Message to CarolC

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: Bert
Date: 08 May 01 - 12:47 PM

Burke, Thanks.

Actually I wasn't at all offended, I knew exactly what you meant and deliberately took it wrong just for fun. (And Mudcatters get automatic forgiveness anyway, especially the pretty ones.)

I wasn't wanting to identify anyone and I'm really sorry that you identified the occasion. It was just a story that I used to try to cheer Carol up a little, and wasn't intended against you.

Thanks again for the apology. What a great person you are. Hope to sing with you again soon and I hope that you are still my friend.

Love Ya.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 08 May 01 - 12:55 PM

Now it's only Hare you gotta worry about, Bert!

Skipjack

PS Cags, you know I'm on the same soapbox, you speak for me too.

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 May 01 - 01:12 PM

Fortunato,

I moved to the DC area a couple years ago, but my time has been heavily committed, and so I haven't really connected with the folk music scene here--I am disheartened to hear that it is as narrow as you say, since I had always heard that it was a fairly diverse sort of deal--I am also curious as to what instrument that you play, and what sort of music--

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: CarolC
Date: 08 May 01 - 01:22 PM

M. Ted, Do you play the accordion? I saw that you said you played in a band with accordionists, but I can't tell if you said you played yourself.

Carol

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 May 01 - 01:30 PM

Three accordions in a band? No--I play guitar and other similar instruments(for Balkan Music, I played Tamburica)--

Ted

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: Big Mick
Date: 08 May 01 - 01:40 PM

I have been watching this one...........pretty interesting. I would like to add two things.

Carol, no musician worth their salt would ever denigrate another persons instrument or genre. We do it in jest sometimes, but I would like to tell you that whenever I am in the presence of a good musician playing any style of instrument or music, I love watching them. I think I would find the circus music genre to be fascinating in its history and practice. Good for you.

MTed, I have experienced the folkies in the DC/Baltimore area and have never found them to be closed or clannish. They are welcoming, and they are tolerant of diverse styles. I would recommend that you not take anyone else's opinion of these folks. You never know what has transpired. I say this from personal experience here in Michigan. A person who is a friend, and a respected musician, told me about a certain group (I am being vague on purpose here)that he indicated were very snobbish, blah, blah. I avoided these folks for a long time. Turns out that there was indeed one person with a very snobby attitude, you know the type. A master on their own instrument or very accomplished in their scholarship, and scornful of everyone who isn't. But the rest of the group are wonderful people and I am very upset that I listened to my friend because I could have been making music with these folks a lot earlier. That cost me in terms of my own musical journey. I still love my friend and love playing with him. But I resolved to make my own judgements on these things. Human nature is just to fickle to do anything else. Our own Mudcat is the greatest testament to that I have ever seen. I think you would love the DC area folkies. I know I do.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: CarolC
Date: 08 May 01 - 02:00 PM

Big Mick,

I appreciate your thoughts, but I respectfully disagree. I can't speak about anything that goes on in the DC folk music scene, but my experience has been that it can be very difficult to introduce new musical elements into a well established and entrenched musical millieu.

It requires persistance, dedication, and a very thick skin. But it's also a very good learning experience.

Carol

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: Fortunato
Date: 08 May 01 - 02:03 PM

Carol that's great! See you in June Maybe.

Carol and MTed. I may have overstated. I think the folk community here welcomes most instruments however unusual. But I have felt ostracized because I brought an electric guitar on stage at some events to play first early country and then western swing. My forays in those genres and Rockabilly in the decidedly non-folkie DC Bar Band scene have made me invisible to many here.

I only meant to say I understood the subtle discrimination that takes place.

Cheers!

Subject: RE: Message to CarolC
From: Big Mick
Date: 08 May 01 - 02:18 PM

Carol, you are speaking in general and I am speaking about a specific group of people. The DC area folkies are a wonderful and diverse group. They are warm and welcoming of strangers. Maybe you are trying to force your music into venues where it doesn't fit? I ask that with all respect, not in a challenging fashion. Perhaps if you gave people a bit of an intro and explained your genre to them as something that is generally not seen as a traditional art, but your scholarship has found it to be. That type of approach might work. And, of course, there are sometimes just those snobbish pricks you can't get around. But most, by a factor of 99+%, folkies that I have met would never ostracize, and would be very respectful. Especially the DC folkies that I have met.

And the general statement stands. Don't walk in with preconceived notions, you might be limiting yourself.

Mick