European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine troubadour Arlo Guthrie thinking about things by Ken franckling United press International no longer is Arlo Guthrie the peach fuzzed Skinny teen Ager who electrified the Folk music scene in 1967 with his Alice s restaurant tune about Blind Justice. He s pushing 40 now with a bit More weight beneath his Laded Denim shirt and jeans. Gray is replacing Brown As the predominant color of his shoulder length curls. But the Washington  troubadour and philosophical garbage Man finds his message and motivations Haven t changed much Over the two decades since he and Alice made their debut at the Newport Folk festival. The 29-Mlnute song became the Folk event s unofficial Anthem and an instant record Success. The Vietnam War Era rap was about Guthrie s True life thanksgiving Day 1965 arrest for littering in nearby Stockbridge. That blemish on his record made him ineligible for the draft. My message has t had to change Over the years Guthrie reflected during an interview at his Hillside Home overlooking rolling Farmland in the berkshires of Western Massachusetts. I guess it deals with the question How does one survive or escape the tragedies of what most people Call reality i think a sense of humor is one Way so a lot of my songs look at the world As if it were an absurd place where a person is not allowed to kill somebody because he s a Latte Rug is probably my Best known example. But along with a sense of humor my songs have to be sincere and they have to be Sung from a position of inner  in that Bill of Arlo shares a legacy with his late father legendary Folk troubadour Woody Guthrie who died at age 55 a few months after Arlo s Newport debut. Before a debilitating genetic disease hospitalized him in his Early 40s. Woody Guthrie had travelled throughout America. He wrote More than 1.000 songs and a Book filling reams of paper with notes drawings and Wate Colore. He Sang wherever he went songs about the land the dignity of the people who lived on it and with it. He wrote about Scenic wonders unions vigilantes Scal wags and Samaritans. There were songs about living and dying. Songs for grownups and children. For people in Between. Two of his Best know songs pastures of plenty and this land is your land became a part of american heritage. Across the room where Arlo sips a Mua of Coffee a faded and Dusty cinnamon coloured Cowboy hat rides the brow of a Bronze bust of his father. It sits on an Oaken table with a window View of the Snow covered Valley. Technically speaking there s not a whole lot of similarity but my music Springs from the same  Arlo said. I be written quite a variety of songs everything from kids songs to political satire and my j covered a fairly Large Range  Guthrie grew up in the presence of his father s singing friends rambling Jack Elliott Cisco Houston Pete Seeger Bob Dylan. But by the time Arlo began performing in his Early teens Woody was too sick to play anymore. The hardest thing was that in the last couple of years of his life he could t communicate very Well. So As a teen Ager it became very hard to share information Guthrie said. Even today Guthrie 38, considers himself an unlikely Star although his current 1986 concert tour Marks his 25th anniversary As a performer. He was just 13 when he appeared at Girdle s Folk City in new York singing his father s songs. Music is a Nice Friend to have around whether it is just for yourself or for other people. If you can enjoy it being professional is almost secondary Guthrie said. He was munching on a tuna salad and hot Pepper Sandwich when asked about. His strongest musical influences. If you guess the answers Are his father or other Pioneer folkies guess again. Probably my two biggest musical influences were the Everly Brothers and the beatles in chronological order. Both of them have had a very simple sounding musical style that s actually quite Complex As far As popular songs Are concerned. They Are deviously simple. Their sense of Harmony and their sense of musical progression is wonderful Guthrie said. I know a lot of people will disagree with me saying there is a difference Between being simple and simplistic but there is not much being done now that s popular that they Haven t  Guthrie gets most of his song ideas at Home away from the Hustle Bustle of touring. I spend a lot of time than Ken about things. That s my profession he said. I always write from the perspective of the Little Guy in the big world. I like to write to the Best common denominator which is one person Lookin at the world the things that happen to everybody. To be creative and think of stuff you actually have to be Doln Nothen most of the time for ideas and melodies to generate. I Tell the kids this is How we eat i Don t do Nothen " on of Hin or tongs of mom. Is a teen Ager s lament that his Mother is trying to imbue him with her own 1960s Flower Power values. In a reversal from the Vietnam War Era generation Gap the son has no use for her ideals. Arlo sees some of that in his own children a son 15, and three daughters Ages 13,9, and 7. I look to my own and they say. Dad you re All right but you have to learn Rock n Roll and stuff they want me to Wear sort of leather Spiky looking things and they think i m  at times Guthrie sounds like a philosopher for the common Man cutting through the superfluous with deep concern about the health of the world. We live in an age of 1,000 illusions. The fears that we have based on seeing up photo car 40, Arle Gulme it at Mellow now at a wot when a a Fordfd hit hit Long Alice s in Laurent. Illusions Are what concern me. Overpopulation nuclear waste toxic waste and on and on you could spend your life believing worrying about these things. But in order to do that you have to believe in these things. Anybody who has been around this world knows that there s plenty of room and that there s plenty to eat. The concern should be How to preserve the room with its Beauty and its usefulness not seeing it As a useless tract that s no Good for the population. That s totally absurd. How Many billions of dollars have gone into worrying about what to do about the population instead of worrying about what to feed them i m not worried about nuclear War so much he said. Is that something to be concerned about if a couple of volcanoes a Comet from outer space if a couple of earthquakes can do that much or More Why Are we wasting our time worrying about that the danger is in the belief that we re More powerful than what made  White Guthri we unable to perform with his father the family legacy continues on a third generation level. His own band Shenandoah now includes his son Abe on synthesizer. Arlo works in three formats these Days with the band on Solo gigs and combination Billings with Seeger David Bromberg John Sebastian sex Byrd Roger Mcguinn or Joan Baez. He has formed his own Independent Label rising  to reissue most of the albums he has Cut Over the years along with the soundtrack to the Public broadcasting system documentary lie produced called Woody Guthrie hard Travellin. Guthrie believes his Brand of Folk music remains popular today because times really Haven t changed much. Folk music is thriving not in the same Way it did 20 years ago Guthrie said. It s not peaking into the top 40, but there s a broader base of support. A lot More people Are playing it than you d  today he rarely performs Alice s restaurant although he opened with it for nostalgia purposes at the revival last August of the Long dormant Newport Folk festival. Arlo is unemotional when he talks about Huntington s Chorea the genetic disease that killed his father. He stands a 50-50 Chance of inheriting it. Every time i get sick people Are waiting to see if i m going to come Down with doom and gloom " he said recalling his  in Boston last March after an aneurysm caused partial blockage of one kidney. Guthrie won t take tests that would show whether he has a predisposition toward the disease. I believe that people carry too much baggage around with them now. It s an extra Burden and who needs it he said. It s just More garbage that you have to Wade through to find out who you Are. The Way we were brought up As kids was to believe who you Are is important. That belief the dignity in being human was in All of my dad s songs. I dumped the garbage physically mentally spiritually and any other  saturday february 15, 1986 stars and stripes Page .13