A Gig to Remember #5

Subject: A Gig to Remember #5
From: lloyd61
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 10:24 AM

A Gig To Remember #5

Christmas 1996

When an invitation came in to entertain a group of children at a Jewish community center, I was not sure I would be the best choice. You see, I am a Christian, steeped in the Christian Christmas Heritage. This did not seam to bother the center when I explained my concern. The thought of conducting a Christmas Gig without the Christ Child was beyond my comprehension. What material would I use? It was a challenge and a good paying gig so I excepted the invitation. The first thing I did was call a friend, who had knowledge of Jewish faith and culture. Two days latter I had a Dradall (?) (Wood top with Yiddish scriptures written on all four sides) and a copy of the Dardall song. I even had a skull cab in case it was required, it wasn't. On the day of the party I found myself sitting on the Community Center floor with over 30 kids, between the ages of 6 and 8, gathered around. I started out by letting them tell me about the Dradall, and then THEY sang me the Dradall song as I played the Guitar. It was great! I then told them about the Nissan and the talking Animals in Norway. I wrote a story about a Fjord Pony for the occasion. I had pictures to accompany the stories so it held there interest. Sang a few simple songs, and we ended the set with the ringing of real Bells as we sang Jingle bells. The 45 minutes flew by.

When the little concert was over I stopped at the office to pick up a check. The administrator of the community center asked if I could find a "worthy" home for a few toys. She said they could not use all the donations given to the center. She said "Our kids have so much while so many other kids have nothing". She then took me to a closet which was full of new toys. We loaded the toys into my station wagon. The wagon was full, there must have been over a thousand dollars worth of toys in my car.

I drove directly to a Woman's Shelter, which was full of young mothers and their children. They were thrilled to get the toys as Christmas was one week away and many of the children would be in the shelter over the Holiday.

On the way home an "Evangelical Guilt" started to creep in, To thing I never told the kids, at the center, about the Christ Child, which for me is the reason for the season. Then a peace settled over me and a voice seamed to say, "Hey, you did good, don't beat yourself up, I was proud of you".

Thanks for taking the time to read my true story.

Do you have a story?

Lloyd

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: Sam Pirt
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 10:36 AM

Just this year I was at the Durham Folkworks Youth Summer School and there was a great band there from Norway who are quite well know called 'Chatteau Neuf Spellemanslag' A 13 piece band with sax, drums, bass, fiddle etc They are amazing. Anyway the week ran from the monday to the saturday. I watched them in concert on thursday night and was literally blown of the face of the earth. Then When I was speakingh to them in the cafiteria the day after the leader Mikael said that their accordionisthad to go back to norway woiuld I stand in. I said yes and I did 3 bookings with them. That was definatly one ambition achived.

Cheers, Sam

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: lloyd61
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 12:03 PM

Sam...

What a great opportunity. Did you have a background in the music? How could you "just stand in"? You must be good!

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 12:50 PM

Sam is a finalist in a national UK competition. (Can't remember, is it the BBC's "Young Folk" or "Young Tradition" award?) He's hot stuff!!!

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: Gary T
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 03:21 PM

Those are both great stories. It's nice to hear plain good news now and then, thanks for sharing. (By the way, Lloyd, the spelling is "dreidl"--can't imagine why that wasn't obvious! BG)

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 05:13 PM

Lloyd, sometimes it does us dyed in the wool traddies good to think about other cultures at this time of year.

I once led a prayer/study group. We talked one year of all the traditional Christmas things, and one by one, we found out the original 'uses' of each thing that we associate with Christmas, the obvious being mince pies actually made of minced meat.... When we had stripped off all these trappings and fripperies, we were left with three or four major festivals, and of those, there was only one that is still publicly celebrated, that of Channukah. Food for thought.....

LTS

And yes, I know there have always been followers of the old religions, but they didn't have such a high profile back then as they do now. And yes, we can all learn from each other.

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 05:15 PM

And my gig to remember?

