Christmas is the holiday for songs - most other holidays don't have many, if any. Thanksgiving has one indirect but distinct one, for folk music fans: "Alice's Restaurant," by Arlo Guthrie.
On his website, http://www.arlo.net/, Guthrie says of Thanksgiving, "We get sales for one day a year," and after touring in the weeks before the holiday, "I get to go home to the farm."
It's a small tour, with only seven dates, culminating in an annual show at Carnegie Hall.
This year, Ithaca is one of the dates, with a show at the State Theater on Tuesday, 13 November.
Guthrie is known as much for his politics and humor as his songs, and even when his subjects are serious, he conveys a sense of ease that could almost give whimsy a good name. He is as funny in performance as most comics, almost without trying; definitely without trying too hard.
Guthrie has spoken about the large-scale counterculture events of the 1960's as almost beside the point, the point being that people should be at home, active in their communities and country, every day. The message is well understood in Ithaca, and Tuesday night will be a good celebration of it.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment