RIP Pete Seeger. My mom plays the guitar. Her greatest musical influences were created during the brief seven minute period folk music was popular in the US in the early 1960s. As a result of this impact I grew up listening to The Kingston Trio, The Limelighters, Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, The Weavers but more than anyone else, her favorite, Pete Seeger. Mom would play Petes childrens songs like Abiyoyo and Foolish Frog for me from the time I was in the crib. As I got older she would play his classic folk and protest songs. She wonders why Im the most liberal person in America yet she DJd the strongest soundtrack of workers rights and protest music a person could for an impressionable child. I met Pete a couple times back in the 80s when we held a Hudson River rehabilitation fundraising screening of The Weavers documentary WASNT THAT A TIME at the SoNo Cinema. Fred Hellerman and Ronnie Gilbert were there too but I was in awe of Pete. How could I not be? He made his points about what needed to be done to save the Hudson and the work Pete did back then launched a regional program that did save the river from permanent damage. Its in much better shape today but theres still a lot of work to be done. Pete was a great guy, nice to everyone who wanted a moment or a photo. I have a picture of the two of us together somewhere. Or my mom has it. He was very encouraging to me, a politically active 19 year old kid and I have never forgotten the twinkle the man had in his eyes. There was such life in his eyes and they were like lasers locking on to yours when you spoke with him. He was present, in his life and with others, in a way I have rarely seen. He was truly inspiring. In his music, his words and his actions Pete Seegers life has left us all a legacy we need to preserve, protect and remember.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 08:26:41 +0000
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