June 13th, Sunday: I took off for the Beacon Sloop Club’s Strawberry Festival, to enjoy a near-perfect day outside with the music and food, and of course, strawberries. Although Pete Seeger (the Sloop Club’s founder) had blurbed my book Native New Yorkers, we hadn’t actually sat and talked for a while, and it was putting a strain on things. I wanted to make face to face contact with him to re-establish the human part of the friendship.
It was a good idea. I also was prepared to sing my Voting Hymn of the Republic, which can be sung to the tune of Try To Remember, from the Fantastiks. I made copies of the space weapons flier and also the lyrics to Try To Remember and Cash Is King, which really is original. I ended up parking 10 minutes away. I saw Rachel and Alan (former Sloop club president, and former house mate) who were most welcoming. They went and had two babies since I last saw them) Others looked at me like “you missed the last 87 Sloop Club meetings!” But that’s okay. Speaking with Susan B, the music assistant, (who knows my music) I offered to fill in if one of the singers didn’t show up, and she said okay but the director didn’t know me, and said I couldn’t play, because rules are rules. She said if she let me sing two minutes she had to let this other guy from California sing two minutes, and she hasn’t heard him. So I said, “So let him sing!” We got into a heated discussion and I walked away to cool my heels and just enjoy the party. In the end, a scheduled singer didn’t show and I (and the guy from California) got to sing and I played my one song to wind up the concert, with the blessing of the music director, who realized that everyone else had heard me sing before and had no objections. It went over very well, and they were happy I sang. So as you see, even Peaceniks (like the members of the Beacon Sloop Club) have to find ways to resolve their conflicts. Everyone came out a winner. Apparently someone said I had been the music teacher at Kitama Seeger’s school (the Randolph School) and that piece of info (which I had forgotten) apparently was the missing link that brought things to a resolution. I guess they’d discussed it at some length. It proves what I’ve often said is that most conflicts can be resolved by having the right information.
I got to spend some quality time talking with Pete Seeger. (We had performed together as long as twenty years ago, at the World Wildlife Conference and other spots, he is the author of Where Have All the Flowers Gone, and If I Had A Hammer, Turn, Turn, Turn) At first he saw me and started complaining about his memory, which apparently fails him from time to time. He said he sees my name and says, “I think I must have read some of his books, because his name is kind of weird and unusual, so I remember it. But I can’t remember what you wrote sometimes…” This was one of those moments. He said, “I’m supposed to sing Guantanamera” in a few moments, and I can’t remember the words.” Later he sang not only Guantanamera (with Randi Harris on background vocals, just back from Ohio) but Big Muddy, which showed impeccable timing. Part way through Big Muddy, he said, “Of course this is just a song and there’s no intended comment on current affairs…” (The troops are saved when the captain dies from his own stupidity) I was standing by the stage and started clapping, with a knowing clap, and everyone in the audience followed suit. It was funny. Anyway, after that, his memory came back in full. Later, in the crowd, he practically ran over to me to let me know he remembered all about me. It meant a lot. He said, “I wish we had time to sit and talk about things, and I want to hear all your new songs. Come to the sloop club second Friday in July.” He showed me his appointment book, very small handwriting. I agreed. It gave me a chance to apologize for turning down his last similar offer to meet him at the Sloop Club, on a night I couldn’t make it. He said he’d let me tape him talking about the sixties and his experiences with civil disobedience. (We talked again about the Peekskill riots; I’d been with Pete on the 40th anniversary at Peekskill) I said, “you know Thoreau got a lot of his ideas on this from the Algonquins, and your work in the sixties was an extention of that tradition” He answered, “When Thoreau was dying, (of TB) and coughing all over the place, his auntie came and said, “Have you made your peace with God young man?” And he said, “Oh, I hadn’t known that we’d quarreled!” That was a priceless Pete Seeger quote, and like the song Guantanamera itself, a way of saying goodbye to those he cares about. He sang to me a song he had recently written about Martin Luther King, that I could use the lyrics in any upcoming book on non-violence. It was good, almost playful.
Interestingly, Pete talked a lot today both to me and on the stage about things that happened millions of years ago. His story of how Europeans survived by killing off the Neanderthal gave me a whole new insight into European history! Later I handed him the flier on space weapons, (microwave beams, etc) and he was interested, wondering if such a thing could affect his memory, which is a major concern now. We talked a bit today. I met “Spooky” the folk singer from NJ, really cool songs, including a voting song “Pull the lever” which was clever.
The Hudson Valley Peace Action Network table was very helpful. There was a lot of info on how the Patriot Act overrode the constitution and bill of rights. But some didn’t know there were two patriot acts, so I explained. I offered my flier for their table and they graciously accepted it as part of their collection. The director came up and said they have no rule against that, and anyway, he’ll change the rules as he goes along if it will help their cause. Of course he was joking. It made me feel more at home. Suddenly things made more sense! It was a good day to make peace!
My musical friend Wa-oosh showed up unexpectedly at the festival, and found me just as I was preparing to go on to ‘the hill” stage. I didn’t tell her I was waiting so sing. Sometimes I wonder if she is open to my “protest” songs, most of which are humorous anyway. She walked away, but came back when she heard my name announced, and ended up hearing the song, and we talked. She enjoyed it. It was nice, because I’ve been talking to her about lesser known revelations concerning the dark side of this current administration, and she’s been surprisingly open all along, listening and considering without jumping to conclusions. I made several predictions to her which came true. I can’t reveal her name because she has ties to certain very powerful families, some of whom have four letter words for last names. I can say that on one particular day I was with her and unbeknownst to us, Dick Cheney was less than a mile away, and at the moment he arrived, I suddenly got very sick and went into this other dimension where there was an endless universe of hopelessness and anger, which I described to her. It was like hell. I couldn’t continue playing. She helped me snap out of it, but it affected her too. Later we learned Cheney was giving a speech a few blocks away. At the time of the clock that he left, I suddenly felt much better. Isn’t that weird??
I made my way home, and wrote this first peaceblog for peacefile. I got a message from guitarist Angel Romero’s assistant, Susan Hofflund, that she will give my new guitar CD to him tomorrow, Monday. This is very exciting. The music of Contemplations CD is some of the most peaceful music ever written, and is designed to be healing as well. We shall see what the great Romero makes of it all, having seen the score almost six months ago.
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