From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V3 #65 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Tuesday, February 27 2001 Volume 03 : Number 065 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Re: [RS] Folk Music [Jeff Gilson ] [RS] Folk Music [patrick t power ] RE: [RS] Folk Music ["Clary, John (CLRY)" ] Re: [RS] Folk Music [Vanessa Wills ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 19:04:24 -0500 From: Jeff Gilson Subject: Re: Re: [RS] Folk Music At 06:17 PM 02/26/2001 -0500, you wrote: >See ya disagree with me and then you back me up! Maybe this is >a confusing thread! Well, most of us are so shell-shocked from previous "What is folk?" threads that thinking clearly just isn't an option anymore. :-} jeff. - -- And if you ask me for the truth I will tell you only this that I have loved no other quite like this --Beth Amsel - -- (an index of free radical activity) http://www.onefreeradical.com/Journal/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 19:15:39 -0500 From: patrick t power Subject: [RS] Folk Music Elwestrand wrote: <> Methinks these discussions about what is or isn't folk music are conspiratorially intigated by the mass-music industry so that while we fight amongst ourselves, they roll along collecting scads of money because there aren't any qualms about what "pop" music is. Nonetheless . . . At one time, music was shared in people's homes, in the local pubs, on the streets -- it wasn't really intended to be presented on a stage before crowds of people. That it happened as a daily way of life for people is what made it "folk" music -- music of the people. There is a family in England -- the Copper family -- that has been singing songs passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years; *that* is folk music. Of course, as our world has changed, and as music has become part of the economy, people can now actually come close to making a living performing their music. So, it has been evolved into a "performace" form of entertainment as opposed to a participatory form. In other words, we go to watch it instead of being part of it. This has somewhat made it less "of the people" -- indeed less of a "folk" music. But this is all just splitting hairs, I guess. Pat ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 19:06:23 -0600 From: "Clary, John (CLRY)" Subject: RE: [RS] Folk Music >> Of course, as our world has changed, and as music has become part of the economy, people can now actually come close to making a living performing their music. So, it has been evolved into a "performace" form of entertainment as opposed to a participatory form. In other words, we go to watch it instead of being part of it. This has somewhat made it less "of the people" -- indeed less of a "folk" music. But this is all just splitting hairs, I guess. << I swore I didn't have anything to add to this thread. Y'all have been so eloquent and insightful, as well as polite. No Pat you're not splitting hairs. You just articulated my frustration and made me realize why I have become a "folk-artist stalker." I am a folk artist. But I am in no way EVER going to be a commercially successful performance artist. Not unless I can figure out how to make a living doing a living room tour. I so enjoy going to concerts, but in the end, as I drive home, I am left longing for the "rest of the experience." It's why I wait for Richard to poke his head out at the end of the night and why I invited him to come to the guitar store the day after his last show out here. I was hoping to participate in the playing and singing. The festivals come the closest to achieving this nowadays. The music circles that go on until sun-up are more satisfying than the hours spent in the workshops or performances. That's where American folk music is still alive and well. I recall last September, a bunch of my friends gathered to celebrate the Harvest Moon near Yosemite. We built a dance floor in a meadow, pulled out the fiddles, mandolins, flutes, banjos, ate and drank around the bon fire...that's folk. But, the best time I have had in years was when a new friend of mine, who I had only known through email, visited me a while back. We played in my living room all weekend trading songs. As I dropped him off at the airport that early Sunday morning, I wasn't wanting for anything. We had found the community that only folk music can provide. No award show could do that and no commercial genre will capture it. - -- john andrew clary home mailto:drewclary@juno.com work mailto:clry@chevron.com "the music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. there's also a negative side." ~ hunter s. thompson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 02:36:08 -0500 From: Vanessa Wills Subject: Re: [RS] Folk Music Speaking of folk music . . . With the slightly warmer temps in New Jersey, I have had "Spring/Summer Reel" and "Summer Wind, Cotton Dress*" playing in heavy rotation. These songs absolutely make me ache the most gut-wrenching of longings for sunlight, green grass, long, flowing, silk or cotton skirts, and general frolicking. In the springtime, some people's thoughts turn to love. This year, mine turn to Falcon Ridge. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. My friends and I are already gearing up for Falcon Ridge; pathetic, I know, but leave us the dreams that academia would crush and sweep away like so much dry chalk dust. So far, it's pretty much the hardy perennials who are lined up for the Ridge. We've got 2/3 of Cry3 (I hope Richard is soon to join the frolicking!), Susan Werner (RG's favorite), Nields, Paperboys, Vance Gilbert (yes!), Jimmy LaFave, and Eddie from Ohio. The five favorites from last year's showcase are: Erin McKeown, Kevin So, Deirdre Flint, and Christopher Williams tied with Beth Amsel for fifth place. So though there be snow still laid upon the ground, visions dance through my head--visions of tarp laid there, instead. It's been a slow descent; first, the Peter Gabriel and PJ Harvey slipped out of my stereo, and the Richard and Nields slipped in. Then, surfing the web for pictures of last year's festival bliss. And now, I am deep in the throes of escapist dreaming and frustrated wanting. O Blessed Falcon, take me on your wings; bear me far away. Peace, Love, and Intense FRFF-related Longing, Vanessa P.S. I have had a craving for a vegetarian curried goat salad basket from Nyota's Ting for, uh, seven months, now . . . *I lured a friend into listening to "Summer Wind" last night. I said to her, "Christine, you will like this song; this song smells like August." It is absolutely one of the most perfect songs ever written, IMHO. - -- "The day will begin like any other,/ Another sunrise in the east, It will reach across and touch you like a lover,/ It will tease you from a dream." --Richard Shindell, "Spring" ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V3 #65 **********************************