Time out from my life with a little summertime Florida vacation. Arrived in Stuart Florida last night, Sunday evening - visiting my mother, sister, brother, nephew, niece, etc. I thought I would get in more playing/practicing on my instruments, but there has been little opportuniny. Practicing Hindustani scales Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Nhi Sa in the car has let time go by quickly. Great scenery and we've missed most of the tropical storms.
Hope to cut a new fiddle bridge this week and be open to musical opportunities.
If anyone needs to reach me while I'm away e-mail me bobluskmusic@yahoo.com - not an mail I normally use or check. I will be back by 7/7 0r 7/8 and checking my regular e-mail then.
Mathews County Virginia
Had a wonderful time playing the fiddle at night on the beach. Attracted some audiance however and wound up having a small session with 14 year old kids - they didn't know what folk music was and I had never heard of what they listen to. But we jammed some blues and played some Johnny Cash songs.
Folk music in Kingston, NY 9/1/07
Mark your calendars now!
An evening of acoustic folk music...
some traditional, some contemporary, some in-between...
An evening of acoustic folk music...
some traditional, some contemporary, some in-between...
ANNE PRICE & STEVE SUFFET
sharing and alternating sets
6:00 PM to closing (around 8:00 PM)
Saturday . September 1, 2007
The Alternative Bookstore
35 North Front Street
Kingston, NY 12401
No cover charge!
For info: 845-331-5439.
Anne's website: http://www.anneprice.com/
Steve's website: http://suffet.home.att.net/
Be there!
--- Steve
Tommy Sands
Went with Jim Donnelly to East Durham last night. They have their Irish Arts Week. In the past I have been for the whole week but last night was just to get in a session. When we got there the big concert had just started, we paid our $10 not knowing what to expect. There were about 500 people in the pavilion, big sound system, lots of traditional music - jigs, reels, accordions, fiddles, flutes. It was decent music - I knew a lot of the performers. For the most part they were people that play with a lot of other people at dances, all knowing the same material. Next year they'll shuffle the members. There was one family band the Mulcahees. It was all good.
Then there was Tommy Sands, cousin of Bobby. I missed going the other night to the Bruderhof to hear him. I have known some of his songs, but never heard him before. He did a great song "Down by the Lagan Side". I rushed over to the CD table, bought it and had him sign it for me after he got off. I plan to sing it at Alternative Books on 9/16.
For years I have been caught between the uplifting feelings that one gets with patriotic and religous music and the reality of patriotism and religous expression. My journeys to Hinduism have helped me with this a lot. Tommy has reconciled this by singing strong affirmative songs about peace, which I find very inspiting.
The background is of course the "troubles" between Catholic and Protestant in Northern Ireland. Tommy has written a lot of songs of reconciliation. He talked about how the people in Northern Ireland are forcing the politicians to move closer to compromise.
The instruments mentioned in the song are significant. The pipers and harpers are symbolic of the Republic of Ireland, while the lambeg drums are traditional instruments of Northern Protestants. He said he sang this song recently with a large group of schoolchildren , Catholic and Protestant politicians, accompanied by pipers and lambeg drummers.
The Lagan river runs through Belfast and divides it into Catholic and Protestant sections. With this song, Tommy holds the river up as a unifying force.
Down by the Lagan Side
I thought she was a vision that stopped me with her smile
Down by the river we walked along in style
She says you're welcome back again and won't you stay awhile
Down by the Lagan side
And when we dance, we'll dance together
When we cry, we'll hold each other
And when we love we'll love forever
Down by the Lagan side
I said who owns that music that's so full of joy and pain
That the pipers and the harpers and the lambeg drummers play
She said who owns the teardrops falling in the rain
Down by the Lagan side
And do you not remember we once walked side by side
And the bells of Belfast City sang harmony and pride
The past it has been taken but the future's yours and mine
Down by the Lagan side.
Then there was Tommy Sands, cousin of Bobby. I missed going the other night to the Bruderhof to hear him. I have known some of his songs, but never heard him before. He did a great song "Down by the Lagan Side". I rushed over to the CD table, bought it and had him sign it for me after he got off. I plan to sing it at Alternative Books on 9/16.
For years I have been caught between the uplifting feelings that one gets with patriotic and religous music and the reality of patriotism and religous expression. My journeys to Hinduism have helped me with this a lot. Tommy has reconciled this by singing strong affirmative songs about peace, which I find very inspiting.
The background is of course the "troubles" between Catholic and Protestant in Northern Ireland. Tommy has written a lot of songs of reconciliation. He talked about how the people in Northern Ireland are forcing the politicians to move closer to compromise.
The instruments mentioned in the song are significant. The pipers and harpers are symbolic of the Republic of Ireland, while the lambeg drums are traditional instruments of Northern Protestants. He said he sang this song recently with a large group of schoolchildren , Catholic and Protestant politicians, accompanied by pipers and lambeg drummers.
The Lagan river runs through Belfast and divides it into Catholic and Protestant sections. With this song, Tommy holds the river up as a unifying force.
Down by the Lagan Side
I thought she was a vision that stopped me with her smile
Down by the river we walked along in style
She says you're welcome back again and won't you stay awhile
Down by the Lagan side
And when we dance, we'll dance together
When we cry, we'll hold each other
And when we love we'll love forever
Down by the Lagan side
I said who owns that music that's so full of joy and pain
That the pipers and the harpers and the lambeg drummers play
She said who owns the teardrops falling in the rain
Down by the Lagan side
And do you not remember we once walked side by side
And the bells of Belfast City sang harmony and pride
The past it has been taken but the future's yours and mine
Down by the Lagan side.
