Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?

Subject: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 26 Aug 03 - 03:58 PM

Does anyone know where I might find pictures of Uncle Ed'uad Thomas, the pioneering dulcimer builder? I'm especially interested in any that would show the cart from which he is reputed to have sold dulcimers. Apparently some were taken by John C. Campbell, but I can't seem to make sense out of the indices of Campbell photos that are available on line. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Aug 03 - 11:14 PM

Found a short bit about him that was quite interesting here. Will look for photos some more.

Subject: RE: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 10:26 AM

Quite interesting? You've got to be kidding, Kat. I'm familiar with Mark Flanagan's work; he bores me to tears and he gets things wrong all the time. Means well, I think, but has a tendency to go off half-cocked and not go the extra mile (or even a yard or two) in checking his facts. Somebody ought to do the world a favor, offer him an early retirement incentive and get him out of the newspaper business. Some of the questionable parts in his piece on Thomas are whether the cart he used was drawn by a pony -- or a mule, as others have reported -- and whether Niles' first dulcimer was Thomas-built. I think he also tends to mislead -- or at least not give credit where it's due -- on the various namings of the Kentucky, mountain and lap dulcimer. If he had re-read Jean Ritchie's preface to L. Allen Smith's "Catalogue of Pre-Revival Dulcimers," he might have phrased things differently. Sorry for the rant, and thanks for your help. -- Pinetop Slim (aka Mark Flanagan)

Subject: RE: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 10:49 AM

Well, I don't know him from Adam nor did I know anything about Uncle Thomas, so I had no way of knowing it was such a poor piece.

Now, you have me confused...is your rant tongue in cheek...are you really "Mark Flanagan? as signed in your "aka?"

novicekat

Subject: RE: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 11:32 AM

Sorry, Kat, I meant to have some fun at my own expense, not yours. Pinetop Slim and Mark Flanagan are one and the same.

Subject: RE: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 03:24 PM

Oh well in that case, it was a piece of trash and that Flanagan doesn't know his....oh, waydaminut...GREAT piece, Pinetop!!**bg**

Phew, thanks for clarifying that. Next time you want to take "the piss" outta yourself, how about using a porcelain throne?**bg**

Seriously, I hope you find a picture. He does sound like a very interesting character.

All the best,

kat

Subject: RE: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 06:05 PM

...and, tell that nitwit Mark Flanagan that Niles made his own first "dulcimer..." he SAW the Thomas dulcimer in the Ritchie home and went home and "improved" upon it using (I seem to recall) parts of a piano in it somehow, with many strings beyond the Thomas dulcimer's three. But ask Ron Pen; he's the last word.

Subject: RE: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 Aug 03 - 07:18 PM

That's tellin' him, Jean! **smile**

Subject: RE: Uncle Ed'uad Thomas pix?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 08:34 AM

Thanks, Kytrad, whoever you may be. I'll tell him, as soon as he gets a map to find his way out of the phone booth. (There's an Ulman pic of Niles playing for some oldtimers. I counted five strings on the dulcimer; think that's the one? It's his smile, though, that really catches my eye -- the dulcimer player's smile).