A birthday bonanza

Five, count 'em, five folks on my friends list have birthdays in the first half of this week, and three of them have already passed, so I better get the hell on the stick and acknowledge them while I still can.

To blueeyedtigress (Sun. the 24th), my old northeastern filk cronies osewalrus and redaxe (yesterday, the 25th), devospice (today) and Red's delightful spouse maya_a (tomorrow), many happy returns of your respective natalities. Best wishes for everything you want out of a birthday...and many, many more.

A (still) living legend of folk music—and progressive activism—gets his due

Twice this week, public broadcasting is paying respect to one of the last of the old gods of folk music, the one and only Pete Seeger. First, former NPR and now XM Radio/PRI host Bob Edwards interviews the author of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?", "If I Had A Hammer," "Turn, Turn, Turn" and so much more on his current program, Bob Edwards Weekend (the segment is available gratis for downloading here). I heard it on Sunday, and Pete is in fine form, singing and reminiscing and opining despite his nine decades of age and the wear and tear of performing, protesting and harassment by those in government and elsewhere who felt he and his damned subversive Commie banjo ought to be shut the hell up.

Then, starting tomorrow night PBS gets in on the act by featuring Seeger in the latest episode of its excellent American Masters series (you've already read me raving about its segments on Charles Schulz and Carol Burnett in this space). Check your local listings for time and station, and tune in if you can; if you know Pete's work, you should enjoy both of these shows. And if by some incredible chance you're reading this and don't know his work, fergossakes go to your local record store or your nearest favorite online download source right frakkin' NOW and get you some. And while you're at it, read Wikipedia's entry on him and start finding out more about this landmark figure on the American cultural and political landscape.

This man has influenced singers and songwriters from the Smothers Brothers to Bruce freakin' Springsteen, and myself as well. And when he's gone at long, long last—which could, for all we know, be any day now, though God grant it isn't—there won't be another like him. I'm glad to see him getting recognition he's long since earned while he's still with us to appreciate it.