Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio

Subject: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: bobad
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 12:31 PM

This December, Oscar Brand celebrates 60 years on the WNYC airwaves hosting Folksong Festival, a much-cherished Saturday night stop on the radio dial that has remained committed to championing folk music, even as commercial tastes have evolved through the years.

One of the longest-running programs in American radio history, Folksong Festival has played a legendary role by showcasing iconic performers including Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, Huddie Ledbetter, and Pete Seeger. Bob Dylan made his solo New York radio debut on the show, and Arlo Guthrie gave one of his earliest performances of "Alice's Restaurant" right in Brand's studio. Suzanne Vega, Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, Harry Belafonte, Harry Chapin, and John Denver have all been featured guests, and the show continues to support young talent and new voices.

http://www.wnyc.org/music/articles/53969

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: thespionage
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 01:15 PM

Is he having Dave Sear on?

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: iancarterb
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 01:49 PM

The homage to the show and its longevity that I heard on NPR this morning included the observation that Oscar has done the show as a volunteer for the whole 60 years. He came first to my attention because my older brother, in the early fifties, bought every volume of Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads. Many of those tunes are amongthe few dozen songs I find that I now remember all of without prompting (I was ten, and of course eager to hear rude things, and soaked them up like a sponge). His scholarship on campaign songs from U S colonial times on is another fine example of the breadth of his interest in modern AND old oral tradition. He's a hero who stands forty-five degrees away from more conventional scholars and collectors and supplements their work in unexpected and joyful ways. Happy Anniversary, Oscar!

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 02:09 PM

That is quite a landmark for a man who gives new meaning to to the word SURVIVOR every time he goes on the air. And he has done this while highlighting the the best of the folk revival over all those various decades.

Personally, I take my hat off to Oscar Brand!

One question though:

I would like to know exactly what his dayjob was through the years? (How did he manage to pull it off as a volunteer? ;-)

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: iancarterb
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 02:15 PM

Art Thieme -I have to believe he sold a LOT of those Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads albums in the fifties! Some royalties, at least!

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: bobad
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 02:28 PM

If you check out the partial discography at his web site http://www.oscarbrand.com/ there must be 100 albums there. I also remember a TV program he hosted in Canada way back when.

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 06:41 PM

Oscar did a concert for FSGW a couple years ago....he has LOTS of tapes and CDs for sale..*grin*....and loves to talk about the songs. He is a nice, approachable guy and still sings well. Hope he gore to 100!

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 08:14 PM

You will find that Oscar Brand is a well versed musicologist and has lectured, taught, and also is knowledgeable in many other areas of music aside from the Folk aspect. He was--perhaps still is---the Pres. of a ---I forget the actual title---say, something like the Tin Pan Alley--or Pop Music Hall of Fame.

Imagine my surprise, many years ago, while in a motel and turning on the TV and finding Oscar giving a lecture on musical composition.

He also has written many songs that pay royalties.


NPR did point out today that he will be in the Guiness Book of Records as the only person to have an ongoing radio program---in its original incarnation for this length of time.

His guests over the years are a wonderful history of the evolvement of Folk Music


Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: GUEST,Dr Price
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 08:21 PM

I know and love Oscar Brand both for his Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads (thanks, Chantey Cabin) and for his intelligent and erudite e-mails which Joe Stead keeps on sending me. Keep it up, Oscar!

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: GUEST,guest, open mike
Date: 12 Dec 05 - 02:07 AM

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5048112
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/folksong
a folk music friend told me that the NPR special today
was eloquent i guess thie above link is the piece she quoted.

