Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2022 6:48:11 GMT
Ronstadt, others honor Pete Seeger's legacy of activism
www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Ronstadt-others-honor-Seeger-s-legacy-of-activism-5183574.php
Photo of Aidin Vaziri
Aidin Vaziri
Jan. 28, 2014
Updated: Jan. 29, 2014 1:01 p.m.
1974 file photo of folk singer Peter Seeger by staff photographer Jack Pinto from the Times Union archives.John Carl D'Annibale
Pete Seeger spent most of his 94 years making music and making change. His musical legacy is exceeded only by his legacy as a tireless activist for peace and justice.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Pete+Seeger%22
Mr. Seeger, who died Monday in New York, championed folk music as a vital part of America's heritage - and a big part of that heritage was advocating for various causes through music.
He sang songs by Woody Guthrie ("This Land Is Your Land"), Lead Belly ("Good Night Irene"), Malvina Reynolds ("Little Boxes"), he adapted the old spiritual "We Shall Overcome" to become the anthem of the Civil Rights movement, and he eloquently captured the truth of war in the heartbreaking simplicity of his song, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Woody+Guthrie%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Malvina+Reynolds%22
Mr. Seeger's death sent a wave of grief through the nation, but especially in the Bay Area, where his evocative songs and calls for social activism had a special resonance.
"We all got our politics from Pete Seeger," said the singer Linda Ronstadt, whose earliest musical memories were of listening to records by Mr. Seeger's folk revival outfit The Weavers. "He woke up my consciousness to the power of music to make people aware. People tried to discredit him. They tried to put him out of the limelight. They tried to say he was a communist. But while we would wring our hands, Pete Seeger would go out and change things. He set such a brilliant example for us at every age."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Linda+Ronstadt%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22The+Weavers%22
Armed with his 12-string guitar and five-string banjo, Mr. Seeger advocated for civil rights, the labor movement and the environment, and railed against war. He battled McCarthyism in the '50's and marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in the '60's. He used all the fame that came his way to affect change and impressed that power on others. He often recorded songs that he felt deserved a bigger spotlight.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Martin+Luther+King%22
"He was the only person to record my signature 'Vietnam Song' and he told me that he left Columbia Records over a dispute with them about releasing it as a single in 1972," said "Country Joe" McDonald, leader of the psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish. "That says a lot about the man."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Country+Joe%22
In 2009, after appearing with Bruce Springsteen at the Lincoln Memorial before Barack Obama's inauguration, Mr. Seeger celebrated his 90th birthday party at Madison Square Garden featuring performances by Springsteen, Joan Baez, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris and others, with proceeds going to the environmental group he founded to clean up the polluted Hudson River.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Bruce+Springsteen%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Barack+Obama%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Joan+Baez%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22John+Mellencamp%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Dave+Matthews%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Emmylou+Harris%22
In the Bay Area, Seeger's influence and advocacy could be felt in any number of social and political moments over the years, from the Free Speech Movement and Vietnam War protests, civil rights and antiwar marches, right up to the demonstrations by the Occupy movement.
Brian Willson, the longtime peace activist who lost his legs when he sat in front of a munitions train in Concord in the 1980s to protest hostilities in Central America, recalled the impact Seeger had on his life.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Brian+Willson%22
"Fresh out of Vietnam in November 1969, I was in my last year in the military stationed in central Louisiana. I possessed a new heart and mind but was hungry for validation. I was thrilled following news of the large November 1969 anti-war Moratorium Day demonstration where Pete Seeger's voice could be heard singing 'Give Peace A Chance' while interrupting the song with questions, 'Are you listening, Nixon? Are you listening Pentagon?' I was introduced to the voice and spirit of Pete Seeger that day that has helped instill in me a spirit of non-cooperation on a long journey seeking a nonviolent revolution in America."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Peace+A+Chance%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Pentagon%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Pentagon%22
It was Mr. Seeger's deft musical touch enabled him draw so many people together.