#@$%^ computers
Some of my posts got a little bolixed up.- here they are again.
Guitar lessons
I am considering taking a few guitar students in the fall at my home studio in the Roundout section of Kingston. This would probably be limited to Tuesday or Wednesday evenings starting at 5:00 pm. In addition to teaching privately, I have also taught at local music stores, the YWCA, New Paltz High School and SUNY New Paltz college. I teach a variety of styles with an emphasis on tracitional folk music. Call me at 338-8587 - Bob
posted by Bob Lusk at 11:09 AM Thursday, July 12, 2007
, July 12, 2007
Tribute to Andy McGann
From:
Brian Conway
Album in Tribute to Andy McGann
A Tribute to Andy McGann is a new CD from Joe Burke,
Brian Conway and Felix Dolan in tribute to New York
fiddler, the late Andy McGann.
Andy McGann was born and raised in New York to Sligo
parents and became one of the key figures in
traditional Irish music in the US. He grew up in a
community that was loyal to the Sligo-American style
of music that had been established in the US a
generation earlier by immigrants from Sligo including
Michael Coleman and James Morrison. Andy began
playing the fiddle at the age of seven and was tutored
by Michael Coleman, a family friend, and he played
with him many times until Coleman's death in 1945.
McGann's playing was beautifully sweet without being
saccharine, deeply expressive and elegant, and it is a
style than many young musicians have tried to emulate.
He would eventually become the standard-bearer of the
Sligo-American style made famous by Coleman and,
indeed, pass the tradition on to other players
including his protégé Brian Conway.
In 1965 Andy McGann together with two good friends and
musicians, Joe Burke and Felix Dolan, recorded the
album A Tribute to Michael Coleman. More than forty
years later, on 1 April 2006 in the Irish American
Heritage Center in Chicago, Joe Burke, Felix Dolan and
Brian Conway performed together in a concert titled 'A
Tribute to Andy McGann', honouring a great musician
and friend who had passed away in 2004. It was
entirely appropriate that the two musicians who had
played with Andy on the landmark Coleman album should
have chosen Brian Conway, Andy's protégé, to play with
them on this occasion. Four tracks recorded live at
that concert are included on A Tribute to Andy McGann
together with several other tracks chosen to
commemorate and celebrate the life of Andy McGann and
to represent the Sligo-American style.
The CD booklet includes extensive notes on Andy McGann
and on the three musicians on the album. A Tribute to
Andy McGann is available in music shops and from
www.cic.ie
The CD will be launched at the Willie Clancy festival
in Miltown Malbay on 8 July. The Traditional Festival
taking place as part of the annual Catskills Irish
Arts Week in East Durham, New York, is dedicated to
the memory of Andy McGann this year and the CD will be
launched there on 21 July. Further information from
www.east-durham.org
The Musicians
Joe Burke is a master box player from east Galway and
a long-time friend and musical colleague of Andy
McGann. Felix Dolan is from New York and ranks as the
leading Irish-American piano accompanist. Brian
Conway is a fiddler from New York and is the leading
player in the Sligo-American style.
posted by Bob Lusk at 8:51 PM
A few new/old photos at
http://bobluskphotos.blogspot.com/
posted by Bob Lusk at 7:15 PM
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The Hammer Song
watch video
by pete seeger and lee hays
On the 4th of July I was singing in the Saugerites NY parade (go to http://bhaavram.blogspot.com/
for a complete description)
Afterwards I heard Alan Chartok do a historic interview with Pete Seeger which contained some clips from this video. "The Hammer Song" was written by Lee Hays and origionally published in Sing Out! Magazine, which I worked for back in the late 70's. It was the one song that we usually sing at parades that we forgot to sing that day. Special note for next year!
Tommy Sands in Concert July 11...
I'm not sure if I can make it, but this looks like a great show.
Wed., July 11, 7:00pm Tommy Sands in Concert. Irish singer and songwriter Tommy Sands will perform in concert at the Platte Clove Community in Elka Park, NY. This is a free concert but seating is limited. Call Jim Weeks at (518) 589 5103 for tickets.
Music for Steamboat Celebration
Hudson River Maritime Museum is having a Steamboat Celebration August 4 from 12 pm- 5PM with steamboat rides, an old fashioned cake walk and lots of family activities. We are tring to find some music for the event- Barbershop Quartets or any music/ entertainment from the steamboat era. If you would like to join HRMM for a fun day and help entertain please contact Betty at HRMM@hvc.rr.com or call 845-338-0071 ext 16.
Again Thanks -- Betty HRMM Manager
Sing-A-Thon/Play-A-Thon for low-income music students
From Julie Weneger
DUTCHESS COMMUNITY COLLEGE MUSIC SCHOOL
Dear Friends & Family,
I am organizing and performing in DCC Music School's Sing-A-Thon/Play-A-Thon on August 4. This is a fundraiser for our scholarship fund for economically disadvantaged kids to study music. Each performer requests sponsors who pledge any amount to sponsor their performance. I'm writing to ask if you would be able to sponsor my performance this year. Many of you were amazingly generous last year and sponsored me or a student or other faculty member, or performed and requested sponsors of your own.
