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“I would like to welcome you to the new Charles Lyonhart Blog. I will be posting photos, music, lyrics, poems, and my thoughts on the world and life in general.” — Charles

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Pete Seeger and me in Amherst Massachusetts at a family breakfast
September 13, 2010

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the wedding of Anna Seeger to Shannon Carrol last weekend. The entire Seeger family was there including Pete and his wife of over 60 years Toshi. At 91 years old Pete is still on top of his game and busier than ever according to Pete. "Ever since "The Power of Song" was released in 2008, I haven't had any time at all", Pete told me. "Up until then I was a fascist and nobody wanted to talk to me. Now I receive bundles of mail and every day and the phone never stops ringing for interviews and appearances". We spoke about everything from the first Newport Folk Festival to his fond memories of John Herald. The real treat for the weekend event was to sit around a campfire Saturday night after the amazing wedding of Shannon to Anna and sit around a campfire watching and listening to Pete play his songs and tell his stories in this relaxed atmosphere. Sitting less than a foot away from him and watching his fingers pluck his banjo while watching his facial expressions was amazing. He asked for people in the circle to pick out songs and sing along. One of the many stories that he told was how Merle Travis wrote "Dark as a Dungeon" in his car under a street light in about an hour. Then we all sang the wonderful chorus, "It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew, where danger is double and pleasures are few, where the rain never falls and the sun never shines, it’s dark as a dungeon way down in the mine." Pete is an inspiration and a hero of many who picked up guitars and banjos in the early sixties to sing some of the songs that he wrote like "If I Had a Hammer" or "Where Have All the Flowers Gone". One of the first songs that I ever learned was a Pete Seeger song that the Byrds later made into a hit, "Turn, Turn, Turn". I strongly suggest that you pick up a copy of the DVD "The Power of Song" to watch the life and times of this truly wonderful human being in every sense of the word. He has been recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and nobody deserves it more than Pete. http://www.peteseeger.net/ May Pete stay forever young.


 
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