Joan Baez earns her singular place in the peace movement

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From left, Colman McCarthy with Joan Baez, Celia Goldfarb and Eddie McCarthy

by Colman McCarthy | Dec. 12, 2016

"Good to be back at the epicenter," called out Joan Baez to a packed audience at a Washington theater a few blocks east of the White House Oct. 16. The gentle wisecrack drew appreciative laughter, much as her singing would evoke gratitude for the next two hours, much as her lifelong commitment to pacifism and nonviolence earned her in a singular place in the American peace movement.

This was about the 20th time Joan and her office manager, Nancy Lutzow, invited me to one of her concerts. Our friendship began in the late 1970s when the capital was a stopover on her returning home to Northern California from concerts in places like Chile, Argentina, North Vietnam, Turkey and other blighted lands where primitivist dictators were caging political prisoners. Joan, a genuine reliable source, supplied me with documentation about their cases. My columns in The Washington Post all but wrote themselves.

In 1986, on her way to visit her son Gabriel at a Boston prep school, Joan stayed in my home before and after speaking to my peace studies class at American University. She also gave a free outdoor concert on the grassy campus quad, packed with students and leaving no room for even the squirrels. A year or so later, Joan comped 30 of my high school students and me for an evening at Constitution Hall and backstage get-together after.

A precedent was set: guest passes for the concerts and visits after. At the recent Washington show, I came with Celia Goldfarb, a senior in my class at Bethesda-Chevy High School in suburban Maryland; her mother, Aviva, a writer of cookbooks and the CEO of The Six O'Clock Scramble, a company that helps overscheduled families enjoy dinners together; and my son Eddie, an athlete who runs the Hamptons Baseball Camp on eastern Long Island.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/joan-baez-earns-her-singular-place-peace-movement