Pete Seeger

[Briallan]

Ice Weasel wrote:

Part of the problem in doing a Pete Seeger tribute is that he was first and foremost a folk singer. The music is important, no doubt, but it took second place to the lyric; the song as a function of protest and politics.

I agree. So, basically I think that to be successful for a tribute concert, when people hear the music they should instantly make the association with Pete Seeger or at least with folksingers -- if they have to wonder 'what is this song' then I don't think it works well. we have to rely on them hearing the song and thinking -- oh yeah, "folk song," or "Pete Seeger" -- I THINK most of the songs we've selected do that...

[Ice Weasel]

I figured announcing the songs, like we did for the Everly concert.  Just a line or two every couple of songs, with a relevant factoid or the title of the song at the very least. I've got some basic research done, I'll try to post the general comments in the next day. Once we have a set list in order, I'll whack the rest out.

[Ice Weasel]

FYI!

GuildLaunch sites will be going down intermittently during Tuesday, February 4th and Wednesday, February 5th for hardware upgrades.

What that means to *us* specifically, is that we need to have our communication regarding the concert complete by Monday night, to avoid losing this channel for coordination.  I would suggest a "cut off time" of midnight, servertime, as that will avoid any possible overlap.  

Shouldn't be an issue, but we might want everyone to be aware of the pending outage so as not to cause panic.

[Ice Weasel]

First draft (minus actual song intros):

We are The Remediators!

Welcome to our Tribute to Pete Seeger.

We want everyone to enjoy the music, so I'll keep the commentary to a minimum.

Pete Seeger was 94 when he passed on last week. He spent more than 70 years performing.

To know anything of Pete is to know that he was an icon of the labor movement, the peace movement, the civil rights movement...

If there was a cause to struggle for, he could be found there, singing. 

His songs came to represent ideas, and freedoms. 

The inscription on his banjo reads: "This instrument surrounds hate and forces it to surrender." 

Our task tonight is difficult. We won't be singing his words.

We are left playing the music, and relying on your memory to supply the words.

We encourage anyone with an interest to research his music and his life further to do so.

You will be richer for it. 

With the rest of the band known as The Weavers, Pete popularized many songs, from the 1950s onward.

Here's one, "[INSERT TITLE HERE]".

((Play two))

That was "[INSERT TITLE HERE]".

Next up, a ditty about {blah, blah, blah}, "[INSERT TITLE HERE]".

((etc., etc.))

That wraps up our Tribute to Pete Seeger.

Rest Easy, Pete.  With your banjo and boats, you brought people together, and join in on the chorus.

We are The Remediators!

Thanks for coming!

[Briallan]

That sounds good! Will you be adding the beer stuff and drunken version of Irene in second draft?

[Ice Weasel]

Yeah... wanted the serious stuff set first. LOL

 

[Ice Weasel]

Who is setting the set list?  I need that to finish fleshing out the commentary.

[Briallan]

Well ... based on our discussion, I think the list of possible songs:

blueSkies8.abc
goodDrunkIrene9.abc
ifihadahammer.abc
KissesSweeter5.abc
LionSleepsTonight7.abc
MidnightSpcl6.abc
SimpleGifts2.abc
The_Byrds_-_Turn_Turn_Turn.abc
wherehavealltheflowersgoneFLUTE.abc
worriedmanblues6.abc
Guantanamera6 v2.abc

Does someone want to take charge of deciding how long the concert should be, and what's in and what's out? Does someone have any ideas as to how they want to order the songs? What do we want for encores?

[Ice Weasel]

Looking at the list, it makes sense to go more-or-less in chronological order. So we'd hit some of The Weavers stuff, then work into the protest songs.  I would drop "Simple Gifts" (he played it a lot, but not enough to really be "his"), and hold "Blue Skies" for the encore, if any.  So:

• LionSleepsTonight7.abc  3:01
• KissesSweeter5.abc   2:50
• MidnightSpcl6.abc  1:50
• ifihadahammer.abc   2:14
• The_Byrds_-_Turn_Turn_Turn.abc  3:39 
• wherehavealltheflowersgoneFLUTE.abc 3:15 
• worriedmanblues6.abc  2:41
• Guantanamera6 v2.abc  2:50 
• goodDrunkIrene9.abc 3:08

Music times at 25:28, so probably just under half an hour, a decent "tribute" time. If his work wasn't so lyric-centered, maybe longer, but I think half an hour is good.

If we need an encore, Blue Skies is 2:04, and sort of relevant as a tribute song encore.

That's my suggestion.

[Ice Weasel]

For approval:  Seeger commentary and announcements:

We are The Remediators!

