Free Republic

Looking at a America, as I do, from a long way away, looking from a nation which calls itself Down Under, I see freedom. Maybe I am wrong. This little collage is an attempt to show poetically the sense of wonder with which I look at America.

Pete Seeger died last week at age 94. The media are remembering Seeger as a “social-justice” crusading “progressive” who gave voice to the poor and the working man. He's also being portrayed as an unfortunate victim of wild-eyed McCarthyites who madly searched for a red under every bed. Well, the full story is a little different. Pete Seeger was in fact once a communist, a committed one at the height of the Stalin era. Interviewed for a 2008 episode of the PBS series “American Masters,” Seeger openly conceded he had been a communist. He first joined the Young Communist League...

I first heard Pete Seeger perform when I was five or six, when I was a red-diaper baby and he was blacklisted and drunk. What I recall most about the encounter was that the tip of his needle-nose glowed bright red. He was performing for a children’s group of some sort at a time when his Communist background kept him out of public venues. His records — not just the Weavers albums, but the early Asch 78′s of the Almanac Singers — were daily fare in my home, along with Woody Guthrie’s children’s songs. My parents knew Guthrie casually; my...

One of the great voices of folk rock...

NEW YORK – Pete Seeger, the banjo-picking troubadour who sang for migrant workers, college students and star-struck presidents in a career that introduced generations of Americans to their folk music heritage, died Monday at the age of 94.

Earth Day - Maybe - But It's really Lenin's Birthday Today! We like our readers to be informed and educated. This is why we often run the "Why we do what we do series" to show the Plain Truth behind some of the things that we do, like our expose on the real meaning of Easter, or Halloween or even seemingly innocent things like St Valentines day. Today we are looking at EARTH DAY. To most, the day represents the celebration of earth, an our efforts to keep it clean and green. Most educated people understand that it was started...

Rightwingbob (the best commentator on all things Bob Dylan - imo) links from his blog to a great read in First Things. Good stuff.

May 05, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Now He Has the HammerBarack Obama plays whack-a-mole with the wingnuts. By David Kahane You wouldn’t believe how heartily I celebrated Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday yesterday. As is well known, Pete’s songs of outraged protest against the fascist, racist United States of America and his comradely sympathy for the late, lamented, egalitarian, utopian Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are some of my fondest childhood memories. For a time there, in the aftermath of the now blessedly forgotten Reagan Revolution — it took not one but two Bushes to leave the Republican party the leaderless,...

Springsteen's Homage to Pete Seeger By Tom Moon World Cafe, April 25, 2006 - On the new collection We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen honors the folk music tradition that has inspired many of his own compositions over the years. All the tracks on the new album are standards closely associated with folk icon Pete Seeger. Springsteen assembled large ensemble of acoustic musicians to flavor the proceedings with everything from accordion to tuba. Rock critic Tom Moon talks with host David Dye about why he reacted so strongly and positively towards this latest offering by The Boss. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5360791...

I've been looking and I haven't heard this mentioned yet. During the Obamunist coronation ceremony lefties Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen were singing "This Land is your Land." To my utter shock and amazement, they actually brought out a verse that is hardly ever sung in public. This verse openly calls for the overthrow of private property. Watch from 2:42 on the video, here are the lyrics: There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me; Sign was painted, it said private property; But on the back side it didn't say nothing; That side was made for...

One hates to dampen the feelings of national euphoria that have taken hold over the past few days, but there’s one moment from the week’s festivities that still sticks in my craw: the worshipful attention heaped upon Pete Seeger, icon of American folk music and lapsed Stalinist. Seeger was a prominent campaigner in the struggle for African-American civil rights, and his legacy there ought be applauded. But racial equality was not the only cause to which Seeger committed himself. International communism, and in particular its Stalinist variant, was an equal, if not more, significant cause in Seeger’s public life. He...

We Are One Inaugural Opening Ceremony in Washington - Pete Seeger (C) Bruce Springsteen (R) and Seeger's grandson Tao Seeger perform during the We Are One inaugural opening ceremony concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on January 18, 2009. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch)

Pete Seeger, America's best-known and most influential folksinger, wrote me a letter a few days ago. I did not expect to hear from him. Last June, I wrote in these pages about the new documentary on his life. The article ran under the headline "Time for Pete Seeger To Repent." My complaint was that the film, good as it is, did not give a completely honest account of Mr. Seeger's politics. The filmmaker, Jim Brown, interviewed me on camera, but he did not include any of my critical remarks in the final version. In my interview, I pointed out that...

Pete Seeger sings songs of peace, hope and the working class. Bruce Springsteen's idea to reinterpret the Seeger songbook with broad strokes of street jazz and gospel is a noble thought. Unfortunately, Springsteen's Tuesday night "Seeger Sessions" concert was outsourced to the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. Everything that was so right about the music was so wrong for the venue. Springsteen and his raucous 17-piece band failed to even fill the pavilion. Roughly 5,500 fans showed up, and the $92 ticket price knocked out the working-class audience that Springsteen and Seeger have championed. This is First Midwest...

For people with a particular taste in music, Pete Seeger is still a cultural icon. For too many others, mentioning his name gets a blank look and a question: "Is he related to Bob?" Well, no. Pete (he insists on being called Pete) was one of the creators of modern folk music. He's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Songs that he wrote, helped write or helped make famous include "If I Had a Hammer," "We Shall Overcome," "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" Music is not Pete's only legacy, though. As he puts...