Anyone, child or adult, amateur or professional, student or teacher, solo or ensemble, is invited to perform. Some of the kids helped by last year's contributions will be performing in this year's event. No amount is too small.
(In case you are wondering, and fortunately for everyone, I am NOT singing. Will be playing a movement of a Schubert piano sonata.)
If you are able to be a sponsor, you can just email me back and let me know your pledge amount, and later you can give it to me or mail it to me. Checks (tax-deductible) can be made out to DCC FOUNDATION (write "MusicLink" on the check). Mail to:
Julie Wegener
Dutchess Community College
Music School- B118
53 Pendell Rd.
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Thank you very much for considering...and if not possible, I completely understand. And if you'd like to perform instead of sponsor...GREAT!!!- (no affiliation with DCC required.)
Julie
Guitar lessons
I am considering taking a few guitar students in the fall at my home studio in the Roundout section of Kingston. This would probably be limited to Tuesday or Wednesday evenings starting at 5:00 pm. In addition to teaching privately, I have also taught at local music stores, the YWCA, New Paltz High School and SUNY New Paltz college. I teach a variety of styles with an emphasis on tracitional folk music. Call me at 338-8587 - Bob
posted by Bob Lusk at 11:09 AM Thursday, July 12, 2007
, July 12, 2007
Tribute to Andy McGann
From:
Brian Conway
Album in Tribute to Andy McGann
A Tribute to Andy McGann is a new CD from Joe Burke,
Brian Conway and Felix Dolan in tribute to New York
fiddler, the late Andy McGann.
Andy McGann was born and raised in New York to Sligo
parents and became one of the key figures in
traditional Irish music in the US. He grew up in a
community that was loyal to the Sligo-American style
of music that had been established in the US a
generation earlier by immigrants from Sligo including
Michael Coleman and James Morrison. Andy began
playing the fiddle at the age of seven and was tutored
by Michael Coleman, a family friend, and he played
with him many times until Coleman's death in 1945.
McGann's playing was beautifully sweet without being
saccharine, deeply expressive and elegant, and it is a
style than many young musicians have tried to emulate.
He would eventually become the standard-bearer of the
Sligo-American style made famous by Coleman and,
indeed, pass the tradition on to other players
including his protégé Brian Conway.
In 1965 Andy McGann together with two good friends and
musicians, Joe Burke and Felix Dolan, recorded the
album A Tribute to Michael Coleman. More than forty
years later, on 1 April 2006 in the Irish American
Heritage Center in Chicago, Joe Burke, Felix Dolan and
Brian Conway performed together in a concert titled 'A
Tribute to Andy McGann', honouring a great musician
and friend who had passed away in 2004. It was
entirely appropriate that the two musicians who had
played with Andy on the landmark Coleman album should
have chosen Brian Conway, Andy's protégé, to play with
them on this occasion. Four tracks recorded live at
that concert are included on A Tribute to Andy McGann
together with several other tracks chosen to
commemorate and celebrate the life of Andy McGann and
to represent the Sligo-American style.
The CD booklet includes extensive notes on Andy McGann
and on the three musicians on the album. A Tribute to
Andy McGann is available in music shops and from
www.cic.ie
The CD will be launched at the Willie Clancy festival
in Miltown Malbay on 8 July. The Traditional Festival
taking place as part of the annual Catskills Irish
Arts Week in East Durham, New York, is dedicated to
the memory of Andy McGann this year and the CD will be
launched there on 21 July. Further information from
www.east-durham.org
The Musicians
Joe Burke is a master box player from east Galway and
a long-time friend and musical colleague of Andy
McGann. Felix Dolan is from New York and ranks as the
leading Irish-American piano accompanist. Brian
Conway is a fiddler from New York and is the leading
player in the Sligo-American style.
posted by Bob Lusk at 8:51 PM
A few new/old photos at
http://bobluskphotos.blogspot.com/
posted by Bob Lusk at 7:15 PM
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The Hammer Song
watch video
by pete seeger and lee hays
On the 4th of July I was singing in the Saugerites NY parade (go to http://bhaavram.blogspot.com/
for a complete description)
Afterwards I heard Alan Chartok do a historic interview with Pete Seeger which contained some clips from this video. "The Hammer Song" was written by Lee Hays and origionally published in Sing Out! Magazine, which I worked for back in the late 70's. It was the one song that we usually sing at parades that we forgot to sing that day. Special note for next year!
Tommy Sands in Concert July 11...
I'm not sure if I can make it, but this looks like a great show.
Wed., July 11, 7:00pm Tommy Sands in Concert. Irish singer and songwriter Tommy Sands will perform in concert at the Platte Clove Community in Elka Park, NY. This is a free concert but seating is limited. Call Jim Weeks at (518) 589 5103 for tickets.
Music for Steamboat Celebration
Hudson River Maritime Museum is having a Steamboat Celebration August 4 from 12 pm- 5PM with steamboat rides, an old fashioned cake walk and lots of family activities. We are tring to find some music for the event- Barbershop Quartets or any music/ entertainment from the steamboat era. If you would like to join HRMM for a fun day and help entertain please contact Betty at HRMM@hvc.rr.com or call 845-338-0071 ext 16.
