I wanted to let you know that your students are teaching new students all the time, as if you didn't know. But here's a fine example.

Mark, youtube handle mjtracy posted a video a while back, in which he gives a workshop on 'Cluck old hen' and the various exercises you can use with this song.

Well, I stumbled across that and used it to teach myself 'Cluck old hen' that same evening!

Thanks Mark and Patrick! Now I have to teach these same techniques to someone else!

It's funny.  I love playing in this band so much that I don't even really miss playing solo or miss my previous band.  I don't feel held back by this band and I feel like I can just be myself.  Everyone works equally as hard and everyone contributes.  It's such a great feeling.  They constantly encourage and inspire me and I feel like we encourage and inspire each other as musicians and as people.  This is something I didn't experience my past endeavors.  In all honesty, I feel I have waiting all my life to play with these people.  If it were to all end tomorrow, I would feel like I have succeeded in truly doing what I've always wanted to do with my music.

Once again, thank you all so much to each and every one of you who came out to show you're support on our big debut at The Cave on May 1st.  After taking a week off, we regrouped last night to work on two new songs for the set and I have to say that it went incredibly well.  We had a blast and we were so excited to be working on new material (one cover and one new original).

Our next show is on Friday, May 30th.  We were invited to perform with our good friends Birds & Arrows a the Open Eye Cafe and we couldn't be more excited.  We had so much fun w/ them last time and this time should be no different.  We'll post details as soon as we get them so stay tuned!

Until next time, keep on smilin'!

Here's a goofy clip I found on YouTube of Harry Smith rolling a fatty while discussing synchronicity, spiritualism and mediumship. He concludes by threatening to burn a witch.

I wish I could find this in some kind of context...

Father Keith posted:

The UK Retreat is off the ground - Whirlow Grange in Sheffield is now booked for 5-7 December 2008, which was the only weekend when all the accommodation was available, but at least it gives us plenty of time to save up and get some practice in, as well as avoiding the holiday season.

I've reserved 30 rooms for accomodation, and there is a selection of rooms avalable to use for jamming. There is a big non residential group in for a meal on the saturday evening so the largest of the rooms will be unavailable to us then, but apart from that they're pretty flexible and we'll probably break up into smaller groups anyway. (I like the sound of the garden room).

It's down to us to work out the format between us - nobody will be organising us or telling us what to do. It will just be a great opportunity to relax and have fun sharing music. It might be a good idea if we put together 'core' set of songs that we can all at least be familiar with though.

This is great news. Dear Old Dad and I hope that all of our folks overseas get involved and support this event.

peace,
Jen, John, George and Rob

Celtic Thunder.

(Click on the image to visit the offical webpage)

This post is still worked on, it will certainly take some further time. Feel free to browse through the other posts while waiting... greetings, ikarusvpn.

Again there was lots of curiosity about my pochette fiddle - playing the sessions is certainly a great way to meet people - and several recommended that I came along tonight to the McGinty's pub - so, yes I'll be there. Rob, one of the musicians even offered to bring along a spare violin as he found my pochette a little quiet at the session. And at the end of the evening I was given a lift back to the hotel.

At the end of the session I stopped and chatted with Brendan Mulvihill about Australia, the fiddle, the craic and Irish music - and I've told him the tea kettle's always on if he should ever visit Canberra. Truly a great night

Cheers
Jerry

For more, read Politico.

West Virginians head to the polls today, and Hillary Clinton thinks it’ll be a “crucial turning point.”  Barack Obama isn’t even speaking tonight.  Oh, and Nebraskans have a primary today, too.

Yaar, 'twas a dark and stormy night!  Not really, it was quite pleasant and sunny even though it was the evening.  The gig room was also rather warm and sweaty, slightly moreso than the classiness of the place demanded but not nearly as much as the sleazy dives you can often find me in.

My attention was interrupted by three men appearing on stage; Benji Kirkpatrick, Paul Sartin and Saul Rose.  A brief introduction before their first song was the least time they spent talking without playing all evening, with banter bounding cheerfully back and forth between the members, albeit heading slightly into the realms of bullying Benji.

For those of you who've never heard Faustus they play traditional English songs and tunes mixed with their own interpretive slants.  The result is a mesmerising spectacle switching between hypnotic tales and jaunty jigs; their outstanding musicianship is coupled by superb vocal solos and harmonies.  Some of the songs have been passed down through the families of the band members, others are traditional songs from their home counties.

The overall performance was superb, with a broken melodian failing to stop any of the proceedings and with an impromptu solo rendition from Saul Rose of the theme tune from Rainbow.  The sound was great too with everything clearly audible and at a nice volume.

Faustus are rumoured to be making an appearance at Union Chapel tomorrow night (Wed 14th May) at Spiers & Boden's launch for their new album, Vagabond.  Be there if you can!

The Slaughtered Lamb
34-35 Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 0DX

If you've never been to this venue before, don't make the same mistake I did and trust your friend when he tells you he knows where it is.  The erratic path we trod in pursuit of the stationary venue, however, was certainly worth the hassle and upon our entrance we were greeted by friendly bar staff who were all to happy to supply us with the beer we so craved (a couple of decent ales were available which is always good to see).

Downstairs in the gig room the atmosphere is very warm, as was the temperature given the weather.  Lavish sofas furnish the place in contrast to the black brick walls creating a very interesting live/dead acoustic.  The bar is shut during performances, a musician's dream but an alcoholic's nightmare (leaving me somewhere in the middle).

