Sitting At The Kitchen Table

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Mar 07 - 03:08 PM

Nothing burning.

You know, I kid around, but it would be a delight to have any of you actually stop by in 3D and share a meal at out kitchen table. I'd invite the Gospel Messengers over for practice. Food gets 'em every time.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 18 Mar 07 - 09:52 PM

It's like Pete Seeger once said, "If you want a musician to play for you, help him eat".

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 18 Mar 07 - 10:08 PM

BTW, Wisconsin Public Radio broadcasts (and webcasts) a show Called Higher Ground. It features Jazz, Blues, Gospel, and Afro=Pop from 7:00pm to 9:00pm (CDT) on Saturday nights. It's a really good show. The host, Jonathan Overby has wonderful taste in music.

On the web WPR is at http://www.wpr.org

Enjoy.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 09:38 PM

Reminds me of one of the things Peggy Seeger said at the concert.   She had a book of some sort. Read something like:

How to impress a woman: send her little gifts, compliment her, caress her, help out around the house, send her little poems, kiss her, make her laugh, sing to her, get along with with her mother, open doors for her, play with her pets---(a long list, along these lines)

How to impress a man: show up at his door naked---with food.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 12:18 PM

Coffee pot was empty so I am making a new pot.
How lucky you all were to go to the Seeger concert. Many years ago I saw Pete at the Cambridge festival in the UK, Mike played at our club at Farningham and Peggy and Ewan used to live near me in Beckenham Kent and appeared at the Croydon folk club a couple of times, but to see all three together what a joy!
Thanks for shareing the experience with us.
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 01:43 PM

Always nice to drop by and see that friends have been here. Now that I've finished the two African CDs (I'll put copies in the mail for you, Ron) I'm taking a lazy day today and doing a CD of my favorite jazz guitar tracks. I've loved jazz guitar since I was a teenager, and worked out very primitive arrangements of a few jazz standards by ear, back then. I've always been able to hear the music. It was simply (or difficultly) a matter of figuring where I had to place my fingers to get the chords to come out of the guitar that were in my head. But, I loved singing even more, so I never
committed the time and discipline to become a jazz guitarist. But, today I've been pulling out jazz CDs, and it's amazing how the magic is still there for me, after all these years. Like everything else I do, I'm always happy to share with anyone who has a similar love of the music.

We had a terrific practice last night. The greatest thing about it is that we brought out the best in each other. That's rare, and something that you can't "make" happen. Each of us has different gifts, and the challenge is to meld them together in a way that each of us makes the others better. Kinda like life at it's best, when we help each other to be the best realization of who we are meant to be.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 02:51 PM

Like I said, when it works and the magic is there, it makes all of the aagrivation worth while.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 09:22 PM

This thread seems to have developed its own rhythm. There will be a brief flurry of postings, and then it slips off the bottom of the page for three or four days.

Tonight's forecast: Scattered flurries..

Rev. Al Sharpton preached at our church today. In honesty, I was finding it hard to imagine what a sermon of his would be like. At least in this country, we get the news a bite at a time, and not necessarily a typical "bite." Out of a half hour interview, they'll pick the fifteen seconds that are most controversial that will fit between eight commercials. All the times I've seen Al Sharpton he's been railing about something. In almost instances, something railable. But, like most other people, I had a very one-dimensional
impression of him. By the time he got to church I was about seeing pink elephants swinging from the chandeliers. I sing in the Men's Chorus at the 8 o'clock service with my friends Joe and Frankie, which meant that we had to get up at 5. After the 8 o'clock service, we had and hour and forty five minutes to kill before the 11 o'clock service, when Rev. Sharpton was preaching. We knew there'd be a large crowd and we didn't wat to go for breakfast, because by the time we got back, the parking lot would be full. We didn't want to give up our precious parking space. So, we killed an hour and 45 minutes. Or at least seriously wounded it.

The service rolled along at a leisurely pace, with no sign of Rev. Sharpton. Then they delivered a message from the pulpit that he was stuck in traffic. By then, it was after twelve and Ruth and I were about halucinating from tiredness and the heat in the church. But finally, at a quartet to one, Rev. Sharpton arrived... just in time for the sermon. And what a sermon!

