You may recall that three years ago this Thanksgiving Dale and I set out to recreate the cover of Alice’s Restaurant. The album, like me, was 50 years old and we had a grand time that afternoon. In case you’ve forgotten, here is the result of our fun:
We got some great mileage out of that photo on social media and Dale makes it his profile photo every Thanksgiving. Our kids were horrified (why is Dad naked?!?) but those of us who love that song know what it’s all about.
Well. Sunday night we went to see Arlo Guthrie in concert in Plymouth. We had high hopes that Guthrie would do a meet and greet after the show so we brought along a print of that photo. I wasn’t entirely sure whether he’d be flattered or offended but I figured it was worth a chance. Before the show we were talking to one of the young women running the souvenir booth and we asked if Guthrie would be greeting fans after the performance and she said that he doesn’t do that anymore. We told her about the photo and that we had been hoping we could get him to sign it. She asked to see it and when we showed it to her she said, “oh, Arlo will just LOVE this. Can I take it backstage and show it to him?” Of course we said YES and off she went.
She came back about 5 minutes later with a huge grin on her face and said that Arlo did indeed love the photo and that he commented, “this guy must be crazy” and then he signed it.
And now we have the new and improved recreation of the Alice’s Restaurant photo, complete with Arlo Guthrie’s autograph!
P.S. It was a fabulous show and he did all of our favorites, including Alice’s Restaurant!
Great story (and photo)!
That’s awesome! I wish he’d felt intrigued enough to meet you guys, but I’m so glad he signed it!
Oh Fun! I’m glad he signed the photo, but boo for not meeting y’all in person!
What a great story! I remember your photo and everything about Alice’s Restaurant.
It was a great idea and photo before, now made even better with Arlo’s autograph!
Priceless!
I am with Mary… boo Arlo for not meeting with you! But, what a fun addition to the story! XO
I couldn’t love this story (and photo) more! I’m going to go check where else he’s playing, that would be a fun concert.
OMG It was perfect before, and now it is authenticated. WOW.
That is so cool! I’ve always wanted to see him.
Loved this post! We saw Arlo and Family perform in San Luis Obispo, CA a few months ago and it was one of the greatest shows we’ve seen in a long time. It was like we could have invited them to perform in our living room and they would have been just as warm and friendly.
I love the photo, I love the story, and I would have loved to have been at that concert! What fun!
Oh. How. Perfect.
I just love this. (And wait til I tell Tom!!!)
XO
I am so impressed! It pays to ask, eh? That’s a story to be told at each Thanksgiving!
Well, at least he loved the photo!
OMG! I’m SO jealous! I love the song and play it, loudly, every day in November, much to my family’s annoyance. (They aren’t exactly fans – probably because I sing along even more loudly.) Y’all did an awesome job of recreating the album cover. An what an awesome memento you now have to remind you of the concert. Again, so, so jealous! 🙂
This is a fabulous story, and it’s great to see that some famous people still have a lot of class. What a great contribution to family lore. Dale will be famous in the family forever!
What a fabulous story… and picture. You obviously were a hit with the artist even if you didn’t get to meet him. Bonus points for horrifying the children, it gets harder to do that once they aren’t teens.
That is a great story!
The! Best!
What an awesome photo and story! (By the way, my dog is named Arlo.)
You are SO LUCKY! How wonderful to have this added to your family lore. How could Arlo NOT love it! It’s even better that you can read his handwriting and see it IS signed by the one and only.
The Group W bench would be so proud.