(July 14, 2012) NEW YORK CITY — Woody Guthrie would have been 100 years old today. And there’s no better place to celebrate one of our greatest songwriters and activists than at the place he called home for so many years: Coney Island in Brooklyn.
My friend Kate and I went to Coney Island tonight to hear Steve Earle and Billy Bragg sing and to watch a movie about Woody called Bound For Glory, which is also the title of Woody’s book.
Coney Island isn’t what it used to be, if the stories are to be believed, but it’s still a one-of-a-kind place full of nonconformists, as Nora Guthrie said this evening. There an amusement park crammed with rides that look both fun and harrowing — mostly due to their advanced ages. There are still stalls selling every trinket under the sun, and you can still get a hot dog and Coney Island fries at Nathan’s on the boardwalk. The beach is long and, to my eye, lovely. It’s not the perfect beach you might find in Hawaii or the Caribbean, but it’s a classic Atlantic coast American beach and I like it.
We got some food and set out our blanket in the shade of the enormous inflatable screen, still several hours before the performance and the movie. Woody Guthrie was coming through the big speakers and filling the beach with songs of regular Americans and of hope for a better tomorrow. A tomorrow we’re still working on, all these years later, and who’s approach is even less certain now than it was when Woody was around. At least in my opinion.
Billy Bragg’s advance man, Graham, was a joy to listen to all on his own. He had the perfect tone of voice to get exactly what he wanted out of the sound engineers without ever seeming like a dictator. It was the most entertaining mic checking I’ve heard in quite some time.
Just before 8 p.m., Billy and Steve appeared together on the boardwalk. I love Billy Bragg with a desperate passion. I discovered his music in Tokyo, of all places. My friend Tom Hals had a greatest hits collection of Billy’s music and he asked me if I’d ever heard him. I’d never even heard of him, but from the first few bars of the first song I was completely in love with his songwriting, his lyrics, his voice, his guitar playing, everything.
This was back in 1997, I think, as I was becoming radicalized by my exposure to non-American media and a different way of looking at the world. That process had begun years earlier, in high school, but I had a lot more data to work with by my second time living in Japan. Anyway, after Tom played that record for me, I was hooked and I started buying Billy’s records.
When I came back to the US at the end of 1998, I was lucky enough to see Billy play twice and to meet him, too. In 2000, my then wife and I moved to Brooklyn. That year, Billy played at Symphony Space on a bill that also included Ani Difranco, if I remember correctly. Nora Guthrie was there that night, too. I think she sang a tune with Billy. Later that year Billy played an in-store show at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square during lunchtime on a weekday. I went there on a (cough) long lunch (cough) from my job uptown. I got to meet him and stammer something idiotic and I also got him to sign my copy of one of the Mermaid Avenue records he made with Wilco. It was a real thrill.
But back to tonight. Steve Earle played first. Earle is one of our sharpest and most insightful songwriters, and he showed his stuff tonight with a song of his called “Christmas In Washington.” He also sang Woody’s “New York Town.”
Then Billy performed “She Came Along To Me” and one of Woody’s songs for children about not wetting the bed. For this latter song, he was accompanied by Nora Guthrie (Woody’s daughter) and also by two of his great-grandaugthers, who were just about the cutest kids you’d ever want to see or hear.
Then everyone took part in a rousing version of “This Land Is Your Land,” which should be our national anthem and which stirs me in a way “The Star-Spangled Banner” never could. (And yes, I think we shouldn’t have nations anyway, but if we’re going to, I’ll take Woody’s song any day.)
Woody Guthrie is very special to me. I didn’t really discover him until the 1990s, but when I did he hit hard and he’s stayed with me ever since. And in light of the recent beginning of my tour of the country, reading poetry and interviewing musicians, I’ve turned to Woody’s music again and again for inspiration and comfort and for a kick in the ass when it’s needed.
We didn’t stay for much of the movie — Kate wasn’t feeling too well so we left soon after it started. We stayed long enough to see David Carradine as Woody, which was a funny coincidence given that I’ve been watching Kung Fu recently. I liked Carradine a lot and thought he made a good Guthrie. I’d like to see the movie someday. I’ve still never read the book, either, even though I’ve owned it for decades.
Today also answered some questions about the next phase of my life. I’ll probably tell you more about that when the tour starts again in August. I don’t mean to keep you in suspense, but I’ve still got a lot to process for myself before I start sharing things in this diary.
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