Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Concert and President Obama (Field Report)

Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Concert and President Obama

By M.J. Rosenberg - May 3, 2009, 10:33PM
On Sunday night Pete Seeger's 90th birthday was celebrated with a concert at Madison Square Garden.

It was great. Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Ben Harper, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Billy Bragg, Rufus Wainwright, Arlo Guthrie, and a dozen or two other headliners performed.

And Pete Seeger, of course.

But here's the amazing thing. In my life, I have never been to a concert (let alone a lefty concert) at which the name of the President of the United States was cheered. At previous concerts I've been to over the decades, the names of Kennedy, Johnson, Carter or Clinton were no more likely to be cheered than those of Reagan or Bush.

I mean, who cheers Presidents at concerts -- especially at a concert that includes a great rendition of "The Internationale?" Traditionally, names of Presidents go unmentioned. Or they are booed.

Springsteen said that he never saw Seeger more happy than at Obama's inauguration, noting that Seeger saw Obama's ascendancy as proof that he, Seeger, had "outlived the bastards."

One more thing. The 30,000 people in the audience wildly cheered a letter from Obama saluting Seeger.

Two incredible things there. One, a President salutes ex-Red Seeger (and also has him perform at his inauguration). Two, an audience of aging hippies and 20-somethings goes nuts every time the President is mentioned.

I can't believe I've lived to see the day.

Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger. The America of your music may be in the process of being born.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/03/pete_seegers_90_birthday_concert_and_president_oba/

STILL got that wrong!

Good for Pete.
He outlived the bastards.

THIS post made me happy.

:woohoo:

... if every American did the same, we'd be happier and in much better shape. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHTRC3TJ8es

And when you get tired and the crunches get really hard, you're singing the verse that goes "Nobody living can ever stop me ..... nobody living can make me turn back" .... talk about a motivator.

so I can play it whenever I get depressed or down on America. For me it is the upper of all uppers.

.... including Barack's precious snoring niece were over to the left hand side of the stage.



http://www4.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/One+Obama+Inaugural+Celebration+Lincoln+Memorial+FnXBLF-M-Hgl.jpg
(sleeping, jet lagged Hawaiian five year old niece is in the pink coat over his shoulder)

lol! and for crying out loud Mr. President! Can you give Joe some leg room! "No, I won! I get all the leg room!"

Smiles and tears here. So great.

Hekate

Pete Seeger celebrates 90th with musician pals
Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris and more join in the festivities at Madison Square Garden.
By Josh Getlin
May 4, 2009

Reporting from New York -- For a 90th birthday, it felt more like a political revival, an old-fashioned revival meeting. And as he stood in the wings Sunday, watching a parade of folk and pop music royalty sing the songs that he made famous, Pete Seeger wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

On a rain-soaked night, more than 15,000 people turned out at Madison Square Garden to salute the man who wrote or co-wrote some of the most influential political anthems of the last 60 years, including "If I Had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," and "Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything There is a Season)."

The roster of A-list performers -- including Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez and others -- also included appearances by Tim Robbins, Norman Lear and Ruby Dee, and a happy birthday message to Seeger from President Obama.

"Can you imagine life at 90 years and still going strong?" said Mellencamp, who helped kick off the concert, a fundraiser for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Inc., the environmental group that Seeger launched to help clean up the river. "Think about all he's accomplished. He wrote that song <"If I Had a Hammer"> back in 1949, when we were all afraid of the Reds."

The political mood heated up as the huge crowd cheered, rocked and swayed to anthems such as "We Shall Overcome," "Oh, Freedom" and "Which Side Are You On?" Billy Bragg got an ovation when he sang "The Internationale," the 19th century rallying song of the socialist and labor movements. Springsteen, appearing with guitarist Tom Morello, sang a powerful version of his "The Ghost of Tom Joad."

<SNIP>

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-pete-seeger4-2009may04,0,5500589.story

one of the first concerts I ever went to. It was an oversold event, so they put us latecomers up on the stage in folding chairs right around Seegar. I was about six or seven feet away, and remember reading all the writing on his banjo.

That sounds like a whole lot more than is possible.

No pun intended. ;)