Saturday, June 14, 2014
Nostagia
I never heard a live concert until I went to MIT as a freshman.
The first one I went to was given by the folk singer Pete Seeger.
They did it in the main lecture hall so the ambience was not ideal. But he took it over. Commanded would be the word.
There is bit of the schoolmarm in Seeger. "This will be good for you, now take your medicine".
He is a bit defensive. I don't remember that when I saw him live but it is evident in the DVD I got to try to recapture that moment.
Pete Seger: Live in Australia 1963
The sound is very good, the video a bit grainy.
The show is just the show. There is a bit of political leakage but not a lot.
It is hard to remember that it was Seeger and a very few others who revived "folk music" at the time and have kept it alive while other younger artists have continued the long tradition.
Seeger's forté is to teach along with the entertainment and it is nice to see him at work. Also to remember a time when all this was very new for me. It was a good choice to start out listening to this kind man.
This is a disc that I purchased so no one will ask me to rate it. But it would be a 4 out of 5 as I will see it again. I know I will because I bailed out of the last 30 minutes. An hour and a half is a lot of folk music.
This film is great for people watching. It is 1963. We were all just emerging from the cocoon. It was entertainers like this that kind of kicked us out of the malaise. Folk singers did not dress up. Neither did the crowd.
Some of the boys in the front are obviously gay. All but holding hands with each other. It won't be long before they will be able to and that they will. Nothing like a little liberal sentiment in a folk song to bring out the courage. It is surprising, actually, how many classics are about a form of coming out and fighting back. Made to order for gay men and women.
