Alice's Restaurant!

Sunday, January 25, 2015 Alice's Restaurant Massacree!

Between yesterday and today, we have everything ready for departure. Provisions have been purchased and stowed. The truck was cleaned and readied for storage. The boat is ship shape. We have completed all of our tasks and still manage to walk over four miles a day.

Our final pre-cruise activity is a road trip to Fort Lauderdale. More specifically, the Parker Playhouse where we have tickets to see Arlo Gutherie's 50th Anniversary Alice's Restaurant concert. The tour, which started in Daytona two nights ago, will last about a year and a half. We hope he gets to NJ this summer so we can see it again.

We've gone to several concerts this year. They are usually highly entertaining, but for most, when the encore is finished, I get in the car and start to think about something else.

There are some special artists that move me to a higher level. Noel Paul Stookey, Peter Yarrow, and Pete Seeger are examples of artists who strike some emotional chord in me. I am moved and inspired by their work. Such was the case this evening with Arlo Gutherie. I was mesmerized, not just by Arlo but by his band as well. Terry A La Berry, his drummer, is amazing! His lead guitarist was strong, as was the bass guitarist, and his son, on keyboards, was exceptional. The band was tight!

Arlo has a knack for storytelling and he didn't disappoint. I hung on his every word. He has grown over the years and one can see and hear his growth in the stories. 

Arlo introducing "Alice's Restaurant Masacree" to begin the second set.

The crowd went wild upon hearing the first stains of the intro to Alice. The story is ironic and intriguing even on its 50th anniversary. I stand in awe of people who have the talent to write great lyrics not to mention music too. And I'm not alone. Arlo tells the story of a song his father wrote after reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Woody received a letter from Steinbeck that said, "you son of a bitch! How did you capture, in thirteen verses, something it took me a whole novel to write?"

I Hear Your Voice Again, by Woody Gutherie, was particularly moving and poignant. The encore, Peace, was clear and hopeful, I Don't Want A Pickle was funny, and the audience rollicked to Alice's Restaurant and City of New Orleans.

I'll be learning from this concert for a long time.