Re: regionalism (long-winded and rambling)

[secsc2]

 Excellent, Nelson. I like to make a pot of Great Northerns with ham and onion and a plate of buttered cornbread. That kills me just thinking about it.

-------------- Original message from Nelson <nelsonpeddyco...@knology.net>: --------------


>
> How appropriate that I am reading this as a pot of greens cooks down
> on my stove. They might be foreign to some of you, but they are one
> of the best foods for your body that you can find on earth. Gonna add
> some Great Northern beans and mashed taters to go along.
>
> On Feb 18, 3:10 pm, Robin Gravina wrote:
> > Well in my Spanish ghetto we have plenty of greens of mustard and collard
> > sort, and there has yet to be a heavy blues and southern funk movement
> > coming out of Castilla. I have to go with Val and say that the emotion does
> > it, and if you change a couple of words so that a song has some relation to
> > your own life, then you can own the emotion and sing the thang. In fact I
> > think that is how the folk process goes pretty much. In the US you have the
> > luck that people worked on the land and played music until recording
> > started. In the UK people had largely moved to the city and worked 12 hours
> > in the cloth factory and had no time or energy for singing, so the tradition
> > pretty much turned stomach up.
> >
> > Now if I make a big plate of black eyed peas cooked with a hambone and some
> > hot pepper, and serve it with rice and collard greens, also with the
> > hambone, why do Spanish people say it reminds them of home?
> >
> > Why does Flamenco exist? Why are the lyrics so similar to blues? Are we sad
> > and do we like dancing? Are we all human? Can I get another beer?
> >
> > (this was the random rambling thread right?)
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 8:37 PM, Dasspunk wrote:
> >
> > > Personally, I'm a fan of mustard greens... and had many a helping as I
> > > carpet bagged down in the land of Tater (old times there are not
> > > forgotten, look away...).
> >
> > > If you are what you eat... do you play what you hear? That is to say,
> > > playing a style well, requires listening to the style. If this is so,
> > > I would think this "collared greens" theory would have had more merit
> > > back in the day... before recordings and such. Recordings would allow
> > > more non-regional folk, and even more interestingly, more not-yet-
> > > living folk, to listen and learn. To this, I would like to thank those
> > > sons-a-bitch recording pioneers that screwed nice musical folk out of
> > > royalties and such for their own gains... and my gain 'cause it allows
> > > me to own the recordings. Thanks bastards!
> >
> > > And this will be nothing to what the web can offer. Take Mr. Tate R.
> > > Bug for example. That boy's been given lessons over them internets for
> > > years now. I'd call him a trailblazer (among other things). Who'd a
> > > thunk it (besides me I guess)? He's spreading his collared greens all
> > > over the world, live and in person... and all this without having to
> > > leave his house. Amazing really...
> >
> > > B
> >
> > > On Feb 18, 12:18 pm, Val Mindel wrote:
> > > > Mike H, if you ever get a chance to catch "The secret lives of
> > > > banjos," you should. It's a show put together by Jody Stecher and Bill
> > > > Evans and includes a great story about Arctic explorations, banjos and
> > > > penguins ... It also shows the broad reach of the instrument. They use
> > > > something Iike 27 banjos in their show and demonstrate convincingly
> > > > that the banjo has a wild and well-traveled history.
> >
> > > > Meanwhile, for my $.02, I think we can play outside our immediate
> > > > zones, just as we listen outside those zones, given sufficient will
> > > > and passion/obsession. It's a matter of relating to the underlying
> > > > emotion. Music really is generated from just a few main themes --
> > > > love, death, god, events, work  -- mixed and matched as appropriate,
> > > > and we can relate to these themes, even if the specifics (collard
> > > > greens) are foreign. Granted there is music that is outside my ken
> > > > (Chinese opera, for example), but I suspect that if I wanted to and
> > > > had a spare lifetime to mess around with it, I could tackle anything
> > > > that moved me. But being moved by it is the key. Just look at some of
> > > > our Japanese old-time musician friends who play great, with scrupulous
> > > > regard for the channels the music has come through. Of course, the
> > > > farther you are from the source, the harder it is to pick up the
> > > > nuances, rhythmic and otherwise, but I don't buy the you-gotta-have-
> > > > been-born-there notion, nor do I think the music died with some past
> > > > generation. Many young people are playing it well, with great
> > > > attention to detail and history, and not-so-young people like me are
> > > > still working at playing it, and that's a good thing, I think. But
> > > > then I've spent much of my life in zones where the frost-free date
> > > > skated to the end of June (or where other climatic realities dominate)
> > > > so I'm hardly any sort of argument for regional authenticity. best,
> > > > val
> >
> > > > On Feb 18, 11:19 am, Mike Hoffmann wrote:
> >
> > > > > Tater tater tater tater tate-
> > > > > Your post was about ethnic groups and then there was a sentence about
> > > > > Chicago.  I drank a cup of coffee and read a big chunk of a book
> > > (Making the
> > > > > second ghetto - race and housing in chicago 1940-1960) that I really
> > > should
> > > > > have already finished yesterday before working on music.  The chapter I
> > > left
> > > > > half finished was on white ethnic neighborhoods in Chicago.  Then the
> > > coffee
> > > > > actually started working and I picked up my mandolin and was playing
> > > and
> > > > > listening to stuff on my computer whence I should have been doing
> > > homwork.
> > > > >  That lead to reading this mailing list and thus your post, reminding
> > > me
> > > > > about white ethnic groups and Chicago and that I should be reading that
> > > > > book.  I guess I should have just left the response in my head!  Sorry
> > > for
> > > > > leading us off track.
> >
> > > > > On another note, I was once told that NJ was a hotbed of classical
> > > banjo
> > > > > activity.  I also just read an account of a North Pole expedition that
> > > > > mentioned banjos AND accordions playing home sweet home while in the
> > > arctic.
> > > > >  I think banjos were everywhere.  Fred Van Eps and Vess Ossman both
> > > lived
> > > > > here and played extensively in Asbury Park, but certainly not old-time
> > > > > music.  My dad always calls our local area banjo land because he gets
> > > > > frustrated at the inability to think liberally at school board meetings
> > > and
> > > > > such.  I always get mad and remind him that it takes a large mind to
> > > play a
> > > > > banjo.  The banjo gets pigeonholed as a rural, southern thing.  Even a
> > > lot
> > > > > of the minstrel stuff was written in NYC, and it certainly romanticized
> > > the
> > > > > south.  There is something about fantasizing about the South for us
> > > > > Northerners.  Even Dixie was written up North.  Maybe that is why
> > > old-time
> > > > > music is so popular up North in New England, MN, and Wisconsin
> > > specifically.
> > > > >  It's cold and in the south it is so warm.  I get jealous when I listen
> > > to
> > > > > Charlie McCoy sing, "in the wintertime I'm doing mighty well, but in
> > > the
> > > > > summertime its a burning hell" because in the wintertime here it is
> > > cold!
> >
> > > > > On a side note, I am watching Dora the Explorer with my niece right now
> > > and
> > > > > a flower is lost in the snow and they are trying to find their way back
> > > to
> > > > > warmer climates.  Perhaps that is the same as us Northern flowers
> > > listening
> > > > > mournfully to southbound trains.  Also, in the background I could swear
> > > they
> > > > > keep playing little brown jug.
> >
> > > > > need to organize my thoughts better
> > > > > Mike H- Hide quoted text -
> >
> > - Show quoted text -
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