Arlo Guthrie - Thursday, July 19
Sometime last week I heard Greg & Dan talking about efforts to convince Arlo Guthrie to let a youth choir join him onstage. I don’t recall the exact details, but I believe they were serious and there really were some people trying to do this.
All I could think was that they were getting him mixed up with Art Garfunkel or James Taylor. Arlo’s a cute guy and all- he’ll sing City of New Orleans and a 30 minute version of Alice’s Restaurant, but he’s a far cry from the innocent family friendly folk singer.
Now I’m sure he’s mellowed a bit since his youth, but if you’re going, expect to smell a little wacky tabacky after the sun sets and count on him singing one of his most popular songs, Coming Into Los Angeles, which was a real crowd pleaser at Woodstock:
Coming into Los Angeles
Bringing in a couple of keys
Don’t touch my bags if you please
Mister Customs Man
I’d love to go but our babysitter situation didn’t work out as planned. To those of you that are going, I’m jealous.
July 17th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
We’d planned to go waaaay back when we first heard he was coming to Peoria. Ziggy works second shift and he’d requested it off and I was gonna request Friday off…figured I wouldn’t be at all perky, come Friday morning. heh
But then the whole idea of a wedding popped up and we decided we probably oughta take some time off for that, instead. (sigh)
If I had a pal to go with, I’d probably go anyway…and just suffer Friday morning. But since I don’t, I’M JEALOUS, TOO!
July 18th, 2007 at 6:56 am
The ads call him “everybody’s favorite folk singer”. I beg to differ.
July 18th, 2007 at 7:29 am
So who would “everybody’s favorite folk singer” be? Pete Seeger? Joan Baez?
I don’t know of too many “folk singers” out there that actually do it for a living. It’s not a real popular genre you know.
Believe me, I don’t hold Arlo up on a pedestal by an means, but I still think it’d be a fun concert.
July 18th, 2007 at 9:43 am
While not a mainstream musical genre, folk has a very healthy, deep and tight knit community which supports and keeps a good number of folk singers from having day jobs. There are countless folk festivals here and abroad as well as a network of clubs/coffeehouses. Guys like Greg Brown can sell out a 500 seat theatre in the northwoods with little advertising outside of the folk grapevine. Other big draws are - Dar Williams, Ani diFranco, Bill Morrisey, Ferron, John Gorka and the old guard like Christy Moore, Ramblin Jack Elliot & Utah Phillips.
Actually If you count the indie singer songwriter crowd & the americana/alt country acoustic scene, one could argue that the folk scene is incredibly robust these days.
As for Arlo. He’s has found himself a nice little crossover niche alongside people like Gordon Lightfooot. He can entertain one and all, but he’s not afraid to be political between songs (how could he not given his lineage.)
July 18th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Gordan Lightfoot? He’s still around?
I don’t keep up on the folk scene, so I’ll take your word that it’s alive and well, but do you really think any of them could sell out the “CEFCU Stage” or even make it worth their while? (I’m making an assumption that Arlo’s concert will be well attended)
Anyway, I’ll still go along with Arlo being dubbed “everybody’s favorite folk singer”.
Did you hear the other big concert news? Joan Jett is the headliner for the “Grant Nationals Weekend Fest”
http://www.jaytv.com/grandnationals/
July 18th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Think about it this way - if the folk scene and by greater extension, the roots/acoustic/singer songwriter deal wasn’t doing well you wouldn’t have music mags like Paste and NoDepression. Heck look at that bore Jack Johnson. He owes his massive popularity to the s/songwriter resurgence.
Here’s a link to probably the best folk fest out there
http://www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca/pages/home.php
Actually Joan Jett puts on a great show
July 18th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Vonsters favorite folk singer is Ann Coulter.
July 18th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Now THAT”S funny.
July 20th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Now THAT’S non sequitur….and assinine.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:59 am
That’s true. the words Vonster & folk music are TOTAL non sequitors. As for Ann Coulter - how about that folk song, “Ann Coulter’s Snatch” by Hammel on trial.