Sitting At The Kitchen Table

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 12:45 PM

I thought that I'd be gracious and let someone else take the 400th thread. Couldn't happen to a better mate, Terry.

Armstrong made everybody sound better when he did a duet with him. If he was still around, he could even make rappers sound like music. It's hard to say which of his duet partners I enjoyed the most, because he was indeed great with Der Bingle and Jack Teagarden. But there was something really special about his duets with Ella Fitzgerald. It sounds as if he was just improvising his harmonies and asides like a trumpet solo. And he probably was. Man, I love those duets with Ella! My favorite is Let's Call The Whole Thing Off.

Onward to 500..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 01:19 PM

Hey Gerry Elmer Henry,

Heartily agreed about the Ella-Louis duets. Those two voices, smooth caramel next to rough sandpaper, work perfectly. And to think that they were recorded over 50 years ago; they are so fresh and contemporary. Ella and Louis sound like great friends having a terrific time, and their exuberance is highly contagious.

I especially enjoy the spoken asides they make to each other during the songs, little in-jokes that the listener hasn't a clue about, but you laugh anyway because they are having so much fun.

During "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," after Louis sings "You like pajamas and I like puh-jaahmas," you can almost see Ella rolling her eyes to heaven as she says sarcastically, "You've GOT puh-jaahmas!"

I also love their duet on "Stompin' at the Savoy." As Ella scatter-sings, Louis talks to her, including something about, "Remember something-or-other about Lionel Hampton? We won't talk about THAT!" and cackles at the memory.

And at the end of "Gee Baby, Ain'I I Good to You?" after listing all the fancy things she buys for her sweetie, Ella gets in the last word on the final refrain, "Keeps me paying taxes for what I give to you / Gee baby, ain't I good to you."

I could go on....

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 01:28 PM

Hey, yerself, Elmer:

Glad to hear you have the same love for those Ella/Louie duets as I do. Funny that I was just listening to them a week ago. The one thing that strikes me is how comfortable and relaxed they sounded, singing together. It all sounds like its off the cuff, and from what I remember reading, the sessions were pretty casual.

Now tell me you can't hear Hard Hearted Hannah enough by Ella and I'll think you're my long lost brother, Elmer..

You know I wrote a song about how my Father met my Mother, reffering to him by name...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 02:46 PM

Hey, these Louis- Ella duets sound great--where can we get them? Any particular album you recommend?

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 09:34 PM

Hey, Ron: Maybe the CD Fairy will throw a copy or two in the mail to you..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 11:18 AM

Hey Jerry-- this generosity on your part is just getting out of hand. C'mon now, let me pay for this stuff. You are an amazing treasure trove of wonderful music. Every time I turn around you have another great idea.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 11:32 AM

Tell you what, Ron. Do something generous for someone else...

Did I tell you about the stranger who sent me 19 cassettes of gospel, plus several videos, when I'd only met him once.

I got a lot of catching up to do. Some folks are really generous. I'm not in their league...

Have to talk in here later about Doo Wop... having a very exciting conversation with someone I just met yesterday who lives right here in Derby and has a classic a capella doo wop group.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 08:59 PM

Hi Jerry--

How about that conversation with your local do-wopper? Are you ready to tell us?

Ron

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 09:40 PM

I have a pretty decent collection of Do-wop groups and a couple wonderful Acapella Do-wop groups as well, ROn   Let me know if you would like them I will burn you a few CDs in the spirit of Jerryizing! YOu 2 of course Jerry!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 10:01 PM

Ron & Jimmy... yeah, I'll keep you informed about the local group. They sing a capella and are respected as one of the best groups in Connecticut. All I've heard is one song by them so far but Jimmy, they definitely do not need a bass singer (unfortunately.) The guy I'm just getting to know sings bass with them and he is really great! I've already talked to him about doing a workshop at the NOMAD festival this fall, "Church and Street Corner Harmonies. He sounds real enthusiastic about it. I thought it would be fascinating to share the workshop with the Messengers and his group. They are a white doo wop group, and I'd be interested in hearing how they'd differentiate between the black groups that often came out of churches and the white groups. You know I'll have a million questions, Jimmy. The thing that impresses me about the group is that while they have a lot of fun singing, they are very committed to doing the finest versions that they can of the old songs and arrangements.