The Band of Hope, Saffron Walden church, October 1995, partly because I actually got to see my heros Swarb and Roy Bailey play together, and partly because it was there I first felt my daughter move.

LTS

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: WyoWoman
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 06:20 PM

Well, this isn't a gig, but it is a remembrance.

When I lived in New Mexico, one of my Jewish friends invited me one year to his and his partner's Passover celebration. Having grown up in the Christian tradition, I had heard of Passover all my life, but had no actual experience with it. It was one of the most touching experiences I've ever had, associated with a traditional holiday, and it forever deepened my experience of both faiths. I was struck then, and have been subsequently, with how "Jewish" the Christian faith is. So interwoven, and often in such denial about that fact. I think Christianity loses something for not nurturing its connections with its roots -- and one of the reasons I loved the church I attended in New Mexico was because the pastor was committed to doing that.

For the next three years I was in New Mexico, my friend intived me and my children to Passover. I felt so blessed and honored. I invited him to come with us as we walked around singing carols on Christmas Eve. He finally did it one year and just loved it. But it was much harder for him to come to "visit" my faith tradition than for me to visit his, which I can understand. Much more persecution and just plain hatefulness has taken place at the hands of "Christians" in recent centuries than Jews. I wasn't trying to convert him, just to honor him and share. Once he really understood that, he felt the honor.

And Lloyd, I think it's proper that you didn't tell them about the Christ Child. They have their faith and you were there to care for them. It would have been insulting to them and the people who brought you if you had seized that opportunity to "witness." If more Christians spent more time merely loving and serving those they come in contact with, as you did, much greater work would be accomplished for the cause of Peace on Earth -- which is what it's all supposed to be about, right? You did a good thing, m'dear.

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: lloyd61
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 10:11 PM

More and more I realize that to truly understand the Christian faith one should study the Jewish faith. I know of Christian churches that have glasses in Judaism, not to criticize the Jewish faith, but to help them understand the Christian faith.

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: WyoWoman
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 10:14 PM

The branch oughta have some awareness of the root...

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: JedMarum
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 10:52 PM

Good story here Lloyd; sounds like a great experience, and I agree you didn't need to talk about Christainity to pass on it's primary message (and it sounds like that's exactly what you did). I am sure you could have explained the holiday, though, if you chose to do so. It needn't have been evangalising - in much the way you were curious about your audience's religious holidays, the may well have been curious about yours. After all, it is the birth story of a boy who was born, lived and died a Jew. He was a respected teacher of the Jewish faith. These facts usually escape our modern day story tellers; for that matter - so does Christ get left out of the story! But that, I imagine, is another thread entirely.

This has been a great thread, though it suffers from serious thread creep.

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: JedMarum
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 11:31 PM

I have a 'gig' to remember story to tell, somewhat along the lines of this thread ... Some years ago I had begun playing at the 8:15 Mass on Sundays along with the two guitar players who had been doing it for some years. Because we didn't need three guitars, and becasue I could add to the sound with other instruments, I usually brought along a banjo, or mandolin from time-to-time, and played along with the arrangments they had worked out.

One day after Mass, a little old lady came up to speak to me. She began by saying that she normally avoided the 8:15 Mass because she didn't like the idea of guitars in the liturgy, but this morning she had to go out of own, hence her appearance at the early 'folk'Mass. Well - it seems on this particular Sunday, I played two songs on the harmonica and, she said, when she saw me pull out my harmonica to play she thought that this was just way over the top! Too much. Harmonica certainly had NO place in the Mass ... but she said; 'you played it so beautifully I changed my mind.' It would be alright with her, it seems, if I played that harmonica anytime at Mass. Still, she wasn't so sure about those guitars!

Why is this a "gig to remember?" She was a sweet lady, and I understood her deep respect for liturgical tradition - therfore I understood the value of her great compliment, putting my harp playing in such high esteem - and I was touched. I haven;t played harmonica much in church - in fact I haven;t played in a church in years, but I still remember her face, and am greatful she took the time to speak to me!