The Rev. is a brilliant man. Unlike his sound bites, he is very measured in his speaking. His drama comes from a well placed pause. He uses silence like a gun shot. The text that he drew from, which we all stood up and read together, is the same text that I wrote a song about, three years ago, titled Healing Waters. The story is about a man who has been crippled for 38 years, waiting by the pools of Bethesda outside the walls of Jerusalem, waiting for someone to lift him into the pool when an angel troubled the waters, so that he could be healed. Rev. Sharpton's sermon was titled "Get Up." He opened with a few comments about the continuing inequities for blacks in America and expressed his frustration that people talk as if the Civil Rights movement was something that happened in the sixties. By then, I figured that the sermon was going to focus on injustice, which Rev. Sharpton is still speaking out against. But, he spoke powerfully on the title he'd chosen: Get Up. His sermon was a call to reclaim the moral high ground and confront the young generation of blacks who think that it is cool to carry a gun and take on the rol of Gangsta's and pimps. He wasn't strident in his delivery. His tone would not be out of place here at this kitchen table. I was enormously impressed with all he had to say, and how cogently he set forth his call for people to take charge of their lives, and speak out against the malaise in the black community. His focus was not on American blacks as helkpless victims of injustice. His concern was that they've accepted it. He is a good man.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 07:40 PM

I'm glad that you got a chance to hear him, Jerry. The sad truth is that we know very little about the peolple who shape our lives, in one way or another, from a distance. Despite the plethora of 24 hour "news" channels on cable and satalite, we still only get the ten to thirty second sound-bytes of the people who matter.

Stephen Lee Rich

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: GUEST, Ebbie
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 07:47 PM

Thanks for telling us that, Jerry. A year or two ago I heard an entire speech by him (on TV) and I was mightily impressed. Maybe he can never be president but he surely belongs in the government as an advisor.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 05:16 PM

I finished doing my Income Tax this afternoon, just finished putting up a heavier than thou shadow box on the wall for my wife Ruth, and the big pot of split pea and ham soup that I made in between my other projects is ready for the eatin'. I must say, it tastes mighty fine. Enough for all the reg'lars around this table... who are becoming pretty ireg'lar.

Suffering from irregularity?

Maybe the pea soup will help...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 11:01 PM

Hey Jerry,

What's a "heavier than thou shadow box"? Sounds really intriguing.

I hope to have more time this weekend to sit down at the kitchen table (over Jan's rather pointed objections). (She even threatens to get on this thread and say more--she came around in the middle of this posting. Ah well.)

Problem during the week is I've found it's all too easy to put off thorny issues at work if I don't get enough sleep. (But for some reason, the pesky things don't disappear). So I have to at least make the effort to start getting ready for bed about 11--aiming at midnight. When I do get the sleep, I do tackle the problems--but it's now fairly obvious I have to do that on a regular basis.

I suppose I should see it therefore as a blessing that I didn't get picked to do the Mozart mass the group is doing (40 of 180 are doing). You can never tell--I thought the audition for that--centering mainly on sightreading--went real well. But I have my theories as to the possible problems. More on that soon. Not that it's earthshaking. But I'd be curious to know if you think my theories make sense.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 04 Apr 07 - 11:31 PM

Good to see you, Ron! I've missed hearing from you. The "heavier than thou" shadowbox is a 42' x 48" plywood shadow box I built to mount on the wall so that Ruth could frame a collection of photographs of trips we've made together (and some earlier ones, before I knew her.) Ruth and I both love to travel, and she particularly enjoys decorating the house with photographs. The shadowbox shows them off nicely. If the shadowbox had been holier than thou, it wouldn't have weighed so much, and it would have been easier to mount on the wall. It was a real bear, trying to find the studs, hold it up in place, with Ruth's help, and then sink screws through the shadowbox to hit the studs. It took a lot of head scratching to figure out how I was going to do it, but miraculously, it went up perfectly. After a few muttered curses under my breath.
Ruth's spent the whole evening putting the photographs up, and I've been contributing by reducing several of them so that they'd all fit within the box. We make a good team. She gets the ideas, and I scratch my head a lot, trying to figure out how to do them. It is my pleasure to do things for her, because she enjoys them so much, and she has always been extremely supportive of my music.

Sometimes one and one makes eleven.

So, what are those theories, Ron?

(You'd find it fascinating, I think, seeing my trio become a quintet. I'm finding myself scratching my head a lot, working out harmonies, there..)

