From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V9 #117 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, December 12 2007 Volume 09 : Number 117 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] SISTER SHOWS - World Trade Center [Nieldsforever@aol.com] [JP] Never Fit [Nieldsforever@aol.com] Re: [JP] Never Fit [Nieldsforever@aol.com] [JP] SISTER SHOWS - Bedsit Poets [Nieldsforever@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:10:43 EST From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: [JP] SISTER SHOWS - World Trade Center > > Sibling songs -- The Power of Two! Was it just a coincidence of > > Jungian synchronicity, that I picked this weekend's Nields show at > > the Living Room in NYC to make my first-ever pilgrimage to the site > > of the World Trade Center, once the site of Twin Towers? > This was completely spur of the moment and unplanned, but I'd wanted to do this ever since September 11, 2001, when it happened. I was making good time down the East Side Drive, the FDR, late Saturday afternoon going on early evening, and was just about to pull off for the East Village at Houston Street, which is where Ludlow Street is, where happy Nields and jolly Santas awaited. It was twilight time, when night is approaching and there's no going back to daylight. In a flash of instantaneous enlightenment, just in the nick of time I realized that there would be enough visibility for me to go and check out Ground Zero. So I bypassed Houston Street exit, and kept on going south. I was on my way at last! First it was slow going, enduring the backed-up traffic for the Brooklyn Bridge. Then suddenly and unexpectedly I was clear -- NYC traffic can be funny that way. Traffic jam one minute, and then almost no one else around me. I sped through a nearly empty Battery Park Tunnel, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan -- where Hudson and East River meet -- the "Bend in the River." I came out of the tunnel, going towards the light, going north, no longer south, after the big curve. "Where the rivers change direction Across the Great Divide" (Kate Wolf). Seeing the sight from my car as I drove by reminded me of a similar place behind the Prudential Building and the Amoco Building, just off Randolph Street, east of Michigan Avenue, in Chicago. Suzanne Vega has a phrase for it in her song from Days of Open Hand -- "Welcome to the Big Space." Just blocks and blocks of nothing -- millions and millions of cubic feet of air -- the Big Space. Stephen, Peter, and I saw N&K with Erin McKeown opening for the Nields, on the plaza 8/15/01, right at the foot of the Twin Towers, less than a month before "it" went down. I remember well the eerie sense of foreboding -- or vertigo -- looking up at the towers, during the Nields show. They were just so big. I remember being terrified, too, when at one point Stephen and Peter were temporarily lost in the maze of underground passageways that used to lie under the pavement, part of the vast complex that lay beneath the WTC. That's all gone now, too. I saw TK at the Friday night, church venue, indoors portion of the New Haven Folk Festival, 3 days after 9/11, 9/14/01. America was still in a state of shock. Both P&M were dressed in black. Lui Collins sang a song called "Gone But Not Forgotten." TK sang "Chimes of Freedom." It was unforgettable. Performers, volunteers, and audience members joined outside for a candlelight vigil just before the show. It was a "Common Bond" moment. For the past few years, I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't make it to Ground Zero before the site was changed dramatically, like, having a new building or buildings going up on the spot where the WTC went down. So Saturday's impromptu pilgrimage lent a kind of psychic closure for me personally. It feels great. Now that I've negotiated a settlement with that dangling portion of the collective psyche of America, at least that's one thing I won't ever have to worry about again. 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: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:26:07 EST From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: [JP] Never Fit "I light a candle in my mind..." The seed-thought that sprouted into this writing was the hearing of some words spoken aloud at my church last Sunday, at the lighting of the second Advent candle, while I was still emotionally hung over and physically exhausted from my fabulous weekend of Sister Shows (the Nields and the Strangelings) with its Tale of Two Cities (nightlife in NYC and Boston) -- "May the light of this second candle, as it brings light to the darkness around it, help to remind us that we are to bring your light to the darkness of sickness, poverty, injustice, and suffering all around us." The lighting of that candle reminded me so distinctly of the moment of remembrance, when we had the candlelight vigil at the New Haven Folk Festival 9/14/01, for the victims and their families of the tragedy of 9/11. I've already related how I made the hajj to the site of the WTC that my restless spirit had so longed for, and had so long put off, on my way to seeing TN at the Living Room, Saturday evening. But there was also the pain that the holiday season so often brings -- the ghosts of Christmas past -- with the sinking sensation that time is slipping away. It was the sense that the Nields Full Band alignment in a NYC setting was reminding me far more of the ghosts of the past, than of anything even remotely resembling today or tomorrow. And