Fifty years ago, the singer tried to help his friend Alice get rid of a pile of trash on Turkey Day.
It is, without a doubt, the most celebrated case of littering in history.
Fifty years ago, Arlo Guthrie tried to help his friend Alice get rid of a pile of trash on Thanksgiving Day. The absurdity that followed has become the quirky legend commemorated in the 18-minute song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree."
First performed in 1966 on WBAI in New York, the song -- the story of the litterbugs, the hapless Sheriff Obie, a blind judge and the silly bureaucracy of a Vietnam-era draft board -- made Guthrie an insouciant antihero for the 1960s.
A bouncy, fingerpicked blues tune accompanied by Guthrie's laid-back humor, it became an unlikely sensation: the centerpiece of Guthrie's 1967 debut album, which rose to number 17 on the Billboard album charts; the inspiration for a Hollywood movie that starred Guthrie himself; and a Thanksgiving Day perennial on classic-rock radio.
Asked in a recent interview with NJ.com whether the song has an enduring message, he said: "Looking back to another time creates a link to the past. Even if that were all there was to it, it'd be worth doing. Hopefully, there's more to it than that."
Over the years, the demand for the lengthy song at Guthrie's concerts became burdensome -- and eventually announced he was retiring the song from his concerts. But he vowed to revive it every ten years, and so this week he brings the 50th anniversary tour to the area with upcoming shows at Carnegie Hall (on Saturday) and NJPAC (on Sunday). A filmed version of the concert, taped at a Pittsfield, Mass. performance last May, is airing on PBS on Thanksgiving at 8 p.m.
"The response at the shows has been way more than I expected," he said of the tour. "There are thousands of notes and messages I get from people who were thrilled to rekindle the old spirit.... There are young people who relate very closely to that era -- in music, in politics, and in philosophy. So it's not merely nostalgia -- it's also an introduction."
For Guthrie, now 68, music has been an inextricable part of his entire life. His mother, Marjorie Mazia Guthrie, was a dancer with the Martha Graham Company. His father, Woody Guthrie, wrote the iconic "This Land is Your Land," and was one of a handful of performers who revived traditional folk songs in the 1950s, leading the way for a new generation of folk musicians, such as Bob Dylan.
Guthrie's current band includes his son Abe, while his daughter Sara Lee will perform as the opening act with her husband, Johnny Irion.
The singer says that he has been seeing a renewed interest in traditional, acoustic music, even if it has been re-branded by the music industry as Americana.
"It's like a virus infecting everything," he said. "People seem to enjoy songs that are more than fluff, no matter how it's branded."
Guthrie added: "Folk music, for me, has never been a genre. It's how you learn the music you're playing. You get an instrument, sit around with friends, and keep getting better at it until you're worth listening to. It doesn't matter if you're doing that playing some old dance tune like "Old Joe Clark" or some Lightning Hopkins. It's the same process, which I call the folk tradition."
Arlo Guthrie plays at Carnegie Hall on Saturday and NJPAC on Sunday. Being the son of Woody Guthrie meant that Arlo grew up in a heady mix of music and famed musicians. Guthrie initially did not play songs written by his famous father, but eventually began to include some in his performances.
"His main message," Arlo Guthrie said of his father, "was that everybody counts. He got that right. We are all in the same boat, and the more we learn to work together and quit fighting among ourselves, the easier it'll be to get somewhere."
As for his own next steps, Guthrie isn't in too much of a rush to make big plans. Asked what happens in May when the 17-month anniversary tour ends, he said said, "I get on my big motorcycle, grab my cameras and follow the bumble bees."
Arlo Guthrie
When: Sunday, November 29th, at 3 p.m.
Where: New Jersey Performing Arts Center, One Center Street, Newark
How much: $39.50 - $79.50. Call 888-466-5722 or visit www.njpac.org.
Marty Lipp may be reached at martylipp@hotmail.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
