Woody and Me!
Here's Woody and me on July 14, 2001 in Okemah
Full image is 26K
The 2001 Foto gallery is here!
 IRST, I WISH to thank those of my
regular visitors to whom I promised this account for their diligent patience! It's
been a "wild and woolly ride" for the past 2 months (hasn't it?). A trip to
Okemah, and then one to NYC, NJ, and Sullivan county, NY (up close to the Delaware
river border with Pennsylvania)...I've hardly had time to think, let alone write
this story! Also, I'd like to thank Jeff, John, and a few others for making my
trip to Okemah a community project! Without your support, the busker for FREEDOM
would not be writing this report!! Y BUS TRIP out to Okemah is a good
starting point for this story...I've travelled many thousands of miles on
Greyhound lines, and so prepared my itinerary with a mind to sleeping on the
bus...I was somewhat apprehensive that I'd make all my connections...but I did
decide to "offer up" these worries natural to even a seasoned traveller. As it
would turn out...the southbound connection out of Chicago, through Springfield,
Missouri, was late by 2 hours...would I make my connection westward to Okemah from
Muskogee, OK? HEN THE southbound-for-Texas bus arrived at the Muskogee, OK, Depot, the bus
bound for Oklahoma City had already left...however, after the station agent helped
the food concession people feed the folks on the southbound, one of the concession
workers told me to put my luggage in his late model air-conditioned cab red
pick-up truck...he commenced to take me out on the highway, called ahead of the
westbound bus to leave the station agent his cell-phone number for that bus'
driver...when the driver did call him...they agreed upon a spot for the bus to
wait for the truck driver to meet the bus! in another five minutes, I gazing out
of the tinted window of the westbound schedule at the high hills I-40 goes through
east of Okemah...then I saw a mileage sign - Okemah, 17 miles.Y FRIEND from Texas, Susan Khammash, who had arrived in Okemah that
morning, was waiting at the depot, which is right off the the interstate. We drove to
Okemah's Rodeo Round-up, a local small rodeo oval, where the rustic
camping occurs...this year, the town swimming pool was in working order,
and the bath houses were available to the campers...some of the people in
the show chose to camp in this place, and there were some great jams
Friday and Saturday nights after hours...Susan had chosen a spot for her
tent that was quite close to the same line of trees where I had set up my
pup tent in 1999, so it felt like coming back home...I set up my little
dome tent nearby, and we commenced to getting aquainted after more than 2
years of emailing...Susan had been the first person to email me after I
first signed the Woodstock
Festival guest book, April 10, 1999. USAN WAS INTERESTED
in finding people who had been to the Lewisville, Texas
International Pop Festival in 1969. It was from Susan that I discovered that Wavy
Gravy, Lisa Law and the Hog Farm, the Pranksters, and about half of the bands
from Woodstock had played to 500,000 more people that Labor Day Week-end! I was
stunned, to say the least, because in all those years in between, I'd never heard
of such an event. Susan and Richard Hayner, an accomplished artist she met since
April 1999, have certainly fixed that! See for
yourself! Susan has over the past few years become a great cyber pen pal of
mine. These words are in way of public thanks to you, Susan... HE DELAY I experienced in the Springfield, Missouri, bus depot
left me somewhat drained by the time I got to Okemah, so Susan and I passed most of the afternoon
Friday, simply talking and having the mutual experience of connecting a
three-dimensional, "carbon-base" (GFETE...
person to the understanding of each other we both had from emails,
web-sites and song tapes...it was a delight that I'm sure many reading these
pages have known! Never did get to go to the Rocky Road Tavern "open-mike", which
I had planned to do...after a scrumptious barbacue grill meal, we went to the
"Pastures of Plenty" concert area, where a fully lighted stage with canopy
awaited concert goers. A decision had been made to use the Back-Up Crew of the
Company that provided the stage, lighting, and sound, so there wouldn't have been
a chance for me to help assemble the stage this year, as I was pleased to do in
1999...my chance to volunteer would come on Sunday, the 15th of
July...(Here's an account of helping set up,
and "strike" the stage from
1999 - for me, such work can be the "bread of LIFE" - as
invigorating as it gets!)Here are two separate views of Okemah, one to be found on the Woody Guthrie site, and the other the home page of Okemah...I have a few fotos I will be posting once I get them scanned...for those who are contemplating a trip to next year's Festival, I hope these pages give you a sense of the place...I will tell you one thing...since I grew up in a place not much larger than Okemah, it feels like home to me! HE TRUTH IS, the intervening events have kept me from finishing my story
of my visit to the 2001 Festival. I only have a vague recollection of the
sequence of places and faces. So I wil have to settle for highlights. I
was so tired from the trip getting to Okemah by 1pm on Friday, that I
missed an opportunity to go to downtown Okemah where various great folks
were playin' and singin' at the Crystal theatre and the Brick street
café. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed wiling away the afternoon with my
friend from Texas, Susan "Pancho" Creamcheese (She calls me "Cisco"). Many
of the people performing were repeaters - WoodyFEST has become
are-union of sorts for a goodly number of writers and singers who are
Woody's family in the spiritual sense of the word.Mohican drummer, wood-flautist, and chanter par excellence was indeed an addition to one song performed by some folks whose names I do not recall. They were singing a ballad of the way a woman from an Indian Nation in Canada was treated in her death by an (I gotta say this!) arrogant, lazy FBI. The song spoke eloquently of her life as an outreach official for her nation helping members of the tribe caught in poverty in the US get back to their native lands in Canada. She was murdered, found in an alley...the FBI could have traced her to her whereabouts in Canada with DNA techniques, yet chose to write her off as "Jane DOE" - discriminated against even in death. The drumming that Miller added as the song was played was the most intest I'd ever heard! It's like he could feel something coming...and was "beating out a warning" (If I HAD a Hammer...). The drum he held up to the microphone was made of a light kind of wood, eight-sided with a hand hold behind the stretched skin....his mallet had feathers attached. I got a very strong feeling there was Something in the the WIND... It was NOT a judging kind of sound, more like a plea for justice...Miller also performed a lofty, lilting chant in his native tongue, then translated: He called blessings down on the clouds, the rain, the trees, the people there, and...Woodrow Wilson Guthrie. |
Arlo Guthrie has posted, as of September 18, 2001,
A prayer for Peace in the Spirit of Reconciliation
