BS: While I Was Gone

Subject: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 18 Jun 04 - 10:26 PM

For the last 18 days, my wife and I have been exploring America... just like Simon and Garfunkle.. Mudcat has been very much on my mind, and I've wondered what's going on with all of you... Amos, c-flat, Bobert, Khandu, brucie, jimmyt, and all the rest. I discovered the birthday thread and it was great to hear from all of you.

So, what's been going on in your lives recently? I always look forward to hearing about what you're doing, and thinking..

So, bring me up to date... what's going on in your music, your life... good times, bad times...

I feel like I've been gone six months. It's good to be back..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Bobert
Date: 18 Jun 04 - 10:42 PM

I liked yer story better, Jerry.

Iz been busy organizing a Sunday farm/flea market with live music down in Leesburg, playing blues with the Archie Edwards Blues Foundation every Saturday, entered the Mountain Stage Songwriters Contest and about burned my house down by accident this past Tuesday. Gonna have to rebuild the P-Vine's potting shed which is attached to the house.. Purdy scarey. Another 30 seconds and would have lost the fight and the house. Lord looks after fools and kids tho, so He chipped in with His usual double coverage...

Hey to Ruthie (and Mom) from me and the P-Vine. Oh, BTW, the P-Vine went to work for the summer at a garden center one day a week. Bad career choice. She's buying more plants than she's making. Be glad to see Septmeber when she goes back to reaching music.

When you all coming down to DC again?

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Jun 04 - 11:47 PM

Please don't try to do anything like Simon and Garfunkel. We would hate for the two of you to split up - hate each other - and only get together a few more times just to make money.

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Amos
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 01:35 AM

WB, Jerry!! You got a whole mess of birthday presents, which we put over on your birthday thread, having no room for them anywhere else...

Nice to hear from you. No major shakin' going on, other than what is in the 397 threads you missed. You're just gonna have to read all of them yourself!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: C-flat
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 05:14 AM

Good to "see" you Jerry!
Sounds like you've been on one of those "road trips" that don't sound nearly as romantic when you try it on this side of the pond!
"24 minutes from Bolton" just wouldn't work as a song title!
Over here our lives are pretty much dominated with the European Football(soccer to you) Championship. It's on T.V. and in the papers constantly, which must irritate the life out of anyone not interested, but both Julie and I enjoy it and, for once, we are supporting the same team, so that's been good!
We don't look to be going anywhere this year as we are waiting for a date for Julie to go into hospital to have her gall-bladder removed, (we may have a long wait,) so we can't make plans, but I'd like to hear about your travels Jerry.
Hope you enjoyed your birthday.
C-flat.

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 06:09 AM

Was it a private trip or was it something you should post on the Cat Jerry ?? Like Sorcha's UK trip or Marions tour ? Nice to see you back on the cat though .

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: freda underhill
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 06:13 AM

Hi jerry, good to see you back!

i've been at my sisters place in Dungog, picking oranges from her orange tree and juicing them, taking her dog Fred for walks, listening to music (classical) and watching videos...

hope you enjoyed your birthday

best wishes

freda

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 08:22 AM

Glad to have back another voice of reason. Belated Happy B'day, Jerry. I won't tell you what's been going on in my life, as it's what I myself am attempting to avoid at the moment.

Instead, I'll say that the weather is cool but comfy in the UK, the English Football fans are behaving badly in Portugal, and nobody in the European Parliament can agree on very much...so, nothing new!

Liven us up with some stories!..xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 08:39 AM

Been doin' the same old stuff. Nothing new here. Glad you had a good time, but sorry to disappoint.

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 09:07 AM

Hey Freda:

A dog named Fred! How great that is. I've written enough songs with dogs in the them that I jokingly offered to do a whole workshop by myself on dog songs. I've never met a dog named Fred, but I wrote a song with a "Fred" in it.

