Summer Sounds celebrates folk legend Woody Guthrie July 17
RIVER FOREST IL - On Wednesday, July 17, Dominican University’s Summer Sounds Series will present a special community event. “Bound For Glory: A Woody Guthrie Birthday Celebration,” at 7:00 pm. The event takes place on the campus quad, off the main entrance 7900 W. Division Street.
The evening will feature a sing along concert led by Midwest troubadour Mark Dvorak celebrating the music and legacy of folk legend Woody Guthrie. Food trucks will be on site and those who attend should bring their instruments to join in on the folk jam and sing along following the concert.
Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma July 14, 1912 and was America’s great folk ballad maker. Guthrie also wrote books, drew pictures, had a newspaper column and hosted a couple of radio shows. Guthrie’s best songs - “This Land is Your Land,” “Roll On Columbia,” “Pastures of Plenty” and countless others - endure as living documents of the times in which he lived and worked, and are still resonant in today’s world.
The event will support Beyond Hunger, an organization providing hunger-relief programming and services to thirteen zip codes across Cook County including portions of Chicago and the near-west suburbs.
“In Oak Park alone,” said Stephanie Schrodt of River Forest, “it is estimated that over 7,000 people are food insecure. That means they may not know from where their next meal is coming.”
Schrodt directs the activities of Music & Potlucks, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was formed in 2017 and has presented over 150 concerts and events to support area organizations who serve those in need.
Dvorak has spent a lifetime following in the musical footsteps of Guthrie and is celebrating the release of his 20th CD, Live & Alone and 4th book of essays, 31 Winters: Finding the Folk Way, which reflects on his long journey through music and teaching.
The Chicago Tribune has called Dvorak “masterful,” and the Fox Valley Folk Festival describes him as “a living archive of song and style.” Dvorak has won awards for journalism and children’s music, and was honored in 2013 with the FARM Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance International. In 2008 he received the Woodstock Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2012 Rich Warren, long time host of The Midnight Special radio program named Dvorak “Chicago’s official troubadour.”
There is no admission to attend. Concert-goers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets and a picnic dinner. Please also consider bringing a grocery sack of non-perishable food items and toiletries.
For information phone the Dominican University at 708.488.5000 or visit the Dominican University Performing Arts Center at https://www.dom.edu/arts-minds/performing-arts-center/summer-sounds-24.
Donate to Beyond Hunger at www.gobeyondhunger.org.
Learn more about Music & Potlucks at www.musicandpotlucks.org.
Find Woody Guthrie at www.woodyguthrie.org.
Find Mark Dvorak at www.markdvorak.com.