MARY KATHERINE'S BLOB
I guess I should make it clear at the beginning that this "blob" (so called because it's formless, shapeless and has no content) isn't a regularly scheduled event. I make sporadic notes here when the spirit moves me, when it's not too hot or too cold, when I have something to say, when the planets are in the right alignment, etc. When it gets too long, I delete the oldest entries; ahhh, how ephemeral is life. If I don't post every day it does NOT mean that I'm dead. :-)

I'll be hosting "Alive & Picking" again on Saturday, May 31 on KPFK, 90.7 FM, 6:00-8:00 a.m.
AND I'll be hosting "Alive & Picking" again on Saturday, July 5 on KPFK, 90.7 FM, 6:00-8:00 a.m.

May 11
Here's the playlist for this morning's show, and thanks for all the nice cards and emails!
First set in honor of Mother's Day tomorrow

Joe Val & the New England Bluegrass Boys/The Angels Rejoiced
Rhonda Vincent/Mama Knows the Highway
Emmylou Harris/Mama's Hungry Eyes
Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice/Memories of Mother and Dad
Hoyt "Slim" Bryant & His Wildcats/He Holds the Lantern
Iris DeMent/Mama's Opry
Nanci Griffith/Goodnight To  a Mother's Dream
Lynn Morris/Mama's Hands
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder/Mother's Only Sleeping
The Carter Family/I Have No Loving Mother Now
Flatt & Scroggs/No Mother or Dad
Darrin & Vincent/More Than a Name on a Wall
Levon Helm/Anna Lee

Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch/I'll Fly Away
Jimmy Gaudreau & Moondi Klein/Shady Grove
Blue Highway/Through The Window of a Train
John McCutcheon/Closing the Bookstore
Caleb Klauder & Sammy Lind/One More Hill
Rhonda Vincent/Hit Parade of Love
Reno & Smiley/Don't Let Your Sweet Love Die
Marvin Gastner/The Boatman Song
IIIrd Time Out/Erase the Miles
Gordon Bok, Ed Trickett & Ann Mayo Muir/The Golden Vanity
Longview/I'll Love Nobody But You
Jerry Douglas and Maura O'Connell/It's a Beautiful Life
Tim O'Brien/More Love
Jody Stecher, Kate Brislin & Larry Hanks/Kneelin' Down Inside the Gate
Cindy Kallett & Grey Larsen/If You Say Yes

May 6
Folksinger and former editor of Sing Out! Magazine dies
Robert Stephen Norman, 61, of Lawrenceville died on Sunday at his home of metastatic prostate cancer.
Born in New London, CT, he was a Lawrenceville resident since 1994 after living in New York City for 30 years. Bob graduated from Columbia University in 1969 with a degree in English Literature.
Bob had been a copy editor for Business Week Magazine for twenty years, but his passion and true vocation was music.  He was a well-known singer/songwriter folksinger locally and across the country for over 30 years.  From 1970 to 1977, he was editor-in-chief of Sing Out!, and was on its board until 1990.  His CD titles include: Romantic Nights on the Upper Westside; To the Core; Love, Lust, and Lilacs; and Time Takin' Man. His music fused varied influences of blues,
country, contemporary folk, and classical guitar writing about topics ranging from the streets of New York to local life in Lawrenceville.
He is survived by his wife Clara Haignere, his son Samuel Norman-Haignere, his nephew Daniel Norman, and his nieces: Forest Cattich and Martina Norman Botinelli.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday at 11 AM at Poulson & Van Hise Funeral Directors, 650 Lawrence Road, Lawrenceville.  Burial will be in the Lawrenceville Cemetery. The family extends an invitation to friends to come to their home at K18 Shirley Lane, Lawrenceville after the burial.  A memorial service will be held on May 17th at a time and place to be determined.
In lieu of flowers, please tax-deductible donations can be made to Sing Out! Magazine (P.O. Box 5460 Bethlehem PA 18015) or to the Westminster Conservatory Young Artist's Program. Check should include a note that it is for the Young Artist's Program in Memory of Bob Norman to Westminster Conservatory, Attn Sandra Franc, 101 Walnut Lane, Princeton NJ 08540.

April 30
Funny sig line du jour:
"Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light." Spike Milligan

April 26
Josh and Kate went to the Dodger game last night, and brought me home a bag of peanuts. Nothing like baseball game peanuts (which I am officially not allowed to eat, but never mind, I'll have a few, and Jenny will have a few, and Mark will have a few, and I'll take some up the hill to Jim, and we'll eventually share the wealth.)

Kate's mother has been diagnosed with cancer, and she will be having surgery May 7th. Prayers, or your preferred equivalent, welcome.

Ron and Mark and I were supposed to be taking our friend Ed to dinner last night for a belated 80th birthday celebration, but he called to cancel, as he was in a fairly serious one-car accident. He's home and okay, but not really feeling like going anywhere. We are going to try for next Saturday instead, if he's feeling better. Josh, when told about this, said that as soon as I am 80 he and Jennifer are taking my car keys away from me. Fine, says I, so then you two will chauffeur me everywhere I need to go, right? Long silence, followed by an inarticulate mumble. I love it when my kids try to tell me what to do!

Interesting article about Tom Dula/Dooley, folksong, and popular culture.
http://www.dailyyonder.com/tom-dula-murder-sold-10-000-guitars

April 24
Dear friends,
Please join us in celebrating the life of Chris Gaffney, April 30th at The Cellar in Long Beach, California. Andy Kindler and the Gaffney family will be hosting a night of stories and music. Special guests include Dave Alvin and The Guilty Men, Hacienda Brothers, The Cold Hard Facts and many other friends.
The Cellar’s information is available at: www.myspace.com/thecellarlbc
Address: 201 E. Broadway, Downtown Long Beach, located on the Promenade at Broadway
The memorial celebration begins at 3pm. Donations are graciously accepted and deeply appreciated.
We hope to see you all there.
Love, The Gaffneys

April 18
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-gaffney18apr18,1,4527969.story

Chris Gaffney, 57; witty songwriter, Southern California bar musician

By Mike Boehm,Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

April 18, 2008

Chris Gaffney, a roots-music omnivore whose earthy aplomb and offhand mastery of many styles made him a quintessential Southern California bar musician -- but who also earned international regard for his heartfelt and witty songwriting -- has died. He was 57.
Gaffney had been getting treatment for liver cancer that was diagnosed in February. His brother Greg said he died Thursday morning at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, where family members rushed him after a fall in his Costa Mesa home.
Gaffney toured extensively over the last nine years as a member of Dave Alvin's backing band, the Guilty Men, playing accordion and guitar and adding vocals, and as lead singer of the Hacienda Brothers, in which he teamed with veteran San Diego guitarist Dave Gonzalez. But Gaffney had been a presence on the regional bar scene since the 1970s, playing multiple sets each night in small clubs such as the Upbeat in Garden Grove and the Swallows Inn in San Juan Capistrano. It was a hard-won musician's existence that he and Alvin captured in their easygoing honky-tonk number "Six Nights a Week."
"One of the things that may have hindered him commercially was that he couldn't turn it on; he was a hundred percent honest," recalled Alvin, who considered Gaffney his best friend. "If Chris is in a good mood, you get an amazing show; if he was in a bad mood, he wouldn't hide it."
As a songwriter, Gaffney was a peer of Alvin, Los Lobos, X and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in chronicling the life of Southern California. In "Artesia," from the 1990 "Chris Gaffney and the Cold Hard Facts" album, he evoked memories of his teenage years cruising through the San Gabriel Valley -- remembrances stirred by the scent of cow manure carried on the wind from inland dairy farms.
"The Gardens," from the same album, and later recorded by Freddy Fender with the Texas Tornados, was an aching assessment of the void that gang violence leaves in a community's heart -- in this case, Hawaiian Gardens.
But many Gaffney songs reflect the dry, sometimes absurdist, sense of humor that stayed with him in his day-to-day life: "They made a mistake and they called it me," he sang in one jaunty tune; in another lyrical self-description he pegs himself as "a dancing cretin with faraway eyes."
Gaffney sang in a tuneful yet conversational voice that was both sandpapery and sweet. He had no pretentiousness about his music. In a 1992 Times interview, he described taking part in a songwriters panel at a folk festival: "The kids were asking, 'How do you write songs?' I said, 'I'm sitting in front of the TV, having a beer, and something comes to my mind, and I go 'what the hell' and write it down."
Born in 1950 in Vienna, Austria, he grew up mainly in Cypress, the son of a telephone company executive. Tall and solidly built, Gaffney excelled at track and cross country at Western High School in Anaheim and took his licks as a Golden Gloves boxer.
"I always ascribed his cockeyed view of the world to being beat around the head a few too many times," Alvin said.
As he built a critically acclaimed recorded repertoire during the 1990s with three studio albums, including "Mi Vida Loca" and "Loser's Paradise" for Hightone Records, Gaffney was unable to capitalize on it with touring -- tied instead to his bar hero regimen on top of days spent scraping hulls at a Newport Beach boatyard.
Gaffney accepted the bar-musician's lot with equanimity: "I was a working guy before becoming an unheralded roots-music recording eminence, and I continue to do that. If they don't want to put out an album, I'll go and do my day job," he told The Times in 1999. What sustained him, he said, was "the music, and I love the people. You surround yourself with good friends, and you're good to go."
Starting in 1999, though, Gaffney got to live the life of a musical road warrior, with Alvin and then the Hacienda Brothers, touring extensively through the United States and Europe. Alvin said he soon learned not to give Gaffney a weekly advance on his meal money: "He'd give it to some homeless guy or a guy standing at a rest stop begging for change."
With the Hacienda Brothers, who blended classic country and rhythm and blues styles, Gaffney recorded two studio albums and a live release. In December, he and Alvin recorded the song "Two Lucky Bums," a mellow duet to friendship:
Let's make a toast to the times we've had
The good, the crazy, the rough and the bad.
We've survived every one, a couple of losers who won,
And when it's all said and done, we're two lucky bums.
"He might have gone out early, but he did everything he wanted to do," said Greg Gaffney, who played bass beside his brother through many of the bar years. "He loved being on the road, happy in a van with a bunch of buffoons."
In addition to his brother Greg of Costa Mesa, survivors include his wife, Julie, of Costa Mesa; daughter Erika of Houston; sister Helen of Oakland; and brother Robert of Vancouver, Canada.
Services are pending.

April 12
Here's the playlist for this morning's show. Thanks to everyone who called in during the program and sent nice emails afterward.