the sense that Meredith Thompson Knight's rare appearance with the Strangelings, so full of life, passion, and enthusiasm, was now just another glimmer of bygone holiday light, like the light of a candle on a Christmas tree, burning brightly one moment, then so soon blown out, extinguished and gone, with only the wispy rising smoke and the memory (both fleeting) remaining as a reminder that a brilliant light once shone there. Yet more of the ghosts of Christmas past. "I light a candle in my mind..." Joziah Longo of Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams has written one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard -- "Never Fit." With this one song alone, even the most hard-bitten folk traditionalist could experience the melting of a heart of stone, when the otherwise hard-rocking, long-haired, Chewbacca-like scruffy-looking tribe of Nerfherders weave their "Never Fit" magic on guitar, Dylanesque harmonica, mandolin, accordion, and two-part vocals. "Never Fit," in the tradition of the "folk process," has always reminded me of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind." But Joziah has uncovered a gem from out of the mine, from out of the Vulcan mindmeld of the "folk process" that even Gordon Lightfoot never brought to light. Out of the frustration, the loneliness, and the pain of crushed dreams and faded hope, from "Out of the Depths," Joziah has wrested a way out of the maze of the mine of hoarded broken dreams -- has seen a shaft of light shining in the darkness. And by his light, we can see light too. This is the wonderful gift from the Great Beyond that figures so prominently in another Gandalf Murphy song, "Bike" -- and this is the camaraderie of the lost, lonely, and invisible ones, the "ghosts," who populate Circus of Dreams songs like "Silent Revolution," "In Her Own World," and "Alice in Space," too. Joziah descends into the depths of the mind to discover, for himself and for all of us who receive the gift that he passes on to us, something like what was said of the Once and Future King-in-Exile Aragorn in "Lord of the Rings," in the prophecy of a realm of another Gandalf, concerning the fortunes of the fallen house of Elendil -- "All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost, The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost; From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring, Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king." Hope, hope, hope. But what could ever rekindle such lost hope? When it becomes hard for me to believe that the light will ever shine again as it has shone before, be it in the faces of Nerissa and Katryna Nields with their Crackerjack Band in NYC, or in the face of Meredith Thompson Knight with her Strangelings in Cambridge -- even when it feels like it's slipping away and I "never fit" -- Joziah reminds me of something more precious than jewels, a treasure without measure in terms of its weight in gold -- the joy of believing in friendship and loyalty. "I light a candle in my mind I want to see that bright face shine Hear your voice so full of dreams I seem to know what they all mean And you have always been a friend By every means to every end And that to me, that loyalty is worth believing in." This light, seen in the dark, is so indubitable, it is not only worth believing in. It can light our way to a better tomorrow, starting today. "The light shines in the darkness..." ================================================ NEVER FIT (Joziah Longo) (as sung on the album, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams Live at the Towne Crier) Out on the edge of all we know there is a place I used to go Anytime I didn't feel that I belonged in what was real And I would always see you there arriving on a desperate prayer We'd sit and talk, we'd laugh and cry about the meaning of it all And all around we'd hear the sound of what the world is saying But there's something in us can't subscribe to games they say to play Yeah I don't believe, yeah Cause we never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere Only here, and we know here is not perceived reality We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere But I don't care, cause I know here is where I always want to be A Chevy Biscayne in the rain where we would share the loss and gain Of everyday we had to be the things we knew we couldn't be So we would laugh until we choked Everything became a joke The only way we could survive so we could live another day Cause all around we'd hear the sound of what the world was saying But there's something in us can't subscribe to games they say to play Yeah I don't believe, yeah Cause we never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere Only here, and we know here is not perceived reality We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere But I don't care, cause I know here is where I always want to be I light a candle in my mind I want to see that bright face shine Hear your voice so full of dreams I seem to know what they all mean And you have always been a friend By every means to every end And that to me, that loyalty is worth believing in Though all around we hear the sound of what the world is saying There's something in us can't subscribe to games they say to play Yeah I don't believe, yeah Cause we never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere Only here, and we know here is not perceived reality We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere But I don't care cause I know here is where you've always been with me Yeah, yeah Whoa, la-la-la, la, la-la-la Yeah yeah yeah We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere We never fit in anyway We never fit in anyway We never fit in anyway We never fit in anyway ================================================= BruceReceived: from imo-m14.mx.aol.com (imo-m14.mx.aol.com [64.12.138.204]) by smoe.org (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id lBBHQqg3022597 for ; Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:27:43 -0500 (EST) Received: from Nieldsforever@aol.com by imo-m14.