Monday, March 8, 2004

Artist, singer share love for river
Special looks at history of the Hudson
By Rebecca Rothbaum
Poughkeepsie Journal


Len Tantillo
Len Tantillo's "Late Crossing" shows the last ferry of the day crossing the Hudson River at Albany circa 1875. Tantillo's paintings will be featured Wednesday on "Hudson River Journeys" on Albany public television station WMHT.

Karl Rabe/Journal file
Folk singer, activist and Beacon resident Pete Seeger, shown at Riverfront Park in Beacon in August, is featured in "Hudson River Journeys."

Courtesy photo
Artist Len Tantillo, who was born in Poughkeepsie and grew up in New Paltz, creates scenes from the Hudson River's history in his paintings.

Len Tantillo
Tantillo's "Morning Mist on the Hudson" shows sailors loading cargo on the upper Hudson River circa 1790.
Five years ago, Pete Seeger, the legendary folk singer and activist, received a copy of painter Len Tantillo's book of historical paintings, ''Visions of New York State.''
The collection is filled with Tantillo's painstakingly-detailed depictions of Hudson River scenes and it so impressed Seeger (whose efforts to celebrate the Hudson through his music and the environmental organization Clearwater have practically made him synonymous with it), he asked Tantillo to show some of his work at Clearwater's annual songfest in Albany.

''I'm a history nut -- Hudson River history, New York state history, world history, universe history,'' Seeger said in a phone interview from his mountaintop home in Beacon. ''His paintings showed not just the history of Europeans coming to America, but he had what life was like for Native Americans here.''

Pairing Tantillo's paintings with his songs only seemed natural, Seeger said. Executives at the Albany public television station WMHT apparently agreed. On Wednesday, it will air ''Hudson River Journeys,'' a show about the two artists, their relationships with the Hudson, and the river itself. The Poughkeepsie Journal is among the show's sponsors.

River pulls at emotions

''I know this is going to sound kind of corny, but we wanted to make it kind of a love story with the river,'' said producer John Campbell. ''It became very clear to us very quickly that people in that area have a great passion for the Hudson.''

It is not likely Campbell and co-producers Paul Frederick and Woodstock singer-songwriter Artie Traum could have chosen two better examples.

Seeger, who with his wife Toshi moved to Beacon decades ago and raised a family there, has immortalized the Hudson in such songs as ''Sailing Down My Golden River,'' and 35 years ago came up with the idea for the sloop Clearwater. A replica of the sort of Dutch ships that plied the river in the 18th and 19th centuries, Clearwater was intended to be a sort of floating classroom and a symbol for the river. ''Hudson River Journeys'' features footage of its hand construction by a band of volunteers.

Tantillo, who was born in Poughkeepsie and grew up in New Paltz, where his father owned a grocery store on North Ohioville Road, became fascinated with the river at an early age. In an interview from his home in Albany, where he moved with his wife, Corliss, after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, he said his earliest memories are of ships there and the nighttime reflection of Poughkeepsie's lights.

He recalled: ''I remember how magical it was to me.''

Detailed work

Years later, he would use his architectural training to re-create on canvas scenes from the river's history, especially its industrial past. He employs a rigorous, three-step process to create the busy port and steamboat scenes, involving extensive research and hand-built scale models.

''It's a journey in many different ways,'' Frederick, co-producer of the 45-minute show, said of the show's title. ''Through time certainly, but also a journey for us as producers.''

Both producers are from the Adirondack region and before taking on the project knew little of the mid- and lower-Hudson valley.

''I couldn't believe how beautiful it is,'' Frederick said. ''In my mind, I knew of the river as polluted and lined with industry. Now, I'm thinking of bringing my family this summer to all the neat spots I discovered while filming.''

Such enthusiasm suffuses the finished product. Frederick was also responsible for shooting much of the show and editing it, and throughout there are idyllic images of the sun-gilded Hudson, verdant foliage along its banks and the swirling of surprisingly crystalline waters.

''Rivers do capture people,'' Seeger reflected. ''Perhaps because it's a coming together of waters.''

Tuning in

River special

''Hudson River Journeys'' Wednesday, 8 p.m. on WMHT. Check local listing for stations. For more information, visit www.wmht.org.

Soundcheck
From iPods to Dust Bowl Ballads
Nora Guthrie and Hans-Eckardt Wenzel join join radio station WNYC for a live interview and performance. approx. 25 min.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/03092004

I love how things come around. You admire someone, and feel like you completely understand their message, then you read something like this, and it brings a little smile.

I have a handful of antique books, all of which I have enjoyed since I was quite young. 2 of my absolute favourites, though, are my original Setons ("Wild Animals I have Known" and "Wild Animals At Home"). The pages are all hand-cut, and one has a bullet hole in the back - lol! I can't pinpoint an absolute favourite story, but "Lobo, King Of The Carumpah" has stuck with me all these years.

It's kind of nice to hear that Pete likes them too...

