gil (11/30/82)
I recently saw in Boston, "Wasn't That a Time," a documentary made about the Weavers about a year and a half to two years ago. It was written by Lee Hayes, oldest member of the Weavers, and documented events from the time he hosted a reunion in the summer of 1980 through till their final reunion concert at Carnegie Hall at Christmas 1980. For those who don't know, the Weavers were a folk group which first got together around 1947. The members with Hayes, Ronnie Gilbert, Pete Seeger, and Fred Hallerman (sp?). I myself was not really familiar with them, although like many of us, I was familiar with a lot of their music. In addition to documenting the events described above, the movie also presents a lot of the Weavers' history and includes interviews with many musicians whom the Weavers influenced, including Arlo Guthrie, Mary Travers, Holly Near and Don McLean. I enjoyed the movie and the music very much and would recommend it to any Weavers fans out there and anyone else who is interested in learning about the roots of a lot of 60's folk music. Unfortunately, the movie is not easy to find. I first found out about it when it was playing in New York in spring 1981, but I was in Ithaca at the time. It was playing in Northampton, Mass. when I passed through there a month or so later. My first real chance to see it was a week and a half ago in Boston.