Aluminum Christmas Trees: The court hearing is two days after Thanksgiving — which was a Saturday, when most courts do not hold session. However, the contemporary news report◊ in the Berkshire Eagle newspaper states that they were indeed in court on the Saturday.
Awesome Music: Not just the tune itself, but the fact that, in the many decades that he's performed this song, Arlo consistently manages to recite 18+ minutes of dialogue and play an intricate guitar melody without missing a single note! Arlo himself lampshaded this while relating a performance where he forgot the words and just kept playing as he ad libbed.
"I wasn't worried about the guitar playing. I'd learned how to do this and do just about anything: take a bath, eat dinner..."
Can you imagine, three people walking in, singin a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walking out. Then, friends, they may think it's a movement.
Unintentional Period Piece: The song is dated enough to the late 1960s that Guthrie himself felt it was no longer relevant after The Vietnam War ended and quit performing it. He brought it back in 1984 as a protest against the Selective Service system and then settled on putting the song back on his setlists during years ending in the number five to commemorate the anniversary of the events. When he performed it in 1995, he often alluded to how there's likely people in the audience who don't understand the point of the story since they have no memory of the time in which it happened.
Richard Nixon ended the Draft in 1973 and military service in the United States is purely voluntary today.
Bill Clinton significantly reduced restrictions on LGBT people serving in the military with his "Don't ask, don't tell" rule that was introduced in 1994. Barack Obama oversaw its repeal in 2011 and LGBT people can now openly serve in the military.
Arlo mentioning that their use of a VW Microbus to haul the garbage to the dump helps enforce this trope, given how it's widely remembered today as a symbol of 1960s counterculture.
Values Dissonance: Arlo says that if two people sing the song as protest, "they'll think you're a couple of faggots." While his use of the term wasn't considered particularly offensive in 1967, it definitely wouldn't fly today. Guthrie has acknowledged this and has spoken the line differently since he brought the song back in 1984. For example, in his 2005 performance of the song at Farm Aid, he instead says, "I don't know what the policy is, but I guess if you tell them you ain't going!"
◊ in the Berkshire Eagle newspaper states that they were indeed in court on the Saturday.
