Talk:Arlo Guthrie

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Math on siblings doesn't add up

He is the fifth, and oldest surviving, of Woody Guthrie's eight children; two older half-sisters died of Huntington's disease (of which Woody also died in 1967), an older half-brother died in a train accident, another half sister died in a car accident, and a fourth sister died in childhood.

The way this is phrased seems to suggest he's either the 6th oldest (2 sisters, 1 brother, 3rd sister, 4th sister), or, one of his younger siblings passed away and it's unclear that it was a younger sibling.

Not sure which is correct, but either way the math doesn't add up as it's currently written. Pennstatephil (talk) 19:48, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Is "keys" slang for "kilograms of illegal drugs?"

A "diplomatic bag" also called a "diplomatic pouch" is exceptional in that the courier officially transporting it can officially instruct customs agents not to search the diplomatic bag. One of the uses of diplomatic bags is to transport one-time-pads which are cryptographic keys that can only be used once and are used in unbreakable encoded communications. If the seal for the diplomatic bag becomes broken by an unauthorized agent en route, the keys become worthless and are not used. Those hiring couriers generally do not care about the ideological position of the courier, only the courier's reliability in monitoring the untampered condition of the bag. I could imagine the song "Coming into Los Angeles" depicting Arlo Guthrie or one of his friends acting as a diplomatic courier of cryptographic keys. That would make sense of instructing a customs agent not to touch a bag. There would be no sense in someone who is not a diplomatic courier telling a customs agent not to touch a bag that contains a couple of kilograms of illegal drugs. That would be a sure way to be arrested and imprisoned. That some radio stations thought "keys" was slang for "kilograms of illegal drugs" does not prove that slang interpretation. What does Arlo Guthrie say about it? Art Edelstein in the RUTLAND HERALD does not impress me as knowledgeable on this point. Fartherred (talk) 06:10, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

I have removed the disputed section. The source does mention it, but it's an opinion review that is weakly sourced and something Guthrie, as I can recall, has never actually confirmed what it was about or whether it was based on a true story. I'd say it definitely sounds like a coded drug song based on some of his other 1969 songs (and I'm pretty sure he was not a diplomat at the time), but to make that leap would be speculation. It's not important enough to his overall biography that it can't be removed (and probably should be under BLP guidelines). J. Myrle Fuller (talk) 12:49, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

Just as a point of general information, couriers hired to accompany diplomatic pouches are have no need to be diplomats. They get immunity from arrest just as the diplomatic pouch itself is not searched. So, anyone the diplomatic service considers reliable can be hired as a courier. That could conceivably include Arlo Guthrie. Fartherred (talk) 14:07, 26 November 2024 (UTC)