No wonder my hair is thinning on top.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 11:13 PM

Hi Jerry and anybody else,

That's great about the heavier than thou shadowbox. It points up another gap in my knowledge--I don't even know what a shadowbox is--and how it got that name.

And I bet a lot of us would like to hear your stories about how your trio is becoming a quintet.


About my Choral Arts situation, since you said you were interested: ( but at the risk of boring everybody):   

One of my theories is that the conductor highly prizes loyalty. And though I've been in the group since 1990--and sung in concerts large and small, in large and small subsets of the main group, as well as participating in CD's, virtually all tours etc--this year I made a mistake. Though in the past, he just picked the singers he wanted for a small group, this year he had auditions for a Bach cantata. I signed up for the audition--but, for the first time in my life, I totally forgot about an audition. They e-mailed the list of people picked, and I was wondering why I wasn't on the list. Then I realized I had not shown up for the audition.   Whoops. So I didn't sing the cantata.

But my theory is that when he had auditions for the Mozart, he decided to take anybody who had already done the Bach and wanted also to do the Mozart. Since there were only 40 slots for 180 singers, if quite a few basses from the Bach wanted to do the Mozart, there weren't many slots left for others. And there was one bass at the audition who was better than I was at the sightreading--though he told me afterwards it was not sightreading for him--he had done the piece the conductor picked for the audition.

Actually I'm starting to burn out on Choral Arts--one reason being it is really putting a bad crimp in folk activities. For the Getaway last year, I had to miss both days--and only show up at night--then drive back--and back again--several times. (Not very ecologically good either).

And so far this year, I've had to miss a great weekend singing in West Virginia--and the next concert will kill another folk weekend. Timing seems to be getting progressively worse.

Added to this, we are doing a lot of repeats--partly since only certain pieces are virtually guaranteed to sell out--Carmina Burana, Mozart Requiem, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Brahms Requiem, and a few others. My theory on this is that we do this to counter the financial disasters that concerts of modern music are likely to be--and we do a lot of that too. Like all conductors, it seems, he's very enamored of composers he knows--and they tend to like to write music reflecting the chaos and problems of modern life. Can't understand why audiences don't like to pay for expensive concert tickets in order to hear a reflection of modern chaos and anguish.

Or we do what I call California-style composers--mellower than thou. And I can get enough of them too.

Some of my best friends are no longer in the group--some have gone to other groups--and some have died. And then you tend to compare the past to the present--and it's no contest.

So I'm considering what I thought totally out of the question just last year--leaving the group myself.

But I'm rambling.

Anyway, does my theory make sense to you?


And please don't forget to tell us about a trio becoming a quintet.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 06 Apr 07 - 11:54 PM

Thanks for sharing that, Ron. Never having auditioned for anything, and not being a trained musician, it's hard to know if your theory is right. Like everything else, there is a lot of personal chosing that goes on that doesn't necessarily reflect the ability of the persons chosen (or not chosen.) I ended up singing at seven or eight Eisteddfods (for example.) I'd hate to say that it was solely because I took care of Howard Glassers's (The man who ran it) cat when he was on his honeymoon. Howard liked my music, and I was somewhat of an anomoly in a festival that was focused on music of the British Isles. After Howard retired, I was never invited to the Eisteddfod again. That's not a complaint. I've run folk festivals and concerts series, and they're a lot of work, so one of the perks should be that you at least can book friends and performers who you like. That means that some really good people don't get booked in a particular festival. But hopefully, they get booked in another festival, and it all evens out. In your case, the parallels break down, because chorale music is less driven by individual personalities.

Adding two new members to my group has been a revelation. The best thing about it is that it challenges me to be open and non
-judgmental. One thing that I'm trying to learn (after all these years) is not to jump to conclusions. A leisurely stroll works a lot better. I've also been forced to face a reality... sometimes we never reap the benefit of a blessing because we don't give it time to
blossom. We give up, or reject it too soon. The best antidote that I know of to avoid that is to shut up and pray a lot. And let life unfold. After six weeks of working with the two new members, we are coming together as friends, and then it follows that the music can come together. I've also discovered an enormous amount about arranging songs for five voices, instead of four. It's been particularly challenging, because we have two basses, two baritones and a second tenor, so we don't have the ideal range to find places for everyone.

