From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V3 #118 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 Wednesday, April 4 2001 Volume 03 : Number 118 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] calling the moon [jcolb ] [RS] the courier [jcolb ] Re: [RS] the courier ["Susan Koval" ] [RS] courier [Lee Wessman ] [RS] The Courier ["Clary, John (CLRY)" ] Re: [RS] the courier ["Norman A. Johnson" ] Re: [RS] the courier [Lisa Davis & family ] [RS] CNN Courier ["Norman A. Johnson" ] [RS] [Fwd: [FM] Bill Domler, Sounding Board Coffeehouse Founder] [Lisa Da] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 09:42:37 +0000 From: jcolb Subject: [RS] calling the moon > time, I tried playing "Calling the Moon". Now, "Calling the Moon" is in > DADGAD which has its own unusual fingerings for the chords. Of course, you > never see these songs transcribed on the usual pages for that very reason: This is a very pretty song the way richard does it - after a long period of comparison i returned to my initial gut feeling, i just plain like his version better than dar's- and (aside from that stretch from the 'G' to add the 2nd string note in the intro...ouch!) a nice DADGAD starting point. The nice thing about most of this stuff is you can either make it RG-style accurate as far as embellishments or keep it fairly skeletal and just pick the chords (mostly what i do) and it still sounds nice- that's the beauty of DADGAD to me, the ringing open strings... and the fact that some of the chords are so darn easy. Darkness Darkness is another good easy DADGAD piece in it's most basic form. jpc in sc pa very bad guitar player who will give courier thoughts later ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 10:08:44 +0000 From: jcolb Subject: [RS] the courier First off, darn it, i was going to make some Eric Bogle comparisons about this song, and i see rs has already been quoted and mentions him- because i believe that Bogle has written some of the strongest war songs around. (For the best versions imho, seek out his old german solo vinyl albums or his two record vinyl live set from australia from the mid eighties, again, only on vinyl. His studio versions, of which there are many, are often pale, overworked and overproduced.) It's interesting that sometimes I have encountered people, upon hearing this song at first, who are thrown by the chain mail line- they're not thinking mail as in deliver the mail, but chain mail as in the knight was wearing a chain mail tunic. (I myself find the reference to trenches and barbed wire and flares sort of set the timeframe.) This is one of the first shindell songs i heard, back in the fast folk days. A version which still strikes me as moving and powerful.. although not so much as the emelin show. Great opener, too, btw. The animating lines... what is almost hard to believe is that something this mature, this powerful could come from his very first album. You can say that richard's writing has matured, and that would be true, but you can also point to this and say it was pretty darn solid from the beginning. What really strikes me is the courier's cold, almost clinical mindset and indifference to the circumstances... Jean Ritchie once made a statement to the effect that the most effective songs (she was referring to environmentally- aware songs, but the same sentiments would apply to anti-war) often aren't the ones that bash you over the head, they're the ones that sneak up behind you and really get you thinking. Now, do you think if the same courier was thrown into the sixties and 'nam or the gulf war like the guy in things i have seen, he would be such a good soldier, or was carrying out orders and fighting for the greater good more of a part of that time, when good and evil seemed more clearly defined? While not the strongest line here, the character is defined to a fault by the lines 'i am invisible and faithful." And something that you may not think about, he is IN the middle of the battle- certainly not all, but many war songs are either reflections on the conflict after the fact (Long Black Wall; virtually everything David Munyon does; and the band played waltzing matilda) or anticipation of the battle or war (just before the battle, mother) jim colbert somewhere near bellefonte pa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 10:42:28 -0400 From: "Susan Koval" Subject: Re: [RS] the courier Jim wrote: "It's interesting that sometimes I have encountered people, upon hearing this song at first, who are thrown by the chain mail line- they're not thinking mail as in deliver the mail, but chain mail as in the knight was wearing a chain mail tunic. (I myself find the reference to trenches and barbed wire and flares sort of set the timeframe.)" I believe he IS talking about knights in armor. I think Richard is depicting how war occurs across time and across places, but that some things stay the same - - getting commands to the troops, getting messages to loved ones. It's extremely interesting how COMMUNICATIONS have changed over time. Hundreds of years ago it could take months or years to find out who won a battle, today you know almost before the soldiers do thanks to CNN... It would be interesting to add a Gulf War verse to the Courier. Sue K ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 09:37:14 -0700 From: Lee Wessman Subject: [RS] courier This is my all-time Richard favorite, too. Back when I had heard of Richard, but never actually heard him, I went out and bought "Sparrow's Point." "Courier" floored me on first listen. And every time since. First, it is a classic example of that whole "caught up in circumstances beyond our control" genre, of which Richard is the master. He couldn't have made a better choice for illustrating the point than by showing us someone in a small role caught up in those particular circumstances -- the moment of attack on a battlefield. Tides of people doing unimaginable things. But you don't have to be a solider to get something from it. It resonated personally the more I listened to it because I've been a working journalist since 1975, and I've had to cover some awful stories. The song captures that sense of just having to go out and do something -- deliver information -- that you know full well is going to bring widespread pain. And at times like those, you can't even imagine who's pulling the string. It could be the Prince of Wales, it could be the devil or it could be the lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody. (Wait