THU APR 21 2016
Arlo Guthrie Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Tour with special guest Sarah Lee Guthrie
CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
“ My father told me once when I was very
young, ‘Music will be your best friend. Learn to play the guitar.’ And he was absolutely right. It had nothing to do with if it was professional or back porch picking. It had nothing to do with the genre of music. It had to do with speaking a language that anyone could understand around the world.”
– Arlo Guthrie (Rolling Stone, 2014)
Arlo Guthrie Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Tour with special guest Sarah Lee Guthrie Presented by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Pre-show talk 7:15pm, Royal Bank Cinema With Gary Cristall
Concert 8:00pm, Chan Shun Concert Hall
Opening Act: Sarah Lee Guthrie vocals, guitar
Main Act: Arlo Guthrie vocals, guitar Terry “A La Berry” Hall drums Bobby Sweet guitar Darren Todd bass Abe Guthrie keyboards The set lists will be announced from the stage. Arlo Guthrie’s performance will consist of two 45-minute sets, and one 20-minute intermisson.
Please remember to turn off your phones, and note that photography and recording are not permitted. Thank you!
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Arlo Guthrie Arlo Guthrie has been known to generations as a prolific songwriter, social commentator, master storyteller, actor and activist. Born in Coney Island, New York in 1947, Arlo is the eldest son of dancer Marjorie Mazia Guthrie and America’s beloved folk icon Woody Guthrie. Arlo has become an iconic figure in folk music in his own right with a distinguished and varied career spanning over fifty years. Growing up Guthrie, Arlo was surrounded by such renowned artists as Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott to name only a few. Not surprisingly, Arlo drew from these influences and he in turn became a delineative figure bridging generations of folk. He and Pete Seeger created a legendary collaboration that was sustained for over forty years. In 1965, a teenage Arlo was arrested for littering, leading him to be deemed “not moral enough to join the army.” He attained international attention at age 19 by recounting the true events on the album Alice’s Restaurant in 1967. “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” an 18 minute and 20 second partially sung comic monologue opposing the war and the backward reasoning of authority, has become an anti-establishment anthem and an essential part of Thanksgiving on rock stations receiving worldwide airplay. Alice’s Restaurant achieved platinum status and was made into a movie in 1969, in which Arlo played himself, by the esteemed director Arthur Penn.1969 also brought Arlo to the rock festival of the ages, Woodstock. His appearance showcased the chart-topping “Coming Into Los Angeles,” which was included on the multi-platinum Woodstock soundtrack and movie. Beginning the seventies, Arlo helped set the standard for the singer-songwriter genre burgeoning at the time with his albums Hobo’s Lullaby (1972) and Amigo (1976). In 1983 Arlo left the major record label system to fulfill his career as a truly independent artist, and established Rising Son Records, one of the first indie labels in existence. To date Rising Son Records has released over twenty titles of Arlo’s, including the GRAMMY nominated Woody’s 20 Grow Big Songs (1991) featuring Arlo and his family, and In Times Like These (2007), recorded with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. The latest offering is Here Come The Kids (2014), recorded at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, IL, celebrating the centennial of his father Woody Guthrie.
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In addition to his musical career, Arlo is an accomplished actor with numerous television appearances. He is the author of three children’s books and a distinguished photographer, showing his works in selected galleries. Inspired by his parents’ activism, Arlo bought the old Trinity Church (“The church”) that is now home to The Guthrie Center and The Guthrie Foundation. Named for his parents, The Guthrie Center is a not-for-profit interfaith church foundation dedicated to providing a wide range of local and international services. The Guthrie Foundation is a separate not-for-profit educational organization that addresses issues such as the environment, health care, cultural preservation and educational exchange. In 2009 Arlo was awarded the ASCAP Foundation Champion award for making a difference through social action on behalf of worthwhile causes and demonstrating exceptional efforts in humanitarianism. Arlo’s trademark ability to derail a song with a comical tangent and bring it right back on track with a relatable thought is as concise as ever. Fifty years after the historic events that launched him to reluctant celebrity, Arlo brings “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” in its entirety back to the stage.
