New biography a tribute
to Seeger and his

HOW CAN | KEEP FROM SING-
ING: PETE SEEGER. By David King
Dunaway. McGraw-Hill, 1981.
Cloth $19.50. Available at the Peo-
ple’s Co-op Bookstore.

As far back as I can remember
Pete Seeger’s name was a
household word. I grew up with
what was for years the only record
set we owned, an old 78 series of the
Almanac Singers’ ‘‘Talking
Union”’ that played scratchily on a
WW II-vintage radio-phonograph.
And then in the 60s, there he was
again: I learned the guitar from his
“Folksinger’s Guitar Guide’’ and
Wore out a cut on another record
learning the complexities of finger-
Picking. In Sing Out! magazine I
always read his regular column
“Johnny Appleseed Jr.’’; and
when he finally broke through the
blacklist on television, it was cause
for celebration.

For me, as for many of my
generation, Pete was the forerun-
ner, the man whose first premise
was that music and the politics of
life was inseparable.

It is evident from the beginning
of his new biography of Seeger,
How Can I Keep from Singing that
David King Dunaway approaches
Seeger from the vantage point of
that same generation and with the
same sense of near-reverence for

No wage controls!
No concessions!

Hear

William Stewart
Labor Secretary, Communist Party

Wed., March 10, 8 p.m.
Boardroom, Fishermen’s Hall
138 East Cordova

the man whose songs have been
heard — and moreimportant, sung
— across the continent and around
the world.

But if most of us never got closer
to Pete than a concert stage,
Dunaway has tried. to present a
fuller picture of the man — the folk
singer, performer, activist,
musicologist, sometimes
homespun philosopher and all the
other things he has been in the
60-odd years of his life.

Dunaway’s research is im-
pressive; according to the jacket
notes he spent six years on the book

\

ican
and some of that time was spent
fighting to obtain documentary
material in a Freedom of Informa-
tion Act suit.

The result is 311 pages of im-
mensely readable biography that
has all the color of live journalism
and the documentary punch of
history.

Appropriately, since it is a fitting
tribute to Seeger’s credo, Dunaway
begins the book with a chapter on
the open-air concert at Peekskill,
New York in 1949 when. 25,000
people heard Paul Robeson and
Seeger sing while a human chain of
hundreds of trade unionists barred
the way to gangs of American

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music

Legionnaires and Ku Klux Klan
members who tried to storm the
stage.

From there, he moves back to
Pete’s youth as the son of musi-
cians; through his CIO organizing
days with the Almanac Singers and
Woody Guthrie; to the first taste of
commercial popularity with the
Weavers before the blacklist closed
the doors; his dramatic appearance
before the House Un-American
Activities Committee; through the
60s ‘‘folk revival,’’ the civil rights
and anti-war movements when his
name was never far from the minds

; Books

of a generation; to his part in the
Hudson River environmental
movement; and finally, the reaffir-
mation of his music in a series of
international concerts.

The thread throughout is Pete’s
commitment to music but
Dunaway also tries to throw more
light on his life, his thoughts and his
dreams, using extensive interviews
with both Pete himself and with his
friends and associates.

The portrait that emerges is an
intimate one, although it is often
the portrait of a musical Don Quix-
ote, at odds with the world around
him, faced throughout much of his
life with contradictions. Perhaps
there is something to it; but it’s
hard not to get the impression that
many of the contradictions are
more Dunaway’s than Seeger’s.

Certainly that is the case when he
discusses Pete and the U.S. Com-
munist Party: Dunaway can’t quite
accept Pete’s informal relationship
with the CP and his affinity with
the socialist countries, suggesting
that he ‘‘has a blind spot for the ex-
cesses of socialism-in-the-mak-

But he does not allow those
reservations to predominate and
they remain only as flaws in what
is, simply, a good book. And at the
end, Dunaway sums up Pete’s con-
tribution succinctly:

“Inevitably his music will be his
judgment just as the painter is
remembered for his canvases. .

Songs were Seeger’s gifts and many :

outlasted their recipients as fine
gifts do. In the forties his songs had
helped to unionize workers in the
CIO; in the Fifties, his music had
helped to keep alive a struggling left
wing opposition and nurtured
another generation; in the Sixties
his anti-war songs may have
hastened an end to the fighting; in
Africa, he documented the univer-
sality of music; in the Clearwater
his songs had helped to clean up a
river.”

