Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well

Subject: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 10:39 PM

I didn't want this to get buried in the Folk Process Dead? thread, so here's a new one. This is for you, Art:


My grandson is four years old and, from the time he was a newborn, he has heard folk music, esp. recordings of Mudcatters, esp. Rick Fielding and Art Thieme. Those of you who are familiar with Art's story about Why White Men Can't See Clearly will remember how they sent their eyes out of their heads. When they got greedy and left them out too long, they had to borrow an eye from Rat, then one from Buffalo, etc.

In the car, the other day, on the way home from preschool, Morgan started telling me a story about some "good dragons and bad dragons." The good dragons flew all over, rounding up the bad dragons. At one point, they all took their eyes out and then they got all mixed up and they couldn't see right. Eventually, after much chasing around the good dragons got sorted out, but not the bad dragons. They were "never ever" able to see right, according to Morgan.

It sounds too close to me to NOT be the folk process alive and well from a very Kind Fine Art near Chicago to a little four year old in Colorado. They've never laid eyes on one another, but that little boy knows Art's distinctive voice and pickin' when he hears them and obviously he remembers a lot of what he hears. Made me really proud and happy to hear his "version" of an "Art Form." Artdarlin'...I could never tell you thanks, enough times, for all of your sharing. This one has been priceless to this grandma. Thank you.

luvyakat, Morgan, & Rog

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Bert
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 11:18 PM

"Art Form."

Yes it most certainly is.

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Art Thieme
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 11:29 PM

Kat,
It's an honor to have Morgan take the tale I told and run with it. Really, it's very cool---to say the least. Thanks a ton for letting me know about it.

I've always hoped folks would learn the songs I "caught" and make 'em their own---for a while---and then, in turn, pass 'em on...

Our son, Chris, on the side, was a guide for bus tours of "haunted Chicago" for a few years. He'd grown up hearing me sing and tell whoppers on the steamboat all through the 80s and 1990s. When I realized one day that he was using some of my lines and tall tales while ghost hopping around Chi-town, well, I was just blown away. What a kick to be able to see him grow and pick up some of the traditions I had championed and thought important. Today, Chris is 37, and my best friend.   I heard him tell someone about the "Lock Moss Nesters" and also the one about the "ghost dog that gone and got his tail chopped off" --- I truly felt like a link on that long traditional chain. ---- You telling me about Morgan's telling of that tale made my month---maybe the whole year.

Art

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: open mike
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 11:38 PM

could you please tell us about the Lock Moss Nesters??

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: open mike
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 11:40 PM

ah ha it us here
http://www.fourtold.com/jokes.html

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Bert
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 11:42 PM

Ah! the Lock Moss Nesters. When I tell that story, I say my friend Art Thieme told it to me. (Hope that's OK Art)

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 11:49 PM

As he says, "Laugh. You'll be tellin' it, tomorrow."

Art, I am glad you liked the story. If I can ever get him to let me record him, I'll put it on CD for you. He's so concerned and concentrated on his words, he get shy and distracted if I take out the camera to record or even the cassette recorder. I'll have to appeal to his "ham actor" side.:-)

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Bert
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 12:03 AM

And we'll all want a copy of that one katmeluv.

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 01:14 AM

My 19 year old was heard to groan audibly when I played that Lock Moss Nesters one for her in the truck on a drive down from college a couple of weeks ago.

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 12:18 PM

LOL...it's a goody, isn't it?

Bert, I hear ya.:-) We haven't put a new one of the boy on youtube in quite a while, so...watch this space.**bg**

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 12:19 PM

LOL...it's a goody, isn't it?

Bert, I hear ya.:-) We haven't put a new one of the boy on youtube in quite a while, so...watch this space.**bg**

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Amos
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 03:32 PM

I think it's already on one of his CDs, though...


A

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 04:25 PM

Umm...Amos, hellooo? You know we were talking about the 4 year old's version onto CD, right?

Art does indeed have it on his CD The Older I Get, the Better I Was.:-)

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Mar 08 - 04:26 PM

Umm...Amos, hellooo? You know we were talking about the 4 year old's version onto CD, right?

Art does indeed have it on his CD The Older I Get, the Better I Was.:-)

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 12:06 AM

I think there's an echo around here. . . around here . . . around here. . .

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 01:20 AM

LOL..Oh damn it! Sorry! I am having trouble with Firefox...really weird stuff. Right now I am using IE just to get in here. More sleuthing tomorrow!

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 12:44 AM

I was just rereading the Twa Corbies lyric request thread. There is a great example of the folk process--depending on the version of the song you prefer, the outcome can be sad or cunning or political (or all three!).

I remember having a lot of conversations with my parents about the contents of these songs that my Dad was singing. I was a kid who learned a lot about history and politics through this kind of dialog. It probably made me even more "off the wall" than I might otherwise have been with my various obscure and/or archaic references that I no doubt tapped into in the classroom setting.

SRS

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 10:07 PM

That's kewl, Maggie.

A bit of an update. I asked Morgan, today, if he would tell the story on video for "my friends" who wanted to hear it. He said that he couldn't as his friends had it. When I asked what he meant, it sounded as though he may have gotten it from one of them. When I asked him if that's what he meant, he got a little indignant and said, "No, they got it from me!" So, he said, "I'm sorry, but I can't tell it any more because I gave it to my friends."

I spoke with him about how my friends shared their stories, too, but how then every one had their stories and could tell them. He continued to tell me "not today."

When we came home an hour or so, later, I asked him once again if he would tell it on video. THAT time he said maybe after we played "the robot game." By the time we were done with that it was time for him to go home, but he promised to tell it, on camera, tomorrow! So, we shall see.:-)

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Nov 08 - 10:55 PM

Never did get that videotape done, but Art I wanted to let you know I had so much fun at a cowboy poetry gathering today. Someone sang Nightrider's Lament and I knew all the words because of you! I also told a couple of people about your Cowboy's Barbara Allen. I didn't know if they wanted only poems, so I wasn't prepared to sing anything, but next time, whenever that might be, I will sing that one and think of you and ol' Del Bray. Thanks, my friend.

They did seem to enjoy my granddad's cowboy poems.:-)

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Nov 08 - 11:06 PM

Katmyluv, I don't know how I missed this the first time except to say that it was a wacky time......But I'm really happy to see it now..........Wonderful story and great responses from good friends.

I got a dead blank stare from Michael when he was about 11 when I told him about the Loch Moss Nesters........I thought maybe it was me but I got the groan about about 10 seconds later so I, like Maggie, was overjoyed.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thiemeatic Folk Process Alive and Well
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 08 - 12:56 AM

There are a lot of emotions that teenagers will try to suppress or gloss over when in the presence of their parents, but this kind of groan is irrepressible, isn't it? You can tell they're alive and still listening. :)

SRS