There's been a movement afoot to have Pete Seeger nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and there's barely anyone I can consider who deserves one more. He certainly is more an ambassador for peace than many who have received the award.
While nearly everyone knows his name, his hours of glory and ignominy ran together in the fifties and sixties when his music was in the ears, hearts and minds of the people of this country and the world with songs like "Turn, Turn, Turn," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," and "If I Had a Hammer." And when the musical group he was part of, The Weavers, had "hits" during what Pete himself coined as "the folk scare." That renown was balanced against the anti-communist fervor of the day when Pete, and many other folksingers, were hauled in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify.
Jim Brown's new documentary "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song," demonstrates why Seeger is truly one of the greatest living Americans. The film opens tonight at Real Art Ways in Hartford.
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