Andin the eighties, if the concert
in Vancouver March 6 is any
measure, his songs will again be an
inspiration — and help to avert the
nuclear holocaust.

—Sean Griffin

ASH STREET PLAYERS

PRESENTS ‘

Pete Seeger

Saturday, March 6, 8:00 p.m.
QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE

CBO, 501 W. Georgia
All Lower Mainland Woodwards,
AMS UBC, A & A Records:
Lansdowne Mall, Richmond

Charge it 687-2801

( Classified Advertising )

COMING EVENTS

MAR. 7 — International Women’s
Day rally for equal pay. Speakers, -
entertainment, refreshments. Child
care provided. 7:30 p.m. Templeton
High School Auditorium, 727
Templeton Dr.

MAR. 7 — International Women’s
Day and celebration of the 60th an-
niversary of the Women’s Branches
of the Association of United Ukrai-
nian Canadians. Guest speakers,
concert program. Tea following. 2
p.m., 805 E. Pender St.

MAR. 7-MAR. 24 — A series of
four lectures on Marxist theory and
practice will be held on consecutive
Sundays at 7:30 p.m. Classes on
Marxist philosophy, political
economy and the Communist Par-
ty. Lecturer: Ben Swankey. Fee is
$10 for 4 classes. Admission by pre-
registration only. For info. ph.
Miguel, 254-9836(days).

MAR. 12 — Celebrate the 3rd anni-
versary of the Grenadian revolution.
Speakers, slide show, dance with
the New Jewei band. Strawberry
Hill Hall, 12152-75th Ave. (1% bik.
east of Scott Rd.) Surrey. Adm.
$3.50. Sponsored by Fraser Valley
YCL. Proceeds to Grenada support.

MAR. 20 — Mac-Pap annual ban-
quet and dance. Russian People’s
Home, 600 Campbell Ave., Van.
Tickets avail. at Co-op Books or
Tribune office.

NANAIMO
MAR. 27 — Youth Month Solidari-
ty Cafe, Templeton Park Hall, 700
Templeton Dr. Doors 8 p.m. All
welcome.

APR. 2 — A Salute to Labor with
Earl Robinson. Ticket info.
Nanaimo Ticket Centre, 754-1411.
Ask about group discounts.

APR. 4 — EARL ROBINSON at the
QE Playhouse.

MAY 16 & 17 — ODETTA at the
QE Playhouse. Single tickets for
each concert avail. at CBO, 501 W.
Georgia, Van., 687-2801.

COMMERCIAL

CONDOR’S PAINTING & build-
ing maintenance. Free estimate.
Phone 433-1145. A progressive firm
owned and operated by Chilean
Canadians. Reasonable rates.

GRAMMA PUBLICATIONS.
Complete printing services.
Brochures, menus, leaflets, etc.
Special rates for the progressive
movement. A union shop. 1595 W.
3rd Ave., Van. 733-6822.

ROOF REPAIRS — New. roofs.
Reasonable. Ph. 277-3352.

ELECTRICAL, plumbing, appili-
ance repairs. Don Berg. 255-7287.

LEGAL SERVICES

RANKIN, McMURRAY &
BOND, Barristers and Solicitors.
157 Alexander St., 2nd Floor, Van-
couver. 682-3621.

DIRECTORY

COMMUNIST PARTY OF CAN-
ADA offices located at 102-2747 E.
Hastings St. Ph. 254-9836. For in-
formation on political issues or as-
sistance in political activity.

HALLS FOR RENT

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME —
Available for rentals. For reserva-
tions phone 254-3430.

WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL —
Available for banquets, meetings,
etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or
462-7783.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL-
TURAL CENTRE — 805 East
Pender St., Vancouver. Available
for banquets, weddings, meetings.
Ph. 254-3436.

@ Divorce and Family Law

RANKIN & COMPANY

Barristers & Solicitors

4th Floor, 195 Alexander St.,
Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1N8

682-2781

Offers a broad range of legal services including:

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@ Real Estate and Conveyancing

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEB. 26, 1982—Page 11