The night itself was run by Will from electroacoustic, a pleasant chap with a fantastic gig evening.  As the name suggests they put on electronica acts too and there is a wide, varied range of music that gets played at the Lamb.  Forthcoming artists performing there include Blue Rose Code, Mary Hampton and Lau's own launch party taking place on the 3rd and 4th of June.

Think you can do better gig reviews than this?  So do I!  If you've got any gigs you've particularly liked then let me know.  In fact if you've got any other interesting news, let me know too at street.team@properdistribution.co.uk.  You can also sign up to our street team here!  You get to go to gigs for free and get free CDs too!

[audio="http://www.archive.org/download/DChordWorkshop/Dchord_64kb.mp3"]

http://www.archive.org/details/DChordWorkshop

The tab file/chord diagrams for this workshop:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcfjm9ch_102dm4hbxg9
http://www.archive.org/download/DChordWorkshop/DChordWorkshop.pdf

You probably don't know Jack Williams, or his music, unless you've been lucky enough to catch one of his house concerts or folk festival appearances at places like Kerrville or Folk Alliance. That's probably okay with Williams, who long ago traded aspirations of rock 'n' roll stardom for the life of an itinerant working musician. After many years of traveling with rock bands, jazz combos, playing anywhere he could get paid to play music, Williams took a detour into folk music with his 1997 album Across the Winterline, which in retrospect has become a template for everything he's done since. Don't Let Go, Williams' new CD on the Wind River label, is the first exception to what has been an impressive run of acoustic folk/blues albums filled with Williams' own vividly articulated song narratives. The collection features Williams and his usual band of acoustic musicians (which has remained remarkably constant since 1997) trotting out a batch of other people's songs, with the thematic connection that they're all songs by artists that had a profound effect on Williams' own career and musical style. Ray Charles, The Band, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Butler, Hank Williams, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, and Procol Harum all make this list, with some songs that will be familiar standards and others more obscure but equally rich gems.

“Every time I made another album of original tunes I knew I would someday pay homage to the artists, writers and styles which were the origins of my own music,” Williams says, “Over many years, I imagined the songs which would be included, songs which had a profound impact on how I would write and perform my own music. I knew it was coming, and I've planned it for a long time. I'm thrilled that I've actually done it, and I'm happy with the result.”

Williams is possibly unique in the folk music world, in that he didn't grow up within its sometimes limiting confines. His years of apprenticeship in other disciplines fed into a musical vocabulary that surfaces time and time again in his own songs, and it is revealing to hear the direct links where some of that inspiration came from.

'It has always been important to me to let listeners know where my music came from,” Williams says. “Especially in workshops and retreats where I try to help musicians develop their own music, I've realized the importance of showing guitarists that good guitar music can be created without necessarily studying guitar music, that songs can be written without studying the work of songwriters, and great music can be created without modeling it on any one particular instrument, sound or style.” It was this wide-ranging and open minded musical worldview that indirectly resulted in the new CD, Williams reveals.

“In my performances, I often talk about and explore my eclectic background in a "stream-of-consciousness" medley which wanders through the musical styles which influenced me,” He says, “The ever-growing medley inspired me to finally record the tribute album.”'

Just like somebody with a large record collection can have difficulty sometimes in deciding what to listen to, given the sheer breadth of possibilities ( Not to mention those who in this digital age may have thousands upon thousands of songs on their iPod alone), one might imagine that it was a tough job to determine what songs to choose for a retrospective of one's own taste in music.

“Some songs were unavoidable, in that they--perhaps as much as the writers or performers--brought about some major change or growth in my approach to music,” Williams says. “Sometimes the selection was extremely difficult, especially when I had been drawing from a writer or artist's large output--as with Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Hank Williams, The Band, and Jesse Winchester. Since I've performed hundreds of songs written by these folks, I had a hard time choosing just one. Ray Charles loomed so large in my growth that he is represented by more than the single song, "Hallelujah I Love Her So." It was his interpretation of "Come Rain Or Come Shine,” and "That Lucky Old Sun" which taught me how I wanted to sing them, even though I had learned the songs from earlier performances by others like Frankie Laine.” NOt every decision was an agonizing one, though, Williams says.

“Some songs were obvious--in the case of "A Salty Dog", the fact that such a song could exist had a powerful impact on me, even if there were no "Procol Harum". I had half-a-dozen Doo-Wop songs which I had to choose from, songs which my early bands had played and had such a great time singing. The title song, "Don't Let Go" - sung by my hero Roy Hamilton, has always been on the list, along with "Aunt Hagar's Blues", "He Will Break Your Heart", "Wish I Was (A Willow Tree)", "The Heart of Saturday Night", "Bye Bye Blackbird", and one or two more. There were a handful of great instrumentals from the 50s which were difficult to choose from, but I settled on Percy Faith's "Delicado" even though I considered "Blue Tango", "The Third Man Theme", and many others, and ending with "Rebel Rouser" was a no-brainer for me.”

