From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V8 #24 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 Friday, February 10 2006 Volume 08 : Number 024 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] grammys [sharon G ] RE: [RS] Re: shindell-list-digest V8 #22 ["Adam Plunkett" ] [RS] Springsteen. [Rongrittz@aol.com] [RS] Gramophobia ["Gene Frey" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 06:34:35 -0500 From: sharon G Subject: [RS] grammys "if you are lucky you find somethig that relects you helps you feel your life, protects you cradles you and connects you to everything this whole life i remember has lead back unto itself" I don't watch the grammys regularly any more But Devils and Dust doesn't belong in the contemporary folk category. The winner of that category was John Prine for Fair and Square. I guess he is as close to a real life 2005 folk singer as you can get. But no one is gonna tune in to see John Prine sing except maybe Bonnie Raitt and me. If you wanted to see the troops, they were at the James Taylor honoring a few days before. Sharon G ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:08:34 -0500 From: "Adam Plunkett" Subject: RE: [RS] Re: shindell-list-digest V8 #22 I didn't see the Grammys but I agree that Spreingsteen shouldn't be the face of folk music. He is a great muscian and artist but a rock and roll performer who makes one folk album a decade (and does so very well - Devils and Dust was one of my favorite purchases of last year and there's a rumor he is making full of Pete Seeger songs now). I do disagree with Sharon about the Springsteen album being nominated though. If you forget Spingsteen made it and listen to it, it is no different in terms of style to any album by a folk singer - actually, there is probably less production on that album than on many "folk" albums. :) For those who haven't heard it, I think one track has an electrical instrument in it and the majority of tracks are just Bruce on the acoustic. On another Grammy note, I saw that Tim O'Brien won in the traditional folk catogory which made me happy. The album - Fiddler's Green - I can listen to over and over. I have always loved trad. folk music and when the singer songwriter boom happened, trad. music seemed to be forgotten about and it's nice to see that the whole bluegrass/appalachian revival has brought the traditional songs back into the folk world. >From: John McDonnell >Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org >To: shindell-list@smoe.org >Subject: [RS] Re: shindell-list-digest V8 #22 >Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 22:58:26 -0500 > >Hi all, > >Maybe someone can talk me down on this, but at the Grammys, when Tom Hanks >told us what folk music is and what folk singers are he >introduced........Bruce Springsteen! Now many, if not all, of you other >listers are bigger folk music fans than I, but I found that disingenuously >irritating. Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for Springsteen >as an artist and songwriter (except for a brief period in the '80s), but >he's no folk singer. He is a multi-platinum rock n' roll artist who has >done a couple of acoustic albums. It's like saying Green Day is punk--I >think they are very good in their own right, and are a reasonable facsimile >of a punk consciousness, but they are not punk--they are token punk--even >though their music stands by itself regardless of genre. >How about putting a real folk singer up there? How about putting a real >folk >song up there?? Even if troubadors, as our social conscience, are not >millionaires (there's no money in guilt), give us something more than a >reasonable facsimile of one:Dylan is still alive. How about RS?? > >John McD. _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:32:55 EST From: RockinRonD@aol.com Subject: [RS] Grammy...How I Love Ya, How I love ya... The Grammys are a particularly sore subject around this list...no one here really takes them seriously and every year, without fail, someone posts an outraged response to the awards. Though Springsteen is hardly folk, his music and songwriting does resonate among folkies and he is one of the few in the pop universe writing with a social conscience. It was great seeing my long time hero John Prine win an award for best contemporary folk album, but a man of his stature probably deserves much more than that. It's a token tribute at best. The Grammys really need to add Singer/Songwriter to the voting categories. Will that ever happen? Don't hold your breath. Besides, none of us really care about the crass commercialism and self-serving spectacle that is the Grammy Awards anyway. Do we? RinginginRonD ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:23:10 -0500 From: "Adam Plunkett" Subject: RE: [RS] Grammy...How I Love Ya, How I love ya... I know a lot of people want a singer-songwriter