So it is almost Easter. And for me that means going to my grandparents' houses and eating food. For this particular holiday my grandmother always makes Easter bread, which I'm going to miss out on this year because I have to work. "Easter Bread" is what can only be described as a calzone with various delicious meats and some eggs in there. As much as I love Easter Bread, that isn't really why I'm here today. I'm here to talk about the song Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie.
As you may or may not know, this is a 20 minute long epic song is played right at noon on Thanksgiving day on WBCN 104.1 the local rock station. This particular song is a holiday tradition for my family. This song brings up feelings of simpler times for me. It reminds me of my grandfather (may he rest in peace) sitting in the living room with the radio, encouraging us to listen to the bluesy satiric monologue that Mr. Guthrie was setting forth to us on this wonderful day. The last two thanksgivings where I'd had to work while the song was being broadcasted, I still found my way near a radio to hear the song in its entirety.
So why does the Arlo Guthrie's masterpiece song come up on this here Good Friday? Well, the simple answer is, karaoke. Now, I know what you're thinking, does this story have a happy ending, well, yes it does. Thursday night, I was back home at my parents house sipping wine. I had gotten an invite to go out on the town with my buddy Steve but I had backed out due to the fact that I felt a bit of sickness coming on. Well, after a few few large glasses of got rut Carlo, my mind changed suddenly. "I had 2 much wine, feelin fine. U still up 4 beers?" I sloppily texted him. Well fast forward a few hours later when I'm gettin drunk in one of the local townie bars. A few classmates of mine come up to me to compliment my karaoke abilities I'd showed off while hammered at our five year reunion. After getting bored of the crowd and finishing two pitchers of beer we decided to wander down the street, where as it happens, karaoke was being held. I grabbed a binder and the first song I was excited to see what "Alice's Restaurant." I turned in my slip requesting the epic and waited patiently for three minutes. I thought I'd heard my name being called but in the drunken state that gave me the confidence to go for it, I actually made it up and some other gent was called. I talked to the KJ and it turned out that he only had ten minutes left and there were five people in line in front of me. The happy ending to the story is that I stormed out of there without having to make an ass of myself first. I rarely have timing, but I'd attribute it to that for this instance.
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Upon further research this song inspired a movie that was produced a few years later and I am looking forward to watching. Also this is based on a true story and the restaurant is actually "a half a mile down from the railroad tracks" in Stockbridge and the church where Alice lived is in Great Barrington which has been turned into a non-denominational church/concert venue (which sounds like a adventure in the making to me). Also I found a three minute karaoke version on the net which likely would have been what the KJ had on file. Fail.
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