This Machine Surrounds Hate and Destroys it with Love

As the title might imply, this is a post about the late, great Pete Seeger. Born on May 3, 1919, Pete was my elder by 66 years but the songs he shared helped to bridge the gap. In the Beacon Sloop Club, next to the historic river that he loved, Pete would join the gathering of pickers on Thursday nights to encourage and support the musical tradition he loved and embodied. On one night I was lucky enough to join in and play with one of the great American legends.

My story moves fast and is by no means an account of Pete's life or message. But the power of his icon was strong enough to make a 22 year old, Oklahoma boy drive 2,200 miles to shake his hand. Pete was born seven months after the end of WWI and was 20 years old when WWII broke out. After attending Harvard for a short while Pete, soon dropped out and began wandering the country by rail and hitchhiking. It was on March 3, 1940 that Pete met Woody, while folklorist Alan Lomax is attributed to saying that meeting was the "birth of modern folk music." Woody taught Pete how to survive beyond the pale of normal civilization and Pete elaborates beautifully at http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2014/01/28/267488551/american-folk-singer-pete-seeger-dies-at-94. By 1940, the Almanac Singers were featuring both Pete and Woody, playing rallies to dances and supporting unions and spreading the American folk tradition.

After a stint in the Merchant Marines where Pete became known as "the banjo picker", he returned to his musical life and the struggles of his country. With the success of the Weavers, Pete found himself in the national spotlight. The fame was double sided due to the communist paranoia that was sweeping the country and more importantly the FBI and national census board. In 1952 the Weavers went on hiatus, in 1961 Pete was convicted of Contempt of Congress but had began feeling the effects of blacklisting beginning in the early 50's. Subpoenaed by the House of Un-American Activities Committee in 1955, Pete would plead the first amendment stating that "no American should be asked those type of questions." His decision to plead freedom of speech, association and religion would make him stand out as a cantankerous witness that would proudly struggle through the oppressive era.

Through his work at summer camps, birthday parties, and community gatherings, Pete maintained his viability as an American pioneer. While blacklisted he continued to record for Folkways Records. Rainbow Quest was a musical variety show sponsored almost exclusively by the Seeger and aired for only one season in 1967, but featured famous musicians from Johnny Cash and Doc Watson to folk icons such Elizabeth Cotton and Tom Paxton, www.peteseeger.net/videogra.html.

In two days, I traveled from Oklahoma to New York City, stopping to camp in South Carolina. the history of the music was in the Blue Ridge Mountain parkway and the endless winding souther roads. Deep Gap, the home of the late Doc Watson was a righthand turn and 60 miles away, Roscoe Holcomb made the "high lonesome sound" famous out of these woods and the Carter Family had gathered gospel songs from the small and isolated communities of the Appalachians. The tradition that inspired Woody, Pete, Mike and countless other folkies that came and went during the 60's was right here, spreading through the air with the morning fog that wrapped the mountains.

As a child Pete learned music from his father Charles, who later remarried Ruth Crawford Seeger and began traveling the south as a classical showcase. Mike Seeger, Pete's half brother, was born out of this marriage and would later become one of America's great folklorists. The heritage the Seeger family tapped into spoke of tradition and family ties. The songs weren't heard on the radio but were rather passed down from generations and some stretched back to Irish roots and English ballads. The story of Americanizing America is told in the songs of the Appalachians, from the shape-note singing to the African influenced cadences, a beautiful story about American folk is told by the movie Songcatcher.

I didn't travel halfway across the country to get an autograph or photo op. I simply tracked down one of the links between pre-industrial revolution America, who had spent his formative years swapping jokes with Woody Guthrie and became one of the few timeless icons of American Folk music. He wasnt hard to find, there are multiple references to Beacon, NY and the larger Poughkeepsie just to the north. After inquiring at a realtor I found the small town of Beacon and more importantly the fire department. Being a middle class white male probably has it's perks because the firemen were friendly and informative giving me specific directions.

