Clearwater’s “Spring Splash” Concert with Jeff Tweedy and Pete Seeger is a Big Success
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – Hudson River Sloop Clearwater’s sold out “Spring Splash” benefit concert on Saturday night at Beacon High School, Beacon, NY, was a big success, raising tens of thousands of dollars for the organization’s education and environmental action programs. The concert, which featured Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy in a rare solo acoustic setting, also included a special encore with Clearwater founder Pete Seeger and his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger.
Pete Seeger opened the show with Dan Einbender, Clearwater’s Tideline Discovery Program Director, and together they led a chorus of fourth graders from Beacon’s J. V. Forrestal Elementary School known as “The Kids From Room 12” in a rousing set of songs about protecting the Hudson River and other cause-related issues.
Tweedy performed for more than an hour and a half, delighting the capacity crowd of a thousand people, many of them ardent fans, with his music and storytelling. Several of Tweedy’s songs led to impromptu sing-a-longs, and he finished his show by singing two songs at the lip of the stage without any amplification, a salute to another environmental cause, Earth Hour, which was taking place nationally on Saturday night.
“This great night for Clearwater exemplifies what we do best: raise awareness and inspire people to take action,” said Jeff Rumpf, executive director of Clearwater. “We’re presently working on our ‘Next Generation Legacy Project’ to create new green leaders and achieve the sustainable future we need, and the proceeds from this concert will go toward this effort.”
This is a banner year for Clearwater, as the organization celebrates the 40th anniversary of the sloop Clearwater, the 90th birthday of Seeger and the Quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s historic voyage up the river that bears his name. Also, on May 3 there will be a star-studded tribute concert honoring Seeger at Madison Square Garden in New York City (for more details visit www.seeger90.com), and Clearwater will host its annual Great Hudson River Revival music and environmental festival on June 20 and 21 at Croton Point Park, Croton-on-Hudson, NY with headliners Susan Tedeschi, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens and “newgrass” sensations Old Crow Medicine Show.
