Pete Seeger Concert
On Thursday I took the afternoon off to go to a concert by Pete Seeger, his grandson Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, and Guy Davis. It was just an hour, part of a kids' concert series.
Notes:
(from PDA)
Seeger Concert
[2008.08.07 01:48:20 pm]
In World Café Live, waiting for the show to start (nominal 2pm). Pete Seeger!
Most of the songs, they were all playing and/or singing, but I've noted who was leading.
(transcribed from pocket notebook)
(from PDA)
08.8.7 3:19 pm WOW!l.
I've been listening to Pete Seeger for literally all my life. My dad had wired the whole house for sound, and The Weavers were part of what I was hearing morning and night. But this was only the third time I'd ever seen him live:
Guy called Tao his cousin, and Pete called Guy his nephew, but I don't know if they're actually related; Wikipedia's article on Guy mentions "his friend, legendary folksinger, ‘Uncle’ Pete Seeger".
It was wonderful to see and hear him. But ... He's losing something, and I'm not talking about his voice. That's not got anything like its old volume, at 85, but he still sings, and well. In "I'm Gonna Mail Myself to You" he was hesitating at the start of some of the verses, and Tao was cueing him.
At one point, for a moment, I thought I saw the blank look I remember all too well from my mother, late in her Alzheimer's. It may not have been that look at all. I hope not. I really hope not.
Notes:
(from PDA)
Seeger Concert
[2008.08.07 01:48:20 pm]
In World Café Live, waiting for the show to start (nominal 2pm). Pete Seeger!
Most of the songs, they were all playing and/or singing, but I've noted who was leading.
(transcribed from pocket notebook)
- She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain, with gestures
- Skip To My Lou
- Shortnin' Bread, a very old version & quite diff from the familiar version prob from slavery times, in G modal (Guy)
- I Will Be Your Friend (Guy)
- A caballo vamos pa'l monte (Tao) -- "a Cuban cowboy song"
- Well May The World Go (Tao) -- "by my grandpa"
- Abiyoyo (Pete). He introduced this by talking about a story from Africa, and about when he and his wife and their kids were living on a hillside in a house with no electricity. One night ,the kids wanted a story but he had some work to do, so he said he'd sing them a lullaby. "But they weren't buying that. They knew that a lullaby is a propaganda song. So I offered a compromise: a story, but it has a lullaby at the end." As soon as he said "story" I was thinking "Abiyoyo!", and I could see from their faces that a lot of his other longtime fans around were thinking the same.
- The Railroad Story (Guy) -- a thinnish narrative that strings together opportunities for harmonica virtuosity, a string of amazing playing and effects.
- Put Your Finger In The Air (Pete) -- "written by a friend of mine": Woody Guthrie. :-)
- I'm Gonna Mail Myself to You (also by Woody)
- This Land Is Your Land (also by Woody)
- This Little Light of Mine
- encore: Sailing Up, Sailing Down
(from PDA)
08.8.7 3:19 pm WOW!l.
I've been listening to Pete Seeger for literally all my life. My dad had wired the whole house for sound, and The Weavers were part of what I was hearing morning and night. But this was only the third time I'd ever seen him live:
- in a Bread and Roses concert in Berkeley in a stadium, way way off
- at a concert at one of the colleges in the Boston area, pretty close up
- and this time
Guy called Tao his cousin, and Pete called Guy his nephew, but I don't know if they're actually related; Wikipedia's article on Guy mentions "his friend, legendary folksinger, ‘Uncle’ Pete Seeger".
It was wonderful to see and hear him. But ... He's losing something, and I'm not talking about his voice. That's not got anything like its old volume, at 85, but he still sings, and well. In "I'm Gonna Mail Myself to You" he was hesitating at the start of some of the verses, and Tao was cueing him.
At one point, for a moment, I thought I saw the blank look I remember all too well from my mother, late in her Alzheimer's. It may not have been that look at all. I hope not. I really hope not.