The Northwest Files

Music vs. Music

This past weekend marked the beginning of the Central Oregon Mastersingers’ choral season. This beginning was composed of a weekend-long retreat to begin preparations for our first concert, which is maybe six weeks away. 

As much as I love participating in great choral music, something I‘ve done since I was a teenager, I’m sitting this one out.

This weekend also marked the 2018 Sisters Folk Festival. The festival was composed of three days of folk, blues and bluegrass performed on 11 indoor and outdoor stages in Sisters, Oregon, about 15 miles from us. I flat adore folk music. If you know me at all, you know that.

Up close and personal with Claire Lynch, center, and her dynamic band.

I really hated being presented with this choice – folk festival or choral retreat.

I attend the choral retreat, my heart and mind are filled with the precise scholarship of majestically performed classical music. This sort of thing fills my heart and makes me happy not only to be alive, but to be upon stage with my choral colleagues where this beautiful music is being made.

I attend the Sisters Folk Festival, I feast with Laura and our friends Bob and Charlene on the peaceful, raucous acoustic music of Americana, the music of the people, the land, the country. The music of people living, dying, suffering, rejoicing, struggling, prevailing. The music of folks in this glorious, maddening, wonderful country. The music of guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles, voices, all in rhythm and harmony.

I love it dearly. I have loved it dearly since I was a child listening to my parents’ old Burl Ives records on a wind-up Victrola.

So yes, the Sisters Folk Festival. It couldn’t be anything else.

Our first year here, 2016, we were too late to buy tickets. They sell out early. Last year, the festival was last-minute cancelled. Tiny Sisters was blanketed with smoke from a near-by forest fire that was so thick that just seeing across one of the town’s streets was almost impossible. Health conditions were horrible.

So this year’s festival? Absolutely!

A small-venue recital by Erin Cole-Baker was peaceful and relaxing.

Stacked here downstairs are two guitars, four banjos, a mandolin and a bass. I play them all and have done so since I was a high-schooler.  Those days, folk music was where I lived. Girls, cars? sure, interesting but confounding. School? Hah! But oh, that dusty, gritty, poetic old music of the people!

I really regret missing out on this first of three concerts of the Mastersingers season - missing this retreat automatically means I am ineligible. But I will pick things up in time for our Christmas concert, and be ready, and in top voice, I hope, for our spring concert – ill-fitting tux, which I hate, and all.

Meanwhile, I will have memories of the acts we enjoyed this weekend. A couple of great dinners. Time with Laura and our pals. And yeah, I’ll also have the event T-shirt. Much better than any damned concert-dress tux. It’s a net gain.

Now, bring on that choral music. I’m ready!

-JFT

Let There Be Music, They Commanded!

I don’t play my banjo much anymore. I just don’t. Not sure why. But I find myself in a position which requires a concert. Which is strange, because usually, people are all to happy to not hear me play my banjo.

Well, actually, it will be a mini-concert. The items you see here, an ancient Martin guitar and an even older Vega longneck banjo, will be my co-conspirators.

This is all about co-conspirators. The foremost of those will be my pal of untold decades, Mike Kicenski, best musician I’ve ever seen. The others will be maybe a half-dozen boarding-school classmates who are gathering here for – well, just to hang out, chat, visit, hike, watch me grill volcano burgers, enjoy Central Oregon, and remember when we were young.

I’d be happy to leave it at that but two of the most persuasive of these – by name, Marilyn and Charlene, who demanded and received a mini-concert three years ago at a similar gathering – have instructed me that a concert is not just expected, but required. Listen, I was terrified of these two when we were kids. I still am.

Like my sweetie Laura, of whom I’m even more terrified, these are people one does not disappoint. So I’ve assembled a set list and even, like, rehearsed. A little. So yes, the music will ring out in spite of arthritic fingers and quavering voice. And yes, my pal Mike, who as a musician is light years better than me, will chime in. The wine will flow, feet will tap, we will have a ball. And we will miss those who because of distance or early passing, are unable to join us.

-JFT

A Survivor

I love California, even though I no longer reside there. The mountains, the ocean, the deserts, the sunrises and sunsets – but most of all, the history.

As it happens, when I was teenager, I happened to stumble upon a tiny, inconsequential piece of that history, which I still have.

It is an S.S. Stewart 5-string banjo, a fancy model known as the Universal Favorite #3, built in about 1888. It is exactly like the instrument shown on the cover of the Kingston Trio’s first record album. I was a big fan, so I was thrilled to find this thing. I paid 50 bucks for it. It was 1959, I was 16 years old; $50 was big money.

