PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 05:28 AM

Better still, he could climb a tower overlooking the busy town centre and jump.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 05:21 AM

B-ad
A-cousticly
N-ondescript
J-inxed
O-utmoded
S-hite

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 05:13 AM

People are being very nasty to Martin. I think this is a shame as perhaps he had a hard life. You never know what criticism like this can do to a man. he might climb a tower overlooking the busy town centre, take out his Gibson mastertone and play Cripplecreek to innocent bystanders.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 04:38 AM

Martin Gibson must lead a very sheltered life if he thinks Tommy Makem is the best of British banjo players, has he never heard of the KING Barney McKenna, who can play ANYTHING.

I make a point of playing a bit of classical music on the tenor banjo in every session I go to.

All types of banjo are great.
eric

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 01:40 AM

Favourite banjo tracks?
anybody else heard (remember hearing) blues skies played by Pete seeger on the Goofing Off suite album.
Funny little record, a ten inch lp
what a player!

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: CapriUni
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:42 PM

This morning, Blackcatter asked if someone would post a brief history of the banjo.

A quick Google search yielded this: Thumbnail history of the banjo (though, if you ask me, it's a large thumbnail --it must belong to a picker!) ;-)

Just reading through it, it seems that people have been either hating 'em or loving 'em since the time they first appeared among us.

Personally, I love the sound of the banjo... it may not have sustain, but it has a bright clarity of sound that cannot be matched. It reminds me of sunlight on a running stream.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:32 PM

M.G.---You've chased me away from another thread I started seriously. And seriously, I've heard that "benjo" (with an e) means toilet in Japanese. Not sure if that's true or not, but here, because of your input, we've seen the similarity between the two sides of that equation turned into a valid pun. Some day I hope you wake up to the reality of your reverse Midas touch.

Love,

Art

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: MAG
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 10:03 PM

"Many here know that I do not live in a "no humor zone." "

OK, everybody who has experienced "Martin's" humor take one step forward.

any takers?

Please note that any thread he involves himself in quickly degenerates into his name-calling shite, and learn to ignore him like the troll he is.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 08:18 PM

"Fact of the matter, I do take the banjo seriously."

Are you being ironic?

Many banjos are ironic. They have that metal ring and that's as ironic as things get. Roy Clarke ain't half bad either.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 08:08 PM

No Aussie input? Wonder why not?
I just want to say I wish my voice could sound as lonesome as my banjo does, or as happy. So many moods! Joy

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: jacqui.c
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 08:05 PM

One of the regulars at a session I go to plays the banjo and is a joy to listen to. He plays high camp with it sometimes, doing an old number called 'We'll never hear the banjo played again' which is appreciated by all the audience who join in with the chorus. He's also a dab hand at Duelling Banjos, which I love. I've even sung Early One Morning with the accompaniment of a banjo and guitar and the arrangement sounded really good.

Anyway, I agree with Sinsull about banjo players, well, one in particular.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 07:14 PM

apropos nothing

Derek Brimstone had a beautiful new banjo last time I saw him - I think he said he had it made for him.

Me on the other hand I've just got one of these variax guitars that sounds a bit like a banjo - the instruction book says its modelled on a Gibson mastertone, plus you can add phase, flange, delay and distortion if you want to or put it through a wah wah peddle - well I never did like the neighbours.....

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 07:02 PM

The banjo is ok, especially accompanying a real instrument...like a bodhran!

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 06:34 PM

I just can't believe the amount of rubbish in this thread. Where is your sense of humour guys/girls ?
I play music for fun and relaxation guitar AND banjo as a matter of fact and I don't give a toss who likes it or not. I enjoy it.
So many of you are too ready to take offence and get really childish and some moronic with your insults.
I find a lot of interesting information on the Mudcat Forum and some interesting discussions but threads like this make me despair.
Please try and keep a sense of proportion and most of all a sense of humour.

Most of all keep on pickin' AND grinnin'

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 06:17 PM

The guitar is beautiful; the banjo is sublime.

