How Tom Morello Ruined the Kennedy Center’s Woody Guthrie Tribute Concert
How sad that on the night of the final event of the year-long celebration of Woody Guthrie’s life and music, his son Arlo’s wife passed away two days after their 45th wedding anniversary. The morning after the concert, Arlo wrote the following about her passing:
The sun rose on my world this morning. Jackie stayed with us throughout the night, lingering in our hearts just out of sight but clearly present. She woke me before sunrise in a dream saying that the hour had come when she would need to leave us and be gone before the sun arose. As her words awakened me I walked outside and stood looking over the river talking with her in the predawn twilight we both loved so much. It was our time and for years she brought me coffee as I took photographs of morning on the river.
There are loves, and there are LOVES. Ours was and will continue to be what it has always been – A very great love. We didn’t always like each other. From time to time there were moments when we’d have our bags packed by the door. But, there was this great love that we shared from the moment we met – a recognition – It’s YOU! And we would always return to it year after year, decade after decade and I believe life after lifetime.
The audience at the concert–held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.–all wondered about Arlo’s absence, since he was in the program. One artist said, “We’re all singing Woody’s songs for Jackie today,” but she didn’t elaborate. Arlo writes that we all live for the moment we are in, and hence “we have no thought of past or future.” He will continue to tour and make up the gigs he missed. That is what he does, communicating through art and song, like his father and many of his own children.
My wife and I went to the concert last night, along with some friends. It was an all-star cast, and there were many memorable moments. The young folks who make up the popular Old Crow Medicine Show brought vigor and a rousing old-timey feeling to some of Woody’s best songs. Rosanne Cash and her husband and guitar accompanist John Leventhal sang beautifully. Jimmy LaFave, who sounds like a younger Bob Dylan, was superb, and the bluegrass group featuring Del McCoury and his family, playing with banjo master Tony Trischka, did “So Long It’s Been Good to Know You” bluegrass style. Trischka and the band scored with a banjo rendition of “Woody’s Rag,” the only instrumental composition Guthrie ever wrote.
Woody’s great protégé, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, who played and lived with Woody for three years in the 1950s and introduced his music to thousands in this country and Britain, sang a poignant “1913 Massacre,” Guthrie’s rendition of the killing of coal miners’ children and wives in the Ludlow, Colorado, strike of that year by company thugs. Only Jack Elliott can capture Guthrie’s voice and the power of his lyrics, and it is a shame that he was only allotted one song on his own. He did, however, lead the entire group of performers in a rousing “This Train is Bound for Glory,” Woody’s theme song. Listening to his voice, it was as if Woody were still among us.
I started with the good part. Unfortunately, the entire event was marred by the hard-Left narrative, particularly voiced in the most offensive manner by two artists, Tom Morello and Ry Cooder. At least Cooder is a real musician, but that does not excuse his behavior and his leftist rants delivered both in asides and in the rewriting of Guthrie’s lyrics. Cooder sang a little-known Guthrie song written towards the end of WW II about how the fascists would all lose. Cooder commented, to great applause from the leftist audience, that we won that fight, but the fascists were still here, and he knew they would be defeated on Election Day. Singing Guthrie’s “Vigilante Man,” about hired thugs of the coal companies in the early 20th century, Cooder changed a lyric to make it about the Trayvon Martin case. He could have grown up to be president, he said, “but he was killed by a vigilante man.” Then he sang a new verse about how those in the audience should not tell anyone that they attended the concert, or they too might be killed!
Does Ry Cooder really believe that paying an average of $100 for a Kennedy Center concert could lead anyone to be harmed, not to say murdered? Doesn’t he know that, by now, Woody Guthrie is a celebrated national hero, honored and revered by many, and no kind of danger to anyone who sings his songs?
As for Tom Morello, I would like to think that Arlo–a registered Republican and a libertarian–would blanch at having to listen to his songs and his hectoring lectures to the audience. Instead of singing one of Guthrie’s tunes, he sang his own dreadful new song about how he wants a revolutionary woman, “a Weather Underground woman,” not any bourgeois liberal. A man devoted to the dwindling and extremist Occupy Wall Street movement, Morello revealed himself to be a total idiot. Morello sang some lyrics about “how if you’re a Republican, Democrat or KKK, I’m not your man.” Do all those who cheered him–many of them most likely Democrats themselves–really believe that because they vote and work in our democratic system they are the same as members of the Klan? Or are they just self-hating, middle-class, well-off liberals who like to think they too support the revolution because they can cheer the likes of Morello, whose rants assuage their guilty consciences?
