what musical legends have you known

Subject: what musical legends have you known
From: texastoolman
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 03:08 AM

it was my great fortune to have once met and had the oppurtunity to play with Mance Lipscomb at a small coffeehouse in College Station ,Texas.He was a very kind and generous old gentleman.In his late 70's he had the fastest hands I think I've ever seen.Played bottle-neck with a little pen knife ,that he held between his little finger and his ring finger.His guiter of choice was a Harmony Sovereign.He sure got sime wonderful sounds out of that cheap old guitar.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: wdyat12
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 03:21 AM

While working as a sound and light technician for "Summerthing" in Boston during the summer of 1969, Pete Seeger asked me where the bathroom was.

wdyat12

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 03:30 AM

I played space invaders with Dick Gaughan !

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Gervase
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 04:47 AM

I had a curry in Southall once with Van Morrison.
Memories are a little hazy as it was a breakfast after an all-night sesh which involved no music and a lot of booze in various clibs in Notting Hill, and we decamped for lumpy stuff at the suggestion of a photographer friend who was also a good mate of Van the Man.
I do remember that he was just getting into the God thing in quite a way and that he wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs - but who is at 6am, hung-over and liverish?
It did teach me, though, that a Rogan Josh for breakfast is one of life's wonders, no matter with whom it's shared.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Firecat
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 07:33 AM

There's a photo somewhere of me being cuddled by Diz Disley according to Mum! Apparently I was only a few months old so I can't remember it. But I remember having breakfast with Tom Paxton! I was 8 and he said that all Katys are the same cos his daughter's called Katy too!

I've met Vin Garbutt too, and Keith Donelly (does he count??!!) dragged me up on stage at Crewe and Nantwich festival when I was 12 and made me sing. It was my first time with a mic.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: mkebenn
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 07:43 AM

Spent a night in the early eighties pickin' and tootin' with Bob Shane in Fla. Sad, the only reason I was there was I had the coke. Still, as a life long KT3 fan I'll treasure the memory, anyway. I think it pissed him off that I kept askin' for John Stewart and Dave Guard stories, though. Twenty years later the Coke is fifteen years gone, but that night remains.. Mike

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: gnu
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 08:06 AM

This doesn't count as "known" but I met one of the musicians I admire most about twenty years ago. I was running a construction job at the Deer Lake, NF airport. I arrived to work at the usual 0530h and entered what I figured was an empty airport passenger terminal. I always took the opportunity to sing as loudly as possible and TRY to fill the empty space. The tune on that morning was "The Wind That Shakes The Barley". Well, I shook when a stranded Tommy Makem scared the heck out of me by joining in. Half of the town was there by mid-morning but I was the only one who got to sing a few with him.

Oh yeah, I complained to a roadie at a concert one time in a dimly lit area near the rear of the stage that I was still waiting for the band to play Black Magic Woman. The fellow said he would see what he could do to get it played in the next set and asked my name. Of course, Carlos just had to mention my name when he said he was going to play a request from an audience member he had just met. Yeah, I felt kinda stoopid.

gnu

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 08:47 AM

Have chatted to Andy Irvine and Dick Gaughin... Both great blokes, and interesting to speak to...

Drank a couple of Whiskys after a gig with Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain, got an interesting insight to how they got into music.

And met Ben Lennon a Leitrim Fiddler.... does that count?

I dunno... just fell across their paths... and NO not literally. But doesn't count as known... just met.

And ran away from Christopher Biggens when I was a little girl, he was opening a new store near where I used to live. (a past childrens program television presenter, to whom I had a distinct aversion) and was seen high tailing it out of the store to get away from his big mad glasses.... Followed by two bemused parents... lol

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Anon2
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:35 AM

The legend of 'The Lost Chord'.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: CamiSu
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:36 AM

I used to babysit Harry Chapin's kids. (His oldest step-daughter is my sister's best friend) and once went into Tulagi's in Boulder to ask them if they'd consider having him come play there. I was stunned when the manager called his agent RIGHT THEN and booked him! Not knowing anything about guest lists, I bought tickets to the first show...But he made sure I knew about them for the rest of the shows--after he came off the stage, picked me up, and hugged me in front of the whole audience!

I've sung with Steve Schuch and Odds Bodkin, and Rachel Bissex, and staged managed Dar Williams, Tommy Sands, Tom Paxton, Faith Petric, Rosalie Sorels, and Pete Seeger (as much as anyone SM's Pete. Last year he went 25 minutes over on his set. Who pulls God off the stage? ...Mrs God. Toshi chided him later for messing up my run time. We had, however planned for this contingency and the following act was the coordinators for the stage as well, and were ready to bail, so no real harm done.) I've held Cindy Kallet's son while she was on. I was the only person she knew who was around and she knew my kids so she was happy. (My niece has babysat her kids the past several years since.) Anne Dodson and Pat Humphries are more than passing acquaintances, and Lui Collins and I nearly missed her setup as we were having too much fun swapping birth stories.

Oh, and Garnet Rogers remembered me from the Clearwater, and I had not had him on my stage. He must have been in the audience while I was telling. My jaw did drop on that one...

The list could go on and on. That's the wonderful thing about the folk community. they are much more connected to the real world. And as Anne commented once, "I love finding friends I haven't met before".

CamiSu

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:37 AM

I once rode an elevator with Henry Kissinger but he didn't sing.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:43 AM

have 'met' a number, being active in folk music for 30 years...but I suppose that several times that stand out are..1) nodding to Tom Paley to take a fiddle break as I did "The Storms Are On the Ocean", 2) guiding Peggy Seeger & Ewan MacColl to a concert and chatting with them alone for 30 minutes.. 3) putting up Alastair Anderson one night when his planned host was ill. 4) having Martyn Wyndham-Read ask to buy one of the little folding chairs I make, and meeting me at an airport so I could deliver it for his flight home.

gee...if I had a $ for every one I've met briefly at a concert or festival!! (folk legends are usually like that... part of the crowd and friendly)

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: LR Mole
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:46 AM

Peed in the urinal next to Graham Nash. CSNY concert, mere days after Young had written "Ohio".Silver-tongued cat that I am, I said to Mr. Nash (after we had both left the porcelains to the next in line),"You guys are really good." Mr. Eloquent strikes again.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bedubya
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:49 AM

I know lots of guitar players. As all guitar players are, by definition, "legends in their own minds" I guess I know lots of legends, huh?

Or....

My wife is an old friend of Martin Simpson's wife, but I've never met either one of them so that doesn't count, does it?

Cheers

bwl

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:51 AM

I've had a few beers and Teq

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Big Tim
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:53 AM

Spoke to Ramblin Jack Elliott after a show in Glasgow a couple of years ago. Didn't know what to say so blurted "I think Bob Dylan's singing sounds a bit like yours". He replied "Yea some other people have said that. I roomed with him one time and I guess some of it maybe rubbed off". Have also spoken withtwo of the Pogues, Terry Woods and Spider Stacey. Terry was delighted to hear that Young Ned of the Hill (which he co-wrote) was a "great" song!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Kim C
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:56 AM

I have met Michael Martin Murphey a couple of times, and his son & daughter-in-law are friends of mine. Babysat for them just the other night. Also Don Edwards, who is my yodeling hero, and Wylie Gustafson, my other yodeling hero.

Many years ago I met guitar genius Eric Johnson. Love him, absolutely love him.

I have sold ice cream to Too Slim and Ranger Doug of Riders in the Sky, Janie Fricke, Charley Pride. I have sold furniture to Woody Paul of Riders in the Sky, Bela Fleck, and Bernie Leadon. John Cowan volunteers to work on an annual benefit for the place where I work now.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:57 AM

Sorry about the above. I've had a few beers and tequilas on two separate occassions with Jody Payne, the guitarist in Willie Nelson's band. Great guy.

I was touring England with a hockey team in 1982. We were in Soho wandering around when a short, curly haired blonde guy walked by. One of my team mates, said "Hey, that's Roger Daltry". Sure enough it is. We said hello, asked if we could have a picture taken with him. He chatted for awhile, was a very nice guy. I still have the picture.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bagpuss
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 10:09 AM

Luckily for me, I was at a school where they were first developing the Folkworks idea and hence I got to know Alistair Anderson, Chuck Fleming, Eddie Upton, Bob Fox when they started up our ceilidh band. Also, Altan came to our school to run a series of workshops.

I was in a choir run by Sandra Kerr (of Bagpuss fame) and still bump into he now and then.

Hey maybe sometime in the distant future, some of you will be saying "I knew Katy Kiernan before she was famous" but somehow I doubt it....

Bagpuss / Katy

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 10:10 AM

Being from Chicago, where he resided in his latter years, I was lucky enough to work with Jethro Burns a number of times. Jethro was not only a fabulous mandolin player and very funny human being, he was also as humble and common a person as you'll ever meet.

I originally met Jethro when playing with a country band, Cactus Jack. Our manager at the time had also started booking Jethro and arranged for us to back him on a number of dates. We'd play, he'd play, and then we'd play together. We did mostly swing standards (C Jam Blues, Lady Be Good), country shuffles (The Keys in the Mailbox, Occasional Wife, Swinging Doors) and Bluegrass (Rocky Top, Blue Moon of Kentucky). But what I remember best was his ballad playing. He could do a song like "The Night Life" or "For the Goodtimes" and absolutely break your heart.

Later, I formed a band with his son John, a great guitarist in his own right. We played original rock 'n' roll and warped 60's tunes. I was told later that, when telling his dad that we'd be working together, his response was, "So, you're putting together a band that can really sing". I have never received a better compliment.

We (John Burns, our bass player and myself) started playing Sunday night jam/shows at a bar on the North Shore. It was for tips, but it gave us a chance to get tight. Jethro would often come out and "play along". I once asked him why. After all, he could play with anyone he wanted and get paid for it, to boot. His response was simple: how else could he get out of the house to drink some beer and play some music on a Sunday night. He was the best.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: texastoolman
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 10:17 AM

hey kim c if you run into michael murphy ask him about stan alexander and the north texas folk music club of the mid 60's he was the only one doing original material back then he graduated in the same class as my first wife but he wouldn't know that

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Dahlin
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 10:53 AM

A true musical legend that I have known for a long time but have not seen enough lately is Sandy Paton otherwise known as the "Old Folk Phat". Caroline on the other hand is not a legend. She is a mythological being of great power and positive vibes.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 11:06 AM

Patsy Montana, Grandpa Jones, Merle Travis, the Talking Harmonica Man, Lonnie Glosson, and Jimmy Driftwood. I have arranged Tribute programs for each of them at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas. Patsy and Lonnie, as well as Jimmy, were natives of Arkansas and had never been recognized in their home state until we did the Tribute programs. All lived up to my expectations as good folk as well as musical legends, but Patsy Montana was really special. She was one of the most gracious, beautiful people I have ever known.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Gervase
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 11:32 AM

Bert,
Tom Paley is indeed a legend - and he's also a weekly regular at Sharp's at Cecil Sharp House, where he is as charming and unpretentious a guy as you could hope to meet - a true gentleman (with an astonishing repertoire of Scandinavian fiddle tunes and a wry and gentle wit).
As is Rod Shearman, thankfully a regular again after being pretty ill over the past few months. Thus only last week I had the daunting task of MCing and bringing the two of them on as guest spots.
The great thing about musicians and performers of their calibre, however, is that hamateurs like myself don't get to feel daunted.
Maybe it's the folk world, but it does seem to be refreshingly free of prima donnas and egomaniacs (although Liz the Squeak can tell tales of a female folk legend that will have your toes curling in embarassment...).

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Lyrical Lady
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 12:06 PM

Smoozed with Ike and Tina at the Empress Hotel, after their show. Ike was not a nice man.
Years ago I used to hang out at a coffee house in Ganges to listen to a young singer/songwriter by the name of Valdy. He was and still is a nice man
Every Christmas, Raffi invites me too sing carols with him ... he likes the way our voices match. He too, is a very nice man.
Have I just dated myself or what!
LL

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: harpmolly
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 12:18 PM

After his show last October in Seattle, I got to hang out with Dougie Maclean at Conor Byrne's and watch him play his fiddle. Even better, my friend Davy nudged me into singing a song (VERY intimidating in front of Dougie) and afterward, Dougie came up to me and exclaimed in his fabulous brogue, "That was grrreat! Grrrreat!" and when we left he gave me a big hug and a kiss.

Siiiiiiigh...*melt*

I know he's happily married. And about twice my age. But we're allowed to dream, aren't we? (It's certainly never stopped me where Ewan Mcgregor is concerned...)

Moll

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bert
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 12:24 PM

The time that Tom Paxton was laughing and singing along with my song "Size Doesn't Matter" will always be a highlight. Then I got to work WITH him writing a song.
It took weeks for my feet to get back to touching the ground.

Bert

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Pseudolus
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 12:29 PM

I know Seamus Kennedy!! In fact he once helped me get a speaker onto its stand before a gig!! We're so close. *g*

Frank

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Micca
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 12:47 PM

One night in the 60s i was at the Ken Colyer Jazz club in Little Newport St in London for an all nighter folk session, due to be run by Noel Murphy...I was early, it had no license so only coffee and tea were available, and it was pissing down outside, avery bedraggled young woman came ina nd was sorta nervous. and asked if she coulkld sit at the table with me... i said sure and offered her a coffee as she looked cold and tired, she said " I have no money to buy you back, I heard I might geytt a chance to do a floor spot and might get some work out of it". Well, I was flush, she was a nice person so I sat with her all night chatting and buying her coffee, and we were very comfortable together. and I have loved her music since. That was how I am proud to say, I met sandy denny on her first night in lLondon and was able , in a dvance ,able to do something for all the pleasure she gave me with her music afterwards.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 01:57 PM

Back when I was in a touring band, you'd often cross paths with other musicians doing the same. At some point, people always seemed to start "one-upping" each other with talk about the famous folk they "partied with" ("We were in Houston and I partied with Waylon" "Oh yeah? We just got back from Grand Rapids where we partied with the Dirt Band and Willie!" and such like).

Finally, our guitar player (a very funny, wry sort of guy) got a T-shirt printed up that said "I partied with God". He figured, who could one-up that? I think most people who saw it figured it was a religious statement. . .

Just thought I'd share
Bart

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 02:14 PM

Once my wife and I attended a Martin Carthy/Watersons concert, and we brought along our son, who was then only a few weeks old. (Don't worry, we sat in the back row, in an aisle seat, and were prepared to take him out immediately if he cried. He didn't.)

At the break, I was standing out in the lobby, holding my son, and Martin was there, schmoozing with some of the audience. He saw my son and he came over and put his face about 8 inches from my son's face, gazed into his eyes for several seconds, and gave him a big smile. I don't remember what he said, if anything. But you can't help liking a guy who likes babies.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 02:18 PM

I'm not sure this story is appropriate here but I'll tell it anyway. It is true. Ask Garnet the next time you see him:

PLACENTA HELPER

Back in the 1970's when I lived at Rivendell Housing Co-op in Michigan, we used to host itinerant folk musicians who performed at the 10-Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse. Well, that evening it was Stan Rogers, his brother Garnet and bass player Dave Eddy. The concert was the evening before and of course it continued as a late night party in our living room, partially fueled by a bottle of absolute alcohol supplied by one of our resident bio-med students. Anyway, everyone was somewhat bleary eyed when they awoke late next afternoon. We pulled together a wonderful vegetarian chili and some meat chili for our guests. Most of our members were vegetarians, and Stan and the boys began baiting the vegetarians with stories and songs. Steve responded by vividly describing the home birth that had taken place in our house a few years back, casually mentioning that since we didn't know what to do with the placenta in the middle of the winter someone had wrapped it up in wax paper and stuffed it in the freezer. One of our new members and cook for the day, Karrie, then chimed in on cue, "In the freezer downstairs? Oh, no!" Stan and the boys turned white…We did bury the placenta the next spring in the backyard before a real "accident" happened.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Melani
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 02:25 PM

I once ran into Aly Bain going into the ladies room as I was leaving. He gave me a charming smile as I scuttled out the door, considerably confused, to say the least. I eventually located the miniscule sign stating that due to remodeling, the ladies room had temporarily become the men's room. Oops.

I also once had a guitar lesson from Michael Smith (too bad it didn't take). Many years ago, Muddy Waters tried to pick up my husband's date in a bar in Chicago, and Mike Bloomfield used to play in his living room. But the real kicker was when my husband declined to go to a CORE party because instead of the usual free admission, they were charging $.50 for the live entertainment. His roommate went, and when he got back, my husband asked how it was. "Not bad," the guy replied. "There was some singer named Dylan something or other."

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From:
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 02:44 PM

B"H Worked concert lighting for a few years and met many legends- too numerous to mention. But I think the coolest one I ever met, remains nameless to me. He appeared one evening in 1965 at the cafe/bus stop in Hunter, New York. Didn't catch his name.... He was an old guy dressed like a cowboy traveling that Woodstock, Tannesville, Windham, etc.. line and playing happy-go-lucky-oletimey songs table to table at whatever place he happened to land. Can anyone tell me..... Who was that unmasked man ?

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: fat B****rd
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 04:44 PM

sung with alvin lee,ian anderson (J Tull) and roger chapman.shared a cigarette with steve howe, annoyed screaming Lord Sutch,mumbled at vince taylor (well he mumbled first) got drunk with tim rose and cr0ssed paths briefly with all sorts of nice people. o yeah diana ross looked at me (nottoo difficult, sheffield city hall is big and there was hardly anybody else there.had a slash next to lol copxhill and one of ray charles touring band blah blahblah

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 04:55 PM

Sydney Carter (who wrote the lyrics to "Lord of the Dance") spoke to me once. "Who are you?" he asked. When he realised I wasn't anyone famous, he looked disappointed and turned back to carry on talking with Martin Carthy and a Waterson or two. This was at the National Folk Festival at Sutton Bonnington over ten years ago.

LFF

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: mousethief
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 05:09 PM

I know the story of the Bremen Town Musicians. That's a musical legend. And there's that one about the singing donkey in Mexico. But I forget the name of that one.

Or is that not what you meant, Tex?

I don't know any real famous musicians on a first name basis. And they're glad, I'm sure.

Alex

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: DancingMom
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 05:21 PM

Gamble Rogers. I helped set up for a show he did in N.C. (I think it was 1982) and we all went out for dinner/breakfast in the wee hours after the show. Nice guy. My mom danced with Chuck Berry once.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 06:41 PM

I once slept with Emmylou Harris, before her second marriage.

It was after her fist British concert in the Hammersmith Odeon bacl in 1974 (I think). I went backstage to meet her, we had a couple of drinks and one thing led to another.

Next thing I remember, the railway guard was shaking my shoulder and asking to see my ticket, and I realised it was all a dream.........

Murray

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: toadfrog
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 07:30 PM

Tastes differ as to who was a Legend, but when I was a kid it was not all that hard to meet people I think were great, because folk singers didn't have all that much money, and stayed in people's houses when on tour. Friends, more prosperous than I, invited me to share dinner with Jean Redpath, and other friends even wangled a dinner invitation from Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger in London (in or about 1964).

McColl was very proud of his new (hand made) tape recorder, and recorded a 3 songs, notably a version of Child # 10 (Twa Sisters) which he had from Belle Stuart, and very similar to a version I see in the Mudcat collection, attributed to somebody I never heard of. Apparently McColl never personally cut a record of that. But a friend listened to the tape and put the music in his master's thesis, and I think it got around from that.

McColl was a very sharp and urbane man, and said things about singing, and teaching singing, that left a lasting impression. He and A.L. Lloyd either founded, or were anyway at the center of the Singers' Club in London, and a number of the best known British folk singers came out of that milieu. He and Peggy had extremely bitter things to say about Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, whom they considered to be flashy twerps who were cheapening things.

Another very exciting experience was a workshop at the 1970 Berkeley 2d World Folk Festival, featuring Charles Seeger, Bess (Lomax) Hawes, and Sam Hinton. Since there was no singing, but just talking about ideas, it was a very intimate (i.e. small) group. It was exciting because of the things Bess Hawes had to say . . .

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Matt_R
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 07:34 PM

Allan C and Bill Sables!!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: radriano
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 07:35 PM

I had lots of stuff to add to this thread but I've already passed my bragging limit this week.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 07:51 PM

If you have known a musical legend, then it should be possible to come up with more than a name, date and location. I'd really like to see some more stories that tells me something more about a "legend."

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 08:11 PM

Like Kim, when I lived in Nashville, it was pretty easy to run into "stars" here and there......and in some odd places. Shopping for pullovers at JC Penney, the guy next to me ask what I thought of them........turned and realized it was Ricky Skaggs. Had a nice talk and got some free passes to a show acouple of nights later.....where both of us were wearing "On Sale" JCP pullovers.

We lived about 6 houses down from Johnny Cash's estate which was a couple past Waylon Jenning's new home. You turned at Twitty City to get back there. Never saw any of them, just Cash's emus. Our house had a broad driveway entrance where the tour buses turned around. I always figured they were saying, "No one you've ever heard of lives here, so fuckem, we use their driveway."

Spaw

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 08:20 PM

I once played a small picnick for a local historical so. once and I was trying to play a very cut and dotted straspay kind of piece on the english concertina. I looked up and caught Issic Stern sfuffing half a hot dog into his mouth.. The strauspay did jump a beat and he laughed with me.. Thats about it..He did not ask me home for dinner.. Ah well.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:04 PM

well!!...... I know Dick Greenhaus, Sandy & Carolyn Paton, Art Thieme (well, met him 3-4 times) Barry Finn, Big Mick......and Max Siegel.....(all legends of various ilk)

And I once helped carry Bob Beers' psaltry and got to stand behind him and watch him practice..(Wichita Kans, about 1962)

the more I remember about great folkies I have met, the sillier it seems to try to pick & choose who were famous and why....and some of the ones who never quite became famous meant more to me and deserved more fame than some of the ones who are household names...

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Don Firth
Date: 22 Mar 01 - 09:40 PM

Quite a few, actually, once I got the thinking about it. When I first got involved with folk music in the early Fifties, Walt Robertson was the biggy around Seattle. For those not familiar with Walt and who missed the thread, take a peek here.

In the early Fifties, Sandy Paton was hanging out in this neck of the woods, learning songs and learning to play the guitar. He was soon to head back East. I ran into Sandy again at the 1960 Berkeley Folk Festival, where he was one of the featured performers (he'd obviously been a busy lad in the intervening years). Sandy dragged me off to a post-concert party where I met and had a chance to talk with two of the other featured performers -- Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl. They did a concert in Seattle not that long before MacColl died (1989), and Peggy has been back at least once since.

I went to the Berkeley festivals in '60, '61, and '64. I'm not sure which festival it was where I met a young Scots lass (not one of the featured performers) who had a headful of ballads and sang them beautifully. Sam Hinton was conducting a workshop on ballad singing and she was in the audience. After asking several very incisive questions, Sam Hinton said, "Obviously, you know more about ballad singing than we here on the panel. Please, come up and join us." Her name was Jean Redpath. She's passed through Seattle a couple of times since.

At the Berkeley Festivals, I met and talked with Charles Seeger, Sam Hinton, Bess Hawes, Almeda Riddle, Marais and Miranda, Mance Lipscomb, and several others I can't recall right now. I saw, but didn't have a chance to talk with Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, Doc and Merle Watson, The New Lost City Ramblers, Frank Warner, and many others. There were a lot of well-known folk musicians who came to the Berkeley festivals, and plenty of opportunity to meet and talk with them. That was sort of the point.

Pete Seeger, in 1954 in Seattle at a post-concert party and song-fest that lasted until 4:00 a.m., then again in 1957. In 1957, after he did a day-time concert in Bellingham, I had a long conversation with Richard Dyer-Bennet. He was very friendly and encouraging. Guy Carawan was in Seattle for several days in the mid-Fifties, then came back to do a concert in late '57 or early '58. Then again in the '80s. Bob Gibson and Dick Rosmini in 1958. They were in Seattle for about two weeks and we got together several times to gab and swap songs. Joan Baez at another after-concert party in 1962, then I talked to her again in 1964 at the Berkeley Folk Festival. Rolf Cahn in Berkeley in 1959, then he came to Seattle to sing and do some workshops in the early Sixties. Barbara Dane and Dick Rosmini (again) in the early Sixties. They opened for Bob Newhart at the Orpheum Theater. Dick got me in backstage, then afterward, we all went to a party at a U. of W. frat house that one of my guitar pupils belonged to. We sang until the wee, small hours, then we all went out and had breakfast. Theodore Bikel. The day after his concert at the Seattle Center Opera House in '62 (Seattle World's Fair) he came to a record store in the University District for a record signing. For about two hours a half-dozen of us sat around and gabbed with him. Fascinating guy! Dyer-Bennet did three concerts during the World's Fair then came and sang with us at one of the Sunday afternoon concerts at the United Nations Pavilion.

In the early '60s, Jesse Fuller sang one weekend at a coffeehouse in Seattle. One of the waitresses (a non-singing folk music enthusiast) hired him to sing at a party she was throwing, and many of us had a chance to hear him up close and talk with him. I remember him saying. "I gotta laugh at some of these college kids singin' about bein' a 'steel drivin' man.'" Then he chuckled and added, "'Cause I have drove some!"

In the late '70s (or was it the early '80s?) several people, including my wife Barbara and I, drove up to Bellingham to take in Gordon Bok's concert there, and we met and talked with him at the after-concert party. Gordon did another concert in Seattle in the late '80s, and there was a party and song-fest on a Lake Union houseboat the night before the concert. During the evening, while talking to Gordon, he and I swapped guitars for a few minutes. His was a Santos Hernandez classic, as I recall. Great sounding and nice to play. Mine was a Japanese made classic imported by Jose Oribe and bearing his signed "inspected and approved by" label (it looks exactly like a Jose Ramirez and sounds almost as good!). Gordon played it awhile, then said, "Nice guitar! It has bells in it!"

I consider Merritt Herring a legend. If he isn't, he ought to be. I think he lives in Portland Oregon or thereabouts now, but I first met him at the 1960 Berkeley Folk Festival. During the early '70s he lived on Bainbridge Island, a fairly short ferry-ride (or a very long, cold swim) from Seattle and he came to all the early Seattle Song Circle meetings. I saw him again recently at a Northwest Folklife Festival. Great voice, great guitar, and he sticks pretty close to traditional songs.

I'm sure there were others, but right now I'm suffering from brain-fag and fits of nostalgia. Lots of great musicians out there. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Deckman
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 12:26 AM

Respectfully, I would like to 'tweak' this thread just a little bit. Rather than speak to how many 'greats' (the same 100) we've all run into, how about this spin ... who did you run in to that REALLY TAUGHT YOU SOMETHING! For myself, as a first contribution, I'll bypass mention of Walt Robertson and talk about the late Roy Guest, from England. I met him when I was perhaps 18 (and I was once, believe it or not). For whatever reasons, we hung out a lot. He taught me how to really 'milk a song' (Brennon On The Moor). That is, how to really sing a song so well, that the audience wanted to hear it again, just after you'd completed it. He was a master at that! I hope that this 'tweaks' your interest ... I love to hear your imput. CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson

Subject: well, i learned to dodge...
From: cait
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 12:51 AM

anyways, jose feliciano felt me up one night in boston. i was dating a classical guitarist, gil dejesus, who was still playing the same circuit jose used to play when they had known each other. jose always left comp tix for gil and his date. we saw the show and then took jose out for greek pastries. for a blind dude, jose had an uncanny ability to know just where to 'accidentally brush up against'...well, you get the picture.

or is this not what you meant?

also, bo diddly pulled me up on stage once to make fun of me, but i knocked his socks off by throwing rap lines about pepsi light (his sponsor) for a few rounds.

huh. that was fun.

also, i was kissed by delbert mcclinton in the back seat of a '66 ford galaxie 500xl (my husband was driving)...hey! it was just a good night kiss! *swoon*

mike finnigan hugged me backstage once.

i am not a groupie, i just happen to be lovable, and i love music so i get around to hear some greats. running my own blues society was a kick, too.

-caiti

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: CamiSu
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 09:41 AM

Roll&Go_C,

Often the trouble with the stories that go with the legends are so ordinary, because they are people just like us. I mean what do you say? Reggie Harris and I leaned against each other listening to stories? Definitely, but so what? He and Kim are two of the nicest and most talented people on the circuit,at least as far as I'm concerned. (Though perhaps the better story is how, in Colorado, they looked into the audience and saw a Clearwater shirt on someone. Reggie remarked to Kim on it and then said, "Kim, it's DAVID BUSTER!" (my husband!))

They are people, and wonderful ones, just like you.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: texastoolman
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 09:58 AM

i think the fact that at heart they are so "ordinary"is the beauty of it it's the SUPER-STARS that try to separate themselves from us that make us think performers are somehow different we are given certain gifts to share with everyone else to not do so is a shame to wonder why we were given suchgifts is an exercise in egotism i really enjoy the different twists this thread has taken on

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: harpgirl
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 10:00 AM

...I was in an experimental group therapy group as part of the NTL research in Psych 101 at the University of Michigan with Fred Labour. He was goofy then, too. He played bass in a Band called Honky Tonk Angels fronted by Lisa Silver, both late of Nashville. Lisa has had an interesting career as well! Freddie taught me to follow my joy! hg

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 01:18 PM

Texastoolman: I don't think "superstars" necessarily WANT to separate themselves from the hoi polloi. I think the public forces them to. It comes with the territory.

One of the nice things about folk music is that folk musicians almost never become superstars. (Bob Dylan is a special case.) No matter how much we folkies adore them, we are a small minority, and the rest of the world either ignores them or doesn't recognize them. Therefore, they never feel overloaded with attention.

Can you imagine what it must be like to never be able to go to Target and look at a toaster without being besieged by adoring fans, just wanting to talk to you, touch you, and have you smile at them, so they can brag to their friends about it later? (Just like we are bragging now.)

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: mousethief
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 01:27 PM

I think "KISS" (the rock group) had the right idea. They could put on a show for thousands of screaming fans, and then wash off the make-up, put on a black shirt and a pair of jeans, and carry equipment out to the bus. Nobody would ever know it was one of the band.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Amos
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 02:34 PM

I have been told that Frank Warner was hauled to our home after a late-night performance in the Village in 1946 by my father, and that he (Warner) carried me around singing Hush Little Baby until I went back to sleep. I don't happen to remember the event, but I have to believe some kind of spark was passed. At the Newport Folk Festival of 1964(?) I got to ask Joanie and Bob to move a little to one side, as they were standing right in our line of sight to the stage, to which they graciously acceded.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 02:47 PM

Wow Amos. I was always impressed by you but now I am really impressed!
Murray the K pushed me out of the way backstage at the Paramount and stepped on my toe.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Karen in California
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 02:49 PM

Partied with Silly Wizard after one of their concerts (invited to the home where they were staying). My husband almost spilled a beer on the leather jacket belonging to one of Mary Black's brothers.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 03:01 PM

Just remembered: I flew from Sidney to California with Felix Cavalieri of the Rascals. He even offered me the use of his shower in LA.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Wesley S
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 03:23 PM

He's perhaps not a legend but I used to stay in George Winston's spare bedroom when I was visiting friends in Deland Florida. That's back when he used to play a Farfisa combo organ with a Leslie speaker. A very nice guy who still donates part of each nights concert proceeds to hunger related charities. We used to stay up until dawn playing records {remember them?}.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 04:39 PM

Those who have had an influence on me. 1 Gordon Bok. He taught me that you dont have to be well known to be appreciated. 2 The Patons. They surprised me by recording me.I Never thought I was special enough. 3. Tom Paxton. One of my heros. At a private party he asked me to sing a song. (Mooseturd Pie) a great boost for the ego. 4. Pete Seeger. A compliment from Pete made me record Lorena. 5.Utah Phillips went out of his way to tell me how much he liked what I did with Phoebe Snow. 6. Ramblin' Jack Elliott asked me to come and join him for an evening of music and BS. He liked my Taylor! (the guitar)

I've been very lucky to meet many many more wonderful pickers such as Bob Zentz, Ed Trickett, Ann Muir, Ann Dodson, Cindy Kallet and singer Jean Redpath, and, I'm hoping to meet Rick Fielding and Seamus Kennedy.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 04:47 PM

My Dad once had a pint in Liverpool with George Melley, and he got me his autograph.

I also went to Blur's aftershow party in Liverpool in 1997, but they're not really considered legends....

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 04:49 PM

Brian Hyland ("Itsie Bitsie Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini") autographed my Keds!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Seth from China
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 05:28 PM

At one time, Charles Brown was my neighbor in Oakland California. At this time (early 70's) he had not been" re-discovered ", he was just trying to make a living playing small clubs and doing some session work with the likes of Jimmy Witherspoon and Johnny Otis. A very kind, urbane and gracious man. We talked and visited a few times. He told me about the music business. I wish I had spent more time with him.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 05:30 PM

Following Bob (Deckman) Nelson's suggestion, probably second only to Walt Robertson, the singer who had the most influence on me was Rolf Cahn. One doesn't hear much about Rolf Cahn these days, but he had a powerful influence on a lot of folksingers back in the Fifties and Sixties.

In the late Fifties there were several Reed College (Portland, Oregon) folksingers who often shuttled back and forth between Berkeley and Seattle. They spoke of folksingers in the Bay Area other than the Kingston Trio and the Gateway Singers – singers such as Billy Faier, Jo Mapes, Barbara Dane, and Rolf Cahn.

There were a few Reedites in particular who played the guitar passably well, then made a trip to Berkeley, took a couple of lessons from Rolf Cahn, and returned to Seattle shortly thereafter with a remarkable improvement in their guitar playing. It seems that in addition to being a versatile singer of all kinds of folk songs, Cahn was an exceptional teacher as well. And he played some pretty mean Flamenco. He sounded like someone I would like to meet. And when Bob and I went to the Bay Area in 1959, we had a chance to get together with him for a half-dozen long gab-sessions and song-fests before he took off to Cambridge, Mass.

In our first meeting, we were curious about the availability of singing jobs in the area. The question of competition for jobs came up. Cahn said he didn't know. When our eyebrows went up, he told us a parable:

Competition? I never think about it. I once had a chance to hang out with the Mercedes team during the thousand mile Mexican Road Race. There were Jaguars, Porsches, Ferraris, Allards, Cunninghams, you name it, they were all there. During the strategy meetings, none of the other cars in the race were ever mentioned. All they talked about was getting the Mercedes from point A to point B in the fastest, safest possible manner. What the other cars did was up to them. Competition? Don't waste your time thinking about it. Just do the best you can.

That really stuck with me. And another thing that really stuck with me was something Rolf wrote on the back of a record jacket:

The most ticklish question still results from that awful word "Folk Music", which gives the erroneous impression that there is one body of music with one standard texture, dynamic, and history. Actually, the term today covers areas that are only connected in the subtlest terms of general feeling and experience. A United States cowboy song has less connection with a bloody Zulu tale than it has to "Western Pop" music; a lowdown blues fits less with Dutch South African melody than with George Gershwin.

Most of us agree in feeling as to our general boundaries, but more and more we search for our own particular contributions as musicians within these variegated provinces. There doesn't seem to be much point in imitating – what, after all, is the point of doing Little Moses exactly like the Carter Family? Yet it seems vital to convey the massive, punching instrumentals and the tense driving, almost hypnotic voice of the Carter Family performances.

One the one hand, there is the danger of becoming a musical stamp collector; on the other, the equal danger of leaving behind the language, texture, and rhythm that made the music worthy of our devotion in the first place. So we have arrived at a point where in each case we try to determine those elements which make a particular piece of music meaningful to us, and to build the performance through these elements. By continuing to learn everything possible of the art form – techniques, textures, rhythms, cultural implications and convention, we hope to mature constantly in our individual understanding and creativity in this music.

At the time (and sometimes, I think, still), there seemed to be two approaches that most people followed: 1) Ethnic purity, in which one tried to sound as much as possible like the original source. I found this limiting because it left no room for creativity and growth. Not being "allowed" to put something of oneself into a song was just too constricting. Why bother? 2) What might be called "commercial," in which one catered to what one thought the general audience might want. It might be successful financially, but creatively one became "silly-putty" in the hands of the broadest public taste (and perhaps the less said about that, the better). And a third approach: as much as I admired Richard Dyer-Bennet and as much as I learned from him, I felt that adhering to a strictly classical style was as limiting as the previous two approaches. What Rolf Cahn wrote above put the whole thing into focus for me. The basic question is: "what is this song really about and how best can I express it?"

Don Firth

P. S. I just did a web search for Rolf Cahn and, sadly, discovered this website.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: wdyat12
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 05:42 PM

I caught a flyaway fingerpick during one of Tom Rushes gigs at the Club 47 and gave it back to him. He didn't miss a beat or a note. Quite a performer. Pretty accurate metronome foot too.

wdyat12

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bert
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 05:47 PM

Ah Kendal, let me tell you about Rick Fielding and Seamus Kennedy.

Rick, he's a really nice guy. He's a little on the quiet side and a little bit 'bolshey'. He's very interesting to talk with and he's a good listener.

Now that Seamus on the other hand, when you first meet him he treats you like an old friend and you'd swear you've know him for years. He'll pick you out in the audience and make you part of his act, whether you like it or not.

Salt of the earth, the bloody pair ov 'em.

Bert.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bert
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 05:52 PM

Oh yeah, and they're fair entertainers too.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Peter T.
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 06:02 PM

I sat down last night in a Toronto pub beside the guy who plays the mountie in "Due South", Paul something or other. He was picking up his leading lady at the time, not that it mattered to all the women in the pub. For all other men in the place it was a "where did the lights go?" moment. The waitress would take his order, go back into the back room, shriek and giggle with all the other waitresses, and come back again. Often.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,tequilaron
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 06:03 PM

What fun! I love a good pissin' contest. When I was but a lad I use to play at a coffee house in Pinellas Park, Fl called the Beaux Arts Coffee House and Gallery. One of the guys who just sort of hung around and listened and occassionally read some of his poetry was a young junior college student named Jim. I was not impressed. Jim later formed a little group called The Doors. Who knew?

I grew up in Polk County, Florida and use to frequent a teen night club called the Derry Down in Winter Haven, FL. One night during the rock band's intermission the owner of the club had a special guest performer. An acoustic performer named Gram Parsons playing for a club full of teenagers who came to shake their ass. He held us spellbound.

For many years I was a fan and friend of Florida humorist and musician Gamble Rogers. I have so many Gamble stories I surely can't share them here, but I guess the thing I remember most about Gamble was his professionalism, his wit, and his kindness. Gamble was a great human being who gave his life doing what Gamble always did-- trying to save another human being from drowning. Gamble use to say, "The Lord gives me grace, the devil gives me style. Ron.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Hawker
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 08:51 PM

NAME DROPPERS - All of you!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: harpgirl
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 09:06 PM

...Bernie Leadon's brother Mark lives here in town. He is a finalist in the songwriting contest at Suwannee Springfest this weekend. Maybe he won!!!! He plays great banjo and he's cute too! hg

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: gnu
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 09:12 PM

Yeah, but this thread gave some of us a chance to live again that moment of excitement and joy we felt when these meetings, however brief, happened.

I really was thrilled when mine happened, even though it sounds childish in the light of day.

gnu

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 09:30 PM

Had a couple of good conversations with Buffy Sainte-Marie after concerts she did. A very nice and charming woman, she is...and very motivated.

Chatted with Bruce Cockburn in Orillia one time.

Chatted with Valdy another.

Spent a weekend with Tina Turner in some big house by the seacoast...oh, that one was a dream...

Dreamt I was Cher's partner once, too. The dream encompassed the events of about a week...shopping, eating meals, going to meetings, socializing...all very interesting...and not one X-rated scene in the whole thing...not even a kiss, as I recall.

Go figure. I have no explanation for it at all, but it was still a very cool dream. I'd be happy to have it again. She was very smart, and fine company as well.

- LH

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Ebbie
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 09:57 PM

Back in the early 80s Chet Atkins and his band stayed several days at the motel I was running. The band members went out on the town but Chet stayed 'home'. I think he sometimes got lonesome, and his big cigar in hand he would wander over to the office to chit chat with me. Nice guy.

What really impressed me about him is that when I'd go by his room in the course of the day I could hear him practicing the guitar. There's a reason he got so good!

The day they left, Herman, his bass man, said, Don't you want a picture of Chet?? I'm not really the autograph type but I said, Sure. So, Chet posed, I shot a picture- and dropped the camera, which popped open on the ground. So I have a picture of Chet Atkins, and while he's recognizable in it, it's kind of dark and undefined.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: kendall
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 10:30 PM

We didn't drop those names..we were asked to put them down!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Hawker
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 07:34 AM

Kendall,
Do the words 'sense of humour' mean anything to you?
It just tickled me to see so many big names in one thread!, couldn't resist!
No offence meant!!!!
Lucy

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: mkebenn
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 08:29 AM

Little Hawk, I envy your conversation with Buffy, a hero of mine. Mike

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Micca
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 08:37 AM

Since these seem to be mostly GOOD stories about legends, I am hesitating to include the story of how I threw (physically) Paul Simon out of a Folk Club, or how I punched Eric Clapton in the mouth....

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: alison
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 08:53 AM

does being chatted up by Andy Irvine count?

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 09:02 AM

Thanks, Don. Those wonderful folks we met in our travels will always be alive as long as we sing their songs and tell their stories. Immortal musings...

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: John Hardly
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 09:02 AM

I've taken guitar lessons with Joel Mabus.

If you're still around..the topper to your above mentioned T-shirt: "God partied with ME"


JH (who is leaving to avoid incoming lightning bolt)

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: John Hardly
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 09:04 AM

second half of above post was addressed to Bartholemew.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 09:11 AM

I'm not sure I know what a legend is but I have never known anyone famous although I have spoken to a few well known folk performers - you do when youre involved with the running of a folk club - even small ones like Llanudno had the likes of Swarbrick, Carthy, etc in my time but that doesn't count.

The encounters with known performers I have enjoyed the most are a mostly a little selfish but I had a great time sitting up with Damien Barber playing and singing till 6am and drinking his home made wine, I was flattered by Denny Bartley asking me to kick some life into an outdoor seession for him and Chris Sherbourne, I'll never forget Sully congratulating me on my playing (OK I was buying an instruement off him but..), I played a spontanious duet (Trumpet and Sailors hornpipes) in a pub in Conwy - turned out I was playing with Richard Durrant who at the time was also playing for Sky... Small things but as a run of the mill type folky, they have been big things for me.

The person who helped me the most musically is not a known name even though she did win the All Ireland Championship on whistle. It was at a time when my confidence was very low and another musician was doing his best to destroy what remained of it. She and her partner saw what was going on and invited me back for a drink after the session. They talked aboout it, encouraged me to play with them... I owe them a lot.

Jon

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,chris
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 01:14 PM

i gigged with Wayne Kramer in 1979 at Paychecks in Hamtramck,

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 04:18 PM

I was going through Carmel during the Pro-Am Invitational some years back and swung around Seventeen Mile Drive for no particular reason except to gawk at the celebrities. About the time we were passing the clubhouse at Spy Glass I decided I had to use the facilities. While so involved I happened to take a sidelong glance at the gent standing next to me and realized I was pissing just one urinal away from the one then being put to similar use by Bing Crosby. I got so startled by the experience that I might have splashed on him a little. I probably did.

Oh, well. Into each life some rain must fall. He finished and left while I was still puttin mine away.

Spud

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Indy lass
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 04:52 PM

I met Tish Hinojosa at a school meeting in Austin, TX. My two kids played with her two kids during the meeting in the auditorium lobby and we briefly spoke. Of course I told her I loved her music. In 1977 or 78 I took mandolin lessons from Joel Mabus in an East Lansing music store (I think it was Elderly Instruments first place.) A few years ago I took a Celtic College class in traditional music from Eileen McGann in Goderich, Ont.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: John Hardly
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 05:29 PM

Hey Indy lass,
get thee over to Fountain Square tonight and meet up with another legend--Bryan Bowers!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: wdyat12
Date: 25 Mar 01 - 04:40 PM

Aaaa, Tish Hinojosa, So fine Indy lass. Wish I could meet her.

wdyat12

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Mar 01 - 05:58 PM

Yes, Tish is absolutely wonderful.

- LH

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 25 Mar 01 - 06:57 PM

I cant believe I left out, Art Thieme, Tommy Makem Wilf Carter and Lenny Breau.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Deckman
Date: 25 Mar 01 - 07:45 PM

I'd like to contribute another name as a musical legand, and also man who had tremendous impact on me. His real name was Bill Higley. His public (radio) name was "Willy Waw Willy," and he moved down to Seattle from Anchorage, Alaska about 1949. I'll be amazed if anyone out there has heard of him, but if you have, please contact me. A "Willy Waw" is an Alaskan term for a strong blast of wind that comes out of nowhere ... kinda like a California "Santy Anna." Bill was a radio man, and he adopted that term "Willy Waw, to match his radio style.He started in radio back in the days of crystal sets and the Red and Blue networks ... these preceeded ABC and NBC. His early radio partner was Harry K. McKlintock, aka "Haywire Mac." He came into my life when I was 12, after marrying a family friend. He was an incredible performer. He played an old Sears Silvertone plywood guitar, new 4 chords and 34 songs. But he could entertain you for a half an hour with just one song, telling the story behind, beside and instead of, that one song.I used to get up early on Saturday mornings and help him open the radio station,KJR, In Seattle. He was full of cornball humor, and occasionally let me read weather forcasts and teletype news items on the air. I'm sure it wasn't quite leagal, but BOY, did I love it! Later on in my college years, I majored in radio broadcast and even had my own live folk music show when I was 19! (thanks to Bill for coaching me so well). For most of the Summers of my teeage years, I lived with Bill and his wonderful wife Verna. By now he was charter boat captain in Westport, Washington, and I worked with him as his bait boy. This was a Finnish community, and a baitboy was called a 'pooker.' During those Summers, he taught me guitar, ballads, singing, elecution, diction, style, presentation. Verna was a school librarian, so when I wasn't practising performance skills with Bill, Verna had me at the library researching folk songs ... what a wonderful time those Summers were. He was a 'killer' on diction. I well remember singing 32 verses of Mattie Groves, only to stumble on a word in the 33rd verse. He would stop me, by shouting, make me sing it again, from verse one! To this day, diction is a must with me ... remember children, spit out those final consonants and don't mumble. So, here's a tribute to a wonderful man, Bill Higley. He died in Westport Washington about 1962.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 25 Mar 01 - 09:10 PM

Deckman: I got to Alaska in 1950, so I guess I missed Bill Higley in passing. I did, however know Harry McClintock, or rather, I saw him from time to time at KFRC studio in San Francisco and KFBK in Sacramento. My dad, known as Yankee Mac, was a sometimes competitor of 'Haywire Mac' McClintock in the 1929-32 years and I would sometimes get to go to the studio with him. McClintock 'belonged' to KFRC and my dad was the 'property' of KFBK, so to speak, but they were good friends in reality and occasionally filled for each other. That was just before studio policy changed so that the entertainers had to find their own sponsors. Before that, entertainers like McClintock and my Dad were paid directly by the studios.

So here's one for Bill, and Happy Memories!!

Spud

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Deckman
Date: 25 Mar 01 - 10:45 PM

To Spud: Thanks for your posting. Bill Higley nurtured me on "Haywire Mac" songs. Do you remember: "My Druthers, Ye Olde Ballad of Something or Other (parody of Abdull the Bullbull Ameer)? I think a lot about those old days of radio. That was real, it was live, it was NOT slick, nothing was canned, what you heard was exactly what happened, bloopers and all. Today's commercial radio is awful. So again, thanks for jumping in here. I suspect that we are of the same vintage. If you promise to take care of yourself, and post often, I'll do the same. CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Deckman
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 12:05 AM

Spud ... I HAVE to mention something else, following an earlier posting from you. In 1956, I rode in an elevator, in the Olympic hotel in Seattle, with Bing Crosby and Phil Harris. And, I also have shared urinals with some very famous people ... mostly men! CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Mudcat upstairs (caution - long brag alert)
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 09:47 AM

On the flatpick list, we get to converse on a regular basis with some people who are musical legends to us, although most people, even most folkies, may not recognize them.

About a month ago, Jack Lawrence, Doc Watson's touring partner/sideman/guide/roadie for the last 10-15 years, since Merle's death, and one of the most incredible pickers you're likely to hear, in his own right, posted to the list as follows:

I kinda hate to do this, but it's for the best. I have for sale the Collings D-2H I've used since 1/93. Many of you have heard this guitar on Doc's cds as well as my own. It was my road guitar until I got the Merrill. It is Indian/Sitka. The top is one of the nicest I've ever seen. I hand picked this one from a half dozen hanging in the store. It has served me well and I hate to see it go, but I also hate to see it sitting around not being played. I have the Merrill and a Henderson Braz/Ad D and the Collings does not get the playing time it deserves. I'd like to see it go to someone who will love and use it. The price is $2100 shipped in the lower 48. It has a Mc Intyre PU and has a few "prestige marks" where Doc ran me into things when I lead him around. Over all it is in excellent condition. I'm beginning to break out in hives and the cold sweats, but I can't justify keeping such a fine guitar that doesn't get played. BTW, it is in an almost pristine original tweed case,as I used a Calton on the road....

Well, guess who had some gig money saved up, and where that instrument ended up! I still have to take it out and look at it every so often to make sure it's real.

Collings have been described as "Martins on steroids." That about says it all, as to the sound.

As I said on the list: I Am Not Worthy, and I Don't Care!

Peter.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: tar_heel
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 10:27 AM

country music singer,GEORGE HAMILTON IV,was a high school buddy of mine...we grew up pickin and singing together....i taught him his first chords on the guitar,when i was 13 years old.... but lots of other legends in my life, too... one right now is a, MR.JOHNNY VIPPERMAN....johnny is way up in years now,still active and....he is the OLDEST LIVING MEMBER of the SONS OF THE PIONEERS!he was not one of the originals,but came along later...johnny lives in the mt.ary,n.c.area and i'm honored to call him,my friend! also in 1958,i was living and working in jacksonville,florida,and spent a few months picking and singing with a new kid on the block then...JOHNNY TILLOTSON... in recent years my musical intrest turned to the old-time traditional songs and legends...it was my honor to become friends with JOE and JANETTE CARTER,the son and daughter of the SARA AND AP CARTER!!and,since then i have met and become friends with so many legendary folks of old-time music,there is not enough room in here to list them all....

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Wesley S
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 10:36 AM

Tequilaron - I spent many a night at the Beaux Arts Coffehouse during the late 60's and early 70's. Nice to hear from someone else that spent time there. We hope to hear from you again.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 02:08 PM

I'm envious..wish I had known "Haywire Mac"

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bernard
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 02:30 PM

I've been sound man for Tom Paxton, Martin Carthy, Des O'Connor, Val Doonican (er... do I have to do this?!)

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Bernard
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 02:33 PM

Okay - I've done George Melly, The Dakotas (still touring with the original 60's line-up), Spike Milligan, Norman Wisdom (oops... slipping again!!)

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,She Who Sells Seashells by the Seashore
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 02:54 PM

I bought some cds from directly from Sandy Paton at a folk festival and I gather that Sandy knows Kendall personally. So, I'm just one degree of separation from meeting the legend that is Kendall.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From:
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 02:54 PM

I don't know if you'd call him a "legend", but I was beaten in an amateur contest by country music artist Jim Ed Brown in 1952. He was about 18, and came on stage wearing a "Lash LaRue" suit (any one remember Lash LaRue?). Jim was known as J. E. back then. He had looks, talent, stage presence; and beat the bejabbers out of all of the competion - including my singing buddy and me.

Oh, I once carried Ramona Jones fiddle. She talked to me just like I was a real person. She's a very nice lady.

I was on a plane with the Steve Miller band; but I didn't know who Steve Miller was. My sons brought me up to date.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: JeZeBeL
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 02:59 PM

Hmmm, well I've sta n drank n stuff with the Levellers, and I know half of 422!! OH, and a bit of Bedlam.....do they count?

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Barbara
Date: 27 Mar 01 - 02:27 AM

Gosh, Don, I've been singing all weekend with Merritt, and I had no idea he was a legend. He is a sweetie, that I know. Heck,I even slept with him -- tho he was on the top bunk above my husband and I was on the other bottom bunk across from them.
Three of us ladies sang him awake on Saturday, did I mention he's a charmer? It took one of his songs -- Free and Easy, to get him croaking, and then moving.
I once met Joan Baez at her dad's place when we were having a Quaker meeting there. Her dad was an active member of Berkeley Friends meeting, but the girls were often elsewhere. As I recall she was reserved, and I was awestruck.
Malvina Reynolds once came by to look at a guitar I was selling, and even tho it was obvious in two minutes that it was not what she wanted, she stayed a couple hours and created an impromptu singing circle in my room. She had just written the song about Brown Lung and how it affects the cotton towel mill workers, and she sang it for us.
Another time I was invited into her home by Faith Petric -- I shared a graphics studio in what was commonly called the Anarchist's block of Parker -- and happened to be passing just as Faith came by for a visit. Mal's home was all very dark wood paneling and she served us pomogranite juice -- something I'd never heard of. Then she went into the living room and played us a very bluesy arrangement of "If You Love Me" on the piano. She could have quite a bite -- I'd heard anyway, but I never experienced it. I think it was mostly she didn't suffer fools gladly.
Oh, and once when I was sitting with friends at a Pete Seeger concert,we were singing songs to pass the time. We'd come early to get seats in the front row, and when Trish started singing "Union Maid", Pete whipped out from stage left, and hopped down in front of her, pencil and paper in hand. She had a verse he wanted, and he transcribed it on the spot, and then stayed to sing a few more with us.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 27 Mar 01 - 02:35 PM

Hey seashells etc. you are right, Sandy and I are close friends, but, dont let that stand between us!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: texastoolman
Date: 28 Mar 01 - 03:31 AM

great thread,i was hoping to hear about more blues people

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Mar 01 - 04:24 AM

Hey, isn't name-dropping fun? I got to listen when Ed Trickett was talking to Big Mick...

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 28 Mar 01 - 07:35 PM

Deckman: I don't recall the parody, but Abdul Abulbul Amir was a favorite of my Dad's, in fact he liked it so much he named my dog Abdul when he got it for me in about 1932 when I was seven. Every other kid I knew had a dog named Shep, or Pard, or Jack, or Skip and I had this dog named Abdul. I never would call him by name if any body was around but he was pretty good about comin when I whistled, and he knew the difference between my whistle and somebody elses. He was pretty smart at times.

One time he treed a coon (four-legged) out in a big meadow with only one tree in it. I told him to sit and stay under the coon-tree and ran home for my .22 and when I got back about twenty minutes later he'd never moved an inch. There he was all panting with excitement when he saw me comin with the gun in my hand, his tail waggin a mile a minute. uhcourse, the coon had snuck down the other side of the tree from where the dog was and lit for other parts. I could hardly get the dog to leave that tree, he kept runnin around and lookin up into the branches and I practically had ta drag him home.

After that he never could pass that tree without runnin up and puttin his paws up on the trunk and peerin up into the leaves and branches.

George MacClanahan (Who are Spud)

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Deckman
Date: 28 Mar 01 - 08:06 PM

Hey Barbara. Merritt Herring is one the most enjoyable singers I've ever known. Beyond his incredibly sweet voice and gentle style, he is a very decent human being ... and 'decency' is very high on my list of attributes. I last saw him when he performed at Northwest Folklife in Seattle a few years ago. Next time you see him, tell him "Hi" for me, and ask him to sing the last verse of "Who Will Sing For Me," that he wrote. CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Amos
Date: 28 Mar 01 - 08:17 PM

Now that coon.... he was a legend!

A

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 28 Mar 01 - 08:45 PM

Yeah, Amos, maybe the dog just a little bit, too. With a name like Abdul, you expect perfection?

Some years later,in Alaska, I had a lead dog I named Ivan Skavinski Skivar. Now he was REALLY dumb!! Another legend.

Spud

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: DougR
Date: 28 Mar 01 - 10:52 PM

The question was musical legends, so I guess it's not confined to folk music. Musicians I know or knew pretty well: Eddy Arnold, Billy Edd Wheeler, John Gary, Henry Mancini, Andre Segovia, Richard Tucker, Jack Benny (ok perhaps he wasn't best known as a musician), Roger Wagner, Alfred Wallenstein, Van Cliburn, Morton Gould, Eileen Farrell, Isaac Stern, Jose Iturbi, Rise` Stevens.

DougR

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Deckman
Date: 29 Mar 01 - 07:39 AM

SPUD ... Ivan Skavinski Skivar is one of the two names that "Haywire Mac" called his heros in his paraody of Abdull the Bullbull Ameer. The other name was Alonzo Fitzpatrick MGuire! CHEERS, Bob (deckman) Nelson

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 29 Mar 01 - 10:58 AM

Deckman: The DigiTrad has the original under the title Abdul Abulbul Amir and a rather raunchy parody titled Abdul El Bulbul, Emir. And I DO mean raunchy. But I didn't find the one of McClintocks.

Spud

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Mar 01 - 11:25 AM

Never met David or Orpheus, so that just leaves ME.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Blues Killer
Date: 29 Mar 01 - 10:33 PM

There's a guy named Al Brousard who plays at 711 Bourbon in New Orleans. He's 95ish and still rocks out 5 nights a week. He knew the guys who killed Kennedy, foiled Castro's invasion of into the Delta and drinks his whiskey straight. Al should be famous!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Amos
Date: 29 Mar 01 - 10:37 PM

I got to shake hands with Segovia when I was a young sprat -- his fingers were short and square, which impressed me all the more. And man, did he have a grip! I also grew up a speaking acquaintance with Bill Crofut, may he RIP.

A

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,stumd3
Date: 04 May 04 - 01:12 PM

I sat in John Hammond Jr.'s car with his wife and my friend for about 15minutes talking about music. He gave me a lot of advice and I'll never forget how generous he was after such a long gig.

I met and shook hands with Doc watson, Steve Forbert, Chris Smither, Willie, Tom Rush.

Took a piss and had a nice conversation with Ramblin' Jack.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Melani
Date: 04 May 04 - 02:13 PM

I recently got to be radriano's roadie!

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,amergin
Date: 04 May 04 - 03:21 PM

I had a couple of convos with andy m. stewart...and I have had one with eric bogle....I also got to meet jez lowe and tom paxton...

andy m. stewart signed my copy of his songbook...which apparently was really HIS songbook as it was his personal copy....he signed it saying this was MY copy.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Cool Beans
Date: 04 May 04 - 04:10 PM

In March of this year I stepped forth from the audience and played backup guitar for Roger Sprung at a club in Coral Gables, Florida, and I wasn't half bad. A peak experience! At least my wife was impressed.

When I was in high school in New York 40 years ago, a classmate was taking guitar lessons from Rev. Gary Davis. I missed school one day because I was sick, it happened to be the day of my friend's weekly lesson. He called me from Rev. Davis's and Davis played a 15-minute concert for me over the phone, including things he never played in public, like "Raise a Ruckus Tonight." Another peak experience.

Between peak experiences it's been pretty quiet

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,earthling
Date: 04 May 04 - 04:26 PM

Hammersmith Odeon late seventies/early eighties.....in the mosh pit very sweaty........Ted Nugent doing his thang on stage.....as the opening chords of Cat Scratch Fever belted out....he crawled feline like across the stage towards me....and in a Courtney Cox moment I was swept up by the axeman himself and mightily kissed. That's kind of knowing, in a loosely biblical sense.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,gigix
Date: 05 May 04 - 10:21 AM

Ruud Gullit patted my mother's dog once. When the old pet was gone, mom forbid me to keep the skin.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Leadfingers
Date: 05 May 04 - 12:01 PM

We Musical Legends are meeting other Musical Legends ALL the time.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: weerover
Date: 05 May 04 - 05:01 PM

Have shared a drink and a conversation with many respected musicians and singers, including Billy Connolly, Hamish Imlach, the MacCalmans, Danny Kyle, Bill Barclay, Phil Cunningham, but then the folk scene over here's like that.

My brother-in-law has the claim to fame that he shared a lift (elevator) in New York with Debbie Harry.

wr.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST
Date: 05 May 04 - 05:10 PM

Surely the whole point about folk music is the lack of a "them and us" split between performers and audience. You can end up in the canteen queue with Norma Waterson or in a session with just about anybody.

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: GUEST,Lindswidder
Date: 05 May 04 - 06:09 PM

in th 70s I moved with my (then) husband to a Northamptonshire village house and Police Station - in the village unbeknown to me were living Sandy Denny and Trevor Lucas. Trevor was a bugger when it came to parking his car (I think it was a Volkswagen Beetle) and collected a number of parking fines which he never paid, until a summons was issued which was said husband's duty to serve...on one occasion he came home, very excitedly, with an autographed Fairport "Live" Album, (the one with them pictured on the steps of the Sydney Opera House)and said "Guess What" - well I was hooked...I went to the first ever Fairport reunion concert which must have been around 1975, about 100 people were present, and it spawned the Cropredy Festival. Subsequently I met the rest of the band... when I had a bike shop in Banbury Dave Pegg came in and bought a Kawasaki and we gave him a load of promotional gear to wear on his forthcoming tour with Jethro Tull... later on I was "heard" playing my accordion by Chris Leslie, and later still by the Yetties' Pete Shutler...great times...oh, and when Cliff Richard came to my Church in 1965 I played my guitar and he sang...........

Subject: RE: what musical legends have you known
From: Muskratpete
Date: 05 May 04 - 10:41 PM

One of the benefits of spending 18 years as a radio announcer was that I got to meet or interview several folks, among them: Hank Williams Jr., Eddie Rabbitt, Donna Fargo, Mel Tillis (can you tell I was at a Country station back then?), The Coasters, Jon Bauman (better known as Bowzer from Sha Na Na), Tommy Roe and Bobby Vee (can you tell I was at an Oldies station for awhile?). Also rubbed shoulders backstage with Flo and Eddie (aka The Turtles), America and The Rascals. It was fun but I'm still glad to be out of commercial radio.