Un-folkie

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