during 1965, guthrie visited his friends alice and ray brock in stockbridge, massachusetts, who lived in an old church, and owned a restaurant. he recorded a musical commercial for the restaurant. when thanksgiving came that year, they invited many people, and afterwards there was a lot of garbage to be picked up and thrown away. guthrie and another friend tried to take the garbage to a dump, but it was closed. they found a large trash pile not far away, and unwisely decided to throw their garbage onto the same pile. (dumping trash where it does not belong is called 'littering' and is a crime in most places.)