[AGL] technicolor fallout

[susan gilbert]

mike was in the"new lost city ramblers" , and i have a  pete seeger  
45 with his big hit 'little boxes"
susi

On May 2, 2006, at 7:29 AM, Gerry wrote:

> The wife, Toshi, is an American who is half Japanese. (Toshi is  
> short for
> Toshiko, a popular Japanese name.) They (Seegers) lived most of  
> their lives
> in a house they built on the cheap in the country in 1949, still  
> live there.
> He is 86.
>
> His style developed by singing to large groups, mostly outdoors  
> with no P/A
> with groups like the Almanac Singers (with Woodie Guthrie) and the  
> Weavers.
> The idea was to get the audience to sing along, lift their spirits,  
> to have
> fun. He liked to sing for children. The studio was an alien  
> environment to
> him.
>
> The father was an eccentric communist who quit lucrative teaching  
> jobs (he
> founded the music department at Berkeley) to travel in a homebuilt  
> camper
> (with family in tow) bringing music to the hinterlands. He was  
> apparently a
> gifted composer and hung out with the likes of Aaron Copeland,  
> worked for
> the WPA, etc.
>
> Pete went to Harvard on scholarship, was quite poor and didn't fit in,
> waited on tables.
>
> The NY'er article makes no mention of Mike.
>
> In the '50's Pete was indicted for contempt of congress for  
> refusing to
> answer questions before the HUAC. Found guilty but avoided jail  
> time on a
> technicality.
>
> Too bad he couldn't sing well, might have been a star...Instead he  
> was/is
> only a genuine American hero.
> G
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Eisenstadt" <michaele at hotpop.com>
> To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s"
> <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 7:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [AGL] technicolor fallout
>
>
>> susi,
>>
>> I think the thing I disliked most about Pete Seeger's way of singing
>> was the relentless upbeat rollicky delivery. Also, after I ceased  
>> being
>> pro communist, i began to recognize and resent the relentless  
>> leftwing
>> activism that propelled him (and others). Recently i read an  
>> interview
>> with him in the Sunday NYTimes magazine which filled in on what I
>> thought I knew about the man. I knew he lived in Beacon and had a
>> Japanese wife and in person was very tall and knobly. And that Mike
>> Seegar, who is short and dark, was his half-brother and that his  
>> family
>> had a maid in Washington DC who wrote Freight train, freight train go
>> so slow who grew up in Asheville, NC
>>
>> For me, the big insight in the interview was that Pete Seeger's  
>> father
>> convinced him that the singing of a song was an existential act that
>> trumped the song considered in itself. This may be good social
>> psycholology, but it is conducive to bad performance.
>>
>> so it was quite a shock to hear Bruce Springsteen take one of the
>> songs Pete used to sing, and not being a tall, red-cheeked rollicking
>> folk singer, instead scream the lyrics into the mike in his usual  
>> style
>> of alienated Jersey shore bluecollar youth in full whine mode.
>>
>> mike
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "susan gilbert" <ssg at efn.org>
>> To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s"
>> <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
>> Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 4:01 PM
>> Subject: Re: [AGL] technicolor fallout
>>
>>
>>> michael, i agree with you about pete seeger, he did introduce us to
>>> music from other aspects of our society, where would we be without
>>> elizabeth cotton's (the seeger family maid) "freight train" , so
>>> hopefully bruce will do the same for today's uneducated youth, but i
>>> doubt they will be interested; anyway, as a measure of who got the
>>> money right now, i bet mr.springsteen  appeals to those folks and
>>> maybe it will help the future of  new orleans
>>> susi
>>>
>>> On May 1, 2006, at 11:38 AM, Michael Eisenstadt wrote:
>>>
>>>> Connie,
>>>>
>>>> I wish I had been on your birding adventure. Just to see the  
>>>> American
>>>> Redstarts a favorite warbler. Of course the painted buntings are so
>>>> cool.
>>>> And Black & white warblers are totally neat.
>>>>
>>>> I would like to have heard the concerts. One of our subscribers
>>>> went to
>>>> San Antonio for the Dylan tour. I heard a cut from Springsteen's  
