Here’s some fantastic Canadian fiddle music featuring Graham and Eleanor Townsend…The Four String Polka
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Enemies: A Love Story
One good (but unfortunate) way of accumulating a pile of books to read is to break your ankle. In no time after my injury I found myself awash in reading material, all kinds of reading material. This was welcome, because when your mobility is seriously compromised, reading is an excellent option.
My friend Vox brought over an eclectic pile of books. This included a curious history book called The Meaning of Everything, all about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. I confess I liked the idea of this book better than the actual book, and I abandoned this one after being thoroughly convinced of just how huge a task it was to create this dictionary.
The next one I picked up from the Vox stack was Enemies: A Love Story, the 1972 novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer. This novel revolves around Herman Broder, a Jewish Holocaust survivor and refugee, living in New York.
During the war, Herman escaped the Nazis by hiding in a hayloft, with the help of a peasant girl named Yadwiga, who had been a servant to Herman’s wealthy family. Herman, believing his wife Tamara and their two children had been shot and killed by the Nazis, married Yadwiga and brought her to America, where they settled in Coney Island. When we meet Herman, he has a mistress as well, a woman living in The Bronx named Masha, who he fell in love with back in Europe. Herman tells Yadwiga he is an encyclopedia salesman who has to go on book-selling trips – which are in fact visits to Masha. Herman is not a book-seller, but actually a ghost-writer of religious material for an entrepreneurial rabbi, this even though Herman has abandoned his faith. Along the way we find out that while Herman’s children were indeed killed by the Nazis, Tamara was shot but survived. Inevitably, she shows up in America and finds Herman. Herman’s life is a tangled knot.
Herman lives impossible layers of lies, and though he is constantly worried he will be found out, he continues to concoct new ones. Of course all three women learn the score along the way.
There is a strange tension in this novel between the absurd love quadrangle and the haunting shadow of past horrors that cannot be separated from the lives of the characters involved, as they adapt to life in America. What an engaging and unusual read. Recommended.
Banjo Practice
Head for the hills, it’s banjo practice time. Here’s me attempting to play a fiddle tune known as The Forky Deer, or Forked Deer (say fork-kid).
Shady Grove
Shady Grove is a tune that has had a lot of play over the years. I always associate this one with Doc Watson. I learned to play a version of this tune when I started learning clawhammer, but stopped playing it for no real reason and it drifted out of my memory. I’ve recently started playing it again, so I’ve been listening to various versions. The following video featuring Doc with the Kruger Brothers is a great example of his signature approach to the tune, and it features Jens Krugers wonderful banjo picking.
Bruce Molsky is one of my favourite old time musicians. If you’re just getting into this kind of music and you’re thinking of adding some old time tunes to your collection, you can’t go wrong with Molsky, whose recorded output is excellent. He plays banjo, fiddle and guitar – but here he is on banjo playing Shady Grove.
We usually think of Shady Grove as a “modal” tune (Dorian mode), but it has been done as a major tune as well. Kilby Snow, the autoharp player, recorded a great version of this. You can hear a sample of that here. Also, enjoy Zepp’s major version on banjo….
Homework: check out a tune called The Death of Sis Draper by Guy Clark. I couldn’t find it on YouTube. It’s on his recent (tremendously good) recording, My Favorite Picture of You. The Death of Sis Draper is done to the tune of Shady Grove. It is a followup to his much earlier tune Sis Draper. Not only does it use the melody from Shady Grove, it also references Shady Grove in the lyrics. We love this whole album around 27th Street – you will too.
Memphis Update
Memphis is doing well. She can get up and walk around some and she seems comfortable. This morning her bandage came off – and that means it’s time for the Elizabethan collar for a while so she doesn’t lick the incision. Memphis is not impressed but is tolerating it.
She is not happy about taking medication either. We can get a pill or two down with treats but then she twigs to the pill and refuses the treats. Last evening I was pilling her directly. She’s demonstrated an excellent ability to avoid swallowing so she can spit the pill out later. This morning I resorted to a secret weapon – buttered toast. She’ll eat anything if it comes with buttered toast.
She appreciated a little brushing this morning, especially under her chin and on her neck, her favourite spots.
Memphis is home!!!
Memphis returns home
After surgery yesterday, Memphis has returned home. She can walk, but she does require an assist with a sling to easily get up at this point. In two weeks she will get her staples out, and she is on restricted activity for some time (just like me!).
Cook a little Shortnin’ Bread
The tune Shortnin’ Bread must be embedded deep in the genetic code of Canadians and Americans. I can’t remember not knowing that melody. Some people might call it a kid’s tune, but there are versions whose lyrics are a little more adult oriented. The melody lends itself to interpretation, and so Shortnin’ Bread has been done up many different ways.
As you know I like all kinds of folk music….so let’s start out with a Psychobilly version by none other than The Cramps…
Here’s a really hot version I found on YouTube (I might have even shared this one before). It’s from a jam at Clifftop back in 2012. Here are the notes from YouTube on this one: Asheville, N.C.-based Chicken Train was performing at Clifftop 2012 last week over a box of their CDs. Sales were brisk because their music making was topnotch. That’s John Hermann on banjo and John Engle on fiddle. Meredith McIntosh is on guitar. Not sure who was on bass, but she was solid. I didn’t hear a better band in my opinion.
Want it in a jazz setting? Here’s a short clip featuring Mr. Charles Mingus. Mama’s little baby likes all the fine things in life. It gets cut off but what is there is pretty fine. There is some language on this clip not for the kiddies…
Let’s go out with some Bluegrass. Here’s Earl….
Some fiddle music from Kentucky (or Why Traditional Music #937)
Here’s a nice old video featuring Kentucky fiddler Marion Sumner accompanied by David Holt on guitar….
A visit from Vibe and Salvelinas
Yesterday my brother the trout, Salvelinas Fontinalis, came by for the afternoon, along with his lovely border collie Vibe.
“Vibe doesn’t go up on furniture”, says Salvelinas, proudly. Hmmm. I suppose that is sort of true. Vibe goes up on the humans that are on the furniture. Vibe is the sweetest dog. He is very gently and just loves getting pats from everyone he can.
Surgery for Memphis
Our dear Landseer Newf Memphis is going for knee surgery today. The problem is with her cruciate ligament, which has deteriorated considerably and is causing her a lot of pain on her rear right side. Left unchecked, it will severely limit her mobility. As part of the surgery the specialist-vet will reshape the top of the tibia and put a stainless steel plate in which will help hold things together while she heals. Memphis will have significantly limited mobility for the next two months and somewhat limited mobility for a month after that. She should be home from the clinic tomorrow. Her and I will be on the limp together.
Update: Memphis is out of surgery and recovering. We expect she will be able to come home sometime tomorrow.
27th Street 