a night in the Opera house

[stoney]

The first time I saw Arlo Guthire was at the Grand Opera
House in Oshkosh ,WI. If you have never been there , it is a
must to see theater. The Grand is a story in itself and I do
not want to go on too long so just go to the link below
for more on this magnificent theater.
http://www.grandoperahouse.org/

Arlo Guthrie.
Long ago when I was a mere teen and as most teens of the day
found their music in what was called "Record Stores". In
those days the cover was as much an art form as the contents
and like paperbacks books were intended to get your attention. You can't do that with digital music now can you?
So here I am searching the Isles of LP record cases looking
at covers to find something that will catch my eye.
Here is this long hair guy with no shirt sitting at a table
with a fork in his hand. Reading the back I discover his name
is Arlo Guthrie son of Woody. Now my thought process comes in.
I enjoy Bob Dylan who mentions Woody Guthrie all the time,
here is a Arlo the son of Woody, I guess it's worth the buy.
It was a treat and I loved Alice's Restaurant.

So many years have passed and I am way beyond my teen years. I have the opportunity to see Arlo Live in person, wow!
Arlo was enjoyable and he has done what few others like him have done.
His accomplishments were not over-shadowed by his father but in fact they compliment each other. Now that alone is amazing to me but if you read about Woody and his illness you would know that growing up with a father like that could be extremely difficult. While others may have given up , Arlo did not, his success is a tribute to himself.

He has a much laid back, easy going personality with the gift of gab (big time) he is interesting, humorous and is not too preachy or judgmental. He talked, we laughed, we laughed he talked. He talked of his life, his father, Bob Dylan and his sister the keeper of Woody’s unsung music and verse. This concert took place before his sister released some of Woody’s music to Billy Bragg and Wilco. I often wonder how Arlo felt about that.

His performance opened with him alone and he alternated between the keyboard and the guitar. He covered his music and others. He played everything from folk to blues to light rock. His talent did not blow you away but overwhelmed you with excellence. My memory has faded and the night flew by, which is typical for me and live music.
He did not sing Alice's Restaurant but he sure made a long and funny correlation between that song and the missing 15 minutes on the Nixon tapes. He also performed with a small group and finished by himself playing tribute to father with “This land is your land”
Like my experience at the Johnny Cash concert with the Carter Family performing “will the circle be unbroken”
It was a great concert and one worth repeating, if you ever get the opportunity, SEE HIM!

[stoney]

Arlo has appeared at the Grand Opera house many times over the years. The first time I saw him was as metioned above. The tickets were not the best position in the theater but O.K.. The second time around I put out the extra money and got some prime seats. From my memory I recall them to be no further back than the 4th or 5th row but my memory is bad as you will see.

The night of the concert came and picking up my date for the night we drove to Oshkosh with aticapation for a great concert with great seats.

When we arried I thought cool the parking is so easy and so close how much better could this get?

Well we get to door and it's closed looking at my tickets I realized I missed the concert by two days!! Yes Two days !!!!!!!

This was an early indication of my disease that I still suffer with today .

namely C.R.S.

so will I get more than 5 readers on this story?

[dgridley]

Arlo is a favorite of mine.. Woody too!