In 2004, my son and I met Arlo Guthrie on a sidewalk in Tacoma, Washington. He autographed my lucky two-dollar bill, the one my Uncle Jeff Weiss (the eminent coin collector) awarded me in 1983 as an afikomen prize.

I explained to him that Random’s fourth-grade history project was on Woodie Guthrie. Arlo offered this, “My dad was a really cool guy.”

Before he stepped into the venue, and even thought he had only known me for a few seconds, he called back, “seems like yours is a cool guy too.”

Alice’s Restaurant is my earliest spoken word inspiration. I first performed it at Hirdstock when I was eighteen, the same age Arlo Guthrie was when he got arrested for littering.

In this tribute, I took liberties with grammar fixes, slightly dissimilar backgrounds, and my own vocal intonation. The result is a darker saga, but I believe the times call for this.

You can listen here on Substack, but it’s also available wherever you get podcasts by searching the phrase: Olympia Radio Company.

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