Tiny Grass

Pete Seeger, that is. My lovely little sister took me to a benefit concert the other night to stop the relicensing of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. What a fantastic show it was! Performers included Pete Seeger, Ani DiFranco, Gail Ann Dorsey, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, and the New York City Children’s Choir. I believe I have expressed my love for Pete Seeger in the past, but it seems that I have now found a new folk singer to love…his grandson Tao. Pete and Tao sang together at the benefit, and it was quite wonderful. Even though Pete’s voice has waned in old age, Tao was able to fill in the empty places with his wonderful voice. My sister and I turned to each other quite a few times during the show to discuss how hot Tao’s singing was.

But back to serious matters. Nestled along the Hudson River, just 24 miles from New York City, Indian Point is an aging nuclear power plant that is not being operated safely. That place scares the hell out of me because I live right on the edge of the “Peak Fatality Zone“. Not to mention the 20 million people (including all of New York City) who live within the “Peak Injury Zone”. I guess it’s a gamble whether I’d be dead or injured in the event that Indian Point Explodes. And there seems to be no decent evacuation plan. But even if it doesn’t explode, it is leaking radioactive waste into the Hudson River as we speak. It really makes me sad that the Hudson River, which Pete Seeger helped to clean up in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s, is now being damaged by a new foe. But as old as Pete is, he just keeps fighting for this beautiful place.

At the benefit the other night, we heard Pete Seeger do some older songs (including Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land, and the spiritual Down By the Riverside). One really special treat was hearing Pete and Tao do Guantanamera together. Hearing Pete sing in Spanish is nice, but he isn’t a native speaker. Hearing Tao sing Guantanamera in Spanish was something else. Still, I don’t have a video of Tao doing it, so here’s an old one of Pete:

For those that don’t speak Spanish, here is the English Translation of the song, based on a poem, “Versos Sencillos”, by Jose Marti.I am a sincere man
From where the palm tree grows
And before dying I want
To share the verses of my soul.Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera

My verse is light green
And it is flaming crimson
My verse is a wounded deer
Who seeks refuge on the mountain.

Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera

I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his honest hand.

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera

And for the cruel one
who would tear out this heart with which I live
I do not cultivate nettles nor thistles
I cultivate a white rose

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera

With the poor people of the earth
I want to share my good fortune
The brook of the mountains
Gives me more pleasure than the sea

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 11:10 am and is filed under doing good, environmentalism, fun, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.