Pete Seeger, 1919-Jan 27, 2014, RIP

I grew up in Rush Creek in the musical culture my father and his family brought, eventually with the guitar I play, that my parents gave me for Christmas in 1964, at the home I now live in again, that accompanies me today.

My oldest first cousin, born in 1947 two years after me, my oldest childhood buddy, emailed me to say that on a snowy day in Ashville, NC, he was watching today's Democracy Now program and bawling.

In the chapter on the nature of peacemaking in my last book, I cite the hootenanny I so enjoyed in the sixties as an illustration of the social harmony I have sought to build in my professional life.

Enjoy today's Democracy Now! show (my primary US news outlet).  Can't wait to join Saturday's "old-sixties-style" hootenanny Saturday, come join the music making. 

I know some rcv residents prefer that I not post personal messages to the community.  I'm trying, but on this occasion, please forgive me, I cannot resist.  love and peace--hal

Hal Pepinsky, pepinsky@indiana.edu, skype name halpep, "Peacemaking" at pepinsky.blogspot.com
 519 Evergreen Circle, Worthington, OH 43085-3667, 1-614-885-6341

Please note:  My mind isn't big enough to handle social networking.  I do not respond to requests to befriend on Facebook or to become Linked In.  That leaves me free to take time to respond to email on this one account, and to answer home phone calls, which I very much enjoy receiving.  Thanks for your understanding.  love and peace--hal

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From: Pepinsky, Harold E.
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 11:20 AM
To: bill cohen; cfms_members@columbusfolkmusicsociety.org
Subject: RE: R.I.P Pete Seeger: a sing-along tribute

Watch today's hourlong memorial program for Seeger with Amy Goodman (including her last interview with him in November as I recall, just after his wife of 70 years had died), on demand (with flashplayer) at democracynow.org (my favorite daily newscast).  In earlier interviews, Pete tells stories of writing "where have all the flowers gone" and "we shall overcome," and of hanging out with other folk singers from Woody Guthrie and archivists like Allen Lomax.  I was just telling a friend in Bangla Desh I was skyping with that though my entry point when I got my first ukulele from my grandmother for Christmas in 1949, Burl Ives record album was my entree to the fifties-sixties folk crowd; as Pete Seeger puts it, the labor-active, environmentally, politically, economically, racially conscious subculture in the US I grew up joining with my ukuleles has become my greatest source of serenity and enjoyment of human harmony and mutual discovery, now at the Worthington farmers market and at my late mother's last home, the Laurels of Worthington.  Pete Seeger, thanks for your significant role in my life and learning!  love and peace--hal

Hal Pepinsky, pepinsky@indiana.edu, skype name halpep, "Peacemaking" at pepinsky.blogspot.com
 519 Evergreen Circle, Worthington, OH 43085-3667, 1-614-885-6341

Please note:  My mind isn't big enough to handle social networking.  I do not respond to requests to befriend on Facebook or to become Linked In.  That leaves me free to take time to respond to email on this one account, and to answer home phone calls, which I very much enjoy receiving.  Thanks for your understanding.  love and peace--hal

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From: bill cohen [billcohen@columbus.rr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 9:53 AM
To: cfms_members@columbusfolkmusicsociety.org
Subject: R.I.P Pete Seeger: a sing-along tribute

Pete Seeger Tribute at unique new venue

There’s no better way to honor the memory of folk music icon Pete Seeger than to do what he loved so much --- gather people together for an old-fashioned folk music sing-along.

That’s why Carl Yaffey on banjo and Bill Cohen on guitar will lead a hootenanny, with many of Pete’s favorite tunes, this Saturday night, Feb. 1,  at the Rambling House, 310 E. Hudson in Columbus.

We’ll all sing together ---  songs like If I Had a Hammer, Charlie on the MTA, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Puff, Jamaica Farewell, Turn Turn Turn, Blowin’ in the Wind, We Shall Overcome, Little Boxes, and dozens of other popular songs of the modern folk music revival, which Pete helped to spark as a member of the Almanac Singers in the 1940’s,  the Weavers in the 1950’s, and as a solo performer ever since.

Just opened, the cozy bar features home-made soda pop with creative flavors, artisan beers, huge whiskey barrels as tables, and a cool clientele.  But on Saturday, the spirit of Pete Seeger will be the highlight.

We don’t need more instruments, but we do need your singing voices, your fond memories of Pete Seeger, and the feeling of community that singing together can bring us.

Cover charge:  $5

WHERE:  Rambling House 310 E. Hudson

           (parking at Helping Hands Center lot across the street)

WHEN:     Saturday Feb. 1   from 8 to 11 p.m.

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