Winter’s Eve at Lincoln Square, New York’s largest holiday festival, will kick off at 5:30pm with the Upper West Side’s only tree lighting ceremony at Dante Park (Broadway and 63rd Street).
Making his return to the Winter’s Eve stage is legendary folk artist Arlo Guthrie. Arlo will be joined at the tree by Rosie’s Theater Kids, Michael Bacon and WABC-TV’s Sade Baderinwa as we welcome the holiday season and light up the Upper West Side.
Our tree has once again been installed by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The tree, lights and decorations will be provided by PJ Clarke’s and will include old-fashioned silver glass glitter ornaments by Wendy Addison and Tinsel Trading.
Arlo Guthrie was born with a guitar in one hand and a harmonica in the other, in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York in 1947. He is the eldest son of America’s most beloved singer/writer/philosopher Woody Guthrie and Marjorie Mazia Guthrie, a professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of The Committee to Combat Huntington’s Disease.
Arlo Guthrie’s career exploded in 1967 with the release of “Alice’s Restaurant,” whose title song premiered at the Newport Folk Festival and helped foster a new commitment among the ’60s generation to social consciousness and activism. Arlo went on to star in the 1969 Hollywood film version of “Alice’s Restaurant,” directed by Arthur Penn.
With songs like “Alice’s Restaurant,” too long for radio airplay; “Coming into Los Angeles,” banned from many radio stations (but a favorite at the 1969 Woodstock Festival); and the definitive rendition of Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans”, Guthrie was no One-Hit-Wonder. An artist of international stature, he has never had a ‘hit’ in the usual sense. He has usually preferred to walk to his own beat rather than march in step to the drum of popular culture.
Over the last four decades Guthrie has toured throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia winning a wide, popular following. In addition to his accomplishments as a musician, playing the piano, six and twelve-string guitar, harmonica and a dozen other instruments, Arlo is a natural-born storyteller, whose tales and anecdotes figure prominently in his performances. www.arlo.net
Location: Dante Park – Broadway between 63rd and 64th Streets
Time: 5:30pm