The year 1985
Meeting Arlo Guthrie was one of the
many rewards of being a journalist
Meeting Arlo Guthrie was one of the
many rewards of being a journalist
Riding on the City of New Orleans with
Arlo Guthrie, Chicago to Kankakee, to
where Arlo was the headline attraction
at the Kankakee Frindship Festival..
Arlo Guthrie, Chicago to Kankakee, to
where Arlo was the headline attraction
at the Kankakee Frindship Festival..
What
a great
guy!
a great
guy!
I can tell you when I first met Arlo. He walked out to a room at the train station in Chicago and was
greeted by people who had come on a bus from Kankakee to greet him and to board with him the City
of New Orleans and ride to Kankakee. Once there, Arlo has his hands full, first with pens signing
autographs, then as the star attraction for a festival.
Arlo's song, "The City of New Orleans" had, so to speak, put Kankakee on the map. Remember the
lyrics: The train pulled out of Kankakee...
Well, maybe you don't remember, but let me tell you right now, folks in the corn-belt can sing the
song to you any old day. If you don't believe me, just ask them..
greeted by people who had come on a bus from Kankakee to greet him and to board with him the City
of New Orleans and ride to Kankakee. Once there, Arlo has his hands full, first with pens signing
autographs, then as the star attraction for a festival.
Arlo's song, "The City of New Orleans" had, so to speak, put Kankakee on the map. Remember the
lyrics: The train pulled out of Kankakee...
Well, maybe you don't remember, but let me tell you right now, folks in the corn-belt can sing the
song to you any old day. If you don't believe me, just ask them..
Riding on the City of New Orleans
with Arlo Guthrie
(Appeared in the Daily Journal, Kankakee, IL, Oct. 14, 1985
At Union Station in Chicago, the southbound Amtrak -- the one they call The City Of New Orleans
--fills up quickly. There are city officals, photographers and reporters -- people who came all the way
from Kankakee just to ride this train back.
And, with good reason: To greet Arlo Guthrie and accompany him to Kankakee, where he would
give his first concert in the town he made famous in song.
Guthrie is quite a man. Still his warm, pleasing manner comes through clearly as he chooses a seat
in the club car that was reserved for this special occasion.
This is his first ride on The City Of New Orleans, which passes through Kankakee in both the song
of that name and in fact.
Traveling with him is his 18-year-old son, Abraham, and an artist.
Arlo is dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved, blue shirt and a short, tan trench coat belted at the waist.
He wears tennis shoes, a pair of red checked socks, and an Amtrak hat that someone gave. His thick,
shoulder-length, curly hair is graying.
"My son Abraham," he says, "is playing with me this tour."
Music, he says, has always been a way of life for his family. Although his father, Woody, took sick
when Arlo was only six-years-old, and was ill until he died 15 years later, the Guthrie clan was the
"singingest, dancingest family who ever lived."
Arlo saw the movie, "Bound For Glory," just once. It was supposed to be a recall of his famous
father, but, "I didn't like the movie. It was a combination of a bunch of ideals that I didn't think flowed
very well together, and after seeing the movie I don't know if I knew anymore about my dad than I did
to begin with. And I don't mean, just by being his son, I mean for anybody. It (the movie) sort of gave
the impression that he just ran around a lot and sang in freigh trains and such."
Like his father, Arlo has been involved in social movements.
"Nowadays you get involved in some things but they are not called protests anymore. Anybody who
is singing about hungry people in Africa, or farms in the Midwest, or newsy plans in their own home
town ... things like that don't really carry the protest aura that some things did fifetten years ago.
These are actions taken by people who are very normal -- They get together and help people and
they leave it at that."
Helping each other is fashionable nowadays, he says, and "I hope it becomes more fashionable. I
think if you're going to be a slave to fashion, you might as well do it to benefit other people."
An admirer of St. Francis, Arlo is a lay brother. There was a time, he says, when he "sort-of" hung
out in monasteries. "Just for the sake of not standing out, I dressed in gowns and robes, "But," he
says, "that is not a big deal. I'm not trying to detract from other people's comings and goings. I tend to
disappear as a personality or celebrity when I'm dressed like everyody else."