When it came to the expected finale of the performers and audience singing “This Land is Your Land,” Morello interrupted the singing, walked in front of all the othersm and began a lecture, hectoring the audience to build a revolutionary populist movement. He of course used his now well-worn shtick he used at the anti-Scott Walker rally the night before the Wisconsin governor’s victory. Repeating the same words–as if they were spontaneous and new and not what he has done at every OWS event–he ranted that you “motherf…ers have to get out there and become serious, and defeat the fascists.” He then said he has to be excused for the vulgarity, but the populist revolution can’t afford to be PG-13, because the goal is that serious. Doesn’t he know that epater la bourgeoise lost its shock value decades ago?At this point, as Morello said we should all sing the much-heralded so-called censored version of “This Land,” whose lyrics were in fact cut out by Guthrie himself and not by anyone else–my wife and our friends stood up and left in a huff, making clear to those around us that we were leaving in protest of Morello’s antics.
Poor Ramblin’ Jack, who once wrote that because he hung out and learned from Woody, most people thought that he had Woody’s politics. Actually, Elliott wrote, Woody would spout and he let it go in one ear and out the other. Jack looked sad and dispirited to be standing on stage having to listen to Tom Morello ruin a tribute to Woody Guthrie. Yes, Guthrie was a communist. But the times were different, and he showed a love for his country that the likes of this new New Left simply do not have. And Guthrie wrote some good songs, unlike Morello.
It’s just as good Arlo wasn’t there. The reason for his absence is sad, and he was sorely missed. But he was fortunate to be able to avoid the last major tribute of the year-long series. As for the rest of us, PBS was there filming it for their next annual fund-raising telethon. You can DVR it, listen to the best performers, and cut out the rest. If PBS doesn’t eliminate the screeds, I think they will find those donating will be insulted and not respond to their pleas for funds. Or perhaps PBS by now is used to appealing only to the hard, sectarian Left, thinking that that is their natural audience.
*****
Cross-Posted from Ron Radosh’s Blog.
More from Ron at PJ Lifestyle:
Tom Morello: Rolls Royce Radical. Estimated net worth $30m. I’ll bet if any occupiers set up camp on Morello’s lawn, he’d call the police. Bad for property values, y’know.
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/rock-stars/tom-morello-net-worth/
I daresay Tom Morello is living proof that intelligence, wisdom, wit, and talent are not prerequisites to prospering in this day and age.
I’m not forgiving Woody for being a communist just because he wrote some hummable tunes, just like I’m not forgiving a certain paper hanger because he could wield a paintbrush.
Too often we excuse other people’s behavior just because of some so-called talent.
I think it’s possible to hold communism accountable for it’s bloody excesses, while also appreciating the songs Woody Guthrie wrote to highlight injustices in America. Who on these boards isn’t sympathetic to hard working people getting screwed over and murdered by powerful interests?
If Cooder, Morello, Springsteen and all the other Leftist artists had Woody’s integrity, they would have already written scathing songs inditing our corrupt public intitutions, but that might hurt their careers, pandering to the indoctrinated NPR crowd.
I read a biography of Woody long ago. He served in the merchant marines in WWII. When he wrote, “This machine kills fascists” on his guitar, he wasn’t confused about who the fascists were, unlike most of the Kennedy Center audience, I would wager.
I would like to see the body of a single fascist killed by Woody’s guitar.
An empty slogan, easily uttered, repeated to the point of nonsense.
‘So this is the little lady who caused this great war.’
President Abraham Lincoln to Harriet Beecher Stowe,
who wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, in case you did not know.
The only “Machine” Woody ever used to Kill Facists was that Liberty Ship he sailed on…
As for Lincolns comment, he was merely being “polite” to a supporter, acknowleding a certain admirable “mindset”
It took bayonets and blood to win that war…just like every other.
Songs and paper are great for yacking about and scribbling down what you “hope” for.
Takes a whole ‘nother something ELSE, to make it happen.
“Repeated to the point of nonsense”?
It was nonsense the first time.
Self-important drivel is another name for it.
Guthrie to Hitler? Godwin’s Law says, “You lose.” I’m sorry but if you can’t see why that comparison is absurd, there’s little or no hope for you. Stickin’ up for the downtrodden is not evil. Woody Guthrie was not bad guy because he picked what turned out to be a bad cause. It’s not like he was Che Guevara or anything. He sang songs. Good songs for the most part.
Quite a major difference there. Hitler was a German who was pro-German, if not sanely so. Guthrie, Cooder, and every other American Leftist will be found, as reliably as your compass needle points North, on the anti-American side of every dispute. Because Leftism everywhere is simply an organized effort to destroy existing human society. Not to replace it with anything different (that’s just the come-on) but simply to destroy normal, natural human existence. If you take the time, you will find that every serious Leftist is defective in one way or another, to the point where he cannot abide normal people. As labor unions are esentially criminal enterprises (conspiracy to commit extortion) I cheer every union thug shot, knifed, lynched, burnt at the stake, or, hell, poisoned while attempting to escape. Rightism is as normal as apple pie; Leftism is as queer as a San Francisco bath house.
