Free Republic

On Thanksgiving, radio stations around the country will play Arlo Guthrie's 1967 "Alice's Restaurant." But why is this 18-minute song about littering and Vietnam considered a Thanksgiving song? KUNC's Colorado Edition put that question to Margot, music host from our sister station 105.5 The Colorado Sound. Erin O'Toole: For those who aren't familiar with the song, could you describe it? Margot: "Alice's Restaurant" is based on a true story of something that happened to Arlo Guthrie and his friend Rick Robbins, who is also a musician. They were home for Thanksgiving, and they were hanging out with their friend Alice...

--SNIP-- Arlo Guthrie famously was arrested for littering in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and ended up being rejected for the Vietnam War draft because of his conviction for that crime. The folk singer wove his experience into the satirical 18-minute (and 34 seconds) ballad in 1967 that radio stations around the country play every Thanksgiving. Pagliarini is one of a number of people who spoke about tuning in on the holiday. For some, the listening tradition goes back several generations

It's just not Thanksgiving without Alice's Restaurant.

Dede Allen, the film editor whose seminal work on Robert Rossen's "The Hustler" in 1961 and especially on Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" in 1967 brought a startling new approach to imagery, sound and pace in American movies, died Saturday. She was 86.

Convicted serial killer Rodney James Alcala asked jurors to spare him the death penalty Tuesday, concluding his defense by playing a portion of “Alice’s Restaurant,” the rambling 18-minute Vietnam War protest song by folk singer Arlo Guthrie. By assigning the death penalty, “you become a wannabe killer in waiting,” Alcala told jurors before playing a section of the 1960s-era song in which a man being drafted for war tells a military psychiatrist: