BS: Welcome kwsawman

Subject: Welcome kwsawman
From: dwditty
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 04:49 PM

Let's hear a Mudcat welcome for kwsawman - recruited on the Excellent Adventure trip. Ken accompanied me to Vixen's gathering in CT last week. He was instantly struck by Bill, Allan, Tiger, Vixen, and Tim and all the FOMS (friends of Mudcatters - in this case Tim & Vixen's). Ken has an amazing ability to make his gentle spirit flow out of both his Diston and Sandvik (Stradivarius model)saws. Anyway, I have told kw about the Mudcat for years, but it took only one face-to-face encounter to convince him that he should be part of our wonderful community.

dw

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jun 00 - 04:54 PM

Gee, I dunno, how hard was he struck by all them? Sounds like they mighta ganged up on him and twisted his arm...is he a willing recruit?**BG**

As Max, the Creator says on the Radio Show, "Welcome, welcome, welcome, to the Mudcat Cafe!"

And, if you're brave enough to join up after meeting some Mudders in the flesh, then you are going to do just fine around these parts! Now, how about you send Max a recording so we can hear those saws of yours on Mudcat Radio, or join us in HearMe, virtual song circle, some night. There's one going on right now, I think, just look for a thread with HearMe in the title.

Glad you've joined in, really!

katlaughing

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Vixen
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:39 AM

Welcome KWSawman!

I'm glad to have been present at your "conversion" experience!

Let me tell you folks, I had never heard a saw played before...This man is really cool! There was some discussion about the relative musical merits of Disstons vs Sandviks vs Stanleys...incredible. And the *haunting* sound! KWSawman accompanied me on Long Black Veil, and his saw gave me goosebumps. Superlative!

Welcome again, and thanks for the education!

V

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:12 AM

Welcome to the zoo! Mbo has a SawsAll, maybe you could teach him to play it? *BG*

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Tiger
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:16 AM

Welcome, Ken.....

After meeting several of us last week, you STILL decided to matriculate at Mudcat U. Remarkable.

Regards....Tiger

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Big Mick
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:19 AM

Sure am glad that you have decided to join us in our town, my friend. Do yourself a favor and go back and search out some old threads, get a fix on what we are about, and then go about crafting your version of that. We are happy as hell to have you here. Welcome.

Do yourself a favor and read the newcomers guide and please, ........ post often.

All the best,

Big Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Giac
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:21 AM

Looooove saws! They must be a gateway to another
dimension. Surely they were instruments first,
created for the music. Then someone says,
Hey, you know, if we cut teeth into that thing
we could cut wood a lot faster...*BG*

Looking forward to hearing you sometime, kwsawman.

Giac

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Áine
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:27 AM

May I add my 'Welcome, welcome, welcome,' to everyone else's here? Glad to have you on board this monkeyhouse floating in the ether, kwsawman! I'd love to hear you and Vixen doing The Long Black Veil on the Mudcat Radio.

-- Áine

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: kwsawman
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:58 PM

Thank you all for this wonderful welcome. The memory of my MudCat conversion on Tuesday the 20th was recaptured as I read each of your comments. It is becoming apparent that at least some in attendance were 'saw awed' by the music that this rather utilitarian instrument is capable of producing. Giac, thanks for pointing out the reason the teeth on the back side. Some have suggested that a twist or two on a few of the teeth might help keep the saw in tune. Vixen, thank you for naming the music I accompanied you on. I am open to the idea of playing "The Long Black Veil' on MudCaat Radio with you.

kw

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:27 AM

YeeHaw, the Sawman & Foxlady on Radio!! Yes!!!

I have a tape of one of our most beloved members, Art Thieme, on which he plays Amazing Grace on saw. It is one of the most haunting and beautiful things I've ever heard...would love to hear more sawmusic.

Thansk, again, for joining us!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Vixen
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 09:01 AM

Well, Ken, I guess there needs to be another Mudcat gathering here in our corner of CT to record (at least!) LBV for D'Cat Radio. Tim and I are really busy with gigs, rehearsals and vacation through July, but things clear up around mid-August. Send me a PM with some dates, and we'll see what can be arranged!

V

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Hollowfox
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 06:46 PM

Welcome to the 'Cat! Your caution is commendable; you'll find that the twit factor is lower at this site than most others.

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Pene Azul
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 12:31 AM

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Mudcat Cafe! I can't wait to hear your music.