What makes the collection hang together as a Jack Williams album is the fact that he used the same instrumental ensemble as he has on his sets of original music. Dubbed “The Winterline Band,” sometimes, in reference to the Williams album they played on first, their acoustic nature--banjo, fiddle, mandolin, upright bass--accentuates Williams' own exceptional skills on guitar. They're also accomplished enough to make the transitions required here from rock to jazz to country and back, without sounding out of their depth or inappropriate for the material. Williams admits he considered bringing in some musical ringers and expanding some arrangements to fit the songs.

“I considered it, but not for long,” Williams says. “I believed duplicating the sound and ensemble which would be expected for such songs would, to me, have made them more commonplace. So I decided to play them with my usual group of musical friends, in part to let it be known that good music doesn't always require a specific ensemble in order to make it effective. One of my favorite tracks on the album is George Shearing's "Lullaby of Birdland". The cynical ear might hear this version - and other arrangements on the CD as parodies, but they aren't. I recorded this one in a straight-forward manner, with love, thinking of jazz in the way I had played it in the 50s and 60s, and even did my best to improvise vocally in a manner which represented my old style, since having lost my "trumpet-lip", I could hardly play the piece the way I did years ago. In a jazz ensemble, I would've had a couple of other instruments - sax, trombone, etc - play "accents" against the melody and harmonize the bridge. Having the highly-unlikely jazz instruments, banjo and mandolin, available for the task, I created parts for them which were the same as I'd have written for horns. "King Harvest", by my favorite rock group, The Band, is equally satisfying to me without electric guitar, organ, piano, and drums. Much music is created specifically for the ensemble, but the best song songs are created for their own sake, which works for me in this setting. Also, a symphony orchestra backing a rock band is definitely not required to effectively perform "A Salty Dog". And, having an ensemble of instruments usually found in a bluegrass ensemble play Doo-Wop, is both amusing and immensely satisfying musically.”

One of Williams' longest lasting musical partnerships was serving as the accompanist to Mickey Newbury in the years preceding that great songwriter's passing, and there is a Newbury song included here, “Wish I Was (A Willow Tree).” To hear Jack tell it, his choices for a tribute to his old friend were limited.

“Mickey wrote his songs with his beautiful voice as a tool, and he wrote them for that voice,” Williams says, “Fortunately, his songs were written in a simple melodic style which made them accessible to other singers who were also possessed of strong voices. However, not having been born with the necessary set of pipes, I gave up on many attempts to sing his songs because I didn't find musical satisfaction in my performance of them. I found that I was, however, able to perform three Mickey Newbury songs out of the hundreds that I played with him on guitar: "Why You Been Gone So Long" (which Williams has recorded previously), "East Kentucky", and "Wish I Was (a Willow Tree)".”

Anyone familiar with Williams' own original music can certainly hear the elements of artists like Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, and even Jesse Winchester present in his music, but the inclusion of songs associated with Sinatra and some others are harder to infer. Williams sees it as not just the obvious influences that shaped his music but the totality of his life experience, which includes fifty years in the business of playing music.

“I know many musicians and writers today who draw only from their experience with contemporary artists and writers, but who rarely look back into our collective musical past for inspiration,” He says. “I meet many aspiring writers and musicians in workshops who tell me that they'd like to write or play as I do. I express the impossibility by telling them that, in order to accomplish this, they'd have to start from scratch, live my 64 years, listen to many many different forms of music and try their hand at playing them--jazz, rock, classical, R&B, country, bluegrass, Latin, etc. I was raised listening to everything from the Dorsey Brothers and the pop tunes of the mid-40s to Brahms, Mozart and Chopin. I was fortunate to have grown up with none of the pressures of today's corporate music-biz to lead me down a narrow path. I played folk songs on the ukelele from the time I was four, pop and classical piano from age six, jazz (and rock) on the trumpet from age nine, and then I discovered the guitar at age fifteen and used it to play more styles than just the rock and roll which I'd discovered could earn money--and eventually a living. I'm so grateful I felt no peer-pressure to listen to only what was "cool" at any given time. I'm sure in the 50s and early 60s I was considered the supreme "nerd" for openly enjoying musical styles which weren't on every kid's radio, but I was given a "pass" because I played rock guitar. How grateful I am that I not only enjoyed that music, but that I tried my best to play it all. "Rebel Rouser"? What 16-year-old guitarist wouldn't be profoundly affected by that magical 50s stuff? Charlie Parker? Sharply attuned to musicality-plus-virtuosity, I was simply moved and astounded by what I heard in his music, and that of Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Mingus and even the earlier Dixieland players, especially Louis Armstrong. Frank Sinatra? That was a hard choice. I chose one song which was a hit for him because it represented an era and an easy style which affected me strongly. In fact, my choosing "Young at Heart" was a way to pay homage to two influences: Sinatra and my late friend, Harry Nilsson, who redefined the song in his latter-day version. Perhaps I would feel as lost as some of the young writer/performers I know today if I hadn't embraced all the music which surrounded me in my life, lost and without a clear direction toward a satisfying musical style drawn from the love for and involvement with the many facets of popular music of the 20th Century.”

As a songwriter, a self-described music lover, and experienced performer, Williams is hesitant when asked what he considers are the qualities of a “good” song.
“We're headed into extremely subjective territory here,” He says when the question comes up. “Please bear in mind that my tastes in music have become totally non-representative of the tastes of our times, and even of the tastes of many of my songwriting colleagues. Nowadays, there is a premium placed on the "craft" of songwriting. Many listeners have "learned to hear" the fine-tuned craftmanship and economy of a "song well-written". Many of these listeners, in turning their attention toward these somewhat technical facets of writing have come to ignore-- or forget, over-rule, or suppress--what I regard as the more important, less-obvious elements of a "good song". Less obvious also means "less-identifiable", unfortunately, for a coherent answer to the question. Song by song is the best approach, rather than some hastily-assembled set of criteria for a "good song".