“As labor unions are esentially criminal enterprises (conspiracy to commit extortion) I cheer every union thug shot, knifed, lynched, burnt at the stake, or, hell, poisoned while attempting to escape. Rightism is as normal as apple pie; Leftism is as queer as a San Francisco bath house.”
Yet more proof God is not on the side of conservatives OR liberals. God is on God’s side & conservatives & liberals need to join him on His side. This idiot cheering the violent death of every “union thug” is NO different than the most loyal & fanatical abortion on demand supporters on the left. This idiot is also why I left conservatism & am now not affiliated with either ideology. Members of BOTH ideologies have become totally unhinged & insane.
Gee, one commie spoils a tribute to another. Poetic justice.
Thank You,
This is why the progressive movement has made so much headway in this country.
Woodie Guthrie was a leftist. To attend a Guthrie tribute show and be surprised by leftist sentiment
Is beyond naive. Guthrie, Seeger, Burl Ives, all communists. Depression era communists.
Beg to disagree: While the leaders of the Left have often been affluent
and educated, their followers in Guthrie’s time were poor and oppressed;
Today the leaders, particularly on the far Left, are certifiably insane,
their followers are a middle class corrupted by 50 years of unprecedented uninterrupted economic success which has come to be accepted as normal and
eternal, and the economic crash whose shadow is visible to all, even those
who will not acknowledge its approach, fills our lives with quiet desperation.
Woody Guthrie was a lousy musician who turned to leftist lyrics to build an audience for himself. It worked for him, just like for every entrepreneur who ever carves out a market share for his business. What a lame excuse for a musician and for a Communist. Free enterprise built a great economy and created an affluent middle class after WWII. It is the Communists who are now destroying our middle class and eulogizing Woodie Guthrie as some kind of a folk hero. ABO2012
Thank goodness you’ve explained it to us. Here, I thought only rich people were Regressive Socialist idiots. Apparently, poor people can be suckered by the politics of envy, too. Who would have believed that? What a revelation!
I imagine Cooder and Morello thought they were doing exactly what Guthrie did all those years ago. What better way to pay tribute to an agitator than by agitating?
Big difference, however. Guthrie was an actual “folk,” more or less. He personally experienced the problems he sang about about and personally knew the people he sang about. His wealthy acolytes, not so much. I won’t get into the issue of “authenticity” (e.g., Ramblin’ Jack – Jewish surgeon’s son from Brooklyn pretending to be a cowboy).
As usual, don’t get me started about folkies…It’s definitely a love/hate thing.
Just call them “fakies” and be done with it then.
Cute sounds some of them made, but then I can jingle my car keys, cant I?
Got some advertising jingle in my head today too…Big whoop.
It’s music. Get over it.
Music is important.
So are dry socks…
Dont really care too much if they black or dark blue.
Just dry.
Arlo had been married for 45 years?
Wow, how the time has passed! That would make him 70-something, wouldn’t it?
As to Morello, I have no idea who he is, and what I know of him now I can do without.
It’s Ry Cooder that bothers me. Time and again entertainers who’ve brightened an evening for me with their talent have slapped me with stinging comments about my beliefs, unasked and unearned. Tom Hanks calling me “un-American” for being disloyal to Obama, “The Boss” asking me to impeach Bush in the middle of a war, and now . . . . Cooder?
Lets get used to it Bozo. Communism follows the arts. Always has and always will. The list of movies I’ll never see, concerts I won’t attend is growing and will continue to grow. Artists on the fringe of popularity, those whose popularity is sagging and wannabes will continue to come out and denounce conservatism to increase their stock.It is those conservatives in the artistic community who have the balls. Their income is in danger when they speak their mind. Bravo!
The Arts?
What Arts?
Michelangelo was art. Mozart was art.
Crooners and Strummers aint art. They’re entertainers.
Simple, cheap, common entertainment.
All kinds of problems when you start calling them “artists”.
Put-er this way….when Hitler and Mussolini were makin’ their bones in the Minor Leagues, the depression was looming and Vaudville was the Entertainment of the day, would you:
Accept, with serious consideration, the fervent political opinions of a Ventriloquist?
The National Financial priorities and commitments, of a Plate Twirler?
The Military Strategy of a Sword Swallower, Box Juggler, or One-Man-Band contraptionist?
Why is it that someone on stage with a Guitar is anticipated to be more Politically Astute, to the point of reverence, stature, and deference, than say, the operator of a unicycle, or a po-go stick?
Yes, Woody had a cute twang in “sawngs” he “sanged”.
And the Little Rascals were delightful too.
But I dont expect Spanky and Alfalpha to provide useful political advice.
I expect only to be (temporarily) ENTERTAINED
It’s been part of the schtick since the ’60s. Musicians know better than your parents. A musician smoked a joint, once saw a real prostitute; wisdom ensues. It’s a sack of BS.
