[AGL] Pete, Mike and Peggy

Tue May 2 10:52:51 EDT 2006

Gerry,

How is a hero? Or, better, a genuine American hero?
Because he moved to the country? He was not a criminal,
a good guy, and he built his own place in the country.
And sang hard to advance the program of the CPUSA
but didn't join. Does that make him a hero?

Mike Seegar whether or not he is mentioned in the New
Yorker piece, remains Pete Seeger's half-brother. Peggy
Seegar is Mike's sister. They spell their last name differently
than Pete Seeger does.

Mike

"Born in the UUUUesAY, born in the UUUUesAY" - Bruce
Springsteen

 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry" <mesmo at gilanet.com>
To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s" 
<austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: [AGL] technicolor fallout

> The wife, Toshi, is an American who is half Japanese. (Toshi is short for
> Toshiko, a popular Japanese name.) They (Seegers) lived most of their 
> lives
> in a house they built on the cheap in the country in 1949, still live 
> there.
> He is 86.
>
> His style developed by singing to large groups, mostly outdoors with no 
> P/A
> with groups like the Almanac Singers (with Woodie Guthrie) and the 
> Weavers.
> The idea was to get the audience to sing along, lift their spirits, to 
> have
> fun. He liked to sing for children. The studio was an alien environment to
> him.
>
> The father was an eccentric communist who quit lucrative teaching jobs (he
> founded the music department at Berkeley) to travel in a homebuilt camper
> (with family in tow) bringing music to the hinterlands. He was apparently 
> a
> gifted composer and hung out with the likes of Aaron Copeland, worked for
> the WPA, etc.
>
> Pete went to Harvard on scholarship, was quite poor and didn't fit in,
> waited on tables.
>
> The NY'er article makes no mention of Mike.
>
> In the '50's Pete was indicted for contempt of congress for refusing to
> answer questions before the HUAC. Found guilty but avoided jail time on a
> technicality.
>
> Too bad he couldn't sing well, might have been a star...Instead he was/is
> only a genuine American hero.
> G
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Eisenstadt" <michaele at hotpop.com>
> To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s"
> <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 7:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [AGL] technicolor fallout
>
>
>> susi,
>>
>> I think the thing I disliked most about Pete Seeger's way of singing
>> was the relentless upbeat rollicky delivery. Also, after I ceased being
>> pro communist, i began to recognize and resent the relentless leftwing
>> activism that propelled him (and others). Recently i read an interview
>> with him in the Sunday NYTimes magazine which filled in on what I
>> thought I knew about the man. I knew he lived in Beacon and had a
>> Japanese wife and in person was very tall and knobly. And that Mike
>> Seegar, who is short and dark, was his half-brother and that his family
>> had a maid in Washington DC who wrote Freight train, freight train go
>> so slow who grew up in Asheville, NC
>>
>> For me, the big insight in the interview was that Pete Seeger's father
>> convinced him that the singing of a song was an existential act that
>> trumped the song considered in itself. This may be good social
>> psycholology, but it is conducive to bad performance.
>>
>> so it was quite a shock to hear Bruce Springsteen take one of the
>> songs Pete used to sing, and not being a tall, red-cheeked rollicking
>> folk singer, instead scream the lyrics into the mike in his usual style
>> of alienated Jersey shore bluecollar youth in full whine mode.
>>
>> mike
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "susan gilbert" <ssg at efn.org>
>> To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s"
>> <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
>> Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 4:01 PM
>> Subject: Re: [AGL] technicolor fallout
>>
>>
>> > michael, i agree with you about pete seeger, he did introduce us to
>> > music from other aspects of our society, where would we be without
>> > elizabeth cotton's (the seeger family maid) "freight train" , so
>> > hopefully bruce will do the same for today's uneducated youth, but i
>> > doubt they will be interested; anyway, as a measure of who got the
>> > money right now, i bet mr.springsteen  appeals to those folks and
>> > maybe it will help the future of  new orleans
>> > susi
>> >
>> > On May 1, 2006, at 11:38 AM, Michael Eisenstadt wrote:
>> >
>> >> Connie,
>> >>
>> >> I wish I had been on your birding adventure. Just to see the American