"The thing that makes a great songwriter is honesty, passion and poetic turn of a phrase while staying simple and clear - showing the listener something they know but in a way they don't," said Bay Area singer Matt Nathanson. "This is why Pete Seeger was a monster writer. These were his engines. As a listener, you always knew where he was coming from and he shifted the way you saw things.",
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Matt+Nathanson%22
In a career that spanned more than 70 years, Mr. Seeger served as a mentor and leading light to countless singer-songwriters who came in his wake, including Bob Dylan, Baez and Bruce Springsteen. During the Free Speech Demonstrations at Berkeley, Baez stood on the stairway of the UC Berkeley's Sproul, singing "We Shall Overcome" as students filed in to occupy the building.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Bob+Dylan%22
"The first record I ever bought was by Pete Seeger and the Weavers," said David Crosby, who, with the Byrds, helped popularize Mr. Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)." "They taught me what a song was and how music was a wonderful way to communicate. To me, it's as if a light has gone out and the world is suddenly a darker place. ... He influenced every singer-songwriter that I know."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22David+Crosby%22
Michael Franti, the San Francisco native who is the leader of Spearhead and founder of the Power to the Peaceful concerts, recalled how moved he was meeting Mr. Seeger at his 90th birthday celebration.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Michael+Franti%22
"Although he was well-known for his political rants, Pete knew the real power came from inside of each of us and it was his gospel and spiritual songs that always touched me the deepest," Franti said.
Said Nathanson: "He cracked open ideas in such a unique way, so that we all could climb into them and make them our own."
Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle's pop music critic. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @musicsf
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Aidin+Vaziri%22
avaziri@sfchronicle.com
twitter.com/MusicSF
California tech billionaire launches Senate campaign to take on Tesla from Congress
www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article260555957.html
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www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Ronstadt-others-honor-Seeger-s-legacy-of-activism-5183574.php
Photo of Aidin Vaziri
Aidin Vaziri
Jan. 28, 2014
Updated: Jan. 29, 2014 1:01 p.m.
1974 file photo of folk singer Peter Seeger by staff photographer Jack Pinto from the Times Union archives.John Carl D'Annibale
Pete Seeger spent most of his 94 years making music and making change. His musical legacy is exceeded only by his legacy as a tireless activist for peace and justice.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Pete+Seeger%22
Mr. Seeger, who died Monday in New York, championed folk music as a vital part of America's heritage - and a big part of that heritage was advocating for various causes through music.
He sang songs by Woody Guthrie ("This Land Is Your Land"), Lead Belly ("Good Night Irene"), Malvina Reynolds ("Little Boxes"), he adapted the old spiritual "We Shall Overcome" to become the anthem of the Civil Rights movement, and he eloquently captured the truth of war in the heartbreaking simplicity of his song, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Woody+Guthrie%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Malvina+Reynolds%22
Mr. Seeger's death sent a wave of grief through the nation, but especially in the Bay Area, where his evocative songs and calls for social activism had a special resonance.
"We all got our politics from Pete Seeger," said the singer Linda Ronstadt, whose earliest musical memories were of listening to records by Mr. Seeger's folk revival outfit The Weavers. "He woke up my consciousness to the power of music to make people aware. People tried to discredit him. They tried to put him out of the limelight. They tried to say he was a communist. But while we would wring our hands, Pete Seeger would go out and change things. He set such a brilliant example for us at every age."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Linda+Ronstadt%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22The+Weavers%22
Armed with his 12-string guitar and five-string banjo, Mr. Seeger advocated for civil rights, the labor movement and the environment, and railed against war. He battled McCarthyism in the '50's and marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in the '60's. He used all the fame that came his way to affect change and impressed that power on others. He often recorded songs that he felt deserved a bigger spotlight.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Martin+Luther+King%22
"He was the only person to record my signature 'Vietnam Song' and he told me that he left Columbia Records over a dispute with them about releasing it as a single in 1972," said "Country Joe" McDonald, leader of the psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish. "That says a lot about the man."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Country+Joe%22
In 2009, after appearing with Bruce Springsteen at the Lincoln Memorial before Barack Obama's inauguration, Mr. Seeger celebrated his 90th birthday party at Madison Square Garden featuring performances by Springsteen, Joan Baez, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris and others, with proceeds going to the environmental group he founded to clean up the polluted Hudson River.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Bruce+Springsteen%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Barack+Obama%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Joan+Baez%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22John+Mellencamp%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Dave+Matthews%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Emmylou+Harris%22
In the Bay Area, Seeger's influence and advocacy could be felt in any number of social and political moments over the years, from the Free Speech Movement and Vietnam War protests, civil rights and antiwar marches, right up to the demonstrations by the Occupy movement.
