Is Mudcat serving a purpose?

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: GUEST,Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Sep 12 - 01:01 AM

How can you doubt Mudcat serves a purpose?

Look at Paul Slades gallows project. Of course he'd love Elvis Costello, David Bowie and Billy Bragg to breathe life into those ballads - so he's put articles about his project in Mojo and Uncut, probably Froots as well, and all these 'hip 'places. But where has he found a response - a creative reponse - why here of course.

I may disagree with Richard Bridge about the nature of folk music and tradition - but on this forum, we'd all like there to be such a thing and for it to succeed as an artform.

And Paul himself. What a bloody genius - have you seen his scholarship on the his website. Not some dry as dust twat telling you you're singing and playing everything wrong and is it the 1812 edition or the 1593 version of a ballad - but really good historical research that points the way - the way to approach a song, and its true nature.

Lets face it, the only bleeding respect ceded to most journalists is for a scoop involving topless royaly or the pullitzer prize - either way, only the absence of big bucks attached to Paul's work stops him being acknowledged as a genius - a driven genius.

Except on Mudcat. Don't worry Paul when the world recognises what we see in your work on Mudcat - Spielberg and all those other poseurs will be hammering on your door.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 12 - 10:14 PM

To paraphrase the immortal words of agent Jean Oglesby when discussing folk clubs in the Melody Maker back in the 1970s, why yes - it saves the NHS lots of money on looking after people with mental health issues. These days it's called "Care in the Community".

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: open mike
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 11:53 PM

a serve, as in tennis or volleyball---it often gets the ball in the air and puts it into play!I have met, visited, jammed with and enjoyed quite a few people who i would not have found if not for Mudcat! Sorcha, Mudlark (what ever became of her?) Amos, MikeN, Alice, Joe Offer (met at new year's camp Harmony SFFC),NicoleC,(another one I miss here), Al from Georgetown, , MichaelR , the last 3 folks have come to the music camp out that I host every spring.

It is also good to be able to keep up with Deb C who is now 1000's of miles away...and others all around the globe!!

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: gnu
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 03:54 PM

Stringsinger... good thoughts! I vote your post as most concise answer.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Claire M
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 03:52 PM

Hiya,

Well, I check the brochures I get to see who's playing, but I don't always notice, or I get the dates muddled up (never been good with numbers – I once thought a tour date from '08 was current!)

I would luv to visit places for song references. It does get to me when various carers mention holidays they're going on, usually somewhere I'd love to go myself, due to some song or other, & say they'll justhi lie about & do nothing.

I've had some great decorating ideas & support with the move to my new "home" – we've christened the wishing well ornament that's on the way Usher's Well!

I've always found it much easier to chat to people I have stuff in common with, in real life or on the Internet, & because of my situation, which most of you know of, it's easier to find those I have things in common with on the Internet unless I'm at a gig. As well as being more to my taste now, smaller concerts are much easier to get to, & safer for me as well. One I went to & loved every second of -– I bet you can guess who was on – - was half-empty; I've been to concerts that were rammed but all I can remember is I spent half the time looking at my watch.

So yes, this does serve a purpose, along with the dozen or so other boards I've used, but this is much easier for me to use. With the others, there ended up being little point unless you were planning a meet-up at a gig. It may not end up serving a purpose if/when my taste changes but I don't think it will now.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: voyager
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 03:07 PM

Mudcat provides essential Musical Anthropology ('Name That Tune') played over several centuries of Western traditional music.

Short answer is 'Aye Laddie'.

Longer answer - Some creative soul should see how the Mudcat Musical Database (comments and songs) could be overlayed with an Analytics Engine to answer eternal questions like -

   Music that Dylan borrowed from
   Songs with the word Red
   Shanties sunk by drunkards
   Ballads where the man gets killed (not the woman)

And stuff like that
voyager

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 01:09 PM

yes, yeah, yup, indeed, without a doubt, oui,ya, etc

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 12:52 PM

Mudcat serves a purpose through:
1. Sharing information about folk music and music in general.
2. Getting to know other musicians by their posts.
3. Advising on sources for background information on folk music.
4. Information about guitars, banjos, strings etc.
5. Allowing free expression of ideas for both the music and the BS section.
6. Creating an opportunity for dialogue between the various personalities
on Mudcat.
7. Maintaining an important source for folk song lyrics and MIDI.
8. Providing web sites and YouTube performances by folk musicians.
9. Updating information on some of the activities of folk singers.
10. Obit columns.
11. News about the health and welfare of the Mudcatters and others.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: gnu
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 12:21 PM

Yer thinkin of a Scootabago. I had one... what a turnip!

