Tonight I went into NYC after work to see Pete Seeger with Sharon Katz and the Peace Train at Joe's Pub in NYC. Sharon Katz was the headliner, but I was mostly interested in seeing Pete Seeger. I went with my friends from Princeton, Amy and Bror, and met Meg there. The venue is really small and we had great seats facing the stage.
Pete was sitting in the audience before he took the stage for only 2 songs. He told us that his voice wasn't too strong anymore and he hoped we could all sing along with him. He lined out the words to "Turn, Turn, Turn" and the audience rose to the occasion with strong voices and harmonies. He then sang a song that he wrote after 9/11 called "Take it From Dr. King". He spoke about the song "Wimoweh" and how he botched the lyrics while he was transcribing them from an old recording of African tunes that Alan Lomax had saved from being destroyed. When he was offered royalties for the song, he decided that the royalties should not go to him, but to the original artist from the recording. So he tracked down that artist and to this day that artist's family still earns royalties on that song. Just another tale of Pete Seeger doing what's right. He left the stage and Sharon Katz and the Peace Train did an great redition of the traditional version of Wimoweh.
After the show, he was sitting near the merch table and I went up to him and told him it was an honor and a pleasure to see him perform and thanked him for all that he's done through the years. I had tears in my eyes and was truly overwhelmed to be in the presence of such an amazing man. I leaned in to give him a hug and he kissed me on the cheek and said "Thank you" to me. Then Bror took a photo of Amy and I with Pete Seeger:
It's not the best photo in the world, but it was such a moment to remember. What an amazing evening.BONUS: On the way home we took the 6 train to 14th street and then the express up to Penn Station and while we were in the 14th street station I got to hear the "Somewhere" train. I was so excited! This article from the NY Times explains it all. Be sure to listen to the audio.
7 comments:
That's amazing! Are you never going to wash that cheek again? :)
Awesome! I would have loved to go to his birthday party, but I luckily saw him in Andover a few years ago.
SO COOL BETH !!!!! SO COOL !!!!
What a lovely experience! I could not get to the birthday party, but will be spending 10 days or so on the Clearwater and at the festival.
http://www.clearwater.org/festival/
Feel free to post a link to your blog article to NEFolknRoots -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NorthEastFolknRoots
Jeff Boudreau
NOTLOB FOLK CONCERTS
notloB Concerts are volunteer run. After expenses, 100% of the donations go to the artists.
Website ~ http://notlobmusic.googlepages.com
Pretty awesome, Bethy! I got your text message in the middle of Mark's high school choral teacher's retirement song last night. So fun! I was thinking of you! Sounds like you had a blast!
Came here via Univeral Hub.
That is very cool! He's an American icon and a fantastic artist to see live. After all these years he doesn't fail to entertain and inspire.
Wow - that's awesome. Great pics!
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