Even a lot of our “American” music isn’t American. In “The Last Waltz,” only one guy in The Band was American, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young were from Canada, and Van Morrison Ireland. Most of the all-time great rock bands are English. The Rolling Stones and The Beatles anointed themselves as music historians in their early ’20s and declared American “negro” music from the ’50s was the only real form of American music and co-opted it and then sold it to us like Japanese cars.
“Cool” has long been a part of pop music but it got out of hand in the ’60s and is much worse today. Katy Perry couldn’t write a song to save her life but is challenging Beatles No.1 hit records, and so is the atrocious fake jazz singer, Adele. Probably 80% of popular bands got ripped off by their record companies in the last half-century.
Am I being cynical? I don’t think so. I love juvenile literature but I simply know the difference between Saturday morning cartoons and real adult life. There is virtually nothing real or authentic about rock and roll. To me it’s as if science fiction literature had been sold as real.
And here I thought I was alone in my disliking of Adele’s “music” & talent. I STILL don’t get the Adele hype!
No, youre not being Cynical…
You’re afflicted with what my Dad called “perspective”
I happen to love Beavis and Butthead, Steve Mcqueen, and Ronald Reagan with relatively equal vigor.
Yet I somehow can vote accordingly.
What would Arlo have thought about Morello and Cooder had he been able to be present?
Do they consider him a “fascist” for not being a Democrat?
Arlo’s tribute to his wife is truly moving.
Kinda like when Mohammed Ali makes appearances at sports events in Phoenix. Everyone hoops and hollars and my husband and I just look at each other.
Yeah, I think there are a lot of people with stars in their eyes and no brains.
Curiouser and curiouser became the Left. I think there is a long distance between deadly miners strikes and singing in Wisc. to preserve over-generous pensions that are bankrupting city and state gov’ts.
The distance between the idea of a rebel and a 100 dollar event at the Kennedy Center shows that these masters of perception are unaware they are now the very institutions they claim not to be. That’s not just hypocrisy but an Orwellian disconnect that is nearly staggering.
People don’t cheer iconoclasts, they revile them, and certainly don’t broadcast them on the most PC and wishy-washy channel in America, PBS. As is par for the course, if these people don’t manufacture enemies who are racists, and monsters against the poor and elderly, the rebels have no function. Well, they have no function.
What’s troubling are the sources of information these people get their info from. If they really think Trayvon Martin is a trend rather than a goofy anomaly, or perhaps even the opposite of how the Left portrays that killing, then maybe their source is the Ministry of Propaganda.
One thing’s for sure: these people are no Winston Smith as they would have you believe but the clock is certainly striking 13. The hunted have long since become the hunters but bereft of prey, they make racists out of code and dog-whistles normal people simply laugh at. Leftist are not normal people, they are bald-faced idiots.
Regarding “there is a long distance between deadly miners strikes and singing in Wisc. to preserve over-generous pensions that are bankrupting city and state gov’ts,” retired California Democrat and power broker Willie Brown recently said that when he first came to Sacramento the state capital was controlled by the railroads, but now it’s controlled by the public employees’ unions. Of course, he could only say that after he retired. In Progressive circles I guess that’s considered “courage.”
Willie Brown came to Sacramento in 1964. The power of the railroads in California politics ended during Governor Hiram Johnson’s tenure, beginning in 1910. Arthur Samish ran the Legislature during the 30′s and 40′s. He was a lobbyist who represented many industries and special interests, but not the railroads. Jesse “Big Daddy” Unruh, the Assembly Speaker in the mid-50′s and into the 60′s, filled the vacuum created by the fall of Samish. Unruh was not a tool of the railroads. So what in the world was Willie Brown talking about?
Arlo has always struck me as a fundamentally decent guy. He has the ability to laugh at himself, as well as at society’s absurdities.
I’ve been aware of his libertarian proclivities for some time. I didn’t know he is registered Republican.
I met him once, briefly, after a concert about 20 years ago. Since I’m rather shy in meatspace, I didn’t have much to say besides smiling and saying, “Nice to meet you” and shook his hand. He smiled back.
If you’re reading this, Arlo, I’m sorry for your loss.
“Meatspace.” I love it
The best concert I ever went to was Arlo Guthrie, about 20 years ago. Actually was a music festival he was giving, and I had gone to see Don Henley. But Arlo was the real star.
Someone should inform Ry Cooder that Fascism is a form of LEFT WING politics. It is all about central planning. They were socialists and had no qualms in saying so.
Of course the hard left and the academic world constantly insist it is right wing. This is because if not, there is only one boogey man responsible for tens of millions of deaths in the 20th century. The LEFT.
Here is a simple way of putting it that seems to drive the left crazy
Fascism is to the right of communism.
My copy of Johna Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism” to Ry. Sigh..Another bubble burst for me, such a great dirty slide player. Oh well, knew this day would eventually come after I heard his song “Red Cat Til I Die” a few years ago.
