Gary Kanter

Originally published in Victory Review (http://www.victorymusic.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1524:arlo-guthrie&catid=156&Itemid=43)

Arlo: The Son Also Rises
(In Search of my Inner Guthrie)

I began the telephone interview, as is my policy, with full disclosure.  I advised Arlo not to expect objective journalism.  I told him that I was a fan of his since a friend thrust a copy of the newly-released Alice’s Restaurant record into my hands in 1967 while sitting in a classroom at Queens College. “Holy crap!” I uttered, “That’s Woody Guthrie’s son!”

That was 45 years ago.

Like most of my peers in the worldwide web of folk music, I have always considered Arlo my brother.  After all, aren’t we all “Woody’s children?”

But there were other connections, mostly geographic…

For instance, I grew up in Queens Village , NY, which was also the home of Creedmoor State Hospital where Woody’s chronic battle with Huntington’s Disease reached its inevitable conclusion.

As I went merrily about my way, playing stickball and sneaking cigarettes with my friends, Woody was being visited by his friends such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.

Later in the decade, I spent my summers as a counselor at a summer camp outside of Great Barrington, MA, which is currently the home of the Guthrie Center and a stone’s throw from Stockbridge and Alice’s Restaurant.

Another intersection of our lives was Fort Hamilton where we both dealt with our own selective service comedies.  Arlo told me that though he had started the process at the now-iconic Whitehall Street, he finished up at Fort Hamilton on the southern tip of Brooklyn.  My disqualification was not the product of a misdemeanor littering charge but rather the recommendations of shrinks from NYC and SF attesting to the fact that the army would be a better place without my presence.

Finally, to celebrate my new-found status as unfit for military service, I jumped on the subway and rode it a few stops to Coney Island where I transferred to the Cyclone, the then-tallest roller coaster in the world where I spent the remainder of the afternoon.  Coney Island, of course, was the home of the Guthrie Family during Arlo’s childhood.

There is one other connection that I had not known.  We both hade maternal grandmothers named Greenblatt.  Go figure!

Oh yeah, trying to emulate his dad, I rode a freight car through British Columbia.  Almost froze my lower extremities.  Thanks a lot, Woody!

I contacted Arlo at his motel in Irving, TX, on Sunday Morning at 10:00 am, central time.  He had recently risen and had yet to have his breakfast.

VR:  I was at the Zoo tunes show you did a few years back in Seattle with your kids.  When you were introduced Coming Into Los Angeles, you talked about having recently encountered some Secret Service agents at an airport.  They had recognized you and were walking your way.  As you described, you wondered what they wanted as “I had not become the threat I’d hoped to be….”  Then upon arriving at your seat, one smiled and said, “Guthrie, are you coming into Los Angeles, bringing in a couple of keys?”  Great story.  Great laugh.

What did you mean by the statement “I had not become the threat I’d hoped to be…?”

ARLO: When you’re 19-20 years-old, the world doesn’t change fast enough.  But as you grow older you sort of evolve into an elder statesman.  I learned that working and touring with Pete Seeger.  We didn’t start out traveling together…we just began showing up at the same places, after awhile, we began scheduling limited annual tours for 30 years.  Now that Pete is older, I’ve been doing some myself…the elder statesman.

VR: One of the first things I saw when I opened my Facebook page today was a blurb for your upcoming April 14 show at the Pantages Theater in Tacoma.  It began, “Arlo, son of famed folksinger, Woody Guthrie…”

It’s been 45 years since Alice’s Restaurant.  Do you think that ongoing reference to your dad has overshadowed your own identity as an artist?

ARLO: Don’t care.  I don’t write those blurbs.  They’re written by PR folks.  Besides I’m proud to be billed in that manner.  It’s a continuity.  Recently, I was in Sweden, playing some of the smaller clubs I don’t get a chance to do here these days.  I went into one for the first time and the first thing I saw was a concert poster of Sarah Lee and Johnny (Arlo’s daughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie and husband Johnny Irion).  So, there I was…Sarah Lee Guthrie’s father!

VR: Your family has been called….

ARLO: Don’t use the term folk royalty…

VR: I was going to say the first family of folk music.  At least the most celebrated.  You grew up among the most celebrated members of the folk music community.  Of those, who were your greatest influences…teachers…?

ARLO: Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry were like my uncles.  My mother always took me to see them wherever they were performing.  Brownie on guitar, Sonny on harp.  Doug Dillard…banjo.  I stole from everybody.

VR: Your dad would call that…research.

ARLO: I researched from everybody.  I would go to see Mississippi John Hurt, sit in the front row and just watch his hands.  The Everly Brothers…Cisco Houston.  I actually did my first performance at Gerdes Folk City in NY with Cisco.  I was 13.  It wasn’t planned.  He called me up on stage.  It was his last performance.  He died of cancer a few months later.