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Sarah Lee Guthrie Sarah Lee Guthrie’s lineage is undeniable. But if you close your eyes and forget that her last name is synonymous with American folk music, you’d still be drawn to the clarity and soul behind her voice. There is a gentle urgency to her interpretations of the songs she sings and the classic music of her heritage. It’s been hinted at since she first stepped on the stages of Wolf Trap and Carnegie Hall as a teenager in 1993 singing Pete Seeger’s “Sailin’ Down My Golden River.” But it was later, when she met her husband, Johnny Irion, grandnephew of Woody Guthrie’s literary kindred spirit, John Steinbeck, that she began to embrace her birthright and her inherent gifts. “Johnny taught me a few chords on the guitar and that was it… Mom talked me out of going to college and into going out on the road with Dad. I spent the next six years playing just about every show with him and my brother Abe, Johnny joined us in 2002 and we opened the shows until our first album came out.” Over the last two decades on the road and in the studio, she and her husband Johnny Irion have created a signature pop-fused folk-rock sound that is appealing and engaging on a series of critically-acclaimed albums Exploration, Folksong, Bright Examples and Wassiac Way. On 2009’s Go Waggaloo, she created a family album of original songs (and a few with Woody’s lyrics) that won a Golden Medallion from The Parents’ Choice Foundation. The tour that followed in 2010, The Guthrie Family Rides Again, brought it all together as she found herself surrounded by generations of family and friends all celebrating the music of her family.
“Looking back on the years of shows that I have done, it’s been the shows with my family that stand out the most, that feel bigger than me, the best part of me, the place I shine the most. I am back on the road with my Dad now and remembering what I was made for, these are the songs that make us who we are and I love to sing them.”
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Exploring the role of the arts and artists in society. chancentre.com/connects
Pre-show Talk with Gary Cristall: Woody Guthrie, People’s Songs and Canadian Folk Music. 7:15pm: Royal Bank Cinema, Chan Centre Long time folk music listener, producer and historian Gary Cristall talks about the impact of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Malvina Reynolds and a dozen other members of People’s Songs, founded in 1946, on the development of the folk music scene in Canada. In advance of his pre-show talk tonight, we asked him a few questions about his fascinating background and the Guthrie family legacy: Q - You are writing a book about folk music in Canada. Obviously the landscape has changed significantly over the past few decades. What industry shifts, advances or losses stand out the most to you? A - Big question. My book actually ends a few decades back in the mid nineties. However, I think that what has happened since then is pretty much continuous with what could be seen at that point. Folk music has become an organic, integral and structured part of both the arts and the music business. I see those two things as different and not always complimentary. There are now a hundred folk festivals, some big, some small, and they reflect the diversity of the music. Folkies have organized. We have a national organization, several important national gatherings and an awards show- all apart from more mainstream affairs like the Junos. Both traditional music and contemporary music outside the mainstream, the two big components of what is called folk music, have an audience. Folk music has embraced cultural diversity in a way no other musical genre has. For a genre that was pronounced dead in the seventies, folk music has proven that it is a vital component of Canadian culture. There are more people performing and listening to folk music today than ever before. Q - How has the Guthrie family repertoire, as well as the work of other members of People’s Songs, impacted the folk music scene in Canada? A - They (Woody and the People’s Songs folks) wrote the book and the Guthrie family has both carried it on and added to it. They created a body of work that became the key to the repertoire. People’s Songs inspired the folks around the United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO) and the National Federation of Canadian Youth (NFLY), two organizations linked to the far left that basically organized folk music in Canada after the Second World War. Woody’s songs were vital, including “This Land is Your Land”, which became the first Canadian pop folk hit when Canadianized by The Travellers in 1957. Pete Seeger, Guy Carawan and other People’s Songsters toured Canada, gave concerts and, more importantly perhaps, held workshops where a whole generation of folk singers learned their craft. Singing groups were inspired by People’s Songs to start up in every major Canadian city, laying the groundwork for the folk ‘boom’ of the sixties. Festivals, television series, coffee houses, magazines, concert producers, agents, managers and record companies were all inspired by the American movement that Woody and Pete and others created. Read the full Q&A with Gary on chancentre.com/news.