I'll begin by saying that, although I admire an artist's high level of technical skill in writing or performing, this, as an end in itself, is extremely unsatisfying to me. As a good friend and music-writer once wrote about my music, "He'd rather move you than dazzle you". I'd rather be moved by a piece of music than dazzled. Also, I'm rarely moved by a piece or song which lacks in true melodic content. Thus, you have my choices of the inspirational and ultimately emotionally satisfying "Biloxi", "The Heart of Saturday Night", "Tomorrow Is Such a Long Time", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "A Salty Dog", "Wish I Was", and "Bye Bye Blackbird". Maybe, with the aid of an archaeologist's or jeweler's tools, we might scratch the surface of what moves me (or anyone else) about these songs. For most of them, simplicity is the biggest culprit. But simplicity certainly isn't enough. I think what makes a song great is the mindful expression of a combination of the deep personal experiences and sharpest observations during a writer's life, recalled through the long, loving development of the artistic skills necessary for true, free, direct and simple self-expression.

Other songs included on the album I considered "memorable" and "good" for other reasons. Most are just supremely enjoyable to perform and hear: "Sittin' On Top of the World", for example. I haven't a clue what makes this song so infectious and so memorable. Whatever magic it contains drove the Mississippi Sheiks, Bill Monroe, Cream, Dylan, Bryan Bowers, and hundreds of others to record it. It was so powerful that it drove many writers to later "steal" its melodic ideas and form to create new songs. I'm still baffled by the magic of Hank Williams' songs. I love playing Ray Charles' songs as much as I enjoy hearing them played. Great jazz pieces lend themselves to melodic, rhythmic and chordal exploration by each new player or group. Thus, it was a challenge, great fun, and untimately satisfying to create an arrangement of "Lullaby of Birdland" for a truly odd-ball "jazz" ensemble, and still try to perform it honestly.

Some songs completely ignore "how things are done" and take their own adventurous ways. W.C. Handy's "Aunt Hagar's Blues" was just great to play in a Dixieland band and lent itself, remarkably, to a new setting with only guitar and gospel-style voices. Handy had no pressures to keep him from doing wonderfully different things - chordally and lyrically - with his songs, and "Aunt Hagar" is my favorite of these, a song which reminds a writer that there are no rules and offers permission to be adventurous.

Other songs just contain their own magic and, to some ears, are simply irresistible. Musicians are frequently drawn back in time to play new versions of Jerry Butler's "He Will Break Your Heart", or "Gotta Travel On", or Roy Hamilton's "Don't Let Go". Simple, and even mindless lyrics, can, in the right setting and attitude, be fulfilling and inexplicably meaningful, whether or not they are well crafted.”

Suffice it to say, there isn't a note on a Jack Williams CD that isn't “well crafted” in every sense of the word--emotional, exceptional, musical, inspirational--that he can come up with. For a sense of where he's coming from, see the new CD, Don't Let Go, and if this is your first exposure to his half-century of accumulated musical knowledge, do yourself a favor and seek out his other albums as well.

          It was 1985.  I was at the hospital, being wheeled into the operating room for an elective surgery that was more annoying than critical.  Through the powers of my persuasion (a dangerous substance - to be used only in small doses) - I had convinced the staff to let me listen to some music on my headset before the anesthesia kicked in.  This is what I heard -

**********

He Was In Heaven Before He Died *
©John Prine 

There’s a rainbow of babies
Draped over the graveyard
Where all the dead sailors
Wait for their brides
And the cold bitter snow
Has strangled each grassblade
Where the salt from their tears
Washed out with the tide

Chorus
And I smiled on the Wabash
The last time I passed it
Yes I gave her a wink
From the passenger side
And my foot fell asleep
As I swallowed my candy
Knowing he was in heaven
Before he died

Now the harbor’s on fire
With the dreams and desires
Of a thousand young poets
Who failed ’cause they tried
For a rhyme without reason
Floats down to the bottom
Where the scavengers eat ‘em
And wash in with the tide

Repeat Chorus:

The sun can play tricks
With your eyes on the highway
The moon can lay sideways
Till the ocean stands still
But a person can’t tell
His best friend he loves him
Till time has stopped breathing
You’re alone on the hill

Repeat Chorus:

**********

          I woke up with the words still gently caressing my mind.  The surgery was over.  God was in this place, and all was well with the world.  I felt blessed by the life I had been given. 

          Who would have thought rectal surgery could be so reassuring?

          { For more Prine info, check out the John Prine Shrine.  Music and other materials can be purchased at OhBoy Records .}

{originally published April 9, 2007 in Necessary Therapy}

Jesus Christ was a man who traveled through the land
A hard-working man and brave
He said to the rich, "Give your money to the poor,"
But they laid Jesus Christ in His grave

Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand
His followers true and brave
One dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot
Has laid Jesus Christ in His Grave

He went to the preacher, He went to the sheriff
He told them all the same
"Sell all of your jewelry and give it to the poor,"
And they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.

