Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Apr 18 - 09:32 PM Thanks, Bruce! One of Dad's and my longest streams of puns was as we drove north from Everett to Marysville and slough each other with puns (if you've been there, you know why, and you'll see one here.) Dad also loved classical music, and when I got to his house after being called about his death I realized I could have wheels - that tiny Geo Metro of his. The car had a couple hundred thousand miles on it, was worth about as much as a cup of coffee, but there was a high-end radio and cassette/CD player in it. We used to play "drop the needle" and I realized that if I turned the radio on it would probably be on KING-FM (a Seattle all-classical station). I turned it on and a symphony was just ending - literally about the last five bars of something. "Brahms!" I exclaimed. And nailed it! He'd have announced which symphony, but I figured I was as spot on as I could get for that brief amount of music. It has been nice to revisit this. |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Bruce Baker Date: 30 Apr 18 - 08:23 PM A bit of nostalgia that I brought up - originally published in the SFS Flyer some time ago. --- It is with sadness that we report the passing of John Dwyer last December just at publication deadline. John was one of the first SFS members and a tireless volunteer as well. John is best known for collecting and singing ballads and songs of the Northwest. John was never shy to help whenever needed. If this meant driving an hour from his home in Marysville to Seattle for a mailing party (the first ones at Monroe Center when SFS had its offices there), then he did. And he did as recently as last October -- donating a bread sack to carry the proper accompaniment of scissors, good staplers, a paper cutter for the mailings -- all neatly dymolabeled "SFS" of course. John was organized almost to a fault. His collection of recordings and music spanned forty years, and he could find most anything with relative ease, with copies made for those who asked. This from his years teaching library science at Everett Community College. He spoke fondly of raising his four children in West Seattle. Of the "hoots" they would have and how he knew that they were listening through the furnace registers. Of these, he was closest to Maggie, for she shared his love of music and puns. He finally joined the internet in the 90's , frequently corresponding with friends, family and the folk community. But it was merely a tool. He didn't have time for tinkering with it as I knew. John was quick with a pun -- usually a full-blown groaner. He secretly enjoyed other's puns, though the outward scowl to fool the uninitiated. Musically, he was a sponge -- but more organized. He would take notes each circle to look up old material, or polish something. He often knew several versions of a song, including the history behind each. He was given more to century old ballads than the singer songwriter material from current times. He espoused singing from memory rather than burying a nose in a book --(you communicate better with everyone that way). He wrote quite a number of songs, many of which he sung as duets with friends at Song Circle. No one else has as profoundly affected the folk community as far as song circles go, and John Dywer did -- from Vancouver to Portland and in between. I know that his absence will be felt, and that his music will live on in the same tradition that he brought it. More than that, I feel privileged to have known him and called him friend for the past decade and a half. |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Deckman Date: 30 Apr 18 - 07:55 PM I sent this thread to several old folkies who were John's friends. They might post comments, that's why I refreshed it. bob(deckman)nelson |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Deckman Date: 29 Apr 18 - 02:03 PM Maggie ... thank you for bringing this long ago thread up. I've enjoyed re-reading comments, especially Don Firth's, and even shed a tear or two. "THOSE WERE THE TIMES MY FRIEND, I THOUGHT THEY'D NEVER END ..." bob(deckman)nelson |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 18 - 11:34 PM I had a text from my daughter this evening; she is at a RenFaire at which this evening apparently songs are shared according to topics. Sounds to me like the way hoots work - someone sings a song and it reminds someone else of another song - anyway, a friend of hers had a topic of "the unexpected strength of women." She thought of "The Outlandish Knight" in response to the topic, because when she was a child she heard me sing it many times. When we were reading the poetry collection Rainbow in the Sky I was physically unable to simply read that poem. I had to sing the song because my father (John Dwyer) had that book and sang that version to us. If he were here now (he died 20 years ago) he'd be so pleased to hear how his granddaughter spoke of this song as a family favorite, then sang it for the assembled audience. She was young when he died, so I'm glad some of the Dwyer love of storytelling-through-song got through to her. (Offered up for Dad's friends who helped him celebrate the arrival of his first grandchild nearly 30 years ago.) |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Don Firth Date: 26 Nov 14 - 09:36 PM I learned how to teach folk guitar classes from Barry Olivier when Bob Nelson and I were barnstorming in the Bay Area in 1959. Barry had been teaching guitar classes for several years and he generously invited Bob and me to sit in on some of his classes (groups of ten) and gave us copies of the materials he used. If I remember correctly, I first met John Dwyer in 1960. I had just started teaching folk guitar classes at the Folklore Center in Seattle's University District. We could pack seven people, plus me, in a small room in the back of the Folklore Center without their poking each