From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V7 #42 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 Sunday, February 6 2005 Volume 07 : Number 042 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [RS] Welcome, [insert name here] ["Karen Zundel" ] Re: [RS] RE: shindell-list-digest V7 #38 ["Karen Zundel" ] [RS] Most overlooked RS song? [Ron Alderfer ] [RS] links to prior generation [Ron Alderfer ] Re: [RS] Most overlooked RS song? [Tom Neff ] Re: [RS] Most overlooked RS song? [Lisa Davis - home Subject: Re: [RS] Welcome, [insert name here] Ron, thanks for the welcome. I hope we hear from any other newbies who may be lurking out there as well. I have posted to this list before, but it had been so long that I didn't know how to post anymore [the old 'use it or lose it' syndrome] :-) which is why I had to re-join. Anyway, I'm not sure exactly how or when I found Richard's music. Actually I guess it found me. ;-) All I know for sure is that it seems like forever. I think *maybe* it might have been the Dar/Lucy connection since I definitely had been a Dar fan. I was one of the lucky ones who got to see a live Cry,Cry,Cry whow when they came through town and played a terrific show at the now defunct Rosebud in Pittsburgh on Jan. 15, 1999. I am shocked to think that was 6 years ago!!! [And yes, I keep track of every show I attend; I'm a librarian.] ;-) Anyway, if I wasn't a RS fan before that night, I sure was after. 'Somewhere near Paterson' was my first RS CD and, of course, I had to go back and get all the earlier ones. (Actually two of the earlier ones were gifts from two friends of mine who are big RS fans.) On a couple other lists that I'm on, the word "swoonworthy" is used a good bit...and because it's a word I use to describe the folks who really move me, I think the term now is attributed to me. :-) Well, I always and still say that it was RS who inspired me to come up with that term.....and that I still consider him to be the "swoonworthiest". LOL. He's definitely in my top-5 favorite male singer-songwriters....Ellis Paul being #1. :-) [If you're interested see www.ellispaularchives.org.] Several of my favorite RS songs are "next best western", "are you happy now", "mary magdalene", "confession"....so many others. From the new CD my favorite is "the last fare". He's simply never out of rotation. :-) [Oh my....I'm listening to An American Sampler, the Sunday morning folk show on WYEP, and there's a song playing right now.....and it's Mark Erelli's voice.....and he's singing "Crying" by Roy Orbison. OMG.....this is incredible!!!!! Oh! The DJ said it's on the 10th anniversary Signature Sounds release - now I *know* I have to get that disk!] So that's my story in a nutshell. I do think initially it was "the voice" that drew me in....although lyrics are very important to me.....all I know is that I feel very blessed to have this music in my life. KarenZ - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Alderfer" To: "shindell-list" Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 2:41 PM Subject: [RS] Welcome, Karen. > To the Richard Shindell list! > The only time it really gets dull here is when we're about 18 months away > from a new CD release! ;-) > > Anywho, as you are a "newbie", I'd be interested to hear how you came to > find out who RS was, and what drew you to his music, etc. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 08:44:31 -0500 From: "Karen Zundel" Subject: Re: [RS] RE: shindell-list-digest V7 #38 Exactly! Thanks, Mark (and Ron G.) for saying it so well! :-) KarenZ - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark A. Douglas" To: Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 7:42 PM Subject: RE: [RS] RE: shindell-list-digest V7 #38 > The point is that you can absolutely discuss Richard's songs, and the > politics contained within, but in my humble opinion, those politics can be > discussed within the context of the purposes of this list, id est > Richard's > music. > > Peace ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 08:56:20 EST From: RockinRonD@aol.com Subject: [RS] The Great Divide I think one of the things we love best about many of Richard's songs is that they engender debate, political and otherwise. Case in point: Who is the Narrator in "May"? From what end of the political spectrum does the father in "You Stay Here" lie? Is "By Now" really about a serial killer? But since we're all, hopefully, civilized people here, we shouldn't launch our opinions in the form of an attack on anyone else. Please, let your ideas and points of view flow. It's important, especially now. Richard--who certainly isn't politically obsessed but decidedly politically minded--wouldn't want it any other way. Personally, I think much of what has been posted here has been articulate, intelligent and educational. Just like Richard's songwriting. ReadinRonD ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 09:01:42 -0500 From: "Joe Lanzalotto" Subject: RE: [RS] links to prior generations I agree that you can find exceptions, but simply covering a song by another artist is not a "connection" (to me). And from the political perspective, I think it would be difficult to name too many that are as involved as people like Seeger, Phil Ochs, Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton, Joan Baez Buffy St Marie and others were (and in some cases, still are). It's just an observation, not a knock. Joe - -----Original Message----- From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org [mailto:owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Norman Johnson Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 12:37 AM To: shindell-list@smoe.org Subject: [RS] links to prior generations Joe wrote: >> I agree with your friend. I find this generation of "folk" musicians to be remarkably unconnected not only with politics but with those folk musicians that came before. << I think that's an overgeneralization at best. It may be true of some young "folk" musicians but there are plenty who are connected with who went before them and politics. Richard, having covered Pete Seeger, Randy Newman, and Paul Simon, is a prime example. There are many others: Dar Williams, Nerissa Nields, Gillian Welch, the Redbird folks (Peter Mulvey, Kris Delmhorst, and Jeffrey Foucault), to name just a few. Norman ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 08:59:30 -0500 From: Ron Alderfer Subject: [RS] every time I hear the news ".... I don't think anyone's saying that the list should be devoid of political discussion. It's when the discussion begins to include personal attacks -- or, in the case of one specific list member, a seeming desire to regularly push certain hot buttons just to rouse-rabbles -- that annoys the crap outta me." Ron, this is the clearest, most succinct statement about the subject to date, and I agree. Obviously, there is little chance of changing the political stripes of any of the list members' positions - so why not accept that, and keep the discussions on a higher plane? Richard himself said in a recent interview, that assuming he liked the music of Toby Keith, he would not walk out of his show (and by extension, cause any other disruption) just because he disagreed with Toby's politics. Ron A ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 09:05:04 -0500 From: Ron Alderfer Subject: [RS] Most overlooked RS song? I would like to hear nominations for the most overlooked RS song. You know, a song that you may have heard a thousand times, and suddenly it registers, and you say "Wow. Why didn't I pay attention to this before?". I'll nominate two from Reunion Hill: "May" and "Smiling". Ron A ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 09:23:32 -0500 From: Ron Alderfer Subject: [RS] links to prior generation It was a different era. The political landscape was much more active in all areas...protest marches, sit-ins, etc. The folk artists were a part of that time, but not the sole voice of activism. I think we are still seeing the effects of Watergate in terms of apathy and the generally cynical viewpoints. Although I do feel that mindset starting to swing back. Maybe Richard is in the vanguard in that respect. ;-) Ron A ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 10:22:42 -0500 From: Tom Neff Subject: Re: [RS] Most overlooked RS song? - --On Sunday, February 06, 2005 9:05 AM -0500 Ron Alderfer wrote: > I would like to hear nominations for the most overlooked RS song. You > know, a song that you may have heard a thousand times, and suddenly it > registers, and you say "Wow. Why didn't I pay attention to this before?". > > I'll nominate two from Reunion Hill: "May" and "Smiling". Not so much that my own appreciation of it has changed, but my candidate for the Fell Thru The Cracks RS song has to be "TV Light." Can't get him to play it, can't get it out of my head. Maybe he has his reasons, I don't know, but it sure is a strong song. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 11:00:51 -0500 From: Lisa Davis - home Subject: Re: [RS] Most overlooked RS song? Tom Neff wrote: but my candidate > for the Fell Thru The Cracks RS song has to be "TV Light." Can't get > him to play it, can't get it out of my head. Maybe he has his reasons, > I don't know, but it sure is a strong song. Hm. To me that is the most forgettable song (or one I'd most like to forget). Maybe it's a guy thing. As in "I'll do the dishes in the morning/this time I swear I won't forget." Probably my anti-TV prejudice. My personal favorites that are often forgotten are "Tune for Nowhere" (by a mile) and even (although it's tricky because of the Michael Ross death penalty coverage going on here right now) "Ascent." Or, "Howling at the Trouble." Or "Easy Street." Although I've heard him play all those at one time or another. Years ago; I'm a less frequent concert-goer these days. "Easy Street" you could chew over, lyrically, for hours. "Howling at the Trouble" is the most poetic. (I particularly like the way RIchard writes lyrics that repeat a line in the next verse but with a subtle significant change that reflects a chronological or emotional development -- you get that in "You Again," which is another great song he has played from time to time but not often.) "Ascent," emotional and a subject of spiritual debate. ":Tune for Nowhere" besides personal connections, poetic, subtle, and the kind of song you can interpret your own personal thousand ways. Where is "Nowhere"? One of my own "meanings" is cyberspace. "noone can decide how far it may extend." I suppose a religion of mine is anarchistic cyberevangelism... Lisa Davis ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V7 #42 **********************************