Wow. Once again, my life seems to have exploded. Way too much to do and not enough waking hours in the day to do it. As a result, my time playing fiddle and dulcimer has gotten slimmer and slimmer and my time thinking of things to post here has gotten non-existent. I mean, I like to be busy... but geez... there’s a limit, y’know.
I think there’s light at the end of the tunnel, though.
Of course, the day job is still pretty hectic and that doesn’t look like letting up any time soon. Not ‘til sometime in 2012 anyway…
But next week looks pretty commitment free outside of work. And I’m determined to start taking a yoga class during that lull. Then the first few days of August will be taken up with a trip to Chicago with Amy for her to audition for Jeopardy, which should be fun. So, maybe that’ll all help me to de-stress and find more time and energy for making music and learning new tunes.
And as I'm reading this, I'm thinking, "That last paragraph sounds pretty action-packed for a guy who's trying to shed commitments and simplify his time." And I've got to shake my head and laugh.
More later...
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
I. D. Stamper: Ozarks Dulcimer
If you haven't come across it already, let me point you towards the Digital Library of Appalachia. It's a terrific resource providing online access to the archives of about a dozen special collections of Appalachian College libraries relating to southern and central Appalachian culture. Of special interest to me are the collection of mp3 files of I.D. Stamper playing and talking.
Stamper was a dulcimer player who was born in the Ozarks of Arkansas in 1904 and moved with his family to eastern Kentucky when he was young. His dulcimer playing is just terrific with a drive and energy that one hears in the Appalachian styles, but tempered by the (to my ear) less rhytmic and more melodic playing of the Ozarks. I love his playing and can't get enough of it. I hope you enjoy it, too. As well as the rest of the gold mine of music and information in these archives!
Stamper was a dulcimer player who was born in the Ozarks of Arkansas in 1904 and moved with his family to eastern Kentucky when he was young. His dulcimer playing is just terrific with a drive and energy that one hears in the Appalachian styles, but tempered by the (to my ear) less rhytmic and more melodic playing of the Ozarks. I love his playing and can't get enough of it. I hope you enjoy it, too. As well as the rest of the gold mine of music and information in these archives!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
What Is It With These Cheap Skates, Anyway?
This past Friday night, Dan (we perform together as The Hot Baloney Boys) and I spent a few hours playing busking on the corners of St. Louis' Central West End district. It's a very hip area of town with a lot of galleries, bars, restaurants, and clubs. The weather Friday was beautiful and there was a lot of foot traffic on the streets. Even so, we made very little money. People seemed to enjoy the music, and we had one woman who spent a considerable amount of time taking photos of us and telling us how great we were. Then she left us a dollar.
Now, I'm not in this for the money. Dan and I get out and busk as often as we can, mostly because it gives us a chance to play together and gets us out into the fresh air. Usually we make enough to buy a couple of beers when we're done, and that's just fine. But for gosh sake, show a little love, people! What I noticed on Friday was that people who sat at nearby sidewalk cafe tables and were obviously enjoying the music; tapping their feet, talking and nodding or pointing to us, waving at us would then get up from their table and walk past us even averting their eyes in an attempt to pretend that we were no longer there, not even throwing a single into the fiddle case at our feet.
We had one guy stop and talk for a while to let us know that he thought it was great that we were playing on the street, that it really adds something to the life of the neighborhood. Said he couldn't figure out why there wasn't more of this going on in an area with such great night life. Shook my hand and then walked away without tipping at all.
Don't these folks make the connection that maybe there aren't more musicians on their streets because they don't tip the ones that are already there??? Come on, people! Give a little more and you'll get a lot. It's a basic rule of things. Art and music aren't free, no matter how much you'd like for them to be. Musicians are not all hippy-dippy artists with no need for cash. They're working folks just like you with families to support and mortgages and rent to cover every month. They spend hours and hours learning new tunes and practicing to constantly get better on their instruments. But, if the local residents and folks spending time in the arts and cafe districts don't make it worthwhile for local musicians to get out and busk and contribute their talent to making St. Louis a vital, hip, living city, they're not going to do it. You're at least half of the equation.
Now, I'm not in this for the money. Dan and I get out and busk as often as we can, mostly because it gives us a chance to play together and gets us out into the fresh air. Usually we make enough to buy a couple of beers when we're done, and that's just fine. But for gosh sake, show a little love, people! What I noticed on Friday was that people who sat at nearby sidewalk cafe tables and were obviously enjoying the music; tapping their feet, talking and nodding or pointing to us, waving at us would then get up from their table and walk past us even averting their eyes in an attempt to pretend that we were no longer there, not even throwing a single into the fiddle case at our feet.
We had one guy stop and talk for a while to let us know that he thought it was great that we were playing on the street, that it really adds something to the life of the neighborhood. Said he couldn't figure out why there wasn't more of this going on in an area with such great night life. Shook my hand and then walked away without tipping at all.