Hopefully, Ruth and I will get to hear them, the Five Satins, The Jive Five, The Emotions and the Chiffons saturday night. If we do, you know there'll be some talk about it around this table...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 10:38 PM

Hi Jimmy--

ALL RIGHT!!--sounds great! I love doo-wop--have wanted to be in a doo-wop group for years--came close to starting my own--in desperation. I'd love copies of those CD's you're talking about.

How often does your group rehearse?

And,by the way, how''s the doo-wop show you were writing coming?

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 01:50 PM

I will burn you a few odds N ends then ROn. My Do-wop group is real infrequent in the last year or so as one of our members is recovering from colon cancer . We normally get together a few times if a gig presents itself and run over some stuff. Have not added any new material in a long time which is sad. The show is still in my head mostly. The previous shows I have written always have a big opening and a great bit of PT Barnum Trickery just before intermission. Last one We actually started the band vamping "at the Hop" as we drove in in a 1960 Impala convertable, jumped out ran on stage to start the song. I also had a biker ride on stage for leader of the pack I had arranged for Girls trio. I am a big one for bells and whistles or smoke and mirrors! I thought I might begin this one by answering a ringing phone onstage and going into CHantilly Lace to open the show.

RIght now I am trying to get a new upright bass as mine is pretty much shot so I might be flying up to Mystic Connecticut within the next few weeks Jerry. There is a bass shop called Upton Bass in Mystic where they have a terrific selection and you can get the luthier to set it up for you. If I make arrangements to come up I would love to see you and Ruth. jimmyt

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 03:15 PM

Hey, Jimmy:

That would be GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! We even have room for your bass. Just so you know our schedule, The Gospel Messengers are doing a concert, following a spaghetti dinner on May 20th. The bass singer of the doo wop group hopes to come. We are going out to Janesville on June 3rd and will be gone for about 9 days. It would be a crimnal act if you came when we were gone..

Gotta run..

More later..

Jerry

You could come up too, Ron.. and bring Jan

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 05:20 PM

With ROn and Jerry and me and our propensity for Do Wop, I feel a Da Do Ron Ron coming on!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 05:21 PM

I shall work my appointment in Mystic around your schedule if possible Jerry! I won't have a bass with me. i am going there to see what I want and after it is set up I will have it shipped to me!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 08:45 AM

Hi Jerry, I have missed the table for a few days,hearing you talk about sacred harp brings back lovely memories of Dave Brient, he organised a sacred harp workshop at the Walton on Naze festival one year, no one really had a clue what it was about, by the second day he had about thirty singers , people passing the hall popped their heads round the door and joined in, they were so good that by the Sunday evening I added them to the concert programme. They brought the house down,wonderful happy memories.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 09:03 AM

Hey, Mrs. Billybob:

Conversations do wander all over the place in here, which is what I hoped for. I can't say they digress, because they don't "gress" to
begin with. I wonder what happens when conversations always gress. Sounds boring. I've encouraged Ernest to drop by after exchanging several PMs with him. He lives in Berlin and would certainly bring some fresh thoughts to the table. He loves jazz and old-time music among other things, but didn't feel he had anything to add on doo wop. But, we keep movin' on in here, so any topic is up for grabs.
Jazz happens to be one of my major, major loves... both traditional, New Orleans style jazz and that quaint, old-fashioned jazz of the 50's like Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck, Shorty Rogers that used to be called "Modern" jazz... or West Coast Jazz.

I've always found Sacred Harp music interesting to listen to for short periods of time, but have never tried to sing it. Maybe I'll have to try it on for size one of these festivals...

And, there'll be some more conversation on Doo Wop, and harmony in general as the days go by...

Or we could talk about how much fun it is to play Go.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 10:18 PM

Came home dragging. Tonight, I had practice. My back has been hurting the last few days from getting overtired and then lugging a full cooler with ice and sodas in it up a long stairway. It's an hour's drive down to Frankies, and it was raining. I had to stop to get a cup of coffee just to keep going. Frankie has serious alergies, and when he sings Crying In The Chapel, he could just as easily sing, Crying in the Kitchen, or Crying while getting something out of the refrigerator. I know it doesn't have the same ring to it, but Frankie's eyes are tearing up constantly, and he works outside all day on top of it. Joe had carpal tunnel syndrome on his left hand (and he's left handed) and has been dealing with an enormous amount of personal matters as well. I was kidding that we are downright laughable, the three of us.. half the time when we have practice, someone is dragging, or being dragged down by stress in their lives. But we all show up.. maybe short on energy and focus, but we we manage to make it. And once we start singing, all the weariness, aches and pains and worries are washed away.