I'm glad you stopped in, Ron. It seems like the regular crew has all drifted away, and I find my conversation with myself to be very boring... :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 09:43 AM

It was great to hear about your trio-to-quintet process--and your comments on my situation. Mine is perfect trivia compared with the problems of---virtually everybody else. But thanks for your input anyway.

It seems like it's full circle. I think we were the first 2 posters on this thread.

But I'm sure some of the others will be dropping in again soon.

Your coffee and companionship have lost none of their charm.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 10:34 AM

Yes, Ron. I expect ebbie and Elmer and Billy Bob and the rest to wander by. As I always say "reality impinges."

Not that this isn't real... But life has a way of washing over us every once in awhile and the quieter things are reluctantly set aside.

Besides, while the kitchen table has been quiet, I now have a street corner where I can hang out: the thread "Music Formerly Known As Rhythm And Blues." We could use a bass singer under the street light, Ron.

Two CDs going out in the mail to you today, Ron..

Our problems may be trivial in the scheme of things, Ron, but they are OURS, and have their own value. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 01:10 PM

Hey Jerry--about arranging the music--is it something you write out, or is it just worked out during rehearsal? And if the latter, how can you be sure each person will do what he did last time?--(unless you rehearse each song so often it becomes ingrained.) That's what I did when I had my Watersons style group--which became a sea chantey group. I just encouraged people to experiment--and when something clicked we all could tell. (And we had the Watersons as a sort of model).

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 02:55 PM

Hey, Ron:

We work out the arrangements as we go. Nothing is ever written out. Sometimes, I'll tape the practice so that if we hit on something that we like, we can listen to it at the next practice. The Director of the Men's Chorus that Joe, Frankie and I sing in teaches everyone their part by ear. At least the Director has sheet music as a guidline (even though he often changes the hramony lines from practice to practice.) Our problem in figuring out harmonies is that we're trying to find separate harmony lines for four people, without singing the melody line, and our vocal ranges are too close together. Basically, I use my guitar to help people find their melody lines. The interesting thing is that the two new Messengers are used to hearing their harmony lines on piano, and they don't "hear" the chord changes on guitar. I have to slow the song down and play the chord changes in an exagerated way in order for them to hear them. I end up showing people their harmony lines, even though our new bass singer does all the arranging for the Sentinels. I realize that it's a great adjustment for him, because he is used to teaching his group existing harmony lines because they try to do their songs exactly as they were recorded. He's having trouble freeing himself from the discipline of just reproducing music that someone else made up.

The good news is that with each practice, we're learning to work better together. And we're all learning a lot in the process. I think I'll be far more capable of arranging harmony lines than in the past. I really haven't needed to do it that much, as the original members of the Messengers all had a good sense of harmony.

And then, we have to remember our harmonies. It will take singing the songs for several weeks before we naturally slip right into them.
Right now, we fumble our way along for the first couple of minutes until we find our lines.

Much more interesting to do that read or write about...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 03:29 PM

Jerry-

You're right, remembering the harmonies once you've found them ain't easy. I used to praise a good harmony somebody came up with to the skies--hoping that that would give him or her incentive to remember it.

But Watersons-style singing or sea chanteys are very forgiving--rough edges are fine. Would you say the same is true for gospel?

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 04:54 PM

Hey, you guys! I'm here- and out of the corner of my eye I seem to see others. I'm enjoying the conversation, just sitting here toasting my toes on the register and sipping my coffee.

Speaking of remembering harmonies, a woman I know sings her part at home, all by herself, as though it were the melody line. I don't know that I could do that, but it is one way.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jeanie
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 06:06 PM

Hello Jerry, Ron, Ebbie...here's one of your more irregular regulars dropping by...

I'm so pleased to see that you have extra members in the Messengers now, Jerry. That's great news.

About learning harmonies: singing them on my own at home (as if they are the melody line) is the way I've always learned/practised them, too, like the person you mentioned, Ebbie. Our school choir used to sing a lot of unaccompanied Elizabethan madrigals, and 40 years on I can still sing the alto lines of things like "My bonny lass she smileth" and "Now is the month of maying." I haven't a CLUE what the melody lines are, though !