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder/Goin' Back to Old Kentucky
Alan Senauke/The Bravest Cowboy
Maddox Bros. and Rose/Muleskinner Blues
Jimmy Gaudreau & Moondi Klein/Colleen Malone
Haywood Blevins/Old Molly Hare
Barry & Holly Tashian/Straw Into Gold
Claire Lynch/Be Ready To Sail
Flatt & Scruggs/We'll Meet Again Sweetheart
Tony Rice/I've Waited As Long As I Can
Nanci Griffith/Ten Degrees & Getting Colder
Foghorn String Band/Be Nobody's Darling But Mine
Levon Helm/False Hearted Lover
J.D. Crowe & the New South/Back To the Barrooms
Sylvia Herold/The Telephone Girl
Bill Carlisle/Sparkling Blue Eyes
Ginny Hawker/Don't Neglect The Rose
Tim O'Brien/Get Out There and Dance
Joel Rafael Band/Sowing On the Mountain

Next set in memory of Howard Larman, who died 4/21/07:
Kate Rusby/Who Will Sing Me Lullabies
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin/We Shall Meet
The Voice Squad/The Parting Glass
Tim O'Brien/Time To Learn
Marley's Ghost/Fiddlers Green
Kate Rusby/Bold Riley
Blue Murder/The Goodnight Song

Any Old Time String Band/Hello Stranger
Del McCoury/White House Blues
Mark Johnson & the Rice Brothers/John Henry
Bill Keith with the Kentucky Colonels/Auld Lang Syne
Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown/Rocky Mountain
Andrew York/The Sunshine Rag

April 11

http://starbulletin.com/breaking/breaking.php?id=6957
Entertainer Nona Beamer dies
John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com

Nona Beamer - author, chanter, dancer, educator, recording artist, songwriter and storyteller - died early this morning on Maui. She was 84.
Winona Kapuailohiamanonokalani Desha Beamer, known as "Aunty Nona" to generations of Hawaiian music fans, was a legend in Hawaii, renowned for her singing, ukulele playing, hula dancing and song writing. She was the matriarch of the musical Beamer family, including sons Keola and Kapono, a noted hula teacher, and one of the world's foremost authorities on Hawaiian culture.


April 6
Here's the playlist from yesterday's show, and thanks to everyone who called in!

Jimmy Gaudreau & Moondi Klein/Dreamer or Believer
Bill Evans/Heavy Traffic Ahead
Judith Edelman/Pass It On
Jerry Rivers/Old Joe Clark + Fire On the Mountain
New Golden Ring/Few Days
Creole Belles/Bernadette
Seldom Scene/Darling Corey
Keith Whitley & Ricky Skaggs/Dream of a Miners Child

The rest of the show was songs by people who I got to hear live at the Ash Grove back in the 60s:
New Lost City Ramblers/Worried Man Blues
Rev. Gary Davis/Candy Man
Stanley Brothers/Could You Love Me One More Time
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Down By the Riverside
Doc & Merle Watson/Freight Train Blues
Mississippi John Hurt/Coffee Blues
Phil Ochs/Cross My Heart
Pete Seeger/Fair and Tender Maids
Joseph Spence/Uncle Lou/No Lazy Man
Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys/Kentucky Waltz
Ramblin' Jack Elliott/Portland Town
Lightnin' Hopkins/Katie May
Arlo Guthrie/City of New Orleans
Kathy & Carol/Lady Maisry
Roscoe Holcomb/Free a Little Bird As I Can Be
Richard & Mimi Farina/Tommy Maken Fantasy
Kentucky Colonels/Footprints In the Snow
Barbara Dane/Mama Yancey's Advice
Roland White/Trying To Get to You
Ry Cooder/Great Dream From Heaven
Mike Seeger/Coo Coo Bird
Bernie Pearl/Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
Peter Feldmann/Rise When the Rooster Crows

April 4
For fans of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, here's a recent performance from Amsterdam:
http://www.fabchannel.com/carolina_chocolate_drops_concert

And for fans of postwar black gospel music, here are two sides of an AMAZING and obscure 45 by a group called The Mighty Wonders of Dallas, TX.
"Old Ship Of Zion" http://tinyurl.com/6hrvc3
"How Far Am I From Canaan" http://tinyurl.com/6bpbzp

March 29
Mark has gone to Oklahoma, so I'm going to be doing Alive & Picking for the next few Saturday mornings until he returns. Thanks to everyone who called in, and here's the playlist for this morning's show:

Flatt & Scruggs/My Little Girl in Tennessee
Seldom Scene/Old Train
The DeZurik Sisters/The Arizona Yodeler
Chesapeake/The Blackjack Davey
Merle Travis/Dance of the Goldenrod
Jim Watson, Mike Craver & Tommy Thompson/Dixie Darling
New Golden Ring/Rolling Home
Iris DeMent/That Glad Reunion Day
Robin & Linda Williams/Rollin' and Ramblin' (The Death of Hank Williams)
Ricky Skaggs/Lost and I'll Never Find the Way
Joel Rafael Band/Way Over Yonder In the Minor Key
Ramblin' Jack Elliott/Tennessee Stud
Greenbriar Boys/Stewball
Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys/Molly & Tenbrooks
David Mallett/Ballad of the St Anne's Reel
Mary Chapin Carpenter/Somewhere Down Below the Mason/Dixon Line
Bill Evans/Petersburg Gal
Lonesome River Band/Long Gone
Kate Rusby/Sweet William's Ghost
Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band/Morning Blues
Mac Benford & the Woodshed Allstars/Freight Train Boogie
Seldom Scene/I Couldn't Find My Walking Shoes
Indigo Girls, Sarah Maclachan & Jewel/The Water is Wide
The Bluegrass Album Band/Chalk Up Another One
Laurie Lewis/Here We Go Again
Archie Fisher/Dark Eyed Molly
Shady Grove Band/Will You Miss Me
Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs & Earl Scruggs/Down In the Valley To Pray
Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir & Ed Trickett/Gentle Annie
Lynn Morris/What Was I Supposed To Do
Ricky Skaggs & the Whites/River of Jordan
Byron Parker & His Mountaineers/C&NW Railroad Blues
J. D. Crowe & the New South/Old Home Place

March 28
I had lots of fun last night doing the blues show, and the phones rang off the hook! It was great to hear from so many of you! Here's the playlist, which once was lost but now is found:

Leroy Carr/Papa's On the Housetop
Robert Lockwood/Dust My Broom
Junior Parker/Driving Wheel
Johnny Copeland/Look Over Yonders Wall
Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe/What's the Matter With the Mill?
Oscar Woods/Don't Sell It Don't Give It Away
Paul Rishell & Annie Raines/Goin' to Kansas City
Lowell Fulson/Three O'Clock In the Morning Blues
Soul Stirrers feat. Sam Cooke/Jesus Gave Me Water
T-Bone Walker/Don't Leave Me Baby
Sippie Wallace/Women Be Wise
Big Maceo/Kid Man Blues
Amos Milburn/Down The Road Apiece
Jimmy Witherspoon/Ain't Nobody's Business
Phillip Walker/Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home
Big Joe Turner & Pete Johnson/Wine-O-Baby Boogie
Eddie Lang & Lonnie Johnson/Hot Fingers
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Climbin' On Top of the Hill
Rosetta Tharpe/Rock Me
Albert King/Born Under a Bad Sign
Howlin' Wolf/Smokestack Lightnin'
Luther Allison/Five Long Years
Larry Davis/Texas Flood
Muddy Waters/You Gonna Need My Help Someday
Pee Wee Crayton/Blues After Hours
Smiley Lewis/I Hear You Kocking
Georgia White/I'll Keep Sitting On It

March 25
Love my last-minute-notice life: I'll be hosting Preaching the Blues (!) on KPFK this coming Thursday night (you know, day after tomorrow?) from 10:30 p.m.-midnight on KPFK, 90.7 FM. This will be a big adventure, as it's been almost a decade since I last did a blues show. But I bet I can remember how...

March 24 
Mark's mother, age 93, is failing fast, and this morning he got what he thought was "the call" that we knew was coming. She has been taken from her home in Oklahoma to a nearby hospital, and the caregiver who called said that Mark should get ready to come home. Subsequent calls this afternoon made it seem less immediate, but he is packed and ready to go. Of course his/my/the Saturday morning radio show still has to be programmed and hosted, and his day job still has to be done, but to say that his mind is elsewhere would be an understatement. He is, as far as we know, supposed to be on the air this coming Saturday morning; he has a show ready to go, but I'm prepping one too, just in case.

In mid-April there will be a "reunion" at UCLA of folks who used to work at, perform at, or attend the Ash Grove. If you're under 35 you have no idea what the Ash Grove was, because it closed before you were born, but back in the Sixties it was L.A.'s premier folk music nightclub, and I used to work there. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of my old friends; I've kept in touch with many of the musicians I met there, and a few of my co-workers from that era are still among my close friends, but there are many more that I haven't seen since the place closed. Of course I don't know how many of them will show up (or for that matter are still alive) but in recent weeks I've heard from a few folks who are planning to attend, and I'm really excited about it.

March 23, Easter Sunday
I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't just a birth day; the various small rituals and ceremonies lasted almost two weeks. Birthday presents arrived from places and friends near and far (Wow! Amtrak gift certificates!  Wow! Amoeba gift certificates!) and I got flowers (three different times on three different days, and the last batch is still blooming), and lots of dinners with friends. Jim and and Todd took me to Astroburger, where I was ceremoniously presented with a bottle of Elvis Presley "All Shook Up" hot sauce and a package of habanero microwave popcorn. Ron took me to Sampun for some great Thai food. Josh and Kate, the newlyweds just returned from Europe, set aside their jet lag and took me to a lovely Italian dinner at Farfalla, the leftovers of which were my lunch the next day. Jennifer brought home flowers, and moved the Scrabble set to make room for them. A box of chocolates appeared on my doorstep, Mark took me to Alejo's for a garlic-drenched dinner, and the waitresses at the local coffee shop on my hillside pooled their hard-earned tips and bought my breakfast one weekend morning.  As Tom and Claire said in the note that accompanied their gift, "See what happens when you have friends who love you?"

March 15
Mary Katherine's adventures in radioland: Got up at 4:30 this morning and went out to KPFK to do Alive & Picking. Five minutes after I went on the air I opened the station logs to sign on, and saw that the program I thought I was doing had been pre-empted. In its place was logged "Pacifica's national live coverage of the Winter Soldier Gathering in Washington, DC." That's odd, I thought. Nobody told me I was pre-empted, nobody else was in the building, I have no idea how to connect to a national feed, and there was no one else to run the board. So I settled in and went on with my show, and in between songs I went to the bulletin board in master control and found the list they have posted of people to call  in an emergency. This wasn't an emergency exactly, and it was 6:00 in the morning, but I figured somebody in authority ought to be let know. Meanwhile I was having a nice time, fielding lots of phone calls from folks who were happy to hear me back on the air, and folks who were enjoying the show, and finally one call from someone saying, hey, what happened to the show that was supposed to be on? Around 6:30 I reached the program director, who made gurgling noises when I told him what was going on. He said he would call around and try to find out 1) why I hadn't been told I was pre-empted, and more importantly 2) why the board op who was supposed to have been there at 5:30 a.m. to start the live feed had never shown up. Meanwhile, he said, just keep on playing records. At about 7 a.m., longtime KPFK programmer Roy of Hollywood woke up, rolled over in bed and flipped on the radio to hear the live broadcast, and heard me instead. He came racing over to the station, still in his pajamas (and believe me, friends, Roy of Hollywood in his pajamas is something that most women would kill to see!)  and set up the live feed. I waited till the song I was playing ended, did an ID and the transition, and he said he would take it from there. Here's what I played:

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver/On The Sea of Life
Dirk Powell/Pretty Polly
Joel Rafael Band/Stepstone
Kalama's Quartet/Na Moku EhaNew Golden Ring/It Soon Be Done
Molly's Revenge/The Rainy Day
Laurie Lewis & Grant Street/Diamond Joe
Bill Dempsey/Can't You Dance the Polka?
Tony Rice/Greenlight on the Southern
Tim & Mollie O'Brien/You'll Miss Me
David Mallett/Pennsylvania Sunrise
Yorkshire Relish/The Old Cock Crows
Jeff Warner & Jeff Davis/C-H-I-C-K-E-N
Iris DeMent/Fill My Way With Love
The Morris Brothers/Salty Dog Blues
Carolina Chocolate Drops/Sourwood Mountain
Kate Rusby/Young James
New Lost City Ramblers/Worried Man Blues
Rev Gary Davis/Candy Man

....and then we went to the national programming. The last two songs were the beginning of what was supposed to have been a one hour show about the Ash Grove; half an hour of folks who I personally heard play music when I worked there, and the other half hour of folks who are going to be performing at the Ash Grove reunion at UCLA next month. I'll save the playlist and re-create it next time I get to do a show.

March 13
My son Josh and his lovely wife Kate were married in Venice, Italy on the 11th. Whew! You would not have believed the prep that was happening here at Chez Aldin. But at long last the happy couple got on that plane to Paris, then went to Venice where they tied the knot, then to Florence, then Rome, then back to Paris, and they'll will be home next weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing all the photos from their trip! (I'm also looking forward to some comedies of errors as a result of having a Katherine Aldin and a Mary Katherine Aldin in the same family).  He has been emailing me photos (the one of them in their wedding finery in a gondola immediately became my screen saver), and from their hotel in Venice he called me on Skype and held his laptop out the window and panned so I could see the view, which was amazing. He also took some photos from the top of the Eiffel Tower when they were in France. It's a happy time around here.

March 8
Old time fiddler Mel Durham has died. This is the email I received:
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 7:07 PM
Subject: Mel Durham
Dear friends:
I am sad to tell you all that Mel Durham passed away this afternoon around 2pm.  His family (John, Jim, and Judy) were gathered around  his bedside when he passed on.  John said his breathing just slowed gradually and then stopped.  He went peacefully, and they don't believe he was in any pain.  He will be missed by so many people, by all those who had the pleasure of playing music with him, and by those who enjoyed listening to him perform with so many great bands over these many long years.  Mel was 93.
John said they hope to hold a wake for Mel the week-end after next (most likely the 15th of March).  They are hoping to hold this at the lodge where the Old Timey Fiddlers meet in Bellflower.  Music is the best way we can pay tribute to a truly great musician like Mel. More will follow on those plans in a few days.
Please pass this on to any of Mel's friends that I don't have e-mail addresses for.
Sincerely,
Ross

March 5 (Jennifer's birthday!)

Ray Kane, Master of Slack-Key Guitar, Dies at 82
By MARGALIT FOX [New York Times]
Ray Kane, an internationally known master of the Hawaiian slack-key guitar, died last Wednesday [February 27, 2008] in Honolulu [Hawaii]. He was 82 and lived in Nanakuli [Hawaii], on the island of Oahu [Hawaii].
The cause was respiratory failure, his wife, Elodia, said.
Though Mr. Kane (pronounced KAH-neh) did not consider himself a professional musician until he was in middle age, he is widely credited with helping revive interest in his instrument in Hawaii and around the world. A welder by trade who learned the slack-key guitar as a boy, he was among the first people to bring the instrument into the concert hall.
In the traditional Hawaiian slack-key style, the strings of a standard guitar are tuned down -- that is, slackened. This unorthodox tuning lets the guitarist play a full, resonant chord simply by strumming all six open strings at once, without having to use the left hand on the fret board. The resulting music, which is also characterized by traditional rhythms and ornamentation, is often described as liquid, rippling and hypnotic.
Every slack-key player tunes the instrument differently, and the tunings, which were often passed down in families, could be guarded as fiercely as any trade secret. Mr. Kane usually tuned his guitar to match his singing voice, approximately G major.
The slack-key guitar has its roots in the 19th century, when Spanish and Mexican vaqueros came to Hawaii to herd cattle. They brought their guitars with them. In the decades that followed the slack-key style, known in Hawaiian as "ki hoalu," developed spontaneously in the islands. In the early 20th century, it could still be heard
everywhere: at luaus, on the beaches and in family homes. But by the end of World War II, slack-key guitar, like many traditional Hawaiian arts, had begun to wane.
Raymond Kaleoalohapoinaoleohelemanu Kane was born on October 2, 1925, on the island of Kauai and reared on Oahu. (His middle name, quite prophetically, means "the voice of love that comes and goes like a bird and will never be forgotten.")
At 4, Ray learned the ukulele and the standard guitar from his father. At 9, he became entranced with the slack-key guitar after hearing a local man play it on the beach. A skilled fisherman even as a child, Ray traded fish for guitar lessons. After serving in the Army Air Forces during World War II, Mr. Kane returned to Hawaii, performing mostly for family and friends.
In the early 1960s, Mr. Kane made his first recordings, singing and playing his own compositions as well as traditional songs. In 1973, he gave what is believed to have been the first full-length solo slack-key guitar recital, at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. The concert brought renewed attention to the instrument.
Mr. Kane taught widely for many years and performed in Hawaii, on the United States mainland and in Japan. In 1987, he was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Besides his wife, Elodia, a traditional singer who often performed him, Mr. Kane is survived by a sister; 2 brothers; 7 children; 20 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
Among his albums are "Master of the Slack Key Guitar" (Rounder Records, 1988); "Punahele" (Dancing Cat Records, 1994); and "Wa'ahila" (Dancing Cat, 1998).
In an interview from the mid-1970s quoted on the Web site allmusic.com, Mr. Kane expressed surprise at his celebrated career.
"I don't know why they picked me," he said. "I wasn't famous. I wasn't playing anywhere. I was just trying to stick to the style I learned back in the 1930s."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/arts/music/05kane.html?ref=obituaries

February 27
My drivers license will expire on my next birthday, so yesterday I went to the DMV and did the renewal dance. It's been twelve years since I was there last; back then I got a four-year renewal, and then got two subsequent four year automatic renewals by mail, without having to go in; I was dreading the long lines and bureaucratic shuffle. You know what? It was easy, and FAST!
First of all, I made an early-morning appointment, in advance. How hard is that? Then I showed up 15 min. early for my appointed time, and they called my name within five minutes of walking in the door. Stood in one short line to take a vision test and pay the renewal fee, stood in another line (dodging the incredibly lovely young girls standing in front of the thoughtfully-provided mirror whining about how bad they look - if only!) to get a new photo taken, and I was out of the building before my original appointment time had even arrived. The only down side was the snotty 18 year old behind the last counter who looked from my old license to me and said, "well, guess we'll change your "color of hair" from brown to gray - right? Oh, and this weight seems a bit off too."  I wanted to smack his pimply face, but didn't. One must maintain a sense of humor. Yes, I no longer weigh 130 pounds and yes, my hair is now officially gray. Says so right here on the temporary paper drivers license they gave me to use till my new one arrives. But why couldn't I just keep using my old one, which won't expire until my birthday?

Jennifer, the wretch, beat me twice in one night at Scrabble. She "dumped" (used up all her letters when making a word, thereby gaining an extra 50 points each time for doing so) twice in one game! And once in the other.  I give up. She must be smarter than I am after all.

February 24
I watched the Oscars tonight, something that I haven't done in decades, and lo and behold Marion Cotillard won for "La Vie En Rose"! Also, in the decades since I last watched the Oscars they have cleverly arranged the commercial breaks to coincide with the times I need to change each load of laundry out of the washer into the dryer. How nice of them.

All right, here's a tidbit you'll thank me for: it turns out that Target's photo department has the capability of taking your old negatives and putting them onto a disc. For this service they charge the grand sum of $1.99 per disc, and that's for up to 100 photos on each disc. I had the MOST fun today, going through literally hundreds of those old drugstore envelopes of battered negatives from my offspring's childhoods. First batch will be ready tomorrow, and since I have to work all day my pal Jim is going to drive all the way to Glendale to get them for me. WHAT a hero! (He knows I don't want to wait till next weekend to see them.) It's like a grab bag, or what in my childhood we used to call a "lucky dip" at a party, where you stick your hand into a big pillowcase full of toys and don't know what you'll be pulling out; I have NO idea what most of these photos will look like, since the original prints are long gone, mailed off to relatives in Italy or New York thirty and forty years ago, on the (fallacious) theory that I might as well send them the prints, since I had the negatives (not to mention the original children!) and I could always get more prints made "some day." Yeah, sure. Well, some day has finally arrived. So, dear friends, if you, like me, have drawers and bags and boxes and cubbyholes full of old negatives, and no idea what's on them, now's your big chance to find out, at a price anyone can afford.

KPFK has extended the fund drive by an additional week, so again this coming Wednesday I'll be answering phones for Rhapsody in Black.  Their time slot has been lengthened, this week only, from 9:00 p.m.-midnight. The nice part about being a phone room slave is that before the show goes on the air Jim and Ray (two of the three hosts, along with Bill Gardner) always take me out to a sumptuous meal at a local Thai restaurant. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch? (Well, dinner, in this case).

