Female folkies are beautiful!

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 03 Nov 00 - 11:51 AM

Playing off Ferrara's thought a little--I have never worried too much about my age or appearance. I figure I've done enough to be the age I am &, generally speaking, I'm content w/ who I am. In terms of aging & showing age, though, Ferrara reminded me that one of my favorite things about my partner, Duane D., is his wrinkles. The only ones he has are smile wrinkles & lines that should concern --the life evidence of a sensitive, loving man. I want that to be the story of my life, too.

bbc

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Catrin
Date: 03 Nov 00 - 07:31 AM

Wyowomn - I have just read through your thread. That's my story too - or most of it. Lack of self belief turned me into a shy introverted mouse who 'believed' that everybody and anybody was judging me negatively. Then one day I 'woke up' and realised that the only person judging me, the only one who mattered, was myself. I started to be kinder to myself and it has transformed my life.

I really believe that lack of self believe prevented me from thinking, or experiencing, or believing other people who gave me compliments.

I'm forty this month and glad to be. I am happier than I have ever been before. It seems to me that life gets easier. If other people do want to judge me negatively, that's their problem, not mine.

All the hurt stopped when I sang too. Now I sing for Joy.

I'm not so unrealistic as to believe that my life will be painfree from now on. It's just that I have a different, healthier, way of dealing with painful stuff.

Cheers,

Catrin

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Ferrara
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 11:53 PM

Matt... After all this, reading the whole thread for the first time, and feeling very moved by so many things here, it was the lines from "Maggie" that brought tears to my eyes. Thanks all.

I wouldn't let Bill D or Don Nichols put up any of the photos they took of me at the Getaway.... So Mick's words did me good too... Many thanks to Nancy-Jean Siegel, who e-mailed me a beautiful photo from my concert. It made me look the way I feel when I'm singing and, in WW's words, "sailing right down the center of a song."

Guess I'll have to put it on Bill's web site.

About 6 years ago, a friend of mine was moaning about turning 43. Well, I'm 10 years older than her. I told her, "I don't see what the fuss is about growing older. The way I see it, I earned every one of those 53 years. The bad as well as the good, turned me into the person I am today and I value them all." Not directly about beauty, but in a way it is.

Rita Ferrara

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: GUEST,Big Mick
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 11:13 PM

CamiSu, you prove my point again. Go back and read what you wrote!! Your beauty just shines through......I just can't believe what a marvelous thread this is. We are treated to such wonderful descriptions........I must find that Ansel Adams photo..............

Mick

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Matt_R
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 11:08 PM

And your face was a well-written page, Maggie
And time alone was the pen....

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: CamiSu
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 11:05 PM

When I was a teen, my mother tried to mold me into a 'fashionable' person, and I wouldn't go. She also had me on a perpetual diet ans she thought I was fat. (I was heavy for my size. I only floated with effort and could easily walk across the bottom of the pool). I didn't fit in with the 'girls' and have not yet figured out how to talk to the 'pretty' ones. But I always loved to sing, and love having kids around the house, and my husband tells me i'm beautiful. Someday I may believe it.

This said, I saw a photo of the MOST BEAUTIFUL woman at the Ansel Adams show last week. She was ancient, her face all creases. I could have looked at her forever...

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 04:33 PM

FC, if you were good enough for choir, you're good enough for HearMe! If you want to get to HearMe, click here and click where is says "Song circle". Of course, unless someone else is IN there, you won't hear any music, or see any other names. I'm going there right now, so if you want to try it, I'll be in.

--M

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: P05139
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 04:19 PM

Naemanson, two things:-

1) No digicam at the Firecat/Tig/Badger household

2) You wouldn't WANT to have me on Hearme and I don't know how to get on it anyway!

:-))

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: WyoWoman
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 01:04 PM

Where introverts gather at night ...

or day.

WhatEVer ...

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: CarolC
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 11:25 PM

WyoWoman, I understand exactly what you're saying, but from the opposite side of the equation. I'm terribly lost in groups of people, and only know what to do with myself in one on one, or small group situations. I can't bear to sing, either to myself, or in front of other people. I feel the most at home when I play an instrument that blends in with the rest and doesn't stand out too much.

I get terribly overwhelmed if I'm around people for extended periods of time and yet, like you, I love people and want to be a part of their lives. And I want to contribute in whatever ways I can.

Thank goodness for the Mudcat.