Brian Willson, the longtime peace activist who lost his legs when he sat in front of a munitions train in Concord in the 1980s to protest hostilities in Central America, recalled the impact Seeger had on his life.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Brian+Willson%22
"Fresh out of Vietnam in November 1969, I was in my last year in the military stationed in central Louisiana. I possessed a new heart and mind but was hungry for validation. I was thrilled following news of the large November 1969 anti-war Moratorium Day demonstration where Pete Seeger's voice could be heard singing 'Give Peace A Chance' while interrupting the song with questions, 'Are you listening, Nixon? Are you listening Pentagon?' I was introduced to the voice and spirit of Pete Seeger that day that has helped instill in me a spirit of non-cooperation on a long journey seeking a nonviolent revolution in America."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Peace+A+Chance%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Pentagon%22
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Pentagon%22
It was Mr. Seeger's deft musical touch enabled him draw so many people together.
"The thing that makes a great songwriter is honesty, passion and poetic turn of a phrase while staying simple and clear - showing the listener something they know but in a way they don't," said Bay Area singer Matt Nathanson. "This is why Pete Seeger was a monster writer. These were his engines. As a listener, you always knew where he was coming from and he shifted the way you saw things.",
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Matt+Nathanson%22
In a career that spanned more than 70 years, Mr. Seeger served as a mentor and leading light to countless singer-songwriters who came in his wake, including Bob Dylan, Baez and Bruce Springsteen. During the Free Speech Demonstrations at Berkeley, Baez stood on the stairway of the UC Berkeley's Sproul, singing "We Shall Overcome" as students filed in to occupy the building.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Bob+Dylan%22
"The first record I ever bought was by Pete Seeger and the Weavers," said David Crosby, who, with the Byrds, helped popularize Mr. Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)." "They taught me what a song was and how music was a wonderful way to communicate. To me, it's as if a light has gone out and the world is suddenly a darker place. ... He influenced every singer-songwriter that I know."
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22David+Crosby%22
Michael Franti, the San Francisco native who is the leader of Spearhead and founder of the Power to the Peaceful concerts, recalled how moved he was meeting Mr. Seeger at his 90th birthday celebration.
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Michael+Franti%22
"Although he was well-known for his political rants, Pete knew the real power came from inside of each of us and it was his gospel and spiritual songs that always touched me the deepest," Franti said.
Said Nathanson: "He cracked open ideas in such a unique way, so that we all could climb into them and make them our own."
Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle's pop music critic. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @musicsf
www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Aidin+Vaziri%22
avaziri@sfchronicle.com
twitter.com/MusicSF
California tech billionaire launches Senate campaign to take on Tesla from Congress
www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article260555957.html
Trump walks out of interview after he's challenged on false voter fraud claims
r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrTLbfr_WBiXSEA5SpXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZANMT0NVSTAzN0JfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1650552428/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fpolitics%2f2022%2f04%2f20%2ftrump-voter-fraud-interview%2f/RK=2/RS=CCcPwZWn.azQCXEgfoyW1Upf9jA-