February 19
No Depression, the bimonthly magazine covering a broad range of American roots music since 1995, will bring to an end its print publication with its 75th issue in May-June 2008. Plans to expand the publication's website (www.nodepression.net) with additional content will move forward, though it will in no way replace the print edition.
The magazine's March-April issue, currently en route to subscribers and stores, includes the following note from publishers Grant Alden, Peter Blackstock and Kyla Fairchild as its Page 2 "Hello Stranger" column:

Dear Friends:
Barring the intercession of unknown angels, you hold in your hands the next-to-the-last edition of No Depression we will publish. It is difficult even to type those words, so please know that we have not come lightly to this decision.
In the thirteen years since we began plotting and publishing No Depression , we have taken pride not only in the quality of the work we were able to offer our readers, but in the way we insisted upon doing business. We have never inflated our numbers; we have always paid our bills (and, especially, our freelancers) on time. And we have always tried our best to tell the truth.
First things, then: If you have a subscription to ND, please know that we will do our very best to take care of you. We will be negotiating with a handful of magazines who may be interested in fulfulling your subscription. That is the best we can do under the circumstances.
Those circumstances are both complicated and painfully simple. The simple answer is that advertising revenue in this issue is 64% of what it was for our March- April issue just two years ago. We expect that number to continue to decline.
The longer answer involves not simply the well-documented and industrywide reduction in print advertising, but the precipitous fall of the music industry. As a niche publication, ND is well insulated from reductions in, say, GM's print advertising budget; our size meant they weren't going to buy space in our pages, regardless.
On the other hand, because we're a niche title we are dependent upon advertisers who have a specific reason to reach our audience. That is: record labels. We, like many of our friends and competitors, are dependent upon advertising from the community we serve.
That community is, as they say, in transition. In this evolving downloadable world, what a record label is and does is all up to question. What is irrefutable is that their advertising budgets are drastically reduced, for reasons we well understand. It seems clear at this point that whatever businesses evolve to replace (or transform)
record labels will have much less need to advertise in print.
The decline of brick and mortar music retail means we have fewer newsstands on which to sell our magazine, and small labels have fewer venues that might embrace and hand-sell their music. Ditto for independent bookstores. Paper manufacturers have consolidated and begun closing mills to cut production; we've been told to expect three price increases in 2008. Last year there was a shift in postal regulations, written by and for big publishers, which shifted costs down to smaller publishers whose economies of scale are unable to take advantage of advanced sorting techniques.
Then there's the economy...
The cumulative toll of those forces makes it increasingly difficult for all small magazines to survive. Whatever the potentials of the web, it cannot be good for our democracy to see independent voices further marginalized. But that's what's happening. The big money on the web is being made, not surprisingly, primarily by big businesses.
ND has never been a big business. It was started with a $2,000 loan from Peter's savings account (the only monetary investment ever provided, or sought by, the magazine). We have five more or less full-time employees, including we three who own the magazine. We have always worked from spare bedrooms and drawn what seemed modest salaries.
What makes this especially painful and particularly frustrating is that our readership has not significantly declined, our newsstand sell-through remains among the best in our portion of the industry, and our passion for and pleasure in the music has in no way diminished. We still have shelves full of first-rate music we'd love to tell you about.
And we have taken great pride in being one of the last bastions of the long-form article, despite the received wisdom throughout publishing that shorter is better. We were particularly gratified to be nominated for our third Utne award last year.
Our cards are now on the table.
Though we will do this at greater length next issue, we should like particularly to thank the advertisers who have stuck with us these many years; the writers, illustrators, and photographers who have worked for far less than they're worth; and our readers: You. Thank you all. It has been our great joy to serve you.
GRANT ALDEN, PETER BLACKSTOCK, KYLA FAIRCHILD

February 16
Canadian folk singer Willie P. Bennett dead
Canwest News Service Canadian folk singer Willie P. Bennett has died, his family said Saturday night.
Bennett, 56, passed away from natural causes Friday at his home in Peterborough, Ont., according to his family and agent.
The revered singer-songwriter was an integral part of this country's folk music scene, starting in the 1970s, as he played at festivals across the country.
His songs, an emotional mix of country, blues and folk, were later recorded by numerous artists, including Prairie Oyster.
He gained renewed fame in the late 1990s, when the band Blackie and The Rodeo Kings formed to do a tribute album to him. The band itself was named after one of Bennett's songs.
Bennett won a Juno award for Best Roots and Traditional Solo Album for his 1998 album Heartstrings.
In recent years, he had toured North America playing mandolin and harmonica for singer-songwriter Fred Eaglesmith.
"He was a mentor," said Bennett's agent, Robin   MacIntyre of Mac's Music.
"So many people were inspired and wanted to emulate him. . . . his style of singing, his ability to turn a good phrase.
"The songs that he wrote in his late teenage years and early 20s that were on (the albums) Tryin' to Start Out Clean and Hobo's Taunt, they were anthems for the generation."
Bennett suffered a heart attack last year, according to his website.
His sister, Esther Bennett, said her brother had been in good health recently and had been planning to do more touring
© Canwest News Service 2008

February 14 (Valentine's Day)
From Offbeat Magazine:
We just received the sad news that long-time Preservation Hall trumpeter and vocalist John Brunious, Jr. died last night of apparent natural causes, at his home in Florida, where he'd been residing since Hurricane Katrina, in which he not only lost everything, but spent time at the notorious New Orleans Convention Center. Brunious said : "We're not going to let a hurricane stop our music. This music is too important to the musicians and people of New Orleans, and to the people of the world. This music is our treasure and we want to share it." He was finally transported to Arkansas, and settled in Florida. Brunious is the son of jazz musician John Brunious, Sr. and father of trumpeter Wendell Brunious: another example of how New Orleans musical traditions and talent is passed from generation to generation here in the city. At press time, neither memorial nor funeral plans had been announced.

I went to KPFK last night to answer phones for Rhapsody In Black. Before the show Ray and Jim and I went to a local Chinese place and had some dinner, the leftovers of which turned out to also be my lunch today at work because there was so much of it. The fund drive went okay - not awful, not great, but okay. I really think it's the time slot; if they were on a bit earlier they'd do a LOT better.

My son is in Australia; communication, which we had thought would be so easy (hey, we've got AOL, we can do IM, and we've got Skype) has turned out to be a nightmare.  He calls on Skype and I can hear him fine but he can't hear me at all, or vice versa. We're using Skype's chat function for the most part.  He hates being away from Kate on Valentine's Day but hasn't been able to reach her at all.

If you have kids, this is really funny; The William Tell Overture For Moms.

Mark is in Oklahoma caring for his mother (who will be 93 in two weeks).  He just found out that the day after he gets back an old friend and former roommate is coming to town and is staying with him (this would be a lot funnier if you had ever seen Mark's apartment).

The radio shows (both Mark's world folk show and Alive & Picking) are  pre-empted for the next two weeks due to the fund drive. Good! Two Saturdays in a row that I don't have to get up at 4:30 a.m.! I like it! Instead I will sleep in (meaning until 7) and then have a regular Saturday of errands and chores until Ron comes over for dinner. We seem to be stuck in a rut; we choose between four or five regular hangs, all of them Thai; but it's a good rut. I love Thai food, and he enjoys the challenge of seeing whether he can convince the servers that when he says he wants it Thai-style spicy, he means he wants it HOT. He cheerfully devours food that's drenched in sauces so hot that the plate is practically melting; Bob Palmer was that way, never happier than when his glasses were fogging up from the capsaisin content. Come to think of it, Mark's that way too. And Jim. Hmmm. Am I detecting a pattern here? Maybe I should send all the guys out to dinner together to have an afterburn contest, and I'll stay home and eat something comparatively mild.

Life is full of coincidences. I recently "met" and have been emailing with someone on the internet who was, it seems, in just about every place that I was back in the 50s and 60s, and surely we were in the same room at the same time at least once or twice, but we never knew each other back then. He has flyers and posters and concert tickets of shows I attended, and not too long ago he emailed me a folk show poster whose twin is hanging on the wall next to my desk! And we know a lot of the same people, even now. Odd how things happen.

February 9
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080209/NEWS01/80209011
'Schoolboy Cleve,' blues musician, dies
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — Cleveland White, a blues musician who performed as Schoolboy Cleve, died at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Calif.  White, a native of Baton Rouge, La., died Tuesday.
A longtime resident of the San Francisco area, the 82-year-old singer, harmonica player and guitarist recorded for J.D. Miller's
Crowley, La.-based Feature Records and Johnny Vincent's Jackson, Miss.-based Ace Records during the 1950s.
White's break in music came through Lightnin' Slim, a.k.a. Otis Hicks, one the most beloved of the many swamp-blues artists who
recorded at Miller's studio.
White also worked with classic blues acts Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and contemporary San Francisco rhythm-and-blues artist Ron Thompson.
"I was honored," Thompson said this week of working with White. "I consider him an early rock 'n' roll person. He was always inventive."
White began performing professionally at 12. He got some harmonica instruction from Sonny Boy Williamson during one of the blues star's
Baton Rouge visits.
"These bands would come into the area to play in these little clubs," White remembered in 2006. "And people was telling about, There's this
schoolboy around here who plays the harmonica real well."
After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, White returned to Baton Rouge, where he worked a day job to support his family and
played music at night.
"Music, deep in my heart, is my life," White said in 2006. "But I had to carry a job, too. I was determined to have a good family life and
still do my music. It took a lot of heart and pain and discipline to do that."
During the 1950s, White encouraged a musical friend, James Moore, to pursue his musical interests. Moore, a.k.a. Slim Harpo, later
released national hit records.
White and his family moved to San Francisco in 1959. He stopped performing in the 1960s, but later returned to music.
White played the first San Francisco Blues Festival in 1973 and formed his own record company, Cherrie Records. He released his first
CD, a retrospective collection called "South to West: Iron and Gold," in 2006.
White is survived by his wife, four children, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at Tuesday in San Francisco, Calif.

Here's the playlist from this morning's show:
And thanks to all the nice folks who called in to say hello.

