The Blog of G

After reading this article on Wired, I’m disappointed that Bob couldn’t articulate a bit better. Sweeping generalisations like that just make him sound like a deranged old coot.

I guess the times they really are a changing…

Welcome one and all, to my first blog Post. I thought I’d kick off this blog by writing about Music, in particular a gig I went to last Friday evening with some friends of mine. We went to see a Living legend play in Vicar Street, my first time in the venue and I really loved it, great sound and vibe about the place.

Enough about the venue, Arlo Guthrie is quite possibly the last true American folk singer, now that’s a fairly big statement when Bob’s (Dylan) still about but let’s be fair Bob, you’re a pop star that writes in a folk style, where as Arlo grew up with a folk singer for a father (the late Woody Guthrie) knowing what folk singing really is all about, travelling the country bringing stories and news to the people in the form of song.

It would be fair to say that the world may never have heard of Arlo if it wasn’t for the success of one song, Alice’s Restaurant Massacree. I for one think that would have been a terrible loss, Arlo’s singing and song writing have something completely unique about them, and his recorded work has stood the test of time, hell even Alice is starting to sound relevant again. But in order to truly grasp the magnitude of his talent you have to see him live. The man’s talent as a songwriter comes from his story telling ability, which is laced with a wit most stand-ups would do well to equal. This was the third time I have seen Arlo live and it’s not possible to pick a favourite performance from these, the man’s consistency as a performer is staggering.

As a singer Arlo has that special something, yes he’s a storyteller and that helps, but he also has that same empathy with lyrics that made Sinatra so popular. His singing style is what allowed him to take the Steve Goodman song “The City of New Orleans” and make it his own. A song which has gained new meaning in the last twelve months.

As for the performance last Friday, he arrived on stage with 3 others, one of whom I recognised from gigs I had seen before, his son Abe, playing the Keyboard. After the first tune, he introduced the band, Gordon Titcomb on Pedal Steel, Abe on Keyboards and Krishna Milo Guthrie (his Grandson) [edit heard the name wrong on the night, D'oh] on Drums. Three Generations on the one stage!

Of Course Arlo covered all his “classics” (Alice’s Restaurant, City of New Orleans, Coming into Los Angeles) with the only notable exception being “the Pickle song” although he did briefly touch on that during one of his stories as a heckler was screaming for it, possibly why it didn’t get played as punishment for the drunk heckler being so rude as to interrupt the performance. He also played a number of other “classics” interspersed with tall tales and stories.

One such story involved a small man knocking on his door in the early Sixties to see Arlo’s father, who was in hospital at the time, but Arlo invited him in, had a chat and they played Harmonicas for a few hours before Arlo took him along as he went to visit Woody. That small man later changed his name to “Bob Dylan” and the rest we all know. A really touching tale and a fabulous way to introduce “Mr. Tambourine Man”

There were other fine moments in the performance as well, a new song of Arlo’s (which I missed the name of ) documents the Story of The Katrina disaster and is one of the most powerful songs I have heard in a long time, not because it was looking to “cash in” but because it was condemning those that did. Arlo toured the US after the disaster to raise funds as many did, however he took no fee personally and has not commercially released the track that he wrote, to the best of my knowledge.

The last thing I would like to mention about the performance was when the fourth generation of Guthrie arrived on stage. In what can only be described as a bizarre and touching moment Arlo explained that he had recently come into possession of some old wire recordings of Woody and explained that they are currently being cleaned up for release before the end of the year. He played a snip from one of these recordings for the crowd, with head bowed and lights dimmed in respect. After, he joked that his style “was Woody’s fault!” and having heard the recording, the similarities in their storytelling, I have to say it’s eerily true.

There was a man sitting near us at the back of the venue looked very like Christy Moore (I’m certain it was, some of my friends were of the opinion that it was just someone who looked like him). The quality of the gig is best summed up by saying that like everyone else at the end of the gig he was on his feet cheering for more.