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v38_r9.3.) id p.c30.1fbceb2b (33856) for ; Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:26:07 -0500 (EST) From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Message-ID: Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:26:07 EST Subject: [JP] Never Fit To: jangle-poets@smoe.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: 9.0 SE for Windows sub 5043 X-Spam-Flag: NO X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.91/5092/Tue Dec 11 11:35:26 2007 on smoe.org X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.0 (smoe.org [199.201.145.78]); Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:27:54 -0500 (EST) X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.97c-p1 X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain "I light a candle in my mind..." The seed-thought that sprouted into this writing was the hearing of some words spoken aloud at my church last Sunday, at the lighting of the second Advent candle, while I was still emotionally hung over and physically exhausted from my fabulous weekend of Sister Shows (the Nields and the Strangelings) with its Tale of Two Cities (nightlife in NYC and Boston) -- "May the light of this second candle, as it brings light to the darkness around it, help to remind us that we are to bring your light to the darkness of sickness, poverty, injustice, and suffering all around us." The lighting of that candle reminded me so distinctly of the moment of remembrance, when we had the candlelight vigil at the New Haven Folk Festival 9/14/01, for the victims and their families of the tragedy of 9/11. I've already related how I made the hajj to the site of the WTC that my restless spirit had so longed for, and had so long put off, on my way to seeing TN at the Living Room, Saturday evening. But there was also the pain that the holiday season so often brings -- the ghosts of Christmas past -- with the sinking sensation that time is slipping away. It was the sense that the Nields Full Band alignment in a NYC setting was reminding me far more of the ghosts of the past, than of anything even remotely resembling today or tomorrow. And the sense that Meredith Thompson Knight's rare appearance with the Strangelings, so full of life, passion, and enthusiasm, was now just another glimmer of bygone holiday light, like the light of a candle on a Christmas tree, burning brightly one moment, then so soon blown out, extinguished and gone, with only the wispy rising smoke and the memory (both fleeting) remaining as a reminder that a brilliant light once shone there. Yet more of the ghosts of Christmas past. "I light a candle in my mind..." Joziah Longo of Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams has written one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard -- "Never Fit." With this one song alone, even the most hard-bitten folk traditionalist could experience the melting of a heart of stone, when the otherwise hard-rocking, long-haired, Chewbacca-like scruffy-looking tribe of Nerfherders weave their "Never Fit" magic on guitar, Dylanesque harmonica, mandolin, accordion, and two-part vocals. "Never Fit," in the tradition of the "folk process," has always reminded me of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind." But Joziah has uncovered a gem from out of the mine, from out of the Vulcan mindmeld of the "folk process" that even Gordon Lightfoot never brought to light. Out of the frustration, the loneliness, and the pain of crushed dreams and faded hope, from "Out of the Depths," Joziah has wrested a way out of the maze of the mine of hoarded broken dreams -- has seen a shaft of light shining in the darkness. And by his light, we can see light too. This is the wonderful gift from the Great Beyond that figures so prominently in another Gandalf Murphy song, "Bike" -- and this is the camaraderie of the lost, lonely, and invisible ones, the "ghosts," who populate Circus of Dreams songs like "Silent Revolution," "In Her Own World," and "Alice in Space," too. Joziah descends into the depths of the mind to discover, for himself and for all of us who receive the gift that he passes on to us, something like what was said of the Once and Future King-in-Exile Aragorn in "Lord of the Rings," in the prophecy of a realm of another Gandalf, concerning the fortunes of the fallen house of Elendil -- "All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost, The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost; From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring, Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king." Hope, hope, hope. But what could ever rekindle such lost hope? When it becomes hard for me to believe that the light will ever shine again as it has shone before, be it in the faces of Nerissa and Katryna Nields with their Crackerjack Band in NYC, or in the face of Meredith Thompson Knight with her Strangelings in