Del McCoury/Don't Let Your Sweet Love Die
Adolph Hofner & His Texans/I'll Keep My Old Guitar
Mac Wiseman/Jimmy Brown the Newsboy
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin/The Orphan Train
Jimmy Martin & The Osborne Brothers/That's How I Can Count On You
Kathy & Carol/Green Rocky Road
Charles River Valley Boys/The Auctioneer
Cherryholmes/I Don't Know
Kathy Kallick/Thoughts of Love and Home
David Mallett/This Town
Tiny Moore & Jethro Burns/Tiny's Rag
The Pine Leaf Boys/Jig Cajin
Mark Newton & Rhonda Vincent/We Can't Go Wrong
Golden Ring/Sam Gone Away
Ramblin' Jack Elliott/Guabi Guabi
Martha Scanlan/Ten Thousand Charms
Dave Van Ronk/Did You Hear John Hurt?
Joe Val & the New England Bluegrass Boys/Sparking Brown Eyes
Linda Thompson/No Telling
Mike Seeger/Birmingham Tickle
Tim Eriksen/Farewell To Old Bedford
Ry Cooder/Great Dream From Heaven
Nanci Griffith/Julie Anne
Carolina Chocolate Drops/Starry Crown
Whitstein Brothers/Mansion On A Hill
Bluegrass Album Band/Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Golden Ring/Waterbound
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin/Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia
Carter Family/Keep On the Sunny Side
Bill Keith & Jim Rooney/Devil's Dream
Ricky Skaggs & the Whites/Let It Shine

February 7

February 6

January 30
Utah Phillips update, from his friend Mark Ross: "Friends, I just got a call from Utah. He is going down to San Francisco for tests on his heart because he is retaining too much fluid. If they decide to keep him down there they will upgrade him from a Category B to a Category A (for immediate transplant, if they can find a match). He asked me to post this to let everyone know the situation, he doesn't want the rumor mill to be going into overdrive. "

I always vote on an absentee ballot, even when I'm not out of town. Saves time, saves hassle, saves finding my polling place (which seems to change every election) and then finding parking. I simply fill out my ballot a couple of weeks before the election, stick a stamp on it and drop it in the outgoing mail on my desk. And so I did, a week or ten days ago. I bet you know where I'm going with this: one feels rather blank when the candidate one had selected drops out of the race before the election ever happens. I have, essentially, "wasted" my vote. Live and learn; next election I will still vote absentee, but will wait until 48 hours before the deadline before actually filling it out and mailing it in.

January 29
Another one bites the dust: Canada's oldest bookstore will close its doors for good at the end of March.
The Book Room on Barrington Street in Halifax opened for business in 1839 and survived two World Wars and the Great Depression, store
president Charles Burchell said in a release.
But the retail store couldn't outlast big box bookstores, Burchell said, nor the ease of ordering books online, competition from book
selling pharmacies and grocery stores or the pressure to lower prices to reflect a stronger Canadian dollar. Burchell said The Book Room will begin "an orderly shutdown of its retail store and dispose of its inventory" over the next few weeks. The company's wholesale operation will continue.
"I am extremely disappointed to make this announcement as The Book Room has been an institution in Nova Scotia," he said. "The bookstore
has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression and economic ups and downs over its 169 year history."
Burchell said that during his 42 years with the bookstore, he invited "hundreds and hundreds of local authors, authors from across Canada
and around the world to come and meet their reading fans."
Before the advent of the computer, Burchell said the store received letters from "all over the world" requesting special books be sent to
them.
"To fulfill their request was such a gratifying feeling for me as well as my staff," he said in the release.

January 28
Last night Mark and I went to McCabe's for Geoff Muldaur's annual show there. One never knows what to expect from the musically adventurous Geoff; this time it was a brilliant and hilarious opening set of chamber music arrangements of songs by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Dock Boggs, J.B. Lenoir, Jelly Roll Morton and others, including a French horn solo that even when heard was hard to believe. Then a stunning and delightful second set of both solo and duet (with his longtime musical pal Jim Kweskin) material, including some numbers that went back to their jugband days. I always, for some reason, forget how good Muldaur is (surely not due to my advancing age and crumbling synapses), and consequently am always surprised all over again every time I hear him perform. Lovely, lovely guitar duets on "Guabi Guabi" and "Papa's On The Housetop." What a nice way to spend a rainy evening. Next week we're going back there for the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Yesterday afternoon my friend Ron and I went shopping, supposedly for some tea for him. There's a chain of stores called Teavana (nirvana, teavana, get it?) which sells, among other things, shockingly expensive tea and really beautiful and well crafted (and also expensive!) teapots to make it in. So I was standing there admiring the teapots and decided to buy one, on the theory that a) I don't have one and b) they are made of cast iron so will last a (or at least what's left of my) lifetime. And I'm hemming and hawing and thinking about the expense, and finally narrowed it down to one I really liked that was sort of affordable, and then went off to look at the various teas they had to sample. And while I was sniffing and tasting, Ron pulled out his credit card and bought me my teapot! Turns out the whole request to go shopping thing was an underhanded plot on his part; a sneaky, lowly-worm-like maneuver, but once I got it home and showed it to Jennifer I stopped grumping about the ways and means and am just enjoying my wonderful new toy. And isn't this great tea weather, anyway? I passed on buying the tea that cost $25 for two ounces, however; I don't think I can afford to become a tea gourmet.

January 24
Mardi Gras comes really early this year (February 5). We'll be celebrating with friends here at Casa Aldin; fortunately, jambalaya is easy to make in vast quantities, and I think I have the key lime pie thing figured out. Of course, the bad news is I have to clean the house beforehand, which means borrowing my vacuum back from my son and ruining a couple of perfectly good evenings with housework.

This Saturday on KPFK, my pal Mark Humphrey will be doing another "folk music around the world" program from 6-8 a.m. and I'll be running the board for him. From there we have breakfast and then head off to a restaurant in Inglewood where he will be giving a travel slide show presentation about his recent trip(s) to Kyrgyzstan.

It's been a sad month for blues fans, as two members of Muddy Waters' band passed away within the past few weeks. Guitarist Pee Wee Madison and drummer Francis Clay have gone to blues heaven.

January 22
I rarely go to the movies, but did, a few months back, go to see the Edith Piaf biopic "La Vie En Rose." When we came out of the theater I said to Mark, "If that woman doesn't win the Academy Award for Best Actress, there's something really wrong with the system." Last week she won Best Actress at the Golden Globes, and this morning I heard the announcement that she is also nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Now, sometimes films get multiple nominations - Best Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, whatever. In fact I think there was one film (was it Ben-Hur?) that won something like ten Oscars. "La Vie En Rose" is only nominated for one, the amazing performance by Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf, and I'll tell you why: she is so overpowering and so transcendent that I literally cannot remember anything else about the film except her performance. Who else was in the film? I have no idea. Who directed or produced it? Got me. It wasn't even that great a movie, but she owned the screen, and I hope she gets the Oscar (mind you, I say that without having seen a single one of the other nominated films or performances in any category).

January 20
This is long, and you may never have heard of him, but read it anyway. An interesting and productive life well lived.
Subject: Andy Palacio 1960-2008 - He is resting with the ancestors.
Dear all:
We are heartbroken to report that Andy Palacio passed away tonight at 9pm Belize time. The cause of death was a massive and extensive stroke to the brain, a heart attack and respiratory failure due to the previous two conditions. After having been waylaid in Mobile, Alabama while en route to emergency care in Chicago, Andy had been brought back to a hospital in Belize last night so that he could die in his homeland.
Words can't express the sorrow we feel at the loss of such a tremendous person and artist.
A more formal press release is copied below. Please pass this information on to the countless people around the world who have been impacted by Andy's
music and message. Feel free to post this announcement to your email lists or blogs, as we want to make sure that everyone who knows Andy or his music are
aware of what has happened.
We are together at the Cumbancha office in Vermont. Ivan will be heading to Belize as soon as possible to attend the funeral ceremonies and the tribute concert that is planned for this coming Friday.
In the Garifuna culture the death of a loved one is an opportunity to celebrate their memory and rejoice in having been blessed to have had them in your life. We feel so fortunate to have known this incredible individual and we mourn the loss of truly great man.
In an interview conducted last July, Andy was asked how he wanted to be
remembered when he died. He replied, "As a proud Garifuna...someone who instills pride in Garifuna and raises their self-esteem.  To me, that's the most important thing." This was already the case while he was alive, and we're certain it will only be more true in the future.
Sincerely,
Ivan Duran and Jacob Edgar

ANDY PALACIO, DECEMBER 2, 1960 - JANUARY 19, 2008 - PRESS RELEASE
Belizean Musician Andy Palacio Passes Away After Heart Attack and Stroke
January 19, 2008 - Andy Palacio, an iconic musician and cultural activist in his native Belize and impassioned spokesperson for the Garifuna people of Central America, was declared dead tonight at 9pm Belize time due to a massive and extensive stroke to the brain, a heart attack and respiratory failure due to the previous two conditions.
Palacio, 47, started feeling poorly last week and eventually visited a doctor with complaints of dizziness and blurred vision. On the 16th of January, he began experiencing seizures and was rushed to a hospital in Belmopan, Belize and then on to another hospital in Belize City. At this point, most people were hopeful Palacio would recover.
On January 17th, Palacio's condition worsened and he began experiencing more seizures. He was placed on an air ambulance to Chicago where he was expected
to get treatment at one of the premier neurological facilities in the country. En route to Chicago, the plane stopped in Mobile, Alabama to clear immigration. At that point, Palacio was unconscious and it was determined that he was too ill to continue on the flight to Chicago. He was rushed to a hospital in Mobile, and placed on life support. There, doctors determined that the damage to his brain function was severe, and that his chances of recovery were slim. On January 18th, his family requested that he be flown back to Belize so that he might die in his homeland.
A national hero in Belize for his popular music and advocacy of Garifuna language and culture, news of Palacio's condition sent shockwaves through the community. At 5pm today, a public service was held in Belize City for Palacio as people prayed for his recovery. Ceremonies were also held by Garifuna spiritual leaders in an effort to help with the situation. Belize is in the midst of a heated election, but the local news was entirely dominated by Palacio's health crisis.
The reaction has also been strong around the world. Until the recent turn of events, the past year had been one of tremendous accomplishment for Palacio as his album Watina, which was released at the beginning of 2007, had become one of the most critically acclaimed recordings of the year in any genre. Perhaps the most unanimously revered world music album in recent memory, Watina appeared on dozens of Best of the Year lists in major media outlets around the globe and was roundly praised in glowing terms.
In 2007, Palacio was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace and won the prestigious WOMEX Award. Watina was also nominated for the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. At home in Belize, the international success of Watina has sparked a revival of Garifuna music, as young musicians have become inspired by Palacio's
example. Even in the days since Palacio's health crisis began, the accolades have continued to pour in for his work. That Palacio has been struck down at a moment of such international acclaim only increases the sense of shock and tragedy felt at his sudden and untimely death.
Andy Palacio will be honored with an official state funeral. A massive tribute concert is planned in Belize City on Friday, January 25th.
Friends and supporters are invited to post messages in memory of Andy Palacio to his MySpace page (www.myspace.com/andypalacio) as well as to the blog of
his international record label Cumbancha (http://cumbanchamusic.blogspot.com/).