Carol

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: WyoWoman
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 10:28 PM

AW, ya big Mick...

mmmwaaaaaa!

ww

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Big Mick
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 08:17 PM

Remember what I said about seeing their souls? For proof, read Wyo Woman. Surely some of God's best work in that woman. Glad you could share that with us, Pansy. I know how hard it is to share deeply held feelings, I did it a couple of times here. Congrats on a wonderful posting. Your beauty shines through. Most meaningful lines to me? The truth is, I'm in love with people, and with this beautiful little Earth we get to live on. I'm attracted to good hearts and want to contribute what I can, where I can and Once I've launched into a song, there's noplace on earth that feels more like home. I get this experience sometimes with my writing, too, or when holding a child. If anyone could read this and not recognize a pearl of great value..............

Mick

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Hollowfox
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 06:20 PM

Allan C, and all you others, Thank You so much for this thread! Reading it, bit by bit over these past few days has lifted my spirits more than you can imagine. I'd have posted sooner, but it was a long thread, and I didn't want to just skim. Thanks again! (Maybe somebody will have to start something like this for some of the guys..Has anybody got a site where I could buy a pinup of, say, Andres Segovia?)

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Naemanson
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 04:47 PM

Firecat, no one gets to critique their own looks. Leave that to us, your friends, to do. You now HAVE to post a picture so we can judge you on your obvious physical merits. Then you have to go to Hearme so we can judge your other merits.

Wyo, are you sure we aren't related?

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: P05139
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 04:01 PM

Aaaaaah! Thanks Matt!

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Matt_R
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 03:54 PM

NEWSFLASH FC, ALL women are beautiful!! YOU as well! And believe me, yer boy is NOT saying that because he HAS to, it's because he WANTS to. That's how love works.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: P05139
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 03:47 PM

Matt, why do you think there isn't a photo of me in the gallery? It's cos the camera smashed to bits!!

Mind you, my boyfriend thinks I'm beautiful,but then again, he's gotta say that!

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: SINSULL
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 02:49 PM

Perfect sense, WW. And your happiness when you sing comes through loud and clear.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: WyoWoman
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 01:26 PM

Looking at photos of myself over the years, I can see that I've always been pretty. I have hardly ever, ever, ever felt it. I was just about killing myself over feeling fat when I was 17 and weighed 117 lbs. (5'6") and I still periodically beat myself bloody about being 25 lbs. more than that now. I see my daughter and know without question that she is a beautiful woman. I see photos of myself at that age and know, intellectually, that you can barely tell the two apart. But there's an emotional disconnect with that information. I just don't get it.

Until recently, I have never, ever, ever felt confident about anything I've undertaken and always interact with myself as though I'm some kind of machine that just has to be turned up higher in order to produce results. I have always felt, for personal reasons, that I was damaged goods and had to take what I could get regarding the men in my life (this is over, thank you, but it was my history), and have always felt so self-conscious I wished a trap-door could open under me when I have to talk to strangers. I have always countered this by being out-going and funny, or the sexiest little vixen you could want to meet == but the subterfuge only covered up the fact that I mostly have wanted to throw up and/or hide when I have to talk to people, particularly men.

No ONE who knows me would believe this, but, hey. I'm an actress. I'm good. But the lack of self-belief has taken its toll.

I finally have turned a corner with all this, thanks to much, much work on the sources of it, and much healing of old wounds. The truth is, I'm in love with people, and with this beautiful little Earth we get to live on. I'm attracted to good hearts and want to contribute what I can, where I can -- and it's very difficult to do that when you're constantly undermining yourself.

The lone exception to this, all these years, has been when I've been singing. I tried to write a song once with the line, "There's a place in my heart that only stops hurting when I sing. So I sing..." but, I haven't been a songwriter. Still, the sentiment is absolutely true. The rub has been in actually allowing myself to get up and sing, to overcome whatever it is that barricades me from sharing myself in that way and to just stand in the song and deliver. I get by on bravado a lot, but it's only in the past few months, actually, that I've been able to do my music from a place of genuine sharing, not from forcing myself to overcome wanting to throw up or pass out at the thought, not of singing in front of other people because I'm much more at home in front of 200 people than one, but of getting from here inside me, to out there, in front of the crowd, inside the song where I'm comfortable. (This may be turning into a rant, but bear with me. It needs sayin'. )

Once I've launched into a song, there's noplace on earth that feels more like home. I get this experience sometimes with my writing, too, or when holding a child. But actually singing, actually sailing right down the center of a song is as close to heaven as I'm likely to get in this lifetime... I wish I could do it all the time, now that I'm learning how to actually transit from where I am to being IN the song... Transitions are rough.

this ties to the Steve Allen thread, actually. I read a newspaper article this a.m. about him and his wife said he was a semi-introvert -- completely bashful one on one but a complete extrovert in front of a crowd. Fits me to a T.

