Attention: This a thread drift alert. Attention: Thread drift in progress.

I was fortunate enough to have witnessed a perfectly wonderful moment while watching a friend perform at a local festival here in the Pacific Northwest a few years back. The performer, Baby Gramps, is an lover of everything old and vintage. He likes old cars and wears old clothes. He plays an old guitar and his interpretations of old blues and novelty songs is a testament to his love of all those who have recorded on 78 rpm records. Even his stage persona is no exception, drawn from the antics of all those great crown princes of clowning that have now mostly faded into obscurity and are probably horsin' around in heaven. He combines his own writing talents with his healthy respect for what has come before to delight everyone who is fortunate enough to catch one of his performances, well, almost everyone. It seems that on that day while vying for a good vantage point to watch his performance I ended up beside an elderly couple who were observing the show and I overheard this woman comment to her male companion, "He's trying to show us what it's like to be on drugs." These folks were about twice Gramp's age and certainly from the generation that spawned all that Gramps loves and emulates but did not make the conection at all. They merely thought it was some sort of drug induced experience being reenacted for the benefit of those in attendance. Not to say that drugs were not a factor in much the same way they are today in much of the entertainment scene and old drug songs are certainly some of the novelties that Gramps has performed.

Well now that I think about it, the recording industry being so much smaller than it is today. I guess it's fairly easy to see that not all were connected to the wealth of talent being recorded during those years and much of that talent, like today, was being buried and or ignored, lost in the shuffle for one reason or another. Only the "popular" forms of music were deemed worthy of being presented by the music industry with few exceptions. It's a money thing same as now. It's only due to the efforts of collectors, archivists and preservationists that we have what we do of all that has gone before. I'm glad for that but sad for the short sightedness of the indusrty. Alas it was a different time but some things don't change.

The thing about it is I enjoy the same musical forms as Gramps. I don't have the same stage persona but I wonder how many think my various musings on stage are drug induced ramblings. ?