Pete Seeger, who celebrates his 90th birthday next month, is set to return to the Newport Folk Festival this summer.
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Lineups for the Newport folk and jazz festivals indicate both are
returning to their roots.
Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, who played the first Newport festival in
1959 and remain vital figures in the folk genre, are scheduled to
perform again this year. Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie also are on
the bill, along with more contemporary acts like the Decemberists
and Iron and Wine.
"The whole concept of the folk festival is a reunion of the old
people to celebrate 50 years of folk music in Newport — and to show
how many young people are involved with folk music," said
83-year-old George Wein, who founded both festivals a half-century
ago.
He stepped forward to produce them again this year as they lost the
backing of their longtime sponsor amid a flagging economy that's
made people think twice about traveling and spending money.
The jazz festival, meanwhile, will feature singers Tony Bennett and
Etta James, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and the Dave Brubeck
Quartet — a fixture at Newport.
The folk festival, which this year is formally known as George
Wein's Folk Festival 50, is scheduled for July 31-Aug. 2. And
George Wein's Jazz Festival 55 is scheduled for the following
weekend. Both events will take place at Fort Adams State Park in
Newport.
Both shows have a heralded history. Bob Dylan stunned the folk
world in 1965 when he performed with an electric guitar, and the
jazz festival has hosted Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Frank
Sinatra among others.
Wein hadn't planned to produce the festivals again this year. He
sold his production company in 2007 to the New York-based Festival
Network, though he stayed on with the new owners.
But Festival Network was found in default of its contract with the
state of Rhode Island earlier this year, and suddenly the future of
the festivals was hazy. Wein said he came forward to "save"
them.
"This is my life. To me, it's not business anymore," he said. "I'm
not doing this to make money."
A phone message left for Festival Network was not returned
Thursday. But the company still lists the Newport festivals on its
Web site and has previously indicated that it plans to be involved
in producing shows in Rhode Island this summer.
Wein is proceeding without the festivals' longtime sponsor, the JVC
electronics company, which he said pulled out after running into
financial troubles. He is bankrolling the concerts and expects to
spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on them.
"I've been spoiled all my life," Wein said. "Sponsors have come to
me. Now I just hope they'll come again. They have to feel that what
you're doing has some significance and has some meaning."
Wein said he doesn't know what effect the economy will have on the
events, but he promises that the quality won't suffer.
"I have to put on my festival. It has to be a quality event," he
said. "It has to take care of the crowd."
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