"The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings!"
That Lewis Carroll sentiment accords well with the style of Pete Seeger, musician, racconteur, wide-ranging philosopher on thousands of subjects, and folk artist extraordinaire, who will perform with the Children's Dance Theatre next weekend. Programs are scheduled in the Capitol Theatre on Friday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 5, at 2 p.m.With the theme "Visions of Children," the company will celebrate its 40th anniversary. The dancers and Seeger will be joined by the Crossroads Choral Ensemble, the Hamilton Singers, New Generation of Gospel, the Salt Lake Children's Choir, Maggie Beers, Julie Mark and Liz Draper. African-American, Latino and other songs created by Seeger will include "If I Had a Hammer," "Amazing Grace" and "This Little Light of Mine." Choreographies will be by CDT teachers and staff.
Pete Seeger cheerfully acknowledges that his voice is "70 percent gone," but what remains is one of the most refreshing and infectious musical and philosophical personalities of the century. This persona is reflected in his new book, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone, a Singer's Stories, Songs, Seeds, Robberies." It's published by Sing Out Corp., P.O. Box 5253, Bethlehem, PA 18015-0253.
As for the robberies, folk singers are an eclectic bunch who don't take it amiss if they are borrowed from, nor do they hesitate to borrow from others. Accordingly, two chapters are titled "New Tunes to Others' Words," and "New Words to Others' Tunes."
Incidentally, the title song, translated "Sag mir wo die Blumen sind," was used to good effect by Marlene Dietrich on a triumphal tour of Germany, and her recording became a No. 1 hit on German radio. Also incidentally, German Olympic skater Katerina Witt danced her long program to this song in Norway.
Dedicated to Toshi, Seeger's wife of more than 50 years, the book ranges with a loose rein over his life and times, beginning with his upbringing by parents who both taught at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music. But when his two older brothers rebelled at piano lessons, his father said, "Oh, let Peter enjoy himself." He's been doing that ever since, exploring a million musical and ideological highways and byways.
As a student, veteran of World War II, needler of Franklin Roosevelt, radical during the yeasty '40s and '50s, protester of many causes including the Vietnam crisis; member of the singing groups Almanacs and the Weavers, friend and colleague of Woody and Arlo Guthrie, Lead Belly and almost every other folk artist of mid-century, Seeger has seen it all.
Beyond protest, fame and fortune, the book contains no end of songs about the little tender happenings of every day - love and life, children, home (his overlooks the Hudson at Beacon, N.Y.), beauty, encounters with the great and famous, America and his love for it, nature, a God of tolerance and love for all, Bach, hymns and spirituals.
Toward the end (Chapter 10, "Think Globally, Sing Locally"), he groups around the concerns of preserving our human heritage. He loves the Hudson River with a passion and has dedicated himself to its cleanup and to education of children through activities of his Sloop Clearwater project. By extension, he sees it as everyone's duty to protect the world's fragile ecology.
If he were starting out today, what causes would he espouse?
The famous face crinkled in a smile as he thought it over. "A huge cause," he replied, "the problem of maintaining viability in a world so changed by technology that people don't recognize themselves. We must find a solution, or there is no world. We must honor the beauty of the world, and all share in it. The whole world - America, Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe - is in a power struggle, not wanting to share."
While he sympathizes with communism's basic goal of equality, he said it doesn't work because "they try to set up a political party like an army." He's basically a pacifist and likes the ideals of the Holland Fellowship of Reconciliation. "Absolute pacifism is silly," he said, "but we are careening toward destruction."
He wishes newspapers would spend more time publicizing good things. He's interested in the Brazilian city of Curitiba, where "a bunch of `econiks' are in charge. There is a good public transportation system, and automobile traffic is out. In Curitiba, there is 500 square feet of space per capita; in New York, there is 18 square feet.
"We should try to find ways for the race to reduce the differences between rich and poor. It's interesting to read a speech given by Abraham Lincoln on Nov. 22, 1864 - not long before he died - in which he recognized the growth of the industrial machine spawned by the Civil War, and how it would prey upon the people, concentrating the wealth in a few hands, with resultant fraud and graft. He turned out to be prophetic."
Seeger likes small rather than big, and dislikes the disappearance of "Mainstreet USA," put out of business by giant malls and sprawling suburbs. He thinks there should be "hundreds of block parties" in big cities like New York. "City dwellers won't stick together," he said. "And if they do, like in `Loesaida' (Lower East Side), their neighborly success makes rents shoot up to where common people can't live there anymore."
He hopes the world will keep its sense of humor, and the balance of all the arts will be needed. Also people must get involved.
"Organizations like the Children's Dance Theatre, where people like (artistic director) Mary Ann Lee struggle, are part of the strength of this country, and there are tens of thousands of them, with people of integrity working everywhere," he said. "Eastern Europe suffers from the absence of such small, grass-roots organizations."
Part of his Clearwater project involves monthly parties in a river's edge clubhouse, where he and his colleagues plan for the future. "And I also like belonging to the Rotary Club, because it has a new president every year," he said. "We argue, but we work for a consensus, rather than just win or lose."
Part of the attraction of Utah for Seeger is the chance to stay at the Lees' condominium at Alta and spend a few precious days skiing with his son. After a peripatetic life for so long, he seldom travels now - West a few times a year, and up and down the Hudson.
But the fire still burns in the bright eyes, and radiates from the ruddy, bearded face. "I'm like the old man who shook a young man by the shoulder and said, `When I was your age I didn't have much patience - and now I don't have any!" he laughed.
Tickets for "Visions of Children" are $6-$17, available at the Capitol Theatre box office or ArtTix locations; call 355-ARTS.