But old Sam Stewart built his instruments in Philadelphia. So why is this particular instrument a piece of the history of the Golden State?

Somehow, this banjo made its way westward to San Francisco. It’s owner, one E.E. Curtsworth, apparently lived at 2420 Fillmore Street. At least he engraved that name and address on the banjo’s tension hoop, the steel ring that keeps the banjo’s velum head taut. Here’s a look at that.

Man, I was curious about that. So, we went looking for my banjo’s home address. We found that address attached to the shop of a custom jeweler, part of a much larger building. Here’s a look at the building. The shop is at the lower right.

Remember what happened in 1906, just after 5:00 the morning of April 18? An enormous earthquake shook hell out of the city. Much of what wasn’t damaged by the seismic event was burned in a succession of fires.

I think this building may have survived the earthquake and fire; a Fillmore Street history says Fillmore Street itself was largely undamaged. In fact, a period photo showing the corner of Fillmore and O’Farrell, about eight blocks north of the 2420 address, shows buildings still standing, though reinforced by framing.

But here’s the thing: A close look at the two buildings immediately to the north of 2420 shows that they are much smaller, three stories tall, and are of wooden construction. I think this one may be concrete. And 2420, along with the two to the south of it, is six stories tall and looks newer than the two to the north. Were all three of them destroyed in 1906 and rebuilt? Who knows?

Was my old banjo present in this building the morning that San Francisco went crazy? I don’t know. But its residency at that address makes it a tiny piece of California history.

When I was younger and even dumber than I now am, I sought to “improve” this wonderful old piece. I installed modern geared tuners and I had the neck refinished. It needed none of that work. I eventually replaced the modern tuners with period friction items, but there’s nothing I can do to undo the refinishing foolishness.

I own several other banjos – or, rather, I am their caretakers, for they are of such quality that eventually they will be passed on to younger players who will treasure them as much as I have and, I hope, play them much more skillfully.

They all are of vastly superior tone, playability and quality to this old Stewart. But they do not have the history that this Stewart has. For me, that makes it very special indeed.

I should mention that my old violin is of similar vintage and has a name and date engraved into its wood. But I don’t play it. If I did, the noise, the sheer racket, would be cringeworthy.

Not so with this banjo. It still sounds great and I still get great pleasure from playing it. It makes great music, music that is anchored in history. I scarcely can tell you how much that means to me.

-JFT

The Music of Lady Liberty

This killer image, Lady Liberty with her right fist raised and a fine old guitar in her left hand, hits me right where I live. But you knew that.

This is a detail from the poster for the 2017 Sisters Folk Festival, a festival that didn't happen. Of course we had tickets! It was called off, literally at the last second, because smoke from nearby forest fires made the air all around these parts unhealthy to breath. I drove over to Sisters, which is quite close to us, to purchase event T-shirts just because I could, and because I wanted to extend what support I could. The front of those shirts displays a version of this image.

I find myself surprisingly emotional every time I see this. In part, I think, that's because of the profound meaning of the Statue of Liberty, a meaning that is being insulted by the fools in the present administration. But also because the guitar shown in this painting echoes the shape and lines of Martin's famous 00 family of guitars, small jewels that are far more powerful than their size might indicate.

They were one of the mainstays of the 1960s folk movement and to this day are incredibly desirable. I'm very lucky. I have one. I bought it in the summer of 1962 and it has been with me ever since. I never will part with it. (Find the story of that guitar here:  https://jfthompson.typepad.com/californiafiles/2017/06/thumb-drive.html )

The folk movement, of course, was sounded on these guitars and existed in the music of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, the Weavers, Leadbelly, the Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, Peter, Paul and Mary, Josh White, and many more. It was the music of inclusion, of progressive politics. That such a guitar should show up in the clutches of Lady Liberty in this poster - it just has tremendous meaning for me. 

What has equal and ominous meaning is that I have no idea where we all will end up when this ugly episode finally is done. Neither, I'm sure, do the idiots and fools who pretend to "lead" us. 

About all I can hope is that Lady Liberty and the ideals for which she stands remain intact. And I hope that the wonderful music, the folk, bluegrass, and Americana that is played on the sort of instrument you see her handling, continues to make its positive, progressive, and non-violent contribution.

As for this year, why, yes, of course we have tickets to the 2018 Sisters Folk Festival! We're keeping our fingers crossed that we don't get smoked out, or burned out, again. And also that this horrid political nightmare soon comes to its conclusion. Please hurry, Mr, Mueller.

-JFT

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Kingston Trio!"