category but I don't think that would help. Let me explain: I am sure everyone here would happy for Richard to get recognized (even if the Grammys are shallow, etc). He would have more chance (albeit a small one) in the contemporary folk category then he would in a singer-songwriter category. My reason is because many acts that are rock/pop call themselves singer-songwriters. I mean if you write your own songs and sing them you can call youself one. So, I think this category would get overrun by more popular acts. Also, this year had some big guns, so to speak, releasing albums but last year nominees featured some members of the folk curcuit including Eliza Gilkyson and Patty Griffin. But the fact is the Grammys - like the Oscars for the field of film - will always tend to pick the more mainstream, safe picks. >From: RockinRonD@aol.com >Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org >To: shindell-list@smoe.org >Subject: [RS] Grammy...How I Love Ya, How I love ya... >Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:32:55 EST > The Grammys really need to add >Singer/Songwriter to the voting categories. Will that ever happen? Don't >hold your >breath. Besides, none of us really care about the crass commercialism and >self-serving spectacle that is the Grammy Awards anyway. Do we? > >RinginginRonD _________________________________________________________________ Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:30:44 -0600 From: "kunigunda" Subject: Re: [RS] Grammys etc RE Springstein - it looks like they don't have an appropriate category for him anymore, so they put him under folk. Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris are billed as country but that doesn't seem exactly right either. They need to add more categories; traditional and contempory Americana would help. I noticed that Folkwax artist of the year nominees were Jeff Black, Eliza Gilkyson, Tracy Grammer, Carrie Newcomer, John Prine and Ellis Paul with John Prine being the winner. Album of the year nominees were Fair & Square - John Prine, Tin Lily - Jeff Black, Regulars and Refugees - Carrie Newcomer, Flower Of Avalon - Tracy Grammer, My Better Self - Dar Williams, American Jukebox Fables - Ellis Paul, with Fair and Square being the winner. Only one of these artists received a grammy nomination. It is no wonder: the voting members of the recording academy must be producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album. Assuming these guys are associated with major labels, the artists on independent or small labels don't have much of a chance. That's why RS, for the time being, will continue to be our best kept secret. Carrie in KC ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:31:54 EST From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: [RS] Springsteen. >> If you forget Spingsteen made it and listen to it, it is no different in terms of style to any album by a folk singer - actually, there is probably less production on that album than on many "folk" albums. << Excellent point. Just because Springsteen used to be the consummate rocker, does that mean that he should not be able to make a folk-"sounding" album from time to time, and be recognized for having done so? Or, is it once a rocker, always a rocker, no matter what the album actually sounds like? I understand how great it would be for people like Richard to be recognized and rewarded for his work, but since That's Never Going To Happen, I'm happy that someone who I truly believe has a folk heart, like Springsteen, can be the genre's torch-bearer. RG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:32:33 -0500 From: "Gene Frey" Subject: [RS] Gramophobia Hey you guys, Ron D. reflected: >>Besides, none of us really care about the crass commercialism and >>self-serving spectacle that is the Grammy Awards anyway. Do we? << Well, certainly not those of us who chose to spend Wednesday night watching not the Grammys or American Idol but, instead, were treated to a terrific night of music at Cool Beanz in St. James, NY. Lots of geat openers in the open mic, including long-time favorites James O'Malley and Martha Trachtenberg and Tom Griffin, plus a fun, totally enjoyable set from Russ Rentler. Russ, whose Shindell connection has been mentioned earlier, played acoustic guitar, dobro, bouzouki, autoharp, hammer dulcimer, harmonica and banjo, (did I miss anything?) and played them all very, very well. To borrow, sort of, an exchange from "Office Space:" >So, it looks like you missed Madonna on the Grammys >Well, I wouldn't exactly say I *missed* it, Bob Gene F. (who reminds everyone to go to www.courthouseconcerts.com to get details on next week's House Concert featuring Brian and Katie of We're About 9, joined by Abbie Gardner of Red Molly) ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V8 #24 **********************************