I hope the weather is being kind to you over this Easter weekend. It's lovely here in the UK. I'll be getting the garden table and chairs out of the shed tomorrow and starting to tackle my new garden. Only moved in at the end of last year, so it's going to be great discovering all the plants as they start emerging over the next few months. The whole of the back wall of the house is covered with

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jeanie
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 06:14 PM

....oh dear.. somehow my post got cut off....

The whole of the back wall is covered with this lovely plant. At the moment it is all green leaves and curling tendrils (and a very rampant climber !), and I can't wait for the flowers and then the fruits to appear. What kinds of plants have you got growing where you are ?

Have a glorious Easter Sunday !

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jeanie
Date: 07 Apr 07 - 06:19 PM

For some reason, the "blue clicky" isn't working. The word "this" of "this lovely plant" was a blue clicky link to www.passiflora-uk.co.uk - a picture and website all about passiflora (or passion flower) - a really beautiful plant - and the reason for it's name particularly relevant to Easter time, even though not in bloom here in the UK yet.

I wonder why the blue clickies aren't working ?
Anyway, have a wonderful Easter Day.
- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: frogprince
Date: 08 Apr 07 - 11:03 AM

Hi, y'all; forgive me if I'm a little grumbly. Just got back from our Sunrise service, shaking my head a bit. It's not characteristic of our church to have a numbingly dull Easter Sunrise service, but we had one this morning. Droning readings of what seemed like half the Old Testament, and little recaps of every ritual the Methodist Church uses except marriage and the funeral ceremony. Excrutiating, and utterly out of character.
One Easter morning service, years ago in a Chicago church, stands out for me in terms of getting it right. The youth of the church came dancing, jumping, spinning, down the aisle, with whatever instruments they played, or tamborines or whatever for the non-proficient, doing "The Lord of the Dance". An explosion of joy; sublime.
Well, maybe next year; if anyone happens to ask my reaction to this morning, I don't think I'll try to "sugar coat" my reply.
                     Dean

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Apr 07 - 11:45 AM

FP, the lack of joyousness struck me last night. I live just uphill from a Russian Orthodox church, a matter of yards. They have their Easter service the night before Easter, ending with a dinner about 3:00 AM. They won't have another service until 2:00 this afternoon. (This, by way of the Rector's wife.)

But. I knew they ring the church bell as part of their tradition but at 12:00 last night they strated ringing it- after I started counting the whangs I counted 179 of the blessed things.

I had just gone to bed and there was no way I could think my own thoughts. It's a tiny church and most of the people around here are not Orthodox, most of us are tolerant people but I felt intruded upon.

However, if I had felt there was joy being expressed (He lives! He lives! I would have made allowances for it. But there was no joy, no rollicking, no message.

Why? I'm going to ask them next time I meet them out dog-walking.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 08 Apr 07 - 12:35 PM

This holy time for us has been very quiet. Not a lot of Yippeees!!! and Hot Dogs!!!!!!!!!, but plenty of rejoicing.

Thursday night was Maundy Thursday (the night of the last Supper and Christ's agony in the garden of Gethsemane. I'ts a special night for my wife and I, and we would have gone to a special service in the small church we go to, but it was Gospel Messengers practice night at our house. It had been a hard day. Joe's (our bass singer) Corrie has Alzhemier's and it's been a nightmare for Joe. He was such under such a great stress that a few of weeks ago after his wife had kept up up for two or three consecutive nights, his heart stopped. His daughter found him sitting upright in a chair, and called EMS. They cut his clothes off then they arrived, and got his hearts started, and got him breathing again. Our singing has taken on a deeper meaning for us, since that happened. On Wednesday, the day before Maundy Thursday, Corrie was having chest pains, and they were monitoring her carefuly. Joe was running around all day, Thursday. He had a last minute meeting with their doctor, and for awhile it looked like he wouldn't be able to come up to our house for practice. He finally got out of the meeting, picked up our new tenor, Joe T. and Frankie and drove through horrendous traffic to get up here. Ruth always sets a bountiful table for practice nights, and before we ate, I read some of the scripture relating to Maundy Thursday. It was a serious, quiet time of reflection for all of us. As we sat there, the power of Christ's words that night hit home:

"A new commandment I give unto you; that ye love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another."

These are hard times for Joe and the Messengers, but joyful times, too. I've told our two new members that the hardest harmony to find is spiritual harmony. And it is growing in all of us.