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 04:43 AM

I thought a Rutabago was a kind of mobile home/ camper van?

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: theleveller
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 03:56 AM

It's excellent when there's no-one else around to argue with. Don't you agree? No? Well in that case you're..........

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 02:22 AM

well, it has introduced me to lot of performers I wouldn't have heard of otherwise. Many of these have CDs & in my tall tower of Mudcat CDS, there are only 3 performers I had met before the 'Cat - Joybell & Cloudstreet, both Australians & Brian Peters, UK.

Then there are all the Catters who have visited Oz, some even contacting me beforehand wanting a gig!, and the ones who I've met thru Secret Santa, & the others thru posts on the Cat.

sandra

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Kampervan
Date: 14 Sep 12 - 02:05 AM

Hi there

The guest posting 'Purposes are an endangered species' was me without cookie.

Didn't realise that it had disappeared.

K/van

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 10:11 PM

I love the song threads. Some have been wonderful adventures that lasted for years, and many have taken me to out-of-the way places I wouldn't have visited otherwise. Last March, I went to Los Gatos Canyon outside Coalinga, California, to investigate Woody's "Deportees" - and I saw bald eagles, elk, and wild turkeys, and NO PEOPLE. I went to a Halifax pier to imagine being one of Barrett's Privateers, and made a midnight visit to the mine entrance in the Town of Springhill, Nova Scotia (and I saw the signs honoring Anne Murray, Springhill's Favourite Daughter). I went to Scarborough and didn't find the Fair, but I did find a lighthouse and a fascinating harbour. I saw the sign that said, "Athenry, 5 km.," but I didn't quite get to the Fields of Athenry - still, it was beautiful. I went to where the Mountains of Mourne swept down to the sea, and I even saw the well-endowed statue of Molly Malone (although it toook me two trips to Dublin to find her). I went to a wonderful singaround at Bray (that I wouldn't have found without the help of Mudcat), but I found no Vicar. I went to the Hills of Donegal, but I didn't find Las Vegas there - all I saw was beauty. I went to the beautiful little town of Harper's Ferry to see the confluence of the Shenandoah and the Potomac, and to learn the story of John Brown and other songs that have a home there. Mudcat also took me to the Green River in Kentucky to learn the story of Paradise, "where the air smelled like snakes." [Paradise in Wikipedia]

Mudcat inspired me to find and transcribe (with my friend Q) the "Old Put" Songsters that tell the story of the '49er Gold Rush area where I live. It has also led me to explore Scout Songbooks and School Songbooks. Mudcat helped me discover the wonderful little songbooks published by the Cooperative Recreation Service/World Around Songs, and the legendary songbooks from Oak Publications.

Mudcat took me to the FSGW Getaway, and I've attended every year but one since then. It also took me to the Florida Folk Festival and the Whitby Folk Week, and to the Swallow Hill Music Association in Denver; and it made me a bi-coastal member of the San Francisco Folk Music Club and the Folklore Society of Greater Washingon.

And on top of all that, I've made so many good friends through Mudcat. Bill D and Ferrara top the list, but there are so many others.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 09:20 PM

Any inquiry I've ever made has received an educated, resourceful and prompt response. I am forever indebted to Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: gnu
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 09:12 PM

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From:GUEST
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 06:37 PM

Purposes are an endangered species.
*******************************************************************

THAT is mudcat.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 08:26 PM

It has served a great many of my purposes, but perhaps they don't count.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 06:56 PM

I'm not sure tenors is the right word for most Mudcatters.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 06:37 PM

Purposes are an endangered species.
We should be saving them , we should'nt let anyone serve them.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 04:03 PM

this forum - Max ~ the DT ~ and 'catters from the whole planet ~ is the paramount example of what is the very best sort of collaboration! Keep on pickin'!
I suppose we should thank our guest for the opportunity of responding, and perhaps he|she|they could get back to us about the overall tenor of our answers. [I said that on purpose]

no cookie, but DrWord all the same

peace
dennis

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: ClaireBear
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 03:47 PM

Kendall's comment just made me realize that, come to think of it, if it had not been for Mudcat, I would still be married!

(I hasten to add that my being out of that particular marriage is a good thing.)

