By Steve Shay

Folk icon and peace and environmental activist Pete Seeger was honored, not in person, but in spirit on his 90th birthday May 3 to a sell-out croud at the Admiral Theater.

The event was called "For Pete's Sake: Sing!" Some audience members did so, others just clapped, and a few shy ones sat quietly. But all seemed moved by the tribute. It was hosted by West Seattle folk music expert and author, Clay Eals, and opened with a clip he had filmed of Seeger at Seattle's 1997 Northwest Folklife Festival. Sharing the stage was Tom Colwell and his nine-piece Southbound Odyssey band.

Seeger songs performed at the event included "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "If I Had a Hammer," and "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," the controversial song Seeger performed on the Smothers Brothers TV show during the Vietnam war era. It was censored, edited from the show. Seeger was invited back to perform it again due to the insistance of Tom and Dick Smothers.

Seeger tributes were performed May 3 from Australia to New York City. The Big Apple held the whopper, in Madison Square Garden. That's where Seeger performed with Arlo Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Dave Matthews, and other big names whose music was influenced by Seeger.

Back at the Admiral, Tom Colwell's band was followed by the folk band Clellam County. Laura Piece Kelley also performed with song and poetry. Known for her work with at-risk youth, she performed on stage when the Dalai Lama visited Seattle.

"This is just a remarkable evening," said Robert Townsend, executive director of the Northwest Folklife Festival.

He thanked the event of "For Pete's Sake" organizers as some proceeds will benefit his festival.

"By gum where there's a will there's a way, and Dinah and Clay and Tom really pulled this (Seeger concert) together," said Townsend. "The gospel according to Seeger is his great love for participation. There's an opportunity for you to participate at every level at the Folklife Festival."

Eals read a bit of Seeger's gospel.

"Imagine a big seesaw and one end of the seesaw is on the ground with a bag half full of rocks and the other end is up in the air with a basket one quarter full of sand and some of us have teaspoons are trying to fill it with sand and people are laughing at us saying people like you've been trying to do this for thousands of years and it's leaking out as fast as we're putting it in but we're saying we're getting more people with teaspoons and one of these years we'll see the seesaw go 'zwoop' the other direction."