On May 20th, we're doing a concert and I'm going to surprise them by having a birthday cake for them. They both have their birthdays in May. Frankie will be 80 and Joe 82, so it will just say, Happy Birthday Joe and Frankie: 162 years of serving the Lord.

Sometimes our best practices happen when we don't think we have anything else to give.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 10:56 PM

Jerry R.: Just happened on this in a magazine article today:

...Michael Oakeshott, the late British philosopher, thought conversation should have a distinctive lack of purpose. Conversation "has no determined course, we do not ask what it is `for,'" he said. It is "an unrehearsed intellectual adventure." As with gambling, "its significance lies neither in winning nor on losing, but in wagering."

A distinctive lack of purpose. %^)

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: If you did not wish to be ridden, why did you become an ass? :||

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 11:08 PM

I'm all with you, Joe F. I think the best conversations are open and free-form. Not that they can't focus for an extended period of time on a particular subject, but there should always be the openness to move on. If conversations were partitioned into "threads" like they are of some necessity in here, I'd find them very limiting. At the same time, I appreciate the threads because it's a chance to draw more people into a slightly more focused discussion... as focused as threads ever get. :-) I've moved a couple of discussions from the kitchen table into their own threads... like the ones about 50's music, and Italian roots of Doo Wop. I'm enjoying them because they are drawing in many Catters who haven't stopped by the kitchen table.

Yet.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 26 Apr 06 - 10:58 PM

Recently I ran across a review of a book about the decline of conversation. Allegations have been made that the early 18th century, especially in coffeehouses, was the peak of conversation. But the book pointed out quotes from that time complaining about the quality of conversation in supposedly cultured (whatever that means) households. So as usual, another generalization has problems.



Just got back from another rehearsal (had one last night too--on a different concert.   This one was nowhere near as much fun as they normally are.   The reason is that it wasn't led by our conductor. It 's really remarkable to what extent a conductor sets the tone of the whole group. We're lucky enough to have a conductor who combines extreme competence with a relaxed style--even a self-deprecating sense of humor---really, really rare in a conductor.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 26 Apr 06 - 11:32 PM

Hi y'all,

I've a bit of catching up to do.

Ron, the Ella/Louis CD I have is called "Best of Ella Fitzgerland and Louis Armstrong on Verve." It has fifteen tracks selected from three albums recorded for Verve Records "in the interwar period,' and it's pretty darn fantastic.

Gerry Elmer, I am embarrassed to say I have never heard Ella sing "Hard Hearted Hannah," but I'll root around for a download or a recording tout de suite. In the meantime, can I be your dorky little brother anyway? My Ella faves are mostly from the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook, with the Cole Porter and Harold Arlen Songbooks as a close second and third.

Conversation and coffee houses: In the 1700s in England, coffee houses were known as "penny universities," because for the one penny price of admission, you could sit all day and listen to enlightening conversations. Also, the coffee houses provided newspapers, and philosophers, politicos and others would communicate their ideas by publishing broadsides and distributing them in the coffee houses. (John Locke was one who did this.) Literate people would read the newspapers and broadsides aloud to the illiterates.

Today coffee houses often seem like places of isolation, with people sitting alone with headsets on, hunched over laptops.

Later gaters,

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 27 Apr 06 - 12:53 AM

PS: Oh, and another compelling topic that zoomed right by: doo-wop. The Persuasions are a fantastic a capella harmony group that performs righteous doo-wop. I especially love their album, "Chirpin'," with everything from the goofy, "Papa oo-mau-mau" to "Sixty Minute Man" (which was used on the soundtrack for the movie, "Bull Durham").

Link to the Persuasions history and recordings:

persuasions

Okay. Nighty-night,

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Alba
Date: 27 Apr 06 - 06:48 AM

Also refresh...ing

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Apr 06 - 07:08 AM

Just when you thought it was time to turn the pot off, in comes a group of friends..