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Q&A with Arlo Guthrie What was it like growing up in Coney Island and how do you think it may have shaped your musical creativity? I was born under the boardwalk with a guitar in one hand and a harmonica in the other. I rode the Cyclone as I was taking my first breath and swallower’d a Nathan’s hot dog and an order of fries before I could crawl. I rode 15 different animals that were stabbed with long poles like a collection of dead insects while learning the oompah tunes glaring from the horns before the circling crowds of parents waiting for their kids to fall. I gazed at the bearded ladies, the muscle men, women and all kinds of unusual entertainers scattered between the rows and rows of hawkers and barkers all yellin’ to crowds of wandering visitors from the normal world. I was at home in Coney Island. You grew up amid folk royalty, of course, but what pop or rock artists influenced you? What did you listen to on the radio as a teenager? We were pretty poor for being so royal. But so was everybody else. It didn’t seem like we lacked for anything. Everybody had some kind of a job they were doing, even if it was just guarding the street corner looking out for each other. We knew everyone by name and my world did not expand outward from there until over a decade later when I began to live beyond my own neighborhood. Hank Williams, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and Elvis were always on the radio. But my favorite singers were the Everly Brothers. You were thrust into the music scene – was there ever anything you wanted to do other than music and do you think that would have even been possible? I wanted to be a forest ranger when I was in high school, so I went to college for that. Rocky Mountain College was (and still is) in Billings, Montana and I got a great start being there. Unfortunately when I left for Thanksgiving vacation in 1965, things happened that changed everything. If you had to fight, fight ________________? On the right side. The secret to life is _________________? Knowing which is the right side. The popularity of folk music seems to ebb and flow but the genre has staying power. Why do you think that is? Folk music is not a genre. It’s the way everyone learns to play almost anything that’s not classical music. Folk music is not a bunch of latte drinkers sitting around singing in the key of me. Every garage band, punk, rap, rage, mellow, hip-hop, country, blues, rock and jazz musician learns in the folk tradition – the school of learning by ear from other people, recordings, or trial and error. It’s another way music is handed down from generation to generation. Oh geez, I just spilled my latte on these notes... 8
When you started writing Alice’s Restaurant, you had no idea ____________? When it would end! What is it that you still love about performing? Music is good for the soul whether you’re playing it or just listening – That’s what I love. I also love going from place to place and seeing old friends and making new ones. Why do you think Alice’s Restaurant has been such a cultural phenomenon? Well, I’ve always loved good stories. And I’ve loved telling tall tales. Why people enjoy it is beyond me. I haven’t sung ‘Alice’ for years and people still keep coming to the gigs. ‘Alice’ has taken on a life of its own and become attached to the Thanksgiving holiday – but why remains a mystery. Cats or dogs? Dogs for friends, cats for mice! What ever happened to Old Trinity Church, which served as the backdrop for your song and the movie Alice’s Restaurant? The Old Trinity Church is still around. We bought it over 20 years ago and have renamed it “The Guthrie Center at the Old Trinity Church” – It’s a long name so we just refer to it as ‘The Church’. We run our foundation (not-for-profit) work from the old building, and hopefully it continues to be of service to the local community. No matter how long you stay on the road, _____________ makes it all right? (Answer deleted by daughter #2) Looking back at your incredible career – what memory stands out the most? There are hundreds of little memories from the almost 50 years I’ve been a performer, but the Woodstock Festival remains a highlight for obvious reasons. What is the best piece of advice that you ever received from your dad? I boiled it down to this: “It is better to fail at being yourself than to succeed at being somebody else.” 50 years from now when people look through the annals of music history, how would you like to be remembered? I’ll let you know when I’ve been forgotten.
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Upcoming Events at the Chan Centre Full details at chancentre.com Apr 22 + 23 at 8pm: VSO - Kazuyoshi Akiyama and Gilles Vonsattel Presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Apr 24 at 3pm: Disney Meets Broadway – SOLD OUT Presented by the Vancouver Orchestra Club
Apr 29 at 7:30pm + Apr 30 at 2:30pm: Superimposition Presented by Turning Point Ensemble and The Nu:BC Collective in partnership with the Chan Centre May 1 at 7pm: Cécile McLorin Salvant Presented by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
May 11 at 7:30pm: Yom Ha’atzmaut with Noa Presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver
May 20 + 21 at 8pm: VSO - Dale Barltrop and Nicola Benedetti Presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
May 28 at 5pm: William Shatner – The Curious Life Presented by Alumni UBC May 29 at 2pm: VBCC, VBYC & Sarabande Summer Concert Presented by the Vancouver Bach Children’s and Youth Choirs CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT
WILLIAM SHATNER
Tell us what you think! We want to hear from you. Please visit chancentre.com/feedback and let us know about your experience tonight.
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC Joyce Hinton Cameron McGill Jazel Argente Carl Armstrong Wendy Atkinson Brad Danyluk Kara Gibbs David Humphrey Beng Khoo Flora Lew Glenda Makela Trevor Mangion Caitlin McKee Claire Mohun George Pereira Andrew Riter Nadia Roberts Lyndsey Roberts
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The Chan Centre would like to thank our 2015/2016 series sponsors: The Chan Endowment Fund and the UBC Faculty of Arts
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