July 1, 2013
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Susanannah Gal

Regular visitors to this joint know I’ve been trying to learn clawhammer banjo on my home-made oilcan banjos. Well, in a moment of madness I recently purchased an honest to god store-bought banjo. I bought it at the 12th Fret here in Toronto. I was like a kid in a candy store in that place. Grant MacNeill,  the owner and resident banjo expert, generously spent loads of time with me, talking about banjos and tone rings and sound qualities and set-up, patiently answering all my questions. I knew I wanted to buy a banjo at some point, but I wasn’t really quite sure what I wanted, and my plan was for this to be a scouting mission. However, as we all know the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

I played quite a few banjos in the store, and really I loved all of them. I can see how the dreaded BAS develops among banjo freaks (that’s banjo aquisition syndrome) In particular, I loved the Nechville Atlas banjo I played. It has a 12 inch pot, and a wood tone ring, and a wonderful warm sound. I found it impossible to leave the shop without it.

I’m no natural banjo picker, but I have been working pretty hard at it and I think my playing has been slowly improving. Here’s a video of me playing a tune called Susananna Gal on the new banjo. This song goes by a few names. Often it is called Susanna Gal, but singers seem to almost always sing Susananna or even Susianna. I was learning a tune called Fortune and I started to play this one just to take a break from Fortune and play something else, but once I got Susanannah Gal stuck in my brain, I couldn’t keep away from it.

This is in Double C tuning. If I were playing with a fiddle player, I would capo up to Double D, but since I’m playing on my own, I thought I’d enjoy the nice lows Double C offers. So here it is, with all its (my) rough edges. I’ll keep working on this one.

July 1, 2013
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Happy Canada Day

Let’s celebrate Canada Day by listening to a selection of Canadian folk music.

I’d like to start with a tune I’ve posted before (not this again, I’m sure you’re thinking). It’s Ward Allen from the Ottawa Valley performing his masterpiece, Maple Sugar.

Don’t worry, just because I’ve been playing banjo a lot, it doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten the squeezebox. I stumbled into this gem – Tony Blanchard playing French Newfoundland music.

Now here’s Calvin Vollrath – who lives in Alberta and plays Metis style fiddle – playing a tune he composed called Natalie MacMaster’s. He’s joined on-stage here by Natalie MacMaster herself. What a delightful performance!

If you ever get a chance to see Yves Lambert perform, don’t miss it! Here’s Ti Get-Up Charlie

Finally, I’d like to end this post with a classic piece by the late Stompin’ Tom, who we sadly lost this year. Here’s Bud the Spud.

June 30, 2013
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Dead Man’s Fingers

Tuffy P was out at a gathering today on a property that has a forest. Now Tuffy rarely goes out mushroom foraging, but she has an eagle eye and if there is something interesting to see in the woods, she’ll find it. Last season, for instance, we went for a walk in a suburban forest and Tuffy P spotted a nice clump of Bear’s Head Tooth growing on a beech tree. Today she found something very interesting and took a photo to show me.

Dead Man's Fingers?

Dead Man’s Fingers?

She saw these unusual growths coming from the base of a stump. My first guess is that these strange little items are the fungi known as Dead Man’s Fingers – Xylaria polymorpha

Dead Man’s Fingers are a saprobic fungus, meaning they get their nourishment from non-living organic matter – in this case from a dead or dying tree. Although I spend plenty of time wandering about forests looking for mushrooms, I’ve never come across dead man’s fingers in the woods. I did see some samples once though, collected by someone else during an outing with a mushroom class.

I was out in a forest today too. While Tuffy P was up in the Kawarthas, I took the dogs to a woods not too far outside the city for a little scouting mission. This forest fruits edible boletes, as well as lobster mushrooms and a few chanterelles. I thought with all the rain we’ve had there was an outside chance of finding some early lobster mushrooms or some early summer boletes. All I found though, was one bolete that was sadly way way past its expiry date.  Hypothetically, we should expect to see some interesting edibles in our forests over the next few weeks. I say hypothetically, because everyone knows there are no edible mushrooms in Southern Ontario.

June 28, 2013
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She warbles as she flies…

I’ve got the old time tune Coo Coo on my brain so let’s listen to a couple versions. I think Clarence Ashley is the performer most closely associated with this tune, but today I’d like to hear how some other players approach it. To start out, here’s Riley Baugus and Tim Eriksen. I really like Riley Baugus’ banjo playing a lot. Hearing him play live was one of the highlights of Merlefest 2013 for me. These guys do a great job on this one.

Check out Johannes Bonefaas’ gourd banjo playing on this version….hypnotic.

 

June 24, 2013
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Crunchy Granola

I like granola for breakfast, but I got tired of buying mediocre overpriced granola. I thought, hey I bet it’s easy to make your own. Turns out it is and it’s spectacular. Mine has oatmeal, bran, flax meal, wheat germ, 3 kinds of nuts, 2 kinds of seeds, dried cranberry, sultanas, dried apples, cinnamon, honey, some really good olive oil and a wee bit of maple syrup. If I had planned better, I could have used the dehydrator I use for mushrooms and dried my own fruit too. Next time.

granola

granola

Seriously good stuff!