Iconofying the iconoclast in Cleveland

This past weekend marked the final two days of a 10-day celebration of Woody
Guthrie at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Events over the weekend included a
conference at Case Western Reserve University, a hootenanny at a club in the
flats, and, of course, the tribute concert at Severance Hall yesterday evening.

Some brief words on the conference and hootenanny first.  If you've ever
envisioned a conference in which older or even current stars are panelists or
regular audience members, offering insights into Woody's music and life, or
their own, this could be it.  On the one hand, you'd have an Anthony DeCurtis
trying to draw a parallel between Woody's dust bowl songs and NWA, on the
other you'd have Fred Hellerman talking about how amused Woody would be
to see all the scholars iconofying him.  Sunday's "Plain Dealer" included an
excellent review of the conference, for anyone who's interested (hopefully
they're on line or one of our Cleveland people has saved it).

The hootenanny included several lesser known artists performing their own and
Woody's songs.  Alejandro Esovedo and Jimmy Dale Gilmour turned in strong
sets, and during intermission various tapes of Woody or Cisco Houston
singing Woody were played (including Cisco's version of "Deportee," which must
have formed the basis for Bruce's arrangement of it in Ann Arbor).

We also made a pilgrimmage to the HoF and Museum.  The Guthrie display was
disappointing.  A few rare pictures, but beyond that not much that hadn't been
on display before.  The HMV store is still outrageously overpriced.

On to the concert.  Arrival and seating were confused.  First, we were led to
the wrong seats.  Great location -- 3rd row -- but then we were kicked out by
Demetra (hey, if you gotta lose your seat, it should at least go to another LTD
reader, right?).  Then, an older man and his female companion were seated in
the seats in front of us.  They looked just like Pete Seeger and his wife.
Either that, or he was the best Pete Seeger look-alike I'd ever seen.  Lori
said it was just a look-alike, if it was really Pete surely people would be
coming up to him.  Then the Pete look-alike was unceremoneously booted from his
seat and led off to be seated next to the Harold Leventhal look-alike.

On to the show.  Ani DeFranco led off with a dramatically rearranged "Do Re
Mi."  Billy Bragg debuted melodies for two Guthrie songs (there are apparently
about 800 Guthrie songs with no known tune), both of which were excellent.
The Indigo Girls also gave a strong performance.  Of course, a huge portion of
the crowd was there for Bruce, and he got the biggest slot of the evening.

When Bruce came on, some girl behind us started babbling about how she wanted
to marry him.  ok, shut up, get a life.  She talked through most of "Tom Joad."
That can ruin a song, but not last night.  I'd have liked to see more out of
Joe Ely than the supporting roles on his two songs (a duet with Jimmy Dale
Gilmour would have been worth something, eh?), but it was still great to see
him out there.

The first real Bruce highlight was his spirited rendition of "Riding in My
Car."  Hey, Bruce, release this one -- we'll need more recordings for our
child!  In short, Bruce nailed it.  (an aside:  the show was recorded and
videotaped for the Hall Of Fame, though whether there'll be a CD or video out
of the evening isn't clear to me as yet)

Bruce introduced "Good Bye Juan/Deportee" with a commentary on the manner in
which immigrants have been exploited by corporations, only to be blamed for our
problems.  A stirring, hear-felt introduction, I only wish the performance had
been as strong as in Ann Arbor.  Maybe I've just heard the song too much these
past few days, but for me last night's performance seemed strangely ennervated
next to Escoveda's or Bruce's own from 3 nights earlier (or Houston's
recording).  Bruce also eliminated my favorite verse of the song.

Then, Bruce played "Across the Border."  Has Bruce ever played this -- or any
-- song more beautifully than he did last night?  Last night was the 6th time
I've seen Bruce play this song, and it finally got me.  Nothing could top that,
though a spectacular a capella final chorus on the sing-along of "I've Got to
Know" came real close.

The Pete look-alike took the stage and led the audience through "Hobo's
Lullaby," and Arlo led the finale of "This Land is Your Land."  Another
wonderful show, too bad it will likely be our last with Bruce this year.

--Matt