>>>> Pete
>>>> Seager covers album on KUT. It sounded absolute the lamest: just
>>>> screaming out the lyrics. Nothing like the original in sound or
>>>> soul. Not
>>>> that Seager in the original sang much more than a white bread
>>>> version of
>>>> folk songs from real folk. But at least he was rollicking in
>>>> spirit. Not so
>>>> Bruce. At least on the one cut I heard from the album.
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Connie Clark" <connie_3c at yahoo.com>
>>>> To: "BJ's List Ghetto 2" <ghetto2 at listserv.whathelps.com>; "Ghetto
>>>> List"
>>>> <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
>>>> Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 12:36 PM
>>>> Subject: [AGL] technicolor fallout
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> It was quite convenient for us to get a storm through the area
>>>>> Saturday
>>>>> morning, at the end of Spring Migration.  Birders call it a
>>>>> 'fallout' when
>>>>> the migrating birds take refuge in the first sight of land and
>>>>> food source
>>>>> on Texas beaches.  Around noon Saturday I drove the one hour from
>>>>> Houston
>>>>> to the Quintana bird sanctuary to see what was there.  The
>>>>> sanctuary is
>>>>> about a square block or more, has trees, thick undergrowth and
>>>>> water.  A
>>>>> trail runs through it.
>>>>>
>>>>>  About 20 or so other birders where already there, and as soon as
>>>>> I walked
>>>>> into the woods it was clear, this was going to be a good day for
>>>>> birding.
>>>>> There were so many birds, I didn't have time to check my guidebook
>>>>> for
>>>>> identification- I wanted to just keep looking.  So, as my usual
>>>>> practice,
>>>>> I sidled up to a group of likely experts, and pointed my
>>>>> binoculars in
>>>>> unison with them, overhearing what we were all looking out. Quick
>>>>> identification that way. Birdwatchers are always nice about such
>>>>> things.
>>>>> They love to share a look-see.
>>>>>
>>>>>  These birds were in their most brilliant color, feathered finery
>>>>> and were
>>>>> quite perky considering they had just flown over the Gulf of  
>>>>> Mexico.
>>>>> Hungry there were too.  I saw the yellow, common yellow throat,  
>>>>> blue
>>>>> winged, black and white, black-throated green, chestnut sided,
>>>>> Blackburnian and Magnolia warblers; American Redstarts,  
>>>>> Philadelphia
>>>>> Vireos and big orange and black Baltimore Orioles, just to name a
>>>>> few.  It
>>>>> is always a treat to see one, but I saw three, Three painted
>>>>> buntings (1
>>>>> F, 2 M).  I, with three very helpful birdwatchers left the scene
>>>>> right
>>>>> about dusk, all of us exclaiming how good the day had been.  
>>>>> When we
>>>>> stepped out of the woods, we saw a huge coastal sunset of pink,
>>>>> blue and
>>>>> gold.
>>>>>
>>>>>  -----------------------
>>>>>  The storm blew across New Orleans late Saturday and left the
>>>>> festival
>>>>> grounds a bit muddy. Not a big problem, as The Boss did an
>>>>> outstanding
>>>>> performance with his Seeger Session band.  Protest songs, anti- 
>>>>> Bush,
>>>>> anti-war had the very large crowd responding approvingly.  He  
>>>>> was all
>>>>> acoustic except for a pedal steel.  That must be a hip new
>>>>> instrument for
>>>>> bands these days.  Bobby Dylan had a pedal steel on Friday night
>>>>> Randy
>>>>> reported, that gave his set a bit of a Bob Wills sound - and
>>>>> Dylans' white
>>>>> suit and cowboy hat made quite a swing band impression. I guess  
>>>>> for
>>>>> contrast, his band wore grey suits with black Bolers.
>>>>>
>>>>>  Saturday night Dr. John must have felt like he was home at last.
>>>>> His
>>>>> final song of his set was from Sly and the Family Stone, "Thank
>>>>> you for
>>>>> letting me be myself, again."
>>>>>
>>>>>  Attendance at this year's JazzFest are big, big, big, with long
>>>>> lines for
>>>>> tickets, cabs, restaurant tables.  The Crescent City must really
>>>>> be happy
>>>>> about all those folks coming back for the best party New Orleans
>>>>> puts on.
>>>>>
>>>>>  Connie
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ---------------------------------
>>>>> How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low  PC-to-Phone
>>>>> call
>>>>> rates.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>>> ---
>>>> ----------
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>