VR: That’s continuity.  I want to talk a bit about your dad.

ARLO: Did you know he had a photographic memory?

VR: No.

ARLO: He also read everything.  I remember talking to the librarian of the public library in one town who told me he had read every book on their shelves.  And he remembered everything he read.

VR: And wrote about a lot of it.  What do you think were his most important songs…and your  favorites?  Starting with “This Land Is Your Land.”

ARLO: That’s not what I consider among his best.  Actually songs like “1913 Massacre,” “Sacco & Venzetti,” and “Tom Joad” were among the most important and best.  My dad wrote “Tom Joad” after seeing “Grapes of Wrath.”  When John Steinbeck heard the recording he sent Woody a brief letter which read: “”You little bastard.  You said in twelve verses what it took me an entire book to say.”

VR: Coming back to “This Land Is Your Land” and the other sing-alongs.  Doesn’t that go back to the continuity thing?  It connects us to Woody and to each other.  “This Land” has also been called the people’s national anthem.

ARLO: True

(At this point, Arlo reminded me he had not as yet had his breakfast; I reminded him that I would be reviewing his 4/14 show at the Pantages)

VR: One more thing and I’ll let you eat.  Your kids are all out there performing and now your grandkids.  Did you encourage them?

ARLO: I discouraged them.  Or tried to.  I told them that if you are going to do this, it’s got to be everything that you do.  You cannot do anything else.  You will be burning bridges.  Plus, you have to find the people who you want to learn from and be with them.  Make yourself useful…take out their garbage…wash their cars.  There’s no substitute.

VR: What was the most important thing you learned from your parents?

ARLO: Be yourself.  It’s better to have failed as yourself than failed trying to be someone else.

VR: Bon Appetite.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gary Kanter is a writer and songwriter who performed at his first Open Mic in Manhattan in the early 70′s, receiving just enough encouragement to inflict his songs and humor on audiences in the Canadian Maritimes, Nashville, and the Pacific Northwest.

Also by Gary Kanter:

• “This Means War“
• “Tom Russell: The Man From God Knows Where He’s Coming From“
• “The Strange Exodus of Ramblin’ Sol Abromowitz part 1“
• “The Strange Exodus of Ramblin’ Sol Abromowitz part 2“
• Joe Hill — “The Man Who Never Died” by William Adler

Back in November, we celebrated the life of Joe Hill at the Anchor Pub in Everett.  We enjoyed it so much we decided to take it, in various iterations to venues around the area.

Friday night we will be bringing it to Couth Buzzard Books in Greenwood.  Mike Dumovich, Dan Roberts (sans Whateverly Bros.), and I will be there from the first show, with Shannon Beck joining us to offer her interpretations of “Bread and Roses”, “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night,” and “Rebel Girl” with a few additional songs thrown in.  Shannon is an excellent performer and talented writer in her own right.

In addition, we will be featuring Mark Hillman in the character of Joe Hill to add authenticity to “the man who never died” theme.  Mark begins his narration in Joe’s native Swedish.  He confessed that his accent is more that of a Finnish-Swedish accent but we assured him our audience would kindly let it go….

Gonna be a good show!

See you all there.

The title quote was penned by humorist Will Rogers during the FDR Administration.  This brilliant satirist, with his Oklahoma drawl and lariat twirling, has lost some of his fame through the years…but not his bite.

Many of my friends chide me for actively supporting Democratic candidates whom, they say, are in bed with the same parasites as their Republican soul mates.  The unfortunate thing is that they are largely right.  The system has become so corrupt hat corporate largesse seems to be the easiest path to election and re-election.  All it takes is blind obedience to the needs of human constituents.  OK…I concede that the court has conferred a form of personhood on corporations…but not humanity…so I prefer the latter term.

Call them what you will…Blue Dogs…DINO (Dems In Name Only)…or our very own legislature’s self-style Road Kill Caucus…they are not my Democratic Party.  Gov. Howard Dean summed it up when he described himself as representing the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.  That is my piece.

Like it or not, we are a two-party political system, much to the chagrin of the founders who decried factions and parties alike.  I believe it was John Adams who said it would lead to being governed by “men of party rather than men of state.”  Prescient, to say the least.

Third parties have come and gone…”The Know-Nothings”…”Greenbacks”…”Liberty”…”Bull Moose” (Teddy Roosevelt received more votes than the Republican incumbent President Wm. Howard Taft).  In 1980 Republican-turned-Independent, John Anderson was credited with helping undo Jimmy Carter.  Ross Perot helped elect Bill Clinton in 1992.  Ralph Nader sucked enough votes from Al Gore in some states to enable the five stooges of the Supreme Court to anoint George W. Bush.

OK…so third…and fourth parties have proven to be spoilers…but they have come and gone.  The two major parties have swapped key pieces of their identities since the days of Lincoln…though the D’s still are considered the people’s party and the R’s the party of big business.  The D’s became the de facto party of civil rights; the R’s of religious idiocy.