It’s obvious that if the modern left can’t make America Communist through the ballot box, they’ll gladly allow some left wing Fascism through the door to circumvent pesky things that stand in their way – like the Constitution. The Obama administration’s unparalleled use of executive orders (and the liberal media’s lack of concern of the overreach) is proof of that.
As ammunition to help make your point stick:
Executive orders so far by Obama: 683
Executive orders by Bush over 8 years: 63
Wrong. Fascism is decidedly anti-communist, which is supposed to be the leftiest of lefty systems. While fascism does engage in collectivism, it’s basic tenets are dictatorship of the right, ultra-patriotism, and corporatism, aligning the centralized dictatorial power with corporate economic power. Not to say that communist governments as we have seen them in this world have not engaged in fascistic dictatorial tactics, but the major difference is that the collectivism there is supposed to control infrastructure, manufacturing and resources to benefit the population at large. In fascism, the corporate profiteers are free to exploit resources and workers, making huge profits on the backs of working people while the dictator maintains a death grip over public opinion, dissent and activism. Socialism is supposed to rein all this in. Neither system seems to work very well as we’ve seen them in practice, but then neither does capitalism.
Since none of them work very well I’ll settle for the system that leaves me alone.
fascism, socialism, and communism are all collectivist political philosophies which are augmented in different ways by the existing economy. A free market economic system is the primary basis for any individualist political philosophy. It is Capitalism which is unique in the world, because it is the only economic system that is capable of fostering individual freedom. The question is, do we want private control over the means of production and creation of wealth, or do we want government control of the means of production and creation of wealth? The collectivist approaches are all in league together on this question. If Obama is re-elected, you will soon see how government control of the means of production will produce an generalized abject poverty and you will not care whether they call it Communism or Fascism or Socialism. You will just be pissed off because your life will no longer have any meaning except for your servitude to the collective. Obama is a Collectivist and he is the enemy of all freedom loving people. ABO2012
Thanks for clarifying the all important differences between navel lint and pubic hairs on my soap bar:
“In fascism, the corporate profiteers are free to exploit resources and workers, making huge profits on the backs of working people while the dictator maintains a death grip over public opinion, dissent and activism”
Sounds alot like Communist inner circle Party Members living high on the hog while the rest of the country starves, and dares not complain.
Ultra-patriotism?
You mean like giant posters of Dear Leader on every street corner, and a cult-like following of the ready to die zombies, like North Korea?
Or Spiffy jack-booted shock troops constantly guarding the very embalmed remains of their founder who must be on public display forever, like Communist Russia?
Fascist, Communist.
Perogie, dumpling.
Wonton, ravioli
They’re all pretty much the same damn thing,
‘specially when you compare them to apples, steak, or soda-pop, huh?
And Capitalism works just fine (when you let it)
in a Constitutional Republic with a Bill Of Rights like ours (used to be)
To give credit where credit is due, Ry Cooder is a talented guitarist. That said he is also an NPR station favorite & NPR stations such as Philly’s WXPN where the World Cafe music program originates are the ONLY place you will ever hear Ry Cooder & his music. Not surprised to hear of his radical left behavior. He is surrounded only by fellow leftists. Tom Morello on the other hand is a horrible “musician” & has been involved in numerous radical left movements, most notably the radical left’s coddling of Philly cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. His band Rage Against The Machine held concerts to raise money to aid his attempts at a re-trial & they wrote songs praising the cop killer. A total sicko. No redeeming musical attributes to be found here.
Cooder is back from Cuba? Why? No dollars there at the Buena Vista Socialist Club? May be he was missing good ol’ bourgeois toilet paper. Doing that task with one’s hand is the pits. Well… welcome back, Ry. When are you leaving?
I have always believed that there were four really great slide players in contemporary music: Lowell George, Colin Linden, David Lindley and Ry Cooder. I am glad I had the chance to enjoy Cooder’s music in his prime before I learned of his politics.
Kinda spoils everything.
I kindly suggest you forgot Mr. Duane Allman, perhaps the greatest.
You forgot Bonnie Riatt. But, sadly, her politics also run toward birdbrain…
Bonnie Raitt learned how to play slide guitar from Lowell George and she publicly says so – Little Feat was pretty much her backing band on early albums, if I recall correctly.
All those mentioned are worthy. I’d add David Bromberg to the list. How many others can say that they backed Bob Dylan and were also backed by the Grateful Dead (well, except for the Dead themselves, who toured and performed with Bob)? Jorma Kaukonen, like Bromberg a fingerpicking disciple of Rev. Gary Davis, is also pretty good with a slide.
Cooder’s leftism is no surprise. He’s actively promoted Cuban musicians with the Buena Vista Social Club project but to my knowledge he’s never said a critical word about the Castro regime.
Rory Gallagher is also missing from your list! Google him.
However, your sentiments regarding Cooder as the “protest song” guy are shared by many, many people who are aware of this nonsense on his part.
