No more touring for Arlo Guthrie
In lengthy posts on his Facebook page and website, Arlo Guthrie announced Friday he is retiring from performance immediately. The 73-yearold folk singer has canceled numerous shows he had planned around the country for the next year and said he won’t be booking anymore.
“It’s been a great 50-plus years of being aworking entertainer, but I reached the difficult decision that touring and stage shows are no longer possible,” he said in the statement titled “Gone Fishing.”
Guthrie did not respond to email and phone messages asking to elaborate but indicated in his statement that health issues played a major role. He said he’d suffered two strokes in recent years, including a serious one that hospitalized him for several days last year.
The son of folk music legend Woody Guthrie rose to overnight fame in 1967 with the release of “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” a hilarious 18-minute talking blues ballad about how his Thanks giving Day 1965 arrest for littering kept him out of the Army during the Vietnam War.
He’s gone on to record more than 30 albums, write several children’s books and occasionally appear in television shows and films.
“A folk singer’s shelf life may be a lot longer than a dancer or an athlete, but at some point, unless you’re incredibly fortunate or just plain whacko (either one or both) it’s time to hang up the ‘Gone Fishing’ sign,” he said Friday.
Acclaimed screenwriter William Blinn, a dies: screenwriter for the landmark TV projects “Brian’s Song” and “Roots” and the Prince film “Purple Rain,” has died. Hewas 83.
Blinn died Thursday of natural causes at an assisted living community in Burbank, California, his daughter, Anneliese Johnson, said Saturday.
Hewon Emmy and Peabody honors for the 1971TVmovie “Brian’s Song,” which dramatized the friendship of Chicago Bears players Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers. Itwas a hit when it aired and is a enduring favorite with sports fans and critics.
Blinn’s work on “Roots,” the blockbuster 1977 miniseries adapted from Alex Haley’s book about his African American ancestors in slavery and freedom, won an Emmy and a Humanitas Prize.
Texas singer and songwriter Jerry Jeff dies: Walker, a Texas country singer and songwriter who wrote the pop song “Mr. Bojangles,” has died at age 78.
Walker died Friday of cancer, family spokesman John T. Davis told The Associated Press.
Walker emerged from New York’ s Greenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s, and hewas a founding member of the band Circus Maximus. He moved to Texas in the 1970s, and in 1972 scored a hit with his version of the Guy Clark song “L.A. Freeway.”
In 1973, Walker and the Lost Gonzo Band recorded a live album in Texas called “Viva Terlingua” that became a classic of the country-rock scene. Walker had since released more than 30 albums.
Oct. 26 birthdays: Actor Jaclyn Smith is 75. “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak is 74. Musician Bootsy Collins is 69. Country singer Keith Urban is 53. Writer-actor Seth McFarlane is 47. Actor Florence Kasumba is 44. Rapper Schoolboy Qis 34. Actor Beulah Koale is 29.