Rick Fielding: A Gathering

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 12:14 AM

Two years. That is hard to believe. I did not get to know Rick nearly as well as some others here did. But, I sure cherish the time that I spent with him. He was a wonderful, creative, talented, supportive, sharing man with a wicked sense of humour. I still think of him often. This place has not been the same without him. I have been way too busy for my own good, I owe Heather a phone call. I will make it tomorrow.

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 11:07 AM

I'm very glad to have known him & am so sorry his life was cut short. At least, we know he spent his time well. I still have difficulty listening to his music; it hurts.

best to all,

Barbara

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: gnu
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 10:10 AM

Mick... stay away from the lawn chairs. They have a mind of their own.

Gee, two years. I know he's doin a radio show in heaven. I just hope I can pick it up on underground radio after I meet my reward.

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 10:00 AM

I found this in my old email from two years ago:

"Charles Levendosky, my mentor at the Star Tribune died that same
week, from cancer, as did one of my best Mudcat friends, Canadian folk
musician, Rick Fielding, and my aunt from old age. It was a memorable
hell of a week. I'd like to not have any repeats in the near future."

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 09:37 AM

Although I only knew him via phone call, e-mail and Mudcat, I also still feel I lost a friend, and often find I have things I want to tell him or ask him.

Thanks, Peter T, for the reminder.

RtS

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Big Mick
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 11:12 PM

Funny you do that, Jed. So do I. I often incorporate his songs and stories about him into my solo stuff.

I would have given anything to have been with the lot of you and had a good time remembering. For me, the sore is pretty well scarred over and it allows me to concentrate on smiling when I think of him and Heather. Jed, remember when we went there? I can remember sleeping in the basement, getting up in the night and starting to play one of the instruments on the wall, only to be told by Rick the next day that he often waited to hear how long it would take for that to happen.

One way or the other I am getting to Toronto this summer and playing in Heather's garden. I will see if I can do it without falling in the dirt.

Mick

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: GUEST,Don Meixner
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 10:41 PM

One of my most cherished memories is swapping songs in Rick's garden one night as a thunder and lightning storm came in off Lake Ontario. The first time I ever heard my Ode Banjo played like it should have been.
He never commented on my limited ability, jusy made me feel equal and welcome in the songs we shared that night.


Don

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Escamillo
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 10:26 PM

Although I've never met him, and I´m in the opposite side of the hemisphere, I still remember when he called me "friend" and I felt great. Many people say that we all will meet again. I wish so.

Thanks Peter, un abrazo a todos
Andrés

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 08:34 PM

I've been thinking about this ever since I saw the thread.... All I can say is, thanks for getting together on the occasion, when the rest of us could not.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 08:20 PM

"With haunted hearts through the heat and cold
We never much thought we could get very old
We thought we could sit forever in fun
But our chances, really, were a million to one"   - Bob Dylan

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 08:09 PM

Acoustic Workshop, his last recording can be purchased from
Borealis. Here's the CD at Borealis - with a sound clip. This is my favorite one.

I'm glad folks got together last night. I listened to Paul Mills hosting Acoustic Workshop and wondered what Heather and the usual suspects were doing. Yes, I still miss him, but the pain becomes less sharp, less immediate, as time goes by. I felt pretty miserable for far too long. These days, I try to not feel sad because he's no longer in my life, but think about how fortunate I am that he ever was.

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 06:54 PM

Thank U spaw

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 06:49 PM

RICHARD --- Rick has 3 cd's available. Lifeline was recorded by Sandy Paton at Folk-Legacy and This One's the Dreamer and Acoustic Workshop are on Borealis. Here are the first two at Folk Legacy and I think Sandy can get you the other as well.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: JedMarum
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 06:36 PM

I've been telling my audiences Rick stories ... it's a way to keep him alive in my heart.

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: GUEST,harvey andrews
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 06:32 PM

Is it only two years? It seems a lot longer. You wait a lifetime to meet a Rick and then...

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 06:20 PM

May I

(a) commend this excellent spirit
(b) ask where I can get a discography of his work and maybe buy a CD or two?

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: GUEST,Arnie Naiman
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 06:13 PM

I often think of Rick, and last night I played at an old time music concert and book launch for Erynn Marshall that Rick would have loved. I played a few Delmore Brothers songs, a Charlie Poole song, an Uncle Dave Macon song with Kathy (my wife), stuff that I know Rick would have appreciated. There were many folks from the Toronto music community He would have known. I got some interesting new banjo picks in the mail today- If Rick were here today I'd be telling him about them on the phone because we were both a bit nerdy about our instrument gizmo accessories. 2 years - amazing.

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Dave Swan
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 03:28 PM

Damn. The only way Fielding could disappoint was in not being around to be Fielding.

Thanks for the posting, Peter.

D

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: alanabit
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:54 PM

I never had the good fortune to meet him - like many here. I sure miss him at Mudcat though. I miss his wit, compassion, knowledge and wisdom. I can't recall him saying a spiteful word about anyone. For those of you, who knew him in the real world, his passing must be so much more difficult to cope with. The space he left at Mudcat will never be filled. In a way, I am glad I do not have to cope with the space he left in the real world.

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: MMario
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:52 PM

I find myself scanning threads to see what Rick has to say about something, and yes, kept having the feeling at Getaway that he might walk through the door any second.

there have been a couple others in my life who I still expect to find around the next corner, but I don't think any that effected me so profoundly as Rick managed with so little actual contact.

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:50 PM

Still my biggest regret, BillD, that HE won't be there when I finally make it to the Getaway. I am counting on the little bits brought on by others.

The hurt doesn't go away...thanks Peter for sharing with us, again. It helps.

luvyaRick...kat

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:46 PM

When he came to his first Getaway, he was making music within 15 minutes, and making friends at an alarming rate..*smile*
...the last couple of years, I sorta still looked for him to walk in. Maybe he was more there than I can imagine, because everyone there who had met him brought bits of him along.....

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:34 PM

Glad it's not just me PT.......Two years or twenty, time makes no difference...the pain doesn't care.

Quite selfishly, I still miss him.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:28 PM

Sing him a handful, Bert..

I do.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Bert
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:21 PM

I hope you sang a song or two for him. I'll sing him a couple today.

Subject: RE: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Amos
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:08 PM

Peter:

My condolences; and a reflection on the real mark he left, in the measure of his friendships and the lingering magic that is still strong enough to conjure his return.

A

Subject: Rick Fielding: A Gathering
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 01:01 PM

Two years after Rick's passing, a group of his friends got together last night for a dinner.

I once read in the liner notes to "Northumbrian Rant" that one of the reasons to be interested in folk music was that one looked for the finer things in one's world, found them in music, and then found a real or imagined community in that music. This seems to have been Rick's task, whether it be a community of one or two or more, a community of the here and the gone, the musicians of today and the musical ancestors, or Mudcat (which was one of his and our imagined communities), or just a group of fine friends, like those who met together last night. It is strange to still feel a sense of terrible loss at exactly the same moment that one feels that at any moment he could walk into the restaurant and sit down and it would all start up again as if nothing had happened. But there it is: no easier two years on.

yours,

Peter T.