I sat 6 feet away from Rory on a blizzardy night in Youngstown, Ohio in 77. We passed a Jamesons bottle around. There were maybe 25 people in the theatre. I will never forget his grace and style. I truly believe he was the best in the world that night. R.I.P.
Give Russ Pahl a listen. Hard to find his stuff tho.
Ahhhhhh, Lowell George. I thought I was the only conservative who’d ever heard of him. Thanks for proving me wrong :X
Funny, it’s always the most thought provoking posts on this site that generate the fewest comments.
I had a terrible crush on Arlo Guthrie after Alice’s Restaurant. I think I was nine. I wangled an invitation to a party in Nashville he was supposed to attend, but his wife gave birth that night and he didn’t. End of story.
Woody, no the other hand, can munch kitty litter in hell.
Re: “This machine kills fascists,” if memory serves, Guthrie became Merchant Marine during WWII, and was on a ship that was torpedoed and sunk by a German u-boat. So, he did serve. The picture of the guitar with those words drawn on it that I have seen were of him on the ship. The song “The Rueben James” comes from the event.
I used to hang with some of that crowd. It’s lockstep, or you’re out. The only real musician you mention, Mr. Radosh, is Tony Trischka. He can play. The rest are all musical hacks, and the audiences don’t know the difference, even though Ramblin’ Jack (with whom I have done concerts) has a way with a song that is unique, and to my sensibility wonderful. Nonetheless, he is about as unfriendly and insecure as a man can be, in my personal experience.
The folk music world, while filling many of us with sweet — or is it sappy? — nostalgia, is no less corrupt, money-grabbing, exploitative of the “artists,” (I use the term loosely), and decrepit than the rest of our sorry culture.
At least Leonard Cohen and Dylan are original and literate, and Doc was truly musical and mellifluous in is voice AND soul. These guys are hacks.
Sincere condolences to Arlo Guthrie, (whom I have never met), on his profound loss.
Thanks for your e-mail, and all others who know the difference between Woody Guthrie and Tom Morello. Woody, unlike Tom, was poor as one could be- living in Sheepshead Bay with his wife and kids in a small flat. As Arlo said a few years ago after reading about the Venona transcripts and the money from the Soviet Union flowing to the American CP, “my dad and mom never got any of those funds.”
I assume, since you appeared with Jack, that you are a folk musician. I agree with you completely. I spoke to Jack at the Birchmere some years ago, and he was very friendly. There is a well known photo of Jack and Woody at Washington Sq in 1954 with me standing right next to them. I was there that historic day and spoke to Woody at length. I subsequently arranged a concert for Jack at the UW Madison when I went there in the 50′s.
Sadly, after I last wrote about Arlo, he released a statement sort of backtracking and saying how he still supported unions, the fight against inequality, and even though he is a Republican, he went on to blast the current Republican Party as extreme. He was obviously pushed into doing this by people like Pete Seeger, with whom he is close.
Still, I don’t think Arlo would have been happy hearing Morello. I suspect Nora, Arlo’s sister, is pretty far left herself, and she hosted the event and beamed at Morello, whom she fondly called “outrageous.”
This page full of reactions to your comments about Ry Cooder and Tom Morello is a portrait of the word “reactionary.” I’m afraid your own comments reveal a lack of understanding and knowledge of Woody Guthrie and his politics. Perhaps Cooder and Morello were, as you wrote, “over the top.” I wasn’t there and couldn’t judge for myself, but the injecting of political polemic into Woody’s songs is a long-standing tradition to which Woody himself would probably not object. He was ardently anti-fascist and anti-vigilante and it sounds, even from what you wrote, as if Ry’s adaptations were entirely appropriate. (The killing of Trayvon Martin was, like it or not, vigilante violence.) The other song you mention was probably “Better World”. Without hearing exactly what was said in Morello’s “screed” it’s difficult to judge, but one thing likely to be certain based on your description is that the song you claim was Morello’s “own dreadful new song” was probably his musical setting of words by Guthrie entitled “Ease My Revolutionary Mind.” The words are entirely Guthrie’s. The recorded version is available on the new CD “Note of Hope.” There have been many musical settings of Guthrie lyrics by contemporary artists ever since Nora Guthrie opened the archives and invited them to do it. From Billy Bragg and Wilco to Jonatha Brooke, John McCutcheon, Slaid Cleaves, Tom Morello and others, they have brought out some of Woody’s unknown work and given it new voice.
Ramblin’ Jack, as much as we admire him and appreciate his long career and his honoring of Woody, never shared that one aspect of his mentor, a radical political viewpoint.
By the way, Guthrie did not cut out the famous “controversial” extra three verses of “This Land” as you claim. They are all there on the Folkways recording, sung by the master himself.
Our deepest condolences to Arlo on the loss of his love.
