Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving from Roosevelt Island - Meet You at Alice's Restaurant


Happy Thanksgiving Day wishes to everyone out there in Roosevelt Island land and elswhere. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Since Thanksgiving is a day all about about Tradition, here is my traditional Thanksgiving Day post - if something can be a tradition having started just in 2007.



In addition to family, great food, the Macy's Parade, Miracle on 34th Street, March of the Wooden Soldiers and football, listening to Arlo Guthrie's rendition of Alice's Restaurant on WNEW-FM was, for me, a wonderful Thanksgiving tradition. A former DJ from the station remembers Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie this way on the blog All Mixed Up Radio.
Every year a couple of days before Thanksgiving, it starts. It's slow at first, and then turns into a non-stop avalanche of phone calls. And no matter how many times a station runs promo announcements telling people exactly when it will be played, the calls still come.

"What time are you playing 'Alice's Restaurant?'"
Some of the lyrics:
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

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on
Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the
restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the
church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and Fasha the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room, seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't have to take out their garbage for a long time.
You Tube link to short 2 minute video version above is here.
For those of you who want to go back in time and see the full 18 minute version of Alice's Restaurant, You Tube link is here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

2 comments :

Dream of Autarky said...

where is Alice restaurant?


another good Alice song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEj-mrwwaxo

Happy Thanksgiving!

come Saturday for Thanksgiving Special Turkey pLove on Farmers Market :)

Dream of Autarky said...

and yet another Alice song, this time in russian ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOUFI0TM8q8