Spring equinox with its balanced periods of darkness and light is a perilous time for the Ram, who prefers to mood-swing from yin to yang, Bartles to Jaymes, and feit to counterfeit. So if there's too much Joel Gray in your astral brew, reinforce with infusions of Camille Paglia; too much Wayne Newton, unleaven with tincture of Al Gore.
Musicians Admit to Only Pretending to Like Pete Seeger
Mar 3, 2010, 12:38
Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen, and a host of musicians who have appeared with folk singer Pete Seeger during the last few years have admitted they were "only pretending to like" the ninety-year-old Seeger and his music.
"At first we were like, who invited the old guy," said one musician who did not wish to be identified. "Then we heard that he used to somebody famous a long time ago, so we tried to make him feel comfortable."
Dave Matthews was not so shy about speaking on the record.
"Did you see what that geezer has printed on his banjo?" laughed Mr. Matthews. "'This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.' That [crap] went out of style in the McCarthy Era. The banjo ought to say, 'This machine puts people to sleep.'"
Even Bruce Springsteen, who several years ago recorded thirteen folk songs written or made "popular" by Mr. Seeger, finds him difficult to take for long periods of time.
"Oh, man," said Mr. Springsteen, "does that cat repeat himself or what? If he's told me once, he's told me fifteen times about being blacklisted in the fifties. I know the whole damn story by heart."
Other musicians complained about Mr. Seeger's "old man smell," his bossiness, and his habit of "falling all over" the women with whom he performs.
Mr. Seeger rose to modest prominence as a member of The Weavers, whose cover of Leadbelly's "Goodnight, Irene" topped U.S. pop charts for thirteen weeks in 1950. Since then he has mainly appeared at rallies and demonstrations, where he could always be counted on to lead the faithful in a stirring rendition of "We Shall Overcome."
Mr. Seeger is also the author or co-author of some of the most annoying protest songs ever written—"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and "If I Had a Hammer." The latter is so godawful that Joan Baez recently refused to perform it at the White House, even though First Lady Michelle Obama had requested it.
Spring equinox with its balanced periods of darkness and light is a perilous time for the Ram, who prefers to mood-swing from yin to yang, Bartles to Jaymes, and feit to counterfeit. So if there's too much Joel Gray in your astral brew, reinforce with infusions of Camille Paglia; too much Wayne Newton, unleaven with tincture of Al Gore.
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