The death of Trayvon Martin was not demonstrably vigilante justice. Being a concerned citizen who is also armed is not being a vigilante. If I see something suspicious at my neighbor’s house at 3 am, him on vacation, and I go out armed to investigate am I a vigilante?
Thank you Ron, for telling us about Arlo and his wife. Some Real Journalism going on here and it is appreciated, beyond words.
I have been seeing dribs and drabs about Cooder’s seeming newfound political voice and it sure does sour me on a man I personally consider An American Treasure. {or at least DID consider…}
Those who invited Morello along knew what they were getting. Note that Zero people kicked his scaly ass offin’ the stage, as proof it was never in consideration NOT to allow him his screed. He makes no secret of what he purportedly ‘believes’, and IMHO does it to generate Buzz and Bucks.
Are there any ‘real performers’ any more? I’ve seen and heard of a few.
But ‘scarce’ they are and getting scarcer……
This is the first I’ve heard of this tribute to Woodie Guthrie. Does anyone know — did Bob Dylan attend the tribute?
Did that old coot-commie Pete Seeger attend?
When Stalin and Hitler joined to split up Eastern Europe, which side were these precious folkies on? The side of keeping America pacifist and on the sidelines. Of course, when Hitler attacked Mother Russia, these guys regrouped in a hurry,
I’m a music lover and raised in the mountains of NC where authentic bluegrass was played in homes, on the radio, and at public gatherings. I love to hear the old bluegrss tunes by the likes of Bill Monroe & Flatt & Scruggs. There are fantastic bluegrass artists writing and singing today.
However, I have to agree with Tolbert. If an artist is or was ever a communist or sympathizer, don’t expect me to excuse that because he or she was talented. Those who are traitors to America and our brand of (overly) controlled capitalism need not expect financial support from me in any form.
As the old bluegrass tune says,
“I’m no Communist, I’ll tell you that right now
I think a man should own his own horse and farm and cow
I like this private enterprise, I want to be left alone,
Let the government run its business, and let me run my own.”
Ahh! Grandpa Jones. Much under-appreciated these days.
Here is a mini review of Ry Cooder’s latest album “Election Special” :
“He wrote and recorded this album as a witness to the era. Other than drums (played by his son Joachim) and some backing vocals, Cooder plays everything here. He uses foreboding acoustic blues in “Mutt Romney Blues” (written from the point of view of the candidate Mitt Romney’s dog). The more poignant “Brother Is Gone” is at first blush a seemingly heart-wrenching folk tale fueled by Cooder’s mandolin. Yet it slowly and purposely relates a deal-with-the-devil fantasy about conservatives Charles and David Koch. It’s among the finest songs he’s written. But Cooder rocks up his anger too: “Guantanamo” is a raucous barroom strut. “Cold Cold Feeling” is a deep, slow garage blues that’s chilling in its effectiveness. His screed is a link in a chain of political blues tunes that date back to the Delta. “Going to Tampa” is a cut-time string band country tune. It’s a farce about the 2012 Republican National Convention as hijacked by the Tea Party. He accuses both of outright racism and social engineering, with scathing humor. The album’s finest cut is the dark, Delta-style electric blues of “Kool-Aid,” which recalls Junior Kimbrough musically. Guthrie’s own spirit is evoked in the antiwar narrative “The 90 and the 9,” with its singalong choruses. Election Special closes with a scorching, rocking blues entitled “Take Your Hands Off It.” It’s a militant anthem that demands that the Constitution and Bill of Rights be returned to their rightful place at the heart of mainstream American life. Sure enough, because of its soapbox style, Election Special is the most overtly political album of Cooder’s career. As such, it serves two purposes: one is that it is the most organic record he’s issued in almost two decades; and, more importantly, it restores topical protest music to a bona fide place in American cultural life.”
Puke-worthy revue. Thanks for this.
I repeat, I like Ry Cooder’s musical style, and his guitar playing is among the very best for blues. Other than that he’s an idiot.
Modern entertainers are generally idiot-savants — they are nothing outside of their musical and performance talent. They need to understand that their role in life is to alleviate the boredom for those of us with real jobs and regular lives, and not to pontificate on stuff they know nothing about. They are court jesters, and should know their place. If they find remarks like mine insulting, then I would remind them that they are well-paid for their services, and should shut up when not singing. Or, for that matter, they should shut up while playing if the lyrics are going to be political.
I’ve always thought Ry Cooder was a brilliant musician and have enjoyed his music since the 1970s’. He is one of the best guitar players ever. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for his politics. He apparently shares an all to common trait with other “creative” persons – the common sense side of the brain has fallen into atrophy.
Woody Guthrie sang songs that celebrated human achievment like “Roll On, Columbia” about the Grand Coulee Dam. Can you imagine a modern day Leftist celebrating hydro electricity that brought prosperity and modernity to millions and a huge irrigation project that provided farm land that provided food for millions?