Don't these folks make the connection that maybe there aren't more musicians on their streets because they don't tip the ones that are already there??? Come on, people! Give a little more and you'll get a lot. It's a basic rule of things. Art and music aren't free, no matter how much you'd like for them to be. Musicians are not all hippy-dippy artists with no need for cash. They're working folks just like you with families to support and mortgages and rent to cover every month. They spend hours and hours learning new tunes and practicing to constantly get better on their instruments. But, if the local residents and folks spending time in the arts and cafe districts don't make it worthwhile for local musicians to get out and busk and contribute their talent to making St. Louis a vital, hip, living city, they're not going to do it. You're at least half of the equation.
Friday, July 13, 2007
A Dream Returned
During a lesson I was teaching a few months ago, I noticed that the tuner for the high string on my main dulcimer was slipping. By the end of the lesson, it was completely gone and wouldn't stay in tune at all.
Modern Mountain Dulcimer Dream Model
Walnut w/Spruce bottom and Ebony fretboard
I was bummed.
This was my main player. Sure, I've got other lap dulcimers. And I like them fine, to varying degrees. But this is the one I love playing the best. It's got a beautiful, tight, woody sound; the action is perfect for me; it just feels good under my hands. It's a Dream model made by David McKinney of Modern Mountain Dulcimers like the one pictured above. According to David, he had a dream about making dulcimers upside down, with the holes in the bottom and he just did it. He made this one a few years ago and it's just gotten better and better over time. I love it and am so glad that this one found its way to me. (Another story entirely, but a good one.)
After the lesson, I got home, put the instrument away and then got busy. So busy that for the last couple of months, I haven't had time (or made time) to get the dulcimer to Andy Gribble to get it repaired. I think about it every time I pick up a dulcimer to play or teach a lesson, but life and work and meetings all have gotten in the way.
Well, finally, last week, I made the time. Took it over to Andy and explained the problem. We looked in catalogs for replacement tuners, talked about what needed to be done and agreed it would take a couple of weeks for him to get the repairs done.
Andy called me night before last to let me know he'd gotten it done. It turned out that there was a set screw on the end of the tuner that had gotten loose and just needed to be tightened up. Had it been a banjo, that's the first thing I would have done: tightened that screw. Somehow, because it was a dulcimer, I didn't even think of it. Dopey me.
I picked that big ole, upside down dulcimer up from Andy last night, sat it on my lap and played it for a long time. I'm sure I had a big grin on my face. It sounded so good! At first I thought it was new strings, but no, it wasn't. Just the feel and sound of getting reacquainted with an old friend. It reminded me how much I really do like that instrument.
I guess it is true what they say about abscence making the heart grow fonder.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Another Old-Time Weekend
It was another one of those transcendent weekends of old-time music. The Folk School of St. Louis brought Dan Gellert to St. Louis for a couple of day-long workshops on playing banjo and fiddle. Dan’s one of the modern masters of old-time music (kind of an oxymoron there, eh?) and a one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet, as well. His banjo and fiddle playing is pretty unique these days, incorporating Round Peak styles of playing and a very heavy influence from African-American players like Dink Roberts. It’s glorious, rhythmic, danceable stuff that you just don’t hear very often. Along with the workshops there was a house concert with Dan at my friend Andy’s loft down on Washington Street on Saturday evening and then Dan, Andy and Dave played for the Childgrove dance.
I didn’t have a chance to sit in on the banjo workshop on Saturday afternoon, but everyone I talked to who did was glowing about it. To a person, they said Dan’s teaching changed and improved the way they think about playing the banjo and felt it would make them better players. You can’t get better than that.
The house concert was wonderful in every sense. I need to thank both Andy and Colleen for all they did to make this happen. There were around fifty people there in Andy’s big loft apartment to hear Dan play. Many new who he was and many had only the vaguest idea, but had heard that he was good. The sense of community among the people and the good will floating around the room was beautiful. You couldn’t be there and not feel welcomed and part of something very fine. Even beyond the music, that’s the thing that I love most about the Folk School and what it does: this bringing together of people of different backgrounds and ages and providing new, positive experiences for a community of people.
For about forty-five minutes, people arrived; milled around; greeted old friends and met new ones; found places to sit; settled in with beer, wine, pop, water. Then Dave Landreth introduced Dan Gellert to the crown and the concert began.
Listening to Dan play in such a close setting with such rapt attention was really magical. There’s something about his playing and his commitment to his sources that transported the whole bunch of us to another place. The music could have been old 78’s played on an ancient machine, a rent party in the 30’s, or a hot summer evening on an Appalachian front porch. Everyone in the loft was held rapt by the sound of the fretless banjo and tapping of this man’s foot. And everyone had a big smile or a look of amazement on their face as they sat happily entranced.
After about an hour, there was a break for everyone to socialize some more and share their thoughts about what they’d just heard, which more often than not, amounted to “Wow!” For me, even though I couldn’t have enjoyed it more, I was left thinking (as I often do, if I’m honest with myself), “every time I think I’m getting to be a half-way good fiddler, I hear someone like Dan Gellert and realize how much further I have to go.”
Then another set of banjo and fiddle tunes. A few songs thrown into the mix.
When it was all over, most of the people left happy. After so much laughing and talking and hugs and handshakes, how could you not? A few of us stayed and broke out our instruments to play, talk and drink some more before heading out into the hot St. Louis summer night.
