Back in 1968, a young folk singer named Arlo Guthrie ( son of famed folksinger Woody Guthrie of "This Land is Your Land, this Land is My Land " fame) burst upon the scene with his now famous song/narrative Alice's Restaurant. The song tells of Arlo and his friend's exploits on Thanksgiving Day of visiting their friend Alice and her husband Ray who lived in the bell tower of a renovated church in Stockbridge, Massachusettes. Alice and her husband had accumulated a half a ton of garbage where the church pews used to be so Arlo and his friend thought it would be a friendly gesture to empty it for them. They ended up throwing it over a cliff where a smaller pile of garbage was and were immediatley arrested. The song goes on to tell about Arlo's hilarious dealings with the draft board. The song became a huge hit and Arlo toured with it and even appeared at the famed Wooodstock Music festival in 1969 of which I was there. The song itself is 18 minutes and 30 seconds long. The same length as the famous gap in Presient Nixon's Watergate tapes that time of which Arlo now jokes about when he performs it.
Fast forward to 1992, 24 years later when I first started dating my now wife and faithful traveling companion, Judy. She said to me "Hon would you like to see Arlo Guthie in concert with my sister and me?" To which I replied,"Arlo Guthrie? Is he still around?" Well not only was he still around, but much to my delight it has become a tradition in our family to see him every Thanksgiving when he appears in our area alternating between Carnegie Hall in New York or New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. This year was no exception and we saw him in Newark.
Arlo is now 62 years old and has acquired quite a family who appear with him. His son Abe plays keyboards for him and has his own band which he performs and tours with. He has a daughter Sarah Lee Guthrie who is now 30 years old and is married to a singer Johnny Iron and they appear on their own as well as with Arlo. They have two children, Olivia and Sophia. Abe also tours with Tao Rodriguez who is Pete Seeger's grandson. I've seen them all in concert together over the years. Arlo has seven grandkids and has grown to look quite dashing with his constant childlike smile and long full pure white shoulder lengh hair. Quite a different look from the goofy kid on the cover of Alice's Restaurant.
Fast forward to 1992, 24 years later when I first started dating my now wife and faithful traveling companion, Judy. She said to me "Hon would you like to see Arlo Guthie in concert with my sister and me?" To which I replied,"Arlo Guthrie? Is he still around?" Well not only was he still around, but much to my delight it has become a tradition in our family to see him every Thanksgiving when he appears in our area alternating between Carnegie Hall in New York or New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. This year was no exception and we saw him in Newark.
Arlo is now 62 years old and has acquired quite a family who appear with him. His son Abe plays keyboards for him and has his own band which he performs and tours with. He has a daughter Sarah Lee Guthrie who is now 30 years old and is married to a singer Johnny Iron and they appear on their own as well as with Arlo. They have two children, Olivia and Sophia. Abe also tours with Tao Rodriguez who is Pete Seeger's grandson. I've seen them all in concert together over the years. Arlo has seven grandkids and has grown to look quite dashing with his constant childlike smile and long full pure white shoulder lengh hair. Quite a different look from the goofy kid on the cover of Alice's Restaurant.
Sunday's concert was nothing short of entertaining. A little more subdued than previous Arlo concerts, but very entertaining as usual. I went in a little apprehensive because it was billed as the Arlo Guthrie Family Rides Again tour featurng four generations of Guthries and I was hoping to see more of him and his regular band featuring his son Abe on keyboards, but I must say this family is a multitude of talent and I was pleasantly surprised. The show opened with Arlo' s oldest daughter Sarah Lee and her husband Johnny Iron doing a pleasant toe tapping song called "When the Lilacs are in bloom" based on an area in Western Massachusettes where they live. Sarah has a beautiful,melodic voice and both she and Johnny tour separately and both play mean acoustic guitars. I met Sarah during the intermission and told her how much she is like her father with telling stories and playing guitar. She replied smiling and sweetly "I'm a little too much like him I think." :D
During the songs more and more Guthries slowly appeared on the stage. Arlo has three daughters and his son Abe and they all have kids all singing in the family. The grandchildren range from ages 2 to 18 years . Next came Sarah's sister Kathy who did a humorous song titled "Shit makes the flowers grow." The words go "I wonder where you came from./ Well now I know/ Shit makes the flowers grow." This got a huge laugh from the audience and the tune was very catchy.
Arlo's sister and his aunt have been spending the last few years cataloguing his father's (Woody Guthrie) songs of which there are close to 3000. This concert was dedicated to interpreting and performing some of the more familiar ones and some not so familiar ones. Woody also wrote some children's songs. Sarah Lee did a children's song she wrote called "Take me to show and Tell" where you had to make up verses all rhyming with the letter 'L'. When they got to Arlo he sang, "Don't take me to show and tell/I won't do that well/I'll feel like I'm in hell." :D
No concert would be complete without Arlo doing his famous "Coming into Los Angeles" which he sang at Woodstock. Arlo recountered how with the last 40th anniversary he was beseiged by reporters asking him about Woodstock. He replied," I told them I made it there. That's all I remember." :D.
At the end Arlo did his dad's famous "This Land is Your land."Arlo recalled how when his mother went to China with a group of Americans she saw some school children singing "This land is Your land" and said 'Stop the song. My husband wrote that song." Arlo replied to her,"but Ma, from California to the New York skyline?" Why would Chinese children be singing that?" She said "Oh Arlo" and turned and walked away. It wasn't until years later that it hit him he said. You don't have to take that short cut, you can go the other way around and that way the whole world can sing "This land is Your land." :D
I have posted three youtube links below for your enjoyment. One is Arlo singing Alice's restaurant in the church that is now the Guthrie Center from 2005. Another is Arlo doing This Land is Your Land with him stopping in the middle to tell a story that he's so famous for and then continuing with the song again and the third one is fromWoodstock singing "Coming into Los Angeles" (not necessarily in that order). You'll notice how young he looks there. Enjoy.
Arlo Guthrie/Alice's Restaurant * with scenes from his movie depicting parts of the song as he sings it
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