Can you imagine a modern day leftist writing “Reuben James” that memorialized the lives–and deaths–of common sailors?
Has a lot in common with O: a Kenyan father who ditched his white chick and went back home. I wonder why they never blame their fathers for, in Al Sharpton’s phrase “Walking away from them like a bowel movement.”
The Left needs hatred, its own, and the hatred it creates in others. These two really aren’t that good, but they have found an audience.
I wonder how surprised they will be when the system breaks, and it is their enemies with the numbers and will to win?
WHO has a lot in common with O[bama]?
Greetings:
My father used to have an expression that he used when one of my associates went beyond his pale. “The next time you see your parents,” he would intone, “tell them that I said they still have some work to do.”
Was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn’t say nothing
This land was made for you and me.
Thank you for pointing out that oft left out stanza! What a clumsy article, Guthrie would have felt quite comfortable with Morello, they are cut from the same cloth.
Just because Guthrie was sincere, doesn’t make any less of a simpleton than Morello.
Guthrie’s greatest protege was Bob Dylan and he wasn’t there?
Having watched Martin Scorcese’s No Direction Home so many times I can se why.
Dylan was interested in the roots of American music which, tied in with a genuine social consciense, blended to create the finest lyrical popular music of the 20th century.
Politics on the overt level displayed here played no interest to him and its instructive to see how fast he hightailed it from the Paxtons et al who thought they, at last had a mouthpiece for the leftism they embraced.
What a pity to learn the Ry Cooder is such a bloomin’ idiot. But then that’s what you get when you lean too far to the left.
I think a musician should stick to his music and stay out of politics. As for Dylan, never cared for his music, nor his voice.
And I think that Cooder probably voted for the incompetent nincompoop that is currently in the White House. ANYBODY BUT OBAMA 2012
I was never a folky but loved their second generation folk rock — Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention — and yes they were are essentially lefties although I didn’t know of Arlo Guthrie’s change of heart. My standards were musical not political. Ry Cooder is enormously talented but like his talented colleague Van Dyke Parks lives in an America I don’t recognize. Don’t these people know that they’ve won? Not just the colleges and publishing houses and culture industry in general, but the city halls and corporate human resource offices and far too many churches. Both my parents grew up in Appalachia during the Depression and so Guthrie’s songs are appreciated but let’s face it — the unions were and are corrupt, the government clueless and counterproductive, and the public schools that once taught the children of the working class and working poor have turned into worthless propaganda mills. I love the music of Robert Wyatt and he’s a stone-cold Marxist even today. Don’t expect much of a learning curve. Writers such as Ron Radosh and Roger Simon are the exceptions not the rule. Guthrie deserved his tribute — perhaps good and bad. And Arlo’s wife deserves our prayers. And yes, it is good that Arlo didn’t have to listen to this. But how many in the audience lapped it up like a five dollar premium latte? The real irony here is that an incoherent and chaotic uprising may come, if, as Robert Heinlein wrote, “if this goes on…” But it will be from the permanently unemployed, the abused small business owner, Catholics and a whole improbable army of the the bipartisan disgusted. I hope Tom Morella lives in a gated community like those you find all over Mexico.
Commies bashing fascists. Isn’t that kind of like eating your own?
So what’s the deal, Guthrie was a “good” commie whose memory shouldn’t be sullied by “bad” commies like Morello and Cooder?
“No, Tom, you are the fascists.”
(And then Tom was).
I am 82 years old and still allowed out without a keeper. I detest everything Communist, yet Woody Guthrie wrote some songs that have become a part of the greater American culture. “This Land is Your Land….” for instance speaks to the heart of what is America and is its own justification. Respectfully, Leland Sprague
FASCISM & COMMUNISM: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
For all those people we know who differentiate communism from fascism, show them this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bolshevik_Party
It won’t shut them up or change their minds, but it should leave them disoriented.
(to the tune of Wildwood Flower, dashed off in 1961)
We try to be ethnic but we come from the Bronx
We worship Bobbie Zimmerman, Texas Weinstein, Dave Van Ronx
We speak like we was brung up in the West Virginia mountains
But when we graduate, we will all be come accountains
Morello does not have to try at being an idiot. It just comes natural for him. Plus he is a truly bad musician. Bad, bad.
THANK YOU for pointing out that Arlo, unlike his father, was a libertarian and registered Republican! I did not know that!
For several years, back when dinosaurs walked the Earth (sigh), two clips from “Alice’s Restaurant” were among my go-to audition pieces for humorous stage roles; I loved Arlo’s writing and always secretly lamented that such an enjoyable performer was such a Leftist, drug-addled hippie. I am delighted to learn that he eventually grew up and embraced a saner political philosophy. (A great read, to much the same effect: “The Secret Knowledge,” the recent conservative-conversion memoir of playwright/director David Mamet, another prodigious talent I also always regretted was a liberal.)