Rest in Pete

Farewell Pete Seeger, whose music and ideals shaped my childhood.

One of my first great Brattleboro moments was a night at Kipling’s Pub, where I had stopped in for a beer on a pre-move scouting weekend. A guy sat down next to me, a black guy which is noticeable in this part of the world. He had big Dr. Dre headphones, and was fiddling with his CD player. With a little help from Jill the bartender, we got to talking.

It turned out to be musiciain / producer Jeff Haynes, who had been at the nearby Imaginary Road Studios working on a project that turned into The Storm King… now ranked at some sort of of #1 on Amazon. He was neighbors with Pete, and had recorded the old man’s remembrances and then set them on top of interesting world music. The tracks were still fresh in his hands that night. He let me listen to Pete, who by that point couldn’t clearly remember yesterday’s dinner, reminisce about Peace Pilgrim, who he’d met so many years before. Those memories were still fine, and his speaking voice was still strong and rich and it made you want to rise up and DO SOMETHING.

My mom interviewed Peace Pilgrim during her radio and newspaper days in Jamestown NY, long before I came along. I had heard the story plenty of times… maybe once too many. Her experience of Peace Pilgrim closely mirrored Pete’s.

So to be sitting in a bar in Vermont drinking sake with this Grammy-winning record producer, listening with his headphones to Pete Seeger telling me a story I’d previously heard in my mom’s voice while still a baby was pretty trippy, and the sort of thing that helps you say “I’m moving here. Soon.”