Alice has Left the Restaurant

 

by Pa Rock

Loud Singer

Folksinger and song writer Arlo Guthrie announced on social media late last week that Alice Brock, one of his dearest friends of many decades, had passed away.

Arlo, the son of legendary singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie, first met Alice in the early 1960's when he was a high school student in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and she was his school librarian.  They remained friends throughout Arlo's time in high school and beyond which resulted in her inviting him and one of his friends to Thanksgiving dinner at her home in 1965 a few months after Arlo had graduated from high school.  

At that time Alice was running her own restaurant, the first of three that she would eventually operate, although she always claimed not to enjoy cooking.

But the restaurant was closed on Thanksgiving Day, and Alice and her husband, Ray Brock, invited the young men to dine with them in their home, the old Trinity Church in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, seven miles south of Stockbridge.    The Brock's had converted the church into a residence.   Alice and Ray and Fasha the dog lived in the bell-tower and, according to the way Arlo remembered it, they used the sanctuary, which had been stripped of its pews, to store their trash.

Arlo's recollection of that day, which later became the basis for the most famous Thanksgiving song ever written, said that he and his friend decided to take the trash to the dump, so they loaded "half a ton of garbage" into "the back of a red VW microbus" along with "shovels and rakes and implements of destruction" and headed for the city dump.    But when they got to the dump, it was closed for the holiday. 

As they drove the backroads trying to figure out what to do, they came across a ravine along the side of the road at the bottom of which was another pile of garbage.     They logically decided that "one big pile was better than two little piles," and rather than try to bring the other one up, they chose to throw theirs down.

And thus began the saga that was to become "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree," a song written by Arlo Guthrie in 1967 and which runs 18 minutes and 34 seconds.   The song tells not only the tale of the young men disposing of the trash and their subsequent arrest for littering  by a small town cop, but also how Arlo was later able to parlay that arrest record and conviction for littering into a successful bid to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War - a much more plausible dodge than spurious bone spurs.

"Alice's Restaurant" was made into a movie of the same name in 1969 in which young Arlo Guthrie portrayed himself (he was 22 when the film was made).  One other Stockbridge local was also in the film.  Officer Obie, the clownish lawman who had arrested the young men in Arlo's account, was portrayed  by William Obanheim.  Obanheim later said that when he learned that Office Obie had been based on him, he demanded to play the role because if he was going to be made to look the fool, he wanted to do it to himself.

The song became an anthem in the growing anti-war movement.

But this is a story about Alice.  Remember Alice?

Alice went on to become a successful painter and had her own studio in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  One of the projects in which she was involved during her elder years was the Guthrie Center, founded by Arlo Guthrie and his family and headquartered in Alice's former home - the old Trinity Church in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.  The Guthrie Center bills itself as "a campaign for community, caring, and peace," and one of their projects is to provide a free Thanksgiving meal to anyone who shows up on the holiday.  This year the meal will be served on Thanksgiving Day at 1:00 p.m.  The center also displays art and historical items of the Guthrie family.

Alice Brock passed away last Thursday, November 21st, exactly one week before Thanksgiving.  She was eighty-three.  (Arlo is seventy-seven.)  It's nice to know that even with Alice's passing people will still be sharing and enjoying a Thanksgiving meal in her old home - only now they probably won't feel obligated to take out the trash!

Educators impact lives, and occasionally they inspire movements.

"And that's what it is, the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacree Movement, and

all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it comes around on the

guitar

With feeling.  So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and

sing it with feeling.  Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Walk right in it's around the back

Just a half a mile from the railroad track

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

That was horrible.  If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.

I've been singing this song for twenty-five minutes now.  I could sing it

for another twenty-five minutes.  I'm not proud . . . or tired.

So we'll wait until it comes around again.  This time with four part

harmony and feeling.

We're just waiting' for it to come around is what we're doing.

All right now.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Excepting Alice

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Walk right in its around the back

Just a half a mile from the railroad track

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Da da da da da da da dum

At Alice's Restaurant"

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for Alice Brock, Arlo Guthrie, and that wonderful anti-war anthem, "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree."  We're in desperate times, America - sing loud!