Alice's Restaurant Massacree: Arlo Guthrie

[bananas]

mp3 at the link:

http://katry.blogspot.com/2009/11/alice-restaurant-massacree-arlo-guthrie.html
Alice's Restaurant Massacree: Arlo Guthrie
It's time for Coffee's traditional Thanksgiving song!!

[paulsby]

1. i heard it driving home from thanksgiving dinner

and my thanksgiving was complete.


btw, not too long ago, i was investigating a death and my sgt. asked me if i took pictures yet. i told him "27 8*10 glossy photographs".

he laughed and said "alice's restaurant"

that's pretty frigging cool

[truedelphi]

2. K & R so i can deal w/ it after some shut eye.

Thank you for posting.

[bobburgster]

3. A good tradition!

My family listens to it every year!

[lillypaddle]

4. Wow, does that bring back memories

K&R

[watrwefitinfor]

5. Has anybody seen Arlo lately?

I watched (most) of the PBS show about Woody last week. I was surprised to see his sister being interviewed, and even Woody's first wife, Mary, but not Arlo himself.

Anybody know if he's doing okay?

It was a very good bio, by the way.

Wat

[jimlup]

6. Arlo is still performing

They probably couldn't catch up with him cause he's on the road so much. Saw his show about 8 months ago and yes he did Alice's Restaurant.

[janet118]

10. I saw him last year - he was just starting a tour.

The show was sold out and he was funny and warm. Some of his kids play with his band. He looks pretty much the same except his long hair is totally white and frizzy.

Did anyone else hear the intro to Alice's Restaurant Massacree where Arlo tells a story about meeting one of Jimmy Carter's sons - Chip??? - who told him that when his family moved into the White House, they found a copy of the Alice's Restaurant album that had been left behind. From this evidence, Arlo theorized that it was Nixon's album and that, because the Alice's Restaurant Massacree is exactly 18 1/2 minutes long and so is the gap in the Nixon tapes, Dick was probably listening to Arlo's song and was trying to cover it up.

[Danmel]

7. Arlo is a Repug

Woody must be rolling in his grave.

I'm sorry that i read this- it has ruined Alice's Restaurant for me.



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26fob-q4-t.html?_r=1


Questions for Arlo Guthrie Just Folk

Where are you politically these days?
I became a registered Republican about five or six years ago because to have a successful democracy you have to have at least two parties, and one of them was failing miserably. We had enough good Democrats. We needed a few more good Republicans. We needed a loyal opposition.

[lib2DaBone]

9. Wow..Arlo becoming a Repug.. who would have thought?

That really crashes my world.. there is no justice. The son of Woodie Guthrie no less... arrrrrgh

[unblock]

13. not exactly your typical republican: voted for obama and wants universal health care

he's not a republican because he's cheerleading the republican platform; he's a republican because he thinks he can do more good there. he likes ron paul, who's a wacko on some issues, absolutely right on others, and a typical republican on yet more.

i don't know entirely what to make of it, but, bottom line, if he can vote for obama, he's not your typical republican.

http://www.jimnewsom.com/PFW2008/020508-ArloGuthrie.html

“I don’t know if many people would actually believe this: I’m a registered Republican. So the only guy that I could vote for during the primary was my buddy Ron Paul. A lot of people badmouth him, but I think the guy’s terrific so I’ve endorsed him. But I fully expect that when the election comes around, I’ll be voting for Obama.”

Arlo Guthrie a Republican?

“Over the last eight years,” he explained, “that’s where the fight has been. The fight is not between the Republicans and Democrats; it’s within the Republican Party as to what does it mean to be American these days. I think that’s where the more intriguing fight is going on, so I thought that’s where I need to be.”

He is not happy with the health care plans being offered by this year’s candidates.

“I’m all for universal health care,” he said, “but I am definitely not for the health care proposals that are coming out of the Democratic side. All of the leaders are talking about different ways of insuring everybody. But I don’t want insurance companies interfering with my medical care! There shouldn’t be any room for insurance companies to be in the medical business at all, period. I’d rather have none than to have these guys tell me what a drug is, whether I can take it or not, whether I’m sick or not. That scares the hell out of me. I’m for everybody getting fixed, but I’m not for everybody getting covered by an insurance company.

“I think local communities should pay their monies based on some tax or direct payment to hospitals in their area, and be able to walk in and get anything done that you need depending on what your doctor says. That’s not federal government; that’s not even state government. That’s local government, just like what we do with our volunteer fire.

“At the heart of things I am a libertarian. I do take issue with some things—there is a reason to have government involved that speaks for us with other people around the world. But I am not for continuing the current Big Brother-ness: I don’t want people tapping into my phones; I don’t want people telling me what I can grow on my farm; I don’t want people telling me what’s good for me health care-wise. There’s plenty of information now so that people can learn to be responsible for themselves…If government does anything, it should help us weed through the fact and fiction of things.”

[baldguy]

14. I'd sleep a whole lot better with a few more Republicans like Arlo and a few less like Sarah.

He's right - we need a loyal opposition. The current crop is anything but loyal.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. I'm giving Arlo a pass on this one.

You can register as a republican and use your vote to keep the most extreme elements from winning primaries and vote democratic in the general elections. And I also agree with the two-party system. Unfortunately one of the two parties has drifted towards fascism at the moment.

[janet118]

12. Arlo's explanation of Repug statement

Arlo's comment on Ron Radosh blog:

At the time the Republicans were in power everywhere and they were seemingly taken over by ideas that ran counter to traditional Republican positions. They used to be for less big government intrusion into our lives. To me that’s usually always a good idea.

So what was up with interfering in matters of who can marry who? That’s a big invasion into personal freedoms and liberties. Those who try to control our personal lives are not only not for traditional Republican values, they’re not even really for American values. The way I view it, the state has no business in the house let alone the bedroom. The way I would resolve the current controversy would be to insure that secular marriage be open to anyone. And that religious marriage not be infringed upon by the state – to marry or not as their traditions permit. Both religious and secular marriages would be acknowledged as it is now. That, to me, should be the Republican position.

[callous taoboy]

8. I was in Stockbridge three Thanksgivings ago...

That's three years ago on Thanksgiving. My niece's wedding was held nearby the day before and me and my brother had time to kill so we went knocking around Stockbridge. Beautiful town. Didn't find the church because we didn't have directions and the locals were a bit aloof about it and not helpful. We did find where Alice's Restaurant used to be, and the railroad tracks of course. It was just cool being there on Thanksgiving day as "Alice's Restaurant" has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid in the 60's. We used to visit relatives in Massachusetts back then. Loving this tune and having a cousin up there who reminded me of Arlo just fit well together so the song has special meaning to me.