him right away.
BTW, as a result of Pete's interest, my Uncle Matt's American debut was at Carnegie Hall. A young Bob Dylan was one of the opening acts. He asked my uncle, backstage, if he could borrow a nailclipper. This was not an article Glasgow men generally carried, so my uncle missed an opportunity to get some of Bob Dylan's DNA!
Thanks for your post; I love Pete Seeger.
Here's the link for the Nobel Prize movement: http://nobelprize4pete.org/
I will be grateful forever.
~
The You Tube You chose?
inch by inch brings tears,
and I once sang it in NYC.
I sang like wet wool alpaca?
I sung in a commode bucket?
I was so low-key folk moaned.
Seeger sings:`People need to give a little shit.
Adults have screwed this beautiful land up bad.
He told this to children:`Give a little shit shit shit!
~
Please.
I'll listen and re-listen to Seeger. The rain is coming a- tumbling down now.
I'll go play
on a seesaws
Plant Ya roes
short or long.
tears yield love
a prayer and songs.
Oh soliloquy Yes!
Hamlet's soliloquy
To Be Or Not To Be.
A thief's are `round.
~
The www.HuffingtonPost.com has:`A Winnie The Pooh piece on Swine Flue.
Tim Meadows has a piece on Torture. Susan Bs sex. Ay, Whoopee.
Yea, the heehaws.
I gonna heehaws.
I gotta go get fed.
~
rain inch by inch
breath by breath
and the seeds grow.
Here's the link to my site for my comments, which credits yours: http://open.salon.com/blog/helen_oreilly/2009/05/01/somebody_get_pete_seeger_a_nobel_price_stat_hes_90
I don't consider myself a star-struck kind of person. But it was one of my only star-struck moments.
What a man Pete Seeger is. I love looking at the transcripts of him being hauled before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A brave, principled voice.
And Arthur---I am honored to draw a response from you---my first time! Thank you!
I am GUESSING Pete's commercial success was quite large (imagine the residuals on "If I Had a Hammer" alone. . .but of course I'm also imagining he doesn't care."
The last time I saw him was at the People's Church on Lawrence in Uptown.
His voice was gone---but it didn't matter.
We all sang extra loud.
(PS---my aplogies for the formatting---I tried 1/2 a dozen times to put paragraphs in this but it never took---oh well---listen to the song. That's the point! So on Sunday May 3rd---Happy Birthday to Wendy my sister---and to Pete!)
Monte
Like Procopius's brother, I stumbled upon Seeger playing in NYC, no pretenses, on a corner just making people smile and allowing us to sing along.
I wish I could be at that show on Sunday but I guess I'll have to settle for watching the PBS broadcast later this year.
Rated for reminding us to sing along!
The last time I spoke to him was on the eve of his departure from Beacon to sing at the Inaugural. The news peg was that this iconic figure had been invited to sing at the event by Bruce Springsteen. Pete doesn't know me from Adam. But we had a 20-minute conversation anyway that I found to be very revealing.
Yes, he was honored to be asked to sing by Bruce. But you know, he said, these big rallies don't work very well musically. By the time you've sung the words, they haven't reached half the audience.
He said it had only really worked for him once, in 1969, at an anti-war rally. "And you know what song we sang?" he said.
"All we are saying, is give peace a chance. . . ."
Only he didn't just say the words. He sang them. The entire first verse.
Yeah, he was excited enough about Washington. But what he said he was REALLY excited about was Monday. What was Monday, I asked. "Martin Luther King's birthday," he said kindly. He went on to explain, in a voice that betrayed his excitement, that he'd be singing at a black church in Beacon, surrounded by the church choir and kids from a nearby school.
Anyone else in the world? They'd have been yammering about themselves and The Boss. But Pete Seeger's not like anyone else in the world.
You can often find him on Sunday afternoon in Beacon, doing what people call his Sidewalk Sessions. Here's a link. http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=beacon+ny+and+pete+seeger&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=BK78SciaBaHItgf3xI2jDQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
May we all be as involved in our communities and generous with our time as Pete Seeger has always been. The guy is unbelievable.
Thanks for the reminder, Chicago.