ANDY PALACIO'S BIOGRAPHY
Andy Palacio was not only the most popular musician in Belize, he was also a serious music and cultural activist with a deep commitment to preserving his unique Garifuna culture. Long a leading proponent of Garifuna popular music and a tireless advocate for the maintenance of the Garifuna language and traditions, Palacio recently achieved international acclaim for his work as a recording and performing artist thanks to the critical success of his early 2007 album Watina.
Andy Vivien Palacio was born in the small coastal village of Barranco, Belize on December 2, 1960.  Palacio grew up listening to traditional Garifuna music as well as imported sounds coming over the radio from neighboring Honduras, Guatemala, the Caribbean and the United States. "Music was always a part of daily life," said Palacio, "It was the soundtrack that we lived to." Along with some of his peers, he joined local bands even while in high school and began developing his own voice, performing covers of popular Caribbean and Top 40 songs.
However, it was while working with a literacy project on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast in 1980 and discovering that the Garifuna language and culture was steadily dying in that country, that a strong cultural awareness took hold and his approach to music became more defined. "I saw what had happened to my people in Nicaragua. The cultural erosion I saw there deeply affected my outlook," he said in late 2006, "and I definitely had to react to that reality." His reaction took the form of diving deeper into the language and rhythms of the Garifuna, a unique cultural blend of West African and Indigenous Carib and Arawak Indian language and heritage. "It was a conscious strategy. I felt that music was an excellent medium to preserve the culture. I saw it as a way of maintaining cultural pride and self esteem, especially in young people."
Palacio became a leading figure in a growing renaissance of young Garifuna intellectuals who were writing poetry and songs in their native language. He saw the emergence of an upbeat, popular dance form based on Garifuna rhythms that became known as punta rock and enthusiastically took part in developing the form. Andy began performing his own songs and gained stature as a musician and energetic Garifuna artist.  In 1987, he was able to hone his skills after being invited to work in England with Cultural Partnerships Limited, a community arts organization. Returning home to Belize with new skills and a four track recording system, he helped found Sunrise, an organization dedicated to preserving, documenting and distributing Belizean music. While his academic background and self-scholarship allowed for his on-going documentation of Garifuna culture through lyrics and music, it is his exuberance as a performer that has helped earn him worldwide recognition.
Palacio also brought his passion for Garifuna culture into the public sector. In December 2004, Palacio was appointed Cultural Ambassador and Deputy
Administrator of the National Institute of Culture and History of Belize.
About five years ago, Belizean producer Ivan Duran, Palacio's longtime collaborator and founder of the local label Stonetree Records, convinced Palacio that he should focus on less commercial forms of Garifuna music and look more deeply into its soul and roots. Duran and Palacio set out to create an all-star, multi-generational ensemble of some of the best Garifuna musicians from Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. The Garifuna Collective unites elder statesmen such as legendary Garifuna composer Paul Nabor, with up-and-coming voices of the new generation such as Aurelio Martinez from Honduras and Adrien Martinez from Belize. Rather then focusing solely on danceable styles like punta rock, the Collective explores the more soulful side of Garifuna music, such as the Latin-influenced paranda, and the sacred d|g|, punta and gunjei rhythms.
Palacio and Duran embarked on the production of Watina, an album that would come to redefine modern Garifuna music and become one of the most
critically-acclaimed world music releases of 2007. The initial recording sessions for this exceptional album took place over a 4-month period in an improvised studio inside a thatch-roofed cabin by the sea in the small village of Hopkins, Belize. It was an informal environment, where the musicians spent many hours playing together late into the night, honing the arrangements of the songs that would eventually end up on this album. While the traditions provided the inspiration, the musicians also added contemporary elements that helped give the songs relevance to their modern context. After the sessions, Ivan Duran worked tirelessly back at his studio to craft what is surely the pinnacle of Garifuna music production to date.
Watina, which was released at the beginning of 2007, became one of the most critically acclaimed recordings of the year in any genre. Perhaps the most
unanimously revered world music album in recent memory, Watina appeared on dozens of Best of the Year lists in major media outlets around the globe and
was roundly praised in glowing terms. These best-of lists put an exclamation point on what had been an incredible year for Andy Palacio and the worldwide
recognition of Garifuna music. In November, 2007, Palacio became the first Caribbean and Central American artist to be designated awas named a UNESCO
Artist for Peace. He received the prestigious WOMEX Award in October, 2007 which was co-awarded to Ivan Duran. In September, 2007 Palacio was conferred
the Order of Meritorious Service by the Prime Minister of Belize. Watina was also nominated for the influential BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. At home in
Belize, the international success of Watina has sparked a revival of Garifuna music, as young musicians have become inspired by Palacio's example.

January 18
John Stewart RIP: Former Kingston Trio member and longtime solo singer/songwriter John Stewart had a stroke yesterday and died this morning. This is is confirmed on the Kingston Trio's own web site at http://www.kingstontrio.com/html/kt_news.htm
My pal Todd Everett has posted some stories and additional links about John on his web site.

January 16
Life is just *so* interesting. And it moves so fast! My son Josh, about to turn 31, has proposed to his girlfriend Kate, been accepted, gotten a new job which will send him to Australia (!) for two weeks of training, then goes to Las Vegas for his bachelor party, comes home, and three weeks later he and Kate go to Europe, where they will visit Paris, Rome, Venice (where they will be married!), and Florence. And then home, and a big wedding reception later this summer for all of us who can't go to the wedding because of the long distance and short notice. Whew! Mom is fanning herself  and trying to keep up. The wedding reception has several possible locations so far, including the clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. Well, I guess I should be pleased at having raised such interesting and highly individual children :-).

Meanwhile, in preparation for my forthcoming Mardi Gras gathering I went on the internet, found a recipe for key lime pie, and test drove it. The consensus so far is that I have the pie filling nailed, but my meringue topping isn't light and fluffy enough. Possibly too much sugar? Wow, I never thought I'd write those four words in a sentence! Have borrowed some chairs, and more will be brought by the guests (BYOC - bring your own chair - now there's a concept.) Am dusting off my jambalaya recipe, too.

As if that wasn't enough fun to look forward to, a couple of years ago I loaned some items from my old-folk-stuff collection to Seattle's Experience Music Project for an exhibit they were doing on the early years of Bob Dylan's career. That show, after traveling to museums around the country, has now ended up at the Skirball Museum here in L.A., where it will open to the public on February 8. Because I'm a lender I get to go (with my kids and some friends) to a pre-opening party a few days earlier, which will including bites of food on teeny plates, free booze (which does me no good, since I never drink) and a chance to socialize.

My favorite sig line du jour, from comedian Billy Connelly:
“My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger.”

January 12
This coming Saturday morning, January 19, my pal Mark Humphrey will be hosting a show on KPFK from 6:00-8:00 a.m. He describes it as:
"Odyssey: Journeys Through Folk Music. The two hours will feature folk & folk-based music from some 25 countries, including America."
I get to go to the station with him to engineer, snce he's not familiar with running the board.

For fans of U.K. folksinger/songwriter Les Barker:
A statement from Les Barker. From teatime on the 5th of Jan 2008 until now.
"It happened about teatime on 5th January and I assumed it was heartburn following a particularly sticky shepherd's pie in a college canteen at lunchtime. I spent the evening taking part in the local Mari Llwyd tour (an ancient ritual involving going from pub to pub with a horse's skull on a stick) with some of my fellow organiser's of Tegeingl, next August's new folk festival in Mold. I didn't feel very well, but I was a lot better off than the horse.
Next morning, the discomfort still hadn't gone, so I went to a doctor, who sent me to Wrexham Maelor Hospital, where they pronounced it to be a heart attack, and I was promptly thrombolised. They dissolved a clot in my heart, and from then onwards I felt fine. For the last week I've been having tablets and injections to bring down the pulse rate and blood pressure, while sitting by my bed attempting a very long poem in Welsh using each of the twenty four classical metres. I just wanted to know if I can do it. Yesterday - 11th Jan - I was released into the community with a large supply of pills; I am experimenting with deep fried aspirin.
I have to have an angiogram later this month, which may or may not lead to some further treatment. January's gigs have been cancelled; February's are still on. In March I was to have gone to Australia for a month, but it seems sensible to put that back a year in case the further treatment's necessary. In the meantime I'll sit and look out of the window at the Clwydian Hills and try to finish the poem.
The staff at Wrexham Maelor Hospital were excellent. If I have to be ill again, I'll try to do it in the same place".
Issued on behalf of Les Barker (www.mrsackroyd.com) & Guide Cats for the Blind.
Pat Tynan Media
PO Box 785
Ickenham
Uxbridge
Middlesex
England UB10 8WQ
Office: +44 (0) 1895 636935 Mobile 07985 400297
pattynan@btinternet.com + www.pattynanmedia.com

Thanks to all who listened to Alive & Picking and called me at the station this morning. It has been suggested to me that I ask folks who support the idea of KPFK continuing to program folk and bluegrass music on Saturday mornings to write to the station and say so. I know that's a pain in the neck, and I don't know whether it will actually have any effect. But I guess if you're willing to take the time to do it, it couldn't hurt. One email, ccd to all of the following:
Maggie Lepique <mlepique@KPFK.ORG>, Jim Lafferty <jlafferty@KPFK.ORG>, Armando Gudino <agudino@kpfk.org>
with something like "Saturday morning programming request" as the subject header. Then, in a few sentences, tell them why you think Alive & Picking should continue. Remember, though, that these folks are NOT "the enemy" and they are NOT bad people. Don't yell at them. Be nice. More flies with honey, and so forth.

