Un-folkie

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 10:22 PM

Taylor Swift.

YoYo Ma.

Ennio Morricone.

~S~

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: ex-pat
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 10:17 PM

I have always loved many types of music. That's the way, uh huh uh huh I like it. As a 5 string banjo playing kid in 1960's England who also played guitar to rock and roll, I seem to have generated a lot of different sets of friends over the years.
Music is too precious to be confined to just one genre.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Stringsinger
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 10:19 AM

"Folkie" seems to be more about what someone looks like than the music.

Jerry, I love jazz too. The world rises and sets with Louis and Bird for me. Tatum, Miles and Coltrane come in close. I see jazz as a part of the extension of folk music.

Then there's Bessie, Billie, Sassy and Ella.

African-American river of music has many tributaries.

Tal, Christian, Barney, Django, Pass ,Hall, all amaze me but Eddie Lang was the father of them all. Still true for Metheny, McLaughlan, Holdsworth, et. al. today.

I think of the great Johnny Dodds as an extension of a folk musician. Also George Lewis and Bunk Johnson. Then there's Jimmie Noone.

Django and his cousin Schnuckenack............jazz extensions of folk music. Gypsies.

Argentinian giant: Oscar Aleman.....................extension of "folk".
Class by himself: Freddie Greene.

The "big picture" is that all kinds of music influence all kinds of other music.

Every form of music has something unique to say and can't be completely isolated. (Even Rap and Rock n' Roll).....Even (gasp) Barry Manilow and Guy Lombardo. (I like Manilow, Louis Armstrong liked Lombardo)

Tony Bennett called what he sang "folk music" and I won't argue with him since I'm a huge fan.

Never met anyone who could play the banjo like Pete Seeger in his earlier days.

Still love Buell Kazee, Texas Gladden, Jean Ritchie, Jeannie Robertson, and the old-style
folk singers and sean-nos from across the pond.

The moral of the story is liking one kind of music doesn't mean you don't like others.
You can be folkie and un-folkie at the same time. Life's musical paradox.

Frank (the eclectic guitar player and lover of tradition(s) )

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 10:18 AM

LOL - Love the comment neath the pick. This folkie comes with a health and safety warning.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GUEST,Son Of Elk
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 09:31 AM

leadfingers tells the truth, or is it Gandalf the Leadfinger

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65978437@N00/96755623/

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 09:19 AM

Well

this

might meet varying folk foot wear requirements.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Leadfingers
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 01:05 PM

In many ways I qualify as a 'Real' Folkie , except that I still think Johnny Dodds is STILL the best Clarinettist ever to make a record , and Django wipes the floor with nearly all the guitarists I have heard !
I Love trad Jazz , OLD Blues , Music hall and Good Country .

I nearly always wear a waistcoat (Useful pockets for picks and capos)
am VERY rarely seen without a hat , ALWAYS take a tankard out with me
and have had a beard longer than I was clean shaven !

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 07:47 AM

Oh dear oh dear.....

I used to have a beard and only shaved it off because I was starting to resemble the serial killer Harold Shipman.

We used to own a 2CV. But we still own a Dyane.

I own quite a lot of Leader and Topic albums.

I like real beer.

I find Peter Bellamy extremely tuneful.

I prefer the old light bulb to the new one (see also 2 million other light bulb jokes).

There is no help for me. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GUEST,Songbob
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 02:38 PM

Well, I'm afraid I'm as folky as they come:
* I have a flannel shirt or two,
* several denim work shirts,
* have both boots and sandals (which I often wear with hand-knit socks), but typically wear slip-on shoes,
* love jazz of most eras up to the 60s (but never developed the chops to play),
* am in three bands (one essentially a vocal trio with accompaniment doing frontier & western music, one a Civil War reenactment band, and one an electric folk-oriented band which has not yet had a paying gig),
* have been known to write my own songs and play 'em in public, from neo-folk-balladry to navel-examination meanderings to run-the-bastards-out-of-Washington political diatribes to love songs for the aging (or the ages, take your pick),
* know something like 15-20 banjo tunings and songs that go with 'em,
* have been known to expound on 'what folk music is and isn't,' and then play some Dylan piece, and
* have kept my day-job.