Ron: I've had practice the last two night myself. Last night at a practice for the Fellowship Male Chorus I sing in, we were doing a last run-through of the songs we're singing this weekend (The night before last, the Messengers practiced their songs for the same program.) We have a wonderful, fun-loving but demanding director and on one song, the 1st tenors sing a line twice, then the second tenors sing their harmony, and then the baritones come in next (and then we all sing together. The 1st tenors were fine, but each time the second tenors would come in, they'd sing the samd melody as the 1st tenors. Our Director, Jonatahn was getting more and more frustrated and after the third time he saidas to the second tenors.. I'm trying to make a BLT, the B's are Fine and the T's are fine, but we need that L to make it a BLT.. so I called out, "Give e'm L, Jonathan." You don't get set-ups like that very often.

Elmer: Yes, I love Ella and her songbooks. I have Hard Hearted Hannah on a 45 r.p.m. and for years it wasn't out on CD. I finally found it on a two or three CD boxed set, and much later I discovered an import CD of songs from Pete Kelly's Blues (One of my very favorite movies.) Ella has a small role as a singer in a small black speakeasy and sings the song in the movie.

"Imagine a woman as hard as Hannah
She's got the right name, the Vamp of Savannah
Anytime a woman takes a great big pan
And starts pouring water on a drowning man
She's Hard-hearted Hannah, the vamp of Savannah, GA

An evening spent with Hannah sitting on your knee
Is like traveling through Alaska in your BVD's..

Great lines, great delivery.

Peggy Lee sings three or four great songs on the CD, too..

I have two different Ella and Louie CDs with a major overlap on songs. One is on Verve (the one you have, Elmer) and the other is on Decca. I ran across a third one recently but didn't buy it because it only had one or two songs that aren't on the other CDs..
A copy of one of the CDs is on its way to you, Ron.

And you're right about coffee houses these days, Elmer. It seems like technology is being used to qrap each of us into our privatge little wombs, even when we're in public. Between cell phones, MP3 players and Laptops, the individual reigns.

Glad you stopped in, Alba...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 27 Apr 06 - 10:59 PM

I thought I'd try the Cat one more time before I went to bed, after not being able to get on all day, and by golly, here it is.

Just an odd footnote. Yesterday, I ran into a friend of mine who sings in a black gospel group, and she asked if she could help sell my CDs. Another woman who sings in the same group as my friend has a beauty parlor, and they're going to have a case in the front to sell gospel CDs by local folks like the Messengers. So, I gave her five on consignment. My friend Willie C, who has a barber shop told me that if you want to find good singers, put up an announcement that you're looking for one in the black barbershops. I think that it really is true that much of the communications that flow through black communities passes through the beauty parlors and barber shops.
I sure never tried to sell my folk CDs through them... :-)

I'm off to bed, but I've been thinking about the comment about coffee houses no longer being places for conversation. There are several other gathering places, though... barber shops and beauty parlors being two good examples. There are opthers that I see around me... wonder if anyone else does... where do the retired folks congregate in your community? Is it all old men, or old women (using the term "old" in a complimentary, flattering way, being old, myself.) I'll talk about where they do here in Derby, CT and in small towns all across the United States.

Tomorrow..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 28 Apr 06 - 12:14 PM

Jerry--now you're becoming a barbershop quartet (quintet? sextet?)

Book clubs are one of the new ways people are getting together to have meaningful discussions. Coffee houses aren't a total wash; there was one in my town where a group of men, whose lives were otherwise quite disparate, met every morning before work for sixteen years for their wake-up javas. They became great supporters for each other through life's ups and downs. It was only the closure of the coffee house that caused the daily meetings to disband. I am sure the friendships remain.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Apr 06 - 01:57 PM

LOL, Elmer: Or maybe we're becoming a Beauty Parlor Quartet.

Yes, they have book discussion groups at some of the Borders bookstores on the East Coast. Admittedly, the conversations are mostly focused on a particular book (I imagine, not actually having been in one, or overheard one for any period of time.)

McDonald's is one of the gathering places for Seniors around here. My wife and I often go for a morning walk on a Riverwalk they constructed recently here in Derby. There's a McDonald's about 100 yards from the start (and end) of the Riverwalk, and even though neither of us can stomach the lunch and dinner menus at McDonalds, we like the sausage bisquit Egg McMuffin's and we often stop in for one after our walk. There is a cast of about eight or ten "regulars" who are always there, up until 10 a.m., when they stop serving breakfast. The men usually sit in one area, and the women in the other with the men outnumbering the women three to one. I suspect that some of the men go there to get away from their wives.. :-)

In my home town in Wisconsin, it was a Hardee's where everyone gathered... again the men and women in different sections. I gathered that most of them were widowed (and apparently in no rush to get re-hitched.)