When Jesus come to town, all the working folks around
Believed what he did say
But the bankers and the preachers, they nailed Him on the cross,
And they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.

And the people held their breath when they heard about his death
Everybody wondered why
It was the big landlord and the soldiers that they hired
To nail Jesus Christ in the sky

This song was written in New York City
Of rich man, preacher, and slave
If Jesus was to preach what He preached in Galilee,
They would lay poor Jesus in His grave.

I suppose some might say that this is how you would expect a leftist folk-singer to characterize Jesus. But what's wrong with it? Guthrie seems to capture what Jesus said in his earthly ministry quite well.

Exhuming Bob IX

Chronicles I

Pensees 5

by

R.E. Prindle

     Larry Sloman has an interesting interview with Mike Bloomfield in his On The Road With Bob Dylan of 1978.  It takes up twelve pages- 286-297- of the 2002 Revised Edition.

     Mike Bloomfield was, or course, the White Southside Chicago Blues guitarist who rose to fame as the lead guitarist of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.  Butterfield's LP East-West was one of the seminal records of the sixties.  If you're hip and don't know the record, you should take care of that as soon as possible.

     The interview was interesting in a number of ways.  Bloomfield as a Jew 'hanging out with the niggers' on the Southside as he puts it, his rather surprising attitude toward Blacks and his opinions on Dylan.

     Born in '43 Bloomfield was two years younger than Dylan thus his mind was more malleable to the propaganda of the fifties as he turned fifteen only in '58, graduating, if he did, in '61.  The tremendous persecution indoctrination and conditioning of the mid to late fifties in the Jewish community would likely have influenced his mental state more profoundly than Dylan's.

     The Jewish community has always been affected by the Negro mental situation.  A low down Jew in his own community was frequently designated a 'nigger' often carrying the nickname of Nig or Big Nig.  Sloman, also a Jew, repeatedly refers to himself as the 'nigger' of the tour while designating Ronee Blaklee as his female nigger counterpart.

     While not having enough information to diagnose Bloomfield's mental state nevertheless since he abjured the White world for the Black world of the Blues it would seem that he interpreted the intense Jewish indoctrination as meaning that since the world hated the Jews only because they were Jews that the Jews were no better than the 'niggers' and that he should go live with them.  The psychological conditioning young Jews went through in the fifties was just horrid in the effects on their psyches.  Really crazy stuff.

     So, while feeling no better than the Blacks Bloomfield at the same time recognized his separateness, difference and apparent inferiority.

     This was certainly different than the image being projected to the equally impressionable youth of America who through musicians like Bloomfield reverenced the Negro.  In fact Bloomfield was a perfect catalogue of prejudices if one looks at it that way.  Another way of looking at it is that having had close contact with the various cultures he had a clear idea of their characteristics as compared to the Jews and Whites.

     Still, at Newport he was scandalized by Peter Seeger's behavior.  Quite clearly Bloomfield was not your typical White Liberal.  p. 291-292:

     To play with anyone at a folk festival, I would have plugged my guitar into Pete Seeger's tuchus, really man, and put a fuzz tone on his peter.  You know what fucking Pete Seeger was doing?  He brought a whole bunch of schwartzes from a chain gain to beat on a log and sing schwartze songs, chain gang songs, and he was doing that, can you believe this guy?  Here's a white guy, got money, married to a Japanese woman, beating on a log with schwartzes singing 'All I hate about lining track, whack, this old chain gang gwine break my back,  actually saying 'gwine', whack and Seeger's doing this and he's pissed off at us for bringing electric guitars to the fucking folk festival!  He brings murderers from a schwartze prison to beat on a log!  Oh, I couldn't believer how fucking crazy it was!

     Schwartze italicized in the original, of course, is Yiddish for nigger.  The above is terrific scene painting that represents  about how probably 90% of America at the time would have perceived the scene.  Seeger was a Liberal Commie Red American living this incredible fantasy life in which he was the star of his own movie in which there were no consequences while the plot is perpetually arranged  to suit his convenience.

     This was the beginning of the period when White Americans believed themselves in control of the destinies of the people of the world.  Kennedy had just created the Peace Corps under whose auspices raw youths with no worldly experience were sent out into the world to supposedly tell forty and fifty year old men and women that they were doing everything wrong and these mere kids were going to tell them how to do it right.  I can't tell you how the concept boggled my mind.  Seeger married to a Japanese while calling these Negros cons to Newport to play chain gang songs is actually treating these people as though they were his toys.  The arrogance of this Liberal so-called peace-loving, people-loving creep is amazing.

     As Bloomfield says, Seeger came unglued over the violation of his fantasy when electricity was introduced into his rural pre-Civil War fantasy while idolizing Negro murderers that he had had released from prison for the weekend.  Imagine, for his convenience without any regard for the feelings of the prisoners he had done that.  Then he has them perform a scenario where they are beating on a hollow log as caricatures of themselves of a century earlier singing railroad songs that hadn't had any relevance for at least fifty years. 

     Obviously Bloomfield while he had some fantasy that he was a psychological nigger who was at home on the Southside still longed to be Uptown with the White folks.  Hence he is so scandalized that Seeger, a man with money, in other words, while Seeger didn't have to play with schwartzes was actually, and here Mike's incredulity is palpable, singing Negro dialect like 'gwine' and going whack.

