From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V9 #91 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 Wednesday, August 29 2007 Volume 09 : Number 091 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] Ain't That Good News - Pt. 1 - From Londonderry to Kripalu [Nieldsfo] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:32:55 EDT From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: [JP] Ain't That Good News - Pt. 1 - From Londonderry to Kripalu Janglepoets -- This Nields Nook post is pretty weightily stacked towards the Nields, but there are Kennedys echoes here and there too -- "Seeking redemption, searching for grace -- " Looking as I am (as always) for that "Common Bond" -- "Something good's gonna happen!" Bruce ========================================================== Richard Thompson has a song "From Galway to Graceland." Here is "From Londonderry to Kripalu," Part 1 of a series concerning N&K's song "Ain't That Good News" from their great new album, Sister Holler. I've always understood "From Galway to Graceland" in more than one way -- literally ITO the geography of course -- but also metaphorically, ITO a search for peace, a quest for redemption, a "Pilgrim's Progress" towards grace, like the growing thing leaning towards the light -- as in C&M's "Hallelujah" or N&K's "Christmas Carol." I envision this present journey "From Londonderry to Kripalu" in much the same way, both literally and spiritually, with the pilgrimage center Kripalu here standing in for the pilgrimage center Graceland. In the notes for Sister Holler, Nerissa has shared that she wrote "Ain't That Good News" Sept. 27, 2005. I only saw N&K one time that September, weeks earlier, when they made their own annual hajj to the Boston Children's Museum, that year on 9/2/05. That was the year I had been trying to get the two of them to sign my copy of Nerissa's new book _Plastic Angel_ for months. _Plastic Angel_ came out in 5/05, and shortly thereafter Nerissa combined a West Coast book tour with her honeymoon with new hubby Tom Duffy. I didn't see _Plastic Angel_ until N&K's 6/25/05 show in Shelburne Falls. Although I was dying to check it out, I didn't buy it then, because I had already ordered it on Amazon, and was at that time still awaiting its arrival in the mail. The very next day after N&K's Shelburne Falls show was my conversion experience to Chris & Meredith Thompson 6/26/05, when that other duo of singing sisters sang "A Bend in the River" opening for TK at that year's Lancaster Fireworks show. One month later, at Falcon Ridge I lost my folder, containing TK's new CD Half a Million Miles, a 2006 Nields Calender (sic), and my copy of _Plastic Angel_, which I had brought to FRFF in hopes of finally getting it signed. That was quite a setback! But I was determined to navigate this "Bend in the River," seeking redemption from Galway to Graceland on my own journey from Tupelo to Kripalu. 2005 was also the FRFF when Trapper John and Cone Head donned their Best Black Dresses and danced the springle-ring at the front of the audience during N&K's mainstage set with the Crackerjack Band. The following month, when N&K played "Set My Circus Down" at Elm Park in Worcester 8/11/05, I thought, "This is it. Finally! Today I get Plastic Angel signed, and then, I too can Set My Circus Down." But it was still not to be! I don't remember what impediment prevented me then. There was time enough after the show talking with Katryna, and I had a copy of _Plastic Angel_ back in my hands again. Maybe there wasn't a sharpie available? I'm not sure. Then came my next chance, in yet another month, 9/2/05 at the Boston Children's Museum. I almost missed that opportunity too, because immediately after the noontime show, which was outdoors on the boardwalk, N&K were whisked away by their handlers, into the museum itself to meet and greet children, and I didn't already have an admittance to get in there. I wasn't going to pay to get in, just for the sake of _Plastic Angel_ ! So I wound up sneaking into the museum past security, just for the sake of _Plastic Angel_, since there was no way I was going to be deterred from my goal again this time. All those years ago in '95, the Nields stole my heart, and my heart had remained stolen ever since then. And here I was, on a Friday afternoon in '05, stealing into the Boston Children's Museum, with book _Plastic Angel_ held hopefully in hand. Steal away, steal away Home! "Good artists borrow; Great artists steal." Steal, stole, stolen! Payoff at last! Nerissa wrote, "To Bruce, our #1 Fan," and Katryna drew an original