Both places were a good spot to gather, as you could sit there for a couple of hours just nursing a cup of coffee. McDonald's coffee is more in need of a Doctor, than a nurse. I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually eating anything.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 28 Apr 06 - 04:54 PM

McDonalds is inexpensive and probably has a senior discount, so it makes sense that people on fixed incomes would go there. The food is ruinous, though. Have you ever read "Fast Food Nation?" It's a real wake-up call about McDonalds and what goes into the so-called food they serve, its health consequences, as well the larger economic influences of the behemoth corporation that dishes it up to the world.

Low income seniors frequent free adult education classes, free talks by authors at bookstores, and free concerts and events sponsored by the city in parks and the library. Twelve step groups also seem to serve as social circles (wow--there's some alliteration!) for people to whom they are applicable.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Apr 06 - 07:13 PM

Some Senior Centers provide a place for people to gather, just to break the boredom of sitting home alone. Not that that's all that goes on there. I don't use the one where we live now, but went to Excercise classes where we lived before we came here. They also have computer classes, but for the most part I don't find much of interest. Our local Senior Center foes a lot of bus trips, and we've taken one... very inexpensive and we had a good time. I think just about everybody else on the bus had gone on many trips before as they all seemed to know each other.

Of course, bars offer companionship and conversation (even if the speech may be slightly slurred..)

Come to think if it... what's the difference between a bar and a pub?
I'd like to hear some comments from my Brit and Oz friends. I have some op[inions, but it's much more fun reading what others have to say..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 28 Apr 06 - 10:50 PM

Hi Jerry and anybody else at the table,

Jerry, I've received the CD's you sent--looks just great. I've only had a chance to listen to the Gospel in Black and White--and it sure is fascinating. I was sure I had figured out the difference in approach--the black groups were much freer in their vocals--while still keeping a steady beat in the background. But then I heard one of the white groups which had a very liberal way with the melody--and then I heard one of the black groups which stuck pretty closely to the rhythm in the vocal. You just can't generalize-without being willing to make a lot of exceptions--or throw out the generalization.

And I really love the Gospel Boogie--never heard anything like it. And the lead singer sounded a lot like you! Is Lee Roy Abernathy one of your stage names? Really, he does sound like you.

And, by the way, congratulations on that great set-up for "Give 'em L". We love to look for that sort of thing in my choral group. There's always a lot of humor at any of our rehearsals. Right now, with our next concert being a celebration of our 40th year and our conductor's 70th birthday, we have an assignment to look for quotes by our conductor that we've written in our music. I've been doing that for a LONG time--I'll have to see what I can contribute. I bet I have some good ones.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 12:28 PM

Good to see you, Ron: Yeah, that Gospel Boogie is a reeal kick. I've talked to the guys about doing it, with me doing the spoken parts and Joe keeping a running bass. When we get back to a trio again, we may just try it.

Tonight, Ruth and I are going to hear the 5 Satins, The Jive Five, the Emotions, The Chiffons and The Sentinels (The a capella group that my new friend Ken sings bass with.) When Ruth and I were married almost 8 years ago we thought long and hard about the song we wantyed played first at the reception... the first song that we'd dance to as Mr. & Mrs. My Prayer received serious consideration, but ultimately we choose To The Aisle by the 5 Satins. Hopefully, they'll sing it tonight.

Tomorrow night is the concert where I will be singing with the Greater New Haven Fellowship Male Chorus, and then with the Gospel Messengers as our Guests. I'm really looking forward to that one, too.

In the meantime, I've been pulling weeds all morning.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 02:47 PM

I had another rehearsal this morning (Mahler Symphony of 1,000). Jan points out this is against the Trades Description Act in the UK (in the US, Truth in Advertising)--we'll only have about 500, including orchestra.

More to the point, I was severely tempted to cut class and go out to the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival--it's a GORGEOUS day. The Celtic Festival is where the sea chantey group I used to have performed. We called ourselves all sorts of names--including St Elmo's Quire--found out later a group on the west coast had the same name. We'd rehearse with whoever (out of 7) were able to make it--usually about 2 rehearsals per year--then go out and sing lots of sea songs with good choruses--so the audience could join in. Having been in audiences at festivals, I know that's always a big plus. And some offbeat songs--a version of Lorelei that Ella Fitzgerald, I think used to do--really sexy solo by one of our gals--who really put the song across. (We all looked forward to that). And we did songs like "Tanqueray Martini-O".