Again Thanks -- Betty HRMM Manager
Sing-A-Thon/Play-A-Thon for low-income music students
From Julie Weneger
DUTCHESS COMMUNITY COLLEGE MUSIC SCHOOL
Dear Friends & Family,
I am organizing and performing in DCC Music School's Sing-A-Thon/Play-A-Thon on August 4. This is a fundraiser for our scholarship fund for economically disadvantaged kids to study music. Each performer requests sponsors who pledge any amount to sponsor their performance. I'm writing to ask if you would be able to sponsor my performance this year. Many of you were amazingly generous last year and sponsored me or a student or other faculty member, or performed and requested sponsors of your own.
Anyone, child or adult, amateur or professional, student or teacher, solo or ensemble, is invited to perform. Some of the kids helped by last year's contributions will be performing in this year's event. No amount is too small.
(In case you are wondering, and fortunately for everyone, I am NOT singing. Will be playing a movement of a Schubert piano sonata.)
If you are able to be a sponsor, you can just email me back and let me know your pledge amount, and later you can give it to me or mail it to me. Checks (tax-deductible) can be made out to DCC FOUNDATION (write "MusicLink" on the check). Mail to:
Julie Wegener
Dutchess Community College
Music School- B118
53 Pendell Rd.
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Thank you very much for considering...and if not possible, I completely understand. And if you'd like to perform instead of sponsor...GREAT!!!- (no affiliation with DCC required.)
Julie
Peace Poem of the Month/Art Work
Dear Arts for Peace Members and Friends,
As you know, Arts For Peace sponsors a "Peace Poem of the Month" at Village Hall in New Paltz. We are now seeking submissions for poems about peace and social justice.
Please email your submissions to
or call Colleen Geraghty @845-256-9233 if you have any questions.
Poetry Book
Some of my poems and songs have been included in a new book Post Traumatic Press 2007 - veteran's poems, edited by Dayl Wise. It should start hitting local bookstores in a few weeks. There will be a reading at the Colony Cafe on September 17th at
[You can find the lyrics to all my poetry at
http://boblusklyrics.blogspot.com/]
Post Traumatic Press 2007
This book is put together to tell the stories of veterans with direct experience of the military. For some, the intense experience of war can only be expressed in poetry, while others are driven by the need to say something openly political. This chapbook includes veterans from World War II, the Cold War,
Contributors: Camillo "Mac" Bica, Richard Boes, Thomas Brinson, Michael Embrich, Michael Gillen, Marc Levy, Bob Lusk, Gerald McCarthy, Jim Murphy, Fred Nagel, Ron Thompson, Robert "Tack" Trostle, Jose Vasquez, Jay Wenk, Dan Wilcox, Sam Weinreb and Larry Winters. Some of these
Beat the Devil
Hurrying to get ready for Saugerties Parade, but a few thoughts jsut passed through my mind. I was going over some old notes on Johnny Cash songs and ran across Kris Kirstoffersons "Beat the Devil" which he wrote for Johnny.
And you still can hear me singing to the people who dont listen
To the things that I am saying, praying someones going to hear;
And I guess Ill die explaining how the things that they complain about
Are things they could be changing, hoping someones goin to care.
I was born a lonely singer and Im bound to die the same
But Ive got to feed the hunger in my soul;
And if I never have a nickel I wont ever die of shame
cause I dont believe that no-one wants to know!
To the things that I am saying, praying someones going to hear;
And I guess Ill die explaining how the things that they complain about
Are things they could be changing, hoping someones goin to care.
I was born a lonely singer and Im bound to die the same
But Ive got to feed the hunger in my soul;
And if I never have a nickel I wont ever die of shame
cause I dont believe that no-one wants to know!
I love singing in parades. My body is not keeping up the physically demanding aspects of it, but I love it, even if I'm totally wasted at the end. Singing full voice in the open air - there is nothing like it. Singing peace songs on the 4th of July - well it's a statement, but it is also a cathartic release.
Does it matter? Does it help the anti war effort. I think so. Vietnam proved that protests do matter. The people in the White House listen even when Nixon was watching football while thousands were outside.
If a tree falls in the forest does anyone hear it? Well yeah, the tree hears it, experiences it.
I believe that the words that we utter, the songs that we sing, the thoughts that we have, really do matter - that they influence our reality.
And I feel great when I'm singing in parades!
Fw: Pickin Circle -> RR Station
From Dakin (in th background) Morehouse
Hello Happy Pickers,
As you know, Harry's Picking Circle at the old Phoenicia Ski Lodge is suspended for the season.
This is an invite (with Harry's blessing) to all who wish to continue pickin (until Harry picks up again toward fall) to meet at the Empire State Railway Museum in the old Phoenicia Train Station.
The Station is located just a little over a mile East on the same road (but different name) as Harry's lodge. It is the last building on your Left going East on the same road (you'll see trains and our sign).
Or if you're coming up 28, West from Kingston direction it is the first Right turn, (at the beginning of a curve) a few hundred yards after the Phoenicia Diner (to your left).
From this entrance the Station is the first structure (green, see sign) anout 1/4 mile on your right.
The actual address is 70 Lower High St. (yeah, even the PO loves oxymorons).
Hope to see you there with tight strings (and your musical friends) starting this Thursday July 5th, 7 to 11pm as usual. (munchies and/or sodas are always welcome).
Dakin (in th background) Morehouse
P.S. - Don't forget Harry's Annual Summer Party / pot-luck at Romer Mt. Park on Sat. Aug. 11th.