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 12 Dec 05 - 03:17 PM

And he never forgets ANYTHING.
My mother was on his program at least once. She did some of the children's songs she had taught to me and some of my friends, so we were there singing, too. Some songs with answer-backs, etc.
You can call him anytime of the day or night and ask him about "...that one Mama told me about and the chorus goes lahdi-dahdah-dumdeedee, and words about the horse pulling the wagon..." and within a few seconds he sings the chorus, the first verse, tells you some of the books that have the words and music in them, any recordings it may be on(and which performer may be doing the most authentic, or oldest, version) and if it may have been in a TV show or movie.....and then want to know how you are, what made that song come to mind, how're the kids, where you working now......One of the Good Guys, definitely. We're soooooooo lucky.....         Tw

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: GUEST,Jeff L ecsc 55-67
Date: 12 Dec 05 - 03:26 PM

Thread participants, please excuse this intrusion which is off subject.
I am trying to locate BILL HAHN who posted a message to here December 11th.
The reason is that Bill posted a message to another thread last year about his once attending Ethical Culture School Camp in Cooperstown, NY ("ECSC"). I am one ex-ECSC person and thought that Bill having good memories of camp would like to get in touch on the subject.
I am not a Mudcat or other group participant and I apologize for breaking in to this thread.

Bill, if I have identified you correctly and you are so inclined, please drop a line to me at [e-mail].
All the best,
Jeff

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 12 Dec 05 - 08:10 PM

I guess that makes him an old (chronlogically)person. I remember that in the early 60s one of the LA FM stations carried his show on Saturday mornings...at least I think I remember that; was it KPFK? I had forgotten that show. Think I'll try to get it on the good old web. Thanks for this thread.

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From:
Date: 12 Dec 05 - 11:05 PM

Osh Kar Band BRAND NAME of OVER-ALLS we HILL-BELLIES wored upin the OZAEKS prior to the DAMN YANKEE INVAISHON of the 80's until TODAY 87% of OLD LIFE LONG FAMILIES of NORTHERN ARKANSAS OZARK region are DISPLACED, HOMELESS or MOVED TO FERRIN LANDS wherein we are TREATED CIVILLY. MY GREAT GRAND PAP's 40 ACRE FARM(Deed Signed By PRESIDENT ROOSEVEKLLT hisself(REWARD FOR SERVICE in SAN JUAN HILL) was TOOKIN AWAY bty by GODDAMN YANKEES! CODE COMPLIANCE LAWS! CHICKENS, JUNK CARS, 200 YEAR OLD HOME, BARNS, RED BONE & BLUE TICK HOUNDS, OUTSIDE PLUMBING....STINKING YANKEES! A POX ON THEM.
OSKAR (OshKosh) BRAND OVERALLS! Hes probablya JEWlikeME! COHEN, ROSENBLATT, FIENSWINE...ha! My "Gernamic" JEWISH FAMILY NAME is BERNAYS!
WE DIDN'T HAVE O CHANGE to HIDE OUR SUPERIOURITY! STUPID GOY always thinkIm FRENCH! (Edward BERNAYS wasmy Great UNCLE..my GeatGreatGrandfather HIS BROTHER..John Edward Bernays..HILLBELLIE JEW!) Was EDWARD L> BERNAYS not the SINGLE MOST INFLUENCIACALMAN ofthe 20th.CENTURY? YES! HE "INVENTED' SINGLE-MINDEDLY, the SCIENCE of PROPAGANDA! Wrote "The ENGINEERING of CONSENT!" and "PROPAGANDA" was the DESIGNER of the PROPAGANDAwhich TOOK USA into ww1 &ww2! HE WROTE FRANKLIN DELO ROOSEVELDS"Perl Harbour Dec.8th SPEECH!" NOW theGreat GrandSn of SIGMUND FREUDS WIFE is living in SQUALOURin MEXICO....the GOD-DAMN YAnkees TOKMY home, money & killed MY farm stock& took MY rifles! aL i gOT lEFT IS A seagull guitar, A30-40 YEAR OLD mandolin AND A kenwood ts 520 vintage ham station! i AM kd5mpm/xe2.THE...HEBREW HOBO1!....THE RAILROAD RABBI!2 BOXCARHOBO_A1..The SUPREME RULER &GODof the HOBOES- F.T.R.A.

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 13 Dec 05 - 05:21 PM

Whaaaa????????

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Dec 05 - 08:43 PM

Every once in a while we get static from an alternative universe. It's best to ignore it.

