Ok, here's how it goes. My friends and I got tickets to Arlo's 3-3-05 show in Colombia Missouri about two months in advance, and we were pumped. It felt like each day took forever and the concert was never gonna come because we were so excited.
Finally the day of the concert arrives. The night before, I got a white t-shirt and drew on it with sharpy: I Love Arlo Guthrie, and on the back it said, Alice's Restaurant Massacree, 18 minutes of pure joy!

Anyway, that day at school (i'm a senoir in high school) I was gonna wear my shirt. Now I thought I was gonna be the coolest kid around in my homemade Arlo shirt and that everyone was going to be jelous of me going to see him later that afternoon. Well, I would have been the coolest kid around if anyone in my school had heard of Arlo Guthrie!!! It blew my mind when people would ask "Who's Arlo Goothrie?" And it was hard to explain it to them too. I would say he is Woody Guthrie's son, and the worlds greatest folk singer. Then they would ask "Who's Woody Guthrie?" Well have you heard the song This Land Is Your Land? "Yeah" The guy wrote and sang that song. But by then Arlo just sounds like the son of some guy who's one song you've heard of. Needless to say, I couldn't believe it!!! Especially after the concert because how could you not hear of someone who is that awesome. Kids my age just dont know good music anymore. They think of music as five guys in silly jump suits, all dancing the same moves and singing about nothing. Threre was a time when people acually played intruments. So now I'm on a mission to introduce as many people as i can around my age to Arlo's music. I have already let people listen to Alice's Restaurant at school and every single person has loved it! I'm just trying to show them that there is more that one type of music out there. O yeah, and I feel like the coolest kid in school cause Arlo signed my shirt.

It's neat to see young people idgging good music like Arlo. Sounds like your folks raised ya right... Welcome to the site!

The really good ones have their time and move on...the really great ones last forever...Arlo Guthrie is truly one of the few great ones. Woody is a great one also. Although they both are a bit different in style, their common denominator (and what makes them great) is that they sing and write about people...us...and what concerns us...what makes us human...in a way that we can identify with. I live in the midwest and Beach Parties and Beach Party Bingo was never my thing, as maybe Boppin at the Hop after a high school game wasn't a "surfers" thing....BUT...we all care about war, sickness, poverty, getting "caught" at something or another...we all want to laugh yet care very much...and we all like to laugh at ourselves. We all would like things to be better...to improve. The Twist was fun...for a year or so...but I have never stopped caring about folks and the world I live in...even tho it evolves..there's always something or someone to care about. Reasons for caring maybe changes...but the caring in itself never does. Arlo makes us think...and care....and yet enjoy ourselves along the way as well. That to me..is what makes him a great one.