Poll: Have you ever seen Pete Seeger perform?

Today's is Pete Seeger's 85th Birthday. He's getting on and doesn't sing much any more but if you get the chance to see him don't miss it. He doesn't have to sing, just see him talk and play the 5 string banjo. I think he'd be a good candidate for the tribute this year at FRFF.

I have seen him perform, but only in the last few years at Clearwater when he wasn't singing as much and once in Poughkeepsie at a Dar concert about 5 years ago. He is very personable on stage and his ability to engage the crowd in singalongs is quite impressive. He just leaves you with a very warm and fuzzy feeling.

i feel really sorry for whoever voted that they didn't care about him. he's seriously a national treasure, and i'm so lucky that i got to see him perform. i would love to see an frff tribute to pete this year. or any year.

I have seen him a few times with Arlo, but that was many many years ago. He is quite possibly the greatest folk performer of 20th century, and his impact on both music and society is pretty much immeasurable.

People say there aren't heroes any more. Nonsense, if Pete isn't a hero than there never was one. He gained fame and used it not as an end in itself but to give a voice to causes that needed one. He tries to change the world not with violence or even anger, but by giving people a gentle nudge in the right direction.

His talents as a singer and a showman have overshadowed another talent of his. He is one of the true masters of the 5-string banjo.

Unfortunately I've never seen Pete but I saw Arlo twice last year. Here's some trivia. At the show at Club Passim Arlo shared the following:

When he and Pete played Carnegie Hall some time back Pete was tuning his guitar a lot until some guy from the front rows yelled: "Why do folk musicians always have to tune their guitars?". After a while Pete looked up and replied: "Because we care!".

Lov' it :)

I love that story. The way I heard it from arlo it starts with pete first saying, "ever notice that Segovia and guys like that don't tune their guitars and folk musicians always do?" followed a few minutes later by, "because we care."

OOO one more thing I meant to mention just for Jaci. He was also a librarian of sorts. I'm not sure of the exact details but I believe his title was the curator of the folk music collection at the library of congress.

Almost. He was an assistant to Alan Lomax, who was curator of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. It was Pete's nephew, Anthony who later served in this position.