So I don't fit in the "un-folkie" category. I'll go quietly sit in the corner now (though I may play a tune on a Vietnamese Jew's harp, if you don't mind).

Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 12:32 PM

Sure - what are you asking. I might rise to £47, if you'll just throw in the Triboro as well.

Michael

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 12:22 PM

No, M, I am not sadomasochistic. Besides none of my lementary school teachers wore black leather and spike heel boots. They would give you a good whack on the knuckles with a wooden yard stick if you were messing around too much. Or so I heard, me always being an ideal student. Wanna buy the Brooklyn Bridge? :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 04:03 AM

Your last post slightly ambiguous, Jerry. Did you mean that you enjoyed them altho the hickory stick was not employed [which might imply that you wish it had been, perhaps for the sake of atmosphere as in olden times - or even perhaps for other, more mnemonic reasons!]; or that it was, but you would have enjoyed the subjects even more if it hadn't been? Please elucidate...

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 12:05 PM

I'm with you on the doo wop (a MAJOR love of mine, and really with you on my love of words. That's probably why I love to read and write so much. Actually, I really liked reading and writing and 'rthmetic as a kid (although not taught to the tune of a hickory stick.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Smedley
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 12:05 PM

Wellies in winter
And sandals in summer
Shoot dirty looks
If the band has a drummer
Honk through your nose
Just like Billy Bragg sings
These are a few of my folkiest things........

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 11:51 AM

I love opera.
Blues depresses me (after awhile)
I love Irish music- when it's done 'properly', i.e. as done by Moloney and Sands and Irvine and Burke, etc, etc. I tune out after the third tune if done without emotion, whether sorrow or joy.
I like doo wop.
I like rock and roll.
I love gospel music.
I love jamming.
I love live theatre.
I love *WORDS*

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 11:45 AM

Sandals in winter, wellies in summer,
Flip-flops in autumn, moonboots in spring,
Socks for my earmuffs, hairnet on buttocks,
Y-fronts as helmet, so gaily I sing.

Coat. Got...

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Mr Happy
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 11:39 AM

Sandals in winter, wellies in summer!!

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: freda underhill
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 11:26 AM

..oops.. didn't quite finish!, here goes again :-)

1. I'm fond of flannel flowers .
2. I don't listen to REM, but I'm always intending to soon.
3. Im as much Yoshikazu Mera as I am Django Reinhardt
and Sean Keane (although I love them all.)
4. Soul is probably my first love, musically, followed by Gospel.
5. I stand up when I sing in the shower, but sit
    down when I sing in the bath.
6. I collected coloured pencils for many years.
7. I love bluegrass and embroidery.
8. I love my grandson(and I believe that he loves me too.)
9. I like playing scrabble.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 11:20 AM

Oh, I possibly aught to add, that bar 'research purposes' and hearing other people at the odd song session, I never actually *listen* to any kind of folk music..

That possibly undermines my otherwise accidentally high F.Q. (ie: 'Folkie Quotient') somewhat.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: freda underhill
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 11:20 AM

1. I'm fond offlannel flowers .
2. I don't listen to REM, but I'm always intending to soon.
3. Im as much Yoshikazu Mera as I am Django Reinhardt
and Sean Keane (although I love them all.)
4. Soul is probably my first love, musically, followed by Gospel.
5. I wear a suit and tie and stand up when I sing gospel, but sit
    down when I play folk music (but don't wear flannel shirts.)
6. I collected comic books for many years.
7. I love reggae and ska.
8. I love Jesus (and I believe that he loves me too.)
9. I like playing video games.
I'm feeling more aware of these things these days because I'm practicing for a folk concert, sitting down and playing acoustic guitar, and a gospel concert, standing up and playing electric guitar. The gospel concert is today, in a Jewish Home for the Aged, where I play once every two or three months. At the same time, I'm preparing for a book signing where I am posing more as an author than a musician.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GREEN WELLIES
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 11:15 AM

Ah Glueperson, I do agree.

I love the music, but by no means all of it just because its called folk.
I will go out of my way and spend a small fortune on tickets to see the artists I really like, and track down CD's which I particularly like.