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: MikeL2
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 03:23 PM

Hi

Sure Mudcat serves a purpose. Brought me back to thoughts of music after a serious illness. Now it has me wanting to start up to play and sing again.

Through these columns I have met up with old friends who I had not heard from for many years.

And let's not forget all the helpful ( and safe !!!!)technical advice that is freely given here.

It even teaches us to be patient with people that can't help but ask silly questions !!!

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: theleveller
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 03:22 PM

Is a rutabaga a turnip or a swede? This is the kind of information only Mudcat can give.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: kendall
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 03:22 PM

If it had not been for Mudcat, I would still be single.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: terrier
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 02:40 PM

..but I want to know if 'GUEST,Folk Clubs' is a person or a comittee seeing as the plural is used and would it be British folk club(s) or Stateside or some other flavo(u)r. I think by now (after 10 years or so), we've decided that the question at least does serve a purpose, but what was the purpose of setting the question?

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Celtaddict
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 02:17 PM

I love this thread!

It illustrates the varied purposes of the 'Cat beautifully, not only directly, by stating what purpose it serves to some individuals, but indirectly, by demonstrating the wit and eccentricity that we are privileged to share here.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 02:07 PM

"Tonight I'm preparing a rutabega-tarragon terrine with brandied peaches, cavalances and boiled duff."

sigh We'll never understand each other.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: gnu
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 02:07 PM

I'll have mine poached with a nice light cheese sauce and a glass of the house white, please.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 02:00 PM

And Claire pointed towards the purpose there, very precisely:

"Unite and unite, oh let us all unite
For summer is a'coming today
And whither we are going, we all will unite
In the merry month of May."

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Artful Codger
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 01:23 PM

Through Mudcat, I discovered that rutabagas are the miracle food! Tonight I'm preparing a rutabega-tarragon terrine with brandied peaches, cavalances and boiled duff.

Rutabegas—they're not just for bowling any more!

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 12:30 PM

How else will we learn how to put mud on a cat? why yes it is

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Claire M
Date: 13 Sep 12 - 12:15 PM

Hiya,

I love & much prefer older music – doesn't have to be trad. – & I love chatting about it. I have almost no mobility at all, so I can't do & don't have the experience of much else (which is why my love of it was encouraged) I always have a song in my head, & the "wrong" song can have me in floods of tears. I don't want to bore people to death (although I probably do).

I've just received a dichroic glass necklace – I love them –- from a neighbour& when I was told it was from Padstow I was thrilled – all I could think of was the Padstow May Song, & stopped just short of singing it myself. Although we've never met, I'm sure most if not all of you would know why I was pleased without me saying so.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Don Firth
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 12:39 PM

It's a chance to learn all kinds of general things that you'd probably never learn anywhere else, along with finding a wealth of information about songs, information that would take you hours or days to find (if you could find it at all) were you to search in libraries. Here it is, right at your fingertips. And it's an opportunity to reciprocated by contributing your own knowledge. Also, I can converse about my favorite subject(s) with similarly interested people all over the world.

Determining whether Mudcat serves a purpose or not is probably an individual thing. If you don't give a hoot about folk music and your sole interest is in collecting matchbook covers, then probably not (but it wouldn't surprise me if there were experts here on that subject as well).

If I'd had a resource like this back in the Fifties and Sixties, I could have ruled the world!!! But then, so could anybody else.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 10:53 AM

Now that is a very acute bit of reasoning from Jerry there - even the bad things are helpful because they bring people together and help them appreciate the good things. (And I don't mean that ironically.)

One thing occurred to me the other day - it was after following a thread from which I learnt that Americans don't normally go in for baked beans on toast, one of the main constituents of our diet in the British Isles. And what occurred to me is that that is the kind of thing about another part of the world that you normally only get from paying a visit there. In a way spending time at the Mudcat is a way of visiting other places and other cultures in a way that reading papers and books and seeing films and TV aren't quite.

What I hope is that, as the automatic translation gets better and that kind of thing, either the Mudcat or spin-offs from the Mudcat will give us the same possibility of becoming more immediately involved in the music and life of parts of the world where they don't speak English (but where there is some terrific music.)

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 10:23 AM

Serving a Purpose? Sure, bartender, bring me another round.