Then one year, we couldn't even get one rehearsal with all 7 of us (floating membership ,anyway). So we went out there anyway. And they liked us just as well. After all, sea songs is a genre you can have rough edges on.

Then afterwards there were great parties. At one of them I heard Cicada Serenade, sung by a Mudcatter (pre-Mudcat of course)--I think it's Skivvie.

And I decided I wanted to learn that. So about 16 years later, I got access to a tape with it. Jan and I learned it--and sang it at the Getaway--the year before the next cicada visitation in our area. And Jan even had a whole repertoire of stage business and gestures for it.

But this year we're not making it out there at all--also, Jan is not really in great shape--especially for clambering around hills like they have out there. My mother and her husband wanted to go out there too so I was going to take them out there. But now an old high school chum of my mother's will be in town. That obviously takes precedence--after all, the Celtic Festival happens every year.

My father died the same year as Cay's wife.   Both couples had been in the same church for 30 years. Cay and my mother got married the next year. It's a great match. Cay loves music and has a great sense of humor--as far as I'm concerned that's bingo. He's also a 92-year old kayaker--he's in amazing shape.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 04:50 PM

Oh, by the way, Ron:

Nice to see you posting during daylight hours. I was beginning to wonder if you were a vampire.. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 08:52 PM

Right you are, Jerry. However, the problem with posting during daylight hours is that Jan can think of, say,.... about a million things I should be doing instead. (Of course, her feeling about evening hours is not dramatically different.)

However, we just got back from a garden store-- bought a boatload--to attract butterflies, fight erosion etc.--so she's in a good mood.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 11:54 AM

By the Bye, Ron:

I did a lonnnnng thread about the difference between black and white gospel. Don't know how to do blue clickies, but the title of the thread is "Jerry R's "Black/white Gospel Workshop." You might find it interesting reading. I'd love to do one on the difference between black and white Doo Wop but don't feel as qualified commenting on the topic. Maybe I can get my new-found friend Ken to give me his thoughts...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 11:06 PM

Hi all,

Just a quick one--to keep the coffeepot on. Jan and I spent the afternoon--til dusk--planting--to attract butterflies and fight erosion.

Now I have to go upstairs to her--she's probably overdone it--though she loves it-- and her body is telling her so.

Ron

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 11:30 PM

Hi All,

Ron, you go ahead and run upstairs, I will finish the coffee down here in the kitchen.

Jerry, Thanks for the heart-warming message on the answering machine. As you may have guessed, I left Thursday pm and drove to Ohio to spend the weekend with Jayne and Family and just got home about an hour ago. I called Jayne and related the message from you and she said to tell you how much she appreciated it. As she was relating the message to her sister, she and Sandra were both moved to tears. You Da man, Jerry!

SHe will probably be returning to Georgia later this week if all goes well. Meanwhile, I took my grandson, Ben, to Ohio with me and I gotta tell you, I can think of no better travelling companion. period! He was absolutely terrific. He was happy to talk, to philosphise, to just ride quietly, to sing along with the CDS ( including Jerry's) or to give me some peace and quiet while he played video games or watched a DVD pn the portable player. He is six years old! The last half hour of the 9 hour return trip today, we just told each other" "you da man" for thirty minutes!

On my birthday, last Wed evening, he phoned me to wish me a happy birthday, interjecting quietly two questions, " when can I spend the night?" and "When are ya gonna take me fishin'?" (He is not allowed to solicit these type things so he had to do them soto voce (How about that, ROn?) I got up Thursday the 27th and decided I would drive to Ohio, take him with me, and go fishin' all in one weekend which went absolutely smashingly! We caught 7 fish which we took home in a bucket for all to see then returened them to the lake to watch them all swim away with that "Second chance" look on their faces. He was just the right touch to take to where there is so much suffering, both physical and emotional. He seemed to just lift the spirits of both Sandra, (JAyne's sister), and Iclye (her 84 year old momma.) My daughter, Missy, flew up also and we were able to get lots of needed work done and interject some joy and laughter into a rather downcast houseful.   I think Jayne was delighted to come of 24 hour nursing duties also. Anyway, I am back and glad to be here at the table!   jimmyt

