New Athenaeum Post

Down By The Riverside: Pete Seeger, 1919-2014

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2014/01/pete-seeger-1919-2014.html

The intention of this particular Athenaeum post is to highlight & honor Seeger's tremendous musical impact.

-Maureen Lang

Comments

[Yours In Peace....R.L.Kirtley]

"So Long Pete,It's Been Good To Know You. So Long Pete, It's Been Good To Know You".....A Great American

[Babak Makkinejad]

Wasn't Seeger a black-listed dissident singer in US?

[nick b]

There was more to the man than just that, but yes.

[Maureen Lang]

I'll let Charles Pierce's eulogy answer that question:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/pete-seeger-obit-012814

The Athenaeum post linked to above is about Seeger's musical heritage, not past or contemporary politics.

[Laura Wilson]

Thank you…this song made my morning! I personally love that before the House Committee on Un-American Activities he did not "take the 5th" but, instead, stood right in front of the 1st Amendment!

[Charles I]

For some reason I always associate Seeger with another happy musician- though less crusader - Stephane Grappelli. Just watching them, being around them, was some kind of infectious happiness, and the mere recollection of their two smiling faces, one lifted, one tilted in jaunty song still wrings a few endorphins out of my grey matter.

[Maureen Lang]

Grappelli's time playing with Django Reinhardt & the rest of the Quintette Hot Club de France makes for some of the best jazz around. Here's a link to quite a few tracks:

http://www.redhotjazz.com/hotclubfrance.html

[Yours In Peace....R.L.Kirtley]

A Lasting Image I'll Carry Of Pete Was From A New Yorker Article Where The Writer Found Him Standing Alone Beside A Highway In Darkness And Freezing Sleet Holding Up A Sign Saying "Give Peace A Chance". He Was 87 At The Time. Just Another Day Doing His Job.

[Maureen Lang]

I never had the privilege of hearing Seeger play anywhere live, but my husband did long ago in San Diego CA. He was leading a singalong of "Which Side Are You On" at a rally outside a plant for striking workers. My husband's crew refused to cross the picket lines with their trucks- Pete thanked them. John says Pete Seeger had the clearest, strongest voice he'd ever heard.

[William R. Cumming]

A life well lived! A gift to US and mankind! Thanks Maureen for the post.

[Charles I]

Thanks, I've got it all, seen Grappelli and Seeger many times, never seen Django, but yeah, he's another one, although he seems to have been a bit darker a soul. I have a recording of Grappelli and Reinhardt jamming with of all people, Sidney Bechet, no idea when or where it was.

[Buzz Meeks]

Thank you for posting this.

[Maureen Lang]

Sidney Bechet plays with Grappelli & Reinhardt on several tracks of Verve's Jazz Masters "Django Reinhardt." This cut's from 1938- it's fun to hear Bechet saying, "Now you're sounding like New Orleans!" somewhere in the middle of it:

Honeysuckle Rose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Cagu-3dZI

Wonderful CD that you already own, no doubt. It resides more or less permanently in our den six disc player.