Back in the late 1950s, there was a boom in folk music. It was led by a band called the Kingston Trio. I liked this band a whole lot, attended many of its concerts, and was greatly influenced by the music it did, and by the polished way it did that music.

The band was contracted to do something like four record albums a year, and it toured more than 200 days a year. This was a very tough row to hoe.

The leader, one David Guard, the genius responsible for the band, for the songs, for the sound, apparently was not an easy man with whom to get along.

He was demanding. He wanted more practice, improved music literacy. The others wanted to drink beer and chase girls. And yeah, I've talked to them and that's what they told me. So after four years or so, what was a phenomenal success, big pay checks, the cover of Life Magazine and all, came crashing to the ground, leaving behind a phenomenal final album called Goin' Places, the folk equivalent of the Beatles' Abbey Road. And also, of all things, an absolutely stellar Christmas album. I still listen, with great joy, to both.

What happened was, in 1960 or so, a deficit showed up in the band's royalty accounting. Guard got pissed off, called it quits, and went off to Australia. Oops. He later said that the big lesson from doing this was, "Never give up your fan base." Today, anybody would have known that.

The remaining pair, along with their manager, bought Guard out of his interest in the band and hired a guy. Then another guy. Then another guy. Then another. Until the band no longer had any of its original members.

Yet something called "The Kingston Trio" still toured, offering what basically was a diluted tribute band controlled by one surviving member who held, and leased out, the rights to the name.

This went on for more than 40 years.

I completely lost interest. Yet as a fan, I tried to find a thread, and because of the work I did, was able to interview not just Guard, but also the succeeding band members. Not much satisfaction there, though I liked Guard a whole lot. The others, especially the guy who ended up owning the rights,  seemed to evidence great animosity toward the creator of the project. I found this unseemly, since Guard's original musical vision had made him a whole lot of money.

OK, fine. But to this day, I still love the music. A few years back, Laura and I attended a concert by this tribute band.

I was right the first time. Familiar tunes, sure. But the passion and energy, the compelling sound, was gone, no matter how hard they tried to convince the audience that they were authentic. Sorry, they just were not. You just cannot phone this sort of thing in.

Earlier this year, more than 50 years after the band's inception (Guard by now has long since left us), the surviving original member, the guy who owns the rights to the name, leased out those rights to a new bunch.

Apparently the guys who had been leasing the name, and touring and performing under that name, had no idea of what was happening until the new lessees of the name filed suit to force those guys to quit touring, to stop using the name.

This had to have been shocking. But it was long past time for a change. And change is what has happened. Once again there seems to be enthusiasm for the music and for the band's heritage.

One reason for this might be that this new Kingston Trio consists of the son of one of the original members, who apparently understands the weight the band's heritage demands that he carry. He plays the same tenor guitar, and the same conga drums, that his father did. The result is brilliant.

I had no idea all this was happening. Which is a shame, because this new, reconstituted band just came through here.

I had no idea. If I'd known, I would have attended. Just to hear them, just to see if this new bunch has truly recaptured the passion, the energy, the sound, of the original.

Researches on the Interwebs suggest that this new bunch has it figured out. They seem to play and sing with the enthusiasm that has been lacking for so long, with the verve that suggests they understand the heritage they carry.

I hope they circle back through here next year. Or sooner. If they can continue recapturing the sound, the enthusiasm of the original, I'll take my sweetie to one of their concerts. And I will love it. And as a discerning person, so will she.

-JFT

Alone Again. Never A Good Idea!

Hm. Laura is going to be on the road for a full week in early June, which means I will be unsupervised during that time, always a situation that risks critical mass.

 

Upon previous occasions, the fore-mentioned critical mass has resulted in the unauthorized purchase of guitars, banjos, motorcycles, and yes, good god, even cars. Impulse control may be a problem. But now, after 35 years of wedded bliss (no kidding, here) with my patient and understanding sweetie, I know better than to think of such nonsense. Onaccounta patience and understanding only spends so far, knowwhutahmean?

 

What I am thinking, however, is the usual: Steven Tyler and Aerosmith on the back grass doing "Walk This Way," kegs of beer, taco trucks, and dancing girls. Yes, the HOA will bitch, but they'll get over it.

 

Also, I think probably, what's called for is a couple of days on the local trap range and a couple of days of guided fly fishing on the abundant blessing of fish-filled rivers flowing around here. With a bit of luck and a lack of wind, I might just break some clays and catch/release a couple of pretty trout.

 

Me and the cats hate it when she's away because we don't get fed or petted very well, but we probably will survive, as long as we stick to the plan. But we'll all be very happy when she returns.