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 11:41 PM

Speaking of Lee Roy Abernathy, (which I read above a while back) A few years ago, back in 1993, I was in a musical called Smoke on the Mountain, which incidently is the reason I started playing the bass as it was my Character's instrument in this bluegrass gospel musical. I remember opening night and in my mind most of the music was pretty obscure and certainly most folks would not have heard it before.   The second number in the show just after the applause died down down from the opening was me singing "A WOnderful TIme up There." It was a bit disconcerting to have an old guy sitting in the front row that apparently knew the song better than I did! At intermission I mentioned it to the cast and they said, " yeah, he sang in a gospel group back in the 40s and 50s with Lee Roy Abernathy, who wrote that song." "Y'all are lying to me! I said. "No, and if ya wanna really be freaked out, Lee Roy was my uncle." said Denise, one of the characters. Her name in real life is Lori Abernathy Etheridge.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 01 May 06 - 07:48 AM

Glad you are back, Jimmy: I'm going to start a thread (may be very short-lived) about singing bass. I don't want this thread to become a Doo Wop thread... don't want to lose the folks who stop in with other things on their mind. I know that you and Ron can add something to it...

Catch you later... still keeping you and your family in daily prayer..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 01 May 06 - 11:32 AM

We had a wonderful concert Saturday night... we really enjoyed a young jazz pianist, Christian Sands who performed with his trio, and then with the male chorus I sing in, doing Oh Happy Day. There was also a fine sax player who did a long instrumental, just with piano accompaniment of Amazing Grace, starting out very slow and soulful, slowly moving up to a higher key and increasing the tempo until he was rocking like the wildest rhythm and blues sax player, and the pianist was doing a pretty good approximation of Ray Charles. Brought down the house.

And Saturday night, we went to the Doo Wop concert, which was so memorable.

Today, I'm planting grass and my wife is painting a shed.

Back to reality.

Are any of your gardeners? I haven't had a vegetable garden in years, but always loved it. It just seemed like my summer vacation occured right when the vegetables were coming ripe, and by the time I got back they'd passed their peak. Fortunately, we have local farmers who provide freshly picked produce to the nursery right down the road, so I don't want for fresh vegetables during the summer. Nothing like a freshly picked tomato..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Col K
Date: 01 May 06 - 05:44 PM

Welcome back to the table Jimmy. I hope all is as well as can be and that Jayne is also taking care of herself properly. Sometimes it is very easy to concentrate on others and to ignore ones own needs. You are all in my thoughts.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: jimmyt
Date: 01 May 06 - 07:39 PM

Jerry, Just got in from planting some tomato plants, some basil and lavender plus a couple different parsley varieties. Beautiful day here in the southland

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 01 May 06 - 09:40 PM

Just stopped by for a cuppa. That concert sounds like it done shook the rafters, Jerry Elmer.

I can't stop listening to this Tracy Nelson double CD a friend gave me: "Homemade Songs" has an eclectic mix on it, and "Come See About Me" is a collection of Motown and Stax soul songs, such as "Hold On, I'm Coming," "Your Love is Like a See Saw," and of course the title track. Tracy's voice makes me want to melt into a puddle, and the arrangements are terrific. Nelson never played the big corporate promo game, but she has a devoted cult following since her days with Mother Earth. I used to sneak into night clubs to hear her way back when. Never got carded neither, hee hee.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 01 May 06 - 11:15 PM

Hi everybody,

Jan was just here, She'd like to share with everyone her African orange mango tea, and imagine sitting on the front porch in Africa while the elephants wander through the front garden (we'd say front yard) on their way down into the woods to find some tasty leaves of their own. She was sitting on the front porch with her eyes closed imagining this--hearing beasts thunder by--our cats were chasing each other from one forsythia bush to another.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 01 May 06 - 11:46 PM

And, Jerry, both those concerts you went to recently sound fantastic--both concerts to remember for a long time. All those classic groups represented at the doo-wop concert--and that lively gospel concert. You're right in the heart of some of the best music going.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 May 06 - 09:17 AM

Hey, Ron:

