* iter — he was from South Seo. up to me and said. ‘Mister *n you started to sing your songs So,” then I finally believed you. Mericans realize what a big job Qq jn their own country will the Vaid be safe from them. MV; 6¢ Union he found a great deal -Apout the problem of pollution, iy relation to NR ag in Si- : rest natura y of wa- athe ee d. Sh on of it back to our local ‘t 4 Bend. ‘and he told me, 7 iy the next best thing to distilled RByt such a low mineral content.’ nea a struggle that has been going some time about a paper mill's said, “which would flare up and yt was in Pravda and all publi- ‘ have sucha love for the earth. Qt ~\ to sing-- ‘ ~ and interrupted himself, ize on i conize = 33 eq mining the impact of canals.” w he i os with our handling of it. jneer See to go,’an * across a bridge to an amusement \he other side of the river. . ee \t near Shanghai. on a sloop called the Clearwater ilies the Hudson as a kind of ecologi- dian of the river. It brings its ecolog- sage wrapped in entertainment and les for Hudson shore residents who down at their local dock when the \.tater is in port. » 8 oi aboard for a working vacation.) knockdown, dragout — n have a song about Baikal which : esta . Sa head back, closed his eyes ‘a la la Baikal, la t, they put their arms tt his arm around an imaginary "And let a few more “la la las” - They really mean it. I think Sided to keep the mill, but they're Ne it very carefully. They’re delay- ty so they can do it in such a way Won't ‘destroy the ecology, and compared their handling he replied, ‘‘in the first place “® more confidence in their govern- i has a slogan, ‘The rational use eS They acknowledge that up to now “\’t been using nature very careful- ! I spoke to said,‘We still d that ‘It costs a lot.’ sy. I stood on a bluff overlooking River, and I realized that three =e I had stood on the banks of the in Kansas City, which is the same sy and they are similar industrial ural regions. In Kansas City you and see the shore lined with slums, ‘ypical demoralized condition of American cities. But in Kiev the ned with parks, a parachute jump, _ peaches, and the river is clean. Nich an astonishing contrast — the Ser: same bluff on the bank, big ee were several hundred people id in China he found the same con- the environment, and described a problem they had involving a tex- farmers were complaining that the Nhurting the crops, and the fishermen omplaining that the pollution was ithe fishing.” After investigation by a “the condition was rectified, he ¥ own involvement with ecology Clearwater has put the heat on indus- lants along the river, and has helped a be suit against offenders who dump t \aste into the river and gaseous waste t As really working,’ Seeger said. ‘‘The S getting clean again, the fish are com- sloop also provides sea-going vaca- ind lessons in seamanship. (During the iew we were interrupted by a young who brought for Seeger’s editorial y the unfinished manuscript of a to” booklet on sloop seamanship, \ he was helping-to prepare. He said it intended to help those who would be r used to be a member of the board Hudson River Sloop Restoration, owns and runs the Clearwater, bui that with all his other commitments ‘it was just too much for him. He editor of the organization’s mont The North River Navigator, and, ‘is prominent among the entertain Clearwater’s dockside fetes. As with the Clearwater, Seege former has for years accompani the ‘activist. On his banjo is writ machine surrounds hate and fo! surrender.” ' Seeger himself has been surr music since birth. His mother tat and his father was a musicol first came into contact with fc at the age of 16 when his father to a North Carolina square d folk ballad festival. It was the: became acquainted with the lo _5-string banjo, which has since his trademark (he even uses it i nature). He attended Harvard but left be uation to pursue careers in art an ism. They didn’t work out, but f did. He -has now written — b timate — about 100 songs. He feel: two or three have enduring qu Hammer Song, Where Have All th Gone, and Waist Deep in the Big Mi In addition to performing and c he has written or edited 14 books from his manual How to Play th Banjo (‘‘Which sold only a coup! dred copies the first few years and in the hundreds of thousands eaclt the recent, hefty, hard-covered m er Hen Scratches and Fly Speck: has made films and has written articles on music, his travel ex and on pollution — often his wri tain elements of all three. He doesn’t like to draw a lin folk music and ‘‘pop.’’ He regard for example, as a pop musician. ° sing folk songs,”’ he said, ‘‘I’ma p al, not an amateur. But I don't get ’ hassle about the words.” He does, however, see shades ence between what he calls ‘“‘p the songs which get pushed to the t ‘underground pop, such as the Airplane and Bob Dylan, which d the top 40 so much but still have a1 following.” H. expressed a high regard fo test and labor songs of his early | Woody Guthrie, the Almanac Singe Weavers, but feels that the young ¢ of today are reaching a broader and are generally couching thi “in more poetic terms.” He out Woody Guthrie as one who bi gap, a ‘“‘genius at simplicity” who across poetic ideas in the simplest ! He picked up his banjo and bega on it softly. ‘‘This Land Is Your good example,”’ he said. “It’s ane rhyme, but he was so good at tho: ...(singing) I roamed and ramb! lowed my footsteps, the sparkling the diamond deserts. . ."’ He pause alliterations!’’ he added with a smi ‘‘When I usually advise a pers write a song,” he said, “I tell ther story, paint a picture that’s stro person can’t help fail to be caught u Some of his own storytelling in been a bit too strong for politician dia moguls. He was‘a target of gc witchhunters during the McCarthy the Fifties, and a few years ago Deep in the Big Muddy segment w: Out of the Smothers Brothers TV : song, an obvious analogy to Presic son’s insistence on plodding ever d the ‘“‘Big Muddy’’ of Vietnam, was too ‘‘controversial’’ by CBS. He is heartened by the extent to President Nixon’s Watergate gans. ‘I think we’re moving steadil in spite of occasional backtracks, “There is a steadily greater perc Americans learning that the sys all it’s cracked up to be. They’ through the lies that used to be ac such as racist lies.”’ He says he’s not going to do son eling abroad as he has in the past ing to buckle down and get involv he said. It seemed to me that Pete S« “waist deep” in things now. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1 eee aaa... ..SSaSaeeQgQge. Nee