On May 3 of this year Pete Seeger celebrated his 94th birthday. To commemorate the occasion, we invite you to join us for this Saturday’s monthly coffee house featuring The Flying Accusations and special musical guests in a celebration of life and music of Pete Seeger. The Flying Accusations are Robert McCourty, Chuck McCandless. Dave Young and Michael Nicholls.
In addition to being America’s best-loved folksinger and an untiring environmentalist, Pete Seeger is a national treasure. He has been at the forefront of the labor movement, the struggle for Civil Rights, the peace and anti-war movements, and the fight for a clean world. He has been a beacon for hope for millions of people all over the world. Once blacklisted from national television for being unafraid to voice his opinions, he was given the nation’s highest artistic honors at the Kennedy Center in December 1994.In January 1996 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Although he left Harvard during his second year, in the spring of 1996 he was awarded the Harvard Arts Medal, presented annually to a Harvard graduate who has made an important contribution to the arts. He won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album of 1996 in February 1997 for his Living Music recording Pete. At the end of April 1999, he traveled to Cuba to accept the nation’s highest honor for “his humanistic and artistic work in defense of the environment and against racism.” In April 2000, he was named one of America’s Living Legends by the Library of Congress. The recognition of Pete Seeger’s invaluable contributions to American culture and 21st century. He won a Grammy Award in 2008 for his Appleseed Recording, Pete Seeger: At 89, and again in 2011 for his Tomorrow’s Children album. Seeger was chosen to sing at the January 2008 inauguration of President Barack Obama, where he sang all of the verses to Woody Guthrie’s iconic This Land is Your Land.
Seeger lives in Beacon, New York. He remains very engaged politically and maintains an active lifestyle in the Hudson Valley Region of New York, especially in the nearby City of Beacon, New York. He and his wife of 60 years, Toshi purchased their land in 1949 and lived there, first in a trailer and then in a log cabin they built themselves using instructions from library books.
Pete Seeger wrote Where Have All The Flowers Gone in 1955 and following his tradition and style Saturday evening’s performance will be presented as a sing along.
“Participation! It’s what my work has been about” said Pete. So we hope you will participate.
Please join us this Saturday, May 18 for a wonderful night of the music of Pete Seeger as presented by The Flying Accusations.
As always, doors open at 7 p.m. with open stage at 7:30 and our feature at 9.
Dave Gallant