Pete Seeger to receive Gish Prize

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NEW YORK, Aug. 14 (UPI) — U.S. folk musician and human rights activist Pete Seeger has been named the winner of the 2009 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.Seeger, 90, is to be presented with the award at a special outdoor tribute Sept. 3, in the South Bronx’s newly-revitalized Hunts Point Riverside Park, in partnership with Rocking the Boat, a non-profit group that “uses traditional wooden boat-building and on-water education to help young people develop into empowered and responsible adults,” organizers said in a release.

Seeger is expected to be joined at the event by his grandson, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, as well as children who participate in Rocking the Boat programs.

Seeger will receive a $200,000 legacy from silent film stars Dorothy and Lillian Gish, as well as a silver medallion.

In her will, Lillian Gish specified the prize should be awarded annually to “a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life.”

Previous Gish Prize recipients include Robert redford, Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller and Frank Gehry.

“The Gish sisters’ legacy recognizes the power of art to inform, entertain and encourage generation after generation,” Seeger said in a statement.

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The Seegster will no doubt gush.

in very old silent movies. Rather nice to discover another unsung hero on the side of "contributing to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life.” Seeger certainly deserves that honor.

(edit tiny typo)

or at least a good portion of it . . . probably to the CLEARWATER and/or other projects near and dear to him . . . he's like that . . . for years, most of the concerts he did were benefits for one cause or another . . . whenever the bank account got too low, Toshi would tell him to go do a concert at UCLA (or some other large venue) and bring her the check . . . :)