Welcome to Circle!

He's the man with the banjo and the 12-string guitar.
And he's singing us the songs that tell us who we are.
When you look in his eyes you know that somebody's in there...

Fred Hellerman and Pete Seeger
Katonah, New York - November 13, 2004
Photo by Janis Gibson

So wrote Harry 25 years ago of the "Old Folkie," Pete Seeger, who was one of Harry's inspirations.

At 85, Pete is still going strong, as he amply demonstrated at a November 13 event at the Walkabout Clearwater Coffeehouse in Katonah, New York, where he appeared with fellow Weaver Fred Hellerman and the group Work O' the Weavers to discuss "Surviving the Blacklist" and "sing a few songs." His rendition of "Waist Deep In the Big Muddy" struck as deep a chord that night as when he first sang the song back in 1967.

Prior to the performance, Pete shared his thoughts in a conversation about current political activism and community involvement. "There are heroic people in every corner of the world, and good things are happening," he said.

Pete said he likes to imagine the world as a seesaw, with a basket half-full of rocks on one end, and a basket a quarter-full of sand on the other, surrounded by people with teaspoons adding sand to the basket, even as it continues to leak out. "We're getting more people with teaspoons all the time," he continued, "and when the seesaw tips, there will be those who wonder how it happened so suddenly. Of course, to keep it tipped, we have to keep putting sand in."

Although massive gatherings such as Woodstock or the Newport Jazz Festival aren't happening today, he noted there are tens of thousands of cultural groups, theater groups, local festivals and various gatherings where people come together in common interest and fellowship, "doing the good work." As an example, he cited his town of Beacon, New York, which has a strawberry festival in the summer and a pumpkin festival in the fall that get larger every year, and expose those who come to a range of causes and volunteer opportunities.

Photo by Janis Gibson

The danger for many volunteer groups, he explained, is that a few hardworking people do the bulk of the work. "You often have ten percent of the people doing 90 percent of the work," he said. "That needs to change. We've got to make volunteering fun —and food, jokes and singing help to do that."

He also stressed that the success of any organization depends on continually bringing in new and young people, engaging them in the cause, "otherwise the group suffers from 'founder's disease' and becomes a bunch of gray hairs." He added that Harry did a "fantastic job" of bringing the issue of hunger in America to his audiences, as is evidenced by the continuation and growth of World Hunger Year (WHY). WHY, a national non-profit organization that focuses on innovative solutions to hunger and poverty, was co-founded by Harry along with Bill Ayres in 1975.

Upon hearing that a reporter had been inspired after seeing Harry in concert quote Pete that "being around involved people meant being around those with 'live hearts, live eyes, and live heads,' Pete looked a bit quizzical. "I don't remember saying that," he said. Then breaking into a large grin, he added, "But it certainly is true!"

Watch for the Next Issue of Circle! on March 7