The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #110162 Message #2309633
Posted By: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
07-Apr-08 - 08:16 PM
Thread Name: Mudcatters on YouTube
Subject: RE: Mudcatters on YouTube
Well Murray, it goes like this...A long time ago, just after the earth cooled(1966) I began to play guitar in the Coffeehouses of Rhode Island, Boston, Connecticut, etc. When I came to Canada in 1967, one of the first places I visited was The Yellow Door Coffeehouse in Montreal. There, I met people from around the world who played Folk Music. All the traditional stuff from Ireland, England, etc.
There used to be a Hoot on Sundays where everybody got to do 3 songs. So there was EVERYTHING. You'd get 2 sisters from Ireland singing lullabies, every form of Folk Artist, Comics, Bluesmen like me, banjos, dulcimers, etc. So, I played the blues and did some folk songs in my sets.
So I grew up with people who more or less let you "do your thing", as we used to say...
About a year or so ago, I Googled my name, and lo and behold, Mudcat came up. "What's that?" I asked myself. Somebody named bobad had entered my name on a thread called "l
Little Known 60's Folk Singers"! "Gee", I said to myself," Isn't that wild to be remembered after so many years?
I barely new what "thread" meant, as I was new to computers. But, I started to post, adding my memories. At the same time I had begun to write music for Films, an example of which is what you see on YouTube as "The Soul Eater"...I also had built a studio and was Marketing my stuff around the world...
Turns out, I knew a few people on Mudcat, which led me play some guitar for Bruce Murdoch at the Branches and Roots Festival in Ormstown, Quebec. By that time I met more great Mudcatters, like Beer(Adrien), who was running the festival...Many more while there, and even more at Bruce's Montreal Concert. I made some friends...
So, in the spirit of The Yellow Door, and all of the above, for me, music was never about boundaries. I grew up with Folk and so I support it whenever I can. I never really considered myself a "Folk" Artist, but got labeled as such after doing hundereds of shows in Coffeehouse, Folk Clubs, Concerts, etc. It's sort of like when you see a seagull in with the pigeons, they're all birds looking for food..
I've got 10,000+ Friends on MySpace, working in and on my studio, on Mudcat as much as I can, and I get requests to join blogs, groups, "review my songs", "listen to my band", "check me out" "Can you connect me with" ALL THE TIME...
So, there is only so much I can do, and so, for me "Guest" status works just fine...
I work 12-15 hours a day on my projects...
I did enter YouTube on Mudcat by the way, to see if it had been done before. Nothing came up, so I thought I was safe. Didn't do the "go back three years" thing though...
And so it is, as you see in the world, so many different kinds of people and music all
out there in cyberspace. I listen to as much DIFFERENT kinds of music as I can, Tabla players, Synth guys, Indian, African, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Rap...Everything. I find it makes me a better MUSICIAN for having done so.
So for all the purists, if your world is limited to Folk Music, just turn the page...
I think if you start to ask Mudcatters what they listen to, I think you might be surprised to see it's not ALL about Folk, just good music. While you might not listen to, or respect Rap, there is a lot of Art in it, not all of it, but glimmers of brilliance pop up. Check Missy Elliot, Akon for Hip-Hop.
The one thing that saddens me about Mudcat, is that I see so many threads degenerate into petty arguments, bickering, one-upmanship, trickery, etc. You would think that people would rise above, but alas, Mudcat becomes a mirror as to what is going on in the world. So, what I do, is look for the good. and, there are MANY GOOD things about Mudcat. We have been given this incredible tool of the internet and computers, I prefer to use it to accomplish positive things...Like supporting Folk music, even when what I'm playing, at the moment, something that is not Folk. And doing that while fondly remembering the openness and dreams of the 60's and The Yellow Door...
Hope that answers your questions...
Respect to All...
Peace & Blessings...bob