I have great spiritual harmony with my son from Ruth's first marriage. Pasha is muslim, but we have a close spiritual harmony that is not limited because of religious beliefs. As I do with my son who is Agnostic, and friends who are Atheists.

Saturday, Our daughter from Ruth's first marriage, Dee and her granddaughter who she is raising dropped by. We had a big pot of chili left from the Messengers practice, and another big pot of Split Pea Soup that I'd made, so we sat around the kitchen table and had lunch together. Shortly after that, Pasha and his wife Nina came by, and we had a wonderful Easter Saturday together. Ruth had a lousy cold, but she managed to get through the day pretty good.

During the night, last night, I woke up and went and sat in my recliner that Ruth bought for me and spent a couple of hours in quiet reflection about ressurection. Whatever anyone's beliefs, I think that we all have a deep-seated desire for a personal ressurection.. To be lifted out of the life we've messed up, so that we can start a new one. Ruth woke up at 2:30, coughing and feeling miserable and never went back to bed.

This morning, "going to" church was out of the question. So we had a little church of our own. No Pomp, but abundant circumstances. I read scripture from the bible recounting the resurrection. This Easter was simple, and rich. Sometimes, having "church" with the ones you love, in simplicity, is the best of all.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 08 Apr 07 - 12:38 PM

...and by the way...

I've been writing family memoires for the last few months, and have been sharing them with our very own Elmer Fudd. If any of you would like to receive things that I've been writing, send me an e-mail at
[e-mail]. The memoires are often linked with the songs I've written, over they years. Sometimes, they're just about something that strikes me as worth sharing.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Severn
Date: 08 Apr 07 - 01:06 PM

Haven't stopped by in a while, but my mother got the flu and the brunch my sister and I were to share was cancelled until some convenient non-Easter Sunday, and I thought I'd stop by and wish the best of the Holiday of Renewal to all who dwell within and all who visit.

It got cold on the East Coast and yesterday we had snow, but not the blizzard gnu told me it became in Canuckistan. Our snow is all gone already.

Been working less than 10 hours a day for a change, so I'm getting a little more breathing room in a too busy life, but the joy of walks in the springtime at last seem to have momentarily receeded. It might force me to deal with taxes and the like. But this seemed like a good place to stop on a cold Easter Day, (as it is on any other sort of day) all dressed up with no place else to go and looking for a good shot of Springtime.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 08 Apr 07 - 07:24 PM

Good to see you, severn. It has been awhile.

Speaking of awhile. Every once in awhile I am reminded that people still remember my music. I received an e-mail today from someone who wants to record one of my songs, Screen Porch Door. He heard it on a CD of Susan Trump, who has recorded three of my songs. And then, two nights ago, I received a phone call from someone who is writing a favorable review of my most "recent" album which I just put out on CD: Handful Of songs. I recorded it in 1989.

If this keeps up, I may just feel motivated to do another album of folk music.

Jerry

And as we approach the next multiple of 100, can Elmer Fudd be far away?

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Apr 07 - 05:27 PM

do it

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 03:20 PM

Jerry-

Thanks so much for those 2 CD's of African music. It's really interesting how everybody has different tastes. I seem to gravitate to the African unaccompanied vocal music--it's fascinating how the the voices intertwine and the changing harmonies--as well as the rhythms-- seem to be uniquely African.   Your selections are just great.

In general I seem to like unacompanied--or sparsely accompanied-- multipart vocal music--including Tudor anthems by Byrd and Tallis, doo-wop, Sephardic, Sacred Harp, Watersons, the Bulgarian womens' groups, and gospel, black and white.

Whereas instrumental non-classical music does very little for me--maybe since I'm definitely not an instrumentalist, in general. I wonder if really good instrumentalists who usually don't sing would have the opposite perspective.

Of course you do both--so your appreciation of music is correspondingly broad. And the broader taste is, the more pleasure music brings. It's a real gift.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 07:25 PM

Ron: Interesting point about how we respond to music depending on the music we make. I do indeed enjoy both instrumental and vocal music, although there are times when I hear fiddlers jamming on familiar tunes at a Festival, I wish that they came with on off-on switch. One of the things that I've always responded to in both vocal and instrumental music is rhythm. It's probably why I need to hear either a great story or a naturally rhythmic presentation of a long ballad in otder to enjoy it. There are ballads that I still sing, and love, like The Jam On Gerry's Rock, and I have always enjoyed singing unaccompanied (and listening to unaccompanied singing.) I just don't do drones well.