Katrynatoon of her, Dave, Amelia, and William on the page after Nerissa's inscription. Yes! O the joy of redeeming lost time! "What a feeling, being's believing I can have it all, now I'm dancing for my life Take your passion, and make it happen Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life." O the "Good News" of the happy ending! Then along came the song, "Ain't That Good News." N&K introduced it when I first heard it 10/28/05 at Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry NH, in the following way. When the two of them had been in high school, their madrigal group had sung a spiritual, "Ain't a-That Good News." N&K delighted in demonstrating how that other version went, in their best Snooty Choral Society mock-classical voices. "I've got a home up in a-that kingdom, Ain't a-that good news (ain't a-that good news). I've got a home up in a-that kingdom, Ain't a-that good news (ain't a-that good news). I'm a-gonna lay down this world, Gonna shoulder up a-my cross, Gonna take it home a-to my Jesus, Ain't a-that good news (ain't a-that good news)." Such a hoot! And "Ain't a-That Good News" was one that my chorus had done in high school too! My notes for that performance in Londonderry say, next to the name of the newish song, "Folksy recasting of gospel conceit like A Mighty Wind or PP&M." N&K had done the stuff of "gospel conceit" before. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" used to be a staple in the Nields Trio Era, and was dusted off from time to time from out of the closet for encore purposes in the Full Band Nields Era. "When I'm Here" has been another gospelly-sounding Nieldsy spiritual-uplifter. By '05 they'd been playing that for years, since its debut 5/3/03 at the Iron Horse. A third gospelly "Pick Me Up" / "Lay Me Down Easy" done by TN has been "Give Me a Clean Heart," which seems to have been debuted at the Tin Angel 9/24/04, despite Nerissa's identification of its inception as 2005 in the Sister Holler notes. "Ain't That Good News," first heard by me at Tupelo in Londonderry 10/28/05, makes a fourth of the gospel series run. 1, 2, 3 & 4 --- Matthew, Mark, and Luke -- meet your new little brother John! I next heard "Ain't That Good News" 11/5/05 at the Iron Horse, which was the show where N&K duplicated their Transperformance impersonation, opening for themselves, first as Simon & Garfunkel, then as N&K Nields. Skip, skip, skipping ahead. N&K had been playing "Ain't That Good News" for about half a year now, and it was gaining momentum. So much so, that after the Wilbraham show 3/14/06 (when Jeff from Charlotte came), I suggested to Katryna that maybe shortening the album working title from "Highway Robbery" to simply "Theft" wasn't necessarily such a good idea. (I had liked the other working title "Sister Holler" all along, whereas Patty Romanoff thought that that sounded too much like a *bad* grrrl heavy metal band. :-) "How about calling the new album "Good News?"" I wondered aloud. "No," Katryna replied. "Too gospelly-sounding." "But isn't that where you're really at right now?" I thought N&K were making strides in just that direction. What the world needs now is love, sweet love, and all that -- and "Ain't That (really) Good News"? Then 4 days later, N&K played at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health 3/18/06 in West Stockbridge MA. The performance hall looked like a spiritual seeker's dream -- Buddhist-looking statues, fresh flowers on the altar, lit candles. Only a living waterfall would've made the scene more impressive. I've still never seen N&K play in any space quite like that one. And the audience wasn't like any other either, not your typical Nields show. It's still the only N&K show where people who'd never even seen them before were swaying along and clapping their hands to the music with reckless abandon out of sheer joy -- and especially on the song "Ain't That Good News"! I thought that there was a vibe going on that night that was just a perfect fit for N&K, and that "Ain't That Good News" was a major part of that. From that point onward, I ceased thinking of "Ain't That Good News" ITO "gospel conceit," and the meaning of the song really started to open up for me. It was a real eye-opening experience. And how many of those have I had over the years -- especially when I've been on the Road to Graceland, chasing the bright elusive butterfly of Sweet Holy Grail -- following the Nields! End of Part 1. 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? ------------------------------ End of jangle-poets-digest V9 #91 *********************************