The Seeger house is set on a beautifully lush hilltop where the original cabin Pete built in the 60's still stands. The documentary, Power of Song has a wonderful interview with Daniel Seeger, Pete's son describing their early life without heat or running water. I knocked on the door and his wife Toshi-Aline Ota answered, she politely explained that he was working on a song book and that I should come back later. I spent about three minutes in my car and knocked again. Pete answered and invited me in, we chatted in the kitchen about Woody and the music. A yellow jacket began humming around the kitchen, Pete enticed it onto a wooden spoon while I opened the window. As the wasp flew away Pete told me "anything living deserves to meet it's own end."

We spoke for a few more minutes and he escorted me to the door. Sure, I asked him to play a few tunes and, sure he declined but he invited me to the Sloop Club. The following Thursday I rode the Hudson River Line out of Grand Central Station with my banjo and unrealistic expectations.

Tunes were played and songs were passed around the circle. Pete declined to lead a song, saying he didn't sing anymore and finally it came to me. The gentleman on my right had heard my story and when I took the microphone he suggested "This Land is My Land," and I led the group. Out of the corner of my eye I couldn't tell if he was smiling or grimacing but he led a break and I have to accept that as enough, Pete was 88 at the time. We didn't speak after the jam, I watched him graciously depart from the group and I rode the train home, watching the river he loved slip by. The next year he came out with the album "At 89," I probably didn't play a role in his decision to record another album but maybe he noticed me, maybe I was another fruit of the seeds he scattered.  

Music and life have been compared to water and rightly so. Our lives are short eddies in a flowing stream of living energy, always passing to new areas and influences. The songs of Pete and the mountains which birthed them are streams that connect the old country and to the present. Children are taught "This Land is Your Land" in elementary school, "Skip to My Lou," "The Green Grass Grew All Around" and "Froggie Went A'courtin" are all childhood classics. Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie might not be in the common vernacular but the common vernacular has been molded by Pete and Woody. There are only seven notes in a scale and no matter how hard Katy Perry mixes them they always come out one of the seven. Pete and Woody were brave enough to sing them straight, honestly, bound and freed by the simplicity of the templet. Remember your childhood, remember the tunes that bounce through your subconscious, they are the heritage of our country and the connection to our homelands.

Gatsby: A Man Apart

            Wealth and splendor hold a place near and dear to the American heart. Born out of the common Dream, in the 2013 Baz Luhrmann adaptation of Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, success is defined as excess. Hometowns and high school are to be left behind and the chasing of grand dreams will in time fulfill any sacrifices or absences created in the search for financial success. J. Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) ran away from the woman he loved, Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), due to his lack of money and the perceived unsuitableness of his proposal. It isn’t for love or happiness that success is gauged but in the ability to provide a stable financial base and the willingness to abandon all others in the search. Jay Gatsby is the perfect example of the struggle encountered when the illusion of achievable wealth is confused with achievable providence.

In the beginning there was the word and the word was money. J. Gatsby was a believer in the illusion of wealth; he sacrificed the possible happiness of youth and love due to the illusion. J’s confidence in Nick Carraway (Toby Maguire) reveals at different times both the creation of the illusion and the emptiness that it resonates. While driving in the car, Jay goes to great lengths explaining his upbringing and heritage trying to create the idea of old money and his worthiness to be wealthy. However Jay’s portrayal of old wealth slips in his reasoning, he explains to Nick, “I wanted you to know something about my life, I didn’t want you to think I’m just some nobody.” By caring about his image and trying to illicit an approving judgment from Nick, Jay shows his insecurity in place and station.   