Here's this morning's playlist:

Arkansas Barefoot Boys/Eighth of January
Jimmie Driftwood/Battle of New Orleans
Tony Rice/Eighth of January
Hot Rize/Bending Blades
Carol Elizabeth Jones and James Leva/Someday
Eric & Suzy Thompson/Corrina
Osborne Bros. & Red Allen/Once More
Mary McCaslin/Blackbird
Finest Kind/Banks of Claudy
Iris DeMent/Acres of Corn
Kitty Wells & Red Foley/One By One
Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown/Rocky Mountain
Del McCoury Band/High On a Mountain
Leon McAuliffe & His Western Swing Band/Panhandle Rag
Doc & Merle Watson/California Blues
Kate Rusby/Canaan's Land
Seldom Scene/Raised By the Railroad Line
The Rice Brothers/This Old House
Blue Murder/Stars In My Crown
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver/Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong
John McCutcheon & Tom Chapin/Welcome the Traveller Home
Tim O'Brien & Karan Casey/What Does the Deep Sea Say?
Ricky Skaggs & Keith Whitley/Don't Cheat In Our Home Town
Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill/The High Jig
Iris DeMent/Let The Mystery Be
Emmylou Harris & John Starling/First In Line
Dry Branch Fire Squad/The Cuckoo
Mac & Jenny Traynham/Little Poplar Log House
Sam McGee/Railroad Blues
Tony Rice/Ten Degrees & Getting Colder
Marley's Ghost/Pass Me Not
Hazel Dickens/Love Me Or Leave Me Alone

Kirk Joseph of New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band had a massive heart attack yesterday. He needs assistance with medical bills. Below is a letter from his wife:
Hi,
I can't begin to know how to say this to those of you who love Kirk (not more than me), but Kirk had a heart attack yesterday morning. It hurts me to sit here and send this because now I have actually said it. I still cannot believe this.
The Cardiologist called me this afternoon to go into more detail about his condition. His heart is operating at 20%...when it should be at 60-80%. There is a blockage somewhere and they have not determined where it is. The doctor also stated he could possibly have another heart attack before they find where the blockage is. He will remain in the hospital until next week.
Hurricane Katrina did most of us in...but now I am tired. I am hurt and devastated by this and I can't break down because I have to stay strong for Kirk. He is in good spirits right now, but very afraid. He wanted me to let you all know that he is okay.
I would like for you all to join me in prayer and ask GOD to keep him here and to heal him, (body, soul, mind and spirit). I am not ready to lose him-and I know you all feel the same way.
His hospital bill right now is in excess of $8000.00 because of all the tests and x-rays, blood work ups, ekg's, medicines and all of the specialist that have seen him. They are going to continue to run tests and do an angiogram (not sure if I spelled that one right) ASAP. His lungs are still filled with fluid and he is coughing
constantly...because the air is not getting through to his lungs properly and the blood is not getting to his heart the way it should. He is on an IV, and the EKG machine is hooked up to him to monitor him.
If you would like to send him a card or a donation toward the hospital bill (we would be greatly appreciative as he does not have medical insurance). Kirk is in University Hospital.
Thank you for your continued love and support,
Venessa Joseph
P.O. Box 8852
New Orleans, LA 70182

January 7
Trying not to get whiplash here: I have no earthly idea what's going on, but Alive & Picking will be back on the radio this coming Saturday, January 12 from 6:00-8:00 a.m. As far as I know it's for this one time only; blink and you'll miss me. The following Saturday my good friend Mark Humphrey will be doing a world music show in that time slot.

January 5
I got an email from the Program Director at KPFK, telling me that they have decided not to continue the Saturday morning time slot as folk or bluegrass music at all. They're going in a different direction. So I guess that means I don't have to get up at 4:30 a.m. every Saturday morning for the rest of my life. Oh darn.

January 2
My daughter the celebrity: Jennifer was on the 8:00 p.m. newscast tonight on Channel 9, talking about a group she belongs to. She was on for about one minute, give or take a little; she spoke on camera, and off, and while she was "on" her name was shown at the bottom of the screen. In the first fifteen minutes after the spot aired I got seven phone calls and fourteen emails. You go, girl!

December 31
From the Monthly Review http://www.monthlyreview.org/nfte0108.htm December 27
Yes, I am back from New Orleans. No, I have not heard anything at all from anyone at KPFK regarding the future of the Saturday morning time slot. I am fairly certain that if they wanted me to host a show tomorrow morning they would have said so by now (it's Friday night at 6 p.m.), right? So I would say that they are probably going in another direction, and just haven't had time to respond to any of my emails asking what's going on.

New Orleans was great! Music, food, music, food, music, and did I mention the food? I'll be gradually updating the NOLA page on this site with some of the changes I found there during my visit. I'm still unpacking, sorting, doing loads of laundry (!) and have been back at work for two days. My desk looks like a bomb dropped on it while I was gone! That's the price one pays for getting to go away for a few days. Will write more about my New Orleans visit later.

December 26
Funeral services for Larry Brown, luthier, guitar repairman at McCabe's and later Boulevard Music, and all around good guy, will he held on Saturday, January 12th 2008 at 1:00 pm at St. John's Presbyterian Church, 11000 National Blvd (corner of National and Military), Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 477-2513

The car has a new (rebuilt) transmission, and I guess I won't be eating anything for awhile till it's paid for!

*********************************************************************
Dec. 22, 2007, 2:06PM
Tejano music pioneer known as "The Lark of the Border" dies at 91
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5399274.html
SAN ANTONIO - Lydia Mendoza, a Tejano music pioneer known as "The Lark of the Border," has died. She was 91.

Mendoza, who retired and moved from Houston to San Antonio in 1988 after a series of strokes, died Thursday of natural causes at the Nix Medical
Center. She had lived in the nursing home portion of the Chandler Estate for the last three years.
Mendoza, who scored her first big hit "Mal Hombre" in the 1930s, became one of the era's first Mexican American superstars by singing to the poor and
downtrodden.
Over time, Mendoza became known as La Alondra de la Frontera (The Lark of the Border), La Cancionera de los Pobres (Songstress of the Poor) and La
Gloria de Tejas (The Glory of Texas).
"She was the first and only real voice of Mexican Americans," said Arhoolie Records owner Chris Strachwitz, who co-wrote an autobiography of the Mendoza
family for Arte Publico Press. "People always told me that Lydia sang to every class. She sang to the poor, and the wealthy loved her too."
Her memorable musical style earned her a National Medal of the Arts and a National Heritage Award fellowship. She was also asked to sing at Jimmy Carter's inauguration in 1977. Mendoza recorded more than 200 songs on more than 50 albums, including boleros, rancheras, cumbias and tangos for such labels as RCA, Columbia, Azteca, Peerless, El Zarape and Discos Falcon. In addition to pursuing a solo career, she also enjoyed performing with her family. "Mal Hombre (Evil Man)," released in 1934 on the Bluebird label, became a hit on both sides of the border and was her signature song. Other hits included "La Valentina" and "Angel de Mis Anhelos."
South Texas Conjunto Association Executive Director Lupe Saenz called Mendoza a trailblazer. "She set the trend for others, Las Hermanas Cantu, Chelo Silva, Las Rancheritas, and other women who followed Mendoza's lead in the world of Spanish music," he said. "Mendoza will be remembered for her unique style of the 12-string guitar and unique voice and style of singing that set her apart from all others."
Born in Houston, Mendoza learned to sing and play the 12-string guitar before she was 12, and later learned to play violin and mandolin. In 1928, her family landed a recording session at the Blue Bonnet Hotel in San Antonio with the Okeh label, which generated five singles.
In 1999, Mendoza received the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony in which she shared the stage with Aretha Franklin, producer-director Norman Lear, architect Michael Graves and sculptor George Segal.
Then-President Bill Clinton praised Mendoza's voice and the gift of her songs.
"Lydia learned much from the oral tradition of Mexican music that her mother and grandmother shared with her," Clinton said. "In turn, she shared it with the world, becoming the first rural American woman performer to garner a large following throughout Latin America."
Mendoza, who was the guest of honor at a 2006 tribute concert in San Antonio, was also inducted into the Tejano Music Awards, Tejano Conjunto Festival and Texas Women halls of fame.
Mendoza is survived by her daughter, Yolanda Hernandez. She was preceded in death by two daughters, Lydia Alvarado Davila and Leonor Salazar.
A funeral mass will be held Thursday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

*************************************************************
Unions Passing Resolutions to Honor, Assist Folksinger/Storyteller Bruce "Utah" Phillips

The great folksinger and storyteller Utah Phillips (http://www.utahphillips.org) has had to retire from performing due to chronic and serious heart problems that
have plagued him for years. In recognition of his great love for and work on behalf of the union movement and working people of the United States, several
union locals have passed resolutions honoring Phillips and attaching donations for his "retirement fund." Unable to travel or stand the rigors of performing a
two-hour concert, Phillips has seen his main source of income vanish just when his medical problems are demanding more money for treatment and medications.
In response, Local 1180 of the Communications Workers of America (NYC), and both the Detroit and the James Connolly (Upstate New York) Branches of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) have recently passed the the following resolution:

Bruce "Utah" Phillips is a truly unique American treasure. Not just a great folksong writer and interpreter, not just a great storyteller, Utah has preserved and presented the history of our nation's working people and union movement for audiences throughout the world. His recorded work keeps these songs and stories alive. He has spoken up against the injustices of boss-dominated capitalism and worked for peace and justice for more than 40 years.
Now Utah finds himself unable to continue performing due to severe heart problems. We wish to honor and recognize his great talent, spirit and love for the working people and the union movement of the United States. Therefore, we move to pass this resolution in gratitude for all he has done and will continue to do in his work and life. We also wish to contribute $____ to Utah Phillips in appreciation and in solidarity as he and his wife, Joanna Robinson, deal with his health and the loss of his ability to work.

This news is being released with the hope that other unions, anti-war and labor-affiliated organizations will respond in kind by passing this or similar resolutions in appreciation for all Utah Phillips has done for the cause of unions and peace.
Another way that organizations and individuals can help is by purchasing some or all of Utah's vast catalog of songs and stories. All of his CDs and more
information are available at his website, http://www.utahphillips.org, and Utah has begun posting podcasts up there that you can download and listen to! You can
also order his CDs online (credit card sales) through http://www.cdbaby.com, but be advised that prices are cheaper and more of that money will go into Utah's
hands if you order directly from him. More info on his website.

Here's the address for CD orders and to send a donation:
U. Utah Phillips
No Guff Records
P.O. Box 1235
Nevada City, CA 95959
(530) 265-2476
Utah has given so much of himself to the labor and peace movements. It is great news that some unions and many have chosen to give something back to him, to
allow him and his wife, Joanna Robinson, to rest easy, work on his long-term health, and not have to worry about where money will come for the medicine and
bills he has to pay. Please forward and post this release widely!