     I mean, in Seeger's incredible movie life he's got a Japanese wife and everything, bank account.  If he tires of that fantasy he dumps her and marries a - whatever, whoever the film running through the sprockets of his mind fancies.  I mean, the guy's got a long lead between second and third out on the grass and nobody's even running him down.  Bloomfield is completely flabbergasted.

     And then Dylan is toying with him and he does know that.  Dylan comes to Chicago right after the first album, Bloomfield grabs his guitar, just like in Crossroads, intending to cut Dylan down which he can do with ease and cutting is done everyday in Chicago so it is legit.  Dylan must have blanched with fear knowing Mike could do it.  Now, remember this is an intra-Jewish thing.  Rather than risk embarrassment Bob abases himself and charms Mike into believing they are friends.  Deceived, Mike lets Bob off.

     Now safely back in New York Dylan calls Bloomfield to ask him if he wants to play on Highway 61, the most vengeful record ever recorded.  Bloomfield accepts showing up in the enemy's camp at Woodstock.  Now Dylan insults Bloomfield and strips him of his dangerous skills.  Bob says:  'I don't want you to play any of that B.B. King shit, none of that fucking blues I want you to play something else.'  so we fooled around and finally played something he liked, it was very weird...'

     So Bob makes himself superior by taking away Bloomfield's identity (I had to change their faces and give them all brand new names) but he takes the trouble to actually teach Bloomfield the songs because he is going to need him.

     I have to give Bob credit for being an improvisational genius.  At the Highway 61 session he and Mike are the only guys who know what they're doing while the other musicians are keying to them.  The result in my estimation is sensational.  As a musician Bloomfield didn't think much of it but as a listener without those kinds of professional prejudices the result is astonishing.  To be sure the sound is not as tight as a Johnny Rivers record but that is its genius.

     Bob assumes that Bloomfield knows he is now Bob's shadow or guitar player.  When Mike goes with Butterfield Bob feels rejected.  When Bob's feelings are hurt Bob gets revenge.  A number of years later Bob asks Mike to play on Blood On The Tracks This time he doesn't need Mike so harking back to their first encounter in Chicago he roars through the songs in one tuning so fast Bloomfield can't keep up.  Bob has cut Bloomfield as Mike had meant to cut him.  Bob walks out, king of the Crossroads.  Bob has 'proved' himself the better musician.  End of that story.  Bloomfield ODed a few years later.

     At one point Sloman asks Mike 'What was he like?'  pp. 286-287:

     "There was this frozen guy there," Bloomfield says.  "It was very disconcerting.  It leads you to think, if I hadn't spent some time in the last ten or eleven years with Bob that were extremely pleasant, where I got the hippie intuition that this was a very, very special and, in some ways, an extremely warm and perceptive human being, I would now say that this dude is a stone prick.'

     Bloomfield then describes Dylan in conjunction with Neuwirth and Albert Grossman holding themselves aloof from others while indulging in savage put downs of anyone and everyone.  Bob in fact was a stone prick.  The question is why?

     After this introduction to the problem , in Pensee 6 I will return to the root of the problem built around Bob's reverence for Mike Seeger.

Tashi Lhunpo Monks

Dawn Till Dusk

(World)

Various (Soundway)

Nigeria Rock Special (CD)

Nigeria Rock Special (LP)

(World)

Faustus

Faustus

(Folk)

Marcos Valle

Carioca Soul - The Best Of

(World)

Once again an array of excellent titles puts me in a quandry of which to recommend. So this week, I'm going to say all of them!

The American "primitive" guitar virtuoso performs one of my favorite pieces, On the Sunny Side of the Ocean.

In the above video, you can hear some of Fahey's influence on Ben Chasny who is Six Organs of Admittance as well as a member of Comets on Fire and Badgerlore. The Six Organs album The Sun Awakens is magnificent.

Jack Rose, a more direct Fahey disciple, absolutely rules in this video from Berlin.

Lori's Life Transgender Episode 15 - MARI AND ABBY

I wanted to introduce you to two people on the blogroll, one of whom has been quite active around these neck of the woods lately (and I like it!).

Mari and Abby paid a visit to Tucson last week to attend the Tucson Folk Music Festival, and I had the opportunity to get out of the house and catch some great tunes with some terrific friends that evening.

Hope you like.
Lori

Tags: transgender, transsexual, mari, abby, tucson, folk music, epic cafe, gender, prescott, las vegas, qsquaredyouth,

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10 posts in the last 23 days.

Remember "Lean In For A Kiss" is still available free on eFolkMusic.

Click here to get the music

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Check out Nathan Pacheco!

He's going to be a worldwide sensation.