I suppose that I gravitate toward South African music so much because of the rhythms. I love the harmonies of Ladysmith Black Mombazo, but even there, they have a wonderful, swining way of singing together.

An image: A good friend of mine who sings unaccompanied ballads and songs of the sea graciously filled in for our tenor a few times at a festival. We shoulda had a video. There were Frankie, Joe and I rocking back and forth in rhythm to the music, and my dear friend standing stiff as a rod with his eyes closed, his hands jammed down into his pants pockets and his head tilted back, singing his heart out. He sounded fine, but it was a snapshot of completely different approaches to singing.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 07:58 PM

You're right, Jerry--Ladysmith both does great unaccompanied music, and swings. An a cappella group that swings is a big winner in my book.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 09:37 PM

I consider Ladysmith marvelous. But the last time I heard a completely a capella group live, I was a little disappointed. It was a younger male group who are regulars on Martha's Vineyard. They could definitely harmonize, but their doo-wop arrangments were such a complex jumble that you were lucky to decipher a word that they said.
Just had to enjoy it some as pleasant sounding instrumentals, I guess. : )
                        Dean

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 May 07 - 10:25 AM

There are some mysterious green lilly pads that have formed on top of the coffee, so I went out and bought a new pot.

I wonder where my kitchen table friends are, and what they're doing these days. I find that I am coming into Mudcat less and less frequently, not out of dissatisfaction, but because other interests have filled my time, and in honesty, I haven't seen my threads that prompted me to post a message. If you aren't from England, don't want to talk about politics or religion, the thread pickin's are pretty limited, these days.

So, where is Elmer Fudd, Ron Davies, jimmyt, Billy Bob, ebbie and all the rest of you, and what are you up to these days. I've been working hard, trying to turn the Gospel Messengers into a quintet, from a trio. I could write reams about that, but it's not particularly interesting, as a general topic. But, our Anniversary is just two weeks away, so the end is in sight.

Spring also arrived (finally,) and we've been busy cleaning up the mess of winter, and reviving our lawn. We've also gotten back to taking out almost-daily walk, and it feels good to drop a couple of pounds and get that spring back into my step. 'Smatter of fact, that's where we're heading right now, so I'll make this grief.

Hope someone will stop in and have a cuppa. Green coffee ain't my cup of tea.

Talk about mixed metaphors...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 May 07 - 11:51 AM

phew Thanks for dumping the pot! I'll have a fresh cup. Thanks.

Jerry, how does one adapt from a trio to a quintet? How do you work out the harmonies? The arrangements? Does it take a different type of song?

Gospel, whether black or white, is pretty forgiving, innit, but it too has its format. Are you singing different songs these days?

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 May 07 - 12:45 PM

And to my many English friends (and Reglars around this table,) I don't make much of a connection to the threads about who is performing where in England. Not being there, and all. It's much different over here. I can go months at a time without spotting a folkie. It's not that there aren't any around. We're just more widely scattered. And good for Mudcat for being a place where our English friends can keep in touch with each other, and what's going on.

Jerry

(I'll comment more about going from a trio to a quintet after lunch, Ebbie. For now I';ll say that it's been very difficult, because our trio was a bass and two baritones. We ended up adding anouther bass and a tenor. I haven't sung baritone since we added the two new guys, and neither has Frankie, our other baritone.)

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ron Davies
Date: 07 May 07 - 09:22 PM

Hi Jerry and everybody else,

Well there have been a few changes since I last posted. Not earthshaking but still.....

I got into the Mozart group after all. Another bass evidently had to drop out and the director called and asked if I was interested. That was fun--I was therefore in all 3 parts of the concert--Mozart, Porgy and Bess and Lauridsen---- (California composer--I wasn't at all smitten with the piece when we started, but by the concert, parts of it were absolutely heavenly--basically like harmonized Gregorian chant.)

Anyway, the other piece of news is I am to be a guest soloist with the National Symphony this Friday.

A kazoo soloist. (one of two)

In PDQ Bach's "The Seasonings"--with the master in attendance--who knows, he might conduct.