Happy 4th of July!
I am planning to march and sing with the Saugerties Peace and Justice Coalition tomorrow. Meet at the High School on Washington Avenue. Looks like rain so be prepared.
I was at the Old Songs Festival in Altamont New York this past weekend and found a Flatiron Mandolin. I haven't had a mandolin for a few years. It's really great having one again - and this one is very playable with a great sound. It's been a lot of fun the past few days playing all the old fiddle tunes again. I'm amazed at how quickly they are all coming back to me.The mandolin was in great shape, but the strings were a little too thick so I changed them to the manufactures recomendation (printed inside the mandolin). I also gave the fingerboard a few coats of linseed oil, letting it soak in overnight, attached my old mandolin strap and dug out my old hard shell mandolin case. I'm ready for whatever mandolin adventures may come my way!
'The Big Red Songbook'
Historian completes a labor of love -- 'The Big Red Songbook'
Jesse Hamlin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, June 18, 2007
John Neuhaus was a strapping Mission District machinist who joined the Industrial Workers of the World -- the radical unionists called the Wobblies -- in San Francisco in 1930. A passionate man who wore lumberjack shirts and had no use for doctors, lawyers and other bourgeoisie, Neuhaus became an ardent folklorist, researching and collecting the potent and piquant songs that Wobblies of many creeds and colors sang around copper mines and hobo campfires, on picket lines and in jail.
Shortly before he died of cancer in 1958 at age 54, Neuhaus gave his friend and fellow folklorist Archie Green a tin tea box containing all but one of the 29 little red Wobbly songbooks published between 1909 and 1956 (seven more have appeared since, the last in 1995) and a World War II ammunition box filled with original sheet music and other material he'd amassed with the goal of publishing a complete Wobbly songbook. Green implicitly understood the job would fall to him.
"I felt morally responsible to do something with his collection," says Green, one of the editors of "The Big Red Songbook," an engaging new anthology (Charles Kerr, $24) that's been in the works for nearly half a century.
It features the lyrics to 250 or so Wobbly songs, rich with references to job sharks, shovel stiffs, capitalist tools and plutocratic parasites. Wobbly wordsmiths such as the fabled Joe Hill, T-Bone Slim, Haywire Mac and Richard Brazier set their fighting words to popular tunes of the day, gospel hymns, old ballads and patriotic anthems. Green and his co-editors place the songs in the context of the tumultuous times in which they were written and sung.
"I put it off as long as I could," laughs Green, who turns 90 this month. "Eventually, you run out of time, and I knew that if I didn't finish it, nobody would."
A longtime San Francisco shipwright, union leader and labor historian who's a retired University of Texas folklore professor, Green is sitting in the sunny living room of the tidy upper Castro neighborhood house he and his wife, Louanne, bought for $9,000 in 1950, when the neighborhood was filled with blue-collar families. A lively storyteller with wispy white hair and amused blue eyes, he's dressed in pressed khakis and a blue-plaid shirt.
Green grew up in Los Angeles in a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants active in the Jewish socialist group called the Workmen's Circle. He soaked up live cowboy music and jazz with his friend Norman Granz, the late, great record producer. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a philosophy degree, he began working on the San Francisco waterfront in 1940, returning to the shipwright's trade after serving in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. At 22, he was elected secretary of his local union, which, unlike the Wobblies, never sang songs at meetings.
"Working on the waterfront was like going to graduate school,'' says Green. "The conflict was intense, with the AFL fighting the CIO or vice versa. It was a mixture of Trotskyites and socialists and New Dealers. I was immersed in the ideological controversy from day one. If you went to a meeting and talked out of line, you were likely to be thrown down the stairs. It was a good education. I was better at union politics than I was as a skilled worker."
Green became close with Neuhaus in the early 1950s. The older man passed along Wobbly lore and Green introduced him to Cal's Bancroft Library and the ways of the academic folklore world. Neuhaus was adamant that the Wobbly songs he collected should be sung -- he spent years tracking down their source melodies and talking to old Wobblies. Green disagrees.
"I'm interested in having a record of all the songs," says Green, who thinks many were never actually sung. "It's historically important to bring all the material together. But I don't think most of them will ever be sung, and I don't think they deserve to be sung, because most are unsingable." He notes in his commentary to Brazier's leaden "Come and Get Wise," set to a 1903 Anheuser-Busch beer jingle, "worthy causes do not guarantee good songs."
"How many times can you say, 'One Grand Industrial Union'? After you've said it once or twice, it's repetitive. John was obsessed with getting it correct. He dug up the original sheet music and he'd get pissed off if a guy used the wrong melody. Every progressive is somewhat of a reactionary," Green adds with a smile.
But a handful of Wobbly numbers have become classics, still sung by labor groups and folk singers. They include Hill's sardonic "The Preacher and the Slave" (sometimes known by its famous phrase "Pie in the Sky"), set to the 1868 gospel hymn "Sweet Bye and Bye''; John Brill's "Dump the Bosses off Your Back," wed to the hymn "Take It to the Lord in Prayer''; "Solidarity Forever!," which Ralph Chaplin set to the Civil War tune "John Brown's Body''; and Slim's "Mysteries of the Hobo Life," sung to the melody of "The Girl I Left Behind," a ballad and fife tune popular in colonial America.
