If you could travel back in time...who

Subject: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Soldier boy
Date: 20 Sep 09 - 07:20 PM

Sorry if my posting sounds a bit wierd but I've just had a sort of 'Senior moment'!

I was trawling through all the threads on Mudcat when I came across a thread started by Mr Happy, entitled "Ingleton Folk Week 2000. Who's going?" Mr Happy must have also had a 'Senior moment' when his finger slipped and pressed 0 and not 9 for 2009 and then did not properly check his posting before submitting it. Poor Mr Happy is not very happy now, is he, boys and girls?

So it got me thinking... about time travel, (like you do!)

What if we could actually time travel and travel back in time...who would you want to see?

On the Mudcat forum there are always postings of obituaries fondly remembering many of our folk heroes and champions who have sadly passed away.

So who were your favourites and who you would love to see again or perhaps for the first time ever? If we had the ability to time travel who would that be for you; who has a special place in your heart and in your memories ?

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Art Thieme
Date: 20 Sep 09 - 09:17 PM

Jim Ringer! I would find him when he hits bottom and, amazingly, he actually realizes that he is drinking himself to death to the extent that he gets help and comes out of it clean--and happy.

Art

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: sing4peace
Date: 20 Sep 09 - 09:36 PM

the very first time my Mom saw my Dad on stage...
-------
Joyce

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Beer
Date: 20 Sep 09 - 10:19 PM

Very touching Joyce and I would say the same thing.   Mum and Dad once more at the piano. Dad playing and Mum singing. Both far away now.
I still owe you a p.m. Joyce. I haven't forgotten. Just busy.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Beer
Date: 20 Sep 09 - 10:20 PM

I would also like to see the Beatles back as one.
Ad.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Sep 09 - 10:21 PM

If we are limiting it to 'folk' heroes...those we knew or wish we did... I still have a list several pages long.

There are many in the Mudcat OBITS whom I met or knew personally and would like to finish conversations with (like Utah Phillips), but I would also like to meet Jeanne Robertson, Davey Stewart, Hamish Imlach, Burl Ives, the semi-famous Walt Robertson, Maybelle Carter, Kilby Snow...(to learn exactly how to make brass picks for autoharp)...and 57 others...

(please, let's not make this a list of 'everyone famous you ever heard of... *wry smile*)

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Sep 09 - 10:54 PM

I've never seen Pete Seeger in concert. I'd like to hear him now, but I'd much rather have heard him back in the 1950s and 1960s, when his voice was at its peak.

And here I live in Northern California, and I didn't even hear of Kate Wolf and Malvina Reynolds until after they died. What a shame. Oh, and I really would have liked to have met Sam Hinton in person, although I did have the privilege of corresponding with him on the Internet.

But I HAVE met Sandy Paton, and had enough contact with him that I think I can call him a friend. I've never met Art Thieme and Jerry Rasmussen and Jean Ritchie and Frank Hamilton in person, but I've had so much contact with them online that I feel I can call them friends, too.

So, I feel like I'm blessed.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,Greycap
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 02:23 AM

I'd like to go back to that night in Berlin when my Dad took me to see Hank Williams at the Silver Wings Club, Tempelhof..1950? 1951?
I'd get Dad & Hank back.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 03:00 AM

I've always had this romantic image of life in Greenwich Village in the late 50s/early 60s with the poets, artists, folk musicians and the whole Washington Square thing. Strangely, I was in Liverpool when The Beatles broke through, but, back then - musically - my head was somewhere else.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Little Robyn
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 03:12 AM

I'd like to hear Pete and Woody with the Almanac singers. About 1949.
Or to the Weavers first Carnegie Hall concert.
Or more recently, to hear Aled Jones when he was still 14 and still singing treble.
Can I take a video camera with me?
Robyn

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: kendall
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 05:59 AM

Utah Phillips and Sandy Paton.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: nickp
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 06:06 AM

Highwoods String Band in their prime. It was great seeing them at their reunion last year but it made me realise what I'd missed.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: nickp
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 06:08 AM

And back on this side of the Atlantic I'd like to revisit the Sandy Denny concert I went to in Newcastle in 1972 - but with my Edirol rather than the cheap cassette recorder I had then...

