the kicker

This Man Was Made for You and Me

July 24, 2009

This weekend’s New York Times magazine will feature a Deborah Solomon interview with…Arlo Guthrie. Among the tidbits, per Greg Mitchell’s advance reading of the conversation?

1) Woodstock was NOT overrated because “we’re still talking about it.”
2) He no longer performs “Alice’s Restaurant” because “it is like being in the same half-hour ‘Groundhog Day’ movie.”
3) He thinks about his dad every Woody “every day.”
4) He’s never watched “American Idol” but “I’m thankful we’re living in a world where you can actually afford to waste your time.”

Oh, and! Guthrie “became a registered Republican about five or six years ago.” Not because he’s become conservative, really, but because “we had enough good Democrats….We needed a loyal opposition.”

Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.