Tag Archives: Arlo Guthrie

Happy Thanksgiving: Two Chances for Alice’s Restaurant

Alice’s Restaurant is experiencing a 50th Anniversary bump.

Tune in to your local radio station at noon to hear Arlo Guthrie’s famous Thanksgiving, Draft Resisting, Garbage Dumping, Epic.

And, at 8pm, you can watch an Alice’s Restaurant special program on PBS.  More info, and some links at our onthewilderside website: here

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Check out our PeaceCouple post on “The Genius of Alice’s Restaurant”: here (with preview below)

Reflections from December 2012, excerpt from “The Genius of Alice’s Restaurant”

… I realized a little after 12 noon this Thanksgiving that Arlo Guthrie has had a much broader cultural impact in terms of bringing a progressive message to the general population than his father, Woody Guthrie…

The Genius of “Alice’s Restaurant”

I realized a little after 12 noon this Thanksgiving that Arlo Guthrie has had a much broader cultural impact in terms of bringing a progressive message to the general population than his father, Woody Guthrie.   As a reader of this post is probably aware, across the radio dial across the United States, it is a tradition to play Arlo Guthrie’s song, Alice’s Restaurant at 12 noon on Thanksgiving.  This tradition has been going on for four decades.  We are not just talking about the anti-war song being played on granola-crunchy college radio stations.  I listened to Alice’s Restaurant on a Clear Channel owned classic rock station that won’t even play Imagine most of the year.  The DJ announced and dedicated the song as a favorite Thanksgiving tradition of a recently deceased listener.  No mention was made of the song’s lengthy anti-war message.  The song had transcended into a widely-celebrated annual tradition for the general population who never expresses a sentiment about war for the rest of the year.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8DtpdXZi0M]

Continue reading The Genius of “Alice’s Restaurant”

I’m gonna get throught this world: Peace Song for 11/28/2011

Gonna Get Through This World is the Peace Song of the Day for 11/28/2011. The lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1945. The words were put to music by Lisa Gutkin of The Klezmatics in 2003. Arlo Guthrie and family performed this song at Carnegie Hall this past Saturday, November 26, 2011.

Continue reading I’m gonna get throught this world: Peace Song for 11/28/2011

You can get anything you want: Peace Song for 11/26/2011

Update: Saw Arlo Guthrie and family perform at Carnegie Hall tonight (11/26/2011). He mentioned his support for the occupy movement. Talked about marching to the Occupy Wall Street concert with Pete Seeger. And, spoke strongly about the need for unions. He performed “All Over The World”, with a mention of occupation.

Alice’s Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie is the Peace Song of the Day for November 26th. It’s not the kind of song most folks memorize and sing at demonstrations. But, it is a great diatribe against war. And, the chorus is catchy…”You can get, anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant…”

Here’s a link, if you want to sing along: Youtube of Alice’s Restaurant: here.

The Duke and Duchess will be making their annual pilgrimage to Carnegie Hall tonight. Arlo performs at Carnegie Hall the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year. The show is an extension of the Carnegie Hall shows that the Weaver used to do.

Most years, in addition to beautiful music, and hippie bonding, something exciting happens. Sometimes Pete Seeger shows up. Other times, there will be a timely and profound political reference, such as to acknowledge the injustices to immigrants on Long Island. We will give a report back, with this year’s highlights and surprises.

(And, of course, the answer to the big question…Will Arlo or will Arlo not play “Alice’s Restaurant” at Carnegie Hall this year? My guess: YES. And, I think he will add a reference to the occupations.)

Please feel free to add your review or thoughts in the comment section to this post. (We review and filter the comments about once a day).

Related post: Review of the 2008 Arlo at Carnegie Hall Show, with comments on the history of the show, the politics of Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and more: here.

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The Peace Song of the Day is a project of Duke Augustus and Duchess Susanna, The Duke and Duchess of Peace. The Duke and Duchess recognize that one of the paths to peace is to find soulful and nonviolent entertainment, and to express oneself with art and song.

Fri 10/22: Pete Seeger, Tao Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, in NYC

Link to youtube video of Pete Seeger marching through the streets, with entourage: here.

Link to video of Pete Seeger singing “We Shall Overcome”
at Columbus Circle, available at Michael Moore’s youtube: here.

Exciting news! Who do you know in New York City who would love to see a little folk music history? Tonight, Friday 10/21/2011 at Columbus Circle around midnight.

Iconic folk singer Pete Seeger and his grandson Tao will become the latest notable musicians to march in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protesters when they join up with the crowd tonight.

The march departs at 10:30 p.m. by Peter Jay Shape Theatre on Broadway and is expected to wrap up at midnight at Columbus Circle, where folk musicians are planning to stage a midnight occupation.

The march follows a performance featuring Pete Seeger and Tao Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and Suzanne Vega.

Peace Song of the Day: Sunday 7/17/2011

Woody Guthrie NYWTSDuke Augustus: Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) by Woody Guthrie. This song was chosen from Duchess Susanna’s copy of  Rise Up Singing .  This poem was written by Guthrie in response to the 1948 plane crash.  Over 60 years later, we are still fighting the same battle.  Ten years latter, Martin Hoffman wrote the music.  Pete Seeger and Woody’s son, Arlo, have popularized the song. Unfortunately, the racist attitudes in this song are as common today as they were when they were written 60 years ago.

This is video is a little shaky, but worth it to hear Arlo explain about how his father wrote the song:  Continue reading Peace Song of the Day: Sunday 7/17/2011

“Mothers, Daughters, Wives”: Peace Song for 7/14/2011

Mothers, Daughters, Wives” by Judy Small is the Royal Song of the Day. The lyrics can be found at Rise Up Singing, page 162.

Below is a heart-wrenching version by “The Corries”

Excerpt:

The first time it was fathers, the last time it was sons
And in between your husbands, marched away with guns & drums
And you never thought to question, you just went on with your lives
‘Cause all they’d taught you who to be was mothers, daughters, wives

Susanna, Duchess of Peace, tells more about today’s choice: Continue reading “Mothers, Daughters, Wives”: Peace Song for 7/14/2011