Cant do folk for folk-sake, though.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GUEST,glueperson
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 10:59 AM

I've always enjoyed folklore and folk music, without being in the least inclined to lifestyle folkiness. I'm quite content to live in my own time and keep folk in its box as a private passion. If that's Un-Folk, count me un.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GREEN WELLIES
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 09:09 AM

Well,..........

I like loud (very) rock music when I'm driving.
I dont go to festivals
I dont go to folk clubs, very often (mainly because of work hours)
I dont play an instrument of any kind
I do hair, suit and make-up to work everyday and enjoy doing so
I do all 'girlie' stuff to excess, shop, hairdresser, clothes, shoes
I do taking my horse hunting....... wait a minute, we follow farmers bloodhounds and chase really fit men and when I say fit, they're fit!

Infact reading that back I'm not sure what I'm doing on this website! Ha!

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 08:53 AM

My big nonFolkie characteristic is a 60-hour a week, Type A day job. My last full day off was October 25th. Flannel pajamas yes, flannel shirts no; leather boots yes, leather sandals no; many kinds of music yes, K.C. and the Sunshine Band no; beard yes, moisturizer no; suit and tie occasionally, and usually play sitting down.
- Phil

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 08:28 AM

Tal Farlow... YES! Tal was my first musical idol back in the 50's and I still have several lps of his. I had the extreme pleasure of hearing him in the '90's at the Blue Note in a double bill with George Shearing. He'd lost a noticeable amount of dexterity in his hands but it was still exciting to hear him. I got there really early and sat a table about three feet from the small stage so I had a hance to talk with him for a little while. One of Tal's best friends was Sal Salvador, who played guitar with the KIenton Band and with his own group. Sal was living in Stamford, Connecticut as I was and I had a chance to hear him a few times, and also visit at his home a cxouple of times. We loaned each other lps to listen to and I gave him a copy of my first album. He really liked it. He said it reminded him of the years when he was growing up out in the country in Massachusetts (I think). I guess he's a little bit un-jazzy.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: theleveller
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 07:26 AM

Oh alright, I'll admit it - I don't have a beard and I use moisturiser.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 06:55 AM

Not forgetting Derek Bailey...

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: MikeofNorthumbria
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 06:43 AM

And let's hear it for all the following "un-folkies"...

Eddie Lang, Lonnnie Johnson, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Mary Osborne, Tal Farlow, Joe Pass, John MacLaughlin, Martin Taylor ...

and Andres Segovia, Julian Bream, John Williams, Tim Walker, Muriel Anderson ...

and Carlos Montoya, Paco Pena, Juan Martin ...

and Cliff Gallup, Scotty Moore, Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Howe ...

(Guess which "folk" instrument I play)

Wassail!

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 06:36 AM

Arvo Part. Couldn't imagine life without his music.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 06:20 AM

It's not really un-folkie to like some of the music of England's romantic composers (some of whom were into folk themselves, of course), but "The Lark Ascending" (RVW), etc.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Smedley
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 06:12 AM

"I heard a rumor once that there was a folkie who liked K.C. and the Sunshine Band but I could never confirm it. "

I love KC and the SB (well, I love about five of their hits), which I why I know, despite being wholly besotted with several types of folk music, I could never really be a 'folkie'

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 06:06 AM

There is other stuff I have an interest in that probably falls outside of quintessential 'folkie': Gnostic Myth (especially in contemporary culture), Modern Art (especially this lady's work Loiuse Bourgeois),
Old School Rap (like EPMD), The elegantly subversive lyrics of Momus, Cutting up pictures to make Photomontage..
But bar a smattering of other oddments - mostly it seems I'm quite a natural at being a 'folkie'.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 05:13 AM

I too have a beard, the purpose of which is to enhance my distinctive profile by concealing a bitterly disappointing chin - check this out (though actual folkies might wish to mute the sound); I have not cut my hair since my mother's stroke four years ago (prior to which I seldom exceeded a Grade 1); I habitually wear sandals - with socks in the winter; Jesus is the loving light of humanity in my heart where he's resided since childhood yet I remain an atheist; I have a deep love of Pharaoh Sanders whom I've always as being folk music anyway, though not in the Orthodox 1954 sense, which is a complete myth anyway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfqCyfCOaa4

I love Don Cherry who always spoke of his music as being folk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWhsC8kq-2M

Johnny Mbizo Dyani likewise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpVd8MUX1Kg

This week I've been mostly listening to NEU! and Joy Division.