Gosh, I’m lucky to live in a time and place where this kind of thing can go on and I can be a part of it.
I didn’t have a chance to sit in on the banjo workshop on Saturday afternoon, but everyone I talked to who did was glowing about it. To a person, they said Dan’s teaching changed and improved the way they think about playing the banjo and felt it would make them better players. You can’t get better than that.
The house concert was wonderful in every sense. I need to thank both Andy and Colleen for all they did to make this happen. There were around fifty people there in Andy’s big loft apartment to hear Dan play. Many new who he was and many had only the vaguest idea, but had heard that he was good. The sense of community among the people and the good will floating around the room was beautiful. You couldn’t be there and not feel welcomed and part of something very fine. Even beyond the music, that’s the thing that I love most about the Folk School and what it does: this bringing together of people of different backgrounds and ages and providing new, positive experiences for a community of people.
For about forty-five minutes, people arrived; milled around; greeted old friends and met new ones; found places to sit; settled in with beer, wine, pop, water. Then Dave Landreth introduced Dan Gellert to the crown and the concert began.
Listening to Dan play in such a close setting with such rapt attention was really magical. There’s something about his playing and his commitment to his sources that transported the whole bunch of us to another place. The music could have been old 78’s played on an ancient machine, a rent party in the 30’s, or a hot summer evening on an Appalachian front porch. Everyone in the loft was held rapt by the sound of the fretless banjo and tapping of this man’s foot. And everyone had a big smile or a look of amazement on their face as they sat happily entranced.
After about an hour, there was a break for everyone to socialize some more and share their thoughts about what they’d just heard, which more often than not, amounted to “Wow!” For me, even though I couldn’t have enjoyed it more, I was left thinking (as I often do, if I’m honest with myself), “every time I think I’m getting to be a half-way good fiddler, I hear someone like Dan Gellert and realize how much further I have to go.”
Then another set of banjo and fiddle tunes. A few songs thrown into the mix.
When it was all over, most of the people left happy. After so much laughing and talking and hugs and handshakes, how could you not? A few of us stayed and broke out our instruments to play, talk and drink some more before heading out into the hot St. Louis summer night.
Gosh, I’m lucky to live in a time and place where this kind of thing can go on and I can be a part of it.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
No Music Related Content At All... Just Books Today
Here's hoping everyone had a big time on Independence Day. For me, it was a good chance to sit with a good book in the morning, spend some time at a barbecue with friends in the afternoon, and listen to my neighborhood sounding like Beirut in the evening.
I had high hopes for getting out in the yard and doing some much needed clearing of weeds and vines by the fence, but it just didn't happen. I'd started reading Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert the evening of the 3rd, and went right back to it over breakfast in the morning. As a result, nothing got done in the yard, and I expect to see tigers prowling that jungle any day now.
Ms. Gilbert had also written The Last American Man, which I read a couple of years ago and really enjoyed. I'm liking this latest book even more. It has food writing, a search for spiritual awakening, and some pretty funny (ha-ha, not funny peculiar) and maybe pretty insightful thoughts on love and relationships. All good stuff for a summer read.
Speaking of books, I don't read a lot of fiction, but I finished a novel a few days ago that I want to recommend. It's Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Just a terrific book that I raced through in only a couple of days. Again, highly recommended.
That's it for now. Next time, I promise more on old-time music.
I had high hopes for getting out in the yard and doing some much needed clearing of weeds and vines by the fence, but it just didn't happen. I'd started reading Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert the evening of the 3rd, and went right back to it over breakfast in the morning. As a result, nothing got done in the yard, and I expect to see tigers prowling that jungle any day now.
Ms. Gilbert had also written The Last American Man, which I read a couple of years ago and really enjoyed. I'm liking this latest book even more. It has food writing, a search for spiritual awakening, and some pretty funny (ha-ha, not funny peculiar) and maybe pretty insightful thoughts on love and relationships. All good stuff for a summer read.
Speaking of books, I don't read a lot of fiction, but I finished a novel a few days ago that I want to recommend. It's Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Just a terrific book that I raced through in only a couple of days. Again, highly recommended.
That's it for now. Next time, I promise more on old-time music.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Another Old-Time Stringband for Peace
I've been playing with Dan and Colleen as The Hot Baloney Boys for a while now. We've got a regular Sunday morning thing at the Hartford Coffee Company. A few weeks ago, we sat in the coffee shop window and took the picture below for the American Friends' Friends for Peace campaign.
This is an online campaign to show the faces of the pro-peace majority in the U.S. who are committed to ending the war in Iraq, and we were proud to take part in it.
Click these links to go to the find more information on the Friends For Peace campaign, and more info on the American Friends Service Committee. They're a good organization and well worth supporting in times of war or peace.
Get active. Stay aware.
This is an online campaign to show the faces of the pro-peace majority in the U.S. who are committed to ending the war in Iraq, and we were proud to take part in it.
Click these links to go to the find more information on the Friends For Peace campaign, and more info on the American Friends Service Committee. They're a good organization and well worth supporting in times of war or peace.
Get active. Stay aware.
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