Pene Azul, Blues Pianist

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Art Thieme
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 09:41 PM

Kat, thanks for the kind words. The saw I always loved was the one made for me by Clarence Mussehl (Mussehl and Westphal Musical Saw Co,) At: W0626 Beech Drive-East Troy, Wisconsin--53120------414-642-3649--- Steve and Mary Kay Dawson run the place now.

Their 28-inch saw is they most musically accessible (easy to get good results from) that I've ever seen. MUCH more flexable than the Sandvik Strad.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: reggie miles
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 11:25 PM

Welcome kwsawman, I only wish you were closer to the Pacific side. I've never had many opportunities to catch another sawist and have always wanted to know what two saws harmonizing would sound like. I've been flexing one of them pieces of razor sharp spring steel 'tween my knees for about seven years now with only minor injuries. I got my 30" Mussehl and Westphal at a swap meet about 9 years ago and didn't fool with it much till I found a bass bow at a garage sale a couple of years later. I've tried the Strad and it is very much like mine.

Art, I think, like many things musical, much depends on the individual instrument and performer. I feel fortunate to have found the 30" M&W. It works well for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Art Thieme
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 01:20 PM

Reggie,

Clarence Mussehl himeself only made a 28-inch saw and a 26-inch saw. He passed away in the late 1970s at the age of 84. Dan Wallace took ove from Claence at the company in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and moved it to Delavan, WI. Dan Wallace was killed when his aircraft went down in a Wisconsin corn field. Clarence told me he made his saws from "good English steel". The teeth were still on it and were not "set". That way you would know which side to bow on. ;-) The other side always played sharp. The 30-inch blade was too hard for me to bend and my arms aren't long enough to do it comfortably. That was all the more the case after my physicality started to go downhill in the early 80s (not diagnosed as MS until 1997(. The 26-inch blade was too short for good range and also hard to bend. But the 28-inch was really perfect. I've no idea what the recent saws "feel" like. It's all a moot point since I barely get anything out of any saw at all now.

But that 28-inch saw that I got from the man, Clarence Mussehl, himself -- in his home in Fort Atkinson, WI on Elm Street -- was (and on some days still is) like a hot knife through butter where ease of playing is concerned. All through the 80s and 90s it got harder and harder to control the saw with my knees and legs. It was all I could do to just hold the thing still. So my hand control on the end of the blade was of utmost importance to me. For a while I used a wood block with a slit in it to bend the saw and that was some better.

All the best to you saw players out there everywhere. I would suggest, if I may, a book called SCRATCH MY BACK by Jim Supersaw Leonard and Janet E. Graebner. It's a pictorial history of the musical saw and how to play it.

(Oh, I always used a curved stick strung with thin nylon clothesline for a bow. Plenty of violin rosin too.)

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 01:28 PM

Another invaluable bit of folkloric history...thank you, Art, I love hearing you relate those.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: reggie miles
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 11:42 PM

Art, a friend of mine got me that book. It's a great overview of the art of bending blades with lots of folks' stories about their experiences. There's even a whole page of discography if you'd care to listen to what others are up to with their saws. I sent Jim a note to see if I could coax some secrets out of him about how he attained that speed he's so know for. I've been in contact with Mary Kay too and have directed at least a hundred folks her way who were interested in saw playing after seeing my performances with the unruly steel. She mentioned that they haven't made a 30" blade since the 70's. Mary Kay also imports the Sandvik and offers it for sale. It cost no more than her 28". I feel a bit like Johnny Apple Seed spreading this info hither and yon and hope that some day a good crop of saw players may spring up in the neighborhood. Hey maybe I should change my name to Johnny Apple Saws. I hope to start a saw-band, (or would that be band-o'-saw?), one of these days with some of those same folks. Till then I'll continue to sawlo with friends or as the lone sawyer.

Art, did you ever get your saw work recorded?

I hope to get something done this year if all goes well.

saw ya later, Reg

Subject: RE: BS: Welcome kwsawman
From: Art Thieme
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 04:39 PM

Reggie,

I only put one cut of saw on an old LP I did for Kicking Mule Records in Berkeley, CA----Songs Of The Heartland -- KM-148 (way out o' print now). The song was "Red River Valley".--------Jim did include me in his book even though I was less than a virtuoso. For kids I usually used the saw to show 'em that there was actually a time before TV and radio and recordings -- a time when folks often used what they had around the house to make music. Mostly I used the saw in adult shows for a humorous break in the serious ballads I loved to sing. (An excuse to tell saw jokes and be a cut up.

I do hope to hear you some day.

Art