Nope, LEJ, I don't have a badge. Dick and Max didn't hand out any badges, and you will note that they make no effort whatsoever to police this forum themselves. You'll also note, however, that they rarely participate in the so-called "BS" threads. Maybe we should follow their example, instead of looking for some sort of "authority" to order us to do this or that.
It's up to us as a community to direct this forum where it should go. As a member of this community, I think I have a right to ask the community to take this forum back to where I think it should be - an intelligent discussion of folk music that is humanized by the warmth, passionate expression of opinion, and intelligent humor of people who really care about folk music.
There's nothing wrong with the healing or the humor or anything that Kat and her followers have posted. My question is whether it works in a folk music forum. I try to be pragmatic on how I gauge what's appropriate. I don't think it has anything to do with stodginess and wishing things were like they used to be. What I'm looking for here is a stimulating discussion about folk music, a place where I can learn songs and hear the stories behind them, and get leads to new places where I can explore the wonders of folk music.
I was wrong when I said I was here to talk about folk music - I'm here primarily to learn. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I may well be the best-known "authority" on folk music in the Sacramento area, a community of almost two million people. Why? Because I'm outspoken and I sing loud, and I know most of the songs in the Rise Up Singing songbook and own almost all of the Peter, Paul and Mary CD's. Sorry, people, but that's not enough to make me any kind of an expert, although I will admit to being very charming and to having a pretty good voice. I have a lot to learn, and that's why I'm here.
I spent the last week at Camp Harmony, the annual gathering of the San Francisco Folk Music Club. The part I liked best were the late-night sessions where the really good singers did their best stuff. I did sing a couple of songs for the group over that week of evenings; but mostly I listened, singing along when I could. There were a couple of "younger" (I use that word very loosely) people like Valentine Doyle and Blessings Barbara who sang a number of really good songs, but the best stuff came from people of another generation, people over the age of 70 who seemed to have an infinite number of amazing songs in their heads. Many of these older people were quite shy, and often a bit ornery and fussy - but they had a wealth of folk music to share with those willing to listen.
One night, a very talented couple were loudly singing classic rock 'n' roll songs in the next room. They really were good, but the distraction they created broke the magic of the song circle, and the real folk singers went to bed early that night. The next afternoon, I was in a Welsh songs workshop led by Shirley Jackson, a tiny, soft-voiced English lady with a head packed full of songs. Well, I'll be damned if that same rock 'n' roll couple didn't set themselves up in the next room, making it very difficult for us to hear the wisdom that Shirley was trying to impart.
When I come across a really knowledgeable folk musician, I do my best to encourage them to join in the discussion here. Many of them have been here, and many have found Mudcat not to be a place where they feel comfortable. A couple have mentioned Katlaughing by name as the reason why they don't spend time here. One well-known musician told me he started a thread here, to try to stimulate discussion of a song. Kat responded to his question in a well-intentioned but condescending tone, giving inaccurate information. The musician replied with information that corrected Kat's response, but nobody followed up after that; and the thread died and the musician didn't come back. Yeah, I'll admit that the guy is a little finicky, but he could have been a valuable resource here if he hadn't been turned away. We're very lucky that we have a few shining lights like Sandy Paton and Art Thieme and Dick Greenhaus and others who have been patient and gracious toward us lesser mortals, but we need to make this a place that is comfortable and welcoming to knowledgeable people who are not quite so patient.
I spent several years following the rec.music.folk newsgroup, and I still look in there every once in a while. The quality of discussion deteriorated there, and became cluttered with flame wars and spam and singer-songwriter self-promotions. Frankly, rec.music.folk became pretty boring. I was glad to find the Mudcat Café a couple of years ago, and to see the stimulating, friendly discussions that took place here. Over the first couple of years here, we had the feeling that the Mudcat Forum was becoming a folk music resource that was a valuable companion to the Digital Tradition, a searchable body of valuable background information that supported the lyrics in the database. Sure, there was lots of goofing around; but the primary content of the forum was folk music.
Well, things have changed in the last year. The longest threads aren't about folk music any more - they're birthday greetings and healing requests and trite insider jokes that have been repeated over and over again. You can't search the text of the Forum any more because it's too full of words - and most of those words now have nothing at all to do with folk music. All this chit-chat stuff is fine in a chat room, but does it work to make this a forum for good discussion of folk music? The really good folk musicians have fled to the mailing lists, resources that aren't easily accessible to the general public - is that what we want?
I'm not asking for censorship, and I'd lead a revolution if I saw Mudcat become a place where the Folk Police came and clobbered anybody who posted something the Police deemed inappropriate. However, I have to say that the Mudcat Café has become a place that is not particularly interesting to people who are really knowledgeable about folk music, and so they're staying away from us.
I know they were posted as some sort of joke, but the principles posted in the first message in this thread have a lot of value. I'd like to restate them: if you have something to say that has lasting value, go ahead and say it. If it's something that won't have any value tomorrow or the next day, maybe you'd better take it to a chat room. All the chit-chat and healing and one-liners and LMAO's and whatnot are fine, but they're driving the folk music discussions to the mailing lists, away from this wonderful place where we can learn so much.
-Joe Offer-