Willie's Dog

Willie found a dog, about half grown
Poppa raised the devil when Willie brought him home
But Willie never paid his Poppa no mind
Told him that the dog just tagged along behind

Poppa told Willie "The dog's no good
Take him to the pound," but Willie never would
"Cause Willie'd never had a dog of his own
And even though he tried, he couldn't leave the dog alone

So Willie kept the dog, and he named him Fred
And he slept at night at the foot of Willie's bed
And early in the morning, when Poppa was asleep
Willie and the dog'd go swimming in the creek

Then Willie grew up and the dog grew lame
And the old man hobbled with a walking cane
And Willie found and wife, and she calls him Bill
And the dog and the old man live together still

I enticed a dog to follow me home as a kid, and my Father let me keep him, and the experience always stayed with me.

Life is a song.. Just have to take the time to write it..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: freda underhill
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 10:34 AM

thats a good song jerry - i'm sending it to my sister - and funny enough, she has a husband named Bill!

she'll enjoy it!!

fred(a)

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: jimmyt
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 11:34 AM

Great to hear from you Jerry.   Hope all is reasonably well. Have you been out there in WIsconsin hanging out with the cheese and bratwurst gang?

Jayne and I went to California on a business related trip to Napa valley (yeah right!) then my 30 year old daughter flew out to meet up with us and we spent a few days down the coast in Carmel and Monterrey then finished up in San Francisco. We came home and a few days later Allan C stopped by to spend the night and play some music and sing. He is very talented and sings like an angel. We pretty much did every trite smarmy overworked commercial folk song from the 50s-60s that evening with my group and Allan,(with the exception of Puff the Magic Dragqueen which my tenor absolutely refuses to do) We enjoyed our visit with Allan a lot.

Jayne and I are working up some music right now with a jazz guitar player and our lead singer to perform an evening of torch songs, jazz standards, and a couple Four Freshmen harmony numbers at a local Italian resturant. The owner wants to have a late evening wine tasting/ Italian specialty food tasting, with entertainment interspersed throughout the evening. So that is where we are right now. I have missed you being here and in fact I was about to send out a PM search party for you today when I ran across this thread. Welcome back, buddy

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 12:48 PM

Well, Rita & I spent much of the last few weeks frantically getting ready for a craft show at out 'local' Folk Festival

here is me before the adoring public decended and carried off ½ of my work.
(I used to get to see & hear the music, but this year almost all we heard was a group of pickers who set up right near our booth during a rainy spell)

Glad to hear you have had a good 'vacation' and are back in the saddle...look forward to hearing more about it all.

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 02:13 PM

While you were gone, did the CDs I sent arrive?

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 03:07 PM

Welcome back Jerry that Martin Gibson was only saying the other day how much he was missing you.
Bill D that wood work of yours looks lovely, wish I could get to hold some of it. Wood never dies when it is worked like that, it is reincarnated, and it is so tactile it is positively in the Netsuke class for fondling.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Peace
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 03:35 PM

Jerry,

I am very happy to see you back. I have report cards to do, but I promise to send a message within the week to touch base. I hope you had a wonderful trip--and I gotta ask, did you see anyone in a gabberdine suit?

Bruce M

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 04:14 PM

I didn't see anyone in any kind of a suit, brucie. Bib overalls are still worn, and not as a fashion statement by the wealthy.. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Mudlark
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 09:40 PM

Welcome home, Jerry. Wish you could have made it to the wilds of coastal California.    I've been doing a lot with music and enjoying it a lot...getting together with local musicians, doing a few gigs on my own and a few with a small string band, mostly freebie benefits for worthy causes. Got sidelined a couple of weeks ago by an asphalt truck which tried to make a left turn right thru me and my little Toyota truck.   Got bounced around pretty hard but no lasting damage, I hope. But the shake-up precipitated some other health problems I'm only now beginning to come out of. I'm hoping to be completely fit by next weekend, though, as I'll be doing a benefit held at a draft horse stud farm right on the coast. Draft horses are one of my most favorite animals, very different from regular horses, with a special vibe all their own, very wise and gentle. I like just hanging out around them and am pinning my hopes on a stable tour, at least.