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: lloyd61
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 04:28 PM

Maybe she was an Angel Unaware, and you are called to play your Harmonica in church. Think about it!!!!

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: JedMarum
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 05:02 PM

I think she was an angel, Lloyd!

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: lloyd61
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 09:32 PM

Devlin

You said: "This has been a great thread, though it suffers from serious thread creep. "

I'm not surprised, I have submitted 5 "Gigs to remember" threads and none of them resulted in a thread creep. I think it is because this group of folks responded to educational or fun threads, and that is as it should be. I proved this point when I posted a thread called "A Gig from Hell". Because this thread was fun it lasted over a week.

Does this mean that I don't think anyone should post this type thread? No, a story like this , I feel, adds quality to our site, but lets understand that we may not realize a long life for the thread.

Lloyd

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: DonMeixner
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 10:46 PM

For years the band I play in has been a featured act at the Scottish Games near Syracuse, NY. We play in a huge tent that hold humidity like a sponge and the heat with men in wool is a itch waiting to be scratched. Every year we'd play at a hooley after the games and a woman with the voice of angels would come and sing with use. She looked to be a woman of hard usage and great size but sweet and kind beyond need and a joy to know. One year the onvious remains of Kemo were about here and she was obviously not long for the live she had enjoyed but she sang and her husband watched and cried quietly at this gentle voice and shrinking body that was his wife of some years. The next year we were at the games and her husband came alone. We sang for him "The Flower of Scotland" and "The Fields of Arhenry" which were her particular favorites. Her husband cried the same quiet tears in memory, we weren't too dry ourselves and the show went on. These are gigs I remember, where the music touches all, privately, and makes itself felt, if fleetingly, when someone else not us proved to be the star for the day and I am the richer for it.

Don

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 01:33 AM

Once again, you guys have brought tears to my eyes and gratefullness to my heart. Thank you.

Last Friday evening, we followed my dad, from his house, into Roosevelt, Utah to videotape him playing for an hour at a nursing home/care center for women. He drove his welding truck packed tight with banjo, mando, fiddle, amplifier and tape player.

When we arrived, he and Rog got busy setting up their various pieces of equipment, while the aides and nurses brought the residents in to settle for the "concert". Some were obviously old, and had had stokes and were in wheelchairs. Others walked with the aid of canes or walkers, while still others, younger and misshapen with what looked to be arthritis came in in wheelchairs. All had bright expectant looks on their faces. It was obvious that they loved my dad's music and eagerly awaited the weekly visit. When I was introduced round to a few of them as "Sparky's daughter", I felt a great acceptance born of their high esteem for him.

He didn't play the types of songs I love the most from him; the ones we grew up on. He played dance tunes and other popular songs from bygone eras, rotating his home-designed instrument stand between verses, playing first the mando, then maybe the fiddle, then onto the banjo, backup tape thumping a beat in the background.

I beamed with pride and happiness. I know I beamed. My light shone, I sang praises in my heart and I tried to sing along with the few words I knew. I smiled so much my jaw hurt; when dad glanced at me, a beatific smile lit up his face, too, surrounded by his straight-up halo of white hair.

When I finally settled in to really listen and glanced around the room, I realised I was hearing a very soft, beautiful voice singing every word of every song, while dad played. It almost sounded like an angel.

Roosevelt in on the Ute Indian Reservation. Two of the younger women wheeled in looked as though they were full-blooded Ute. While their bodies betrayed them with the painful looking twist and knobs of rheumatoid arthritis, there was obviously nothing they missed mentally. Earlier one of them had asked my name. When I told her it was Kathleen, she was delighted to tell me that was her name, too. She was the more outspoken of the two and kept perfect time with the music, clapping her hands together.

When I began looking for the angelic singer, I found it was the quieter of those two women who was singing along. She had short feathers in her hair and a turquoise ring on almost every finger. She sang along and it was plain to see the burden of her life was lessened by this old man, himself in great pain a lot of the time and facing the vagaries of time, sharing his love of music and his ability to still make it.