I was reminded of one of my favorite Oscar Brand recordings today, AMERICAN DRINKING SONGS, with a album cover showing McSorley's Old Ale House in full swing. In fact I found that very album tacked to the wall at McSorley's as my brother and I paid the tavern a surprise visit. The old place looks pretty much the way it did 40 years ago. They clearly do not depend on our patronage. There's still sawdust on the floor, the old potbelly cast iron stove was still there, which fortunately was freshly coaled and we got to sit next to it. Alongside us was a large old orange tigercat. They still serve fresh onion, sharp cheese and crackers, not to mention light and dark ale. Women are now permitted, however, as patrons. The acoustics would seem quite good for raising a song or two, but I'd need a larger group of volunteers to do that. Maybe I'll try a raid next spring when I'm next in NYC.

Unfortunately I don't see a CD version of AMERICAN DRINKING SONGS on Brand's website, although maybe the songs are included on one of his collection CD's.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, still at large in NYC

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 13 Dec 05 - 08:57 PM

Charley, let me know when you get to NYC in the spring. Let's get a group of NYC Mudcatters together at McSorley's! The first round is on me!

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Dec 05 - 08:58 PM

F.T.R.A. is a dangerous bunch...

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: GUEST,Murray on Salt Spring
Date: 19 Dec 05 - 09:47 PM

OB is due all the respect he deserves from a fellow-Canadian. But I keep remembering that he has consistently changed the words of songs without indicating what he's done - which to my mind is less than scholarly. He changes tunes too, e.g. singing "Muirland Meg" to "Roll Your Leg Over". He brought out "Songs of '76: A Folksinger's History of theRevolution", whose cover tells us that he "collected these songs from old manuscripts, old newspapers, and from hundreds of accounts of the Revolution"... which sounds marvellous. But there's a note: "New music and edited text copyright 1972 by Oscar Brand", which as I said when I reviewed this at the time "is to my jaundiced eye a piece of arrogance that makes nonsense of any pretensions to scholarship and/or accuracy."

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: johnross
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 02:04 AM

There may be many things about Oscar Brand to be ambivalent about, but claiming copyright on a collection of traditional material is not one of them.

Consider the way composers' royalties are paid on both books and recordings. If the collector and/or arranger claims a copyright on a slightly altered version of material in the public domain, the publisher pays a royalty to the owner of that copyright. On the other hand, if the material is identified as "traditional," there is no royalty paid, and the publisher makes more money. The original creators of the traditional material are long gone, and the publisher is not likely to reduce the price at which he sells the book or record, just because his costs are a bit lower. So a collector and arranger has two choices: claim copyright and receive a bit more money, or don't claim copyright and let the publisher keep that extra money. Seems to me that claiming the copyright and collecting the money would be entirely legitimate.

Of course, in a perfect world, there would be some kind of fund that collected royalties on traditional music and used the money to support folklorists and other collectors, or maybe to provide support for traditional musicians in need. But that's not the way the system works.

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: Judge Mental
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 10:29 AM

OB is due all the respect he deserves from a fellow-Canadian. But I keep remembering that he has consistently changed the words of songs without indicating what he's done - which to my mind is less than scholarly.

A.P. Carter, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips and countless others have done the same. It's what Pete calls "the folk process."

Subject: RE: Oscar Brand 60 Years on Radio
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 20 Dec 05 - 08:41 PM

In one verse of my version of the traditional folksong "The Lakes Of Ponchartrain", which I sang to the tune of "Come All You Tramps And Hawkers", I always sang:

It was on the 3rd of January I bid Cairo town adieu,
I traveled down the river road my fortune to renew,
No money in my pockets---no credit could I gain,
And my mind it turned with longing toward the lake of Ponchartrain!

The 3rd of January is our wedding anniversary. It was just fun to sing it that way. ;-) It ought to be on a new CD that Sandy Paton will be issuing on his venerable mainstay label--Folk Legacy Records. It will be called ON THE RIVER ---- and it will be a composite of my cassette of that name I hawked when I played on the steamboats---fleshed out with a few tracks from my cassette called ART THIEME LIVE AT WINFIELD, KANSAS.

Just a bit of trivia for you!!

Art