The D’s became the party that passed child labor law, union rights laws, work relief, Glass-Steagall, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, WAC, OSHA, civil rights, voting rights… etc.  The R’s fought it all tooth and nail.  Now they are working nonstop to roll it all away.

Yes, there are corporate whores at every level of the Democratic Party.  But there are also a plethora of decent, caring, and effective people in and out of elective office.  Especially at the precinct and legislative district levels.  These are the people who advocate not only for candidates but for causes…like the ones listed above.

I know, because my wife is one of them.  She is a serial Precinct Committee Officer PCO) in our legislative district.  She attends meetings.  She organizes and participates events and has worn out leather endlessly door belling during campaign season.  And, we live in a reliably red legislative district, so the outcomes have not always been as we have wished…although we have seen successes in the statewide and national elections as well as in ballot issues.

So, I’m a Democrat.  Do I like where my party is on the state and national levels?…no.  I’m an American.  Do I like what my country has become?  …no.  So I remain…and like my wife, I soldier on!

I learned about the suicide of Arwen Morgan, daughter of Seattle Music icon Teresa Morgan, while preparing for the second Wisconsin benefit.  I had only met Arwen once, at a Victory Music’s open mic at the QCafe, where she was promoting her one-woman show.  She performed an original song.  She was good. She was very good.  Young, poised, lovely, and talented.

I had met Teresa a handful of times, also at the Q, where she was an infrequent performer.  She was always interesting and professional…and entertaining, whether playing the harmonium, guitar, or a combination of instruments, singing, chanting…

I think I confounded her by inquiring as to the plural of harmonium (harmonia?)…

Many of the Q/Victory Music regulars were familiar with the family band, the Cutters, mainstays at Folklife, Tumbleweed, and other festivals, venues, and events.  I wasn’t.

So when I got the email that Arwen had taken her life, it seemed appropriate to suggest some form of memorial during the Wisconsin performance.  The result was a touching chantey by family friends Dan Roberts and Tom Rawson…along with a moment of silence we shared with our in-house audience and those watching online, especially in Wisconsin.

A couple of months ago, I was again contacted by friends of the family.  Teresa had been hospitalized for mental issues resulting from the death of her daughter.  She was debilitated.  Her marriage and home were gone.  She was broke and the music community was banding together to help.  A monthly series of concerts were being organized to raise money.  It was a remarkable outpouring of love and support.  Though I didn’t know her well, Teresa was a sister in our music family.  More important, we shared another bond, a more personal bond.  I had a daughter the same age as Arwen.

So, I was the first performer of the first concert, joined by my friend and kindred spirit, Steve Beck, for the second half of my set.  I was informed that I was a good choice because I had the ability to “frame” moments. Steve and I were followed by the wonderful female indie trio, “The Gloria Darlings” and guitar maven and Bruce Cockburn cultist, Rob Kneisler.  We raised over $2000 that night…Teresa was unable to attend but her daughter, Lara, mother of three small children, conveyed the flow of events to her.

I was invited to emcee the second show, a month later.  A few days earlier I had one of two cataract surgeries, so driving to downtown Seattle, in the rain, during rush hour, with different vision emanating from either eye was…an adventure.  Even in the best of times Seattle can be an unforgiving maze of wrong turns and one way traps.  I made it and had the pleasure of sharing the emcee chores with my young friend Pandi, co-founder of the Gloria Darlings and multi-talented songwriter/singer.  Ironically,  our original friendship was originally founded upon our mutual adoration for Phil Ochs, who’s life ended exactly as had Arwen’s.

The talent that night was impeccable.  One of my songwriter favorites, Bill Davie led off, followed by the Pete Seegerish Tom Rawson, and the outrageously talented Whateverly Brothers.  During one of the breaks, I asked Lara to come on stage and give us an update on her mother.  We learned that Teresa was still fragile and progress was going to be slow.

The following Tues., I was just returning from my second cataract surgery, when I received a call from Dan Roberts.  He was crying.  Teresa Morgan had jumped to her death from the Magnolia Bridge.

Tuesday night I had the honor of meeting Bill Adler at King’s Book Store in Tacoma. Bill, his wife, Robin, and son, Zeke, were in the area as part of his national book tour. The event was sponsored by the local IWW, yes, the wobblies…they still exist…and are still organizing!

I hadn’t intended to be in Tacoma that night but a couple of friends were making their debut as hosts of a nearby open mic, which meant I had a free ride.  Add a dinner invitation from the remarkable singer-songwriter couple and Tacoma residents, Steve and Kristi (not Kirsty)  Nebel, my evening was set.    Local activists, Steve and Kristi were right at home at King’s Books among the wobs.