 

-JFT

The Lay of the Land

"All work and no play make Jon a dull boy?" Phooey on that. All work and no play just plain annoys Jon.

So this weekend, no work. No unpacking. Hey, we're almost done anyway. Instead, we undertook to get the lay of the land. Exploration! Yay!

What we found pleased us both immensely. We found a cool winery, a gorgeous state park and the Sisters Folk Festival.

Yesterday we headed north with no greater goal in mind than to reach the little town of Madras, an hour, at most, away. Why? Because it's there.

Got there, looked around, then turned around and headed back with a couple of subsidiary goals in mind. We'd seen signs for something called the Faith, Hope and Charity Winery. A winery in Oregon's high desert? Hey, we just had to take a look.

Maybe 10 to 12 miles to the west of Highway 97, the main north/south road in this part of the state, this place is a little jewel. The wines, we thought, were merely OK. But both the setting and the grounds were gorgeous. We sat under the shade of an awning for about an hour sipping the wine being offered there, prolonging our tasting for as long as we could while enjoying the respite.

Oh, that name? There are a number of wonderful mountains that help give this area its character. They include Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top, and Mt. Jefferson. Three others are called the Three Sisters, named Faith, Hope and Charity. The little town of Sisters is close to their base, which is how it got its name.

Next, on the recommendation of my pal and former colleague Mike Swanson, now a copy editor at the Portland Oregonian, we checked out Smith Rock State Park. What a surprising, gorgeous place. Here are a couple of the photos I shot while there. As always, you can click on these to see them fullsize.

This place is volcanic in origin, and is far more than just a rock. It is an impressive collection of red spires and cliffs that soar above the Crooked River. This is hiking country. Also rock-climbing country. We weren't equipped for hiking, and we're not sufficiently crazy to try to climb, but we've vowed to return to sample those trails. The main one we saw leads down from the south rim of the park itself, across the river, and then either along the river or up, steeply, dizzyingly, up a trail that looks the way I imagine the Khyber Pass might look. I mean, it's steep! But that's after a set of killer switchbacks that start right at the river. I think we'll wait awhile on that one. I plan to explore the river walk, just to check out the fishing.

OK, that was Saturday. Today is another day. As they say. So we embarked upon a different kind of tomfoolery.

Last weekend Laura explored Sisters, the little town I mentioned earlier. She came back filled with enthusiasm for the place.

Sisters is known not just for its quaintness, cool shops and relaxed way of life, but also for its rodeo. And also for its annual folk festival.

Wait, did I say folk festival? Some of you will know that's right up my street. So we went over there today – Sisters is maybe 15 miles west of us – to take a look and maybe catch a little music.

What we found was a town absolutely dominated by acoustic music. We counted at least five large tents, with acts going in each one. We were told that there are more. We also found booths with lots of cool music-oriented stuff, and also food and drink, for sale.

The highlight of the day was catching the end of a performance by Laurie Lewis and Tom Rosum, two bluegrass greats who were here today as a duo, rather than with their usual band.

We stood and listened to their last song, a poignant one in which they had the audience singing the tune's chorus. It was about friendship, love and the shortness of time, and it was brilliant. When it was done, I was wiping water from my eyes. I noticed that Laura was doing the same.

So why weren't we there all weekend? This festival is so popular that by Friday, the day it opened, it already was sold out. So we could walk around and hear music wafting from the various tents, but no way could we get inside and actually enjoy a full set.

Ah, but next year, we will be prepared for all three days of this grand event.

Right? There's always next year. And as far as Smith rock is concerned, there's always next week.

And finally, this: At some point, I'm going to have to change the title of this blog to something that more closely reflects our residential circumstances. I'm pondering this. So stay tuned and don't be surprised by a change in the lay of the land.

-JFT

Christmas Music

Today is the eve of Christmas Eve so I thought that in keeping with the holiday, I'd post a recording of a little Christmas tune that we like. It's called "Follow Now, Oh Shepherds." It's one that you generally don't hear.

Performers here are former members of the infamous folk duo, the Songdog String Band. If you know who they are, fine. If you don't, it doesn't matter. 

 

Merry Christmas, all. Hope you enjoy this.

-JFT

Follow Now, Oh, ShepherdsB

 

Back to Banjo?

For more than 60 years, I've played music. And for more than 50 of those years, I've thrashed away at 5-string banjo. But for the last couple of years I've not played a note. I'm not sure why.

I think, however, that it might be related to hearing loss.

I don't hear very well. This hearing loss is a product, I suspect, of a lifetime of loud music and even louder motor-vehicle exhaust - tractors, race cars and race bikes.

