From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V6 #49 Reply-To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Sender: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jangle-poets-digest Tuesday, August 10 2004 Volume 06 : Number 049 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] Pilgrim - Thoughts on FR and on TK [Nieldsforever@aol.com] Re: [JP] Pilgrim - Thoughts on FR and on TK [rozettj@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 01:10:47 EDT From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: [JP] Pilgrim - Thoughts on FR and on TK Just some comments about "Pilgrim," about the Kennedys generally, about FRFF generally, and whatever else I happen to think of saying. :-) ============================================ About FRFF generally. It's my personal opinion that TK embody the Falcon Ridge spirit better than anyone else I know. FR is a real community of fellow music lovers and fellow-travelling "pilgrims," even if it only lasts in "real-world-time" for one weekend out of the whole year, each year. From a different standpoint though, FR is a "place in the heart" that you can carry with you and live-in, all the time, throughout the year. A place in the heart where friendship, music, and love are celebrated and appreciated as the community-making elements that constitute our whole reason for being here in the first place in this crazy world we live in. That's FR to me, and that's TK to me. Long may they reign, not only at Falcon Ridge, but in our hearts as well, as fellow pilgrims on the way. It was great having Pete & Maura up to play for us at the GFP at FR, right across the way from the Dharma Cafe. I hope the Dharma Cafe becomes a permanent GFP FRFF fixture from now on, and I hope TK come back and visit us again next year too. TK are always welcome at the Dharma Cafe as far as I'm concerned. "If you build it, they will come." FRFF is our own "Field of Dreams" where the good spirits come out to play beneath the Dave Carter moon. :-) ============================================= About TK generally. Pete & Maura asked us during their set at the GFP if there were any songs they were playing too much, or any songs they weren't playing nearly enough. Boy what a brave question! I thought you could almost hear a pin drop in the grass. :-) P&M have consistently impressed and even amazed me with the diversity of material they play at shows, over the years. I've heard covers of songs they like to play, like Johnny Cash, George Harrison, and Bob Dylan. I've heard lesser-played old Kennedys songs like "Run the Red Horses." And I've been fortunate to hear a few of the new Kennedys songs coming out for public consumption, like "Stand," "Raindrop," and "Pilgrim." I'm not holding my breath to hear the one song on Stand I haven't heard P&M play, namely "Don't Hold Your Breath." The title of the song really says it all. ;-) At PACE the other night with Cadence (7/31) TK dusted off 2 fairly rarely heard songs, "Feather in the Flame" and "Pilgrim." I've always loved "Feather in the Flame," and remember that P&M played it somewhere shortly after September 11. I really identify with the thought of the Icarus-figure crashing and burning. I've known Icarus-like experiences of crash and burn myself. But the darkness of the image is made into a thing of transcendent beauty, the way it's put together and presented in TK's music. Pete joked that he remembered part of the harmony part near the end of the song, and that Cadence remembered the other part, so that between the 2 of them they just about were able to "Get It Right"! ;-) I've been astonished by TK's ability to play songs by memory that they haven't played in a while. This is one of the things I really appreciate about P&M. "Hearts of gold, songs of spun silver, and nerves of steel." :-) Ja! Pumping steel! Not like those girlymans! :-) ================================================= Now I get to the point of all this. Why say something in a few sentences, when you can fill Jangle-Poets' inboxes with utter froth instead? :-) I've just fallen in love with the song "Pilgrim." When P&M asked at the GFP if there were any requests (a bit after the "pin-drop" silence following their asking if there were any songs they didn't play enough), of course I said loudly enough to be heard (without shouting) "Pilgrim." TK played my request at PACE, although I wasn't sure if Maura was going to remember all of the words. Now I've been playing the song "Pilgrim" almost nonstop in my car ever since PACE, last weekend. My playing "Pilgrim" almost nonstop in the car led directly to my wife, the rarely-seen-by-Jangle-Nookers Reverend Karen Palmatier, centering the theme of her entire Sunday morning sermon today around the idea of being a "pilgrim." I do believe that this is the first time my "other life" in the world of TN and TK has ever directly impacted and spilled over into a Sunday morning sermon by my wife. In a world all-too-disintegrated by alienation, fear, and hatred, any amount of *reintegration* is a good thing. :-) This image of the PILGRIM really looks like the integrating and reintegrating figure to me. Pete's always saying that there's power in these myths -- what I would call "integrating and reintegrating" power. So right after church I immediately searched out all my books about Martin Luther King Jr., who has done maybe more than any other American to bring integration and reintegration into our common life. The need for integration and reintegration in our lives, in our churches, in American society, and in the world remains an urgent need for all of us today. I've been saying this to my family about the song "Pilgrim." TK have mentioned that Dave's death made a big impact on their lives, and led to a more spiritual outlook which is evident in the songs on the album Stand. The song "Stand" is a plea for courage in the face of struggles, and a plea for tolerance and better understanding. "Raindrop" has the image of the soul as a drop of water returning to the sea. These are the sorts of images and values aroused in the souls of P&M by the passing of Dave Carter. That's how I understand the song "Pilgrim" too. In fact, the song reminds me of Dave Carter in a number of different ways. The way the allusions pile up, allusion upon allusion, reminds me a bit of Dave Carter songcraft. The "time to move along" theme reminds me of so many of Dave Carter's "farewell songs." And it's easy for me to imagine that the Pilgrim of the song, besides being an ideal character standing for all of us, *is* in fact Dave Carter himself. Thanks to TK for everything they do -- for incredible inspiring music -- and for the song "Pilgrim" which has come to mean so much to me personally. Bruce Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 09:47:52 -0400 From: rozettj@aol.com Subject: Re: [JP] Pilgrim - Thoughts on FR and on TK <> not only will the cafe be back, it will be expanded (and we saved the beautiful painted sign with the mermaids and dolphins) and made into a real cafe. some of the GFP/Cafe campers plan to have tea, coffee, etc at the Dharma Cafe. i certainly hope TK will visit again - maybe to host a song circle for our singer-sonwriter night? are there any jangle poets out there who are no on the nields nook who have not visited us yet? if you are at FR - you have a home with us. john Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ End of jangle-poets-digest V6 #49 *********************************