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 07:04 AM

Me! To give myself the National winners, Pools results and lottery numbers:-)

DeG

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 07:07 AM

Bert lloyd,[AFew questions to ask]
roscoe holcomb, clarence ashley[to get a few banjo tips,
Sara Carter,WalterPardon.Julia Clifford,Alf Edwards

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,Black Belt Caterpillar Wrestler
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 07:13 AM

We have all of history at our disposal here, how about a certain blind Irish harper, or even going to see if Nero really could play the (not as we know it) fiddle?

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: kendall
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 08:00 AM

Excedrin for Thomas Jefferson.
Some brains for James Buchanan.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: SINSULL
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 08:13 AM

If I were going back in time to be myself at the age of that time, it would be a trip back to Aunt Jen and Uncle Joe's cabin in Cobleskill,NY. Be nice to visit Miss Ourity, the outhouse just once more and hear Uncle Joe tell how when he retired he was gioing to set up a catapult at the top of the hill. Miss Puity would be fitted out with garbage cans lined with plastic bags and anyone who dared come up the hill without an invitation would get a bag of shit catapulted down the hill at him. Good times.

If I were going back in time as my ancient self, I would want to be strategically placed on that grassy knoll in Dallas. I'd have a camera handy.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 08:17 AM

I was lucky enough to see my idol, Louis Armstrong, live twice so it would have to be Sidney Bechet or Leadbelly.

RtS

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 08:25 AM

I don't think I'd want to revisit a gig I'd already attended (I've dined out on two Sandy Denny gigs for 36 years and wouldn't want to spoil my memories)

But the Fairport gig at the Royal Festival Hall in September 1969 (Liege and Lief era) is another kettle of tea altogether - I'll nominate that as long as I can also see Bert Lloyd giving Sandy a hug afterwards.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: SINSULL
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 08:32 AM

Miss Purity - misspelled it twice. SHEESH!

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 08:34 AM

Third Ear Band

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives / Sevens

Gong circa 1971

Soft Machine circa 1969

Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club circa 1928

The Four Marx Brothers performing The Cocoanuts stage show on Broadway in 1925

And I'd love to go back and see Peter Bellamy at the Bay Hotel Folk Club in Cullercoats circa 1988.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: sing4peace
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 09:04 AM

I would like to be able to meet Phil Ochs to exhort him to have more faith in himself and humanity. His suicide hit me hard.

Violetta Parra too.
=======
JK

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 09:07 AM

There's a few I've had on my list for a long time - folks I never had the chance to see but always wanted to. In no particular order:

Woody Guthrie (I like the idea of Woody and Pete with the Almanac Singers)
Kate Wolf
Steve Goodman
Gamble Rogers
John Hurt
Frank Proffitt
Libba Cotten

I'm sure there are others.

Dan

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: BobKnight
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 09:25 AM

My granny, Jean Stewart, who knew dozens (if not hundreds) of traditional Scottish songs and stories. Sadly I have just one I remember from her. (too interested in rock 'n roll)

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Soldier boy
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 04:50 PM

Loads of great suggestions here folks and I agree with you Joe, if you have been lucky enough to get to know some of the great performers it must feel like you are blessed indeed.

By the way, time travellers are allowed to take any modern technology they want to with them for audio and visual recording purposes.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,Elmore
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 04:50 PM

The Beers Family, Iain Mackintosh, Stan Rogers, Rev. Gary Davis, The Watersons,(saw them all). Jeannie Robertson, Lizzie Higgins, Uncle Dave Macon. (a little before my time).

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 04:53 PM

my daughter

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Beer
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 05:09 PM

Jim Reeves, Johnny Horton, Buddy Holly and Hank Williams
Ad.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 05:42 PM

Send me back in time to the late 60s, preferably with a twenty-something year old body.   
Once I get there, I'll decide where to go. I think it's more about the what and where than the who.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Tootler
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 05:59 PM

After some thought I decided I don't want to go back in time so I will just live with the mistakes I have made and enjoy the present.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Bert
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 07:02 PM

Marie Lloyd

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: kendall
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 07:33 PM

My friend, John Murphy who passed on a few days ago.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 07:43 PM

Somewhere down in the South in early 1927. Charlie Poole and Uncle Dave wre already recording. DaCosta Woltz was talking his friends Frank Jenkins and Ben Jarrell into going to Richmond Indiana to make records. Lowe Stokes was just integrating his sound into the rest of the Skillet Lickers. AP Carter was persuading his wife Sara and his sister-in-law Maybelle to make some records when Ralph Peer came to town. And so on. . .