"They're memorable tunes," Green says. "The Wobblies didn't pass out sheet music. They didn't bring a piano to the picket line. Sometimes at a meeting there might be a piano or an accordion, but guitars weren't popular then. Guitars came in when the left discovered folk music. Remember, these were not trained musicians -- they were loggers, miners, construction stiffs. They would hear a song at church, or a patriotic or vaudeville song, remember it as best they could and, out of revolutionary zeal, write a song."
Whatever the music -- "The Big Red Songbook" includes pieces set to everything from "Yankee Doodle" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" to the "Toreador Song" from Bizet's "Carmen" -- the songs were meant to prod and praise workers. Each piece, Green writes in his preface, "whether topical, hortatory, elegiac, sardonic or comic served to educate, agitate, and emancipate workers. Songs were intended as arrows to penetrate bourgeois (in Wobbly parlance, "scissorbill'') mentality, and to anticipate a new social order: the commonwealth of toil."
The songs stressed the solidarity and power of the working class, Green says, "it wasn't about the state, or the Communist Party or the worship of Stalin, this murderer who killed more people than Hitler and became a demigod of the left. The Wobblies said no, no one is our leader."
Before the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Wobblies and other radicals hailed the Red Dawn, the coming emancipation of workers. In 1918, Wobblies volunteered to help build railroads and other construction projects in the emerging Soviet Union. But as soon as they got there, "they began organizing their fellow workers against the bosses, who were the commissars," Green says. "So among the first enemies of the state to be executed were Wobblies." The Wobblies rejected the communist line and there was a long-standing enmity between them and the other radical American groups. The Wobblies -- whose influence waned in the 1920s, although there's a chapter of younger Wobbly workers in Berkeley -- would have nothing to do with probably the best-known song about one of their own, "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night," popularized by Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez.
The song, which immortalized the Wobbly poet executed by a Salt Lake City firing squad in 1915 after he was convicted of murder, was written at a communist camp in New York in 1936 by Earl Robinson and Alfred Hayes.
"The Wobblies wouldn't sing that song because they were conscious of what they called Stalinist methods," Green says. For similar reasons, they wouldn't embrace Woody Guthrie's famed "Union Maid," which was not included in the little red songbook (often subtitled "Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent," which cost a dime) until the 34th edition in 1973. "Instead of thinking of Guthrie as a freedom singer or a freedom fighter, they thought of him as a Stalinist stooge." By the time "Union Maid" made it into the songbook, Green adds, "the song had been sung in radical circles and in labor circles, and the young Wobblies didn't know or didn't care about its historical context. They just accepted Guthrie as a working-class hero a la Walt Whitman."
Green first sang Wobbly songs at the Workmen's Circle school in the late '20s, although he wasn't aware of their origin at the time. He associates the international labor and protest songs he sang with the unsuccessful effort to stop the execution in Massachusetts of the Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. Asked to sing one of the Wobbly songs he learned as a kid, the folklorist breaks into "The Preacher and the Slave," which Carl Sandburg included in his 1927 "American Songbag'':
"Longhaired preachers come out every night/ Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right/ But when asked how 'bout something to eat/ They will answer with voices so sweet: You will eat bye and bye/ In that glorious land above the sky/ Work and pray, live on hay/ You'll get pie in the sky when you die."
"Obviously that made enough of an impression on me between 1925 and '30 that it stuck with me all these years,'' says Green. His heart was with the Wobblies, but he never joined the Industrial Workers of the World. "Like most Americans, I'm a creature of contradiction," he says. "By the time I was ready to join a union, joining the Wobblies would've been a gesture, a good gesture, but for better or worse, the shipwright's union had jurisdiction over my trade."
After Neuhaus' death, Green -- who later made copies of his friend's little red songbooks and gave the originals to the folklore archive at the University of North Carolina, where Green once taught -- nurtured the collection. The only Wobbly songbook he never found was the second edition, a copy of which was sold to UC Riverside by the Argonaut bookstore in San Francisco in the 1950s a few days before Green wandered into the shop. The songbook was apparently stolen from the university and another copy has yet to turn up.
The labor movement is in a weakened state at the moment. But Green, whose two sons belong to the electricians' union, looks ahead. He thinks "The Big Red Songbook" will prove useful not only to those interested in labor history and lore, but to future workers. "The very fact that working people were able to compose and sing and celebrate their past," he says, "will be encouraging when we form new coalitions, if we do."
E-mail Jesse Hamlin at jhamlin@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/18/DDG0GQH1PJ1.DTL
This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
You Tube Debut!
I found a video file my son had taken a few years ago when I was leading a chant at Mirabai Books in Woodstock. I uploaded it to You Tube. Let's see if it works!
Audio Site working again!
For some reason the site with my audio files http://boblusksongs.blogspot.com/ stopped working for a few days. The neat thing is that several people let me know about it, so I guess people are listening out there! It seems to have mysteriously started working again. I'm not sure why.
Martin Slide Guitar-Veena
Here is a picture of my Martin Slide Guitar-Veena. You can see some more details at http://bobluskphotos.blogspot.com/ 
Woodstock Memorial Day Parade Photos
Here are some photos that were taken by Dayl Weiss, Veteran's for Peace, at the Woodstock Memorial Day Parade http://bobluskphotos2.blogspot.com/
Brassed Off!