I wanted to be sure to say something to her afterwards, but was surrounded by others who wanted to meet me and visit. Just as she scooted out the door of the room, I was able to join her and tell her how much I enjoyed her singing and what a beautiful voice she had. She was very self-deprecating, but mentioned that she did know most of the words and enjoyed singing along. Dad later told me the two of them were some of his most faithful of audiences and participants.

It was so wonderful to see the juxtaposition of the old man, younger women, and others and how the music formed a common bond. I know that when my dad dies, he will die doing what he loves to do...making music and I am grateful for that. I am sure no other Gig to Remember of my own or the rest of my family's will ever compare to what may have been the last time I will ever see my dad play, in person.

Lloyd, thank you so much for keeping these threads going. They ARE important and meaningful. Please keep doing so.

luvyaKat

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 01:56 AM

Over the year I've been here I've talked about many memorable gigs over a 30 year period, but one that stands out (and please forgive me..cause I've mentioned this one before) was the night I played for the Vietnamese New Year celebration in a large concert hall in Toronto.
A few weeks earlier I was having dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant, and got talking to the owner. I told him that I knew a Vietnamese song called "Rain on the Leaves" (in English) and he promptly said "I'll teach you the Vietnamese words and YOU WILL come and sing it at New Years! I said "sure", and for the next three weeks was in a panic. The tape he gave me of him singing the original was clean and clear, but it's a bloody hard language. I practised more for that than anything I could remember, and when the night came, I had no idea that there would be three thousand people in the audience! They had been listening to wonderful traditional Vietnamese bands and singers and when he introduced me (as his Canadian "singer" friend) I was truly scared. I sung the song (2 verses) in English and then started with "nyok mur chin lai...(i'd learned it phonetically) The place erupted! After every line, I had to play chords for ten seconds while they cheered. Perhaps the most gratifying moment I've ever had in music.
After my song, the MC said that for "learning the song in their language, I should always know that I was a friend of the Vietnamese people". For a guy who doesn't cry much, I sure did that night.

Rick

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: lloyd61
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 12:11 PM

Rick... I love that story, what a great thrill that must have been.

Kat…

Welcome back. You are very fortunate to have your dad. I wish I could hear my dad play his mandolin again. I don't even have a recording of him, but I do have a great picture.

What about sharing your video with us?

And another thought, maybe we should start a thread on our music heritage.

Again welcome home, we missed you.

Lloyd

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 12:39 PM

Good idea Lloyd.

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 02:48 PM

Thnaks, Lloyd, I am working on it and the thread sounds like an excellent idea. I, personally, don't want to be the one to start any more threads, at the moment, though. If nobody else does, I might later this week or next.

It is good to be back.

luvyaKat

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: Michael K.
Date: 30 Nov 99 - 11:01 PM

Well one of my fondest memories ''frozen in time in my mind'' was a very simple, but very complete moment.

First time I worked on a cruise ship (doing 3 & 4 day cruises back and forth from Miami to the Bahamas in the early 1980s) on my first day off, I remember sitting on the upper deck, with a Heineken in my hand that cost me 75 cents, observing the most incredble nebula of a sunset I'd ever seen, as we were pulling out of Miami Harbour, with a live steel band gently playing in the background......and thinking to myself in that moment, it just doesn't get any better than this.

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: lloyd61
Date: 01 Dec 99 - 09:50 AM

Michael K.....

Steel Band comment........ I have heard of a Music camp that offers a work shop on how to build a Steel Drum. That sounded interesting to me. It was a one week course, they supplied the Steel Drum and the hammer. At the end of the week they have a concert with all the new Steel Drums. I wonder if the supply ear plugs.

Lloyd

Subject: RE: A Gig to Remember #5
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Dec 99 - 11:52 AM

My son-in-law was in a steel drum band on Antigua when growing up. They had them in the schools. His played for the Queen one time. We attended a fabulous concert by a steel band of family members which was just fantastic a few years ago. I will post their name when I find it. Beautiful instruments and much more versatile than I ever dreamed.