by Kate Langenburg

Created on: November 15, 2008   Last Updated: December 28, 2008

"People might have heard about this show and thought I thought that guy was dead!' Almost," said a very high spirited Arlo Guthrie last Sunday night.

Although those words might contribute to the general feeling that most young people have about folk singer Arlo Guthrie, he proved to his audience, which was comprised of mostly old heads, that he can still shake em down after all these years.

It's been almost forty years since the great hippie gathering in Bethel, New York. Although the times have changed, the atmosphere in the Sherman Theater that night went way back to the days of Day-Glo, LSD, and revolutionary music. It was as if everyone in the audience was transformed back to younger, more rebellious times, an observation noted by the carefree smiles and tie-dye t-shirts of the blissful Guthrie fans.

As anyone who has heard him sing before would know, Guthrie has never had much of a soft, gentle voice. But the first thing that grabbed my attention was how much it had changed from the young man I listen to on my vinyl records. His voice now, not unlike Bob Dylan's, is gruffer and grittier, an homage to the countless years of pot smoking.

Nonetheless, Guthrie and all the musicians onstage, including his son Abe Guthrie on keyboards, created a very laid back atmosphere. They all shared happy expressions back and forth between each other and the audience.

Guthrie's music is easy going as well. This lends itself to the fact that most of the tunes are acoustic, in the traditional style of folk music. On a side note, I'm always amazed at the sound quality at the Sherman Theater, especially for acoustic performances like this one. The guitar sounded incredibly crisp as each note was plucked and in this case, the sound was warm and inviting.

He played some of his most well known songs, like "The Motorcycle Song" and "Coming into Los Angeles."

In typical Guthrie style, the singer told many stories during the show. The most notable experience was perhaps his performance at Woodstock. "I don't remember it, frankly," he admitted, speaking about the three day festival. However, he did remember falling through a hole onstage and then "rematerializing on the other side of the stage almost completely intact," as he put it.

He also played some new songs, proving that he's still got the knack for songwriting. "Here's Looking at You," a song that reminded me just a little bit of typical Jimmy Buffett style, spoke about the change from film to digital photography and Guthrie's inability

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