Even to the source-singers Folk was only a part of the picture. I wonder, is anyone here 100% folkie?

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 04:14 AM

Jerry - thanks for the reminder about the Cliquot Club Eskimos. Harry Reser was a fabulous performer. They made some wonderful records and I'm wondering why I haven't got any of their stuff in my collection. Now - where's that Amazon link...

Beards - couldn't do without mine. I had one, on and off, as a young man, then went for 30 years or so without one. Then, about 5 years ago, decided to grow one each winter. Then I felt so comfortable with it that it's stayed on for two years now - and won't come off again!

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 03:02 AM

$108 for a plaid shirt? Now that's unfolky!

Nice shirt though.

I believe there was a folky anti-beard backlash. Nothing could be done about the tankards but the beards had to go. I would therefore declare my small but perfectly formed specimen unfolky - it's part of the backlash against the backlash. Here it is.

My love of Pharaoh Saunders, Velvet Underground and all things musical that go skronk is pretty unfolky.

I have some decidedly unfolky shirts. They could even be called smart. What's more, I like wearing them.

I don't personally do the Jesus thing, but I know some lovely people who do. Is this folky or unfolky? You decide!

But - I have a camper van, I like tank tops, I have a grumpy streak and I'm a social worker. How folky is that?

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 12:56 AM

'I respect people who shave, but I sure like my beard.   -Joe- '

I knew a wise man once who said "Nobody grows a beard - it's just that some stupid people shave". I've just grown another [about my 5th] at age of 77 becoz got sick of horrible sore-making shaving. Trouble is , it has come snow-white this time — village pub have already offered me job as Father Xmas... One young friend said that, even so, it took years off me; hides my double-chin, I suppose.

Is this drift or is growing a beard an unfolkie activity? I don't seem to be first to have mentioned it anyhow [cf Joe Offer quoted above], so guess it OK - unlike my daring to intro a mention of Anglo technique on the ongoing English Concertina thread which got the OP there all twitchy; but that's another story...

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 11:16 PM

Jerry, I've always liked Black Watch plaid, too....and Pendleton still has it available. Trouble is, I always buy Pendleton shirts at the end of the season for no less than 50% off, and I've never seen a Black Watch Pendleton.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Janie
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 07:58 PM

Tain't nothin' unfolkie about me or 99.99% of anyone I've ever laid eyes on, since we are mostly just folks going about the business of living.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 07:27 PM

When I tried to grow a beard, Joe, it looked like I had the mange. People crossed the street when they saw me coming. Your's is impeccably groomed.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 07:26 PM

I heard a rumor once that there was a folkie who liked K.C. and the Sunshine Band but I could never confirm it. "Uh-huh, that's the way I like it."

Jerry

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 07:23 PM

Hey, Art: My dream when I was in High School was to have a Black Watch plaid Pendleton shirt. My parents got me one, one Christians and I thought I was the coolest man on earth.

Yeah, Bill, there are folkies who love Jesus, just as there are folkies who are Republicans. And yes, gospel music is a part of folk music and is prominent in folk festivals. I've led workshops on gospel to enthusiastic audiences at folk festivals and never felt even vaguely uncomfortable about it. Folkies love chain gang songs, too without being convicts. :-)

It's always good to hear your measured voice, Bill D.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 07:22 PM

I'm with Art on the wool shirts bit. I don't like flannel because it doesn't keep me warm.
I respect people who shave, but I sure like my beard.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: artbrooks
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 07:11 PM

*I like wool plaid shirts (Pendleton, by choice)
*I am a Service Officer for the DAV
*I paint miniature soldiers
*I like to ride a bicycle
*I sit in coffee shops a lot - reading science fiction
*I am contentedly middle-class, and have no desire to return to the roots of my grandfathers
*I drive a 2007 SUV (ok, it's a little one), that I bought new

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 06:40 PM

Ummm..why would 'loving Jesus' be un-folkie? I know many 'folkies' who consider themselves to be good Christians. Maybe some who don't are kinda loud about it, but so are many who do. *shrug*

(the gospel sing is always a feature at the Getaway...we had 2 sessions last time...and many not-so-religious folks even attend)

Me? I like flannel...*grin*...and some jazz.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 06:20 PM

Yeah, the youtube video I just watched is wonderful. I bet you'd love the Cliquot Club Eskimos.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 06:15 PM

Will Fly - glorious!