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: topical tom
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 12:10 PM

Dan Schatz:Your list is basically mine too! However, I have had the good fortune to have seen a few at one time or another except Woody Guthrie, Kate Wolf, John Hurt and Steve Goodman. Oh, what I would give to see them in live performances!

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 12:36 PM

Rick

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Mark Ross
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 12:40 PM

Saw all of them except Woody & Frank Proffitt.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Steve Hunt
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 12:46 PM

Les Cousins, London, in the mid 1960's and The Folk Cottage, Cornwall, in the late 1960's.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: DonMeixner
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 12:55 PM

I have lived in the most amazing times for what we call folk music. I think I'd like to live it all again and just fit in a few more visits with the people I have known and seen. Maybe start younger. Maybe avoid that whole table saw incident.

The Sons of The Pioneers, The Chad Mitchell Trio both before and with John Denver. Malvina Reynolds, Kendall Morse and Art Thieme more than just the once.

Don

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 01:34 PM

Steve Hunt: I'm with you there! I did a floor spot at the Folk Cottage in 1967 when me and my guitar were hitching around Cornwall.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 01:55 PM

Do we have to live our way back to the present or is it a return ticket?

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 02:54 PM

I'd go to the Eel's Foot around the time when the BBC were making their field recordings there.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Santa
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 03:12 PM

Sandy Denny.

Jack Elliot of Birtley.

Big Pete Rodger of the Taverners

the young Pat Ryan

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Little Robyn
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 03:31 PM

There's a song on the Jackie and Bridie record that goes:
I was sitting in my bath chair when they told me
They'd found a way to bring back youth again,
But I wouldn't go, they couldn't even make me
Cos I couldn't stand to face it all again.

And it's all for nothing when you think of it.....

I think I'd need a return ticket!
Robyn

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Soldier boy
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 04:42 PM

It's a Return Ticket Tim leaning and Little Robyn. You can come and go at will whenever you desire but you will still be ageing in the normal manner even though you are travelling back in time.

Whatever age you are now you will still be that age when you land in the 1960's or 1640's or even year dot.

You cannot go back in time to a younger you and take with you what you know now. In fact you can't meet up with yourself in the past becaust that would mean that you are efffectively in two places at the same time and that is not possible.
This is crucial because you are not allowed to change history in any way - be it your own life history or any other person or event on the planet.

Regard this time travel opportunity as a chance to be given a free concert ticket to see one of your all time favourites at a concert/club/venue at any time in the past but also at a time when you had not been there in person yourself.

This thread was intended as an opportunity for imagination and warm hearted expression so I don't want to get too involved in the infinate complexities and scientific principles of time travel.

Having said that however...the mind does boggle...at the prospect of...being strategically placed on that little grassy knoll in Dallas with a good modern camera to hand..it really does SINSULL!!!

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Anne Lister
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 05:01 PM

I would like to hear my grandmother sing, as I'm told she did, for evening gatherings.
And further back in time I'd like to meet Chretien de Troyes and find out how he told (or sang?) his Arthurian tales. Did he work the audience? Was it a flat, monotone recital? Did it vary according to who was there?

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: topical tom
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 05:07 PM

Sigh...Correction once again! I never saw or heard Frank Proffitt live either, so the only ones I saw were Gamble Rogers and Libba Cotten.I would love to see and hear Frank Proffitt sing and play banjo.

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 05:41 PM

Nigel Chippindale

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 06:07 PM

Yes, Nigel Chippindale and the folk quiz at Nettlebed festival...
also the Beatles concert I went to in Hammersmith when the supporting acts were Elkie Brooks and the Yardbirds (Keith Relf and Eric Clapton)!

Kitty

Subject: RE: If you could travel back in time...who
From: Joe_F
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 06:12 PM

Do I, or do I not, have a gun in my hand?