Welcome to our Tribute to Pete Seeger.

We want everyone to enjoy the music, so I'll keep the commentary to a minimum.

Pete Seeger was 94 when he passed on last week. He spent more than 70 years performing.

To know anything of Pete is to know that he was an icon of the labor movement, the peace movement, the civil rights movement...

If there was a cause to struggle for, he could be found there, singing. 

His songs came to represent ideas, and freedoms. 

The inscription on his banjo reads: "This instrument surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."

Our task tonight is difficult. We won't be singing his words.

We are left playing the music, and relying on your memory to supply the words.

We encourage anyone with an interest to research his music and his life further to do so.

You will be richer for it.

With the rest of the band known as The Weavers, Pete popularized many songs, from the 1950s onward.

Here's one, "Wimboweh", also known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

• ((Play "Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine"))

That was "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine", another Weavers tune.

Next up, a traditional song of imprisonment and hope, "The Midnight Special".

• ((Play "Midnight Special"))

Pete was a patriot. He wrote and sang songs that boasted the country's beauty and raised hope for her future.

His songs were reflective, and asked troubling questions.

He also encouraged meeting social problems with action. The next song does that.

"If I Had A Hammer".  

• ((Play "Hammer" and "Turn!"))

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" ... Pete firmly believed in doing what needed doing, when it needed doing.

He also mourned the loss of people he felt united others to address the problems we, as a society, faced.

"Where Have All The Flowers Gone?"

• ((Play "Flowers"))

A toast to those departed, and a toast to the ideals they taught!

• ((/drink))

It takes a worried man to sing a worried song...

"The Worried Man Blues"!

• ((Play "Worried Man"))

To the end of worry!

• ((/drink))

Pete wanted the world to be at peace. 

He found a song about a lady from Guantanamo, Cuba, and arranged it.

He meant for it to be a song for the Peace Movement, and multi-culturalism.

To peace!

• ((/drink))

"Guantanamera"! 

• ((Play "Guantanamera"))

Ah... Thirsty work.. 

To... 

Hey, Brytford, what are we drinking to now?

• ((Brytford: "Music? I always drink to music."))

To Music!

• ((/drink))

No... no... that isn't right... what was it we were...

• ((Siltharan: "To Love? Moonlight, Wine, and Roses..."))

To Love!!

• ((/drink))

No, wait, that comes in a week or so... shhhhhhh ((/wink))

Hobbelion, Lady Ashigaru, Raventrick? Anyone have an idea?

• ((All: "IRENE!"))

OH, right! Pete knew this gal Irene, and at the end of the show, well, he'd tell her, "Good Night".

I think. or maybe.. she might not have been real. Or she was. One of those.

Everyone okay to play the last song?

No? Good!

One, two, thr.. oh, just play it.

• ((Play GoodDrunkIrene))

That wraps up our Tribute to Pete Seeger.

Rest Easy, Pete.  With your banjo and boats, you brought people together, and join in on the chorus.

We are The Remediators!

Thanks for coming!

[Siltharan]

You typoed Hobbelion's name. ;)

[Briallan]

Heh-heh -- also it's Brytford not Bryton.

[Ice Weasel]

Gah... well, I did all that in notepad. I am spoiled by red squiggly lines. LOL...  (For some reason, Guild Launch hates my laptop. I will write for ten minutes, then *poof* it all vanishes. So, Notepad it is.)

Other than mortally insulting everyone, it's okay as set? 

 

[Ice Weasel]

Thanks, all.. 

We had a hiccup or two, but in the grand scheme of things it went very well.

I did have to chuckle a bit when we went to the Runic Knights Orchestra thing in Michel Delving after, and there was a small band (I didn't get their name, and from different kins) that played a few of the songs we had just done (different arrangements, of course). I have no doubt that it was simply serendipity, but a reminder that we can do original arrangements, but the songs are out there to start with.

Onward to Valentine's Day!

[Briallan]

Yeah, haha, the hiccups were my fault -- I think I got a bit overwhelmed running that many alts AND trying to keep things moving quickly so I got a little careless, so I need to think about how to make that work more efficiently next time -- I also learned that you can't be "too prepared' for a concert, since all sort of things can happen, and it's good to have contingency plans, which we try to do I think, but still might be able to improve on. Also I may have overdone it with the drinking routine and I hope it wasn't too ... weird. Oh well live and learn. But, yeah, we covered up the miscues well and the concert as a whole was a success I thought.

Actually, I was sort of wondering if that other band added those Seeger songs on purpose ... guess I could have asked....