>> >> Redstarts a favorite warbler. Of course the painted buntings are so
>> >> cool.
>> >> And Black & white warblers are totally neat.
>> >>
>> >> I would like to have heard the concerts. One of our subscribers
>> >> went to
>> >> San Antonio for the Dylan tour. I heard a cut from Springsteen's Pete
>> >> Seager covers album on KUT. It sounded absolute the lamest: just
>> >> screaming out the lyrics. Nothing like the original in sound or
>> >> soul. Not
>> >> that Seager in the original sang much more than a white bread
>> >> version of
>> >> folk songs from real folk. But at least he was rollicking in
>> >> spirit. Not so
>> >> Bruce. At least on the one cut I heard from the album.
>> >>
>> >> Mike
>> >>
>> >> ----- Original Message -----
>> >> From: "Connie Clark" <connie_3c at yahoo.com>
>> >> To: "BJ's List Ghetto 2" <ghetto2 at listserv.whathelps.com>; "Ghetto
>> >> List"
>> >> <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
>> >> Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 12:36 PM
>> >> Subject: [AGL] technicolor fallout
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>> It was quite convenient for us to get a storm through the area
>> >>> Saturday
>> >>> morning, at the end of Spring Migration.  Birders call it a
>> >>> 'fallout' when
>> >>> the migrating birds take refuge in the first sight of land and
>> >>> food source
>> >>> on Texas beaches.  Around noon Saturday I drove the one hour from
>> >>> Houston
>> >>> to the Quintana bird sanctuary to see what was there.  The
>> >>> sanctuary is
>> >>> about a square block or more, has trees, thick undergrowth and
>> >>> water.  A
>> >>> trail runs through it.
>> >>>
>> >>>  About 20 or so other birders where already there, and as soon as
>> >>> I walked
>> >>> into the woods it was clear, this was going to be a good day for
>> >>> birding.
>> >>> There were so many birds, I didn't have time to check my guidebook
>> >>> for
>> >>> identification- I wanted to just keep looking.  So, as my usual
>> >>> practice,
>> >>> I sidled up to a group of likely experts, and pointed my
>> >>> binoculars in
>> >>> unison with them, overhearing what we were all looking out. Quick
>> >>> identification that way. Birdwatchers are always nice about such
>> >>> things.
>> >>> They love to share a look-see.
>> >>>
>> >>>  These birds were in their most brilliant color, feathered finery
>> >>> and were
>> >>> quite perky considering they had just flown over the Gulf of Mexico.
>> >>> Hungry there were too.  I saw the yellow, common yellow throat, blue
>> >>> winged, black and white, black-throated green, chestnut sided,
>> >>> Blackburnian and Magnolia warblers; American Redstarts, Philadelphia
>> >>> Vireos and big orange and black Baltimore Orioles, just to name a
>> >>> few.  It
>> >>> is always a treat to see one, but I saw three, Three painted
>> >>> buntings (1
>> >>> F, 2 M).  I, with three very helpful birdwatchers left the scene
>> >>> right
>> >>> about dusk, all of us exclaiming how good the day had been. When we
>> >>> stepped out of the woods, we saw a huge coastal sunset of pink,
>> >>> blue and
>> >>> gold.
>> >>>
>> >>>  -----------------------
>> >>>  The storm blew across New Orleans late Saturday and left the
>> >>> festival
>> >>> grounds a bit muddy. Not a big problem, as The Boss did an
>> >>> outstanding
>> >>> performance with his Seeger Session band.  Protest songs, anti-Bush,
>> >>> anti-war had the very large crowd responding approvingly.  He was all
>> >>> acoustic except for a pedal steel.  That must be a hip new
>> >>> instrument for
>> >>> bands these days.  Bobby Dylan had a pedal steel on Friday night
>> >>> Randy
>> >>> reported, that gave his set a bit of a Bob Wills sound - and
>> >>> Dylans' white
>> >>> suit and cowboy hat made quite a swing band impression. I guess for
>> >>> contrast, his band wore grey suits with black Bolers.
>> >>>
>> >>>  Saturday night Dr. John must have felt like he was home at last.
>> >>> His
>> >>> final song of his set was from Sly and the Family Stone, "Thank
>> >>> you for
>> >>> letting me be myself, again."
>> >>>
>> >>>  Attendance at this year's JazzFest are big, big, big, with long
>> >>> lines for
>> >>> tickets, cabs, restaurant tables.  The Crescent City must really
>> >>> be happy
>> >>> about all those folks coming back for the best party New Orleans
>> >>> puts on.
>> >>>
>> >>>  Connie
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> ---------------------------------
>> >>> How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low  PC-to-Phone
>> >>> call
>> >>> rates.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> ----------
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
> 