~S~

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 09:16 AM

Mudcat has not only given me several new friends, it's introduced me to people who I disagree with, who bring a completely different perspective to my life. We all need that.It is always good to try to see through the eyes of someone very different from you. It challenges you, maybe even affronts you. Sometimes, it helps you to see more clearly. Even the obnoxious Guests, to distinguish them from the enjoyable Guests, serve a porpoise. They make momentary bedfellows out of people who might otherwise have nothing in common. And in the process, they may find out that they have more in common than they realize. All good stuf.

Thank you, Max!

Jerry

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: C-flat
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 08:49 AM

Since joining Mudcat I have found new songs to play, learnt new techniques, had interesting and illuminating discussions on all manner of topics, made a number of new friends(several of whom I'm in regular contact with outside of this site), been directed to other sites of interest to me, learnt some basic computer skills and avoided a lot of tedious late-night T.V.
Apart from that I don't know why I bother with this site at all. It's a complete waste of time!!:~)
C-flat.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: GUEST,sullivans
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 07:22 AM

It will very much serve a purpose if somebody could tell us the dates of Buntingford winter sing.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Hrothgar
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 01:15 AM

Hound dog howling, all forlorn
Laziest dog that ever was born
Howling 'cause he's sitting on a thorn
Just too darn lazy to move off it.

Maybe the thorn serves the same purpose as Mudcat?

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 09:21 PM

Little Hawk: There's a great old song titled I'm So Tired with the line: "When death comes, I'll be too tired to die." Another line, apropo your dog... "I've got an itch, but I'm too tired to scratch." At least your dog doesn't seem to have reached that stage, yet. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 08:45 PM

"Is sex serving a purpose? "

sure...it is filling the Earth with people who have more sex....thus demonstrating certain Malthusian principles and providing the beings on Arcturus II with high entertainment as they make bets in their complex gambling system about how long we will last before we collapse into rubble.

Your dog, on the other hand, LH, serves only to distract you, (and now us), from more important issues.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 08:20 PM

That dog should run for the highest political office. All the right qualities.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 08:05 PM

This is really becoming quite illuminating...

Let's move on to my dog. Is he serving a purpose? I think not. He lies around all day, looking so bored he could just die if it didn't take too much energy uttering the death rattle. He groans wearily now and then while attempting to deal with an itch at "the far end" (he's a dachshund), and periodically emits a terrible stench. Occasionally he waddles to the kitchen for a drink of water. Even more occasionally he can be coerced into going outside briefly, where he utters a few banal comments to the world in general to show that he is still in charge, attempts to kill the garden plants by watering them in his own fashion, and does various unspeakable things which I will not attempt to describe at all. He then returns, and the whole cycle repeats itself. Endlessly. Oh, and he also sleeps a lot. About 18 or 20 hours a day, I think...but it's hard to tell when he's only faking.

Is he serving a purpose?

- LH

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Amos
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 08:04 PM

Actually although the Eddystone Light does metnion a mermaid having given birth to a porgy and a porposie, and one of them being sevred in a chafing dish, there is no indication which one it was; the other was exhibited as a talking fish, according tot he third sibling who inherited the lighthouse keeper position from his forebear -- toward whom, interstingly enough, he adopts no judgemental attitude whatsoever.

A

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: greg stephens
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 07:07 PM

I think Burl Ives' Eddystone Light song has a reference to a porpoise being served in a chafing dish. This is the only reference in traditional song that I can find that sheds any light on this interesting question.

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 07:01 PM

The real question as I see it would be "Do those long and protracted times between the last log out and the next login have a purpose?" Yes, sometimes its a challenge to keep having interesting experiences to draw from... Don't forget, keep your eye on the ball... ttr

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 06:46 PM

To expound on the original question, I want to ask another...

Is sex serving a purpose?

I've had a fair bit of it in my life, but I don't seem to be any farther ahead for having done so. In fact, I could make a fairly good argument for the opposite proposition. I am beginning to think it's overrated. So I thought I would ask and see what the rest of you think...

- LH

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 04:38 PM

Well, the purpose depends upon the player, doesn't it?

Nice rework of "Waltzing With Bears", Amos. I was sick of the original version anyway... :-)

- LH

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 03:51 PM

"...was arrested for transporting young gulls across a staid lion for immortal porpoises"

setup story takes many forms...

Subject: RE: Is Mudcat serving a purpose?
From: GUEST,Fat B****rd
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 03:47 PM

Of course Mudcat serves a purpose. You can be horrible to people who are most unlikely to bop you on the nose.