Bill had originally contacted me about singing some of Hill’s songs at his presentation at the Seattle Labor Temple, two days later.  When I emailed him my availability for Tues his reply was immediate and enthusiastic.  I immediately liked him

We met face-to-face a few minutes prior to the start of the program and quickly charted the evening’s fare.  I would open  with “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night” after which he would begin the presentation by reading an excerpt from the book.  At various time in the narrative, I would sing the appropriate Joe Hill song (“Preacher and the Slave” and “Rebel Girl”).  At the conclusion, I sang “Joe Hill’s Last Will” with the music I had put to Joe’s words.  The audience demonstrated approval and Bill beamed in agreement.  Some of the audience asked us how long we had been touring together as we seemed to have played off each other so well.

Two nights later, Bill, Robin, and Zeke, along with their friends, Randy and Karen Nelson, joined my wife, Mary, and I for Chinese dinner at Tai Tung, arguably the oldest restaurant in Seattle.  Randy, of Swedish descent, was Bill’s guide and research partner in Sweden during the investigation of Hill’s early years and family life.

Enroute to the Seattle Labor Temple for the presentation, Bill asked me to perform my satirical “Tea Chantey” at the conclusion of the evening.  I had gifted the family with my “Good-bye, Dr. Laura” cd…and they had actually listened to it.  I really liked him now.

The Seattle Labor Temple is a City of Seattle historical landmark in Seattle’s thoroughly gentrified Belltown neighborhood.  Imagine the late Peter Falk, in full-press Columbo mode, adorning the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine.  That is how the Labor Temple fits into its community.

It is a series of halls, lobbies, staircases, and meeting rooms.  It smells like one of the New York City public schools I attended in the 1950′s.  So quickly did that olfactory memory overtake me that I inadvertently reached for my hall pass.

The audience this evening was more mainstream, with representatives from various trades and craft unions.  My wife, a longtime AFSCME  member, was right at home.

The show went pretty much along the same rails as the Tuesday one.  Somehow, we managed to skip “Rebel Girl.”   The audience contained various labor historian types   which doubled or tripled the number of post-narrative questions.  Bill fielded each gracefully and confidently, in the spirit of the expert comfortable in his topic.

I finished the evening  with “Tea Chantey” and debuted  my new ass-kicking, rabble-rousing new song, “Solidarity Now.”  Mary later informed me that I banged the guitar part so loud, my ass-kicking, rabble-rousing lyrics were barely audible. (“You did say you wanted me to be honest….”)

So, what did I learn?  I learned that Joe Hill understood the power of music and humor in  a movement.     It was a lesson I had learned from my musical godfather, Phil Ochs, and his predecessor, Woody Guthrie.  Joe was the archetype.  He differed only in the fact that he was not a musical performer, he was an itinerant worker.  His songs were written to be passed on…and on…and on….they were accessible to all, in their lyrics as well as in the hymns and  popular tunes of the day he set them to.

I learned that Bill Adler is one helluva journalist, writer, and storyteller as well as a great judge of cd’s.

http://themanwhoneverdied.com

I spent Labor Day in Burlington, WA.  Mark Lowry, president of the Northwest Central Labor Council (Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan Counties) had invited me to put together a show for the group’s Labor Day Picnic.

The group included my buddies from the great north:  JW McClure (Stanwood), Greg Deer (Lake Stevens), and the legendary  Mike Dumovich (Arlington).  While we had all played at events together…we had never played together.  I sent some song lyrics and YouTube links on the traditional labor songs and Greg learned the bass parts of my songs from my CD.

Whatever we did, the audience was so enthusiastic and appreciative, it must have worked.  perhaps it was our guests my favorite singing state Rep. Luis Moscoso…or accordianist-vocalist, Doris Brevoort.  Doris, by the way, is running for city council in the neighboring municipality of Mt. Vernon…hometown of Glenn Beck.  Go, Doris!

Upshot:  No better way to spend Labor Day than with a group of people such as the ones who turned out for the picnic…the ones who work and produce…and make things….and run things…and keep things running.  My union wife (AFSCME) and daughter, who is planning a career as a labor lawyer were on hand to participate.

It was a perfect day in the Northwestern corner of the country.  Sunshine…warm temperatures (80?)…with the occasional freight train rolling by to add flavor.

“Exhausted, but very pleased. The labor council’s labor day picnic was a success. Between 120 and 150 people came and enjoyed spending time with each other.                            Special thanks to Dale Thompson for awesome bbq, and to Gary Kanter and his musical friends for the perfect blend of labor and folk music. I could not be more pleased.”   Mark Lowry

     Solidarity!

       Gary

It was time to put up or shut up!

I filled out the forms,wrote a check for dues, and am proud to be a neophyte member of the Musicians Association of Seattle, Local 76-493, American Federation of Musicians.

Solidarity Forever!
http://www.local76-493.org/index.htm