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 06:04 PM

Hey, all sorts of interesting stuff on here.
Wesley: Corduroy is very folky and it makes a cool noise when you move. Polly and Esther are not a folkie duo.
The Folk E: I shop at Walmart all the time. There's one right down at the bottom of the hill. I could drive further away to boycott Walmart, but then I'd be wasting gas, poluting the environment and contributing to global warming.
Bert: Ska is an earlier style of Island music. The Police purportedly were influenced by it. And I liked the Police.
Will Fly: I too love the music of the 20's, 30's and 40's. When I felt that folk music was getting too precious at a folk festival, I've done Fat's Domino's Blue Monday, Carl Perkin's Blue Suede Shoes or Searchin' by the Coasters.
After awhile most fiddle tunes sound the same to me... but then I seem more attuned to songs with words, rather than tunes.
I love the Boston Celtics. Not as enthusiastic about Celtic music.
I don't enjoy "Jamming." Or Jammies for that matter.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Mooh
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 02:59 PM

Folk as a state of mind?

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Will Fly
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 02:58 PM

Jerry - I've been an on-and-off folkie for 40+ years - interspersed with jug band music, mainstream jazz, 50's rock'n roll, 60s funk and ceilidh band music.

I also love music from the 20s. 30s and 40s - check out my latest YouTube offering: The Wedding Of The Painted Doll.

I love nearly every sort of music there is going - it all has so much to offer in different ways. In a recent local session we played Ray Noble's "Guilty" immediately after two Shetland reels, and then swung into Jimmie Rodgers's "My Blue Eyed Jane"...

As for my 100s of classical records, where do I start? There are so many good things in this world - if only we keep our ears and minds open.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GUEST,bert
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 02:53 PM

1. I'm not fond of flannel. -- I don't give it a thought
2. I don't listen to NPR   --   Sometimes
3. Im as much Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins as I am Clarence Ashley
    and the Carter Family (although I love them all.) -- I love them all
4. Jazz is probably my first love, musically, followed by R@B. -- I can tolerate it
5. I wear a suit and tie and stand up when I sing gospel, but sit
    down when I play folk music (but don't wear flannel shirts.)
-- I don't sing much gospel, I mostly stand to sing. I wear a suit and tie if I have an interview or a funeral.
6. I collected comic books for many years. -- Nope, but I do collect books of every other kind.
7. I love reggae and ska. -- Reggay yes, what is ska?
8. I love Jesus (and I believe that he loves me too.) -- I'm not religious at all, but I love a lot of people who are.
9. I like playing video games. -- Nope, but do play some computer games like solitaire or word games.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 02:23 PM

I don't have the blue helmet
But I wouldn't mind Invading the Bahama's just to help them establish a proper beach patrol and constitution.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 02:07 PM

Un-Folkie?
What's scary is the naturalness with which I fit into circles of people twenty or so years older than me: I like hiking and camping and baking and herbs and crafts and real scrumpy and I'm quite a lefty/anarchist/libertarian and to top it off I'm also a proper fatty after a around a year of being 'into' folk.. Oh yeah, I even have a pair of leather sandals. After such a short initiation, I'm probably the folkiest folky here!
I don't do macrame though.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Wesley S
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 01:55 PM

6, 7 and sometimes 8 { but I've got a problem with a few of the other folks who do }. And I've gotten to a point in my life where I tend to listen to the music I really enjoy as opposed to the music I'm supposed to like.

And I prefer corderoy to flannel.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 01:46 PM

I don't like ale (or any wine or spirits for that matter).

I have (scarily) residual conservative ideas about some things.

I am old (51) but new (about 5 years) to folk music.

I don't give a good goddamn about definitions of folk. I tried, and I am sorry but life is too short.

I have not yet attended a big proper folk festival.

I like foreign films like Amelie and love anything of the House of Flying Daggers ilk.

I like trance music Dreadzone and some Indie / alternative Placebo, and girl stuff. Rasputina. I am going gaga over old old (scratch that itch) blues stuff. Especially the wimmenz.

