For most of the years
between 1991, when we moved to New York, and 2004, when our lives as grandparents
began, our fall ritual was to see Arlo Guthrie at Carnegie Hall, where
he has long performed on the Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend. Until just
a few years ago those performances included Pete Seeger and some of Arlo’s
children who have grown to be musicians in their own rights.
Since 2004, we have
spent Thanksgiving with our main reasons to be thankful – our children and
grandchildren. But we have missed that annual Arlo fix, so when we saw that he
was performing in mid-November in Tarrytown, a little bit north of New York
City, we decided to buy tickets.
The show opened with
Arlo’s daughter Sarah Lee Guthrie, a very good singer/songwriter in her own
right. Arlo came on about midway through the first half and sang a variety of
old and newer songs, some written by other artists, like “City of New Orleans”
by the late Steve Goodman.
There was an intermission, and Arlo came back on
stage alone with a guitar, and sat down and sang the entire “Alice’s Restaurant
Massacree,” a long winding tale that recalls an incident that occurred on
Thanksgiving many years ago. He updated the opening lyrics to say “It was fifty
Thanksgivings ago, fifty years ago on Thanksgiving” and updated a few phrases
to ones now considered more politically correct, but the spirit and humor
remained entirely intact. I am sure he could sing the entire 18+ minute tale in
his sleep, but he always manages to make it feel fresh.
I just learned that PBS
will premiere "Alice's Restaurant 50th Anniversary Concert with Arlo
Guthrie" on Thanksgiving Day (November 26) on TV stations across the
country (8 pm - 9:30 pm EST, check your local listings). Definitely one to
enjoy while you are trying to digest all that food!
On Sunday we saw the
movie “Bridge of Spies.” It had been on our “list” but as I wrote a month ago,
I was reluctant to see it because I do not like movies that involve danger and
tension. I went into it saying that I would just close my eyes if it got to be
too much.
The movie recounts
events in the early 1960s. I was ten years old when these events took place,
and can still remember the “red scare,” the drills we had in school in case of
an attack. In 1962, the USSR had imprisoned two Americans: U-2 pilot Francis
Gary Powers, whose plane they had shot down, and Frederic L. Pryor, and
American student who was in the wrong place at the wrong time just as the
Berlin Wall was being built. Meanwhile, a Soviet double agent, Rudolf Abel
(played by Mark Rylance), was being held in a US prison. Tom Hanks plays James
B. Donovan, an American lawyer who is assigned as Abel’s attorney.
Because this film
follows a historical event, the outcome is well known: a prisoner swap of Abel
for the two Americans. I did close my eyes during a few scenes, but for the
most part the film, although tense, was not excessively brutal.
It has been a sad week for the beautiful city of Paris. No matter how long I live I will never understand what motivates some people to do such heinous things. You would think by now, 2015, we could do better. When will the carnage end?
Love,
Rebecca
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