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Rating: Let's get it over with, and no, Bob Dylan wasn't at the concert held at the Kennedy Center in Washington on October 14, 2012, to celebrate Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday; but none of the invited guests seem to mind, and the party is a great success.
Because it is indeed a birthday party, and since a party worthy of that name opens and closes with a bang, without further ado, let the dancing begin.
The opening, very lively indeed, is entrusted to the Old Crow Medicine Show who reinvigorate with a vigorous and amused stance «How di do» and «Union maid», "minor" episodes from the repertoire, but rendered with an engaging passion. The closing, on the other hand, sees all the guests on stage intoning the most classic «Happy Birthday to youuuu», to the tunes of «This train is bound for glory» and «This land is your land», with that sprightly old man Ramblin' Jack Elliott hopping alongside Tom Morello. It could be the highlight of the party, if it weren't for the fact that...
That same Ramblin' Jack who just moments before is the protagonist of an intense «1913 massacre», and the voice no longer stentorian and the fingers moving slowly and uncertainly over the keyboard only increase the solemnity of the moment and reaffirm that Christmas 1913 in Calumet is here and now. It could be the highlight of the party, anyone would agree, if it weren't that...
At parties, you always meet a lot of people.
At parties, you meet those who participate out of a sense of gratitude.
This is the case with Joel Rafael and Jimmy LaFave who, steadfast and pure, embody without hesitation the idea that animates Woody in songs, explanatory from the title, such as «Ramblin' reckless hobo» and «Hard travelin'». It could be the highlight of the party, truly, if it weren't that...
At parties, you always meet those you expect to meet.
At Woody's party, for example, you meet John Mellencamp and, for those like me who haven't seen him since the days of «Scarecrow», it's nice to realize how well he's aged: he, who sang «You've got to stand for something», is absolutely right when he says that, of Woody, besides the songs, what he represents is to be passed down. And when he starts the famous «Do-re-mi», you are sure that this could be the highlight of the party, if it weren't that...
At parties, often, you meet people whose existence you didn't even suspect.
At some point, this Del McCoury arrives in a costume studded with rhinestones that shines like a Christmas tree, and amidst a «So long, it's been good to know yuh» and the instrumental «Woody's rag», along with his band and assorted guests, he launches into a bloodless duel with banjos, mandolins, and guitars, as hasn't been heard since the good old days of «Dueling banjos». Even earlier, the Sweet Honey In The Rock made an appearance, who, with a memorable a cappella version of «I've got to know», succeed in making Woody gospel and are so brilliant that it seems he has always been so. This could be the highlight of the party, and no one would complain, if it weren't that...
At parties, then, there's always someone who crashes even if they have nothing to do with the guest of honor, just to snag some pastries and soda, and without even bringing a little gift.
Like, what's Jackson Browne doing at Woody's party? I don't know how he fits in, but on Woody's text, he creates out of nowhere a small gem suspended between pop, folk, and country that fascinates for its (apparent) simplicity and deceives you into thinking anyone could do the same. Just to say, Tom Morello tries too, dressing a Woody text in brisk combat folk, without fully capturing the spirit. Perhaps not Tom's, but Jackson's could be the highlight of the party, without buts and buts with an if, the usual if it weren't that...
At parties, you know, someone goes because they know someone else isn't going that they don't want to meet.
Take Donovan, he rushed in as soon as he heard of Dylan's absence and reminded everyone that Woody is not just any dull, communist speaker, but also wrote pages and pages of pure and simple, intimate disengagement, like the children's songs of which «Riding in my car» is a distinguished example. Even this could be the highlight of the party, with the whole crowd amusedly singing the nursery rhyme with Donovan, if it weren't that...
I, for my part, attend birthday parties only to eye some lovely lady.
Here in Washington, there are three who get noticed.
There's Rosanne Cash and, if it's true that good blood doesn't lie, it's easy to be convinced that behind the microphone is father Johnny telling the adventure of «Pretty Boy Floyd», because certain types of outlaws have always been dear to Johnny. There's Lucinda Williams singing about the prostitute of «House of heart», and Judy Collins making «Pastures of plenty» an impressive transposition into notes of Steinbeck's «The Grapes of Wrath». Each of these moments could be the highlight of the party, if not now when, if it weren't that...
If it weren't that, at some point, Ani DiFranco takes the stage and you don't even realize, right off the bat, that this is the highlight of the party, because Ani captivates you and takes you somewhere unknown, just away from Washington, away from the familiar walls of home. With her, there is also Ry Cooder but, if he hadn't been there, it would have been the same. She sings «Deportee», a song of vain hopes, escape, and death, but she makes pure and simple poetry out of it.
I like to think that Woody, wherever he is, was there peeking and let slip a smile of gratitude and appreciation, returning the hinted smile of this extraordinary woman.
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