I love this kind of apparently silly anniversaries... unimportant to most, Arlo Guthrie's original 1967 two-tones label Reprise disc is in my discotheque since my boyhood and how many times I laughed in the years when Arlo is playing the lunatic at the Army trying to quit Vietnam...
Jumping and screaming "Shrink, I want to see blood, blood and veins in my teeth... etc. etc..."
Pure young genius... eighteen minutes of purest non-sense... yet making A LOT OF sense if considering the America it was when Alice's Massacree happened...
Here is the anniversary as per recent Arlo's words...
May 16, 2015 - The Church - Van Deusenville
Van Deusenville is a hamlet within the village of Housatonic, which is within the town of Great Barrington, which is within the state of Massachusetts. The church (The Guthrie Center) is also known locally as the Old Trinity Church and is ground zero for the 50th Anniversary of the song "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree." This is where it all began 50 years ago this coming Thanksgiving (2015).
I got back to the church for our 3 day revival to find this newly painted VW Microbus on the front lawn. What a great surprise! The vehicle was donated to the church and painted just a few days ago to coincide with our appearance.
The photo was taken by my friend and neighbor, Jaane Doe, and I did a quick (and not so great) fix to remove the wires which run down the street in front of the old building. George Laye, our director and I go back decades as friends, and he really went to great lengths to get this thing done in time. Freaking great!
It's become the new photo-op for many of our visitors, and will likely remain there all summer - or until we get the thing registered - whichever comes first. Once it's got plates I might wanna drive down to Washington, DC and start taking out the garbage there... It worked out well the first time, although this time we might need a fleet. The VW Microbus is now relegated to history. Maybe you just had to be there. More than just remembering, history can instill generations with a sense of the inevitable triumph of what is right, just and joyful.
On a side note: There will be a small fleet of registered VW Microbuses coming to the church on Sunday to help ferry participants of the “Garbage Trail Walk to Massacree HD” around. For more - http://
Peace and Love are not empty words or slogans... It's the reality beyond comprehension and understanding. It's what actually exists whether or not you can see through the trash. With that in mind, it's good to have a vehicle handy to take out the garbage."
Thanking Arlo for sharing this and most of all for these four chords progression and story-telling...
Lovely memories dating back to 1967... another world it was!
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