Oddly enough, you are dead right (not that you always aren't) about this area. New Haven (which is a ten minute drive from where we live) has always been a center of vocal music. The Collectible Label (the pre-eminent company that does re-issues of "Oldies") even has a CD of New Haven Doo Wop groups. You might expect that there'd be a CD of New York, Chicago or Philadelpia groups, but not necessarily of New Haven. The best known groups were The Five Satins and The Nutmegs but there were many, many more. When I lived in Stamford, CT, just 30 miles from here, the Gospel Messengers were the only black gospel quartet in the immediate area. Here in the New Haven area, when groups have their Anniversary, they commonly invite 20-25 area groups. For some reason, New Haven has always been a place where vocal groups have flourished. And then, there's classical music presented at Yale, and there's a strong jazz and rock community as well. Just about anything you want to hear. For all the great music at the Doo Wop concert (3 hours of wonderful singing) the ticket price was just $15. To hear these groups in New York City, it would cost more like $50, plus the expense and hassle of driving into New York and paying a minimum of $20 to park your car.

As a died-in-the-wool folkie, we received a valued compliment for the Director of the Male Chorus on Sunday. He said that of all the groups in the area, we are unique because we present authentic old black gospel... something people no longer hear. Doing black gosp-el quartet music, for me, is no different than doing country blues or southern Appalachian music... I try to do all of it in an authentic style, out of respect for the tradition. It makes me feel good that someone I respect as a gifted musician appreciates that we are presenting the music with authenticity.

And Hello, Colin! Colin had the pleasure of hearing the Gospel Messengers twice, and singing bass with Joe. Hopefully, that will happen again some day, and will with you too Ron... and Elmer and many more of my Catter friends. Maybe we can get the Doo Wop group over here, too and really have a memorable occasion.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 03 May 06 - 08:06 AM

Been working my way through nine Val Lewton movies. A month ago, I had no idea who Val Lewton was. As I mentioned in another thread, I think it was Martin Scorcese who said that there have been three geniuses in the history of the movies... Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disnet and Val Lewton. I just bought a boxed set of Lewton's 9 movies he produced, and a documentary about him. The best known of his movies is The Cat People. I've always been fascinated with movies, and Lewton's are always interesting to watch. What he does on a low budget is masterful. These were all "B" pictures with no money for special effects, even though they are all "horror" movies.
RKO would give him a title for a movie, with no story line, and he'd write the story and actively engage in the direction of the movie, although he was not the Director. He was given the title The Cat People to cash in on the popularity of the Wolf Man. Wolf Man/Cat Woman. Hollywood level of creative thinking.

As an example of how he made movies, in The Body Snatcher, Boris Karloff is a grave robber who digs up bodies to sell to medical school doctors. When security is too tight and not enough people recently buried, he kills a young woman. The first scene in the movie, there is a young, blind girl singing a beautiful ballad on the street. She appears again, fleetingly in the movie. When Karloff is in need of a body, he follows her in his carriage as she is walking home. She walks under a darkened archway and you hear her singing. The carriage follows and suddenly, there is just a small catch in her voice and the singing stops. Now, they'd show her guts splattering all over Karloff's face. To add to the complexity of the movie, the Doctor is able to restore the ability toi walk to a crippled girl, by practicing the operation on the body of the blind girl.

Anybody else in here a lover of old movies?

Check out the Unforgettable Scenes From Movies thread if you haven't.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: freda underhill
Date: 03 May 06 - 08:07 AM

still sitting here in the corner, Jerry & co. Tomorrow I'm flying to Vienna - it's a long way from Sydney - to spend time with my daughter and her husband. I'll be checking in here & there - and will spend a quite a bit of time by the kitchen table in the little cafe where she works!

I may have some Austrian anecdotes to pass the time!

freda

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 04 May 06 - 12:07 PM

Always good to see you at the table, Freda~ Have a wonderful time..

These last few days have done a reasonable approximation of real life... with some joyful times at two concerts, and some very stressful times that have drained me completely. It was the concerts that carried me through the stressful times: especially the chorus of a song we sang at the Sunday concert. That chorus was constantly running through my mind during the times of great stress, and it did a lot to carry me through. The chorus is from a song titled On The Other Side Of Through. The cause of the stress has been joyfully resolved, so I type this today "on the other side of through." For those of you who haven't reached the other side of through, this is the chorus:

"On the other side of through
There's a blessing, waiting for you
Hold fast, hold fast, your troubles will not last
There's a blessing, yes a blessing
On the other side of through."

Things are beautiful here on the other side... hope you all can join me..

Jerry