Digitrad: An Appreciation

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: jacqui.c
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 09:27 PM

Thanks from me too. The DT is an invaluable source of material for me, so much so that I will be downloading it onto my new PC for the times when the 'Cat is down.

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: Teresa
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 09:16 PM

Yes, thank you, Dick and Susan. And thanks to all the contributors, too. :)

Teresa

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 08:51 PM

Nothing like it before, and I suspect that there will never be. Not only the Mudcat, but the world, owes the DTers a massive round of thanks and drinks and all sorts of good stuff. I'm even sending some of the DT to my niece to play on her flute.

Me? I just say "Thank you."

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 06:06 PM

We had a wonderful weekend here in the FSGW haunts, because our annual MiniFest was on Saturday..(a one day festival in a school), and Dick G. and Susan of DT came down to bring CAMSCO to the festivities. (hundreds of CDs of the music you WISH you had, all sitting on tables....)

....and, since it just happened that our Open Sing was on Friday night, Dick & Susan squeezed into our circle and sang with us. One of our regulars looked across the circle, puzzled, and asked "ummm..who are you?"...and I asked her if she had ever used the Digital Tradition...."why, of course" she said...."Well, these are it", I said..(something to that effect)...*grin*...and she was almost amazed that there were real people who also sang songs behind this great resource....Of course, the next day at the festival, there were lots of folks who have known Dick & Susan for years saying hello and drooling over CDs.

and since Dick & Susan stayed with us, Ferrara & I got to make more music Monday morning and share lots of stories about people and music.
A good time was had by all....

Come to the Getaway in October, and have 3 days to say hello and browse the CDs and chat with our DT founders!

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: GUEST,sandra in sydney
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 08:05 AM

where would I be without my nightly dose of Mudcat?

I have a big folder of songs that came from the Digitrad & the threads - where would I be without them?

Apart from songs I found on our Oz union songs site, I think I've only once had to go outside Mudcat to Google to find a song & that was probably cos it was not really a folk song!

I also have a small collection of jokes that I found here, too, and my wordplay-loving colleague, Paul would have a lot less fun without the threads I send him.


sandra

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: Peter T.
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 04:36 AM

It is always worth adding that the Digitrad/Mudcat is one of the most beautifully designed working sites on the Web -- it is very clean, and the display allows people to read and contribute to threads in a consistently straightforward way -- this is Max's doing, and I remain surprised that so few sites are remotely as user-friendly. The great thing about the Digitrad is that it is a group project, like a beehive -- we can do all the other crap around here, but it hums along, and we can occasionally put in our 2 cents to something bigger than we are.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 11:28 PM

Why, thank 'ee kindly Bob and Mick and Suzanne. We try.

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 04:25 PM

Hear hear!
Thanks Bob for putting into words what I too have been thinking. I discovered the Mudcat and DT early in '97, and it opened up a whole new world of like-minded people for a hobby that had, up to then, made me feel rather alone, namely the collecting of songs and their background.
I too believe that the Mudcat is the best forum to be found on the internet. (I know it's partly a matter of taste but I do think the usenet does not generate the same amount of information and informed opinion that this forum does, and in the same manner.)

Subject: RE: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: Big Mick
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 04:19 PM

Yep, Bob. Many of us have realized that for a number of years.

And by the way, welcome. Rick Fielding told me a long time ago that I needed to be singing your songs. Glad you are here.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: Digitrad: An Appreciation
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 04:05 PM

Hi all, I'm cross-posting this from the "Has the Folk Community Changed?" thread because I thought you might like the chance to count our mutual blessings...

Digitrad deserves praise in all sorts of ways; this is just my two cents.

==============

Friends, Roamers, Countrymen, Citywomen et al,

It's time this was said, on the positive side.

Yes, the folk community HAS changed. And one of the most positive ways it's changed is Digitrad. We need to think over some of the great things that should be said about this crossroads of the human spirit-cum-music obsession.

Looking back over a lifetime of 67 years, with all kinds of immersion in folkie and oldtime, hootenanny, singaround, outing club wingdings and trail music, campfire singing at Jenny Lake in the shadows of the Tetons and up and down the country from Mexico City to Glacier Park, folk song organizations, club dates, college concerts, and random events involving music including backstage jams, parking lot jams, folk festivals, annoying the neighbors, and so on...

Till Digitrad we never had this place to pool thoughts as well as songs. I came to Digitrad totally by accident--a completely un-clued-in officemate who knew I liked folk music stumbled over it (in '96 was it?) and rather dubiously mentioned it to me--to find, by and large, a community very much in the image of something I'd always dreamed of. Like-minded individuals, more than averagely kind, considerate, intelligent and helpful. Not to mention the world's finest archive of traditional music, plus a great many other kinds of songs, pop, vaudeville, silly and profound, that I love too. Once in a while a harsh word? I'd say that's still a great batting average.

Oh give me a night
On the mudcat website
Where good steers and good scholarship play
Where seldom is found
Any lack of good sound
I rely on it more every day.

Home on Digitrad,
Where the songs list from Z back to A,
Where often is heard
A new musical word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Think, folks, think. This site is probably the best bulletin board in the whole wide world. It certainly is the best and most accessible archive of songs. I've made friends here (I hope I haven't managed to alienate you all yet), found scholarly help, zany fun, and I get to talk to like-minded individuals about every crazy musical thing that crosses my mind. I never felt half so well situated or well informed. And I sometimes get lucky enough to be able to help other people with a song they're looking for, as so many of you have helped me.

All hail to Digitrad! We just don't know how lucky we are. Okay fine, there are some harsh interchanges. But half the time I think they're not even meant that way, sometimes we just sound brusque and don't know it. There is a world of good heart and soul here.

And just imagine if we didn't have this resource. Seriously. Imagine for a moment that Digitrad doesn't exist. And feel the sense of loss.

Bottom line: this is a dream community. Dream on.

Kudos to our Digitradders. Long may they wave.

Bob