The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #44719   Message #662048
Posted By: JudyR
03-Mar-02 - 05:21 PM
Thread Name: You Know It's Not Going Anywhere When...
Subject: RE: You Know It's Not Going Anywhere When...
That's funny, M.Ted! ;)

So now you've caught me in an exaggeration!! Oh, dear! No, truly -- I cannot say it was "every" street corner in D.C., but just those around the Capitol, and OK, I have just one memory of it. It was, I think, 1972, the first year I attended the American Folklife Festival on the Mall. I remember walking back from a diner, and seeing, of all things, old men in caps playing black bottleneck blues on the street corners around the White House. The "real" stuff -- Delta blues! Stuff I'd heard on record and never thought I'd come close to back in boring old L.A.. It floored me that there were places in this country to tap into authenticity that I'd never suspected. And I've never forgotten it.

And that long answer is why I probably could be a boring date!