RIP Alice

It's weird how a lot of us "knew" this lady for decades. Arlo wrote this for his old friend a few days ago:
Alice May Brock ...1941-2024

Alice passed away a week before Thanksgiving. She was living in one of her favorite places - Provincetown, Massachusetts where she'd been for over four decades.

I first met Alice in 1962 when she was the school librarian at The Stockbridge School, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I was there beginning my second of four years. I also met, Rick Robbins, another student, and we've been friends ever since.

Alice's mother, Mary Pelky, bought the church in June of 1963 and gave it to Ray & Alice who began transforming it into a home. After the school year, my brother and I, along with Rick and a few others spent the summer with Alice and her husband, Ray on Martha's Vineyard where they ran the Youth Hostel in West Tisbury. Alice always loved being on the Cape. It was home.

I returned to The Stockbridge School after a most wonderful summer, playing music every night, and generally goofing off. Ray & Alice got busy at the church, making it into a home.

For the next couple of years, friends would gather at the church from time to time, play some music, and generally enjoy a loose network of like minded people. Then it all changed.

Rick & I went to visit Ray & Alice for Thanksgiving in 1965. The rest is history. Alice went into the restaurant business and I began my years as an entertainer. We were, both in our own ways, successful. As well as being a restauranteur, Alice also became an author, and an artist. We worked together on various projects. During the next few decades we remained friends while our lives kept us busy. She was a no-nonsense gal, with a great sense of humor.

This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her. Alice and my daughter, Annie had spoken together recently and Alice, knowing her circumstances, approved an exhibit at the church to tell her own story. Alice and I spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago, and she sounded like her old self. we joked around and had a couple of good laughs even though we knew we'd never have another chance to talk together.

A couple of years ago, Alice, Rick and I met up at the church, and from there went to Rick's home for a Thanksgiving Dinner. Marti & I, along with a lot of old friends celebrated 60 years of friendship. Some couldn't be there, as time has taken its toll. But, the spirit was all that mattered, and we got to celebrate it.

This year we get to add one more to those whose life we celebrate - An important one. Alice was a lifelong friend.

Thanksgiving 2022 Photo by Marti Guthrie. Alice, Rick and I at the church.Attachment 505488

Sorry to hear. This’ll make Alice’s Restaurant poignant this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaKIX6oaSLs

you can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant, excepting Alice. RIP

Thanx for this. Sad tho it is.
T'was a great movie to see back in the day.

That's a 60 year friendship. It's a lot of work keeping ties with old friends when life takes you in different directions. Reading Arlo's obit makes me wish I'd done a better job of it.
Glad Arlo is still with us. He had a 50-50 chance of dying young with Huntington's disease.

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Originally Posted by old goat

That's a 60 year friendship. It's a lot of work keeping ties with old friends when life takes you in different directions. Reading Arlo's obit makes me wish I'd done a better job of it.
Glad Arlo is still with us. He had a 50-50 chance of dying young with Huntington's disease.

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Try and maintain the ones you have and even dig up some ld ones.
After the 3rd time I heard a doc in an ER say " you would be dead if not for..." I realized its what matters.
Thanks for the mags that answer the phone when i call

Alices restaurant on Thanksgiving is a favourite tradition

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Originally Posted by old goat

That's a 60 year friendship. It's a lot of work keeping ties with old friends when life takes you in different directions.

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Originally Posted by Woodsy

Try and maintain the ones you have and even dig up some ld ones.

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^ This is the one greatest value of Facebook to me. I recently had a great visit from a friend I first got to know in sixth grade. She contacted me thru FB after who knows how many years, and there are others.

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Originally Posted by Woodsy

Alices restaurant on Thanksgiving is a favourite tradition

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Yep, same.

Condolences to her friends and Family -

"... you can get anything you want
at Alice's Restaurant... "

With love

groupW bench

My parents got me into listening to this.

I'm sure there's a whole bunch of degens here at TRG that belong on the group W bench.

She outlived Obie and became an icon.

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Originally Posted by riser4

My parents got me into listening to this.

I'm sure there's a whole bunch of degens here at TRG that belong on the group W bench.

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I hope I don't know any father rapers.

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Originally Posted by old goat

I hope I don't know any father rapers.

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Hah. Beat me to the punch

PS. We should ride a motor sickle or eat a pickle in honor of Arlo. Great artist. The backstory of Alice is cool. Never knew that.

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it
up and said.

RIP Alice. First heard the song in 1977 and I didn't really get it but I kept listening.

Here in our little corner of VT, we get to see Arlo's grandson, Krishna, play every Monday. Every now and then, he'll play an Arlo song and all us old tired folk will sing along. Wondering what he will do on Monday with Thanksgiving coming up and all....

RIP indeed. Condolences GL

“Alice came by and with a few nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went backto the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat,and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the backof each one, sat down. Man came in said, "All rise." We all stood up,
and Obie stood up with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures, and the judge walked in sat down with a seeing eye dog, and he
sat down, we sat down.

Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog. And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry, 'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it.”

A former colleague and I used to use "27 8x10 color glossy pictures" as code for useless presentations and other similarly useless things. Cracked ourselves up every time.

The 27 8x10 pictures is no joke. I had to testify in the trial of the prisoner who stabbed the prisoner I took care of. 20 stab wounds with a sharpened welding rod, the one potentially lethal one got his subclavian artery and there was 2 liters of blood in his left chest. Before the trial the ADA met with me and showed me the pictures. 20 pictures of the guy in the Vacaville Prison infirmary, taken from every angle, guy on his back, guy rolled to each side, showing each and every stab wound.. In none of the pictures is there an IV, a chest tube, or oxygen (all of which were on the guy when he got to us). They wanted to be sure they had good pictures before they made any effort to treat him. As the ADA told me, "This isn't Perry Mason. This is one no account prisoner stabbed another no account prisoner and nobody cares."

I think it's kinda cool how many of our lives were touched by these people. You can follow Arlo on FB at Rising Son Records, he's full of thoughts and stories.

Remember Alice? Yes, yes we will.

It was a movement for sure.

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Originally Posted by old goat

That's a 60 year friendship. It's a lot of work keeping ties with old friends when life takes you in different directions. Reading Arlo's obit makes me wish I'd done a better job of it.

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Friends will arrive, friends will disappear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbCIEhPaYaw

P.S. For you pickers out there...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsrG6kTVoYM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O6Y2Qohx2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynk1wC1b-EM