Arlo Guthrie hasn't abandoned ideals

Performing here this month,
Arlo Guthrie hasn't abandoned ideals

http://theseniortimes.com/article/2009/10/performing-here-this-month-arlo-guthrie.html

Oct '09
Martin C. Barry

With the autumn chill descending on Montreal, Arlo Guthrie is hoping
warm Indian Summer air ­­­­­will blow through in time for his
performance at the end of October. Guthrie, who shot to fame in the
mid-1960s with his talking blues folk ballad, Alice's Restaurant, is
the son of legendary American singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, who
left behind a legacy of musical works, many about his experiences
during the Great Depression.

It's been a while since Arlo Guthrie, 62, was last in Montreal. From
the 1960s through the 1980s he would perform regularly at Place des
Arts. "Every year I did shows with my old buddy Pete Seeger," he said
in a phone interview from Washington, Mass., where he now resides.
"And then the times changed and maybe the kind of music we were
playing wasn't popular." Guthrie says the pace of his life hasn't
slowed. "I'm actually on the road more than ever. We spend about ten
months on the road. If anything it's more than it used to be.

"I took off September for the first time in my life because it's such
a beautiful time to be here in the north east."

Guthrie was 20 when he became famous with his first album, Alice's
Restaurant. It remains his best known work. The title is taken from
the record's first and longest track, more than 18 minutes long,
which is a bitingly satirical protest against the Vietnam war. It's
also based on a true incident: Guthrie's rejection for military
service because of a criminal record he got for littering on
Thanksgiving Day in 1965 when he was 18. A few years later it was
made into a movie.

Perhaps less known about Arlo is the fact that he is Jewish. Of
Woody's several marriages, his second was to Marjorie Greenblatt, a
dancer who cared for Woody until his death in 1967. Another bit of
trivia: Arlo was tutored for his bar mitzvah by Rabbi Meir Kahane,
the controversial founder of the Jewish Defence League. Arlo, who was
not yet into politics, remembers Kahane as "a very nice guy. Later in
life, I wondered if it was my fault that he became crazy. I was such
a terrible student." (Kahane, who was ultra-nationalist in his
political views, was assassinated in New York City in 1990.)

"I'm not religiously observant," he said. "I made friends with so
many people in other traditions and hence found a lot of inspiration
in so many different places. I think that's the challenge for a lot
of people these days ­ how to explore and be inspired by other
traditions without abandoning your own."

During the late 1960s when the U.S. was at war in Vietnam, Arlo
Guthrie's name came to be associated closely with the anti-war
movement. He was also distinctly on the left. As such, it must have
raised a few eyebrows last year during the 2008 Republican Party
Nominations when he publicly endorsed Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a
libertarian. As it turns out, Paul was the only anti-war candidate
among the Republicans.

"I joined them about five years ago because I thought they needed
more people like me," he said. They only seemed to have crazy people.
I think I probably wasted my time."

Guthrie remains as fervently anti-war as ever. "I don't think we
ought to be in Afghanistan. I don't think we ought to be in Iran or
in Iraq or any of these places. I think there's better ways to do
things and I'm hoping that the new president will see the world as I
do," he said.
--

Arlo Guthrie will perform Thursday, October 29 at 8 p.m. at the
Outremont Theatre at 1248 Bernard Ave. with the Guthrie Family Rides
Again Tour featuring Abe, Cathy, Annie, Sarah Lee and Johnny. Tickets: $55

.