What I'm doing now that I never could do before is just admit that. Just "come from" being shy and feeling stupid instead of trying to bluff my way through situations and coming off stuck-up or overbearing or arrogant or whatever. I'm stupid, I'm shy, I sing. Deal with it.

(Did any of this make any sense at all?)

ww

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 10:14 AM

I saw her, Calach! You lucky dawg, you!

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Calach
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 09:46 AM

Sorry guys, I have to change the tone of this by saying....visit the photo gallery to see pic of thyme2dream; MY girlfriend, from the good ol' USA ....(hee hee, being a PROUD and glorious scot.... my pics there too, by the way, if you guys want to set up any competition...) calach

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 08:52 AM

I bet, FC! You gotta let the guys be the judges o' that!

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: P05139
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 08:12 AM

Thanks! I'm a female folkie and I'm definately NOT beautiful!!! (*BG*)

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: GUEST,Kat in Oregon
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 01:57 AM

Hi MoonJen

Your music makes me shine... Kat in Oregon

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: RedCelt
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 07:27 PM

Matt..

Right letters.. wrong state. East Central U in Oklahoma.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Matt_R
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 07:11 PM

You sho' nuff got it right, Jeff. BTW you actually went to East Carolina?! Weirder and weirder! Mario, can I come kiss some girls in your town?

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: RedCelt
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 07:07 PM

How many ways can a guy say I agree with all of the above? Not only in music (though I will admit a profound weakness there...) I've been involved in several organizations where people of all stripes let beauty shine through when they were wrapped up in doing something from the heart, rather than checking their reflection in someone else's eyes.

And Matt_R... if your ECU is like the ECU that I went to, some *mumble* years ago (locked in what seemed to be the cultural wasteland of samll town Oklahoma)... it sounds like the girls there haven't changed much. They were locked into all being individuals together, as they rebelled upon being away from mommy and daddy for the first time. Oh, well.. it's not as if I can't understand the obnoxiousness often required in growing up. note that I only undersatnd this intiutively... (Insert sarcasm here)I'm sure that I was neeever like that!

P.S. I didn't marry my dear lady for her voice.. that came as a bonus. It was only after I had fallen for her that I found out that she was a former operatic soloist with a new and growing interest in celtic and Folk! Lucky me!

Jeff

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 06:17 PM

Oops, Naemanson. Sorry, hard to tell without obnoxious 'smileys,' eh? ;-) Some times, I'm glad I abuse them, heh.

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Kim C
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:10 PM

I often feel like a geezer and I'm only 33.

I will admit to being somewhat high-maintenance, and it's nice when people say, don't you look pretty! But I gotta tell ya, when someone comes up and says, I was so blessed to hear you today... well, that's the best compliment I could ever get. :)

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 11:48 AM

'Spaw, you may get to hear more of my sister Susan's voice soon. She is in final contract negotitations for CD deal. We have been trying the patience of Mr. Fielding over some of the legal matters, Sue has met with Rick's lawyer and things seem to be coming together nicely.

She's pretty excited. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the kind words.

And she ain't bad to look at either.

Steve

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: L R Mole
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 11:04 AM

Muttering to my windshield on the way in this morning I was thinking about what an odd and touching thing it is to play and sing to each other, and to keep the circle open.Probably a very, very old impulse, and very honest.Love and beauty, rhythym and rhyme, no wonder we are where we are, and who we are.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: kendall
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 05:11 AM

Sounds more like Guy Noire to me..

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 10:15 PM

There was a great old time radio program called, "Pat Novac For Hire"----a show written with such verbal and semantic inventiveness that I still marvel at it today. Pat Novac was a hardboiled guy who was always involved in all sorts of noir happenings.

Once he uttered a line that simply blew me away----and that is exactly what I feel about Terry Gross' vocal capabilities. (see below !)

