[2 articles]
Guthrie thankful for the chance to be on stage every night
http://wiltonvillager.com/story/494789
11/20/2010
By KEITH LORIA
Growing up with legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie as a father, Arlo
Guthrie was exposed at a young age to beat poets such as Allen
Ginsburg and Lord Buckley; musicians such as Bob Dylan, Jim Croce and
Joan Baez; and political, traditional and children's songs that have
become world famous.
"We were all expected to play music, but there was no real pressure
to do it professionally," Guthrie says. "My brother and sister and I
all learned how to read music when we were kids and we had to study a
little theory and play some instruments, so we had a classical
training as well as a back-porch picking mentality."
As he grew older, Guthrie became a popular folk singer on his own,
performing at Woodstock and other major festivals.
Although most of the play-it-by-ear folk stuff he learned as a kid
was what he used to map out his own career, the other half did have
some use when, in 1998, Guthrie created a program of symphonic
arrangements of his songs to perform with different symphony
orchestras throughout the U.S.
Now 63, Guthrie remains a big musical draw and is a natural-born
storyteller, whose tales and anecdotes figure prominently in his performances.
Guthrie and his band--composed of son Abe on keyboards, Terry A La
Berry on drums, Bobby Sweet on electric guitar, Jody Lamppro on bass
and The Burns Sisters on backup vocals -- will be at the Ridgefield
Playhouse tonight in a concert he dubs "Journey On."
"I'm so excited about this. You would think after almost 50 years on
the road you would be looking for a break, but I hate the nights
off," Guthrie says. "I love playing with these guys. I have never
done a tour where every performance has been beyond good, but this
tour is all nights of being great or really good and the audience loves it."
Perhaps known best for his 18-minute-plus folk ballad "Alice's
Restaurant," which tells the humorous tale of events surrounding a
Thanksgiving feast and makes some large political statements, Guthrie
has long been associated with the holiday.
This year, for the first time ever, he has been asked to be a part of
the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"Just to be in a parade of that magnitude, I was frankly amazed that
they asked and I thought it would be really fun and I knew my
grandkids would love it," he says. "It's kind of odd that just by a
quirky history I am associated with Thanksgiving to begin with, but
this is an opportunity to say hi to folks and it's a
once-in-a-lifetime thing, so I am looking forward to it."
Real Guthrie fans know that he hasn't played "Alice" in years, so
those heading to Ridgefield shouldn't expect to hear it, but there
will be plenty of other classics and surprises on the night.
"The only people who usually get upset are people who are not fans
and haven't followed me for 40 years or so, but most of my fans are
knowledgeable and know what to expect," he says. "There are old
classics that I love and the one's of mine that have been around for
a while, and some really great songs. New ones we are writing all the
time, some of my father's material... There is a spirit in all of
these songs that keeps those times and memories going."
With his 50th anniversary in the music world approaching, Guthrie
doesn't plan on doing anything special, but wants to keep having fun on stage.
"I did my first show in front of people in 1961, meaning next year
will be 50 years of doing this and I love it more than I ever have,"
Guthrie says. "I think what makes us have such longevity is I don't
only do songs in the key of me. If you've grown accustomed to
thinking a folk singer is someone who gets up there, complaining
about their life or how bad they feel, that's not what we do. For me,
it's about creating a soundtrack for people's lives."
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Folk music icon takes Kents Hill stage Thursday
http://www.kjonline.com/news/folk-music-icontakes-kents-hill-stage-thursday_2010-11-16.html
Director of performing arts center recalls seeing Arlo Guthrie
performance in 1967
By Mechele Cooper [email protected]
November 17, 2010
KENTS HILL -- George Dunn has only one thing to say to Arlo Guthrie
when he meets with him after the concert Thursday.
"I was there in '67."
Guthrie, the legendary singer/songwriter, is scheduled to perform at
Kents Hill School's Performing Arts Center at Newton Hall.
Dunn, director of the performing arts center, said he remembered when
Guthrie sang "Alice's Restaurant" at the Newport Folk Festival in
1967 as Guthrie's career was exploding.
"I was 17 years old and had gone to the festival with friends," the
60-year-old Dunn said Tuesday. "We all walked out of that concert
that night singing 'Alice's Restaurant' and 'The Motorcycle Song.'
They played ('Alice's Restaurant') on a radio station in New York and
it got really popular. (Guthrie) got booked for the folk festival and
he was a hit."
"Alice's Restaurant" went on to become a movie in 1969, in which
Guthrie played a starring role.
Dunn, who lived in Barrington, R.I., with his family in 1967, said he
still has the recording of the festival.
He said "Alice's Restaurant" is a real-life story of Guthrie's
teenage arrest for littering and subsequent confrontation with a
Vietnam War draft board.
Dunn said Guthrie was arrested for littering on Thanksgiving Day in
1965. He was taken to court, where a blind judge resided over his case.
"The judge was blind, and the arresting officer had taken all these
pictures," Dunn said. "The judge couldn't see the pictures because he
was blind, so he was given a $50 fine and told to go pick up trash. A
year later, after being called up by the draft, he ended up being
considered unfit for military service because of his criminal record.
It was typical of the time. As he said in the song, he was classified
as exempt from the draft in the Vietnam War, that never really was a
war, to go in and burn and kill and do all kinds of warlike destruction."
After the folk festival, Dunn, who now lives in Kents Hill, traveled
to Tanglewood in western Massachusetts to see The Who and then on to
Woodstock with a bunch of his friends.
"We saw (The Who) Tuesday night at Tanglewood then drove back to
Rhode Island on Thursday, and that night, left for Woodstock," he
said. "(Guthrie) was there, he played Friday night, but I didn't see
him. We had a great spot. I even got on stage."
Jason Hersom, spokesman for Kents Hill, said this is the second
concert in a series that supports the Aleigh Mills Scholarship Fund.
The scholarship is in memory of Mills, a 2006 Kents Hill graduate who
was killed by a former classmate in 2007.
Guthrie's "Journey On" concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tickets
cost $55 for general admission, $75 for VIP seating. Tickets are
available through the Kents Hill School Development Office, online at
www.kentshill.org/concertseries or by calling 685-4914.
--
Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, ext. 408
[email protected]
.
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