I was away in Washington for most of the weekend (Happy Birthday, Aunt Zelda). No bluegrass jam this weekend.
I did get through a good chunk of WC Handy's autobiography while riding on Amtrak. An excellent read--I'm almost finished.
Got home and watched Indianopolis whip Chicago, and heard Prince do the half-time show. He performed well in the pouring rain. In one song he employed the services of two marching bands as his horn section. He played electric guitar very loud, with a rythm section behind him: drums, bass and keyboards. Some nice leads.
So a couple of things lined up for the coming week. First is the Pinewoods open folk sing in Brooklyn on Wednesday evening. I am thinking of working up "Otto Wood the Bandit" for this (some practice is required, and maybe some printed lyrics for folks?). I would like to come up with a couple of more songs that people will know. Maybe "Whiskey in the Jar"?
Then on Sunday morning at 11am, there is get-together by an acoustic music group that Peter Bud turned me onto. The coordinator is suggesting that everyone come prepared with a song that is either written or performed by a woman. I realize that I hardly do anything that was written by a woman. I'm thinking maybe I can slide by with Me & Bobby McGee. It was written by Kris Kristofferson, but the most famous and well-regarded version was done by Janis Joplin. Or maybe something by the Carter Family. Anyway, I'll come up with something.
Then of course there is the bluegrass jam which is every Sunday afternoon at 5pm.
This evening I played through a few songs from my book that I haven't done in a while:
John Prine's Angel from Montgomery
The City of New Orleans (written by Steve Goodman, I know Arlo Guthrie's version)
Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
La Llorona
Bille Joe Shaver's Old Five and Dimers Like Me (I know 2 versions: Waylon Jennings and Jerry Jeff Walker)
The Patriot Game (Dominic Behan)
REM's Rockville (well, it's not really there yet, but I could do it with a little practice)
Summer Wages by Ian Tyson
Sundown by Gordon Lightfoot (I made some nice progress on this song, timing-wise especially)
This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
Who'll Stop the Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival
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4 comments:
Good to see your post mentioning "City of New Orleans" and Steve Goodman. He often doesn't get his due. Thought you might be interested in an eight-year project of mine that is coming to fruition -- a biography of Goodman that will be published this spring. Please e-mail me at ceals@comcast.net if you would like me to e-mail you a background sheet on the book.
Clay Eals
1728 California Ave. S.W. #301
Seattle, WA 98116-1958
(206) 935-7515
ceals@comcast.net
"Got home and watched Indianopolis whip Chicago, and heard Prince do the half-time show. He performed well in the pouring rain."
Yes, but did you see his overtly phallic guitar-stroking? I guess it's all you can do when the FCC won't let you rip anyone's shirt off.
Oh also Whiskey in the Jar is a great song!
I thought the phallic thing was pretty clever, but the show kind of lost it afterwards--he let the audience sing, and it didn't sound like much of anything. After the phallic stuff I figure he needed to really kick ass on the guitar, a la Hendrix, or maybe smash stuff a la The Who, not start singing Kumbaya. But I did enjoy the show.
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