            In contrast Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) demonstrates no compassionate tendencies and exemplifies established wealth. Tom is independently wealthy and immediately reveals his investment in the status quo when he attempts to pull Nick into a conversation about the book “Rise of the Colored Empire.” Further exposing his lack of personal attachment Tom maintains a cordial relationship with the husband of his mistress, for whom he also provides a secret flat. The lifelong presence of money created in Tom, an expectation of social stature and perceived self-worth that outweigh personal consequences or moral implications. In luring Nick to the secret apartment, Tom is searching for approval and consent through involvement. However, it is only with excessive champagne and a mystery pill that Nick begins to partake.

            The contrast between Nick, J and Tom is representative of the three types of wealth structure in the Gatsby America. There are those born into wealth, those who have acquired it, and those who are attempting to acquire it. The story is told by Nick, who is building a career in the Stock Market but has not yet accumulated any wealth, his presence in both J’s and Tom’s house is that of an outsider. The summer progresses and Nick is given two examples of class, wealth and stature, the welcoming benevolence of Gatsby, who’s “smile understands and believes in you,” and that of Tom and Daisy who “smashed up things and people and retreated into their money and vast carelessness.” Nick sits in the situation physically but remains separate from the means and creation of the opportunities he enjoys.

            For moral and obvious reasons Fitzgerald decided to have Nick fall in love with Gatsby. He loved J like he loved New York; both opened unseen doors and invited him into unknown speakeasies. Nick explains the marriage of New York and opportunity and how J is the accumulation of this belief while driving into New York, “The city seen from the Queens Burrow Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in it’s first wild promise, anything could happen, even Gatsby could happen.” Nick is not allowed to blindly believe in J though. Through his character flaws and the strain of the façade, J, elicits questions to his moral aptitude and right to wealth.

            The lavish parties are one precursor to the mystery and mystique of J. Though he hosted celebrities and Senators, J was largely unknown to his guests, during the entire scene of Nick attending his first Gatsby party he does not meet anyone who has met the host save another confidant. By way of having such expositions at his mansion while not attending or announcing his presence, J invites gossiping and speculation. Rumors from Nazi kin to an American sniper swirl about J’s past and a persistent questioning about the source of his funds maintains. While attending lunch with J in the barbershop, Nick meets Meyer Wolfsheim (Amitabh Bachchan) who is a notorious gambler and entrepreneur. Despite Meyer’s infamous nature, J has obvious business ties with him and describes him as a mentor and friend.

J’s exact business remains unclear throughout the entirety of the movie. He is often interrupted with phone calls at parties and while entertaining guests but always refuses unless drawn in by the presence of Meyer or the persistence of his butler. J rejects his means of wealth by denying Daisy, Nick and the audience his true means of establishment. In the final confrontation Tom alleges that J is bootlegging liquor into small towns through the front of pharmacies. Suggesting that this is true, in an earlier scene, J becomes very agitated with a phone call concerning Detroit, repeating, “I said a small town” into the receiver before regaining his composure and delaying the call.

  The call must be answered and “no one could ignore that fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency,” as Nick would describe during dinner at the Buchanan residence. For Gatsby his death and reckoning were inevitable. The relationship between Daisy and J is an affront to the established norm, J’s insistence that Daisy leave Tom directly challenging Tom’s status. However, the rebuttal of Tom devastates J’s composure. After insulting J’s education, self-worth, and means, J leans on his ideals before lashing out, “the only thing respectable about you is your money. Now I have as much as you so we’re equal.” Exemplifying the ideology of a movable class structure, J wants to believe the myth* and is ultimately sacrificed in its upkeep.

Through the events of the final night, J becomes the target of the estranged husband for the fatal hit-and-run accident that killed his wife, who was also the mistress of Tom.  George Wilson (Jason Clarke), the husband, is the proprietor of a gas station and lives in the poor outskirts of New York. When George kills Gatsby, he is murdering the promise that lies in the American dream. J steadfastly holds to his idealized image of Daisy as the reason for his actions and remained aloof of the opulence created by his wealth. George kills the promise that anything is possible; he killed the hope for an ever achievable and brighter future.

More on the idea of achievable wealth and wealth distribution here:      

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSxzjyMNpU