Sunday, May 03, 2009

Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger!

It has been quite a weekend! Friday night was our Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Bash tribute concert and it totally sold out. We had people sitting in the foyer, on the patio, and standing along the walls. We took in over $1800 in ticket sales and t-shirt sales.

The concert itself was a howling success, with people singing and clapping and grinning from ear to ear. I'm going to find some photos to post or else give you a link to a page where you can find them. I wish I had a way to give you a listen to some of the songs.

It was an incredible high; we were all exhilarated by the turnout, by the enthusiasm of our audience, and by our own ability to raise the roof with song. Our narrator, Jim Freeman, had a spiel between songs that gave information about Pete's life and philosophy. Our stage manager extraordinaire, Dave Draper, whipped this ragtag bunch of would-be singers into a real show, not just amateur hour.

Today our worship service was also dedicated to Seeger songs and philosophy; we had great attendance and participation. Nearly every chair was taken and though it was a pretty informal service, people (I think) went away having had a spiritual experience. One visitor said to me afterwards that he'd never been to a church service like it and he absolutely loved it!

I am thrilled by our success and starting to think about what we might do next year!

Here's a link to a page of pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/HEATHGAL/PETERSEEGERTRIBUTECONCERT_050109?authkey=Gv1sRgCMzc18bMoMzyRA&feat=email#

1 comment:

Joel said...

I don't share his politics, but I'm impressed that he (politely) told the HUAC to go to hell. He was absolutely right.

And his music is as much a part of our culture today as cheeseburgers or baseball. It's hard to imagine America's musical landscape without him.