On a banjo should be written: This machine kills blue devils.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Once Famous
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 05:57 PM

Guest, you ignorant used tampon

My banjo is an RB-250 Gibson Mastertone. If you know anything about anything, you know that this is a pro model revered for years as standard as a Martin D28 is for a guitar. My wonderful, loving wife is the sexiest girl-woman on the planet. I have no pent-up hostility at all, just a low tolerance for bull-shit like Guests/phonies try to throw at me and a streak of cynicism that jerf-offs like you can only react to with a mundane same-old, same-old post such as yours.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 05:23 PM

Martin Gibson you are making quite a fool of yourself. You should immediately go sit in the corner and strum your banjo. Then again, it's probably so small that it resembles a ukelele. Find yourself a nice woman and maybe you can figure out a way to relieve yourself of this pent up hostility. In other words if anyone ever needed to get L***d it's you.

Have a nice weekend.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 05:23 PM

The only thing some people understand is a banjo used as a snow shovel....

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 05:21 PM

As master banjo manufacturer S. S. Stewart observed back in the 1890's, "If you must use your banjo as a snow shovel, do so; only don't wonder if it sounds dull afterwards."

5-String Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 05:16 PM

I play the accordion, so I try to avoid making fun of other people's choice of instruments.

I used to know the most amazing banjo player. He was a confectioner by trade, but he could easily have played the banjo professionally. One of his signature pieces was one that involved re-tuning the banjo as he played it. It was stunning to watch and to hear.

On the down side, he was the only person I knew who could (and did) play 'Lady of Spain' ;-)

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Once Famous
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 04:48 PM

Guest, David Cass

I may be childish but I'm not an old smelly fool like you are.

May Roseanne Barr sit on your face on a hot summer night.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 04:43 PM

The banjo is a lovely instrument. Every bouncer should be equipped with one.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 03:39 PM

Oh, and Sir jOhn (fhtd), whether you meant that ("binjos are rebbish"), it was funny. (Binjos are ditches/trenches in S. Korea that carry waste water and whatever floats in it.)

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: burntstump
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 03:36 PM

Any of you Banjo fanatics know about a Liberty Banjo called a Buckdancer? Any info please

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,Mappa Mundi
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 03:35 PM

I play Banjo and i really enjoy it!
Probably as much as i enjoy playing Guitar!

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 03:32 PM

The first time I heard a banjo was...well, I can't remember. What I DO remember was going to a bluegrass festival in upstate NY with my mom and her friend. I walked around and listened to groups of people jamming, and fell in love with the banjo. Nothing else seemed to sound like it. I remember thinking it sounded like a waterfall of notes. I didn't get one right away, or I might have gotten serious about bluegrass. When I did finally get a 5-string, I learned to play clawhammer.

Banjos get bashed a lot, by both players and haters. No big deal, and some of the jokes are funny. Or they WERE funny the first 10 or 20 times I heard 'em. I do get irritated when someone asks a serious question (about anything) and someone else feels compelled to post a really stupid joke. (about anything, but there are more stupid banjo jokes than, say, stupid hammered dulcimer jokes.) Then I get over it.

Let people pick on banjos all they want - they aren't so frail they need defending.

(Jed, I almost bought one of those banjolin dealies like you recently got, but if I'd been in the buying mood, it likely would have been one of those resonator banjos, which sound INCREDIBLE.)

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 03:15 PM

As Bob Dylan said

theres no success like frailers
and frailers no success at all

I think that says it all

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,David Cass
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 02:29 PM

"I am not your child."

That misfortune goes to your wonderful, loving parents. You're Just childish.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Spot
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 02:23 PM

Hullo to most of you.....just read all above stuff...cant believe the emotion!! All I can say is my Bellflower gives me so much pleasure and, personally , I couldn't give a stuff whether anybody likes or hates it. All you 'antis' ought to go read a bloody book.....

          Regards to all... (begrudgingly, in this case!)..Spot

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: bbc
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 02:19 PM

Art, in honor of your birthday, I will state that I love banjos (&, as it happens, I really do!).

best always,

bbc (grinning in NY)

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Once Famous
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 02:08 PM

To Amos and guest David Cass (elliott):

Please don't lecture me. I am not your child. Amos, go ahead and take up banjo. It might take your mind off of being so politically correct. If I'm a boor, you are a BORE.


guest, I understood everything.   Especially the part about you being the cowardly guest who can't post everything under his regular posting name. You are a phony. Your shorts are binding your brain.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:48 PM

Frankly, the banjo does not need any defense. Just look at some of the people who have excelled at playing the banjo...Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs, John Hartford and many other folk/bluegrass icons. If the banjo is good enough for them, than it's good enough for anyone.

