Walden Woods

[DonFan]

I realized that we don't have a Don thread for Walden Woods, the foundation that he founded and is very near and dear to his heart, and this clip about an upcoming charity auction at Walden Woods definitely newsworthy.

Hard to put a dollar amount on a priceless handcrafted piano like this. I just wish I could attend the event!

Custom Steinway Concert Grand Piano to be Auctioned at New York Benefit for Walden Woods
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Some excerpts:

"One Of A Kind Piano Autographed By Billy Joel, Elton John, Emanuel Ax, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Bruce Hornsby, Evgeny Kissin And Barbara Nissman is up for auction to benefit the Walden Woods Project and American Forests.

[...]

Billy Joel will play the Walden Steinway during his performance at the fundraiser/auction. Don Henley will also perform, as will classical pianist Barbara Nissman.

[...]

Naturally felled wood from the area surrounding historic Walden Pond in Massachusetts – the inspiration for the writings of Henry David Thoreau – was used in creating the marquetry (decorative art using in-laid wood) on the piano depicting the flora and fauna of Walden Woods. The piano has a series of plaques surrounding the rim that depict trees and plants that Thoreau wrote about. The legs of the piano are inverted arches that depict Walden Pond with various forms of aquatic life. One of Thoreau’s most well known quotations (“I went to the woods to live deliberately…”) surrounds the upper rim of the piano."

[glenneaglesfan]

My oh my, what a tremendous gift to offer up for auction. Somebody with a conscience and plenty of spare cash is going to win a stunning prize. All credit to those who have contributed - protecting our environment is fundamental to our survival here on this planet.

For people who don't know Walden Woods, here is a link to some photographs.

http://eugeneoh.smugmug.com/gallery/...61890#81461890

[DonFan]

Here is a writeup of last week's Walden charity event from Undercover.com:
-----------------------------------------------------------

Don Henley Walden Piano Pulls in $510k
by Paul Cashmere - October 9 2007

Some excerpts:

"A piano auctioned at the Walden Woods benefit in New York last Thursday earned $510,000 for the charity.

[....]

Henley took to the microphone for 'Come Rain or Come Shine' and 'It Ain't Easy Being Green' and came back later to do a version of 'Georgia On My Mind' which he sang as 'Walden On My Mind'."

-------------------------------------------------------

It sounds like the event was a complete success! I would've loved to have heard Don sing 'Walden on my Mind.'

[sodascouts]

Sounds like a terrific show! And dang, that piano got half a mil! Sweet!

[Fan_For_Life]

It's amazing what your kids can teach you. Or perhaps make you think about.

My son said to me today "Mom you know the only way we're going to be able to see trees in the future?" and I said "how?" and his exact words were "from a cage in a zoo." I laughed at first but then realized what he was saying and you know he's probably right, the only way we'll be able to see trees, someday, is by going to a park/garden.

Has anyone read anything about Henry David Thoreau? I just came across a page(not sure how reliable,) that has quotes by Thoreau and it's almost as if he speaks a different language or perhaps with a different talking sense. Does that make sense, lol?

here's a link: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2734.html

[sodascouts]

When I saw the blurb about Don doing a Walden Woods benefit on this day in 1993, I visited the organization's site on a whim to see if anything was happening. Turns out it's on Facebook! You can find it here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheWaldenWoodsProject

And yes, this thread is ancient, but why start a new thread about a topic when you already have one - even if the last post occurred two years ago? lol

[Troubadour]

Thanks for finding it on FB, Soda - I hadn't thought to search for it there, but I am now a fan!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Former President Clinton will be given an award tomorrow from the Walden Woods Project.

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/07...EkP/story.html

[sodascouts]

I recently bought a DVD called Walden: Ballad of Thoreau thinking I might be able to use it as a teaching tool. It is a two-act play where Thoreau has a conversation with Emerson about why he is living in a cabin in the woods, isolated.

While the playwright is earnest, the play was a disappointment. The writing is amateurish and anachronistic (much is said about "hugging trees"), the relation of Thoreau's ideas is diluted to a great degree by largely unsuccessful attempts at humor (way too much time is spent talking about how lonely he was and how he needed a girlfriend - it got laughs each time it was repeated but it was not very edifying), and the representation of Emerson as a foil who doesn't understand Thoreau's wish to preserve nature - the Emerson character even argues here that nature's destruction is "progress" - is completely inaccurate. Emerson was a founder of the Transcendentalist movement and served as a mentor to Thoreau! The land belonged to Emerson, he was the one who encouraged Thoreau to write, yet here in this play he mocks Thoreau's philosophy and efforts?! Things like that really piss me off, so I won't be using it.

The reason I bring it up here is that there are a couple lines where the Thoreau character tells Emerson that he has a vision of the woods being in danger "many years from now" but they would be "suddenly saved by the song of a great Eagle!" Emerson repeats in astonishment "saved at the hand of a singing Eagle?!" LOL! Not exactly a subtle integration of Henley into the play, but I guess it's the thought that counts.

(Just in case any viewers might not get it, though, the narrator helpfully tells us in the introduction that "you'll hear a reference made to musician Don Henley of the rock group 'The Eagles.' He helped Tom Blanding and others save Walden Woods from developers in the 1990s").

[Houston Baby]

LOL - Wonder if Don has seen that Soda?

I do like the basic plot of the play, too bad it is not good. And it does sound like the playwright does not understand the characters or their beliefs.