Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie, Carnegie Hall
July 10, 2015 8:36 PM Subscribe
Pete and Arlo, Carnegie Hall, November 30, 2013. Pete died on January 27, 2014.
I watched the first few minutes. Does the sound quality get better as it goes on?
posted by layceepee at 9:00 PM on July 10, 2015
posted by layceepee at 9:00 PM on July 10, 2015
No, no it doesn't. But watching Pete's face as he participates is worth the time you'll spend watching.
posted by HuronBob at 9:18 PM on July 10, 2015
posted by HuronBob at 9:18 PM on July 10, 2015
But watching Pete's face as he participates is worth the time you'll spend watching.
It’s more like it’s a performance for him not by him.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:49 PM on July 10, 2015
It’s more like it’s a performance for him not by him.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:49 PM on July 10, 2015
It's also worth marvelling, fucking marvelling at how good his voice was at 94. It seems clean living and decency have their rewards after all.
posted by howfar at 2:50 AM on July 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by howfar at 2:50 AM on July 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Tears, rare, to my eyes. Thanks for posting.
Is the young woman beside him a Guthrie or a Seeger?
posted by mmiddle at 4:42 AM on July 11, 2015
Is the young woman beside him a Guthrie or a Seeger?
posted by mmiddle at 4:42 AM on July 11, 2015
Looks like Arlo's daughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie.
About 15 years ago, I was living in Orlando and had annual passes to Disney. I used it as a place to walk & people watch. I was doing my loop around Epcot not paying attention to where I was going and ran right into Arlo Guthrie - who I've loved since I was kiddo. I don't tend to get star struck but I could barely manage to get out a polite "Oh! I'm sorry!" before attempting to flee in embarrassment. But he just gave this super kind and forgiving look that was so welcoming. We must have talked for 5 minutes. I don't remember about what, some sort of small talk about whatever country we were near, but I will never forget that look.
Turned out that he & Sarah were playing at the American Pavilion an hour or two later. Really a great show for the venue & audience - most of whom didn't give a squat about who was performing and just wanted to sit for a few minutes while they gnawed on a turkey leg. Still, they managed to get the crowd engaged in a way no other performer I'd seen there had managed. Some sing-alongs, some great ramblin' folk. A perfect break from the Disneyness of everything there.
posted by imbri at 6:11 AM on July 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
About 15 years ago, I was living in Orlando and had annual passes to Disney. I used it as a place to walk & people watch. I was doing my loop around Epcot not paying attention to where I was going and ran right into Arlo Guthrie - who I've loved since I was kiddo. I don't tend to get star struck but I could barely manage to get out a polite "Oh! I'm sorry!" before attempting to flee in embarrassment. But he just gave this super kind and forgiving look that was so welcoming. We must have talked for 5 minutes. I don't remember about what, some sort of small talk about whatever country we were near, but I will never forget that look.
Turned out that he & Sarah were playing at the American Pavilion an hour or two later. Really a great show for the venue & audience - most of whom didn't give a squat about who was performing and just wanted to sit for a few minutes while they gnawed on a turkey leg. Still, they managed to get the crowd engaged in a way no other performer I'd seen there had managed. Some sing-alongs, some great ramblin' folk. A perfect break from the Disneyness of everything there.
posted by imbri at 6:11 AM on July 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
The thing that always amazed me about Pete Seeger is the transparent depth of his sincerity, like being able to see to the bottom of a well. He can sing about something otherwise trite, like world peace, and for those few minutes, make you believe that it's possible.
posted by WCWedin at 7:20 AM on July 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by WCWedin at 7:20 AM on July 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
Reminds me of a line the Chesterton gives to Father Brown.
"It's just because I have picked a little about mystics that I have no use for mystagogues. Real mystics don't hide mysteries, they reveal them. They set a thing up in broad daylight, and when you've seen it it's still a mystery. But the mystagogues hide a thing in darkness and secrecy, and when you find it, it's a platitude."
What Pete Seeger revealed was the mystery of kindness, hope and gentle humanity. He showed us that these things are not grand, trite schemes, but simple, profound human actions. We may well never have world peace, but what Seeger was so good at showing us was that won't be because it isn't possible.
If John Lennon was the mystagogue of the peace movement, Seeger was its mystic.
posted by howfar at 7:38 AM on July 11, 2015 [9 favorites]
"It's just because I have picked a little about mystics that I have no use for mystagogues. Real mystics don't hide mysteries, they reveal them. They set a thing up in broad daylight, and when you've seen it it's still a mystery. But the mystagogues hide a thing in darkness and secrecy, and when you find it, it's a platitude."
What Pete Seeger revealed was the mystery of kindness, hope and gentle humanity. He showed us that these things are not grand, trite schemes, but simple, profound human actions. We may well never have world peace, but what Seeger was so good at showing us was that won't be because it isn't possible.
If John Lennon was the mystagogue of the peace movement, Seeger was its mystic.
posted by howfar at 7:38 AM on July 11, 2015 [9 favorites]
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