Now that is a kick--I've loved PDQ Bach for a long time. My favorite of his is New Horizons In Music Appreciation-----first movement of Beethoven's 5th, broadcast as if it were a baseball game "It's a beautiful day for a concert--there's not a cloud in the ceiling. How many people do you think are here, Bob? Well, Pete, I'd say....I don't know Pete."
And later--"That sounds like the theme. You know, I think we're going to be hearing a lot of that theme." And on through the whole movement, complete with noting "unsportsmanlike behavior"--when a soloist takes a line--and noting that the conductor will be doing a baton commercial after the concert. And so on.



In fact, I've got to go study the kazoo part now.

Glad to see the coffee is still brewing.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Alice
Date: 07 May 07 - 09:27 PM

Wow! Congratulations, Ron.
alice

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: billybob
Date: 08 May 07 - 12:08 PM

Hi Jerry, the coffee pot smells wonderful.
Billy and I have just got home from three weeks in Ireland. It was our first visit and what a hoilday we had. The weather was fantastic, sunny, blue skies! The scenery took our breath away.We travelled 2000 miles along the south from Rosslaire to Cork, Ring of Kerry, Galway and up to County Mayo then over to Dublin.We heard some great music in the pubs and had a sing or two in the sessions. A beautiful country and lovely people.
Wendy

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Bill D
Date: 08 May 07 - 01:11 PM

It seems it's easy to find the concert! http://www.choralarts.org/concert_pdqbach.html

Kazoo, huh? I hope you have a good kazoo, Ron...(wanna borrow mine with the monitor bell? *grin*)

Eclectic, thy name is Ron.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 08 May 07 - 01:46 PM

Well, look who dropped by! Hello Bill. Yes, Ron's musical adventures know no boundaries. The next thing you know, he'll be leading a pack of singing dogs, doing Beethoven's 5th. :-) I like that openness.

When my sons were young boys, and I was raising them alone, they became quite addicted to collecting comic books.   I'd take them to the specialty stores, and while they were oggling #72 of X-Man, I whiled away my time looking at copies of old comics from when I was a kid. I collected the complete Shadow comics series, waiting for them. Every once in awhile, they'd try to blackmail me by saying, "Dad, I'm going to tell the Mayor you collect comic books." And I'd respond, "Hey, why don't you? Maybe I can trade on of my old Batman's for a Submariner." Or something of that sort.. Life is much freer when you don't have a reputation to lose.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 08 May 07 - 04:50 PM

Eh, What's Up Doc? Anybody seen Elmer Fudd around recently? Guess he's lost his taste for Wabbit Fwiccasee..

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 08 May 07 - 06:10 PM

Hi y'all. I'm still around, and am gonna get that wabbit yet. I've been immersed in the blues, listening to everything from the Mother Lode of country blues such as Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Son House to Chicago bluesmen Otis Spann, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Johnny Young and others. Then there's the gals, such as Big Maybelle and Big Mama Thornton. It's a deep blue sea into which to dive, and I am a diving duck!

This weekend, Little Charlie and the Nightcats are playing and I'll be volunteering at the event.

Hurry up and post so I can bag that wabbit this time. Ohhhhhhh yes.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 08 May 07 - 07:46 PM

Hey, Elmer:

That's all good stuff. I've been listening to a 2 CD set of R & B from 1952-53, back when blues was definitely a part of rhythm and blues. There are tracks by B.B.King, Lightnin' Hopkins, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Big Maybelle, Tiny Bradshaw, Ruth Brown, Big Mama Thornton and Big Joe Turner, among others. And, I just ordered a CD by Ivory Joe Hunter, recorded mostly before he Almost Lost His Mind and was smooth as Velveeta. He recorded a song, Coming Down With The Blues that is one of my favorites, and I just have it on a cassette. I can hardly waith to get the CD...

But my favorite, of course, is "Blues jumped a rabbit and he ran a solid mile."

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:40 PM

Ha ha ha. They all laughed. But I'ma gonna get him this time.

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:41 PM

I weally, weally am gonna get you, Bugs Bunny. No more blues for Elmer!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:42 PM

I believe I'll dust my bwoom!

I've gotcha Bugs Bunny!

I'm so glad, I'm so glad, I'm glad, I'm glad, I'm glad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Sitting At The Kitchen Table
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 May 07 - 10:56 PM

hahhahaha