Cambridge -- even when it feels like it's slipping away and I "never fit" -- Joziah reminds me of something more precious than jewels, a treasure without measure in terms of its weight in gold -- the joy of believing in friendship and loyalty. "I light a candle in my mind I want to see that bright face shine Hear your voice so full of dreams I seem to know what they all mean And you have always been a friend By every means to every end And that to me, that loyalty is worth believing in." This light, seen in the dark, is so indubitable, it is not only worth believing in. It can light our way to a better tomorrow, starting today. "The light shines in the darkness..." ================================================ NEVER FIT (Joziah Longo) (as sung on the album, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams Live at the Towne Crier) Out on the edge of all we know there is a place I used to go Anytime I didn't feel that I belonged in what was real And I would always see you there arriving on a desperate prayer We'd sit and talk, we'd laugh and cry about the meaning of it all And all around we'd hear the sound of what the world is saying But there's something in us can't subscribe to games they say to play Yeah I don't believe, yeah Cause we never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere Only here, and we know here is not perceived reality We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere But I don't care, cause I know here is where I always want to be A Chevy Biscayne in the rain where we would share the loss and gain Of everyday we had to be the things we knew we couldn't be So we would laugh until we choked Everything became a joke The only way we could survive so we could live another day Cause all around we'd hear the sound of what the world was saying But there's something in us can't subscribe to games they say to play Yeah I don't believe, yeah Cause we never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere Only here, and we know here is not perceived reality We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere But I don't care, cause I know here is where I always want to be I light a candle in my mind I want to see that bright face shine Hear your voice so full of dreams I seem to know what they all mean And you have always been a friend By every means to every end And that to me, that loyalty is worth believing in Though all around we hear the sound of what the world is saying There's something in us can't subscribe to games they say to play Yeah I don't believe, yeah Cause we never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere Only here, and we know here is not perceived reality We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere But I don't care cause I know here is where you've always been with me Yeah, yeah Whoa, la-la-la, la, la-la-la Yeah yeah yeah We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere We never fit in anyway We never fit in anywhere We never fit in anyway We never fit in anyway We never fit in anyway We never fit in anyway ================================================= 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: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:42:43 EST From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: Re: [JP] Never Fit > > And all around we'd hear the sound of what the world is saying > > But there's something in us can't subscr*be to games they say to play > > Yeah I don't believe, yeah > Thanks Sheila. J-P scooped the Nook this time, because Majordomo can't contend with the "s" word without human supervision. My bad! 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: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:45:43 EST From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: [JP] SISTER SHOWS - Bedsit Poets > > Bedsit Poets did a really intriguing and eye-opening set, opening > > for the Strangelings. > It's difficult describing the Bedsit Poets, partly because they defy easy description, partly because this was my first exposure to them ever. TK produced their first CD, 2005's The Summer That Changed. Pete introduced their set at Passim, comparing them to the Strangelings roughly in this way (it's my memory that's rough, not his intro of the band) -- The Bedsit Poets are quiet, soft psychedelic folk-pop, whereas the Strangelings are loud, hard psychedelic folk-pop. At any rate, there was a vibe or a groove about the Bedsit Poets that gelled perfectly with the vibe of the Strangelings with its modified Kennedys-inflected grooviness. Grooviness comes in many different forms, and the Strangelings and the Bedsit Poets embody two slightly different approaches to the psychedelic, folk-pop groove. There are the two lead singers, both ex-Brit NYC popsters, Edward Rogers and Amanda Thorpe. They sang individually, as well as together in 2-part harmonies, beautifully. The understated yet confident-sounding Amanda Thorpe was particularly striking, exuding a sort of Marianne Faithful-esque charm. The group is rounded out by guitarist Mac Randall. Their sound ranged from the Everly Brothers to a jazzy, finger-snapping suavity that reminded me a little of TK's "9th Street Billy." And they debuted a brand-new holiday song, "New Year," that was simply lovely. Reach For the Sky Refusing to Play February Kisses Daze For Love New Year She's a Mystery Don't Ask Me to Be Friends The Highs Can't Beat the Lows Highly recommended! 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 #117 **********************************