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Pete Seeger, 1920-2014

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Some reflections on the loss of Pete Seeger today.

Pete Seeger always seemed old. But his spirit never seemed to lapse. He was an old man in videos I’ve seen of him from 1960s, and even older 50 years later. I met him at Clearwater at the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace booth in 2007 and heard him perform live. An amazingly prolific folk singer, he also was the Hudson River’s strongest advocate for the arts and environment.

Pete Seeger with Magpie

I knew his life wasn’t going to be long after the death of his wife, Toshi. He had been on and off sick in recent month. He was very old, but never-less the news had to make me cry a bit. I knew as soon as I heard his name on the BBC overnight radio around 3 AM last night, what had happened.

Pete Seeger Blesses the River

I was really surprised to learn that he was a generation older then Tom Paxton, another great folk singer. Tom Paxton was born in 1937, while Seeger was born well prior to World War II, during 1920s. Tom Paxton was interviewed on the radio about Mr. Seeger.

Pretty sad.

Does Classical Music at Train Stations Really Deter Crime? | Transportation Nation

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When New Jersey Transit upgraded the public address system at its Newark transit hub a year ago, they began piping in classical music along with the announcements on train arrivals and connections. The authority subscribed to a music service and station agents could select from different channels, which also include easy-listening and jazz.

The idea, said a NJ Transit spokesperson, is to relax customers “and make it more pleasant to traverse the facilities.”

But in cities from Atlanta to Minneapolis and London, there’s often a bigger strategy at work: turn on the great composers and turn away the loiterers, vagrants and troublemakers who are drawn to bus stations, malls and parking lots. Last month, the Associated Press reported on a YMCA in Columbus, OH that began piping Vivaldi into its parking lot, and claiming to disperse petty drug dealers as a result.

via Does Classical Music at Train Stations Really Deter Crime? | Transportation Nation.

People Got to Be Free

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The other day I cued up this song by the Rascals on my old record player. One of my favorite songs, it lyrics quote from the bible and other sources on the topic of freedom. “It’s a natural situation for man to be free.” Indeed, it is.

“You should see, what a wonderful world it would be, if everybody learned to live together.” Such good advice, living in a world that sometimes seems to have so much hatred of our fellow man. We all live on one small planet, and we have to learn to live together and respect our fellow man.

“Seems to me that we got to solve it individuality. I’ll do what you to you what you do to me.” Our world’s great problems won’t be solved by an single individual’s actions, but that of many Americans. We must learn to respect one and other, and realize how we treat one individual will reflect back on how we are treated by others.