"She had a voice like a bowl of warm stew."

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Naemanson
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 06:36 PM

Sorry, Lepus, I wasn't intending to be critical, only funny.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Boxette
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 03:54 PM

I have to agree, physical appearance only adds to beauty, it can't create it. Certain things for me make people beautiful: passion for life, a true love of music, the ability to see beauty in others, tolerance, happiness, and an inclination to laugh. These, especially the parts about music and laughter, are invariably what makes someone beautiful to me. And if they look good too, all the better.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 03:08 PM

*Sob!* I guess I'll have to go work for NPR! :(

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 07:34 AM

Alan, once again you've proven yourself the gentleman and scholar I know you to be- thanks for the much-needed lift.
I agree with those who say the beauty shines in male and female folkies alike. The way their eyes reflect the soul of the music, the way their fingers caress the instrument, the way their voice strokes my heart- oooh, I'm getting warm all over!

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: catspaw49
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 02:13 AM

Hey Art!!!....While you're at it, check out the pix of ol' Lepus at Mudcat Resources. Get the 'Fresh Air' first though as you may need it. Hold your breath on the Lepus page.(:<))

luvya Lepus

Spaw

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 01:48 AM

Naemanson, I wasn't trying to change anything, or to shatter any dreams. Just recommending the 'Fresh Air' website with her picture, if he happened to want to see it. It's an excellent site, too. You can listen to archived shows there, which is swell. (I'm going to look for the Doc Watson interview tomorrow)And it's not like she's some hideous toad who's going to scare Art away from 'Fresh Air,' anyways. I personally like to see what people on the radio look like in real life. Ray Suarez, for instance, looks nothing like I imagined him to look. Same with Terry Gross. If Art doesn't want to know, I'm sure he won't look. ;)

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 12:38 AM

Nie thread guys and I agree about anyone who sings/plays from their heart being beautiful.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: SINSULL
Date: 29 Oct 00 - 12:38 AM

Sigh of relief. Thought I was going to get the "I can take care of myself" line that I spit at Spaw a while back.
Matt, I can only speak for myself but at 20 I was an impossible, know-it-all bitch. Most of it was a defense mechanism. Life, time, experience, laughter, tears, and people all helped wash away the rough edges and leave a woman. Still a know-it-all bitch but I've learned to hide it better.
Damn! Now I've made this thread all about me. What will Kendall say?

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: kendall
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 10:57 PM

Looks like you can go for it Midchuck. Enjoy, but, be prepared for the few who dont understand. Sinsull, thanks for standing up for me, I'm really quite sensitive and I wound easily. (If you believe that, you will also believe there is going to be a Richard Simmons Jr.) Matt, which line was that?

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Catrin
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 06:15 PM

Happy Birthday Crusty Midchuck!!

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Catrin

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Matt_R
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 06:02 PM

BTW I love you too, Sins! And Sorch...Matty Bumpo says you're a hottie.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 05:55 PM

I know you meant well, Lepus, but why try to change Art's vision? We all have our illusions and I, for one, don't need any facts changing mine.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 05:42 PM

HEY MIDCHUCK...........I've been readin' your stuff for a good while, and as far as I'm concerned, you're pretty crusty now. No sense in waiting for a birthday....Go for it!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: guinnesschik
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 05:39 PM

Having a "weepy" week, reading this thread is much needed tonic. We had a good gig last night, and I never feel more beautiful than when singing and playing, although fiddling gives me a double chin.

Just thought I'd say "thanks" to all the beautiful folkies (male and female) here on Mudcat for a warm, thought-provoking thread.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Midchuck
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 05:36 PM

Kendall, is there a specific age at which one can refer to onself as "crusty?" Having been an egotistical prick for as long as I can recall, adding "crusty" to it somehow gives it more class, and I'm anxious to be able to do so legitimately.

I'll be 59 tomorrow. Do I have to wait 'till I'm 60?

Peter.

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Matt_R
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 05:29 PM

Well I was talking about girls here at ECU, not on Mudcat! Oh Lord if they had girls here anything like Mudcat women, I'd be in Heaven! You know kendall, that's one of my favorite lines. I quote it at least once a day.

--M

Subject: RE: Female folkies are beautiful!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 28 Oct 00 - 05:20 PM

Rex,

I don't know if she plays guitar or not but she sure did a fine and sensitive interview with Doc Watson a while back.

Art