Arlo,

I am writing you prior to seeing your concert this Thursday, January 28th, in Durham, NC. I’m pretty convinced it’s a very special occasion as it’s your 50th anniversary reunion tour, my 50th year of life (I turn 50 on March 10th) and my 10th time seeing you since the age of 14. I started attending your concerts when I had to pick a ‘famous person’ on whom to do a project in 8th grade. I wrote your agent or fan club (not sure which) and received a black-and-white photo of you circa 1979-90. That photo stayed taped on my bedroom door until I was in college – I even cut out the name, ‘Arlo Guthrie’, in construction paper letters and taped them on the door as well. My father took me to my first ‘Arlo concert’ at Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill that year – I was so excited as it included dinner at the Rathskeller, an underground pizza joint, and a concert with my dad – a first!

After that first show, I was hooked and played “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” and “The Motorcycle Song” and “City of New Orleans” repeatedly for years. I told everyone I knew about my ‘favorite singer’ and convinced many a person in my eastern NC hometown to listen to Arlo. Since that first show, I have attended Arlo concerts at The ArtsCenter in Carboro, Page Auditorium at Duke University, Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary (where you signed Mooses Come Walking for my 8yo son), the Tabernacle Church in Raleigh, a club in Houston, George Mason University (where you sang ‘When a Soldier Makes it Home’ at my request (still my favorite song – thank you!!!) and the Carolina Theatre in Durham. I have attended your concerts with many variations of my family (mom, dad, my husband and my 4 children – who have been to several shows as young kids through teenage years (they’re now 16, 18, 19 and 20 year old kids). I have even attended at least two of Sarah Lee’s concerts.

And, in a stroke of what I called divine intervention , I realized this past October that the church where Alice’s Restaurant Massacree occurred is only a short drive from my 18yo son’s boarding school in Litchfield, CT. (Tucker has 5 learning differences and attends the Forman School for kids w/ LDs and we travel from NC to CT twice a year for parent-teacher conferences.) In October we drove up to the church, went inside right after a wedding had finished and met Joni and got a friendly, welcoming tour of the center. It was so wonderful as we are involved in a local faith community where we do very similar work at a community center with afterschool tutoring, a community garden, a medical clinic, weekly meals for the homeless and lots of time spent getting to know our neighbor next door. I loved seeing that The Guthrie Center has much of the same mindset.

So, I am just writing to let you know how appreciative I am of the influence you have had on my life over the past four decades. I have listened to your music year after year from middle school through middle age. I have listened when I was a student, a mom, a physician, a runner and a person just trying to understand this world a little bit better and trying to do my part to make it a community of folks all here to learn from each other while loving and giving what we can. You have been a bright spot and a happy part of my journey through life. When my friends or family are asked of my favorite artist, without hesitation they say “Arlo!”

In conclusion, we will be in the ‘pit’ on row 3 Thursday night with my 75yo mother, my 16yo daughter and me spending a much-anticipated evening listening to your songs and stories and creating new memories of happy times spent at another Arlo Guthrie concert. I even had the whole extended family sit down and watch the PBS Thanksgiving Day Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Concert as a preview this past November. Thank you for sharing your gift of song and entertainment including your thoughts and reflections as you have traveled this journey of life! Perhaps one day I will be able to see a show at the Guthrie Center (Tucker graduates from Forman May 28th and I plan to take my mom and 80yo dad to the Guthrie Center so we can come full circle from that first concert when I was 14!). Keep on sharing your talents – you are a much needed and appreciated person in this world.

Peace,

Beth Fry

Arlo,
I saw your show last night with 9 other friends and it just blew us away...we go to a lot of concerts in the area,but this was really special...not just Alices' Restaurant,but Leadbelly,Phil Och's that Sarah Lee,Ramblin Jack,Woody of course, but because your personality with all of the stories about growing up and becoming embedded in the music culture of your dad and his friends. This was truly one of the great musical/cultural experiences I have ever enjoyed.So many musicians come out,play their sets and leave with no imprint left on the community that they have just visited....
You and your kids and the band made it very special.We hope you'll come back and give us another thrill.

Alan Rosenfeld Chapel Hill,NC

Great stories folks.