I've heard Bela Fleck play everything from classical to jazz on the banjo and all forms of music sound wonderful on it. A different interpretation than what one is used to hearing perhaps but excellent in its own right. Granted the banjo does not sound like a concert piano when classical music is played on it or like a sax or guitar when jazz is played on it or like a fiddle or guitar when folkbluegrass music is played on it but who has decreed that those instruments are the ones most acceptable for that style of music.

Nothing will ever convince a banjo hater to like the instrument so why even waste the time trying. I feel bad, however, for those individuals who are so close minded that they can't accept a wonderful sounding instrument for what it is. The banjo isn't going away no matter what they think so it's their loss.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,David Cass
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:29 PM

I agree with Amos, the banjo is a fine instrument. And it might be a good idea if Martin Gibson were to drag himself away from the computer for a few hours and go and practice his banjo.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:18 PM

"Had wonderful, loving parents."

And you still turned out to be the Fuckwit you are. So much for the abuse theory.

I think Jo Ban was being ironic Martin, but you wouldn't understand.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Amos
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:16 PM

Martin:

Stop being such a boor, would you? You drag down the tone even further. I agree with you about banjos -- an upstanding and fine sounding instrument, and I wish I could play one.

A

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:02 PM

Banjo players are sexier.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Once Famous
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 12:51 PM

Guest, Jo Ban

no anger at all. And I wasn't abused as a child. Had wonderful, loving parents. and no self-esteem problems.

I took up banjo because I love the sound of it.

You obviously just play the skin flute. And it looks like you got a terrible education, because everything you know is wrong, especially about me.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,Jo Ban
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 12:42 PM

I forgive you for your cruel words Martin. You have so much anger inside you, so perhaps like all good Americans you should go into therapy to try and get to the bottom of your problem. No doubt you were abused as a child - but it's ok, we understand. It's probably what drove you to take up the banjo. Low self esteem and all that.

Let us know how you get on with the therapy *hug*.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 12:31 PM

I like the fact that banjos and banjo players are maligned.

It means you've gotta be tough to play banjo.

The banjo playing community is no place the fragile and the needy:)

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Once Famous
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 12:07 PM

Guest, Jo Ban

that was about as effective as going, "nah, nah, nah, nah, nah."

You are truly most uninspiring. You are not nearly as bright as your brother Ray Ban.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,Jo Ban
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 12:02 PM

"You are just plain stupid, foolish, and a complete fuckface."

You are what you say Mr Gibson.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:59 AM

"We're joking. When will you Americans understand irony?"

When will you guests read all the posts before jumping into a thread?

(Only joshing!)

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:59 AM

(irony on) What a charming, intelligent and witty person you are Martin. (irony off).

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Frug
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:57 AM

Your Honour, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, Are we all not in our own way similar to the banjo? A little highly strung, maybe just a little off beat and sometimes out of tune with others. Despite this we are entitled to our existence and I suggest, no demand, that this should be so for the banjo.

etc etc etc

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:53 AM

M.G.

I know your part of town. I went to summer camp in No Man's Land between Winnetka and the next even richer suburb where Chuck Percy's wife was murdered. And some of my best friends came from up there. ;-)

Art

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Once Famous
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:52 AM

rhoda horse

I am not by any means overheated as you call it. I just am serious about what I like and i believe in. And I like banjos. And I don't really care for horses. They just produce horseshit.

You are behind silly. You are just plain stupid, foolish, and a complete fuckface.

Have a nice life, scrotum breath.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: ThreeSheds
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:49 AM

Has wimbledon been rained off is that why theres a banjo thread

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Bert
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:43 AM

Uh oh! thread drift.

1. Why does learning two cords make you a guitar player?...

It's the only way you get a chance to sing at a lot of song circles (e.g. PFSS).
If you don't have a guitar the next guy in the circle will jump in and take your turn.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: rhoda horse
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:39 AM

What a silly lttle man you are MG, to get so overheated about a subject so inconsequential as a banjo.

Subject: RE: PLEASE, defend BANJOS !!!
From: Once Famous
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:36 AM

Rhoda Horse

to paraphrase a currently popular outrageous country song by a duo known as Big and Rich:

Save a horse
Ride a cowboy.

Rhoda, I think your butt is chafed already from all your riding.