a minute. Wrong song.) Anyway, Courier has always had those implications for me. And that makes a song or a story great -- when we can somehow picture a piece of ourselves in the tale. I also think the verse that describes the captain reading the note and delivering the orders is an incredible example of Richard's vivid, condensed story telling. In just 10 lines we get a complete character study of the Captain. He seems gruff -- "hand him all your pearls" -- but maybe he can only send his boys into the guns if he protects himself by developing a callous over his heart. - -lee ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 10:07:32 -0700 From: "Clary, John (CLRY)" Subject: [RS] The Courier I can't begin to put into words what this song does to me. The comments thus far have hit the mark though. One thing I can add is that had I not seen Gallipoli long before hearing the song, it might not have had the same impact on me. Chilling, humbling, resolving. Now.......as great as Richard's telling of this tale is, if you've never had the chance to hear Ron Greitzer become the courier before your eyes and ears, all I can say is wow! Ron might say that this is his favorite of Richard's songs every time we talk about it, and you might start to dismiss it after a while, but to watch it transform him while he shares it is awesome. - -- john andrew clary home mailto:john.cleirigh@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, 03 Apr 2001 19:59:48 -0400 From: "Norman A. Johnson" Subject: Re: [RS] the courier There's one other reason I like "The Courier". The spell-binding Larry Campbell solo. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 23:59:16 -0400 From: Lisa Davis & family Subject: Re: [RS] the courier Susan Koval wrote: > > I believe he IS talking about knights in armor. I think Richard is depicting > how war occurs across time and across places, but that some things stay the same - getting commands to the troops, getting messages to loved ones. Right, that's it exactly, i think. The courier is the same in different times. lisa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 23:00:53 -0400 From: "Norman A. Johnson" Subject: [RS] CNN Courier Susan wrote: >> It's extremely interesting how COMMUNICATIONS have changed over time. Hundreds of years ago it could take months or years to find out who won a battle, today you know almost before the soldiers do thanks to CNN... It would be interesting to add a Gulf War verse to the Courier. << Didn't Dick Cheney (during the early days of the air war) say that they were getting their information from CNN? Norman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 00:33:11 -0400 From: Lisa Davis & family Subject: [RS] [Fwd: [FM] Bill Domler, Sounding Board Coffeehouse Founder] Can someone please forward this to Richard Shindell -- I was present at several absolutely unforgettable (if tiny) Richard concerts at the Speediest Printer in town in Hartford, back when richard smoked! and consequently had to hang around outside in the frosty air to chat in the break, while having a smoke. I first heard "Fishing" played there, when it was new. By the way, Bill Domler also *taped* all those shows, so Young & Hunter, bestir yourselves and go find the tapes - -Bill domler would have wanted that. The place seated 40 people and only because teh fire marshall turned a blind eye (I think!) Bill gave *all* the gate, not just the profits, to the performer, he was 100% supportive of the performers. I know that playing there was "on the way" for Richard to play "big" venues like Roaring Brook! He had a penchant, also, for the really "trad" american stuff -- he also loved Stan Rogers and played his own recorded live concerts of Stan on the radio often. I hope that with his passing the music he loved, and preserved, won't be lost too. lisa davis - -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [FM] Bill Domler, Sounding Board Coffeehouse Founder Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2001 21:18:16 -0400 From: Jim Rigby Reply-To: folkmusic@grassyhill.org Organization: Thirdshift Enterprises To: folkmusic@grassyhill.org William "Bill" Domler, folk music promoter, folk music DJ on WWUH Radio, and founder of The Sounding Board Coffeehouse, passed away this afternoon (Mon., April 2) in Hartford, Connecticut as a result of injuries received in an fall at his place of business last week. With the assistance of Sandy & Caroline Paton of Folk-Legacy Records, Bill founded The Sounding Board in the basement of a Methodist church on Park Street in Hartford in December 1973. Although he left The Sounding Board in the late 1970s, the coffeehouse is run today by his parents, Len and Fran Domler, and presents more than 25 concerts each year from September to May. After his departure from The Sounding Board, Bill continued to run concerts in the Hartford area. He established a folk music series at Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton, Connecticut and presented house concerts at his business, The Speediest Printer In Town, which he founded in the mid-1970s after working in the printing industry for several years. Many folk performers got their first exposure to Hartford-area audiences through The Sounding Board or other folk music venues and opportunities Bill created over the years. Bill was also one of the original group of DJs who hosted and programmed the "FM on Toast" folk music radio show on WWUH-FM in West Hartford, Connecticut. The show, which airs Monday through Friday from 6-9 a.m., has been a feature on the University of Hartford radio station since the early 1980s. Although he had cut back his involvement with WWUH in recent years, he remained a substitute host who would play a blend of traditional folk and rarely-heard gems from his own extensive music collection. Bill grew up in Hartford and Wethersfield, Connecticut, and had lived in Simsbury, Connecticut for the past several years. He is survived by his parents, Len and Fran Domler of Cromwell, Connecticut, three sisters, two sons from a previous marriage, and his companion of the last two years, Trina. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time. Condolences may be sent to his sister: Janet Steucek, 668 Main St., Cromwell, CT 06416 or by email to folkie43@aol.com _______________________________________________ folkmusic mailing list folkmusic@grassyhill.org http://grassyhill.org/folkmusic ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V3 #118 ***********************************