With the specter of war looming larger every day, many UCLA
students are joining in protesting U.S. actions against Iraq.
America is witnessing the most anti-war activism since Vietnam, and
it’s only appropriate that we are also seeing a revival and
resurgence of that era’s socially conscious protest music:
folk.
“There is a lot happening now that needs to be sung about
and spoken about and written about, so (folk music) feels very
“˜now,'” said Loudon Wainwright III, one of four
musicians performing in UCLA Live’s Washington Square Memoirs
concert this Saturday.
For the past 30 years Wainwright has been one of folk
music’s most vital artists. Wile growing up in New York, he
was inspired by artists like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger ““
artists who were performing during the peak of the city’s
grassroots folk movement from 1950-70.
“I wasn’t around as a performer until nearly the end
of that period, but I was around as a fan,” Wainwright said.
“One day I bought an acoustic guitar and started emulating
the people I was hearing.”
Since then Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright’s father, has
developed into one of folk music’s most distinctive voices.
He is widely known for both his sense of humor in tongue-in-cheek
songs like “I Wish I Was a Lesbian” and for his
eloquent musings on deeply personal issues. Fans of his past
catalogue can expect a diverse mix of songs spanning his long
career on Saturday night.
“I try to do serious songs and funny songs, personal songs
and topical songs,” he said. “I’ll be playing
some old stuff, some new stuff, and some really new
stuff.”
This Saturday’s show will include Mike Seeger, Tom Paxton,
and John Hammond. All are musicians Wainwright admired in his
youth.
“It sounds kind of corny to say it’s an honor to
play with these guys, but in my case it’s true,” he
said. “I’m just a few years younger than them, but when
I was a kid they were my heroes.”
Though folk music has not been been particularly popular among
college students in recent years, Wainwright feels that conditions
are developing for the genre’s comeback.
“When I was in college that was the music that was
exciting to me. Now with the success of “˜O Brother Where Art
Thou?’ there could be an indication that more acoustic music,
roots music, is being listened to,” he said.
Indeed, younger audiences have been responsive to
Wainwright’s work recently, and he has found success playing
to college-age crowds.
“I played in a college town recently, and in addition to
the gray hair and bald heads that turned up there were a lot of
young people,” he said.
For the time being, however, he is simply looking forward to his
performance here and hopes that students will be responsive to his
unique approach to folk.
“I’m excited about playing at Royce Hall,”
Wainwright said. “That’s a wonderful room. I just hope
people come along and have fun.”
Washington Square Memoirs with Tom Paxton, Loudon Wainwright
III, John Hammond and Mike Seeger comes to Royce Hall Saturday at 8
p.m. Tickets are $25-35 general admission, $15 for students.