Please give us your impressions of America as you found it...

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 10:32 PM

Good to hear from you, Mudlark: The mood of America? There's something either very disturbing, or reassuring about spending a couple of weeks away from the intelligentsia. I rarely heard a comment about Bush or Kerry, or Iraq, or all the things that keep Mudcat twisting in the wind. Seems like most people are focusing on those things that effect their lives most directly... the cost of gas being one. We stopped at a McDonalds in South Dakota late one night and the kid next in line behind me only wanted to talk about the price of gas out East, when I mentioned that I was from Connecticut.
A young girl running a rather shabby Petrified Forest site in the Black Hills just wanted to fantasize about visiting New York City.
My family was talking mostly about the birth of a girl to one of my Nephew's daughters, and two of my nephews are all excited about going elk hunting in Colorado next month. And then, there are always conversations about love (and the lack thereof.)

Now, if you are incensed about the political situation in this country, you'd probably be incensed that people can continue to live their days only thinking about their jobs, hunting, new grandchildren and marriages. We went two and a half weeks without mention of Iraq, and the only conversations about Bush were on a couple of occasions when I mentioned my disgust with him.

On the good side, I didn't run into any cartoonish Toby Keith clones.
(For our Britfriends, Toby Keith is making a fortune raising loud-mouthed, ignorant, heavy-drinking, blindly patriotic rednecks to an art form.) It also pleases me that my wife and I seem to be able to go anywhere in this country without experiencing any sign of racism, even though we are an inter-racial couple. In the fifties, a black man or woman would have entered my home town in Wisconsin at great personal risk. I didn't see a black person there until the seventies, even though the neighboring town always had a sizeable population of blacks. When we stopped on the top of the Big Horn Mountain range to soak in the majesty of the scenery, a car pulled up behind us and the couple were also inter-racial. Taking the bus, especially, there was a wonderful mix of people, all of whom seemed to get along well together. The entourage looked like a road show of the Village People. There were many Amish families traveling, both on the bus and the train, with their broad brimmed straw hats and black bonnets, and in South Dakota and Wyoming, several native Americans in their Nikes. We heard a bewildering array of languages and dialects as we traveled. If America is a melting pot, apparently nobody bothered to tell the people traveling. We met a couple going to New York City for the first time, coming East from Indiana, who were very excited to see New York. At least the wife was. The husband would have preferred going on a trip in their RV. (Recreational vehicle.)

There is something oddly distorted about settling in to a routine, whether it is your home town, the crowd of people you hang around with, people with similar tastes in music, politics or religion. It's easy to forget how different people are. And, it's good to be reminded that most people can find common ground, despite all the differences.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 11:08 PM

Did Martin REALLY miss me?

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Jun 04 - 12:00 AM

"Did Martin REALLY miss me?"
with every shot!

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Jun 04 - 12:39 AM

(thank you Giok..it has made me happy to discover I could find something in the wood that pleased others....It is truly sensual....after the sanding and scraping have subsided..*smile*)

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Jeanie
Date: 20 Jun 04 - 04:49 AM

Good to see you back, Jerry. I love these pictures you are 'painting' of your journey and the people you met - keep it coming ! I agree with you 100% about how important it is to get out of the regular routine - puts things into a wider and more healthy perspective. Even in a country as small as England, there are so many "worlds within worlds".

You asked what's been happening: well, after a really tough time with my mum in hospital over several months, and all that that entailed, she is home and doing OK. Visiting her had taken up so much of my life and it was very difficult to keep everything going workwise, but now we are through it and I've been out doing lots of walking in the glorious weather we've been having, trying to read maps and getting lost and in the process discovering some lovely places in the middle of nowhere. I have a book of "Pub Walks in Essex" which takes you along the system of public footpaths that covers the whole of Britain. The one we did last week started from a pub called the "Shoulder of Mutton". What I love about these walks is that the footpaths are often tucked into little nooks and crannies that you would otherwise miss or would think, from looking at them, that they are private property. But they're not: they are open to everyone.