Just saw the movie "Brassed Off!" again. It 's about Yorkshire miners who are in a town band. The north of England was based on coal mining and the pits were systematically closed to make room for commercial development (condos, etc.) Each small town had their own brass band and they would play in competitions. It's a great movie with a social message, some great music and a slice of life that doesn't exist anymore.
I didn't see it during the credits, but there was background music to the tune of a folk song , the "Dalesman's Litany' It has a great line "From Hull and Halifax and hell, good Lord deliver me", which was a Yorkshire proverb. Apparently Hull and Halifax were the two towns in that area where you got the hardest punishment from the magistrates for breaking the law. Up to, and including, hanging.
A travel historian writes: regarding the Halifax guillotine, this turns up in travel writing of the 1600s. Celia Fiennes (1698) nearly makes a detour to Halifax to view "ye Engine that that town was famous for to behead their Criminalls at one stroake with a pully." Decommissioned by her time, this device for summarily executing cloth and other thieves predates the guillotine by at least a couple of centuries. According to pedestrian John Taylor, who says he saw the Halifax contraption in 1639, when it may still have been in operation, a suspect could be executed at the discretion of a panel of townsmen, but the line could only be cut by the wronged party. If he or she baulked, the stolen items were forfeited to the community and the thief went free.
Text written (or collected) by Dr Moorman, President of the Yorkshire Dialect Society about 1900.
The tune was written by Dave Keddie of Bradford about 1960 Dave Keddie died a few years ago, a fellow musician and member of the same group (the Dalesmen) as Dave, Eddie Saxton wrote an obit in Tykes News.
A Dalesman's Litany
It's hard when fowks can't finnd their wark
Wheer they've bin bred an' born;
When I were young I awlus thowt
I'd bide 'mong t' roots an' corn.
But I've bin forced to work i' towns,
So here's my litany:
Frae Hull, an' Halifax, an' Hell,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
When I were courtin' Mary Ann,
T' owd squire, he says one day:
"I've got no bield(1) for wedded fowks;
Choose, wilt ta wed or stay?"
I couldn't gie up t' lass I loved,
To t' town we had to flee:
Frae Hull, an' Halifax, an' Hell,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
I've wrowt i' Leeds an' Huthersfel',
An' addled(2) honest brass;
I' Bradforth, Keighley, Rotherham,
I've kept my barns an' lass.
I've travelled all three Ridin's round,
And once I went to sea:
Frae forges, mills, an' coalin' boats,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
I've walked at neet through Sheffield loans,(3)
'T were same as bein' i' Hell:
Furnaces thrast out tongues o' fire,
An' roared like t' wind on t' fell.
I've sammed up coals i' Barnsley pits,
Wi' muck up to my knee:
Frae Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
I've seen grey fog creep ower Leeds Brig
As thick as bastile(4) soup;
I've lived wheer fowks were stowed away
Like rabbits in a coop.
I've watched snow float down Bradforth Beck
As black as ebiny:
Frae Hunslet, Holbeck, Wibsey Slack,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
But now, when all wer childer's fligged,(5)
To t' coontry we've coom back.
There's fotty mile o' heathery moor
Twix' us an' t' coal-pit slack.
And when I sit ower t' fire at neet,
I laugh an' shout wi' glee:
Frae Bradforth, Leeds, an Huthersfel',
Frae Hull, an' Halifax, an' Hell,
T' gooid Lord's delivered me!
1. Shelter. 2. Earned,
3. Lanes 4. Workhouse 5. Fledged
I didn't see it during the credits, but there was background music to the tune of a folk song , the "Dalesman's Litany' It has a great line "From Hull and Halifax and hell, good Lord deliver me", which was a Yorkshire proverb. Apparently Hull and Halifax were the two towns in that area where you got the hardest punishment from the magistrates for breaking the law. Up to, and including, hanging.
A travel historian writes: regarding the Halifax guillotine, this turns up in travel writing of the 1600s. Celia Fiennes (1698) nearly makes a detour to Halifax to view "ye Engine that that town was famous for to behead their Criminalls at one stroake with a pully." Decommissioned by her time, this device for summarily executing cloth and other thieves predates the guillotine by at least a couple of centuries. According to pedestrian John Taylor, who says he saw the Halifax contraption in 1639, when it may still have been in operation, a suspect could be executed at the discretion of a panel of townsmen, but the line could only be cut by the wronged party. If he or she baulked, the stolen items were forfeited to the community and the thief went free.
Text written (or collected) by Dr Moorman, President of the Yorkshire Dialect Society about 1900.
The tune was written by Dave Keddie of Bradford about 1960 Dave Keddie died a few years ago, a fellow musician and member of the same group (the Dalesmen) as Dave, Eddie Saxton wrote an obit in Tykes News.
A Dalesman's Litany
It's hard when fowks can't finnd their wark
Wheer they've bin bred an' born;
When I were young I awlus thowt
I'd bide 'mong t' roots an' corn.
But I've bin forced to work i' towns,
So here's my litany:
Frae Hull, an' Halifax, an' Hell,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
When I were courtin' Mary Ann,
T' owd squire, he says one day:
"I've got no bield(1) for wedded fowks;
Choose, wilt ta wed or stay?"
I couldn't gie up t' lass I loved,
To t' town we had to flee:
Frae Hull, an' Halifax, an' Hell,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
I've wrowt i' Leeds an' Huthersfel',
An' addled(2) honest brass;
I' Bradforth, Keighley, Rotherham,
I've kept my barns an' lass.
