Last night sitting at the Williamstown concert it happened. I looked at my 11 year old boy sitting next to me. He enjoyed the show; was thrilled to get his Son Of the Wind arlographed and all but at the moment was talking to a stick he named Twiggy. When I was about his age I was dragging my parents to these shows. Just like him they enjoyed themselves but would otherwise never had imagined themselves actually paying to see a you know what card carrier like Pete(this was back in the Pete and Arlo days).
Just a good feeling to be a genereation bridger.

<center><FONT COLOR="#000080">--- Edited 1 times, lastly by diane on Apr 03, 2004 ---</FONT></center>

That's a cool story. Back in 2000, I brought my 3 kids to see Arlo, not coz I thought they might like it, but coz we couldn't get a baby sitter & I didn't think they were old enough to stay home alone. My oldest bitched about having been dragged to see somebody with gray hair.

When Arlo came back this way in 2001, we decided that the kids could stay home alone, but my 2 youngest asked if they could come along. So, we brought 'em with us. How about that?

Our local newspaper was looking for parents who grew up in the 60's & 70's to write something about how they & their kids were coping with each other's music. I basically wrote the above, & some other stuff, in 3 paragraphs. The paper paid me $5 for it (that's $1.67 per paragraph), so now I call myself a professional writer.

My youngest accompanied me to one of the 2 nights of taping PBS's This Land is Your Land concert, & while he hated Roger McGuinn, he really liked the Kingston Trio & Barry McGuire. During a break, Tommy Smothers did some of his famous yo-yo tricks, at the conclusion of which he gave out yo-yos, including one to my son. There's a part of the show where the Smothers Bros. introcuce an act from seats in the audience, & you can see my son & me sitting right behind them, me in an Arlo "All Over the World" T-shirt & my boy happily stringing his new yo-yo.

Most people my age (25) would think that I'm pretty out of touch with music, with CD racks and LP boxes full of Bob Dylan and Arlo and really obscure albums from the 60&70. But my son Javan (9) really enjoys my music too. We were in Manchester a while back stood out side a book shop, they had speakers hung out side the door, the cd they were playing was Bob Dylans The Times They Are A Changin' Javan reconised the title track imediatly and was singing along. Then stared singing the chours to Tambouren Man (the only bit he can remember) his favouret B Dylan song. He has also desided that the Giant Clam is his favourit animal after he heard the story of the Giant Clam. How may 9 year olds do you know who have even heard of Arlo and Bob, let alone one who can sing along.

It is nice when your kids like you music, saves a lot of arguments as to what goes on the sterio in the car on trips out too. <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>

I started my kids rather "early" too hearing Arlo. Eric was 10 months old when he attended the Philly Folk Festival for the first time. He was in his stroller and I was feeding him his lunch when Arlo took the stage. Eric was fine, smiling, bopping his head ever so slightly... until Arlo sang "I don't want a pickle" and then all hell broke loose. Eric was bopping and squirming and his little legs were jiggling that I finally had to give up on trying to get his sweet potatoes anywhere near his mouth.

Eric has claimed over the years that he's "Arlo'd out", as if I'd done that on purpose somehow. But he did go with me last year to see him in Charlotte while we were down south doing the college tour. And he obligingly went with me to Ocean City, NJ last summer (he told me in Charlotte that he would go with me if Arlo "ever" came to our area). Then, as if by magic, Arlo decided almost at the last minute to do 3 shows the weekend of the HD Walk. When Eric called from school one day to ask if I wanted the new Woody Bio for my birthday, I said "no, go with me to The Church for the weekend." He did!

My 9-year-old son Michael has seen Arlo 5 times now, can sing most of his songs (he also asks for Johnny Cash when we're in the car, along with Garth and the Dixie Chicks).

The only one who won't tolerate ANY of "my" music is Corey, my 18-year-old daughter. She "introduced" me to Garth when she was only 4 or 5 years old. She loved him! I got hooked too. So it's not as if she has lousy musical taste, but she'll reach over and remove a CD while I'm driving if it's Arlo. She won't even give him a chance! And yes, she's been to a show, a rainy-day outdoor festival one May several years ago.

I guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

I love these kinds of stories. Right now I'm watching the Pirates & the Cubs on TV & just thought of another one that I shoulda included in my last post.

Last baseball season, Matt Stairs played for the Pirates. Whenever we were at the ball park, any time that Stairs got a hit or caught a fly ball or did anything else good, my boys & I would burst into a chorus of Arlo's "Stairs." Nobody within earshot knew what the hell we were singing, but it was fun.

Stairs plays for the Royals now, & maybe the Levi family can carry on this fine tradition.

We have a pretty circular family, music-wise. We took Rob along to hear Arlo a few times and then we all went to Furthur together, where there was something for everyone. Last year, thanks to Sherry's booking him, his band played at the Guthrie Center. I can't tell you how it felt to see him playing there. It's also pretty circular when Blunderfriends go to see him play when he's in their towns. It's all kind of weird in a very nice way. It'll be complete if he plays the same festival as a Guthrie or Guthrie related musician, I figure.

Mike is my concert buddy. I am so glad he likes music & going to concerts. I got him into Arlo but he swears he got me into him. It has been so much fun going to shows with Mike. Thank God for a hubby who loves me as I am the 60's & 70's person I am...

I took my mom with us to a coupla Arlo shows & we took my dad with us to one of them when my Mom went. My dad said when I wasn't around him he was wandering around & met Arlo. I would've loved to have gotten a pic of that! My mom enjoyed meeting Arlo & I did get a pic of that. Hopefully it helped my folks understand me a little bit better & understand why I gotta go see Arlo alot... <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>

Here's a good place to continue the discussion we were having over at the Arlo forums before it deteriorated.

To bring you up to date, I mentioned that my daughter (age 16) wouldn't listen to Arlo if I paid her, & various suggestions were made. It left off where Arnie suggested the "Bouncing Around the Room" track with Arlo & Xavier, & Larry discussed the powers one obtains at these forums.

Yeah, I obtained a power all right---the power to bring out the silliness in others & cause the derailing of threads! If the Prez really wants to fight terrorists, he should find their message boards & have me join 'em---after a few routine discussions with me, they'll forget what exactly it is terrorists do.

BTW, you might remember that my daughter posted here a couple times 3 years ago, under my name. Probably those posts are long gone.

My daughter does, in fact, like "Bouncing Around the Room" & so do her friends. They've heard it in our van, where I keep 2 tapes (3 hours) that I made of strictly Arlo music. Another friend of hers likes "The Motorcycle Song" & asked me to make a tape of all 4 versions for her. This being an official web site, I won't say whether I complied.

I did take her & my sons to see Arlo back in 2000, like I mentioned here before, but she didn't care for it much. She complained that Arlo had gray hair, that "Alice's Restaurant" was too long (my youngest, then 6, kept calling it "Alice's Bar"), & that "The Motorcycle Song" "didn't have enough words." The next day I caught her listening to "Who Let the Dogs Out?" Go figure.