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by rick grant
rickgrant01@comcast.net
What:
Richie Havens Live
Where:
The Alcazar in Downtown St. Augustine
When:
January 31st 2008
Richie Havens has enjoyed a long successful career dating back to Greenwich Village during the beatnik era in the early 60s. Along with Bob Dylan, Richie was a pioneer of the early Village Folk scene which skyrocketed Dylan into icon status. Likewise, Richie’s career was blasted to the forefront from his 1969 Woodstock performance, which reached hundreds of thousands of people live, then many more millions when the Woodstock documentary film was released.
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In 1999, Richie performed at the 30th Anniversary of Woodstock, a celebration called “A Day in The Garden.” Since his benchmark original Woodstock performance, he has never stopped touring internationally, bringing his message of music’s healing power to the people. Richie’s unique percussive style of playing guitar along with his distinctive voice have served him well, distinguishing him as a household name and mercurial interpreter of classic folk songs.
Richie uses his music to spread a message of brotherhood and personal freedom. He performs from a massive repertoire of twenty-five albums. His choice of material is simple, he chooses songs that passionately move him. Today he has reached a whole new generation of young fans who have discovered his performing genius.
Prior to Richie’s appearance at the Alcazar (Lightner Museum) in St. Augustine on January 31, 2008, EU chatted with him from somewhere on the road. We quickly established a rapport and a strong spiritual connection since my friend Walter Parks plays lead guitar in Richie’s band. (Walter has his own band, Swamp Cabbage, which Richie fully supports.)
“Yes, Walter is a great guy and we work closely on arrangements. I love his band. Yes, lately we’re working on a new album, which will be out next month, and continuing to tour. We are doing some filming on streaming video for our sites.”
“As you know, I pretty-much live on the road, and love bringing my music to the people. Since Woodstock it has been a long happy journey. In my off-time I work with charitable kids groups helping children. I started an organization run and owned by children. The idea was that they look at their community as an endangered place, and what would they do to turn things around. Incredibly, they came up with viable solutions. They did the projects to change things for the better. In fact, the group won a Points of Light award from Senator Clinton. After that experience, the kids went on to college. Several of the kids went on to Harvard. Eleven of them went to universities or trade schools.
“My mission is to use my music for change – to reach people on a high level of consciousness. I’m both a performer and listener, simultaneously. By that I mean I’m enjoying playing the songs and passing that joy on to the audience. I feed off my audience and it really is a form of communication. I’m always searching for new material and new ways of presenting my music. It’s a journey–an exploration of my talent to best serve my audiences both on CD and live.
“As far as side projects are concerned, what’s happened in the past was I met this guy – a Navy Seal who repaired my boat – and we became friends. He said that he only trusted children, which hit a chord with me. We got together to form a museum of hands-on underwater experiences for kids. Now he has the world’s greatest petting zoo. He carries around six trailer loads of animals for children to pet. He and I both agreed about children being pure beings not corrupted by adult life. I still love to help children’s organizations when I can because I love kids. But, my music takes up most of my time and I still love doing it. So it’s my pleasure and mission in life to continue performing,” Richie said.
Richie Havens will be the second musical act to ever perform at the Alcazar, which is attached to the rear of the Alcazar and was once the pool for Henry Flagler’s historic Alcazar Hotel. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind show in a unique environment.
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