other in the ear with their tuning heads. After a ten week course, they knew the basic chords and could sing over a dozen songs. The classes became so popular that about six months later I had to move them to larger quarters at the University YM/YWCA at Eagleson Hall. John was one of the most enthusiastic students I ever had, and when the beginning and intermediate classes where over, he contacted me for private lessons where, again, he worked like a beaver, practicing new stuff on the guitar and learning songs right and left. He soon became one of the regulars at hoots and songfest and shortly settled into being one of the mainstays of the Seattle folk music scene—actually, considering the way his little red Geo Metro zipped up and down Interstate 5, taking in songfests wherever they happened to manifest themselves in Western Washington or Southern British Columbia, he was instrumental in making various groups acquainted with each other—all to the good! I usually start private pupils with some basic classic guitar technique (easiest, fastest way to learn "finger-style" guitar), and although I don't think John continued working on classic technique beyond the basics, his accompaniments were always tasteful and unobtrusively supported whatever song he was singing. His voice was reminiscent of Ed McCurdy's and I believe McCurdy's records were one of his favorite sources for new songs, although he combed through every songbook he could get his hands on and delved into some pretty academic works on folk music and ballads. He wanted to know about the songs he sang. Some of my favorite Sunday afternoons and evenings were spent at John's place on Priest Point Road near Marysville some thirty or forty miles north of Seattle. John would feed the gathering of singers and friends (occasional someone would bring a pot-luck dish) and if the weather was good, we'd often spend the afternoon loafing around on John's deck overlooking Puget Sound. Frequently, people were there from Bellingham, ninety miles north of Seattle, and from Vancouver, B.C. Casual warbling might begin in the afternoons, but by early evening, we were going strong. John didn't smoke and he didn't want people smoking in the house, so if you wanted to cauterize your lungs, you had to go out on the deck. After some thirty years of smoking like a chimney, I had recently got married to a woman of infinite resource and sagacity (and who still looks mighty good in a pair of yoga pants!) who didn't smoke, and other people smoking in her vicinity bothered her, so I was determined (koff! koff!) to quit for a number of reasons. One Sunday afternoon at John's, we were all sitting on the deck, and I noticed that I only had three cigarettes left in the pack. I made up my mind. I casually smoked the three of them, gave my Bic lighter to a woman there who smoked, and never smoked again! Incidentally, John was best man at Barbara's and my wedding (before the ceremony, as the pastor was outlining the sequence of events, I remember his asking the pastor, "When does she put the ring in his nose?"). It would be hard to over-estimate John Dwyer's impact on furthering interest in folk music in the Pacific Northwest. Not only did he sing (and occasionally write) interesting songs—and sing them well—his enthusiasm for the music was highly contagious. Thank you, John! Don Firth P. S. More as it occurs to me. |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: GUEST Date: 25 Nov 14 - 11:17 PM Refresh. Gwynplaine (The Man who Laughs) |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Phil Cooper Date: 24 Nov 14 - 11:46 PM I met John twice, when we played in Seattle. He mailed us a copy of all the Long Harvest albums on tape. |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Nov 14 - 06:25 PM Thanks for writing this, Bob, and for adding the links - it has been great to sit here and listen to the songs I grew up with. He used to kid us about being a captive audience - dad sat on the side of the bed and you were held in place by the blankets. He sang requests, but he also sang the songs he was learning, so of course we each learned the words to those songs. Later if he was singing and stumbled on the words, it was usually one of us kids who prompted the line he needed. Maggie Dwyer |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Deckman Date: 24 Nov 14 - 12:22 PM Yes, John had his "snarly side", but even when that part of him showed he was still funny. I've heard from Linda Allen, whom I mention in the article,often sparred with John with musical putdowns. She said she's still laughing at some of those contests ... John didn't always win. CHEERS, bob(deckman)nelson |
Subject: RE: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Stewart Date: 24 Nov 14 - 12:17 PM nice article Bob I only knew John for about a year, but sang with him every week at song circle for most of that year. A curmudgeon, but gentle with a big heart. Two things he didn't like - the blue book (when used in the song circle) and songs by Bill Staines. I once sang a Bill Staines song, which didn't sound like his typical songs. When John asked me about the song and I told him who wrote it, he begrudgingly said "well, I guess he wrote one good song." Cheers, S. in Seattle |
Subject: Article - Seattle Folksinger John Dwyer From: Joe Offer Date: 24 Nov 14 - 01:55 AM Here's an article by Mudcatter Bob Nelson (Deckman), published in The NW Hoot, online magazine of the Pacific Northwest Folklore Society. SEATTLE FOLKSINGERS THOSE WHO LED THE WAY JOHN DWYER (1921-1997) By Bob Nelson In these articles titled “Those Who Led The Way” I want to bring to you the stories of folksingers who were very influential in the Seattle folk music scene of the 1950’s and 60’s. The first two articles presented Walt Robertson and Don Firth. Here I present John Dwyer as I knew him.
“The Sow Took The Measles” |
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