As for Steve Goodman's song, The City Of New Orleans, Guthrie says it took him three months and
six recordings to get the song like he wanted. "I kept hearing it," he says, tilting his head with a shy
laugh, "but didn't like it. So, I'd go back and start from scratch again."
On his next album, he says, there are decidedly biased. "I've always been that way," he says. "I
don't try to remain neutral about things. I don't find any job in neutrallity. I'd rather be wrong than
neutral."
Arlo glances out the window at the big whoop-de-doo getting started along the tracks just as the
conductor announces that the train will be stopping in Kankakee soon.
"I never expected them (the people of Kankakee) to do it up this big," he says.
with Arlo Guthrie
(Appeared in the Daily Journal, Kankakee, IL, Oct. 14, 1985
At Union Station in Chicago, the southbound Amtrak -- the one they call The City Of New Orleans
--fills up quickly. There are city officals, photographers and reporters -- people who came all the way
from Kankakee just to ride this train back.
And, with good reason: To greet Arlo Guthrie and accompany him to Kankakee, where he would
give his first concert in the town he made famous in song.
Guthrie is quite a man. Still his warm, pleasing manner comes through clearly as he chooses a seat
in the club car that was reserved for this special occasion.
This is his first ride on The City Of New Orleans, which passes through Kankakee in both the song
of that name and in fact.
Traveling with him is his 18-year-old son, Abraham, and an artist.
Arlo is dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved, blue shirt and a short, tan trench coat belted at the waist.
He wears tennis shoes, a pair of red checked socks, and an Amtrak hat that someone gave. His thick,
shoulder-length, curly hair is graying.
"My son Abraham," he says, "is playing with me this tour."
Music, he says, has always been a way of life for his family. Although his father, Woody, took sick
when Arlo was only six-years-old, and was ill until he died 15 years later, the Guthrie clan was the
"singingest, dancingest family who ever lived."
Arlo saw the movie, "Bound For Glory," just once. It was supposed to be a recall of his famous
father, but, "I didn't like the movie. It was a combination of a bunch of ideals that I didn't think flowed
very well together, and after seeing the movie I don't know if I knew anymore about my dad than I did
to begin with. And I don't mean, just by being his son, I mean for anybody. It (the movie) sort of gave
the impression that he just ran around a lot and sang in freigh trains and such."
Like his father, Arlo has been involved in social movements.
"Nowadays you get involved in some things but they are not called protests anymore. Anybody who
is singing about hungry people in Africa, or farms in the Midwest, or newsy plans in their own home
town ... things like that don't really carry the protest aura that some things did fifetten years ago.
These are actions taken by people who are very normal -- They get together and help people and
they leave it at that."
Helping each other is fashionable nowadays, he says, and "I hope it becomes more fashionable. I
think if you're going to be a slave to fashion, you might as well do it to benefit other people."
An admirer of St. Francis, Arlo is a lay brother. There was a time, he says, when he "sort-of" hung
out in monasteries. "Just for the sake of not standing out, I dressed in gowns and robes, "But," he
says, "that is not a big deal. I'm not trying to detract from other people's comings and goings. I tend to
disappear as a personality or celebrity when I'm dressed like everyody else."
As for Steve Goodman's song, The City Of New Orleans, Guthrie says it took him three months and
six recordings to get the song like he wanted. "I kept hearing it," he says, tilting his head with a shy
laugh, "but didn't like it. So, I'd go back and start from scratch again."
On his next album, he says, there are decidedly biased. "I've always been that way," he says. "I
don't try to remain neutral about things. I don't find any job in neutrallity. I'd rather be wrong than
neutral."
Arlo glances out the window at the big whoop-de-doo getting started along the tracks just as the
conductor announces that the train will be stopping in Kankakee soon.
"I never expected them (the people of Kankakee) to do it up this big," he says.