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Rock On, Robin Roberts April 22, 2008

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The Country Bunny Crossed the River Jordan and Came Back With Essential Salts From the Dead Sea April 22, 2008

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Talent, Violin, Juilliard, Paranoia, Rage, Trumpet, Untreated Mental Illness … the story was on NPR’s Fresh Air today April 22, 2008

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Day of Silence April 25, 2008 - Watch Larry King’s Public Service Announcement April 24, 2008

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Top Three Today - Posts, Searches, Most Active April 24, 2008

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Gay PDA on 20/20 … compares public reactions to pda by straights and gays (man-woman, man-man, woman-woman) April 28, 2008

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More Must-See Videos: Stroke/Jill Bolte Taylor, Civil Rights/Dare Not Walk Alone, Self Portraits/Elephant Artisans, Documentary/Story of Stuff, Ellen/”This is personal to me.” May 3, 2008

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And to think I thought that when I moved to North Carolina I would miss the constant wind in Oklahoma. May 9, 2008

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Nathan Pacheco: The Man With the Beautiful Voice Writes and Performs With Yanni May 9, 2008

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Minstrel Boy’s Great Blue Heron May 11, 2008

When I was a kid, my parents had an LP of The Seekers, an Australian group who popularized the folk dirge. Maracas were an integral part of the group's percussive strategy. ‘The Best of the Seekers’ featured classics such as ‘I’ll Never Find Another You’, ‘A World Of Our Own’, ‘Morningtown Ride’, and ‘Georgy Girl’:-

When I was a little girl, I used to look wistfully at the cover of this LP innocently lusting after style like Judith Durham’s. At the age of six, I thought the guy on the left was quite the fox. I used to listen to the LP over and over, and drop the needle repeatedly to the start of ‘The Carnival is Over’, the lyrics of which go:-

‘Now the harbour light is calling
This will be our last goodbye
Though the carnival is over
I will love you till I die’

I used to weep for the impossible love between the one-armed strong man and the bearded lady.

You can imagine my joy when I came across a Seekers CD on sale in Christchurch Airport last Tuesday. As soon as we got home, I put it in the stereo and turned the volume up full.

“What did I do?” asked Andrew plaintively, in a quiet moment between ‘Open Up Them Pearly Gates’, and ‘Red Rubber Ball’.

“What?”

“I must have done something wrong for you to be torturing me like this. Are my ears bleeding?”

“These are CLASSIC SONGS!” I said, and I told him the story of my parents’ Seekers LP and Judith Durham’s dress with the bow and the frills and her satin shoes.

“I can just imagine your parents listening to this,” Andrew muttered darkly.

“What’s THAT supposed to mean?”

“Just that it’s the sort of music they’d listen to.”

“Well they did, and so did your wife, and now you’re listening to it too. Ooh, I love this one!
‘But if I should lose your love, dear
I don't know what I'd do
For I know I'll never find another you-ooo-ooo!’”

Andrew stared at me in horror.

Regrettably, the Seekers declined in popularity because they weren’t raunchy enough for the seventies. This picture goes a long way towards explaining why:-

{first published March 25, 2007 in Necessary Therapy}

          Yesterday, a song was running through my head -  Kris Kristopherson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down”.   It took me back 20 years, when my life was a lot like that song.  I was 21, working six days a week at a plastics factory, living alone, and staying out too late with people who had about as little ambition as me.  I hated Sundays.

Well I woke up Sunday morning
 With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt
 And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad
 So I had one more for desert

          I slept on a musty mattress on the floor, had a milk crate that doubled as a kitchen table and typing desk and bought my clothes from the Salvation Army.

Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes
And I shaved my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

          Each Saturday night I traveled about 20 miles to the nearest college town where I could meet up with some friends, go to a bar and listen to bands (mostly upper middle class white kids) screaming about how awful life is.  Then I would go alone to hear the Blues or lonesome, low-down Country while lighting one cigarette off another.

I’d smoked my brain the night before
With cigarettes and songs that I’ve been pickin
My mouth was like an empty ashtray I’d been lickin’
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Cussin at a can that he was kicking.

          Sunday again.  Sunday, when I would watch the world go by and sometimes wonder why I wasn’t in it.

Then I crossed the empty street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken
And it took me back to something
That I’d lost somehow somewhere along the way.

          Life wasn’t always this way.  Especially not Sundays.  In high school, I had great friends and was part of a thriving youth group with a dynamic leader who shared with me the love of Christ.  I came to believe and it carried me through rough times.  But I didn’t hang on.

          Faith can be fickle, at least the faith I had then.

On the Sunday morning sidewalks
Wishing Lord, that I was stoned
Cause there’s something in a Sunday
Makes a body feel alone
And there’s nothin short of dyin
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleepin city sidewalk
Sunday morning coming down.

          Sunday morning, clothed in a Salvation Army topcoat, head covered by a Jim Beam hat (with maybe even a fifth in my pocket), I went to the park, and just like the song says. 

In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl who he was swingin

          I smiled.  Life can be good.  Maybe not my life.  Maybe not yet.  But maybe it could be.  There’s always hope.  Always. I started looking for the faith I thought I’d lost.

And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the song what they were singin
Then I headed back for home
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin
And it echoed through the canyons
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.

          I may have headed home that day. But, not long after that, I was drawn into a country church (with a bell no less).  I still smelled of smoke and wore that Salvation Army topcoat (though I left behind my Jim Beam hat and my pockets carried only my offering).  Those simple, faithful, wonderful Christians welcomed me home.

          I don’t listen to Kris Kristopherson much anymore.  But I still have faith.  I go to church every Sunday (in fact, get paid to do it).  And each week I pray someone out there in the world might let go of the loneliness of their days going down and look forward to Sunday morning coming ’round.

I know you know that it's Bob Dylan's 67th birthday Saturday, May 24th.

Everyone is invited to the Six Steps Down Bookstore/Bookstore on West 25th Saturday, May 24th from 1:00 to 3:00 and then to the Barking Spider Tavern from 4:30 to 7:00 for a celebration of the great man and his music.