December 14
From today's New York Times:

Henrietta Yurchenco, Pioneer Folklorist, Dies at 91
By DOUGLAS MARTIN [New York Times]

Henrietta Yurchenco, whose quest to save living music from the past took her from the mountains of Guatemala and southern Mexico to a New York City [New York] radio station to the Jewish community of Morocco, died Monday [December 10, 2007] in Manhattan [New York]. She was 91.
The cause was lung failure, her son, Peter, said.
Like a linguist nailing down a dying language, Ms. Yurchenco, an ethnomusicologist, recorded music from long ago that faced an unclear tomorrow. In an interview, Pete Seeger said she "went to places people didn't believe she would be able to find."
Among her thousands of recordings are ritual songs from North, South and Central American Indians, including peyote chants, and music celebrating everything from love to agriculture, found from Eastern Europe to the Caribbean to Appalachia to Spain.
Oscar Brand, the folk singer and radio personality, citing her work with Native Americans, said, "She went out of her way to discover the soft spots, the shining things you couldn't see in the mists back in the mountains."
Ms. Yurchenco was also a radio producer, announcer and interviewer. Beginning in the 30s, she broadcast only folk music, both traditional and modern, at a time when few knew it.
Woody Guthrie called her in 1939 or 1940 and asked if he could be on her live show. Bob Dylan, a little tongue-tied, did one of his early radio interviews with her in 1962. In an interview with NPR in 1999, she said she scoured union halls and immigrant groups to find genuine music.
Ethnomusicologists study music in varying ethnic contexts. Ms. Yurchenco began by tracking down 14 all-but-unknown Mexican and Guatemalan tribes, reaching them with little but a mule and 300 pounds of recording equipment. She eventually recorded 2,000 of their songs for the Library of Congress.
Later, she studied the music of the Sephardim, Jews who had been thrown out of Spain in the 15th century. She arrived in Morocco just as many Sephardim were preparing to move to the new state of Israel, and she seized a last chance to capture their ancient songs in the original context.
Ms. Yurchenco was intrigued by women's roles in creating music and of the sexual politics involved in making it. Mr. Seeger said women may be the best music collectors, partly because many have the patience to appreciate a grandmother singing a 400-year-old ballad to a baby.
Ms. Yurchenco wrote several books, including a biography of Woody Guthrie. At least one book is still to be published: a study of the music of Morocco's Sephardic women. She long taught at City College, lectured widely and fought fiercely for her leftist ideals.
Starting in 2005 and continuing almost until her death, Ms. Yurchenco invited like-minded friends to her apartment to sing songs against the Iraq war, often the same ones used against the Vietnam War. Some of their singing was broadcast on Internet radio.
Henrietta Weiss was born in New Haven [Connecticut] on March 22, 1916. She told The Villager, a neighborhood newspaper in Manhattan, that her
father was "a dreamer who started out in business and failed miserably." She was a promising pianist who attended the Yale School of Music.
At Yale, she met Boris Yurchenco, an Argentine-born painter, at a meeting of the John Reed Club, named for the American writer who chronicled the Bolshevik Revolution. They were married in 1936, the year she was first arrested in a protest; she was demonstrating against a brass band from Mussolini's Italy.
In 1939, her musical interests led her to WNYC, the public radio station then owned by New York City. She made friends with people like Burl Ives, the folk singer and Alan Lomax, a legendary music collector.
In 1941, she followed her husband on a trip to Mexico. An engineer from WNYC came along to record music, and she took over when he left. With financial support from groups like the American Philosophical Society, she repeatedly visited the area to record animal sacrifices, healing ceremonies and much else. Scorpions, both yellow and green, were a persistent problem.
Ms. Yurchenco and her husband divorced in 1955. In addition to her son, Peter, of Skillman, New Jersey, she is survived by two grandchildren.
Legend has it that Mr. Seeger and the Almanac Singers, an earlier name for the Weavers, wrote the song "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" in Ms. Yurchenco's relatively quiet bathroom during a noisy party in her apartment. Mr. Seeger said that was not quite true, though he recalled her famous parties.
Mr. Seeger explained that Leadbelly, the great folk and blues artist, was in Ms. Yurchenco's bathroom with the singer Sam Kennedy, who perched on the obvious as he sang "Drimmin Down," a lament about a dead cow. (Leadbelly later livened up the beat and used the tune for his own cow song, "If It Wasn't for Dicky.")
Mr. Seeger liked the melody and added lyrics about wine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/arts/14yurchenco.html?ref=obituaries

December 12
Got an email from Mike Seeger this morning, letting me know the sad news that the tireless folklorist and ethnomusicologist Henrietta Yurchenco died yesterday. She lived a long and wonderful life doing work that she loved; I only hope some day that will be said about me.

The McCabes 50th Anniversary Concert is now set for October 2, 2008 and will be part of the UCLA Live Series. Artists confirmed so far include Richard Thompson, David Lindley, Jackson Browne, Ricky Jay...more TBA. My pal Nancy Covey is co-producing the show with current McCabe's booking guru Lincoln Myerson.

And Ike Turner died this morning. Why do I think that his obituaries will all be slanted in one direction, and it won't be his career accomplishments?

In that perfect way things have of happening exactly when you least expect them, the car started acting up on the way home from work tonight. Really not anything I was looking forward to dealing with! So I parked it on the street tonight, rather than in my carport, so as to make it easier for the Auto Club to tow me if it won't start in the morning. I'm slammed with things to do as I get ready to leave for New Orleans, and Mark's getting ready to leave for Oklahoma (on the same day). As I was saying about perfect timing...

December 8
Did my (final? I guess) Alive & Picking radio show this morning; thanks to all the folks who called in to say adieu. Here's the playlist:

Fiddlin' John Carson/Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over
Rhonda Vincent/Christmas Time's A-Comin'
The Chieftains with The Voice Squad/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Emmylou Harris/Beautiful Star of Bethlehem
Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen/Blue Christmas Lights
Kathy & Carol/Brightest and Best
Waterson:Carthy/The Ditchling Carol
Barry & Holly Tashian/Long Long Ago
Hank Snow/Reindeer Boogie
Peter, Paul & Mary/A-Soalin'
John Prine/I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Jimmy Martin/Old Fashioned Christmas
Harvey Reid & Joyce Andersen/Christ Was Born in Bethlehem
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (with Alison Krauss)/Colorado Christmas
Keb' Mo'/Jingle Bell Jamboree
Hank Snow/Blue Christmas
Patty Loveless/Away In a Manger
Allen Toussaint/Creole Christmas
Steve Earle/Nothing But a Child
The Roches/Angels We Have Heard on High
Country Gentlemen/Christmas Time Back Home
Coope, Boyes & Simpson/Drive The Cold Winter Away
Laurie Lewis/The Gift
Wilf Carter/The Night Before Christmas, In Texas, That Is
Bluegrass Cardinals/Carpenter of Wood
Lynn Morris/Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The Chieftains with Nanci Griffith/The Wexford Carol
Tony Trischka & Dudley Connell/Precious Child
Laurel Canyon Ramblers/Christmas Is Coming To Town
John McCutcheon/Christmas In the Trenches
Ricky Skaggs & James Taylor/New Star Shining
Patty Loveless & Jon Randall (with Emmylou Harris)/Joy To the World
Larry Sparks/Christmas Time's A-Comin'
Bill Grant & Delia Bell/My Little Silver Bells
Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum/Hot Buttered Rum

December 4  
More sad news for the local music community; Larry Brown had a massive heart attack Friday night and died Sunday morning.   If you didn't know Larry, he was a gifted luthier who kept his repair shop upstairs at Boulevard Music in Culver City.   He had a marvelous touch with mandolins, banjos, and guitars, and was quite simply a joy to be around.   No matter what problem you might have had with your axe, your anxiety was always tempered and balanced by the prospect of visiting Larry and hanging out a bit, enjoying his wonderful company.   He'll be sorely missed by many.

December 2
I'll be going back to New Orleans again soon, to see friends, hear music, eat food and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. And as much as I love New Orleans, it will never be the same to me without my dear friend Stevenson Palfi, who was so much a part of all my visits to that wonderful city. A gifted filmmaker, Stevenson had moved to New Orleans from Chicago after graduating from college, and had given his life to documenting the music and musicians of New Orleans. He produced several award-winning films, including the still-definitive "Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together" with Professor Longhair, Tuts Washington and Allen Toussaint. Stevenson was one of many casualties of the flooding that destroyed so much of the city when the levees broke after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  He lost his home, his office and everything he owned; devastated by the death and destruction he saw all around him, unable to work, and with nowhere to turn, in some moment of unbearable despair he took his own life on December 14, 2005 in what was left of his Mid-City home. He was my friend for twenty years and I loved him dearly; I will be spending some time there with his daughter, my darling Nell, as well as with other good friends who have toughed it out and are, somehow, still standing. God bless them all.

December 1
Radio show was uneventful this morning, except that the last time I tried to answer the phone I knocked it off the ledge it was on, and it came apart into about 50 pieces. Which is why that was the last time I tried to answer it. Well, at least the transmitter didn't give out again!
Next Saturday (December 8) I'll do a Christmas music show; why so early? you may ask. Because, as of now, that's the last show I'll be doing. The station asked me to fill in for four weeks, today was the third, next Saturday is the fourth. After that, who knoweth? Not me. I've heard nothing from anyone there about continuing Alive & Picking beyond the 8th.  I sure hope they keep a music show of SOME kind in that time slot. Anyhow, here's the playlist for this morning's show:

Stanley Brothers/Old Love Letters
Michael Jerome Brown/Reuben
Johnson Mountain Boys/Duncan & Brady
Joe Hickerson/The Thinnest Man
Blue Sky Boys/Corrina Corrina
Merle Travis/Beer Barrel Polka
Young Tradition/Chicken on a Raft
James King/I Don't Do Floors Anymore
Lynn Morris/The Likes of You
David Mallett/Summer of my Dreams
Arkansas Sheiks/Few Days
Ricky Skaggs/Lost and I'll Never Find the Way
Salamander Crossing/God Bless That Poor Moonshiner
J.D. Crowe & the New South/I Never Go Around Mirrors
Robin & Barry Dransfield/The Holmfirth Anthem
Ralph Stanley/Dixie Land
Jim & Jesse/Long Cabin in the Lane
Pete Seeger/Here's to Cheshire, Here's to Cheese
Country Gentlemen/Same Old Day
Tony Rice/Any Old Time
Robin & Linda Williams with Mountain Heart/Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Robin & Linda Williams with Mike Seeger/By the Touch of Her Hand
Chris Hillman/Turn Your Radio On
Mark Humphrey/Dance With the Girl With the Hole In Her Stocking
Gordon Bok, Ed Trickett & Ann Mayo Muir/Waltzing With Bears
Kentucky Colonels/Ocean of Diamonds
Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin/Old Country Stomp
Doc Watson/Keep On the Sunny Side
Kenny Hall & the Sweets Mill String Band/Angeline The Baker
Nashville Bluegrass Band/Old Devil's Dream
Roger Sprung/Wild Goose Chase
The Chicken Chokers/Looking for Money
Michael Jerome Browne/Sandy River Belles