As I've mentioned here in this blog, a couple of years ago, following "suggestions" from Laura, my wonderful and incredibly patient wife, I finally had my hearing checked. Hearing aids resulted. Really good ones. The results were, and remain, impressive. I hear pretty well now.

But man, even on their "music" setting, playing banjo, especially, caused the aids, which don't like the bright treble tones produced by instruments like the violin and clarinet, and also banjo, to howl and sing. Oddly, neither the guitar nor mandolin causes them to do this.

So I dunno, music, centered for me for so long around banjo, just hasn't been much fun – to the point where I've been thinking about selling my favorite banjo, a killer Stelling Staghorn bluegrass instrument. I mean, why hang onto the thing? Isn't guitar just as much fun and so much easier?

But for the last week or so I've just been pulling the hearing aids out, picking up that magnificent Stelling, and trying to remember my right-hand patterns and left-hand positions, trying to pick some Earl Scruggs, some Douglas Dillard, some Eddie Adcock.

And, you know, though it's a struggle – I've fallen way behind and have forgotten a lot – it's fun. I like it! I always have liked it.

Sure, it's not Beethoven. But it is Americana, and that works for me. Too early to tell, so far. But I may stick with this after all.

-JFT

Reunion!

I have an activity coming up in a couple of weeks that fills me with dread. I am going to attend a class reunion.

It's not even my own class, which is the Class of 1961. (Yes, I'm old. Very old.) This reunion is for the Class of '60, the class a year ahead of ours. I really didn't know many of those people, though my room-mate for my freshman year there is of that class, a guy called Keith Metcalf, who against all odds has remained a pal.

I am attending this thing, a multi-day affair complete with threatened boat ride (I see, in my mind's jaundiced eye, each faction huddled in its own deck-side corner, me close to the comfort of the bar, watching carefully for impending attacks), because the organizers were kind enough to invite graduates from neighboring classes. And Marilyn, one of my dearest pals, decided to attend. I don't get to see her often and she's not been well, so I'm going to pick her up at the airport and go on up to a resort in the mountains where the festivities will unfold. And yes, Laura approves. Of course she does! She adores Marilyn too.

I've not seen most of these people since we were graduated – them in 1960, me and my class in 1961. I remain terrified now because I was terrified of them all then.

They all were so attractive, so sophisticated, so intelligent, so talented, so easy with each other. And their parents all had far more money than mine did. Hey, that sort of thing counts in boarding school. I was, even when I got my first newspapering job some 10 years after graduation, a ranch kid, far out of my depth and far from my very narrow, ranch-life comfort zone, still combing hay seeds about of my hair.

So, yeah, they scared me to death. Holy shit, especially the girls! Though today, we would call them women. Would I fit in? No! Would there be anyone there who shared my general background? No! Would there be anyone there who would tolerate my odd ways? No! You know how kids are. If you're different, you're in trouble. I was in trouble, or at least I thought I was. But I stuck it out for four years, hating the whole damned experience.

The thing is, though, without that experience, I'm pretty sure I would not have attended college, as one of the primary goals of the place, as wanting as its curriculum was, was college prep.  And more important, without that experience, I would not have met friends like Marilyn, who dated the guy I roomed with for three years - he eventually introduced Laura and me; I would not have met people like Hal Wright, a dear friend who now is gone and sorely missed; and I would not have met many others whose long friendship I still cherish.

Also I would not have had such a rich musical life, which includes not just the banjo and guitar music I've scratched out, but years of semi-pro choral singing. I took refuge, there at Newbury Park Academy, in the music department, where I seemed to kinda/sorta fit in. At least the department head tolerated me, if only because I was big enough to help him move pianos when they needed moving. He, too, remains a dear friend, almost 60 years a later. Fred Lorenz is his name. I salute him.

So, terrified? Yeah, still, a little. Except now, upon reflection, I do not think there is anything, really, of which to be terrified. I've been lucky enough, against all odds, to have lived a comfortable life, had a wonderful career, and be married to a beautiful, intelligent and very wonderful spouse. Have any of them? I don't know. Will some of them have more hair than I do? Probably. Ah, well. More things over which to stress. I'll find out in a couple of weeks.

The thing is, I've got some cover. To my considerable joy, a couple of my classmates are coming along. So are a couple of folks from the class behind ours, with which our class always seemed to have an affinity. 

So there's nothing of which to be terrified. Right? I mean, right? And who knows - it might just turn out to be fun. It might! Stranger things have happened. And if not, there's always the bar.

 -JFT