The start of the walk from the "Shoulder of Mutton" was nothing short of magical, and I learned a new word: "Twitten" - The book directs you to "walk along the twitten between the brick wall and wooden fence". This "twitten" was the narrowest of little passageways, just about wide enough for one person at a time, with the very high wall and fence either side. I would never have noticed it was there, or imagined that it led anywhere. The twitten went quite a long way and the wall and fence became high hedges, very dark, with just the glimpse of a river on one side. Then suddenly, magically, the path opened up to a sweep of grass leading to the river bank, with willow trees dipping into the water, dappled sunlight, tall reeds. There was a little wooden jetty with four or five rowing boats and the very trusting owner had put a box there for people to put money in to take one of the boats out. It was just like wandering into a scene from "The Wind in the Willows", totally idyllic and made all the more magical by the way we arrived at it.

What's been happening with music ? Well, nothing "folky" at all, though it started out as being "folky": I had been thinking for a long time about getting an autoharp, but there are more crucial and necessary things to spend my money on (like food and rent !) and as well as that, I have tended to mess about with the instruments I already have, very much in the "master of none" category. So I decided, rather than get the autoharp, to revive and improve my piano playing, and I'm having a whale of a time. I got a very good book: "Improvising Blues Piano" and working my way through that. It's full of exercises explaining chord structures and so on and I'm discovering things about music I wish I had had explained to me years ago. An eye-opener. I've also found out that the music exam boards now do a series of graded jazz exams (when I learned as a kid, it was only classical), so I'm going to do those as an incentive to keep at it. In the same way as it's good to go to new places, it's good to do new things, and no-one is ever too old to learn !

Good to see you Jerry. PM on its way.

- jeanie (Blues Name - from another thread here - Princess Passionflower)

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Jun 04 - 07:58 AM

As my husband drove us home one night, over and around and through the hills that crown the ridges of this place where we minister, on our way back from smalltown PA for the wake of a fellow priest's wife, we were playing "Sinner's Crossroads." I save the archived hour-long radio programs to CD and then review songs in the car. Each CD contains one continuous, hour-long track. Playing them is just like turning the radio on; you have to listen all the way through, to get to the most special songs.

I think counting going down and coming back up, we ran through about 3 hours of radio.... (Pity the folks who only get it an hour at a time!)

Dark was falling fast and thick fog was rising up out of all big valleys and little folds.

Cutting through the overload of the day and evening, the fog and the darkness, came the music preserved all these years. Most of the singers are gone, but the power is ALL there. We had it cranked up pretty loud.

We sing along with the songs that are becoming friends. We dream about the people who will be coming to hear what we do with these when we are able to recreate the spirit of the songs with our own goofy little band.

In one of the shows we heard, the host (who has a kind of dry, minimalist style) said it was the hair of the dog, good for the spirit, good for the soul. And you know? He is exactly right.

Well I do some work in our diocese on discernment. One thing I know is that no matter what God calls us to, if we do not respond and show good stewardship of our lives and calling once He's called and we've said we've heard Him-- the blessing does not travel on.

So I thanked God last night. I thanked the program's host the next day.

And today, Jerry, I thank YOU for bringing so much of this music into present time. I can't quite claim you as my father in gospel, because as you know I had made my way to it before we *met*. But I do claim you as my brother in Gospel. And so as a sister, on behalf of all the many, many people you have "fathered" into it, Happy Father's Day! :~)

So... didja get the Sinner's Crossroads CD I sent you while you were gone? :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 21 Jun 04 - 03:36 AM

Welcome back, Jerry!! What all did you discover while you were Simon and Garfunkling?

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: BS: While I Was Gone
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Jun 04 - 09:14 AM

Check the bus stories thread, Stephen... good to be back..

Jerry