I've travelled all three Ridin's round,
And once I went to sea:
Frae forges, mills, an' coalin' boats,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
I've walked at neet through Sheffield loans,(3)
'T were same as bein' i' Hell:
Furnaces thrast out tongues o' fire,
An' roared like t' wind on t' fell.
I've sammed up coals i' Barnsley pits,
Wi' muck up to my knee:
Frae Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
I've seen grey fog creep ower Leeds Brig
As thick as bastile(4) soup;
I've lived wheer fowks were stowed away
Like rabbits in a coop.
I've watched snow float down Bradforth Beck
As black as ebiny:
Frae Hunslet, Holbeck, Wibsey Slack,
Gooid Lord, deliver me!
But now, when all wer childer's fligged,(5)
To t' coontry we've coom back.
There's fotty mile o' heathery moor
Twix' us an' t' coal-pit slack.
And when I sit ower t' fire at neet,
I laugh an' shout wi' glee:
Frae Bradforth, Leeds, an Huthersfel',
Frae Hull, an' Halifax, an' Hell,
T' gooid Lord's delivered me!
1. Shelter. 2. Earned,
3. Lanes 4. Workhouse 5. Fledged
Johnny Cash Tribute
I just finished my performance as "John-Bob Dollar Bill"at the John St. Jam, Dutch Arms Chapel, Saugerties. There were a lot of wonderful performers. Also saw a lot of old friends. It felt a little like being the only one in costume at a Halloween party, but everyone was very welcoming and seemed to enjoy it. Thanks to Steve and Terri Masardo for hosting this wonderful space to play.
The whole "John Bob" thing probably deserves some explanation. Whenever anyone calls me by another name accidently it is always "John". Also I have some southern roots on my mother's side. I have a cousin who spent time in prison for moonshining. He has a brother named "Johnny Buck". So the "John Bob" thing didn't seem far afield. It's not my intention to make fun of Johnny Cash or lampoon him. I think the people tonight all appreciated that. They sang along on a lot of the songs - A lot of people there told me they were JC fans.
The whole "John Bob" thing probably deserves some explanation. Whenever anyone calls me by another name accidently it is always "John". Also I have some southern roots on my mother's side. I have a cousin who spent time in prison for moonshining. He has a brother named "Johnny Buck". So the "John Bob" thing didn't seem far afield. It's not my intention to make fun of Johnny Cash or lampoon him. I think the people tonight all appreciated that. They sang along on a lot of the songs - A lot of people there told me they were JC fans.
Gary Emmons Cracker Box Music 1958-2007
Hi Folks, I don't know if you all knew Gary who ran craker box music, a little instrument repair shop on route to Newburgh. He was a great guy and a fine luthier and unfortunately recently died. See notice below. -Mira
We have received several notices regarding the untimely death of Gary Emmons. This following is from Mary DeBerry:
Gary Emmons, 49, died Thursday, May 31, 2007.
Gary is survived by his loving wife, Nancy Mary Emmons; his parents, Guy and Glenda Emmons of Walden; his sister, Penny Marcucci; and his former brother-in-law, Mario Marcucci of Palm Bay, Fla.
Gary was the owner and operator of Cracker Box Music in Cronomer Valley, Newburgh, and was an area resident since 1959. Gary was born in Winchester, Va., on May 26, 1958. He was a graduate of Wallkill High School, class of 1976, and was a self-taught luthier, a craft for which he gained world renown and acclaim.
To those who knew Gary, he ran a repair shop for mostly wood instruments. He had entered his 25th year in his business. He also worked prior for steinberger guitars in Newburgh (they made headless bass's and guitars) .
He died from a aneurysm.
We are organizing a memorial service so people can chat and play music. I will keep you posted.
If anyone needs to get in touch with anything about the store, contact me and I'll get you in touch with who is handling things.
Mary DeBerry
thirdstone@usadatanet.net
Musicians & Singers Wanted For The Great NYC Sing
Rich Bala sent this in -
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Dressler
People's Music Network Musicians & Singers Wanted
To Lead This Land Is Your Land (Key of D)
In the first annual GREAT NYC SING.
On Thursday, June 21, 7:00p
The Event
On Make Music NY Day, June 21, 2007, BWC, my non-profit formed to use song for the common good, is conducting the first annual Great NYC Sing , inviting the ENTIRE City of NY to go onto the sidewalks of their neighborhoods - or wherever they are - at 7:00p, tune into WBAI-FM 99.5, and all simultaneously sing This Land Is Your Land in one gigantic sing-along. (Details and a video preview at www.BWCny.org or go to YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXEYXKaXEV8 )
The Request
Make history and join the first annual Great NYC Sing as song leaders. Volunteer to lead This Land Is Your Land in block after block throughout NYC at 7pm on Thursday, June 21, 2007 as part of the first annual Great NYC Sing. And, while you are there, sing a song or two as part of Make Music NY day.
How To Sign Up As A Song Leader
1. Send an email to bwcNYC@gmail.com .
2. Write "Song Leader" in the email Subject
3. Include: Your name, Phone, Preferred Email, and the # of musicians in your group (1 if solo)
4. If you are from the NYC area and already have a singing location , include the address with zip code and cross streets.
Location Assignments
BWC will assign singing locations in core areas of the city by June 15. .
Yours in the wonder and power of song,
Ron Dressler
212-666-6626 (24/7)
bwcNYC@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