~ Sam

Joan of contention:
Baez resumes her outspoken ways
http://www.tribnet.com/24hour/entertainment/story/1229501p-8258706c.html

Germany's Hans-Eckardt Wenzel tackles lyrics of folk icon Woody Guthrie
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/friday/lifeentertainment/stories/li032604s2.shtml

Article on David Grover
His songs teach lessons of life
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7514~2044883,00.html

Here's a pic of David (2nd bloke from right) dining in the company of some highly suspicious and questionable characters. http://www.dirtywater.com/a2z/s/shenandoah/index.html

Ha-ha!... Seriously, keep up the good work, Mr. Grover!

Folkies jam for Guthrie
http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/03/26/4063a51a2426b?in_archive=1

Article on "The Unbelievable Terry A La Berry!"

http://www.iberkshires.com/story.php?story_id=14204

Program on Jim Croce will be on Maryland Public TV this Saturday:

http://mpt.org/schedule/series.cfm?seri ... 500#125981

(You might want to check your local public TV stations to see if it will be on in your area.)

Yet another article on the Unbelievable Terry A La Berry!

An Hour of Positive Fun
Terry Hall steps into the spotlight

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7514~2199259,00.html

Festival draws "berry" large crowd

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/Bea_StwFest-14Jun04.htm

Norman Rockwell Museum presents "Feeling Groovy"

http://www.iberkshires.com/story.php?story_id=14729

*************************
http://www.terryalaberry.com

Local musicians to jam at the Grand
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjourn ... ianst.html

Artists ride in style into Wilmington
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjourn ... einst.html

David Bromberg brings his violin business to Wilmington
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjourn ... ergbr.html

Born to make music
http://www.mininggazette.com/community/ ... -c0923.asp

CALUMET - When Arlo Guthrie performs tonight at the Calumet Theatre, chances are it will be one of the few times, where "Alice's Restaurant" or 'City of New Orleans' is not the song the audience knows best.

To many in the Copper Country, Guthrie is 'the guy who sings that Italian Hall song." That song, "1913 Massacre" was written by Arlo's father, folk legend Woody Guthrie.
The song tells the story of the 1913 Italian Hall tragedy in Calumet, from one point of view.

Guthrie recorded his father's song on the 1972 album "Hobo's Lullaby," the fifth of his 21 solo recordings. It was that recording that prompted two New York documentary film makers to make a movie about the tragedy.

The film crew is in Calumet and will be filming tonight's performance as well as tomorrow's sold out show.

....

A return to Plymouth folk-rock
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... folk_rock/

It's not Rolling Thunder this time around, but Joan Baez is coming back to Plymouth's Memorial Hall for the first time in 29 years.

The legendary folk singer performed with Bob Dylan and a regiment of other rock and folk notables on 1975's famous Rolling Thunder Revue concert tour, which was conceived by Dylan as a way to connect with audiences while keeping clear of stadium venues and media hype. Memorial Hall was the first stop on that two-year tour, on Oct. 30, 1975. Baez will return Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

In 1975, Baez performed traditional folk songs, the classic Old Left ballad ''Joe Hill," and her own composition, ''Diamonds and Rust," a song about her relationship with Dylan. She combined with Roger McGuinn -- famous in his own right as the '60s folk-rocker leader of ''The Byrds" -- on ''The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." The Robbie Robertson composition was Baez's biggest success on the pop charts. She's likely to sing it again next week at the renovated hall, one stop on a tour with English singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore that wraps up Nov. 6 in New York.

Baez has a new recording, ''Dark Chords on a Big Guitar," that features songs by contemporary songwriters such as Greg Brown, Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams and Steve Earle. During a recent concert, Baez mixed in ''Elvis Presley Blues" by Welch and David Rawlings, ''Christmas in Washington" by Earle, and ''Motherland" by Natalie Merchant with old favorites.

''She is not a nostalgia act," said Steve White, speaking for Loretta LaRoche Productions, which is producing the show. Starting in the early 1990s, he said, Baez's recordings began to emphasize modern songwriters.

But nostalgia -- in the form of her fans' love for her earlier material -- will find a place in Memorial Hall. In addition to ''Dixie," one of her recent dates included versions of ''Farewell Angelina," ''It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and ''Deportee." The first two, both Dylan compositions, have had much different histories. While Dylan's own recording of ''Baby Blue" produced a hit single, ''Farewell Angelina," a superb example of his early tortured poet stage, is probably best known through Baez's interpretation. ''Deportee," one of the best of Woody Guthrie's hundreds of protest songs, is the story of illegal immigrants who die on a forced return to Mexico.

From her days as a Cambridge coffeehouse-circuit darling, Baez publicly identified herself with antiwar and civil rights causes. She discovered a protest-song poet in Dylan and boosted his career by bringing him on stage at the Newport Folk Festival. Dylan has long since dissociated his career from political stands, but Baez has continued to champion social causes.

Tickets to Saturday's concert are $37 to $42 and are available at Strawberries stores, the Radisson Plymouth Hotel online at www.ticketweb.com or by phone at 866-468-7619.Robert Knox can be reached at rc.knox@verizon.net