Don't miss this one. See you there!!
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My good friend Jim Schafer sent me this one. I think it applies to folk musicians too...

Why I Love Jazz Musicians (from the perspective of a club owner)

Jazz Musicians - love to play, and love to talk about their art, but thank goodness, like most artists are very independent thinkers and never talk to each other about worldly things, like what we pay them. Somehow they think that this is demeaning to the music - the music being a high art and all. What they fail to understand is that we don't care a rats ass about their art.

Jazz Musicians think that union scale is a MAXIMUM.

Jazz Musicians are afraid to turn down ANY job.

Jazz Musicians - invest thousands of dollars of their own money in CDs and other learning materials and in instruments, and the maintenance of these instruments.

- invest thousands of dollars paying for an education in their art form.
- invest thousands of of hours learning how to play.
- spend hundreds of hours applying for government grants to pay for travel expenses to go work for local pay thereby subsidizing us, the club owners. This also has the benefit of undercutting the local scene, making jobs even more scarce for local players.
- continue to practice hours a day to maintain their skills and improve, and have no sense that this is valuable to us.
- spend no time and no money on learning anything about business.

Jazz Musicians - For or all their investments of time and money, expect very little in return.

Jazz Musicians - invest thousands of dollars to put out recordings that they know will not earn them any money, unless they sell them off the stage. Therefore, they are happy to play for less money than they should, with the hope that they'll sell a few of the CDs that are taking up room in the small hovels they live in. It then becomes rational for them to beg a room to give them a 'job' that really doesn't pay, (they play for the door!) As a result, we get free music! With no risk.

Not only that, but the musician will often pay for the cost of any publicity, and for the rental of a piano, maybe even paying for a sound man! THEY'RE KNOCKING DOWN THE DOORS! I love jazz musicians.

Media outlets are struggling to find good content, yet jazz musicians will provide content to media outlets for no wages just for 'exposure', and seem to have no concept that media need content.

Jazz Musicians - have no sense of their own worth, and how their experience makes them more valuable as players and performers.

- have no sense that as they improve they may even have a following and and fan base and that their value (to us) has increased. Here's why. In large part, the fact that musicians are always struggling to be better, demands that they must maintain a modest self-critical mindset. They must convince themselves that they are just not good enough. They measure the difference from where they want to be and where they're at, and conclude they're deficient. This colors their self value in the 'real' world. The modesty that improvement demands makes musicians weak negotiators.

Jazz Musicians - are in the moment! That's their musical modus operandi. However, this same improvisational approach means that they have little sense of their place in the community of musicians, and how their actions and attitudes affect their fellow musicians, the future of the music and their own prospects and playing conditions and life. Hell, they're just trying to remember where the bridge goes! Often musicians never demand a fee, and even more amazing (but not surprising due to their lack of business intelligence) don't even ask what we intend to pay them! (This is to our advantage). Also, Jazz Musicians often accept jobs from other musicians without even asking what the job pays. No other business is like this.

Jazz Musicians will play for a wage that will not increase for 10-15 years, a wage that seems to have no relationship to their level of experience. When Business is bad they're our partners, when Business is good they're our employees.

In spite of their own experience to the contrary, Jazz Musicians believe us, when we start a new venue or music policy, and tell them that the initial low wage we intend to pay is merely introductory, but if things go well the wage will increase. How gullible! They buy the concept that when business is bad we need them as our 'partners', and must work for reduced fees. They have no expectation that when business is good we will share our good fortune with them, and are happy to be treated as employees, not partners. Even if they expect to be more fairly compensated they don't get to see our 'books'! Perfect. As a result, Musicians allow us to build a business on their backs, allow us to keep it running for years using their cheap labor with this illusory 'partnership' arrangement. But when we sell our business, we do not have to share any of the capital that we've built with our musical 'partners'.

OUR FUTURE IS IN GOOD HANDS

Experienced Jazz Musicians are thrilled to pass the art of playing jazz on to younger players, but at same time play for the same wages as a kid who just came to them for a lesson!

Because of their terrible earning power as musicians, jazz musicians need to teach to make a living. This provides us with an infinite talent pool of motivated, energetic, youthful, hip, cheap labor. Only the best of these students will be the ones who survive the inevitable cull, and if history is any indication, will continue to play for hardly any money and follow in the fine tradition that has been passed down to them by their elders.

The future is rosy for us because even though most parents know that if they tell their kids not to do something they inevitably will; Jazz Musicians strongly discourage their children from pursuing a living in music.

 

In early spring

when small birds sing

and lamb can sport and play

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My way I took

my friends forsook

and came to Dublin bay

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I am what I ask

a passenger

and to england I sailed o'er

*

I bade farewell

to all of my friends

and left the shamrock shores

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To London fair

I did repair

my fortune there to find

*

I found t'was

a lovely place

and pleasant to my eyes

*

The ladies too

were fair unto view

and rich the purse they wore

*

But none I saw

that could compare

with the maids of the shamrock shore.

*

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=PYS-4Ql-vUI

He had an uncanny skill of speaking with an Irish accent just like The Clancy Brothers. Seriously.

So, here is one of his music, The Moonshiner by The Clancy Brothers.

These are my late afternoon, or rather, pre-presentation-jitter ramblings. I'm trying to unwind for this evening's presentation. It's the last few hours that brings out the best in me. Eccentric but true.