This is pretty cool - I'm at a starbucks in Houston, and Woody Guthrie comes on....

[Richardo]

..."This Land is Your Land."

And several people in the place sing the chorus spontaneously. :sniff:

[JitterbugPerfume]

1. that is awesome

wow

[Brigid]

2. That is really cool.

Maybe there's hope for this country after all. :)

[taterguy]

3. There's no hope for this country as long as people are hanging out at Starbucks

Obviously

[Brigid]

6. Not so obvious.

Why not? I hang out at Starbucks occasionally.

[Richardo]

8. Did I mention I drove here?

...almost ran down a couple of bike-riders, too. For sport.

[Bunny]

9. .

:spray:




:hi: Richardo! :loveya:

[madinmaryland]

13. Lighten up, Francis!

[Schema Thing]

4. That's cool. I just met his sister Mary Jo on Friday...

... at the Woody Guthrie folk festival. She's a sweetheart; insisted on giving my group a ride back to our campground after we met her at breakfast.


One of the musicians I met there, a young guy (maybe 20?) named Sam, had the experience of performing, on Thanksgiving day, in the actual Alices Restaurant, with Arlo Guthrie in the audience.

[Richardo]

10. wow, that is great - glad some of the Guthries are still around...

:patriot:

[Jeep789]

12. Unfortunately, Arlo is a Republican and supported Ron Paul

Wtf? :banghead:

[Schema Thing]

14. ouch. really?

that's disappointing.

[Zomby Woof]

19. Arlo just wants pot legalized

...and is against the war in Iraq - which describes 99% of DU, and makes up two planks of Paul's platform.

His support of Ron Paul is severely disappointing, however. Why latch onto a candidate for those 2 planks and no others? Considering Arlo still does Farm Aid and is involved in other progressive causes, it does make me want to bang my head too.

Outside of those 2 reasons, I don't believe he has joined the Republican party. Woody would rise from the grave and kick his ass.

Just listened to Vol. 1 of Woody's "Mo Asch Recordings" last night, which has several versions of "This Land...", including one with the rarely heard "private property" lyrics. I was ecastatic when Pete Seeger sang those lyrics to Obama at the pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

Pete and Arlo are old friends, because of Pete's ties to Woody. I have to wonder how their conversations went last year.

[Jeep789]

22. His reasoning is a bit convoluted

“I don’t think it’s as important as we tend to believe,” he said. “Whoever the president is, is one thing. But what’s more interesting to me is who the people are. And we’re sorta coming to a time when we’re beginning to believe that the people are actually more important than who the president is. We see that in the kind of candidates who are doing well. You see it in the hope and support for candidates like Barack Obama.

“I don’t know if many people would actually believe this: I’m a registered Republican. So the only guy that I could vote for during the primary was my buddy Ron Paul. A lot of people badmouth him, but I think the guy’s terrific so I’ve endorsed him. But I fully expect that when the election comes around, I’ll be voting for Obama.”

Arlo Guthrie a Republican?

“Over the last eight years,” he explained, “that’s where the fight has been. The fight is not between the Republicans and Democrats; it’s within the Republican Party as to what does it mean to be American these days. I think that’s where the more intriguing fight is going on, so I thought that’s where I need to be.”

http://www.jimnewsom.com/PFW2008/020508-ArloGuthrie.html

[Zomby Woof]

23. Ugh

So he IS a registered Republican after all.

Very sad.

Thanks for setting the record straight. I was incorrect and out-of-date. :-)

[hippywife]

15. Would that have been Sam Baker?

I live about 45 minutes to an hour away from Okemah. We haven't gone in a couple of years because we can't take the heat in the pasture anymore. Plus I can't have prolonged exposure to the sun anymore. But I miss going a lot. Don Conoscenti is my favorite performer there.

Hope you had a great time! :hi:

[Schema Thing]

21. nope, not him. this guy was seemed quite young.

I don't think he has any fame to speak of, although Mary Jo Guthrie knew him.


I had a great time; but didn't even make it to the main stage at all. We just hung out and car camped overnight at the campgrounds. It was a rather unplanned detour actually, my travel mate had friends who were going to be there. Mercifully, the weather cooled to 80 or so, with a nice constant breeze Thursday night.

[mix]

5. beautiful

[datasuspect]

7. woodie guthrie would be considered a radical leftist extremist incendiary

by many people in power today. the reagan revolution was the antidote to the populism of the early 30s which found its ultimate expression during the civil rights movement and the vietnam war. the impetus toward crushing the voice of the american people also involved lots of history editing. the apocryphal tale of the "vietnam vet getting spit on" was a complete fabrication on the part of the government, media, and institutions to ridicule and demean the idea of the common person petitioning the government for redress of grievances. it made protestors look silly and that attitude resonates among many on the right and left who claim that direct action accomplishes little.

the skew toward centrist-rightism on the left has helped to ensure that the common person will have no voice in the body politic.

two optional verses to that song:

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?

As I went walking, I saw a sign there,
And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing."
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!
That side was made for you and me.

[hippywife]

16. He was considered

that back then, too, so it's not like it would be a huge stretch. :rofl: :hi:

[Strong Atheist]

11. Recommended,

dammit! x(

[Fran Kubelik]

17. Love it!

:bounce:

[mdmc]

18. I live in Pete Seeger country

Pete lives across the river from me

Cool story

[triguy46]

20. Hm. Woody? Back from the dead? Or is this a metaphor?