Press release
Tribute Times Two
Anthems of Activism: Pete Seeger and Steve Goodman

Two shows!
Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012, at the Historic Admiral Theater in West Seattle benefiting Northwest Folklife

“PETE: The Songs and Times of Pete Seeger,” led by Peter McKee: 4 p.m.
and “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music,” led by Clay Eals: 7 p.m.

“Tribute Times Two,” an energetic afternoon and evening of live music focusing on the songs and inspiring lives of two folk-music masters, is on tap Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012, at the Historic Admiral Theater in West Seattle.

This extraordinary experience, coming just three weeks before the Nov. 6 general election, will emphasize the themes of peace and justice in song. It will take the form of a double bill:

 4 p.m.: “PETE: The Songs and Times of Pete Seeger,” a one-man, multimedia performance led by Seattle banjo player Peter McKee, honors the songs, the times and commitment of the legendary musician.

 7 p.m.: “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music,” a concert featuring the music and story of the late singer/songwriter, performed by Tom Colwell, Bruce Hanson, Mark Myers and special musical guests and led by Seattle author Clay Eals, Goodman’s biographer.
Between these two shows, other brief presentations, videos and exhibits will bolster the themes of the day.

Tickets, to be available at Brown Paper Tickets and at the door, will be $12 for each event. A combo ticket for both events will be $20. The double billing will launch the fall 2012 “Nights for Folklife” series of Northwest Folklife. A portion of the events’ proceeds will go to Folklife.

The Historic Admiral Theater, which hosted “For Pete’s Sake: Sing,” Seattle’s popular 90th birthday celebration in 2009, is located at 2343 California Ave. S.W. in the Admiral Junction of West Seattle.

Additional details on each show

PETE: The Songs and Times of Pete Seeger,”led by Peter McKee, 4:00 PM

Pete Seeger has played banjo and inspired countless audiences for the past 70 years. For more than half of that time, Peter McKee has been an admirer and student of Seeger’s banjo playing and political activism.
McKee, a Ballard resident and Seattle attorney who has represented disabled people seeking Social Security disability benefits, is co-founder of the Seattle folk band Clallam County. The band has performed throughout Washington state for more than 30 years, including “For Pete’s Sake: Sing,” Seattle’s popular 90th birthday celebration in 2009.
So it is only natural that McKee was inspired to create a one-man, multimedia performance in tribute to Seeger’s music and activism (4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012, at the Historic Admiral Theater). At the core of his interest is Seeger’s unique ability to forge social change through embedding in American and worldwide culture some of the most stirring civil-rights and peace songs of the past century – and getting people to sing them.

“Anyone who ever attended a Seeger concert at the height of Pete’s solo performing days undoubtedly experienced his unique gift and the core of Pete’s life – his ability and his zeal to get complete strangers and reluctant audience members to become part of the night’s event by joining their untrained voices together in singing many of his songs,” McKee says.

McKee is fond of quoting Seeger’s oft-stated entreaty to his audiences: “If you can sing high, take the high tenor line on the chorus. If you sing low, take the chorus’ bass line. And if you are a monotone, grab the center and just hold on!”

At the Oct. 14 Seeger tribute, the audience no doubt will join in with McKee in singing many of Seeger’s best-known tunes, including “We Shall Overcome,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and “If I Had a Hammer.” The presentation also will feature vintage video, images and audio recordings evoking some of the most memorable social movements in which Seeger has been involved.

“Steve Goodman: Facing the Music,” led by Clay Eals, 7:00 PM

The inspiring musical story of the late singer/songwriter Steve Goodman – whose “City of New Orleans” train song helped define a generation, and who died in Seattle in 1984 – will be brought to life this fall at the Historic Admiral Theater in West Seattle.

Veteran Seattle journalist and West Seattle resident Clay Eals, the author of the celebrity-filled “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music,” will lead a stellar concert covering the career of Goodman, one of the most mesmerizing entertainers of the 1970s and early 1980s. An updated third printing of Eals’ 800-page biography, published by ECW Press of Toronto, was released in June 2012.

The performance (7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012, at the Historic Admiral Theater) will feature Goodman and Goodman-related songs performed by veteran Seattle folk musician Tom Colwell, with Bellevue resident Bruce Hanson on bass and Shoreline resident Mark Myers on dobro, harmonica and steel guitar, along with special musical guests.

Eals’ biography of Goodman — who is best known for writing “City of New Orleans,” “Banana Republics,” “You Never Even Call Me by My Name” (a co-write), “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” and “Go, Cubs, Go” and who was a familiar presence in concert halls, festivals and clubs and on radio and television — will be available for purchase at the event. The book won a 2008 IPPY (Independent Publishers Association) silver medal for biography.

Eals interviewed more than 1,100 people for the book, ranging from Arlo Guthrie and Steve Martin to the late Studs Terkel and Goodman’s most famous high-school classmate, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Terkel wrote the book’s preface and Guthrie penned its foreword.
The Oct. 14 tribute to Goodman will include songs that address issues of peace and other social issues along with compositions that range from hilarious to touching to provocative.

“Goodman was the best performer I ever saw,” Eals says. “During this tribute, the audience will hear and be able to sing along with songs that show what made him so captivating.”