Mark Erelli
Sorry Mark listened to your song a"Seeds of Peace" and you are not Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs or anyone else that makes a good protest song. Don't quit your day job.
posted byGeorge Leyendecker on April 09, 2006, 09:56:51 pm

Why not play some patriotic songs
I've heard Folk Alley play a lot of protest songs and very few worse than this one! Where are the songs about the gallantry and bravery of those who did fight for our freedom?
posted by Chris Hardwick on April 28, 2006, 04:05:50 pm

If it irritates people enough so's they bitch about it...
It must be a good protest song. When people with an opposing political view write in to trash your abilities because they disagree with what you've said, they obviously have no cogent way to refute the position taken by the lyrics. People who know inside that they're wrong but can't bring themselves to admit it, often resort to abuse. My three year old does it, she however will probably grow out of it. Nice going Mark - and good feedback - particularly from the hawks.
posted by Huw Pryce on October 03, 2006, 02:57:31 pm

Youth is wasted on the young!
It's laughable how some of today's musicians and entertainers who lack originality try to liken our current political and military situation to that of the 60's and 70's to justify attempts at emulating the great artist of the Vietnam era as Mark Erelli attempts in "Seeds of Peace". Frankly as one who lived through those turbulent times and witnessed the negative impact they had on our culture, I recent your naive attempt at doing so. I agree with the former poster, Mark - you are no Bob Dlyan! And if you think that U.S. audiences are being too critical of your "Seeds of Peace" try playing it to a live audience in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Iraq or Jordon, critics there may serve you your head on a platter - literally!
posted by Larry Cashatt on November 04, 2006, 05:13:02 am

An intelligent song, and a good one.
This is one of the few intelligent protest songs I have heard of this era - I have wondered where they were! I really do believe that some of the critics of this song lived through the 60's and 70's. I just have to wonder where they were at the time. I spent most of that time on a series of military bases while my father spent four foreign tours, including Thailand and Japan. From an American school in a Tokyo suburb, I saw the turmoil as the the US pulled most of it's forces out of Japan. As a Medical Explorer at Tripler Army General in Hawaii, I saw the filmed Nam mash teams try to save the critical, and surgeons try to put together those who had been stable enough to be flown to Hawaii. I made friends - one, slightly older than I, sporting a permanent limp courtesy of a near miss with a bouncing betty. I watched the bases lock down and the B-52s fly in from Clark when we went to DefCon 3 in October, 1973. A lyear and a half later, from the tarmac on Hickam AFB, I watched our boys walk down the ramps of Starlifters as they returned from the fall of Saigon. I knew a lot of guys who lost a lot during that era, and many who were disgusted by their treatment when they got home, but I don't know one who thought the war was a good idea. I knew a pile of folks who didn't have to go and kept as far from that particular reality as possible; people who decried the protest songs of that era as being an insult to the "brave boys" they worked so hard to ignore as soon as their boots were back on the streets. I don't know if those people truly couldn't separate the criminality of the war from the valor of the combatants, or just found it an easy cheap shot against anyone who dared to question the politics of the times. I saw the valor and foolishness first hand, and I can tell you a vet is not insulted by questioning a war. In fact, soldiers are among the first to question the politics of a war. I'd appreciate someone speaking clearly during this time of repression and loss of liberty, even if I didn't agree with the sentiment. Of course, in this case, I believe you are hitting the nail pretty much on the head. At any rate, the vets in my family agree with me, as do most of the folks I know who also "lived through those turbulent times". Most of us learned a lot from that era - and remember the responsibility to question authority. Most of us. Keep up the good work.
posted by Keith Mears on January 18, 2007, 04:50:56 pm

...and there's no fool like an old fool
Vietnam and Iraq have little in common - in Vietnam several presidencies fed an endless supply of conscripts into a pointless foreign, unwinnable war of at best questionable morality. Vietnam won a phyrric ('scuse spelling) victory, denying the US it's military objectives at the cost of being bombed back into the stone age. In Iraq there are no US conscripts. The stink of corruption and cynical, diversionary sensationalism, of porkbarreling over 'regeneration' contracts, of the denial of basic human rights, torture, kidnapping, death squads and bored, frightened soldiers running amok among civilians, is strongly reminiscent of Chile and El Salvador in the 70s and 80s. I do remember the effect Vietnam had on your culture, your National guard shot dead a number of unarmed students at Kent State for example. The effect this latest adventure has had on both our countries is incalculably destructive. Nowadays I can get myself arrested for reading a list of the British dead at the Cenotaph in Whitehall (illegal demonstration). That the dead of 9/11 have been held up as a reason for all this slaughter is a straight desecration of their memories. Anyway I think it's a good song.
posted by Huw Pryce on February 27, 2007, 12:05:31 pm

Peaceful Protests
It's a good thing to be able to question political policies and sing or speak a peaceful protest, and if we're lucky - we can learn something from our past. It seems that we are all learning something different however, so we may be destined to repeat many mistakes, sadly. Such is the state and nature of the human race. I do believe that Mark Erelli is indeed a man of peace, and because of that I will listen to his opinion and hopefully learn something from it.
posted by JoLynn Braswell on March 01, 2007, 06:03:54 pm

A Beautiful Song
Isn't folk music supposed to speak the heart of the people? Their reactions to the issues of the world around them? Mark isn't trying to be Bob Dylan. He is responding to the dilemma of our day---the Iraqi war. Shame on someone who would criticize someone because they are assuming they are trying to be like Bob Dylan or some of the other masters that we have learned so much from. Are we just going to listen to their old recordings forever talking about the viet nam war and other issues of their day? And the music will die because we criticize those coming after them for "trying to be like Dylan"? Dylan, Seeger, and no one else would not want that! They are not in love with themselves. They want young folk artists to be encouraged--not slapped down for not being "as good as them." I loved this song, Seeds of Peace. I am patriotic. I support our troops. I support them by saying "bring them home and let them build up the home of the free and the brave, rather than spill their blood on foreign sand for a futile mission."
posted by Hananel Mavity on March 19, 2007, 06:12:06 pm

Opposing Views
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it!" Voltaire I have two former students in Iraq right now. They say some great things are going on over there. I think I'll listen to what the soldiers say!! 9/11 threw the President into a tirade. The course of action was decided by 77 senators besides himself. Second guessing is the easiest thing on earth do to. Best wishes to all, The Old Coach
posted by Dale Johnston on March 19, 2007, 06:16:41 pm

Living Room Elephant
"9/11 threw the President into a tirade." Well, I would say that the WTC DEMOLITION gave neocons the necessary public relations cover for imperial exploits. Unless we really believe that two of the largest buildings ever constructed actually managed to collapse perfectly straight down with no assistance.
posted by Jim McKnight on March 20, 2007, 04:14:52 pm

Info for naysayers
debunking911.com Best wishes
posted by Dale Johnston on March 20, 2007, 10:31:29 pm

The more things change...
"It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers! In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these journalists/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late. Accordingly , I'm readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I'll, in turn, do my best for the cause by writing editorials - after the fact." - Robert E. Lee, 1863
posted by Jim Pipkin on March 23, 2007, 02:23:01 pm

The General
Didn't Robert E Lee lose Jim?
posted by Huw Pryce on April 28, 2007, 08:29:25 pm

It's good to have a real voice
[QUOTE=George Leyendecker]Sorry Mark ... you are not Bob Dylan[/QUOTE] Well, at least he doesn't sing through his nose and wreck good prose.
posted by Pat Ashby on January 30, 2008, 03:40:05 am