I can only listen to Irish tune sessions for so long before I want to open a vein. (I think this will change when I have time to start actually learning and playing along because I do like blending with a group as I did when I sang in choirs).

I have never (to my knowledge) eaten the internal organs of any animal. I do not eat lamb. I rarely eat beef and pork. I eat no wild meat - too gamey.

I don't have a beard (yet). When/if that happens, I will take HRT.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 01:32 PM

Luckily, here in the UK, folk clubs have been spared the superstitious dimension.

I have been going to folk clubs since I was 16 years old, and haven't seen Jesus sat with a pint of beer.

Just as well. The stereotyping of people who like a particular style (s) of music is bad enough without being labelled as having anything to do with religion!

Here in The UK, (he says generalising) religion is not something people shout from the rooftops, even if they are comfortable with their beliefs. I reckon it is OK between consenting adults in private but there you go...

Un folkie? Strip away the baggage and the un disappears! Simple.

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: GUEST,The Folk E
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 12:49 PM

*I think folk singers who wear vests look silly.

*Same with beards.

*I would rather watch Fox news

*I am not a far left wing nut.

*I listen to Michael Savage

*I shop at Wal-Mart because the prices are better.

*I am not out to change the world with my music.

Yep, I'm a folksinger in spite of all this!

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 12:41 PM

Tennis, which many here in England think of as an expensive sport - not so, public courts are either free or perhaps a couple of pounds for staff to erect a net, and, unless Wimbledon is on, are often free of any queue, too...and poetry!

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 11:15 AM

Much of gospel qualifies as folk, too, Frank. Those record bins are too small to hold all of what I consider folk music, and most people's interests aren't that broad, either.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Un-folkie
From: Stringsinger
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 11:10 AM

The problem as I see it is that during the 60's, the "folkie" became a stereotype for the media. The "Mighty Wind" was in abundance.

Folk music and folk culture have little to do with the popular music business. The appreciation for this kind of music is a specialized interest. The earlier popular exponents of folk music maintained a genuine interest in the actual folk music rather than it's exaggerated popularization.

Jazz is really part of folk music in that it was an outgrowth of African-American traditional music. The same can be said for the genre known as Blues.

Most of the early blues singers were photographed in shirts and ties. Leadbelly for one.

The criteria mentioned above bears little relationship to folk music as a form of expression as I understand it although it doesn't preclude those who are part of an aural tradition from taking part in some of the aforementioned hobbies.

I think that "Mighty Wind" helped clarify the commercialization of folk music and the creation of the stereotypical "folkie".

Frank

Subject: Un-folkie
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 10:59 AM

Life is as compartmentalized as record bins. Most people are multifaceted in their interests and beliefs, and yet we tend to cluster together around one commonly shared value. We come together in here with a common love of folk music. In here we are all folkies.
In another community our folkie side may be completely submersed as we enjoy sharing something not normally thought of as being part of the folk community.

So, what are you un-folkie interests and beliefs? I'll be the first one in the confessional.

1. I'm not fond of flannel.
2. I don't listen to NPR
3. Im as much Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins as I am Clarence Ashley
    and the Carter Family (although I love them all.)
4. Jazz is probably my first love, musically, followed by R@B.
5. I wear a suit and tie and stand up when I sing gospel, but sit
    down when I play folk music (but don't wear flannel shirts.)
6. I collected comic books for many years.
7. I love reggae and ska.
8. I love Jesus (and I believe that he loves me too.)
9. I like playing video games.
I'm feeling more aware of these things these days because I'm practicing for a folk concert, sitting down and playing acoustic guitar, and a gospel concert, standing up and playing electric guitar. The gospel concert is today, in a Jewish Home for the Aged, where I play once every two or three months. At the same time, I'm preparing for a book signing where I am posing more as an author than a musician.

Very few of my folkie friends like jazz. My jazz lover friends (of which there are very few) have to taste for folk music and my gospel friends have no idea what folk music is. My friends who love soul music and R & B think of me as a kindred spirit because I love the music they love, but it is only a small part of music I care about.

So' fess up. What is un-folkie about you? (Admittedly, folkies are as much a stereotype as Christian, Muslims, or Pittsburgh Pirate fans.)

Jerry